Keeping it humble here!

I know it seems like I only make super fantastic, gourmet meals.  So I wanted to make sure that I don't find myself on a pedestal.  We are a real life family, eating real life food.  I want to be honest on this blog, so here  you will find the good with the bad.  The happy and the sad.  :)

This is what I like to call a REAL NICE DINNER!  Actually it was delish but just quite simple.  This meal doesn't even land in the semi-homemade category.  

Everything came pre-packaged.  Excluding the cantaloupe.  

Mmmmmmm squash.   

This little guy was very yummy.  All I did was stick him in the oven for 50 min.  That was it.   

I didn't have a roaster with a rack so my very wise mom suggested crumpling up some foil.  It worked perfect.  

Jude  can eat an entire cantaloupe in one sitting.  

Look at that amazing presentation.

And for dessert, another packaged item. 

Marshmallows

Earlier today the kids and I went to a nearby town for what they called 

The Colfax Hullabaloo! 

It was cute.  They had a little kids area where they had a bounce house, and some games.

Here they are decorating leather.  

This man is brave holding the stamp.

At one point Madels got distracted and wasn't even looking where she was hammering!  

Table bowling??

A little live music from Locust Street Taxi.  These guys were funny, they were singing a song about science and love.  It was dedicated to all the science nerds and it had lines like "you and me and chemistry why don't we make a bond"  Pretty entertaining.  

After that we headed back to Pullman for the harvest festival that they had at the WSU orchard.

There they had hey rides, face painting, corn maze, and apple cider!

It was cute.  The kids each found a pumpkin and we took a hay ride.   

Here you will notice Madels pouting.  I guess she was mad that Jude had that piece of corn and she couldn't find one for herself! WOW.

But I must say it made for a hilarious picture.  Jude's face kills me :o)

And last but definitely not least. 

WINNER

Ok so I didn't actually win this race but look at these CHAMPIONS!!!!

Yep mother and son first placers!

Today in Albany was the second annual Albany Two Rivers 5K. The proceeds went towards a scholarship in Nate Turner’s name at Chemeketa.  I would have loved to do the race but of course couldn't. :( So Rebecca being the wonderful friend that she is, ran it for me. Since she ran in my place I think she also burned calories in my place.  Thanks Gayley&Erickson you guys are awesome!!!

Oh sweet deliciousness

If your husband is anything like mine (gravy loving, meat eater) you might want to pay close attention.  I ran across this recipe on the crock pot girls facebook page and thought it looked easy and delicious.  And as usual I was right! HA 

This recipe took no time at all to put together.  In fact, it took me less time put everything together, run to the store because I didn't have onion soup mix and get home mix the soup in and "Set it and Forget it" than it did for my sister to pick up her kids from school!  Pretty impressive huh?

So here you have it

In your slow cooker combine

1 can GOLDEN mushroom soup

This stuff is money.  I have never used it or even noticed it at the store but I think it was the key! Yum

1/2 can water and 1/2 can white wine

1 packet onion soup mix

1 clove minced garlic

and 1 medium onion sliced into rings.  And because I like to keep things on the healthy side I went ahead 

and sauteed the onion in butter before adding it! 

Finally add the meat making sure it is fully covered with the liquid.  

The original recipe suggested cooking for 6-8 hours on low.  I started too late so I went ahead and did high for about 4ish hours.  I had thin steaks so they were fully cooked and very nice and tender.

Slow Cooker Beef Tips

Sirloin Tip Steaks (2-3 steaks)
1 can of GOLDEN mushroom soup
½ can of water (use can from soup)
½ can of white cooking wine (use can from soup)
1 packet of onion soup mix
1 clove minced garlic
1 medium onion cut into rings

In your slow cooker, combine soup, water, cooking wine, onion soup mix, and minced garlic. Wisk together to remove lumps, then add onions and steaks (we just put them into the liquid whole, and pull the meat apart once it is cooked… you can cut meat up before cooking if you choose). Make sure the steaks are fully covered in the mixture; you can add a little liquid if needed to cover the steaks.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

 I served this with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob because that is what I had left from my bountiful basket.  I think it was a lovely combination.

