Our View from the Hill

Crazy Runners

2012-01-09T10:42:00.000-06:00

Mike and I decided to take in the Minden Christmas 5K on Saturday, December 3. There were light flurries as we traveled to Minden which turned into heavier snow when we pulled into town.

During the race we ran in 2 inches of snow. On the ways out we were running into the wind and snow, but after the turn around the race was fairly enjoyable.

I even manage to finish 2nd in my age group.

Overall this race was a really great experience even if the road were a little treacherous on the way home.

Cruise 2011

2012-01-07T22:36:00.001-06:00

As in past years, Team B (the Bergens and the Baldwins) took our annual winter vacation in the form of a cruise to the caribbean on the Oasis of the Seas.

You may remember our last cruise on the Oasis of the Seas in Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6.

Waiting for the hotel shuttle at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale. This was the first time that we experienced a large crowd waiting for shuttles in Ft. Lauderdale, which may be to the fact that we landed before midnight.

We decided to spring on this trip and upgrade our rooms to a Jr. Suite. We didn't expect to get much out of the room beside our double cruise point. The room was amazing.

More sitting room and more room between the bed and the vanity which doesn't seem like a big deal but it was so nice.

Extra drawers to store all of our stuff.

A larger bathroom ..

with a shower/tub. Way bigger then the corner showers in normal rooms.

Not to mention a walk in closet..

with robes.

Last but not least, a balcony with a table, chairs and two lay out chairs.

A vacation must (may be daily) is ice cream cones on the pool deck.

Already relaxing and we haven't even left the port yet.

The solarium where we spend most of our day time hours.

Our annual set sail picture.

Formal night.

How we spent some of our relaxing mornings.

Labadee Haiti. I think this is my favorite port.

It was really hot, so it was nice to be in the shade.

A look at the beach we sat on from the boat.

Leaving Labadee.

A group that put on a little show while we set sail.

Dinner at Chops is a cruising must in our book.

After walking 3.5 miles to get to Margaritaville was a little longer than we expected...

but the volcano nachos were so worth it.

Sushi at sea and a mound of wasabi.

Believe it or not, Mike and I actually kept up with a running schedule on the ship running 4 out of 7 days, which was good considering all the food we ate.

After 5 years of cruising Mike and I still can't get enough. We are already booked for January 2013 sailing out of Galveston TX on the Mariner of the Seas.

It's that time of year again

2011-11-27T18:14:00.001-06:00

I bet you thought this was going to be a Christmas post...

Well, even though I spent the weekend decorating for Christmas and baking Christmas cookies, I thought I would first post about ways I can tell it is time to get ready for Christmas.

The "drift" of corn leaves is as high as a snow drift should be in front of our shed.

Mikes hunting trophy is on display on our radio tower. You can compare the rack to last years deer displayed below. (I'm sorry to any animal lovers out there that you had to see this, but it is a truth of the farm)

My fall display has dried up and is ready to be thrown away.

Ironically, my mums stopped growing while a gourd displayed in a glass jar on my dining room table decided to start growing.

I guess it is time to move on to the next season because fall has decided to be done at my house.

I did it

2011-11-06T14:53:00.000-06:00

I completed my first race and boy can I pick them. This morning Mike and I decided to participate in a 4 mile (according to GPS it was only 3.78 miles) trail run race at Quarry Oaks Golf Course near Ashland Nebraska. While the overall experience was fun and I trained well for that distance, I did not train well for the hills this course contained. Mike and I decided there was less than a 1/4 of a mile that was flat the rest of the race was either up or down. Mike decided to run the race "for fun" and ran my pace, which was really nice because I would have ran much slower and probably would have walked if it wasn't for him. I may have uttered the words "I can't" at one point, but we kept going and made it the entire way. The craziest part was running through ankle deep water twice about one mile from the end and having to finish with wet socks and shoes.

The good news is we both had smiles at the end of the race and both felt it was a good experience. It would have been smarter to choose an easier race for my first time out, but all and all I'm happy with my time and am pretty sure I gave it everything I had. If I run this race again next year I will definitely run more hills that are steeper for my preparation.

Lately

2011-08-03T16:59:00.000-05:00

As you can tell, lately I haven't been posting as much. While some people have a break over the summer and are able to post more on their blogs, my summers are usually the opposite until Community Days is over. So here is a run down of what we have been doing lately.

Irrigating (or as Mike likes to call it, irritating)
Henderson Farmers Market
Adult swim over the noon hours
Sunday afternoon naps
Mod Reunion in Oklahoma
House warming party
Stockham 4th of July celebration
Hosts at a wedding
Church meetings
Visiting friends
Wednesday night wings
Trips to Sweet Treat
Gardening
Pulling weeds (yes there were so many it deserves its own bullet point)
Hosting friends
Grilling
Sitting by a fire pit

Our summer has included alot of other activities as well, but these are some of the bigger and more consistent events.

With that said, our summer meals consist of BLT Sandwiches, watermelon, cucumbers, and corn on the cob, so my cooking especially from the church cookbooks has been rather lacking. However, I do intend to start cooking more again, so Mennonite Monday will return even though it has been a little sporadic this summer.

It is a bird, its a plane, its actually a plane

2011-07-31T16:50:00.001-05:00

This time of year, there are a lot of planes flying around the country side spraying fields. One evening I was in the garden pulling weeds (the only thing I have "harvested" from my garden) and noticed that a plane was starting to spray the field around our house.

For those of you who have never experienced this, I will let you know that this is very loud. I thought about going inside to wait for them to be done, but decided it would be fun to catch some pictures instead.

One thing that makes the spraying so interesting is how low to the ground the plane gets.

It makes sense that they stay so low because they want the spray to go into the corn and not up in the air, but it is amazing how they barely rise up to go over the yard. The picture above isn't very good, but you can see the plane is well below the top of the shed as it goes over the corn.

It almost skimmed the top of the shop door as it flew over our yard.

And it just missed the wire running from our barn to the light pole.

It is really pretty amazing to watch these planes fly, if you can get past the sound they make.

Mennonite Monday - Cinnamon Rolls-Big and Soft

2011-07-04T16:52:00.003-05:00

I finally have my cookbook back, so I have the long overdue recipe for Cinnamon Rolls-Big and Soft (pg 23W) for Mennonite Monday.

Cinnamon Rolls Big and Soft

1 1/2 cups scalded milk

1 stick margarine

2/3 cups sugar

1 cup cold water

3 pkg yeast

3 eggs, well beaten

2 tsp salt

7 cups flour

Scald milk and melt margarine in milk. Add sugar and cold water. Mixture should be lukewarm, Add yeast, stir well and let stand 15 minutes or until it bubbles. Add beaten eggs, salt and flour. Dough should be firm, you do not knead this. Stir well. Let rise one hour.

Filling:

1 stick margarine

2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup sugar

raisins - optionals

Roll out dough and spread with softened margarine, then sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and raisins. Roll up. Divide into fourths. Make 6 rolls from each fourth. Put onto greases pan. Dip hand in flour and smash down. Let rise one hour. Bake 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool.

Frosting:

1/2 cup water

1/4 stick margarine

1 tsp vanilla

powdered sugar

Simmer water and margarine. Add sifted powdered sugar to make firm frosting.

Scalded milk

Adding margarine.

Adding the Yeast

Beating the eggs

Adding salt to the flour to mix before adding it to the rest of the ingredients.

Adding the bubbly yeast mixture to my bowl.

Mixing in the flour.

The dough almost completely mixed together.

Before the dough had time to rise.

I still put the dough infront of the heater when it isn't very hot in the house

After rising for an hour

Rolling out the dough. It was nice to use my pampered chef mat, but I forgot to flour it, which made it harder to roll.

Adding sugar for the filling.

Ready to roll with butter, sugar and cinnamon. I skipped the raisins.

I had to deal with the dough sticking alot since I didn't flour the mat, but after some work I got it rolled.

The dough does expand when you start rolling, so you will need a large space for this part.

