I Miss Them!

Our two youngest boys were invited to go with Brooke and Ricky and family last Thursday to the Smokey Mountains to see SNOW!! Monroe and I had planned to take a short family trip up to Tennessee to see some snow this winter but Monroe's back is not doing too well since his back surgery in October. It is just too painful for him to sit more than 30 minutes at a time. So, to say the boys were elated with this invitation would be putting in mildly!

Brent and Bradley are not home much with school and jobs so our house has been extremely quiet the past 4 days and I hate it! I miss the antics of the two younger ones, like this for example:

I even miss the gross surprises when I turn around to see this:

And the times when they are so bored that they get creative and make paper clothes....LOL!

And I do so miss these 3 lovies!!!

Oh. I miss Brooke and Ricky too ;-)

My dear family is on the way home. They had such adventures! I can't wait to hear all their stories. Most importantly they got to see SNOW and lots of it! They got to spend every day playing in the snow. I let Brandon take my camera so I will have pictures to show soon. I will keep you posted....

Nonna's Baby Girl Is Sick

Let me just begin by saying that girls are most assuredly different than boys!! Oh the drama and emotions this little darling displays!! Reese or Reesie Pie as I call her, has been feeling bad the past few days. Brooke gave her medicine and watched her for a few days to see if she would begin to feel better (I can tell she is the third child because Mom and Dad didn't head to the Doc right away!).

After about 3 days of Reese moaning as she walked around the house, Brooke said if she wasn't moaning she had her little bottom lip poked out(ok I can't handle the pouty lip, it melts Nonna's heart)-Mom decided to let the Doc take a look and see what was causing all the fuss.

Brooke was expecting some sort of terrible infection somewhere by the way Reese had been behaving. As it turns out, the Doctor couldn't find anything wrong except the very beginning of ear infection. Thankfully, Reese has not been very sick for the past year and I suppose she just couldn't figure out what was wrong with herself!

Oh. My. Goodness. What is she going to do when she loses her first tooth???

I must confess something. All the pictures above were taken by Brooke except the last one. I only wish I could take such nice pictures..... Brooke keep your opinions to yourself!

Candied Lemon Peel

Have you ever eaten candied lemon peel? I had not until last year. I was at my dear friend Kay's house and she had just finished a batch. She let me try some of her candied citrus and let me tell you it was DELICIOUS!! She graciously shared the recipe with me. After listening to her tell me all the steps involved I thought I probably would never give it a try. However, another precious friend, Nicki (actually she is pretty close to being a daughter to me) allowed me to pick all the lemons on the tree in her yard last week. Thank you, Nicki!!



I knew I wanted to freeze the lemon juice for later use. I decided to give the candied peel a try as well. I grabbed two of my boys to help in the process and we got started.



I wanted to share the steps with you so you can give this a try sometime. It really is worth the effort. The nice thing about it is you can make a small batch or big batch. I used a lot but then I had some help.



First of all lightly scrub the fruit. If it is not organic, I would use Veggiewash.

Next, peel the fruit getting as little of the white pith as possible. This is very important when the peel begins to dry. I was still able to juice my lemons because there was so much of the white pith left on the fruit. (Sorry about the poor color of these pictures. I have a new camera and I am still learning all the settings). Next, take some kitchen scissors and cut the peel into thin strips. I cut the pieces you see in the picture below into half the width shown.

Maybe you can see how I cut the thin strips in the pot below. After cutting, cover the peel with water and bring to a gentle, rolling boil. Boil for 20 minutes. Then pour off the water. Repeat this process two more times.

After the third boiling step, drain and gently dry the peel. I used a towel to dry mine.

Next, lay wax paper out on the counter top or surface you have chosen. Sprinkle the wax paper with sugar and lay the peel out in a thin layer. Sprinkle more sugar on top. That is all there is to it! A couple of times each day use your fingers and gently stir the strips so they are evenly coated with the sugar. Then sprinkle another layer of fresh sugar on top. This is the drying process and it will take up to 4 days. After the first day, you will begin to see moisture on the peel and the sugar will begin to clump. That is why it is important to keep stirring and sugaring each day.

When the drying is done the peel will look shriveled and it will be slightly crispy in texture. That is how you will know it is finished. Store your candied peel in a jar or airtight container. I am not sure of the shelf life because around my house this delicacy will not last long enough to spoil!!

