Home Comfort

Thanksgiving, yes....it's almost Christmas and I'm just now getting around to Thanksgiving.  This year we are switching up the routine.  Thanksgiving and New Year's with my family and Christmas with Riley's family.

Thanksgiving in New Mexico was lovely.  We had Mimi and Papa all to ourselves and enjoyed every second.  The girls had a little sleepover in the living room on the army cots.  Scout insisted on wearing Mimi's housecoat thing everywhere.  

We mostly wore pajamas and cooked and ate and cooked and ate.....all while wearing our pajamas.  ha

I was the pie girl and I do have to say the turned out well, even if it was my doing.  I combined the recipe from the pumpkin can and one that called for Eagle Brand milk.  It turned out nicely and I've posted it here.  This is just traditional pumpkin pie, but better than I remember pumpkin pie being.  Buttermilk and chocolate were delicious as usual.  That's a no-brainer!

 I love how my Mom and I are so alike.  Here she is calf-roping my children, which is something I would totally do.  Hilarious!!  They loved it too.

Home Comfort, well that means a couple of things here.  We cooked breakfast on the old Home Comfort wood burning stove that Friday morning.  It turned out yummy as it always does.  Mimi prepared it, Papa cooked it and I mostly just backed up to it for warmth.

Home Comfort is also that warm, fuzzy feeling we get when we get to spend time with those we love.  Home to me is just where my family is, not necessarily the house I grew up in.

 Here's to Home Comfort to you all this Holiday Season!!

Talky Tuesday

This was supposed to happen yesterday, or maybe even last Monday.  I guess my motto should be better late than never, because it seems like that's pretty much what I live by.  

Talky has always been a pretty good description of myself.  I need to have a name for every day of the week and try to stick with it.  Help or any takers?  It would be fun if we all did the same thing on the same day.

We've been busy running back and forth to Floydada.  What could be so great to go twice a week for three weeks (on our second week now)?  I am going to an Upper Cervical Chiropractor.  That is not your traditional roll-you-up-in-a-ball-crack-you-a-million-times chiropractor.  My hip and sciatic nerve have been bothering for over a month and I'm finally getting some relief.  If you want to know more I'd be glad to share the little I know.

My little workout-girl had to be dressed exactly like me.  She came outside and was looking for words to explain that she couldn't find her sports bra.  It was too funny.  I told her that her swim top would be perfect for the occasion.

 My little goober boy loves "haats", except when it comes to really wearing a cap or hat somewhere.  He found this little beanie in the baby doll/dress up drawer.  

 One day last week there was a delivery to our house.  Two yummy mango salsa candles from our neighboring farmer.  This man sent candles to about 6 or 7 of us that live near the farm land he was spreading manure on.  Seriously....how many men think like that.  I thanked him of course and then explained that he might have made a mistake because now I may expect a new candle every time he spreads manure.

 Scout is becoming quite the artist all of a sudden.  She is best at writing a bunch of letters and then asking me what it says.  Pretty funny!!  She can identify each letter, write them by name, tell what sound each letter makes, and name the letter by the sound.  We are doing a little school work when we are home.  I just picked up a floor notebook at Sam's and another workbook at Wal-Mart.  The rest is stuff that I already had or mom has given us.  Below are her Brahma drawings.  Her cousin, Trail aka Brahma Breeder, has instilled some serious Brahma pictures into her little mind.  

 The kids got to play in Tripp's new round pen sand last week.  Of course Max and Chief, our puppy Rocket's brother, joined in the fun.  Talk about sand everywhere.....

Ok, first of all I hate taking pics of myself like this but sometimes I do it anyways.  Just showing off my new and favorite coral pants.  I found them on sale at Kohl's for $8.  They are Lauren petite and a little big, but I love being able to dry them.  I think they will be cuter with a denim shirt and some sort of black and white stripes.  We'll see!

Finally, finally, finally.....these two are playing better together.  Of course there's always the "sharing" issue, but we are making progress.  He actually cooperates with her doctoring and such now.  This stool came out of the bathroom (since it's torn all to heck...another story) and it made a perfect bed for brother.  

Okra or oooqqa at our house has been a staple this summer.  We have eaten it probably 4 or 5 times a week all summer long.  It is the one thing from the garden that I'm going to miss so much.  I've been trying to put some up.  I need a Food Saver, probably everyone has one except for me.  The process includes, washing, cutting it up, mixing it with a little egg and milk, coating in flour and corn meal, freezing on a cookie sheet, and bagging.  REPEAT.....repeat like 5 times a day.

Phone Dump - Recipe

 The funny thing is that I've been titling my pics for this week as "rest week".  Ha ha....that's a funny joke.  There is no such thing as rest around here.  I should have said "recovery week", but even so we aren't doing much of that either.

This is actually from last week, but I just had to include it.  Reno got a burr or a buzz, I don't really know what the difference is.  Isn't the look on his face so funny.  Mama is really enjoying the cut and no crazy hair all the time.  

We came home to this.  Our cups, bowls, basket, runneth over with yummy garden food.  We have to get better at picking okra, it seems like I look at it and think it's too small, but then it's too big by the next day.  Loving it!  

