Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a great success this year!  Normally I make way too much food and then end up with leftovers.  Now, I don't mind a certain amount of leftovers, but if it is more food than can be eaten in a week, it is too much!
Appetizers:

chicken fajita wraps
chips and salsa con queso
turkey tortilla spirals with cranberry dipping sauce
deviled eggs

Main course:

oven roasted brisket
smoked turkey
smoked cornish game hens
mashed potatoes
sweet potato casserole
2 types of stuffing
orange fluff
green bean casserole
dinner rolls
2 types of gravy

Dessert:

pecan pie
apple pie
lemonade pie
pumpkin pie
cherry cream cheese pie (the cherries haven't been put on yet in the picture)

On Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I took my Monster to get her first hair cut.  I had my camera so I could document the momentous occasion and later that afternoon, I happened to be driving down a residential street and I thought it was so pretty, I had to stop and take a picture.  A dream of mine is to one day experience a New England fall.  I hear the colors of the leaves changing there are just unrivaled.  Until then though, I will have to settle for pretty streets like this with all the leaves changing.

So what did you do for Thanksgiving?  Any great dishes to share?  Leave a comment and let me know!

Homemade Salsa

When I cook for Thanksgiving, I like to have the main meal around 3pm and I have appetizers ready at noon.  One of the appetizers I decided to have this year was chips and salsa con queso.  I made the salsa con queso using homemade salsa.  This was only my second attempt at salsa but it went over quite well.  I was even told it would be a great Christmas gift!

This was a small batch so I used 2 Roma tomatoes, about 1/3 of a sweet onion, 1 Anaheim pepper, 1 jalapeno pepper, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 can of tomato paste, a healthy handful of cilantro and the juice from one small lime.  I coarsely chopped up all of my ingredients and threw them in a pan, leaving all the seeds and innards of the peppers, with the tomato paste.  Squeezed my lime juice in there and let it simmer for a few hours.  I did discover that it was a little too thick for easy dipping so I added a little bit of water and some salt to bring out the flavors and voila!  Super tasty homemade salsa!  This is cheaper and tastier than store bought salsa so from now on, I think it will be homemade salsa for us!

Grape Jelly

Do you know what happens when your entire family, minus the baby, gets sick with a stomach bug a week before the Thanksgiving where you will be hosting 20 people?  You end up not posting to your blog for a week and a half as you get your family feeling better then promptly clean your house from top to bottom and make all the food for Thanksgiving.  In light of this, I will be making a few posts in rapid succession, the first of which is this one about tasty grape jelly.
My grandfather has a grape vine in his back yard and every year I collect a bunch of grapes from his vine and make grape jelly for all of my friends.  I couldn't stop now even if I wanted to because come mid November I start getting asked, have you  made any jelly yet?  Well, I harvested the grapes this year, which were a little on the light side because of the drought, and I have been procrastinating on making the jelly because it takes a lot of time and is difficult to do when you have 3 little girls who need your attention and you can't step away from the stove.  So I went ahead and made the juice from the grapes so they wouldn't go bad, then stuck the juice in the fridge and  sent a message to one of my friends who now lives in Dallas, asking if they would be in town on Thanksgiving because I was making grape jelly. 
See, see what I did there?  I forced myself into a deadline because now I had promised to have the jelly ready when they got here.  Little did I know that 24 hours later, my whole family would be sick.  So, while I was still recovering and my husband was looking at me like I was psychotic, I stood in the kitchen over the stove making up a batch of grape jelly.  It tastes just as good as it always has.  My friends refer to it as grape crack.  I have had at least 3 different people tell me they don't like grape jelly (from the store) but they love mine.  It has to be the grapes.  I discovered that this year. 
Remember how I said I made up the juice in advance and the crop was a little light this year?  Well, turns out when I went to make the jelly, I was one cup short of the juice I needed so I sent hubby to the store to buy some grapes so I could make up some more juice.  While making the juice from the store bought grapes, I realized that, frankly, it smelled like crap.  It is no wonder store bought grape jelly doesn't taste very good, the store bought grapes don't taste very good!  Thankfully, since it was only one cup of juice, it didn't affect the end result.  I followed the instructions from a box of Sure Jell with one tiny exception.  When I crush my grapes, I add a cup and a half of water, regardless of how many grapes there are so, in other years with a heavy crop, I end up with a juice that is much more concentrated.
So, here in pictures, are the steps for awesome grape jelly but I warn you, it will only be awesome if you get home grown grapes!

