Rockin' that Thanksgiving.... and a recipe.

Its Thanksgiving up in here y'all
Were playing it up!
At any given moment, you'll hear a kid say:
" Oooh lets do ------ because IT IS Thanksgiving you know!"

Tee-Pee's decked out with blankets, drawings, and topped with ice cube trays

Even the tomatoes are happy! courtesy of m'boy

Plus, my Lauren is learning the ropes of the apron

Or should I say she is making up the ropes as she goes

Starting the week out with some homemade ice cream

Because Man-cub has been heart-set on a banana split Step 1: Always have yourself some PINK measuring cups
By Lauren's standards, pink is just all there is.

2. put on your fanciest Christmas dress and cupcake apron.

The better you look, the better you feel.

Feeling better about yourself puts a fanciful flutter in your step.

Or maybe thats just her.

3. Never forget to show the paparazzi some love. 4. As with all things, the view is better from way up high. 5. In our house, putting your name on a homemade, delectable accomplishment

Is probably comparable to a conductor getting a standing ovation at a symphony.

Even if you don't have time to waste letting the ice cream freeze.

ERIN'S ICE CREAM
From a dear friend on the ridge:

- 1 1/8 cup sugar

- 1 1/2 cup milk

wisk until dissolved, then add

- 3 cups whipping cream

- vanilla to taste.......... seriously, just pour it in.

Pour mixed ingredients into prepared Kitchen Aid ice cream bowl attachment

(Or other obsolete ice cream maker bowl.... Just kidding, really....sorta ;)

Mix for about twenty minutes on second setting.

If is not Thanksgiving week.... WOOP! WOOP! Take the time to freeze it.

Otherwise, go ahead and roll with it the spirit of gratitude and eat it before dinner.


That one's going on the Thankful Tree.

Pita factory.

Pita's are my new pastime.

Or should I say passion in life.

If I were more poetically inclined, I would elaborate.

You see I'm just not.

The great thing about these is that

Like the Killer Bagels,

They use little ingredients for something so wonderfully palatable.

Plus its way easier than bagels.

I have been working on perfecting these all summer and by golly,

I've got it!

I feel bad for certain family members that visited while this was undergoing the testing process.

Please forgive me.

Here it is:

3 cups unbleached white flour

2 1/2 t salt

2T honey

2 1/2 t yeast

2 T olive oil

1 1/2 cups warm water

Mix all ingredients in your handy dandy Kitchen Aid Mixer.

Using Dough hook, knead for about 5 minutes or so.

I have heard that you can make these in the bread machine, but have never personally tried it.

let rest in bowl for about 10 min.

cut and roll dough into 8 even balls.

cover and let rise for about 30 min.

preheat BBQ on high

roll out all of the balls- leaving the dough about 1/4 in thick

(If you roll it out too thin, it may not make a pocket)

Once grill is heated, grill pitas with lid closed for a minute or two.

Grills are different, and you don't want the grill lines to be too dark,

So keep checking on them.

Remember to close lid after checking them throughout the entire cooking process.

After about a minute or two, they should start to puff up.

Flip pitas and cook for the same amount of time as before,

Until nice grill lines are formed.

If you plan on stuffing these beauties,

Open them immediately.

As they cool, they will stick together.

Making them hard to open later.

Our favorite ways to use them:

-A new lunch regular: pita pizza crusts (unopened pitas)

I think we'll be taking prepared pita's with us next time we go camping and make pizzas.

-pitas stuffed with FARM FRESH* tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, and cream cheese.

-Roast beef and provolone Sammie's

(basically broiled roast beef and provolone cheese folded into a pita-taco style)

breakfast Sammie's (with eggs, bacon shredded cheddar-nothin's better, and sour cream)

* store bought tomatoes are horribly styrofoamy tasting for this meal. Only farm /farmers market fresh will suffice.

I hope this is as big of a hit in your family as it is in mine.

Love,

Holly

For Heather.

Before I post about camping last weekend,

A recipe.

The kids favorite granola.

We tried making some for Monica,

But Monica wasn't home,

so we ate it.

Then had to make more to share with Monica.

3 cups dry oats (not instant)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/2 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup ground flax (flax meal)

In a small sauce pan,

melt butter and honey together

Mix remaining ingredients into the butter/honey

Bake 375 for 15 minutes,

Optional: stir occasionally throughout baking process.

For granola shapes:

before granola has cooled,

Form into desired shapes with hands or cookie cutter.

I wanted to wait to post this recipe until I had incorporated peanut butter,

But Heather asked before I could experiment.

Try it and enjoy.

The Pieper Times.

The best most exciting news of the week:

Lauren was accepted into an empty position on Silas' t-ball team.

She fits right in with the daisy pickin' 4 year old ladies.

Her first foul ball:

Silas dissected a goldfish. Of course he had to poke out the eyes.

