Dreaming On

It used to be, long ago, that all I ever wanted was my very own Greenhouse, similar to this one that my sister, Cher, picked out.  We would use all reclaimed materials.  There are tons of old windows, doors, shelving.  That used to be the plan, placed on the slab of concrete facing south, right next to the barn, now used for garden storage. 

That is no longer true.  My life has changed, regrettable as it is, so now I want this lovely Sunroom that I found on Lavender Dreams...it looks like Bill could materialize this dream for me easy enough, just off the family room to the south.  He's always been quite handy.  I could still start a few plants for the garden, tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, squash., a few flowers.

What do you think?  I say, if he can build a couple of storage buildings for his toys and farm equipment, and a garage and shop for his and the boys use, then surely, he can build this fine sunroom for his bride~~~don't you think?  I think it should be done first thing this spring of 2013, before any field work or wood cutting should interfere....I wonder....we could make more lumber of our own, we do have access to his brother's sawmill at any time....I do wonder....

Have a great day while I dream

and

BlessYourHeart

Bread Pudding with Mom's Lemon Sauce

Of all the comfort foods, as a dessert, Bread Pudding is one of our family favorites.  I had so many butter rolls left over from Christmas that it seemed, just the right way to use them up.  Nothing is finer than a square of warm Bread Pudding with Mom's Lemon Sauce.

 This is one of the many recipes for bread pudding that I have used, however, I usually just 'wing it' and don't use a recipe at all.

I'll throw this one down for you, should you want to use it.  It came out of my 'Grandma's Great Desserts' recipe book, and it's a good one, sure to please.  It will send drifts of cinnamon and raisins baking all throughout your home, better than any scented candle.

The only thing I changed about this recipe was the sauce and the type of bread used.   

Mom's Lemon Sauce

1 2/3 cups water

3-4 Tblsp. Lemon Juice, preferably fresh or

2 tsp. (lemon extract) I used both)

2 Tblsp. cornstarch 

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

For sauce, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan.  Stir in the water, cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes once it begins to bubble.  Remove from the heat.  Add the butter and lemon juice or extract.

Best served warm over warm bread pudding.

Mom liked her lemon sauce to have that golden glow so she also whisked in 1 egg yolk at the end, first tempering it with a couple Tblsp. of the hot liquid so as Not to scramble the egg.

It was always beautiful and so delicious.

Find one of your Comfort Food Recipes and go for it.

It will make your day.

BlessYourHeart

Getting a Kick out of Life

There is one thing ' steady ' in our large family, and that is our ample sense of humor.  This Christmas, it was my brother Randy, 

(we tease, but he's Mom's 'favorite' ) who celebrated Mom's good shot, just ' one more time.'

 Any one out there who enjoys the sport of hunting to put food on your table for your family will understand the humor here.

My crazy brother cooked off a Butternut Squash, (fitting as Mom is from the small neighboring town of Butternut), anyway, he decided to replicate the resemblance of a deer by adding taxidermy deer eyes, (Randy does taxidermy), an apple, (which the deer have plenty of at the farm where this one was harvested,) raisins for the nostrils, a tomato nose all lying on a bed of lettuce.  Deer love lettuce, too.  Finally, he placed the antlers from Mom's harvest, on the squash just right, to look like her buck.

Mom LOVED it.  

She had wondered where the antlers went when they mysteriously could not be found when my son asked to see them.  ( It's part of the hunters code to ask and be told in great detail about the taking of the meat for the table.  It's a celebratory thing, beginning always, with a hunters hand shake. )  Mom was particularly excited to tell her story, as she had been hospitalized the week before during the rifle hunting week, so she decided to try her hand at Black Powder Season the following week.

She's quite the shot.  A deer never suffers during her hunts, for those of you with concern.  Though she is mainly a meat hunter for the family table, she Still proudly claims the largest, most impressive racks on the wall, of which she quietly reminds the boys, Every Single Season.  I think she will hunt until her dying days, just like Dad.  They never ceased to be grateful to provide.

And that's the way it was.

Thanks for stopping by and

I lift my Hot Chocolate to a New Year full of Surprises!

From Our Home To Yours

From our home to yours...

 we bring you tidings of great joy...

 where GrandLoves are spoiled while you wait...

 and they wear themselves out.....

 ( from last winter's fun, front row,

L>R...Ben, Sy, Josh, Ryele, Noah...

in the back are their dads,  Stacy, Dustin, kneeling-Andy)

 sledding down over and over and over and over again...

 while waiting for that all important day....

the Reason for the Season....

 from our 24 hearts to yours...

we wish you a very Merry Christmas...

