Running with Perseverance

Fall Recipe Fun!

Over at Faith & Family Live! there is an opportunity to share Fall recipes for a prize.  What inspired me to participate more than the prize is my absolute L-O-V-E for Fall/Winter recipes!  I feel like I'm floundering all Summer long and once the cool weather hits, I can let go a sigh of relief and start cooking!

I was in a bit of denial about Summer being over, but before I knew it, we got our first snow!  In fact, today is a cold, snowy day; a day perfect for blogging, drinking hot coffee, reading, and watching movies.  That's the plan!

My little ones as the first flakes of the season fell.

Hot chocolate after playing out in the cold!

On to the recipes!  First, I'm going to share my personal, most favorite recipe in the world.  This is my mom's lasagna.  Not only do I think it's delicious, but it also brings back such happy memories of my childhood and is a true comfort food! (I doubled the recipe when I made it yesterday - one for a baby shower we went to and another to freeze.)

Amma's Lasagna

1/2 lb. italian sausage
1/2 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 12 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 12 oz. can tomato paste
1 t. sugar
1/2 t. oregano
1/2 t. thyme
1/2 t. crushed red pepper
3/4 t. garlic salt
1 bay leaf
2/3 16 oz. package lasagna noodles (about 14 noodles)
2 eggs
1 15 oz. container ricotta cheese
1 16 oz. package of mozzarella cheese diced, or buy shredded

1. In a 5 Qt dutch oven over high heat, cook ground beef, sausage, and onion until pan juices evaporate and meat is browned.  Add tomatoes, their liquid, and next 8 ingredients.

2. Heat mixture until boiling, stirring to break up tomatoes.  Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Discard bay leaf.  Tilt pan and spoon off any fat which accumulates on top of sauce.  Cook lasagna noodles as label directs; drain well in colander.

4. In 9x13 baking dish, arrange half of drained lasagna noodles, overlapping to fit.  Preheat oven to 375*F.

5. In small bowl combine eggs and ricotta cheese and spoon one half of this mixture over lasagna noodles in baking dish.

6. Sprinkle with one half mozzarella; top with one half sauce. Repeat layers.  Bake in oven for 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

***As a side note, I want to add that I include WAY more oregano and thyme than the recipe calls for.  Usually 1 to 1 1/2 t. thyme and up to 3-4 t. oregano (I just really like oregano!).  Also, I've made this recipe with ground turkey and turkey sausage with success, as well as with whole wheat lasagna noodles.  It's pretty flexible.

Last night, we followed up with a delicious apple pie, from this year's abundant apple harvest.

For good measure, I'm going to add one more recipe!  This is one of my very favorite crock pot recipes and I just made it the other night with a couple of nice loaves of homemade Amish bread and an apple crisp.  It was wonderful! (Love the picture from '06! I posted this recipe on my old blog a couple of years ago, which is where I got my picture! ha ha!)

Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

8 Cups water
4 medium carrots, cut to 1/4 inch slices
1 medium stalk celery, cut to 1/4 inch slices
1 small onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper
1 whole chicken (about 3 1/2 lbs.)
3 cups egg noodles, uncooked

1. In slow cooker bowl, combine carrots, celery, onion bay leaves, thyme, 4 t. salt, 1/2 t. pepper.  Place whole chicken on top.  Cover and cook low 8-10 hours or high 4-5 hours.
2. Transfer chicken to cutting board.  Discard bay leaves.  Start noodles to boil on the stove.
3. While noodles cook, remove and discard skin, fat, and bones from chicken, shred meat.
4. Skim fat from soup and discard.  Return chicken to soup, add noodles, and serve.
Serves 6. (From October 2006 Good Housekeeping magazine)

We are loving the cold weather food around here, and I'm looking forward to trying some new recipes that the other ladies post!

Apples Part Two

Having such an abundance of apples has proven to be quite a bit of work!  Here's what's been going on in the kitchen:

Apple Crisp! (This recipe is from the book I mentioned last time, Apple Picking Time.

Dried apple chips in the dehydrator!  These are a favorite among both our family and our guests.  We do 9 trays every couple of nights for 24 hours.  Usually half are sprinkled lightly with cinnamon and sugar.

Apple tasting party!  This obviously included some grocery store apples as well.

