M-I-C --- See Ya Real Soon

Has it really been this long since I posted? I guess it has been my 12 days of Christmas. Time has flown by -- though not how I anticipated.

I fully intended to post more frequently. I certainly didn't intend to miss my weekly postings at the least! I guess this just means I won't run out of things to say in the near future. If I could just carve out the time and energy to say something.

Mostly I just want to touch bases with my bloggy friends. I don't want to lose my vast numbers of readers due to laziness!

See ya reeeall soon~

(If you have never watched Mickey Mouse Club reruns, I apologize for my post title)

Christmas Craft: Snowman Ornament

I combined and idea I saw here with an idea I saw here and we made these snowmen.



Make sure you use microwave popcorn. We used regular popcorn and it turned out okay eventually.

We are going to make some other stuff with clear ball ornaments too. What have you made with them? (They are 50% off right now at Joann's if you can get to one).

I am thankful for the icy weather that is forcing me to NOT finish my Christmas shopping and TO spend time doing fun things with my younger kids. We have several fun things lined up just in case the weather stays icy. What do you do with your kids when you are stranded at home?

Laurel's Blog, New Update

For anyone who has been following my cousin's progress after being burned in a car accident, there is a new update here.

As the update mentions, her husband was laid off after the accident as well. His employer loved him but there is just not a huge demand for custom cabinets right now.

If anyone is interested in making a donation to her family let me know. It would be a great charitable Christmas donation if you were considering one. There is an account set up in her town. Also, gift cards for anywhere including for food, clothing, utilities and gasoline are wonderful. I will make sure they get to her. They have no TV or computer either and she can't do much so I know she must be bored. I guess this is one positive about her hubby being laid off -- he can be with her and also drive her to appointments.

Many people in their situation still have several luxuries. When I spoke to her last I asked her if she had memorized all of the Perry Mason reruns since she can't do much. She just laughed and said no -- because they have no TV or computer. She reads some but can't hold a book for long periods of time. She has no iPod either, but they did get a CD player after the accident. The van had no player so theirs was in the van that burned.

Anyway, a few of you have asked me about updates so I thought I'd let you know there is one there now.

Stranded. Darn.

As I mentioned yesterday, it snowed here. And we don't get much snow in these here parts. So it's a pretty big deal.



Due to treacherous driving conditions because of ice, church was canceled yesterday. And all activities for tonight too. So we actually stayed home all day for two days!

May the snow stay long enough for me to get caught up on stacks of projects. You see, this way I can stay home, give rides to no one -- and still not be the villain who is not giving rides to anyone. Yes, that's the way uh-huh, uh-huh I like it. Uh-huh.

I loved staying all cozy all day yesterday. Except for playing in the snow of course.

We had nowhere to go. No agenda. It was pleasant.

I made the yummiest coffee cake evvv-uhr. Believe me when I say it.


You make the batter, pour pecan sauce over it, then bake it. Can you see it glistening?


I also made Salted Caramel Cocoa. With fresh whipped cream. And I mean fresh.
(That link no longer has the caramel sauce recipe so go here instead. This is a really, really great recipe and very versatile too).

Maybe it should have been ice cream!

I made mine a coffee. With a little something extra added. I discovered that Salted Irish Cream Caramel Coffee is very tasty indeed. Very.

I will be making these items on the first snow of the season every year. They are winners. In the taste category.

As for the nutrition category? Well, I'll just leave that one blank.

What kinds of foods make you feel all warm and snuggly? Any snow traditions (involving food or not).

(P.S. If you'd like to see more snow pics, you can look here, on our family blog)

Menu Plan Monday: Let It Snow!

Snow! Snow! Snow!

Soup! Soup! Soup!!!

We usually only get snow only once per year. Today is the day! It is a day to stay home and celebrate. The rest of the week is a possibility too, as the temperatures will stay very low.

Because we don't get much snow, not many of us know how to drive in it very well. Adding to the drama of the day, it is very cold, so some of our roads are closed because of ice. Okay, I don't care if you DO know how to drive in snow. Ice should not be skated upon in a car. Bambi comes to mind...

The news coverage is showing cars sliding everywhere -- on side streets, on freeways, on BRIDGES! People are getting out and walking around. They are stopping and putting chains on cars. Very dangerous.

My niece was told she had to find a way to get in to work today at Nordstrom. Treacherous. Shame on Nordstrom. I am glad she stayed home anyway. I'd rather she lose her job than some other things she could lose. And who, may I ask, is even shopping today around here?

