A Delicious Birthday Dinner

S11 chose steak, Caesar salad and rolls for his birthday meal.  The sirloin steaks came from our own cattle.  It was too cold for me to want to grill steaks outdoors.  The steaks I've made indoors have not really been all that great so I went in search of a better steak recipe.  Thanks to Jessie Cross at The Hungry Mouse I found this recipe.  It's not so much a recipe.  It's more a technique.  It is easy, delicious and the only way I will make steak when the grill is not a good option.  Honestly, I may even do this when the grill is a good option.  Seriously, go check out The Hungry Mouse.  Even if you don't want to make steak there are a ton of recipes and other things over there and the pictures are gorgeous.

To go with the steak I tried a new roll recipe from my KitchenAid cookbook.  It was perfect!  I'm always struggling to get bread made in time for dinner.  For some reason, thinking of side dishes at 3pm just doesn't come easily.  This recipe is a wonderful solution to my inability to get my timing right.

KitchenAid Sixty-Minute Dinner Rolls

1/2 cup low-fat milk

1/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons butter
 6 3/4 teaspoons dry active yeast (3 packages yeast)
1 1/2 cups warm water (105F – 115F)
5 – 6 cups all-purpose flour

In a small saucepan,over low heat stir milk, sugar, and butter together. Heat over low heat until butter melts. Cool until lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer bowl. (I warm my mixer bowl by filling it with hot water before I need it.  Right before I'm ready to get started I empty the bowl, dry it, and attach it to the mixer base.)  Add lukewarm milk mixture and 4 1/2 cups flour to yeast mixture.  Using a dough hook, mix on low speed for about 1 minute. With the mixer still going, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix about 2 minutes until dough starts to clean the sides of the bowl. Knead on low speed for about 2 more minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic – the dough will still be slightly sticky to the touch.

Place dough in a greased bowl, turning it to grease the top. Cover the dough with a clean, dry dish towel, and let it rise in a warm place, free from draft, for about 15 minutes.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 24 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball, and place on baking sheet.  Cover the rolls with the dish towel, and let the dough rise for about 15 minutes. (The recipe in the book suggests making fancier rolls by cutting the large rolls into four equal pieces and cooking them in a muffin pan or rolling them out and making curlicues.  To me, that adds to the time and effort required.  Complicated isn't necessarily tastier.)

Bake at 425ºF for 12 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown. Remove from pans immediately, and cool on wire racks.

Monday Munchies: Brownie Batter Dip

This recipe is brought to you thanks to H13.  She made it last night as part of our Super Bowl snacks.  If your family is like ours, the food and the commercials are the main reason for watching the game.  With that understanding, you can see how important it is to make the food good.  H13 certainly came through with this tasty treat.

You can find the recipe here at Our Every Day Dinners but I wanted to post it again so you don't have to go looking.  I would recommend that you check out the site though.  There's lots of good stuff there. 

Brownie Batter Dip

1 8 oz package softened cream cheese

1/2 cup softened butter
2 cups powdered sugar
heaping 1/4 cup cocoa powder
heaping 1/4 cup flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk, adding more if needed

Mix the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer. Add the powdered sugar and milk slowly. Add the cocoa, flour, brown sugar, and vanilla, and mix well.

We served the dip with pretzels, graham crackers, and unsweetened banana chips.  The unsweetened banana chips are, frankly, nasty on their own, but they were just right with this dip.

Also, we didn't have any powdered sugar.  A few years ago that missing ingredient would have sent us searching for another recipe.  We've come a long way in the do it yourself department so H13 made her own powdered sugar.  And guess what, powdered sugar is just regular sugar... wait for it... powdered.  Who knew?!  If you need powdered sugar you put the equivalent amount of white sugar in a blender and blend/pulse until you have sugar that is... you guessed it ...powdered.  I know, it's amazing, isn't it?!  If you want a more serious set of instructions check here but the ones that I've given really do work.

Anyway, with or without the diy powdered sugar this brownie batter dip really is worth making and sharing.

Advent: Day 23 - Christmas Adam

Today was our day to celebrate being a family at Christmas time.  I know, you are probably wondering what we've been doing for the last 23 days if not celebrating.  And, you are right.  We have celebrated all God's blessings for the last four weeks.  But, today was special.

First, we participated in the Nativity play at church.  H13 read the narration.  S10 was a wiseman and a shepherd.  M8 was the angel.  I wrote and directed the program.  If I do say so myself, it was lovely. 

After church, we enjoyed our normal Christmas Adam activities.  Each year we take this day and celebrate Christmas Adam, the day before Christmas Eve because as everyone knows Adam came before Eve.  Yes, it's a little goofy but we love it.  Here is a post I wrote several years ago about our Christmas Adam tradition. 

