The Snow Cave

We have had quite a few snow storms this winter and it has really accumulated in our yard.  What do you do with all that snow besides shovel or snow blow it?  You build a snow cave!  The boys love to play inside, outside and on the cave every chance they get.  I snapped a few pictures of Ehric playing in the cave before his bus came this morning.  He is going to miss that cave when the snow melts!

A view from outside the cave.

 Ehric sitting inside the cave.

Standing outside the cave.

Steaming Hot Oatmeal

Synchronicity was at play this morning in my kitchen. I had left over apple slices in my fridge from the snack Aiden didn't eat yesterday. I also had left over soaked raisins and brown sugar syrup from making Apple Dumplings last night. So I decided to use these leftovers to make a yummy hot oatmeal for breakfast. It was so warming to the soul on this very cold single digit morning in Maine!

Can you see the steam rising?

Apple-Raisin Oatmeal

Combine in a sauce pan: 1 3/4 cups boiling water, 1 cup Quick Oats, 1/2 cup Raisins, 1 small Apple diced, Brown sugar or maple syrup (add to your preference)

Cook over medium heat until oats are cooked (about 2 minutes). Put the oatmeal into individual bowls and then add a little bit of milk to each bowl. Stir to combine.

Note: I like to add slivered almonds or cut up walnuts to my bowl of oatmeal.

Printable Recipe.

Owl Spotting

Walking up the driveway with Ehric I happened to look up into a tree and spotted a Barred Owl. The tree is located right near our chicken coop so I think the owl was on the lookout for dinner. When I spotted it I immediately pointed it out to Ehric, and then ran in the house and grabbed my camera. I was able to snap this picture of the owl looking at us. I have seen owls close up at the local wild life park but never in my own backyard before. I am so excited!! Next time I see it I will be sure to call out "Who Cooks for you? Who Cooks for you all?" Maybe it will hoot back.

GF Chicken Pot Pie

I love chicken pot pie but don't eat it very often because it is a little time consuming to make the traditional way (with a full pie crust). I found this recipe the other day for a Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie that looked really easy to make and only has a top crust. So yesterday, I cooked up some chicken and today I made my version of the recipe since I didn't have some of the ingredients in the original recipe. I've included my notes and prep instructions below.

This recipe was not as quick to make as I hoped, but it was worth the time to make. I enjoyed the filling tremendously and the topping was kind of like corn bread. I would make this dish again. It was so good on this cold Winter day!

Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie

**Precook 1 lb of Chicken ahead of time.

For the Chicken-Vegetable Filling

First I prepped my vegetables.

2 cups of Broccoli florets (chopped)

25 Baby Carrots (thinly sliced)

1 small yellow onion (finely chopped)

2 garlic cloves (minced)

In a Dutch Oven I added 2 tblsp of Olive Oil and cooked the onions over medium heat until they were soft. Then I poured the onions into a bowl.

I combined the dry ingredients in a small bowl and whisked well:

2 tblsp rice flour, 1/2 tsp dried mustard, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper

In the Dutch oven I add 2-3 tblsp of Olive Oil then poured in the dry ingredients. I cooked the mixture over medium heat for a few minutes.

I slowly added a 14.5 oz can of Chicken stock to the dutch oven and whisked well. Once the mixture was boiling I added in dried basil (a few shakes) and my prepped vegetables. I turned the heat down to low and cooked the ingredients covered for 12 minutes.

While the mixture was cooking I shredded my 1 lb of previously cooked of chicken. Since I didn't have sour cream I whipped up some cream (from our raw milk) with some lemon juice. I made about 3 tblsp of sour cream. I also preheated my oven to 425 degrees.

When the vegetables were done cooking I turned off the stove top. I added the chicken and sour cream to the dutch oven and stirred up the ingredients. Then I poured the vegetable mixture into a 9 x 13.

For the topping

In a small bowl I combined :

1/2 cup of cornmeal, 1/4 cup rice flour plus 2 tblsp, 2 tblsp tapioca flour, 3/4 tsp xanthan gum,

1 1/2 tsp of baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt,

In another small bowl I combined:

1 tblsp honey, 3/4 cup raw milk, 2 tblsp olive oil

Then I combined the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. I poured the batter onto the Chicken -Vegetable Mixture in the 9 X 13 and then carefully spread the mixture across the top.

