haphazard musings

back to school, back to school

a little reference to billy madison, with adam sandler, not my proudest movie reference, but one that reaches way back into my high school days. :)

i have now been back to school for going on my 3rd week.  and it has been good.  so good.

i do love teaching.  my students have reminded me each day how much i am exactly where i should be.  another reminder comes each time one of them inquisitively asks about my little fish tattoo. and each time i visit with another teacher who reminds me about the the reason that they teach, and that it is the same reason as mine.  

i LOVE that each day i get to INVEST in kinds that NEED investing.  if there was any doubt that i am reaching students, that doubt was asuaged when i received a note from one of last year's students who reminded me that while my school is a tough place to teach, it is a great place to be.  she also mentioned that she not only learned about english, she learned about life and about how to let Christ's light shine even when we are NOT talking about it.  that note really made my first day back a confirmation of God's calling for my life.

so far my second first week has been about 300 times better than my first, first week.  honestly, i like teaching so much more than i did last year.  and since i have a nearly grown-up babe, i might as well be ready for my empty nest and keep on teaching - she is driving after all.

in preparation for teaching this year i decided i needed to do some things to make life a little less insane.  this includes freezer meals, bulk food preparation, a little cleaning help, a husband who has pretty much taken on the laundry task completely (he rocks), and a little less wasted time watching tv.

i spent a friday morning over the summer with one of my good pals, Megan, who has negotiaged to have fridays off from her job (yay, megan!) making freezer meals.  we each made two double recipes and swapped.  it was a fun time to be together chatting while our babes played and took naps.  her little man is about 8 weeks older than maelle.  she made spinach lasagna roll ups and broccoli, chicken and rice casserole.  i made pizza casserole and pioneer woman's chicken spaghetti (i blogged about it once before).  the roll-ups and pizza casserole we put in throw away aluminum pans, but the rest we stored flat in gallon size freezer bags.  i prefer the freezer bag method.  they stack so nicely.

these were just my meals...

I also have made a couple other meals along the way.  certain recipes i try to double when i make them, it's really just as easy to make two as to make one.  so i made some meals as a house warming gift for my bro, who just recently bought a house and doubled them all and just tossed 'em in the fridge.  those meals were a little more basic, but still pretty yummy (he's picky!).  i made tater tot casserole and ham and potato casserole.  another classic freezer meal in the frasier household is called chalupa. 

i think i am up to about 10 meals in my freezer, i figure i can pull out one a week (they will all have leftovers) and make it through october!

over the next few weeks i will share the recipes with you.  i am excited for a reason to get back to blogging.  i have missed my theraputic writing.

i have also been trying hard to prep a week or so of food at a time in order to make my weeks a little easier.  last week looked like this.

i ended up with 10 shredded beef (roast in the crockpot) and black bean burritos (rolled with some spinach and cheese) for lunch and 5 individually packed smoothies (just add 1/2 cup yogurt in the morning). as well as around 2.5 cups more of adobo beef in the freezer just ready for tacos or something later on.

this week looks like this.

that is 5 jars of shredded chicken (crockpot again) mixed with leftover pasta salad full of veggies 5 jars of granola (ready for a 1/2 cup of yogurt and a handfull of blueberries in the morning) and 6 full pounds of shredded generic chicken ready to be tossed into enchilads, chicken salad, soup, bbq sandwiches, etc.

so now i am ready for another week of school with easy, healthy meals for breakfast and lunch and a freezer full of quick and ready made meals.

this process on sunday during nap time leads to evenings full of family time and relaxation!  yay!!!  that means lots of happy snuggles with our little gal who is always ready for a par-tay. 

 

delicioso zuppa

aka delicious soup in my personal version of italian.

i made some super yummy soup yesterday and posted a picture of it on instagram and facebook.  after doing so, i had several requests for the recipe.  so here you go my friends.

i call it tortelini soup - it's pretty original since it has torelini in it.

the cast of characters (for about 14 good sized servings):

• 2 lbs ground italian sausage (but links would taste yummy too)
  
• 5 carrots, a large dice (make a good pile)
• 4 stalks celery, diced (same size pile as carrots)
• 1/2 an onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, finley diced
• 2 small zucchini, a large dice
• 1 or 2 yellow squash, a large dice
• 16 oz chicken stock
• 1 large can diced tomatoes
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes
• 1 big palm full of italian seasoning
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 bag frozen cheese filled tortellini
• 2 tbs butter
• 1/4 cup-ish flour

the directions:

