Well, yet another football season and Super Bowl have come to an end. :( This is sad for us football fans. This marks the saddest time of year for sports fans(well, most sports fans), football is over but baseball hasn't started. BORING time of year indeed!
We did in fact watch this year's Super Bowl. You all know Kevin is a Viking's fan, but, well, they didn't go to the Super Bowl, so....We do like Eli Manning so we did watch and rooted for the Giants. And, YAY!! What a game. Love to see the Patriots go down as well. It was beautiful. :) I must say that Brady was pretty gracious in his speech post game. Not all players, teams, or fans are gracious winners and or losers. :)
As for the half time deal, this is, for the record, "MY" take on it. Madonna probably did a decent job, I don't know, we didn't watch. To be fair, we NEVER watch the Super Bowl halftime show. And I, too, was a huge Madonna fan in the 80's. Loved her! The incident with this M.I.A. person who I personally didn't even know existed(I know, I know, i'm so "out" of it) :), was sad. A very sad event indeed! I've read this morning on Fox News that both NBC and the NFL have apologized, and that both are basically pointing at the other for who is at fault. Lemme tell ya both, you BOTH are. As long as questionable performers(and I use that term loosely)are allowed to be part of shows like that, these things are going to continue to happen. It really doesn't take a genious to figure that one out!
As for the commercials, OH my. First of all, thankfully we pause the tv during commercials, always, especially during football, because we just aren't interested in watching them! We wanna see the game, not commercials. And second, thankfully Jason wasn't even in the room. He was down in the basement playing his Wii. But again, OH MY GOSH! I have seen now online some of what was shown, well not actually seen, but seen pictures and read the article. It's not like the game was broadcast at 2:00 in the morning when kids would be asleep! There were some commercials aired last night that are just. NOT. Appropriate. Period. I wonder how parents explained, or tried to last night to young kids about some of the commercials. I certainly wouldn't know how to. Again, I didn't watch them, but going by what I've read they were just not appropriate. There are times and places for certain things, and a Sunday evening, prior to even 8:00 mind you, on network television, is NOT the time. I assure you seeing a naked lady being painted on in a godaddy.com commercial is not going to make me go out and use godaddy.com. And again, this is my take on this. Not trying to speak for anyone else.
And now we start a new work and school week. :) Hoping for a good week for both.
February 06, 2012
February 05, 2012
Snow, birthday and Super Bowl
We've had a rather pleasant weekend here at the CO Lidh establishment. After Thursday evening's storm that lasted well into Friday evening. We ended up with just over 12" at our house. We've heard reports around various parts of Falcon anywhere from 7-13". A town, Calhan, which is I think about 20 miles northeast of here on hwy 24 got 22". Yikes! No one did much traveling around which was good. Not as many accidents as usual during inclement weather. Not that there weren't some really bad ones. Denver got wallopped with a good 20" as well. Most folks were happy to get the moisture as we've been so super dry!
Kevin worked from home both Thursday and Friday. Thursday was scheduled and Friday was due to the weather and road closures.
We had Michael's birthday cake yesterday but his actual birthday isn't until tomorrow. We celebrated by going to Hu Hot for dinner and it. was. AWESOME! We are definitely going back there.
Have a couple of recipes to put on here since I like having some of my recipes in more than one place if they are a hit with the family. :)
Potato-cheddar-beer soup:
SO easy. Melt 2 TBS butter in a large pot. Mix in one pouch of instant potato flakes(usually a box comes with two). Stir in one can chicken broth 4 drops tabasco sauce, and 1/4 cup of beer. I used lager. Then finally mix in between 1 1/2 and 2 cups shredded cheese. I actually used cheddar-jack today. Simmer for a good 15 minutes and enjoy. Kevin really likes it and again, SO easy to make.
Hot & spicy chicken legs:
Put 10-12 legs in crockpot and put little cubes of butter all over the pieces. About 1/3 cup total. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and garlic and onion powder, no set amount here, just sprinkle to taste to your liking. Sprinle cumin powder, smoked paprika and roasted ginger powder. Put little bits of dark brown sugar all over the pieces, about 1/3 cup total, and then sprinkle 1/4 cup hot sauce over it all. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours.
Happy cresent rolls:
Open 2 cans of Pilsbury cresent rolls and spread them out on cookies sheets. Mix together 1/2-1 cup cream cheese, grated mozzarella cheese, 1TBS chopped green chili or a chopped jalopeno pepper, and browned sausage(I use turkey sausage). Spoon mixture onto cresent rolls and roll up. Cook by the instructions on the cans.
