Fall Food Fest. .Part 2

So far, not much rain has panned out of the damp, cool weather. But it has gotten me motivated to get the greenhouse in order, and to get some cool weather cooking going!! We are all enjoying the fall decorations around the house too.  Last Thursday, was the perfect day to make a pot of chili and these hearty muffins. Good thing too. .as we sat in the stands at Grant's football game that night thinking we couldn't possibly get any colder. .it started to rain. .a dreery, drizzly rain. .but just enough to make us WET and COLD. .and not another drop more!!

I had planned to share Devin's reserve champion muffins long before now, but always another topic came to light first.  When we tried them this summer, I knew they would be a perfect, hearty addition to some winter meals. .and with the imminent onset of chilly weather here. .I made sure that I had the ingredients ready.  I usually like recipes that use the ingredients I have on hand.  But this is one recipe that you just MUST make sure you have ingredients for!! I typically don't have dijon mustard on hand, nor do I keep buttermilk routinely either. But don't forget that you can measure 1 tbsp vinegar into a glass measuring cup and add milk to measure one cup. Let it stand for about 5 minutes to thicken and replace the buttermilk in your recipe with that mixture.
One more thing. .DON'T skimp on the mustard. .it sounds like a lot, but the mustard taste is perfect, not overpowering in the least. Whip up some chili while you are waiting for them to come out of the oven. My opinion is that they are much better warm. .so if you have leftovers. .heat 'em up a little.

Dijon Ham Muffins

1 2/3 cup flour

1/3 cup cornmeal

¼ cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground mustard

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp ground cloves

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1 cup finely chopped fully cooked ham (we just use the mini food processor)

Combine the first 8 ingredients. Combine the eggs, buttermilk, oil, and mustard; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in ham. Fill muffin cups ¾ full. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to rack.

These really are quick to put together. .I had them on the table in right under 30 minutes.
The weekend is right around the corner. .anyone else ready??

Once Upon a Chilly Day. .

Upon wakening Saturday morning. .

I found it gloriously cool and foggy. .

promising chances of rain. .

a quiet day. .

and the motivation to do some indoor activities. .

like BAKING!

Our primary plans for Saturday included going to my sister-in-laws for supper to celebrate my neices 10th birthday.

Homemade bread seemed like the thing for me to contribute to her brisket meal.  This was the second time I had tried this bread. .and I just had to share the recipe.

In fact. .

I tried several new recipes this chilly weekend that call for sharing of

the wealth. I decided to do several recipe posts this week to celebrate the coming of fall on Friday!!

I fixed this bread for our Easter meal last spring, and it was a huge hit. I rarely make homemade bread. .but this dilled wheat bread is a good choice if you have several hours for it to raise. My theory is that the mess is all the same, whether you make a little or a lot. .so I had enough cottage cheese in my fridge to triple the batch. .and triple it we did!

The house smelled incredible. .and the warm oven took a bite out of the chilly air!! I put two loaves in the freezer to pull out with our winter pots of soup. .one of our favorite meals!!

Hope you can find some spare time to bake some up!! You won't be sorry.

Dilled Wheat Bread

2 cups flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp dried minced onion

1 pkg active dry yeast

2 tsp dill weed

1 tsp salt

1 cup (8 oz) cottage cheese (not dry)

1/2 cup water

1 tbsp butter

1 egg

2 tsp butter, melted

coarse salt (like kosher)

In a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, onion, yeast, dill and salt. In a small saucepan, heat the cottage cheese, water, and 1 tbsp butter to 120-130 degrees. Add to dry ingredients; beat until just moistened. Add egg; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough (dough will be sticky). Turn onto a floured surface; knead until elastic and smooth, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Shape into a loaf and place in a greased 8 x 4 inch loaf pan. Cover and let rise again until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire rack and brush with butter, or run the stick over the top until coated. Sprinkle with a little kosher salt.

It really takes little hands-on work. .just needs lots of time to rest and do it's thing!

So, if you love to cook, be sure to stop by soon. .there will be more goodness to partake of; the next recipe will be Dev's 2nd place muffins. If you only sail through to see what my garden is doing. .come back next week. .I think I will have some new photos and garden happenings. .If you read to see what is happening in this crazy family. .be sure to skim through each post. .as one NEVER knows what will happen next. .and it is ALL subject to reporting at any time!

Have a superb week full of blessings, joy, and full tummies!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

. .If only in our dreams!

I have heard about craftin' parties and have seen lots of cool articles about hostessing one. .

but I have never been to one. .

until now!!

Our friend Pat that works at our local clinic is a master crafter.