• in a giant pot, brown the italian sausage, drain off grease, set aside
  
• in the same pot, drop in the butter, let it melt, and add in the carrots, celery, onion and garlic
• cook for 5 minutes (so they get a little soft)
• sprinkle in flour, stir to coat veggies and let cook for a minute
• slowly pour in chicken stock stir, stir, stir, scraping the bottom of the pan, then let boil for a minute or two to thicken
• dump in sausage, tomatoes, zucchini, squash, italian seasoning and salt and pepper
• bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer for 30 minutes
• in the meantime, bring a pot of salted water to a boil, and drop in the tortellini (they cook super fast - 2 minutes according to the package - and if you aren't careful they get mushy which is why i do them in a separate pot)
• when you feel like the soup is done mixing all the flavors (make sure you taste it first) and you are ready to eat, gently stir in the pasta

and there you have it.  tortellini soup. 

now go make some, snuggle up on the couch with your favorite person, put on a movie and enjoy.

 

a cake & deviled egg post.

here is the final session of my day of cooking. : )

fun fact: i have never boiled an egg.

un-fun fact: i am apparently not so good at it.

un-fun fact 2: i don't even like deviled eggs...

so you may ask, "why are you making them?"  well the answer is simple.  my mom told me to. 

now you may ask, "you still do what your mom says even though you are 28?"  

yup - that's what she taught me to do when i was 8.  oh well.

fun fact 2: i found out later that mom wanted me to make deviled eggs because she doesn't like doing it. 

so i followed the recipe exactly like it said...

bring to boil. remove from heat. let sit 10 minutes. drain and rinse in cold water.

 

peel to get the ugliest hard boiled eggs ever.  continue this task for like an hour.  break a couple.  squish out the middles.

 

make what i assume was a yummy filling.  i never tried it.  use a baggie and squirt out the filling in pretty little piles.  sprinkle with paprika so they look pretty.  take them on a car ride so they can all fall over.  ugh.

tell your mom, you are never making deviled eggs again!

then go shopping.

then go to a party with Sheldon - BAZINGA!

then make a cake.

i have a new rule about cakes: they should all include 1 pound of butter, 3 cups of sugar and 6 eggs.  also, add fruit.  then you have a really good, healthy cake.  the fruit cancels out the butter. trust me.

 

now we know why this is a pound cake right - you use a pound of butter...when i don't acutally have a fun fact, i just make one up.

it was getting late and i forgot to take a few pictures...but you know just mix everything together and you get this!

 

fun fact 3: coat the blueberries in flour so they don't sink.  i did it, and they didn't sink, but i can't guarantee that it really helps.  since i didn't try it without. :)

bake it for a while then frost it with a powdered sugar/milk glaze.

cut off the top (or bottom depending on how you look at it) so it sits flat, mine got a little ugly, then eat a bunch of it, then pray a little prayer that it comes out when you turn it upside down.  if it doesn't hit it really hard around the sides, say another prayer, and give it a good hard shake. :)

 
 

fun fact 4: the ratio of powdered sugar to milk is not one to one.  its WAY more sugar than milk. just for your future reference.  so just keep adding sugar til it's nice and drizzley.

add the drizzle and the fruit to make it pretty!

tell everyone who eats it how much butter is in it.  it really makes it better!

 

a day of cooking!

Last Saturday, I spent the day cooking.  And when i say "last Saturday" I really mean the one before Easter.  But who's counting?

I meant to start the day at 7:00 to get everything in, but of course, I didn't make it up at 7.  I clearly remember turning off the alarm at 7:30 and then just not getting up.  

well done.  

So 8:30 rolls around and I decide it's time.  So I made myself a happy cup of coffee (with foam) in my favorite mug, turned on my itunes, and got started.

I had to make a cake, dinner to take to friends, deviled eggs, and passion tea lemonade. I also had to go to a birthday party and go shopping.  

