in the garden

Posted on August 9, 2016 by Shanda

(listen while you visit?)

In my mom and dad’s garden,

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it’s currently pickle-making time, so they are harvesting cucumbers and garlic.

My nephew and niece,

my sister in law, and the new puppy, everybody loves the garden.

Inside the house there are sparkling clean jars, the freshest garlic,

and three generations in the kitchen making pickles!

There was a beautiful sunset at my parents house at the end of a satisfying day.

*****

My brother and mother sent me these photos. I haven’t been “back home” yet this summer, but with the constant texting it’s almost as good as being there.

Here is a lovely video that Mom sent to me one morning in the springtime, which instantly made me happy and homesick at the same time. I grew up here.

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10 large cucumbers
4 sprigs of dill
6 cloves of garlic
6 cups of water
1 1/4 cup vinegar
1/3 cup salt
1/2 cup sugar

Wash and sterilize 4 (1 quart) jars. Boil water, vinegar, salt, and sugar and let cool. Cut cucumbers into quarters. Add 1 sprig of dill, and 1 1/2 cloves of garlic per jar. Pack jars with cucumbers, pour liquid over cucumbers. Cover and refrigerate at least 48 hours.

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I spy with my little eye lots of jars of pickles!

David’s chicken lo mein

Posted on June 14, 2016 by Shanda

David’s food dreams came true a few weeks ago when I made a big batch of chicken lo mein, using a new recipe. I made enough so that there were plenty of leftovers and he was able to freely get a bowl whenever he was hungry. But that was a few weeks ago, and recently the craving for more chicken lo mein started up again.

Last night while Rich and I were at Caleb’s little league game, David called me and asked if he could make *the chicken lo mein that he was craving* and I said “yes”.

Then he called back and said there was no soy sauce. He was hungry so we gave up on that idea and he had soup instead. On the way home from the game I went to the store and bought the soy sauce and three packages of chicken thighs.

We started making the recipe at around 10:00 this morning. He cut up the chicken. I cut up the veggies. He made the sauce, I stir-fried the chicken. It was a fun recipe to accomplish with a partner.

Soon it was complete, and David filled up a yellow fiesta bowl with the steamy goodness.

He took a photo of his food for his instagram account.

And I took pictures for my blog.

(we have a lot in common)

After it was posted, he took a bite and said he was in heaven.

“Thank you for helping me make this, Mom,” he said.

His siblings asked for seconds.

And I enjoyed a bowl of it outside on the porch.

David and I enjoy each other’s company by making food in the kitchen. (yesterday he made funnel cakes). Jacob and I bond while grocery shopping. Grace and I bond while singing. And so it goes. I have seven children and each one has a special way of broadening my world. We can spend time together doing what they like to do best and it’s never forced. We don’t have to try hard to spend time together, we just do what we would do normally…..together.

Chicken Lo Mein

2 boxes angel hair pasta
2 Tablespoons sesame oil
2/3 cup chicken broth
2/3 cup soy sauce (low sodium)
1 T. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. pepper
2-4 T. vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, pressed
12 chicken breast halves, boneless, skinless, and cut into thin strips (we prefer thighs)
5 cups thinly shredded cabbage
4 carrots, coarsely shredded
3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped broccoli
1 medium onion, chopped

Cook pasta according to package directions. Transfer pasta to a large bowl; add sesame oil and toss until coated. In a small bowl, stir together the broth, soy sauce, cornstarch, and pepper; set aside.

In a skillet or wok, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds.

Add chicken strips and stir-fry about 3 minutes or until no longer pink; remove from wok or skillet and cover to keep warm. (I did the chicken in three batches because the pan wasn’t big enough.)

Add cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and onions to the wok or skillet and continue to stir-fry another 3 minutes. Add broth mixture to the skillet. Stir-fry, mixing well, for 2 minutes more. Return chicken and garlic to the skillet and heat through. Add to bowl of pasta and toss together.

