Thursday, October 1, 2009

It is brisk here this morning - soup weather, so I am making homemade bread, and Spicy Lentil Soup. The stew recipe follows. Of course, because I don't plan well, the bread won't be done until later, but crackers work well. Nothing new on the home front. Mikayas' vocabulary grows with each day. Sucker, I stuck, me brush. I can't beleive the 2 word sentences she is putting together. Well once I get some AA batteries for my camera, (two went into the furnace thermostat this morning. Funny how the furnace won't kick on when the thermostat isn't working!!! Brrrrrrr - 66 degrees in the house this morning!) I will post a picture of the Lentil Stew!

Spicy Lentil Stew
1.5 cups of uncooked lentils, rinsed
5 cups chicken broth (homemade, canned or bouillon-based)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup large carrot pieces
1 cup green pepper, chopped (optional)
1 15oz can diced tomatoes (with juice)
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks (yes sweet potato - put it in, it's a lovely addition)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, depends on how hot you like it
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin.

1. Using a large pot with lid, combine lentils, chicken broth, and garlic. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and let oentils sit for 1 hour.

2. In the meantime, prepare remaining ingredients.

3. After 1 hour, turn heat to medium. Add all remaining ingredients. Cook, uncoverd, until carrot adn sweet potato are tender, about 30 minutes. Makes 6 servings.
Variation:Serve over brown rice or other whole grain.

Friday, September 18, 2009

It's Friday the 18th of September, and all is quiet on the home front. Life is never dull here, Mikaya, looked at me on Sunday the 13th, her 18 month birthday and said "Nama"! Then on Monday she said "sucka (sucker)". Everyday she is adding new words and learning new things. We have to find her some wooden puzzles to work. Her problem solving skills are out of this world! On a quilty note, kind of, I am making a purse with 3 compartments. It is slow going, as I can only work on it in the mornings when DD is home to watch the baby. The sewing machine is in the basement and my are there so many things that Mikaya can get into that she shouldn't! :-) I have a color quilt in the works, an altered sweatshirt with cats on it and numerous other projects that need to be done. I am going to try and get something finished that I have started a while ago. hmmmmmmm I wonder which of the many I should work on???
The button to the right is for you scrapbookers, or anyone who loves to read blogs! Kim is giving away some e-books from Ella Publishing. Check them out with the next button down.
Have a great weekend.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Isn't it funny one can go forever and not have anything new or exciting to blog about and here I have two in one day!!! DS and I just returned from a road trip and we both got a dose of CA traffic! We drove north from Ukiah to Willits and then west from Willits to Fort Bragg and then up CA Hwy 1 to Leggett & CA 101 then back down to Ukiah. A total trip of about 200 miles! However 101 North of Santa Rosa is sporadic divided highway, and the 20 from Willits to Fort Bragg and the 1 into Leggett are all 2 laners if you want to call them that! I, the one from S. Cal, didn't realize that the northern mountains of this state are straight up and striaght down! The round trip from Willits was just that all 2 lane, and all twisty curvey mountain roads. Now if I had been driving........................ Thank you Ben for driving! Upon arriving back in Willits there was a typical California traffice jam! 2 miles out from the first stop light in Willits the cars were backed up and slowly inching forward. Willits have 5 stop lights!!!!! geesh - sigh Tomorrow is Ben's interview and then we hit the return road. Such a quick trip. Oh yes, we did stop at a winery, and of all the thousands of wineries in the Napa/Sonoma valley we stopped at the Cohn Winery, I think, thta was formerly owned by the Dobby Brothers! Now how weird is that? sigh bought two bottles of wine for DD#1 and none for me.
I am sitting here in a motel room in Ukiah, CA. Ben, my son, has decided to interview here for a job. Relocating from Wyoming to Northern California will be quite the experience for him. At 26 he's "running away" from home! My! What will I do with him so far away?

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Wahoo! Two posts within a week! I uploaded pictures of the quilt top that I made at Quilt Wyoming, two weeks ago. It is called Quick Rolling Star and the teacher was Jan Krentz! I am so happy that it is done - well maybe! The bottom picture are the pieces laid out at class, as you can see I changed it all around before I was done! Enjoy!

Monday, July 20, 2009

OK, so I check a couple blogs everyday, and one got me back here. Life is busy as you can imagine with a 16 month old in the house. Busy as a bee she is!! Right now Mikaya is sprinkleing bug juice on herself - well sprinkleing wasn't the correct word - we won't go there. Now she is "cleaning" her mess up with no clothes on! sigh - somedays.....I just finished a class over at JessicaSprague.com using Photoshop Elements!!! Whew I learned so much and had so much fun. I will try and add some of the pictures, maybe before and afters, so you can see what I have done. I am going to try to be more diligent about blogging, but don't hold your breath!!! sigh - I spent 2 weekends ago in Cheyenne at Quilt Wyoming - the state quilt guild annual retreat. I took a class from Jan Krentz - Quick Rolling Star - was hoping to get it done before I go the CA next week, but......... and then a class called Magic Squares - an architectual quilt. that one will take a while, but I have some of both done. Have a great week.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

It's Springtime in the Rockies - and the snow is falling and the wind is blowing! I shoveled the driveway this morning and the snow was falling faster than I could shovel! Soon it will be spring. I have been taking an online scrapbooking class and it has been a blast. Scrapbooking on a Shoestring. Stretched my feeble brain into using office supplies, i.e. paper clips, transparentcies, staples, paint, etc. But I have some wonderful ideas to keep me going. Now I need to get back to quilting and get a quilt quilted soon. It needs to be in Seattle by April 2o. hmmm, maybe if I get it done soon enough, DD#1 and DSIL can hand carry it to Seattle when they go on the 16th! Ya think they would do that for their mom? alas probably no, with the cost of baggage now days!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

I have no excuse for not updating this blog, except well, I don't know. What's happened since October? Hmmm, two trips to California, one with granddaughter Kristen and daughter Megan. It was to help with a wedding reception that was canceled, but "the girls" and I went anyway. Spent 2 days at Disneyland, and had a blast, then Megan and Kristen took a boat on into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Newport Beach -Dana Point to look for whales, while we saw no whales we did see porpoise and sea lions. Then home and back again with granddaughter Mikaya and daughter Katie, and out to see Mikaya's daddy. Nice warm weather. Then Halloween and Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving in Gillette with daughter Jamie, and son, Ben and Megan came up from Casper. Then Christmas here with Megan, Kristen, Ben, Katie & Mikaya. Jamie and David had their girls for the holidays and didn't come down. Now the big 1! Mikaya is now 1 and such a beautiful baby. Gramma is partial don't ya know? Maybe now I'll keep up better.
OK, so I didn't get the Disneyland pictures posted in October, nor the Thanksgiving pictures posted in Nov, nor Christmas, Valentines pictures posted in their respective months. But I will see if I can find some today. Mikaya just turned one and oh my what a year it has been. She isn't walking yet, but it won't be long.