I cut my cinnamon rolls with a knife, but I have heard that people use unscented floss, but I didn't have any on hand, so I didn't try that route.

Before the rolls have time to rise they look a little rough.

Pushing them down with flour before letting them rise for an hour.

After baking.

Water and margarine for the frosting.

Adding vanilla

Adding powdered sugar. You will need a good amount of powdered sugar.

Once the frosting was thickened.

Fresh cinnamon rolls with a lot of frosting.

In my experience, making cinnamon rolls was not very hard, however it is a long process with letting the dough rise twice. If I were going to make cinnamon rolls for breakfast, I would start the process the night before.

Henderson Night at the Saltdogs

2011-06-20T21:16:00.000-05:00

Sunday evening we had Henderson night at the Lincoln Saltdogs games. It was a great evening for baseball and a fun little community event. Here are some of the pictures from our evening.

Ava Tessman was the Mini Manager, so she hung out with the team before the game and they signed her baseball.

Steve Michel threw out the first pitch.

This wasn't your normal lob pass, he threw a fast ball that was a strike.

The Saltdogs coach talking with A*MEN before the national anthem.

The team lined up.

A*MEN singing the National Anthem. They did a great job.

Ava saying "Play Ball"

Homer liked giving Kellen a hard time before the game.

Homer at the Farmers Market

2011-06-13T19:40:00.000-05:00

Don't miss the Henderson Farmers Market tomorrow night, June14, and bring your kids to meet Homer the Haymarket Hound Dog. He will be hanging out at the Henderson Farmers Market promoting the upcoming Henderson Community night at the Lincoln Saltdogs Games on Fathers Day, June 19.

Don't miss the opportunity to meet this mascot up and personal on Tuesday, June 14, from 5-7 p.m. in at the Henderson Farmers Market in the Downtown Park.

Oops

2011-05-30T17:35:00.000-05:00

I wanted to post the recipe for Big and Soft Cinnamon Rolls for Mennonite Monday today, but I don't have my cookbooks, so I have no way of typing out the recipe. In an effort to work on the Bethesda Preschool cookbook, which has over 100 dessert recipes, I let someone else use my cookbooks so I can't post my recipe today, but it will be coming soon.

Be sure to check back Wednesday for things I liked in May.

I Need Your Recipes

2011-05-15T11:46:00.000-05:00

The Bethesda Preschool is creating a cookbook and we need your favorite recipes. In order to create the best cookbook possible, we need as many recipes as we can get to meet our goal of 500 recipes for the cookbook.

If you have a favorite recipe that you would like to share, here are a few ways you can submit them through my blog.

1) Send me an email with your favorite recipes at kelsey12184@hotmail.com

2) Leave a comment on this blog post with your recipe. Type out the full recipe and put your name (so I know who it is submitted by) or if you are suggesting a recipe from either the white or yellow Bethesda Church Cookbook, leave a comment with the recipe name, page number and which cookbook it is found in.

3) Use the following Linky tool by posting your favorite recipe (or linking to a recipe you have already posted) on your blog and then linking it back to my blog below. Be sure to include a link to this post so others can view the recipes and include their own.

2011-05-02T19:42:00.000-05:00

With Mike training for a half marathon, I have kept a large number of bananas on hand, but the problem is that once in a while you can't eat them fast enough before they go bad. I decided to use the opportunity to make Banana Bread (pg 28W). This was a great quick recipe that created three small loaves of bread.

Banana Bread

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 cup flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup milk

1 cup chopped nuts

3 bananas, mashed

Cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs on at a time. Add flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla and milk. Mix thoroughly. Add nuts and bananas. Pour into 3 small prepared bread pans. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes.

Unfortunately these pictures aren't very exciting because all the ingredients are about the same color, but you can at least see the texture change. This is the shortening and sugar.

After adding the egg.

Adding the flour.

Adding the powder, salt and vanilla.

Milk.

My mashed bananas. I did not put nuts in my bread because I didn't have any on hand, but I was thinking it would have been nice to add nuts to one or two of the loaves.

Mixed and in the pans. I only had two pans so I had to wait to make the third loaf until these were done.

The final product. It was amazing how fast these loaves disappeared. One we gave as a thank you to someone for tilling our garden, and the other two went to coffee with Mike.

1:37.03

2011-05-01T22:24:00.001-05:00

Mike finished his first half marathon, which is 13.1 miles, today in 1 hour 37 minutes and 3 seconds. He ran the Lincoln Half Marathon with 8,000 people and an additional 2,000 people who went on to run the full marathon. It was a crazy experience for him, as the runner, and me, as a spectator, with that many people participating.

For as many events as I run, it was amazing to see how organized this event was considering the number of people running, let alone the volunteers along the course, and the timing of events. It is also amazing that 10,000 are willing to run 13.1 or 26.2 miles.

Here is my perspective of the day (2 hours).

Mike actually saw a girl from Henderson in his same starting group so he was able to run the first half of the race with her. (She was not the lady wrapped like a baked potato)

Mike decided to run with the 1:40 group(those planning to finish the race in 1 hour and 40 minutes), so he was lucky enough to be in the first wave of people to cross the start line. When you have 10,000 running it takes a long time to start, so some people didn't even cross the start line until 30 minutes after the canon started.

When the race started the whole group started moving at once in the first wave of people, but when I walked farther back towards the slower groups, I saw long lines of runners waiting for the bathroom because they wouldn't start running for another 10-15 minutes as the large group in front of them filtered through the starting gate.

In a matter of seconds it was almost impossible to see Mike with thousands of people filling in behind him.

This is the group of people in the 8 minute mile group waiting to start.

People waiting for the crowd to move even though the race has already started.

10,000 runners is a lot of people.

During the race I walked downtown to get something to drink to warmup. Some people try to go to different points in the race to cheer on their runners, but I was worried that I would miss seeing Mike cross the finish line, so I headed straight to Memorial Stadium to wait for him to finish.

On the big screen, they had a camera view of runners entering Stadium Drive, when they were close to the finish, which was nice because I could see Mike a head of time and knew I wouldn't miss seeing him finish.

At this point in the race the crowd of runners was fairly thin, after about 20 minutes this stretch was at least twice as full as this.

Mike entering the stadium in the back to the right.

Finishing strong.

Crossing the finish line. While the clock above Mike says 1:38.25 that is the time from when the canon went off, since Mike didn't cross the start line until almost a minute later, his time was fast than the time shown here.

The Cosmo

2011-04-25T21:55:00.000-05:00

I'm interrupting this "Mennonite Monday" because ~~I keep forgetting my camera at work which has my Mennonite Monday pictures on it~~ I need to finally post the pictures of our hotel in Vegas, since that trip was over a month ago.

We had an amazing room at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. This hotel opened in December and was very modern. One of my favorite things was when you walked in there was a button that said "Hello" when you pressed it all the lights came on. The other button was "Goodbye" when you pressed it, all the lights dimmed until it was dark.

The above picture was the sitting area when you entered our room.

This was the desk and TV in the sitting area.

Across from the TV/Desk.

The bedroom.

Across from the bed. To the left you see a window into the bathroom.

The bathroom

The walk in shower

The bathtub

We had a little balcony, which was nice. It didn't face the strip, but we could see a lot of people in the adjacent hotel rooms getting ready for bed. Which provided some free entertainment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every week I plan to do a better job of blogging and every week life gets in the way. Hopefully this week I can actually do a better job of posting more than once.

Mennonite Monday - Breakfast Bundt Cake

2011-04-11T07:11:00.002-05:00

This week I needed a coffee cake to take to a morning meeting, so I used this opportunity to make the Breakfast Bundt Cake (pg 59 W). It was a great recipe that went together quickly and was very moist.