He has a thing for fish eyes.

He made some observations for his notebook that were a real hoot.

I have a real hard time keeping a straight face when I read them to him.

''We found the fish dead, bent over to the left.

I sawed it with a knife to cut it.

There were green guts in it too,

But I didn't touch them because it was a watery mess.

I poked the eyes out with my fingers..I smooshed it and black slippery stuff came out"

My personal observation:

1. It is perfectly acceptable and wonderfully planned out to dissect things in your underwear.

A boy who usually would wipe guts off onto his shirt wouldn't dare wipe it on his bare legs or belly.

2. I am in love with this part of home schooling and would live broke (not working) until my kids moved out in order to do so.

3. I am so lucky to have a husband who gives me the resources necessary to enrich my life and invest in my children's future by allowing this whole ordeal!

Last but not least:

Claire Bear Hot Cakes.

They're all the new rage in my home.

My baby Peep is allergic to wheat.

I finally found a pancake recipe that she can have!

Up till now, she lived on dairy, meat,

And the occasional pile of beans or brown rice.

Here's how I do:

1 1/2 c. milk

1 c. brown rice

1 c. rolled oats

2 Tb. butter

1 t. vanilla

2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1/2 t baking soda

3T. honey or brown sugar or some of both!

2 eggs

In a blender, mix first five ingredients for about a minute.

Let soak overnight

The next morning,

Blend the rest of the ingredients,

Adding more milk if necessary to create a vortex.

Blend until smooth (a minute or two).

Fry them up on you wonderfully seasoned cast iron skillet, or a skillet with butter (to prevent the sticks).

I am aware that some people are timid about leaving milk out overnight. You needn't be! This is safe (especially because your cooking the pancake). You can read about the health benefits of soaking grains here.

Its worth it for your health to vary the grains in your diet.

This recipe is tried and approved by my family.

Anyone brave enough to try it?

Cake for a four year old.

While it has been a couple of weeks,

In some ways, it feels as though a couple of days.

Lauren is four and I still can't get over it.

The real purpose of this post is to show off

Grandma's mad pancake skills.

Lauren wanted it, and I loved the idea.

Plus,

it was cheap!

PLUS,

It doubled as her birthday cake!

PLUS PLUS,

I didn't have to make it!

I do NOT have good pancake pourin' skills.

Ask anybody.

So in between lovin' on my Peeps,

And cleaning my house,

vacuuming out my car,

cleaning my Father In Laws house (making room for my other company),

She made this beauty:

So Lauren,

Do you know how much your Grandma loves you?

Enough to be in the kitchen throughout the whole party,
Building you a masterpiece cake,

busing the tables,

wiping your face,

making your day.

The only good thing that I can claim out of this whole ordeal,
is the pancake recipe.
So, here it is:

Pancakes

2 c. flour
(any will do, I've even fared well with a whole wheat version)
5 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. honey
1 egg
1 1/2 c. milk or buttermilk
1/3 c. butter
(or bacon grease- my preference)


mix all ingredients.
Heat griddle on medium high heat.
brown on both sides.

All of the different kinds of sweetener add the best flavor and texture. If you have other forms of sweetener, definitely give it a whirl!

Meeting again.

Jake and I got out for the first time in a really long time

It was an early Republicans dinner.

Like 5 pm early.

The spirit of Red White and Blue was alive and well.
I believe I was one of three people there that was not dressed like the actual flag.

I'll take what I can get.

Everyone there had children the age of our parents,

Hence the early dinner.

Again, take what you can get.

I had dinner next to my husband, and Elmo Williams

If you don't know why this is significant, check out the link.

The man is currently 97 years old.

Walking driving, and able to recollect many antique years of travels.

Recently widowed, he enjoys sharing his life song with a pleasant listening ear.

Although he didn't remember meeting me in years past,

He has never repeated the same story twice.

He just has too many tales to tell!

Our mutual topic of interest that night was cooking.

He boasted about his 12 years in France and culinary experiences there.

Jake was kind enough to take this picture of us:

Because Jake is not interested in cooking (mostly just eating),

He embraced the Bengay and Polydent crowd.

And Elmo was kind enough to hand write me a new favorite recipe.

"Elmo's Rum Cake".
Observe:

This cake was so decadent and incredibly irresistible.

The pictures and personal recipe will be a prized possession in my cookbook.

A real heirloom.

Without further adieu,

The recipe:

1 box yellow cake mix

(yes I made the exception for the man himself- I may try to make my own yellow mix. Suggestions welcome!)

1 package vanilla pudding mix

(try a natural version, or simply omit. I found it was still awesome without the pudding mix)

1/2 cup dark rum

1/2 cup oil (I used butter, Veggie oil works fine too)

4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Beat all ingredients together.

