Boxing Day Yum

Bombur enjoys leftover, "scruffy" cinnamon rolls. They are King Arthur's Sour Cream Cinnamon Rolls so they are delish even on the second day.

Are they French Fries or Cancer-Blocking Sprouts?

I've never watched this show but these sprouts were AMAZING at dinner tonight! So easy and so yummy! 
Roasted Brussels Sprouts Recipe : Ina Garten : Recipes : Food Network

My First Aurora

My boys brought back a special friend from the Salt Fork State Park gift shop this afternoon - my very first Raggedy from the new manufacturer, Aurora. I had stayed behind to replace the thermostat (twelve hours after dealing with plumbing issues) and consider this cute, little fellow the perfect "payment" for my handyman skills.

Raggedy Kindness

In the midst of some chaotic times in our household last month, a wonderful care package arrived in the mail. A fellow Lutheran pastor's wife/homeschooler/Looper/blogger sent me two Raggedys and a picture book. I've added them to my collection and will always have an extra smile when I see them. I hope some day to meet my benefactor in person. Until then, I enjoy her blog and hope you will check it out: http://daybydayathomeaway.blogspot.com/?m=1

Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup

Oh my, have our tastes ever changed in the past eleven months! Mark LOVES Tomato Basil soup from the restaurant Noodles and Company. For better or worse, the closest location is in The Big City – almost an hour away. So, I decided to tackle a homemade version. I gave myself the challenge to make it vegan since we simply do not have many carnivorous items in our pantry these days. My beloved America’s Test Kitchen came through with a simple and easily-modified recipe. The first batch was so delicious I ended up making and freezing three more batches with tomatoes from a kind parishioner. Since there is no dairy in the recipe, I know it will freeze well and we will have a taste of summer for many months.

Serves Six

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• 1 pinch hot red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes in juice*
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 3 large slices good-quality white sandwich bread, crusts removed, torn into 1-inch pieces*
• 2 cups chicken broth (or Not-Chick’n bouillon cubes and water)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering.
2. Add onion, garlic, red pepper flakes/cayenne pepper, and bay leaf. Cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent, 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Stir in tomatoes and their juice. Using a potato masher, mash until no pieces bigger than 2 inches remain.
4. Stir in sugar and bread; bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until bread is completely saturated and starts to break down, about 5 minutes. Remove bay leaf and discard.
5. Transfer half of soup to a blender, add 1tablespoon olive oil and process until soup is smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and repeat with remaining soup and oil. (Or carefully use an immersion blender in the pot.)
6. Rinse out Dutch oven and return soup to pot. Stir in broth. Return soup to a boil and season to taste with salt and pepper.

*Cook’s Notes: I use 3.5 to 4 pounds of peeled, fresh tomatoes per batch. I also substitute our family’s favorite homemade white bread (King Arthur Flour’s Walter Sands’ White Bread) for the store-bought bread. I save the crusts for dunking into the soup.

They Taste Even Better!

Coming Soon to a Funeral Luncheon Near You!

Mini Picnic Rolls: King Arthur Flour

Sooooooo tasty!

Move Over Bacon!

Today I made King Arthur Flour's "Our Favorite Chip Cookies" (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/our-favorite-chip-cookies-recipe) with a slight twist: I made them completely vegan! What a treat to know the cookies have NOTHING in them that can raise my husband's cholesterol or cause all sorts of nasties to my body and mind. I used an equal amount of Earth Balance as a substitute for the butter. This was my first attempt at using The Vegg, the Vegan Egg. (www.thevegg.com) Many thanks to @VeganHeartland on Twitter for alerting me to this modern miracle. What an amazing product! As many other bloggers have noted, it even SMELLS like an egg. I used the same mini food processor I had minced the oats in. I think it took me just as much time to make The Vegg as it would have taken me to crack "real" eggs into a measuring cup. I am looking forward to using them again soon. My family gave the cookies rave reviews at lunch. My hubby described them as "Chocolate chip cookies with a satisfying crackle." My son, who has watched too much Mystery Science Theater 3000 said, "Amazing - Rolling Stone."
P.S. I got The Vegg from Amazon. With Prime, it arrived less than 24 hours after I placed my order!

