Archive: October 2011

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Curried Butternut Squash Soup and……..something to go with it.


posted by Ann

This the season for……….finding ways to use excessive amounts of late-harvest vegetables.   If you find yourself wondering what to do with butternut squash, have I got a recipe for you!!

My sister made this soup for me years ago and I am hooked!  I love everything about it…..the color (beautiful orange), the texture (smooth and slightly chunky), the taste (slightly sweet and spicy) and the aroma of curry as the soup simmers on the stove top.  

I am including a recipe for a  delicious complement to the soup; Spiced Biscuits.  Don’t let the strange ingredient list (includes black pepper and dry mustard) scare you away.  These biscuits are flaky (made with BUTTER and SOUR CREAM) and FULL of flavor.

Hope you enjoy these together on a brisk fall evening.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place squash on greased cookie sheet.  Bake 45 minutes or until soft. O.K. …here’s where I blaze my own trail….I have found it to be easier and MUCH faster to just cut the squash in 1/2, remove the seeds and cook in the microwave on HI until the squash is soft (I really don’t know how long I cook it; just start out w/ 5 minutes and go from there), then scoop out the meat ~ you’ll end up mashing the squash in the end anyway.
Melt butter in large pot, add apple, onion, celery, bay leaf; saute 10 minutes.  Stir in curry and garlic.  Cook 5 minutes longer.   Add broth, salt and squash.   Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Partially mash mix with potato masher until thick and chunky.  Top with cheese.
Yield:  4 – 1 1/2 cup servings

 P1012014

 

 

Spiced Biscuits

I have no visual for the biscuits but I figure, if you’ve seen one biscuit, you’ve seen ‘em all. :-)

In large bowl, combine dry ingredients; cut in the chilled butter.  In small bowl, combine sour cream and milk.  Add to dry ingredients, stirring  just until mixed.  Turn dough out on floured surface, kneading several time to form ball.  Roll out dough and cut into biscuits.  Bake at 425 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes or until tops are golden brown.  Serve warm.

Scripture and a Snapshot 10/30/11


by Charlotte

I’m back at Katie Lloyd’s today with a scripture and a snapshot.  This goes so well with our project 52 (on the side bar).

Here is mine for this week.

Psalm 5:3

In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.

 


If you have time stop by and see the others.

A Little Collection


posted by Chelsea

I started a little collection of white/cream pitchers awhile back.  I’m quite delighted with how it’s coming together:

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And here’s what I’d like you to know about the above pitchers….

#1. There’s something about white/cream that I just love- so crisp and clean.

#2. A couple of the pitchers have been gifts, a couple second hand/antique store finds and a garage sale find in there, too.

#3. Depending on how many people we have for tea time, we pick a size and put one to use just about every day.

#4. I’ve decided the best collection to have is one that’s practical, don’t you think?

 

Role Playing


posted by Chelsea

This is a multi-purpose post this morning.  First, a little bragging annoucement.   We have been living in a diaper free household for one week now.  Diapers are no longer wanted or needed here… day OR NIGHT.  Here are the words that best describe my feelings:

THRILLED, ECSTATIC, DELIGHTED, PLEASED

And the thesaurus added and I agreed with:  OVERJOYED, GLADDENED, PLEASED, and my favorite thesaurus addition: KNOCK ONE’S SOCKS OFF

On a seperate note, it’s hunting season- elk season, to be exact.   Buck spends quite a bit of energy and as much time as he can muster up to hunt.  Needless to say, after hearing all of his hunting talk, the girls have been doing a lot of role playing.  They’ve been dressing up in their winter clothes and “headin out” to hunting camp…. in the mudroom.  They’ve also taken their hunting outside, complete with a pack horse…

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….. and a pink “shotgun”, the color being quite a bit more important than the toy itself.  Lets just say Buck has some serious work to do if he actually wants either of these girls to eventually hunt with him.  In the meantime, we’ll just keep pretending…. and worrying about what color shirt we’re going to wear… and if it matches our boots… and our ”shotgun”.

 

The Man From Snowy River


by Charlotte

“The Man From Snowy River” is a great movie, but did you know that it is loosely based on a poem by A. B. Paterson.  Snowy River is in Australia, but the movie is filmed in New Zealand.

(Source:)

Just thought you should know.  :)

The poem is beautiful, but not really for the faint of heart.  I used to have quite a bit of it memorized, but it has slipped from my mind these days.

For those who aren’t familiar with the poem (or the movie), it is about a young man who gains the respect of the people of the area by chasing down a heard of wild horses.  The poem tells nothing of the love story that movie revolves around.

(Source:)

My favorite part in the poem is the description of the man from Snowy River given by Clancy of the Overflow:

“So he (the man from Snowy River) waited, sad and wistful – only Clancy stood  his friend -

‘I think we ought to let him come,’ he (Clancy) said;

‘I warrant he’ll be with us when he’s wanted at the end,

For both his horse and he are mountain bred.