Prepare bunt pan by greasing well with oil of choice (I used butter with success).

Sprinkle slivered almonds around bottom of pan (Oops! forgot this one too!)

Pour batter into pan.

Bake for 30 min.

Meanwhile,

Prepare rum glaze with:

2 sticks butter

1/4 cup Orange juice

1/4 cup rum

1 cup "shugar"

(He's from the south I think. Pronounced "shugah")

Combine ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer during the cake baking process.

When cake is done, remove it from the oven.

Slap sides to be certain cake is released from the pan.

While it is still hot, pour glaze over cake.

Let sit until glaze has been absorbed.

Put plate over cake pan and quickly invert it to release from pan.

Once cooled, "duet with powdered sugar"

Not sure where that term came from, but go ahead and sprinkle on the fun.

It is seriously necessary for one to try such a timeless recipe. This is enjoyed and loved by many family, friends, and fans of the great hometown legend.

Elmo,

You're the man.

Success with the first bite.

Last Friday, friend turned thirty six.

Without thinking, I offered to make her a Birthday cake of her choice.

I should have specified

A chocolate, yellow white, or even cheesecake

She chose angel food cake.

I choked.

Never made that one before.

Don't even really like the stuff,

But my pride would not let me tell her that I was scared.

Angel food cake it is.

I searched the Internet for about an hour

reading and re-reading recipe's

And got up the courage to choose one.

Went grocery shopping,

and put the Peeps down for nap,

and got to work.

after a few glitches smoothed over,

I came up with this:

It looked good,

and tasted better.

I thought it was easier to make than a white or yellow cake.
Here's the link.

Let me know if it doesn't work.

I think they're going to use my pic. to display on the site.

The finished product

and my Betty Crocker pose.

For the frosting,

I made whipped cream,

and mixed in chocolate powder (for baking).

The birthday girl.

Slappin' the bass

Rock BandDaddies wrestling.

Seriously,

even if you think you don't like angel food cake,

try this recipe.

You'll be glad you did!

Suck up that lower lip Mom!

Yesterday,

About this time, we were doing this:

Sun Shining, fish jumping, Peeps happy,

(all except for corn dog, who is laboring a diamond-sized molar in back.

Not the cheap diamonds,

the ridiculously huge diamonds, straight up from South Africa).

We found this:

Is it a leach?

It looks like a worm for the most part,

except....

It has eyes!

rounded head, flat suction cup mouth.

If you know, please do tell.

There's a prize to be won here folks.

It moved and swam like a snake!

Back to my moaning.

Today has been quite different.

Let me first set the stage:
Claire's still molar-ing today, slight temp.
very fussy.

both of the work trucks are broken down.

making my car, the new stand -in at work.

I have no car.

I am sure my floor board is littered with sunflower seeds

and sausage Mc Muffin sandwiches

just asking for mold.

Also, we have people coming over for dinner tonight

to a house who's walls are bowing outward from excessive junk (garbage).

All remnants from what was once a three day weekend.

Alicia said my laundry room looks like a tornado dropped by and left a bunch of stuff in its wake.

I love good,

honest,

blunt friends.

If you have one,

keep her.

By four o'clock, I was inwardly in shambles,

And The house still could have been shut down by the state.

Seriously, it was that bad.

I don't think I ever mentioned that

I cleverly washed out our paint trays in the bath tub?

Well, that was a few months ago,

And it still haunts me.

The thing clogs like I poured cement down it.

I think next bath tub will be custom color ordered

something like 'earth tone.'

Anyway,

back to four o' clock.

still no shopping trip.

still no dinner ingredients.

You could have dragged my pouty lower lip

off the floor with a snow shovel.

So the menu started out as

sirloin steaks with garlic parsley butter,

salmon/albacore/trout shish kabobs

and

orange and arugula potato salad.

4:30- time for a new idea.

Just got lucky I guess.

Its good to be a baker for sport.

You don't run out of ingredients too often,

and often times have just the right ingredients to make most things.

Just happened to have a block of mozzarella cheese

tomato paste,

and flour.

Can you see where I am going with this?

Hear the Italian music?

See the chubby man with the chef's hat and black handle bar mustache??

Pizza to the rescue!

Here's what I love about pizza:

The sauce
My absolute favorite sauce recipe comes from the

Pizza Place (RIP)

It was our favorite place to get pizza.

The Place was conviently located down the block from us.

They made a few special late night deliveries for me

(when Lauren went through her flu stage).

That got them extra points in my book.

And, it was super family friendly

We were so sad to see them close.

Before they closed,

Monty (cool pizza guy name huh?)

gave us the secret to the sauce:

tomato paste, oregano, water, Salt, garlic powder, mix.

Its outrageous how good this sauce tastes.

Try it, and then (like me) wish you had known about it sooner.

