Oasis Here I Come

More details to come next week.

Check Check Check

Some of the items on my list were difficult to photograph, so this post will highlight what I was able to accomplish.

run 4 miles

In September when I wrote my list, I had been running/walking in the evenings. I slowly started to run more and more and worked up to running 2.5 miles straight. I was athletic in high school and participated in every sport at one time or another, but I was a short distance runner. In track I would run the approach for long jump, the 100, 200 and sometimes the 400. This is why I wanted to set my goal to run farther than I ever had before. Shortly after I posted my list I was able accomplish that goal by running around the section. Every week after that until November, I ran 4 miles one day of the week.

go to the dentist
In October I went to the dentist after several years. It was 4 years to be exact, but luckily I didn't have any cavities. Hopefully I won't wait another 4 years to go again.

read a book

I'm not a big reader. I don't mind reading good books, but I don't take the time to read very often, so it takes me forever to read a book. That is why I chose an easy book Marley & Me. Mike and I have two labs our black lab, Hunter, acts like Marley in the book. Our yellow lab, Bessie, looks like Marley. Overall I thought the book was pretty good and would recommend it to anyone wanting an easy reading book.


donate something
So when I put this item on my list, I was planning to donate blood for the first time. I faint pretty easily, so I have never tried to give blood, but I have always wanted too. A blood drive was scheduled in town on November 5 with the Community Blood Bank and I was ready, however, then the Chamber's Strategic Planning Kick-Off meeting was scheduled for November 5 as well I knew I couldn't do both. Especially if I had a hard time donating blood, so I found a different way to donate. I took 4 sacks of cloths and household item to our church for the Etc. Shop.

volunteer somewhere different
This year I joined the Preschool Committee at our church. This is a very small way to volunteer my time, but it was been very enjoyable to volunteer on a board for someone else because I'm usually working with volunteers on other board through my job at the Chamber.

Ride in the tractor - Check

I had many opportunities to ride with Mike in the tractor during harvest, which was on my list of things to do before my birthday.

Unfortunately, I never took my camera along, so this picture of my niece riding in the tractor with Mike will have to do.

Mennonite Monday - Stuffed Green Peppers

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.

~

I had two green peppers in the refrigerator that needed to be used, so I decided to try the Stuffed Green Peppers on page 221 of the white church cookbook. As you will see, I only had two green peppers, so I only did half the recipe.

Stuffed Green Peppers
4 green peppers
1 lb. hamburger
1 small onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup raw rice
1/2 tsp salt
1 quart stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup catsup

Precook cleaned green peppers in salted water for 5 minutes.

Saute meat and onion until brown. Stir in remaining ingredients. (I cooked my hamburger in my Pampered Chef micro cooker in the microwave and then mixed the rest of the ingredients in that container.)

Stuff into pepper. Place in greased baking dishing, putting excess filling around edge. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Priescha & Verenika - Check

Before my birthday I wanted to try to make two Mennonite specialties. Apple Priescha and Verenika. Unfortunately I will not be posting pictures with step-by-step directions for these recipes because the apple priescha did not turn out the best and the verenika was made by my grandma and she just gave me a quick tutorial on how to make verenika.

One of my close college friends, Tina, stopped by for the evening and we attempted to make apple priescha. I later learned from several women in the community that the white church cookbook does not have the best recipe for priescha, which is why the dough was hard as a rock. I am planning to try this recipe again and hopefully my second attempt will go better.

For thanksgiving my grandma made verenika. I was going to help her with the assembly process, but our schedules were too busy, so she left me a little dough and filling, so we could have a verenika lesson at Thanksgiving.

Form her instruction, I think am ready to try to make verenika on my own. However, I would like to find a verenika cutter before I try. It looked like a cookie cutter, but it was a half circle. My grandma though Midwest gave these cutters away in the 80s. Maybe I will find one at a household auction someday.

