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.

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello Friends! 

I hope this post finds you happy and ready to dive into the week this Monday morning. I have been busy with home chores - especially laundry from our weekend away. We were gone for Annie's hockey tourney this past weekend in southern MN and it was a great time! The tournament had a great arena and the girls played so well and missed making it to the championship by 1 goal! And the area was so pretty. It was a resort area with several lakes and they had fun winter festival things going on down on the ice. The weather was actually pretty mild too (even in the 50's one of the days!).  Several of us hockey moms even went walking around the arena before game time because the weather was so mild. 

The team went out for lunch at a really fun pub on Saturday and they had great food. Hubby and I were even able to go do some antique shopping...one of our favorite hobbies, and we found a few treasures. ;)  I will share pics later in the post. We found something my FIL collects to save for Father's Day too - which I didn't take a photo of, but happy we found something for him.  With the fun weekend over, now it's back to reality and the busy week ahead. 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Cloudy and gray and we woke up to a little bit of new snow this morning. It's in the 20's and we may have some more freezing rain/snow mix tonight. Yuck! Especially since we have to venture out for Annie's hockey game later. The week ahead looks like mostly 20's and 30's and may even get warmer by the weekend. 

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

I splurged this AM as we picked up caramel rolls at Toby's (a famous stop in Hinkley MN) on our way home from the tourney. They're known for them! So I heated one of those up and had it with my hazelnut coffee. SO YUMMY!! Completely worth the splurge ;) 

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Listening to Enya on Pandora. I was doing some devotional time and prayers earlier. Now working on my planner, schedule for the week, grocery plan and this post while Ruby snuggles by me

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Everything looks so white and gray with dark evergreen trees thrown  in for contrast....that's what I see as I gaze out at the bay side of our home. It's stark but beautiful 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Pretty tidy as I had cleaned up a lot before we left for the weekend too. It's so dark and gray, though, that it makes me sleepy. I could use some sunshine right now! ;)

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

Another typically busy week ahead. Both kiddos have hockey games this week and practices. I'm helping with some volunteer stuff at the kiddos' school. I also start my first shadowing of a current volunteer at the hospice house this week. Yay! That new path is finally going to officially begin!! I will shadow someone over the next few weeks and then by mid February I already have my own time slot picked out, and that will be my independent volunteer time each week. And the rest of the week more of the usual with groceries, errands, visit MIL, cook for FIL. I may be going to lunch with my Hubby's Aunt - whom I've always been close to - as belated for her bday.  No wallyball this week, though, as it got pushed to next week. But I've been back to my weekly workout routine and one fasting day a week. I've got to get the muscle back after being such a slacker over the holidays. :P 

 

CURRENTLY READING:

Just starting Caroline, Little House revisited - a book I received as a Christmas gift from my Aunt. She knows how much I always loved Little House on the Prairie (show and books). It's by Sarah Miller and it's historical fiction about the little house days from the perspective of Caroline - or Laura Ingalls' "Ma"  (still reading this)

 

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: grilled sandwiches, homemade fries, veggies & dip (cleaning out the fridge)

TUESDAY: not sure -hockey game night so something easy

WEDNESDAY: pork chops with brown sugar cinnamon apples baked over the top of a bed of onion & carrots (it then glazes them), au gratin potatoes, salad

THURSDAY: homemade individual chicken pot pies (didn't do last week)

FRIDAY: I think out for dinner 

 

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

Finally getting somewhere with Legacy box project. Still need to finish a bit in my Grandpa's scrapbook. Also, finally pulling out my old family scrapbooks to catch up on and working on some projects I had left off months again. Getting my mojo back. Not to mention tackling my yearly clean out of my craft space/office and organizing it better. Yay 2018! (still working on all of these - but legacy box almost done) 

*some of you wondered what Legacy Box is: it's a company that sends you a box and you fill it with old VHS tapes, reels, or photos, or in my case - slides. You send it in (comes with label already to go) and they put them on discs for you. I had a bunch of old slides from my Dad of our family trips and memories that I've been going through and I"m getting discs done for my brother and I

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

TIP OF THE WEEK:

 
This is definitely something we should try where we live. Our cars stay in the garage but our son's truck sits out

FROM THE CAMERA:

Great arena for watching the games - check out our number 25 in the action!!

One of the treasures we found. I collect Roseville depression era floral pottery (you can see some pieces I have in the pic below) - and I found this unique conch shell Roseville with foxglove flowers on it

WE also found this Weller woodcraft bowl that is probably from the early 1900's. I have a few other pieces of Weller and I love that they're always natural with twigs and fruit etc. You can see a few of the other pieces I have in the pic below...

And I found some vintage brooches and crochet trim/remnants that I will use in some crafting projects

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

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