And somehow, the girls at work decided that we were going to get together to make Christmas trees out of wool.

So we did!! And what a fun time we had.

This little guy was our model. .I know he is a bit hard to see with bright fabrics behind it. .I should have moved the tree.

We started with wool fabric in a piece about 15 X 18-24 inches. We cut them into strips about 2 inches wide.  And then cut little fringe along one entire length, leaving about 1/4 inch of intact fabric to hold it together. Now. .I gotta stop to say. .we didn't measure anything. .and we kept reminding each other that the trees were R-U-S-T-I-C!!

Here's 'ole Pat, explaining to us how to mark our dowel rods from the pattern.

And Bambi, marks hers out just like she was told!! These marks would later serve to show us where to put the bottom wire of our "branch" before gluing and taping them on. The square block next to Bam is the base of the tree. .I don't think I showed it anywhere else.

Next we cut floral wire into lengths that were drawn out on the paper. Guessing. .they were between 4-6 inches long, varying lengths and numbers.

Then put a little hook on the end of the wire. We used needlenosed pliers to cut them and hook the ends.

Using Elmer's glue, we covered the wire in glue. .

. .and started swirling the wool fringe pieces around each wire. .

Using a q-tip to spread glue down the wire as we went. You can see Bambi's little pile of "branches."

It looked like this when you got to the end of the wire. .at which time we just secured it with a little more glue and pinched it together for a minute to seal the ends.

It was handier for me to hold the q-tip in my mouth as I worked. .which Pat thought was amusing! And I only put the glue end in my mouth once. .I just washed my mouth out with another sausage ball and all was good.

Pat showed us how to put the branches onto the dowel rod using glue and brown florist tape. .

. .in order to make a feather-duster looking specimen. That was the hardest part. .keeping the wires spaced out on the skinny little dowel rod and get them covered up with tape without them changing location on you.

But it was a success. .and we all went home with our little feather dusters. . with STRICT instructions NOT to move the branches for at least 48 hours. .until the glue had set properly. Then we bent the branches down, and are supposed to affix berries to the ends if we want to (which I do, just haven't done yet). .and

Voila. .

An adorable little Primitive Christmas tree!

I'm thinking I might make one more. .cause they are just so darn cute!! And, while we had a good time visiting and crafting. .we pretty well decided that we would not be planning on going into the wool tree manufacturing business. .mostly because Maria immediately called "cutting out the wire branches" and refused to do anything else. .which meant the rest of us got stuck with the glue-y mess jobs.

So, we'll just go home and enjoy our OWN little trees. .and if you all would like to make your OWN little tree, just let me know. .I'll be glad to email you measurements and some better directions!! I'm thinking about all the places I can put this little guy when it is time to decorate!! I'll keep you posted!!

Speaking of keeping you posted. .I appreciate all of the sweet responses of encouragement to my earlier post this week. Somehow that always makes a burden lighter!! However, I also wanted to share our unexpected turn of events here.  I was praying earnestly earlier this week for energy and tirelessness to accomplish all that the Lord has put on my plate, while additionally praying for wisdom and discernement to keep myself out of extra activities that I couldn't handle.  His answer to my prayers (a rather quick one, I might add) was an injury to Tristan's foot Monday night at his game. He has struggled with his left foot since last November, when he complained of pain in it after a basketball game. With no trauma, and not a lot of physical findings. .we put it to rest and eventually it healed. Well, Monday. .while running. .the pain returned exquisitely and we xrayed it yesterday afternoon. The tip of his second metatarsal (a long bone in the foot) is broken into the toe joint. It seems that there is a disease process going on in there, which can heal. .but may require surgery, and may entail long lasting pain problems with athletics. I'm waiting on the podiatrist to read the xrays later today and call with advice. But, nonetheless. .his football season is finished for this year. Not exactly the answer that I wanted. .but the answer we received. Tristan loves football. .now we pray for healing of the bone. .and his spirits.

Blessings for the rest of your week! Mel

Keepin' Our Heads Above Water. .

. .but just barely!!

We've been pretty crazy here, and for the first time in my ENTIRE 38 years. .I wonder if I might completely lose my mind before it is over. I did think this morning in the shower that we are very lucky. .we only have to do this super crazy stuff for one year. .then both older boys will be in high school, on the same schedule. .and Devin will still have 3 years before hitting junior high! So, thought I'd update friends and family on our lives. .since I ain't writin' and I ain't callin'!!

