Ideas for that leftover turkey

I love this soup. It is one of our favorites and it is just a yummy way to use up leftover turkey. 

Wild Rice Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup sliced celery

1 cup coarsely shredded carrot

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

3 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoons pepper

1 1/2 cups cooked wild rice

2 1/4 cups Vegetable stock

1 cup milk

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 cup chopped up cooked turkey

Heat olive oil in a 3 quart saucepan over medium high heat. 

Cook celery, carrot, onion and bell pepper in olive oil, stirring frequently, until onion is tender. 

Stir in flour and pepper. 

Stir in wild rice and Vegetable stock. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Stir in milk, parsley and turkey. Heat just until hot. (Do not boil)

Makes about 5 servings.  

Excellent book - The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck

I highly recommend this book. It is very well written. Very heart warming and a great message. Glenn incorporates parts from his own life and story into the book. I just loved this book. 

Some great quotes from the book:

"All journeys, for good or evil begin with one small step." p. 244

"Sometimes the hardest part of the journey is believing that you're worthy of the trip." p. 247

"Your mistakes aren't mistakes anymore, they're just things that make you stronger. Atonement is the great redeeming and equalizing force that leads to the fulfillment of all things: every hug you've ever longed for, every Ferris wheel, baseball game, and walk in the snow you've missed. Everyone you've loved and lost. Atonement is heaven on earth." p. 251

The story has some great twists and turns that keep your interest. While it is a Christmas story it is also a story for all time. 

Book Review

The  Gift for all People

by Max Lucado

While this book didn't say anything I didn't know, it did say it in a nice way. He is very thought provoking. 

A few quotes from the book. 

"But God showed his great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:8

Jesus, do you give no thought to saving yourself? What keeps you there? What holds you to the cross? Nails don't hold Gods to trees. What makes you stay?"

p52-53

It was God's love for us and His grace that made Him stay. He wanted to stay out of love for us. Isn't that just very profound to think about!!! And that is the difference between us and Him. If any of us were in that much pain, and had the power to end it - we would. The pain would win out. Yet, Jesus stayed freely. That is amazing love. 

He also talks about the fog of pain. 

"..Time spent in the fog of pain could be God's greatest gift. If could be the hour we finally see our Maker. If it is true that in suffering God is most like man, maybe in our suffering we can see God like never before." p. 59

What a hoot!!

My oldest son loves to make bread. He loves to try different recipes. 

He will even improvise with recipes - and they always turn out great. I am just so impressed that my 12 year old son can make home-aide bread. 

Tonight he made a whole wheat 10 grain bread. It was fabulous. We had that with the soup I made. It was a very good meal. 

He asked me to go to the store tonight to get him some more bread flour. He doesn't add gluten to the breads and the recipe says if you don't add gluten then substitute 1/4 of the amount of wheat flour with white flour. We don't use white flour so we use bread flour - it is lighter but still made with whole wheat. 

I just think it is a hoot to have my 12 year old son asking for me to buy bread flour for him so he can make more home-aide bread tomorrow. 

Date night

We actually had a date night. 

It was wonderful. My hubby got free tickets to a night out at the art museum. They had drinks, food, music, etc. The gallery was open - the exhibit was called React/Interactive art. It was very expressive and somewhat odd at times. 

Interesting though - the people that attend art shows are just - well - I guess the older I get - the younger and odder they get. Makes me understand that there is a generation gap and I am part of it. Some of the stuff we saw. Wow. 

We were walking around and I saw several people with wristbands. I asked dh about it and he laughed - he said that was for those that got carded. They say the person is old enough to drink. Well, we didn't get one?!  Dh laughed and said we are so old no one needed to card us. Great!!! 

We have now entered the 'no need to card' group. Whoooo hooo. Isn't that a great mile marker to hit. 

Think I need another glass of wine. 

Just so you know

We have made a family decision to NOT send out Christmas cards this year. Many reasons went into the decision but first and foremost is that in light of the economy we feel we need to watch our pennies. Believe it or not, doing Christmas cards is very expensive. We do pictures of the kids and those cost quite a bit to get printed. Then there is the cost of mailing. We felt that it was better to give the money to a needy family then to spend the money sending cards. There are several families we know personally that our hearts just go out to and we know how badly they are struggling. We feel we would be better stewards of the resources God has blessed us with if we did something to help them out and not send out cards. 

So if you don't get a card from us - please do not be offended. You are not the only one. We are not doing this to slight anyone. We are concerned that several family members will view this in a negative light and think we are just not sending cards to them. Nope - not the case. We are not sending them at all this year. Maybe next year but by next year - well, it is not predicted to be better but worse. The signs we are experiencing now are actually worse then at the time the Great Depression happened. We just feel we need to be frugal and careful in these times. Cards are not a priority for us at this time. 

And the child was thinking WHAT??

.......... when he wiped the toothpaste all over the edge of the tub????

