A Few Very Good Things...

I have two bits of information to post about today.  Both of these things are exciting to me.  One is very exciting!   In fact, it's not just good, it's great!

Because October is almost here, because it's cool and cloudy outside, and because everyone needs to know about pumpkin spice pudding mix, I decided to make pumpkin bread.  Nothing puts you in the mood for Fall like the taste of pumpkin (well, besides football)!  I got this recipe from a friend I used to teach with before I had Adda.  I taught second grade here in Arlington for three years.  I was apart of a great team who I became very close with.  The three years I worked at Williams, were the three years we were trying to get pregnant.  There were countless times that the ladies on my team listened, cried, and prayed with me.  I will forever cherish the friendships I formed with those five ladies.  I will forever be grateful for the time the Lord provided with each of them.  Roz is who I got the recipe from.  She is a fantastic cook!  It is truly her passion.  This first time I meet her I knew she was someone I would become great friends with.  I did check with her about sharing this recipe before I posted it!  Everytime I make it I think of her!

Roz's Pumpkin Bread

 2 cups of flour

1 3/4 cups of sugar

1 - 3.4 oz. package of Jello brand pumpkin spice pudding mix 

(This pudding is only sold during the Fall months.  Stock up on it!  It's delicious!  If you can't find it Roz uses vanilla instead.)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

5 eggs

1 1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 small can of pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Grease 2 loaf pans (I decided to make mine in the bundt pan today).  In a bowl combine flour, sugar, pudding mix, baking soda, salt, and spices.  In another larger bowl beat eggs until combined.  Add pumpkin and oil and mix well.  Mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients just until combined.  Do not over mix.  Pour into pans and bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  She said she has also made this in a jelly roll pan.  

Today I made a maple glaze to drizzle over it.  I used powdered sugar maple syrup and a little maple flavoring because I had it in my pantry.  I mixed them together until I got the consistency and flavor I wanted.  I also added a little milk.

 While the pumpkin bread was baking I went out to the sunroom and put together our new DOUBLE STROLLER!  The capital letters are my attempt at letting you know how stinking fired up I am about this!  I looked all over the internet, read tons of reviews, and talked to a bushel of people about double strollers before Ella was even born.  We planned on getting one and then she got RSV, was put in the hospital, and we had a few thousand more dollars of hospital bills that were unexpected.  I kept telling myself that I could do it without one.  I have done it for almost 8 months without one!  Most of the time it was no big deal.  Adda was responsible enough that I could let her walked beside me.  The only times that I longed for one were times when I wanted to go exercise (Letting Adda ride her trike while I pushed Ella in the stroller burned about .483 calories per hour), or times when I was in a huge hurry and the store we were in was really crowded.  I finally threw in the towel on Saturday afternoon when I took the girls to the mall by myself, in the rain, during the big Dillards sale!  I was almost in tears before it was all said and done.  Adda had already cried many tears from falling (more than once) because I was pushing the stroller too fast.  My toes were bleeding because she stepped on them about twenty times!  I know I wasn't very nice to that poor girl!  Listen, I'm not a perfect mom by any means.  I don't keep my cool 100% of the time.  I get a little tense at times.  None of that changes how much I love my girls.  My mom still apologizes for things that she did (all of which we think are really funny).  I will apologize for some things too some day!  I do know this...a double stroller will make things sooooo much easier on us all!!!!  

I walked out in the sun room and found Sissy asleep on the stroller.

 Here are all the parts. 

 My handy helper Sissy is back, but this time in the basket.

 Complete!  Oh, this makes me smile!

 Ready for a walk when the girls wake up from their nap.  Notice the basket is sagging on one side.  That's Sissy again!

 Rotten Cat! Notice the really large basket under the seat!  Huge perk!

 Sleepy Cat!

It was a successful calorie burning walk!!!!  At one point as we were going up a huge hill and I was breathing very heavy Adda said, "Mom, we need to go much faster than this!"  I told her I was going as fast as I could!

   

  

Burgundy Stew!

I got this cookbook in college from my mom.  She sent it to me in a package after I moved out of the dorm and into a duplex with Cammie.  This was the beginning of my Junior year.  I actually think this was the very first cookbook she gave me.  I love getting cookbooks from my mom.  Not only are they all good, but she writes in them!  That's what I love about them!

 The first thing I cooked out of this cookbook was Burgundy Stew.  I made this for Gonzo before we started dating.  He "loved" the meal (might have not liked it but he sure acting like he loved it) and it's been a favorite of ours since.  I think I was trying to win him over a bit.  The poor guy told me three different times in about a year that he liked me more than a friend, and wanted to start dating.  I had been on a few "friend" dates with him and thought it was just great that we could be such good buddies.  So typical of girls, right?!  (In fact, our first "friend" date was to Casey and Erin Thompson's wedding.  He is a coach with Gonzo at Martin and she is one of my best friend now.  Isn't that so crazy!)  Our first real date was on 11-16-2002.  I remember this because it was Mom's birthday!  He told me to tell you guys that I was totally worth the wait!  Ahhh, sweet guy!  I still feel a little bad that I turned him down so many times!    

Burgundy Stew

2 lbs. beef bottom or top round roast, cut into 1 inch pieces 

(I actually used a chuck roast that I had the butcher cut up, because it was on sale.)

2 stalks of celery, sliced (I used 3)
4 carrots, peeled and sliced (I used 6)

2 medium onions sliced (I used 1 large, and diced it)

1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes 

(I used the larger can because that's what I had in my pantry and we really like the tomatoes in it.)

