More dishcloths and Emily’s graduation

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Dawn

A picture of our family and a picture of Vollrath Bowl, at graduation.  From left, Gary, Emily, Sarah, and Dawn, taken in our backyard.  At Vollrath, you can see Lake Michigan in the background.  South sits to the south, in red.  North sits on the other side, in blue. It’s so pretty.  The band (not visible) dresses in khaki and white, so they don’t detract from the grads.

June and July dishcloths: All fun to work on.  The contrasting yarn in the Peacock cloth made it more fun.  The Father’s Day cloth was knit sideways, so it was hard to tell what the picture would be!  The Flamingo was hard to see at first, because we started with the legs.  Eventually, you could tell it was a bird. I love doing cloths that you don’t know what they will be, before you start.

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Summer Days

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Dawn

Wow, I have been such a horrible blogger and then as it went on and on and on, I knew it would be a big job, so I put it off even longer!  We are going from meals in the crockpot to meals on the grill.  Also, from winter jackets to shorts!  In June, my younger daughter Emily graduated from high school.  We had a fun family party and a beautiful day, for the most part.  Weather is a factor, since Sheboygan tries to hold their graduation outside!  We did get sprinkled on a little bit, but never for longer than 5-10 minutes at a time!  I’m so happy that both of my daughters got to graduate in the “bowl” by Lake Michigan!

I’ve been busy knitting, though, in the past 6 months!  All the pictures are in the gallery above.  Will still post pics of Emily’s graduation, too. Weather has been hot and rainy most of the summer.  It’s mid-July and the grass is still green and soft enough for barefeet!

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Crockpot Recipes

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Dawn

Slow-cooker Minestrone

3 cups water
1-1/2 pounds stewing meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 medium onion, diced
4 carrots, diced
14-1/2 oz can tomatoes
2 tsp salt
10-oz package frozen mixed vegetables OR your choice of frozen vegetables
1 Tbsp dried basil
1/2 cup dried vermicelli (We couldn’t find vermicelli, so we used orzo instead.)
1 tsp dried oregano
Added 1 15-oz can cannellini beans, because minestrone should have beans in it
grated Parmesan cheese

1. Combine all ingredients in slow-cooker. Stir well.

2. Cover. Cook on Low 10-12 hours or on High 4-5 hours

3. Top individual servings with Parmesan cheese

Also, we don’t add that much salt to our food.  We have sea salt in a grinder and I probably just added a couple turns of that.  I’m sure it wasn’t 2 teaspoons.

The 3 of us (Gary, Emily, and me) all loved it!  It was gone in a matter of days.

California Chicken

3-lb chicken, quartered
1 cup orange juice
1/3 cup chili sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp molasses
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp garlic salt
2 Tbsp chopped green peppers
3 medium oragnes, peeled and separated into sections  OR
1 13-1/2 oz can mandarin oranges

1. Arrange chicken in slow cooker.

2. In separate bowl, combine juice, chili sauce, soy sauce, molasses, dry mustard and garlic salt.  Pour over chicken.

3. Cover; cook on Low 8-9 hours

4. Stir in green peppers and oranges. Heat 30 minutes longer.

Variation:

Stir 1 tsp curry powder in with sauces and seasonings.

Stir 1 small can pineapple chunks and juice in with green peppers and oranges.

Plus, I made Chunky Cinnamon Applesauce in the crockpot, from Two Peas and Their Pod.

I love using my crockpot, because you can set it up with a minimum of work, then go about your day, and supper’s made when you come home at 5 or 6pm. I made the applesauce during the night, then transfered the applesauce to a container to go in the fridge, washed the crock, and got the California Chicken all set to go.  I’ve used it 3 times in the past two weeks.

Today, it’s been snowing all day!  There are probably 7-9 inches on the driveway and it was very much NOT done snowing yet.  The snow is almost up to Jasmine’s belly.  I need to measure from belly to end of legs, to find out how many inches that is.  Emily did not get a snow day and my clinic hours went on, as scheduled, so no slacking for us! I’m glad I had nowhere to go tonight!

Posted in Dog, Kids, Main Dish, My Life, Recipes, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The storm continues

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Dawn

I got to work, bright and early at 7:15am, like I was supposed to. Nothing on WTMJ or on the newspaper’s website about the clinic being closed. By the time I found out, Gary was long gone, with the car, and I had to slog through the snow in my shoes. Minutes after I get home, I get a phone call telling me that the clinic was closed until noon. An email, timestamped 7:21am, awaited me, when I logged into the company email. That was too late for me, though! So, I go through my morning, catching up on Tweets and Facebook. At 11:10, I get another phone call saying that the clinic will be closed all day. I was glad to find out, before I had to walk over there. At 7:15 am, it wasn’t snowing at all. Now it’s snowing quite hard and it’s windy to boot.