Remember how I said I follow the instructions on the box?  Well, I lied.  It says to pour boiling water over the lids with the seal and to keep the rest of the jars and lids in warm water until ready to fill.  Yeah, bloody waste of time if you ask me.  I simply fill my sink with the hottest water coming straight out of the tap and leave all the pieces of the jar in there until time to fill and my jars have always sealed just fine.

Yum!  Tasty homemade jelly!  It also makes a great gift!  I need to grow some strawberries next summer so I can make some strawberry jam.  That is my favorite!

Courageous the Movie

First let me start off by apologizing to all (2) of my rabid readers for not posting in a few days.  My Monster got sick with a stomach bug and just as she was getting over it, my Monkey got it too. 

So I went and saw Courageous tonight.  My father saw it last week and he really wanted to take Mr. Gem and I to see it as well.  Let me start out by saying that both of us do NOT like watching movies like this.  My husband puts it much better than I do when he states that he doesn't like to be emotionally manipulated.  I should also state that my father is a police officer which meant that this film had an extra resonance with me.  I am not going to write a full review here but I will hit on some particular points in the film which highlight why I don't watch films like this.

****WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD****

The movie starts out with a man pulling into a gas station and pumping gas.  He steps away from his truck for just a moment to grab something to clean his windshield and someone runs up, jumps in his truck and takes off.  He chases after them on foot, grabs onto the side of the truck and as the car jacker is driving, he is holding onto the window and trying to push and shove the thief out of the way.  The truck swerves, he falls, the truck hits a tree, the thief runs off and as witnesses are calling 911, he is trying to crawl to his truck.  The witnesses are telling him not to worry about the vehicle and he says he isn't at which point he reaches the back door, opens it and we see his infant son in a car seat in the back. 
*Wow, a sucker punch to the gut and we aren't even 5 minutes into the film yet.*

We are then introduced to the other main characters and get a little bit of back story on them and then, WHAM!  The 9 year old daughter of the main character Adam is killed in a car wreck with a drunk driver. *Yeah, my gut was just starting to feel better, thanks for that swift kick!*

Six weeks later, dad Adam is wrestling with anger, guilt and all the other emotions one would expect from someone who tragically loses a child and he decides he needs to make a resolution to be a better father to his surviving son.  Things seem to be going well then one night over dinner, son starts crying and says he wishes he had been a better brother.
*If they keep this up, I'm going to have a permanent bruise on my stomach here!*

Promptly after this, Adam goes to a parking lot he had previously been at with deceased daughter.  When there the first time, she asked him to dance with her and he said no and instead he watched her dance.  Now he gets out, puts in CD of the same song and dances by himself while we see flashbacks of her then asks God to tell her that he did his part of the dance.
*Seriously?!?!?!  Why don't I just put my heart on a platter and give it to you, you are certainly yanking the strings hard enough!*

One of the last scenes in the film is 2 of the other main characters pulling over a vehicle.  Drug dealers are in the vehicle along with 2 kilos in the trunk.  The driver decides he isn't going back to jail and he tries to shoot the cop.
*Thanks, that isn't emotional for me or anything considering it has been a recurring nightmare since I was a small child*

Thankfully, the teenager in the backseat recognizes the officer as the dad of a girl he wants to date, decides they can't kill them, grabs the gun and prevents the officer from getting hit when it goes off.  A big shoot out ensues, the bad guys run out of bullets, notice a young girl down the street watching them, decide to take her hostage and run after her.  Two officers give chase, including Adam, the one who lost his daughter earlier, and after a climatic fight scene, they manage to wrestle the 2 bad guys to the ground but not before Adam gets the crap beat out of him.  As he is laying there, he asks about the girl and they tell him she is safe and with her father.

**Wow, so in one film they have managed to address the fear of my baby getting kidnapped during a carjacking, my daughter being killed by a drunk driver, my father being murdered while trying to protect and serve, a sibling AND a parent dealing with survivor guilt and my child being taken hostage, Woohoo!  What a fun night at the movies!!!**


In all seriousness, the film does have a powerful message and it does a good job of conveying it but it just isn't for me.  I spent most of the film sitting in my chair clenching my muscles.  I kept trying to relax but then another tragedy would happen which would cause me to tense up again.  By the time we left the theater, I had a stress headache from all the emotional torment.  I understand why my father wanted to take us to see this film and I am really touched because my dad has never invited us to a movie.  He isn't the best at verbalizing what he is thinking and feeling and this was his way of conveying what he wanted to and, knowing that, I am deeply moved.  However, next time I will have to simply politely decline unless it is a comedy, sci-fi or romance. 
As the Ancient Greeks said, Know Thyself.

