Kimmie in Real Life (week 8)

I LOVE HAVING
LITTLE KIDS IN THE HOUSE!!

They just say and do some of the sweetest things!
I really wish that when Tracy whispers in their ears when they are asleep
"No Growing allowed"...
that the wish would really come true, or they would at least stay young and innocent for just a little bit longer.
They are growing up too fast and one of my favorite things about little kids, is the adorable and sometimes hilarious words that come out of their mouths.

Some memorable moments
from Ethan's mouth this week:
Ethan (to the bowl-full of strawberries on the counter from our garden and our neighbors garden)
“You mean we didn’t buy these at the store”, WOW!

Ethan: “Hey mom, I was just wondering if you have anymore of the Spinach, I mean Chard to eat. That was my favorite and I would really like some more”.
(I felt bad that I had to tell him "no" that there wasn't anymore left...upon hearing this he then drank the juice left in the pan from steaming it up)

We had a wonderful 4th of July
with my parents at their property in Lava.
We enjoyed bowls of fresh fruit, made up tin foil dinners and cooked them in the coals and also made Huckleberry Ice Cream for my dad.

Monday afternoon,
while we were unloading the car, Tracy got coals started as my parents sent us home with a package of un-thawed hamburger patties....

So, we put the hamburger patties in the bottom of the Dutch Oven and
topped them with chopped onions, diced carrots and potatoes...
we let it simmer for an hour and then mixed it all up (so the meat was in bite sized chunks) and had dinner.
The Kids loved this!

Absolutely delicious!
While Tracy was making dinner,
I cleaned and sorted some pinto beans and got them soaking on the stove.

After the beans were cooked,
I divided them up and took 6 cups of them and made up a Baked Bean Casserole for dinner (for recipe...click here)
(instead of using 1/2 package of bacon, I pulled a snack sized bag of Bacon Ends from the freezer...they worked great...click here for this tip)

I then put the rest of them in a Ziploc bag in the freezer to make a pot of Beans and Hamhocks one of these next weeks.

YES...
Green Smoothies finally graced our Vita-Mix this week!
PERFECTLY DELICIOUS!!

I forget how much Tracy's enjoys these cookies and when I made up a batch this week, Tracy nicely asked me if we could make up more and OF COURSE he got another batch.

Never underestimate the FUN
of having Kabobs to eat.
I think my favorite thing about Kabobs is that if you just have a handful of different kinds of fruit, you can just put them on a stick and it makes it FUN and where everyone can enjoy what little fruit you have.

Even though it was a hot afternoon
Ethan begged me to make up some hot cocoa and popcorn for an afternoon snack.
These photos were priceless
as I was busy making dinner Ethan wanted to come and sit at the counter and eat and read to spend time with me.
I LOVE this sweet little moment!

"Tendah, Juicy"!!
Thursday my Sweetie decided to cook dinner in the Dutch Oven.
This is one of his specialties.
The way the onions, bell peppers, meat and BBQ sauce all blend together make the most DELICIOUS dish to serve over a bed of rice or with baked potatoes.

BTW....a funny little tid-bit about "Tendah Juicy"

We saw this guy from South Carolina on You-Tube a few years ago doing a cooking video and he kept on saying "It's Tendah, Juicy...Dutch Oven does all "da" work"!

It really made us laugh hard!

SO, needless to say Tracy and I always mock this when we make up this meal.

Last Thursday, I had dropped the kids off with Tracy at the park so I could go and get my hair cut and then when I went back to the park to get the kids I gave Tracy a little "hip to hip bump" while I said "I can't wait to enjoy a little "Tendah Juicy" tonight". I didn't realize that there was nice little mom sitting there who overheard and saw this little gesture and conversation and she let out a little giggle. Little did she realize we were talking Dutch Oven cooking...OR, who knows, maybe we weren't. (Wink!)

We all enjoyed a delicious sandwich
with the leftovers the next day!

Since we had such a large bowl-full of strawberries I decided to freeze some, we ate some fresh and then made a Fresh Strawberry Pie with the rest.

SO, I have never made a Strawberry Pie without "JUNKET"!
Since I don't have one box of Junket in my house, I had to compromise and throw together something without a mix.