Today we shopped at a new Dollar Tree.  The kids are older and we just handed them their money and turned them loose.  They completed their shopping in less than half an hour.  They wrapped their own gifts without help.  Shane asked if plastic grocery bags were acceptable wrapping materials.  Nice try but, no, they aren't.  After our shopping was complete we enjoyed lunch at Applebee's, laughing and talking through it.  Our waitress was chatty and fun.  Our food was good.  The company was excellent.

A successful tradition continues.

Advent: Day 21 - Winter Solstice

Another tradition continues.  Despite the possible end of the world, despite snow and ice, the party went on. 

The food was an Italian theme.  We enjoyed several kinds of olives, roasted peppers, pepperoncini, two types of salami, a variety of cheeses, bread sticks, pasta fagioli, and meatballs.  Dessert included flourless chocolate cake and three types of mini cupcakes.  Delicious!

Once again, new friends and neighbors mingled with old friends we hadn't seen in awhile.  The weather kept the phone and text buzzing with cancellations all day Friday but we still had over 30 people enjoying our hospitality.  The kids played inside and out.  I understand that an epic snowball battle took place.  Irish cream was served and our night was merry and light.  Once again, we did our best to make this long dark night a little lighter.

Advent: Day 18 - Breakfast for Supper

Pancake sundaes, sausage and quiche were the highlights of this breakfast for supper. 

Everyone loved the concept.  We may have to do this more often.

Advent: Day 17 - Christmas Cards

Our family activity this evening was to sign, fold, stuff, and stamp all our cards.

This is the picture from our Christmas card this year.

These are two other pictures that I think turned out especially well.

Here's a copy of the Christmas letter:

The White House Farm Follies
2012

I will start by saying; it has been another blessed year. God continues to amaze us with His grace, mercy and forgiveness.

M is now 8 years old. She played soccer in both spring and fall. She participated in a soccer camp this year and learned some amazing new moves. You will have to ask her to show you the scorpion move sometime. She also became an expert with the hula hoop.

S is now 10 years old. He played football again this year. This year he played for The Waterford Wildcats. Once again, Shane was recognized as one of the most enthusiastic and dedicated players by the coaching staff. In addition, he’s an artist and aspiring author.

H is now 13 years old. She is an avid reader. No….she is a devourer of books. She also is becoming quite the archer. During the 4H fall shooting sports season, Halley placed 1st in her division. Yea, she beat the boys too.

K is now 16 years old. Can u say OMG! She is driving now in her 2001 black VW Cabrio convertible. This year she is studying cosmetology at the career center and taking courses to meet her high school requirements. Her plans are to get her cosmetology license and then use it to work her way through college. I like that plan a lot! It includes college and less pay out for me.

Robin is now….Oh, I am not that stupid. She has really bought into the whole farming thing. Robin loves going to the farmer’s auction and then canning tomato sauce, green beans, corn, salsa, eggplant, etc. Home schooling H, S, and M is still the big activity. This year she was selected by Operation Christmas Child to be a community relations regional coordinator. Staying busy is not a problem for her.

Me? Oh, I had a little heart issue in July. After a quadruple by-pass, I am now officially part of the zipper club. I went back to work in September and completed cardio rehab in November. I am healthier now than I have been in years. God is good, all the time.

On the farm side, we were a bit more successful this year. We raised and butchered our first steer and T-bone is delicious. We added a dozen Easter egg chickens to our laying flock and are now receiving more pink, green and blue eggs than we can eat. We raised and harvested another 100 meat chickens and our own Thanksgiving turkey. We currently have two steer on pasture. The dogs and cat are doing well. Gardening and the bees were not as successful this year as part of July, August and September were focused on my recovery.

We did get off the farm a bit. Robin, H, S, and M spent time in Norfolk, VA with Robin’s sister, Christy. While there they got to tour Yorktown, Jamestown and Williamsburg. In June, we all spent a week in Atlanta. In addition to our sightseeing in Atlanta, we were blessed to visit with Aunt Ginger, George and Annie Westlund and their children. A fun day at Stone Mountain, GA was definitely a highlight. After that we joined the Westlund family for Shoopa! in Tybee Island. In July we became jet setters, and traveled to Idaho to help my parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Since then we’ve been sticking pretty close to home. We were blessed to have lots of family visit us through the fall. Sandy Schmidt, Christy Westlund, and Julie McMahon have all been by at least twice. Amy Daniels and Sarah IntVeld, with her children, have also dropped in. Bill and Katie Westlund have made numerous stops on their way criss-crossing the country. It’s wonderful that all roads lead through Ohio. Jim and Jill Wells have become regular guests and are wonderful fans for all sporting events.

