Swedish Meatballs- A Warm Meal for a Confused Spring Day

 

 

One day of 70 degree weather spoiled me.  It is now 35 degrees and spitting snow. 

I know spring is coming. I can’t be fooled!  While I wait I will just be thankful for a few more days of cool weather to cook up some of our favorite cold weather meals. Before long I won’t even want to turn on the oven.

With the continued cold weather there’s nothing to do but,  bake up some crusty homemade bread and a dish up bowls of steaming comfort food.

 

 

 

 

Venison Swedish Meatballs

3 slices whole wheat bread, torn into small pieces

1/2  cup milk

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

1/2 small onion, minced

2 lbs.  Venison or ground burger

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1  teaspoon salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon sage

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 Tablespoon dried parsley

1/4 teaspoon fennel, crushed

2 large eggs

 

Mix bread and milk and let sit.  Mix together meat, seasonings, and eggs.  Sauté onion in 2 Tablespoons of butter until transparent. Squeeze excess milk out of the bread.  Add the onions and the bread to the meat mixture.  Mix well.  Shape into meatballs.  Melt 2 Tablespoons of butter in a large skillet. Brown meatballs on all sides.  Place the browned meatballs into a greased hot crock pot.

 

Gravy:

2 Tablespoons butter

1/3 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried parsley

3 cups chicken stock or broth

1/2 cup half-n-half

Melt butter in saucepan.  Wisk in flour until paste is formed. Add the chicken broth and stir until thickened.  Add the salt, parsley, and half-n-half.  Mix well.  Pour the gravy over the meatballs.

 

Cook on high in slow cooker for 2 hours or until meatballs are cooked through.

Home Made Pizza Rolls

My family loves anything and everything pizza.  So I find myself making pizza or pizza type foods a couple times  a month… at least.

For a while I have been making a recipe for Chicken Broccoli Rolls that I just love.  One night when we were eating these Joel just happened to casually mention that these rolls would be perfect with pizza topping stuffed into them.

Being the loving wife I am I decided to surprise him one night with Pizza Rolls.

These can be a bit time consuming, but they are well worth the extra effort.

The recipe that follows is what I make for 3 boys voracious boys, 2 adults, and my daughter who can pack it away just as good as her brothers can.  You can easily cut this recipe in half or increase it if need be.

 

Home Made Pizza Rolls

Dough:

2 packages of yeast (this is equivalent to 4  1/2 t)

2 c  warm water, divided

2 t  sugar

1/2 c melted butter, cooled to room temperature

5-6 c flour white, wheat, or a combination. I tend to use 1 to1  1/2 cups wheat and the rest white.

3 t salt

In a bowl dissolve yeast in 1/2 c water. Stir in sugar and let set for 5 minutes or until bubbly. Pour in cooled butter and remaining water, stir.  Add 2 cups flour and the salt.  Mix well using a hand mixer for approximately 2 minutes. Work in as much of the remaining flour as possible by hand. Knead for about 10 minutes or until dough isn’t sticky.  Place in a bowl and let rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.  Punch down, cover and let rest for 30 minutes more.

In the meantime prepare your toppings:

Sauce:

Use your favorite recipe or store bought brand.  I use a pint of my home canned tomato sauce mixed with a can of tomato paste, a pinch of sugar, a bit or garlic powder and a tablespoon of a pizza seasoning that I buy from our local Natural Grocery.

Toppings:

Be creative!  We use any of the following,i depending on what I have on hand:  sausage, bacon, peperoni, diced ham,  fresh tomato,onion and green pepper sautéed in a bit of olive oil, green or black olives, mushrooms, feta cheese, and mozzarella cheese.

 

 

 

Assembly:

Divide dough into 18 pieces.  Roll out one piece of dough into a circle, keeping dough about 1/4 inch thick don’t go to thin or your dough will break and your topping will leak out.  Place amount of sauce that you like on the circle to within an inch of edges. Place desired toppings on top of sauce.  Here you will have to experiment with how much you want in the roll or in our case how much you can fit in the roll!  Using warm water wet your finger and go around the edges of the dough.  Fold in the edges of dough and seal together.  Flip the roll over and place on a greased cooking sheet.  Repeat with remaining 17 pieces of dough.  Before placing in the oven poke with a knife or fork to create vent holes for the steam to escape.  I actually cut my children’s initials in their rolls, because everyone had different toppings in their rolls.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from oven brush tops with butter.  Sprinkle with garlic powder and Parmesan cheese.

