Having the Husband at Home

This might sound crazy, but after 6 years of marriage, 2 kids, and one on the way, I still adore my husband and wish he could be home all the time. I just don't get that he has to be at work full-time, or more to make ends meet, and be away from us so much!! Growing up, I just accepted that this is what all families did, what all husbands/fathers did. But with being a wife to a man I am totally in love with, I just don't accept it!
I know, I know. I'm crazy. Of course he has to go and work so that we can have money so that we can support our family and I am so blessed that I don't have to work so that I can stay home with my precious kiddos! I get that! I'm just saying, if I had it my way, I would keep him home!
Tad's 30th birthday is coming up, and for his birthday, he wanted to take a crazy hiking/camping trip with his brothers and a guy from our church. They took about 3 days and went to Texas and went hiking, swimming, running, and camping. They had a blast! I am so glad he went and had such a good time!
But it was hard for me. Tad hasn't ever been away since we have gotten married! I have gone away with the kids to Ohio numerous times to visit my family. But we have never been the ones to be left. It wasn't so much that I couldn't handle the kids for the long weekend. I just missed him and was worried about him and his long drive. And I'm not used to being away from him for days on end with almost no communication!
But alas! He is home, safe and sound! It makes me appreciate my time with him so much more. And even though he is back to work, and I miss him again, I am so glad that he is only at work and not in another state with no cell phone reception!!
So, to end this rambling of a blog post, I will just say that I am so in love with Tad, and am grateful for every minute I get to spend with him! I'm so glad that I married someone who I can't stand to be away from, and not the other way around! Love you, baby!

Shrimp and Cheese Grits with Okra

You will not believe how good this meal is! I was drooling over the ingredients in this melt-in-your-mouth, unbelievable dish! Now granted, you have to love shrimp, cheese, grits, and okra to start with, but if you do, like we do, then you will love this! I have been cooking almost all recipes from Rachael Ray's magazines lately, and I have not been disappointed, let me tell you! It seems like every single meal I have made of hers is not just average, but delicious! And this is definitely one of them! I can't wait to make it again!

Shrimp and Cheese Grits with Okra
Rachael Ray Magazine October 2010

One 12 ounce can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking grits
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese (about 5 ounces)
5 scallions, white and green portions thinly sliced separately
Salt and Pepper
6 slices bacon, thinly sliced crosswise
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 pound frozen cut okra, thawed and patted dry
3 tablespoons flour

1. In a large saucepan, bring 5 cups water and the evaporated milk to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low, stir in the grits, partially cover and simmer, stirring, until just thickened, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the cheese and three-quarters of the scallion greens, season with salt and pepper and cover to keep warm.

2. While the grits are cooking, in a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until almost crisp, about 8 minutes. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper and stir into the pan along with the scallion whites; cook until the shrimp is opaque, about 3 minutes. Transfer the shrimp mixture to a bowl; wipe out the skillet.


3. In the same skillet, heat the olive oil over high heat. Season the okra with salt and pepper and toss with the flour. Fry the okra in a single layer, stirring occasionally, until golden in spots, about 3 minutes; drain on paper towels and season with salt.
4. Divide the grits among 4 bowls and top with the shrimp mixture and okra. Sprinkle the remaining scallion greens on top.

This is one of my favorite meals I have made! When I am craving something delicious, gourmet- tasting, and savory, this would do the trick! You will love it!

Halloween!

We had so much fun on and around Halloween this year! It was fun being in a town with lots of little activities for little kids, that are geared towards them having fun and not being scared on Halloween! One thing we did this year was go to the big church in town for their Fall Festival! They had carnival games, tickets, food, a bouncy house, a hay ride, and little games for the kids! They had so much fun! Aunt Lydia came and helped me with the kids since Tad had to work, and we had a blast!

Maddy and Judah loved this game! They just grabbed a little duckie out of the pool, and whatever number was on the bottom of it determined which basket of prizes they got to pull out of! They did it several times! And it was just easy enough for Judah to participate!

