Pardon The Interruption...

The Grandmother Gig has been temporarily interrupted by "the housewife gig."

The laundry is piled high.

 The refrigerator is nearly empty.

And the dust? We just won't talk about that.

School is out for the summer and Grandmother has returned to her own house and to her roll as "regular" grandmother. Several people have asked if I will continue this blog. Of course! I'm still a grandmother!!! Just not one who mostly stays with the granddaughters. There will still be pictures of Baby Sister and Big Sister. And recipes for sure--but mostly from my own kitchen now.

Now, let me get back to getting things caught up here at home. Bless Granddaddy for not complaining. Not one time. 

We will resume our regular blogging shortly.


(Wonder if Baby Sister misses me?)

Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight

My days as grandmother-in-residence are nearly over. It's time to switch to regular "grandmothering." I'm pretty sure I will still be here lots. But not all the time. It's doubtful that I'll be spending the nights here often. (Even though I don't plan on taking my toothbrush home.) That's something I'll miss because sometime magic happens near bedtime. And for the past 9 months, I've gotten to see it.

Like last night when one word (the word is "squirrel") triggered this exchange between Big Sister and Baby Sister. As my mother used to say, "Her tickle box got turned over!" Bet it makes you laugh, too.

Okay, Mommy. It's your turn now. But I know where you can get a good babysitter at a minute's notice. And I'm pretty sure she'll come for free.

Fluffy

Mommy, Baby Sister and I had a quick lunch today with Jessica before she headed back to the big city. Baby Sister was all eyes, taking in the action at this very busy Chick-fil-A. An elderly couple sat down beside us and enjoyed watching her. When they got up to leave, the lady said to her husband, "Look at those big cheeks!" She bent down to close to Baby Sister, cooed at her, and then said, "You have the fluffiest cheeks! In fact, you're just fluffy all over!!!" I'm pretty sure that means she takes after her grandmother.

A new supper time tonight activity was "food painting." We've always laughed that when my girls were little, their friends came to our house to do things like finger painting because their moms said it was too messy. That suited me because all the fun happened at my house! 

I am always amazed when someone tells me, "That recipe you posted last week was really good." Or, "I'm enjoying watching the baby grow up." I've started to tell someone about something that happened and they'll say, "Oh, I already know that-- I read it on the blog." People really read this! I'm even more surprised at how many other moms and grandmothers I've "met" from across the country.

This is just a tiny little blog, which is as it should be, so it was a bit of a thrill when I scrolled down this afternoon and just happened to catch the number of page views as the counter read 3,000. 

Thanks, ya'll.

                

Colorful Monday #5

Oops. With the holiday, it's felt like Sunday all day and I nearly forgot. This is our last Colorful Monday. The plan was to do this for one month. It has been great fun and I'm pretty sure that this entire household is more conscious of color when they fill their plate now. Most all of the meals would qualify as "colorful" now.

I'm positive Big Sister understands. When picking up toys and crayons one night last week after Big Sister had gone to bed, Mommy found this drawing left on the sofa. Lesson learned!

Days Away

A weekend at the lake was welcome break in my regular routine. 

It was so good to spend some extra time with Granddaddy and Jessica.

One of the best parts was that Jessica was in charge of the kitchen this time.

She found this recipe on Pioneer Woman and then, as usual, she made her version of it.

It was one of the easiest recipes ever. A perfect choice for supper at the lake.

Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork

1 large onion, cut into wedges

2-1/2 lb. Boston butt pork roast

salt & pepper
1 (7-oz.) can Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce
1 (12-oz. can) Dr. Pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Place onion in the bottom on a large casserole dish with a lid. (Choose a dish the size and shape that will hold the roast.) Salt and pepper the roast and place it on top of onions. Pour Chipotle peppers with sauce over the pork roast. Pour Dr. Pepper over the roast. Stir in the brown sugar.

Bake for 4 to 4-1/2 hours, turning the roast two or three times during the cooking. Bake until meat falls apart. If it is not falling apart, bake it another 30 minutes to 1 hour. When the roast is done, remove it from cooking liquid to a cookie sheet lined with heavy duty foil. Using two forks, shred the meat, removing the fat as you go.

Remove peppers and onion from cooking liquid. Spoon off as much fat as you can from cooking liquid and return the meat to the liquid. (She poured the cooking liquid into a small bowl, set into a large bowl filled with ice cubes and water and set it in the refrigerator until the fat on top had hardened and could be removed easily.)


This has some "heat" to it. We thought it was just right, but if you don't like spicy foods--remember this IS made with a can of peppers! Jessica made tacos with the barbecue, adding homemade guacamole, cheese and cole slaw to them. Ummmmm......  After our supper, there was enough left for another couple of sandwiches. Wish she were around to cook for us more often.

And then while Jessica and her daddy paddled off the next afternoon, I took a nap. 

It was a really good trip.

Summer Supper

Jessica is home for the holiday weekend. After all the cleaning she helped do at the lake house, she might think twice about coming back! She also volunteered (or did I ask her?) to make dinner when we got back home. I was ready to collapse on the porch and rest. So I was delighted that she was in the kitchen instead of me.

Her recipe was a winner. It was on the table in minutes. If you need an easy summer supper, give this a try.  (You can find more of her recipes on her blog.)

Chopped Steak Salad

3/4 pound flank steak

salt & pepper

1 or 2 heads romaine, chopped

2 cups chopped red cabbage

1 (15-oz) can cannellini beans (or other white beans), drained & rinsed

1/2 cup chopped roasted red peppers

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Italian dressing

Season flank steak with salt and pepper. Grill 3 to 5 minutes on each side. (Can use a stovetop grill pan or the broiler also.) Let rest a few minutes, then cut thin, diagonal slices across the grain and cut into bite-size pieces.

In a large bowl, combine steak with lettuce, cabbage, beans, peppers and parsley. Toss with your favorite Italian dressing. (We forgot to get the red cabbage for this and added Feta cheese instead. Make this salad suit what you have on hand.)

Baby Sister was glad that Aunt Jessica stopped by her house, too. Aunt Jessica brings her computer with all its current music and they dance. Aunt Jessica's playlist is very different than mine. Baby Sister likes it groovy. 

Berry-licious

<<sigh...>> What is it this time? Purple stuff. What were you thinking????

Okay....so that didn't taste too bad. I'm thinking it would also make good finger paint!

Mommy has been good to make homemade foods for Baby Sister. I must admit that these fruit and vegetable purees taste pretty yummy. Ever tasted the jarred kind? Unless you live under a rock, children will get to the "wrapped in plastic/out of a box" kind of food soon enough. It might not be at your house, but they will encounter it somewhere along the way. So it's nice to do this while you have complete control of what they consume.

I cooked fresh corn one night when Big Sister was younger. I asked her how she liked it. She told me as only a young child can -- "Well, I like SCHOOL corn better."  (School corn = canned corn with lots of butter and salt.)  The lunch ladies loved her.

Today's new food was blueberries. And after reading a little on Weelicious, I mixed some of it with mashed banana. That was some seriously good breakfast!

Hmmm....wonder how it would be spread on my toast?