Mom’s Granola

My mom made this granola for me when we were visiting New Year’s week.  I have made it twice since then – it’s kinda my favorite at the moment.  It’s so super easy, you can make a zillion variations, and it takes about 15 minutes.

This is how Mom made it, I make slightly smaller batches.

6-8 Cups Old Fashioned Oats

1 1/2 Sticks Butter

1/2 Cup Sugar

Cinnamon (to taste)

1/4 tsp. Salt

1 Cup Raisins

1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Melt butter.  In a large bowl, stir together all the other ingredients.  Pour melted butter over the top and mix thoroughly.  Spread onto a large baking sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

Delicious warm out of the oven, great by the handful, good with milk, but I prefer it plain.

(I make mine 5 cups of oats, 1/2 cup wheat germ, 3/4 cup raisins, and 1 stick of butter – with slightly less sugar and spice.  We only eat about 1/4 cup at a time, so don’t be concerned about the butter.  )

Christmas 2009

Christmas  Week

This year we spent Christmas at Mom W’s house with Mike, Karen, Hannah, Grandma H. and of course Jack.  We were sad that Joey, Lindsay and Ella couldn’t be with us this year, but it was for a good reason.    Our niece Eden arrives soon, so it was best for them to stay close to home.  We did get to see them on the webcam for a bit, which was a nice treat!  Another treat was having Mike, Karen and Hannah stay over on Christmas Eve in the spare room!

I love all the holiday color and feel in this one!  (Karen this is one of the only pictures I have of you)

Hannah was our only little one this year!  Her Christmas Present Method was to pace herself.  She opened a few presents at a time, taking a break to play with them before continuing – smart girl.

Nick tearing into a package.

This year the sibling gift exchange was one of handmade gifts.  Everyone did a great job making some beautiful and thoughtful items.

Here I am with the bright, happy scarf that Karen made for me.

Nick is reading the instructions for the Marshmallow Shooter that Joey gave him.  He had a ton of fun with this and Jack went bananas for the mini marshmallows.

Nick gave Mike a black and white photograph of a nearby lake.  I gave Lindsay a crocheted flower necklace (no pictures).

Hannah opening our present.

Nick’s best friend.

Snack break!

A nice Christmasy picture of Mom W. and Hannah!

A few of us at dinner later in the week.  One of many wonderful times celebrating family.  It was such a wonderful time and we are already feeling the sting of separation from everyone we love!

New Year’s Week

We had such a fun New Jersey trip!  It started out with a cozy New Year’s celebration at home on account of snow, but that was fine.  My mom made homemade granola which was amazing – I have already made (and mostly eaten) a batch since being home.  I played Twilight Scene-it with my sister and her friend.  Nick played with Peter and their new Christmas toys – Pete loved the marshmallow gun.  We watched the ball drop.  It was great.  New Years Day we slept in.  My Dad made pumpkin pancakes and then we did our gift exchange.  Here is the quick version.

Dad got a new shirt.

Mom got a new watch.

Jon smiled and watched, but didn’t open anything.  We had exchanged with Jon and Ainsley (his new fiance!!!) the night before.  I don’t have any pictures of them together – maybe next visit.

Josh tried not to smile when I took his picture (although you can see a hint of it still).  Nick had fun picking up Josh’s new bass later that day.

Bethy smiled even before her gift was opened.

And my Petey-pie always has a smile on his face.  He especially liked the transformer that Nick picked for him.

That evening we had dinner with our friends Dav & Amanda and Mike & Stephanie.  We met Mike and Stephanie’s new baby girl Sofia.  She was sweet and good with a gorgeous head of hair.  The next day I visited Jess, my friend of 18 years, in the hospital and met her third baby boy Vincenzo, so tiny and precious.  It was fun to catch up with so many loved ones and we weren’t even done.  We rounded out the trip with a big family gathering, the kind where you eat and laugh the whole time and forget that it will be awhile before your next visit.  We love you all so much!  Our last day was spent quietly together, with good conversations and fun.

We (thankfully) had a quick and easy drive home and are now back to our normal schedule with many wonderful memories and the excitement of the unknown future to fuel us.  Hopes to you of being Merry & Happy all the year round!

