Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Weekend Festivities

My Grandma turned 94 so family came up to celebrate.

We had some soups on Saturday. I did a "Beef" barley that was pretty tasty. 

Rough Estimate "Beef" Barley Soup

Dump 32 ozs or so veggie broth in a crock pot

2 Cups chopped seitan

1 chopped onion

4 stalks of celery small dice

2 handfuls of barley.

Low for 6-8 hours, high for 3-4.

I also made my Cranberry Orange cookies to rave reviews.

My cousin's family spent the night. He and his wife have raised refreshingly delightful kids. The kids are 6th thru 9th grade so they are at "that" age and dang, they were all respectful, conversational and pleasant. We introduced them to Bananagrams. (That's another state we have infected with our Bananagram word-of-mouth marketing. Let's see, Missouri, New Mexico, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas...oh, yeah, and Germany. I should maybe get a commission.)

The kids adored the dogs, and the dogs ADORED them.

One of the most hysterical things I discovered about my cousin? He shares some mannerisms with Chris from Parks and Recreation. I happen to love that quirky little show, and Chris is one of my favorites. My cousin even said "Literally." If you are a fan of the show you should be smiling right now. If you haven't seen the show, you probably should.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Oriental Lettuce Cups ~ Vegan

I hope you don't mind a recycled picture. : ) We ate these so fast I couldn't get one shot. More than one omnivore at the table said. "I'd be Vegan if I could eat this every day."

These taste a lot like P F Changs lettuce cups. Better, in my opinion, because I have control over my ingredients.

Oriental Lettuce Cups

2 Cups of "Hamburger Crumbles"
3 stalks of celery fine dice.
1/2 small dice onion
1 clove garlic minced
2 teaspoons of sesame seeds
1 tsp garlic powder
1 TBSP sesame oil
4 TBSP soy sauce


Saute onion, garlic and celery in sesame oil until tender. Add "hamburger" crumbles, sesame seeds, garlic powder and soy sauce. Mix well. Scoop a few tablespoons into lettuce "shells." (2 or more Romaine leaves laid in a X if they aren't cuppy enough on their own. Or you could put the "shells" in silicone cupcake holders and press down til they form more of a cuplike shape. The weight of the filling does help with this.)

Scraps and Snippets ~ Crafty Wafty Part 1

X-ta sent me a nice email reminding me to post about the crafts & and I made for Christmas gifts. Actually, the email wasn't really all that nice. It basically called me rotten for holding out and not sharing what I said I'd share, blah, blah, blah.

So happens I can't share mine yet because there is one person on my list who reads this blog and has not become the recipient of her gift.

However, to clear my name and reputation, and because she made cute stuff, I'll post &'s craft gifts now.

The little orange owl...a toilet paper tube, crunched in on itself so it has owl ears, covered in burlap and modge podged to keep the fray away ended up darn cute. She drew feathers and faces with a Sharpie.

The glass jar. A repurposed canning jar (including a used lid which was spray painted, drilled and glued)becomes a super cute soap dispenser.

Finally, she made colorful/FUN aprons. A tea towel turned lengthwise...whatever decor she felt like. Scraps of fabric, a pocket, ribbons, a coordinating fabric, a smaller towel... The waistband is seam binding or ribbon.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Kickin Italian "Beef"/Beef Sandwiches

A few years ago, when we veered from the Standard American Diet toward low processed and organic I tweaked/created some recipes for a women's event we did through our church.

Yesterday, a friend called and told me she'd lost the "pink book" and needed the recipe for the pepper beef. The pink book was the recipes we sent home with the attendees of the women's event. For starters I was touched and amazed that anyone would still have that "book" and cook out of it. Secondly, when I read the recipe I decided I could Veganize it pretty easily. So. Without further ado (and with an apology for the picture quality) here is the recipe. Might I add that the recipe is better than what I ended up with last night for dinner. I didn't have a jar of pepper rings. And I didn't have the crock pot. But tasty it was.

Kickin Italian Beef or "Beef" Sandwiches

3 LBS of beef roast (grass fed) or 3 cups diced Seitan

1 thinly sliced onion

1 jar of pepper rings or pieces like jalapenos or banana peppers (including liquid)(you might want to reserve some to put on sandwiches)

5 small to medium cloves of minced garlic(or three big ones)

1 and 1/2 TBSP of Italian seasonings.

If you are using beef, dump everything together (reserve some peppers if you plan to do so)into a crockpot and let marry in the fridge overnight. In the morning put it on low and cook 8-10 hours. When you get home, remove the beef, let it cool enough to touch, shred it, get rid of the fat/gristle and put the meat bits back in the juice. Scoop with a slotted spoon, serve on hoagies, pitas, whole grain bread and use your favorite condiments.

Seitan version. Assuming your seitan is precooked like mine was, put everything (except peppers you want to reserve) into a dutch oven or large sauce pan and simmer, simmer, simmer until the onions are translucent and well cooked. (an hour or so.) Follow the above instructions.