Homemade apple pie filling to freeze!  This made enough for 5 pies and I think I'll do another batch over the weekend.

Pumpkin apple muffins to freeze!  I used THIS recipe, but subbed whole wheat flour, apple sauce for oil, reduced sugar, skipped the topping, and didn't peel the apples.  They are so delicious!  My girls LOVE them!

Tomorrow we're going to have a tea party for the feast of the Archangels with an apple cake.

I loved all the suggestions I got and I'm looking forward to trying them out, since I still have a TON of apples and more on the trees!  The only thing I don't really want to make is apple sauce because I just really don't like it (neither do the girls).  I think it's a texture thing.  :-/

The one thing I've really learned from this Fall's harvest of apples is that when we own our own home, we will be planting fruit trees.  Not only are they beautiful, but they create shade, and food.  I know that it's a lot of work and a lot of hassle (you should see all the bees hanging around the fallen apples in my driveway!), but the abundance is a blessing.

Not only is it a blessing, but it also creates a lot of entertainment.

Here they serve as "fairy food" in the fairy house that Felicity created.

Here they are being used for apple baseball with a shovel for Charlie, some missionaries, and students in our backyard.  (Excuse the bad pic, the sun was so bright I had to use my hand to get it!)

Great fun.

In Like a Lion...Out Like a...Snow Man?

We are under a blizzard warning!  Today has been the worst snow that I've seen since we've lived in Colorado and I am so thankful to not be out in it!  I did have an appointment with my midwife, but I promptly canceled (apparently along with several other of their patients).  The University is closed, and many businesses and city offices are closed.  My husband, however, is still out there taking advantage of the sudden free time that college students have and is doing his job evangelizing no matter what.  As much as I wish he were here with me, as much as I wish I knew he was safe and not on the road, I really respect him for persevering in his mission.

Speaking of Charlie, I have been meaning to post a picture of his handiwork on here!  On the feast of St. Joseph (appropriate, right?!), Charlie spent the day making a picnic table for our porch!  I've been scouring Craig's List for one for several weeks, but had been unable to find one for a good price and close enough by.  So, he was inspired and decided to make me one!  I am so impressed with it, and here it is today in all of it's snow covered glory:

Only a few days ago, Charlie, the big girls, and I spent the afternoon painting it on a lovely 70 degree day.  haha

Lastly, just because she's cute, here is how my little one feels about today's snow day:

She fell asleep while I was making my bed.  I can't blame the girl, I'd like to take a nap too!

Christmas Crafts/Handmade Gifts Pt. 1

Today we handmade some gifts for Christmas!  A long time ago, I remember making salt ornaments with my Aunt and it was so much fun that I have been waiting with wild anticipation to share this craft with my children.  I was afraid they'd be a little too young, but they actually surprised me and did a great job with minimal intervention on my part!

We made salt ornaments with cinnamon so that they would smell sweet - the house is bursting with cinnamon-y aroma!

Here's what we did:

1/3 cup salt
1/4 cup cinnamon
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup of water, plus additional as needed

We mixed all of our ingredients together in the mixer, and then finished by hand.  I ended up using an additional 3 T.

Next, we patted the dough to about 1/2 inch thickness and cut shapes with cookie cutters.  After cutting out the shape, we just used a straw to cut out a little hole for stringing the finished ornament.

Once we had cut out all these sweet smelling ornaments (and I convinced the girls NOT to try eating them), we baked them in the oven at 225* for 30-45 minutes.  Our larger/thicker ornaments took about a full hour.

Finally, we decorated the ornaments by painting them with glue and putting on gold and silver glitter.  This could be more intricate depending on the age and ability of the artist, but I decided to keep it simple with such little ones.

Here is one of Felicity's finished ornaments hanging on our tree.  She loved the stars because the star lead the wise men to Jesus' side!  If you make these, be sure to mark on the back who made it and what year!!

Then He smiled...

What is your favorite Christmas carol?

One has to admit that one of the greatest aspects of Advent and Christmas is the music.  You can't help but enjoy singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Jingle Bell Rock."  But, I sincerely give thanks to God for all the years that I spent as a choir girl for the mere fact that some of the most beautiful music has entered my repertoire and lifted my heart Heavenward, leaving me, years later, better equipped to contemplate our Lord's second coming and the mystery of His birth.

