November 2007 – Page 3

WARNING: Mashed Potatoes Ahead

13 Comments / November 10, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Recipes

Dear Kim,

It has come to my attention that perhaps I’ve been a little brutal in subjecting you to repeated mashed potato posts. Especially when you’re so good to make your girls mashed potatoes — in my house, what mama doesn’t like, mama doesn’t cook LOL. So anyway, I’d like to offer you the opportunity to bug out of here and go enjoy something that may be more to your liking. Besides, being that you live in England and all, you’ll find the rest of my post boring.

Thanks for stopping by … see ya next time!

XOXO,
Anna

Now, for the rest of you, I just wanted to share one of my very favorite winter dishes — Shepherd’s Pie. I often wonder if Shepherd’s Pie is to England what Meatloaf is to America. Everybody has their own favorite recipe. I didn’t grow up with Shepherd’s Pie. In fact, I’m not sure I’d even really heard of it until about 15 years ago. TheManoftheHouse was on a business trip to London and I tagged along. One day, we took a tour to the Cotswolds. It was a cold and rainy day (which is kind of like a dark and dreary night, only the sun is shining.) We stopped at a cozy little pub and they had about three things on their little buffet line. I chose the Shepherd’s Pie and loved it instantly. It could have been because we were cold and hungry and it really warmed me up. Whatever it was, I came home determined to find a recipe. It took me a little while to find one I like because I like it pretty plain. I don’t like peas or corn in my Shepherd’s Pie. I like peas and corn just fine, but on the side please.

I would say that this is a great recipe for kids, but I think my kids hate it now. I think I’ve burned them out on it. That, and they’re always trying to eat healthy, aka, low on the carbs, which rules out mashed potatoes. Not me though — bring on the Mashed Potatoes!

Shepherd’s Pie

4 cups cooked ground beef (or any cooked ground meat)
1 cup chopped cooked potatoes
1 cup grated cooked carrots
1 small chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 14-oz. can beef stock
cornstarch
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups mashed potatoes
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs

Grease a deep-dish pie plate and set aside.

Combine meat, cooked potatoes and carrots, onion and parsley. Dissolve cornstarch in beef stock in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook for about 3 minutes or until slightly thick. Pour into meat mixture and stir to combine. Add salt and pepper.

Place in prepared pie plate and cover with mashed potatoes. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Place in preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are golden and pie is heated through. Serve immediately.

I hope everyone has a good weekend. I’m off in the morning with the quilty peeps and MeMum. We’re going to the big city for a little quilt shopping. It’s going to be a BIG day — we’re having a blog meet up with Sharon and her little Boo! WooHoo!!! Sharon, you won’t have any trouble figuring out who I am — I’ll be the one with the bags under my eyes ’cause I won’t get any sleep tonight!!!

XOXO,
Anna

Save the Date

26 Comments / November 6, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Wedding

According to Martha, six months before a wedding, Save the Date cards should be mailed. So, here we are, six months before the TheFirstChild and SweetiePie’s wedding. This past weekend, SweetiePie declared it was time, and we worked on her Save the Date cards.

Sweetie Pie found the idea for this particular style Save the Date card in one of her Martha Stewart Wedding Magazines. Each little card contains three stickers that the recipient can put on their various calendars. Pretty clever, I’d say!

Printing out the stickers was the easy part. SweetiePie bought stickers at Office Depot and downloaded some formatting software. I was amazed at how quick they were. Then we printed the cards. That took a little more work as our printer didn’t like the size of the cards. We figured up a work-around though, and after that, the printing was went pretty smoothly.

The cards came with plain envelopes, so we cut papers to line the inside of the envelopes. What did we ever do before paper cutters with rulers? They make things so easy.

Martha’s version of the cards were pretty narrow and the cards that SweetiePie found were much wider. We added the little bow to dress up the cards and take up some of the extra white-space. We’re only about 1/2 way through, but they’re coming along nicely. With a little luck, the bride-to-be will be buying postage by the weekend!

