Holiday Cooking Blogger Style!

Well it's that time of year again and I'm so thrilled that the wonderful lady at "Overwhelmed with Joy" is hosting this again.

Last year I shared a couple of recipes from my Portuguese Culture, they were some of the most common Holiday meals served during Christmas.

We don't have Thanksgiving in Portugal so Christmas is pretty much the biggest family get together, there's tons of food everywhere and family and huge christmas trees surrounded by an ocean of gifts. Yes, when you have a huge family it literally takes over the living room, but it's so much fun.

So I'm sharing a few more recipes with you AND giving you the link to my Holiday Cooking Blogger Style First Edition last year in case you missed it and want the recipes that were shared there.

Rabanadas - Portuguese Christmas "French Toast"

* 1 baguette loaf of bread
* 1 egg
* 200 ml (3/4 cup) milk
* Olive oil
* Sugar and cinnamon

Cut a baguette into 1 cm (1/2") thick rounds; remove the crusts; dip into an egg beaten with milk - 1 egg to approximately 200 ml (3/4 c.) milk.
Fry in hot olive oil in a skillet for a few seconds on each side drain; sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

The next recipe is one that we had many times for Christmas Eve, it's like a bread but stuffed with ham and bacon or sometimes even Chourico........it's SO good.

Bola de Carne - Meat Bread

Ingredients
6 eggs beaten
½ glass of vegetebale oil
pinch of salt
1 lb of flour
2 package of dry east ( Dissolved in warm water)
1 “chourico” (chourizo from Spain or Italy can serve the propose) sliced
¼ of smoked ham cut in pieces


Beat the egg together with the yeast and oil. Mix with the flour and salt.
Knead and place in a greased bowl to rise. This makes a moist sticky dough.
Put in a greased bowl turn to coat and cover. Let it rise to double, about 2 hours.
Traditionally the meat is spread in a single layer in the middle of the loaf. I prefer to mix it throughout the loaf .
Prepare you bread pans and divide the dough in two pieces.
Mix the meats in the dough and place in the loaf pans to rise a second time.
Let rises for about 1/2 hour and then bake in a preheated 450 deg. Oven for 30 to 40 minutes.

And lastly here is a soup that I think every portuguese person knows.......it's sooooo good and I remember eating it many times during the holidays. My greatgrandmother used to make it and it was to die for.......rich and filling and just wonderful.

CALDO VERDE - PORTUGUESE KALE SOUP

Serves 4

½ lb of shredded kale
1 lb of potatoes
1 small chourico sliced (a good hard smoky sausage can be used
even pepperoni in a pinch)
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
4 tablespoons olive oil
pinch of salt

Peel the potatoes and heat in a quart of water with the garlic and chourico. When the potatoes are well cooked make a puree and continue to heat. Meanwhile wash the shredded kale and add to the puree and boil. Add half the olive oil and cook the kale. When ready to serve season to taste. Add the remaining olive oil (use as much as you like) and serve with the bread.

Slow Cooking Thursday!!!

Before I start I want to tell you about something going on in Blogland, for those of you who have been around for a while you may remember the wonderful lady at "Overwhelmed with Joy" hosting the Holiday Cooking Blogger Style last year.

Well she's doing it again and I'm definitely going to be participating, I shared some of my family's favorite Holiday recipes last year and can't wait to share more. So if this is something you're interested in doing, just go on over and read the rules and explanation.


Morning ladies, it's thursday and time for another Slow Cooking Thursday. I'm sporting a new SCT banner so go ahead and update your old ones when you get a chance.

Thank you again to all the participants, I've gotten such a wonderful collection of recipes already and can't wait to see more.

Don't forget to add your name to Mr Linky and a link back to your SCT post so others can come by and see your recipe too.

I tried 2 new slow cooker recipes this week and they were pretty good....Swiss Steak and Italian Sausage Penne. Also a thumbs up to Cheri for her Slow Cooked Caramel Apples, the kids LOVED them.