Have you listened to Vivaldi's Gloria?  Or the entirety of Handel's Messiah?  How about the sweet songs about Mary, Lo How a Rose E're Blooming and There is No Rose of Such Virtue?  In Dulci Jubilo...Coventry Carol...and so on and so forth.  You can't forget the ever-present tune of Advent, Veni Veni Emmanuel as it ushers us into Christmas with the "O" Antiphons.

I love the classics, those we all know the words to.  Joy to the World, Silent Night, Little Town of Bethlehem, and my second favorite Christmas song ever, O Holy Night.  Fall on your knees, indeed!

My favorite Christmas song though is Little Drummer Boy.  I suppose that seems sort of simplistic given all the choices above.  However, I think the song has such a lovely and powerful message.  I identify with the little boy, I have nothing that seems worthwhile to offer our Lord, especially compared to what others who are holy and faithful have to offer Him.  It makes me think of St. Therese's "little way."  All he can do is play his drum for the Child, and I like to think of my life like that.  I can show my love through obedience to the vocation He has given me, the gifts and talents He has given me, and through prayer.  It's a humble offering, but in the song, "Mary nodded" and "then He smiled!"

My favorite version is the one that MercyMe does.  I'm not a huge fan of the group, but I love love love their harmonies and the style they use.  Look it up on iTunes!!

What is your favorite Christmas song?  And why?

Sweet Home

Well, my post below was absolutely riddled with typos and misspellings!  I hope you can forgive my terrible writing, as I wrote the post from Charlie's iPhone while we were in Texas.

We had such a nice visit in Texas with our families.  I felt it was short and I was sad that we were unable to visit some dear friends (you know who you are!), but a visit in January is 100% for sure.  We'll be able to stay longer, and see more friends, generous donors, and family.  We look forward to it! 

We spent the first half of the week with my family and we enjoyed starting a new private family blog, drinking sangria, and spending time around the table talking about music, faith, holidays, and family memories.  I felt really blessed to be able to spend such good quality time with my parents, who are so generous and loving.  It was also very nice to see my brother (the only sibling close to my age) and for my girls to have my sisters to play with.

Later, we drove South to the Houston area where Charlie grew up and where we lived the first four years of our marriage.  We have such fond memories there.  The thing that struck me was my intolerance to the humidity after being gone such a short time!  Here in Colorado, my curly hair behaves well and I am able to wear it long and down with out much of a problem.  Once we hit Huntsville on I-45, I could feel my hair getting big and my face getting shiny!  We stayed at my in law's house, who were so kind in allowing us to stay with them along with Charlie's brother, and two sisters and their children.  The kids totaled 10 between the four siblings, so it was crazy but fun.  My girls are blessed with very well behaved and kind cousins.  :-)  We spent Thanksgiving there and then headed back to stay a night with my parents before heading home.

We only got home yesterday afternoon, and immediately purchased a Christmas tree and decked the halls in our home, as we were hosting the final FOCUS team dinner of the semester which included a white elephant and regular gift exchange.  I won an air freshener that used to be in the room of one of our female missionaries in the white elephant, which cracked me up.  It has found a perfect home near Juliette the Hamster's cage.  Even better, Charlie won a glitter brush; one of those things that looks like a giant blush brush that has glitter in the handle which is released with the push of a button, should we want to get all glittered up.  Everyone brought over their childhood pictures to share, it was so fun!

I am all unpacked now and ready to fully embrace the beauty of Advent.  The timing of Advent is so impressive to me in terms of the Liturgical Year.  Starting off with All Saints/All Souls in November, and then spending the month of November in prayer for those who have passed before us while contemplating our own short earthly lives is the perfect way to usher in a time of preparation for the Second Coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ!  I am glad to be home and preparing my heart and the hearts of my family for Emmanuel, God with us.

Simple Woman's Day Book - July 1

FOR TODAY Tuesday, July 1...we are at FOCUS summer training for missionaries in North Carolina.  We've been here since May 31 and will stay until the end of this week!

Outside My Window... it is a gloriously sunny and cool first day of July!

I am thinking...about all the things I need to take care of to pack up and leave summer training this week!