Breakfast Bundt Cake

1 pkg yellow cake mix

1 pkg vanilla instant pudding

3/4 cup corn oil

3/4 cup water

4 med. or 3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chopped nuts

2 Tbl sugar

2 Tbl cinnamon

Grease bundt pan. Mix nuts, sugar and cinnamon. Combine cake mix, pudding mix, oil and water. Mix well. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Beat 6-8 minutes on high speed. Layer batter and cinnamon mixture, starting and ending with batter. Bake at 350* for 45 minutes. Cool in pan for 8 minutes remove and glaze with the following:

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp oleo

1 Tbl milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

I started out by mixing this in a bowl and then I realized that I was going to need to beat the mixture for 6-8 minutes, so I decided to switch to the mixer.

The batter was really smooth, which I would not have been able to do by hand.

The recipe never stated when to add the vanilla, so I added it after the eggs.

Fully mixed batter.

I used the Pam for baking, which was a great product for this type of baking.

The cinnamon, sugar, nut mixture went much further than I thought it would.

After baking.

Following the flip. I had no problems with the cake sticking to the pan.

I mixed the frosting the night before, so all I needed to do in the morning was pour it on.

The final product.

The layers of cinnamon, sugar and nuts made a nice swirl in the cake.

Mennonite Monday - Chuck Wagon Burgers

2011-04-04T07:47:00.001-05:00

This week I decided to pick a main dish that would go together quickly, so I decided on Chuck Wagon Burgers (pg 168W). They were a nice change up from sloppy joes, as so known as bbq sandwiches, because they had a different flavor but are the same concept.

Chuck Wagon Burgers

1 lb hamburger, browned

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup chopped green pepper

1/4 tsp chili powder

2 tsp worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp pepper

3 Tbl flour

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup ketchup

1 cup 7-up

After the hamburger is browned add the onion and pepper and then the remaining ingredients and cook for another 5-10 min. Serve on hamburger buns.

Mike and I had been out of ground beef for a few months and we just go a half of a beef and it is so nice to have ground hamburger again.

I skipped the chopped onion and green pepper and just added minced dried onion.

Browned and ready to go.

Adding chili powder

worcestershire sauce

flour, pepper and salt

ketchup

7-up

Mixed up and ready

We added some melted cheese to our sandwich, which was a good combination.

What happens

2011-03-30T07:37:00.001-05:00

In Vegas ... Stays in Vegas

Unless you trip consisted of walking a and seeing good friend, then you can tell whoever you want.

Mike and I decided that it would be fun to go to Vegas. When we found out our friends from Oklahoma were going to Vegas, we booked our ticket and a week later we were Vegas bound.

Mike had never been to Vegas and I have only been one, when I was in junior high. We did a little gambling, hung out with friends and walked A LOT.

Here are some of the sights at night.

(our hotel: The Cosmo)

Mennonite Monday - Cocoa MIx

2011-03-28T19:25:00.000-05:00

With the surprisingly cold weather that turned up this spring I thought it would be nice to make Cocoa Mix (pg 1W). To be honest, this was not may favorite recipe. It wasn't sugary or chocolatey enough for me. I'm guessing that our tastes are inclined to like more sweet flavors now then they were when this recipe was written. If I were to make it again, I would cut the dry milk in half and keep the same amount of cocoa and powdered sugar. Here is the recipe.

Cocoa Mix

10 cups dry milk (powdered)

5 Tbl cocoa

2 cups powdered sugar

Mix and store in air-tight container. For serving add 3 Tbl mix to one cup hot water; stir to dissolve.

Dry milk

Cocoa (not Nestle Quick)

Powder Sugar

Mix it all together.

All mixed together. You can tell it is not as dark as the hot chocolate mix we are use to.

All mixed up and ready to drink.

You can give this recipe a try, but try it on a smaller scale with more cocoa and powdered sugar.

Mennonite Monday - Frozen "Pink Champagne" Salad

2011-03-21T18:00:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the delay and the late posting of Mennonite Monday, but I have a great recipe for you this week called Frozen "Pink Champagne" Salad (pg 187W). This went together very easily and was a hit at a meal we went to last week. One thing I noticed is that cans of pineapple and cartons of strawberries don't come in the same sizes as the recipe wants, so I just guessed here and there to make it come out close. Also, I skipped the freezing part, since I didn't have time and it turned out just fine.

Frozen "Pink Champagne" Salad

8 oz. pkg cream cheese

3/4 cup sugar

15 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained

10 oz. box frozen strawberries, partially thawed

12 oz. carton Cool Whip

2 bananas, sliced

Cream sugar and cheese. Stir in rest of the ingredients. Freeze until firm. Take out 1 hour before serving.

Cream cheese and sugar mixed together.

Adding the fruit.

All mixed together and ready to eat.

Mennonite Monday - Fast Fixin' Chocolate Cake

2011-03-07T07:31:00.001-06:00

This week I decided to make two recipes for Mennonite Monday since I have skipped few weeks. This week my sweet tooth won and I decided to make Fast Fixin' Chocolate Cake (pg 47W) and Fudge Frosting (pg 58W). This recipe is amazingly easy and is the perfect way to dress up a box cake mix.

Fast Fixin' Chocolate Cake

1 pkg Devil's Food Cake Deluxe

1/4 cup oil

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup water

1 sm pkg instant chocolate pudding

1 cup chocolate chips

Pour oil in bottom of 9x13 pan. Tilt pan until oil covers bottom. Add remaining ingredients in pan and stir with fork until blended. Bake 35-45 minutes at 350*.

Covering the pan with the oil. There was a lot of extra oil in the pan but it mixed right into the batter.

Throw all of the ingredient into thee 9x13 pan.

Mix with a fork.

The batter was not completely smooth, but that didn't seem to matter.

The final product. While it looks good, I decided it would be good to add some frosting.

Fudge Frosting

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup shortening

1 sq chocolate or 3 Tbl cocoa

1/3 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix together all ingredients except vanilla. Bring to a boil, stirring, and start counting 1 minute after mixture comes to a boil. Let stand a few minutes and eat with spoon until thick and cool. Add vanilla and spread on cake, enough for a 9x13 pan. Double the recipe for layer cake and count 2 minutes.

I used cocoa instead of a chocolate square.

Everything mixed together waiting to boil.

Starting to boil. I started counting my 1 minute at this point, but I could have waited a little longer.

This is was when the entire pot was boiling.

After the vanilla is mixed in. I stirred on and off for the net 10-15 minutes while the fudge cooled.

This was not overly thick, but it was easy to tell when it began to get thicker.

Pouring the fudge sauce on the cake.

It's Quiet Now

2011-02-25T19:31:00.000-06:00

But tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. it will be a different story.

Don't forget the Henderson Home Show Tomorrow
February 26, 2011
Heartland Community Schools
9 a.m. -2 p.m.

Chamber Pancake Feed
7-9 a.m. - School Cafeteria

Cheap Date

2011-02-24T08:19:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday night Mike and I decided to go on a cheap date in Viborg SD. We took the high school youth to Swan Lake Christian Camp for the weekend and thought it would be fun to go to a movie, since we had Saturday night free. Despite the "small town atmosphere" it was a great experience with the movie costing $5 per person and an additional $5 for popcorn, skittles and pop, we had a fun $15 date.

We saw True Grit. I did not expect that I would enjoy it, but I did. However I did not enjoy the part that the horses always have to die (when did I become a horse lover?). After the movie Mike informed me that the horses did not actually die when they filmed the movie which made me feel better.

I will also mention that our trip to SLCC and back was much smoother then last years adventure even though we had to leave early due to icy roads and a potential rain/snow mix that was threatening.

Mennonite Monday - Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

2011-02-22T20:19:00.001-06:00

This week for Mennonite ~~Monday~~ Tuesday, I decided to make Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies (pg 27 Y). I was needing some snacks to take several places and they seemed to be a nice change-up from normal chocolate chip cookies.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

Preheat oven to 375*

Sift together:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoon soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream:

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup peanut butter

Blend in:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

Stir in flour mixture alternately with 1/2 cup milk. Fold in 1 cup (6 oz.) Hershey's Semi-Sweet Dainties. Drop by spoonfuls on cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Yields about three dozen cookies.

All of ingredients creamed together. I was not sure what Hershey's Semi-Sweet Dainties were, so I just used semi-sweet chocolate chips, which seemed to work just fine.

