Wednesday Wonder

DREAMING

MY REALITY

Too soon to be dreaming, huh? ::sigh::

Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday Friends! 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are ready to jump into this brand new week. I can't believe January is almost finished up already! I'm not complaining, though, as it's always such a long and usually cold and snowy month in the northwoods. I'm starting to have dreams of Spring already...is that bad?? :P 

It was actually nice because we didn't have a lot of hockey this weekend, so it felt calm and peaceful overall. Although my Crew went to one of the outdoor rinks and messed around for a while. Geesh, I guess you just can't keep them away. 

Hubby helped me do some deeper cleaning around the house and he even scrubbed our master shower and bathtub for me! I'm thrilled because I'd been dreading getting to them knowing they were due - and I'm so excited to get back to taking some nice soaks in the tub when it's so cold out right now. I also watched a good movie this weekend (while hubby snored away - sigh LOL) called the Zookeepers Wife with Jessica Chastain. It was based on a true story about a husband and wife that ran a zoo in Nazi occupied Poland and helped over 300 Jews escape through their zoo during that time. Really worth watching in my opinion. Annie and I also had fun this weekend getting together with my SIL's niece and other relatives, as her niece had recently had a baby. So I got to love up a less than 2 month old. It was great!! Got my baby-fix that's for sure. 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Gray and cold. Only 10* - but feels colder. Supposed to get in the 20's over the next few days and they're predicting we get a bit of snow tomorrow. Then back to cold temps the rest of the week. The LONG northwoods winter ::sigh::

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

1/2 of a bagel and some toffee nut coffee

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Working on my planner and enjoying Ruby's warmth by my feet as I listen to some soft classical music. I was distracted for awhile but finally getting back to this post. I'll be getting it out later than usual I guess today.

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

I just saw a squirrel running across my deck. The neighbor just had a package delivered and the UPS fellow's breath blowing out in a puff of steam makes me realize how cold it even just looks outside. 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Nothing too exciting. Fairly tidy and peaceful

ON TODAY'S (& this week's) TO DO LIST:

Another one of those weeks. I have wallyball. Both kiddos have hockey games and practices. I plan to visit my MIL this week and may be going to lunch with my mom and aunt (still working out details). I need to run errands and get groceries but may wait until more mid week. Annie has an ortho appt this week too. I also have my second shadowing at the hospice house where I volunteer.  My first experience last week went great! I'm going to just LOVE helping out there. ;)  This coming weekend Annie has a local hockey tourney. So we'll be back to it then! Just more of the same busy stuff.

 

CURRENTLY READING:

Just starting Caroline, Little House revisited - a book I received as a Christmas gift from my Aunt.  **update: I still haven't finished this a I've been in and out of reading it. I've been catching up on magazines and finishing my slides for the legacy box. I will get back to finishing it soon though

 

ON THE TV TODAY:

 The Good Doctor, This is Us, Will and Grace, Amazing Race, Shark Tank, Kids Baking Championship, Gold Rush - some movies taped again too.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: not sure yet, but easy night

TUESDAY: egg, cheese, & hashbrown crescent roll bake, fruit (breakfast for dinner)

WEDNESDAY: slow cooker sweet & sour meatballs over rice (this recipe is so yummy and you can find it under my recipe tab)

THURSDAY: beef stroganoff, green beans, dinner rolls (bring to my FIL too)

FRIDAY: my MIL's spaghetti hot dish recipe, garlic bread, salad (will bring some of this to my FIL on the weekend too) 

 

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

I have one last bit of slides to go through and will then send in my legacy box - yay! Then I"m going to get back to finishing my Grandpa's heritage scrapbook.  I'm also working on cards for Valentine's Day and a few other craft projects

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

I may try a recipe for making homemade ice cream to break in a new ice cream maker I was given for Christmas. I'm anxious to try it out! MMmmmm (I never got to this last week, but hope to this week!!)

TIP OF THE WEEK:

I thought this was an interesting tip. Might be handy for those of you going to watch some of the Oscar nominated movies playing out there

FROM THE CAMERA:

I love making homemade croutons for salads and I often make extra as my kids just love to munch them too. So the other day I was making some creamy tomato soup for part of our dinner and I decided to use up the rest of an old loaf of bread by making extra large "croutons" that I loaded with cheddar cheese to float in the soap. Grilled cheese & tomato soup all in one bite!  I but each slice of bread into 1/4th and drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled them with s & p and some garlic powder. The piled on the cheese. I baked them at 375* for about 10 - 15 minutes until the cheese was melted and the croutons were crispy

Friday was so beautiful here (almost 50*) and I took Ruby for a nice walk in the sunshine. Then it got cold here Saturday and our furnace went out - yuck! I ran the fireplace a lot that night until hubby got it working. Ruby and I liked staying snuggled by it:

"Why is it so cold in here Mom?"

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Brown Sugar Apple Pork Chops with Glazed Carrots

Hello Friends! 

Sorry I didn't make it Thursday to share a recipe - but it's the first weekend in a while we haven't had to run crazy for hockey - so I thought I'd share a recipe today. ;) 

I don't make pork chops that often, as they're not my hubby or kiddos' favorite. But I love them and get hungry for them sometimes. My hubby will oblige and eat them, but again not his fave meal. Luckily, I have other family that enjoy my cooking so I share with them when I have lots of leftovers! Yay! So my mom, or my aunt, and my FIL often reap the benefits too. I wasn't sure if I had shared this recipe before... but it's one I love this time of year when I'm wanting comfort food. It was a recipe of my Grandma's and I'd love to share it with you today. What's really awesome is that it all cooks together in one pan, as the apple and brown sugar and sage make a yummy kind of sauce that drizzles down when cooking and glazes the carrots underneath. Yummy!

Here's how they're made:

This time I happened to use boneless thick cut pork chops. But you could use whichever you like. Preheat the oven to 350*.  Put peeled and cut up carrots, or even baby carrots right out of the bag, into the bottom of a 13x9 pan.  You're making a bed for the chops to sit on. There's no need to grease pan as you'll be adding liquid to the bottom. I also add some sliced onion for flavor. Salt and pepper the carrots and sprinkle on some dried sage. Then add some liquid to the bottom of the pan. Just plain old water is fine, or be creative and add some apple cider, or broth. Whatever sounds good to you to mix with the cinnamon, brown sugar & apple juices that are going to drip down onto the liquid and carrots.  

To prepare the chops you can just season them if you like and add the brown sugar and apples and brown at the end of baking time. But I like to brown the chops first instead. So I add a little oil and butter in my cast iron skillet and brown the chops with seasoning first. I then lay them on top of the carrots and sprinkle them with a little more s&p and dried sage. I then add a little scoop of brown sugar on top of each one (maybe a Tbsp or so) and pat it down onto the chop. I then add a peeled quarter of an apple on top of the brown sugar and sprinkle a little cinnamon on top of each apple. Then cover with foil and bake for anywhere between 45 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes depending on how thick your chops are. You want them to reach at least 145* inside. Then serve with other sides of choice and enjoy the pork chops with built in apple topping. Yum! :P

**TIP:  If you're browning chops later  and not first, then when you have about 15 mins or so left on bake time remove foil and let the tops of the pork chops brown up a bit. 

And if you have leftovers (here with the carrots and stuffing I sent to my FIL) then put in a container and bring to a loved one.  My Grandma was the queen of  the "Food is Love" mantra.

Sending lots of love from my kitchen to yours! xoxo 

I'm linking with Andrea of Scrapality for Scraptastic Saturday.