Hardy Tarte Yams

I came up with a holiday recipe for sweet yams layered with apples. Tastes sooooo goood. Like apple pie and sweet yams together. Very delicious. Was a hit with everyone this Thanksgiving!

Ingredients

1 large yam (red flesh)

2 tart medium apples (Granny Smith)

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 cup brown sugar, not packed

1 lemon

6 tablespoons of butter

2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 teaspoons of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of ginger

Directions

1. Cook yam with skin on, in boiling salted water until tender (25 minutes)

2. When cool peel and slice crosswise a little bit thicker than 1/4 inch.

3. Zest the lemons and then juice them reserving the zest and juice.

4. Peel, core and slice apples.

5. Pour majority of pure maple syrup on the bottom of the 1.5 quart Corning casserole dish.

6. Layer yams then apples over the maple syrup

6. Dash brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and a spritz of lemon juice on top of the apple layer.

7. Add slices of butter.

8. Add another layer of yams and apples to top this layer the same way. Until all is gone.

9. Cover with lid or foil and bake 45 minutes at 325 degrees °F.

9. Remove cover and put temperature up to 400 degrees and cook for 15 minutes more.

10. You can microwave this dish. Cover and cook it for about 20 minutes on high. Check for tender apples by inserting a knife. There will be juice at the bottom, so serve with a slotted spoon. Serves 4-6. Enjoy! - Pa

From the mouth of a 6 year old

We were in the van while Papa went in to the store for a second.

Outside it is cold. Well, as cold as it can be in the desert.

Emma blurts out,

"Mom, I am sweltering in this jacket!"

I reply, "Where did you hear that from?"

"What?"  Says Emma, "Sweltering.  Don't you know what that means?  It means, you are very hot and sweaty."

Laughing in surprise, I ask, "Where did you hear that from?"

"Word girl."  She says matter of factly.

Some days I think she watches way too much T.V. but then there are days like this and I think, at least she is watching stuff that helps her brain.  LOL. -Ma

Hardy Black Bean Soup

I'm looking for a good black bean soup recipe. I'm going to can it in my pressure canner. I've got five pounds of black beans soaking overnight. I found this recipe, it sounds good. We also have the Ball Blue Book of preserving. On page 64 there is a recipe for canning navy beans with pork and tomato sauce. Ma says I should prepare the black bean soup according to that recipe. Sounds good to me! I'll let you know how it turns out. - Pa

Ingredients And Procedures

2 tablespoons oil 3 medium onions -- chopped 4 cloves garlic -- minced 48 ounces canned black beans (frijoles negros) -- drained and rinsed 1 tablespoon fresh oregano -- finely chopped 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin -- or to taste 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme -- finely chopped 1 bay leaf 2 cups cubed ham -- cooked 2 cups chicken stock 1/4 cup dry sherry 16 ounces canned whole tomatoes -- drained & chopped 1/4 cup fresh tomatoes -- peeled and chopped salt and freshly ground pepper -- to taste ACCOMPANIMENTS: fresh lime or lemon wedges sour cream radishes -- thinly sliced green onions -- sliced cilantro leaves chile salsa In a wide-bottomed, large saucepan over medium heat, heat oil. Add onions and cook until soft, 3 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Stir in beans, oregano, cumin, thyme, bay leaf, ham, stock, sherry, and tomatoes. Increase heat and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, about 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt, if necessary, and pepper. Serve soup with your choice of accompaniments, or cool to room temperature and refrigerate or freeze. Makes about 7 cups. * Timesaver Tip: Soup can be made up to 2 days ahead, covered, and refrigerated, or it can be frozen. To freeze, spoon soup into one large or several smaller individual freezer containers. Cover, label, and freeze at 0 degrees F up to 1 month. To serve, defrost soup 15 to 20 minutes on Defrost setting of microwave, or thaw in refrigerator 8 to 24 hours. Gently warm soup in a saucepan or microwave at 50% power until it is warmed through. Stir several times both during defrosting and during reheating. Microwave Version Put oil in a 2-quart casserole and microwave on 70% power 45 seconds. Add onions and microwave another 3 minutes, until onions are soft. Add garlic and microwave a minute longer. Complete step 2 as directed above. Cover casserole with waxed paper or loosely with plastic wrap and microwave, still on 70% power, 30 minutes. time and timesaver tip same as above.

More free recipes

Beans-With Pork and Tomato Sauce (Ball Blue Book of Preserving)

1 quart dried navy beans (about 2 pounds)

1/4 pound salt pork, cut in pieces

1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium)

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1 quart tomato juice

Cover beans with cold water and let stand 12 to 18 hours in a cool place (Lucky it's winter in Arizona!). Drain. Cover beans with boiling water by 2 inches in a large saucepot. Boil 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes; drain. Combine onion, sugar, salt, spices and tomato juice; heat to boiling. Pack 1 cup beans into hot jars; top with a piece of pork; fill jar 3/4 full with beans. Ladle hot tomato sauce over beans, leaving 1-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust 2-piece caps. Process pints 1 hour and 5 minutes, quarts 1 hour and 15 minutes, at 10 pounds pressure in a steam-pressure canner.