Here are the links to the recipes (but I will share them in stages otherwise this post will take 40 years to read, you know how i tend to ramble):

The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti

 

Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake

Rachael Ray's Basic Deviled Eggs

My Passion Tea Lemonade (Starbuck's photo...my version...)

i have now discovered that my food photography skills TOTALLY stink!  my word.

so anyway, i started two big pots of boiling water and got to work.

The chicken spaghetti is one of my new favorites!  It's so creamy and yummy and easy.  Everyone should try it.

I do nothing fancy to it, but I don't follow the recipe exactly, so I will just show my changes. :)

First, I am never into chopping up a hole chicken or dealing with all the bones.  It just takes too much time.  So I boiled and chopped a pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and a pound of boneless, skinless thighs.

While that was in the pot working, I chopped all the veggies.  I added carrots and garlic to the recipe this time, so I also sauted them, just to give them a head start (and you may notice I don't use pimentos. I don't even know what they are, but they remind me of olives, so that is a no go.).

While the veggies sauted a few minutes, I barley cooked some linguini, just until it got a tiny bit soft and shredded a giant pile of cheese.

Drain the noodles, and put them back in the same big pot and dump everything together.  I use two things here PW doesn't.  I add a small can of chopped green chiles for smokey-ness and use chicken stock from a box instead of the water I cooked the chicken in (mostly cuz I am lazy).

All that's left is to put it in a casserole dish and sprinkle the extra cheese on top and bake.  I divided it into two smaller dishes and froze one for later. (Just leave the cheese off the top to freeze.)  This makes a TON.

on entertaining and easy meals

i thought i might start a new segment on the blog called "on [insert topic here]" to tell you what lindsay thinks about certain things.  so i am starting with entertaining and easy meals.

first of all, i love to entertain.  i love having people over.  i love cooking food for them.  i love using all my dishes to cook the meal and then serve the meal.  i love when it can be a little formal (presentation wise) but super casual in feel. 

if you were to ask my mother where i got that love, she would (i think) tell you it wasn't from her.  not that she doesn't enjoy company, not that she doesn't enjoy good food, but it's just not something she loves to do. 

i think the key to my happy love of entertaining is that i don't let it stress me out! 

i use simple recipes that are guaranteed to be really good and everyone will love. 
nothing in my house is fancy - period. 
and everyone who comes over gets the real "frasier experience".

my house is rarely ever magazine cover ready and it almost always looks lived in, but i figure as long as there isn't mud on the floor or wet slimy chicken goobers on the counters, we're good. :)

but there may be a giant bowl of chicken bones...

isn't that disgusting?!? :)

my table is very simple to set and thanks to the parents on the Frasier side, we have an awesome table that seats 12 (and lots of pretty dishes)!

my recipes are easy and simple (which is the key for me...i don't love complicated, it just makes more mess to clean up later, and trust me my messes are big wnough without complicated.)

last time we had our small group (12 people - not really that small but we love them all), i made roasted chicken legs (aka Pollo Asado) from here.  i love me some pioneer woman.

step 1. make a marinade and have your hubby squeeze the life and juice out of lemons and limes and oranges. 

put a few rinds down the sink and turn on your disposal and your whole kitchen will smell yummy!!!

step 2.  put the marinade on the chicken.  refridgerate overnight.

step 3.  arrange all 36 drumsticks on baking sheets.

doesn't uncooked chicken look disgusting.

step 4.  turn them over half way through cooking, then serve 'em up and let everyone shred their own for their tacos!  (don't forget to take a picture - everyone showed up and i got distracted.) 

step 5.  check your oven for a lost chicken leg.  sometimes they like to jump ship.  otherwise you end up with a disgustingly charred mess the next time you pre-heat your oven.  which may or may not have happened to me.  which also may or may not mean it was there for three or four days just chillin.  so gross.

in my opionion the key to loving entertaining is to keep it simple. 

repeat that to yourself over and over: simple is good.

so there you go.  easy entertaining by lindsay. :)

and just because they looked pretty in the under-cabinet lighting the wonderful hubs installed:

 

 

 

sometimes it's the little things.

In honor of my new outlook I thought I would star off March right.

So yesterday, the first day of March, here are the little things that made me happy.

1. I got to share some peanut m&m's with my "little sister" Destiny after she took a really hard test.  It's never too early to learn that a little chocolate can make a big difference. :)

ps.  I saw the new m&m commercial while getting ready this morning.  i just crack up. "oh it's that kind of party!"

