My first video!  A little scary to try new things sometimes, but you have to learn to grow and I am all about that.  And, hey, I can only get better from here :)  Did you know that by some miracle our website was named #18 in the list of the top 25 blog sites in Montana?  Wow!!  You can see it here:  https://blog.feedspot.com/montana_blogs/  

We’ve had 8 inches on the ground for more than 2 weeks now, so I’ve been wearing my muck boots a lot lately.  The fact that the boots were not that pretty originally didn’t bother me, because I rarely wore them.  That changed when I really didn’t want weather damage on my shoes and started wearing the muck boots everywhere. 

I thought stamping them would be awesome.  I looked through my stamp stash for a dragonfly, but the closest I could find was a butterfly stamp.  I can use that.  It helps keep my dream of warmer weather alive.   

I really like the silver against the blue.  Gold would have helped me be supportive of our MSU Bobcats.  Shoot!.  The good news is that I can wipe these down at any time with nail polish remover and do it again.  So....Maybe next week I will do that gold or white or orange.  So many colors would look good.  I could stamp leaves in the fall and snowflakes in the winter.   
​
What do you think?  Are you going to stamp on your muck boots?  What else can we stamp?  (I’m thinking about my kindle cover!) ​

If you’ve been reading for a bit, you know we are redoing our kitchen and we will be without the conveniences for a while.  We can’t eat out all the time, and it gets old anyway.  But without having a kitchen, sometimes we have to experiment a bit.   
When I cook Chili, I usually do it on the stove top.  I like it juicy, because I want to simmer it for a long time to thicken it up.  When I decided to try it in the crockpot, I was worried it would be soupy and tried to alter the ingredients so that it was thicker since it wouldn’t be able to cook down.   
It turned out really good!  I will even use this recipe when we have our kitchen put back together.  It will be a great dish to make when I am out and about, because I won’t have to babysit it. 
If you try this recipe – I want to hear about it! ​
To get a printable copy of the recipe go here: I don't have a kitchen chili

A couple years ago, I came across an article in Country Living magazine that had a recipe for baby back ribs.  The part that stood out to me was the soda they used in the recipe.  It was called Cheerwine and the part that intrigued me was that the soda was invented by L.D. Peeler.  My mother’s maiden name is Peeler and it piqued my interest.   

Not too long after, I was talking to my cousin, Kirk Peeler.  He has this book that tells the stories of the Peeler family in great detail and always has fun stories or can verify things what I think I remember being told in old family lore.  It just so happens that he mentioned having a soda making relative and so I grabbed the magazine and read it to him.  
 
So, ever since then...I wanted some baby back ribs and some Cheerwine.  I can promise you that I’ve never heard of it before the article let alone seen it in all my westernly travels.  It took me a good couple years to have the light bulb idea – check on Amazon!!  Guess what!!  They had it!! 
Then I learned another amazing thing!!  My Walmart has pick up!  Wow!  I’ve avoided it because I thought it would be expensive, but after taking the time to look at it – IT WAS AMAZING!!  If I don’t have to walk into Walmart, I have more time to visit stores I like to be in hahaha!!  I told my friend just how amazing it was and she said, “Yeah, but you don’t get to look at the ridiculous clothes people wear there.”  Oh, yes, I can, girlfriend!  I have Facebook! 

But I digress.  The second my Cheerwine (sounds alcoholic, doesn’t it?) arrived, I placed my online pickup order for baby back ribs from Walmart!  Then I couldn’t find my recipe that I had torn out of the magazine and had for 2 YEARS(even through a move)!!!  and had to improvise.  Fortunately, (and unknownst to me) PINTEREST has a huge collection of Cheerwine recipes, so I took a little from one and a little from another and another, and this is what I came up with.  And Lordy, it was good!! 

You can download a printable version of the recipe here:  Cheer Wine Ribs

Or just read it from here!

