Ok, I know. I'm falling down on my duties as a blogger! Steve has been in Hawaii with Disney, and when Daddy's gone, so is blogging. He's home for awhile, so I'll be better. We had a very fun Halloween. Emma couldn't decide exactly what to wear, so she had several different outfits. I'm convinced that she will be some sort of designer. The things she puts together! As always, Cottonwood was happening Halloween night. Several families came over for soup and treats, then it was off for Candy!!! A beautiful night! The boys are machine trick-or-treaters. They come home with enough candy to supply their lunchboxes through the end of the school year. Hope yours was fun. Here's you my favorite roast recipe. It's perfect every time, and is actually an easy recipe from Emeril. Enjoy!!! J

Garlic-Studded Pot Roast

One 3-4 pound chuck roast

10 cloves garlic

3 TBLS oil

1/2 cup water

Kosher or sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Flour

Bring roast to room temperature......very important. Cut slits in both sides. Cut the garlic cloves in half and stuff in the slits. Generously coat roast with salt and pepper. Heat oil in covered skillet......I use an electric one, but have also done it on the stove. Brown roast on all sides......I mean really brown, about 5 minutes per side. Remove roast, pour in water and scrape all giblets off of bottom. Put roast back in and turn down to a simmer. Cover. Cook 3 hours then turn off and leave covered about another hour. I sometimes turn the roast halfway during cooking. Remove the roast and slice......turn the skillet back on with the juices in, then sift in flour while whisking for a delicious and smooth gravy. Use as much as you want for however thick you like it. So yummy!!!

The Nerds

I did something last night that I haven't done in so long. I literally laughed until I cried. It felt so good! We went to some friend's Halloween party, and played their version of "The Newlywed Game", but what was so hysterical was this book they incorporated into it......called, ZOBMONDO! It does comparisons like.....would you rather spit every time you spoke, or be spit on every time you are spoken too.....would you rather fall into the hole in an outhouse, or be buried under a pile of dead animals......would you rather have a butt on your forehead, or little legs dangling from your chin. The list goes on and on, and the book is full of them. Steve and I were uncontrolably laughing. Considering the economy and the state of real estate......the laughter was perfect timing. We went as "The Nerd Family".....a great budget costume, by the way. Tonight the "boys" are watching the Titans game, little Emma is sleeping, but just an hour ago I was hearing drums upstairs, a clarinet in the kitchen, piano in the living room, now I am a music lover, but boy.......combine that with a 5 year old getting ready for bed....well, let's just say, This Joint Was Jumpin'!!! Now I know it isn't Christmas yet, or even Thanksgiving, but it is cold here, and this drink is very beloved any time, so I am sharing it with you now. My Mom's Spiced Tea. Anytime someone would come over to our house during the holidays, she would always offer them some of her spiced tea. It is the best and I hope you enjoy it. J

MOM'S SPICED TEA

4 cups water
2 cups sugar
4 cinnamon sticks
1 TBLS whole cloves

Stir these 4 ingredients together and simmer for 10 minutes, then strain into a larger stock pot. To this add, 1 small can frozen lemonade and 1 small can frozen orange juice. Let juices thaw. While thawing, make 2 cups strong tea using 2 cups water with 6 or 7 small tea bags (I use decaf) When juices thaw, pour in tea and add 10-12 cups of water......depending on how strong you like it. Best served warm. So sweet and wonderful.