Maddy at the bottom of the bouncy house. There were tons of kids in there!
Hay ride! Lydia said Judah loved it and was waving to people from it! It was one of his favorite things there!
Finally, we have a front porch to carve pumpkins on! No more messy clean-up in the house, or on our super tiny balcony in our old apartment! And Halloween day was around 75 degrees and sunny, it was beautiful!! Tad mainly did all the work and carving, but the kids had fun watching and playing outside!!


And I got to make pumpkin puree from my pie pumpkins and Tad made some really yummy roasted pumpkin seeds!
It was so warm, the kids didn't have to bundle up to go out!! Another church in town had a little trick-or-treating time at their church where people sat out in costumes and gave the kids candy. So we did that right before we went out to the houses. It was fun seeing all the kid's costumes!
At this age, all Judah "understood" is that he had a bucket of candy, and he wanted to eat it. He didn't really get going from house to house, or people's costumes. He just wanted candy!
After going to some houses on our street, we finally came back and got to hand out candy to the kids who came here, which was fun! Our apartment building always had trick-or-treating, but it's really not the same as having your own house! We sat on the front porch and waited for the kids to come!
Pregnant belly, anyone?
Tad tried to do this whole pumpkin in little dots, cute!!


eJudah, no more candy! Sheesh!!
We finally put Judah to bed a little early that night! He was tired and fussy and only wanted candy!! But they had fun, and we have now hidden the gigantic bowl of Halloween candy to be given out only at certain times!!! We will now have to detox and go see the dentist to make sure we aren't eating too much!!!
So, here's to another adventure in our little house, and a fun time with the kids. They get more and more fun the older they get!! Love those kiddos!!

Tad Cooks Biscuits and Gravy!!

Thursday is National Men Make Dinner Day!! Luckily, I have a husband who can whip up a few things, and biscuits and gravy is one of his specialties! I didn't grow up in the south, and I had never even had biscuits and gravy before I met him! It is his family's Christmas morning breakfast tradition, and one year he learned how to make it via a phone conversation with his sister, Anna. Now, he has perfected it, and it is requested by me from time to time! It is one of my all-time favorite meals!
I think the first time I tried biscuits and gravy, it was either Tad's or his family's, and ever since then I have tried it at different restaurants and such, and have never had any that compares!! We like to make a batch with spicy sausage if we are making a lot, and make a pan with the regular sausage for the kids or other people who don't like the spice. But both are equally flavorful and yummy!

Okay. I will give you the Tad, not-so-exact recipe because I didn't even know how he made it until I wrote this post! First, you put the bacon on a cookie sheet and bake until it is crispy. He never sets a timer for anything, so he just waits awhile and then checks on it! Drives me crazy!

He then browns a whole package of sausage in a pan, and removes it, leaving the grease. To the grease, he slowly adds a little flour and a little milk, whisking it until it is thick and combined, and then keeps adding milk and flour to make a nice, thick gravy. Once you have the gravy at the consistency you want, add the crumbled bacon and sausage into the gravy.
The other man in my life had to help too! He was actually being really fussy and wanted Tad to hold him just then, so he got to "help!"

Make whatever biscuits you have on hand, or make them from scratch if you prefer. We always just buy the ones in the can! We like to break them up into pieces first, or you can just split them and top with gravy! Delicious!!!

Seriously one of my favorite meals! And such a treat to not have to cook! Thanks, babe!
Isn't he cute???

Saturdays

image credit

I am beginning to really love Saturdays. Our weeks are so packed with schooling, swim lessons, church, MOPS, a homeschooling group/field trips, OB appointments, homeschool classes, and other random things that come up, that Saturdays are a nice break from it all! Somehow, I rarely have anything planned on Saturdays, and Tad usually works in the afternoon, so it's kind of a chill day for us around here. I love it. Because of my recent reading of Large Family Logistics, which I have mentioned lately, I have dubbed my Saturdays my kitchen day. I have not begun to master this, but my intention is to do my baking, extra cooking, and kitchen cleaning on this day. It seems like I never am in the kitchen as much as I mean to be, but with a toddler who constantly wants my attention and a 5 year old with lots of energy, it is hard to spend that much time in there!
This morning was glorious. Wake up with the husband. Have homemade waffles for breakfast. Eat leisurely at the table while the kids play. Have fresh-squeezed orange juice. Drink some pumpkin spice coffee. Then it got a little crazy as we were playing catch-up with school for Maddy since we had such a crazy week. But we got it all done this morning, so this afternoon the kids could just play and we could meander around and play, clean, and cook. We have yet to get our cookies baking in the oven, but it's nice to have nowhere to go tonight, no plans for today, and time to just relax a little!

