BIG BUNS!

No, I am not talking about myself. I made some hamburger buns yesterday and those babies got really big. Its a good recipe, very tasty. I froze all but enough for dinner tonight. I tried to make the turkey burgers big enough for the buns but due to slight shrinkage they were just a tiny bit too small. The bread tasted so good I could have thrown the burger away and just ate the bun. Next time I will get 8 instead of 6 out of it. I got the Sarge's crud. Da##it all anyway. He is still coughing despite the antibiotics and cough syrup and now I am too! Suppose I will head for the doctor in a couple days. Actually I don't feel too bad yet. We want to go to NY the end of the week. His Mom is having surgery but we won't go if we are still coughing because we don't want her to get this. Will wait and see.

These are those big buns

 

Grandpa went skunk hunting

I can't think of anything exciting in my life to blog about. Grandpa is always an interesting subject. He was a very good marksman as I recall. He liked to hunt skunks and other things. I remember a time I was sent down to the cellar to get some potatoes for dinner and I seen a skunk down there. Savy farm girl that I was I high-tailed back up those stairs and told my Mom. Dad was out in the field working so Mom got all us kids into the car and drove out there to get him. Guess she didn't want us home alone with that skunk. Anyway he came back with us..got his gun and shot the skunk before it could let loose his smell. He also used to hunt rabbits (until he fell and broke his ankle). Mom cooked it. Grandpa told my kids it was "old Mama cat" that they were being served. They just nodded and continued eating. Didn't bother them a bit. They were always adventursome eaters. They ate saurkraut when they were toddlers. Must be the German in them. Speaking of food we are having crab cakes for dinner and I don't know what else. Maybe some cole slaw. #2 Son makes good cole slaw with a pineapple dressing. Its really good. Its called Jimmies Pineapple dressing but I cannot find it in our stores in this town. I sure miss Cub Foods.

Grandpa and the skunks

 

Wheat Pecan Bread

 

Busy Day in Southern Michigan

Marsha Brady(Maureen something) is on the Paula Deen show on Food network. She has put on a few pounds, like a lot of other people. She is trying to sound like Paula with her screechy voice and cackly laugh. Not real becoming. Anyway we got an early call that someone wanted to look at our house at 1 p.m. So the Sarge and I went into super cleaning mode. We have it all worked out as to who does what. He is a good cleaner. He works even better when we crank up some tunes. We cleaned in time to Alan Jackson and Dwight Yoakum. We got it done. Then we went up to Beaners coffee shop to get out of the house during the showing. We came home and I started a loaf of Wheat Pecan Bread. It is a thing of great beauty. It rose very high and is a huge loaf. I just sliced off a bit and tried it and it is wonderful. I will for sure be making this one again. I made a real easy dinner. A smoked pork chop, baked potato and 3 bean salad for the Sarge and a Lean Cusine with broccoli for me. We never did eat lunch as we were so caught up in our cleaning. Luckily I had taken down the curtains in the living room and family room yesterday and washed them..as well as cleaning the windows and vacuuming cob webs in those rooms. Crocus are blooming today. Suppose we won't hear from our realtor until Monday about how the house showing went. He always calls the other realtor to ask how the people liked it. Everyone always likes it but not enough to buy it.

Erin making a Fashion statment..how to play outside and keep dry.

 

Jade dining at TGIF

 

Minnesota Trip

We made it to Minnesota on Thursday, barely. We were rushing hoping to catch the noon flight and we made it! Barely! We had a good time and was fun seeing all the kids. Jade, Erin and Emily all grew so much again. They all want to be taller than Grandma, I think. Of course it doesn't take a whole lot. We ate a lot of good food too and I did not re-gain any of my ww lost pounds so I was happy. We came back Sunday via Green bay but were home by a reasonable hour. On Sundays we almost have to take the first flight of the day or the last (gets in a 1 a.m.)Its in the 60's today so we have windows open. Crocus are a couple inches tall and there are robins hopping around so I think spring is here! I got a "baby-puter". It sure is nice, little and light. Will fit in my purse and can play games on flights. Now just have to put the games on it. It does not have a cd drive so have to install from or onto a small flash drive, which works. It comes with the usual solitare games and I put scrabble on it so thats all I need. Can check my email away from home.

Our Back Yard Today

Our creek in the back yard is overflowing the banks today. Our burning pit is under water. Its still quite a ways from the house. Some of the neighbors with smaller back yards have water right up to the back of their houses. double click the photos to enlarge.

 

 

Water, Water everywhere!

 

 

German whole wheat bread

 

RAINY SUNDAY

I made some really good soup yesterday and for once made the right amount so we won't be eating it for a week. We have a meat market in town that is so good. We never buy at the supermarket anymore. They make their own sausage. You don't have to buy a whole package..you can buy two sausages. You also can just buy 2 or 3 slices of bacon. So thats what I did. I decided to make soup out of two Keilbasa sausages and three slices of bacon. Cut both up and brown it up to get the fat out of the bacon..drain the fat off then add a dash of olive oil and add cut up carrots, onions, garlic..cover with water and simmer it all till carrots are tender. Pour in some broth, I used chicken because thats what I had. Add some thyme, bay leaf, salt,and pepper. I used a can of great northern beans..draining it and mashing half of the beans with a fork to thicken up the soup and cook it all together on low heat for a hour or so. Oh, I also added a couple tablespoons of tomato paste. I used like 3 good sized carrots and 2 onions,diced. It was so good we ate it all. Sarge had some bread with his. I had made a German whole wheat bread the day before and also had some sourdough bread I had made about three days ago. It tastes so good dunked in the soup. I limit myself to one peice of bread a day (if I don't have oatmeal) while on WW but the soup was good by itself. Its probably the best soup I have ever made.