Category Archives: Food

Happy 47th Anniversary to Us

For our 47th Anniversary which is today we drove to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho after church on Sunday for an overnight stay. We made dinner reservations on Sunday at Cedars Floating Restaurant. It was a good choice and we enjoyed our meal and time there.

When love is true, There is no ending. We hope to celebrate with you for years to come…

Tempura asparagus with balsamic and blue cheese crumbles. I love tempura veggies! Prime Rib for Dear, Scallops for me and then we shared with each other.

Complimentary Huckleberry Ice Cream.

We are going to do some shopping today in Idaho and then head on home. Coeur d’Alene is only 100 miles from Colville. It’s a great place for a getaway. Sales taxes are lower and gas prices are lower, too.

All of our Christmas decorations are up, the tree is trimmed, we had some snow in the early hours on Saturday so things are looking like a winter wonderland. I’ve been working on our Christmas letter so next up is addressing and mailing our Christmas Greeting for 2021.

Happy New Week to all of you!

Hello December Hodgepodge

It’s Time My Friends for Wednesday Hodgepodge hosted by the lovely Jo From This Side of the Pond!

1. When it comes to gift giving are you more of a ‘create something from scratch’ or a ‘buy something in a shop’ kind of giver? Tell about a favorite homemade gift you’ve given or one you’ve received. 

I am a ‘buy something in a shop’ kind of giver. My favorite homemade gifts these days come from our little grands.

2. Do you have the ‘gift of gab’? Is that a blessing or a curse? 

Simple answer is no, I do not have the gift of gab. There are times when I’m worked up that I can go on and on but usually I can be pretty boring in conversation.  Coming out with one liners is more my style. A blessing would be that I might not say more than I need to say and end up offending.

3. What’s something you have going on that you need/want to ‘wrap up’ this month? 

I need to buy some items for the church kitchen before the end of the year and submit the receipts so the expenditures are taken out of this years budget.

4. A food you love that is ‘wrapped’ in some way?

Blintzes, burritos, tacos…

5. December is upon us…share something here (quote, verse, poem, song lyric, your own thoughts) related to the word hope. 

I’ve been going through a commentary on 1 Peter after reading 1 Peter for a month and this section of Scripture on Hope is where I would focus my meditation.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5

And from the commentary on this section of Scripture;

“Peter goes on to declare that regeneration results in believers receiving a living hope. The unbelieving world knows only dying hopes (Job 8:13; Prov. 10:28; Eph. 2:12) but believers have a living, undying hope (Pss.33:18; 39:7; Rom. 5:5; Eph. 4:4; Titus 2:13; Heb. 6:19)  that will come to a  complete, final, and glorious fulfillment (Rom. 5:2; Col. 1:27). It is hope that Peter later described when he wrote, “according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. This hope is what prompted Paul to tell the Philippians, “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain”. At death believers’ hope becomes reality as they enter the glorious presence of God and the full, unhindered, joyous fellowship with the Trinity, the angels, and other saints. (Rom. 5:1-2; Gal. 5:5)

The means of Christians’ appropriating this living hope and eternal inheritance is spiritual birth, and the power for that appropriation was demonstrated by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. …Christ rose from the dead, forever securing the believer’s living hope in heaven by finally conquering death.

~The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, 1 Peter.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Slowly, slowly the Christmas decorations are being put up here. This week is starting out slow for me physically and mentally. I’m blaming it on the turkey! Welcome December!

A Relaxed Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we tried something new with the turkey leaving it in a 200 degree oven after a 350 degree start. This gave us the freedom to venture out on Thanksgiving before our dinner time of 5pmish. The Rotary trail still had a lot of snow on it.

We marveled at the tracks we knew were made by our DIL Jamie as she pushed our grands for a 5k Turkey run that morning in their Bob stroller.

This is Bob the stroller.

Our 2021 Thanksgiving Table setting. My sister Lana folded the napkins to resemble a turkey.

A very blurry selfie to document who was at our table this year. We missed our Coast kids and our DIL Laura’s skills at taking selfies and photos in general…sigh. You were missed, Josh, Laura, Andrew and Katie. Looking forward to seeing you in person at Christmas!

We trust you all had a good Thanksgiving day.