I baked the dish for 30 minutes. Then let it cool for about 10-15 minutes.

Serves about 6.

Notes: I accidentally set my temp to 450* so my topping was a little darker than it should have been. Oops! So I pulled my Pot Pie out of the oven about five minutes sooner. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Happy Groundhog Day!

I don't know what it is about Tuesdays and Wednesdays being the "official" snow days but that is the reality the past few storms. Since we didn't have to worry about our school routine this morning we all slept in a little later than usual. Well I at least layed down in bed later than usual. I am hopeful that we won't have too many more storms in our future since Punxsatawney Phil didn't see his shadow today. Supposedly we will have an early spring!

Lately, I have been running across a lot of Raw recipes and Gluten Free recipes. I've bookmarked a few that I want to try and have purchased a few pantry items so I can try my hand at them. This morning was the perfect opportunity to try Gluten Free Pancakes. I found a recipe and then tweaked it a bit to use what I had on hand. They tasted just like regular buttermilk pancakes to me, and the boys were oblivious to the fact they were not our usual mix and ate up a bunch. Here is the recipe I made:

Gluten Free Pancakes

Makes 20 4" Pancakes

1 1/3 + 3 tblsp Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Powder

4 tblsp Dry Buttermilk Powder

1 tblsp Organic Sucanat and Cinnamon Mixed

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Bob's Red Mill Xanthan Gum

2 eggs

3 tblsp Canola Oil

2 Cups of Water

Combine Dry Ingredients, then add Wet Ingredients. Stir to get rid of lumps. Cook on a hot griddle on medium heat. Flip when the first side bubbles.

Note: This recipe makes a lot of batter. It is also a thick batter. Next time I am going to halve the recipe.

Ehric and Aiden happily enjoying Gluten Free Pancakes!

Cold Snap

We are in for a cold snap for the next four days. Tonight we are supposed to be in the negatives and tomorrow the high will be 10 degrees (if we are lucky)! So I decided to make some Pea Soup to enjoy over the next few days. Whenever I make Pea Soup I think of my Pepere who used to make this soup when I was a child. Unfortunately I never got his recipe before he died, so I usually make the recipe off a local bean company's bag. Tonight I couldn't find the recipe I usually use, so I combined a couple recipes to make this delicious soup!

Green Split Pea Soup with Ham

1 lb dry Green split peas
1 Chicken Bouillon Cube
6 cups water
Ham Bone or 1/4 lb smoked ham, diced
1 cup chopped celery
1 medium carrot, diced
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Sort and rinse peas. In a 6 to 8 quart pot, add peas, bouillon cube and water. Bring to boiling; simmer 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover and let stand 1 hour. Add ham bone, celery, carrot, onion, garlic, bay leaf and thyme; heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until peas are soft. Remove bone; cut off meat and dice. If desired, remove bay leaf then put vegetable mixture through food mill, blender** or sieve. Return meat to soup; season to taste with salt and pepper.

Note: I usually use a hand held immersion blender.

French Toast

On Friday it snowed yet again. Since school was cancelled I decided to make a special breakfast, Raisin French Toast with sausages and orange juice. It was so good!

Raisin French Toast
6 slices Pepperidge Swirl Raisin Cinnamon Bread
1 oz milk
1 egg
Pinch of Cinnamon

Tiny bit of Vanilla Extract

Preheat griddle or pan (lightly butter or oil first). In a shallow dish scramble together the milk, egg, cinnamon and vanilla. Dip both sides of the the bread slices into the mixture and then cook both sides on the griddle.

Aiden ate half of his French Toast and then decided that he wanted to eat Pancakes. Since I had a hot griddle and a Pancake mix handy I humored him.

They both left the table happy with full tummies. "Snow day, yummy snow day!"

Snow Blowing & Hot Cocoa

It has been snowing for most of the day today and our driveway really needed to be plowed by the time Ehric got home from school. So after Ehric got off the bus and made snow angels he and Daddy got to work plowing the driveway. Daddy taught Ehric how to use our Case tractor and for a six year old he did awesome!! Maybe in a few years he will be plowing the driveway by himself.