Fun with Pictures

I love taking pictures.  Today I was looking through all of my photos from the past year so I could  order some prints and I came across some of the interesting ones I have taken.

Some rainbow cupcakes I made last year for my Monkey's 3rd birthday.

Tasty thumbprint cookies (I will have to post my recipe sometime) and a handmade card for my best friend.

A beautiful rainbow rose my husband gave me for Valentines Day.

The crazy effects on my old car of a blizzard a few years ago.

An awesome shot of what my research tells me must be a 22 degree halo, but I call it a  rainbow around the sun.  I couldn't get it all in one shot but it was quite beautiful.

This last one I am not going to say what it is.  I am curious to see if anyone can identify it.  Leave a comment and tell me what you think it might be!

I am the 2.7 Percent

I am the 2.7 percent of the Texas population that voted.

Texas population-                    25,145,561
Legal voting age-                     18,789,238
Registered Voters-                   13,269,233
Votes cast on Prop 1-                    686,479

Percent of Registered Voters who voted-   5.173%
Percent of legal voting age who voted-      3.6536%
Percent of Total Population who voted-     2.73%


I used the votes cast on Prop 1 because out of the 10 proposed amendments, Prop 1 had the highest turnout.  This is not only disappointing, it is, in my mind, downright scary.  How can so many people be apathetic?
It also highlights what I said in this post, about my vote counting for even more in an election like this. 
My single vote effectively represented:

19 people out of Registered Voters
27 people out of legal voting age
36 people out of the entire Texas population

During the 2010 Gubernatorial Race, there were 4,979,870 votes cast so my vote during that election counted for

2 people out of Registered Voters
3 people out of legal voting age
5 people out of the entire Texas population

Amazing!  In a span of one year, my single vote became 7 to 10 times stronger!  If this scares any of you, the thought that a complete stranger who you may not agree with politically or philosophically could be casting you and 20-30 of your closest friends votes, please, participate in ALL elections.  Make your voice heard!  Be the change you want in the world!

Dump Cake

It is time for a confession.  I like to cook with fresh natural ingredients but there are some recipes from my childhood which I am far too addicted to and I can't bring myself to give them up.  I made one of them the other day.  It is called Dump Cake or White Trash Cake and it is WAY too delicious.

Ingredients:
1 can cherry pie filling
1 can crushed pineapple, drained
1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick butter melted
1 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Now for the directions and the namesake of this recipe.  Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray.  Dump the cherry pie filling into the bottom, dump the pineapple on top of the filling.  Sprinkle the cake mix all over, drizzle the melted butter on top of it, then sprinkle the coconut and pecans on top.  Bake at 350 F for 1 hour.  This is really good hot or cold but I personally prefer it warm.

Make sure you store any leftovers in the fridge, if there are any.  Now I need to invite some people over or I will end up eating all of it by myself!

Vote

I am a very strong proponent of voting.  I encourage everyone I know to vote, even if I know they don't share the same political views as I do because I believe strongly that it is our civic duty to be involved with politics at every level.  It is precisely why, after taking my Munchkin to the doctor for a diagnosis of pink eye on Friday, poor baby, that I went and voted.  Elections like the one we are currently having, where you are only voting for constitutional amendments, generally have an extremely low voter turnout which makes it even more important to make your voice heard.  Every vote counts in any election but in ones like this, I believe your vote counts even more which is why I would like to encourage anyone who might read this to PLEASE, go vote on Tuesday, November 8th if you haven't already.  You can find out what the proposed amendments are here and you can find your local polling place here.

I also have a completely unrelated tip for everyone.  If you have a basement, and the bathroom where your young children take a bath happens to sit over a part of this basement, I recommend NOT placing your networking equipment underneath said bathroom. 
Friday night, Monkey and Monster were taking a bath when Munchkin starting crying.  I left the bathroom to go grab her and feed her and in the few minutes I was gone, my children somehow managed to splash so much water outside the tub that they essentially turned the floor into a mini lake.  While I tried to mop all the water up, I wasn't fast enough and some of it ran under the baseboard, into a closet and dripped down, directly on top of our router, modem and switch, effectively killing our entire network. 
My husband was understandably upset, given that it destroyed an 800 dollar piece of equipment and he had to go scrounging through spare parts to piecemeal our network back together.  Thank God I am married to a network technician who can take even a disaster like that and within 2 hours, have our entire house back up and running.