Usually I like to refrigerate my cookie dough so the cookies don't go flat, but I didn't have time for that, so I dropped them on the pan as soon as they were done mixing, which turned out fine.

I like soft cookies so I would recommend only baking the cookies for 10 minutes unless the dough is cold.

The recipe was very close to 3 dozen cookies, which is a good size.

Mennonite Monday - Salted Peanut Chews

2011-02-07T07:35:00.001-06:00

This week decided to make the Salted Peanut Chews (pg 85W). I need to give a little explanation about my experience before I encourage you to make this recipe. For me, this recipe was a flop, however there where a few changes I made, which could have created the way they turned out. With that said, I will also mention that I have had these bars before and they tasted very good, so I would still encourage you to make this recipe if you note the mistakes I made, which will be outlined in the narrative below.

Salted Peanut Chews

1 1/2 cups flour

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp soda

1/2 cup margarine

1 tsp vanilla

2 egg yolks

3 sups mini marshmallows

Topping:

2/3 cup corn syrup

1/4 cup margarine

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups peanut butter chips

2 cups rice cereal

2 cups salted peanuts

Heat oven to 350*. Combine all crust ingredients except marshmallows until crumb mixture forms. Press in bottom of ungreased 9x13". Bake 12-15 minutes. Immediately sprinkle with marshmallows. Bake 1-2 minutes until marshmallows puff. Cool. Prepare topping. In large sauce pan heat corn syrup, margarine, vanilla and peanut butter chips until smooth and melted. Remove from heat, stir in cereal and nuts. Immediately spoon over marshmallow crust, chill, cut into bars, 36 bars.

All of the crust ingredients ready to mix.

The crumbly crust mixture.

The crust pressed in the bottom of the 9x13 pan.

Adding the marshmallows. I would used a whole bag of marshmallows next time, not just 3 cups.

After the marshmallows have puffed up. Here was my first mistake, I did not let the marshmallows cool before I put on the topping, which made the marshmallow layer almost nonexistent between the other two layers.

The ingredients that need to be melted for the topping. I made two mistakes for this. 1) I didn't have any corn syrup, so I used a substitution of 2/3 cup sugar and 3 Tbl water. Taste wise I think the substitution worked fine, but the texture lacked. 2) I heated the mixture too fast and the peanut butter chips didn't not want to melt correctly.

The heated topping mixture.

Pouring the mixture over the rice cereal and peanuts.

Everything mixed together.

Adding the mixed topping.

The finished product. As a said earlier, this did not turn out very well for me, but I have had these bars before and they are very good, so it may have been due to the changes and substitutions I made.

Be sure to vote for next weeks recipe in the tool bar to the right.

Mennonite Monday - Cake or Buttermilk Brownies

2011-01-24T07:43:00.001-06:00

Since I made a recipe that used used buttermilk last week and had some leftover, I thought it would be good to make a recipe that would help me use up some buttermilk. I turned to the Cake or Buttermilk Brownies (pg 20Y) and found a great recipe that takes less than an hour to make and makes a large pan of brownies.

Cake or Buttermilk Brownies
Sift:
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Bring to a boil and then mix into dry ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks oleo (margarine)
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup water

Add:
1 teaspoon soda to 1 cup buttermilk and add to batter.

Add:
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together with spoon. Pour into jelly roll pan. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Frost while hot.

Frosting:
1/2 stick oleo
3 tablespoons milk
1 or 2 tablespoons cocoa
Bring to a boil and add 2 3/8 cups powdered sugar, and add 1 teaspoon vanilla. 1/2 cup nuts may be added after brownies are frosted. (Another recipes called for 1/2 cup margarine, 1/2 cup shortening and 1/2 cup buttermilk.)

I was a little skeptical about mixing this recipe by hand because I love my Kitchen Aid mixer, but since the recipe said it should be mixed by hand, I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did because I can honestly say that it was easy to mix by had.

I threw all of the ingredient into the pot to start heating while I measured the other ingredients.

The mixture did not boil like water does, but it was easy to tell it was bubbling under the light brown bubbles.

Pouring the boiling mixture into the dry ingredients.

At this point the batter was pretty thick, but still easy to mix.

Adding soda to the butter milk.

Adding the buttermilk to the batter.

It took a little bit of stirring to get the buttermilk mixed in, but it made the batter much thinner and a little lighter in color.

Adding the eggs and vanilla.

The batter completely mixed together.

Pour the batter into the pan. I decided to spray the pan with Pam just to be safe, so the brownies didn't stick.

While the brownies were in the oven, I started the frosting. I used the same pot that I had for the batter to minimize dirty pans.

It did not take long to reach a boil.

Adding the powdered sugar.

And the vanilla.

The frosting thickened very nicely.

When the brownie was done, I did a toothpick check to make sure it was cooked through and the toothpick came out clean.

I spread on the frosting right away, which seemed to work well because the frosting was warm and was easy to spread.

The final product.

I couldn't help but eat a piece while it was warm and it was wonderful. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a scoop of ice cream.

GO PACK GO

2011-01-23T18:25:00.000-06:00

We are so excited the Green Bay Packers are going to the Super Bowl.

Mennonite Monday - Steak and Potato Bake

2011-01-17T07:34:00.003-06:00

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

If you have some cube steak in your freezer that you don't know what to do with, you need to try this Steak and Potato Bake (pg 133W). Cube steak is not the most tender piece of beef and is not the type of steak you throw on the grill and expect to be ready to eat after it cooks a little while. This is why this is such a great recipe for cube steak because it makes the meat more tender and it gives it good flavor.

Steak and Potato Bake
1 cup sliced onions (I used two small onions)
6 Tbl butter
6 cubed steaks
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard
2 cups butter milk
1 Tbl shopped parsley
4 cups sliced raw potatoes

Saute onions in butter until tender; remove. Brown meat in same skillet, remove. To drippings add flour, salt, pepper, and dry mustard, stirring to blend. Remove from heat and gradually stir in buttermilk. Return to head, cook, stirring until thickened. Stir in parsley. In buttered 9 x 13pan layer potatoes, steak and onions. Pour sauce over meat. Cover tightly with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
When I peel an onion I always cut of both ends of the onion

and peel back the first layer of onions because it makes the dry skin come of so much easier.

Melting the butter

Adding the onions
I cooked them until they were a little brown and not crunchy

After you remove the onions but the steak in the left over butter. Your cube steak will be formed in patties like then when you get it. It only took a few minutes on each side to brown the meat. Don't worry about cooking it through because it will cook long enough in the oven.

While the meat is browning, cut the potatoes skin and all. I used about 5 smaller potatoes.

This is how brown my steaks were when I flipped them.

Layer the potatoes and put the browned steak on top.

To the skillet add flour,

salt,
pepper (don't take the time to measure the salt and pepper, just pour it on and use more than you think. This time I followed the recipe, but next time I will dump and pour a little more in this step to give it a little more flavor.

Add the dry mustard
Stir in the buttermilk.

While the buttermilk was thickening put the onions on the cube steak.

I continued to stir while the buttermilk was thickening and decided it was thick when I pulled the spoon along the pan and the buttermilk didn't run together right away. (See above)

Adding parsley.
Pour the buttermilk sauce over the rest of the pan.
Now it is ready for tinfoil on top and into the oven at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Since I was making this for lunch on Sunday, I assembled it the night before and put it on time bake when we left for church, so it was done when we got done with church.

Serve with a large spoon, so you can pour some of the juice in the pan over the meat and potatoes. While it isn't the most lovely dish, it does takes good and for those who don't care for onions, they can be moved off the meat very easily.

NEXT WEEK: Buttermilk Brownies (To use up the buttermilk we bought for the recipe this week)

Baby its Cold Outside

2011-01-12T20:28:00.000-06:00

When the wind doesn't blow, this temperature is not too bad, but when the wind is blowing its a different story.