2. When Destiny and I went back to math class, an interesting conversation occurred:

        Student 1 (to me): "Are you in high school?" 
        Me: "Oh my!"
        Student 2 (to student 1): "No way, she's in college!"
        Me: "Oh gracious me, I am 28, but you girls sure know how to make a girl's week!"

Can I show you the high school me?  Promise not to laugh at my corney picture. :)

(yep, turtle neck sitting in a clam shell on the beach...hmmm...)

3. Yesterday it was nearly 70 degrees!  I love the cold weather, but sometimes a girl needs a little sunshine on her face.  

and so do puppies...he was terribly excited.  barked at every person and dog we saw...so annoying.

4. Because it was lovely, I delivered posters for work for more than 1 hour.  Lots of people to talk to and warm breezes to catch.

5. I had a random memory of my brother and I (I think) figuring out how to say our names backwards...weird.  Mine was and is...

Yasdnil madacam, now Yasdnil reisarf

5. I ran!  In shorts (look out for my glaringly white legs when you are on the street here in Newton).  I think I went 4 miles, not all at once, but in intervals which are apparently my new favorite thing.  And here, I use the term "favorite" loosely.

6. I got a sweet note in the mail (like with a stamp) from someone that I see all the time.  Seriously that is the best.

need some new note cards, i love these!

from Paper Source

7. Words of truth, spoken outloud. 

Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.  Pslam 62:8 

8. A scrubbed and bleached, purged, vaccuumed, and dusted bedroom, bathroom, and closet.  Hello dresser top, nice to see you again!

Hope the first day of your month was as good as mine!

 

Good News!

Well in fact it is great news!

Remember this?

Of course you do.  I have only talked about it 3 times in the last few weeks.

I made it at home and so can you!

Purchase this.

source

You can get it a mst grocery stores.

Get some GOOD quality lemonade (premixed - not the Country Time powder).

Then whip up a simple syrup - the ratio is one part water to one part sugar.  Just heat on the stove until the sugar is completely disolved. (According to another website this can be refridgerated for up to one month.)

So this is what I did.

2 tea bags in 2 cups boiling water - steep at least 5 minutes you want it to be strong.

Mix concentrate with 1.5 more cups cold water.

I used this to mix it - apparently shaken not stired (it's a shame Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig aren't here to help) really does make a difference.

I did about 20 ounces of tea to 17 ounces of lemonade and 3 tablespoons of simple syrup.

Add ice...and shake it like a polaroid picture.

Enjoy!!!

PS...just thought you should know I am posting this in lieu of working on my short story.  Yep next thing you know I will be an author...not saying I will be a good one, but i will have written something at least seven pages long...

PPS thank goodness for my Pandora station with Adele and Ingrid Michaelson...you should try it out.

Christmas Dinner

on the Frasier side is always an interesting experience. : )

We do the traditional Swedish meal.  It is served in several courses and takes a long time. 

I think its fun to watch the three year-old to see how she does in a 2 hour dinner.

But this year, I thought I would document what we were eating in pictures.  So here you go!

Step 1.  Cookie decorating. 

Meet Katie.  She ate all the sprinkles before we could use them on the cookies. : )

I made a horse with a star on it.

Step 2.  Salad.  These banana salads represent the candles that used to be used at each place setting in the old days.  The cherry on top is the light.

 

Step 3.  Pickled and creamed herring.  I won't eat the pickled kind it smells nasty, but the creamed kind really isn't too bad.

 

Step 4. Caraway cheese served by the cheese mouse.

Step 5.  Lutefisk (re-hydrated white fish) on potatoes in a creamy gravy.  This time was better than the first.  Mark made the gravy, this time it had yummy flavor that kind of drowned out the fishy taste. :)

Step 6.  Brown beans with molasses and other goodness, pot roast, potato sausage and brocolli.  I liked everything in this round!

Step 7.  Otsakaka.  It means cheese cake-like dessert topped with lingonberries.  For some reason I didn't take a picture of that...maybe because I don't eat it.  I am a texture eater and ostakaka is kind of like bread pudding and I can't eat that either.  I think its the wet bready texture.  Can't handle it. : )

And there you go.  A traditional Swedish dinner.  Some parts are so yummy.  Some parts are not exactly yummy, but a neat tradition nonetheless.  Thanks Grams for putting it all together.