Here's the one for today:

NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER

Virginia Watson, Scranton, PA

1/2 c. butter, melted
2 T. onion powder
2 t. dried thyme
2 stalks celery, chopped
46-oz. can clam juice
2 cubes chicken bouillon
2 bay leave
3 16-oz. cans whole potatoes, drained and diced
3 10-oz. cans whole baby clams
2 c. light cream
2 c. milk
salt and pepper to taste

In a slow cooker, stir together butter, onion powder, thyme and celery; cook on high setting for 30 minutes. Add clam juice, bouillon, bay leaves and potatoes. Cover and continue cooking on high setting for 2 hours. Add clams and their juice; turn setting to low and cook for an additional 2 hours. Stir in cream and milk; cook for an additional one hour, or until heated through. Before serving, discard bay leaves; add salt and pepper to taste. Makes 6 servings.

Arrange seashels and beach glass from your last vacation on a cake stand. Tuck in some tea lights too....a sweet reminder of happy family times!

Fall Sickies!!!

It's that time of year again, but then when we're talking about ME in particular, any time of the year is cold and flu season. I must have the cruddiest immune system on earth.

Anyway, there's a lot of colds going around and I seem to be getting one, my head and throat hurt, I feel congested and a little feverish, I really just want to crawl into bed with my warm covers and a good book in hand........just hide in there for a day or two and then emerge a whole new person. That's not going to happen though, so I'm keeping my hot honey and lemon tea close by and some cold medicine to go along.

Thank you all for the comments on my new blog look, I'm so glad you all like it, I'm just loving it, I could stare at it for hours and imagine myself away in that cabin, with no worries, no tv or radio or anything to bother me......a board game or two, some playing cards, some books, a warm fire and some homemade gingersnap cookies.....the hubby and kids and that's it. Doesn't that sound perfect???



A couple of you asked how I make the templates so fast and if it's a free one etc.........what I do is, I have a template that I use and all I change in it are the colors, the background graphics and the header. That's pretty much all I do when I want to make a new one. No one taught me how to do it, I just copied my current one and saved it to a text file so it would be safe, then I went in and messed around with it to see the changes happening, that's the best advice I can give you......unless of course you want to pay someone to make you a template, but I can't afford or excuse an expense of $50 or more just for a blog template..........my husband wouldn't be very thrilled. LOL

So go for it, just mess around and see what happens, it's actually so easy once you get the hang of it. Oh and a few of you asked what program I used for my banners, I use Paintshop Pro 9.


Last night's dinner turned out really good, the Slow Cooker Swiss Steak was wonderful, I made some Buttery Mashed Potatoes to go with it and called it good. Since I'm sticking with the Slow Cooking themed week, right now I have Italian Sausage and Penne in my crockpot, it smells so good.....and here soon when I return from picking up Jasmine at school, I'm going to get my other crockpot going with Cheri's Slow Cooked Caramel Apples.......yep, it just screams autumn to me :)



I watched Dancing with the Stars last night and I have to say, no offense to Wayne Newton and all his fans but seriously, why is he still there???? I get really frustrated watching these so called reality shows where America gets to decide the best singer or dancer when in fact it's nothing but a popularity contest. It's ridiculous.

Albert Reed was not one of the best dancers, but between him and Wayne Newton there's absolutely no doubt that he can dance. Don't get me wrong, I love Wayne, I think he's a great showman and an American Icon but this is a dancing competition people......just saying!!!

Tonight I have Private Practice and Ghost Hunters to watch, I can't wait.....just hope all this cold medicine doesn't knock me out before I watch the shows...maybe I should just record them on my computer in case I do fall asleep. LOL

Curt is dead tired today, he had just gone to bed at 10 pm last night when the phone rang at 2am from work telling him he needed to go back in because one of the jets was broken. Yes, it's the good ol' military way and I have to say that when we first got married it bothered me....I felt like my whole life was put on hold the minute that phone rang and at times I resented it.

I don't know if I just got used to it or accepted it, but it doesn't bother me anymore, it's just what it is. It's the ins and outs of being a military family, the constant plans down the drain because something happens at work that needs their immediate attention.......the missed Christmas or Thanksgiving because they're deployed........the long exhausting hours and the miserable exercises that last weeks and have the guys running around like chickens without heads. It's all hard and it's tough to get through but when you've been a military spouse for 10 years, it's just a part of life.

