Last few months

I know....I know....It's been a few months since I posted anything. I've come to the conclusion that nothing much exciting happens in our life. Anyway, here's some picture of activities and projects we've done over the last several months.

At Christmas time I always make lots and lots of candy and then give them as gifts. This year I did all cake pops and arranged them into candy bouquets. I thought they turned out really cute.

For Christmas, I made my mom a handprint pillow using all the grands hands (Yes, all but one are mine I know, I'll have more nieces and nephews one of these days.)



Man my kids have huge hands!



Here's a link to the instructions for the pillow. http://fromanigloo.blogspot.com/2010/04/keepsake-hug-pillow-tutorial.html

About the middle of January I started teaching a science class once a week. OERB is a great resource for any teacher, whether public or homeschool. I highly recommend checking them out and attending a class. They pay you to come and provide all the materials and then pay for a field trip at the end. I had 10 kids in my class ranging from 3rd grade up to 7th. We had a good time and learned a lot about energy and natural gas. We're looking forward to the field trip in a few weeks.

In February we had a home school Valentine's Party. It was a great turn out and I think the kids had a good time.

 This is one table...there were three full tables.

Last month, Summer went with our pastor's wife to help take care of her grandkids for a few days. Boy, did I ever feel outnumbered. I am not looking forward to the day that she moves out for good. Hopefully, that is a long way off and when she does that she will still live close by. While she was gone, I got a mad craving for some kind of dip. I wanted it to have tomatoes and black beans. All the recipes I could find had corn or some other ingredient I didn't have on hand or didn't sound good. SOOO....what do you do? You make up your own of course. I took what I had on hand and whipped up a YUMMY dip. I'm not good at naming things so here is a pic of my Chunky Black Bean Salsa. I'll post the recipe at the end.

Yesterday morning, as I was checking my e-mail, I get an e-mail from Andrew that goes something like this: "Hey babe, we're having an Easter party this afternoon. Do you think you could make something for the class." Short notice? Just a little. I had just seen this recipe for Peanut Butter Eggs on Pinterest and thought, "I sure do want to try those." Since I had everything for them I decided to give them a try for his party. The recipe said it made 15 and since I needed a dozen for his class I decided to double the recipe just in case they were good and we wanted to eat them.

 I was very pleased with how they turned out. They were much easier than I thought they would be. I didn't have milk chocolate like the recipe called for so I just used semi-sweet chocolate chips. Next time I think I will try using almond bark. I just think it's easier to work with and sets up a lot better.

They definately taste a lot like their name brand counter part. Anyway, they were a great success and will definately be a make again.....and again. http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2012/04/03/homemade-peanut-butter-eggs/

Chunky Black Bean Salsa Recipe
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans diced tomatoes, drained (petite diced would be best but all I had was regular diced tomatoes)
1/4 red onion, chopped
1-2 jalapenos, diced
1 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1/2 a lime
garlice powder, chili powder and kosher salt to taste.

Dump it all in a bowl and mix it together. Tastes similar to Pico de Gallo but with beans. Very yummy and good for you too.

Enjoy until next time,
~Robyn

Confession

Ok, before I can talk about my dinner tonight I have to make a confession. I love Banquet Chicken Pot Pies and Hamburger Helper Stroganoff. I know....I know....for someone who prides herself on making home made meals these are the total opposite. But I grew up loving them and basically lived on the pot pies when I was pregnant with Summer. Hamburger Helper was probably one of the first meals I ever cooked all by myself. I've searched for years for recipes that taste just like these. I have yet to find a recipe thats as good as the HH Stroganoff. However, I finally came up with one that is just as good as the Banquet Pot Pie. So now I can have my guilty pleasure and still feel good about feeding my family a wholesome meal. If you ever come across a stroganoff recipe that tastes like HH please share!!

So, tonight for dinner I made the chicken pot pie. I'm always at a loss as to what to serve with this though. I mean it already has all your food groups so what could you possibly add? Some fruit maybe? Well tonight I made jalapeno cornbread. Not sure it was my favorite thing to go with it however.

I'm a littly picky about my pot pies. I mean....I want them to taste just like the frozen ones. Two crusts, a creamy gravy, lots of veggies and chicken. Definately pie crust and not biscuits or anything like that. So, after many recipes I finally developed one that is perfect. Like I said...I like the frozen ones so if you don't like those then you probably won't like mine....but hey, to each their own.....Don't judge me and I won't judge you.

