Happy Trails

This Spring Break, we had planned on heading south to San Antonio. Gas went up and my mom had to work so we decided to do Spring Break here. Even though we’ve lived in the local area for seven years, we hadn’t done a lot of touristy things. We decided to visit the Ft. Worth stockyards. The Ft. Worth Stockyards was a main cattle holding area in the 1800’s – before the days of the train. Cowboys would drive their herds to Ft. Worth for distribution throughout the country. After the advent of the railroad – Ft. Worth was still a big town in the cattle industry. The Stockyards are now a tourist destination and night spot. Ft Worth is still known as Cow Town.

Every day – rain or shine, the cowboys simulate a cattle drive through the middle of the stockyards twice a day.



Here are the boys waiting for the “cattle drive” to start Instead of “Cheese” Charles had them all say “Beef”



Here’s the start of the cattle drive.



There were cowboys!



This man is the drive boss. He leads the drive



This guy was the leader of the pack. Later on we learned that the leader usually wore a cowbells. Stragglers could hear the bell and follow along.



As the “drive” progressed we didn’t hear a lot of mooing. In fact, most of them were not real happy to be walking down the street while people gawked and took pictures. I think some of them were teenaged cows. I swear I even heard one of them sigh. All in all they had a BTDT air about them.







This man is called the drag. Charles and Tommy thinks that the side riders were called drags because they dragged slow cattle.



These guys appear to be sulking. I guess I would too if all I had to do was walk along the road twice a day



This is the end of the drive



We ate lunch at Risky's BBQ. The ribs were YUMMY and the beans and fixins were DIVINE. On the wall they had neon signs and Texas memorabilia. One of the signs was for Lone Star Beer. Lone Star Beer and it's neighbor - Pearl - are a college studen't dream - cheap - and well yeah cheap. Both are really bad beers.

Lone star was founded the Adolphus Busch. in the 1880's and made san Antonio a leader in brewing. Today Lone star is owned by Pabst ands brewed in Ft Worth.



The Stockyards have a lot of replica stores – little specialty shops and an old timey General store that sells Texas things. They had rocks. Because we don’t have enough rocks, the kids thought we needed some



they also had spice rubs



and salsa



They also sold Dublin Dr. Pepper – Dr. Pepper made with pure cane sugar not corn syrp and blue bell ice cream – can’t get much more Texas than that. Seriously, Dublin Dr. Pepper made the ORIGIONAL way is a taste treat.

This “Indian” guy cracked me up. You could take his picture for tips. He wasn’t a real Indian and didn’t know anything about the stuff he was displaying – a bad combination for a smart aleck 7th grader who delighted in pointing out inaccuracies in the man’s costumes. Joey want to get on the horse so I gave the guy a couple of bucks (Eric almost belted him when the guy made a comment about the $5 tip we gave him because we had an expensive camera) - any ay I took the picture of Joey on the horse and when I uploaded it died laughing at the “stoic Indian warrior” pose the guy gave. I call thise one “Cheesy Like Velveeta”

Beefy Bison Chili

Chilli

Because it was so cold, last week I had to make chili – kind of a thermodynamics thing – create heat from the inside out - so here is my sort of recipe for Beef and Bison Chili. I have a new “thing” for bison meat. I buy mine at Central Market. It’s similar in tatse and cost to beef but lower in fat. It does not make great meat loaf because it is so lean – unless you add some oil.



Take various spices ( use cumin, oregeno chili powders – this time San Antonio, New Mexico and Chipotle – chipotle adds some smokiness) and some other things.



Chop up an onion – or two



and some garlic



Heat this in some olive oil Then add the bison and ground beef once the garlic gets fragrant. Add half of your chili seasoning.

Once the meat is bround and crumbled add water, the rest of the seasoning and some chopped tomatoes – I add fresh jalepenoes here as well when I use em because I don’t like icky black char on my peppers. I also usede yellow tomatoes this time because I thought they were prettier than the red ones at Kroger.



THEN add some canned tomatoes in green chilis. Let the whole thing simmer until it’s done – I go about two hours at least. We like our chili with fritos and cheese.