14 YEARS!!

Ok, I'm coming back to life after my trip. The price you pay for having fun. This week Steve and I celebrated our 14th anniversary! We have figured out that "lunch dates" are, well, not quite as romantic, but very economical with lunch menus and not having to pay babysitters. Plus, this time I had a coupon for a free appetizer. We enjoyed our time at "Sol", the Latin restaurant downtown Franklin. He gave me a beautiful pearl necklace from India, and my gift to him......don't laugh......nonstick skillets. Can you believe with the amount of eggs we cook, we didn't have a nonstick skillet? He is the egg man, and has constantly complained about having to scrape the eggs off of the skillet, so, that was his gift! He LOVED them!!! I dressed up, as if going out on a "night" date.......wore my Spanks with my very tight jeans, and boy, I can't tell you how fast I drove home to pull those babies off and get into my sweat pants. After homemade guacamole, and chicken/goat cheese quesadillas, they were even more uncomfortable than they were to begin with........plus, I had on my compression panty hose because I had had a vein treatment the day before. I was totally Bound Up and claustrophobic!!! Being serious, Steve is a gift from God, and I am so thankful that he is the man I married. He is funny, kind, has beautiful eyes, adventurous, helpful, "hands on", engaged and involved with the kids, a wonderful husband and "Daddy".....and he loves me. I'm blessed.

Here's a recipe we had last night.......for our traditional breakfast for supper. The kids all chowed on them. They were very good and Fallish! Enjoy!!! J

CINNAMON-APPLE PANCAKES

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 TBLS brown sugar, packed

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

2 TBLS oil

1/2 cup applesauce

Combine dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl; make a well in the center and set aside. In a small mixing bowl, blend vanilla, egg, milk and oil; mix into the dry ingredients until just moistened. Add applesauce; mix well. Pour a little less than a 1/4 cup onto a hot, greased griddle. Cook until bubbly on surface; flip and heat until golden on both sides. Makes 8 to 10.

FALL BREAK 2008

Wow.......I could pretty much sum up this trip by saying just that.....WOW! This picture is the view we had from the porch of our cabin in, can I say "Beautiful but BoonDocks", Piney Creek, North Carolina. The cabin itself, its views and the surrounding areas were just amazing. We all had a wonderful time. We arrived on Thursday night, and were pleasantly surprised when we walked in the cabin. Even the kids said, "The drive was soooo worth it!" It was. We settled in and got dinner ready, and sat outside on the porch for dinner. So pleasant. Alot of our time was spent hanging out, playing games, eating, watching movies, playing cards, roasting s'mores, and sleeping in! Just Great. Friday was a rainy day, a good thing, because James Avery got a 12 hour stomach bug, beginning at 2 a.m., so we stayed in all day, and played games and watched movies. We did go into town later that afternoon and played in a park. Saturday we discovered Grayson Highlands State Park, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.....and there were wild ponies. Leave it to Wesley to hug one and get kicked. He's got a big bruise on his leg. Still, that is something those kids will never forget. Later that day we went into Boone, such a beautiful town, and then on Sunday we did the Virginia Creeper Trail. This is a must do for everyone's list......you have made a list, haven't you? Put this one on it. 4-5 hours of mostly downhill bike trails (converted from old railroads) that run past rivers, streams, farms and beautiful countryside. Such great together time, and so incredibly beautiful. After the 5 hour drive, we arrived home on Sunday at about 11:30, and yes, had to get up for school the next day. So, I truly am still recovering.........did want to share a dinner idea, though. Tonight I fed my family for about $8.00. I bought a packet of 4 leg quarters for a little over $2.00, got a head of broccoli for $2.00, a pan of Marshall's biscuits for about $2.00, and already had some potatoes. I rinsed the chicken, squeezed a lemon all over it, drizzled it with EVOO on both sides, and put salt, pepper, and fresh garlic on both sides. I then convect roasted it at 325 for 45 minutes, then flipped the chicken over (to sit in the drippings) and covered it with foil to rest. I then cut up the broccoli, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted it at 400 f0r about 15 minutes.......while the biscuits were in with it. I mashed the potatoes with butter, milk, salt and sour cream, then added a little flour and water to the chicken drippings for grazy, and WALA......dinner was done, delicious, very filling and no more than $8.00. For a family of 6, that's a bargain......I would love to hear any of your "bargain meals". More pics from the trip later..........I posted alot of them on Facebook. J

WHERE'S EMMA?

