Wednesday's Chicken ~ Weekly Menu

Monday: Homemade Vegetable Soup with Snowflake Rolls. 

I used chicken broth as a liquid base with the veggies.. mostly from our garden or local produce. Zucchini, summer squash, carrots, celery, onion, peas, corn, and a jar of crushed tomatoes I made a few days ago. Simmer whatever veggies you have on hand and near dinner time, add a dash of cream or whole milk.

Tuesday: Pan Fried Cube Steak, Pan Gravy, Mashed Potatoes and Peas..

this was really good! I love anything with gravy.. Note: the thinner the cube steak, the more tender it is when it's cooked. With a 3 year old and an 81 year old at the table, easy to chew is a must.

Wednesday: Roasted Chicken, Egg noodles with a Tomato Butter Sauce and Green Beans. 

To make the egg noodles just add a pat or two of butter (the real thing) to the cooked noodles, a scoop of stewed tomatoes (again from our garden but canned is fine too) add salt and pepper. Yummy!

Thursday: Homemade Chicken Soup with a Sourdough Boule.

With the 'First Week of School Plague' running through our house right now, chicken soup is a must. Made from the carcass from Wednesday's chicken. I added star noodles.. makes it more fun for the kids. I don't use a recipe, but this one from Tyler is pretty close. I just boil down the leftover chicken skin, bones and all for several hours then strain. Pick out the chicken meat and add to the broth. Add chopped onion, celery, carrots.  It will probably need a good spot of salt and maybe some Poultry Seasoning. Add some noodles and you are good to go.

Friday: Homemade Spaghetti Sauce (from tomatoes from our garden) with Homemade Meatballs. Cucumber salad.

I love Alicia's recipe for Meatballs. Using fresh parsley, shown above on my window sill, is a must! I use this recipe exclusively now and won't ever buy meatballs from the store again. She boils them in the sauce, I roll them into small 1 inch balls and place them on a baking sheet. Bake at 400o for 15 minutes. It allows from some of the fat to drain out instead of going into the sauce.

Saturday: Pork tenderloin with whole grain rice. Not sure of the veggie yet. Depends on what I might be able to pull out of the garden by then.

Sunday: Pizza. (homemade, of course..)

The photos are of my daughter, who, when she saw me photographing the soup, decided that she should have a bite, or two. Before I knew it, it was gone. She didn't even put down her crayon.

xoxo~

Abbie

Carousel Horses

 We went to the fair today. Why are most carousel horses kind of creepy? No, seriously.. sometimes they just mess with my head.. kind of like clowns.  Eeeep.

All I'm saying is that I just wouldn't want one in my home, or my yard. 

~Abbie

Thankful Project continued..

I have some catching up to do.. is anyone else not ready for the holidays? I am completely lacking the spirit I guess.. just overwhelmed by the tasks ahead. I have decided to make the kids gifts this year instead of buying them. Such as, for my 4 yr old daughter, I picked up an antique box the other day and I am going to convert it into an art supply box for her. But it all takes time and it just seems  like there aren't enough hours in the day. I almost decorated for Christmas yesterday. I thinkI'll pull out the Christmas things before Thanksgiving. Perhaps it will help me get in the holiday spirit abit more. Also, most of the family is around on Thanksgiving and tend to go their own way at Christmas. Then they can see the house all decorated and it should make the day more festive. We'll see if I am up for it. I have some serious catching up to do on my blessings.. not that I haven't taken a moment each day to think on them, I just haven't sat down to type them out.

10. I am thankful for my children's love of dance.. and that they grab my hands and make me dance too.

11. I am thankful that my son and I love the same music. That way I can listen to his IPod. :)

12. I am thankful for the frost in the mornings.. it means winter is moving in, then it will be moving out..

13.                           .... sunshine on cold days.

14.                           .... a full pantry.

15.                           .... my creativity.

16.                           .... that my 2 year old is potty trained. No more diapers in this house!

17.  I am thankful that my parents dragged me all over Europe as a child. Oh the memories I have now!

18.  I am thankful for my very warm bed at night.

19.                            .... for the rain yesterday. The sound is lovely and soothing.

20.                           ..... sidewalk chalk and bicycles.

21.                           ..... my camera.

There..I have written them down. Spoken them 'outloud'. 

I hope that you are counting your blessings..

xoxo~

Abbie

Time to be Thankful... Day 1 & 2

Prompted by my dear friend, Amanda, I have decided to join her in The Thankful Project. She is right, so often the hectic, overwhelming tasks of the season blind us to the truly important moments and blessings that surround us everyday.        

