Caramel Apple Crisp

4 cups diced apples

Dry Ingredients

1 cup of flour

3/4 cup oatmeal

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup melted butter

Caramel Sauce

1 cup white sugar

2 T cornstarch

1 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

Cook white sugar, cornstarch, and water until thick. Add vanilla. Mix dry ingredients with butter until crumbly. Press half into greased 9-inch pan. Cover with apples, caramel sauce then the remaining crumb mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour and serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. 

My Annual Favorite.....Heck My All Time Favorite

As always, it is Super Bowl time. While I may not care about who is playing, it is certainly a huge tradition for me to make this monstrous pot of chili every year. It takes me a few hours the night before or the morning of to make......but it's worth it!! Slow cooker lovers out there (I am one of them) will love how easy this is to just put in the cooker and let it go until half time.

Why does it take so long? There is a lot of meat to brown and a huge amount of veggies to chop. My recommendation--take your Pampered Chef chopper, or something like it and lay all the veggies all over the cutting board, and just start pounding. It will keep the onions, green peppers and jalapeno peppers off your hands too.

If you don't remember my history with this recipe, well then I'll tell you. This recipe comes from the Coors Cookbook shown in the picture. My parents had this cookbook when I was a kid and made this recipe several times in our cold Colorado winters. Many times a pot of this yummy-ness was waiting for us after a great day of skiing. It has many many fond memories for me. Then when I moved out as a college student, my parents divorced, and that was one of my losses in the divorce. The loss of this great recipe. I looked for the book, and it was out of print. This was also long before the resource we now know fondly as the internet. Back then, when a book went out of print, too bad so sad. You're out of luck unless you check Powell's books weekly, and trust me, they never had it.

Jump ahead a few years. I was married and my dad and his new wife were visiting. We found ourselves in a little second hand store. Both my dad and I found it.....THE Coors Cookbook!! For a buck! There was a small discussion about who would buy it, and who would share the recipe and make sure the other was supplied the recipe on demand. I got the cookbook. I made sure my dad had copy of the recipe. I also make sure when he visits to this day, an awesome batch of chili goodness is made.

As you watch half time commercials, you will know I'll be digging my spoon into this stuff. I hope you are too.

5 slices of bacon
8 ounces hot bulk pork sausage
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove of garlic
1 or 2 dried red chili peppers, seeded and crumbled
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of chili powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
two twelve ounce cans of Coors beer (okay, we cheat a lot and use Hefeweizen,
or a good amber ale)
one 12 ounce can of tomato paste
one 16 ounce can of pinto beans, drained

Cook bacon till crisp; drain and set aside. Brown sausage. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of drippings, set aside. In reserved drippings, brown the ground beef, onion, green pepper and garlic. Add bacon, sausage, pepper, chili powder, oregano, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stir in beer and tomato paste. Bring to boiling; simmer, covered for 1 1/2 hours. Add beans, simmer, covered, 30 more minutes. Serve with shredded cheese and chopped onion.

We Are Still in the Christmas Season.....

Our church did it again. We do a children's Christmas pageant every year, and every year, it gets better and better. I have a preliminary slide show for us to enjoy. I am working on a masterpiece, so hold on for more, but I know several parents are excited to see something.

For those not involved, but love to watch kids. I need to make a few highlights. You might remember last year my tearful typing of a post about the wonderful Burmese family that came to our church.....with no English. After months and months of trying to include them in things, yet only having blanks stares to exchange....we offered (couldn't speak so we held up ratty costumes to show them we wanted them to join us) the kids to join us in our Christmas pageant. I still get choked up remembering that magical day. Please click here for a refresher.

This year....that same Burmese family was an integral part of our pageant. But even better. They have immersed themselves in their schooling and had English speaking parts. Kwa Too, one of the few young boys of this family, had a speaking part as Joseph. Several of the sisters were angels, that had English speaking songs to sing, including hand motions. What a joy to see them this year!

Also, I won't point out who....but it was also quite special since another one of the angels is also a leukemia patient and has had a tough year. Her hair grew back, there is color and a spark in her face. What a joy that she could participate in the pageant this year, last year she couldn't.

Yes, Joy to the World seemed an appropriate song this year.

I'll Let Him Say it His Way.....He Does it Best

Happy Christmas season to all of you!

Let Earth Receive Her King.....For Unto Us a Child is Born

Christmas Perspective

Have you had one of those holiday seasons like mine? One where all I want to do is hide somewhere to escape, and I am not kidding, the bickering. The bickering over who gets to use the red crayon even though we have a dozen red crayons, the bickering over who gets the most presents or over who is giving Dad the biggest present. Or how many pieces of paper we can use to send Santa our wish list, and who gets the red piece of construction paper to do that. Maybe your bickering might include what gifts should be opened on Christmas Eve as opposed to Christmas Day......and it gets infuriating, and you want to escape.