Asian Salad

Another tasty family favorite of summertime:

Salad: Toss together two bags of romaine; two cans mandarin oranges, drained; one can rice noodles; one package ramen noodles, crushed and without flavoring packet; and one cup total almonds and cashews.

Dressing: Combine 2/3 cup olive oil, 1/3 cup red wine vinegar, 1/3 cup white sugar, 2 teaspoon seasoning salt (I use Penzey's 4S), and 1 Tablespoon ground pepper (I only used 2 teaspoons.) Pour over salad right before serving.

We interrupt this program to bring you . . .

. . . an wonderful offer from a fellow PW (pastor's wife.) My e-maginary friend Emily Cook has written an inspiring book about her daughter's illness. "Weak and Loved" is not your typical "I am a Christian Mom so I can handle this with a smile and bring homemade cookies to the potluck" type of book. It is a "real" story of how someone faced the many challenges of a sick loved one. I can not wait to finish reading it. Next weekend (July 15th and 16th) you can get a FREE copy of the ebook by contacting Emily at emilymariecook@weakandloved.com. If you missed the special offer, you can order ebooks and paperbacks at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. http://www.weakandloved.com/p/epilepsy.html

Air Conditioning in a Bowl

This fruit salad has been a family favorite since we were newlyweds, packing up my non air-conditioned apartment in Indiana in July 1998. In the summer, it always pains me to make something with canned and frozen ingredients instead of fresh ones but it is just SO REFRESHING!

Fruit Salad

2 cans of pineapple chunks, with juice
12 oz frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
12 oz frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
20 oz frozen strawberries, thawed
2 small or 1 large can of sliced peaches, drained and diced
2 small or 1 large can of fruit cocktail, drained
2 bananas, diced (optional)

Mix and freeze. Defrost one hour before serving.

Me?!?

This afternoon I received a VERY exciting email: I had been accepted to be a part of King Arthur Flour's "Consumer Advisory Panel." I had filled out a survey a few months back about our family's baking habits and, I guess, they liked what they saw. This answer did not work for Andy to his question, "Why did they pick YOU?" When he asked again, I answered "Because Mama tells all her family and friends about King Arthur Flour until they are so sick of hearing about it that they go and try it." That answer worked for him but maybe I should have added "Because she buys fifty pound bags of their flour and texts with Aimee back and forth about all their yummy recipes."

I'm one excited mama!

(P.S. There's a scoop and measuring cup in our unbleached AP flour because in our family we have once baker who weighs and one who measures.)

All in a day's work-

Ah, Easter Monday! Time for a clergy family to relax.
This year we took the day off of school and headed to the big city. I was able to pick up the last of the supplies I needed to make two very different homemade recipes.

The first is Chai Tea Concentrate. We love chai tea "lattes" but not the high prices or milk found in most store bought mixes. Mark spied the following recipe a few months ago. It was very easy to make and made the kitchen smell wonderful:
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/fitness-food/recipes/recipe/2012/01/chai-tea-concentrate/610942/1
We'll let you know what we think of it after breakfast tomorrow.

My other recipe is for homemade powdered laundry detergent. I had seen recipes for liquid ones but I have always preferred powder. Pinterest came to the rescue with the following recipe. I've done two loads and love the stuff. (It cost me $25 for the ingredients. And I will let you know how long it lasts in the Laundry Capital of America.)
http://beingcreativetokeepmysanity.blogspot.com/2010/11/homemade-laundry-soap.html?m=1

Fits the Bill

This morning I was looking for a breakfast that was
*vegan
*quick and easy
*warm (my birdbath had ice in it?!?)
*made only of pantry basics.

I found this recipe for Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal. http://vegan.sheknows.com/2011/08/26/pumpkin-pie-oatmeal/
It fit the bill perfectly and was oh-so tasty.
And now I know what to do with all those cans of pumpkin our dog abruptly stopped eating. :-)

Why, why, why?!?