 

 

 

Oh and try not to burn your mouth by being to eager to taste these. ( I personally wouldn’t know anything about that…Ah-hem)

Torn Ligaments, Tomatoes, and Day Packed Full of Homemaking

Not much is going down here.

Just some torn ligaments.

 

A little over a week ago he slid into 3rd base, his foot caught and he heard a loud pop.  At first I seriously, thought it was broken.  It was distorted and SO swollen. The ER sent us home with a fashionable walking boot and instructions to see an orthopedic surgeon.   After a visit to the orthopedic surgeon we found out he had torn the ligaments around his ankle.  We were thankful that it wasn’t broken, but it has been painful.

I personally think he has these accidents because he likes it when I play nurse!

He was supposed to have at least 3 weeks off with 4 weeks of therapy 3 days a week.  He has been off 1 week and 1 day.  He went back to work today, because he doesn’t want to lose his vacation days.  The company he works for will take away his vacation days first before anything else.  UGH!  So, today he went back.  I’m praying my heart out for him.  I’m not sure how he is going to stand all day and walk where he needs to, when he still is dealing with so much soreness and pain. 

But, he is my strong one!  This guy amazes me and he is VERY tenacious.  So, I know that God will strengthen him and help him push through.

 

On a totally different subject….

We are starting to get some tomatoes.

 

I planted Brandywine this year, an heirloom tomato.  They don’t have the most beautiful outsides, BUT they have the most WONDERFUL flavor and gorgeous flesh.  I think I found my favorite tomato!  After 10 years of battling Septoria Leaf Spot (a fungus that attacks tomatoes) we finally put in raised beds just for our tomatoes. We filled it with all the manure from our rabbits and mixed in peat moss.  I have never had such happy tomato plants!  And for me these Brandywine tomatoes are what I have been looking for for a long time.  I’m definitely doing a happy dance this year…. can you tell! Lunch today was tomato slices on toasted homemade Focaccia bread.  So simple, yet one of my all time summer favorites! Lunch tomorrow will be a tomato repeat, and the day after that, and the day after that.  I have to get my fresh garden tomato fix while they are sitting in my garden just waiting for the taking.

 

The down side is that the Roma’s that I planted for my sauces have blossom rot. However, I am now watering them with a water/Epsom salt mixture. This should solve the problem. I will have to keep in mind next year that my beds are probably lacking calcium and take measures to fix that.

 

My day has been full and busy. It’s 3:45 PM and a whopping 65 degrees, I’m loving it.  The skies have been dumping rain off and on all day and there was no way I could get into the garden today.  It has been a nice change of pace.  This day just begged for a solid round of homemaking.

 

 

Laundry has been done…of course!  That is never ending. Bathroom cleaning and general picking up accomplished.

 

 

And with the color temps., bread baking!

 

Next on the list is a down home, absolutely man loving, comfort food, meal for my hard working invalid.  I haven’t seem his handsome face, nor been able to talk to him yet today, so I don’t know how he is doing.  I’m going to cook him up a meal I know he’ll love.  Venison burger and gravy over mashed potatoes, Corn on the cob (that I thankfully picked yesterday), sliced tomatoes and homemade bread.  To top it all off I’m going to make him an Apple Danish.  It’s the least I can do.

There’s nothing like a good solid day of making my home.  I LOVE it!

Simply Saturday~ 03/12

 

Welcome to Simply Saturday!  Would you like to participate?  Grab your camera and take a picture of anything that speaks to you of simplicity and/or home. Your post can be as wordy or as wordless as you like. You decide!  Then come back here and link up. 

You are free to copy and paste the Simply Saturday button at the top of this blog.  And while your at it do you mind  linking to my blog on your post, just to let others know where we are gathering! Thanks! :)

 

This weeks picture isn’t so much about simplicity as it is of my home. I am a neat freak by nature. I am an organizer and clutter drives me batty. Over the past 14 years I have had to learn to except kid clutter. Not easy for me, but it comes with the territory, ya know! When my boys were little I would pick up toys 3 or 4 times a day just to have my house look a little more organized.  I think in those days it was a bit of a sanity keeper for me, too. Seeing my home neat and in order somehow made me feel my life was in a neat little box (hmmm another blog post, maybe! :).

