I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck. ~ Emma Goldman

These are my clematis...I love clematis...I love viney flowers that grow up wrought iron even more...my clematis fulfill both.



I planted these a few years ago, but I honestly can't remember what they are now, but I absolutely love the little periwinkle buds with their yellow centers...


I've had to get creative this week with dinner: We had a lot of ricotta cheese which did not sell in the shop (it was a special order for someone who decided they didn't want it after all). The other night I made eggplant lasagna, which was good, but a bit too salty. Tonight I made stuffed chicken breast.

Very easy to make: Pound the chicken breasts until thin, mix however much ricotta, mozzarella, and garlic you like together, spread on the chicken breast, top with tomato and spinach, roll up, place in dish seam down, bake until cooked through (about 45 minutes at 375*)...voila!

Curry Chicken Salad (or at least that's what I call it)

I've realized I haven't done a food post in a very, VERY long time...like I can't remember when the last one was. I decided it was high time and knew just the thing to showcase: Curry Chicken Salad. This is one of my all time favorite summer dinners. It's quick, easy, delicious, and awesome as leftovers for lunch the next day.

I got this recipe at a Pam.pered Chef party about 5 years ago. I honestly don't remember what the precise recipe was, but I've made do for this long.

Ingredients:
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Chopped Apples
Craisins (dried cranberries)
Red Onion
Peppers (if you like them...I don't use peppers because peppers don't like me)
Whatever other things you like in salad.
Ranch Dressing (store bought is fine)
Lemon Juice
5 cloves of Garlic (more or less depending on your preferences
Curry Powder
2 Chicken Breasts


*Wash and chop all of your salad ingredients and throw them in a bowl (make sure it's a big bowl, so that you can toss all the ingredients together). Put aside

*Cook your chicken: I don't add any seasoning to the chicken breast. You can cook it on the grill, oven/broiler, stove top, whatever (just not the microwave).


*While the chicken cooks take your bottle of ranch dressing and dump the ENTIRE contents (if it's a regular size bottle) into a high sided bowl (I use my pyrex measuring cup).

*Add 1 tbsp of lemon juice to dressing.

*Using a garlic press squeeze however much garlic you want into the dressing.

*Pour however much curry powder you want into the dressing (curry is a spicy-spice). The dressing should be taking on a slightly golden look with little flecks from the curry powder and clumps of the garlic...sort of like this...
~I always do this part in increments...you can always add more. I'd rather keep adding to get the flavor I want than taste it and have it be WAY too spicy.

*By now your chicken breasts should be done. I rough cut them and allow the breasts to cool, the best way to do this is put them in the fridge (especially if you need them in 10 minutes for dinner).

*Toss your chopped/shredded chicken breast with a little bit of the salad dressing (enough to give it a good coating).

*Slowly add in your salad greens and other fruits/veggies (I never used fruits in salads before this recipe, but MAN are they delicious!)

*Toss the chicken with the salad, then slowly add as much (or as little) of the dressing as you want. If you're someone who likes their salad SMOTHERED in dressing, by all means, but if you prefer to actually taste some of the salad and not JUST dressing do that.

And there, my friends, you have it: Curry Chicken Salad! Another great way to serve this is to put it in a tortilla or lettuce wrap....that's what I plan on doing for lunch tomorrow: Mange!

"Surely as cometh the Winter, I know There are Spring violets under the snow." - R. H. Newell

It has been a beautiful day here! The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, and the thermometer even read 50* in the sunshine...I'm sure it won't last. It is, after all, only February 1st; we have at least 2 months of cold and damp (whether rain or snow, depends on the cold).

I actually managed to get a lot done today, in spite of my constant desire to just curl up on the couch (I'm not allowing that until at least 7pm). We got up and went to church this morning, when I got home Matt carried the miter saw upstairs for me and I set to work on cutting the moldings for the nursery. Once that was done I laid them all out to paint. First coat is done, I'm waiting for that to dry before sanding it a little and then painting the second coat.

While waiting I worked on a Valentine's wall hanging, the pattern for which I got from Kim's Big Quilting Adventure. She's a very creative lady with a lot of awesome (original) ideas! I managed, between painting and baking cookies, to get the entire top done. Now just to quilt it and hang it on the door (13 days till Valentine's day).