Serves 12

Recipe source: Saving Dinner, by Leanne Ely (highly recommended cookbook)

short n sweet

Posted on May 6, 2016 by Shanda

If we triumph in the little things
of our common hours,
we are sure to triumph in our lives.
~Anonymous

Happy Friday!

I took this photo of Seth after school one day this week. He’s hugging Gentleman Gray and eating a snack of Pringles, raspberries, and strawberries, on a vintage amberstone (“sister” of fiesta ware) small plate.

Yesterday, at the end of the day, I did a five minute photo shoot of Jacob’s girlfriend, Emily.

♥ with Sarah ♥

♥ with Jacob ♥

I’ve been making homemade coffee creamer and it is delicious!

It’s one can of sweetened condensed milk, mixed with two cups of half n half, and a 1/4 teaspoon of extract. (I used vanilla the first batch, and almond the 2nd batch).

Rose bud vase,
marigold java mug.

yellow cake with creamy butter frosting

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Shanda

homemade cake

The other day I was in Goodwill and I found & purchased a 1982 hardback copy of Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book . Since I was hungering for a cake I set to work that very day, using both a cake and a frosting recipe from the new-to-me cookbook. When the cake was complete and I tried a piece, I had to admit that it was amazing. Not to mention the frosting recipe calls for an egg instead of milk. This was a huge revelation to me (remember, I am determined to use eggs in every way I can because I have a flock of pampered, well cared for hens which give me almost 2 dozen a day). If you’re local and want to buy eggs from me, they are 3 dollars a dozen. I have NO QUALMS whatsoever about using a raw egg in frosting because the eggs I use couldn’t be any fresher……..

This is a plain and simple yellow cake and I can’t even tell you how much better a homemade cake is over a mix. I am not a professional pastry chef like my dear cousin but I have eaten her cakes and have 20 years of baking experience as a susie-homemaker in the kitchen so trust me. A homemade cake is the way to go. (using a mix is not an unforgivable offense, however) If you do use a mix, at least make homemade icing for the top.

Yellow Cake

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter (If you only have salted, then omit salt in recipe)
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk

Grease a 9 by 13 cake pan. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter about 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla; beat till well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating 1 minute after each. Add dry ingredients and milk alternately to beaten mixture, beating after each addition. Pour and scrape into prepared cake pan. Bake in a 375 oven for 30-35 minutes or till done. Cool before frosting.

NOTE: if you want a layer cake, bake in two greased and floured 8 or 9 inch round pans. I usually keep the cake in the pan to frost and serve.

Creamy Butter Frosting

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 1/2 to 4 3/4 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

In a small mixer bowl beat butter till light and fluffy. Gradually add about half of the powdered sugar, beating well. Beat in the egg and the vanilla. Gradually beat in remaining powdered sugar, then additional milk if needed to make frosting of spreading consistency (I like mine as a soft-spread).

NOTE: this cake must be stored in the fridge because of the raw egg.

ANOTHER NOTE: Thank Goodness my mom taught me a trick if I ever ran out of powdered sugar (which I did for this recipe!) She told me I could make my own powdered sugar by pouring a couple cups of regular granulated sugar into my vitamix mixer and blending! It was fun and kind of like magic. Thanks, Mom!

We have been eating this cake for a week and it still tastes as good, if not better, than the day I made it.

NOTE: I’ve been running on the treadmill as a result.