 Here's a little conversation Riley and I had. Corny, of course but don't all parents hope their babies want to be cowboys when they grow up?

Monday afternoon we received a little bitty shower.  When I say little bitty, I mean it.  I'm not even sure this sprinkle settled the dust.  Either way, we are glad for it and the kiddos had fun playing with the umbrella.

More beater licking for my kiddos.  We made Nutella Cheesecake.  It is quite possibly the easiest thing ever.  I didn't do it exactly as the recipe called for.  I made one and it calls for individual dishes.  It worked and  is no longer with us.  I'm calling it success!

No Bake Nutella Cheesecake

Crust:  

12 oreo cookies, crushed into crumbs

(I used a pre-made oreo crust)

3 T. unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

1 - 8 oz. pkg cream cheese, softened

2/3 c. Nutella

1 tsp. vanilla

1 - 8 oz. tub Cool Whip, thawed

Garnish:

Cool Whip, optional

chocolate shavings, optional

toasted, chopped hazelnuts, optional

1.  In a medium bowl, stir together the Oreo cookie crumbs and melted butter.  Evenly divide the crumbs between your individual serving dished and press into the bottoms of the dishes to form a crust layer.  

2.  In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and Nutella until smooth.  add vanilla and mix to combine.  Using a rubber spatula, fold in the whipped topping until well blended and no streaks remain.  

3.  Evenly pipe or spoon the filling into individual serving dishes.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

4.  If desired, garnish!

Lemon Meringue Pie

 My friend, Jennifer hosted a recipe swap on her blog awhile back.  I signed up which meant being paired with the lovely Elaine.  She first e-mailed me many, many different choices of her favorite recipes.  I chose a few and.....wa-la, they arrived in my mailbox very promptly.

I love all things lemon, so of course I requested lemon meringue pie.  Love, love it!!  And this recipe of course.  If you need a better copy than this just let me know and I'd be happy to help you out.

I think it's an absolutely fabulous recipe!

It looks sort of intimidating on the card, but really isn't too complicated. 

I made the pie crust and just popped it in the fridge for a couple of days.  Even though you can't tell it, I think I had better luck with it this way.  This pie crust is almost identical to my Nanny's.  Soo....yummy!

Miss Scoutie was my main helper.  Luckily, brother was interested in something else at the moment.  For once she was actually happy using her little, vintage rolling pan and tin pans.  We even baked her little crusts cakes.  Don't worry, I ate them.  It is quite possible that I love dough and crust more than any human being.

Rolled & Ready for Crimping!

All set for baking!

I have to confess that I didn't really have time to photograph the different stages of cooking the lemon filling.  It took both hands and my mind to keep if from overcooking and my kiddos out of it. 

Baked and filled with lemon-yumminess!

I love, love meringue!  My family has always called it "calf-slobbers".  Maybe everyone does......well, probably not.  

Just keep on whipping, whipping!!

Ready for a few more minutes in the oven!

Finished product!

 I was happy with how this pie turned out.  Of course I won't be so lucky when I decide to make it to take somewhere.  Such is life, right?

 I also made chocolate pie while I was at it.  The boy devoured his piece quickly.  


I'm throwing in a few random pics.  The kids and I needed a gift and did a little shopping this afternoon.  These bouncy creatures were great entertainment.  I may have to look into getting one for the kids.

 Reno thought he'd try his hand (or hips....lol) at hula hooping at a birthday party yesterday evening.  Love that boy's smile!

 Happy Friday the 13th!  Hope everyone has a perfect weekend!

Summer Chili

 So we've had a few rainy days this week.  Thank goodness!!  It's sort of a nice break in the summer.  Riley must of thought it was wintertime because he came home craving chili.

I think chili is a hard thing to make just right.  I'd love some new recipes, so please share yours or post it on your blog.

Summer Chili

2 lb. ground beef

1 onion 

1 bell pepper

1 can ranch style beans

1 can pinto beans

1 can tomato sauce

1 can Mild Ro-tel 

1 yellow squash

1 zucchini

1 stem of cilantro (chopped fine)

2 cans of water (tomato cans)

salt 

pepper

garlic powder

season salt

First I start with browning hamburger with onions and bell pepper.  

I love this little trick......which maybe everyone already does this.  I take on old tin pie plate and put a piece of foil in it.  Then put a colander inside that.  It is just so easy to let the grease sit for a bit until it hardens a little.  Wad up the foil and trash it.  The little pie plate goes straight back into the cabinet.

After the meat is cooked and drained I pretty much dump everything else in.  Here's what the final product looks like.  Let it simmer for about 30 minutes or until the squash is tender but not mushy.

It is so fun to grow your own produce.  We are having an overflow of zucchini and yellow squash.  I'm hoping to harvest some okra today.  The cilantro also came from my herb garden pallet.

One last little fun thing.  Can you see the little silver, turquoise, and green canisters attached to the side of my microwave?  Those are the little magnetic seasoning canisters from World Market.  My sister-in-law, Hope gave them to me for my birthday and I just love them.  (Please don't look at everything else.)

Here's to hoping you all have rainy days that call for chili makin'.