Letting go of my fanatical organization hasn’t been easy for me!  Toys scattered all over the floor robs me of my peace just a bit. Not sure why, but I’m sure it has to do with the organizer in me. Not to mention that I think picking up after ones self is a good life lesson. Don’t you think?! ;)

Therefore, I require my daughter who is the destroyer of open floor space to pick up what she is playing with before moving on to the next activity. Otherwise she takes over the whole house with her toys, art and blankets. It seriously looks like someone ransacked our home some days!

At the end of the day we work on picking up anything left out and tuck it all back into its places sort of! Depending on how tired or cranky we are that day it may be perfectly organized or dumped into mini piles on her bedroom floor. If it’s in her room, then I can turn off the light, partially close the door and not see the mess!

I think most importantly, for me, I am learning that my home doesn’t have to be picture perfect and spotless at all times. I’m learning to let go a bit. To take a deep breath and just let it be. In the grand scheme of things it really doesn’t matter. Honestly, I don’t want my children to remember me by my inability to bend and go with the flow. I want to be okay with a toy left out here or there, or a few popcorn kernels left on the floor, or dirty socks left by the couch (okay, maybe I can’t quite let go of the dirty socks, yet!). I certainly wouldn’t want my kiddos to have a warped memory of feeling like they were living in a museum instead of a home.

But, for my own peace of mind and for the safety of those who live with me, it does help if the majority of everyone’s toys and personal items are picked up at the end of the day!

The boys room….that’s a whole other topic! You don’t want to get me started!

 

If you haven’t entered my GIVEAWAY for an item from my Etsy shop go HERE!

 

Now it’s your turn to share with us your picture of the week….Oh and don’t forget to spread the love by visiting some of the other ladies!

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Weekends

I always look forward to the weekend with a bit of hidden giddyness in my heart. I'm not exactly sure why I treasure them so much, it's not like I'm sitting around all day with a box of chocolates and a good read.

In all actuality it looks more like this.

After a week of schooling, the weekend is my time to get caught up on everything that didn’t get done through the week.

Once the cleaning is done, I feel so relaxed and a sense of accomplishment rests on my heart.  There’s nothing like a clean, organized home to do my little self good!

When my to-do list is checked off then I feel free for a wee bit of creativity.

Crocheting is a weekend must.

And if our candle supply is dwindling, like it is at present, then we partake in a candle making fest.

And of course there is always a little more time for photography, reading, snuggling, baking, and family time.

I’d say the main reason why my weekends are so precious is that I am at HOME, relaxing with the ones I love.

It’s a definite way to put some happiness in my heart.

And now that you know I’m giddy on the weekends, you’ve been forewarned!

 

*One more little thing if you have some time on your hands (smirking face here) could ya, would ya, mind heading over and checking out this post at The Paper Mama.  The picture of my daughter in her tutu is in a contest….the one with the most votes wins.  However, I am calling all of you, my friends, to be honest.  Look at all four of them.  If mine is not your favorite, then by all means vote for the one that is.

Have a GREAT weekend!

Picture Perfect Palace

 

 

A dish mountain building in the sink,

Books, notebooks, pencils, crayons scattered,

Laundry in various stages of doing and undoing,

Dinner simmering on the stove,

A Lego city in development stages on the living room floor,

Children running and laughing,

Candles flickering,

Hugs and smiles exchanged in passing,

Speaks more of a welcome sanctuary than any picture perfect palace.

Apples Do My Heart Good

 

On days like these...

I can't help but get all caught up doing this...

I've been busy in the kitchen!  My family can't get enough of this Dutch Apple Pie.  When I'm not tossing together a pie, I'm sauteing apples Scalloped Apples or chopping apples for Apple Turnovers or slicing 4 or 5 for fresh eating.  Lately, I've been making applesauce.  In years past I have frozen the applesauce I have made, but this year the freezer is too full (a wonderful problem to have) so I am canning.  Last Saturday I did up 30lbs. of apples and this weekend I am hoping to do 20 more.  I love being able to have warm homemade applesauce a side dish during the cold winter nights.  Nothing can compare to its cinnamony sweetness! 