Merry Christmas and Welcome 2010 (a little late)

Nick and I just returned home from a wonderful visit with friends and family in Virginia and New Jersey.  We celebrated life – how it was given freely at Christmas, how it was lived in 2009, and how excited we are for 2010.

I feel like we did a good job of remaining stress free this Christmas season which was our big goal.  (That’s probably why half my Christmas Cards aren’t mailed yet…oops.)

So much NEW is coming this year.  So far we know that:

We will see our time at Gordon Conwell come to a close and move onto somewhere NEW.

My brother will be getting married and we will have a NEW sister in law.

We will become Aunt and Uncle to 2 NEW babies.

I’m bursting with excitement to see what else is NEW in 2010.

Hope your Christmas was merry, your New Year happy, and your Outlook new.  Sending you love!

“Clear out the old to make way for the new.” (From Leviticus 26:9-11)

Chewy. Chocolate. Chocolate Chip Cookies.

When Nick and I first got married, I made it my goal to prove my worth as a wife, by baking as often as possible.  I made banana bread, zucchini muffins, apple pie, chocolate truffle pretzels, it was too, too much.  However, I did come up with a recipe for chocolaty, chocolate chip cookies, that will remedy any serious chocolate cravings and easily stay soft for a few days (Nick’s requirement for good cookies).  It has been a really long time since I made them – probably 2 years, but I found the recipe scrawled on a crumpled piece of paper in my “placemat drawer”.  I thought I would post it here, mainly because I know there is never enough junk food in the weeks surrounding Christmas and the New Year.

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter (1 stick)

3/4 cup light brown sugar

3/4 cup white granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 (8 oz.) bag chocolate chips

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1tsp. baking soda (I didn’t always use this)

1 package Devil’s Food Pudding Mix

Approximately 1/8 cup 1% milk

Preheat oven to 375*.  Cream together butter and sugars.  Add eggs and vanilla, followed by chocolate chips.  In a separate bowl mix together flour, salt, baking soda, and 3/4 pudding mixture.  Stir slowly into butter mixture, adding milk, a little at a time when mixture seems dry.  Space heaping tablespoons about 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

This is a really old, and low(er) quality picture, but the chocolate cookies in the front are these very same cookies.  They really are good!

P.S.  I have cut back the sugar in this recipe in the past and have still been happy with the results.  I generally taste the dough as I go along. 

(Thanksgiving 2009) These Wonderful Things…

“Are the things we’ll remember all through our lives.”

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with friends (that are nearly family) in  the mountains of New Hampshire.  As we prepared for the trip (and even now), the words to the song Sleigh Ride kept running through my head.

Clouds at the top of the Mountain.  This is what it looked like out the back window of our condo.  This picture is from the first day (I think).  There was snow on the tops of the mountains the other days.

This was a low key trip.  No Black Friday shopping for us this year, we played games and watched movies, the boys played horseshoes, we cooked and talked; Nick and I even had an afternoon to ourselves when everyone else decided to go for a swim.  Just like last year, the cooking was a joint effort, and the meal was delicious.  We were just super happy to have a full-size oven/stove and a dishwasher.

The Chefs (Cheves?  haha)  Love these girls!

Our little centerpiece.

The Crew  – (From the left) Jenny, Rebecca, Nick, Reed, Emily, Daniel

There’s a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy,  When they pass around the chocolate and the pumpkin pie.”

One other thing we did was rock the Wii with some bowling and tennis.  For fun we decided to create a Wii Me (or is it Wii Mii?) for everyone.

(From the left: Jenny, Reed, Rebecca, Nick, Daniel, Emily)

And a shot of the two of us!  Hope you are enjoying a bright and happy season!

This find sure was…

…a hole in one.

You can imagine my surprise when Nick wheeled this little number in the door today.  He went to return a movie and saw these in the garbage pile at the end of a driveway.  (The driveway of a big and beautiful home.)  He was very excited with his find and spent some time cleaning up the actual clubs this afternoon.  They are actually in good shape, although their little carrying house (???) could still use a bath.  (How weird does that thing look?  I feel like it could come to life at any moment.)

We tested out the putter in our living room with the help of an old tomato can.

Yessssss!

Happy Birthday Dude!

My hubster celebrated a birthday last weekend and we had a great time visiting with family in NJ.  It was a low-key visit, but exactly what we needed.  Our lives have been extremely busy and it was great to have nothing on our plates for the weekend.

