The last of the turkey.....

We had turkey for Thanksgiving, turkey sandwiches, turkey soup and now this will use up the LAST of the turkey........ phew.  I ate this with a side of squash and a side of Above the Dam Jam -Cranberry Jam.    Yes, jam.  Not cranberry sauce.  Nice sugary jam!  It was good.   And this recipe for turkey/chix pie is so yummy and super easy!

Adapted from Majorie Standish -Cooking Downeast

Filling for the pie-mix together (make sure the filling is warm):

Cooked Chicken or Turkey (2-3 cups?)

1 can of cream of mushroom soup.

1 cup+ of steam veggies- any kind.  They sell a steam bag of veggies with peas, corn, beans, and asparagus-very yummy!

Crust:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of butter (1 stick)

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

Mix dry ingredients together.  Using a pastry blender or two knives-work the butter into the flour mixtue till dry and crumbly.  Add egg and milk and stir with fork and use hands to form a ball of dough.  Split dough in half to make top and bottom crust.  Roll out with flour.  Place one crust on the bottom and fill with chix or turkey filling.  Place crust on top and flute edges.  Cut 3 slits into top.  Bake at 400 degrees for 18 mins.   It comes out so nice and fluffy!



Decorating for Christmas.... on the cheap!

I am not one to spend a lot of money on Christmas decorations.  Don't get me wrong- we decorate- I just prefer to find free things in nature!

Making swags is easy.  Wire, boughs, outdoor red bows and woods (or neighbors property when they are not home during the day- ahhh the benefits of being a stay at home mom!)

We put the same snowman flag up each year.  Kids still think it great.   I also stuff the little sleigh and flower pot with white pine, holly & other types of pine I find around the outside of the house.  I am lucky we have a giant holly bush!

Festive and Free!

You can't teach an old cat new tricks!

A dog maybe, but not this old cat.  I could hardly control my laughter when the girls decided to "train" Plumpy to do a few tricks.  They really get an A for effort.

Here we see them trying to get him to sit up and beg on the stool.  

This is as far as he got............

Now they try to motivate him with a fishing pole toy.  no go.....

Abby tied a snack cup to a ribbon with treats inside to try and get him to do something, anything........

In the end it was no use.  Just one sad dejected little girl and a fat cat.

 Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope your turkey is as fat as Plumpy.

Don't put the baby in the washing machine!

Trust me, don't.  No matter how much vomit is on the doll-there must be another way.   Here is Olivia's baby (for days now) hanging in the laundry room.  Her cloth body has dried (still has a little odor to it), but her head, legs and arms are full of water.  Give a shake and all you hear is slosh slosh slosh.   So far Olivia has been appeased with her sister's baby doll at night (thank you big sister) and other various stuffed animals, but the same question is asked every nap and evening:  "is my baby dry yet?"   Not sure if we can keep this up till Christmas when a new baby will arrive (again thank you big sister for suggesting she ask Santa for a new baby).   

My husband had a thought.  He could drill holes in her head, arms and legs to get the water out.   Errr, not sure that is the best plan............

The BEST accessory that came with the new wood stove!

THE BOX!

I can't tell you the number of hours the girls have played in this box.   I told them if I hear any fighting, anything- just one peep of disagreement between them it goes back to the garage.  So far so good.  I know my luck will run out soon............ this isn't my first rodeo.

Good use for old Christmas cards too!

It's getting hot in here!

Finally- going into our 2nd full winter in this house we have a new wood stove installed.  When we moved in the previous owners had installed an old, ugly gas insert which did not work.   After going through one winter with a few power outages and no back up heat this baby has been a long time coming!  Maine winter's REQUIRE a wood stove!   I have never lived in a house without one. 

This is what it looked like the day we moved in:

Taking out the fake fireplace logs:

You can never get enough help from a 2 year old on a fireplace install:

See those things to the left of the stove.  Bio bricks!  One pallet is equal to a cord of wood:

It is SO big:

The final product!  Can't wait for the cold weather now.  I know- bite my tongue.......

Have a few extra apples!

If you have a few extra apples kicking around the house I highly recommend giving this EASY recipe a shot.

