Posted on | November 29, 2011 | 3 Comments
to me, thanksgiving has it’s signature foods – the ones every family seems to eat – and then each family has it’s own signature dishes for the holidays. turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes and green bean casseroles come to mind as the staples. our family has a signature dish made of rutabagas, potato and butter that is amazing. newcomers often look at us weird, but after a few bites they are sold. go Norway!
this year my mother-in-law made this amazing wild rice salad (originally from Paula Deen)(surprisingly there is no butter) along with all of the staples on the thanksgiving table. served cold, the dressing is delicious and all the colors are so pretty together. i actually still have left overs and days later, it is still as amazing as day one. i highly recommend trying this – it would make a wonderful summer salad as well in lieu of potato or pasta salad OR will fit right in to the holidays with its green and red colors. what i’m saying is, it’s great anytime, and all the time. NOMS and all that.
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Posted on | November 28, 2011 | 20 Comments
i wasn’t even kidding about my pants not fitting. thanksgiving was a glorious 4 days of eating, napping and lounging. last wednesday we headed over the mountains for a long weekend of said eating, napping and lounging, to be completed at Scot’s parents house. we don’t get over there very often because of Scot’s work schedule, but this time he was lucky enough to actually get some work done in eastern washington and coincide it with our family trip. this meant we had to stop a few times which meant i got to go thrifting in places i don’t usually. which was obviously a really awesome start to the trip according to me. yay for other people’s old stuff!
luckily the pass was open and clear (it had been closed the previous day with snow and avalanche warnings) and we got to yakima where the sun was shining and my mother-in-law had lunch waiting for us. yay Bobbi! (those of you who have read for a while know this, but Bobbi’s name is actually Angela. but the kids call her Bobbi – and call Mel, Scot’s dad, Paca – both names randomly picked by Harper’s cousin Sage, the first grandkid, when he was little. so cute).
thanksgiving morning Bobbi got the thanksgiving food party started, with a little help from Harper.
when the turkey was in the oven and we had a few hours to kill, we bundled up and headed out to shoot off some rockets. it was soooo cold out, but thanks to some borrowed hats and gloves (oh hai, did i mention we forgot Harper’s suitcase at home? yeah. as we were leaving i had that bad feeling we were forgetting something important. but we had the kid and the dogs so i figured we could buy whatever it was i was forgetting. ha.), we stayed warm. Harper was a really good helper getting the rockets together and pushing the button. and taking Stella (who is blind) for little walks around the field.
her outfit was pretty amazing.
i took a turn shooting off a big rocket (and by shooting off, i do mean pressing a button after my father-in-law had completely set up everything). pshewwwwwww!
and it went really really really high. then we couldn’t see it. and then some guys waaaaay over in the parking lot warming up for a game of turkey day touch football started yelling.
and then he caught it. and since my rocket launch was clearly super awesome, i was all
after all that awesomeness, we headed back to prep for FOOD. Bobbi made a beautiful table with mason jars, brown butcher paper to write out what we are thankful for, and pinecones. she put epsom salt in jars to look like snow and then battery powered tea lights for simple but pretty mood lighting. each napkin had a crayon. Harper’s place even had a tiny mason jar!
after an amazing meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, sausage and sage stuffing, dilled brussel sprouts, wild rice salad (recipe coming this week – soooo amazing!), sweet potatoes and of course all of the fixings, we all needed a big nap. some of us couldn’t even wait to leave the table before passing out.
the next two days were full of more food (so many left overs! plus lunch outings for burgers and delicious bbq with the best mac and cheese i’ve ever had), taking a long drive through a canyon trying to spot mountain sheep (saw some), walks along the river and playing on the playground. the weather was beautiful – clear and sunny but quite chilly. the entire trip was exactly what we all needed. i’m so thankful to have such wonderful in-laws. i know many people do not have that and i thank my lucky stars, especially at this time of year, that Scot’s parents are so great. really special people. love!
i hope you all had a wonderful holiday whatever you did and whomever you spent it with. holiday season is here you guys. and i could NOT be more excited this year. BRING IT ON CHRISTMAS.
Posted on | October 26, 2011 | 32 Comments
so as i sit here eating this for the 3rd day in a row for lunch, i figured i should share it with you guys. if you made and liked the ease and yuminess of the crock pot bbq hawaiian chicken i posted last week, you’ll love this equally. especially if you love buffalo chicken as much as i do. you do, right?
all you do is place 4-6 skinless chicken breasts into your crock pot, and cover with one bottle of Franks Red Hot buffalo wing sauce (be sure it’s the buffalo one, not the regular Franks – i think that would be too hot to really enjoy) and one packet of ranch dip mix ( i used hidden valley, found right by the salad dressings). cook on low for about 5-6 hours. i pulled the chicken out about half hour before we ate, shredded it, and returned it to the crockpot.
toast some french rolls and serve it up. so. freaking. good.
next time (and there will be many, many next times) i’m going to get some ciabatta bread and cheddar and put those bad boys in the panini press, with a side of ranch for dipping on the side. HELLO!
after that, imma make this and add to some homemade mac and cheese. YOU HEARD ME.
found this originally on where else, pinterest.
Posted on | October 13, 2011 | 13 Comments
oh man. the poor lighting in my kitchen and my wildly insufficient knowledge of photo editing did absolutely nothing for this incredibly tasty soup. this recipe is for the crock-pot again (yay!) and i got it from the book Everyday Slow Cooker & One Dish Recipes (a – what else – goodwill find). the soup is really easy and i couldn’t believe how much flavor it had.
shop:
>> 8 medium potatoes, peeled & cut into 1/2 inch cubes
>> 6 cups chicken broth
>> one onion, chopped (i omitted because onions and i? not friends)
>> 7oz roasted sweet red peppers, drained and chopped
>> 1 small celery rib, chopped
>> 1/2 tsp garlic powder
>> 1/2 tsp seasoning salt
>> 1/2 tsp black pepper
>> 1/2 cup flour
>> 2 cups heavy cream
>> 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
>> chopped bacon
in your crock-pot, combine potatoes, broth, onion, celery, red peppers, garlic powder, salt and pepper. cook on low for 6 hours, or until the potatoes are tender.
in a small bowl, combine flour and 1/2 cup of cream; add to crock-pot. stir in parmesan cheese, bacon and the remaining cream. re-cover and cook for an additional 20 minutes. ladle into bowls and sprinkle with more parm (because why not).
the next time i make this, i will either up the flour, or lessen the chicken broth. i prefer a chowdery soup if it’s gonna be creamy, and i think doing one of those things would make it perfect. i used jarred peppers and packaged pre-cooked bacon to make this even easier. we made some garlic bread to have along side it, making this a perfect comfort meal.
i think i’ve gained 5 pounds this week.
moving on.
easy? yep. the most time consuming part was peeling and cubing the potatoes. even that didn’t take too long.
toddler friendly? she loved it. but hello, potatoes and bacon.
yummy and comforty? the yum factor is strong with this one. flavor explosion freals.
inexpensive? around ten dollars. we have have plenty left over for lunch tomorrow!
thanks for putting up with something a little different around here this week. our tummies have definitely been happy and full this week. even if my jeans are harder to button, i’ve enjoyed trying a few new things and sharing them with you. back to your regularly scheduled programming next week (whatever they hay that is!).
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