Monthly Archive for November, 2008

Flavorful Pot Roast

Published on November 21, 2008 in Recipes. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Another Taste of Home recipe I thought I’d pass along.

  • 2 boneless beef chuck roasts (2-1/2 pounds each)
  • 1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
  • 1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix
  • 1 envelope brown gravy mix
  • 1/2 cup water

Directions:

Place the chuck roasts in a 5-qt. slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the salad dressing and gravy mixes; stir in water. Pour over meat. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or until tender. If desired, thicken cooking juices for gravy.

I don’t usually do as much roast as it says.  I typically just buy 1 that is about 2 to 2 1/2lbs.  Then I throw in some carrots and potatoes for a complete dinner!

The Carousel

Published on November 17, 2008 in Addie. 0 Comments

Today Addie and I made a quick trip to Costco because we a) didn’t have anything for dinner and b) I had a coupon for $3 off a pizza.  Problem solved, pizza for dinner!

Anyways, as we walked through the aisle of Christmas decorations Addie spotted a Carousel they set up that had lights, played Christmas music, and the horses and other animals went up and down as it turned around.  She instantly fell in love!  We sat and watched it go around and around for 5 or 10 minutes.  I wouldn’t have let her watch it that long because I actually did have other things to do but I couldn’t help but think of my grandpa who loved Carousels.  He would have stood and let her watch it all day if he could have and she probably would have.  Eventually I had to tell her she could listen to one more song and then we had to go.  When we walked away she started screaming and crying.  She did get over it but later she kept pointing back over in that direction signing “more, more.”  So, back we went to watch them go around some more.  How could I not?

For those of you that don’t know, my grandpa passed away 16 years ago tomorrow.  I still miss him everyday.  It makes me so sad to know that he didn’t get to see me or my cousins grow up, graduate high school, college, get married or meet any of his great-grandchildren.  He would have loved them all so much, just like he loved all of us.  But I’m glad that even though they never got the chance to meet I can see a little bit of him in Addie.

Little Lexicographer

Published on November 14, 2008 in Addie. 0 Comments Tags: .

At Addie’s 18 month appointment I talked to her doctor about her lack of speaking compared to her peers.  At the time she had about 10 words if you counted animal sounds.  He assured me that she was right on track and that the average 18 month old had 10 to 20 words, by 21 months they had an average of 30 to 50 words and by 2 years a whopping 200 words!

She is keeping up with average so far, we have 19 words, 5 sounds, and 13 signs.  That’s what I have written down at least, I’m sure I’m missing a couple.

Here’s what she says…

Baby
Mama
Dada
Doggie
Kitty
Uh-Oh
Zebra
Ball-Ball
Bye Bye
Night Night
Yummy
Yes
Humina
Whoa
No-No-No
Please
Grandma
Bump-Bump
Bubbles

Sounds she makes…

Moo
Vroom-Vroom
Quack-Quack
Woof-Woof
Cock-a-doodle-doo (that is the intent at least)

Signs she knows…

More
All Done
Milk
Water
Kitty
Bunny
Bus
Brush Teeth
Brush Hair
Spider
Thunder
Sticker
Turtle

Going Green – Unwanted Catalogs

Published on November 13, 2008 in Going Green. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

This morning on the Today Show they briefly mentioned reducing the number of catalogs you receive in the mail to help reduce deforestation.  Since they were refering to a piece they did last year they didn’t give any information so It thought I’d look into it a bit.  Here is what I found…

- Each year 19 billion catalogs are sent to American homes.  Averaging more than 170 per household.
- More than 53 million trees are used to make the 3.6 million tons of paper for these catalogs
- Energy used to create this paper; 38 trillion BTUs, enough to power 1.2 million homes for a year
- Contribution to global warming – 5.2 million tons of carbon emissions.  Equal to the annual carbon emission of 2 million cars.

So, what can you do?  Simple.  Opt-out.  You can either contact the stores you receive catalogs from directly to opt out or there is a website called Catalog Choice where you can search for the various catalogs you receive and have them contact the store to remove you from their list.  Unfortunately there is no way to remove your name from all catalogs with one click of a button but it is still really fast and much easier than contacting each one individually.

Rustic Fruit Tart

Published on November 10, 2008 in Recipes. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I found this recipe the other day in one of my Taste of Home magazines and have been really happy with the outcome so I thought I’d share it with you all.

1/2 cup butter, softened
4oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups flour
2 large apples, peeled and sliced
1 medium pear, peeled and sliced
4 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cardamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup apricot jam

In a small mixing bowl, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth.  Gradually add flour, beating just until mixture forms a ball.  Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
In a large bowl, combine apples and pear.  In a small bowl, combine cornstarch, cardamon, and nutmeg; stir in orange juice until smooth.  Add brown sugar and stir until blended.  Pour over apples and pears; stirring gently to coat.
On a lightly floured surface roll out dough into a 14″ circle (I divide the dough and do several smaller circles to make individual tarts for each person I’m serving instead of one large one).  Transfer to parchment lined baking sheet (I just spray with PAM instead of using parchment paper).  Spoon filling over the pastry to within 2″ of the edge.  Fold up edges of pastry over filling; leaving the center uncovered.
Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.  Brush on apricot jam (I’ve used apricot rhubarb and peach since I don’t have plain apricot) with a pastry brush.  Cool slightly on wire rack.  Serve warm.

YUM!