A good dough

I'd love to type the whole recipe out

and present it as my own,

because really, I modify it enough to call it my own,

but its just way too far past my bed time for that.

And I don't know if you remember or not,

but I'm a runner now (wink).

And runners need their beauty sleep (wink wink)

Here's the link

Pizza dough
There's only one thing I will correct about this crust:

It needs to bake for longer than five minutes before it's topped.

Bake it until it is golden brown.

That's up to fifteen minutes depending on the oven and density of the crust.

I ended up having all the toppings on hand

except one,

and really, I could have done without it.

Thankfully, Daddy had to go to the store.

So here's the scoop:

I wasted WAY too much energy stressing about the food today.

The house pulled together nicely (last minute -thanks to my big kids).
We lounged on the floor and couches and ate pizza and salad.

If I had made steaks, shish kabobs, and potato salad,

I would have needed to set up an extra table for us all to sit around.

We were so much more relaxed.

Our company was great and entertained us!

Really,

I wish the 'chill pill' actually exists for times like these.

Or maybe an out of body experience would have given me a better perspective.

Either way, what a waste of some good energy.

I must bank this thought.

Remember the time Claire was teething,

Cars weren't working,

Claire's Screaming,

House is code orange alert disastrous,

Claire decided to go postal when set down on the floor,

To just let it go and toss some pizza dough!

Consumarlo!
(Eat it up!)

Grandma gifts

This post is dedicated to Grandma Renee,

because today is her birthday and because she deserves the best.

Grandma Nee, here are the flowers the kids picked for you today.....

They chose and cut them all by themselves..... alone......

Oops!

Claire's gift to you is a big slobbery suck on the cheek

(redeemable when you get here....or by skype)

Jake said he sent you an e-mail, so he's covered,

Here's my gift:

Basic brown rice recipe:

I know its a little silly, but this is our favorite rice. Its a little like Rice-a-roni,

but with a whole lot more love in it.

I think you will like it because its a sinch to make, and its very versatile

(and oh so tasty!)

4 c. beef/chicken broth

3 T butter

2 c. brown rice

2T garlic powder

1T onion flakes
optional: any fresh herb from the garden/ Italian herb blend (dried)

grease 8 in casserole dish (or dutch oven with lid) with butter.

Bring broth and butter to a boil

Add garlic, onion, and any other seasonings

Place rice in casserole dish

Pour boiling broth mixture over top, stir
Cover with dutch oven lid or aluminum foil

(I actually have a glass Pyrex bowl with a lid that I use)

Bake at 375 on center rack for about an hour and 10 minutes

stir

I usually make this with BBQ chicken

extra and use leftovers can be made into rice and chicken wraps (everyone loves this),

quiche filling, soups, casseroles etc.

Its basically a healthy filler that I think all the guys would like

Happy Birthday..... enjoy! Love you!

And if ALL those presents aren't enough (ha ha)

Here's a couple more:

Who doesn't love swing pictures?

You can come and redeem your hard copies of these when you get here.

What sizes do you want?

Grandma Nee,

Please come paint my toe nails and let me brush your hair.
I brush my hair every day so it will be long like yours!

Hi Grandma this is Silas.

I cant wait to see my birthday with you!
When are you coming?

And if Claire could talk she would say.

Grandma, come change my diapers and tickle my tummy! I laugh a lot now! I drink lots of milk. I can hold my own bottle now, but I still need cuddles while I do it.

Love you MAMAM

(so far that's how my kids first say "Grandma").

4th of July

Our Independence Day celebration.

Barbeque at the river wirth friends and family.

Lauren became especially interested in my little brother Nick.



Kid poppers.


Fire from our pile of used fireworks.



The most exciting part of my celebration.

home made gram crackers.

Turned out so well, I won't be eating the packaged stuff anymore!

Mix in first 6 ingredients in a bowl. set aside.

in separate bowl (or Kitchen Aid mixer!), mix butter, brown sugar, and honey

on medium speed for 2-3 min.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
pour dough out onto parchment cookie sheet and press together (pushing dough out to sides).
Cut squares.

poke holes with a fork to get the gram cracker look

sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar

Put in freezer for about 20 minutes to get a hard dough.

bake at 350 for 10-15 min.

bake until the grams are puffy and puff back up after pressure is applied.

Does that make sense?
I have to give credit to 8Muddyboots for the recipe idea.

I like them thick.

This week, my gut still holds remnants of the obscene amount of gram crackers (and dough)

I consumed.
The nice thing is that theyre pretty healthy (minus all the sugar they have in them).

Home fireworks were great fun
Check out Mr. Cool- about to get burnedBand of brothers.

Screwing off, watching the big works.

She was antsy- even with huge explosives overhead.

All the ducks in a row.

Please let me know about your fourth, and if you get a chance to make the grams (Its worth it)!