This guy. .the oldest. .the one that never talked. .ever. .unless he was concerned about where hair was growing. .has become quite a social guy in our house. .that is. .when he is home.  And he now talks about everything. .and that is great!! We've had great conversations on all sorts of stuff! Football is marching on. His first JV home game is tonight. He will be headed to 2 games per week from now on it looks like. Initially, I thought that would mean I would too. .but I didn't feel a bit bad about skipping out on Friday's game 2 hours away (since he isn't playing varsity). Tristan is slowly figuring out organization (never his strong suit) and scheduling. He has been going to a high school youth group that he likes. .and is looking forward to going on a mission trip to Denver Thanksgiving weekend to help with the Shoebox Ministries (they send shoeboxes to needy kids). He is learning many life lessons already this year about friendships, girls, and bullies. .and his mom is thankful that he has good friends, no girlfriend, and that he is a nice kid and not a bully. He had some projects that he sent to the Kansas State Fair last Friday. He had to make his Milk Chocolate Bundt cake all on his own the other night, since his mom was sitting at a football game in Jetmore (an hour 40 minutes away). Other than lifting up his mixer head while the mixer was turned on and spewing chocolate batter EVERYWHERE (which he still maintains was NOT him) I think he got along ok. The cake looked awesome when I got home. .but I think he may have overbaked it a little bit. .and got a red ribbon at the fair. He also sent his geology boxes of 60 specimen and got a blue. He has certainly grown up a L-O-T in the last few weeks. .and I have a handful of new gray hairs with his name on them! I know that people have always remarked that once your kid hits high school, you don't ever see them anymore. .which is proving to be more true than I would have liked! He's even starting to consider what his future will be like. .and I am pulling for the landscape designer (he was pretty emphatic that he wanted to be the DESIGNER. .and not the guy doing the heavy work. .that's my boy:-)

Grant is stepping up into the leadership aspect of being an 8th grader. He and a couple of his friends are using their last hour of the day to go into the 4th grade classrooms and help the kids with their homework!! What a great gift of service. .and I am so glad he is a part of it. He loves football. .and even though he would rather be playing a different positition, he is grudgingly accepting our advice that his coach NEEDS him to play where he is. .and he seems to be going out to work his hardest in the place he is put. He's got speedy feet and is getting some good tackles. Last Thursday I called his dad and told him he had a great game. .to which Grant informed ME that his game sucked. .mostly because he cost the team a penalty for clipping. .I don't know what that is, and didn't recognize it during the game. .but it must be bad! Still he had several tackles and he played hard. On Friday's he practices for their drum line. They will be THE half time performance for the WEPAC (breast cancer support) women's basketball game the last Friday night in October. It is actually televised on some sport network that WE don't subscribe to, but I could probably find out if anyone wants to check it out! I'm sure it will also be on youtube, so will update then.  

Grant has been one of the guys that runs back and forth to the coach getting plays and relaying them to the team (at least that is what I guessed he was doing)

Grant sent a photo of his dad's race truck to the State Fair, which got a blue ribbon. .and his award-winning apricot bars earned him a purple. He's itching to drive. .and is dying for some spare time to get back to work on his old '55 pickup that he and his dad are refinishing. He wants it done by next summer, when he will get his farm permit too. We started our junior high youth group last Wednesday night, and out of all of my boys, he can actually be found reading in his bible at nights!! I hope he learns alot!

This guy is busy with the 3rd grade, and is learning lots. We are settling into his homework, spelling word study, and reading.  Devin has always been our "not-so-lucky--if it will happen, it will happen to me" kinda kid, and I am convinced that if he LIVES to see high school graduation it will be nothing short of a miracle. As my mom would say, "his guardian angel must get tired." Last weekend while messing around by himself out back of the garage, he managed to tip over the broken basketball goal onto his head and neck. He came screaming to the house, where I found that he had put his tooth ENTIRELY through his face, about 1/4 inch below his bottom lip. When the word "stitches" reverberated from my lips to his ears. .another meltdown. So, we ended up using the glue leftover in my fridge from his bleacher escapade at the fair, and glued his lip back together. .I REALLY had to try extra hard not to put some of that super-bonding glue on his lip and sealing them together in blissful peace. If you've ever spent about 10 minutes with the child, you would TOTALLY understand. The worst part. .not 3 hours later, Grant came laughing to me with the camera "You just gotta watch this video." It happened to be a video of Devin. .riding his bike at full speed across our 40 ft long deck on the west side of the house. .jumping it OFF the 3 steps and landing it on the ground. This particular video showed Dev jumping the bike and face-planting into the ground. He is a slow learner. .but a persistent one. When I get to heaven, I will be eager to ask just how many angels they had to switch out to keep him adequately covered!  Devin's AWANA group started last Wednesday too, so that's an afterschool event on Wed that he will look forward to each week.