Why have I been feeding my family store-bought hamburger buns when I know how easy and tasty home baked ones can be?
I had a surplus of "high quality" buns in the freezer - a local restaurant supply store sells them laughably cheap so I haven't baked any for months. The stash ran out and I wanted to finally give the new bun pan a try. So this morning I baked up King Arthur Flour's Poultry Burger Buns (The Baking Sheet, Summer 2010, p. 17.) In the past I have substituted the poultry seasoning for various other spices with great success. Today I chose Penzey's Bavarian Seasoning to match the Meatless Ruebens on tonight's menu. I wish blogs had smelling features because my kitchen has a wonderful scent right now. I will return to making our family's rolls.
Thank you, Grammy and Grampy for the bun pan!

Almost Vegan No-Bake Energy Balls

While visiting in New Mexico, my sister introduced these yummy treats to me via Pinterest. The honey makes them not truly vegan. Since it isn't a refined sugar and I haven't seen a Food Inc update on bee factory farms, we eat honey with a clear conscience in our household. Patty has also made them into bars. With my Pampered Chef dough scoop, it is easier for me to make them into balls. They are so tasty and so healthy for you!
Enjoy!
http://gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/

Major League Baseball Players

have to go through security but train riders don't! It was wonderful - never were we or our baggage screened.

Just realized -

That I would never make it as pioneer woman for the 3,492nd reason.* With the delays, the train trip home took us 41 hours. That doesn't count the car service ride to Akron from Cleveland's Amtrak station OR the two hour car ride to Zanesville. We had a joyous reunion at home and then a yummy salad lunch. Then I crashed and napped for two hours. How pioneer whimpy is that?!? I bet it would have taken more than 41 DAYS to get from Cleveland to Albuquerque?!?! But, I LOVED our train trip and would definitely do it again! Pioneer women did NOT get served extra meals and get deluxe sleeping berths when they had delays!
(*As I've read more of pioneer life as an adult, I've come to realize I would have been dead early on. I'm such a klutz that "hearth death" surely would have gotten me. Our midwife also "assured" me that I would have died in childbirth had it not been for modern medicine.)

Almost!

We are nearly to Cleveland - yay!

Delayed - again!

Stuck right outside of Union Station in Chicago. The train's power keeps cycling on and off. Our beds are made so we are chilling and praying the train doesn't get cancelled. :-(

My Favorite City

CHICAGO!

The Oasis: Metropolitan Lounge at Union Station

Ah!
We are reticketed and awaiting the Lake Shore Limited while snacking on complimentary pretzels and pop. The desk clerk told us a wine and cheese reception awaits us on the train -wow!

After 28 consecutive hours on the train -

Andy finds a new way to sit!

Another Free Dinner

Because of our delays, Amtrak gave us dinner. Like the other meals, it was free. How nice is that?!

We're east of the Mississippi!

Plan B stands for (God's) Best

A little over an hour ago, we were told that our train was "officially" late and connections would be missed. I pressed the call button for our car attendant to ask for advice. He suggested we contact Amtrak's 1-800 number to see what could be done. Since we were still on the outskirts of Kansas City, MO (it looked like such a nice city, even in the rain), I still had 3G service.
A wonderful gal was able to get us on THE LAST SLEEPER BERTH on the Lake Shore Limited that leaves Chicago tonight at 9:30 PM. Had we not been able to make the reservation we would not been able to catch a train into Cleveland until 6:10 PM on Wednesday. She even made notation about the missed connection so we would not have any additional charges. We just ate lunch with a couple from Pittsburgh who have no idea how they will get home. We are grateful we have a sleeper because our train won't get into Cleveland until 5:35 AM. Grandpa Long will transport us the rest of the way to Fernbank, as originally planned.