A very special thanks to all of you who’ve taken the time to comment in the last few weeks. You’re all The Best and I’ve really enjoyed the conversations that we’ve been able to have!

XOXO,
Anna

What’s on Your Bed?

17 Comments / November 5, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Chat

Nicole, at Sister’s Choice Quilts has asked “What’s on Your Bed?” Here’s what’s on my bed:

TheEmptyNestChild is always on my bed. I normally have an off-white matelasee coverlet on my bed, but since tubby, hairy ol’ Scruff lounges on my bed, I have the backside of an old tied quilt on the bed to protect the coverlet from all his hair and general dirtiness. Currently, something outside of the window has caught Scruff’s attention, so he couldn’t be bothered to pose for you.

Anyway, I do have a real quilt under the coverlet that is probably more what Nicole had in mind. Many years ago, TheManoftheHouse, MyDadLovesMeBestSister, and Junie and I were all shopping in Shipshewana at Yoder’s. They had a big raffle quilt hanging on the wall and TheManoftheHouse really liked it. Since he actually commented on it and expressed an interest in quilting, I thought I should make one for him. The four of us had a good time carrying bolts of solid fabrics up to that quilt, trying to match the colors. It’s very Amish-looking.

Kind of makes you sick, huh? That was the idea — the colors should blend into each other a little and make you think you have blurry vision. It’s not really my kind of quilt, but he likes it and it keeps us warm.
Kim, hello Ki-i-im?! Are you out there? The Pioneer Woman has come to your rescue this week and has a post just for you on her cooking blog! She’s added a secret ingredient that should be the answer to your prayers! ;-)
XOXO,
Anna

November’s Cranes

20 Comments / November 2, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Travel

I know I don’t have to tell you this, but it’s November. Cosy, comfy November. The month where we migrate toward winter.* I love November. We start to plan our months of get-togethers for family and friends. And an added bonus in blogland, I anticipate there will be lots of sharing of fun holiday ideas. It was around this time of year last year when I found blogs, and all that warm, fuzzy sharing is what sucked me in! I can’t wait to see what unfolds this year.

Anyway, back to that migrating thing. The other morning, I looked out of my office window as the sun was coming up to see a big crane swoop over the parking lot and land on top of a light pole. It’s the first time in many years that I’ve seen a crane in our parking lot and it reminded me to tell you about the migration of the Sandhill Cranes. Every year in November, they fly from their summer home in Canada to their winter home in Georgia and Florida. It’s an awesome sight to behold, and if you live in the midwest, a great place to see the migration up close and personal is at Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area in northwestern Indiana (about an hour southeast of Chicago.)

We went to see the cranes for the first time last year. It was a 2 hour drive for us and we arrived about an hour before sundown. You have to go to the wildlife area at either dusk or dawn, as the birds fly in to the fields to spend the night, and then in the morning, they are on their way again. When we first got there, there weren’t very many birds and I thought to myself, “We just spent two hours in the car for this?” Ah, patience! Before long, birds were flying in from all directions. Can you see them as they put their landing gear down? It was so cool to watch them drop their legs as they got closer to the ground.

The wildlife area has a great viewing platform which allows you a great view of the birds as they land in the fields. You can’t get real close to the birds, so binoculars are a great idea. (I took these pictures with a 200 mm lens, to give you a little perspective. It’s hard to get good pictures ’cause the light is so low. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.) I think the migration actually starts in late October and runs through early December, but November is the best viewing month. According to the website, on October 30, 2007 they counted almost 12,000 cranes. It really is amazing that all those birds just suddenly appear. And they seem to come from all directions, not just from the north. You can come from all directions too! I hope, especially if you are in the midwest, that you get the opportunity sometime to view these beautiful birds during their migration.

Viewing time: 45 minutes
Driving time: 4 hours
Experience: Priceless!
XOXO,
Anna

*Sorry, for those of you down under, I know this winter stuff doesn’t apply!

Month: November 2007

Shepherd’s Pie