Kevin worked from home both Thursday and Friday. Thursday was scheduled and Friday was due to the weather and road closures.
We had Michael's birthday cake yesterday but his actual birthday isn't until tomorrow. We celebrated by going to Hu Hot for dinner and it. was. AWESOME! We are definitely going back there.
Have a couple of recipes to put on here since I like having some of my recipes in more than one place if they are a hit with the family. :)
Potato-cheddar-beer soup:
SO easy. Melt 2 TBS butter in a large pot. Mix in one pouch of instant potato flakes(usually a box comes with two). Stir in one can chicken broth 4 drops tabasco sauce, and 1/4 cup of beer. I used lager. Then finally mix in between 1 1/2 and 2 cups shredded cheese. I actually used cheddar-jack today. Simmer for a good 15 minutes and enjoy. Kevin really likes it and again, SO easy to make.
Hot & spicy chicken legs:
Put 10-12 legs in crockpot and put little cubes of butter all over the pieces. About 1/3 cup total. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and garlic and onion powder, no set amount here, just sprinkle to taste to your liking. Sprinle cumin powder, smoked paprika and roasted ginger powder. Put little bits of dark brown sugar all over the pieces, about 1/3 cup total, and then sprinkle 1/4 cup hot sauce over it all. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours.
Happy cresent rolls:
Open 2 cans of Pilsbury cresent rolls and spread them out on cookies sheets. Mix together 1/2-1 cup cream cheese, grated mozzarella cheese, 1TBS chopped green chili or a chopped jalopeno pepper, and browned sausage(I use turkey sausage). Spoon mixture onto cresent rolls and roll up. Cook by the instructions on the cans.
January 30, 2012
Weekend and crafts
We had a *sort of* quiet weekend. We ordered pizza Friday night and rented "Mulan", "Bolt", and "Cars II" to watch. We actually own the first two movies but can't find them. It doesn't do much good to only find the cases. It was a fun and restful way to spend a Friday evening. Saturday we woke up and decided to use a Cracker Barrel gift card we'd received for Christmas and went for brunch. We did some shopping at Sears for more work clothes for Kevin and then ran in Barnes & Noble. We did manage a stop at Starbucks and then had to run in WAL*MART for a few things before heading back home. We decided on the pizza again for Saturday night and watched Mulan since we'd only watched 2 of the movies Friday. Sunday evening I figured why bother with cooking NOW.....so we opted for burgers and shakes from Culver's and watched some of the Pro Bowl, and then various other stuff before calling it a weekend.
The picture is of our first attempt at making/weaving a pot holder. One of the projects/crafts from the primer. We're pretty proud of our little pot holder. :)
And now we have a new school week ahead of us that looks to be pretty busy. Guess I should probably get off here and look at today's lesson plan.
The picture is of our first attempt at making/weaving a pot holder. One of the projects/crafts from the primer. We're pretty proud of our little pot holder. :)
And now we have a new school week ahead of us that looks to be pretty busy. Guess I should probably get off here and look at today's lesson plan.
January 25, 2012
What I love about winter
I recently read on another blog, things about winter that make a person happy. Here then, is my list of what I love about winter:
1)snow falling
2)freshly fallen snow with no animal or human footprints
3)roaring fire in the fireplace
4)walking outside when it's snowing lightly
5)the pinkish tint to the sky as it is clearing after a snow
6)watching Jason try to shovel
7)staying in our jammies all day reading a good book
8)hot tea
9)popcorn(it somehow smells and tastes better in cold weather)
10)snuggling with my husband while watching tv
11)an unexpected kiss while out in the snow
12)fleece anything
13)a big pancake and sausage breakfast
14)Valentine's Day
15)Colorado
I'm sure there are plenty more things I adore about winter, but these are a few that top my list!!
1)snow falling
2)freshly fallen snow with no animal or human footprints
3)roaring fire in the fireplace
4)walking outside when it's snowing lightly
5)the pinkish tint to the sky as it is clearing after a snow
6)watching Jason try to shovel
7)staying in our jammies all day reading a good book
8)hot tea
9)popcorn(it somehow smells and tastes better in cold weather)
10)snuggling with my husband while watching tv
11)an unexpected kiss while out in the snow
12)fleece anything
13)a big pancake and sausage breakfast
14)Valentine's Day
15)Colorado
I'm sure there are plenty more things I adore about winter, but these are a few that top my list!!
January 21, 2012
Homemade bread with homemade butter!!