Mennonite Monday - Cheesy Potato Soup

2011-01-10T07:30:00.001-06:00

This week I wanted to make a recipe that used ingredients that I already had on hand and needed to use. I found the Cheesy Potato Soup (pg 207W), which made a great meal for a snowy evening. I will mention that is doesn't make a huge recipe, which is good for Mike and I, but for a larger family, you may want to double it.

Cheesy Potato Soup

4 medium potatoes

5 strips bacon, diced

1 to 2 cups milk

2 slices Velveeta Cheese

2 Tbl diced onion

2 Tbl butter

1 Tbl flour

salt & pepper to taste

Cube the potatoes and cook till done. Fry bacon and onion. Drain off all but 1 02 Tbl of fat. Add flour and stir. Drain off most of the liquid from potatoes. Add milk, cheese, butter, salt and pepper, bacon and onion mixture, stirring and cooking till it thickens.

Peeled potatoes. The recipe didn't say if the potatoes should be peeled, but I did because I thought we would like it better that way.

I diced the potatoes in fairly small chunks.

Boiling the potatoes. It took about 15 minutes of boiling for them to be cooked.

I cut my bacon using a kitchen scissors.

This was the first mistake I made, completely draining my potatoes when the recipe said to drain most of the liquid.

I used minced onion instead diced onion, so I just added it to the potatoes instead of the bacon.

Adding the four to the bacon.

Once the flour is stirred in.

Adding bacon to the potatoes.

Since I drained off all the water, I added 2 cups of milk instead of 1.

I wasn't sure what a slice of Velveeta was, so I decided to go by the 4 oz. mark on the package, so I ended up using 8 oz. of Velveeta. This my have been too much, but I figured it would be better to have to much instead of not enough.

Instead of using salt and pepper, I used nature's seasoning because it has a bunch of different flavors in it and I basically use it on everything I cook. I should also add that I forgot to add the butter. (That was my second mistake on this recipe)

The finished product. Despite the two mistakes I made, it turned out very well.

MCC Canner

2011-01-05T18:18:00.000-06:00

Each year the MCC Meat Canner is in Henderson for a week. During this time many volunteers come together to can 29,000 pounds of turkey making 16,000 can for those in need. Each year a portion of the canned turkey stays in Nebraska, while the majority of the boxes are sent across the world.

This year Mike and I washed cans during the evening hours, so that is the main part of the process that I captured in pictures, but the process starts long before that when the turkey is actually ground in the church fellowship hall. Then the meat is taken on to the canner truck where it goes through the canning process.

Once the meat is canned, volunteers (of all ages) take the cans from each batch out of the metals crates and line them up to be washed.

Each batch has nearly 100 cans, which keeps 20 people busy getting them ready to be boxed before the next batch is done.

Four people wash cans, two people rinse cans and two-four people dry cans,

which means many hands are in the sink at the same time.

When the cans are dried, the expiration date is added.

The cans are moved to the labelers.

Labels are added.

Then the cans are boxed.

16,000 cans equals a large number of boxes

After all that work there is some time to relax between batches.

But it never lasts long because the next batch of cans is always close behind.

Mennonite Monday - Oyster Cracker Nibbles

2011-01-03T07:27:00.002-06:00

This is a great quick holiday snack or snack for any occasion. It is very simple and really is self explanatory, so I skipped the mixing process photos. Make Oyster Cracker Nibbles (pg 13W) when you need a simple salty snack.

Oyster Cracker Nibbles
1/2 cup oil
1 pkg oyster crackers
1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
Dill weed and garlic salt - to sprinkle

Sprinkle dill weed and garlic salt on crackers. Mix oil and dressing and drizzle on crackers. Stir; store in dry closed container.

NEXT WEEK: Valentino's Pizza

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T14:04:00.000-06:00

New Years Day is one of the best days of the year for four reasons.

1) New Years Cookies

2) Clam Chowder

3) Naps

4) Football

The first year that Mike participated in the annual New Years Day festivities at my grandparents house, he thought it was the best day of the year because you watch football all day and only leave the recliner to getting something to eat or go to the bathroom.

I don't participate in the football watching necessarily, but it is a great day to catch up of rest, scrapbooks, or blog posts, while everyone else is napping and watching football.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T13:20:00.000-06:00

Blog Vacation

2010-12-10T16:25:00.002-06:00

After a year and a half (almost) of updating this blog at least weekly, I have decided to take a little bit of a blog vacation.

See you December 20!

Mennonite Monday - Chocolate - Marshmallow Pie

2010-12-06T07:08:00.001-06:00

This week I needed to make a pie for the Noodle Soup Supper and since I have never made a fruit pie before, I decided to not do my test run for that type of a pie for such a large event. As a result I opted for a simpler Chocolate-Marshmallow Pie (pg 117 W). I was excited to see that my grandma had submitted the recipe, which also made me want to try it.

Chocolate - Marshmallow Pie

8 oz Hershey Bar with nuts

22 large marshmallows

1/2 cup milk

2 cups Cool Whip

1 baked graham cracker crust

In saucepan melt Hershey bar, marshmallows and milk. Cool. Stir in Cool Whip. Pour into pie shell. Refrigerate overnight.

I added the chocolate and milk before the marshmallows so they could melt and mix. I used Hersheys bar with almonds and was a little confused about the size. My king size bars were 2.4 oz, so I used two of them. I'm still not sure if I used to much or too little chocolate, but it turned out fine. I will have to looking into 8oz chocolate bar a little bit more.

Before I added the marshmallows.

Mixing in the marshmallows.

According to the instructions with my graham cracker crust, in order to bake it you need to brush it with butter.

I did a pretty light coat, and then put it in the oven at 375 degrees for 5 minutes.

Once the milk, chocolate and marshmallows were melted and mixed, I transferred them into a bowl and let it cool in the refrigerator.

When the crust came out of the oven. I think baking the crust is important, because I made a pie without baking the crust and it was much harder to work with.

Mixing in the Cool Whip.

Pouring it into the curst.

Mike really liked this pie and said I should make it again. However, he does not like nuts, so he requested that I use a plain Hershey bar next time.

I Love Living in a Small Town...

2010-12-01T07:23:00.000-06:00

because I can leave my car unlocked and running when I stop at the grocery store, so it is warm when I am done shopping.

Mennonite Monday - Cinnamon Salad

2010-11-30T18:22:00.000-06:00

Here is a quick side recipe that is great for this time of year for a spin on your normal jello salad it is Cinnamon Salad (pg 116 Y).

Cinnamon Salad

1 pkg cherry jello (I used black cherry because I had it on hand)

1 cup applesauce

1/4 cup red hots

1 1/2 cup boiling water

Dissolve candy in boiling water. Add Jello, stirring until dissolved. Chill until partially set. Fold in applesauce.

Boiling water

Adding the red hots. I have been told that Brach's candy dissolves the best.

Adding the jello.

The jello was set after an hour and a half in the refrigerator.

Adding the applesauce.

All mixed up.

Changes I will make next time: 1) I will stick with regular cherry jello. The black cherry gave it a different color and you expect cinnamon food to be red not purple. 2) I will mix the applesauce in sooner. Letting it set created lumps of jello and I like it when it looks smooth.

NEXT WEEK: Chocolate-Marshmallow Pie

October Faves

2010-11-24T09:26:00.006-06:00

1. Halloween Candy

Every year I have to have some candy corn and candy pumpkins. You can't have too many because they get really sweet, but they are definitely a fall must. I love to eat candy corn mixed with salted peanuts and M&Ms.

2. Harvest

While harvest causes a lot of stress at our house, I have to say it is a time of year that I generally enjoy because of the tractor rides, meals in the field and seeing what can be produced after a year of hard work.

3. Carrie Underwood

While going to the Carrie Underwood concert was a gift for Mike, I have to say that I had just as much fun as he did and really enjoyed her singing abilities.

4. Leaf Scoops

I picked this up on a whim this fall and they came in very handy when I was cleaning up leaves around my house and cleaning up my garden. It is amazing how much you can pick up with these scoops. I would definitely recommend them to anyone wanting to make their outdoor work a little easier.

