Friday Food: More Celebrating

Friday 

Short version: Tuna melt sandwiches, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: There were only three of us home for dinner this night, as A. was hunting with the younger two boys. For the kids at home, I made tuna melts. I had a salad, and I made them eat some, too. We had been sorely lacking in vegetables in recent days.

I sent leftover ham and scalloped potatoes with A. for their campfire meal.

Saturday

Short version: Ham and rice skillet, vanilla ice cream with chocolate/peanut butter fudge sauce

Long version: This is what I chose for my birthday meal. I had leftover rice and ham, so all I needed to do was heat those in a skillet with butter, already-cooked onion, frozen peas, and shredded carrots.

I actually love this kind of food. I also added the rest of the Christmas mushrooms to my bowl.

Yum.

I didn't want to have any kind of baked dessert for my birthday. We only had vanilla ice cream, which is not my favorite. That's why I made chocolate fudge sauce with peanut butter for it. I made this by following my old recipe for chocolate fudge sauce (corn syrup replaced with honey) to which I added a couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter.

The addition of the peanut butter made it more solid when it got cold, but it also made it more delicious. To me, anyway. And it was my birthday, after all.

Sunday

Short version: Hamburger patties, leftover scalloped potatoes, pickled radishes, dark chocolate

Long version: I had been relying heavily on Christmas leftovers, so I thought it was time for something besides ham. I took out ground beef unsure what I would do with it. In the end, I just made hamburger patties for the three of us at home. 

Instead of bread or buns, I heated up some of the leftover scalloped potatoes, so . . . still Christmas leftovers, actually.

The dark chocolate was one of my birthday gifts from my parents. I had a smooth bar, and one with cocao nibs. We did a taste test of both. The children preferred the smooth dark chocolate.

Monday

Short version: Green chile hamburger stew, cornbread

Long version: The hunters arrived home this day (no elk, unfortunately, though lots of stories). I made hamburger stew with the rest of the ground beef, along with potatoes, carrots, and green beans. I thought everyone could use some vegetables.

I asked A. if he would rather have cornbread or biscuits. He chose the cornbread, because they had been eating a lot of wheat bread while they were camping.

Tuesday

Short version: Rooster in tomato sauce, pasta, carrots, frozen peas, rice pudding

Long version: I took one of the roosters we butchered out of the freezer. I knew I would be gone in the afternoon, so I cooked it in the morning. All I did with it was brown it on the stove, then put it in a deep casserole dish with pureed tomatoes, sliced onion, garlic, and Italian spices. That cooked slowly in the oven with the baked rice pudding until it was done. I also cooked some carrots in there with the rooster.

Rice pudding and rooster.

At dinnertime, I just heated the chicken up and then used most of the tomato sauce the chicken had been cooking in for the pasta, along with cream and butter.

Wednesday

Short version: Daddy burgers, French fries, carrot sticks

Long version: A. came home from hunting with pre-made hamburger patties, bacon, American cheese, and butter bread he had bought to make his usual burgers. They came home before they could use those things, though, so he cooked them this night.

He also made the French fries. He actually pre-cooked them in lard before finishing them in the oven while the burgers cooked.

I added the carrot sticks. Because I'm a mom, and someone has to think about vegetables.

Thursday

Short version: Pork, black-eyed peas, rice, collard greens, pecan pie

Long version: Happy New Year! Of course we must ensure our health, wealth, happiness, peace, and joy with our traditional meal. Every year.

My children have added the peace and joy to the first three. The rice is for peace, and the pecan pie is for joy. Makes sense to me.

The greens this year came from the collard greens that will not die:

We have had a remarkably warm winter. Certainly nothing to discourage famously hearty collard greens.

Refrigerator check:

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

The Light Shines in the Darkness*

Just in the last few years, I have realized how much I like having additional light in the winter. Not lamps and light fixtures--although I have added quite a few of those to our home over the last eight years--but less-direct light.

I started putting up my Time Change lights about five years ago, just to illuminate the dim area between the kitchen and dining room. It does add a bit more light, but mostly it just looks pretty and cozy.

When I finish up the dishes at night and we're all in the living room, I like to turn off all the lights in the kitchen except these.

Just in the last few years, I've started using candles more, too. I started putting them on our table when someone donated a very large box of taper candles to our church that we couldn't use on the altar (because altar candles have to be majority beeswax, and these are paraffin). My children really love having the candles lit for breakfast if it's still dark outside, and always for dinner in the winter.

This year, I added a candle to the living room, too, thanks to the candle molds that Poppy and I used. The wax for this came from church, too. I actually ordered the molds because there was a big box of candle stubs that would have just been disposed of if I hadn't taken them to make into new candles.

Just that one small candle on the bookcase shining after it gets dark makes me very happy.

We made this one pink, with what I assume was an old Advent candle.

Small things, but they bring a disproportionate amount of satisfaction.

* "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." From the Gospel of John.

Snapshots: Celebrations

Because of my immobility the Sunday before Christmas, I wasn't at church to help decorate. It was a fun surprise to show up and see what everyone else had done.

Outside.

Inside.

Last year when we put the church manger scene away, the star fell off. I meant to see if I could put it back, but it disappeared before I got to it. I looked online and at Walmart to try to find another star, and they were all so tacky and ugly that I decided we could just make one.

I printed out a Star of Bethlehem in what I thought would be the right size, then cut that out and used it to trace the star onto a piece of plywood. Eldest son cut this out for me using our band saw, and then I spray painted it with some of the bronze paint left from my bathroom painting.

Star of wonder . . .

I really like the way it came out.

Because our Christmas Day service is at 8 a.m., the children only looked in their stockings and opened their gifts from each other before Mass. They had to wait until after Mass to open most of their gifts.

The aftermath. But after cleaning up all the wrapping paper because I do that as they're opening presents.

A. spent much of Christmas afternoon getting ready to go hunting, and of course, gifts were spread all over the place as they were investigated and used. Which is why we had to clear all of this from the table in order to eat our Christmas dinner.

Hunting pack and various craft supplies. We are an eclectic household.

Poppy made a custom sign for my birthday yesterday.

I did not have a cake, nor did I have 46 candles. I did have two candles to blow out in my ice cream, though.

She also gave me her Birthday Princess ribbon to wear. 

I should have posted a selfie yesterday on my birthday, I guess. This is the most recent photo of me.

In the bathroom of our shotgun-house rental in New Orleans. I wondered if they put this mirror here expecting people to take selfies in it. It kind of looks like it.

And last, I came upon this frankly disturbing creation outside on a wall when I was feeding animals.

I think it was modeled on the Orcs from Lord of the Rings.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.