A party without cake is just a meeting. ~Julia Child

easter baked beans

Posted on March 24, 2016 by Shanda

“Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” 1 Timothy 1:2

“The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” 1 Timothy 1:5

My soul, admire the boundless love of God to thee and others of the human race.
Worms are bought with the blood of the Son of the Highest! Dust and ashes
redeemed with a price far above silver and gold! ~Charles Spurgeon

“I will not glory, even in my orthodoxy, for even that can be a snare if I make a god of it… Let us rejoice in Him in all His fulness and in Him alone.” Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones

“It is grace at the beginning, and grace at the end. So that when you and I come to lie upon our death beds, the one thing that should comfort and help and strengthen us there is the thing that helped us in the beginning. Not what we have been, not what we have done, but the Grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. The Christian life starts with grace, it must continue with grace, it ends with grace. Grace wondrous grace. By the grace of God I am what I am. Yet not I, but the Grace of God which was with me.”
– Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Good day to you, friends! It has been a lovely week at our place, although there is a sickness going around. I’ve been sick since Tuesday but am feeling better although tired out. Grace was home with me yesterday, and it was cozy indeed.

There is no school today for the children. Ethan drove to the mall with Dave, Grace, and Emily (his girlfriend’s sister). Rich and Jacob are at work. Caleb, Seth, and Sarah are home with me and playing together.

Jacob’s girlfriend Emily was taking care of a duck yesterday. While she was at school, she had Jacob bring it over to our house so he could watch it. Of course we all fell in love with the duck.

And Grace wanted to keep it. She began researching but what I told her was true; you really shouldn’t keep one duck. It would be a very lonely duck.

So after a visit and much quacking, it went to be adopted by a family of ducks.

Easter Baked Beans

(way back in October I wrote about my intention to try all sorts of baked bean recipes. Well, I finally got to recipe #2 and it was delicious)

First I’ll give you the recipe and then I’ll tell you everything I did differently. 🙂

Navy Bean and Apple Casserole

1 lb. dried navy beans, 2 cups
6 cups cold water
1 tsp salt
3 large tart apples pared and sliced
1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 lb. salt pork, sliced

Wash beans and turn into a 3 quart saucepan. Add the water and salt, heat to boiling, and simmer gently, covered, about 2 hours. Drain, saving cooking liquid. Arrange beans and apple slices in alternate layers in a greased casserole, sprinkling sugar over each layer. Pour in 2 cups of the cooking liquid and top with slices of salt pork. Bake, covered, in a very slow oven (250 degrees) for about 2 and a half hours, or until beans are light brown and thoroughly cooked. If they become dry in cooking, add more cooking liquid or hot water. There should be enough liquid on the beans to make a gravy-like sauce over them. 5-7 servings.

*****

I saved out 2 cups of the cooked beans to use in a chili recipe. I peeled and diced the apples and only used 2 apples because of my reduction of the amount of beans. I sprinkled onion powder and cinnamon on the beans (about 1/8 of a tsp each). I used bacon instead of salt pork (what is salt pork???) and I diced it instead of keeping it in slices. It took longer for mine to bake, in fact, I let them go on for about 6 hours (I don’t know why it took so long, maybe my oven temps are off?). I used a can of chicken broth that I had leftover in the fridge for cooking liquid. I took the foil off for the last hour so they would thicken up and brown. Adding cinnamon made them perfect–the bacon and apple basically melted into the beans making a wonderful flavor. We all liked them, and Sarah had three bowls full. They would go well with a ham dinner, which is why I have renamed this recipe “Easter Baked Beans”.

banana cream pie

Posted on March 18, 2016 by Shanda

Yesterday after a spaghetti dinner, I asked my husband if he would take me to Agway because we were out of chicken feed. He agreed, and it was a lovely drive together. When we arrived home, he drove the truck close to the coop and unloaded four bags of feed. I got out with him and gathered eggs, there were so many that my pockets were full of them. In fact, one fell out of my pocket as I stepped back in the truck and Parker the Dog ate it. Rich drove us back up to the house and that was that.

Well, this morning I received a text from him. On the way to work he had to make a sudden stop, and when he did, out the corner of his eye he saw something fly from the passenger seat and smash into the dash. And what do you suppose it was? Yep, I had lost another egg out of my pockets and left it behind in the seat to become a missile. It broke and everything. ha ha (sorry honey!)