5. Crazy Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for Fall Festival at our church and I thought they were so fun and kind of weird. I understand why gel food coloring has a better color than the watery-drop kind.

Crazy Week

2010-11-24T00:14:00.000-06:00

Last week was one of the busiest weeks of my life. I want to document what happened last week so someday when I feel like I am busier or when I feel like I have a boring life with nothing going on, I can look back for a little bit of a reality check.

MONDAY

Checked out my calendar when I got to work and had a mini freak out. Schedule for the day included:
12Noon - Directors Meeting
6:30 - Fire Department Appreciation Meal (Mikes the fire fighter, not me but spouses were invited)
7pm - Lead a Community Center Meeting
8 pm - Lead a Resident Attract and Retain Committee Meeting

A little twist for Monday was the fact that we didn't make it to the appreciation meal. When I arrived home after work at 5 Mike was sleeping and felt like he was freezing. Later we find out he had a 101.3 temp.

TUESDAY

Business as usual during the day. As I pulled into my yard after work my parents and grandparents were right behind me, ready to pick us up for a trip to Kearney for a Nebraska Corn Board dinner where we were recognized.

So far we have been spotted in Lincoln on the side of a delivery truck. My only request is, if you see us, please don't draw a mustache on my face because I wouldn't look good with facial hair.

The twist for Tuesday:

Creating a presentation for the next morning on the way home that night.

WEDNESDAY:
Started my day in McCool giving a 45 minute presentation about Economic Development in Henderson to the Leadership York group. I can't believe I talked for 40 minutes straight. I never thought I had that much to say.

Wednesday evening I lead small group at church. Since we were working on our banner, I took my group of girls to Walmart, where they had $5 to by materials for the banner, then we stopped at Starbucks for coffee and to finish the banner.

Then it was back to the church for chancel choir.

Wednesdays twist, I went with Mike to the doctor at 1pm to find out Mike had walking pneumonia.

THURSDAY:
Thursday was the easiest day of the week all I had besides work was a jewelry party in the evening. At this point some retail therapy and good conversation was needed.

Thursdays twist, my nose started running and it felt like a cold was starting.

FRIDAY:
Headed to Kearney 7:30am for the NCIP Conference during the day and stayed for the Governors Banquet that evening.

At the banquet I received three awards from Lt. Governor Rick Sheehy for various projects in Henderson.

No twists on Friday. Thank goodness.

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to make anyone feel sorry for me by posting my schedule from last week. Most of the events of last week were things I choose to do and brought on myself. I also realize that there are many people out there who are much busier than me and you may think this week was a breeze.

Mennonite Tuesday - Orange Julius

2010-11-23T23:26:00.001-06:00

After a crazy week last week, see next post, I opted to host Mennonite Monday on Tuesday. To be honest, I do think I cooked anything last week. I'm pretty sure I ate, but I was so busy I couldn't really tell up from down and I was not organized enough to plan ahead. I decided to whip up a Orange Julius (pg 2W) for something refreshing and it definitely hit the spot. My mom actually put this recipe in the cookbook and when I asked her about it she said "Oh I put that in there, I made those when we were first married," which is why I never remember having them growing up. Now I'm kind of wishing we would have had them more because they are really good.

Orange Julius
1 6 oz can orange juice
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
12 ice cubes
Blend all ingredients in a blender.

It was as simple as that! No explanation needed.

Mennonite Monday - Caramel Twists

2010-11-15T17:46:00.001-06:00

This week I went out on a limb and made Caramel Twists (pg 16Y). To be honest, I was nervous that they would be a flop, but they surprisingly turned out very well and the dough was very easy to work with. It is not hard to understand why they are so good with all the butter and sugar in them.

Caramel Twists

Mix together:

9 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

Dissolve:

2 pkgs of yeast in 1/2 cup water

Add to flour mixture together with:

6 egg yolks beaten and 2 cups warm milk

Mix together until smooth, Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Caramel coating:

2 cups margarine

1 cup light corn syrup

3 cups brown sugar

1 cup chopped nuts

When ready to bake Caramel Twists, prepare Caramel coating by melting butter, and sugar and syrup. Spread in roll pans. Sprinkle with nuts. Cut dough into equal parts for easy handling. Roll each third of dough into rectangle 1/4 inch thick. Brush center third with soft butter, sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. Fold one third of rectangle over center third and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Fold remaining third over 2 layers. Cut crosswise into strips 1 inch wide. Grasp ends of strips firmly and twist in opposite directions. Place in pan about 1 inch apart. Repeat procedure with rest of dough. Allow to rise 30 minutes. Bake in oven at 350 degrees about 25 minutes. Invert pans immediately on large sheets of foil.

I always let my yeast soak in the container I measure the water in, so I don't have to make more things dirty.

Butter for the dough.

I did choose to cut the butter into the flour by hand, but i'm sure you could use your mixer to do the work.

Adding the egg yokes.

The dough is pretty dense when it goes into the refrigerator.

I made the dough in the morning, so that evening I started my caramel topping.

This is what the dough looked like after setting in the refrigerator. Since there was a lot of dough, I decided to experiment a little bit, so I made half that night and I let the other half set in the refrigerator for a few days to see if I could still use the dough if it sat in the refrigerator longer than overnight. Both sets of dough worked the same, so you can let you dough set as long or as little as you want.

This dough was the easiest to roll out, of all of the doughs I have worked with so far. It required very little flour and did not stick to the rolling pan.

Adding butter to the middle third.

Adding brown sugar and cinnamon.

Folding one third over the middle.

Adding more brown sugar and cinnamon.

I folded the final third over and cut 1 inch strips with a large knife.

Twisting the dough.

The twists in the caramel topping.

When they came out of the oven.

The final product. Keep in mind that this was only half the dough, so you would have twice as many twists if you made the entire recipe at once.

Mennonite Monday - Delicate Fluffy Pancakes

2010-11-08T14:42:00.001-06:00

On Saturday Mike was hungry for pancakes. Since I had just volunteered our bag of pancake mix to a fund raiser breakfast next week, I decided to use this opportunity to make some pancakes from scratch. So I decided to make Delicate Fluffy Pancakes (pg 35 W).

Delicate Fluffy Pancakes

3 eggs, separated

1 2/3 cups buttermilk

3 Tbl Soft margarine

1 1/2 cups flour

1 Tbl sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients except egg whites. Beat the egg yolks and fold stiffly beaten egg whites into mixture. (my note: I think the last sentence should read: Beat the egg whites then fold stiffly beaten egg whites into mixture.)

All of the dry ingredients.

Adding the egg yolks and buttermilk. Since I did not have buttermilk, I used a buttermilk substitute. The combination is 1 cup of milk plus 1 Tbl vinegar.

Everything mixed together except the egg whites.

To make egg whites stiff, you have to use a mixer because they won't get stiff otherwise.

Mixing int he egg whites in.

Finished batter.

Last Week

2010-11-08T00:28:00.000-06:00

As I said in my Mennonite Monday post, last week was a little unusual due to a turn of events on Wednesday.

It all started a few weeks ago when Mike began having bad back pain. We assumed that it was due to harvest lifting and bouncing in the tractor and didn't think too much about it. The pain didn't go away, so Mike scheduled an appointment at the chiropractor on Friday, Oct. 29.

Last Tuesday (Oct 26) Mike was disking the Wally quarter near our house and wondered if I would bring him supper. Since I didn't have anything planned, I picked up Subway so we could eat while he drove. When I got to the field Mike said his back hurt and his stomach was hurting and he just wanted to finish the field and go home and relax.

He was only home about 15 minutes before he started vomiting. This lasted, on and off, for the next 3-4 hours. If throwing up wasn't bad enough, Mike could not find any place where he was comfortable due to the back and stomach pain. I called a few people, one being the hospital, and tried to get some advice about what we should do. At one point I asked Mike if he would consider a bath and he said he had actually been thinking about it. Mike hasn't taken a bath in a long time, probably long before we were even married or dating. The bath seemed to help relieve the pain and pressure, which helped and after his second time in the bathtub, the pain in his back had almost disappeared. This made it possible to sleep through the night.