Menu Plan for the week:

Today I am making coffee cake, Salted Caramel Hot Cocoa (adapt to coffee for me) and French Onion Soup. Will probably throw in some Nacho Spuds this evening when we watch a movie, snuggled together under blankets. If we have electricity.

The rest of the week I am making more soup. Check my sidebar for tons of tried and true, yummy soup links.

And Macaroni and Cheese. Or Loaded BBQ Potato casserole.

And maybe a roast, cooked in a dutch oven just like my grandma used to make for me, served with mashed potatoes.

Comfort food week. (Obviously I am not abiding by the food prescription my ND has me on this week. I told her I am taking a break for Christmas and she was fine with that).

Next Saturday we will celebrate Christmas with my husband's side of the family. It is also one of my son's 14th birthday. My MIL is a great cook and always makes comfort food. And each of us gals are also bringing part of the meal. I like taking salads and desserts best. We'll see what she wants me to bring.

I'll be working this week on our food plans for Christmas. My extended family does a soup cook-off and a cookie bake-off, usually on Christmas Eve. The gathering is at our house. We even give out awards. I'll show you later.

I am looking forward to The Princess (little sister) coming into town from California. She always stays with us over Christmas Eve night. She isn't married so doesn't have children and enjoys seeing ours get their stockings and gifts on Christmas morning. Sometimes some of my brothers stay over too. It's very festive.

Have a hunker-down-and-relax-under-warm-blankies-with-those-you-love kind of week!

Soup's On! Saturday: Past Soup Links

For Soup's On! Saturday today, I have finally finished linking each soup recipe on my side bar. I am still working on linking for a couple unlisted blogs. Other than that, they are all there I think! Look to the right, under my S.O.S. button. And, please, take the code for your blog too. Enjoy this week's festivities. And, if you live near me, stay safe in the impending snow and possible ice! Enjoy! We don't get it much. (If you want to link, leave me a comment and I will put up a Mr. Linky.)

Surmisionist History

Today I went with my Older and Wiser Sister with four of my children to O.M.S.I. For you who are not local, that is the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

We went to a planetarium show called Cosmic Collisions.

Robert Redford's classic voice narrated our show.

The pretty lights on a dark background, the dimensional planets and stars, and the movements that made my two year old turn around and snuggle close when he thought the planets were really coming at us were all mesmerizing.

Some of the ideas they presented were fascinating -- such as a spaceship possibly using gravity to slowly steer huge and devastating meteors away from earth.

I am assuming neither Mr. Redford, nor the writers, directors or producers of the the production were there when the Milky Way or the moon were formed. I mean, Mr. Redford is getting a teeny bit older. But not THAT old. Not as old as dirt. Or space dust.

There were no witnesses. No written word. No verbal word. No stories passed from one generation to the next.

Therefore, making "this is what happened" statements, and presenting theory as fact, is misleading my children.

Way to get my dander up.

(You've probably heard of "revisionist history"? That means someone has revised history, changed it from one form to another. But when history is told with no knowledge of what happened, when they just surmise about what happened, does that means it is surmisionist history? )

Several times they even alluded to knowing how long something took to happen or to form -- "it is hard to believe but the moon was formed in just one month". Something else took a week, something else six months. And they seemed to have figured out just how long it will be before the Milky Way collides with the galaxy Andromeda too. They have clearly figured out what happened to the earth that caused the demise of Dino. And they spelled it out in gorgeous animation that made it look real.

To quote a much loved and missed character "Danjuh, danjuh, danjuh".

I'm so grateful I was with my kids so we can discuss the difference between fact and theory. Who knows how inaccuracies, however they are conveyed, can have a lifelong affect on our lambs?

Be wary mom and dad. Talk about everything.
Discuss.
Debate.
Do Not Assume.
Demand truth be told to these trusting little ones in your care.

"...be ye therefore wise as serpents..." (Matthew 10:16)

How will you wrap it?

I think we've all probably seen the words "Where's George?" stamped on money. I think it is kind of fun to go to their site and see where your money has been.

I have recently stumbled upon a newer product that also has a tracking feature. This one encourages reusing and recycling.

Wrapsacks are cute cloth bags for shopping, gifts and wine. You can buy several different styles and colors. They even offer a reusable greeting card that doubles as (or can be reused as) a business card or gift card holder.

The shopping bag, "Zipsack", folds down and zips into convenient small package that is easy to keep in your car or diaper bag. It then folds out into a larger sized shopping or tote bag -- "From wallet sized to shopping bag in 3.6 seconds" (you can even watch a video of this on their website).

The gift bags come in several sizes, shapes and colors, and they even offer a value pack with a variety. Pricing is about the same as a high end paper gift bag, or twice the price of a paper gift bag at a box store. If you use them at least twice in your own home, for same house family members, you will have paid for it already when you pass it, making it be essentially free.