Wouldn't this make a nice Christmas gift for that hard-to-buy for person on your list? I wonder if you could add this to breads or muffins? It is wonderful to nibble on with a cup of hot tea! The possibilities are endless! C'mon give it a try!

The "Fire Camp"

Our grandsons, Parker and Luke, are growing up so fast. One of their very favorite things to do is to come over to Nonna and Poppa's house. Brooke says the boys get so excited when they find out they are coming for a visit. She will not even stop by to drop something off to me if she can not stay because they will cry all the way home. Of course this just makes Nonna and Poppa over-joyed!
Lately we have been enjoying the cold (not freezing!) nights outdoors by having a cookout/campfire. Parker and Luke unintentionally have named this outing a firecamp! They absolutely love to have their firecamp in the evenings whenever they possibly can.

Even little Reese gets in on the fun. This is the rare occasion that she is not dressed in something girly! Don't tell her mother but she kinda likes getting dirty too (tee...heee...heee!)

Monroe and the boys have built an open fire stove pit for us to cook on. We have tried stew and chili and both were delicious. Love that cast iron!! Why is it that food tastes so much better when it is cooked outdoors?

Tonight as Poppa and Parker were putting out the "fire camp" with the water hose Parker told Poppa he wanted to make a wish before they put it out. After they finished dousing the fire Parker told Poppa what he wished for. Would you like to know his wish? Because I was dying to know what my four year old grandson would make a wish for. This is so cute. He wished that Parker, Poppa and Daddy could all go hunting and get a deer. Ain't that just precious!

A Trip To The Farmer's Market

Every Wednesday our city has a Farmer's Market downtown where I love to go and purchase fresh produce. This week I asked my dear hubby if he would like to come along with me. He has been pretty much home bound since his back surgery the end of October and I knew he was ready to get out of the house. It is very painful for him if he has to sit or stand for very long so this quick trip seemed like the perfect opportunity.

While visiting one of the farmer's booths we found the most beautiful green tomatoes! Now my boys-everyone of them-LOVE fried green tomatoes. Monroe and I had to have a basket of these beauties. We could taste fried tomatoes just looking at them! Happy with our purchase, we went on to the other produce stands and finished our shopping.

On our way to the truck we both realized that just one basket (4 tomatoes) would not be enough to feed our family. But at $3.50 per basket I was not ready to buy any more. However, my husband was not going to leave without another basket of tomatoes. Now you must understand how our grocery budget works. Basically, Monroe has NO idea how to stretch our money when it comes to food. I have always bought the groceries and he never. ever. goes with me to the grocery store. I didn't argue with him though and we went right back over to the booth with the green tomatoes and bought yet another basket. $7.00 for a side dish people!! I would never pay that much for a vegetable for one meal. I glanced over at my business partner. Humpf-he wasn't worried about it one bit. "Do you realize we just paid $7.00 for one meal of tomatoes?" I asked. "Oh well, they(our boys) are worth it." was his reply. And that was the end of it.

We went home and had fried green tomatoes for lunch and they were just as delicious as we thought they would be!!

I decided to show how I make mine in case this blog has inspired someone out there to give fried green tomatoes a try. First of all, start with very hard and green tomatoes otherwise they get all soft and mushy when frying. Wash and slice them. Then salt and pepper.


Next I mix one part cornmeal and one part flour. Then coat each tomato in this mixture.

Get your grease, I use peanut oil or homemade lard, nice and hot and gently lay the slices into the grease. If you get your oil too hot the flour that settles in the bottom of the pan tends to burn and that causes the tomatoes to taste burnt. Lightly brown on each side and that's all there is to it! Oh, if you have cast iron ware this is one of the foods you just have to cook in cast iron! There is no comparison to the end result.....really!

And here they are crispy, hot and oh so delicious!
How do you cook your fried green tomatoes?

Hmmm....it is almost time to make a trip to the grocery store. Note to self: Do not ask hubby to come along ;-)

It's Almost Christmas!

Once again the Christmas Season is fast approaching. It seems that no matter how hard I try to slow down and enjoy the days with my family and friends I find myself out of breath and rushing to finish last minute plans. With money in short supply this year I can't even say I spent a lot of time waiting in lines and/or waiting in traffic. Where has the time gone? I don't know!

