2012-Getting a Good Start

"It is far better to be alone than to be in bad company."--George Washington

"The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not our circumstances."--Martha Washington

"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."--George Washington

     I have done something this month that I rarely do, I read a book that was recommended by my husband.  It's not that I don't want to read his selections, it's just that I like to read for entertainment and he prefers to read to actually learn something.  Anyway,  the book he gave me to read is called Being George Washington.  It's written by Glenn Beck and I've learned a lot about the wars Washington fought in and some history of the early patriots and traitors.  George Washington was an amazing man with an incredible amount of integrity and patience.  He so deserves to be called the "father of our country".  We would be much better people if we chose to take on some of his character traits.

Here's a quilt that I made last year for fun.  The snowman faces are made from fleece batting.

This is one of my family's most favorite recipes.  Even my picky eaters love it.  When I make porcupine meatballs I prefer to leave out the sugar.  I also use instant brown rice instead of white rice  to give it a little more fiber.

Porcupine Meatballs

1 lb. ground beef                                             2-3 C. tomato juice

½ C. uncooked rice                                         ½ tsp. cloves

2 T. chopped green pepper                              ½ tsp. cinnamon

1 T. chopped onion                                         1 T. sugar

1 tsp. salt                                                         1 T. Worcestershire sauce

½ tsp. celery salt

Combine beef, rice, green pepper, onion, salt and celery salt.  Shape into 1 inch balls.  Combine tomato juice, cloves, cinnamon, sugar and Worcestershire sauce in large pan.  Add meatballs.  Simmer for 30-40 minutes turning occasionally.  Yield 8-10 servings

Happy New Year!

"Did you ever notice. . . There are no recipes for leftover chocolate."  --unknown



    Since I'm really bad at keeping my New Year's Resolutions, this year I'll only have one and that is. . . I will eat chocolate.  I should do better with that one.  Here is a recipe that is the easiest fudge recipe ever.  In fact, the men in this family make it.  It turns out smooth and creamy and delicious every time.

Microwave Fudge

3 cups milk chocolate chocolate chips                       1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cube butter

Put all ingredients in a medium to large microwave safe bowl.  Microwave for 3 minutes.  Stir until smooth and pour into a buttered 9x9” glass dish.  Refrigerate until solid.  Optional:  You can add chopped nuts or mini marshmallows before stirring if desired.

    Here we are in January and it's cold outside so we're stuck inside.  Perfect weather for quilting.  I read a book last month about a group of women who quilt.  It was so good and it just goes to prove that quilters are the nicest people in the world.  This was a great story about friendship and when you help others it always comes back to enhance your own life.  The book is called Threading the Needle  and it's by Marie Bostwick.

Speaking of quilting, here's a quilt I made last year.  I got the pattern from a quilt shop in Payson.  I love the appliqued snowmen.  The quilt is basically strips sewn together with a center panel for the snowmen.  Then just put on a couple of borders and it's done.

We spent the week between Christmas and New Year's in Arizona.  We got to see some nice specimens of cactus.  We went hiking in the hills near the San Tan Mountains.  We went to dinner at a place called the San Tan Flat.  We ate outside on picnic tables around firepits.  In the center is a big stage and dance floor.  They had a live country western band and they were actually pretty good.

My sisters and I took a little trip over to a place called the Queen Creek Olive Mill.  It was a cool place that grows olive trees and produces their own olive oil.  They had a little store and restaurant there and sold all kinds of olive oil in different flavors.  We ordered some cupcakes from the bakery and tried their gelato.  Not bad!

     On the way to Arizona,  my family was good enough to stop in Boulder City, Nevada so I could peek in at a quilt shop.  It was called Fiddlesticks and it's one of the cutest quilt shops I've seen in a while.  The fabric was gorgeous and they had some unique containers to display their products.

Merry December!

"Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace." --Buddha

     Christmas is getting closer and hopefully my list of things to do is getting shorter.  December is always the busiest month of the year.  It's probably a good thing, otherwise we'd be either really bored or really depressed. 