‘He hails from Snowy River, up by Kosciusko’s side,

Where the hills are twice as steep and twice as rough;

Where a horse’s hoofs strike firelight from the flint stones every stride,

The man that holds his own is good enough.

And the Sonwy River riders on the mountains make their home,

Where the river runs those giant hills between;

I have seen full many horsemen since I first commenced to roam,

But nowhere yet such horsemen have I seen.’”

I’ve riden in rough country and I’ve ridden in flat country.  I love the beauty of each and every place I’ve ridden.

There is a scene in the movie where the horses climb the mountains so high that they run into perma-snow.  The man from Snowy River uses the snow to get ahead of them and turn them back towards the valley.  It is a beautiful scene.  Here is the link to the chase.  The snow is towards the end.

For the record, my home country just had a big snowstorm and it reminded me that I really don’t like to ride in the snow – in rough country or flat.  I’ll stick to the warm fall days and leave the snow for the “Man From Snowy River”.

 

Pumpkin Patch Tradition


by Charlotte

Yesterday I took my minions to the pumpkin patch.  This is the third year we’ve done it, so that makes it a tradition for us.  The trip to the pumpkin patch is my favorite thing about Halloween.

We go here.

And they take us to the pumpkin patch with this.

Past a beautiful row of corn stalks.

To the “patch”.

There the children are set free to find the perfect pumpkin.  It takes some of them longer than others.  My oldest held up the tractor ride to the check out because she couldn’t find the “perfect” one.  She settled for this one.

Once home she decided it was close enough to perfect for this year.

The others made jack-o-lanterns out of theirs.  A spider.

A princess.

And a cowboy hat.

My favorite part is this.

The taking of photos before the adventure gets to be too much for the leader of the minions.  Four to one can be more than I can control, but it gets easier every year.

 

Spray Paint Happy


by Charlotte

Lately I’ve been trying to pay attention to the details of decorating.  I’m not so good at details, but a person can learn – I hope.  :)

We have lots of golden goodness around our house.  Unfortunately, I am not big on gold.  I started with a can of Rust-oleum’s oil rubbed bronze and looked around for what I wanted to be black.

How ’bout this golden goodness?

Do you like the reflection of my messy living room in it?  I thought it added to the overall effect.

I’ve seen spray painting light fixtures all over the internet and so I thought I’d try my hand at it.

What do you think?  I like it.  I like it so much, I am going to paint the other four.

I then headed outside.  Look at these beauties.

The gold had definitely lost its luster.

I took them down, washed them, dried them, painted them, let them dry, and put them back up (all in a day).  And now look.

They fit my style much better now.

I did the ones on the front porch as well.

And the one on the side.

Spray painting was so much fun, I took a cheep, silver vase (forgot the before picture) and painted it as well.  Then I picked some “weeds”, cleaned off a trouble spot counter (which took all morning by the by), and decorated. 

It encourages me to keep this counter clutter free.  Yay.

But the best part is that now I feel like my porch is decorated for fall.

I love the vibrant reds of fall, don’t you?  :)

Just A Bug


posted by Chelsea

It’s this time of year again…

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wood cutting time, that is.

On a recent wood cutting adventure, this grasshopper landed in our midst…

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I love that he just sat there and let me take his picture.  Isn’t he cool looking?!

Quick Pumpkin Spice Cake


posted by Chelsea

This is easy! And quick! And delicious!

Sorry for the lack of pictures– I missed the photo opps on this one.

Ingredients:

1 box spice cake mix
1 can pumpkin puree (or pumpkin pie mix, if you really want to spice things up)
2 eggs

Mix ‘em together, pour ‘em in a pan, bake ‘em at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Or to make a fun variation- pour it into two bread pans and make yourself a yummy little quick bread.

Top with:

Glaze of your choice, my choice is: MAPLE GLAZE as adapted from The Pioneer Woman:

cUrLs


posted by Chelsea

While I have curly hair and my mom has curly hair, I never thought about my offspring having curly hair.  But lo and behold!  When our oldest “finally” got enough hair to curl, curl it did.  Needless to say, Lucy gets quite a bit of attention for her curls.  We’re often asked if they’re natural– surprising as it may be, I don’t think  a curling iron, curling rods, or a perm could do this….

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That being said, once in awhile Lucy gets tired of the attention she seems to get about her curls.  I didn’t realize it until she informed me that when she turns five her hair will be straight!  Sometimes it’s hard to be different, even if different is super cute.  Anyway, I tried to encourage her– that curly hair is the best because you can wear it curly OR straight.  I decided to show her what I  meant and after a tub one night told her we’d straighten it.  At first she had a little bit of panic- she was worried her hair might not ever be curly again, and since she isn’t five yet, she better not have it straight all the time.  I encouraged her that I don’t have that much power– just a blow dryer and a straightening iron.

So, we set out to straighten it….

straighthair!

… and she loved it. She decided she doesn’t even need her hair to turn straight when she turns five- she can wear it that way whenever she wants… and her mom is willing (it’s not easy to straighten those curls)!

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