Party

Happy Birthday Papa!!

Pa had a nice birthday, visitors' and gifts from friends and family.  This year was unique, he was able to pick out and purchase his own gifts.  It is probably because I am too worried about how much $$ I am spending so he usually gets a card and birthday cake.  You picked some great gifts.  Instead of cake this year, we have some friends that made some yummy pumpkin pie. Thank you!  I hope you had a special day.  :o)  Love you, Pa. -Ma

Babysitting

For the last two days I have had my niece and nephew over for a few hours.  Abby and Mackenzie are 9 months apart.  And Jacob and Holden are 3 months.  I felt like I had two sets of twins in the house.  Just the way they acted, they wanted the same things at the same time.  They were a lot of fun.  Either they loved each other or they fought!  The moments of love were so wonderful, and the moments of fighting didn't last long enough to even worry about.

Abby referred to Holden as Golden.

David made Holden laugh from the gut, it is so awesome how kids can do that with babies.

Jacob just loved Holden so much!!  Holden couldn't go to sleep while being held with bottle, or while pacing floor, he really likes his crib.  So, I was holding Holden on my lap with bottle and Jacob was slightly jealous, he climbed on the couch and tried to get on my lap in-between Holden and I.  When he realized he wouldn't succeed he started giving Holden gentle kisses on his forehead.  Soooo, cute!!

When lunch time rolled around, Jacob and Holden needed me to spoon feed them.  So, mac and cheese on one plate, two different spoons (just because one had a runny nose) and they ate.

Thank you Andrea for letting me spend time with your little ones, we had tons of fun!! -Ma

Emma's Forehead

3 weeks ago Emma started complaining about her forehead hurting.  At that time she also said that her throat was bothering her too.  After calling the school nurse, I learned that strep throat was going around so I learned that a headache can go with strep throat.  Gave her some colloidal silver and that seemed to be the end of it.  Well her throat issues went away.  

Forehead pain continued...

So after three weeks of hearing, "Mom, my forehead hurts."  I had just had enough.  

Went to the eye doctor today, she had to get the yucky drops in her eyes.  They did find that she has a stigmatism in her right eye that they had not noticed before.  But, that wouldn't cause headaches, in fact he said that I wouldn't have to change her prescription unless I was looking for a reason to get new glasses. 

Now on a side note.  While I was filling out the new insurance information.  I guess David took a toy from Jacob.  I looked up to see what was going on, and before I could determine who was in the wrong.  Some old guy decided that it was his job to take care of the situation. 

Here is how it went, 

Jacob screams.

Old guy said, "Give that back to him."

David in shock looks at the old guy.

Old guy, "give that back, you can't take it from him, you give it back right now."

Old lady who is sitting next to old guy, "you give that back to him."

David in even more shock, hands the toy over to Jacob.

Old guy laughs and said, "someone needs to stick up for the little guys."

2nd old guy in office said, "ya, and he is still eying it."

Old guy and old lady laughs.  Old guy says, " Ya, we sit next to some kids in church and we don't let the other kids be mean to the little guys."

Ha, Ha, Ha, they all laugh.

David out of embarrassment hides under a table.

I am in shock the whole time, just looking at the back of the guys head, making faces the more he talks.

Let me make one thing clear... I am all in favor of helping others in parenting.  However, I feel that a stranger needs to do it lovingly, he was demanding and making fun of David.  His voice had anger in it.  If you are going to be angry at a child being a child step back, because that is not going to teach the child.  

After a couple of minutes David came over to me and said, "Mom, I don't like that guy talking to me." 

My reply, "I don't either, Mom is hear and I can take care of the situation, you should not take toys from your brother though, okay."

David, "I know."

I continued filling out the paper work, and I noticed that the old guy cranked his head around to look at me, he then mumbled something.  And that was that.

Now, question.  Why didn't I say anything right away???  Because I am naturally shy and I have such a hard time facing people.  Now I feel so upset, I should have just told the guy how I felt. -sigh-

Well, back to the forehead pain, she has a molar coming in, so I called the dentist.  He said that it is not normal for one to have headaches while a tooth comes in but I could come in and they will look at it.

I think I will set something up with the doctor next.  Can they figure out if it might be allergy problems?  Will she have to go through tests?

She was having tummy problems earlier in the year and I think it was just stress.  Maybe this is stress too? -Ma

You are Unique

I love to go to Costco... most of the time just to get the fun food.  What better thing to do than walk around a LARGE busy store and get food along the way?