    

 I read a good book last year.  It's the real story of the Trapp family singers.  What an amazing family with a tremendous amount of faith and reliance on God.  I was surprised though that the names of the children in real life are not the same names of the children in the movie.

In December, I am always in the mood for something warm and something easy to fix to eat for dinner.  Chicken Tetrazzini is one of my favorite meals and it is both warm and easy to fix.  It's one of those nice one pot meals.

Chicken Tetrazzini

Melt 3 T. margarine in large skillet.  Saute 1 chopped onion and 1 stalk chopped celery until vegetables are clear.  Layer 2 C. of cooked chicken, cut in strips, over vegetables.  Layer 6 oz. (1 ½ C.) uncooked spaghetti (broken in shorter pieces) over chicken.  Combine 1 tsp. salt, ¼ tsp. pepper, 1 can cream of chicken soup and 2 ½ C. chicken broth and pour over spaghetti moistening all.  Place 1 can sliced mushrooms on top.  Sprinkle ½ C. grated parmesan cheese on top.  Sprinkle a little paprika on top of the cheese.  Cover and simmer.  Check after 20 minutes.  May need 10 minutes more to cook spaghetti.  Keep heat low.

This quilt is called "The Stockings Were Hung".  It's from the book called 'Tis the Season by Jeanne Large and Shelley Wicks.  It was a fun quilt with mostly patchwork and a little applique and a few red button embellishments for the holly berries.  I used up a lot of my stash of green scraps.

Happy Thanksgiving!

"You can't stumble when you are on your knees." --Amish Proverb

Thanksgiving is just a couple days away.  It will be nice to have the family all here for the big day.  There really is so much to be thankful for.  We are so blessed.

I read a book called These is my Words by Nancy E. Turner.  It's an inspiring book about a woman who traveled in a wagon train with her family and settled in Arizona before it became a state.  It is in journal format and shows Sarah's words from the time she was young and almost illiterate to the time when she became self-educated and a hard working business woman.  This is a book that goes through the many trials that she and others faced.  It is true to the history of the time and roughly based on a true to life person.  I couldn't believe how hard everyone worked to survive.  We are very blessed to live at the present time.

November is one of the best months for soup because that's when there is a real chill in the air.  This is one of our family's favorite soup recipes.  It's called Cheddar Potato Chowder with Ham  but we just call it Ham Chowder.

Cheddar Potato Chowder with Ham

2 cups water                                                     ¼ tsp. pepper

2 cups diced unpeeled red potatoes                  ¼ cup flour

1 cup diced carrots                                           2 cups 2% milk

½ cup diced celery                                           2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

¼ cup chopped onion                                       1 cup cubed fully cooked ham

1 tsp. salt

            In a large heavy pan, combine the first seven ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until tender. 

Meanwhile, place flour in a large saucepan; gradually whisk in milk.  Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.  Remove from the heat.  Add cheese; stir until melted.  Stir the ham and the cheese sauce into undrained vegetables; stir until combined.  Yield: 7 servings.

This is a little table runner that I made last year.  It came in a kit that I got from SewN'Save in Clearfield.

This is a quilt that I made for my sister for her 50th birthday.  I got the pattern from a quilting magazine.  It's another quilt that has minky as the backing.

Let it Snow!

"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone." --Audrey Hepburn





Run, little deer!

  


 

Payson Lakes




 

Utah Lake Overlook

Last weekend was one of those that we actually didn't have a ton of stuff to do so we took my mom on a drive up around the Nebo Loop.  There were a lot of hunters out scoping the area for deer.  We got to see a doe and I shot her with my camera (the only way I like to shoot a deer).  We drove by Payson Lakes and made a quick stop at the Utah Lake Overlook.  It seemed as though you could see forever.  We kept going and came across an area called Devil's Kitchen.  It reminded my daughter of a mini Bryce Canyon.

Devil's Kitchen





We had lunch at Dalton's in Payson.  The French Dip Sandwiches were great as well as the halibut sandwich.  The battered fries and onion rings were so good!  The mud pie in the deli case looked so good but we were all too full to try it.