Make Something Old into Something Cool - Check

One of the items on my list of things to do, was to make something old into something cool. I had two projects in mind that would make something old into something cool, but I was only able to accomplish one by my Birthday. I found an old shutter at an antique store in Kansas and wanted to turn it into a message board. Unfortunately I do not have a before picture, but all I used was some red spray paint and some cute clips.
Now I'm ready to receive Christmas Cards.

Halfway to 50

On Tuesday I turned 25, which means two things, I am half way to 5o years old and I need to have my list of 24 things to do before I turn 25 completed. I did not accomplish everything on my list of things to do, but I completed a surprising number of items. Over the next few days I will highlight a few of the items I completed.

During the second weekend of deer season, I was part of the Deer Widows Crop at the Scrapbook Page in Aurora. I started scrapbooking at 11:30 on Friday morning and left the store at 11:30 that night. On Saturday I started again at 11:00 a.m. and headed home around 7 p.m.

My time spent scrapbooking was well worth it because I was able to finish our Honeymoon complete with journaling, which anyone who scrapbooks knows that journaling is not very fun. So here are some of my favorite pages from the book.

Mennonite Monday - Apple Pastry

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.

~

My father-in-law asked for apple bars all harvest and I finally made them during the last week of harvest. The recipe is on page 53 of the yellow cookbook. This is a recipe that my grandma has made for years, but I am not exactly at her standard yet. I was very pleased with the way my apple bars turned out, but we had my grandma's apple bars at Thanksgiving and I was reminded that they are some improvements I can make to recipe for next time.

Apple Pastry

Dough:
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cup shortening
3 Tbl. water

Filling:
6-8 medium apples
2 Tbl. flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tbl. butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Cut Shortening into flour and salt

It looks like this when it is all mixed together

Add water and eggs and mix

chill the dough

Roll out half of the dough into a 15 X 10" pan.

Mix together filling ingredients and put over dough. I decided to slice my apples and leave the peeling on to save time. While the bars tasted good, I noticed that my grandma peeled and chopped her apples, which were much better.

Roll out the rest of the dough for top dough. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until lightly browned.

Drizzle with powdered sugar frosting while hot.

Mennonite Monday - Green Beans Casserole

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.

~

Okay the recipe for today is not an earth shattering main dish or dessert, but I thought that it would be good to feature a good Thanksgiving side dish since some of you may be needing a casserole to contribute to your family Thanksgiving.

I made this Green Bean Casserole, which is on page 220 in the white church cookbook, during harvest and Mike loved it. I'm sure the Velveeta cheese had something to do with it.

Green Bean Casserole
3 Tbl oleo
2 Tbl flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp onion, chopped or flakes
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 cup sour cream
1/2-3/4 cup Velveeta Cheese
1 quart green beans

Melt oleo, add onions, cook until limp. (I used minced onions, so I didn't have to cook them) Stir in flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder and sour cream.

Melt Cheese.

Fold the drained beans and cheese into other ingredients. I just melted the Velveeta in my other ingredients and then added the beans to that and it came out fine.
Put in a casserole and heat in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Watch the Sunrise - Check

This fall has been crazy. I feel like I have been running from one thing to the next. In anticipation of this busy time of year, I wanted one of my "things to do" to include slowing down long enough to watch the sunrise. I quickly came to the realization that my idea of watching the sunrise from my living room with a cup of coffee was not going to happen. The morning before daylight savings time, I was driving to my parents at 8:15 am, so we could head to Kansas for one of my brothers football games. While I was driving and watching the sunrise I was thinking, I really need to stop and watch the sunrise because my time is running out before my birthday. So I did what any would do. I stopped the car. Ran to the front. Took a picture and thought "ah, now I can check that off my list." Well, so much for leisurely watching the sunrise. At least I did stop the care to take this picture and took advantage of the latest sunrise of the fall.
Maybe I will have better luck with taking it slow when I watch the sunset.