Since it was snowing and it was cold out I figured everyone would want some hot cocoa. I decided that instead of using the Swiss Miss I would make some from scratch. So I dug out my Hershey's cookbook and made some Hot Cocoa. It was so good with the gingerbread we have leftover from our gingerbread house from Christmas. Everyone had a mug and warmed up!

Hot Cocoa

(from Hershey's 1934 Cookbook (C) 1992)

3 tblsp sugar
2 tblsp Hershey's Cocoa (or any baking cocoa)
Dash salt
1/4 cup hot water
1 1/2 cups milk
Marshmallows or marshmallow creme

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cocoa and salt; stir in water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Add milk. Heat to serving temperature, stirring occasionally. Do not boil. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Beat with rotary beater or wire whisk until foamy. Serve hot, topped with marshmallows.

Optional: before whisking add in a little bit of cinnamon.

Buttermilk Biscuits

With the house to myself this morning I decided to make biscuits to go along with the Red Lentil Soup I made yesterday. The biscuits came out so fluffy and tasted amazing with my soup. I was good though I only ate two. My family has been snacking on them all afternoon. Warm biscuits are great on a cold Winter day!

Buttermilk Biscuits

(from The Best Marjorie Standish: Chowders, Soups & Stews- Down East Recipes)

2 cups sifted flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp soda

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 rounded tblsp shortening

1 cup buttermilk

Sift flour, measure and sift together with salt, soda, cream of tartar and baking powder.

Cut in the shortening, using a pastry blender or 2 knives. Add the buttermilk quickly, using a fork for stirring into dry ingredients. Knead lightly on a floured board.
Cut in size biscuits desired, place on a greased pan and bake at 475 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
Makes about 12 biscuits.

** I like to add 1 tbsp of sugar to the dry ingredients.
** If you do not have buttermilk you can use milk and lemon juice.

Winter Cooking

Earlier today I went to the wholesale club and restocked our fridge, freezer and pantry. Since we had a lot of bulk meats and other items I decided to do some cooking this afternoon. I prepared hamburger patties, Italian meatballs, BBQ meatloaf, cheesy scalloped potatoes, red lentil soup, and glazed carrots. We ate the meatloaf, the potatoes and the carrots for dinner. It was yummy!

Hamburger Patties
Ground Beef
Montreal Steak Seasoning
Lea & Perron's
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder

Mix together with your hands and shape into patties.

Italian Meatballs
2 lbs Ground Beef
2 Sweet Italian Sausages
1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Egg
1 cup 4-C Italian Breadcrumbs
A few dashes oregano and Basil

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Lay out two baking trays. Slice open the sausages, remove the meat, tear apart and put in a large bowl with the ground beef. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix with your hands. Roll into small balls and space out meatballs on the trays. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

If using immediately, put the meatballs in a tomato sauce and simmer until ready to eat. The longer the better.

For later use: Once the trays and the meatballs are cool, put the baking trays in the freezer. When the meatballs are frozen remove the meatballs and place in a plastic storage bag. By freezing the meatballs first they will not stick together and then you can remove however many you need at a time.

BBQ Meat Loaf
1 1/2-2 lbs ground beef
2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup 4C Italian Seasoned breadcrumbs
Few dashes onion Powder
Few dashes Garlic Powder
Few Dashes Ground Mustard
Few dashes Pepper
1 tsp Salt
A few shakes of any BBQ rub or seasoning

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Layout a baking tray. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Shape into a loaf by hand on the baking tray. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes. Remove any grease, brush BBQ sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's) onto the loaf and put bake in the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and eat right away or eat the next day.

Glazed Carrots
Carrots-dice into small slices
Honey
Water
Orange juice (optional)

Put the diced carrots, a little bit of honey and a little bit of water in a baking dish and bake until cooked (when you can poke a fork through easily) or cook in a saucepan on a stove top adding the honey towards the end of the cooking.

Worthley Pond

I am really excited about a new meme I stumbled upon, Outdoor Wednesday. On Wednesday people all over the blog world are posting photos of the outdoors. The photos can be of anything outdoors: your yard, a forest, field, beach, etc. I can't wait to see what other people share!