Okay so more than the food I love the cute little lady's that hand out the food.  Some are grouchy... but that is another story!  And some are so nice.  Pa and I went to Costco on Veterans Day and they were passing out yummies.  We talked with two ladies, one about soy milk.  And the other about how the world is and what it was.  She was passing out cottage cheese with blue berries, we talked about what it was like in her time.  If you have moldy cottage cheese scrap off the top and eat the rest, don't let it go to waste.  We talked of how I was taught to scrape the inside of the egg when you crack it (don't waste anything).  We talk of how there was no room for wants in her time.  We talked of flat screen T.V.'s.  Then we talked of our tiny house and how it is squishy but we are happy that we have each other.  She spoke of how couples need to hold on to each other to make it.  How it is more important to have a family, children.

Then she looked at our cute and unruly children, we were in the refrigerated isle and they were walking on the ledge by the doors.   She said, "You are unique.  It is nice that you are able to put your family first and not the world."

I am very thankful for a great family, we might not have a house that fits our family by the worlds standards.  Or a two car garage that can hold our unneeded stuff.  Or two full sized bathrooms.  Or even a flat screen T.V..  But we do have each other and a lot of love that goes around and I am so thankful for that.  I will take being unique. -Ma

Sassy Three Year Old

I have something to say to who ever came up the the term, "terrible two's".  I think two year olds are so fun.  I absolutely love them!

3 year olds now that's another story, I struggled with them.  Even before I had kids I just can't seem to figure them out.

At age 2 they know how to say no, but it is so cute.  Because  they can't stand their ground.  A 3 year old knows how to say no and they know what it means, and they use it.

This little beauty is amazing.  She loves life, and is so affectionate.  She has a smile that will melt even the most angry heart. 

I think we will take the good with the bad.  But please I can only handle 9 more months of the sassy 3 year old.

Love you Abigail! -Ma

Thank You Grandma's

Thank you Grandma for putting my Strawberry Shortcake blanket together.

Thank you Great Grandma for quilting on it.

I wasn't feeling so good when this photo was taken and it brought me comfort.

I love you!! -Abby 

Thank You Grandma

Photo taken by Emma with a very cheep camera.

Emma and Abby are so thankful for their curtains.

Emma likes that her room can be pink when the sun is shining through early in the morning. 

That way Abby can still have her favorite color room during the day... purple.

I think is it so great that they get to have the experience of being sisters. -Ma

Busy One Year Old

Wow, this little boy of mine, Jacob. He is such a handful. Yesterday, I was in the shower and he thinks it is fun to stand on the toilet and turn on and off the hot water at the sink. I can feel when that hot water comes on so I say, "Jacob, hot! Turn it off." He laughs then turns off the water. Well I just finished washing my face when I hear him start to scream. So I said, "Yes, Jacob, it is HOT! Turn off the wat..." I look and and he is in the sink trying to get out of the stream of water. His skin was pink and hot where the water had hit on his knee and both feet. No burns though, Phew.

Later he wants to climb a kitchen chair. We have a counter height table, so tall chairs too. Usually he is able to get up the chairs just fine. But this time the chair fell, but not on him. How did that happen?

Later on, he was outside going up the ladder and the playground set. He gets up two steps and falls off sideways.

He opened one of the top drawers in the kitchen where we keep the scissors, reached in and pulled out the scissors. How did he get so big?

Even though he is a handful. He is so amazingly cute!!

He has a bear puppet with a book on the belly. (He got it for Christmas, I think from Uncle Paul and Aunt Katie). He has loved this puppet from the beginning. Today he found it and brought it to me, dropped it in my lap and said, "da, da, da." as he was backing up and pointing in excitement. The norm is, whoever receives the bear has to put it on, hide the bears face with it's hands then open quickly and say, "BOO!" Jacob laughs and laughs so hard he usually falls over.

He also thinks it is so great when we can play with a ball. I throw he fetches.

He loves to play with cars, the one in the photo is fun, push the person down and the car goes, weeee. We have another one that he loves to play with, shake it put it down and it goes fast!

I love when he walks up to me and just smiles. He squints his eyes, as if that were the smile instead of the lips curling up.

Speaking of lips, when he is so sad. (Mostly at night when he wants to nurse and it is taking too long for me to go and get him.) Those cute lips pucker up, he makes a perfect little circle with his lips. And he cries, "Oooooooo."

He has teeth that look like he is a thumb sucker, but he is just a boy that really likes nursing. I only let him at night now. :o)

At the dinner table I have just got to say that he is such a serious eater. He concentrates on each and every bite. When he is done he will join in on the conversation and laugh when everyone else does or he will just laugh to get everyone else laughing.

