Blizzard!!

We've already had a couple winter storms come through our neck of the woods in January, but this is by far, the biggest! The terms I've heard on the news are blizzard and white out conditions....pretty serious stuff! We got a lot of sleet last night with thunder and lightning, then it began full out blowing snow and it's now almost noon and still going! These are some pics I took from our window....I am not brave enough to attempt to take any outside!

Home Cookin'

I've recently gathered the courage to tackle some of my favorite recipes that my great grandma used to make and a thing or two that I've avoided making because I thought it was too hard.

So, before Christmas, I learned to make homemade yeast rolls (without the bread machine) and they were much easier than I thought! Then I learned to make cinnamon rolls from that dough. The last snow day we had, I found a roll of sausage in the freezer and managed to make some "pretty good" gravy, according to my husband, along with homemade buttermilk biscuits. And, last night, I really got brave and decided I could make my very favorite....chicken and dumplings! So, I did!! They weren't exactly like Mamaw Pid's, I think I need a little practice getting the dumplings just right, but they were pretty close!

Needless to say, I think Mamaw Pid would be pretty proud of me and I think she'd be happy for me to share recipes as well, so here you go:

Chicken & Dumplings

You can cook a whole chicken or chicken breasts, you may have to add some broth, as little or as much chicken as you like...yes, it's one of those kind of recipes. You need to have the chicken cooked, chopped, whatever and in plenty of broth, like a soup so you are ready for dumplings.

For the dumplings, you need:

1 1/2 cups flour, 1 3/4 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 2 Tbsp shortening (or melted butter works good),1 egg, 1/4 cup milk

Mix the dry ingredients and cut in butter til crumbly, then add eggs and milk. Knead and roll out on floured surface and cut into small pieces....they "grow" in the broth, so keep that in mind for sizing.  Then, you are ready to put them in with chicken and broth and let them cook (simmer) til they are done, which varies on size and amount  of dumplings you have. You can add some milk to the broth to help the dumplings not stick together and to give a little more cooking liquid for them. This is definitely one that may take a little more practice, but oh so worth it!

Yeast Rolls (they just go with dumplings for some reason!)

First, in a large bowl you mix: 1 pkg of yeast (2 1/4 tsp if you are using a jar of yeast), 1 Tbsp. sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 cup warm water (hot tap water is perfect)....mix all of that and let it "melt" a few minutes.
Second, add to that mixture: 1 cup warm milk, 1/3 cup sugar, and 1/3 cup melted butter and stir.
Third, sift flour (I usually don't sift it and it's fine) and mix in with spoon til too thick to stir (about 3-ish cups). Knead with flour really well and put in greased bowl. Let rise 1 to 1 1/2  hours in the oven with just the oven light on.
Fourth, after it rises, roll out and knead again til stiff and set the bowl over it for 10 minutes, while you grease your pan. Then roll out again and cut up into sections. Let rise in pan for 1 hour.
Then, you're ready to bake! Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes or til they begin to get golden. this makes 12-15 big rolls and is easily doubled or halved.
This is also used to make cinnamon rolls, except instead of cutting in sections when you roll it out, you spread butter all over it and then a mixture of cinnamon and sugar over that, roll it up, cut the into rolls and then let them do that last rise like rolls. They take just a little longer to cook, but the trick is the right mix of cinnamon, sugar and butter that you prefer! 

Party Barn

So, since we've moved to our big shop, we've hosted a couple of Cooper's birthdays, Nana's surprise luau birthday last January, and this January, we turned the shop into the Princess Party Barn complete with princess bouncy house with slide!

My sweet little niece Chloe actually turned 5 on December 29th, but my sister decided to do a party after the holidays (wise choice). She is adorable and I think she enjoyed her princess party!

Happy 5th Birthday, Chloe!!

Baby is...........a BOY!!

I went for my 20 week ultrasound yesterday (I am actually closer to 21 weeks, but we are at the halfway point anyway). All his little parts are there and he is measuring right where he should be right now, so that is great news! We are so excited to finally know and now comes the work of preparing....See my 2011 Goals under Operation Baby Prep! Having a spring baby instead of fall, will make clothing sizes be a bit off, so my first job is to sort...anyone up for playing in a mountain of baby clothes!??!

Here's a sweet little profile pic of our new addition.....Cooper just loves this one of his little brother, even though he can't quite figure out how we got this photo. 

