Happy Pie

Another year older, another year wiser? Jo made this lovely birthday pie for me, and it was delicious with a capital K.

This year I did some smart things and some dumb things. For instance, I:

• scraped the snow off my driveway with my own atv snowplow–smart
• took care of those tunnels in my right arm, carpal and cubital–very smart
• got declared fully recovered from back surgery by Dr. Bess–smart
• rode my motorcycle for the first time in over a year–smart and dumb
• started working out with a trainer–smart
• stopped working out with a trainer–dumb
• started working out with a trainer again–smart
• said good bye after 10 years to the best dog ever–just sad
  
• saw my dream house start to take shape–makes me feel smart
• killed a deer with my car–dumb (me and the deer)
• got a speeding ticket–really dumb
• put my ipod donut away so safely I cannot find it–I’m an idiot

The next year is going to be awesome, even though I don’t think I’m much wiser for having survived the last one. And I hope I can find that ipod thingy before my next birthday!

Who Wants Pie?

Here is that delicious Huckleberry Pie, as promised two days ago.

Count Your Many

My oldest child is amazing. She is such a help to me whenever she comes up. She helps me with everything from blogging to cooking to relationships. She is smart and funny. She holds down a job relating to her field of study, and she maintains a cool blog or two.   She even sews, like that pretty blue smock she is wearing.  Plus, I really like all of her friends, especially the ones that schlep all the way to Idaho to see me!

Beautiful Jo.

Tonight we cooked up some pie filling from huckleberries picked in the wild by Grandma.

Better than from a can!

Stay tuned for the finished product. Lets just say I would have shown it today, but pie crust from scratch just isn’t as easy as pie!

 

Comfort Food Sunday

The sky was gray and drizzling all day. To warm us all up I made chicken soup from scratch, and that means dumplings too around here. We love this dish so much, but I have never met anyone outside my family who makes soup dumplings, which are kind of a cross between a biscuit and a noodle. I got this recipe from my mother, who got it from my Dad’s mother. So this is how to make chicken soup from scratch, and the dumplings that are a family favorite at our house.

Start with a big soup pot.

Clean a whole chicken and wrap it up in cheesecloth tied with a knot. Cover the chicken with cold water in the pot and bring to a boil with lid on. Reduce temperature and simmer until tender, or about 1 hour. While the chicken is cooking peel and cut up the vegetables you want in your soup. I use about 4 potatoes, 6 carrots, 1 large sweet onion, and 5 stalks celery, all cut into bite size pieces. When the chicken is done, transfer it to a bowl to cool a little by grabbing the knot of cheesecloth with tongs. Put all the vegetables into the broth remaining in the soup pot and simmer until tender. While the veggies are simmering, debone the chicken and return the meat to the soup. Season the soup with a little poultry seasoning and salt to taste.

These are the ingredients for soup dumplings.

Soup Dumplings

1 Cup milk ( I use 1%)

1/2 Cup butter (1 cube)

1/2 Cup flour (may need an extra teaspoon more or less)

1 scant teaspoon salt

2 medium eggs

In a medium saucepan bring the milk and butter to a boil. Use a medium heat and stir a lot so it doesn’t scorch. When it boils add the flour and salt all at once. Stir and cook until it forms a ball in the pan. Remove from the heat. Break the eggs into the mixture one at a time, stirring well after each one. Drop the dumpling mixture into the soup in spoonfuls. Cook in the soup just below the boiling point for 20 minutes.

My notes on the dumplings: My mom’s recipe used margarine, but I prefer butter. I often find that the flour measurement seems to be a little short, so I add a teaspoon to the half cup of flour. A silicone spatula works great to stir the dough and kind of moosh out the lumps while it reduces and eventually forms a ball. If I only have large eggs, then 1 1/2 eggs is enough. I like the consistency of the dumpling batter to hold together as I drop it into the soup and not drip all over the place, and it is the eggs that determine this. I use a teaspoon to drop the dumpling into the soup, swiping the dough into the broth with my index finger. This makes a nice round dumpling on top with a kind of concave shape on bottom. Watch the soup like a hawk and absolutely do not let it boil once the dumplings are in it. This will insure your dumplings are tender, not tough. I always double the recipe, but still mix each egg in separately. You can use these dumplings with any kind of soup that you might put a noodle in, like a beef broth soup or a minestrone.

This is how our soup and dumplings turned out tonight. A big pot of this stuff heats up deliciously the next day too. We love the bread from Crumb Brothers with our soup, and then we are all warmed up on a cold evening.

Find the guy poking his eye out

Matt and I headed south today to watch Utah State get slaughtered by Boise State. There were probably more Boise fans there than Aggie fans. We did not feel like the minority in our blue and orange. It’s kind of painful to watch the Aggies. I feel sorry for them because they are on such a long losing streak. Our friend Van, who is a student at USU, asked us to bring him an orange hoodie to wear, but he still cheered for the Aggies. Matt, on the other hand, is a true Boise State fan, having been a student there.

 

Matt and Van

This evening brought round two of “Adaptation.” A good mother goes every night to see her daughter in a play, right? Fortunately for me, this play makes you think, so a second and third viewing isn’t tedious at all. And when your daughter is this cute in her costume, all the better.

 

Rosie as the Mother

That vintage dress Rosie is wearing came from an estate sale of my sixth grade home room teacher, Mr. Boden, after his death. Maybe his wife or one of his daughters originally wore it. On Rosie, it’s killer. And she is killer in the production.

After the show, Dad and I decided to try out dinner at a new place in town. I give them credit at least for having a website. The place is decorated like a 50’s diner, and the food is not half bad, the veggies were fresh grilled, the mashed potatoes were real, and the butter was too. Plus, and this is a plus, I think they are the only game in town for breakfast. Ooh, I kind of feel like a food critic right now!

Top 10 Observations today:

10. That obnoxious guy rule applies in every stadium at every game.

9. If Boise State plays USU, I cheer for Boise.

8. Hardly anyone cheers for USU.

7. If Boise State were to play BYU, I’d cheer for BYU.

6. This town smells like a burning haystack.

5. A burning haystack might have more customers than the restaurant we were at for dinner.

4. Pressure washers can baffle really good attorneys.

3. A really good pressure washer-er probably doesn’t make squat.

2. Maybe the pressure washer-er should go put out the burning haystack.

1. I make squat.

 

With guacamole on top

This is a top I started in a class to learn Jeana Kimball’s method of appliqué. The Whimsicals pattern is pictured all in browns and muddy colors but that’s a palette I’m not crazy about so I made mine pink. It’s all ready to quilt and I would really like to hand quilt this one, probably because I’m too embarrassed to send it out to a professional!

For dinner tonight we had one of our favorite simple meals, tacos. Cook it up in 30 minutes and everyone has a customized dish. I like everything on mine, but the picky eater in the family takes meat, cheese and one single shred of lettuce.