Unfortunately this ended up being REALLY salty.  I did not add any salt so my only conclusion would be that I used too much onion soup mix.  Despite the saltiness I got thumbs up from the fam so next time I make this I will try adding less soup mix and possibly a little more water/wine.

And on a completely separate note, who is super excited for the start of holiday tv specials?!??!?!? Oh yes we watched our first one this morning.  It was Spookly the Square Pumpkin.  It was cute.  Probably not something that we will be excited about next year but a good season opener.

We will give the award for Mediocre new comer to   

But really what can compare to these classics?

Outstanding trilogy goes to.....

And the award for Outstanding Comedy goes to

Outstanding newcomer goes to......

Oustanding classic goes to....

Outstanding music program goes to....

Best Villain in a Holiday classic goes to..... 

 And the Life time achievement award goes to........

Am I the only one who looks forward to this time of year?  Does anyone else LOVE holiday specials?

Does anyone else spend their Friday mornings thinking about holiday TV specials? 

Oh my dear goodness how on earth could I have forgotten the greatest gift of all?

This little gem here is a rare classic! Aired in 1984 it stole the hearts of many.  It is based on my all time favorite Christmas album, which I may or may not have just listened to a few minutes ago.  :)

We will give this Holiday Special the award of 

BEST SOUNDTRACK EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things that make my day!

Today the greatest thing happened!!!! I went to get the mail and BAM I found this

WHAT!?!?! A hand addressed letter?  Can you believe it?  You know the feeling you get right? Almost butterflies in the stomach stuff here!  I couldn't even wait until I got home to open it.  I had to rip into right there in the car!!!  The best part was I could feel that there was something in there other than paper!  Oh the excitement.  What could it be?  I had no clue, but was pleasantly surprised to find 3 fantastic items inside.  A hand written card, a packet of starbucks via and a disc of pictures from my 30th bday party!!!  Wow Shawn you sure know how to make my day.  :) 

This got me thinking about other things that make my day.  

So here you have it a few of my favorite things.

Scentsy warmer and yummy fall scents wafting through my house

This adorable set of mugs my momma bought for me!

This lovely teapot from my sweet sis in law Ashley! For some reason making tea in this makes me want to drink more tea! Even if I don't have any fancy teavana tea to use in it!  

Love Teavana Tea.  For some reason spending too much money on tea makes it taste a little bit better. :)

And this, my new vacuum cleaner! I love vacuuming.  

And of course my family, and photography by Valerie!

Secret Family Recipe

So I guess this recipe itself isn't so much the secret, but the fact that we are have it for dinner is what I like to keep a secret! Ha I am pretty sure Jamie Oliver would give our dinner a giant tttthhhpppttt Thumbs down!

But my family?!?!?!? That is a different story. :) They love it.

This would be an example of their "we are excited for tuna casserole faces!!"

Tuna casserole was definitely one of my favorite meals growing up.  And now I know why!  It is full of cheese, cream, mayo and noodles.  What more could a girl want?

bread toasted in butter......

onions in butter.......

MAYO!!.......

                         cheese!!!.............                                 Cream of mushroom soup.............

It just doesn't get much better does it folks? And of course to spice things up, we like to serve applesauce.  The real good stuff! 

And there ya have it.  A meal so fancy that we ate it in the living room while watching some sort of 

football hi lights.   

What I really like about this meal is that the only color at all is the green in the spatula and the pan it's cooking in.  I guess that would explain why my mother would add those terrible peas to this meal all the time.  But as my family knows "WE DON'T EAT PEAS!!!" So that was out of the question.  Maybe next time we will add a green salad.  That would probably make up for the 1000 calories per serving.  

So what is your "secret" family dinner?