Spaghetti Sauce

It sure does smell yummy in our house right now.  Today I made a batch of homemade spaghetti meat sauce.  This is my second time to make the sauce.  The first time I followed my dear friend Jodi's recipe, but today I made some changes as I seem to do with all recipes.  The following is what I did:

2 large onions
1 bunch of celery
2 green bell peppers
5 cans of mushroom pieces
4 large cans of tomato sauce
1 large can of diced tomatoes
3 lbs. ground beef
3 pkg. of homemade spaghetti seasoning mix

Chop onions, celery and bell pepper in food processor--saute.  Brown meat and drain grease.  I combined everything into my big roasting pan and cooked all afternoon--I just turned it off. 

Homemade spaghetti seasoning mix
1 T dried minced onion
1 T cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 T dried parsley
1/4 tsp garlic powder
red pepper flakes to taste
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp marjoram
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil

Mix all together.  Makes one pkg. 

Once my sauce cools I will be putting it into quart freezer baggies.  I would love to can the sauce in glass jars it would be better for the environment, but I can't justify buying all the canning equipment just to can sauce.    This summer I would like to make this recipe again with fresh tomatoes from the farmer's market and fresh mushrooms if they have any.

Proud Mommy

Do you ever wonder if your parenting is good, or if your kiddos hear anything you say?  I sure do. 

Last night the boys and I had a moment where I felt like I was doing something right.  As I was putting the boys to bed I asked each of them what was their favorite thing about Christmas this year.  Jeffrey said, "giving you my present."  Jeffrey gave me a ring ($9.99 from Target) this year.  He has been so excited about the gift all week and kept wanting me to open it.  How awesome to know that my little four year old gets that it is not about getting, but giving.  Jackson answered my question with, "getting together with family."  He didn't say the Hotwheel race track from Uncle Matt and Aunt Liz, but he realizes as a six year old that seeing grandparents, uncles and aunts is more valuable than "stuff." 

Don't think my kiddos are perfect because they are not.  We differently had some bad moments during this Christmas season.  I love my boys during their good and bad moments, but I treasure the good moments because it sure does make me a proud Mommy. 

Life

"And this is the testimoney: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." 1 John 5:11-12

Do you have life?

Remembrance

This morning I attended a funeral service for a man in our church.  That makes two funerals in four months--no fun at all.  Any death makes me think of Jamie and well it still hurts a lot. 

Anyways, earlier this week as the boys and I were praying I prayed for the Alvarado family.  Afterwards the boys asked why.  I said, "remember I told y'all Mr. Alvarado was in the hospital."  They nodded.  I continued, "he died and is now with Jesus, but his family is really sad so we need to pray for them."  Jeffrey said, "when someone is going to die just take a picture and write their name on it so you won't forget."  I laughed a little and told Jeffrey you could do that as I thought you never know what a 4 year old will say.  And I didn't think anything else of his comment till today.  When you die do you want people to remember what you did, what you said, how you looked and your name?  Or do you want people to remember the love, joy, peace, & grace that flowed through your life from God?  When others remember my life I want them to think of God's love and the name of Jesus.  Isn't that what life's all about? 

This also makes me think of Christmas.  When your children are grown and think back to their childhood Christmases do you want them to remember all the gifts or that you celebrated Jesus's birthday?  We do several different things to keep the focus on Christ.  We bake a birthday cake for Jesus.  This year Jackson decided with a little help from Jeffrey that we would bake a chocolate round cake with white icing and sprinkles with a baby Jesus on top.  We read scripture each night during Advent.  We give the boys three gifts just like Jesus received.  We read the Christmas story for the book of Luke on Christmas morning.  And we talk a lot about why we celebrate.  Our carpool buddy (4 yrs. old)  now gets in the van saying I already know why we celebrate Christmas because she knows it is going to be talked about.  These are simple things that help your kids and all of us remember Christ.  It is not to late to change your focus from "stuff" to Christ.

Lost Mittens

Both boys this week lost their gloves.  No surprise from Jeffrey this is his second pair this season, but Jackson never loses anything.  The night both gloves were missing Jackson said, "Three little kittens lost their mitten and didn't have pie.  Three little kittens found their mittens and got pie."  So, I said if you find your gloves I will make a pie.  They both found them on the same day--so we had pie.

Advent

What is Advent?

The word Advent means "coming" or "arrival." The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God.

During this time the faithful (Christians) are admonished to prepare themselves worthily to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord's coming into the world as the incarnate God of love, thus to make their souls fitting abodes for the Redeemer coming in Holy Communion and through grace, and thereby to make themselves ready for His final coming as judge, at death and at the end of the world.

I got the above explains off line not my words.

Last year to celebrate the Advent season we used a Jesse Tree.  The boys colored paper ornaments that we hung (taped) onto the tree each day.  We then read the scripture for the day. 

Look behind Jeffrey and you will see the Jesse Tree hanging on the door. 

This year we made a paper chain with the scripture passage for each day written on each link.  The boys this year will take turns cutting off a link each day and then we will read the scripture.

