Bread Bowls and Ogre Stew

As previously mentioned, Jeremy's parents came for a visit. It was lovely to have them here. We got to see them when we went to the baby blessing in Idaho the week before. They got some good time with their grandkids there then came to spend good time with their grandkids here (and their son and daughter-in-law).

One meal we had while they were here was Ogre Stew (you know we love it- most of us) in bread bowls. Yum. 

The recipe for the bread bowls I use is Italian Bread Bowls from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I wanted to make sure I made enough bread bowls so I doubled the recipe but I neglected to separate it into two different bowls for the first rising time. Ha Ha Ha.

I went about my business with a timer set and when I finally looked over, it was so high then a little bit later it was dripping down the side of the bowl. Ha Ha Ha. Everybody got a kick out of that since everybody was there hanging out on Hanging Out Day, April 19.

The bread bowls turned out and the stew in the bowls was sooooo good, of course. I love the recipes in The Fablehaven Cookbook. 

By the way, April 19 was also Garlic Day and Ogre Stew has garlic powder in it. 

First Week of March

March 1 was Share a Smile Day. Jeremy and the kids played and smiled together. 

Dr. Seuss' Birthday (Read Across America Day) was on March 2. We read books of course.

And we ate green eggs and ham. This time it was in the form of fried rice. I do like to find creative ways to celebrate.

 

March 3 was Soup It Forward Day and National Cold Cuts Day so we had Ogre Stew (from The Fablehaven Cookbook) and ham sandwiches.

March 4 was Grammar Day. There was some correcting of grammar that day, maybe some editing of someone's writing? If I don't have pictures or don't write it down, I don't always remember.

 

March 5 was National Cheese Doodle Day. Jeremy suggested people draw pictures of cheese. I did.

Oreo Cookie Day (Birthday of the Oreo Cookie) was March 6. Jeremy got creative. We actually sang Happy Birthday.

 

We celebrated National Cereal Day on March 7 with cheese and pickle sandwiches again. It's tradition.

 

 

Celebrating with Food Again

February 3 was National Carrot Cake Day. I made carrot cake. I like carrot cake.

It was also Feed the Birds Day so Lucky and I reminisced last year when he was doing the Mary Poppins play on Feed the Birds Day. 

February 4 was National Homemade Soup Day. I made Ogre Stew. Yumm.

February 5 was World Nutella Day. We had hazelnut spread on tortillas with baby carrots and apple slices. 

Spring Break 2024

The boys had Spring Break April 1-5.

O.K. So we did celebrate April Fool's Day on April 1.

I put on the menu plan that we were going to have Ogre Stew and Muriel's Pretzel Knots. What we actually had was Italian Bean Soup and Garlic Knots (from A Season of Family Meal Plans), which looked enough like the other dishes. Bwah ha ha. Unfortunately, I think the soup was quite a disappointment to Jr. who had his hopes up for Ogre Stew. Honestly, I prefer Ogre Stew myself. I did traditional gelatin in place of Koolaid again, this time in a pitcher.

A couple of my boys put April Fool's notes on people's backs and I found one in my hair at one point.

The next morning as we were getting Jeremy ready for work, we found one more April Fool's prank we missed the night before.

April 2 was Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. It was also a Palindrome Day. 4-2-24

 

April 3 was Fish Fingers and Custard Day. We had our traditional dinner and watched several episodes of Doctor Who.

Jr. Jr. rationalized video games by naming a fish, "fingers and custerd," in Minecraft. "This is my fish, fingers and custerd."

 

April 4 was Walk Around Things Day. I went out for a walk along the lake starting in Vineyard and since it was Walk Around Things Day, I had to walk all the way up to Vineyard Beach, which by the way isn't much of a beach right now because of how much water there is in the lake (yay), and around the Geneva Cooling Ponds by Lindon Marina. Then I walked back and it was such a pleasant walk. It really was. I took our new camera and got to see some birds for the first time this year. Oh, I love walking and birding.

It was also National Burrito Day so we had burritos and Spanish Rice for dinner.

April 5 was First Contact Day. The boys saw it on the calendar and wondered what it was so I explained to them how, "A guy built a rocket and flew up into space on April 5... what year does it say?" "2063." "Yeah, 2063. And Vulcans saw it and made first contact with the humans." The boys were a bit confused and finally asked, "Is that from a movie or something?" "It's a Star Trek thing," I explained. So now they know.

More Celebrating in January

January 16 was Fig Newton Day. We ate fig newtons. Do you remember the commercial way back that said, "It's not a cookie. It's a newton"? I looked at the packaging for fig newtons and it calls them cookies. Ha.

It was also Appreciate a Dragon Day. Dad did some writing about dragons.

January 17 was Museum Selfie Day. Jeremy had some stuff to do at the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point so he made sure to celebrate the holiday while there.

It was also Popeye Day. I sang Popeye cartoon theme music over and over to the kids while we ate Popeye spinach.

It was also Hot Heads Chili Day. Let me tell you how I did some shelf cooking those two days, following "A Season of Family Meal Plans" volume 1.

I was thinking of making some spicy chili on Hot Heads Chili Day and the day before I was going to make lasagna soup with garlic bruschetta. Well, Jr. wasn't feeling the greatest that first day and said Ogre Stew sounded good to him. Ogre Stew is kind of like a white bean chili and it was a bit spicy so we had it for Hot Heads Chili Day Observed. 

The garlic bruschetta was supposed to use fresh tomatoes but we were out so I took a can of diced tomatoes, added the other ingredients, and cooked them up to make a sauce. Then I took my homemade baguettes (The Food Nanny recipe), cut them in rounds, and made them into garlic bread to put the sauce on top. It worked.

So the next day I made the lasagna soup to go with spinach salad. I also made cornbread muffins which were suggested in the book but I used a recipe I always use instead of the one from the book. That's another thing about shelf cooking. If I have a tried and true recipe why look for something else?

 

Lucky very nicely took pictures then edited them to make me green like spinach.