What I think is especially fun about this product is that they offer a program called Track-A-Sack. Each sack comes with a unique number sewn inside. When you buy it, you can go online and register it. You can name it, list where it is going and/or who it is going to and what is in it. You can even set a goal for the bag such as saying you want it to go from your town, across the country, and back again. Then you encourage your recipient to regift the bag and track it's progress, and so on. What fun -- and an educational idea for your kids too.

I just got a few of these for some of the gifts I am giving this Christmas season. The bag will be part of the gift. They are kind of hippie prints but fun!

Lemonade Award

I got my first blog award on Thanksgiving week. Barb at Southern Dining Diva gave me the Lemonade Award. It is an award for those who show great attitude and/or gratitude on their blogs. I am guessing it is called Lemonade because of the saying "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade".

Here's the cute award:

I know I am not always positive. But I do try to be encouraging. I think if I am not at least somewhat open, I present an untrue picture of myself and life.

I think it is discouraging when I read blogs where someone appears to be perfect and have a perfect life all of the time.

And make crafts and good food and take walks and have sheer, crisply starched curtains billowing in the breeze at the windows while trendy soothing music plays.

And babies play at her feet as she knits -- after homeschooling kids who always have happy hearts and are good artists.

Even though she has never had a professional pedicure and doesn't need time to herself outside of reading the latest quilting magazine and decorating her home and preparing gourmet meals to the delight of her ALWAYS adoring husband.

It's the comparison thing I talk about in my "Why But I Had A Tiara" post on my sidebar. I get that feeling that I just can't measure up.

Well, because I can't.

So I hope that is my little bit of encouragement to you -- don't compare yourself to what you read here or on anyone else's blog. You are only seeing what you are shown. And we don't like to broadcast our shortcomings and struggles as much as the happy things and the things we do have a handle on (even if we don't, it's not that hard to make it sound like we do!).

If you think for a minute that I have my act together, you are deceived:)

I am supposed to pass this award along. I am just so happy that I know TWO women who have been miraculously healed in the past month of serious sickness. How many times do you hear of THAT? They have had hearts trusting God through it all.

I asked for prayer for Elizabeth a few weeks ago. She is my friend from church and our small group ("House Church") who I got to know at Women of Faith. I want to make sure you read her update on her blog "Elizabeth Embracing Life". She was HEALED and it is documented in medical records! She is a mother of five, and was looking at horrible treatment but she was trusting in the Lord all along.

Deena is another lady whose blog, "Can I Be Pretty In Pink?" , I read regularly. I was initially attracted to her blog because of the little bird on her header. But, boy! I have been blessed by her spirit and grace as she has walked through serious, life-threatening cancer.

I'd like to give this award to these two ladies. Because when life gave them lemons, they not only made lemonade, but they looked around to see who might want some.

And I hope they will pass it on.

You ladies bless me.

Thank you Barb for the sweet award, my very first one. It will also remind me for the future how powerful our words are.

Pantry Raid: Craft Projects, Charity, Calendars and Cards

I have not yet accomplished everything from last week I had hoped to by now. But I've been working on it.

I did have a photo session with my kids in hopes of getting a photo to use. I did get a picture I love. But I can't find a card formatted properly to accommodate it so I still have not ordered our cards. Time's a wastin'. (UPDATE: Yeah! I ordered the cards Monday morning!)

I have made progress but am still working on the calendar. I did do several fun things with the kids this week, which is the point of working on the calendar. So, yes, I am making progress.

I completed a craft project I have wanted to complete for several years, a banner made with felt. It has 24 smaller felt pieces, each representing something special about who Christ is and why we celebrate His coming. I will be posting (hopefully) more about that on our family blog.

How did you do this week?

This is about encouragement, about freedom and about getting things DONE! It's about being purposeful with our time and priorities, about setting and completing goals. You can link anything related to that or to any of the past Pantry Raid themes.

But we still have to call it Pantry Raid, cuz I just can't give up those undies:)

Menu Plan Monday, December 8-14

This past week was crazy. You will see several repeats because we had a few fairly sudden changes of plans so the planned meals had quicker substitutions.

This coming week will be very busy too. I had planned to go visit my grandma but am delaying that until January. With so much to do and a hubby that will be working hard this month, I decided the timing was not good. I am extra sad because my sister is visiting from Indiana for a family event and we would have had more time together. Sniff.

If I just say I don't want to cook, will one of you feed my family?