1 tsp Smoked paprika 
1 tsp chili powder 
1 tsp dry mustard 
1 tsp garlic powder 
½ tsp ground ginger 
Salt and pepper 
1 (3 lb)slab baby back ribs 
1 8 oz can Cheerwine 
1 6 oz can tomato paste 
 3 Tbsp brown sugar 
1 ½ tsp yellow mustard 
1 tsp siracha sauce 

1.  Preheat oven to 325°F.  Stir spices together adding salt and pepper to taste.  Rub spice mixture evenly over ribs. Rap ribs tightly with foil and place on cookie sheet.  Bake until tender – 2 to 2 ½ hours.  Remove foil and let rest for half an hour. 
2. Combine Cheerwine, 2 tbsp of tomato paste, 1 cup water, sugar, mustard, and siracha sauce to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes. 
3. Turn oven to broil.  Baste sauce over ribs and broil until lightly charred – about 10 minutes.  ​

Do you remember that song?  Yesterday....All my troubles seemed so far away.  Now it's as if they are here to stay, oh I believe in yesterday.   I'm going on in my head, but can no longer subject you to my awful singing voice.  LOL!

This isn't my first rodeo with a kitchen remodel.  It's my 3rd.  And I am very excited, because my previous 2 have been incredible!  I'll dig for pictures sometime.

Everything takes forever though.  Now that we have the cabinets out, we have to get a new window and drywall the difference.  (And my husband hasn't ordered the window - add 2 weeks) We have to find a drywall guy and we won't like his inflated price, so we'll have to find two more to get estimates.  We will get an estimate we like. He will be 2 to 3 weeks out. 

Then the flooring guys.  We already have their estimates and like it - and have the flooring picked out, but they won't start until the cabinets are out and the drywall is done.  And then they are 2 weeks out.  Our cabinets will be here Friday.  They are the kind that we have to put together.  It is snowing here, so we will be storing them in the garage.....for weeks while we wait for the flooring to be put in.  Somewhere in there, I forgot that we have to take the boxes out that go around the kitchen.  I wanted to keep them to keep the work down, but my sweet husband wants it to be right.  And he is right, but I'm still going to regret it.

My nephew is coming to change all of our plug ins, so they will be pretty right away and have usb hubs in them :)

So once the counters are set, the granite people will come and measure and tell us they are 3 weeks out.  We can then line out the tile guys....And then I will have a picture of my new beautiful kitchen.  Any bets on when that will be?!?

Hello!

I am publishing more recipes than usual...Hope that's okay.  We are going to be pulling out our cabinets next week and I know it could be months before the kitchen is back together, so I am getting done all that I can right now.

Just as I like products that have multi functions (like castile soap!), I like recipes that aren't strangled into one category.  This one, OMGosh!  It is soooo good for breakfast, for lunch, for a snack, or for an appetizer.  I would even eat it at dinner, but I don't think my husband, Craig, would go for that unless it was with a 2 pound steak, lol!

And the best part is that I know I'll be strong as Popeye the Sailor Man!! 

*Note - There is a printable recipe at the end of this post!
Here is the Ingredient list:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil 
• ¼ cup chopped white onion 
• ​1 clove garlic, minced 
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg 
• 6 oz fresh spinach 
• ¼ tsp salt 
• ½ cup crumbled feta cheese 
• 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt 
• 1 Tbsp dried dill 
• 1/8 tsp pepper 
• 1 puff pastry 

And the instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°.  Line a cookie sheet with foil. 
2. ​In medium saucepan, heat oil on medium heat.  Add onion, garlic, and nutmeg.  Cook about 2 minutes, stirring often.  Add spinach and salt.  Cook3 to 4 minutes or until spinach is wilted.  Transfer to food processor; let cool for 5 minutes.  Add feta, yogurt, dill and pepper.  Pulse until smooth.  Add egg; hit pulse until combined. 
3. Cut 4 – ½ inch strips from short end of puff pastry.  Place these strips on edges of remaining square of puff pastry.  Place in the oven for 5 minutes.  Remove.   Puncture bottom of the square (not the edges) everywhere with a fork. 
4. Spread spinach mixture on middle of puff pastry up to the edges.  Bake 20 minutes. 

To print recipe, press here :)

It looks like we we be getting snow all week long.  I can't complain because we need the moisture and have had it pretty good so far this winter.  I  am working on healthier eating, so as far as snacks go, hummus is the bomb.  I've tried making it before with varying results, but this recipe works every time.

If you want to change it up a bit, leave out the jalapeno and juice and replace with jarred roasted red pepper.  Soooo Good!  By the way, this recipe makes 1.2 pounds of hummus!  Yay!!

hummus.pdf