This morning I’ve already packed away all our Thanksgiving decor and we are pulling down the Christmas bins! A Thanksgiving elf was in the kitchen this morning (early) and emptied the dishwasher of our Thanksgiving plates, etc., and that elf washed the remaining greasy platters and roasting pan and put everything away. Woohoo!

Hope you all have a good Black Friday.

Rex Hotel

On our last night of our Land That We Love Tour we had our favorite meal at the Buffalo Block Prime Steakhouse at the Rex in Billings, Montana. The barbecue we had in Kentucky was real good, too, but Buffalo Block won out with the ambiance.

We chose this spot to eat because the Historic Rex Hotel caught our eye. Dear’s dad’s name is Rex and he was born in Montana and we enjoyed paying homage to him while in the Treasure State of Montana. Montana is also known as Big Sky Country.

French Onion Soup

Bone in Chop crusted in all kinds of yumminess on top of garlic mashed potatoes.

Prime Rib Sandwich with horseradish, aujus, coleslaw and fries.

creme brûlée

Lemon Pound cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

If you are ever in Billings and want some upscale food at upscale prices this is the place.

I’ll be recapping our trip with lots of photos starting at the beginning soon.

Granola Chews

Granola Chews

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups white flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup softened butter
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar packed
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 cups granola
  • 2 cups dry oatmeal
  • 1 cup walnuts chopped

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Combine flour, soda and salt and set aside.
  3. Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla till creamy.
  4. Add one egg at a time to the creamed mixture beating after each egg.
  5. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
  6. Stir in granola, oatmeal and walnuts.
  7. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet.
  8. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown, watch after 10 minutes.

I like to use a dough scoop because the dough is easy to drop onto the baking sheet and the cookies are uniform.

Honey Raisin Bran Muffins

This is a recipe from the Kellogg’s page and the reason I chose to do this recipe is because it’s easy and I don’t keep bran in my cupboard. We enjoy this cereal and usually have a box of it in the cupboard. All the rest of the ingredients are always in my pantry.

Ingredients:

  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups Kellogg’s Raisin Bran® cereal
  • 1 1/4 cups fat-free milk, I used 2%.
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Stir together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Set aside.
3. In large mixing bowl, combine Kellog’s Raisin Bran cereal, milk and honey. Let stand 3 minutes or until cereal softens.
4. Add egg and oil. Beat well.
5. Add flour mixture, stirring only until combined.
6. Portion batter evenly into twelve 2 1/2-inch muffin-pan cups coated with cooking spray, or use muffin paper liners.
7. Bake at 400° F for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm.

Serves 6-12

Oatmeal Muffins

These muffins are easy to make and they aren’t overly sweet. Enjoy them any time of the day.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup quick cooking oats
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 well beaten egg
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Combine the oats with the milk and let stand for 15 minutes.
  3. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
  4. Combine the beaten egg, oil, sugar and oatmeal mixture.
  5. Add all at once to the sifted dry ingredients stirring just to moisten.
  6. Fill greased muffin pans 2/3 full. I used muffin cup liners.
  7. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

Yield: 12 muffins.

Picking Cherries

Today my baby sister and her hubby are stopping overnight before they venture home to the west side of the Cascades.

We had such a wonderful church service on the 4th of July.

Have you ever sung the 4th stanza of our National Anthem? We sang all 4 stanzas in church on Sunday.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Praising the Power who hath preserved our nation. Thank you Lord!

Last week during our heat wave we tiptoed to our neighbor’s Cherry trees very early to help him out by picking. Our neighbor had his leg amputated below the knee this past year and understandably is unable to do what he’s done in the past. We didn’t want to wake him up or get his little dog barking so we were as quiet as could be.

They are very tall trees and Dear is on a 10 foot ladder.

There are still more cherries to pick so we’ll sneak over early today to pick some more.

Check for Cobwebs Hodgepodge

Since Jo From This Side of the Pond brought up the subject of cleaning in this weeks Wednesday Hodgepodge I had to dig up this photo of me ready to clean the house sometime in the past. Thank you Jo for asking the questions!