I thought Outdoor Wednesday would be the perfect time to share some photos from our trip to Worthley Pond this weekend. It was so beautiful out (in the mid 50s) that we didn't wear a coat most of the time we were there.

The kids had fun cross country skiing, sledding, running through the slush, and Ehric even got to go on his first snowmobile ride!

Ehric talked the man on the snowmobile into letting him take control of the steering wheel. Or should I say he probably pushed the man's hands off.

A friend of ours caught this fish. When we checked it out up close you could really examine its gills. It was pretty neat. Apparently out of all the icefishing traps set this was the only one caught that day!

Cross-Country Skiing

Hubby took the boys cross-country skiing last night. They had a lot of fun and burned some energy at the same time! Thats a plus in my book!

Will Spring ever get here???

Last night a major snow storm hit. I saw a news report this morning that said we got around 14" of new snow. In northern Maine areas they got around 20"...that is a lot of snow! Last night as I was getting ready for bed (around 10:45pm) my neighbor called asking me to move my hubby's truck so that he could plow. The snow was coming down so hard and so thick that it was really hard to see anything. Even at that point there were tree limbs done around my driveway.

I cleaned off the truck as best as I could to see, and tried to move it out of the driveway. It would not budge. So I raced back up to the house (hopping through the snow) to get a shovel, and then raced back to the truck and started to dig out the buried tires. I was trying to get the truck moved before my neighbor finished his road, but the truck still wouldn't move. By the time my neighbor pulled up I was so out of breath, cold and soaked to the bone from the wet snow. We figured the truck was not moving because of all the ice under the snow (the pitfalls of getting a melt before another snow storm); so he used his chain to pull my truck out of the driveway. Thank God for good neighbors!!

Here are some pictures that I took of my yard this morning.

You can't really see it too well, but on the right hand side is a lilac bush that is completely ruined now!! Hopefully it will recover.

A view from my front door.

A view down my driveway. Newly plowed.

Bradbury Mountain

Today was unseasonably warm in Maine...we were blessed with 50 degree weather in February! I wont hold my breath though, because I am sure the weather will change soon. But for today we got to enjoy the sun. My neighbor and her son invited us to go hiking at Bradbury Mountain State Park. We took her up on the offer and went for a winter hike.

When we first got there we had all the boys in just their snow pants (because it was 50 degrees after all--didn't want the boys to roast), but once we got into the shade of the trees Ehric decided that he had to wear a coat. I am glad that I went back for the coats, because it got chilly on the way up.

The boys all had fun climbing up the mountain. Momma realized how out of shape I am! When we got to the top the boys ran around playing tag with one another. Ehric started a snowball fight, but the boys realized quickly that the snow was cold without their gloves on. Guess we should have brought their gloves with us too!

A woman and her adult son joined us at the top. My neighbor and I spoke with the woman while Ehric decided that he was going to play tag with the adult son. He was a good sport about it and played tag right along with him. Ehric got a little rambunctious and Aiden was antsy so we decided to head back down the mountain.

We decided to take another way down...we thought it would be shorter to the ground but we were wrong. Aiden got tired after a while so my neighbor and I took turns carrying him down. Her son got a little jealous of Aiden so of course he had to be carried too. We were all relieved when we finally got back to the bottom.

The kids played on the playground while I got snacks and drinks. We all chowed down on teddy grahams before heading out. I know that we all left there feeling both tired and rejuvenated. I hoped that the boys would nap after all the excitement but no luck! Regardless we had a great time!

Full Snow Moon

Last night if you had a chance to step outside you would have seen the Full Snow Moon. Here is what the Farmer's Almanac has to say about February's full moon,

'Full Snow Moon - Since the heaviest snow usually falls during this month, native tribes of the north and east most often called February's full Moon the Full Snow Moon. Some tribes also referred to this Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult.'

I got a chance to see the Full Snow Moon in the middle of the night (had trouble falling asleep). The moon was somewhat hidden by clouds, but other wise still very visible. It was actually so bright that I was able to look out my window and see things outside my window quite clearly. The whole sky was very lit up. It was beautiful!