Day 1 ~ I am thankful for my children. Without them forcing me to pause, I would miss so many thrilling things...   

 

Day 2 ~ Thankful for small, quiet moments when I can be alone with my needles, hooks and strings.

   

Who knew such simple things could create such loveliness... What are you Thankful for?

Don't tell me, tell yourself.. over and over.

xoxo~

Abbie

Images of Autumn in New Hampshire

It snowed this morning! Snow!? I do realize some parts of the country have been getting snow for a bit now, but it's just a tad too early.. that means the color is going to fade from the trees and the world is going to be very brown/grey for quite a while. I love the white of winter, the greens of summer and spring and the brights of fall, but I really could live without the between seasons of mucky grey/brown.

Hope your world is colorful!

xoxo~

Abbie

Dragonfly

Yesterday I participated in my first craft show. It was so much fun! I spent a lot of time of the merchandising, signs, color scheme. That is truly the fun part for me. Mind you, I do like creating things as well, but I get bored with the same ol' same ol' all the time. I am definitely a bird of change and graphic design allows me to play with so may colors, styles and formats. I did take some photos, but alas, they are not blog worthy. As you can tell I am fussy about the pics I post here. I'll try to get some images for you and I also have some great tips and sites that I have dug up about craft fairs and the like. Also free or really cheap display ideas. After all, it is about the bottom line, no matter how much we enjoy our craft. I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend! The foliage is just about peaked here in central NH and it is gorgeous! I think we may go and hunt down some pumpkins today.
Enjoy!
xoxo~
Abbie

Isn't the pretty fellow above just lovely? His blues and green were iridescent, so hard to capture with a camera but you get the idea. :)

To Bee or Not to Bee...

I'm so happy that these fellows are back this year.. the past few years we really haven't had many bees around. We couldn't get near the blackberries behind our house, they were swamped with bumbles, yellow jackets and white tipped wasps (none of which I'd like to get too up close and personal with).

xoxo~
Abbie

The Plum Faerie...

The other day I came home to find an enormous basket of plums on my doorstep. My sister in law (aka the Plum Faerie) dropped them off for us. When our home was under construction a few years ago we lived with her and her husband for about a month. She and my son would have 'Plum Wars'. They'd stand under their plum trees and pluck plums at each other.. it was pretty funny. Now.. what to do with them all?? There are probably 5 pounds of plums! (I don't think a Plum War should be an option yet..)

I'm thinking plum jelly, plum tart, it makes me plum tuckered out just contemplating the possiblities!

Do you have any ideas for plums? Please? :)

We are eating them right out of the basket for now. Delicious!

xoxo~

Abbie

This little fellow was outside last evening. Unfortunately, he wasn't well and allowed me to get quite close. In his right mind, natural instinct would tell him otherwise. He was taking risks, stepping out, and it most probably ended with his demise. Few creatures survive the night in these parts unless they are safely tucked into their homes. Although, perhaps, he is still out there, shouting to mice friends, 'I did it! I walked right up to her and she didn't eat me!' Hehehehee.. little did he know that I captured him. Caught him right up with my camera and now I can look at him whenever I wish.. ;)

Lancaster Fair and BIG changes!

The family piled into the van this morning and headed north to Lancaster, NH. It is fair weekend here in New Hampshire.. two large ones, one north and one south. We choose to go north as it usually means fewer crowds and that makes it much easier to keep track of three kids. We were right on the money and it was gorgeous! 70 degrees, cool breeze, lots of animals, rides, games and of course, fair food! The only thing that was lacking was my camera battery as it died about 5 photos into the day. Aahhh well.. sometimes it's better to see the world through my own eyes not just the lens of my camera. I did manage to get a few for you though..

Above is the view looking over the fairgrounds.. it is much better in person instead of through a windshield at 40 miles an hour.

Sitting in the passenger's seat...

I adore anything old, antique or vintage and these tools were screaming out to me.. "take our picture too!"

And this sweet fellow popped right through his fence to get his photo taken.. you just never realize how many stars there are out there until you start carrying a large camera around with you..

And that was it.. pop fizzle.. no more photos.. if you want to see pics from the Sandwich Fair last year you can see the animals HERE and the sites HERE.

xoxo~

Abbie

Oh, I almost forgot! I have a big surprise/move/update coming soon!! It's a surprise that I have been working on for soooo long! You'll just have to wait and see! :)