Leave a comment and tell me, what is the most expensive thing your child/ren have ever inadvertently destroyed?

Taco Chicken Soup

Yesterday was pretty chilly, which made it the perfect day to make one of my favorite recipes, Taco Chicken Soup.




There is a quick way to make this and a slightly longer way, I will include both here.


Longer way:
                                                                                 
Ingredients:                                                                                    

1 chicken breast                                                                           
2 15 oz cans tomato sauce                                                           
1 cup dry pinto beans, soaked overnight, drained                           
1 cup frozen corn                                                                         
1 cup salsa                                                                                   
1 packet taco seasoning                                                                
1 medium onion, chopped                                                             
1 Tb chili powder                                                                         
1 tsp cayenne pepper                                                                   


Directions:

Broil, boil, sear or saute your chicken breast, I prefer to broil mine in a pan on the stove.  Shred your chicken and then put all the ingredients into a crock pot and simmer all day.  You can also put them into a pan on the stove and cook for about 1 hour or until beans are done.



Quick way:

Ingredients:

1 large can Swanson chunk chicken
2 15 oz cans tomato sauce
1 can pinto beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 cup salsa
1 packet taco seasoning
1/4 cup dried minced onion
1 Tb chili powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:  Drain your chicken and make sure it is shredded.  Dump all ingredients into a crock pot to simmer all day or cook on the stove in a pan until heated through.

Can be served with shredded cheese or a dollop of sour cream.  It is really good when served in tortilla bowls.  If you like the flavor of tortilla bowls but don't want to go through the work of making them, just take some store bought tortillas, tear them into smaller pieces, put a little oil in a skillet, and fry the tortillas until brown and serve on the side.

Repurposing Clothes Part 2

The other day I talked about taking one of my old dresses and turning it into a princess dress for my 2 year old for Halloween.  You can find that post here.  As I mentioned in that post, my 4 year old was very sad after I finished it because she wanted a dress like it too. 
So today I took this dress

and made a dress for my 4 year old and this time it only took me an hour and a half.  After spending over an hour ripping the seams the other day, I discovered that it wasn't even necessary because I didn't need that material so this time I just just cut the seams out.
 

I took my daughters measurements, bust-21.5 inches, waist-19.5 inches, arm pit to shoulder-5 inches which meant that I would need to cut the material with bust-22 inches, waist-20 inches, arm pit to shoulder-6 inches in order to leave room for seams. 
I folded each panel in half and marked them using pins, 5 inches at the waist, 5.5 inches at the bust and 6 inches to the shoulder.  The other day I free handed the pattern and cut it out and only realized after I had it together that one side was slightly longer than the other and I ended up having to do a tapered hem on that side to even it up.  Oh well, it taught me a great lesson which is why I folded it in half to mark and cut this time so both sides would be even.

After marking it, I cut out each piece, leaving the bottom of the dress the same size as the original and just tapering up to the smaller waist and bust.

I left the original seam for the neck on the front panel so I just had to pin the neck on the back panel and the arms on both panels and stitch them.

I used a zigzag type stitch since this material is very stretchy and I wanted the stitches to have a little bit of give in them.

Next, I pinned the shoulders together like this and did another zigzag stitch.

You might be wondering why, on my earlier measurements, I left an extra half inch of material on the waist and bust but I left a whole inch on the arm pit to shoulder measurement.  Well here is why.  If you wore this dress with the shoulders like they are, it would leave a raised area and would be uncomfortable.  So after I did the zigzag stitch, I folded the stitch over and ran a straight stitch on it so it would lay flat across the top of the shoulders.

After that, all I had left was to pin and sew the side seams.

There you have it!  An hour and a half later, the dress was finished, even after being interrupted to get rid of a "yucky yucky bug", helping my 2 year old use the restroom and changing and feeding my 5 month old.  Without interruptions it probably would have taken about an hour.

Here is a picture of both princess dresses.

It is amazing to see their faces light up and watch them swish and swirl around in one of "Mommy's beautiful dresses," and it was also thoroughly enjoyable creating something new, especially something that they love so much.  I may have to make them some more clothes, or maybe I can create something new for myself from my old clothes!