It is my plan in the future to have the boys help me keep a Moon Journal. I want us to record where we see the moon in the sky, to draw what it looks like, and record any other pertinent info that would help us track the moon throughout the year. I also would like us to celebrate the full moon by baking a round cake or dessert. I think that would be a fun tradition to add.

Another Snow Day

We are getting hammered with snow today. I heard one report that said we were going to get 15" of snow today. Everytime I look out the window I am amazed at how fast it is coming down. When hubby got home he said that the roads were absolutely horrible, especially in our neck of the woods. Our road is usually one of the last to be plowed out unfortunately.

Our snow blower is still on the fritz so we have to wait for our neighbor to plow us out. I feel bad that we are relying on him so much to clean our driveway out, but our driveway is a little too much to do by hand. Hopefully next year we can get a truck with a plow.

Since we were stuck inside today I decided to organize my tupperware. That is a feat in its self! I decided to put them right near the fridge so that I can easily get to them. It looks so organized right now and it makes me smile. I hope it stays that way!

C's 7th Birthday Party

We just got back from my neice C's 7th birthday party. It is kind of funny because her theme this year was 'Michael Jackson' of all people. Apparently, she has been listening to his music with my mom and told my sister that he looks a little like Barbie (maybe, because he is going for the white plastic look?). She had his music playing throughout the party and the kids danced to a Michael Jackson Dvd. The kids even watched the 'Thriller' video (I joked that all the kids were going to end up with nightmares).

Despite it being really cold out today we went sledding at her Nana and Papa's house (Aiden's godparents). My sister and I even sledded together (we are just big kids really). Aiden didn't want anything to do with sledding today. I think he is feeling under the weather. Ehric lasted quite a bit longer. Daddy on the other hand was giving rides to all the little ones. I think he was having the most fun out of everyone!

Aiden was sweet to C's baby sister. They sat at a table together and Aiden fed her cake and icecream. It was really cute. He would make a great big brother. Just not right away!

Toy Library

We got out of the house today and went and played at the Toy Library. I went specifically today because there was Sesame Street sing-along at 10 a.m. I think everybody and his brother went there today! Usually I am able to find parking either in their parking lot or out front on the street, but today I had to park on a side street a little bit aways. I felt bad for Aiden because I couldn't find one of his gloves this morning. So he had to walk without gloves on and it was pretty cold today.

When we got inside I was surprised by how many people were there. We were the first ones who went inside the sing-along room, so the boys decided to claim two chairs as their own. The man and his wife leading the sing-along are from Quebec. So when they pronounced Sesame Street it was a little hard to make out and they sound a little different. When the man started singing both my boys put their hands over their ears. After that Ehric decided he had enough and both boys decided that they were going to just go play. So we never ended up doing the sing-along.

Another mom from co-op showed up with her girls. So while the mom and I chatted Ehric became chummy with some other boys there. He likes to do flips on the tumbling mats. Aiden likes to play with either the cars of trains. So I felt like I was constanly turning my head to keep an eye on them both.

When I heard a roar coming from Ehric I knew it was time to check in on him. He was just about to bite a little boy when I picked him up. Usually when Ehric starts roaring he is on overload. So I made him stay in a time out for a bit.

Once Ehric cooled down we decided to go upstairs to ride bikes. I was really impressed by Ehric when he waited patiently for the one motorcycle they have (his favorite). Usually he is quick to try to take claim of that bike. He even said 'thank you' after. Much improvement over his behavior down stairs.

For the most part we had a pretty good time despite how warm it was and how many people were there. I even got to have some adult conversation!

January Nature Table

I decided to change my nature table over from Christmas to a snowman theme for January. A friend of ours gave us a very pretty fir center piece for Christmas. It is still very green. Although you can't see them in the pictures there are also a few pine cones in the wooden box. The candles have little snow men on them. Aiden has been hiding the candles on me the past few days. They turn up in very funny places.

The poem displayed is from "A Child's Calendar"- Poems by John Updike

January

The Days are short,
The sun a spark
Hung thin between
The dark and dark.

Fat snowy footsteps
Track the floor,
And parkas pile up
Near the door.

The river is
A frozen place
Held still beneath
The trees' black lace.

The sky is low.
The wind is gray.
The radiator
Purrs all day.