CHEWY APPLE BROWNIES
1 cup margarine (2 sticks), softened

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs, well beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 medium baking apples, peeled, cored, and chopped

1/2 cup chopped pecans

VANILLA GLAZE:

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon hot water

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan; set aside.
Beat margarine, granulated sugar, eggs and vanilla in large bowl of electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Combine dry ingredients and add to egg mixture. Mix until flour is moistened; fold in apples and nuts. Spread into prepared pan.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

GLAZE:   Combine glaze ingredients and mix until smooth. Drizzle over cooled brownies in a thin stream, forming a woven pattern. Let glaze set before cutting brownies.
Serve brownies warm with frozen yogurt or at room temperature.

School project and another use for fabric scraps!

Abby had to construct a totem pole box for school.  Bascially she had to decorate a shoe box with all the favorite things she likes to do.  At school they will stack them in a totem pole fashion to display to the school.

Here we see Livy using the "pile it on" method with glue and fabric

 Here is the start of Abby's box.  She loves the beach so we have water and sand.

 yes, the sand was messy-but they had fun.

In case you can't tell- that is Livy and I on the beach.

This is Abby and Daddy out in the ocean.    In the front you can see we like Fancy Nancy and ballet!

The remaining sides of the box included a Halloween/pumpkin theme and more pictures of her family colored in with their favorite colors!

Sunchokes! What do I do with them........

Our winter CSA started last week.  One of the items that I just don't have a clue what to do with is Sunchokes!  What are sunchokes you say- well if you ask me they look like rubbery dead man finger coral you see at the bottom of the ocean- but they are actually a veggie.

According to Wisegeek.com :

A sunchoke is an underground vegetable like a cross between a rutabaga, potato, sunflower seed, and water chestnut. Also called a Jerusalem artichoke, it is not like an artichoke bloom, nor does it grow in Jerusalem. It's one of the few native tubers of North America. A sunchoke, related to the sunflower, makes a delicious addition to salad, salsa, marinade, and soup.

Hmmm, I am not buying it.   It is just down right UGLY!  and honestly- do I really want to eat something that tastes like a "rutabaga, potato, sunflower seed, and water chestnut"???   and who sits around tasting stuff like this to come up with this unique combo-which in real life probably just tastes like dirt............. combined with the bottom of my shoe.

Another project and a good husband.

I have been looking for a side board/buffet for a while now. Our new (but really old) kitchen does not have as much storage as our old house. So I still have a lot of dishes, linens etc. in boxes taking up a lot of room in my bedroom closet.

Last week the girls and I were headed to town and I spotted this little number on the side of the road. $35 and she can be yours! ohhhh awwww. I had to have it. Would she fit in my van. Could I even lift it? We stopped in and after paying the cash (I had EXACTLY $35 -wow is that a sign or what!) and talking to the nicest grandma and her two grandchildren I made arrangements to have my husband come back later and pick it up. Hmmm, now to tell him. Luckily he was busy at work and could only talk for a brief minute-I told him what I had done, where to pick it up, said it was already paid for and hung up on him before he could even get a word in! When he arrived home later with it (after giving me a bit of a hairy eyeball) he said "not bad, better than most of the crap you find on the side of the road. And for $35-pretty good deal!" Oh that husband of mine, such a good sport...........

Now what color to paint it?

I actually like the handles, but it is missing a few as you can see. So I may keep three of them for the large middle drawers and find new ones for the side drawers.

Last garden post of the year

The garden is ready for the long cold winter.........

Dear Daddy

Guess what your next renovation project is going to be??  

Yes, that would be my room with the big girl bed-time to move me out of this closet you call a bedroom!   All this time and I had no idea I could climb out of this crib.  Hmmm, I think my new room should be purple and have fancy curtains and puffy quilts.  Can you start painting tonight........................

Oh and mommy says my old room is going to be her office and she wants that painted too!   Love you Daddy XOXO

Halloween: BFF and the fist pump!

These two clowns have been BFF since they were 8 weeks old!

Little miss unicorn

Jersey Shore fist pump!  Oh yeah, this lollipop rocks!!

This little one totally "got" Halloween this year.  Walk up to door, say trick or treat in cute smurf voice, get candy, say thank you and book it to the next house!

Awesome pics from Good Gravy!