Basketball season is just beginning. We have two games this week (for one son) then a lull until the new year. After that I will pretty much be living in area gymnasiums. Only three boys in basketball this year instead of four so it might be a bit easier than last year!

Monday: House Church, eat early -- Italian chicken and rice in crockpot.

Tuesday: Basketball Game Nacho Spuds

Wednesday: Chili and cornbread

Thursday: Basketball Game, try new soup for Soup's On! Saturday

Friday: Oldest Son's 19th Birthday! Out to dinner:)

Saturday: Loaded BBQ Potato Casserole
I will make my own BBQ sauce and cook the pork outside on the Traeger that morning. The pork will be great for my college aged son to take in wraps for lunches next week too.

Sunday: Dinner in crockpot so it will be ready to eat when we get home from church.
Crockpot Barbeque Beef and Bean Burritos

Soup's On! Saturday: Tex Mex Turkey Soup

Sorry I am a little late today. I had problems with a sluggish computer. In fact, that's a large part of why I haven't posted more all week. But here I am:) Still with a very sluggish computer that needs Metamucil.

For details about S.O.S. click on my little S.O.S. blog button to the right. Feel free to copy the code to post on your blog too!

I wanted to post a recipe this week that used TURKEY. After all, I cooked two of them for Thanksgiving and I wanted to use it all up. Every last morsel and drip.

I found a recipe we enjoyed, with our own modifications of course. Why is that anyway? If I get a recipe, it can be a recipe that is perfectly tasty -- and I still have to modify it. What is it that compels me to do so? I guess we just want our own special brand? Whatever.

Tex Mex Turkey Soup (find original recipe here)
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Saute in butter or olive oil until onions are translucent then add:
2 teaspoons chili powder
1+ teaspoons cumin (Should I say it again? I LOVE cumin:)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon parsley
6 cups turkey broth (made with bone broth if possible)
2 quarts canned tomatoes
2 anaheim chiles, roasted and diced
(instead of home canned tomatoes and chiles you can use canned if you wish)
1 and 1/2 cups salsa
1 pound COOKED beans of your choice (or one 14 ounce can)
1 cup corn (my hubby doesn't like corn so I go easy on it, sadly. I know it is unamerican.)
4 cups shredded turkey
Heat until bubbly then let it simmer for at least 30 minutes. I put mine in the crockpot and left at all day so the flavors could mingle. Then stir in:
4-8 ounces cream cheese
Stir until melted then add:
Sour cream, creme fraiche or plain yogurt to taste
Cilantro to taste

Serve topped with any/all of the following:
tortilla chips
sour cream
green onions
salsa
cilantro
avocado
tomatoes
olives
CHEESE

How have you used your turkey leftovers? Any soups today?

I am hoping to tell you about another way I used up our turkey in my Menu Plan Monday post. But I will be traveling to see my Grandma so am not sure if I will get it posted or not.

Don't forget about Pantry Raid: Craft Projects, Charity, Calendars and Cards on Monday as well.

Here's Mr. Linky in case you'd like to post a soup recipe this week too.




Have a great week!

Pantry Raid:Thanksgiving Cleanup Edition

How are you doing on your Thanksgiving Cleanup?

If you are like me, your list is starting to get long. With Christmas coming plus two birthdays in December, I have to practice what I P-reach.

The first P is Prioritize.

The second P is DO NOT Procrastinate!

My priority today is to finish this list so I can be completely done with one holiday before I begin another. Thanks for keeping me in line!

I am making progress. I have highlighted in bold the things I have completed. Hopefully they will all be done before I go to bed tonight.

Checklist:

~ Menu Plan for this week so I stay on track (done)

~ Make sure all china and special dishes are clean and put away (done)

~ Tidy up pantry (done)

~ Tidy up fridge

~ Put grill and pellets back under shelter (done)

~ Launder, hang dry, and put away fall tablecloths (drying now)

~ Put away fall decor to prepare for Christmas decor

~ Make broth from both sets of turkey bones. I just can't use the C word, it is too gross to me (both sets have been stewing all night)

~ Make plans for all broth and meat or freeze by Monday evening

~ Check pricing for another (humanely raised) turkey for the freezer and maybe one to give away to one of our pastors and his family (checked all the stores I know of around here and no one has turkeys on sale that I can find.)

Do you have a list? I am not putting up a Mr. Linky, but if you decide to post about your list just leave the specific URL in the comments section.



Next week will be "Pantry Raid: Craft Projects, Charity, Calendars and Cards" --

If there are craft projects you've said each year you are going to do, plan them now!

If there is a certain charity you'd like to help out with or a fundraiser you'd like to do, take the steps you need to take to get going on it.