Is it THAt time already?

Joey was watching his kid shows this morning. As I looked up from scrubbing the kitchen counter I noticed that PBS si having another pledge break.

I mean really? Do they need to do this every three months? Just how much does it cost to air the same six episodes of cailou? I have seen these episodes since Tommy was 2.

I donated in November but they manage to make me feel guilty now -especially when the indian woman with the high class British accent says "inculcates" Any one who uses that kind of word to get money from people watching kid TV makes me want to run for my wallet and grab my VISA.

Then I remember I still hadn't gotten my mystery box for my "last donation of $50 or more"

Snow Play

I find it funny – that even though we rarely get measurable snow, the kids know exactly what to do when we do




You notice he and his brothers are not wearing gloves. I apparently have no clue when I told them that they needed them to play in the snow because it was colder than a well diggers behind.



While he’s looking for a target – he didn’t know his big brother had a snow ball aimed at his head



Seconds later he got hit in the head by his oldest brother.

Target acquired



Poor Daddy.

Charles took the more is better additude when it came to making snowballs (Joey liked his round and Tommy liked his packed and hard)



Socks as mittens? Why not – Tommy grew enough since last wintere that his old gloves wouldn’t fit so he pulled some garden socks out of the garage and put them on





Tommy was the only one brave wnough to lay in the snow and make a snow angel







What would winter be without an epic Snowball fight (notice everyone has finally relized mom is right and they did need gloves in the snow – but Joey took of his hat because it was making his head hot)

Please Send Back Global warming

Winter Storm

On March6, a late winter storm blew through North Texas. Light snow started falling around 11 AM. It stopped just leaving a light dusting of snow over the ground.


That was followed by sleet and freezing rain then more snow then more sleet. Around 1 PM the snow started really sticking




Here it is on the sidewalk




The snow started falling harder



Normally, we can see the town water tower clearly from our back door. The snow was coming down so hard we could barely make it out.



We got about 5 inches total.

A Yummy Late Winter Dinner

Roasted Lemon Chicken with Green Beans and Potatoes

You need:
Chicken (I used natural free range legs)
Green beans
Potatoes
Lemons
Olive Oil
Salt and pepper
Garlic

I added
Onions
Rosemary
Marjoram
Italian Seasoning.

Cut up two or three lemons - because it couldn’t be lemon chicken with out them.



Layer them in the bottom of your baking dish. Drizzle the Lemons with olive oil. Here at my house I am lucky to have a talented sous chef who takes care of the laying in a pan



While you have the EVOO out – pour some in a bowl and add the juice of a lemon – at this point my sous chef is done rearranging the lemons in the dish so I let him whisk the olive oil and lemon juice together – we also added sea salt and some cracked pepper and smashed up garlic

Trim the icky edges of the green beans. At this point all of the children and the cat were in the kitchen.


The children needed to sample the green beans – because you know I’ve never fed them a green vegetable – at least today any way.



Charles in particular found that dipping the green beans in the olive oil and lemon juice was tasty.

(The cat for the record, decided green beans were not his particular favorite and once he realized I wouldn’t be dropping the chicken, he stalked off to the living room where he napped – to rest up for his dinner time nap.)

Okay now we have de-ended green beans. Toss those in your bowl of EVOO and stuff. Then dice your potatoes.



Add those to the bowl on top of the green benas – you’ll notice onions – yes we sliced and diced those too but they made me cry so I didn’t take their picture. Toss all the stuff together in the bowl and get a nice lemony oily coating on everything.



Toss it in the pan on top of the lemons.

If you use bone in chicken place this on top of the veggies and bake at 350 ° F for an hour. If you are using boneless skinless bake the potatoes and stuff for 30 minutes THEN add your boneless, skinless chicken.

This recipe came from http://www.notesfromthetrenches.com/

SNOW???

It snowed Monday and now more snow today.

MOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Do blue plaid and blue stripes match?"

This is the question confronting me this morning before there was any coffee brewed.

If he didn't have any well crap that thought derailed.

See I'm not a morning person.