When serious cleaning needs to be done including washing the floors on my hands and knees this would be a picture of readiness. LOL. Knee pads. Three pocket apron where I like to keep glass cleaning rags in one side and on the opposite side non glass cleaning rags. Never mix chlorine and ammonia as in bleach cleaners and window cleaners! Middle pocket I use for trash and other things I pick up along the way.

People have a wide range when defining clean.  When we rent a place to stay and someone says it’s clean and I can see dust bunnies and all other kinds of things that are not clean, I get miffed, especially when they add in a $200 cleaning deposit!

That said, I enjoy a cozy home, it does not have to be perfectly cleaned, unless I’m paying for it to be clean.

On to this weeks questions!

1. Your favorite cleaning product?
*
Amway used to have a product called Zoom and it was a great all purpose cleaner. I have different favorites for different tasks today. Dawn for dishes, Comet for toilets, Tide for laundry, Windex for glass or Vinegar and water. Kitchens are a little more complicated now with the added granite surfaces that you need a special cleaner for, stainless surfaces with their own special cleaner, glass top ranges with special cleaner. OYE! 
*
Do you clean your own house or hire out?
*
I clean my own home.  We do hire out window cleaning since we moved to the country…twice a year. 
I used to have a housecleaning business, Fresh Start, back in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
*
Most disliked household chore?
*
Dusting has always been a bit tedious for me but at this country bungalow with hard well water our shower that has 10 years of deposits on the glass doors etc. is very frustrating to clean. I’m looking forward to replacing the whole thing. 
*
What one chore do you not mind so much? 
*
Believe it or not, I don’t mind toilets. They are small and straight forward. 
*
 2. It’s Canned Food Month…do you use a lot of canned goods?
*
We use a fair share of canned goods.
*
What are the three canned items you purchase most often?
*
Many varieties of beans, many varieties of tomatoes, and chilies.
*
Last thing you made using a canned ingredient? 
*
A pot of chicken chili with black beans and pinto beans and chilies. 
*
 3. Can of worms, anything can happen, can you imagine?, as best I can, kick the can down the road, more than one can take, no can do, not if I can help it…choose an idiom and tell us how you currently relate.
*
I’m going with ‘can you imagine’. Lately more and more I’ve been wondering about the Rapture and find myself saying, come Lord Jesus come;
*
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (ESV)
*
4.The last Tuesday in February is National Spa Day. Are you someone who enjoys a day at the spa?
*
I’m really not a spa kind of gal but I do like a good massage. I’m not comfortable being naked anywhere but home! 
*
Last time you visited a spa? Do you have a favorite spa?
*
May of 2014 in Orlando Florida was the last time I visited a Spa. Dear was at a conference and I tagged along. His company booked him at the Hyatt Regency and I scheduled myself a massage at the hotel spa which had a sauna, etc. I relaxed by the pool all by my lonesome after the massage. I do not have a favorite spa.
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Are salons open for business in your area?
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Yes, salons are open.
*
Have you made changes to your hair and nail routine since Corona hit? In what way? 
*
I probably could count on one hand the number of times I’ve had a manicure or pedicure. That happened generally in relation to the weddings of our children. I’m the kind of person who messes up the polish before it dries without even trying. 
*
Since Corona hit I have gone back to single length of hair instead of layered. 
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 5. Believe it or not this is the last Hodgepodge of the month. In one sentence sum up your February. 
*
February: A month of freezing and thawing, then in mid span some love thrown in with restaurants finally re-opening and ending with a sigh of relief. 
*
 6. Insert your own random thought here.
*
Here’s our latest ‘Corona’ puzzle and let me tell you it’s a dousy!
Thank you to everyone who came by here and took the time to read and an extra thank you to anyone who commented!

Day Four ~ Love

 

Continuing with the August challenge to post a  Bible verse or section of scripture with a word prompt. Today the 4th of August is Love.

Romans 12: 9-10 (ESV): “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”

Feel free to share a Bible verse on love in the comments or on your blog. If you post a verse on your blog please let me know. Tomorrow’s prompt is Jesus.

Happy One at Life is Good posted verses on the theme of Love.

There are also some verses in the comments.

On Saturday morning I harvested our garlic and hung it to dry in our laundry room. I mentioned on Facebook that our laundry room was smelling like a good Chinese restaurant. This is the first time ever I have seen or harvested garlic growing. It was a fun experience for me.