Apples definitely do my heart good!

Grape Juice Memories

A couple of weeks ago the boys, sissy and I walked through the fields to my grandma's house, to check on the grapevines, that have grown there for as long as I can remember.  As we picked some grapes for eating I told them why these particular grapes mean so much to me.

When I was a little girl we would spend weekends with our grandparents now and then.  It was always a special time and I now have so many wonderful memories stored up from those visits.

One memory that I treasure is of my grandma's grape juice. On Saturday evenings she would pop a large bowl of the yummiest popcorn, slice up apples perfectly and serve us glasses full of her sweet, home canned, best in the world, grape juice like only grandma could.

We didn't turn on the T.V., watch a movie, surf the Internet, or get absorbed in a video game. It was a simplified life. Before the electronic boom took up so much of everyone's time and attention.  Our family would sit around the table with grandma and grandpa enjoying our evening snack. I remember listening to my parents and grandparents talking. I would half listen at times, but more often us girls would carry on our own conversations. Sometimes if it was just us kids and grandma and grandpa we would play a rousing game of Aggravation.  Grandma would try to be on her best behavior and not send our marbles back to our home bases, but at times her ruthless game nature got the better of her!

Grandma's house sits empty now.  Grandpa has been in heaven for 12 years and Grandma is living in an assisted living home. But, just walking into their yard brings a shower of memories, laughter, a sense of security and a feeling of home.

This winter I will be making some grape juice memories of my own.  Finally, after many years of desiring, I made grape juice from the grapes that grow on my grandma and grandpa's property.

Saturday evenings when its chilly and the snow is flying, you'll find us at the table with a huge bowl of popcorn, apple slices and some home canned grape juice, just like grandma made.

Oh and kids, watch out, because when we play Aggravation, you might just find your marbles getting knocked off and sent back to homebase. I have a wee bit of your Great Grandma's feistiness in me!

Taking Charge

 

Ever have a day when you just want to lay down and give up.  Bury your head under a pillow and somehow erase the ever building list in your mind?

Yah?

Me too!

 

That was my day yesterday and the day before and the day before.  I'm pretty sure I've met my quota for those type of days already, yet they continue to come.

I have so much left undone. I accomplish one task and three take its place. I lack the energy and ambition to start these big jobs and no the walls of my home will not crumble and fall if I don't do them.  But, if I leave them undone, I feel undone.

With the beginning of our school year fast approaching I'm feeling the squeeze to get it all finished before I have to focus on my role as teacher (which, by the way, can consume a day pretty easily).

Well, no more! I'm taking charge. I'm lifting my head up high, pulling together all my resources and I'm getting it done. I'm finished with just wandering around looking at and dwelling on what I need to do and wondering where I should possibly start. I'm going to take the initiative and jump in even though my hearts not in it. Why? Because each time I can cross something off my list, I feel a weight removed.  It's almost like a physical pat on the back and it spurs me on to get more done.

I've made my list and I'm going to organize my time. I won't get it all done in a flury of activity. But, I will tackle my list one item at a time. I will feel great success as I cross off each job as its done. I will succeed in pulling my head out of a fog and focusing on a job well done.

I will, I will...

Well I guess I will...

Get busy!

(*can somebody just come and prod me along?!)

 

May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us-- yes, establish the work of our hands. Psalm 90:17

**Update** Be forewarned...if you write on your blog that you are unmotivated you will be tested... This afternoon I took down all my antique tea kettles, pots, tins and glassware from above my kitchen cabinets, washed them, replaced the newspaper under them, wiped off the dust and grime from the rim of the cupboards, and put everything back up.  Just as I was climbing down, dusting off my hands, giving myself that pat on the back, I noticed water seeping out from under my dryer. Oh yeah!  My washer had sprung a leak.  Yes, I had planned on cleaning under those appliances at some point. It was on the list.  But, no, I had planned on doing it today.  I am beat people, but my laundry room is sparkling clean (and dry). And so are all my pretties above my kitchen cupboards. Wow, two big jobs in one day! Who would have thought I could do it! I think I deserve a bubble bath!

