T.T.A.R. Day 2

Do you see that delicious chunky sweet yummy-ness to the right in the picture above?? That would be the feature of today's recipe and one that I will be making in T-minus 1 hour. It is a Chunky Pear-Apple Sauce and I found it from a random cookbook from the library a couple years ago. Here is the description straight from the cookbook:

"During autumn holidays, the aromas of slow-cooking fruit and sugar evoke a real feeling of nostalgia. At Thanksgiving I make a point of serving a crisp-tasting apple compote, and with the addition of succulent, fragrant pears, I find that the smooth flavor combination marries well with the savory herbs and spices used in the stuffing, gravy, and-of course-the turkey."

CHUNKY PEAR APPLE SAUCE

6 Anjou or Comice pears, slightly under ripe

4 apples (preferably a mixture of Granny Smith, McIntosh, and Golden Delicious)

2 TBLS Fresh Lemon Juice, or more to taste

1 C. Apple Juice

1/2 C. Sugar, or more to taste

1 tsp. Finely Grated Lemon Zest

1. Core, peel, and cut the pears and apples into large chunks. Toss them with the 2 TBLS lemon juice in a large heavy pot.

2. Add the apple juice, 1/2 C. sugar, and the lemon zest. Stir and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, until the fruit is tender but not mushy, about 15 minutes.

3. Uncover the pot, stir, and continue cooking to thicken the juices, 5 minutes more. Taste and add more sugar or lemon juice if desired, stirring carefully so as not to break up the fruit too much. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Then transfer to a container, cover, and refrigerate for as long as 4 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Makes 8 cups

Thankful Thought:

Last night at dinner I asked my daughter what was something she was thankful for? My comedian of a husband pipes in before she answers, "I'm thankful I'm not a turkey!" Of course my daughter amused by this (although she probably has no idea why it's funny), then answers, "I'm thankful I'm not a dog!" Of course I follow up with why? And after a moment of thought she says, "No, actually I've always wanted to be a dog."

Oh my children, my children. (Smile)

Until tomorrow...

be thankful and make sure your turkey is defrosted!

Travelling?? Have kids in tow??

If you will be travelling for the Thanksgiving holidays and have some little tykes to entertain I found a perfect, affordable and creative item that is a must have for your to-go bag! I first discovered Crayola's Dry Erase Crayons at my son & daughter's doctor's office. They had a huge white dry erase board and when my kids picked up crayons and asked if they could please draw I quickly told them they couldn't use crayons on a dry erase board and I wasn't sure how the crayons ended up there.

From the receptionist's desk she kindly informed me they are new dry erase crayons and it was just fine for the kids to use! I was amazed and as a teacher of toddlers had to check this out! Sure enough - they are crayons that easily write on and wipe off of dry erase boards!

I dashed to the grocery store (yes they were at my local Kroger's store) and was even more surprised by finding a travel set of these awesome new crayons! I fought impulsiveness and just bought the crayons for me to try for now (which I have LOVED) but plan on buying one or two for my niece and nephew's - especially since my brother and his family will be moving in the spring!

So if you need something new and exciting to keep your kids attention and perhaps keep their noise level down for a bit - head on over to your local Wal-Mart, Kroger's or just click here to shop from Crayola.com!

A sewage pipe, a turkey, and 6 kids...

I have been SO wanting to get on here just about every night since my last post and I'm so sorry ya'll that I have been absent during the holidays! But to say my house became a zoo would be an understatement! My holiday week started Sunday as my parents arrived that afternoon. That very night as my mom took a shower she heard some funny bubbling noises coming from the drain of the tub. A few minutes after she was through with her lovely warm shower our sewage backed up.

Yep. The FIRST of my company arrived and I have 6 more coming in two days and I have sewage backup. Isn't that a great start??! Thankfully my daddy was there and from his wisdom found the pipe and dug it up so the sewage never leaked out into our house. Again - thank you dad!! We had finally (after talking to 3 separate Roto, Rooter, Plumbing, Whatever companies) we found a place that we came over that we called because they had the christian fish logo and a verse on their advertisement! They lived up to their advertising too. It was a FABULOUS company and the guy got started right away, worked with us, was so clean and orderly about everything he did and stayed until it was done!

Now I made that seem simple but this wasn't just fixing a broken pipe...this was fixing a pipe that was a foot into the foundation of our house. Yes. He had to chip away our foundation just to remove the old pipe. All the while I'm supposed to be trying to focus on buying all the food that is supposed to stuff my kitchen to the brim with carbs and sugar for our Thanksgiving feast!

However life continued and the company arrived! It was 6 kids and 6 adults in our little house but I did have a couple tricks up my sleeve and I want to list them here for ideas for ya next year:

1. If you have little kids buy some butcher paper at a teacher's store (or something similar) and cover their table with it! It keeps them busy and quiet and AT the table while you set the food out! I even took it a step further and put black butcher paper on my wall for them to do chalk art also! It was a HUGE hit and it's SUPER CHEAP!