If there is a certain activity(s) you want to participate in, find out the dates, put them on your calendar and prepare for them now.

If you are doing a Christmas photo of your family, take it this week (if you haven't already) and get your cards ordered. Make sure you have all of the addresses you will need to get them in the mail. Buy stamps.

Menu Plan Monday, December 1-7

If you don't want to read my Thanksgiving Menu recap but just came for Menu Plan Monday, please scroll down:) You can view more Menu Plans each Monday at www.orgjunkie.com. Also, you can click on this link for another post she did today and you will see some great information for making freezer meals. Whether you are a newbie at this or if you are a wizened old timer, you will find a compilation of helpful tutorials, tricks and recipes including making a month of meals. I will definitely be going back there after we have eaten alot of the stuff I froze this summer and actually have room in a freezer again!

Thanksgiving Menu In Review: I noted on last week's post that I did not make the snickerdoodles. I also did not make the green bean casserole as we already had more salad than we could eat.

The frozen turkey I brined with a homemade brine and smoked on our Traeger grill was the crowd pleaser. Everyone liked the free range, Williams-Sonoma brined turkey too. But for the added expense, with the obvious preference by most for the smoked turkey, I think I will save some bucks next year and buy 2 (humanely raised) frozen turkeys and smoke them both.

The apple pie was a first try recipe and it turned out wonderfully.My little girl and I made it together ( as we did most of the meal). The crust recipe turned out perfect. I will use this crust recipe even for other pies. I will be posting pictures on our family website later this week.

This week: I have a couple gallons of extra milk this week as one of our subscribers could not come and pick theirs up. So I actually get to make some things with milk. You'd think with our own cow I'd have lots of opportunity to do so, but we don't keep enough of it for ourselves to get to do this very often. So I will be making butter and cheese this week as well as some creme fraiche (as requested) for my MIL. I also started a buttermilk culture for a turkey brine and kept a quart of it for later. I will probably use this for pancakes or some other treat for the kids for breakfast.

I also finally found a sourdough crock for a reasonable price so am excited to start a "sponge" or "mother".

Monday: I will be on the run this evening taking kids to activities. Soup in crockpot. Trying a new turkey based soup for Soup's On! Saturday.

Tuesday: Maple Chile Glazed Pork with brussels sprouts

Wednesday: Teens to youth group, eat dinner early, White Sloppy Joes on homemade buns. I will again let the breadmaker do most of the work for the buns, but will let them raise longer as we don't keep our house very warm. I am going to "invent" a white sloppy Joe sauce using leftover turkey (frozen for freshness) as the base and will post a recipe of some sort later if we like it.

Thursday: Christmas Outing with friends early, dinner on the fly

Friday: Nacho Spuds

Saturday: Loaded BBQ Potato Casserole
I will make my own BBQ sauce and cook the pork outside on the Traeger that morning. The pork will be great for my college aged son to take in wraps for lunches next week too.

Sunday: Dinner in crockpot so it will be ready to eat when we get home from church. Also, 2 of our sons have a class today and for the next four weeks so we can't be as leisurely as we normally are on Sundays. Crockpot Barbeque Beef and Bean Burritos

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for "Pantry Raid: Thanksgiving Cleanup Edition".

Have a "get the Christmas lights up but revel in the true meaning of Christmas" kind of week!

Soup's On! Saturday: Turkey Broth

For Soup's On! Saturday! I just want to remind you to use your turkey bones to make healthful broth. We are having company for dinner tomorrow and I am using ours in place of chicken broth in a delicious recipe. Chicken and turkey broth is often interchangeable, though turkey does have a taste all it's own. The week after Thanksgiving is a great time to experiment with this.

If you click here you can view my post about using chicken for three meals. I can get many more out of a turkey! It also contains the link to the article "Broth Is Beautiful" if you want a reminder about how to make the best broth you can.

I am not using Mr. Linky this week, but I'd love to see your soup recipes, especially those using turkey, next week!

Pantry Raid: Refrigerator Edition

It is 11 at night and I just finished cleaning our fridge. It has been a busy day! I also was able to get many of the veggies cut up for our Thanksgiving meal.



Here is the main part of the fridge. I got all of our shopping for Thanksgiving done today and I was even able to fit it all in the fridge. Well, except for the two turkeys, which are iced in a cooler waiting to be put into brine tomorrow.

You can't see the containers very well, down in the produce bins, but I washed all of the produce in the produce wash and got it cut up and ready for use. This is often a goal of mine as I bring groceries home. I rarely get it done until right before I use it. So I am going to sleep tonight feeling like my ducks are at least sort of in a row.