Dalton's restaurant in Payson



A couple of weeks ago I bought a mini donut maker on a whim and we've had so much fun with that thing.  I've discovered that you can use just about any muffin recipe and make fun little donuts.  On-line I've read that people also use cake mixes.  So far, we've made chocolate donuts with chocolate frosting and little sprinkles, pumpkin spice donuts dipped in cinnamon sugar, applesauce donuts dipped in powdered sugar and today we made lemon poppyseed donuts dipped in lemon glaze.  They disappear really fast around here.

Here are a couple of little quilts that I finished in October.  The turkey quilt pattern is from Briarwood Cottage out of Idaho Falls and the scarecrow quilt pattern comes from Ashby's Attic.  It's fun to make smaller quilts when you find you don't have a lot of time on your hands to get the big one's finished.

I read an interesting book.  It's called One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp.  The author was challenged to show gratitude for 1000 things in her life and tells how accepting that challenge enriched her life.  I found the book intriguing even though there was a lot of repetition and the last chapter included some very strange stuff.  Overall, I found myself wanting to show more gratitude in my life for even the small things.

October: A very full month!

"Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted."   --Albert Einstein

Four little monkeys

Look at this cute little fella! Yes, I got a new little grandson this month.  Actually he wasn't that little.  He weighed 9 lbs. 3 oz.  I finally got his quilt finished.  The pattern is by Blue Meadow Designs and is called Monkey Business.  I put brown minky on the back so it will be really soft.

With all the excitement around here I haven't had a chance to finish the book I'm currently reading.  So I'll just let you know about one of my all-time favorite books.  It's called  The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.  It's the story of two sisters in a concentration camp during WWII.  It's a story of charity and forgiveness.

What is one of the best things to have for breakfast in the fall?  It's got to be apple pancakes with cinnamon syrup drizzled on them.  Just add apples to your favorite pancake recipe and here's the recipe for the syrup.

Cinnamon Syrup

Bring to a full boil stirring constantly:

1 cup Karo syrup                                 ½ cup water

2 cups sugar                                        2 tsp. cinnamon

Continue stirring and boiling 2 minutes longer.  Cool 5 minutes and stir in 1 cup evaporated milk.  Makes 3 ½ cups.  Refrigerate leftovers.

If you stir in 1 cup chopped apples this is a good combination.

Syrup is also good warm or cold on ice cream.

 In the fall we always enjoy a nice drive in Middle Canyon.











This year it was a little different because the snow came and weighed the trees down before the leaves could fully change colors.


But no matter what the circumstances the scenery is always beautiful.

Ready for October?

"Death is no more than passing from one room into another.  But there's a difference for me, you know.  Because in that other room I shall be able to see." --Helen Keller

This book has been one of the most eye-opening books I have ever read.  Unbroken gave me a whole new appreciation for servicemen and the true sacrifice they give when they are protecting our country.  This is the story of an olympian turned soldier and his long stay in a Japanese POW camp during WWII.  His story and the overcoming of his hardships is truly amazing.

This quilt is called Happy Jack.  The pattern comes from Pieces From My Heart pattern company.  It's an easy quilt to make and can be completed in an afternoon.

Do you need a recipe to use up some of that pumpkin from that huge can you opened up?  These rolls are light and moist and very pretty.  When I made this batch, I cut the recipe in half and put the ingredients in my bread machine and put the setting on dough.  I still got to play with the dough and the rolls turned out just as nice.

Pumpkin Knot Rolls

2 pkgs. (1/4 oz. each) active dry yeast                                  3 eggs

1 cup warm milk                                                                   1 ½ tsp. salt

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened                                    5 ½ to 6 cups flour

½ cup sugar                                                                          1 T. cold water

1 cup cooked or canned pumpkin                                          sesame or poppy seeds (optional)

In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk.  Add the butter, sugar, pumpkin, 2 eggs, salt and 3 cups of flour.  Beat until smooth.  Stir in enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough.  Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.  Punch dough down.  Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half.  Shape each portion into 12 balls.  Roll each ball into a 10 inch rope; tie into a knot and tuck ends under.  Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets.  Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.  In a small bowl, beat water and remaining egg.  Brush over rolls.  Sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds if desired.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from pans to wire racks.  Yield: 2 dozen.