We started the day right with a true diner breakfast at the Washington Diner, just the two of us.  The rest of the day was quality family time ending with a fun family party.  As usual, we didn’t take many pictures – we were just too busy.  I did take a picture of the extra handsome birthday boy.

Look at that smile!  Ahhh, I am a lucky girl.  Although it wasn’t luck of course, it was Providence. 

Nick also requested a real birthday cake with the letters “HBD” (His oft-used abbreviation of “Happy BirthDay”) written in black icing.

The bakery was rather confused by the request for black icing, but they made it happen.

In case you are curious – because I would be – the candles are two red, for twenty; three yellow and two green for five; and one blue candle for a wish and a prayer.

Costumes!

Nick and I were so excited to have weekend guests!  Our wonderful friends Dawie and Amanda drove up on Friday evening and we had the best time catching up with them.  When we had seen them briefly at the end of August, we talked about that fact that we had never been to a costume party and had made plans to remedy that when they visited.  This is after all the time of year when costumes are easily accessible and readily accepted.

The party was in our little abode, so Amanda and I made Chili and Spice Cake Balls for the party in between lying around the house all afternoon on Saturday.  Dav and Nick crammed their time with deep conversation and a tour of campus, but we girls were happy to do as much nothing as possible.  I had told our friends that costumes were mandatory.  I had purchased a package of fake mustaches at the Dollar Store for anyone who tried to sneak in looking normal.  I am so thankful for our friends – they did not disappoint.  We did a faux photo booth, just having all the guests sit against a blank wall in our kitchen.

Nick and I wanted a costume that went together, without being something too cliche.  We also didn’t want to spend any money if we didn’t have too.

So after much debate we settled on Dwight Schrute and Sprinkles the Cat from the show The Office.  I think Nick pulled off the Dwight look pretty well, considering that he is much too handsome to truly look like Dwight.  Since he didn’t actually have a shirt that ugly, we decided to make one using a white dress shirt that has always been too big for him (tags were still on).  The first step was to cut the sleeves to an awkward length and then find a way to color it using stuff from around the house (leftover coffee and apple cider mix).  I procrastinated in hemming the sleeves until the last minute, but it did get done.  He completed the look with the calculator watch he already owned and a pair of had-been aviators.  I had it easy – I layered lots of white clothing and fuzzy white socks and and made my ears with fabric scraps and a headband.  Do I look like a cat that has been euthanized?

We weren’t the only characters from The Office to attend.  Jim and Pam showed up too.

Kudos to Daniel and Jenny for their thorough research to perfect the Jim and Pam look, even down to the parts in their hair and the pregnant belly.

Of course, we needed a picture of Dwight and Jim together.

I loved Dav and Amanda’s costumes – Benjamin Franklin (who has actually made an appearance in The Office) and a Snuggie Model – complete with her book light!

Josh and Ashleigh moved away this Summer, but they used to be our upstairs (and one over) neighbors.  I was so glad they came!  Josh was very creative with his Biggest Loser champion costume and Ashleigh was a Soccer Star.   Plus, Ashleigh makes a super yummy pizza dip, that is always the first thing to go!

These next two took the prize for best costume.  I can always count on Reed and Emily to make an entrance and they completely did, by coming as Green and Purple Grapes.

They took up our whole couch, so there was no way that they could both fit into one picture.

Reed was feeling a bit like sour grapes at this point, because his football team wasn’t playing very well.

We had a great time!  I am so thankful to everyone for going all out with their costumes, but mostly I am thankful for these friendships!

Meat.ball.loaf

This is one of our Fall and Winter favorites.  Now I have always liked meatloaf, it was one of my Dad’s favorite.  But, I have heard that some people are actually afraid of meatloaf – that somehow, the thought of slicing a loaf of meat is unnatural.  This meatloaf is to tempt those people, that is as long as those people like meatballs.  If you don’t like meatloaf or meatballs, I can’t help you.

Ingredients

1 pound(ish) of ground lean beef or lean turkey (I usually use about 1 and 1/4 lb.)

