Kamut and "Nativity"

Today I cooked up some Kamut. The amount of water Chef Brad said to put in was too much. I was wondering if my Pressure Cooker was broken. It is chewy and tasty. It tastes like grain. I want to try a salad with it for dinner, but I have been working too hard and am tired by dinnertime. Megan and I bought these cool spoon strainers. First time I used it, pretty cool!

Steve talked me into buying all my Christmas food and etc. here locally. I'm glad. I was going to either stop on my way to get the kids for Christmas that would be the 23rd-way to crazy for me. So I thought I'll just go this week to Albany just to get the food and come straight back. That's when Steve said, how much more would it be when you consider the gas and the time. I realized he was right. I need to stay here. I have so much to do, not counting the wear and tear on me because of the driving.

I watched Nativity on Netflix tonight! FUN! Corney, not an acdemy award winner, but sweet great British humor. If you have'nt seen it, check it out!

love you all!

Spelt

I have had a goal to try all the different whole grains for breakfast. So one at a time I have been putting a new grain in my pressure cooker before I go to bed and cook it up. The next morning is a new adventure. Now it is not a new grain every day, it is more like a new one every week (at least that is my goal, not always a reality!)

I have to say Spelt is so far my favorite! It is totally bland in a pleasant way, but therefore picks up the flavors of the other food and spices in the cereal instead of drowning them out. It has a nice soft texture. I am excited to try it in salad. I will let you know.

Spelt is a super grain meaning it has the 8 essential amino acids (like meat), it is 60% more protein than wheat and contains lots of other good things. I will have a hard time not making it my regular breakfast cereal!! love you all!!

Christmas outfit

I wanted to look Christmassy, so I went and bought me some red tights and searched my closet for things to go with them. Voila! It was fun. The comment I got a lot was just that "you look Christmasy!" Plus I have worn these shoes before, but today they got a lot more attention. Love you all!

Thanksgiving with Mom and Dad

We had a very quiet Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad came and it was very nice. We had a good time. Mom and I worked our little fannies off cooking the day before and the day of. Mom brought a to die for Cheesecake-chocolate-how can you lose with that! I brined my turkey for the first time. I was soooooooo yummy. My dad took one bite and said mmm this is so tender and delicious. Now this wasn't the polite kind this was the react before you can think kind of comment. I was very pleased considering dad usually can't eat anything and react like that unless it is mom's. :-) I tried Chef Brads recipe it worked great. I also cooked it without stuffing for the first time. I loved what it did for the turkey, but will have to work on the stuffing turning out as good. I made two stuffings this year, mine and Chef Brads. Steve said he wasn't to excited about it, but I noticed he had 3 helpings over the two days. It had black quinoa, mushrooms, bacon and lots of other stuff. It was tasty! But again I need to figure out how to make it more moist. I think I cooked it too long. The coolest biggest surprise was the gravy-it was to die for. I did the turkey just like he said, with lots of fresh herbs, a couple of lemons, onions and some carrots. I didn't have to do anything but add thickening to the drippings-it was amazing. I cooked the turkey on a rack (my cooling rack :-) ) for the first time without foil. I was afraid it would make it dry, it didn't. The key was brineing it for 24 hours and taking it out of the oven at 160' instead of 180. I will do it that way again. Steve said I put too much rosemary, that will be hard for me to change, but I will compromise and do half as much, but I will not eliminate it! I also made Chef Brads orange rolls, they were a big hit! Steve wants them again but with more glaze. They had uncooked amaranth in them, I thought I would like them better without it, but Steve really liked it that way. So Thanks to Chef Brad we had a yummier healthier Thanksgiving dinner. It was a great two days. The day after Thanksgiving I put up all my outside lights. It was so much easier than last year. I love them!!! Well that is more than enough for now! love you all!!!!

Decorating for Christmas

The Saturday after Thanksgiving I set up the tree for Christmas. I was behind the tree doing something and bending down . I stood up and without paying attention when I stood up I turned really quickly and hit my head harder than I can ever remember. Steve asked me what happened and I finally said "I can't talk". Finally after I got it together we could not believe how big the goose egg was. I had Steve take pics of it. I wish I had taken pics a week later. The ugliness spread down to my eyelid and is still there. I still have a sharp bump on my head. Steve said it was a good thing I didn't hit my nose or it for sure would have been broken. Enjoy!
A few days later I had Steve help me get down the Santa's. It looked so cute and funny so we had to take a pic of them. Of course this isn't all of them, several I had already put in other places.Well, more another day!

October before Maddie was born.

I have always wanted to grow pumpkins and have my grandchildren come into my patch and pick out one. Unfortunately my Grand kids live too far away. :-( I also didn't know if pumpkins would grow. So this year I decided to give it a go. I have had two empty beds outside for the last two years. I planted pumpkins in one bed and corn (for decorations again assuming they wouldn't put on ears amazingly they did! ) in the other bed. Well, much to my wondering eyes should appear!? Pumpkins galore!! I knew they wouldn't all ripen in time or get big enough because I planted them late, sooooo I pruned them down to 4 pumpkins. It was so much fun to watch them grow. October came and I was wondering if they would turn Orange in time. We went to a show of Jake's in Portland and I asked Ruby if she would like a part green, part orange pumpkin. She thought that sounded pretty cool. They hadn't bought any yet so I asked them if they wanted them, they said yes. I brought them up to Portland on my way to Amy's.The beginning of my dream coming true! Two years from now when we are back in our house on Idaho Street, I plan on growing a pumpkin patch. I will then get Jake and Lyndsey to bring their chillins down or I will come and get them and have them pick out a pumpkin! Then I will have kids from church come. I'm pretty excited about this! I also will grow corn outside, I never dreamed it would actually produce corn! I used the stalks for my entry, they looked pretty cool!
Another thing I did this year was can lots of Italian tomatoes. The kitchen gets pretty wild but boy is it good. I also canned some zucchini soup. It turned out OK, I think I need to work on that. I also look forward to being down by my greenhouse on a daily basis so my zucchini doesn't get soooo big!One of the things I love about my greenhouse is the perfect environment for peppers!! I got so many this year that I froze some for the winter! Aren't they pretty!?Miles had a b-day in October, sad to say I didn't get to give him his present. I made these fun capes. I had to drop them off on my way to California and Miles wasn't there. Here are his super hero capes! Lyndsey says the one with the M is his favorite.Well it is getting late. Will post some more later! Love you all!