Sometimes I wonder how we will survive once he retires in four years...yes FOUR years and he is retiring. It's exciting and scary all at the same time....we're so used to the military way of life that it will be hard adjusting to civilian life. If I think I hold onto the Lord's hand tight enough now, wait until we're out LOL You ain't seen nothing yet!!! LOL

Anyway, it's almost dinner time, my Italian Sausage sauce is almost done so I need to get the Penne cooked real quick and set the table. Here's what is still on my to do list for today:

1. Do dinner dishes and clean kitchen
2. Put away 2 loads of laundry
3. Help Jasmine with homework
4. Bath time for kids
5. Books, Bible and nighttime prayer with kids
6. Pay bills
7. Finish my book for the Fall Reading

I keep looking at it and hoping it would all just go away if I snapped my fingers, but it's not going to happen, so I better get to it.

Oh btw, I don't know if you noticed, but on my sidebar I've added a little Autumn Fun, I'll have a new tip everyday through the month of October, so be sure to check it out if you are looking for ideas :)


Before I forget, the wonderful lady over at "Overwhelmed with Joy" is hosting a great contest called Pay it Forward. I encourage you to go on over and read her post, she's giving away 2 wonderful books and then if you win them all you have to do is read them and then "pay them foward" to someone else. Simple right and who doesn't love winning books???


God Bless,

I think Autumn deserves a new look!!!

I know you're probably laughing, I tend to change my template a lot around here, I think having the advantage of knowing how to do it tends to make me mess with it whenever the mood strikes me.

I do like this one for Fall, the colors, the changing leaves, the pumpkins, just makes me want to grab the family and head for the nearest Pumpkin patch. I remember when we went last year, still back in Idaho, what a blast we had.

With it also comes the eagerness to craft my little butt off, I have so many ideas for decorations and Halloween, let's not forget that we're also but a mere less than 3 months away from Christmas........boy time really has flown by.
Whatever I DO decide to make, I'll be sure to take pictures to share with you all.


So last night we headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner, it's one of our favorites restaurants, it's cheap and the food is amazing. I had the Country Fried Steak, Curt had the Roast Beef dinner, Jasmine had pancakes (don't ask LOL) and Nicholas had the Macaroni and Cheese. It was great but of course we can't ever just walk out, seriously, I think they need to offer blinders there so that you can make it from the table to your car without stopping to oooohhhhh and aaaahhhhhh at all the goodies in the store.

The kids got a few little toys, we picked up some old fashioned bottle root beer and then I got 3 new Gooseberry Patch cookbooks and I'm in LOVE with them.....I haven't even made it through my first one "Autumn in the Country", there's so many good recipes, tips and ideas etc....I'm in heaven!


Then I also picked up "From Grandma's Kitchen" and "Come on Over"......yep HEAVEN I TELL YOU!!!!
Gooseberry Patch has become my favorite store, I could do some major damage there LOL

How beautiful is this Crocheted Throw??? Oh if only I could crochet. My poor grandma tried so hard to teach me but I just could never get it, now knitting, I'm good at, sewing great too, cooking just love, but crochet?!?!?!? I just don't get it, I end up making this huge link chain LOL
That's all that comes out of my projects, just a link chain....I might be able to turn it into a necklace I guess.....


I worked a little too hard this weekend, was cleaning and cleaning and ended up pulling a muscle on my back, so I've been kinda slow and putting off anything that requires moving too much which pretty much rules out ANYTHING LOL
It's frustrating, I see the laundry piling up and the floors needing to be sweeped again, thanks to my shedding pugs, and I can't do it.....oh well, there's always tomorrow right???

Anyway, I need to get going, I have the best smell permeating the air.......Swiss Steak cooking away in my crockpot, I can't wait for dinner and it's not even noon. Better go find something to eat right now.

October here we come!!!

Where has this year gone???? I ask because I swear I was just in the middle of March and now it's October and I don't even feel like I got much accomplished at all. But that's life, you either strap on and go along or let it pass you by.

I realize I haven't posted since friday, I've been so busy the past few days and not feeling all that great either, all this Jasmine school thing really got me stressed out and I developed a tension headache that made me want to slam my head against a hard wall, repeatedly. I don't know how that would have fixed anything other than make it get worse, but whatever, that's how annoying it was.

