Pumpkin Patch

We went to our local pumpkin patch last week and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon there.  I only had my phone so here are my crappy pictures.

Mackenzie kept ducking out of the way when I was about to snap a picture, but I caught her a few times with genuine smiles. 

The only spiders I won't squash

My favorite part!  Along the hayride trail, there were a few painted round hay bales - a pumpkin, a mummy, and this awesome minion!  Isn't it cute?!

We had a great time!

Phone Photo Dump

Here you go - randoms from my phone!

My sweetie and her daughter

A really cool welded metal water buffalo we passed on the interstate one day - complete with a little metal bird on top.  I wish I knew who made this, it was so cool!  As we drove past I gave the driver, an older man, a thumbs up.  He and his wife smiled and gave me a thumbs up back.  It was cute.

My handsome hubby golfing in Big Sky, MT.  I wish this photo could do the beauty justice, but it doesn't even come close.  A cool-ish morning golfing surrounded by mountains - it was amazing

Rylan dancing with his new friend at the wedding in Montana.  Our shy little boy who insisted he didn't want to dance was on the dance floor the ENTIRE night with this little girl.  She was definitely the leader and they had a few little routines by the end of the night.  Pretty sure they stole the show!

And Mackenzie was totally smitten with the bride, Nick's cousin, Jamie.  Mackenzie was beyond excited that she got to dance with her.  

What I found upstairs one morning - every single stuffed animal lined up in the hall.  I think we have enough.

Mackenzie helping me bake - no idea what we were making though.

A bald eagle on the side of the road - waiting for a chance to eat the dead skunk in the middle of the road.  Pretty cool to get this close to a wild eagle though.

A Christmas project for me.  Saw this at a junk market and decided I could make one.  I'll keep you posted.  ;)

My sweetie last week after getting a second set of ear tubes put in and her adenoids taken out.  The anesthesia made her pretty sick, but she was a trooper and mustered this smile for me when we got home. 

Kids' School Artwork

I have a drawer where I keep the kids' school work/art projects through out the year.  I'm forced to clean out the drawer when the new school year starts so I just did that a few weeks ago.  Each kid gets a pizza box (new and clean) and in it I put samples of their writing, any awards, special photos, a yearbook, report cards and a few of my favorite art projects.  I photograph the rest of their artwork and make a photo book through Shutterfly so we can always remember their art without having to keep bins and bins of it.  Here are a few of the pieces I recently photographed for the book.

Mackenzie

Rylan

Mackenzie

Rylan

Here's my set-up.  Upside-down wrapping paper for a white background (non-shiny would have been better, but it's all I had), piles of art to be photographed, kept, and recycled, and a stool to stand on to get right above the art.  It's another good job to have done for the year - now we're back to filling that drawer!

Cauliflower Soup

It is definitely fall here and I've been craving warm soup!  I searched for 'Pioneer Woman Soup' on Pinterest and found this one first.  Since I had cauliflower in the fridge, I figured I better try it.  I can tell you now that it's one of the best soups I've ever had!  Seriously, it's SO good!  If you don't like cauliflower, you probably won't like it, but if you do, you'll love it!

Here's the link to Ree's recipe, and I'm posting the exact same one here.  Check out her page for more photos and an easy 'print recipe' button.

Ingredients

• 1 stick Butter, Divided
• 1/2 whole Onion, Finely Diced
• 1 whole Carrot Finely Diced
• 1 stalk Celery, Finely Diced
• 1 whole (to 2 Whole) Cauliflower Heads (roughly Chopped)
• 2 Tablespoons Fresh Or Dried Parsley, Chopped
• 2 quarts Low-sodium Chicken Broth Or Stock
• 6 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 1 cup Half-and-half
• 2 teaspoons To 4 Teaspoons Salt, To Taste
• 1 cup (heaping) Sour Cream, Room Temperature

Preparation Instructions

In a large soup pot or dutch oven, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes, or until it starts to turn brown.

Add the carrots and celery and cook an additional couple of minutes. Add cauliflower and parsley and stir to combine.

Cover and cook over very low heat for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, pour in chicken stock or broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer.

In a medium saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Mix the flour with the milk and whisk to combine. Add flour-milk mixture slowly to the butter, whisking constantly.

Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup half-and-half. Add mixture to the simmering soup. Allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Check seasoning and add more salt or pepper if necessary.

Just before serving, place the sour cream in a serving bowl or soup tureen. Add two to three ladles of hot soup into the tureen and stir to combine with the sour cream. Pour in remaining soup and stir.