The paper chain got knocked down very quickly so I decided to hang it over the backdoor blinds.  Jackson got to cut the first link last night because Jeffrey got to put the star on the Christmas tree. 

This is such a busy and stressful time of year for us all.  I am going try my best to slow down and remember and teach the boys what we are really celebrating--Jesus Christ.  I pray that you and your family will do the same.

Fall Cooking

Over the last couple of weeks we have done some baking.  Jackson had to take a small pumpkin to school for a math activity and when he brought it back home we baked it and made our own pumpkin puree.  It was very easy to do.

Pumpkin Puree
Place the pumpkin on a cookie sheet and roast in an 425 degree F oven for about 1 hour.  The bigger the pumpkin the longer the time.  Once the pumpkin is roasted let cool.  Slice the pumpkin in half and scape out the seeds.  Spoon out the pumpkin flesh into a food processor or blender.  Process till it looks like the can pumpkin you can buy.  Store in fridge for a couple of days or freeze.

With our pumpkin puree we choose to make pumpkin muffins and pumpkin pancakes.  For the muffins I used my mother-in-law's pumpkin bread recipe and found a pancake recipe online.

Pumpkin Bread
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c pumpkin puree
1/2 c oil
1/4 c water
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 2/3 c flour
1 c nuts--optional
Combine eggs and sugar; mix well, add pumpkin, oil and water; blend thoroughly.  Add all dry ingredients.  Pour into greased loaf pan.  Bake in 350 degree oven for about 1 hour.  ***For mini muffins bake for ~ 10 mins. For large muffins bake ~ 20 mins.

Jeffrey and his friend helped me make the pumpkin muffins one afternoon.  We had a lot of fun and got pretty messy. 

Martha Stewart Pumpkin Pancakes
For a spiced breakfast treat, whisk 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour; 2 tablespoons sugar; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon, ground ginger, and salt; 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg; and a pinch of ground cloves. In a separate bowl, stir together 1 cup milk, 6 tablespoons pumpkin puree, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and 1 egg; fold mixture into dry ingredients. Melt some butter in a skillet over medium heat; pour in 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook pancakes about 3 minutes per side; serve with butter and syrup. Makes 8 to 10.

Jeffrey and Josh liked the pancakes a lot.  Jackson did not and I thought they were OK.    I would like to make them again because the first time I put in to much nutmeg.  Lesson learned that morning is not to try a new recipe when you are running late.

Thanksgiving Day I made the green bean casserole to take to Josh's family dinner.  I choose a healthier recipe I found in Southern Living magazine instead of the dumping can recipe I have made before.

Home-style Green Bean Casserole
makes: 8 serving
hands on time: 25 min.
total time: 55 min.
1 1/2 lb. fresh green beans, trimmed
2 T butter
1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c 2% reduced-fat milk
1/2 c nonfat buttermilk
1 T Ranch dressing mix ( I made my own)
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp. butter
1 (8oz) package sliced fresh mushrooms
vegetable cooking spray
1 c French fried onions, crushed
1/2 c panko bread crumbs
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook green beans in boiling salted water to cover in a Dutch oven 4 to 6 minutes or to desired degree of doneness; drain.  Plunge into ice water to stop the cooking process; drain and pat dry.  Melt 2 T butter in Dutch oven over medium heat; whisk in flour until smooth.  Cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute.  Gradually whisk in 1 1/2 c milk; cook, whisking constantly, 3 to 4 minutes or until sauce is thickened and bubbly.  Remove from heat, and whisk in buttermilk and next 4 ingredients.  Melt 1 tsp. butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat; add mushrooms, and saute 6 to 8 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes.  Gently toss mushrooms and green beans in buttermilk sauce.  Place n a 13x9 baking dish coated with cooking spray.  Combine french fried onions and next 2 ingredients; sprinkle over green bean mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.  Serve immediately.  ***I baked this the day before and warmed on Thanksgiving day and it was just as good as the time I served it immediately.

For our weekend with my family I baked a sweet potato pound cake from Southern Living and Cranberry muffins from allrecipes.com. 

Sweet Potato Pound Cake
makes: 10 to 12 servings
hands on time: 25 min.
total time: 2 hr. 40 min.
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 c butter, softened
2 c sugar
4 large eggs
2 1/2 c cooked, mashed sweet potatoes
3 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon or nutmeg (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with a heavy duty electric stand mixer until creamy.  Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until yellow disappears.  Add sweet potatoes, and beat well.  Stir together flour, next 3 ingredients, and if desired, cinnamon in a medium bowl.  Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended after each addition.  Stir in vanilla.  Spoon batter into a greased and floured 10 inch tube pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 5 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 1 hour).  ***About half way though the baking time I covered with foil to keep the outside from browning to much.

Cranberry Muffins
1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c sour cream
2 c flour
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 c chopped fresh or frozen cranberries
Topping:
2 T sugar
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.  Fold in sour cream.  Combine flour, baking powder, soda, nutmeg and salt; stir into creamed mixture just until moistened.  Fold in cranberries.  Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two thirds full.  Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over muffins.  Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until muffin test done.  Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove to a wire rack.

Not sure what I will be baking and cooking for the Christmas season, but I will be sure to post the recipes.