Below is our refrigerator door. Obviously it is full. We have many condiments as well as health supplements in the door. The garage looking thing is a special compartment for dairy products. We can set it to stay cooler than the rest of the fridge.


Thanks for keeping me accountable. When people ask me how I have time to blog, I think about things like this, where blogging helps me stay more organized, and I can honestly answer people by telling them so. With the busy-ness of this week, I definitely would not have gotten this done if I hadn't told you I would be raiding my fridge! If any of you decide to do the same, post anytime this week.

I was thinking about what I'd like to make sure I get done for Pantry Raid next week. For me, it will be the loose ends I need to take care of from this week in the kitchen. I will need to make sure all of my special hand wash dishes get washed and put away and check the fridge and pantry to be sure they are still clean and straightened. I will need to make sure there is no gravy dripping down the fronts of the cabinets and no boil overs going rancid in the oven. I will need to make sure I make broth from the turkey bones and use or freeze the leftovers. And who knows what else? So next week, it will be Pantry Raid: Thanksgiving Cleanup.

Have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving!

Menu Plan Monday, Thanksgiving Edition

Especially with the economy being weak, I know I am blessed. My husband has a good job, we have a beautiful, warm home and plenty to eat. My family is healthy, I have a bounty of friends and family, my life is full of love and good things. Mostly, I have a Savior who knows me and loves me -- not only despite my many shortcomings, but He loves me just the way I am. I hope that, no matter what your circumstances this year, you too can rest in His abundant love.

~ Don't forget about my Saturday carnival "Soup's On!Saturday. You can now take my SOS button (scroll down in right side bar for code)

~ You can also put my Tiara Button on your blog (code also in sidebar)!

~ And tomorrow (afternoon) is Pantry Raid: Refrigerator Edition

Now for my menu...

I will be preparing for Thanksgiving most of the week, so have purchased a couple pre-made Costco meals. I know it's scandalous, but I do it on occasion:)

Monday: Hubby and 4 boys to Blazer game. It will be just Mimmers, Little Man and Moi. I think I will pick up sushi on my way home from doctor's appointment.

Tuesday: Costco Meat Pizza (these huge pizzas are only $9.99 each)

Wednesday: Costco Chicken Fettucine

Thursday: See below for Thanksgiving menu

Friday- leftovers, make bread for sandwiches

Saturday- Nacho Spuds (if there aren't enough leftovers)

Sunday - White Chili with Fixins (use turkey broth in place of chicken broth)

Thursday: Thanksgiving!!! Most years I make the dinner and we have friends and family come share the day with us. Many times they are friends or acquaintances who don't have anywhere else to go because family is busy or out of town. We wanted to make sure there is always a place where our kids can invite friends, where people we know (or don't know) have a place to go to share this special day. This year, many of our own families are busy with their own children or out of town. So we will get to enjoy four or five of my single siblings, some friends -- and whomever else drops in, of course!

On the proposed menu:

Homemade Cranberry Salsa served over cream cheese with crackers (Made Monday)

Hot Artichoke Dip with Tortillas (Make Monday)

Baked Brie in Puff Pastry with fresh northwest apple and pear slices (Make on Thanksgiving Day)

Buttermilk Brined Turkey (started to brine Tuesday night)(bird in at 7:30)

Turkey with rub, brined, stuffed with citrus peels, smoked on Traeger Grill (smoking instructions here) (put in to brine Wednesday night)(bird in grill at 7am)

Cranberry Sauce from Trader Joes (YUM)

A token and traditional little dish of olives

A token and traditional little dish of pickles

Parmesan and Black Pepper No Knead Bread (made Tuesday, baked Wednesday. Doubled and cooked in 8 quart Le Creuset French Oven)

and

Dilly Rolls - I make these every year (Make Thursday)

Sparkling Juice

Mulled Cider

Layered Basil Salad - This is one of my favorite salads. Have I mentioned that I love basil? I will not include the ham (made Wednesday)

Green Bean casserole (I use the good ole Durkee Fried Onion recipe)

Broccoli Salad - Will omit mushrooms and substitute cranberries for raisins. (Made Wednesday)

Awesome Sausage, Apple and Cranberry Stuffing (I have made this for several years and my family loves it. In fact this is what my sons say is the most important part of the meal for them! I usually use pork sausage) (make Thursday)

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy DUH! -- My mashed potatoes are made from real potatoes. I mash them and add butter, sour cream, cream cheese and then fresh cream to desired consistency. Then season with sea salt. Yu-Hum. (make Thursday)

Dessert: I just love cookies dipped in coffee. That's the "me" in the dessert menu:)

Caramel Apple and Pecan Pie (hubby's choice) with fresh northwest organic apples (using Tyler's recipe, but adding toasted pecans with each layer) Served with farm fresh whipped cream (made Wednesday)

Peanut Butter Pie (my sons and brothers love this)

Frostbite Cookies (find basic recipe here, I have adapted it)

Toffee Studded Snickerdoodles (Skor or Heath toffee bits with no chocolate is very hard to find around here the past few years. I have one bag set aside which my sister brought to me from California) Not making. Will make at Christmas. Too much dessert planned!

