Winding up for Christmas...

Well, here we go.  The FIRST day of December!  I know I say this all the time, but I really don't know where November went.  Or January, for that matter.  The year has flown by! And saying "2011" doesn't sound OK.  Not OK at all.

As I'm sitting here in the early-morning quiet, the calm before the storm of everyone waking up, I can't help but think about all that needs to be done and feel a bit anxious about it all.  I guess we'll just take it a day at a time, but still plan ahead.  We like to keep Christmas simple, and that will include visiting the Creche exhibit on Friday and picking out a Christmas tree on Saturday. 

I really pared down the Christmas decorations when we moved, so I'll have to go through them to determine what our tree will need in order to look halfway decent.  We also must put lights on the outside of the house, we have the perfect front porch for it!  So the bulk of our decorating will come from lights, and the kids and I will be making some decorations for the tree to keep the cost at a minimum.

We still haven't taken a picture for the Christmas card, so I'm hoping to get that done in the next few days, get them ordered and print labels to mail them out.  I have been VERY lax about this in the past few years, so I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things and send them out every year again.

I hope you all have a Wonderful December, a Merry Christmas, and a Prosperous New Year!  I'm so appreciative that you take time out of your busy day to visit our little corner of the blogosphere! 

I'll leave you with my new favorite quote from Elizabeth Barrett Browning:
 "God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame."

And to the person who knocked on our door last night and left a huge, gorgeous bag of mandarins, I apologize for being asleep on the couch, cuddled up with my two little boys and a snoring dog, while pretending to be watching a movie.  When I woke up from my little snooze, they informed me that someone had been knocking on the door.  Thanks for the heads up, boys.

The Humble Pear Crumble Pie

If you hadn't realized it yet, Thanksgiving is next week.  Next week.  NEXT WEEK!!!  I KNOW!!!  And you're welcome for the reminder.  Because in my world, Thanksgiving feels like it should be two months away still.  That being said, I'm gearing up for Thanksgiving dinner at Nonni's house.  We'll be celebrating there, and it will be a collaborative effort, with the turkey, potatoes, some pies and a jell-o cranberry sauce as my OUR responsibilities.  I'm putting the kids to work!

The rest of the menu includes ham, green bean casserole, yams and apples, salad and bread.

Heaven on a plate.

I've been the turkey roaster for the the past few years, including The Thanksgiving that almost wasn't, and I really enjoy it. 

I also really enjoy pie.  Any kind of pie.  And it's not because I love the crust, because I'm more than willing to give the crust up to Andy.  I think it's because Pie equals Love.  Homemade, comforting, gather round the hearth love.

This is one of our favorite pies.  It is similar to a Dutch Apple Pie, but mad with pears.  Any variety will work, but I used some locally grown Bartletts for this pie.  The pears take on an almost buttery flavor and texture.  Of course, that might also be from the stick of bUtter in the crumble topping.


Pear Crumble Pie

Use your favorite pie crust recipe.  I used Sylvia's Perfect Pie Crust recipe from Pioneer Woman, and it got rave reviews from the pie testers.
I am obviously not a pie crust perfectionist.  I don't have the patience to expertly flute the edges, and I usually have to do some patching after lifting the crust in, but the pie tasters care not about the aesthetic appeal of the crust as they're wolfing it down.

Filling:

3 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
dash of salt
1 teaspoon of shredded lemon peel
3 Tablespoons lemon juice (basically the juice from one large lemon)
6 to 8 pears, peeled and cored, then thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Combine the sugar, cornstarch, salt, lemon peel and juice.  Toss with the pears and arrange in pie shell.

 

I do not spend my time arranging.  The pears are dumped in and shoved to fit.

Topping:

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)(I cube it up while it's cold and let it sit in the bowl til it is room temperature.)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I grate from a whole nutmeg and it's delish!)

1 cup flour

Combine the topping ingredients until it's crumbly.  Sprinkle over the pie filling.  Make sure you don't pat it down, it will make a crust and not a crumble.  Bake for 45 to 50 minutes at 425.  Wrap the crust edges in foil for the first 1/2 hour then remove and cover just the crumble for the last fifteen minutes to prevent overbrowning.

 

Watch out for this crazed bunny

Oh, I guess she might be OK.

Looks like trouble just hatched.

She even likes a Monkey.


Got Eggs?

St. Patrick's Day Menu

We love having a meal based on a holiday. Oh, who am I kidding. We love a meal anytime! Here's a quick and easy St. Paddy's Day menu. The bread is not quite Irish soda bread, but a cheap imitation. I also realize that it is called a New England Boiled Dinner and not an Irish boiled dinner, but it's yummy all the same. And I'm not sure if the Irish traditionally eat pistachios, but anything green is game for St. Patrick's Day, isn't it?

