Around, About and All Over the Place with a Couple of Recipes Thrown In

This weekend I had so much that needed to be done.  It seems that it is utterly impossible to get my to-do list done when Saturday rolls around, especially this Saturday when I discovered that our perishable food items were dwindling severely.   So my to-do list was dropped and Jeff and I headed out to Sam's.   We really like to stock up at Sam's.  Having cabinets and freezers full  of ingredients that we can use to make  good wholesome meals for our family is important to us.  Every time Jeff goes to Sam's with me he comments about how there sure is a lot of food in that one store.  LOL!  I very rarely buy any frozen or instant foods, sticking mainly to single ingredient foods like fresh fruits and vegetables and the HUGE cans of green beans.  I also stock up on toilet paper, oils, yeast, spices, sugars, honey, flours and dairy products.  Oh!  We can't forget the coffee, either!

Thankfully the skies were clear so we were able to put all of our groceries in the back of the truck.  We have a system.  I call home when we  leave Sam's and have the children make sure the kitchen is clean, countertops wiped off and floor swept.  When we pull onto our country road we again call home and have the boys and Kaelan meet us out at the truck with the wagons.  The kids load everything from the back of the truck into the wagons and haul the groceries inside.  I then unload the wagons putting the food either in the cabinets, in the freezer or in the fridge.   Then they take the wagons back out for another load.  This time, however, I wound up missing a large bag of fresh broccoli.  K says she knows it got in the house, but I have  not found it.  Jeff was looking forward to a large batch of my broccoli salad.  One time we found a roll of sausage that had been left in the truck for several days in warm weather.  Thankfully, it did not stink.  I have no idea where that bag of broccoli landed!

Saturday was a beautiful warm day and the children were able to be outside for most of the day.  Jordan has been making more boxes for our raised bed garden.  He has been busy researching and planning for our garden.  It will soon be time to gather seeds, amend the soil and start planting.  He is excited about eating some fresh tomatoes!

While all the younger children were out playing or working Devin decided to get creative.  A few months ago she bought a painted canvas at a small boutique and paid over $30 for it.  She decided she could make another one herself.   She has never really painted before except for school projects, but once she decides to do something, she does it well.  In fact, a friend encouraged her to start drawing when she was in her mid-teens.  We were studying the Civil War and she was inspired to draw a portrait of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson.  Her drawing placed at a local art contest and at a state wide contest.  And we named our next child Thomas Jonathan Jackson Chamblee!!

In case you can't read the scripture:  "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, 

in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Romans 5: 8

And I tried my hand at making poptarts from scratch.  Although I suppose you can't really call them poptarts, so I'll just say tarts.  Look for the recipe and pictures here.  You must know that I changed the recipe!!  It calls for yogurt and I was out (making some tonight), so I substituted buttermilk.  I used mainly fresh ground whole wheat flour, but next time I will use more all-purpose flour as the crust was a bit heavier than we would prefer.  I wound up making two batches.  One batch was with my homemade strawberry jam.  The second batch I made with my homemade applesauce to which I added some brown sugar and cinnamon.  We sampled them for dessert Saturday night and I got the biggest compliment!  Kaelan declared they are do-overs which means they liked them well enough to want them again!  We had some for breakfast Sunday morning and I froze the rest of them for breakfast another day this week.

I know a lot of you are expecting some very cold weather in the next few days, so I will leave you with a delicious broccoli soup recipe.  You know,  just in case you find my missing bag of broccoli.

Broccoli Cheese Soup


5 cups broccoli florets
6 cups chicken broth  (I use homemade)
1 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 cup flour
3 cups finely grated cheddar cheese

Cook broccoli until tender in the chicken broth.  Remove broccoli from broth with a slotted spoon.  Place into your blender.  I can do about half of the broccoli at a time.  Add some of the broth to the blender as well.  Blend until you reach the desired texture.  My kids don't want to see chunks of broccoli, so I pretty much puree it.  Add back to  your pot.  Add milk and flour to your blender and mix well.  Add this to your pot and stir with whisk.  Add 1 t. of salt, freshly grated pepper and any other seasoning you desire.  I've used thyme, red pepper flakes and Spike seasoning at different times.  When soup has thickened add your cheese and continue stirring until melted through.  Serve.  I think a small dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of chopped bacon would be very pretty on this soup.  Sour cream and bacon would probably taste pretty good, too!  LOL!

I have been bagging up the leftovers and freezing them.  I will pull out a bag or two for lunch this week and let you know how it turns out from frozen.  I don't see why it wouldn't be just as good.