Fearless Friday- Beef Stroganoff

This week I made a great beef stroganoff, well it was better the second day, but the next time I make it there will be some fixes. My day started by making some cream of mushroom soup. It turned out great and I was able to make it for the beef dish by making it with beef stock instead of chicken broth. Here is how I made my beef stroganoff.

(all these dishes did drive me nuts!)

Beef Stroganoff
2-3 lbs stew meat
olive oil

1 med. onion
4-6 fresh mushrooms

11oz. beef stock
11oz. cream of mushroom soup

1 cup sour cream

brown or white rice

Dust meat with flour and fry in olive oil. Remove from pan and add the diced onions and mushrooms. Add the meat back in and pour in the beef stock and soup. Simmer covered for about 30 minutes. While that simmered I made the rice. I stired in the sour cream right before serving. Next time I will mix the same up to the point of simmering and at that point I will put it into the crockpot and leave it there on low for a few hours. The meat was very tough and need more time cooking to tenderize it. I loved serving it over rice because the rice soked up all the sauce. I also cooked the rice in half water half beef stock, so there was extra flavor there too.

I do need some ideas for the rest of the cream of mushroom soup. I am pretty sure I will not be buying canned cream of ______ anytime soon. It was very easy to make, even if you do not follow the directions exactly (one of my down falls) and mix the butter, mushrooms and flour together right away.

Yes, there was some downfalls to this dish, but all in all it was a great dish that could have been better by either using a more tender cut of meat or cooking the meat that I had longer.

Side note: I do not cook with fresh onion ver often. I did with this recipe and I had the whope house in tears. My husband and boys were whinning that they were not going to eat this if it tasted like onions and that their eyes hurt. It was funning and made me realize that I really need to start cooking more often using fresh stuff. Also they loved the dish and you could not taste the onion at all.

On My Mind

There have been many things on my mind the last few days, OK maybe longer then that. Sometimes when I write something down or tell some one answers arise and well I could really use some answers.

It is my husbands dream to start a hunting lodge somewhere. I would not mind that, but I do not want to be super old when that happens. Also I would have to learn to cook really great food or find a really good cook I could handle working with, yikes. I know your are thinking what the heck, you don't even have land yet. I think of crazy things and really is cooking going to be the biggest factor in a hunting lodge, most likely not.

I need a new car/van/truck/SUV and well I am so afraid of picking the wrong one and dreading it for the next 8-10 years. I need a car that fits at least 6 and that has room for cargo. I have a mini-minivan right now and it works, but it SUCKS in the winter and trying to get in and out of the ally where we live. Since our winters last about 6 months of the year I am thinking of something in the AWD or 4WD category. We are looking into a 2003 Yukon xl right now and it is turning my stomach. Praying lots about this one... it would be a big purchase.

I want to start my own business. I know what I want to do and I know how to do it. I guess this one all comes down to money and if I want to take yet another chance at something that could not be as profitable as I am thinking it would be. Yes, I have failed at a few other attempts and am really thinking this one through and not just jumping in blindly.

My dryer is broke. It will not even turn on any more and that leaves me to hanging my laundry outside. I live on the corner of two very busy streets and everyone that drives be can see where the line is, I guess I will have underwear and socks hanging every where in the house. This also limits the amount of laundry I can do. I only have 30 feet of line and well that holds maybe 2 loads if I hang it right. If it is windy and sunny it drys fast, but as of lately is has been cloudy and calm, not the best drying conditions. I would tell the landlord that his dryer is broke, but I risk having our rent raised and I do not want that. I could really use that emergency fund we have been trying to start, hehe.

It is finally getting nice outside and well I love to be outside when it is sunny and nice. I have lots of sewing projects though and I am having a tough time getting started on them. I guess I should say my time management is struggling. I have so much to get done and instead of just doing it I sit on the computer secretly hoping it will just sew itself.

Those are just a few of the things on my mind that need a place to go. Here is hoping to a sunny day so I can get lots of laundry done and we can play outside, maybe even at the park.

Wordless Wednesday

Gabriel and Logan at 5.5 and 1 years.

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Spring Kids Pictures by the river and Kemp Bridge.

Gabriel at 9.5 years old. He is a great helper and is playing baseball this summer. We start the second week in June.
Logan is 5 years old. He loves to play outside and he gets to play t-ball this summer. He also starts the second seek in June.
Hailey is 3 years old and loves to keep up with her brothers outside and try to hold her little sister.
Malia is 9 months old. She loves the grass and trying to eat it. She is getting so big. She is working on her 4th tooth, crawls, climbs and tries to stand by everything.

Fearless Friday- Glutten-Free Donut Muffins

We resently found out my youngest daughter reacts to food with wheat and oats in them. She is still young enough to eat mostly baby food, but is starting to eat some of our food (I like to grind up food I make). She is also starting to eat finger food and breads. My attempt to make something I could eat with her I found a donut muffin recipe. The only thing I did differently is substituted the all-purpose flour for Glutten-free all-purpose baking flour.

After baking these muffins they turned out very light and airy, like the combination of a popover and muffin. The kids loved them and asked me to make more. The little one loved them too, but I think next time I will not put powder sugar on hers as they were quite messy.

Mallard in the Yard

I was hanging diapers out on the line and I heard a "quack, quack, quack" looked on the other side of the line and here a Mallard had landed in the yard. He walked around a little and then laid down and watched me finish hanging the diapers. He even stayed long enough for me to go get my camera and phone and take some great pictures and tried to call my dad.

I think this one...

and this one lured him in.