Spice Cookies with Pumpkin Dip - These are the very best gingerbread type cookies I have ever had. Moist and chewy. I have made this every year for probably 8 or 9 years. I make the dough and put in fridge overnight. Then, it has become a tradition for my husband to make it into balls rolled in sugar with the kids. It is a fun way to mark the start of all of our holiday festivities -- it also takes a fairly time consuming task off of my hands:) (made dough Wednesday morning)

Fresh Coffee brewed in a French Press served with real, fresh cream
(Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce syrup added if you want:)

May your heart be reminded this week of your many blessings,

Soup's On! Saturday: Cream of Dill Pickle Soup

Do you see how suh-weet it is? My Fairy Blogmother made a button for me for Soup's On! Saturday! And she made me a little one too, so if you want to include a little bloggy bling in your side bar or in your SOS post, you can go to my sidebar and pick up the code.

While you are at it, you can also pick up the code for my Tiara blog button. Aren't they Uh-Door-ubble? Fairy Blogmother has been busy! Now we're talking TWO tiaras. Okay, so what if one of them is floating in a bowl of soup? If you do pick up a button will you tell me so I can go see how adorable it looks on your pages?

This week's soup is one I searched for for years. Wait, that looks awkward.

It is a recipe for which I had searched for many years. Still awkward.

I wanted this recipe for years and, despite searching high and low, I was unable to attain it. Okay, that's better. Proper without sounding too stuffy.

A few years ago -- okay, it was quite a number of years ago, I had this soup which sounds very unlikely to be as delicious as it really is.

My friend Evelyn was the leader for a pretty big Christian Women's Club in the Northwest. I did not attend her group but, this particular evening she had asked me to be the guest music. The evening I sang we went to a lovely restaurant called The Trianon in SW Portland (I sang Sandy Patti if that gives you an idea of how long ago it was. I think I was about 12, right?). It was a pretty fancy evening, and they had menus printed for the occassion. When I glanced over my menu and saw this printed, I was dubious - to say the least.

Cream of Dill Pickle Soup

But everyone was served the same thing, so my steaming bowl came whether it sounded appealing to me or not, and I decided to taste it. It was delicious!

As I mentioned so eloquently above, I was unable to locate the recipe anywhere. And, since the Trianon closed down, I had not even been able to find a restaurant that served it. Now I can find several recipes, but this lady says her recipe is THE Trianon recipe. Can you believe it?! I was so surprised to finally be able to find this, so many years later.

Are you curious? Are you brave? Do you trust me? I wonder if my friend Sarah at House of Homer will make it for the next girls night?

Cream of Dill Pickle Soup
3 Tablespoons Butter
1/4 cup very finely chopped Onion
1/4 cup White Wine
1 and 1/8 cup Flour (or to desired thickness. Sub thickening agent of your choice, be aware amounts may vary.)
5 cups Chicken or Vegetable Stock
1 and 1/2 cups Dill Pickle Juice
2 teaspoons dried Dill Weed (I prefer using fresh to taste)
1/2 cup Heavy Cream, Whipping Cream or Milk (experiment with sour cream or plain yogurt)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Julienned Dill Pickle for garnish

Melt butter in your soup pot, add onion and saute until soft. Add white wine until almost all liquid evaporates. Reduce heat to low and stir in flour (do not brown). Whisk in water and pickle juice. Keep stirring to a boil then add dill weed. Stir in cream or milk, season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish individual bowls with julienned dill pickle.

I will admit I just found this and have not made it yet. But it is tried and true alright. I'd say that yearning for it since the days of singing Sandy Patti to a cassette soundtrack qualifies:) And, as soon as I am off this RX diet, I'll be making it myself. Much to the shock of my family. But I bet they like it...

Have a surprisingly good week (after you link and comment of course),

Pursuit of God and... I Was Tagged.

On Couch: Michelle, Niina, Amanda, Nichole (on floor),Becca, Moi
Behind Couch: Kasey, Karen, Darcy, Laura, Peggy (kneeling) Breanna, Chandelle
Missed: Jessica, Dawn, Adriana

For the past twelve weeks I have been able to sit with this wonderful group of women, once per week, as we discussed A.W. Tozer's book The Pursuit of God. Wow. Each woman had so much insight.