And this little thing. .SHE will cause all the gray hair left from her brothers. .to FALL OUT!! This particular day, she was all cow-girled up and showing 100% sass!! The vest was her dad's when he was her size. .and it usually hangs by the back door with some other deco.  The world is her dress up box. She continues to have a great imagination. She loves going to the football games to watch the cheerleaders, and hang out with the big girls (who all seem to love her as much). She is forever saying something that will just make people giggle. .and is pretty good about telling things like they are. She knows everyone,  in any given location that carries gum. And she is developing a taste for shopping (yes). A friend of ours picks her up at daycare on Wed, and takes her to the church so she can be part of the AWANA group too, which she loves.

As for the rest of us, we stay busy tag-teaming kids. Jeremy is trying to get his last licks in with the race car  before the end of the season next month. He took his dad Saturday and they had a good time. The boys were so tired from school, though, that they chose not to go!! Instead. .Devin and Grant decided to swap beds. .so we spent the day (not knowing it would take THE day) taking apart the bunk bed and moving it from the basement to the attic. .taking apart the queen bed from the attic and moving it to the ground floor before realizing (I may be an idiot) that it wouldn't fit into the basement. .taking apart the full bed from the attic and moving IT to the basement. .and moving the queen bed BACK up to the attic and putting it back together. Between that and hauling my laundry to my MIL's to use her dryer. .we were beat!!

Cami and I had a girl's day Friday to pick up a new front-load washer/dryer set that I had been saving for. Unbeknownest to me, gas dryer's that use propane need a special converter for them to work without setting fires.  And. . I didn't ask for one, neither did they ask me what type of gas we were using.  SO. .the washer is totally sweet!! And Jeremy got the dryer back out of the dump and hooked it up. .so I am in business until the converter comes in this week.  I was more than nauseated Friday night though when we discovered the problem, after hours!! It always happens to me!!

I was SOOO glad to see the new growth on the Nandina "heavenly bamboo" plants that I moved from my north garden to the south garden in May. The second one doesn' t look AS good, but showing new growth as well. SCORE!!

Yesterday I enjoyed the afternoon with my co-workers and we made Christmas trees out of used wool. OH, so cute!! And a fun time too!

And the gardens are keeping me busy too. I am back to wandering every other day or so to see what is blooming. I missed these quiet times this summer when it was just too depressing to wander through the crispy plants! The self-seeding orange cosmos are just vibrant!!

And this. .is STILL the Mexican hat plant put in last spring. Two of the three survived, and are still putting on a show!! I will have to see if they are tricky to seed for new plants. Thinking that I will need to try it anyway and add them to the new fence garden.

These cherry swizzle zinnias are finally looking nice. They have struggled along all summer. .in that place right in between life and death. They are shorter zinnias and have a great color variation.

These red spider zinnias surprised me, I thought the blooms would be bigger. Actually, they are very small and quite cute. .I think I will reseed them in other places next spring too.

The butterfly plants are blooming better, and since the cooler temps, the colors are much nicer. I have one close to the house, and am enjoying the scent as I feed the fish. It is a really heavy scent in the cool, dampish evening air! And the butterflys and moths are enjoying it too. .as they are the caryopteris. .which you can tell from the earlier photo with the butterflies.

Here are the two smaller caryopterisis bushes that I located in my gardens, coming up from seed. They both transplanted nicely, and this one is even blooming. I located another one last night. .so will need to move it next spring too. .if anyone wants to give it a home, let me know. .if not, I'm sure I can find somewhere to put it!

I have two boys that are starting to bring me pictures on my camera or theirs of different birds that they have spotted. Dev took this photo of the Eastern Kingbird. yesterday. .I acutally saw a belted kingfisher in my trees Saturday, but couldn't get a photo, and haven't seen it since. .which probably isn't all bad. .since their diet is fish and frogs. I have a lot of baby fish he could eat. .but some of them are developing some really cute characteristics. .so I wouldn't want him eating the good stuff!! And I am pretty sure he wouldn't make off too far with my prized "tank" of a yellow koi!!

So. .guess that is about all we have been up to. .now wake up and go get another cup of coffee!!

Have a super week. .stop back by soon, I hope to have a post about our rustic little Christmas tree project!!

Labor (of love) Day Project

Hope you all had a great, long Labor Day weekend. .filled with lots of food and fun!! We had a great weekend for sure. .pretty laid back, but with lots of activity too. This was one of my favorite weekend activities!!