The Bad

At this point we are running about five hours behind schedule. Our train left New Mexico an hour late. We had numerous stops overnight because of broken switches. (The battery boxes were vandalized.) At this point, it looks doubtful we will make our original train from Chicago to Cleveland. We are hoping to catch a later one that would get us in Wednesday morning. We know God will get us home safely. .

The Good-

We've had two lovely meals (dinner last night and breakfast this morning) with delightful people. We ate dinner with a CHRISTIAN couple. It was refreshing to share our faith. This morning we ate with some nice Chicagoans who just came from a visit in Albuquerque themselves. The food and service were outstanding once again.

FLAT!

We got the other side of the train this trip

And get to see snow-capped mountains!

We're off!

Our train was an hour late getting into ABQ. But our awesome car attendant made us lunch reservations for 25 minutes after we boarded. We are hanging out in the observation car while he makes up our room before lunch. (And yes, that's Andy playing Scrabble on the Kindle.)

All good things must come to an end-

Waiting for the train at the ABQ station. We LOVED our special time with family but are REALLY looking forward to our return to southeastern Ohio.

Day One of Babysiting

Today was the first day Andy and I watched Zach. We will return to blogging about our train adventures when we begin our return trip on Monday, March 19th.

WE MADE IT!

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

White Out In the Mountains

AKA "Glad I'm not driving in this!"

Coloring a Train Picture on a Train

Yet another S-curve

Front of the train going into Raton Pass

Steepest railroad grade in the US. It parallels the Santa Fe Trail.

Pringles: The Perfect Train Snack Food

Chillin in CO

We're taking it easy after breakfast.

Breakfast!

Authentic Pullman French Toast and awesome coffee!

Kansas Sunrise

Today's only regret -

I spent five hours in my favorite US city and was only outside on train platforms. I would have loved to walk around downtown but feared for our safety. So I did the next best thing and bought a Chicago Tribune, my favorite US newspaper.

Sunset over the Mississippi

No, I'm not making this up!

In Honor of Ingeborg -

My favorite fictional Norwegian pioneer, I had a lemon cake with blueberries and strawberries. (When I would get nervous about preparing for this journey, I would tell myself "At least you speak English, unlike Ingeborg."

Dinner with Dignity

Meals in the Dining Car are "free" with our sleeping berth. We both had salad and rolls. Andy had pizza and veggies. I had vegetarian lasagna rolls (recommended by our attendant since she's a "noodle girl) with veggies. We could have even had strip steak!

Observation Car

Hawk Eye Matzke noticed a HUGE wind farm on the horizon.

Travel Scrabble

The board came out within five minutes of departure!

Sit back, relax, and let the rails do the work!

So saith our conductor and how very true! Rail travel is such a pleasant way to go.

What a day! We LOVE traveling by train. My belly is full of dining car yums and we are hitting the hay. I promise to blog more tomorrow.

Details in a bit but we wanted to let everyone know we've boarded the Southwest Chief. Next stop (for us), Albuquerque!

One train down, one to go!

We'll we pulled into Union Station right on time after riding right past US Cellular Field! Andy was a real trooper walking in between two loud, smelly locomotives while pulling his suitcase and carrying his fun bag. A super kind ticket agent checked our suitcases and gave us all the information we needed about the Food Court and First Class Lounge. The latter is the bomb and where I am blogging from right now. It is the Disney World of waiting train waiting rooms: couches, carpet, free pop and muffins, and clean restrooms. We also get to check our backpacks in a coat room wIth a security guard. It made going up to the Food Court for brunch (and blessed coffee) a lot easier.
Here's the kicker: The grandma on the couch next to us is LUTHERAN. Her children and grandchildren are all Lutheran teachers! It's a small, small world!

Old Stomping Grounds

We just passed through Lowell, IN. Andy wasn't too excited to see the town where Mama used to do her laundry when she taught in Crown Point and lived in Hebron. But it brought back pleasant memories of living in Dinwiddie!

It's the simple things -

We got a much coveted electric outlet for our coach seats! The handy tip I read online about bringing along an extension cord really helps!

We're Off!