Mama Needs Help

 

1) Unload dishwasher, put dirty dishes piled in the sink and across the counter into dishwasher. 2) Pick up socks strung down the hall and throughout the house. 3) Seek out Lego's hiding in every nook and cranny. 4) Eradicate dust. 5) Wipe toothpaste off bathroom mirror and out of the sink~ again. 6) Start another load of laundry. 7) Fold the two loads of laundry heaped on living room floor. 8) Plan and prepare next meal. 9) Gather up two-year-olds toys and have arranged nicely at least for two minutes or so. 10) Vacuum floors which seem to be a magnet for every piece of fuzz, scrap of paper and food remnant.

Does your daily list look a little like mine? Does the housework seem never ending? Are your rushing around constantly picking up or cleaning? Or do you just feel overwhelmed and don't know where to start? Today I would like to give some practical advice on getting the whole family involved in helping mom in keeping an inviting, clean home.

When my boys were younger I struggled with a perfectionist complex. Everything had to be sparkling clean and just so. I spent my days quite efficiently picking up, cleaning and picking up some more. As the years went by, we began homeschooling and a couple babies joined our family, my ideal began to crumble and reality set in.

 

To read the rest of my most recent article visit At The Well

Keepers At Home

Its At The Well Monday again.  I haven't been able to participate lately but the theme for today made me laugh.  Because I took these pictures this morning before I read what todays topic would be.

Keepers At Home

Well, you can imagine my chagrin when I read that today we would be discussing the practical and never-ending aspects of housekeeping!  Just perfect!  Look at the whirlwind above.  This chaos was created in record time by Lauren.  With exception of the shot of the dining room table and kitchen.  This was school materials/candle making equipment/laundry and a few odds and ends that needed my attention.

"That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." Titus 2:4-5

Here are a few questions that Chelsey wanted us to come clean on!

1. Let' s get a little vulnerable here ladies - do you keep a neat and tidy home? 
   
2. If so, what do you do to keep on top of this? Schedules? Routines? If you have children at home, do they get involved?
   
3. If you are lacking in this area, why do you think that is?

I would say that I keep a fairly neat and tidy home.  Now mind you it isn't picture perfect and you aren't going to see my home featured in Better Homes and Gardens.  But, just the same I like to keep my home clean and organized.

To keep my house in order I have assigned each of the boys a daily household chore.  For example, Mondays are our general pick-up day, Tuesdays are vacuuming days, Wednesdays they clean the bathrooms, Thursdays they dust and Fridays they clean the mudroom.  We keep a chore chart posted so that they know exactly what is expected of them each day. Each day is laundry day here so, I tackle that pretty much non-stop.  My only other focus on school days is the kitchen and meals.  I can't seem to find the time for any other chores, my days fly by too quickly.  On Saturdays, I clean the bathrooms, vacuum, sweep and mop or I may clean windows and do a thorough dusting.  It just depends on what the house needs the most.  Each day the boys pick up their play room and I pick up Laurens.  I make each, age eligible, person responsible for taking care of their items.  My mantra- take responsibility for what is yours!

I'm not lacking in the area of keeping a clean house, but I do believe in my younger days of being a wife and mom, I took it to the other extreme.  You know the one- Perfectionism! However, I have learned a thing or two over the past 15 years. 

• While homeschooling don't attempt to have a perfectly picked up home.  The first few years we homeschooled, I strived for a perfectly tidy home.  That notion blew up in my face!  I would get all tied up in knots when things got cluttered.  I had to change my ideal of what a beautiful home was.  Nowadays, I am comfortable with my house.  Yes, there may be a stack of books and school papers on the end table or baby dolls and their accessories littering every square inch of the sitting room floor, but I've come to accept that!
• There is more harmony in our home when I don't keep a perfectly picked up abode.  The more I try to keep things spotless, the more stressed out I become.  I have learned to let a few things slide.  However, on the other hand, if things get to cluttered, you can bet there is going to be one stressed out Momma to deal with.  That being said, I think there is a fine line that I must walk to keep everyone in this house sane and happy. And doom to those who don't tow that line! 

I was going to end this whole post with a picture or two of my clutter free home, but alas, my sweet, angelic, whirlwind of a daughter has awoken and there are babies, strollers and blankies decorating my floors once again.  SIGH!