Today was our butter and bread making day as a project in The Prairie Primer. We looked forward to it all week! We started the butter making around 10:30 this morning. I personally wouldn't say it is easy, but it isn't hard. We used a Prego spaghetti sauce jar and lid that had been washed in the dishwasher. Needs to be clean and cooled. We used a pint of heavy whipping cream and there was probably an 1/8 cup left after pouring into the jar. You need to leave a couple inches from the top of the cream to the lid. Kevin and Jason took turns shaking it for about 16 minutes. It turned, or started to, into cream but we could never make it do more, so we turned to our ever handy stand mixer to complete the job. Using the whisk attachment with the cream in the bowl, turn it on high and let it go. The process took a good 20 minutes, maybe a little more to get the butter stage. It gets really, really thick and you think it's the butter. It isn't. It will "appear" to thin out a bit and liquid appear. That my friends is what you've been waiting for. Liquid and what will appear to be little clumps. Using a spoon, pour off all the liquid. This liquid folks, is buttermilk. Real buttermilk. You can put it in a container with a lid and make pancakes or biscuits etc. Now, holding it over a bowl, turn on the cold water. We use a Brita filter for drinking and cooking so we used that for this part as well. You run it under the water and then away from it and squeeze. Hold it under the water, then squeeze, over and over. Eventually it will look like butter and no clumps will fall off. Your butter is now ready. OH, and before putting the cream in the jar in the first place, use between a half teaspoon and teaspoon of salt. Put it in the jar first. We loved the taste of the butter. Very fresh taste. It won't keep in the fridge like store bought, but it will last several days(unless you use it all the first day).
We used this recipe for bread:
Egg Bread:
In a large bowl, dissolve 2 packets of yeast in 2/3 cup warm water at a temp of 110 degrees. Stir in 3 beaten eggs and 6 egg yolks, 1/2 cup canola oil, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 tsp salt. Add 3 1/2 cups flour and mix until a sticky dough forms. We used the mixer again for this with the dough attachment. Turn dough out on a floured surface and knead an additional cup of flour into it. Dough needs to be smooth and elastic, takes about 7 minutes. Place dough in a well oiled large bowl and turn to coat both sides. Cover with a damp cloth and place in a warm place until doubled in size, approximately 1 1/2 hours. Punch dough down and divide into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 12 inches long. Braid the 3 pieces together and seal edges. Place on a well greased cookie sheet. Beat one egg and add a pinch of salt and brush on dough. Let sit for 45 minutes. Bake in a preheated 375 oven for about 40 minutes, but just until golden brown and cooked through. It tasted great and was amazing with the butter!
We used this recipe for bread:
Egg Bread:
In a large bowl, dissolve 2 packets of yeast in 2/3 cup warm water at a temp of 110 degrees. Stir in 3 beaten eggs and 6 egg yolks, 1/2 cup canola oil, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 tsp salt. Add 3 1/2 cups flour and mix until a sticky dough forms. We used the mixer again for this with the dough attachment. Turn dough out on a floured surface and knead an additional cup of flour into it. Dough needs to be smooth and elastic, takes about 7 minutes. Place dough in a well oiled large bowl and turn to coat both sides. Cover with a damp cloth and place in a warm place until doubled in size, approximately 1 1/2 hours. Punch dough down and divide into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 12 inches long. Braid the 3 pieces together and seal edges. Place on a well greased cookie sheet. Beat one egg and add a pinch of salt and brush on dough. Let sit for 45 minutes. Bake in a preheated 375 oven for about 40 minutes, but just until golden brown and cooked through. It tasted great and was amazing with the butter!
January 12, 2012
My Chili!!
Found a new chili recipe that I must share. Mind you I have NOT tried it, but it is currently simmering in my crockpot for tonight. We had purchased some red wine for a roast recipe we love and had some leftover so I went searching for recipes using red wine. This was the first I came upon and it sounded good(and smells good)so I chose it. It DOES make a lot but I suspect it freezes nicely for use in the future. There was no real name for it so I will call it "My Chili" =)
2 lbs lean ground beef(I use 96%)
1/2-3/4 cup dry red wine
1 box beef stock(not broth)
1/2 of a large can of crushed tomatoes
1 can of dark red kidney beans(do not rinse)
3-4 tsp chipotle chili in adobe sauce, just the sauce
2-3 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground garlic
1 medium onion chopped
3-4 T chili powder
I love recipes like this because you literally throw it all in the crockpot and mix! You do need to break up the beef a bit, but that's it! Cook on low for 5-6 hours. It smells good just mixing it, I cannot wait to try it. It says you can serve it with crackers, cornbread, biscuits, grits, or over rice. Also you can of course put shredded cheese, sour cream, whatever on it in your bowl.