The book is deep and very thought provoking. It's one of those books that changes your mindset about many different things. There is so much freedom in many of God's principles, if we can only grasp their true meanings and apply them to our lives.

Discussing the different perspectives we each brought and pointing out passages that touched us as individuals really opened up the possibilities and gave me so much more to "chew on". I can't imagine that I would have been tenacious enough at this stage of my life to read this book on my own. If I did make it through, I would not have gained nearly as much from it as I did sitting with this group of ladies who, through these weeks of sharing our hearts and baring our souls at times, have become my sister-friends.















There are so many distractions with kids, homeschooling, etc. and the book is so deep and intense that I found it hard to really concentrate at home as I read each chapter, especially at the beginning. Using my highlighter helped alot. But then there were so many memorable passages, at times I would catch myself highlighting whole pages. If I keep it at hand, and begin to implement the things I read and the things I've discovered about myself through reading it, it will be a life changing book. Gather up a group of friends and read this book together!




Incidentally, my friend Emily over at Diary of An Accidental Farm Wife tagged me. I've never been tagged on my blog before. Or if I have been, I didn't know it. This one is fun because it gives you a snapshot into what someone else is reading. Emily's is from a book called Grandpa's Box and is an excerpt about Joseph.

I am supposed to grab the book nearest to me, go to page 56, down to the fifth sentence and then copy the next few sentences. Not surprisingly, The Pursuit of God was one of three books in a stack closest to me. My Bible was one of the other two, and page 56 is the cyclopedic index for the words Appetite to Aratus. The other is Praying God's Will for My Son by Lee Roberts (since I do have five sons!), and page 56 is a page left blank for notes. So Pursuit of God it is...then, at the bottom, I am going to tag some of you!

"The soul has eyes with which to see and ears with which to hear. Feeble they may be from long disuse, but by the life-giving touch of Christ they are now alive and capable of sharpest sight and most sensitive hearing.

As we begin to focus on God, the things of the spirit will take shape before out inner eyes. Obedience to the word of Christ will bring an inward revelation of the Godhead (John 14:21-23). It will give acute perception enabling us to see God even as is promised to the pure in heart. A new God-consciousness will seize upon us and we shall begin to taste and hear and inwardly feel God, who is our life and our all. There will be seen the constant shining of 'the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world' (John 1:9). More and more, as our faculties grow sharper and more sure, God will become to us the great All, and His presence the glory and wonder of our lives."


I only have to tag two people but I can think of many more from whom I'd love to see a book excerpt. So I will tag FOUR. I bet each of these three will tag someone else I wanted to tag.

If any of you happens to also be closest to The Pursuit of God, then open to the very middle of the book, start at the second full paragraph and copy several sentences or where you think there is a natural break. Otherwise, do as I did above and go to page 56, 5th sentence down...

I am tagging Elizabeth at Elizabeth Embracing Life, Dot at Absolutely Fabulous, Niina at The Candid Housewife and Darcy at The Flowering Tree.

Pantry Raid!!! Catch All Pantry Post

Sorry I forgot to hit "Publish Post" yesterday. Geesh



Now's your chance to post any miscellaneous tidbits about your panty. I mean, pantry.

Did you decide to post pics after all? Do you have a wonderful list system to keep your pantry well stocked? Do you use another area of your house to store food?

Pantry tips and tricks are invited and appreciated. Like, my grandma used to say you should keep a saltine cracker in salt to keep it from clumping. Or, I like using Sharpies on the lids of my spices. Because of where they are placed I can identify them more quickly. SuperDave recommends bringing a flashlight and a flyswatter if you have a pantry like his. And so on and so forth.

What's your tip?

Because I want to keep on saying Pantry Raid, and because of requests I've received, I am going to continue with Pantry Raid. Starting next Monday. So, hmmm... let's see. It is Thanksgiving week. So let's do Pantry Raid: Refrigerator Edition! What am I thinking? Our fridge is a disaster. I can really use the excuse to make sure mine is clean before all of the baking I will be doing on Wednesday. And it just isn't any fun to say "Refrigerator Raid", is it?

Next Monday, post before and after pictures, only afters if you prefer (ME), tips about fridges, keeping food in fridges, safety tips like what temp your food should be kept out or thrown away, what are your favorite containers for storing food, what you like on the outside of your fridge -- or whatever suits your fancy.

I'll see you next week and you'll see those funny panties again too. They are so cute.

And now, it's time for.....MR.LINKY! Link It baby.