( all of the pictures shared in this particular entry are from last Christmas...

now we make new memories as precious as then...)

I treasure each and every one of you...

Merry Christmas

and Blessings Everyone

Just a Little Bite

The Orange Sugar Cookies are frosted,

 and the only other two cookies I made for this 

Christmas are ready,

 Bill is boiling the pork hocks for the Saultz.

We are reducing the amount of sweets in the house,

and increasing the good stuff.

Our health requires it.  As for the rest of the gang,

they understand our plight.

I am grateful our GrandLoves and KidLoves are

health nuts, to an extend.  It makes it so much easier this time of year with all the goodies.  I don't feel bad that they will have to fill their sweet teeth elsewhere.

So it goes in my piece of the township.  

Don't get me wrong....I have a sweet tooth too, but know when I have to curb the desire.  It's one of the hard truths for me and for too many in my heritage.  The Good Life gets ugly sometimes.

Have some Saultz-pure goodness.  

and

BeBlessedThisWondrousChristmasSeason

Celebration 1

My and Bill's kids, our GrandLoves and us, had our annual Christmas celebration this past weekend, this time at my son, Dustin's home.  He and his wife had 14 sleeping over already, so we stayed with my daughter Darcie and her family only 10 minutes across town.

The only snow we saw, or a slight ' likeness,' was this Creamed Cheese Italian Seasoned Snowman that rode to the party between Bill and I.  He was a hit, with a row of crackers around him.

( OK, I dropped my camera for the ump-teenth time, so

please excuse the lack of clarity of my pics.  )

 There was SOOOOOOOOOO much food., sorry, no pictures.  There were appetizer trays, cookies of every imaginable kind and Cho. Truffles, cheese and deli meat trays, those bacon-wrapped little sausages, marinated & grilled venison slivers, chips and dips.

And, if that wasn't enough, out of the oven, Dustin's wife, Steph, pulls out not one, but two pans of the best homemade Lasagna, Garlic Breads, two kinds, and a huge mixed salad with her own Home Ceasar Dressing.

There's more.  Special for the kids, she made Penne Pasta with two kinds of sauce, plain and meat.  The hostess with the mostess is the gal in the blue stripes sitting on the stairs in the next picture.

 The youngest kids draw names and open gifts from the youngest to the oldest.  There were gifts exchanged while all the little ones gathered around to watch and approve.  Some of the parents are in the background waiting the adults turn to play a gift exchange game....  There were 19 of the 23 of us at the party.  It always seems so different with some missing.  This time it was Andy and his 3 boys that were so very missed among the crowd.

 Christopher with his Perplexis with Grandpa Bill looking on

My daughter, Darcie's boys, Christopher and Austin, watching Uncle Billy master the ball.  Darcie is in the background.

 GrandGirls being silly.  Alyssa, Chloe, Ryele,

Megan and Katie

 The older kiddos, Chloe, Hannah, Josh, 

being grateful for money instead of a gift they 

didn't want....I remember being a teenager.

 Christopher getting ready to try out his new snowboard...

 Megan loving her fashion set that the girls all played with in Rye's room for hours.  The little boys ruled the basement rather rambunctiously.  Little boys! 

 ( no pics of them, Grams was not going down and up two flights of stairs.  )

 Sweet Katie turning herself into the sweetest ' gift '

Cousins, ' hanging out ' in Rye's room 

 Lil Megan.....her mom said, " Don't let that sweet smile fool ya~"

 Ryele entertaining Grandma.  Very nicely done Ryele Girl.  She's a Rock Star!!!

Finally, hide and seek and too tired to move.

It was a great Christmas weekend with our GrandLoves and our kids.  Besides all the kid fun, the guys played cribbage and us gals all finally had the chance to just ' catch up.'  

There was NO outside time, this time, for it was raining...

It's getting harder and harder to get everyone together in the same place at the same time.  Everyone has such diverse lifestyles, so busy with their kids and activities.  When we do get together, we all treasure every second and hold each other close.   There are always lots of laughs, hugs and way too much eating.  Awwww, life is sooo good!

God Bless Your Christmas and

May it be a White One

Blessings

Scherenschnitte and Sweetness

It's such a special time of year,

when we remember the Reason for the Season.

Have you ever tried practiced the art of Scherenschnitte?

I think I spelled that wrong.

Scherenschnitte is a form of paper cutting , sometimes such min-ute cuts that I have a very difficult time mastering.