"No man is a failure who has friends" Clarence ~ It's a Wonderful Life

The weekends been all right. Saturday my dad dropped off Matt's christmas present and he stayed to talk for a bit. Growing up we had a really close relationship, but since getting married I don't see my dad very often and rarely do we have time together just the two of us to talk.

We talked more about his plan to open a shop: He's definitely excited about it and there's certainly no way (in my opinion) that it wouldn't work, especially with the economy in the tanker.

We also talked about Matt and my infertility and I tried to explain to him how we're feeling and the why. I think that our families sympathize for us and feel horrible that we're having to go through this, and I know that anyone of them would do something to stop our hurt if they could, but they can't grasp our reality and there's no way for them to understand how we feel or why.

My dad was talking about how important family is, and how family is the only thing you can count on and somehow we got around to saying that money isn't the most important thing. I then said to him "Dad, you say that family is the most important thing, that money is unimportant (which I agree), but without money we won't ever have a family. Where other people have to pay for their childrens' up keep...we have to pay just to have children." I could see it in his face that he really didn't get an inkling of any of this until that moment. So, I think (some of them) are slowly starting to understand more.


I've just realized that I still hadn't posted the pictures from when my cousin was here from Germany (left to right: Lena [Henrike's friend], Matt, Me and Henrike [my cousin]! What a whirlwind it's been: Can you believe it's CHRISTMAS WEEK already! All the presents are wrapped and it's only 3 more sleeps until Santa's been here and gone!

We have finally managed to shovel out; it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. It is cold today: This mornings temp, at 5:30, was a balmy 6*: BRR!

I tried something different this weekend. I subscribe to the Hallmark magazine and in it there was a recipe for Garlic Herb Cheese, so I thought I'd try my hand at it (will post the recipe later). The first batch ended in the garbage, but the second batch came out really good. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. I think everyone enjoyed it!

Our party went well last night...of course there was way too much food and a ton left over: It was great to see the Ss though. I think our dogs found some new best friends!

Matt's off today, so he and his friend R were going to spend the morning replenishing the home-brew stashes. Of course, it's back to work for me today...so not fair.
(Click on the picture to view it full size).

Weekend in Review (for lack of a better title)

What a whirlwind! I actually survived the weekend, and it ended up being a rather infertile unfriendly one at that! I'll start at the beginning.

Friday I got home from work and my sister was here: So I cooked dinner for the two of us (cheeseburgers and tater tots: YUM!). I honestly can't remember what I did on Friday night, but Matt didn't get home until after 9. I may have spent some time cleaning, but I think I just walked around looking at all that had to get done.

Saturday morning Matt left to go hunting at 3:ooam. I got up at 7:30, only to discover that it was a balmy 7* outside. My plan for the morning was to stack some wood in the basement, bake dessert, and start cleaning the house. I stuck to it! I bundled up in snow pants, scarves, mittens and hats and headed out. Two hours later I had this stacked in the basement....all by myself!


Once that was done I started working on dessert. I had ordered a cake mix from King Arthur Flour a few months ago, it was for a Chocolate Indulgence cake: $12.95 for the mix! I made it: It was delicious, but so something I could have made with out their expensive mix! It was nothing more than the recipe for a molten lava cake, but baked in an 8" pan rather than individual cups. It was delicious though. Definitely needs some unsweetened whipped cream with it though.

Once dessert was done and Matt was back from hunting we got started on cleaning the house. We vacuumed, we dusted, we scrubbed, we laundered and it all feels so good now that it's done (again!). I wish there was a magical way for a house to stay clean for more than a day.



Dinner was steaks, oven roasted potatoes, acorn squash with maple syrup and brown sugar, green beans tossed with garlic and olive oil, and my homemade biscuits (which are getting better and better). We ate it all, and company didn't leave until after 11 (late night for us).


I managed to work on my Christmas wall hanging some more. I got all the blocks done, except for the appliqué stitching and the letters on the one block. Here's a rough idea of how it's looking. I'm thinking that I'm going to do some kind of plaid sashing between the blocks, not sure yet. (as usual, click on any of the pictures to make them bigger).


We did get an anniversary gift. My mom had asked me if we'd like something special for our anniversary...I said Not really, but that we did need a new iron. Well my parents got us a new iron. I had wanted a Rowenta (which is what Matt had from college): They work great and do a really nice job. Matt's wasn't doing a good job at steaming anymore...but after 7 years and countless uniform pressings and quilt blocks it was time to be retired. We now have the Rowenta Advancer...the thing is a dream!