Irish Bread Machine Bread

1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup water (70º to 80ºF)
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, cut up
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup bread flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons Fleischmann's® Bread Machine Yeast

1. Measure all ingredients into bread machine pan in the order suggested by manufacturer.

2. Process on basic/white bread cycle; use medium/normal crust color setting. Do not use delayed-bake feature. Remove bread from pan; cool on wire rack.

New England Boiled Dinner

3 pounds corned beef brisket
6 carrots
2 turnips, optional
6 onions
6 potatoes
1 cabbage head

1. Cut meat into serving-sized pieces, cover with water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for approximately 3-1/2 hours. Remove meat and keep warm.

2. Scrub the vegetables and cut into quarters or cubes. Cut the cabbage into 6 wedges.

3. Bring the broth to a boil; add carrots, turnips, onions and potatoes. Cook for 15 minutes. Add cabbage and cook for 15-20 minutes longer.

4. Arrange meat on serving platter and place vegetables around the meat in an attractive pattern. Sprinkle all with fresh ground black pepper.

Green Pistachio Cake

1 package White cake mix
1 3.4 ounce package instant pistachio pudding mix
1 cup oil
1 cup water or lemon-lime soda
3 eggs
1/2 cup pistachios, chopped

Frosting
2 envelopes whipped topping mix
1 1/2 cups cold milk
1 3.4 ounce package instant pistachio pudding mix

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, oil, water or soda, eggs and chopped pistachios. Beat for 4 minutes. Pour batter into a greased and floured tube pan, and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Cool in pan for 10-15 minutes. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack. Frost and garnish with nuts. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

For Frosting: Combine whipped topping mixes and milk. Beat until soft peaks form. Add pudding mix and beat until fluffy.

The Thanksgiving that almost wasn't

Mama is home now. Thanks for all of your prayers! She is feeling much better, but still needs oxygen some of the time. We had a pretty crazy couple of weeks with her at the hospital in Kansas City; there was lots of driving back and forth, watching each other's children, and staying at the hospital with Mama. Emily ended up staying 5 days and I stayed up there for 3. Mom had her own personal nursing staff with us around.

With Mom not there deciding what we should do, we waited until the last minute to go ahead with our regular Thanksgiving dinner. Tara, Carmen and Natalia did the shopping for the last-minute stuff, but luckily Mom had been really organized (and I had thawed the turkey) so everyone pitched in and we threw together a dinner. It wasn't bad, but wasn't as good as when Mom does it, the stuffing especially! The turkey was good and moist, though.



Don't forget dessert! Apple and Cherry and Pumpkin, Oh My!

And the motley crew. Tara is missing since she's behind the camera!

Mama

My sister Tara wrote a bit about it on her blog, but my mama is down with pneumonia and is in the ICU in Kansas City. She hates hospitals and doctors, and is pretty freaked out about the whole thing.

Needless to say, we're pretty freaked out around here, too. Mama is the thread that holds this crazy bunch together, and we can't even call her on the phone! Mellisa came over tonight and said that this is longest she's ever gone without talking to mom (2 days). Tara and Will are coming home for Thanksgiving. We talked about maybe not making Thanksgiving dinner, to wait until mom comes home and then have the meal then, but Grandma and Dad both said, "Let's just have Thanksgiving twice!

Well, we're praying for our mama, and hope that you'll say one for her, too.

Witch's Brew

When Brian, our now 8th grader, was a sweet little kindergartener, he had a great teacher named Mrs. Pearson. She was old school, over retirement age, played the piano in class, and all. I was fortunate enough, because my friend Karen babysat Natalia, to be able to work in the classroom once a week.

Mrs. Pearson did a lot of fun things with the kids, including a spooky Halloween party. During the party, she put on her witch's hat, turned down the lights, unpacked her black cauldron, and mixed up a batch of Witch's Brew. You should have seen the eyes on those kids! With the addition of each ingredient she cackled and stirred. It was great! She gave me the recipe, so I'm posting it here in case you need to whip up a batch. This makes enough for a classroom of kids, so cut down the juices and soda to make a smaller cauldron full.




Witch's Brew

2 bottles of Old Witch's bath water (apple juice)
1 bottle of Vampire Blood (Hi-C concentrate)
1 bottle of Red Sea Water (cranberry juice)
2 bottles Ghost Water (Ginger Ale)
2 bottles of lemon-lime soda
6 slimy worms (gummy worms)
5 hoppy toads (gummy frogs)
1 pet tarantula (plastic spider)
1 bag dried flies (chocolate covered raisins)
2 dried bat wings (fruit roll-up pieces)
Dry ice

Put ingredients one at a time (except for dry ice) into a large plastic cauldron (you can usually find them at Wally-world or party stores) and stir the brew. Wiggle the worms and toads as you add them, and really use some drama! Add dry ice last. The steam will pour out of the cauldron. You can wait until it's done to pour out glasses full.

Happy Haunting!