Another fantastic way to use up an overflow of eggs is homemade pudding.

Vanilla Pudding

In a heavy medium saucepan combine 3/4 cup sugar and 3 T. cornstarch or flour. Stir in 3 cups of milk. Cook and stir over medium heat till bubbly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Gradually stir 1 cup of milk mixture into 4 beaten egg yolks or 2 beaten eggs.

Add egg mixture to milk mixture in saucepan. If using egg yolks, bring to a gentle boil; if using whole eggs, cook till nearly bubbly but do not boil. Reduce heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat Stir in 1 T butter and 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Pour pudding through a fine sieve to remove any clumps. Then pour into a cooked pie shell or a bowl; cover with plastic wrap, pressing wrap to touch the top and prevent a “skin”. Chill.

Chocolate Pudding

Prepare as above except add 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder along with the sugar. Use 2 T. cornstarch or 1/4 cup flour, 2 2/3 cups milk, and 4 eggs yolks (not whole eggs)

RECIPE SOURCE: Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (mine is falling apart, it’s well used)

NOTE: The part about the sieve is not in the original recipe. But, although I am sure no one in my family would even notice a tiny clump or two, I cannot stand little tiny clumps of cooked egg and so far have not perfectly mastered the technique of cooked custard. So I use the sieve just in case. Also, I know I mentioned that I would be sharing recipes that used five or more eggs. But I figured that you will want to double the recipes because homemade pudding is so nutritious and delicious.

Another NOTE: Rich’s favorite is a pie made of vanilla pudding over a sliced banana! I’m also going to try pouring cooled but not too solid yet pudding into a popsicle maker.

*****

David got home while I was finishing up this blog post and he showed me two Barnes and Noble gift cards that he won today at school. The first one was given because he was the student who had read the most books this school year. Then, he won another when his name was taken out of a raffle box. He also told me that he looked swag today. I said, “I do not know what that even means.” And he said, “It means I looked cool.” This was his outfit: jeans, a blue t-shirt, a black jacket with the sleeves rolled up, a bracelet worn on his wrist, neon green socks, and black hyperdunk sneakers.

This is the first I’ve ever heard of him even caring to look swag.

*****

Happy Friday!

hamburger dinner quiche

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Shanda

Good morning friends! I am feeling quite productive this morning. After getting the kids off to school I got into my car and drove poor poor Gentleman Gray to the vet. When he returns back home he will no longer be Gentleman Gray, he will be Gentle”man” Gray. LOL He yowled all the way to the vet but did seem soothed when he heard my voice saying, “It’s okay, kitty kitty kitty”…so I did that, a lot.

After leaving him, I went to the grocery store. It was 8:00 in the morning and the place was quiet and nice actually. I’m finally beginning to slow down, now that I am adjusting to life with no children during the day. So I slowly pushed my cart all over the store and slowly made decisions about what to purchase. It was great. I bought a cart full and then left, bought a medium coffee from McDonalds and ate a banana on the way home.

I brought in the groceries and put things away. Then, I made a quiche and some sausages for lunch whenever the two big boys downstairs decide to get up for the day (Jacob and Michael).

I scrubbed out the bathroom garbage can with bleach and soap water, and used Stainless Steel cleaning spray on my appliances and the trash can in the dining room. I walked down to the coop to let out the hens and give them treats, gathered two eggs and gave one to Parker (he gets one a day), said hello to Samantha cat who stretched up on my leg for some petting, clawing me in the process. It is already approaching 60 degrees which is wonderful for this part of the country, a fine beginning to a New England spring.

Since it’s been about a week since the last egg recipe, I thought I would share another that I made last night for the first time. It was well received by everyone in the family ages 10 and up. (Seth and Sarah did not like it as much). I found the recipe at the taste of home website and adjusted it according to my desires…..

This recipe uses 8 eggs.

