~Photo-a-day~ Nov 26-Dec 1

I ran the drumstick dash again this year. Even though Christina and I did it together, we didn’t run together. I ran alone and it was positively boring…I shouldn’t HAVE to run so fast then. I should be fine with running slower. I had my first cup of coffee, in over a year, after finishing this race – I deserved it after running in that freezing weather. IT WAS AMAZING!!!! no sweetener just straight black=) We stopped by my grandmas to enjoy a bit of the traditional meal. The cranberry salad, my mom made, was excellent! It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without it.

I went hunting all day Friday with Steve (my boss) and Isaac, way down in Canaan Indiana. We didn’t see anything, but had a wonderfully grand time out there in the woods. This was my very first all day hunt. And let me tell you it was perfect! I had such a good time=) Sitting there, thinking. All by myself all day long, no phones ringing, no costumer needing anything, I didn’t have to put my glasses on all day, and I didn’t have to talk to a soul. A neighbor dog came out of the woods and began barking at me non-stop for the first half hour of legal shooting. Tried my patience to the max, to say the least.

Sunday my mom and Victoria sang the Handle’s Messiah with a community choir. I’ve listened to this song all my life on CD’s my mom has blared off and on my entire life …but have never ever heard it live. It was beautiful – the hallelujah chorus gave me the chills. Everyone standing to their feet wow!!!! Mom has worked so hard the past few months to get to this point…music lessons etc. She’s one of the best singers I’ve heard (of course I’m bias) but come on, believe me, she like sang opera in collage…so I hope you get the picture of how GOOD she really is=) She underestimates herself so much…All of us kids were there to hear her sing, minus only one - Jonathan. She was so happy…and that’s when she’s the most beautiful to me.

 

Day 330

~starts with “S”~

Spice=) The king of the spices in my book is cinnamon…I love the smell, taste, looks everything about it.

Day 331

~texture~

Day 332

~a blessing~

We cooked our normal stuffed Thanksgiving turkey for Sunday. This stuffing is soooo good! we only have it once a year and wow after I eat it - every time no fail, I wonder why we don’t make it more often that this.

Day 333

~warmth~

no kidding it was fifty-three degrees, it felt like a heat wave. I went running in a tank top and actually was pouring sweat=) I could totally get used to this!

Day 334

~I went…~

I went to the Handle’s Messiah performance=) 

Day 335

~mail~

Mailing out the Christmas letters to soldier. I will be mailing out 31 letters to 31 soldiers this month.

Day 335

~red & white~

I’ve actually begun my in store Christmas shopping!!!

 

Happy Wednesday Folks!!!

 

One of the best Thanksgivings ever!

Cold and early are just a few words that describe this morning run. I pulled Christina out of bed to go freeze and take the before and after pictures of me…it was 20 degrees – not bad, I know -  unless you have to ummmm…run in it=) When I started my feet were completely numb with cold, they thawed out by mile two and I felt great the rest of the run. Check out the Drumstick Dash here…they have a very neat mission and touch a lot of lives. Some of the best miles I’ve ever run…it was a little over four miles.

BEFORE

& AFTER

This was just the beginning to an absolutely perfect day…mom had pulled all of the books out about the history of Thanksgiving (brought back so many memories of past Thanksgivings) The meal was a killer, smoked turkey and all the fixings… so yummy! I can still taste it=)

My wonderful mom who worked so hard to make this day a success…I love her so much! The perfect role model.

Hannah getting a head start on the mounds of dishes…before we ate=)

Christina made all the pies, I can’t get over dads face expression in this one=)

Sitting around waiting on Jonathan to arrive…

Pre-meal checker game…

Yeast RoLLs, and they taste even better than they look=)

Our meal=)

Isaac-always the happiest when he is eating…

JT and Max just couldn’t wait to play Lagos…forget the food=)

And we did the normal skeet shoot..when through a lot of rounds and shot a ton of clay pigeons.

Very cold…but still not too cold to text=)

We had a 300 piece puzzle contest…me and Joseph came in last=( Mom and Samuel won!=)

We ended the day with a game of Catch Phrase and the watched “The Sound of Music” Perfect ending to a perfect day=) This will always be a Thanksgiving I will look back on and smile. So many good memories combined into one day.

How was your Thanksgiving?

Healthy Oven Roasted Turkey…

SOMETHING NEW!!!!!…yeah trying my hand at photographing food

This is really the only thing I can cook consistently well. Oven roasted turkey stuffed with veggies=) I took pictures this time just for the fun of it…I think I could really get into cooking if I would take pictures every time!

We make this when we want turkey meat for lunches, casual dinner etc. ready in the freezer. Having a big family it’s a great way to have it handy for whatever=) We do use the traditional stuffing when cooking a turkey for the holidays.

Here’s the recipe

(add more or less depending on your own personal opinion =)

One turkey, approx. 15 lb.

Juice of one lemon

Salt and pepper

Olive Oil or melted butter

One medium yellow onion, peeled and quartered

Tops and bottoms of a bunch of celery

Two carrots, washed and sliced

Four potatoes, washed and quartered

Parsley

Sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme.

I hand juiced this lemon to put over the veggies so that the vegetables will hold their taste…and color

All the ingredients washed and cut up in a bowl

Here he is! All thawed out, washed and ready to be stuffed.

You just can’t cook a turkey without these seasonings…and yes I’ve accidently tried=P

Parsley…I picked it fresh moments before out of my sisters herb garden

With the olive oil, seasonings and lemon juice added…

All stuffed in the roasting pan. I add some olive oil to the top of him and sprinkle with salt and black pepper.

(I add extra veggie because without a shadow of doubt this is my favorite way to eat veggies…they are so good, with that turkey flavor.)

I added a quart of water under him (to keep him moist) and covered him with foil. And that’s it!

I put him in the pre-heated oven to cook over night at a low heat (250 degrees) The house smelled wonderful the next morning. It should be done by the next morning.

The next evening, for dinner we will normally have turkey meat with these roasted veggies on the side. We’ll make gravy from the dripping  (the water I add help so we have a lot, my mom refrigerates the extra for gravy another day)

  Add some biscuits and to this and here you have it~an easy meal.

The rest of the turkey meat will be frozen and bagged for easy accessibility another day.

I would have taken some “after pictures” but mom had already cut into him for lunches.

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