We love company and love to show people our farm and farm animals. Stop in for a visit or a long stay.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year



Advent: Day 14 & 15 - Another Change in Plans

On Friday, we took a family walk then Rob and I went Christmas shopping and to his department Christmas party.  The kids picked up McDonald's for dinner and watched t.v.  Not exactly family Advent activities but necessary none the less.

On Saturday, we enjoyed a fire in the fireplace

 and made melting snowman cupcakes for the church Christmas dinner. 

Advent: Days 10, 11 & 12 - Candlelight Celebration, Cookies, and Conversation

We are still having a wonderful time with our Advent celebrations.  I just haven't been great about taking pictures and getting them posted.  This week we made gingerbread, but we still have the cookies to cut, bake and decorate.  The dough is waiting patiently in the refrigerator.  Things got busy on Monday and Tuesday nights.  

Tuesday we had our last co-op of the year and then went to the library.  Because of some errands that took longer than expected (Don't they always?!), we arrived at the library just a little late for the Christmas party.  We all got to enjoy grilled cheese sandwiches cut like gingerbread men and marshmallow snowmen.  After enjoying the library Christmas party and checking out a generous number of books, we took our food donation to the local food bank. That was a worthwhile adventure and one that we will repeat with more regularity.

Tuesday we followed the Advent plan as previously scheduled.  December 11 is my mother's birthday so a candle light dinner was the perfect way to celebrate.  I love celebrating birthdays even when the people we are celebrating can't be there to join us.  My picture doesn't really show our lovely ambiance because my flash works really well and I don't really understand all my camera's settings.  You'll just have to believe that the lights were out and that we did indeed have dinner by candle light. 



We even enjoyed birthday cake!  My Grandmother Westlund's recipe.  Someday I may share it here.

 On December 12 we made cookies, lots and lots of cookies.  Nutmeg, Lemon, and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip.  We are delivering cookie plates to our neighbors on December 13 so we had to get ready. 

Once the cookie bake-athon was done we met in the living room for a cookie and eggnog snack and Christmas conversation.  I love hearing my children talk about their favorite Christmas traditions and things the are looking forward to this year.  The conversation was full of side-tracks and off the wall comments but was fun. 

Advent: Day 6 - Make Reindeer Cookies

We made our reindeer cookies using Nutter Butter cookies, small pretzels, mini m&ms, and milk chocolate melting discs. 

 K16 melted 1 cup of the discs in the microwave.  H13 lined a pan with parchment paper.

We dunked the Nutter Butters in the melted chocolate, being sure to coat thoroughly. No fancy technique here, just a spoon to scoop out the cookies. 

We broke a pretzel in half then snapped off pieces until it looked like antlers to us. 

We stuck the pretzels into the melted chocolate covered cookies.  The chocolate did a great job of fastening the antler to the reindeer. 

We stuck the m&ms on the chocolate covered cookies to represent eyes and a nose.  Sometimes we even made sure the m side was face down.

The most difficult part of this project was leaving the reindeer alone so the chocolate could harden.

The easiest part of this project was eating the completed cookies.

Advent: Day 5 - Ferris Bueller's Day Off

If you look back at my original advent list you'll probably notice that day 5 does not say anything about Ferris Bueller.  Day 5 was suppose to be "Make reindeer cookies."  Ferris Bueller and reindeer have nothing in common that I can think of.  In fact, I don't know that Ferris Bueller has anything to do with Christmas.  If I thought real hard, maybe did a six degree of separation type association, I might be able to connect Ferris Bueller and Christmas but there's really no need.

I can connect Ferris Bueller to our advent celebration because I couldn't find Nutter Butters.  Since I couldn't find Nutter Butters at the grocery store and I don't know how to make reindeer cookies without Nutter Butters plans had to change. The mother of four is nothing if not flexible.  I had a plan B then M8 and S10 were invited to go to McDonald's for dinner with the neighbors.  Scrap plan B, go to plan C.  Thankfully, I picked up Ferris Bueller at the library today. 

I realized a few weeks ago that my children had never seen Ferris Bueller.  We have watched a number of the great 80s flicks.  John Hughes is as timely now as he was when I was a teenager.  Somehow, we had missed Ferris.  Tonight, that situation was corrected.  I think it's safe to say that I have created a new generation of Ferris fans.  Save Ferris!

Advent: Day 3 - Make Hot Chocolate Floats + Read Your Favorite Christmas Book

The Jesse Tree: A Boat Full of Animals

The story of Noah

Advent: Day 2- Buy Gifts for a Needy Child

This evening we spent time at Kohl's and Crafts 2000 buying gifts for a needy child.  We enjoyed picking out the headphones that our child had requested.  We also enjoyed debating style and color for the sweaters, shirts and jackets we selected.  We included a few gift cards and a monogram necklace just because we thought they would be nice to receive.  When all was said and done we were within $1 of our budgeted amount.