Serve immediately.

I only had one head of cauliflower and next time I will definitely use more - I like my soup thick and chunky and this was more broth-y.  It was still delicious, but I'll use more veggies next time.  I also didn't do the last step of adding sour cream, I don't think it needs it.  The soup was still just as good 3 days later!  However, it doesn't freeze well.  I put one baggie in the freezer to see how well it would freeze/thaw and the veggies got rubbery.  So make it for a crowd or eat it straight for a few days (which wasn't hard).   

My Helpers

Just a few random pictures from a couple weekends ago of the kids helping out.
Mackenzie spent a good 30 minutes washing canning lids and rings for me.  I don't know why I don't have her do things like this more often - she loved it and got stuff clean!  Maybe I'll fill the sink with toys next time!

Rylan and Nick dug up the rest of our carrots and washed them.

Dutch kept stealing carrots and eating them - he loved them!

Seriously, this dog is lucky he's so cute!

So is this kid!  Just kidding, he's such a sweet guy!

Ace liked the carrots as well, but he kept acting like he was ashamed or something, it was kinda weird.

Ace is a good boy too!

Canning - My First Try!

My Mom always canned food when we were little and I have always kinda wanted to get into it, but… long story short, I just never did.  It took Nick's mom coming over one morning a couple weeks ago saying, "You start the boiling water to peel tomatoes and I'll start chopping peppers and onions."  No more excuses for me!  It ended up being way easier than I what I had pictured in my head and now I'm hooked, and also really wishing we had more produce coming from our garden!  I now have 9 pints of garden delight, 10 pints and 10 quarts of applesauce, and 16 half-pints of carrot cake jam!  I had to do a little re-organizing in my pantry to fit it all.

Here are the recipes I've used.

Garden Delight - for use in spaghetti sauce, chili, salsa, etc.
1 qt. celery
1 qt. onion
1 qt. water
3 T. salt
2 T. sugar
6 bell peppers (whatever colors you want)
Chop everything, mix together and cook for 20 minutes.
Add 4 qts. tomatoes, peeled and chopped.
Boil for 10 more minutes.

The garden delight we didn't actually use any canning method, we just put the hot mixture in hot jars straight from the dishwasher and boiled the lids and rings so they were hot as well.  All 9 pints sealed, so it worked!




Applesauce!  Here are step by step photos, just because I remembered to take pictures and it's fun to post them.  Just scroll down for the entire recipe.

Wash your apples

Peel, core & slice them - I would never do applesauce without this Pampered Chef gadget - wouldn't be worth it.

Add all ingredients to a pot and start cooking.

Keep cooking and it just turns to mush!

Mash it if you wish!

Heat jars in hot water or dishwasher.

Fill jars, put on lids and put them in the water bath.

 Process for 20 minutes, then let them cool.  If you're like me, you'll do a fist pump every time you hear one of those babies seal - it's so exciting!

 Applesauce - adapted a bit from The Pioneer Woman's recipe
6 lbs. apples - peeled, cored, and sliced (about 24 medium sized apples)
1 1/2 cups apple juice
juice of half a lemon
1 cup brown sugar (not packed)
cinnamon to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 20-25 minutes.

Mash, leave chunky or puree as per your preference.

Ladle into hot jars, wipe rims, put on lids/rings, and place in canner with hot water.  Be sure jars are covered with water, bring water to a boil and process for 20 minutes.  Remove from canner, tighten rings and let sit until cool.  Check lids to be sure they sealed.

Carrot Cake Jam!

I bought some carrot cake jam at a junk market and it was delicious!  We had a lot of carrots in our garden so I figured I could make my own - it turned out great!

Carrot Cake Jam - adapted from Taste of Home recipe
1 can (20 oz) unsweetened crushed pineapple, undrained
2 packed cups shredded carrots
1 1/2 cups chopped pears (I couldn't fine fresh, so I used canned halves)
3 T lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 package (1 3/4 oz) powdered fruit pectin
5 1/2 cups sugar

In a large saucepan, combine the first seven ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in pectin, bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly.  Stir in sugar; return to a full rolling boil.  Boil and stir 1 minute.

Remove from heat; skim off foam.  Ladle hot mixture into 8 hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4" headspace.  Wipe rims, put on lids and rings.

Place jars into canner with simmering water, ensuring that they are completely covered with water.  Bring to a boil, process for 5 minutes.  Remove jars, tighten rings and cool.