It doesn't dampen my holiday spirit though. I love, love, love Christmas time!! Tomorrow I plan to spend the day prepping the food and beginning to bake for Christmas day. Our family will be attending the candlelight Christmas Eve Service at our church. This is such a sweet and special service we have every Christmas Eve. I will also make time to play Rokenbok with Bryce and Brandon too. The Rokenbok set is only played with during our Christmas break. The boys look forward to setting it up each year. I try to add a new piece to the collection each year as well. The set has grown so big that this year we assembled it in the garage. Here it is still in the set up stage. If you are not familiar with Rokenbok you should go to the website. They have some great video of the set in action. Just go to Rokenbok.com

Brooke, Ricky and the little ones will be spending Christmas day at our house. I am so very glad that they still enjoy coming over on Christmas morning. We always wait for them to come over before we open our gifts. I hope my older boys are making a mental note of their sister's holiday rituals ;-) I would love to have all of my future daughter-in-laws and grandchildren at my house on Christmas Day!!

I wanted to share a few of my Christmas decorations and crafts I have out this year. I decided to have a more "natural-rustic" tree. It just seems to fit with our lifestyle. I have tried having a more sparkly, glittery tree but it never looked right. So, I put together this garland on burlap to decorate the tree and I love it! The ornaments are rustic looking as well.

We are working on this Christmas puzzle. It is fun to watch the puzzle come together as different ones stop and work on it.

I am proud of my garage sale find a few weeks ago! Isn't this pillow adorable? It cost me $2.00!

Bradley helped a friend of his move a couple of weeks ago. The day after the move I saw this little Christmas tree lying haphazardly in the back seat of my truck. I am not a big fan of ceramics but I picked this little tree up to keep it from getting broken and.......

look what I found on the underside....
Yep! It's a real McCoy!!! We researched it on the internet and discovered that it has a base that it sits on. I asked Bradley if he remembered seeing a green base to match. Of course he paid no attention to that type of thing. I could not find the value of this tree and it may not be worth very much without the base. I would love to find out more about it.

I also found this little tart burner at the same yard sale that I mentioned earlier. It was brand new!

And I saved the best for last. My precious nativity scene. I have had this set for about 20 years and I still love it as much as the first day I got it. It is a Fontanini collection so I have been able to slowly add pieces to it through the years. Believe it or not, I have actually found a couple of pieces at garage sales and clearance shelves! One of the things I love about this set is that my children and grandchildren can set it up and move the pieces around as much as they like because it is unbreakable. Helping Mom/Nonna set up the nativity scene is a memory I would like for them to keep in their heart forever!
To all of my dear family and friends I pray you all have a blessed and Holy Christmas Day!!

Quail Anyone?

Of all the many different kinds of animals we have raised/taken in here at our farm we have never had any experience with quail. A friend of ours started the hobby of raising quail. He became too busy to care for them so we took over and here we are with a quail pen in our yard!
The pen was set up to encourage the hens to lay. They were doing a great job too. Now that the days are shorter they have stopped laying altogether. When they were laying we would gather the eggs daily and put them in the incubator.

As they hatched we put them in this smaller pen that was kept in my LAUNDRY ROOM! We learned an important lesson in a terrible way. We put the younger quail in with the adult quail too early. They looked almost the same size so we thought they would be safe. We kept a check on them for a couple of hours and all was fine. However, the next morning when we went in to feed them the older quail had pecked the younger ones in the head and they ended up dying. We knew to watch for this because chickens will do the same thing to the young chicks unless a mother is there to protect her little ones. We felt just awful about our mistake.

Now you may be wondering what we are going to do with all these quail. Trust me, I wondered the same thing ;-) However, my guys had a plan all along. They are raising the quail to release them in the field behind our house. Then they want to go quail hunting. We will, of course, be eating the quail. Our boys have been taught by their father to treat all animals humanely and with respect. Also, they know that when they go hunting to kill an animal it is to provide food for the family.

I remember a time when Brandon killed a squirrel without asking his Dad. Guess what Brandon ate? Yep. He had squirrel for supper. He didn't mind though. He thought it was pretty cool because he cleaned it and cooked it over an open fire outside.

Have you ever eaten quail?