3/4 to 1 cup plain breadcrumbs

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese + a little extra

an egg (or 2 if you are feeling decadent)

*1 cup marinara sauce OR Petite Diced Tomatoes in Juice

Basil

**2 Cloves Garlic minced

**1/2 cup Vidalia Onion minced

Olive Oil

*If you use diced tomatoes, make up a quick no cook marinara, by mixing the tomatoes with a little salt, pepper, olive, and olive oil + your favorite spices

**If your tastebuds didn’t grow up in NJ and you are already using a seasoned marinara sauce, you might want to ease up on the garlic and onion.  I use marinara sauce and the garlic and onion… 

Directions

In a bowl mix together the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, egg, garlic and onion.  When everything looks mixed and sludgy, add most of the marinara sauce, a tsp of dried basil (or 2-4 fresh leaves chopped), and a little bit of olive oil and mix well.  When everything is mixed add the ground meat – I find it is easier to add in chunks.  When this is mixed it is usually not as stiff as a traditional meatloaf mixture, but it should somewhat hold a shape.  Lightly grease a loaf pan and dump the meatloaf mixture into the pan spreading it flat. Cover the top with the remaining marinara sauce and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.  Cover with aluminum foil (shiny side down) and bake in a 375 degree oven for up to 1 hour, uncover for the final 15 minutes.

Visiting Our Family 2009

Disclaimer:  I wrote this post while on Benadryl.

We had such wonderful visits with family last month.  All year long, we look forward to seeing family.  An while I get to take trips to New Jersey a few times a year, we only get to Virginia three times at the most – this year it was twice.

Our trip started out with us tying the hood of our Jetta down with Nick’s Honor’s Tassels from his college graduation.  The latch on his hood was broken and we weren’t able to fix it prior to leaving, but don’t worry the car sported the yellow cords in style.  We made our trip in pieces, NJ, VA, and NJ again.

It was back to school week in NJ, so things were very busy, but we  found time to dye my gorgeous sister’s hair.

So lovely.

Jonny helped Nick to secure the hood a little better before we headed back on the open road.

We kept our NJ time very simple, we visited with our close friends, ate dinner with my family, stayed up late talking with Jon and Ainsley.  Listened to Josh tell stories about the culture of Valet parking.  Such special treasured moments!

In Virginia we did much the same, except with more Dessert! (oh my did we have desserts a plenty).  We went kayaking one day and Nick and I tried a double kayak which was interesting.  By the end we had learned how to work in sync, but it was much harder than I thought it would be.  Mike and Karen had a Canoe and they seemed to have a much easier time of it. 

We spent one day at Maymont Park and we saw:

Farm Animals

Birds

And a Butterfly.

We had fun.

But were pretty hot and tired by the end.  No worries, Rita’s took care of that!

Lindsay and I had the adventure of highlighting Karen’s hair (maybe Karen was the true adventurer).  Mike and Joey helped cut foils and make runs to the drugstore for us, while Nick and Mom W. picked Nick’s car up from being repaired.

Jack of course was thrilled to have his family around him.

We snapped a few family photos.

The J’s

The W’s – doesn’t Karen’s hair look great?

Mom W with the girls – the chiquitas were kinda done with having their picture taken.

Grandma H with her girls.

Us of course.

We have these cute pictures of us with Hannah, but none with Ella.  Don’t worry though, Ella and I had tons of fun sneaking up on Uncle Nick while he was working on his computer.  Lots of giggly girl time!

Here’s a pretty one of Ella – she looks like a china doll!

And one of Hannah too – fresh out of the pool.

Then it was back to NJ to spend a little more time with these folks…

…and the rest.

But don’t think we made it without an adventure.  As we passed Philadelphia, Nick and I heard a strange clunking noise and pulled to the side of the highway to discover that a bolt had fallen out of our front right brake.  We called AAA immediately, but their main line wasn’t working.  Finally we hacked our way into their system, and they told us that they could tow us anywhere within 100 miles.  Since my parent’s house was within that range, we were able to ride in the tow truck the rest of the way home.  It was slightly bizarre, but not awful if you can believe it.  We only arrived 1/2 hour late for dinner.  Josh drove Nick around until they found a bolt that would work to hold Nick’s brake on (although we still need to buy the OEM part)…thanks Josh!  We stayed for another day and then headed home with hearts full and ready to start our last year at Gordon Conwell.