A friend commented to me over the weekend that "when you guys come up with a project. .you are quick!" I had to laugh out loud. .because by now. .I know just what two type A personalitied people can do when they take a notion to. .

You may remember a few weeks ago my vision of a new fence after I planted the Blue Atlas Cedar??

Well, that just happened to come true. .join me for the tour!

We postponed our tree cutting project from last weekend when it was 108. .until Saturday, when it was cool 84! We loaded up a bunch of cranky kids, the chain saws and the four wheeler and took off on a drive to one of grandpa's back-woods pastures.

After finding a small grove of cedars that we could get to, we unloaded and started the process. .

which included. .but was not limited to. .

. .locating and sawing down some small trunked cedar trees. The brush was quite thick where we were, and this little grove won't even miss the trees that we nabbed.

Mmm. .the smell of fresh cut cedar was heavenly!!

. .using the four wheeler to haul the cedars out of the grove and up to where the pickup and trailer were parked. Initially, the boys were irritated to have to spend a few hours of their lives helping out. .but they soon decided that it was kinda fun trying to figure out the best way to maneuver the machine and tree through a narrow open area (between a barbed wire fence and more trees) and then up the semi-steep hill. I figured it was a good math and problem solving lesson!

Here's the first tree. You'll notice that the only green on the tree were the very upper branches. .another good indicator of over-crowding in the grove. Jeremy also trimmed the branches off the trees until we had a pile of awesome looking logs cut into 10 foot lengths. .

. .like this one!

Cami thought the whole process was overrated. .but she was pretty good anyway.

So, here's the picture of the area to be transformed. .with the new cedar tree to the right. You also might notice what I am trying to slowly block out in the background. .a lot full of dead vehicles (although others might like to refer to it as "job security")!

And the view looking straight across at the garage from the sidewalk. We used large pieces of cardboard from the recycling center and covered them with the straw I use to mulch my veggies in with. I'm hoping that by keeping some moisture in this area that I can't grow grass in, will help to make the soil  more conducive to plant some other things next spring. The other bush you see to the right is a redbud bush. .which ultimately will reach about 10 feet tall and wide.

We dug one hole by hand with post hole diggers. .but I think Jeremy was afraid that with my lightening speed, we might be there all week. .so he ran to his dad's to get this handy little dude. .an auger-like hole digging machine that hooks to a car battery. .REALLY!! Though he warned me once; the hardheaded, non-listening creature that I am. .I pulled the trigger once (just to see what would happen. .maybe my kids are more like me than I thought) and the little diggin' machine nearly separated every tendon in my wrist off of it's coordinating bone in LESS than a blink of my eye. .Seriously. .do NOT try that at home!

So, then I obediently stuck to this. .

filling the hard-diggin' holes with water to improve the digging conditions for the future.

When the fence building process actually started. .I had lost all of my helpers. .and photo takers.

Jeremy went to his wood post pile and found the coolest, crookedest hedge posts he had to use in our new fence. He didn't want to use cedar posts, because they rot too fast. .and we are majorly opposed to extra work!! We really like low-no maintanence stuff!

I backfilled all the post holes and tamped them in. Tamping entails holding a large steel post that was taller than me in my hands and smacking it in the loose dirt in the hole as hard as I could. . to pack the dirt in so the post wouldn't move. Apparently there is a right and a wrong end to use. .and I wasn't informed of the difference until I was on the last hole and the boss showed up to see if I was going to finish this week or not. Then he fired up his saw and trimmed a few more branch particles off the fence.  And Voila. .

We have a fence. .crooked. .not level. .and VERY rustic. .

JUST the way I like it!! Actually, I planned it that way. .so we wouldn't have to waste precious daylight on chalk strings and leveling devices. .Dale. .stop laughing. .I know you are totally envisioning this whole "perfectionist vs just fix it already" thing!!

Monday morning found me out transplanting some pampas grass on the car lot side. .some Karley rose grass near the sidewalk and some volunteer caryopteris bushes (saplings rather) to the house side of the fence. Grant helped spread a little more straw. .and I regret to say that I didn't get any more photos taken. .I envision an area of hollyhocks, morning glories climbing the fence, and other easy to seed annuals like four o'clocks, sunflowers, cosmos, and zinnias.

And all was well!!

Quote of the day. .

on our way to the eye doctor Friday. .

Devin concentrating on working his brother's ipod touch "Mom. .do you have any service on your phone?"

Mom concentrating on her 15 year old's driving skills "Yes, D."

Devin, clearly irritated "Well, isn't there any ipod service??"

Mom "Uh, nope!"

Devin "That's just great!"

Wishing you all a great week!!