Our Vacations, Thy Creations, and Our Relations- Part 6

I'm all for traditions. One tradition we have when we visit Oregon, even if we don't do anything else except chill, is going to a nature trail near where my parents live. The first time Jeremy and I went, we saw turkeys in the trees and a green heron, which was exciting as I had never seen one before (that I knew of). Since then, it's been tradition to look for green herons there and we see them every time.

Last year I took all the kids out to the nature trail. Some of them had more fun than others. This year Jeremy, Nichole, my brother, and I went. 

We saw several green herons, of course. We also got a new to us bird. I hadn't even heard of this bird before- wrentit. They have the fluffiness of a bushtit and a tail like a wren.

I really do love getting out in nature and enjoying God's creations.

There was one point where Nichole and I had to head back for something we dropped and we saw a turtle walking along the path like us. It was so fun to see. By the time we came across it again, it had turned around and was headed through the bushes back toward the water. Heh heh.

We saw plenty of turtles and we even saw a muskrat who decided to get out of the water.

I love morning birding (and nature watching in general). I also love celebrating. We celebrated Drop a Rock Day and Eat Beans Day on July 3.

I'll share more of our wonderful vacation later.

Let's Get To This Catching Up

February 4 was Homemade Soup Day. I wasn't going to do Butternut Squash Soup even though it was in "A Season of Family Meal Plans" by Jordan Page because it was Fast Sunday and sometimes I don't do so well with my energy making dinner on Fast Sunday. But I asked Jeremy and he said he was interested in trying a new taste (we've had a lot of new tastes with these books and we're only on volume 1) so I made the Viral, No Knead Rustic Bread in advance and made the soup that day. It was worth it. Jeremy really liked it.

 

We had some rolls in the freezer that I was able to get out for the next night's dinner, Smoky BBQ Beef Sandwiches. We used pork.

Here's what I've been doing as far as shelf cooking. First, pork roast is cheaper than beef roast so I sub pork for beef. Second, I usually only need about half a roast for these recipes so I use what I need for the current recipe (which often is used for more recipes in the same week) and look at another recipe in the future that would use the other half. I cook it up according the future recipe and freeze it until it's needed. Handy.

 

Another thing I'm doing with shelf cooking with these books, whatever I want. Combine recipes from one meal with recipes from another meal.

I made Sour Cream & Bacon Skillet Chicken but instead of the Classic Creamy Mashed Potatoes that is paired with it in the book, I made Crispy Mashed Potatoes again like Week 1 except with a different type of potatoes this time. I can do what I want.

Then of course there are the tried and true recipes I use. February 7 was Fettuccine Alfredo Day. I made spaghetti alfredo (#shelfcooking) because we didn't have fettuccine. I used the Guiltless Alfredo Sauce recipe from ourbestbites.com and it was so good. We've been using this recipe for years and it's our favorite alfredo recipe. Better than the jarred stuff Jeremy says.

 

February 7 was also Ballet Day. Nichole made this cute picture to celebrate.

 

We used more pork for more sandwiches, this time with hamburger buns I made, with sides of Adirondack Beans and Jojo Potatoes. Yumm.

OK. That's enough catching up for this post.

3rd and 4th of July 2023

Let's start catching up on July by talking about the 3rd and 4th of July since not much celebrating happened the first two days.

Balloon Fest happens for a few days around the 4th of July, so Monday, July 3rd, Nichole and I went for a drive to see the hot air balloons and to drive under some of them.

That evening we celebrated Eat Beans Day and Drop a Rock Day by having with our dinner jelly beans and chocolate rocks that we dropped onto our plates.

Tuesday, July 4th, Jr. Jr. and Jr. went to help set up flags in the neighborhood. Jr. Jr. and I ended up with a selfie that day like on Memorial Day and Flag Day this year. I think it might turn into a running theme. Selfies with the American Flag instead of pictures of the kids with them.

We ate Caesar salad because it was also Caesar Salad Day.

That night, some of us watched fireworks with neighbors and Jeremy made balloon animals for kids (and adults) who were out watching fireworks. It was a pleasant night.

Chili Fries with Hot Dogs

Only after we celebrated on July 13 did I look at the blog from last year where we celebrated Beans 'n Franks Day and French Fry Day by having chili cheese fries with hot dogs. Ha Ha. This year we had chili fries with hot dogs (cheese optional). Ha Ha.

It was also Embrace Your Geekness Day (I always thought it was Geekiness, turns out I was wrong). So I hugged my geek of a husband but didn't get a picture. Actually, we did do some geek stuff. We recently started watching The Mysterious Benedict Society TV series. We like the books written by Trenton Lee Stewart so it's been fun to see them keep the feel of the books in the TV series. We watched an episode on Embrace Your Geekness Day. I would consider that fitting in with geekness because a couple years ago for Halloween, Nichole and Jr. both dressed up as characters from the books.

Eat Beans Day 2014

July 3 is Eat Beans Day.  What a perfect day to bring some bean dip to a summer barbecue and get pictures with friends.