Garden

We planted our garden last night.
28 days= radishes
58 days= green beans
68 days= butternut squash
we also planted oats and sun flowers that Gabriel had gotten from school.

The only way we will get anything is if the rabbits don't eat it first. There is many of them around here.

Line Drying Laundry

I love the look of diapers on the line. They just look so colorfull and cute. Even their shadow is cool looking.

Hailey is my little helper. She loves to hand the clothes pins to me and carry in the empty basket.

Malia- the video

Do not mind the noise in the background. Yes, I confess I watch soaps, can you name the one in the background? Malia is crawling all over the place now and loves to follow her siblings all over the place, even into the bathroom. She will be nine months old on Friday.

Malia's New Talent

Malia was practicing standing last night. She would get up on her hands and feet and then put her head between her legs, start laughing at herself and then try walking toward the car. Too bad only her hands would move. She is getting so big and adventurous. She is always on the move now and loves to chase after her big brothers and sister.

Fearless Friday- Meatloaf Addition

Meatloaf, I always despised it as a kid. I there was just something about the look of it that made it unappealing to me. At some point I decided to try making it, let say about 5-6 years ago (yes that is the time I had to start cooking on my own). I first, second and well many attempts went terribly wrong. They did not have any flavor and well I found out you can not had cubed bread to replace bread crumbs. Also found out that you have to flavor that stuff or it is just ground meat, egg and cubed bread, YUK! Another one of my troubles was that I thought it needed to go into a loaf pan and well all that grease on top was just gross and often spilled over into the oven. Yeah, partly the cause of Oven Fire 2004.

A few years pasted with no meat loaf in sight and last year I decided to try my hand at it again. This time I started with this recipe and after making it exactly like that and it turning out fabulous I started to add other things. It is impossible for me follow recipes exactly, it is in my genes not to, watch my dad cook. We eat meatloaf often now and I have found that you can play with the flavor of it much like your can play with the flavor of hamburgers. Yes, I know they are practically the same, but I struggled with meatloaf, but could make amazing hamburgers, go figure.
My Meatloaf:
2 lbs ground beef
2 eggs
a shake or two of bread crumbs
about 2-4 T of steak/hamburger seasoning
few squirts of Ketchup and Mustard
cheese (I love cheese in everything and if I have it I will put it in there)
I mix everything but the cheese and split it in two. I take one half and put it on a cookie sheet (I think that is what it is called, the one with little sides) and shape it like a loaf with a little canal running down the middle. In the canal I put the cheese and cover with the second half, so you can not see any of the cheese. On top I put layer of mustard and a layer of Ketchup. Pop it in the oven for 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees and I get very tasty meatloaf. I know you looked at the recipe I started with and the one I just wrote down and they are nothing alike. I just needed and place to start and that was a great one and from there I made it my own.

Sorry there are no pictures, I mean really... meatloaf, not very photogenic.

Malia

We tried a pony in Malia's hair. It was hard to put in, but made her look a lot less like her brother, Logan.

Wordless Wednesday

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Randomness

-I want to plant my garden... I get one this year and need to get it going. It will be little as the landlord has allowed a little part of the yard to be used. Just need to get it tilled so I can get planting.

-I have many sewing projects
*curtains for sister's basement
*blanket for Malia
*blanket for Grady
*quilt for Brendan (I need to find Yankie fabric that is cotton)
*baby wipes
*a t-shirt quilt for my brother

-We have one computer in the house. A few months ago that was fine. I had the computer during the day while Todd was at work and Gabriel was at school, but times have changed and Logan has started playing and summer is coming. I now have to sneak my way on the computer and hope nobody notices. I really need to start saving for another computer, like a laptop that I could take outside with me:)

-Malia in the last week has reached so many milestones. My baby is growing and it kind of makes me sad... no more little baby stage:(
*she crawls with speed
*she stands up to anything she can get her hands on
*she has three teeth (two on the bottom and one on top)
*she is eating baby food twice a day

-I started reading again. I am hoping Gabriel sees this and starts picking more books up himself. I think it would help more with his dad also read as he loves to do anything Todd is doing. I love to read and it drives me crazy that he is neither of them are more into it. I am reading books by Terry Pratchett right now. There are many books by this author, so I will probably be reading them at least through the summer.

The Schlemmer Grandchildren

Last year at this time my parents had five grandchildren... in a year they doubled.

Wordless Wednesday

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She Stands...

She was suppose to be sitting by my bed while I folded laundry, this is how she ended up. She stood there for a while, then freaked when she wanted to get down and she could not figure out how.

She then again tried it on the couch. This was a little easier because it was a nice soft landing and she was very proud of herself. She was trying to look out the window with the other kids, she is almost there.

(She is wearing a supper cute Bum Genius 3.0 Fleece in Clementine)

Mitchell and Milly Quilts

I finished the quilts in time to take them when I went to MN this weekend. I think they turned out great. I love how they are they same, but yet different enough to be able to tell the girl one from the boys. These were both crib size quilts, made with 5 inch squares all of flannel.

I am now starting to work on a full size quilt for my nephew (Brendan). He is in to baseball and we are in search of Yankie fabric, might have to find some pants or t-shirts and cut those up. I am finding nothing but fleece right now that has NY on it. I also have a set of curtains and two other quick sew blankets to do. After that I have a t-shirt quilt that I need to start working on. I just need my brother to find me some t-shirts. He is going off to college this year and a t-shirt quilt would look really cool.

Well that is about it here. Lots of projects and not ehough time:)