In the morning, I offered make an appointment at the clinic since they had a 9:30 opening, but Mike thought the pain was better and decided to pass up the appointment. At 9:32 (it's funny the details I remember) he called me at work wanting me to schedule an appointment that day.

At 1:15 we met with Dr. Ohrt to discuss what was going on. Dr. Ohrt confirmed our thoughts that it may be a kidney stone or his appendix, so in order to be sure he wanted a blood and urine test. The urine test was clean, so we knew it wasn't kidney stones. However, his white blood count was slightly elevated, so it was possible that his appendix was causing the problems. The next step to know if it was the appendix for sure, was a CT scan, but with the cost of a CT scan being rather high, Dr. Ohrt suggested that Mike wait a couple hours. If the pain weakened we would not do the scan, but if it stayed the same or got worse, we would have the scan done.

At 4:15 we headed back to the clinic for the CT scan. It took about an hour to have the CT scan done by the time we did the paper work, got the iv and had the scan. Then the scan was emailed to Grand Island to be read. We waited in the CT room for a long time before we decided to move to the waiting room. As we came out of the CT room, Dr. Ohrt was already on the phone and the first words out of his mouth were "your having surgery." Mikes appendix was raging and had grown from the size of your pinky finger to the size of a hot dog, so it needed to come out as soon as possible. At 6 pm we found out that Mike would be having surgery at 7:30 pm, so we made a few calls and sent a few texts to let our family know and then Mike was busy for the next hour and a half getting ready for surgery. When he went back to surgery it was 7:50 and they said surgery would take 30 minutes to 2 hours. Since his back had been hurting so long, they were worried that the appendix had be smoldering back there and it may have exploded, which would have been bad making surgery longer. We were lucky, his appendix had not exploded and surgery lasted a little over an hour.

When Mike came out of surgery he was not in a good mood. Rightfully so. His main frustrations were his scratchy throat because he couldn't have any water to drink that soon after surgery and the things on his legs that reduced the chance of blood clots because they were hot and itchy. While I knew Mike was in pretty bad pain, I knew he would be okay when he asked for his phone less than 10 minutes after being moved into his room.

Mike stayed in the hospital until Friday morning and has made large strides healing ever since.

While you never want to have a reason to stay in the hospital, it was a good experience for me. Since I do the marketing for the facility, it was good to see the facility and how it worked and I was very very impressed by all of the employees, the service and the wonderful care we received.

I don't have any pictures of Mike in the hospital. To be honest, there were several times when I was looking at Mike in the hospital bed thinking I should probably take a picture of this for my blog, but it never felt appropriate, especially during the times he was in a lot of pain.

If anyone is still reading and this point, I want to thank you for reading this long long blog post, because you must really care about Mike and I, or you have nothing better to do. But on a serious note, thank you to everyone who stopped by at the hospital, called, sent a cards or gifts, or visited us at home. It was amazing to see the community of support that we have.

Mennonite Monday - Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Ham

2010-11-01T20:18:00.001-05:00

We had some crazy events (I'll post more about that later)last week, which changed my plans for Mennonite Monday so instead of Cinnamon Twists I made the Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Ham (pg 154W). This was a great quick recipe to throw together for a week night meal.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Ham

1 1/2 cup cooked macaroni

1 egg, slightly beaten

6 oz. cubed cheese

1 Tbl melted margarine

1 1/2 cup milk

8 oz. diced ham

2 Tbl bread crumbs

Scald milk, add cheese and stir until melted. Add ham and then add eggs carefully to hot liquid, stirring constantly. Place macaroni in greased baking dish and pour ham and cheese mixture over the macaroni. Sprinkle with a mixture of crumbs and margarine. Bake 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

I used a cup of noodles, which cooked to be more than a cup and a half of cooked noodles in the end.

I had some cubed ham in the freezer that was perfect for making this recipe.

I'm still not sure if I scald milk right, but when I see little bubbles on the edge of the pot I figure it must be close enough.

Whenever you put Velveta in a pot, you must stir continuously because it will stick to the bottom of your pot. I should have learned this when I made the Broccoli Soup, but I guess I still need a few reminders once in a while.

I didn't have bread crumbs, so I used corn flake crumbs instead, which seemed to do fine.

Draining the noodles.

Adding the ham.

Adding the egg.

Bottom layer noodles.

Second layer of cheese and ham mixture.

Top layer.

After it had cooked for 30 minutes.

Done

2010-10-27T00:07:00.000-05:00

We made it! As of last Thursday, Harvest 2010 is in the books. Let the field work begin to start the process over again.

Nine Decades

2010-10-25T20:58:00.000-05:00

Today Mike's grandmother, Bernice Mason, is celebrating her 90th Birthday. While I feel a little guilty revealing her age, I want to recognize this milestone because few people will reach it.

Mennonite Monday - Tapioca Salad

2010-10-25T20:54:00.001-05:00

This week for Mennonite Monday I am featuring a recipe that I made during harvest. To be honest, the guys I fed did not get excited about the salad. Okay, they barely even touched it. I however did like the salad and if I ever make it again I will have a better handle on how to work with tapioca better. Hopefully your Tapioca Salad (pg 195W) is received a little better than mine was.

Tapioca Salad

3 1/2 cups boiling water

1/2 cup baby pearl tapioca

8 oz. crushed pineapple with juice

3 oz. pkg strawberry gelatin

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

Add the tapioca to the boiling water, cover and let stand until cool. Bring to boil again and add the gelatin and stir until dissolved. Let stand again until cool. Add salt, sugar and pineapple. Refrigerate until set. Serve with whipped topping. (Any flavor gelatin may be used).

I was able to find small pearl tapioca just fine, but it wasn't very friendly to me.

I added it to the boiling water.

Then I let it set.

I think I should have stirred the tapioca while it set because I had big chunks of goo stuck to the bottom of my pot. I'm guessing this was because of something I did, but I was not exactly sure how to fix it. I basically fished out all of the clumps and there was still some tapioca balls left, so I figured it wasn't too big of a deal.

Adding sugar

Salt

Pineapple

Transferring to the serving bowl.

I did not serve this with whipped topping on top because I thought it would get watery and gross. However if I had put whipped topping on it, I think it would have been more popular.

This guy

2010-10-21T21:13:00.000-05:00

Turned 27 today

Since I ~~am so organized~~ lucked out big time, I bought Mikes Birthday gift in May. I realized that Carrie Underwood would be performing in Omaha the week of his birthday, so I asked him if he wanted that as his birthday gift. Surprisingly, he wasn't completely on board with the concert right away, but I think the idea sunk in and he got really excited as the concert got closer. Since I ordered our tickets the day they became available we had seats on the floor in row 21, which ended up being pretty good seats.

The first opening act was Sons of Siliva and they looked more like a Twighlight rock band than a band that belonged at a country concert.

Billy Currington was the second opening act and we knew almost every song he played.

Then Carrie took the stage and she rocked it. In a country way.

She sang the entire show live and changed at least 7 times.

At one point, she was in a truck that was suspended in air above the crowd. We had great seats for this part because the truck stopped not to far behind us.

Carrie also played the piano and guitar as she sang during the show.

Most people took pictures with their phones. At this point I don't know if anyone was looking at her directly. They all seemed to be taking a picture or video on their phone.

While it looks like our seats were pretty far away, the stage was much closer than this picture seems.

At the end of the show there was confetti and

streamers. If I had a concert I would definitely have confetti and streamers.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!

Mennonite Monday - Peach Crisp from Cake Mix

2010-10-19T22:12:00.000-05:00

I know this Mennonite Monday post is actually happening on Tuesday, but I have a good reason for not being able to post this earlier, which I will tell you about on Thursday. Last week I made Peach Crisp from Cake Mix (pg 51Y) and it was a huge hit. Mike even ate it for breakfast the next two days.