H a m b u r g e r D i n n e r Q u i c h e

1 pound ground beef
1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches)
8 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt (omit for lower sodium diet)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divided

In a large skillet, cook the beef over medium heat until no longer pink. Meanwhile, line unpricked pastry shell with a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Bake at 450° for 5 minutes. Remove foil; bake for 5 minutes more. Set aside.
Drain beef; place in a large bowl. Add the eggs, sour cream, milk, onion, cornstarch, salt, pepper and 1 cup cheese. Pour into crust. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.
If necessary, cover the edges of crust with foil to prevent overbrowning. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Let stand 5-10 minutes before cutting. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Serve with salsa and sour cream.

“this is good!”

“smells just like hamburger helper!”

PS, The quiche I made this morning was egg and cheese using another 8 eggs.

PSS, you are loved. don’t forget.

cream cheese sheet cake

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Shanda

cake

eggs contain the highest quality protein you can buy
egg yolks are one of the few foods that are a naturally good source of Vitamin D

~ thinkegg.com

I thought I would start a category here on the blog of recipes which use five or more eggs. This will make a good resource for anyone out there who has a flock of chickens and is trying to use up eggs. I’ve been keeping hens for years now and last spring I went a little overboard with ordering new chicks. We have a flock of 20+ hens which each industriously lay one egg a day. These fresh, beautiful eggs are like little treasures and I love to use them up in the kitchen. (I’m wanna be just like Bubba in Forrest Gump, only I’ll be spouting off egg facts and recipes instead of shrimp…..”goals”….) 🙂

**********

I made this cake last night for the first time and it was delicious. I like sheet cakes as they are thinner than a typical cake, and more like a soft bar cookie easy to eat “out of hand”.

This is a good recipe to use if you are going to a potluck, as it makes 30 servings.

Cream Cheese Sheet Cake

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons butter, softened
2 packages (3 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
2- 1/4 cup sugar
6 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/4 cups cake flour

frosting:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add flour; stir until well blended.

Pour into a greased 15 in by 10 in by 1 inch baking pan. Bake at 325 for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

For frosting, in a small sauce pan, combine sugar and milk; bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover and cook for 3 minutes (do not stir). Stir in butter and chocolate chips until melted. Remove from the heat; cool slightly. Stir, then frost the top of the cake.

family photo album

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Shanda

This morning I got up at about 6:30 to find Ethan just about to make waffles, Jacob getting ready to go see Emily and take her to school, Grace and Dave ready & waiting for the bus, Michael’s rooster-crowing alarm going off so he could go jogging, and Sarah already awake and playing with toys.

I thought I had to take Gentleman Gray to the vet and got 10 minutes down the road before I got to thinking and realized his appointment was for the following week……sooooooo, I came back home, washed the syrup off Seth’s pants….as he told me it was “wear red and white to school” day, I hugged him because he was so dang cute, I got their snacks ready, waved to them as they rode away on the bus, then cleaned the kitchen and living room even though I didn’t want to. And now here I am on the couch ready to type up a blog post and then continue on with my day.

These are just some photos taken over the weekend. This one because I was walking around the (melted!) “long pond” and noticed I had one single friendly hen following me. All the rest of the flock was back at the coop where I had just stopped to give them treats and gather eggs.

We walked all the way around but didn’t see any signs of life in the pond, it was only wishful thinking.

See the dirt? she went barefoot!

Our other pond still has ice on it and Ethan was hitting golfballs. One of them landed on the ice and he went after it. The ice held but he stayed by the dock just in case.

I learned a new crochet pattern and made a dishcloth. Next one will be the basket weave, as suggested by my fabulous aunt.

David practiced shooting his bow.

I took the kids to church. Sarah said to me, “Don’t take a picture of my dress.” “Well, what should I take a picture of then?” “My shoes.”