On Chistmas Day we get to do one of my favorite things!  Fondu!  I look forward to that everytime we go out to Colorado!

 

My Favorite Bread - by request

I've had a couple requests lately for this bread recipe.  So I thought I would repost it!  Enjoy!

Comes from this book.  I would recommend the book.  I use it frequently!

It is called Pumpkin Steusel Bread on page 43.

I made it last night.  Our whole house smelled like Thanksgiving or Christmas.  I love that smell.  Cinnamon, Nutmeg and pumpkin all cooking.  Yum.  Its the way to go.

So, I thought I would share this with you so you can make it for your families.

You start with.

Plus baking soda and salt.  oops.

The big tip is to buy canned pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling.  Apparently there is a big difference.  But I have never purchased pumpkin pie filling.  Mostly because pumpkin pie gives me the heebie-geebies. 

So anyway  Here are the steps.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare the topping, combine sugar, chilled butter and cinnamon to make a steusel.

I usually throw in like a teaspoon or so of flour just so it doesn't get too creamy...also as you cut the butter into small pieces for easier combination, try not to cut your thumb off.  Because, I had to pause here and have Ryan bring me a band-aid.

Because I don't have a pastry cutter/masher thing.  I used the end of a whisk to make it this way.  It was totally easier then using the 2 knives like it said.

Prepare the bread.

Mix the flour, sugar, raisins (optional) baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg all together in your big bowl.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.  I don't know why you do this, but the directions say, so I do it every time...I wonder what would happen if I didn't.

Then in a separate kind of big bowl, mix the wet stuff (pumpkin, yogurt, honey, vegatable oil, vanilla and eggs).

Add that stuff to the dry ingredients.

Mix only until its moist.  Which I assume means don't over mix it.

Ryan hates the word moist.  He can't even handle it.  He gets all sqeemish, kind of like I get when I look at pumpkin pie - or peanut brittle.  Maybe its orange foods...

Your bread "dough" should be pretty darn think.

Pour into a greased 9x5 loaf pan.  ( just use cooking spray.)

As you can see I made a double batch.  I always make a double batch with this bread.  Why?

Well, the recipe calls for 1 cup of pumpkin.  A can is 15 ounces...so its just about right for two loaves.  What in the world would you do with and extra 7 ounces of pumpkin sitting around...so I just make two.  Its the perfect excuse to make something for someone else and surprise them!

Sprinkle with the topping you made earlier.

Bake for 1 hour (mine took only 51 minutes this time) or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in pan, then cool compeletly on rack.

Eat up!!!

Topping
1/4 cup chopped pecans (i didn't have any)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons chilled butter or margarine, cut into small pieces.
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (i use way more than that - I L-O-V-E cinnamon.)

Bread
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup raisins (if you want)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. each ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup plain, low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs

A Fall Party

Fall!  

Obviously my favorite season.  I have only posted about 15 million pictures of fall trees.

So our Sunday school class hosts a party every year to celebrate it.

Well, really we are celebrating the chance to eat chili and drink hot apple cider while roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.  Really, it seems that every time we (Sunday School) get together, it's really about the food.  We have some serious foodies.

Anyway...

Ryan loves doing manly things.  So he took over wood chopping.

I love that Cade in the background looks very uncertain about Ryan weilding an ax.

And since I try to keep things real around here, I also feel a little nervous at times when Ryan is swinging an ax.  It's just that I worry about things like missing toes.

After wood chopping he did other manly things.

Thankfully, Andy always keeps his clubs in the trunk.

Again the lighting was awesome.  The way it glows through the trees is ahh-some.

Meet Ava.  She is telling me not to mess with her chalk drawing.  

Actually, I think I just caught her a little off-guard.  She's usually quite photogenic. : )

But she recovered nicely when you gave her a hot dog on a stick.

 

Then let her chow down.  She may or may not have had three dogs.

Meet Sophia.  She was adorable.  She roasted her own dog as well, but she seems to have a little trouble keeping the dog on the bun.

Seriously, look at that face.  A-dor-a-ble.

We sang some great worship songs and some old school jams around the fire while we ate s'mores and

played cool tricks in the fire.

All in all a perfect night.