Robyn's Chicken Pot Pie
serves 8
1 chicken breast half ( I use the bone in ones just because I think they have more flavor when cooked on the bone. If you want to use the boneless stuff feel free. Use 1 pound boneless skinless and cube it)
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup sliced celery
2 small potatoes, peeled & cubed
1/4 cup butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2/3 cup milk
1 can cream of chicken
3 unbaked pie crusts

Preheat oven to 425.
Place chicken breast in large saucepan and cover with chicken broth. Cover and boil for 30 minutes. Remove from broth and set aside. Add carrots, peas, celery and potatoes to the broth and cook 15 minutes or until tender. (If using the bonesless chicken breast skip the first part and just cook the chicken with the veggies.)

Drain broth, reserving 1 1/2 cups for later. Set veggies aside. In the saucepan, cook onion in butter until soft. Stir in flour and seasonings. Slowly stir in reserved chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat. Stir in cream of chicken and cooked veggies. Remove chicken from bone and shred. Add to veggie mixture.

Take one pie crust and break it in half. Add one half to each of the other pie crusts, so that you have two large balls of crust. Roll one crust into a large rectangle about 11x15. Place in a 9x13 in. baking dish, pressing up the sides. Place chicken mixture in the crust. Roll out second crust to a 9x13 rectangle and place on top. Seal edges. Make several slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

Bake in preheated oven 30-35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Crazy Food Lady?

Okay, I know I'm a little strange, but I absolutely love cooking. And when I develop a new recipe and it turns out great, well....that just sends me over the edge! I imagine it's the same feeling an artist gets when he finishes a painting and is pleased with it. All that to say....I developed a new recipe yesterday and my my family loved it. They devoured it and were sad because there was no more. What is this great recipe you ask?

Drum
        
             roll
          
                         please.......

Balsamic Deer Pizza!!!

Now I know the thought of eating deer doesn't excite everyone like it does my family but you could easily substitute beef here. Ohhh and if you've never tried deer, you really should give it a shot. If it's cooked right I think it's better than beef. Anyway, here's the recipe for anyone that would like to give it a whirl. By the way....you should know that I'm not the best measurer (is that even a word) in the world. I have a tendency to just dump so these measurements are probably not completely accurate and for that I apologize.

Balsamic Deer Pizza

2 medium deer inner loins, thinly sliced (You could use 1 pound beef tenderloin)
1/3 - 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
1 Tbsp. butter
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 Deep dish pizza crust (I make my own but your welcome to use whatever)
More olive oil and garlic powder
1 cup Mozzarella cheese
1 cup Feta cheese

Marinate deer meat in vinegar, 2 Tbsp. oil and seasoning 8-12 hours. There should be enough liquid to thoroughly cover all meat but not a lot of extra. A little should pool in the bottom of the bag.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
After marinating cook meat in skillet over medium heat. There should be some liquid when you dump the meat into the skillet. That's good. Just keep cooking it until all the liquid evaporates. 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, saute onion in 1 Tbsp oil and butter until caramelized. Now to assemble the pizza. Brush a little olive oil over the prepared raw pizza dough and sprinkle with some garlic. I like to precook my dough at before I top it about 10 minutes so the bottom crust isn't mushy. Sprinkle the mozzarella on top of the dough and then top with onions and meat and finish with Feta. Return to the oven and cook another 8-10 minutes or until dough is cooked through and cheese is slightly melted and browned. Slice and enjoy. I made mine on the Pampered Chef large round stone and cut into 8 large slices. I served it with a salad with Balsamic Vinegrette and breadsticks.

Yes I know there's no pizza sauce on there. Most of my family doesn't really like all the red stuff that usually comes on a pizza so we choose to go without. If you must have it, I think it would still be fine just don't go overboard with it. You could also use pesto as a sauce. I wanted the flavor of the deer to stand out so I choose to go naked pizza this time.

Pinning!!

Well!!! Thanks to my good friend, Kari, I am now addicted to www.pinterest.com. I'm seeing things through different eyes now and have been motivated to try some new things around the house. One thing I've wanted to do for awhile now is to make a coffee/tea center. I couldn't get it just the way I wanted but I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

I went down to the garde the other day expecting maybe a few peppers. Much to my surprise the cherry tomatoes were blooming again along with the bells and jalapenos. Standing in the kitchen today I got a sudden inspiration to make an edible center piece.

I have lots more ideas that I want to try. I'll try to keep the pics coming!