Saturdays are a joy in my week. What are your little moments of joy during the week that keep you sane? Something you look forward to every week?

Thank you, Lord, for Saturdays. You know this mama needs rest. Thank you for providing it!

Outdoor Fall Decor

I am so excited this year to decorate outside for the Fall season!! It might sound really silly, but living in Chicago all those years in a little apartment didn't allow for us to decorate outside!! We had a tiny little balcony that I could put a small table and a plant on, but other than that, not even a front porch!!
We were glad to see that the people who previously lived here had planted mums all across the front of the flower bed, which stayed green all through the cold and hot months. We trimmed them once or twice, and now they are in full bloom! They are mostly a deep red/maroon color and one of them is getting some burnt orange flowers too! There is also another mum (or other plant) that is getting buds and I'm wondering what they will look like!!

I also bought a few mums and pumpkins to put out on our porch since it is pretty big. When we first moved in, the porch seemed pretty empty with nothing on it, and it took us awhile to figure out what we wanted on there and to find stuff for it! But with the mums and pumpkins, it is looking more full! We got the chairs for about $20 from a thrift store, and the baskets that the mums are in and the little rocking chair are from a garage sale!!

Here is my little man watering the yard. Well, the driveway. Okay, he is just playing with the hose!!

Pretty soon, the little pumpkins will come inside, since they are pie pumpkins and I will have to put them to good use!! We will carve our pumpkins this weekend, toast the seeds, and then I might have to figure out what to do with the porch again!! I will also probably have to plant the mums I got from the store in the side part of the flower beds.
Any ideas for another bare porch once the flowers/pumpkins are removed??
Happy Fall!

Apple Galette

This looks beautiful and is seriously the easiest thing to make!! I had a lot of apples, and was in the mood for an apple pie. So I was looking at one of my favorite websites, Pinch My Salt, for a recipe for apple pie. I found this delectable looking thing, called a Galette, which I had never heard of, and she called it the No Fear Apple Pie. Sounds good to me! I was prepared to make a pie crust from scratch, but this is even easier!!
Since she posted it in blog style, and not a formal recipe, I will try to break it down for you, but here is her site if you just want to read her rendition!! With pretty pictures!!

1. Start by peeling, coring, and slicing about 4 apples. My apples were really small so I used about 6, and I probably could have used even more since there was so much crust!! Mix the apple slices in a bowl with about a 1/4 cup of sugar, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and a tablespoon of flour.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3. For the Galette pastry:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chilled butter, cut into pieces (one stick)
3 Tbs. ice water

Pulse flour and salt in a food processor to combine. Add in the butter and pulse until the largest pieces are about the size of peas. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, and pulse to mix. If you don't have a food processor, you can use a whisk, your fingers, or a pastry cutter.
4. Dump the flour and butter mixture on a floured surface and press into a disc shape. You can wrap this up and refrigerate for a couple of days, or continue on to use it immediately. Roll the dough into a large circle, using flour on the rolling pin and on top of the dough to prevent sticking. Roll it to about 1/8 inch thick, patching any holes.
5. Wrap the dough around your rolling pin and transfer it to your cookie sheet. It's fine if it overlaps the cookie sheet, it is suppose to!!
6. Add the apple mixture into the center, and drop a few small pieces of butter over them, if desired. Now, fold the pastry over the apples in a circle formation, leaving the center uncovered. Patch any holes so that the apple filling doesn't run out during cooking.
7. Beat one egg with a splash of water and brush over the top of the pastry. Sprinkle some sugar over the whole thing if desired.
8. Bake at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes!

It seriously does not take much time, and it is as good as an apple pie!! Great with vanilla ice cream!! I know I'm apple-ing everyone out. Don't worry, it's almost over!!