That is our household to the nines this year, and I am ready to pitch whatever is under our tree out the door. I am hoping the project I forced the family to participate in sinks in a bit. Here is the project from behind the scenes. It begins with our great Susie, at church, who spearheads this orchestra. First, she gets a list from the local elementary school of families who are in dire need this year if the family wants to have a Christmas. Our church takes on four families. Two of the families this year were displaced by a recent apartment fire and have been homeless since April. The family I am focusing on for this post is a mother and a ten year old daughter. They are homeless and couch hopping at friends homes while they struggle through the social services departments to get low income housing help. The plan was to deliver each family their load of gifts and food this last weekend, but for Julie and Sierra, they didn't know where they would be. It was hoped they would be in their apartment by Christmas. So Susie asked Julie (the mom), "Do you have a car?" Thinking that maybe we can have her meet us at the church to give her these things. Julie's response, "No, I have a cart." And then the tears flowed from all who heard that conversation. It was agreed we, the church, would hold onto the items this week to see if she got her apartment. It wasn't to be. So we delivered them today at a friend's basement apartment where Julie and Sierra are, again, couch hopping.

Julie and Sierra, you are gems. It was our honor and pleasure to be Santa for you this year. God bless you.

Sunday morning gift wrapping. Each station has wrapping, tags, tape, scissors. The table also has each family's gifts with each one labeled. Hats off to Susie!

Julie and Sierra's table.

After our great church members have come in and wrapped, it looks great. I also wanted to include this photo because it has a sliver of a certain teenager's bum
who wouldn't turn around but would only give me his best side.

Today, our sleigh (mini van clunker) getting loaded up.
No, the chicken feed isn't for Julie and Sierra.

Our van is full, and more was put in another vehicle.
I am so proud of our church for making sure these folks get a Christmas to remember.

JM and my hubbie loading into Julie and Sierra's current apartment.

And suddenly the bickering gets softer and softer and softer......

A whole lot of gained perspective.

Festive Lights

Peacock Ln in Portland. Started as a small block of houses 80 years ago who were just a little overboard on their lights. It has grown. Now, it is part of the HOA requirements if you purchase a house on Peacock Ln. You must deck your house with lights, these days, these nights, etc. You must also know that because of the crowds, you will not easily be able to access the front of your home during the holidays. Why? Because for eighty years, families like mine come and stroll the block enamored with such a light display. I hope you can imagine what we were able to see. If you live in the area, it's the best free light show around.

Our "Kitties" First Christmas

No, Tyrone is not helping....he is supervising.

Ditto.

I just think this is a great pic of my kids.

Tasha doesn't supervise. She just finds the most comfy spot.

Happy Carnivore!

I am also thankful for the food chain and God giving us yummy turkey. I know it isn't pretty, but it sure tasted good!

Thank You, Lord, For What You Have Given Us This Day.....

The things I am thankful for:

* My family.

* Our children. Because of them, I am bestowed that special title, "Mom".

* My job. Without it, we would be on the streets, and that ain't no joke in this economy.

* Our home. We have one, and there are an awful lot of people who don't.

* My family's ability to "ride it out". As we begin this holiday season between now and the New Year, I am struck by the fact this will be the first season where I won't see Brian. You might remember Brian is my husband's cousin who committed suicide in September. There is usually a small gathering at some point where I see him. I won't this year, and it's already making my eyes teary thinking about that moment. I am so thankful to my extended family and their amazing ability to ride out difficult storms. Because of them, I can stand up in the storm.

* I am so thankful to friends. Friends who give me the chance to laugh and focus on something besides my daily grind. Friends who tell me difficult things I need to hear. Friends who let me cry with them. Friends who let me share difficult things in my life that I need help with and don't flinch. Friends who would fall on a sword for me. Friends who I would fall on a sword for.

* Opportunities. We have so much opportunity as Americans. As a small business owner ("capitalist" if you want to draw a line in the sand) I have been able to achieve some pretty hefty success. I pray that as we watch big government take away such basic opportunities, that we remember and are thankful for the successes we had when we did have such opportunities. Does it sound like I might be saying goodbye to something? I might be saying goodbye to the basic American right to start up and run a business. You are absolutely right. On a national and local level, I do believe if we don't turn this ship around, that right will be lost by the time then next election is upon us. I am extremely thankful that at this point, I still have that basic right.

I am extremely sad to see our basic American rights whittled away. Given away without thinking of the losses. Frittered away.

* I am thankful for our military troops. I want to thank my husband, father, and father-in-law for their combined 50+ years in the military. All of you make me proud.

* I am thankful to be alive.

* I am thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to cover my painful iniquities to allow me to hope. I have the hope of heaven that is beyond this current world. If I didn't have that hope, trust me, I would be gone. The current temporal earth offers me nothing but hopelessness. Thank you Lord Jesus. When this is all gone, it's just you and me, and that warms my heart.

Halloween 2009

Yes, surprisingly, Tyrone loves the slimy insides of pumpkins.

Tasha loves to snag a piece of candy and toss it around the house.

Anyone here yet??

After a full day of chasing candy wrappers and eating pumpkin guts.

The kids are gone....whew....

Our Annual Apple Orchard Trip

The Hood River Valley dappled in fruit farms. Plus a major fruit processing operation.

Everyone loves apples!

It's a little scary giving this guy an apple. His horns were nothing to dismiss.

Overlooking Hood River, OR. Gorgeous leaves!

The hay ride turned into a tractor ride.

Seriously, the wing span of this creature is about 4 feet. A little daunting.

Our favorite apple orchards.

The Annual Pumpkin Patch Trip