However, next time I may use this as the broth to cook my seitan. And. I didn't have the jarred peppers so I used pepper flakes (1/2 TBSP)and those were okay. We served ours over baked potatoes.

Easy. Feeds 6-8.

Serials and Scenarios ~ Dale Cramer's The Captive Heart (No Review)

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing The Captive Heart Bethany House (January 1, 2012) by Dale Cramer



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dale Cramer spent his formative years traveling the world as an Army brat, then settled in Georgia at the age of fifteen when his father retired.

After high school he became an electrician, a job that took him to places as diverse as power plants, stadia, airports, high-rise office buildings and a hard-rock mining operation.

Twenty-five years of experiences in the trades provided him with the wealth of characters, stories and insights that populate his novels.

When he married his childhood friend, Pam, in 1975 he had no way of knowing they would not have children until fifteen years later.

In his early forties, when Dale left his job to become a stay-at-home dad, he suddenly found himself with time on his hands, so he pursued a lifelong dream and taught himself to write.

Using an online writer’s forum as a training ground, he wrote his first short stories in 1996. As his writing skills improved he turned to novels, publishing his first book, Sutter’s Cross, in 2003.

Since then, Dale has published four more novels and garnered a measure of critical acclaim with two Christy Awards, a listing among Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2004 and numerous other Best lists. Dale and his wife Pam live in Georgia with their two sons.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Bandit troubles intensify as Caleb Bender's family tries to settle into their new life in 1920s Paradise Valley. When El Pantera kidnaps Rachel and leaves her brother, Aaron, for dead, Jake Weaver and the Mexican native Domingo pursue the bandit leader to his mountain stronghold in a hopeless rescue attempt. Jake and Domingo manage to escape with Rachel, with the bandits hot on their trail. In a desperate attempt to avoid recapture, Domingo puts himself squarely in harm's way, giving Jake and Rachel time to get away. This is not the quiet life Caleb Bender envisioned when he led his family out of Ohio. What is a father to make of his daughter's obvious affection for a man outside the fold? And how will a pacifist Amishman like Caleb respond to the events that threaten his family and their way of life?


If you would like to read the first chapter of The Captive Heart, go HERE

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ That's the Plan, Man....

I set the goal to get a book review posted at Novel Reviews and a post crafted for Scrambled Dregs before I headed off to work today. So far, so good. However, I am currently typing the post for Scrambled Dregs and who knows what drivel is going to come out of my fingers.

I don't have a whole lot of anything of value to share. If you are expecting a takeaway, click out quick before the drivel oozes onto you.

& and I cleaned and organized our new craft room. AKA the guest room. Mostly. I have taken the liberty of posting a picture of the organized closet because I'm sure you will all want to see it. And I should probably have proof that at one point the darn thing was organized. We will put a table in the room and craft there rather than in the kitchen. (This is the plan...we'll see what happens in reality.) Netflix instant streaming is a valuable resource. We set up the laptop, pulled up some episodes of Burn Notice (very addictive, and a multi-task win/win. I'm thinking it is subliminally giving me resources for the going-on-five-years-in-progress-mystery novel....shout out Michelle, see I do think about Frying Pan...). 

Seeing all our craft supplies and scouring Pinterest has, of course, given us ideas. We are attempting to use what we have, craft-wise, and hoping to avoid any, and especially big expenditures when the ideas hit. & has the idea of doing a craft a day in February. I laugh. But, I might be more inclined to do a craft more often if I know where the heck everything is and if I have a room that I can shut the door on to contain the debris.

I also hit the thrift store one more time this month. When our Minnesota friends were here we hit MANY thrift stores. I got a Fossil purse for a buck. Score. And Saturday I scored a wallet for $2.00. But I need to be done. I found so many bargains I need to clean out my closet to make room.

On a food note. We are still eating leftovers from our friend visit. Not kidding. I cut back so much on food I thought the males were going to curl up and die, but yet, we still have some left. Hmmm. Anyhoo. That's been great. I haven't stepped foot in a grocery store for a week, and I haven't really had to be very creative, there's always a side, or a main dish just waiting to be noshed.. Yay. But, we are now out of fruit, down to two grapefruit, and I'm going to have to start being creative for meals again. I am also going to work on a cookie recipe for a contest. So, I'll be in the kitchen lots this week.

Enough drivel for ya? Yeah, thought so. Signing out.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ So Beautiful...

It is 66 degrees in Iowa. Not kidding. On January 5th it's 66. The ground in the picture to the left was snapped during a spring walk. BUT today's ground looks just like it. I have never, never seen a winter like this one.

Twice we've had snow. Once was scoopable, the other just pretty much blew and melted.

The girls, & and I just walked two miles in January Springtime. No jackets, and even a little bit of a temptation to shed a sweater weather.

The other picture has nothing to do with today. Just a cute dog. And a picture of a floor that I'll never have to contend with again. That sucker is covered with fabulous faux stone flooring and it looks so nice.