So, here are some pictures from a short while ago.

Jasmine in the snow

Jasmine in the snow


Looking down my street

Looking down my street


The backyard

The backyard


Bush next to the house

Bush next to the house


Across the street

Across the street


Neighbor's trees

Neighbor's trees

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Snowstorm Pictures

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Dawn

It’s been snowing a little bit harder, but I haven’t been upstairs to peek, in about an hour, so it might have all changed by now. LOL! I took these pictures earlier. The brighter one was taken by Gary. It took a while, for the snow to start accumulating because it was 33-34 F, outside.

Neighborhood at 5:30pm.

Neighborhood at 5:30pm.


Snowstorm kicking it up a little bit at about 9pm

Snowstorm kicking it up a little bit at about 9pm


Christmas Lights at 9:22pm

Christmas Lights at 9:22pm


Jasmine, around 9pm

Jasmine, around 9pm

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Blizzard warning now!

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Dawn

This afternoon they changed the Winter Storm Warning to a Blizzard Warning through midnight on Wednesday! It will be very windy, visibilities will be low, and of course, the possibility of 12+ inches of snow! Not currently precipitating, although, it snowed lightly during the day today. There are some ugly looking clouds, out inthe distance. I don’t think it’s too far away. Going out with the dog, should be interesting, tonight and tomorrow!

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Snowing lightly outside right now

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Dawn

I have no idea what the evening hours will bring.  So far, it’s just snowing lightly and accumulating a little bit.  Right now, it’s nothing to worry about, but eventually, the snow will become heavier and the winds will get stronger and we will get one heck of a snowstorm.  We could possibly get a foot of snow and will probably have a snow day for school tomorrow.  I don’t get to stay home, because I have to work at my clinic job, but I bet the clinic closes early, too.  We’ll have to wait and see.

I finally found my Lands End sweatpants.  I haven’t known where they were, for months and with the cold weather upon us, I wanted an extra option to wear to my school job, to keep me warm, since we are outside with first graders, for 20-25 minutes.  I’m so happy!

I need to get caught up on my dishcloth pictures.  Some on my camera need to be downloaded.  I”m so behind.

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Wordless Wednesday

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Dawn

wordless2

Lakefront on 7-15-09

Wordless Wednesday

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Trying to catch up now!

Posted on July 7, 2009 by Dawn

We had a great 4th of July, spending most of the day with friends. We watched the parade, then went to my girlfriend’s house for a cookout. We ate yummy burgers and then went outside to make and eat s’mores. In the afternoon, we went to a short patriotic play, poking fun at the electoral process, ate Chinese for supper and then went to the fireworks.

We’ve also been watching a monarch caterpillar, in the house. Yesterday, he changed into a chrysalis and we missed it! One moment, it still looked like a caterpillar and later, he was green! LOL! We know more, what to watch for now, and will pay closer attention!

I also needed to get caught up on posting my KAL dishcloths. I had both May and June cloths to post here! I’ve just been so busy.

Posted in My Life | 1 Comment

Yummy Summer Salad

Posted on June 7, 2009 by Dawn

Chicken Pasta Salad with Blueberries

Blueberry Vinegar:

1 cup fresh blueberries
2 cups white vinegar
2 T. sugar

Salad:

1 (9-oz) pkg. frozen French-cut green beans, thawed
3 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts(about 1-1/2 lbs.)
3 cups cooked spiral pasta (cooked without salt or fat)
1 cup fresh blueberries
3/4 cup thinly sliced celery
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 T. finely chopped fresh oregano
1/2 cup, plus 2 T. plain low-fat yogurt
1/4 cup plus 1 T. reduced-calorie mayonnaise
3 T. blueberry vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coarsely ground pepper
Lettuce leaves (opt.)

Blueberry vinegar: Place blueberries in a sterilized 1-qt. glass jar. Combine vinegar and sugar in a non-aluminum saucepan over high heat. Cover and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and pour vinegar mixture over blueberries. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 3 days. Strain blueberry mixture through several layers of cheesecloth into decorative jars; discard blueberries. Seal jars with a cork or other airtight lid. Yield: 2 cups

Salad: Place green beans between paper towels and squeeze until barely moist. Combine green beans, chicken, pasta, blueberries, celery, green onion and oregano in a large bowl. Combine yogurt, mayonnaise, blueberry vinegar, salt and pepper in a bowl; stir well. Pour over chicken mixture; mix gently. Cover and chill 2 hours. Serve on a lettuce-lined plate, if desired.

Yield: 6 servings (about 1-1/2 cups)

Cooking Light March 1995 (I think.  Can’t find magazine issue anymore and can’t verify online, either.)

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