Thank you all for the great comments, tips, stories and advice you shared. She went back to school today and I've been on pins and needles all day long, looking at the clock and wondering how she was doing and how she was feeling. She came out of school with a big smile on her face.

The Vice Principal sat down with both her and the girl and talked about what had happened, the girl obviously tried to deny saying anything but Jasmine stood her ground and said that she did say it. The Vice Principal believed her and told the other girl that this is a very serious thing, you don't go around threatening other people, it's completely unacceptable and is cause for serious punishment. The girl then apologized and said she won't do it again..........apparently she told Jasmine she was sorry she said it, Jasmine said, in her own words "I don't deserve to be treated that way and you hurt my feelings.....but I accept your apology". Now they're friends!!!!!!

I have to tell you it's a weird feeling, on the one hand I'm super happy and relieved that this has been stopped and the girl now understands the severity of acting this way, I'm also happy that she was the one that apologized and then asked Jasmine to play with her and Jasmine's best friend......but on the other hand I'm a little iffy. Seriously, this thing of being a parent is a work in process, just when I think I have it down something else comes along that I've never dealt with and then I have to try and keep up with all the feelings that arise. Oh well, at least no one can say that parenting is boring.

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I posted my Menu over on my food blog, this week it's all about Slow Cooking. The weather is getting cooler, it's actually been cloudy and breezy and I find myself craving stews and soups and Autumny (yes I know that word doesn't exist lol) foods.
So I'm trying a bunch of new recipes from the Gooseberry Patch Slow Cooking Cookbook, I'll let you know what I think.

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Last week wednesday I had the best surprise ever, I was online and had my MSN Messenger running which I tend to do so that I can chat with my family in South Africa......then I see a message pop up "Hi cousin". I literally felt as if I had the wind knocked out of me, it was my cousin Patricia all the way in Portugal. She is my dear Uncle Carlos' daughter and we hadn't talked since 1994, at least. It's been SO long and it was great catching up.....last time we were together we were teenagers on vacation in Malaga, Spain. It was funny and kinda weird talking about kids and husbands and life in general....in our eyes we will always be little kids right???
Anyway, Patricia, if you're reading this "beijocas grandes querida prima, as saudades sao imensas".

It's also fun chatting with my older brother Paul, he tends to send me messages whenever he's getting take out LOL
Then we play the "guess where I'm at" game, where he tells me the slogan of the place and I try to guess.......it's great because it's all places where I grew up and I still remember them, but obviously it also brings homesickness and an overwhelming feeling of wanting to be there.

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On to book business, I just realized that on my Fall Reading list I have a library book and instead of doing the smart thing, reading THAT one first so that I can return it, I started with one of mine. I'm glad I'm one of those people that can have 2 or 3 books going at once and not get them confused.......you may be laughing but I'm serious, at times I have a book in the bedroom, one in the kitchen and one in the computer area. But anyway, I decided that I need to start on the "My heart may be broken but my heart still looks good" by Dixie Cash.....it has to be returned soon.

In the meantime I'm down to my last pages of "Moonlight on the Millpond" by Lori Wick and I'm loving every minute, it's just one of those good christian sweet stories that leave you with a smile on your face.

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I'm going to try to make it by your blogs tonight, at least a few at a time. We're heading to dinner and then Dancing with the Stars comes on.

Speaking of tv, did you all see Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters last night??? Both were so good and both left me in tears. It's funny whenever I watch Brothers and Sisters I also have to laugh because it reminds me so much of my family, the chaos and tons of people at times, the bickering and the fighting and the sarcasm but with it all also comes the immense amount of love and closeness and doing ANYTHING for that person. Love it!!!

Alright I realize I hadn't blogged in a few days but I have babbled on for so long today I'm afraid some of my blog readers may be passed out of boredom right now....I apologize, maybe from now on I'll start serving you coffee and treats to keep you entertained.

Hope you're all having a wonderful Monday, have a great rest of day and God Bless you all,
I leave you with this wonderful song by Casting Crowns "Who am I".