1 8oz. can of sliced mushrooms, drained (I used 1/2 package of fresh)

3/4 cup -1 cup dry red wine (can also use beef broth)

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1 teaspoon ground mustard (dry)

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 cup water

3 Tbsp. flour

Mix all ingredients except water and flour in a 6-quart slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low heat for 8-10 hours, or high heat for 4-5 hours.  Mix water and flour, gradually stir into beef mixture.

I decided to use my Pampered Chef Covered Baker because I didn't put it together until after lunch.  It works the same way a slow cooker does except you cook it in the oven and it takes a little less time.  I also used this along with the red wine:

These are fantastic!  Go get some before soup and stew season begin!  Love them.  

(Because I used one of these I used less salt than the recipe called for)

 Did you know that if you wrap your celery in foil it will last much longer?  Like much, much, much longer!

And...Don't forget to add your wine!  Because it's a slow cooker recipe, you won't risk drinking the wine before it goes in the dish.  You'll have to get it ready earlier in the day and surely you won't be drinking wine that early!  HA HA!

   

About an hour before it was done I made a slurry with liquid from the pot and flour.  Make sure you take the liquid out and cool before you add the flour.  If you add it while its hot the flour will lump up in the liquid.  This is the same step as water and flour that is in the recipe.  I added the water before I cooked it so that my slurry would have flavor. 

 Pour it into the stew and stir.  It will thicken the stew perfectly!

 I like to serve mine over pasta.  It could also be served over potatoes or rice.  The recipe in the cookbook serves it with herb dumplings.  I have never made it with these.  I am sure it would be delicious with them as well. 

Comment back on the post if you make it.  Let me know how yours turn out!  It's a family favorite for us!  Hope you enjoy it too!

Today we shall CELEBRATE!

Today is a great day for so many reason!  It's Sunday, my house is clean, it's cool and rainy outside, and today is my mamma's birthday!  This lady is a great lady!  Great doesn't even begin to do her justice.  She the best mom I know!  If I can be half as good a mommy to my girls as she was to me, I will be happy!  I wasn't always the nicest to her!  I think back to some of the things I said and thought about her getting all up in my business and it makes me sad.  Being a mom now I wish I had listened to her.  It would have saved me some time, some heartache, and some mistakes!  Today we celebrated her birth.  We celebrated who she is and all she sacrificed through the years to be the mom she was and still is.  I love you so much Mom!  Your not only the best mom in the world, but your the best NanAnn in the world.  We love you so much!

In honor of Mom's birthday we ate cake after dinner!  It doesn't take much for us to have an excuse to eat cake!  I made an Apricot Nectar Cake.  This recipe came from our family cookbook that my Nana made for all of us a few year ago.  I love this cookbook!  She put so much time and effort into it and I will cherish it forever.  This is one of Gonzo's favorites!  In fact tonight he said that he likes it so much it could be his birthday cake!  Usually he asked for a coconut cake, but I guess he changed his mind after eating it tonight.  

 My Nana made copies of the recipes and put them all together in the book.  I love that they have her handwriting on them and are dirty and torn.  

 The ingredients are: lemon cake mix, lemon pugging, apricot nectar, eggs, and oil.  This is a super easy cake and takes no time at all.  You don't even have to use an electric mixer. 

 While its baking you make a glaze with powdered sugar, the extra apricot nectar, and fresh lemon juice.

While its still hot you pour some of the glaze on it.

It was delish!  Gonzo already got into it again before bed.  He will snack on it all week (so will Adda and I)!

Happy Birthday Mom!  Wish you were here to eat Apricot Nectar Cake with us!  Miss you and love you so much!  Hope your birthday was a great day!

Apricot Nectar Cake

Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake Mix

Small box of lemon jello (I like to use lemon pudding)

3/4 cups oil

1 cup apricot nectar

4 eggs

Apricot Nectar Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

the remaining apricot nectar

juice of 1 lemon

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and add eggs one at a time.  Pour into a bunt pan and bake at 325 for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Invert onto a cake plate and pour the glaze over the cake while its hot (I like to put half of the glaze on the cake right away, and then let it cool another 10 minutes and put the rest of the glaze over it.  It creates a crust when you do this rather than it all soaking in.)  

 

Puke, Poop, and Bleach!

These three words totally make you want to keep reading, right?!  Well, this was my morning!  When Ella wakes up in the morning, she is sssttttaaarrrvvviiinnngg!  Not always, but some mornings she pretends that she will never eat again.  Usually I am pretty aware of this while she is nursing and will try to stop her at some point.  This morning I was totally distracted and let her eat and eat!  My mistake!  As soon as she was finished and I sat her up she spit up all over both of us.  Probably half of what she just ate.  So...she and I went straight to the bath.  Gonzo was just about to leave to head up to the field house and of course Adda wanted to get in the bath with us.  So, he left all three of us in the tub with all the toys!  I was just about to get out and let the girls stay in and play a bit and realized Ella had pooped in the tube.  If you know breast fed baby poop, you know it is not poop that can be fished out!  LOVELY!  So I (very quickly) gathered toys.  and drained the tube.  We all three got soaped down again and headed to Kroger for BLEACH!  The toys are sanitized and so is the tub!

Here's the culprit!  You can't possibly be mad at this little monkey!  Sweet Ella! 

   
I also finished everything for the cake I decorated yesterday.  Susan (a friend from college) and her family just moved back to Texas.  She is from Texas and most of her family lives here, but moved to Georgia after she got married.  Yesterday was her first birthday back in Texas.  Her husband wanted the cake to have a birthday/Texas theme.  I know she is glad to be back in Texas, but I think her friends and family are even happier to have her back!  Happy Birthday Susan!  I hope you guys enjoy the cake!  Love you!

The drawing is tonight for the 2nd giveaway.  Don't forget to comment, join the blog, or share my link!