Wrapping up February

Well, I am just going to throw the rest of February (or at least the parts that have photos to go with them!) into one final random post.  We have been quiet here on the blog for most of this month.  There has been a lot going on and I just haven't been able to keep up here very well.  Will work to improve that moving forward.

I loved getting these two photos messaged from Alicia.  She was making Rojina's Nepalese cabbage for her family!  Doesn't it look yummy???

Alicia inspired me to go ahead and give it a try.  I cooked the full Nepalese meal for some dear girlfriends one evening.  Although they all said it was good and they enjoyed it, I could tell it wasn't quite as good as when Rojina makes it.  However, I was proud that I managed to get it all made and on the table!  Rojina even tasted it the next day and proclaimed that "I passed"!!  Whew!!  It made me nervous for her to taste it!  :)  Love that we can now incorporate these yummy recipes into our meals.

Elizabeth, Chris, Susie and Gwen at my Nepalese meal

I did it!!  I made the whole meal!

Note - you can find the recipes for all of these dishes on my Recipes page listed under Vegetarian.
They are so good!!

lunch at the lake after church - Brianna, Julie, Mama, Daddy, Jonathan,
Anna, Matthew, Marvin, Laura, Elizabeth (new friend), and Jackson

back during one of our snowstorms earlier in the month...
a cute little snowman at Julie's house

our driveway after one of the snowstorms earlier in February

These drifts looked like lion statues to me!  Like gargoyles on a library or something!  

drifts along the side our road after the road had been cleared

I wish I had taken photos at several other gatherings and events this month, but I just didn't.  We enjoyed the Lyceum production of the play The Great Gatsby.  I enjoyed coffee (which turned into a lunch date) with dear friends, and then another coffee and visiting afternoon with my friend, Karen.  Finally, I can't believe I didn't take my phone when I went to hear dear Brianna sing with Minor Detail for a fundraiser.  That was when I knew I was really becoming a photo/blog slacker.  :D  

Introducing Scooter

Jackson and Brianna recently adopted a cute little dog from the animal shelter.  His name is Scooter and he really is adorable.

These pictures were our first peek at Scooter.  Jackson sent them to us the day they picked him up.

Scooter looking pretty comfy laying on Jackson.  :)

Adorable

A couple days later Jackson brought Scooter over to meet us.  He really is a cutie.

Family birthday dinner

Way back on Feb. 7 we had our family birthday dinner to celebrate Jackson and Anna's birthdays.  We were late with the dinner (their birthdays are both at the end of January) because of scheduling conflicts, but we couldn't let the birthdays go by without a celebration!!  Happily, our friend Shana was back in town after being gone all fall so she joined us for the evening.

Matthew, Anna, Grandma Sue, Jackson, Brianna

Rojina

Marvin

Grandpa Jack, Julie, Shana

Grandma Sue and Julie getting the birthday cakes

We have had many a family dinner to celebrate these two over the years!  Now Anna is married and Jackson is engaged.  :)  It sure has been and continues to be a joy to watch them grow and live and learn and make their way.  And I have to say that both Anna and Jackson turned out to have GREAT taste in their partners!!  :)

Anna and Jackson with their birthday cakes

They thought they got ALL of the cakes to themselves?!?!   :)

Happy they decided to share with the rest of us, after all.  :)

Jackson, Brianna, Julie

Matthew and Anna 

Jackson and Brianna

Poor Matthew was trying to keep himself out of 'trouble'... :D  

Haha!  He was afraid Anna was going to get a goat!  ;)

Rojina and Marvin 

Pulled Pork with Cornbread Topping

Wow!  This was REALLY good!!  We will definitely have this again!  I am going to post the original recipe as I found it in the December 2014 issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray.  THEN, I will post how I actually made it.  :D

Pulled Pork with Cornbread Topping
½ cup bottled BBQ sauce
½ cup chicken stock
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 ¼ pounds boneless, country style pork shoulder ribs, cut into 6 pieces
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
⅓ cup creamed corn
1 egg
2 Tbsp. sour cream
1 box (8.5 oz) corn muffin mix
2 scallions, chopped

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  In a large, heavy ovenproof pot or Dutch oven, whisk the first 3 ingredients.  Add the pork and onion and bring to a simmer over medium.  Cover.  Roast until the pork is tender, about 1 ¼ hours.  Remove the pot from the oven and increase the heat to 400 degrees.  Using 2 forks shred the pork in the pot.

In a bowl, stir the creamed corn, egg, and sour cream together.  Then gently fold in the muffin mix and scallions.   Spoon the batter to cover the pulled pork.   Bake, uncovered, until cornbread is golden and tester comes out dry.  20-25 minutes.


**How I actually made this dish...**
A few weeks ago I slow cooked a pork roast with onions, salt, pepper, garlic, and a bottle of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce.  We ate on that for a couple of days and then I put the leftovers in a ziplock bag and tossed in the freezer.  This morning I remembered that ziplock bag of pulled pork and took it out thinking I could figure out something to do with it quickly for lunch.  :)  I remembered reading the recipe in the Rachael Ray magazine and dug it out to take a second look.  This is how I assembled the dish.

Zapped the pulled pork in the microwave on defrost for a couple of minutes - until I could easily flake it apart with a fork.  Added a couple of tablespoons of water and about ½ cup of BBQ sauce and stirred it all up.  Placed the pork in my oval Pampered Chef stone.  (I was going to link to this stone but, apparently, this stone is no longer sold... I believe it probably holds about 8-9 cups or 1 ½ to 2 quarts.)

In a separate bowl I mixed about ½ cup canned cream corn with 1 egg, a shake of onion flakes, and 2 Tbsp. of sour cream.  Stirred to blend then added a box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix and stirred until just blended.  I poured this mixture onto the pulled pork and popped it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.  Do be sure that the underneath of the corn bread topping is completely cooked.  Initially I only cooked it for about 20 minutes and thought it looked done.  I took a serving out and then saw that the center underneath of the corn bread topping was a little runny so put it back in the oven for a few more minutes.

SO YUMMY!!!

More winter

The aftermath of a winter storm is always so lovely.  Everything sparkles and shines.  I took these photos a couple of mornings after the main storm.

the end of the sunrise

thankful for the road graders who plow through the snow on the main road for us

thankful for a tractor to plow through our own road

This field doesn't look like much right now, but it sure will be pretty July 18!

Hello Marvin!

Marvin bringing Shadow and Runner out to the field for the morning.

Peaceful

Pretty