I am thankful for...time with good friends!  The other night we got to go out for drinks with our good friends while our children were lovingly cared for by doting college girls.  It is such a blessing to have a sense of community and true friendship who are not only great fun, but who are also walking the Christian walk with us.

From the kitchen...there is still nothing coming from my kitchen, seeing as I do not currently have one!  I am looking forward to cooking again soon though!!

I am wearing...work clothes: yoga pants, running shoes, and my pink ICAN t-shirt.  My day will consist of going for a run, working on packing the apartment, doing laundry, and shopping.  No "business casual" for me today! (We are required to wear business casual for official FOCUS events like classes, mass, etc)

I am creating...a packing list.  We have several stops before getting back to Colorado and that requires some thinking ahead!

I am going...to be in Washington DC for the 4th of July!  We are so excited!  Since we can't move in to our house until the 8th, we're taking detours in DC for a day and a half, and Cincinnati where our friends are from!

I am reading... more of Conversation with God.  I am so thankful to my Dad for buying the set for me.  I have read it every day since he gave it to me!  I also just purchased Story of a Soul at the bookstore.  I've already read it, but I borrowed it from someone and wanted to read it again!

I am hoping...for safe travels home for my family and for our friends.  

I am hearing...music on itunes: Lay it Down by Matt Maher.

Around the house...I need to clean, do laundry, pack, and generally get ready for the trip home to Colorado!

One of my favorite things...mornings that aren't rushed: laying in bed with the whole family and snuggling with the girls, getting kisses from my baby, a relaxed breakfast accompanied by great conversation with friends...

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Enjoy the last few days here with the whole staff.  Finish week 2 of the couch to 5k.  Get the sand out of our bathing suits and my bag (we went to Folly Beach near Charleston for the weekend).  Clean out the van and buy snacks for our trip.  Spend the 4th of July in DC, attend Mass while we are there and pray for our country.  

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

this was my view of the Atlantic while I was out walking Colette to sleep at Folly Beach!

Glorious Spring

I think I can safely say that Spring has finally arrived here in our little town in Colorado! I wouldn't doubt that there is a chance of an early morning or late night dusting of snow, but I do feel confident enough to pack away the snowsuits, gloves, hats, boots, and so forth. For the last few days, when I wake up, the house has been cold (since it's not cold enough at night to justify turning on the heat); but once I open all the curtains and blinds and the glorious sun pours in, the warmth is nearly immediate. By mid-afternoon, the windows are cracked and there is a fresh breeze racing through the house until nightfall. The girls have started wearing their spring-y clothes adorned with flowers and bright colors. I do need to do some shopping for Felicity though, since most of her clothes are too short! E-bay, here I come! The squirrels and birds have come out FULL force in the back yard and there is one particular woodpecker who has been working very hard at creating a huge hole in a dead tree back there. I wonder if it is creating a spot for a nest? I need to get on enature.com and find out what kind of bird it is so that I can figure it out!

After living in a place (Texas) all my life with two seasons (summer and not summer), I have to say that I finally appreciate what Springtime is all about! It's like coming out from a cloud of darkness and being offered hope and beauty. I love it!

Charlie and I are just itching to get out and do some weekend camping. If it weren't for the children (especially the baby), I think that he and I would have already gone. Of course, all the beautiful places to camp are in the mountains and it's still pretty cold and/or snowy in the higher altitudes. We got a new tent, as the one we had previously was not of very good quality; we just wanted to see if we would even like camping. It will be nice to have the extra space. More than anything, I can NOT wait to see the wild flowers! I am really missing the Texas bluebonnets and all the other beautiful wild flowers that grew around my house back home. Wild flowers are one of the things in this world that my heart just truly delights in. It's like a beautiful, complex, little love letter from God.

On another note, I'm really glad that I have made the switch to typepad...I've enjoyed how much more advanced it is from my previous blogging site. I do have to say that it's sort of like being the new kid in school though! I went from a place where I have been writing pretty much since I got married, where I had a "community" of sorts, to a new place where I don't have many readers or comments yet. I'm excited about the possibilities of getting more out there in the blogging world of other Catholic wives and mothers. I know it was a good switch, but there are certainly some growing pains!

Here is a lovely bouquet I picked from around my house last Spring in Texas...I'm feeling a little homesick!