Here is what I did:

(in a heavy sauce pan mix the following)
1 cup water
2/3 cup OR 3/4 cup sugar (depending how sweet your strawberries are)
3 Tbsp Corn Starch
dash of salt
(whisk together to make sure there are no lumps)

Bring to boil and then add in
1 cup crushed strawberries
1 Tbsp butter
Continue cooking until heated through...remove from heat and add in
1 tsp. vanilla
Let Cool

Prepare pie crust
Fill pie crust with fresh strawberries
Pour glaze over the top of strawberries and chill 2-3 hours.

Enjoy!

You know when Tracy LOVES a recipe
because he will copy the recipe onto a card with instructions and hand drawn art (he has always been a "doodler" and loves to doodle and illustrate any and everything)
He then adds it to his recipe box of favorites.
Blender pancakes
(Connie's recipe) have become another weekend favorite!!

Tracy blended up the wheat, water and dry milk powder,
while I got the syrup jar refilled up.

Such yummy pancakes!!

They were SO yummy
that we took the leftovers and made the kids
"Pancake sandwiches" for lunch!

Tracy made up one more batch of "Tendah Juicy" Saturday night and we enjoyed the leftovers and made delicious sandwiches Sunday afternoon after church.

(July 4th to July 10th)
Sunday
Zucchini Bread, Plums,
Watermelon, Cantaloupe and Strawberries, Tin Foil Dinners (cooked in the fire at my parent’s vacation property in Lava, Idaho), homemade Huckleberry Ice Cream,

Monday
Fried Eggs, French Toast, hash browns, sausage/bacon and fresh fruit (my mom fixed a BIG breakfast for us).
Made S’mores before we left my parents
Tracy pulled out the Dutch Oven and we threw in hamburger patties my parents sent us home (that were already un-thawed and needed used right away)
we cut up carrots, potatoes and onions and cooked it in the Dutch Oven while we unpacked from our tip. YUMMY!!
(SOAKED pinto beans overnight and then cooked them on Tuesday)

Tuesday
Steel Cut Oats
(Tracy) Leftover Tomato Soup, watermelon, Pluots, and peanut butter cookies
(kids) Leftover soup/Dutch Oven mixed into a Goulash, Green Grape Smoothie
Salmon and steamed Swiss Chard
Garden fresh strawberries and toast

Wednesday
Steel Cut Oats
(Tracy) Scrambled egg sandwich, watermelon and strawberries, Snickerdoodles
(kids) Tuna Fish Sandwich, Garden Fresh Strawberries, Green Grape Smoothie
Bean Casserole, Cottage Cheese, Avocado slices, Kabobs
Snickerdoodles

Thursday
Steel Cut Oats
(Tracy) Leftover beans, cottage cheese, apple, Snickerdoodles
(kids) bowl of fresh Strawberries, Tuna Fish Sandwiches, bananas,
Snickerdoodles
Dutch Oven Pork Loin over rice, sliced tomatoes, lime drink
Strawberry Pie

Friday
Steel Cut Oats
Bananas
Pork Loin sandwiches, apples, Strawberry Pie
(kids dinner) Leftover Bean Casserole, tomato and avocado slices, cottage cheese
(Tracy and I split a Pork Salad at Café Rio)

Saturday
Whole Wheat Blender pancakes and eggs
Green Grape Smoothie, pancake sandwiches
Dutch Oven Pork and veggies served over steamed rice

I felt VERY spoiled this week
having such a wonderful array and variety of delicious food to eat and it really is becoming a way of life for me to just eat what we have and most of all to never waste a thing. Not one thing goes to waste in my home.

We put every morsel of food to use in some way or another and it feels good to be frugal, but most of all to eat such a variety of healthy and nourishing food.
The kids are begging me to make Orange Rolls with the oranges we got this week and I want to make up some Vegetarian Enchiladas with all of the yummy veggies we have as well, but don't have tortillas, so depending upon how my week goes, I may venture out and try making homemade tortillas for dinner. Stay tuned

But most of all have a
wonderful, happy week full of LOTS of laughter, love, smiles and memories!