She didn’t like wearing her dress, whenever she sat down it choked her so she would have to pull on the neck of it frantically to get herself breathing again. (slight exaggeration)

Rich was away with Caleb and Seth all day long for Caleb’s wrestling tournament. He ended up getting 6th place at States. Rich texted me the news with this picture. I was like, “awesome! when are you coming home?” 🙂

Yesterday I had a doctor’s appointment and some errands to run and as I was putting on my make up in the bathroom I looked down to see I had company.

During these extremely busy years of being a housewife/mama to a large family, one of the ways I give myself a *small pick me up* is by ~~buying jewelry at Tiffany’s every chance I get~~ going to Goodwill and/or the Thrift stores to see what treasures I can find. You never know! (I’m always looking for fiestware but only find a piece .001 % of the time) Yesterday I bought three framed pieces. One is Lady-slippers, one is Trilliums, and one is Violets. Two of them are signed and numbered prints and the other is a painting on velvet. I loved them because they are wild flowers that grow in our woods. Last week I bought the “Thank you for Not Smoking” sign which NO ONE understands but I think is funny because no one in my life smokes or would smoke at my house~ LOL. I bought it because of it’s irony, but also because it’s handmade embroidery in colors that i like and, only 50 cents.

This picture is for my parents because they hadn’t seen this gift and asked for a photo. It is a little felted bird within a little felted egg that their church mailed to Sarah as a “get well soon, we are praying for you” gift. Isn’t it so sweet?

This morning Jacob practiced the electric guitar.

Ethan drove himself to his dentist appointment and to school, looking very handsome indeed. His 18th birthday is SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t stand it.

nice clean eggs from my darlin’s

Isn’t it a wonder that God created birds that lay all different sizes, colors, and patterns of the humble egg? He loves variety! That’s why YOU need to be YOU!

View from the porch this morning.

(32 degrees)

lit candle, part of a hornet/bees nest I found on the ground in the woods, a Scarlet fiesta vase filled with branches of fragrant white flowers from Costco (which I keep sinking my face into and drinking in) and ………plain unromantic bananas. 🙂

And oh! I’ve had such a lovely walk in the May twilight; I stopped by the barrens and picked these Mayflowers; I came through Violet-Vale; it’s just a big bowlful of violets now — the dear, sky-tinted things. Smell them, Marilla — drink them in.”

Marilla sniffed obligingly, but she was more interested in Anne than in drinking violets.

~Anne of the Island

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ethan’s Waffle Recipe

2 eggs
1 3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tablespoon sugar

In a large bowl beat the eggs. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. Do not stir the batter between bakings. Makes 6 round waffles.

He doubled the recipe so we could freeze the leftovers. They can be popped in the toaster for a quick breakfast or after school snack. We eat them with butter and Grandpa’s homemade maple syrup.

old bananas, etc

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Shanda

I am eating this right now. It is so good…….

So last night I overfilled my goulash casserole and it dripped all over the bottom of the oven as it baked and filled the kitchen with smoke. As a result, I can’t make my lemon banana bread this morning until the oven self cleaner is done. It’s 34 degrees outside, the sun is shining brilliantly, my house is once again smelling of smoke as the oven cleans. I have windows and doors open to keep the smoke alarm from going off.

This morning the first thing she said to me was, “Can I put a puzzle together?” And then she asked me, “Are the Northern Lights REAL?” After questioning, I learned that she saw a picture of them in Kindergarten. The puzzle is of Alaskan animals and the Northern Lights can be seen in Alaska so I was floored by the entire conversation which occurred much too early in the morning (6:30am).

We bought this small piece of furniture this weekend from the guy down the road. He refinishes pieces and we really like him and his shop. It’s very rustic and down to earth. This small chest of drawers, very narrow but made of hard wood, has two shallow drawers and one deep drawer. From now on the mail and papers get stuffed into it rather than piled on the counter. The pile was driving me nuts.

I’m freezing..hold on…I gotta turn the fan off and shut the door….

