Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! There are so many things that I have been blessed with....
My family and friends, good health, a safe and warm home, a free country that allows me to worship Jesus Christ, a very blessed country compared to many other places in this world, food in my pantry.....

It was 3 years ago on Thanksgiving that we took a short trip to Guatemala to meet Brooks for the first time.

Wordless Wednesday

Recipes of the week

I had picked up some chuck steak at Target the other day for 25 cents. Yes 25 cents for 1.5 lbs of chuck steak. It was marked down and then I had a Target.com coupon for it. I wasn't sure what I would do with it, but knew I'd figure something out. I found the Teriyaki steak recipe and it was awesome. It made the meat really tender. I will definitely make this again when I find chuck steak on the cheap. Ryan threw it on the grill instead of broiling it. He seared it on both sides and then finished it off.

Chuck Steak Teriyaki

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sesame seed
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons dried onion flakes
• 1 teaspoon ginger, ground
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1 boneless beef chuck steak

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix all ingredients except meat.
2. Pour into a large reclosable plastic bag or a shallow baking dish.
3. Trim fat and slash edges of remaining fat at 1-inch intervals on meat.
4. Place meat in marinade, turning to coat.
5. Close bag or cover baking dish.
6. Refrigerate at least 4 or up to 24 hours, turning steak over occasionally.
7. Spray broiler pan with non-stick cooking spray or brush w/ oil.
   
8. Remove meat from marinade and place on broiler pan, reserving marinade.
9. Broil 4-inches from heat source for 10 minutes, basting often.
10. Turn meat over w/ tongs and broil 8 minutes for rare to medium, 10-12 minutes for well done.

Sesame Roasted Green Beans

Ingredients

• 1 lb green beans, ends snapped off
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic (about 3 medium cloves)
• 1 dash ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
• 4 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with foil, spread beans on baking sheet.
2. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt; Using hands, toss to coat evenly, and distribute in even layer.
3. Roast in oven for 10 minutes.
4. While roasting, combine garlic, ginger, honey, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes in small bowl.
5. Remove beans from oven. Coat beans evenly with the garlic/ginger mixture; redistribute in even layer.
6. Return to oven and continue roasting until beans are dark golden brown in spots and starting to shrivel, 10-12 minutes longer.
7. Adjust seasoning with salt if necessary, toss well. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Stickyanna

For a couple months now, Brooks will randomly say "stickyanna" and then laugh. We had no idea what he meant. He told us it was from Veggie Tales. Who knew what Veggie Tales, he sometimes watches it at church, and rarely at home. Well, I finally figured it out today. Since we were home with a sick Hudson, I let them watch a little Veggie Tales. At a certain scene, they both started laughing and saying "stickyanna". The DVD wasn't saying "stickyanna", but was instead "The piano must go up" in a French accent. If I wasn't listening too hard, I could kind of see where they got it from. I'm glad we finally figured it out!

Recipes of the Week

Here they are....we had the pork roast last week and it was even better than I thought it would be. We had never had a pork sirloin roast before, I got it at the Purdue Meatshop cheap and it was a really good hunk of pork. If you can't find this cut, you could use Pork loin, but it might be a little dry. I think Pork shoulder would be too fatty. We enjoyed it with green beans the first day and had the leftovers (along with all the yummy sauce) over rice.

Surprisingly for you, not all of these recipes come from Recipezaar! The muffin recipe is from my favorite baking cookbook, Mom's Big Book of Baking. I've thought about making this recipe for awhile and finally got around to it this morning. I had some apples that were needing to be used. They were a huge hit with the boys. I think they would have eaten the whole batch if I would have let them.

I have not made the chai tea mix, but plan to soon. I love drinking chai in the winter and this looks like a cheaper alternative. I imagine this would also be good blended with some ice.

Crockpot Cranberry Pork Roast

1 2-3 lb Pork Sirloin Roast
1 can Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
1/2 packet Onion Soup Mix
1/2 tsp Cumin
1 TB dijon mustard

1. Place pork roast in crockpot.
2. Sprinkle cumin and onion soup mix over roast.
3. Dump Cranberry sauce on top.
4. Cook on low 4-6 hours or until done.
5. Before serving, stir in mustard.

Homemade Vanilla Chai Tea Mix

1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup powdered non-dairy creamer
1 cup French vanilla powdered non-dairy creamer
2 ½ cups white sugar
1 ½ cups unsweetened instant tea
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp allspice
¼ tsp white pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until it is a fine powder. Add two-three tablespoons of mix to 8 ounces of hot water or milk.

Apple Oat Muffins

3 medium apples
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1 cup old-fashioned oats

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with liners.
2. Peel the apples and grate them using the large holes of your grater. Squeeze the grated apples over the sink to remove excess moisture.
3. Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the oil, egg, vanilla, and yogurt. With a wooden spoon, stir until all the ingredients are moistened. Stir in the grated apples and oats.
4. Fill each muffin cup. Bake until they are golden, about 20-22 minutes.

Wordless Wednesday

Preschoolers with Cell phones?

After 4 years, we finally replaced our trusty cell phone. Brooks has been having a grand time playing with the old one. It's been deactivated, but still acts like it used to, but doesn't have any service so I don't have to worry about him making calls. Hudson also likes to play with it. This morning he was pretending he was talking on the phone to Memaw.

After Brooks woke up from his nap this morning, he had to know where "his" cell phone was. He said "did Hudson take it or something?". He found it and then told me, "you know some people at preschool have cell phones" and I was like, ummm no kids at preschool have cell phones, and he said "Miss Ashley has one". I told him he could play with his cell phone when he got home.

We all went to a square dance Saturday evening. It was with other families from our church with young kids. We all had a fun time, but Brooks and Hudson did not do any dancing. They just ran around the gym. Brooks was following Jonny around. Jonny is Gloria's son (Hudson's babysitter). Brooks did everything Jonny did. When Jonny got a piece of bread to eat, so did Brooks, and so on.

Recipes of the Week

Here's a couple recipes to share. The Ghetto Garlic bread is a family favorite. I pick up buns on markdown and stash them in the freezer just for this. You could also use hot dog buns if you have some of those. It sounds kinda weird, but try it, it is really good and you won't ever buy frozen garlic bread again!


Easy Vegetable Beef Soup

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef (you can use the least expensive, toughest kind)
• 14 1/2 ounces beef broth
• 16 ounces frozen vegetables *I used a Gumbo blend w/okra, yum!*
• 14 1/2 ounces diced tomatoes
• 10 3/4 ounces condensed tomato soup
• 1 tablespoon minced onion
• 1 teaspoon italian seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 1/4 cups water

Directions

1. In skillet, brown beef and drain off fat. Place beef in 3-4 quart crockpot.
2. Add remaining ingredients.
3. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

Ghetto Garlic Bread

Ingredients

4 hamburger buns
3 TB butter, softened
1 TB margarine
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
Parmesan cheese

1. Mix the butter, margarine and garlic together.
2. Spread on the open hamburger buns.
3. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
4. Broil until golden brown.

Favorite Foto Friday

I took the boys out to the Purdue Horticulture Park for a "photo shoot" on Tuesday. They loved running around out there!

Wordless Wednesday

Quiet Weekend

We had a nice quiet weekend. Ryan wasn't feeling too hot yesterday so we stayed home. We went to church this morning. We all woke up early (5:30am with daylight savings time change) so it seemed like the longest morning ever, which was not a bad thing. Ryan took Brooks to the mountain bike trails this afternoon and I tried to get some pictures of Hudson.