Can you see her? We love playing in the leaves!!! Tomorrow morning we leave for beautiful North Carolina.......today, I had to finish up a few errands. This is how it went. I walked with a friend early, early this morning, got the kids to school, well, actually James Avery stayed home with a stomach ache, so I cancelled a doctor's appointment.......took Emma to school, Steve called and said James Avery was feeling better, so he took him on to school! Thank goodness....I really needed to go into Cool Springs and finish off my list. I showered, and got all comfy in a black skirt and white tee. I couldn't wait to pull into Starbucks and get that Pumpkin Spice Latte. I did. Mmmmmmm. That first swallow is a true taste of Heaven. I ran into my first store, then came back and jumped in the car.......somehow I lost control of my coffee for a moment, it tipped over, and not all of it, but plenty spilled out straight onto the front of my, yes, white tee shirt. It was everywhere. I couldn't shop like this, what should I do? Hey, there's an old wadded up hoodie on the floor, along with stale pb&j's, old papers, spilled drinks, dirty socks. I'll just put that sucker on and zip it up.....oh, there's a TJ Maxx. So, I put on the wadded up wrinkled dirty hoodie, zipped it up over my coffee stained white tee, and headed in TJ's looking like "Country Come To Town". I grabbed the first tee I could find, and wore it out of the dressing room. Yes, I did pay for it. Finally, I'm ready to shop now. I had several more errands to do, and one was Costco. That was relatively painless, except when my very large container of grape tomatoes tipped over in my basket, and tomatoes were rolling around everywhere and all around me. It reminded me of the other day when I was in the grocery, and my eggs were on the bottom rack of the cart, and they fell out the front of the cart, then I ran over them. Busted egg yolks were all over the produce section, because of me. Then when we got to the check out, the other 18 carton of eggs was still on the bottom, and I looked over and Emma was standing on them to make herself taller to help get the stuff out of the cart. What a Helper......another pkg of eggs, busted. I just handed them to the bag boy, and said, please go get me 2 more 18-pk cartons of eggs......I've managed to bust 2 of them since I've been here. Ok, so, more today stuff. Oh yeah, I got in the car to take Emma to dance (which was cancelled and I didn't know it) and set my hot tea, not in the cup holder, I know, My fault, but in the middle, and when I took off, it fell forward smack dab into my open purse.....completely saturated the mail I had just put in there, and got on my camera that I just happened to have in there because I was taking the disk in to be developed. That's about how my day has gone. A comedy of errors, it seems. Now, however, I am packed, practically, and getting ready to load the food into the car. I can't wait to get to the the cabin, put on my pjs and relax. I won't be blogging for a few days, but will share stories upon our return. Here's you another recipe for you to enjoy! J

PERFECT ROAST CHICKEN

1 5-6 pound roasting chicken

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs

1 lemon, halved

1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise

2 TBLS butter (1/4 stick), melted

1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced

4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks

1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges

olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and pat the outside dry. Liverally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

Great over couscous, mashed potatoes, or rice.

Getting ready for the mountains!

Last year, on a recommendation from a friend (Thanks Melisa!) we biked the Virginia Creeper Trail. You can read all about it online, but I have to say that it is one of our favorite things we have done as a family. We rode the 4 hour trek, trailing through mountains, and by streams the whole way. It is beautiful.......especially this time of year. This year we're going back, staying with out dear friends the Babcocks in a what looks like very nice and large cabin (I'm probably not going to want to leave) in Jefferson, North Carolina. Today I've been cooking for that trip. Tomorrow I will pack.......I think it is going to be cold.......I love the mountains of North Carolina. I always seem to breath easier when I'm there. For your recipe...... I have finally found "that" blueberry muffin recipe. These are delicious, and I like to make them in those medium sized mini-muffin pans. Enjoy!!! J

SOUR CREAM BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

MUFFINS
1 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup blueberries

GLAZE
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 TBLS fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest

For the muffins, preheat oven to 375. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add egg, butter, vanilla and sour cream. Stir until just combined. Fold in blueberries. Line muffin tins with paper liners and fill with batter. Bake until muffins spring back to the touch, 25-30 minutes. Let cool.

for glaze, in a small bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar, lemon juice and zest. Spread 1 tsp over each muffin. Let stand until glaze hardens. 12 muffins