This Nativity was my second cutting, and then a third for gifts for my Mom and Mom-in-Law.

My first attempt was of White Trees, done in such a way as to make them stand on their own...

I did them as a Christmas gift for two sisters, who, at the time,

lived far away and would not be home for Christmas.

I wonder if they still have them?

 Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus, I made of paper ribbon many years ago.  They come out each Christmas for the GrandLoves to play-act the Christmas story.  I love that they know and understand the Reason for the Season.

   

OK, food, sustenance, necessary Christmas goodies...something sweet!  

What do you do with 40 Saltines...

I make ' Saltine Toffee Bark.'

 It's so fast and easy.  Line a cookie sheet 10x15 pan, with heavy duty aluminum foil.  Line 40 saltines on the sheet.

 Next, melt 2 sticks, ( that's 1 Cup ) of real butter with

3/4 Cup of sugar until it comes to a boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, boil 1-2 min.

 Pour the boiling hot butter/sugar mixture over the saltines, and quickly spread over the crackers to cover them.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 7-10 min. or until bubbly.

 Next, as soon as you pull the pan from the oven, 

add 2 Cups of Semi-Sweet Cho. Chips on top of crackers.  They will warm and soften enough to spread over the top to cover the saltines.

Cover with an 8 oz. bag of Toffee Chips.  That's it!

Cool completely.

Refrigerate 1 hr. before breaking into bite-sized pieces of 

Saltine Toffee Bark.  

Store in an air tight container.  I keep mine refrigerated until ready to use.

Warning:  

These are so sweet and Melt In Your Mouth Delicious, that if eaten too many, your next appointment will be with your dentist and your bathroom scale....LOL

Do enjoy every mouth-watering bite.  

This box full will be going to our family Christmas which is just around the corner.  

Do you have your baking/ making /shopping done yet?  I haven't even started.

Mercy Me., and we celebrate this weekend. :o/

BlessingOneAndAll

White on White

In the middle of the night, the snow started to fall.  It was not the predicted 1/2 inch per hour, but a gentle, floating, large flakes that filled the air, leaving behind not more than a couple of inches.  ( If you click  to enlarge the first 3 photos,

 you can see the trees 

 and maybe, even the outline of the barn and it's white diamond doors. )

By morning the sky was bright blue, the birch trees were 

white on white. 

 Boughs of the Balsam were blanketed with only an inch of snow,  just enough to hide it's greens.

 Birds were busy filling their bellies, one seed after another.

 The sun came out briefly, enough to sparkle the white background.

 Morning, winter shadows are longer, demanding a second look.

 The grasses give way to the weight of the snow, 

bending to form a tunnel.  I wonder if Mr. Hasenpfeffer would consider such a place to hide from Mr. Snowy Owl who has been known to hide out in the loft of the barn~

The snows blew in from the Northwest, filling the branches fo the wreath that hangs by the deck door.  Even the little perching bird was covered. 

The snowfall this time was just a tease, nothing like our western neighbors received.  Well over a foot was being shoveled off the paths to homes and barns.  Better there than here....

at least this time.

For now, thanks for stopping by and

stay safe, stay warm and keep your hat on.

BlessingsBeYours

Grandparenting

It's been such a busy weekend for these GrandParents and GrandLoves, Big Kid, Middle Kid and Little Kid.

 They mixed up cookie dough, then spooned it on the pans.

Check out the size difference of those Cho. Chippers.

I think more cookie dough was eaten than baked.

 Then there were cut-outs to be made,

stars, hearts, reindeer and bells.  Candy canes, 

churches, angels and snowmen., all 

for the cookie jar, they will never last til Christmas.

 Many games of Go Fish were played each day, and

 Multiplication War.  Of course our GrandLove won

nearly every single game, he's so quick with numbers.

 A quick lunch and we were all off to the tree farm

for pictures by Frosty,  The Bough Man and

 weeeee baby trees with lots of room to grow.

 Somehow, wee ones never can quite ' hold it ' so

it's off to the bushes they go. 

( I do not know a Northern boy who has not done this. )

 Finally~~~

 the tree is up, the kids are strung and lit

 ( hey, wait a minute, isn't that the way it's supposed to happen? )

 Rosy-cheeked, and tuckered out from a busy weekend,

 ...enough is enough...

Several times we heard the boys say,

" This is the best day ever! "

and

that's good enough for us.

I know this Granny is hitting the hay.

Tomorrow promises another long day.......

of driving a couple hours on icy, snow covered roads, 

really, Bill, we cannot cancel this time?.

God Bless and stay safe in your neck of the woods.