Month: January 2015
Well that Backfired!
Yesterday I had this crazy idea that I knew would be so funny. I put lots of green dye in the milk. I know funny right!
You should have seen my son’s face when he went to pour a cup! Priceless!!
Well a few hours later it was not so priceless. I fixed dinner of fried pork chops, mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn. Yep, I realized my error when it came time to make the gravy! What was I thinking!!
Sometimes I really need to think things through a little better.
Words to Think on
I was reading today and came across a simple sentence. The plain simplicity of the words urged me to read it again and again. If only to be pulled in deeper with each reading. The very meaning puts so many things at the front of my mind. I will elaborate more later. But see if this makes you ponder life’s relationships deeper and deeper.
“There is nothing stronger than a bond that has been repeatedly tested, but has never broken.”
Two Peas in a Pod
Mom and daughter. They have the best time together.
If You Leave, I Will Wait!
JJ went to move the old cows and decided to take the older dogs since it was a quick trail.
Jipsey did not think to highly on this matter. She watched out the window while I was making the bed. Then refused to move when I put the sheet on. Needless to say she is very pouty about being left behind.
A Beautiful Day to Move Cows
It’s what I dreamed about!
I woke up the other day with a craving for this soup inside a delicious bread bowl. Luckily for me the local grocery store carries fresh made bread bowls, and I found a recipe for the soup. Within minutes, yes minutes I had mouth watering soup steaming inside a delicious bread bowl.
My picky eater son would not touch the soup. However he would dip the bread into my soup and eat that. Weird!!
This was perfect on a snowy blowy morning. I think it will freeze well to be enjoyed many times through the winter.
Broccoli Cheese Soup
1/2 cup butter
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1-2 pkgs (16 ounces each) frozen chopped broccoli
7 cups of hot water mixed with Watkins Chicken soup base or 4 cans of chicken broth
1 pound (1 box) of processed cheese, cubed. (I used 1.5 boxes)
1-2 cups heavy cream
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
1. Melt butter in a large soup pan. Toss in onions and sauté until tender. Stir in the broccoli (depending on how much broccoli you want add 1 or 2 bags) and cover with the chicken broth. Simmer until the broccoli is tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Reduce heat, and stir in the cubed cheese. Stir until completely melted. Paying careful attention that it is not sticking to the bottom of the pan.
3. Add the cream. Stir to combine. Next mix the cornstarch and the water. Add to the soup mixture. Stir to incorporate. Stir often until thickened to your liking. Add the garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste.
4. Pour into bread bowls. Enjoy
Coconut Heaven
My daughter asked for a coconut cake for her birthday. I was so dreading making the traditional two layer cake topped with mounds of coconut. It is just such a heavy cake.
Although it is delicious and one of my favorites, it is a big cake. To be honest, it just doesn’t get eaten. My family will take a slice maybe two, then that is it. It will lay to rot away.
So I went searching for something new. I found this glorious little cake. It is so rich and wonderful. I waited for it to be nice and cold the next morning. However my family dove in as soon as it was cool enough for me to frost.
It is basically a poke cake, but it is turned up a notch. If you love coconut, this is the cake for you!
Note: You will notice a little yellow spot on the picture of the cake. That is from a dripping birthday candle.
Coconut Dream Cake
1 box white cake mix
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can cream of coconut
1 large tub of Cool-whip topping
Sweetened flaked coconut
1. Bake cake in a 9×13 pan according to pkg directions.
2. In a small saucepan combine sweetened condensed milk and the cream of coconut. Don’t boil, just warm throughly and stir until combined.
3. Take cake out of the oven when a toothpick comes out clean. Poke holes over the cake. Pour the coconut mixture over the warm cake slowly. Sprinkle with a little bit of coconut.
4. Let cook completely. Too with cool whip and sprinkle with additional coconut. Place in the fridge to chill.
What to do with Christmas Cards
It is amazing how beautiful Christmas cards have become. Every year when I receive cards from family and friends I am amazed at the new backgrounds and styles of cards.
I especially adore the pictures of family and friends. I get a snap shot of how much kids have grown. The beaming smiles just warms your heart over the holidays. Then we are faced with the dilemma. What do we do with these picture cards?
I recently had someone tell me how much they enjoyed them, but that they just throw them in the trash. It is sad that money is spent, sometimes lots of money on cards only for them to wind up in the landfill.
Many, many years ago I began making a collage on my fridge with these cards. I simply cut out the pictures and tape them on one side of my fridge. You would not believe the response I get. Oh, many will say that they would not do that because it is tacky or doesn’t look nice. However almost everyone graduates to my fridge to see and look and ask who people are. They will gather to look at how people have changed or If they know someone they will ask how they are doing, or what they have been up to.
I will take them down when I have my next set to put up. This has become my own little tradition. I so adore all the pictures that my family enjoys seeing them all year.
Simple but Stylish
I looked and looked over the past six months to find a hat pattern for this yard. It is a hand-painted yarn that I picked up at the Brown Sheep company in Nebraska. It is a very gated yarn and trying to find a pattern is hard. Reading so much on patterns I found you either want the pattern to stand out or you want to going to stand out but you can’t have both. We sticking with that theory trying to find a pattern that will fit this yarn became difficult.
Unlike most people who find a pattern and then go to the yarn store and find a yarn that fits it, I am backwards. Whenever I am at a store I buy lots of yard that I like and then try to find a pattern to make with them later needless to say it has created quite the yarn stash. However I have some of the prettiest yarns and now it is just finding fun patterns to make and I seldom make the same pattern twice.
So this hat is just a simple reading and then knitting all the way up with the decreasing pattern at the top. Very simple but I think it fits well with his hat. It has a slight slouch so it’s kind of stylish. The colors go well with anything and I’m not sure if I’m going to keep it or give it away for now it’s going into my completed pile and I’ll figure that out later.
The Modern Ranch Wife 