Wrapping the gifts was part of our evening that I hadn't anticipated.  It was a joy to have help with this part of gift giving.

Even though giving to others won't be on our advent schedule every Sunday evening, I think adding a giving activity on Sunday might not be a bad idea.

The Jesse Tree: Paradise Garden

The story of the fall of man

The Jesse Tree: Sun and Moon

The story of Creation

The Jesse Tree

I learned about Jesse trees about two years ago.  Last year I looked on etsy.com for Jesse tree ornaments and just couldn't settle on anything.  I really wanted to make my own ornaments but it seemed like one more thing.  I did purchase The Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean with the intention of using it this year.

The children are older now and craft projects are often a family fun filled time.  With a Thanksgiving tree that can easily transition to a Jesse tree, a yard full of branches, two teenage daughters, and a husband qualified to train previously mentioned daughters in the safe use of power tools, this seems like the perfect year for a Jesse tree.

We took the notes of thankfulness off the tree and replaced them with some plain gold ornaments. 

I selected several branches from our yard to be used for our Jesse ornaments.  K16 learned to cut discs using the circular saw.

H13 used the drill to create a hole for hanging each ornament.

One hundred twenty five ornaments ready for drying.  I placed them on the oven racks at 217 degrees for an hour to help dry the wood so we could use them right away.

The plan is for each child to paint an ornament each day as we read the selection from The Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean.  We'll seal the ornaments with Modge Podge and hang them from the tree.  I anticipate the project will be worthwhile and challenging.  I look forward to sharing our progress with you.

Advent: Day 1 - Decorate Sugar Cookies

S10 opened the first door this morning and read the slip of paper, "Devour sugar cookies."  Not quite, but he had the right idea.  We will devour the cookies I'm sure but, first we will decorate them.



S10 is creating an army of sugar cookie orcs.



Advent 2012

I love the holiday season.  My holiday celebrations kick off with the Operation Christmas Child collection week and continue through Epiphany.  Some years I can even stretch things through Valentine's Day.  This year our family is older and I'm really excited about the opportunities and freedom that age bring.

A few years ago I purchased an advent calendar at Target.  In the past, I've put a few preplanned activities and a lot of candy in the little doors.  This year I decided I want advent to be all about family time.  I wrote a family-oriented activity on a piece of green paper and placed each activity in a door.   There's no peeking allowed.  Not even Rob knows what to expect each day.  I love a surprise so I'm thrilled with that aspect.  Of course, I'm counting on the fact that up until now no one in my immediate family is interested in my blog.

Here is the list of the activity behind each door:
1 Decorate sugar cookies
2 Buy gifts for a needy child
3 Make hot chocolate floats and read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
4 Game night
5 Make reindeer cookies Watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off
6 Make Grinch punch and watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas  Make reindeer cookies
7 Gaze at winter stars Make Grinch punch and watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas
8 Make gingerbread guys KERC Christmas Party
9 See a play - Sip eggnog and eat cookies Buy food for food pantry
10 Send post cards to cousins
11 Have dinner by candlelight
12 Share stories and a snack by the Christmas tree
13 Celebrate St. Lucia Day with a tea party - Deliver neighbor gifts

14 Cut out paper snowflakes

15 Read O. Henry’s Gift of the Magi

16 Take a long winter’s nap then make breakfast for dinner and eat in pajamas

17 Make candy cane milk shakes

18 Take a drive to look at Christmas lights

19 Holiday Dance Party!

20 Make a popcorn garland

21 Make ornaments for the birds

22 Take a moonlit walk

23 Give someone a gift anonymously

24 Dress up for a special holiday dinner at your own house - Watch "It's a Wonderful Life"

25 Read the Christmas story from The Bible

Many of these are activities that I consider to be traditions.  I love the idea of these traditions becoming part of a daily event that we can all anticipate.  I also love the idea that making a plan for daily family time will give us all a part and ownership of that time and that it might carry over beyond the holiday season.

In addition to these daily activities, we are making a Jesse tree.  I'll tell you more about that in another post.  My plan is to share pictures and commentary about our daily activities and about the Jesse tree.  I hope you enjoy sharing the advent season with us.

Note:  I am editing this list as we go through so you will be able to see what I planned and what we ended up with.  It's always good to be flexible.

Wordless Wednesday: Thanksgiving Day Parade Breakfast and Bingo

Fruit cornucopia

Fruit cornucopias, vanilla yogurt and chocolate chip coffee cake

Breakfast and parade bingo with the family.

Wordless Wednesday: Halloween 2012

After a rainy week, we are ready for trick or treat.

But is the neighborhood ready for us?

My costume this year, an Iron Chef.