Just WHAT exactly was rumbling around in the peanut size brain when he thought 'now here's a good spot to wipe the excess'. 

I mean really --- if I had excess something on my hands I would think - hmmmmm toilet paper. I will wipe the goop off on toilet paper and then throw it out. 

OR if I was feeling rather somewhat gross I might wipe it off on a TOWEL - of course being the MOM I would throw the towel down to be washed. The child of course would think this was still a usable towel and would leave it hanging on the towel rack. A slight difference of standard on defining 'dirty towel'. 

But child in question instead looked around the bathroom and finding NO OTHER APPROPRIATE place to wipe excess toothpaste --- thought to himself - hmmmm - side of tub. NOW THAT's the place for me. 

This way when mom gets in to take a bath later tonight she can put her hand in the wonderful goop ---- and have the fun of discovery - what is it - why is it on my hand? Where is it coming from? How MUCH is there? 

Really these are so much fun especially when sitting in a tub. I mean what else do I have to do?? Was I thinking to relax - no seriously not - I wanted to have discovery fun?! Who doesn't want that to happen in the tub. 

Still Daddy's girl

What a fabulous evening I had Monday night!!!!

And after the awful day the kids and I had - I needed a nice evening. 

The kids had hockey skating practice so my husband wasn't available to go with me. (Although as it turns out they missed skating practice due to bad behavior during the day but that is another story.) I had a thank you dinner for being a group leader for our charity group at the stadium. The invitation was for me and a guest. I didn't want to go alone and so Dad escorted me. It was just so wonderfully nice to have him there. We had a fabulous dinner --- very, very good food. Each of us got a gift bag with a t-shirt, small towel and bobble head. Plus they raffled off some really nice prizes with the biggest prize being a 20 in. flat screen TV. Neither Dad or I won but it was just nice to be part of it and think we might win. And even though we didn't win, we still had our gift bag and a great meal. It was fun to be out with adults and not dealing with the kids. Thanks Dad for being my escort!!

Studying Davy Crockett

We just finished up studying Davy Crockett. In one book we read they had a recipe for Tennessee Grits. The kids made it last night. The family loved it. We served it as a side dish with ham, green beans and rolls. It was a big hit. 

Here is the recipe for Tennessee Grits. 

1 cup grits, regular or quick-cooking (I used two)

8 oz (1/2 pound) sharp cheddar cheese, grated

8 tablespoons butter

3 eggs beaten

1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare grits according to package directions. Stir in the cheese, butter, eggs and milk. Pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish. Bake 40 minutes, or until set. Serve hot with butter. Some people add a drizzle of syrup to top things off. 

The Paper Bag Christmas

by Kevin Alan Milne

It is that time of year where I like to start reading sentimental Christmas stories. I just love to stay up late - when the house is quiet and the kids have gone to bed - and the lights of the Christmas tree are on (of course it is too early in the season for Christmas lights yet but we are getting close). This book was really good. 

Here are a few quotes from the book. 

"Christmas began in the heart of God. It is complete only when it reaches the heart of man." p. 81

In one part of the book the children are re-enacting the Christmas story. One of the boys really wanted to be a wise man, so they allowed 4 wise men. He was born in India and is Hindu. He wanted to really understand the purpose of the wise men and wanted to understand Jesus. 

Here is a great paragraph from the book. It is the speech that the 4th wise man gives when he presents his gift to the Christ child.

"I was born in India and do not know much of your religion. I do not know if this child is the Savior. But from what I have read he is certainly a great prophet. He will be worshipped by many as the very Son of God. .... I have read from the Bible, of the things he will do and the things he will teach when he gets older. Surely this young child is destined for greatness and worthy of the world's greatest gifts. But I have no such gift to bring him. 

There was a collective gasp through the room as Madhu opened up an empty box. Then he began speaking again. One day, this child will tell those who follow him, 'If ye love me, keep my commandments.' And what will he command them? 'This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.' If this is truly the Son of God, then there is no worldly gift that he needs. He does not ask for gold, or wealth, or money. He asks only that we love others. And so, that will be my gift to him. I will try harder to love everyone, regardless of who they are or what they look like. ... And I will try to overlook the few things that make us different and focus instead on the many things that make us all the same. .... It is a small gift, I know, but it is the only thing I have to offer Christ." 

p. 124-125

Busy Hockey weekend

It was a busy weekend of hockey. All three boys play and it keeps us running. The boys just love it and it is very good phy ed. One of my sons had a game against his old team. It was nice to see many of the parents. I miss many of them but am so glad J is at his new club. The old club is heading toward being a rec. league and my kids really want competitive hockey. They are in a much better place. The new team beat the old team 7 to 0. I feel badly for them but am so glad we got two of our kids out of there. We just have the little one left there and he is already talking about wanting to switch to WC (the new club). I am sure it won't be long.