2. If you can see in this picture I also picked up some cheap leather crafts from Hobby Lobby for the kids to do that morning while we were busy in the kitchen. I got Indian necklaces for the boys (with real arrowheads!) and a tom thumb purses for the girls. They were all about 2 to 3 dollars a piece.

3. Plan make-ahead recipes! I try to get half of my meal done the day before so I'm not so exhausted on Thanksgiving Day that I don't enjoy it. I have made Cranberry Salsa with Pita Bread, Pear-Applesauce, and Cranberry Salad as make-ahead recipes before.

4. Keep it simple. Don't stress about having or doing everything perfect or above and beyond. the focus is on thankfulness and family - focus on spending time with those around you instead of the things around you. Here was my simplistic table this year:

To round up our holidays most of the family went for a walk while my dad and I stayed behind to clear the kitchen of dishes...only to get drenched by the rain!

And we battled my dad's wits with his favorite Trivial Pursuit! Lastly we celebrated his 60th with dinner at Papadeaux (cuz seriously NO ONE wants to cook the day after Thanksgiving!)

It was good times and fond memories made. Hope you had a special, even if chaotic, holiday as I did. See you guys soon with a VERY COOL project I'm planning for next year - all to be displayed on my blog the whole year through! Can't wait to share...

Hidden Blessings

Around holiday time things get hectic. Stressful. And down-right nuts. Which allows things such as forgetting a backpack at home or realizing you don't have a clean bra because you haven't done laundry in...well awhile, to happen. The other day was a day just like that. Yet God gave me the grace to see through the oops'. It started like this...

We have dropped my son off at his school and my daughter and I are headed to our school (she attends and I work as a Teacher's Aide). I had realized by this point I forgot to put the bills in the mailbox this morning before leaving and had just missed calling my hubby to do it for me (and they HAD to get out THAT day) The radio was off and so the car was quiet and out of nowhere my 3 year old starts singing "Open the Eyes of My Heart" and she sings it all the way through perfectly. I was smiling away in the front thinking that sound makes every care disappear, even the mail oopsey.

Then after getting into the school I realized we had left her backpack, yes with her lunch in it, at the front door! So I frantically get someone to cover my work for 40 minutes or so and run back out to the car and proceed home totally flustered. On the way home I'm talking to God about the lovely start to my day and He reminds me - now I can mail my bills. Because I'm headed home. Okay so a smile came once again to my face and I realized even though I could have REALLY let all that chaos of the morning get to me (cuz you know when your morning begins like that the rest of the day is set...which some other things did come after) yet I chose to accept that God works around our silliness and sometimes offers us huge blessings and grace THROUGH our seemingly bad circumstances.

So this holiday season when something seems to be going wrong - look for God's grace and blessing in it because I guarantee it's there!

St. Patty's Day Recap

ERIN GO BRAGH! That was the theme around our house on March 17th! For if you couldn't tell we are Irish and proud of it! I had a handful of things I wanted to do with my kids and most of them got done! Yay! We started by reading a book all about St. Patrick's Day. It explained the history, why we celebrate, how most celebrate and so and so forth. It was written for kids so it was short enough to keep their attention. The best quote from the day came from reading this book, allow me to break it down for you. We turn the page to a picture of St. Patrick and it explains who the actual man is. When I point to the picture and say "See this is him here." My son goes "Mom that's not Patrick. Patrick is a starfish!" Oh you got to love children. (If you are out of mom loop he was referring to Spongebob Squarepant's best friend Patrick the Star Fish.)

Anyways after knowing ABOUT the day we started our festivities. First things first find some clovers! We had some growing around our yard so I made them go out and hunt for them. I eventually had to help give them a general area to look in because they kept pulling everything green out of my yard saying "Is this a clover???" We found the clovers and took a quick pic on my phone of which was sent immediately to Mima and Papa to wish them Happy St. Patrick's Day.

2nd we painted some on our faces. Since now we knew what they looked like! I painted proper heart shaped three leaf clovers on both my kiddos but by me I got lazy and did a quick circle 4-leaf one. I know. Shame on me.


Since my clover wasn't up to par - I had fun playing with this photo in my editing program, lol - and no I didn't go for good - just goofy mainly! (see below)

We then made really adorable Clover pins to wear proudly on our green shirts (or dresses if you are Gracie) - but this will be saved for a separate craft post.

So then in the hot afternoon we made some Leprechaun milkshakes to cool off! These were so fun for the kids and made a yummy snack!

Just vanilla ice-cream, milk and green food dye.

Ta-da! Looks like slime in the pic but I promise it was dairy goodness.

This was gone about 5 seconds later. Well maybe 2 minutes later, considering 5 seconds would result in a massive brain freeze!

I was watching one of our neighbor's kids that day so all three kiddos enjoyed slurping up their Leprechaun milkshakes!

This picture doesn't even need a comment it's so cute! So hope everyone had a Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!