We do not use a lot of sour cream, so when we do, I do usually use the whole fat. Sometimes I use Greek Yogurt instead. Same with cheese, none of my recipes use a whole lot of cheese so I tend to use full fat. I like the flavor better. I don't fall into that a lot, as I use things like fat free or 1% milk, but sometimes in recipes if it doesn't call for a lot, it really does make a difference to use whole fat. As for rice, I like to use either brown or whole grain. Grits, well, you don't mess with that! They are made one way, period!
2 lbs lean ground beef(I use 96%)
1/2-3/4 cup dry red wine
1 box beef stock(not broth)
1/2 of a large can of crushed tomatoes
1 can of dark red kidney beans(do not rinse)
3-4 tsp chipotle chili in adobe sauce, just the sauce
2-3 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground garlic
1 medium onion chopped
3-4 T chili powder
I love recipes like this because you literally throw it all in the crockpot and mix! You do need to break up the beef a bit, but that's it! Cook on low for 5-6 hours. It smells good just mixing it, I cannot wait to try it. It says you can serve it with crackers, cornbread, biscuits, grits, or over rice. Also you can of course put shredded cheese, sour cream, whatever on it in your bowl.
We do not use a lot of sour cream, so when we do, I do usually use the whole fat. Sometimes I use Greek Yogurt instead. Same with cheese, none of my recipes use a whole lot of cheese so I tend to use full fat. I like the flavor better. I don't fall into that a lot, as I use things like fat free or 1% milk, but sometimes in recipes if it doesn't call for a lot, it really does make a difference to use whole fat. As for rice, I like to use either brown or whole grain. Grits, well, you don't mess with that! They are made one way, period!
January 09, 2012
Creeping into the new year
It is already January 9th and I really haven't done diddly in those 9 days! The holiday season seems like a blur to me. It's like we had turkey day and then it was New Year's Day. I don't know how that happened! Of course we have been sick for a couple of weeks so that probably played a part in the blur. Fever can do that. :)
We are jumping back into school today for the first time since before Christmas. Jason will be reading "Winnie The Pooh" and then learning to write a book report. He will also be planning a "vacation" to WDW for a math unit. He will be told he has $3000 to plan a trip for 4 people. Curious to see what he comes up with. Also starting a new spelling curriculum from "Rod and Staff" that I'm excited about.
While being sick, we tried to be smart and think of things that could be easily made and could be made in amounts for leftovers. The crockpot is your friend. I've said it before and Imma sayin' it again. This is one of the things we tried and it was excellent so I will share it for my first recipe of 2012.
Crockpot Beefstew
spray cooking pot with cooking spray
put in a package of beef stew meat, small bag of baby carrots and a small bag of potatoes of some sort. Since we were sick and didn't feel like messing with it, we used both pre-peeled carrots and potatoes that were microwave ready. We only needed to cut the potatoes a bit smaller. One onion chopped large. In a large bowl mix 4 cups of beef stock(not broth), 1/2 cup dry red wine, and two packages any brand beef stew seasoning. Cook on low for 7-8 hours. That's it. Simple, filling and good. Especially with cornbread. :)
We are jumping back into school today for the first time since before Christmas. Jason will be reading "Winnie The Pooh" and then learning to write a book report. He will also be planning a "vacation" to WDW for a math unit. He will be told he has $3000 to plan a trip for 4 people. Curious to see what he comes up with. Also starting a new spelling curriculum from "Rod and Staff" that I'm excited about.
While being sick, we tried to be smart and think of things that could be easily made and could be made in amounts for leftovers. The crockpot is your friend. I've said it before and Imma sayin' it again. This is one of the things we tried and it was excellent so I will share it for my first recipe of 2012.
Crockpot Beefstew
spray cooking pot with cooking spray
put in a package of beef stew meat, small bag of baby carrots and a small bag of potatoes of some sort. Since we were sick and didn't feel like messing with it, we used both pre-peeled carrots and potatoes that were microwave ready. We only needed to cut the potatoes a bit smaller. One onion chopped large. In a large bowl mix 4 cups of beef stock(not broth), 1/2 cup dry red wine, and two packages any brand beef stew seasoning. Cook on low for 7-8 hours. That's it. Simple, filling and good. Especially with cornbread. :)
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