Last night after scriptures I said, "Okay, time for prayer, fold your arms." Jacob said, "Da." He kneeled on the floor, then put his face in his hands on the floor and mumbled some sort of a prayer. (This is how his siblings do it, for some reason they lay down on their tummies and cover their faces to say the prayer.)

Such a fun little boy. So glad he is part of our family. -Ma

Bread Dough

If your bread dough wont rise, never fear, you can make pizza. I tried to make bread yesterday and the stuff wouldn't rise... I don't know what was wrong with it. I never make bread and I used a recipe that is titled, 'Perfect White Bread'. I did add a cup of wheat flour. But, I just don't know what I did wrong. Guess we were destined to eat pizza last night. -Ma

Proposition 102

So I don't know how to copy and post videos but I have a friend that does and she has an amazing video on her blog that I think everyone should watch.

How can we not take a stand?

http://kobialkafamily.blogspot.com/  -Ma

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates, You Never Know What You're Gonna Get

Or in this case you never know what reaction you're going to get.

Some may know that we have been having problems with our neighbors... their 13 year old boy to be exact.

Lets take it back to 4 years ago the first week that we moved in... or little pick up truck was in the back yard and some one broke the drivers side window.  Went to the neighbors and the reply was if you can find some evidence so I can pin it on my boys you let me know.  The had a skate ramp that was built next to the block wall and the kids could see over the wall.  Now put two and two together and it all points to the kids.

From that point to this point things haven't been too bad... ya know the usual, the adult male drives his truck across our yard, the adult female pours her dirty mop water in our yard causing weeds!  And we can't forget kids that throw their trash all over our yard.  Not too bad right?

Okay, fast forward to this past month.  Neighbor's trampoline was moved touching the block wall between our yard, kids leaning on the wall saying mean things to our kids, staring into our house,  sitting on the wall, standing on the wall jumping onto the trampoline.  I ask them to get off and I get attitude, I go to parents and they get mad at us for going over their and bothering them.  Kid flips us off, parents get mad at us again.  Cars and house gets egged, we don't mention it to parents... why would we want to bother them?

INSTEAD:  We try CHRISTIAN COURAGE.  I was shaking, but on Halloween night I took the kids over and 6 half pound chocolate bars.  All in hopes that the 13 year old will not do anything bad to our home.  And it would be nice to mend the wounds between us adults.  Well nothing bad happened to our home and we got a thank you from the adults, and a very long conversation with the male adult.  

I think we are still very upset about the situation, but at least we are in more control.  -Ma

No One Can See My Bum Or Belly Button

I look outside to see Abby stripped down to nothing walking towards the house with one hand over her belly button and the other in between her legs. "Abby." I said, "What are you doing?" "It's okay Mom" Abby says with a big smile on her face, "No one can see my bum or belly button." "That's good sweetie, but where are your cloths?" I asked. She says, "Oh, they are over there by the slide. Sorry I went potty on the slide mom."

For Family Home Evening we had a modesty talk, we talked about wearing shirts that cover our bellies, and we never ever let anyone see our privates. So good to know that the kids are listening. -Ma

Happy Halloween

Emma was a beautiful TIGER!!  Grandma Maggie found a dress at a garage sale. We then put a tail on and made some cute ears.

Poor David always gets the short end of the stick. First he wanted to be an elf. Then he changed his mind, he wanted to be a tiger because Grandma Maggie also found a tiger costume that probably fits up to a size 3. It could have worked but he felt uncomfortable. so we went to a friends house and borrowed a couple of costumes. A dragon and Nemo the fish. Dragon he wore to the library for story time and the parade through the library. Dragon was too small also and he was very uncomfortable. So fish... that fit except for the sleeves were too short and tight. So, I thought we could make up a pirates costume how cute would that be??? We went to target to find a red bandana... went past the halloween stuff and found that everything was 30% off. We then found a costume... THE WHITE POWER RANGER!

Abigail went as a CARE BEAR.  Costume fits sizes 3 to 12 months.

Jacob was the cutest TURTLE ever!

Ma and Pa went as Ma and Pa.

Thank you Maggie and Diana for letting us use the costumes.  

We had tons of fun this halloween, we went to the trunk or treat at church.  Ate chili and hot dogs, played games, and got too much candy of course!

Jacob was fun, very independent.  He had his own agenda the whole night, walking everywhere and of course climbing on the chairs.

As we were trunk or treating, we were walking as a family, and I think Emma got tired of waiting for everyone, so she went ahead probably about 8 cars ahead.  (Anyone that knows me knows that I am a spaz when it comes to keeping a close eye on my kids.)  When I caught up with her, she said, "Mom, I wasn't scared.  I felt very brave going all by myself."  I know she is 6 and she is perfectly capable of doing this on her own especially when I can see her the whole time.  Another thing I need to work on... letting go.  -Ma