CHICKEN CHICKEN let's eat chicken

Curry Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Coconut Rice

2lbs chicken pieces (I used boneless skinless breast sliced into tenders)

4 sweet potatoes peeled and diced
1 onion diced
2/3 cup orange juice
2 tsp curry powder
1 clove garlic - mashed**
2 tbsp raw sugar **
salt and pepper to taste

in a crockpot place chicken, salt and pepper. Cover with onion and sweet potatoes. In a measuring cup combine, orange juice, garlic and curry powder. Pour over chiken and veggies. Cook on low for 6-7 hours.

The larger the chunks of sweet potato the less mushy they'll be.

I added four cloves of garlic because one is never enough. I used fresh squeezed orange juice so I added the raw sugar - after a taste when the dish was almost finished it needed something so I added the raw sugar.

Coconut Jasmine Rice -

1 1/2 cups rice (i use Jasmine because it is more fragrant that regular but hey use what ya got)
15 ozs coconut milk
enough water to make three cups of liquid

heat water and coconut milk to boiling and add rice. Cook over low heat until liquid is absorbed.

Nine Years ago tonight

I was in labor waiting to meet my soon to be born second son.

The one who was determined to BE. A determination and stubborness that he still has today.

He was conceived on my last month on the pill.

He was my biggest baby, but easiest delivery.

He was my easiest pregnancy a text book pregnancy.

He's the middle child. The middle brother.

He's my Tommyboy

Orange Muffin's recipe Courtesy of Chris

First off I have to say my friend Chris is an awesome baker, friend and mom. She can sew and can kick anyone's butt in scrabble

She rocks

Orange muffins 



1 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

3/4 cup cooking oil 

1 cup sugar 

2 eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

2 tablespoons grated orange rind 



Mix flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl; set aside.



Make sure you have expert quality control tasting errrrrr squeezing the oranges.



Combine oil, sugar and eggs in a large bowl. Mix well.







Add vanilla, orange juice and orange rind. Blend.

Add flour mixture and mix just until moistened.





Batter will be lumpy. Pour into muffin pan.

Bake at 350° for 18 to 20 minutes.

Let sit for three minutes before removing from pan. Cool on rack.

Love Thursday - Little Hnads covered in Dirt

I love these little hands. For almost five years they have been my near constant companions.




From the time he was a wee babe, his dimpled little newborn hands would grasp my finger as he nursed.

Those little hands have colored (sometimes on the walls) The have helped bak bread and mix cookies. Theyve snuck a taste of creamy frosting waiting for a cake.

I've held them in mine as we crossed the street. soon enough, they'll wave good bye as They, and the little boy they belong to head off into our big blue world.

Signs of Spring

In my part of the world, Spring is showing signs of impending arrival. I am not a fan of cold weather so I can't wait. I can't wait for the warm breezes and blue skies. I can't wait for butterflies and birs. I can't wait for green to replace the brown. I didn't wait to get out and work the ground. I've had a lot of issues here lately so, the opportunity to work the soil and get things ready for new life and pretty flowers is a welcome relief.



Joey and I are the ground crew. He started the day with his (well his dad's) work gloves.

As we gathered our supplies, we looked in the garage bed and the dafodills have started to bloom





We bought some daylilies, strawberries, onion sets and a rose bush last night to put in the ground. Since it was warm, I decided to start to work on the daylillies. Joey wanted to help clear the bed from it's grass and weeds.



Notice, now the gloves are off - he's determined even though the rake is bigger than he is.





He found a witches hat in the garage, a remnant of Halloween, every gardner needs a witches hat. If you can't pull the weeds out, you can cast them out.



This little green sprout promises that spring is around the corner. Soon enough, these will be a lovely blooming day lilly standing tall against the heat of summer.

Curse words

Yesterday Tommy and Joey were sitting on the couch eating a snack. Tommy kept takinf popcorn from Joey's bowl. joey was getting exasperated and upset.

Finally, Joey, tired of the grabbing and stealing moved away. He came and sat by me. He told his brother that he was a a a a a a a CARBOHYDRATE.

I am not sure where he got that from, but it was the worst word he could think of.

So I guess Tommy is a bad carb.