Another year older?

I don't know. Am I really 32? Most of the time I have to remind myself that I'm in my 30's. I still feel like a young 20 something most of the time. On the inside that is. My body likes to remind me that I am over 30 and have given birth to 5 children. But I can't complain.

Once you have kids and lots of life responsibilities, birthdays just don't seem that important anymore. Today is pretty much just like any other day. When you're a kid each birthday marks another milestone. Now its just another day. However, today did turn out to be pretty special. I knew Andrew would be working until late tonight so the kids and I decided to celebrate by bringing home pizza so mom wouldn't have to cook. While Avery and I were gone to town running errands, Summer and the boys cleaned the kitchen and Summer made me a cookie cake. I intended on taking a picture to put on here but it got cut before I could get to it. My long lost little sister called from Florida to wish me a happy birthday along with several other family members. Along with a ton of well wishes from FB.

I am a very blessed person. I have a husband who is hard working, caring and faithful to his family and his God. I have happy healthy children who delight in doing little things they know mean a lot to me. I have a great extended family and church family. I live in a great country and above all else I serve an AWESOME GOD. He delights in giving me the desires of my heart. What more could a girl ask for.

So maybe I am another year older, but I'm also another year wiser. I have another year of learning under my belt. God is showing and teaching me so many things and had another year not already passed I wouldn't be the person I am now.

Thank you to all who helped make this a special day.

Free Day?

This year for the kids school I decided to try something new as an incentive to get their school work done without mom having to harp on them all the time. I'm giving them their assignments for the whole week on Monday. When they're done with it then they are done for the week. As a reward, if everyone gets all their work done by Thursday then we have a free fun day on Friday. This week, everyone but Elliot had their school done so we decided to go to Prairie Grove and do a "short" geocache and then go on to Fayetteville to do some shopping and then end the day with some Cherry Berry.

The geocache at the Battle Field Park in Prairie Grove that I thought would be a quick stop, 45 minutes tops, took us over 2 hours and we walked at least 2 miles. Needless to say, I'm not so sure it turned into a "free" day but we did get us some exercise and another history lesson.

We had a good time shopping in Fayetteville and made it to the Cherry Berry in Siloam before happy hour ended. Poor Elliot, for not getting his school done had to sit and watch us eat ice cream. A few of us had a little pity for him and gave him a couple of bites. However, as I'm typing this he is still trying to finish his school. Not sure how to motivate that child. If ice cream doesn't work then what does?

We then stopped at Mr. B's for pizza and brought it home and finished the day off with a movie. If you haven't seen it yet I highly recommend "The Grace Card." Great eye opening movie.

Of course I forgot my camera so I have no pics of the geocaching but I think all in all everyone agreed that it was a pretty fun day. I'm praying that this helps the kids to learn to prioritize and not procrastinate. Looking forward to next week.

Busy Day

I feel like I accomplished quite a bit today. We did school this morning, which is going very well. Cooked lunch (Loose-meat sandwiches) and worked on some planners. Then I did some canning. Four quart jars of peppers, 5 pickles and 2 okra. I thought the garden was about finished, but when I picked it yesterday I noticed the cucumbers were blooming again and the okra is still going strong. I've given one haircut already and plan on giving a couple more before the night is over. I can only do 2 or 3 a night because my clippers get too hot. Oh yeah, fixed dinner and just about had it ready when Andrew walked in the door. That doesn't happen very often. We had meatloaf, boiled potatoes, broccoli & cheese and magic muffins. I'll post a few recipes later. This is one of those comfort food meals. I was not a meatloaf fan for a very long time. No offense mom, but it was my least favorite food growing up. I didn't start preparing it for my family until a few years ago. I found a recipe that we all like so now we make it occasionally. It's still not my favorite but it's tolerable and the rest of the family likes it.

Welcome to Blogging

Well, I've been debating starting a blog for sometime. I kinda need an outlet and some place to sit and just take "Time to Be Quiet". It's not often that those moments occur in this house so I relish them when they do. I'm sure there are few people out there that would care to read about our life. But in the small chance that there is and for the family that feels obligated here goes. I hope to post a couple times a week sometimes more and sometimes less. Most will be idle ramblings of a woman who gets very little adult conversation on a daily basis. Other times I hope to post things that have inspired me and also some favorite recipes. Feel free to follow along, you never know, you might just get a good laugh once in a while. Things are rarely dull around here you know.