Fire And A Lesson In Etiquette, Man Etiquette That Is

This weekend we had our first fire and roast of the year.  We have spent countless hours in our little backyard enjoying a cozy fire with hot dogs and smores.  It has led us to some of our greatest conversations.  There are times, however, that our roasts aren't quite as refined and elevated.  This weekend's roast had my children rolling around in the dirt laughing so hard that they couldn't breath.  What were they laughing at?  Belching, of course.  Who can belch the loudest, who can belch the longest, and all sorts of different ways to make yourself belch.  I really try to teach my kids to be polite and act properly at a meal.  However, living in a house full of boys I sometimes have to step back and let the testosterone flow.  And I'd rather have that happen at our roasts than at our nice dinner with the missionaries (which has happened too!) So, I hope your weekend was filled with sunshine, family, fun, and maybe a little belching! 

Quick tip:  We use chocolate frosting on our smores instead of chocolate bars.  It's less messy!  Also, try using fudge dipped cookies instead of graham crackers.

Surgery and Lazy Chicken

I've been out of commission for a week or so, not because of a vacation or anything fun, but because I had some minor surgery last week.  I have been sick for quite some time and I needed to have my gallbladder out.  I had that done and I'm recovering well.  Because of that I haven't been doing any cooking (or much of anything for that matter).  I have wonderful neighbors and family that have brought my crew dinner so that I could just rest.  Husband has been taking over my homeschool duties and it has been a nice week of recovery.  Now it's time to get back to life.  Honestly, I haven't been the best patient.  I don't really enjoy laying around.  I'm excited to get back to school, housework (well maybe not that) and cooking real food.  While I've been down we utilized easy food that was quick for my husband to prepare.  One of his favorite things is what we call Lazy Chicken.  It's a slow cooker meal, and I'm pretty sure everyone has a version of it.  It calls for cream of mushroom soup, something I normally avoid like the plague.  But, my family enjoy's it and it really is a lazy recipe.  Enjoy!

Lazy Chicken

6 to 8 frozen boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
1 family size can cream of mushroom soup
1 8 oz block cream cheese
3 TBSP butter
1 envelope dry italian dressing packet.

Put everything in the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6 to 8 hours.  When fully cooked use a fork and shred the chicken.  Stir to combine (the cream cheese sometimes stays lumpy until you stir it a bit).  Serve over rice.

Sick Day with Soup and Bread

Today my kids weren't feeling so hot.  My little man was having some stomach issues.  I won't share details,  but lots of Lysol and toilet cleaning was involved.  My little woman was feeling super tired and took a nap, a very rare occurance.  So we decided to stay in our jammies and make warm comfort food.   Cooking is by far my favorite thing to do.  I find so much joy in creating beautiful and delicious things for my family.  We decided to make black bean soup and homemade bread.  I didn't want to go to the store so we needed to use what we had on hand.  This soup is so easy.  It does take time to cook the beans but if you were to do that a day or two ahead this would for sure be a 30 minute soup.  I wouldn't recommend using canned beans, just because there are so few ingredients that cooking the dry beans with the flavorings really adds to the soup.  Here's the recipe!

note:  all my recipes will be for between 8 and  12 people.  I have a large family with lots of growing boys so those recipes for 4 just won't do!

Black Bean Soup (Serves 8)

1 lb dry black beans (about 2 cups)
5 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 tsp salt (about, I never measure)
1/2 tsp baking soda (keeps the beans black instead of turning grey or purple)
1 ham steak
1 medium onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 bell pepper, diced (any color)
2-3 cloves garlic (or if you're anything like me 5)
4 cups chicken broth (1 box store bought)
2 chipotles in adobo, diced (optional, you could use fresh jalepeno or omit)
2 TBSP cumin
sour cream
avacado
cilantro
limes

In a pot pour your beans, water, bay, salt, baking soda and ham steak.  Bring to boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender. Remove bay and hamsteak.  Dice up steak to add later (it will be black, but taste delicious!) DO NOT DRAIN
In separate pot saute onion, carrot, celery, bell pepper, garlic, chipotle, and cumin in a little olive oil until tender and slightly brown, about 10 mins.  Add in beans with their cooking liquid and chicken broth, simmer about 20 mins.  Add back the ham and adjust seasoning.  Serve with sour cream, cilantro, and definatly a squeeze of lime!

And now on to the bread!

White Bread (3 Loaves)

4 cups warm water (I just use hot tap water)
2 TBSP active dry yeast
1TBSP salt (I use kosher)
1/3 canola oil (or olive oil)
1/3 cup honey or 2/3 cup sugar
10-12 cups all-purpose flour

In mixer combine water, yeast, salt, sugar, oil, and 5 cups flour.  Mix to combine.  Gradually mix in the additional 5 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, until the dough is smooth and pulls away from sides of mixer.  Knead by hand on floured surface, or knead in mixer on low for about 10 minutes.  Cover with towel and leth the dough rise until doubled in bulk, about 30-45 minutes. 

Punch down the dough, turn it out on lightly floured surface (or oiled if you don't want to add more flour) and divide in thirds.  Form loaves and put in well greased loaf pans.   (I like glass pans, they tend to brown better).  Let the loaves rise 30 to 45 minutes or until you can press down with your finger and the indendation remains.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350.  Bake the loaves for 30 minutes.  Immediately remove from the pans and cool on a wire rack.

Welcome!  I've decided to create this blog to post about me and my family's scratch made lives.   I have an amazing hardworking husband, five awesome kids and a lazy hound named Maggie.  My daily life is full of "scratch made" things.  From cooking, to homeschool, to family activities I love to create things for my family that are made by us and for us.  I hope you enjoy coming on this made from scratch journey with me!