Farm House Dinner

After blistering heat here in the Northwest we are finally enjoying some cooler weather. It has even been raining. As the calendar rolled over to August I noticed a very subtle change in the air. There is the slightest "nip" to the air now, and the vine maples have taken to changing their colors. That can only mean one thing...

(Beautiful Vermont Colors, not my hometown)

Fall is coming. This is my favorite time of year. Back to school, cool weather, rainy days, falling leaves, and a quiet the takes over the earth. So in honor of fall coming just around the corner I decided to make a hearty farm house dinner. Out of my food storage I dug out my alphabet/lentil soup mix and made what our family calls Hamburger Soup. Think I want to rename it to Farm House Soup, that just has a nice ring to it.

Logan and I had so much fun going out into the garden and harvesting as many different vegetables as we could for our soup. We picked peas and onions, pulled carrots and dug up potatoes. It was like a treasure hunt. We came in a got to work. This is a throw together recipe with no real instructions, so I am going to do my best and giving you a recipe.

Farm House Soup
8 c. water
5 beef bullion cubes
1 c. brown gravy mix, according to package directions
1 c. alphabet/lentil soup mix
4 red potatoes, chopped
1 c. shelled peas
4 small carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 lb. hamburger, cooked
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Salt-to taste
Bring water to a boil. Add soup mix and bullion cubes. Turn heat down and let simmer. Brown hamburger and chop vegetables. Add hamburger, vegetables, gravy and seasonings to soup mix. Bring to a slow boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 1 hour or until veggies are tender. Enjoy with some homemade bread and crackers.

What farm house dinner would be complete without a yummy dessert. I got a big bag of rhubarm from my parents when we were visiting last week. So hubby helped me whip up a Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp. It was so tart and yummy. The only thing it lacked was some vanilla ice cream! But, I was so happy when I found some whipping cream. I added a little sugar and a lot of vanilla. It was divine! Here's to a "Happy Fall"!

Summer Freezer Jam

Well it happened! My family couldn't believe it was true. They thought the world just might come to an end. What could make such a stir you ask? We ran out of jam!!!!!! Oh no, not that!!!! Anything but that!!!! I think the last time I purchased store jam was in 1994. I have been making freezer jam ever since I found out it only takes 1/2 hour to make. Yes, it is true! 30 minutes and you have wonderful, ooey, gooey, taste great on anything, jam.
Addison and I donned our aprons and set to work. I had strawberries in the freezer that I thawed out. I then followed the directions on the pectin box and less than 30 minutes later I had two batches of freezer jam. I store mine in the Ziploc containers and put them in the fridge. Landon loved the mushy strawberries, and kept eating our jam making product. We finally had to cut him off.

I ended up having more berries than pectin, so I had to get creative so the berries didn't go to waist. So I added a little sugar and poured them into ice cube trays and froze them for smoothies. We are big time smoothie drinkers and this was perfect.

I also dusted off my handy dandy dehydrator and made strawberry fruit leather. It was so yummy. My kids didn't like it because it did not come out of a package, so I got it all to myself. I love it when things work out for mommy!

Brand New Challenge!

Ok, so I have had it with my lackadaisical attitude to my families skivvies! I must admit to being very much a neat freak in almost all aspects of my life, but one area is deplorable.

LAUNDRY!

I am sure that my death will come from laundry in some way. Local papers with have headlines like this, "Local woman found suffocated under Mt. Rainier size pile of laundry. All mothers be warned!" Since having munchkin #3 last year I have been inundated and most often overwhelmed with laundry. It is always there, just when think I am done, here comes another dirty pair of socks!

Sadly these are less than 2 months old, and they have been washed! See, I really need help! I am sure my sister and my friend Denise are gasping at such a sight, being the Laundry Queens that they are. No one has whiter whites and brighter brights than they do.

So I decided that I am going to tackle this cotton/polyester blend monster and become the model laundress. People will come from miles around just to see my whites! Ok, I just want to keep from getting out of the car at a nice restaurant only to find an ugly stain on the front of my kids shirts. But I did refer to the goddess of domesticity...Martha. She is now so well known for her skills in home care that you don't even need her last name!
A few years ago I just HAD to have this book...

...my mom graciously bought it for my birthday and I am ashamed to admit it has sat on my bookshelf ever since. But no more, today I am moving on to new heights in the world of home keeping. This is going to become my Housekeeping bible. There is literally everything you could ever need to know in this book. Here are a few of the subject in this book:

1. How to care for you Taxidermy


2. 
   
   How long to keep cosmetics and beauty aids. Did you know that lipstick lasts for 2-3 years?


3. How to pack and overnight bag


4. Organizing Principles of a baby nursery There are principles for that? Ooops


5. How to clean hand held devices


6. How to get rid of silverfish What are silverfish?


7. How to patch a hole in a shirt "Fix it up, use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"


8. Various pictures of dusting tools (there are 10 different ones)


9. How to patch a window screen


10. What to have in your plumbing first-aid kit Gloves, gas mask, and hazmat suit for sure!

I am pretty sure if I look hard enough I could find "How to dismantle a nuclear bomb." If just such an occasion arises. There is more in that book, than I think I could use in a lifetime.
All kidding aside, I have been having fun looking through this book and learning about things I didn't know I needed to know.

So, getting back to laundry, here are few things I learned:

1. Washing Soda (2 T.) can be added to you detergent to make it more effective. (You can find washing soda or sodium carbonate in you supermarket)

2. You can whiten linens, napkins, and even socks in a pot of lemon water on the top of you stove. Bring a pot of water with lemon slices to a boil. Turn off heat and remove pan. Add linens and soak for up to an hour. For extra brightening lay them out in the sun to dry.

3. Baking soda can be used as a fabric softener.

4. Mrs. M. H. Cornelius, in her 1871 book, Young Housekeeper's referred to laundry as "severe labor". Of course they hadn't heard of Whirlpool.

So I will keep you posted on my laundry journey, and pass along any gritty tips I come across. Happy folding, and my every load smell sweet!

Now to get my hubby to build me one of these babies, I would be set. Nothing smells better in this world than crisp towels and sheets hung on the line!

New Toy

Ok, I must admit I was wrong! It is the rare occasion that I have to admit it, but this time I feel I must. When my husband brought home the brochure from work and we could choose a prize for his success I went straight for practical. Carpet cleaner, pots & pans, even a new fire pit. But it was my hubby's hard work that had earned the choice of a prize, so I told him to choose something that he would enjoy. So, this is what he chose...

I have to admit that it is pretty darn cool. The sound really is amazing, and we even have surround sound. I lucked out and get to have it in the kitchen. We have used it for dinner music, school music and rockin out dancing around the house music. We hooked up my I-pod and started jammin! We have everything from Nora Jones, Gwen Stephani, Chris Daughtry, and a of course my favorite...country. Blake Shelton, Chris LeDoux, Carrie Underwood and more. So pots & pans be darned we have sweet music in the kitchen! Way to go Hubby on kicking booty and taking names at work. If you get a chance to get one of these, do it!