Today I am thankful for my husband!   He is such a hard working man, loving husband, fantastic father and he does so much for our family.   I appreciate him so much, and love him with everything that is within me…..   I really and truly could go on and on….but I’ll keep it simple

Today I am thankful that we have had several weeks of consistently cooler weather (for my readers that don’t live in Cali…this is actually quite unusual.  Our norm is to have days that get cooler, and then warmer, and then cooler, etc….our “fall” weather is often quite sporadic up until 12/1). And that we’ve been snuggling under blankies and really enjoying our hot drinks.   I am also thankful  for my church family and for our Sunday School class group.   This group of folks has helped a lot to help me feel  more connected.  I am looking forward to worshiping with our church family today and to hearing God speak to my heart from His Word!

Today I am thankful for time with family!   The past 2 days we’ve had the blessed opportunity to spend time with both of D’s parents and one of his sisters to celebrate our son’s 16th birthday.   I LOVE spending time with family!   And today has been a pretty chill and laid back day…..which is great because the next couple of weekends will be a bit crazy!

Today I am thankful for the US Military, for every man and woman that has ever in the 236 year history of the US Military served and fought to protect our liberties and freedoms from foreign attackers as well as helping to protect those in the World that couldn’t protect themselves efficiently. Thank you for the sacrifices that you all have made and that your families have made. Many of have been lost, many more have been injured, all have given 3-??? years of their lives to make MY life better….and with little pay, definitely not enough pay to compensate for the sacrifices that are made. THANK YOU! You are not forgotten and you ARE appreciated!

A couple of days ago I was going through my recipe box and found this recipe.   This pie is one that I remember my mom and my grandma making when I was younger.   My mom must have written it out for me (the card is in my own handwriting, but I probably copied it so that I could loan the recipe to a friend), because I don’t ever remember mom using a book for this recipe, I remember it being done by memory.  So  with my son’s birthday yesterday, and given his love of lemon pies I decided to make this (actually, I had one of the girls make it)

Creamy Lemon Pie

from Lori4squaremom’s Mom

• 1 (8 or 9″) baked pastry shell or graham cracker crumb crust
• 3 egg yolks OR 3 egg whites
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 c. whipped cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a medium bowl, beat eggs with milk and lemon juice.  Pour into prepared pastry shell; bake 30 minutes.   Cool completely, chill for at least 2 hours (overnight is better).  Spread with whipped cream, garnish as desired.  Refrigerate leftovers.

I had a recipe for chai tea that I made a lot a few years ago, and kind of had forgotten about it.  Then yesterday I was surfing the internet for something else and saw another recipe for chai, and I liked some of the elements of it, and liked some of the elements from the other recipe, so I used both recipes to come up with my own recipe this morning    It is warm, spicy, and so soothing on a cold day!

Chai Tea

by Lori4squaremom

Makes 3 mugs

• 3 cups filtered water
• 1 cinnamon stick (make sure it is  fragrant, if it isn’t use 2)
• 6 whole green cardamom pods
• 4 black peppercorns (not ground pepper–and it doesn’t seem like much, but it is VERY important)
• 1 whole star anise
• 1 1-inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and thinly sliced
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• 2 black tea bags or 1 tbsp. loose black tea
• 1 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
• 1 cup lowfat or nonfat milk

In a 2 quart saucepan combine water, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, anise, fennel, ginger and black peppercorns.   Bring to a boil, cover and turn down to a simmer.  Let simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and let steep for 10 minutes.

Return to heat and bring back to a boil.  Take pot off of heat and add tea.  Let steep for 5 minutes off the heat.

Strain spices and tea out and pour the tea back into pot and place on medium heat again, add milk and sugar and stir until sugar completely dissolves and is hot again.

Pour into mugs and enjoy!

In our house, when it is your birthday, you get to choose the menu for that day.  Since yesterday was our boy’s birthday he got to pick the menu for the day.   He wanted waffles for breakfast….I asked if he wanted bacon waffles…the response was a RESOUNDING yes!   Now, this is my regular  waffle recipe, I just added crumbled bacon to it….if bacon in your waffles doesn’t sound good, just leave them out.