We went up to Matt's parents for dinner and no one even mentioned our anniversary. Not surprising though...on our first anniversary we were handed a card signed mom and dad, and were told that that would be the only anniversary card we'd ever get, because they weren't going to start that "shit" (direct quote).

We never made it to the movies this weekend. I hoping that we're going to go to dinner on Tuesday for our anniversary and see "twilight" then. Wish me luck!

Orange Marmalade

Most of my day was spent in the kitchen making marmalade. I've never liked marmalade until I had it in Scotland and Ireland: American marmalade is always more bitter, across the pond it's more of a sweet flavor...much more palatable.

I follow two recipes and take a bit of each one. One is from Sure-Jel and the other is from http://www.pickyourown.org/marmalade.php.

8-9 Oranges
2 Lemons
1 Pack Sure Jel
4 cups of Sugar
8-10 8oz jars and lids

Use a vegetable to peel all oranges and lemons. Be sure to keep the colored part. Peel the fruit as you would normally for eating (removing the pith).

Pull fruit apart, removing any seeds and thick skin.

Chop fruit. Be sure to do this in a tray of some sort (I used a cutting board placed inside of a cookie sheet), you want to collect all of the juice to use in the marmalade. Put all of this aside.

Take the peels and chop them up into small pieces. The best method of doing this is a food processor. It takes a long time to do this by hand.

Pour 1/2 of the chopped peels (more or less depending on how bitter or sweet you want it), 2 1/2 c water, and 1/8tsp of baking soda. Bring to boil for 20 minutes.

Measure chopped fruit and juice. You should have about 5-6 cups of fruit and juice: Bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Add in 4 cups of sugar and 1 packet of pectin mixed into 1 cup of additional orange juice (add to pot). Let boil for an additional 10 minutes, a full rolling boiling.

Prepare jars for canning.

Remove jars from water and place on work surface and fill within a 1/4" of the top. Cover with lids and place back in pot of water. Allow to boil for 10 minutes. Remove immediately from pot, twisting lids tighter, and inverting on counter. Allow to cool completely. Jam will take up to two weeks to set up.

Enjoy!

“Don't you stay at home of evenings? Don't you love a cushioned seat in a corner, by the fireside, with your slippers on your feet?” Oliver W.Holmes

Fall has come: Friday night we started our wood furnace. Thursday night Matt had started installing the new blowers on our furnace. Friday it was all set to light up. Now we are quite cozy! Last night we actually had to open the back door to let some cool air in. The house was up to 77*: I guess the new blowers work REALLY well!

Saturday was a beautiful day! I spent most of the morning barely able to walk. I think my cyst has been pushing on my bladder and poop-shoot: I constantly felt the need to go #1 and #2, but it wasn't going too well. By the end of the day (several glasses of cranberry concentrate and prune juice later) I felt better. Still ehh today, but definitely better: Just bloated today.

In spite of it I got a lot of things done. I'm not one to let pain keep me down!















Matt spent most of the day traipsing the woods with my dad, setting up their tree stands for hunting season. I had the whole day, home, alone. I took the dogs for a walk in the field: The sky was so blue and the clouds so perfect that I just had to get out there. (the picture on the left is from the morning, on the right as the sun was setting). The dogs were happy to be out and cold air felt so good!

When I got home from our little expedition I jumped right in to making my applesauce. I have a HUGE box of Cortland apples that will be made into sauce and pies before the end of the season. The sauce is so easy to make: Core your apples, cut them into big chunks, throw in a large pot with a 1/2" of water in the bottom, toss in some cinnamon sticks, and let it cook for a couple of hours on a low temp. Delicious! No sugar added!

The other thing I spent most of the weekend doing was working on a autumn wall hanging for my brother in law and sister in law, who just bought their first house. This is a completely "original" design. With the help of my Electric Quilt 6 program I was able to design the leaf blocks and get my instructions and yardage from it. The pumpkins I free handed onto the back of freezer paper. Then I stitched it all together and appliquéd the pumpkins, stems, and leaves on. VOILA! (click on the pictures to view them bigger). This is my first appliquéd project, so it isn't perfect, but I'm pretty proud of how it came out.

Above the pumpkins I plan on appliquéing "Welcome".

If I can ever get blogger to work I have two videos to upload: How to's for applesauce and the wall hanging.