Peach Crisp from Cake Mix

1 can (29 oz.) slices peaches with syrup

1 package butter pecan cake mix (dry)

1/2 cup buetter or margarine, melted

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chpped pecans

Layer ingredients, in order listed, in ungreased oblong pan, 13x9x2". Bake 55-60 minutes at 325 degrees. Let stand at least 15 minutes before serving. Serve warm or cool and if desired with sweetened whipped cream or ice cream.

I chopped the nuts in my food chopper from pampered chef, which works really well.

This is such an easy recipe and they really enjoyed it, which means the recipe gets a star in my book.

Mennonite Monday - Easy French Bread

2010-10-11T07:25:00.001-05:00

Last week the poll winner was Easy French Bread (pg 15W). This was a pretty simple recipe even though there are a few things that I would do differently the next time around. I guess the main difference I would make is the amount of flour I mixed in. For some reason the mixture was very dense and it was very hard to get the last cup of flour mixed in. I'm not sure if it was suppose to be that way or if I lost track of the amount of flour I poured into the mixer. Next time I will pay more attention to my dough consistency and less attention to the number of cups of flour I use.

Easy French Bread

2 pkg yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 tsp sugar

2 Tbl sugar

2 Tbl oil

2 tsp salt

2 cups warm water

8-8.5 cups flour

1 beaten egg

2 Tbl milk

poppy or sesame seeds

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water and 1/2 tsp sugar. Combine 2 Tbl sugar, salt and 2 cups warm water. Add yeast and flour. Knead. Let rise till double, punch down and let rest 15 minutes. Divide dough in half, shape into long loaves and place on cookie sheets, slash tops and brush with beaten egg mixed with milk. Sprinkle with seeds. let rise. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Mennonite Monday - Potato Nugget Casserole

2010-10-04T12:47:00.001-05:00

~
This week I made Potato Nugget Casserole (pg 144W), which was voted for during the previous poll. This was a great meal for harvest because it is some what of a dump and pour recipe that can be made ahead of time and cooked right before it is served.

Potato Nugget Casserole

1 lb ground beef

1/2 pkg dry onion soup mix

16 oz pkg frozen mixed vegetables

1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup

1 lb Tator Tots or Potato Nuggets

Press ground beef into and 8x8 casserole or pan. Sprinkle with dry onion soup mix. Top with vegetables. Spread on can of soup over vegetables. Top with frozen potato nuggets. Bake at 350 degrees for 90 minutes. Cover with foil the first half. Remove foil for browning during second half.

Variation: add layer of sliced Velveeta cheese on top of vegetables or vegetables may be left out and onions added instead of the dry onion soup mix.

Press down the uncooked hamburger.

Pour on the dry soup mix.

Pour on the vegetables.

Add the cream soup.

Top with Tator Tots.

I did notice that my hamburger was a little burnt at the bottom of the dish. I'm not sure if it was because I cooked it to long or for another reason, but otherwise this was a good recipe.

September Faves

2010-10-02T14:30:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite things to do every September is go to football games (and watch them on tv). In the month of September I attended a high school football scrimmage, a college football game and an NFL football game.

I know I blogged about this last year, but I love watching the marching band practice each morning on Main Street. I was in this band for three years and I know that the students do not enjoy marching as much as the downtown businesses enjoy watching them. Unfortunately the band marched in the Harvest of Harmony Parade this morning, so they won't be practicing anymore :(

I recently started checking out books from a near by library and it is something that I really enjoy. As you can tell, I currently have several cookbooks checked out. I really like to check out cookbooks and fitness books because if I find out that I don't like the book, I don't have to feel bad that I bought something I'm not going to read. The reason I decided to use the library in the first place is because I know how unlikely it is that I will read a book more than once, so there is no reason for me to buy a book that I will only read one time.

I have decorated for fall. Last year it felt like I had so many fall decorations and when I pulled them out this year I was surprised that I didn't have more. I'm sure I will accumulate a few more items this year adding to my collection. For now it is nice to see some changes around the house and the wonderful fall weather we have been having is a good change too.

Mennonite Monday - Apple Goodie

2010-09-27T07:01:00.001-05:00

I was going to use the Hamburger Potato Casserole recipe, which was voted on last week, but with a rain we had late this past week, harvest came to a halt and I wasn't able to serve the casserole yet. I have it started and in the freezer and plan to serve it on Tuesday, so it should be posted next week. This we I decided to make Apple Goodie (pg 97W) for my first harvest meal of the season.

Apple Goodie

3 cups sliced apples

1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup quick oatmeal

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup butter or oleo

Put sliced apples into a 9" square pan with salt, sugar and cinnamon. Mix the oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, soda, baking powder and butter until crumbly and sprinkle over apples. Bake at 350 degrees until apples are done.

Mixing the oatmeal, flour brown sugar, soda, baking powder and butter.

Mixing the sugar, salt and cinnamon for the apples.

Adding the apples.

All mixed together.

Adding the topping.

Since the recipe did not say how long to bake this dessert, I started with 30 minutes. In the time the apples were baked, but I like the crust a little browner, so I let it bake for another 10 minutes.

I served this warm with cool whip on top, but you could serve it plain or with ice cream too.

Weekend Getaway

2010-09-23T21:03:00.001-05:00

As you may have guessed, Mike and I took a quick little trip to Green Bay WI to visit our friends Emily and Jordy. We actually did this same trip last year and had so much fun that we wanted to go back this year. Plus we were excited to meet their new baby Royal (okay he was born over seven months ago, so he isn't really new, but he was new to us).While we were in Green Bay we took in a Packers Football game and were lucky enough to be at a game where Jordy was one of the captains for the game, which was fun to watch. Here are a few pictures from the game.

Thanks for a great weekend Emily, Jordy and Royal! Someday we will return the favor.

Mennonite Monday - Cream of Broccoli Soup

2010-09-20T22:26:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the delay in posting my Mennonite Monday this week, but Mike and I were on a mini vacation, which I will post later in the week. Since fall is quickly approaching, it is a great time to think about different soups we can make on chilly days. This week I decided on Cream of Broccoli Soup (pg 204 W). I hope this recipe will warm you up this fall.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

10 oz frozen or fresh broccoli, chopped

2 cups chicken broth

1 soup can of water

3 Tbl butter

3 Tbl flour

1 can cream of chicken soup

6 slices Velveeta

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 to 1 tsp salt

Saute onion in butter, add flour and stir. Add broth, water and cream of chicken soup, chopped broccoli and stir and simmer for 10 min. Put into blender until broccoli is chopped. Return to stove; add cheese and stir and simmer until cheese is melted. Season with salt to taste if necessary. Yield: 6 servings.

I always cut off the ends of my onions first so they are easier to peel the skin off.

Then I slice it the long way.

Then I chop the other direction.

Butter and onion.

While the onion was cooking I measured my other ingredients. Since I didn't have chicken broth, I used chicken stock.

Since this recipe didn't use all of the container of chicken stock, I wrote the date on the container and put it in the refrigerator.

Browned onions

Mixing in the flour.

Adding the broth, water and cream of chicken soup.

Adding the broccoli that I didn't chop. I figured that it would get chopped up in the blender, so there was no need to chop it ahead of time.

Simmering.

I didn't know what 6 slices of Velveeta was, so I just used all the Velveeta I had, which was about a cup.

Before it was blended.

After it was blended.

After adding the Velveeta.

After you add the Velveeta make sure you stir it, otherwise it will burn to the bottom of the pan and you will have to pick out the brown spots.

Last Year at this Time

2010-09-19T11:17:00.000-05:00

We were chanting GO PACK GO!

Its a Delicacy in some Places

2010-09-17T08:03:00.000-05:00

This is what Mike told we while we were eating his latest hunted game.

When your married to a hunter, you get to eat a variety of meat. Any guess about what we ate?

It was duck.

I will almost always try the hunted game that Mike brings home and some taste better than others. The duck was actually pretty good. There were only a few pieces that tasted wild.

New Bedroom

2010-09-16T20:49:00.003-05:00

By painting the room a lighter color, changing the carpet to lighter color, changing the bed from a queen to a double and removing the foot board made the room feel much larger.

Before