Whole Grain Buttermilk Bacon Waffles

by Lori4squaremom

Serves 6 (freezes GREAT so double or triple and freeze for quick meals or snacks)

• 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar (or sucanat/rapadura/date sugar/maple sugar)
• 3 Tbsp. oil (I use extra virgin olive oil)
• 3 eggs. separated
• 3 cups buttermilk
• 3 slices bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled

In a large bowl whisk all of the dry ingredients together.  Add oil, egg yolks, and buttermilk, whisk together until well combined.    In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until medium to stiff peaks form (but do not overbeat, you don’t want them to separate).  Fold 1/2 into batter, until very well mixed, then GENTLY fold in remaining half and bacon bits.

Place batter in preheated waffle iron and cook according to your waffle iron’s instructions (in my waffle irons they cook for 3 1/2 minute and are perfectly cooked…tender on the inside and crispy on the outside.   Make sure you set a timer!   Waffles are an easy thing to walk away from and forget about until you smell the burnt waffles

Enjoy

Yesterday I was thankful for the blessing of our son, well, the day that our son was born my husband couldn’t have been prouder, because our son was born the day before the United States Marine Corps birthday (if I remember correctly, that was the 220th birthday of the USMC, so today is the 236th Birthday!!!).   Yes, my husband is one of “The few, the proud, the Marines”…..he enlisted during his Sr. year in High  School and left for boot camp with his best friend 3 days after he graduated.    SO……

Today I am thankful for the USMC.  Today I am thankful for the men and women that serve in the USMC and the USN, USAF, USArmy, and USCoast Guard.  They give great sacrifices to protect our rights here in the US, and to help keep the World a safer place.  Some have given the ultimate sacrifice, and for that I am so thankful, and this time of year, I always remember to pray for the families of those that have lost their lives while serving ME and my family!  To all of the Marines (and Marine spouses) out there I say “Happy Birthday” and to ALL of our servicemen and their families, I say THANK YOU!

Today is an easy one!   Today I am thankful that 16 years ago this morning, a very excited me (and D) took a drive to a large white building.  When we got into that building my doctor came in and broke my water (I’d been having contractions for several weeks and was already quite dialated and fully effaced, but hadn’t fully gone into labor), and 4 hours later our beautiful son was born!   At 12:15 pm we welcomed a beautiful 7#9oz, 20 1/2″ son into the world!   From the time he was born, he was on a schedule….a self imposed schedule.   He nursed for the first time within 15 minutes of birth, and then again at 3 pm, and 6 pm, 9 pm, midnight, 3 am, etc.    This was his schedule for the first year of his life (making small adjustments as we removed feedings as he grew), but it was very different having a son, AND having a baby that was so scheduled!   It was WONDERFUL, and very different from his big sister, and his little sisters were more like their big sister in that regard.   As our son, M, grew he has grown into a wonderful young man of God, that I am proud to call Son.   I love this young man (he’s still MY little boy, and he seems to be ok with that….sometimes ) and am totally blessed by him!   He has such a tender heart, he loves to hold babies, and play with toddlers & preschoolers, but his biggest pleasure is being a young man and doing young man things!  This past weekend he went on a paintball campout with a group from church and was so proud of the bruises and welts and stained clothes!   I don’t understand it, but I LOVE it!   And I love and am very thankful for my “little boy”, and the incredible gift that he is to our family!

This year I am hosting Thanksgiving.   We are having some friends and some family over.   I’m excited to get to cook Thanksgiving this year, and have planned the menu so that we have plenty of leftovers left for the next day or two   Here’s my menu for Thanksgiving….have you started to plan yours yet?

Thanksgiving 2011

Hors d’ouvres

• Bacon wrapped cheese stuffed dates
• Veggie plate
• Stuffed mushrooms
• Hot cheese/green salsa  dip with baked tortilla chips

Main meal

• Turkey
• Ham
• Mashed potatoes & giblet gravy
• Sweet potatoes & apples (crockpot)
• Stuffing
• Grandma Ellen’s greenbeans
• Dony’s Special peas
• Cranberry relish
• Cranberry sauce

Dessert

• 2 pies (R family bringing)
• Pumpkin dessert