Goals for 2011

I have been challenged by my friend, Traci, to post my goals for the year. I thought this was a great idea to help me be more accountable....I just have to put it where I will see it, too, so I am going to put a copy in a sheet protector and put it in the front of my planner to remind me! I just set goals for the things that have a deadline, or that I can measure weekly or monthly, not for things that will be ongoing for us. These are also just things for our family and home...I have a few more for business stuff and finances that are in the works (not to mention not real exciting) so I am just sharing the family stuff and things that I personally plan to do this year. So, here you go:

2011 GOALS

OPERATION BABY PREP--- I have a lot to get done before the May 21st due date!

Deadline March 1^st--

Order small dresser- will need to do this by the first of March to be sure it’s here on time…only piece of furniture that we need and it’s a hard size to find!

Deadline April 1^st--

Sort through baby clothes from attic   Yay!! DONE!  1/8/11

Bring in and clean up baby gear from attic

Arrange furniture in kids’ room

Organize kids’ closet   DONE! Think I actually did this sooner, but finished 1/8/11

Finish list of what we still need to get   After going through all the stuff we have, it was easy to make this list 1/23/11

Deadline May 1^st--

Make some prepared food that I can freeze for easy meals in May/June

Begin “nesting”…will probably have already started this anyway!

Take a spring vacation or extended camping trip 

HOUSE & GARDENING

Deadline April 24th (Easter)--

Plant flower bed in corner of yard—sunflowers and some easy to grow perennials because I’m lazy like that

Mulch around roses

Make beds for perennial fruits and veggies

Plant corn and okra….maybe a few other things….this will not be as much as last year, since I probably won't be up for doing a lot of weeding when it's 200 degrees with a newborn on my hip!

FOR MYSELF:

PHOTOGRAPHY—Deadline May 1st

Get someone to give me lessons with new camera (You Tube!)

Set up software to edit photos  Done in January, can't remember what date!

READING---

I am stealing an idea from Traci--to read one good book per month….that will be a stretch probably, but I have plenty of books to read, re-read, or that I can borrow
                 January---ALMOST finished one

SPIRITUAL---

Spend at least 15 minutes every day in the Word, devotional, prayer, listening to sermons, etc--some days I will have much more time, but I have slacked and want to be more consistent this year
                 January---Not been as consistent about it as I'd like....February will be better

Keep my “Grace” journal with entries at least 3 times a week recording where I saw God’s grace at work in my life and around me
                January---I did it at least twice a week

Thursday morning Bible Study---This is a MUST! I look forward to Thursdays for this! 

Happy New Year!

Ok, I kind of missed posting on Christmas....we've been all over the place with family get togethers! The weekend before Christmas, we had a gathering at our house with immediate Ashcroft family and Mamaw and Papaw. Then, on the 23rd, we did Rains Christmas with sleepover at Darian's house in Pryor, then to Claremore to Kristine's house....whew! We did get to spend all day Christmas day at home just the three of us and had fun relaxing and playing with Cooper's toys. We finished up our events yesterday with the rest of the Ashcroft clan in Bella Vista. It was great to see lots of family that we don't see often and visit with everyone!

So, Happy New Year!! We have been so blessed in 2010 and we look forward to lots of good changes in 2011 with the arrival of baby #2 and changes with my job. I am no longer youth director as of  yesterday, so I am settling in to take care of Coop and get ready for the baby on top of learning to do some bookkeeping for Dennis's business and continuing to volunteer at the church, so I'm pretty sure I won't be bored! I'm also hoping to learn to take some awesome pictures with my new camera this year, do a few more sewing projects, and a plant flowers this spring before baby gets here.

We're hoping to find out if baby #2 is a boy or a girl this week, so I will keep you posted!!

Catching Up

 

Well, I am 18 weeks along now, and I finally managed to scan and post my 16 week ultrasound. These are actually upside down, but you can still make them out a little. The top pic looks like a little alien...yes, that is the baby, aka "gummy bear"! And the bottom is a profile , you can see the head and the little spine if you look closely. We seem to be right on track and both doing well, hopefully we will find out if it's a boy or girl in January!!

On a different note, we are having so much fun preparing for Christmas! Cooper is getting excited and starting to figure out that Christmas is a big deal and he is having so much fun "helping" me cook, wrap, deliver gifts, and reading Christmas books every night. We've broke in our copy of "Night Before Christmas" and he also loves "The Crippled Lamb" which is really sweet if you're looking for a good kids' Christmas book. And, of course, we have watched every Christmas movie we own (and we have many) at least twice if not five dozen times! We are looking forward to celebrating Christ's birthday with family and friends! So, this Saturday, let the party begin!