We also bought this chest. The top opens and shuts without a latch which makes it easy to use and also no children or cats can get trapped inside of it. I’m using it to hold all the wrestling things and any back packs and bags that I can fit into it, in this way the spot near the door doesn’t have QUITE the pile of stuff it normally does in the evening. If I put a blanket on top of the chest Gentleman Gray will curl up and sleep on it too; it’s also a cat bed.

I went to the grocery store before I picked up David from newspaper club yesterday so I could get a few things for goulash dinner. And guess what? I discovered a new-to-my-grocery-store flavor of FAGE yogurt! It’s sooooooooo good!

ALSO this is very exciting…..Panera bread in the grocery store!!!!!! I discovered it yesterday by the hot soup station. I LOVE their tomato basil and I bought the white for the kids and as you can see, it’s almost gone already.

This is what I’m going to bake as soon as the oven is done cleaning itself. I said in a few posts back that I wanted to depend more on my cookbooks than the internet and when I realized this morning that I had old bananas, I went and sat on the floor by my cookbook shelf to search for a recipe……and it looks great. I found eggs in the coop this morning that I will use, too.

B A N A N A L E M O N B R E A D

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups mashed banana
6 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking soda
3 Tablespoons grated lemon peel

Grease 2 loaf pans or one bundt pan. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar. Blend in the eggs, bananas, and juice. Stir in the dry ingredients. Add the grated lemon peel. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

Of course, I don’t know how it will turn out. If it’s a flop I’ll come back online later and cross out the recipe.

Lastly, we (mostly Jacob and myself) have been currently working on a room in the basement and I wanted to show you our style of decorating. It’s not so much decorating than filling up……and we love it.

Our inspiration? “The Burrow” from the Harry Potter movies….here is a picture:

3305b4e6fb723aa2df9e54ff8a702093

Now, our room will not be the same because of the very unromantic drop ceiling but that’s beside the point. What we love is “clutter”, pillows, blankets, comfy lived in couches and chairs, rugs, books everywhere, all kinds of stuff hanging on the walls, just a very eclectic humble and cozy room…..

So far, this is what we’ve accomplished out of practically nothing (cast offs, things from the thrift store, stuff from our own storage that I had put away).

And by the way, this is only part of our basement. There is also a section which is a bedroom for three of the boys, an exercise room with a treadmill, and a storage room. This part is Jacob’s bedroom/PS4 video game room. When teenagers come over this is where they end up. Because it is the basement we threw caution to the wind and cheerfully hung things up everywhere (the walls were bare a month ago). And we aren’t done! Jacob is having just as much fun as I am with this space. It’s been a fun project for us.

Obviously not a very good photo of the curtains, but they are very cool vintage Star Wars curtains that I bought at Iroquois Antiques “back home” several years ago. David wants me to leave them to him in my will.

The wooden shelf to the far right of the photo next to the TV is Jacob’s rock collection.

The desk was already down there but they moved the two bookcases down, along with the blue chair and the rug. Michael and Jacob bought the coffee table from walmart but they are looking for another one, possibly a round wooden one.

(this is also Michael’s room when he stays the weekends with Jacob)

I bought the clock at Target. Army guys are solid medal from a tag sale. Cross stitched army guy also from tag sale. Art work from Emily to Jacob.

Old quilts covering our shabby old very very comfortable couch.

The black frame is from the Family dollar. The gold frame is from Goodwill…I love that it had seven spaces for my seven children.

“It’s not much, but it’s home” ~Harry Potter

*****

“Comfort is born out of use, therefore the comfortable houses seem to be the ones that have been lived in.”

“Clutter=finding solace and a little beauty in the things we cherish in our everyday lives at home and at work”

“I want my house to be comfortable, not perfect”

all quotes from a wonderful book titled A PERFECTLY KEPT HOUSE IS THE SIGN OF A MISSPENT LIFE. Not a life/decorating style for everyone, but I personally like it so much and it speaks my language for what an ideal home looks and feels like.