Brunswick Stew

Last week I made a Taco Soup that was really good so that has me on a little bit of a Soup/Stew Kick.  I went searching for something to make this week and came across this recipe for Brunswick Stew - I had never heard of it or tasted it but it sound good PLUS it is a slow cooker recipe!  (I do not have a recipe for the Taco Soup because it was from a packet that I bought at a Craft Show this summer - it was very yummy!)

Amelia's Slow Cooker Brunswick Stew

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound country style pork ribs
1 onion, chopped
1 roasted chicken, deboned and shredded
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 (10 fluid ounce) bottle steak sauce
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 lemon, juiced
2 cubes chicken bouillon
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, undrained
1 cup frozen Lima beans, thawed

Directions

Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat and brown the ribs on all sides.  Transfer to a slow cooker.  Place onion in the skillet, cook until tender, and transfer to the slow cooker.   Place the chicken in the slow cooker and mix in tomatoes, ketchup, steak sauce, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, lemon, chicken bouillon and pepper.  Cover and cook 6 hours on high.  Remove ribs, discard bones, and shred.  Return meat to slow cooker.  Mix in corn and Lima beans, cover and continue cooking 2 hours on high.

This was SOOOOO good!  I was very happy with this recipe :-)

Now with that said, here are the things I did differently - more than usual, actually, but it was still basically the same:
1) I did not buy ribs - instead I found what pork was on sale which was a package of thin cut boneless chops.  They worked perfectly - I browned them and put them in whole; after a few hours, they were tender enough to shred.
2) I did not buy a whole chicken - again, I price shopped and bought a package of chicken thighs instead.  I actually put those in the crock pot first thing in the morning to cook for a few hours; than emptied the crock pot, shredded the chicken to use in the recipe.
3) I did not have any lemons so I used 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice instead
4.) I mis-read the size of the tomato can needed so I only had a small can of tomatoes but it was still really good.
5) I did not use hot sauce - Darryl isn't a huge fan of hot sauce in recipes.

When I make it again my husband asked that I cut back on either the steak sauce or the vinegar because he felt it was too tangy but still really good.  I liked it the way it was but it was tangy too!

Getting Organized Challenge

So, I am still participating in the  21 Days of Organization Challenge over at A bowl full of lemons but I'm not following her order.  Why, you may be thinking? Well, simply because I ran into a problem of not having some of the spaces she is organizing!  We have an old home (built in the 1920's if not earlier) which was gutted and remodeled two owners ago (in the 70's) so . .. we don't have all of the "modern" spaces like a pantry, coat closets, linen closets . . well, closets in general!!  So, instead, I've been organizing my own spaces and have some pictures to show you and I'll be linking up over at


Disclaimer - this is a REALLY long post .. .. sorry.
So, if you are so interested and missed it the first time, you can pop over to this post for day 1 and this post for days 2, 3 and 4. 

So, here we go!  Day 5 at A Bowl full of Lemons was Under the Kitchen Sink.  Instead, I wanted to finish up my desk "re-vamp".  After moving the desk out of Nate's room last spring, my desk became my everything space - bills, computer, drop zone, scrapbooking center, craft "room", teaching desk . . . you get the idea.  Part of the problem was desk #2 that still lived in Nate's room for no other reason than I needed to clean the basement to make room for it.  Well, just a few months ago, we moved that desk downstairs so I finally had a place for my "Craft/Scrapbooking" room.  So, my "kitchen sink" is actually my desk drawers:

So, this is everything I cleared out of one drawer  now cluttering up the top of my desk!

All of that stuff neatly organized :-)  The front compartment is my card/birthday section.  I don't have room for my birthday box so instead, I have the monthly birthday lists right there for viewing!  This is also where envelopes, stamps, cards and address books get stored.

This was the messy desk "stuff" drawer.  Notice the hands?

Now it is neat and organized with all of the desk supplies I need.  (I do have a filing cabinet in the basement that has one drawer where I keep all of the extra stuff)  Notice the hands again?

Here's my helper :-)

This drawer had housed a bunch of scrapbooking stuff which I moved downstairs.  Now it holds my recipe things - the Rolodex cards for typing up recipes, recipes I'm deciding whether to keep, and some little recipe books.

And my teaching drawer with the months stuff in it - this also held scrapbooking stuff.

This drawer previously held the recipe stuff but now, I have a place to keep my "things to do" - that way it doesn't clutter up the top of my desk but, each Sunday, I can go through this pile and write my to do list based on the things I threw in this drawer.

This file drawer used to hold scrapbooking magazines, which I moved downstairs also, so now I have a place, other than the desk top , to store my new recipe idea binder, and my holiday control journal

I almost forgot this drawer - good thing I didn't!!

There is even space now for me to stick my to do folder when I don't want it on my desk top

The current final product.  I am really happy with how it is turning out.  I can actually close the roll top for the first time in forever!

I still have a couple projects to finish - one is organizing the filing cabinet next to the desk.  This will house our paperwork and it will also be my teaching cabinet to keep all of the units I create for the boys.  And the bulletin board - I know what I'm going to do - just have to replace some printer ink first :-)

Ok, day 6 at A Bowl Full of Lemons was Dresser Drawers.   Now, I actually need to organize our dresser but haven't got to that yet - that will end up hitting a different day.  So, instead, my Day 6 is my basement.  Sadly, I have no before pictures (or maybe not so sadly because it was sad!!!)

This is my wall of storage that is nicely organized :-)  I label all of my bins with a # and than keep a master list in my Control Journal with what exactly is in the bin.  (And yes, I make it pretty specific so I can find what I need!! 

Day 7 is The Pantry and I actually did my pantry.  This house, as I said, doesn't have a true pantry but not long after we moved in, we turned a space in the basement into a pantry.  Darryl added shelves for me and I tend to keep it full :-)  Again, no before picture - but here is the after!

Isn't it pretty?

Day 8 is supposed to be the coat closet . . I don't have one, technically.  This was another make do in our house.  I have a huge bathroom cupboard so we added a small closet rod to hang our coats but it doesn't need organizing since it is so small :-)  Instead, I'll show you my neat little "library" corner in my basement.  I just finished up cleaning this area - once again (I'm bad at this) no before picture, just the neat after picture!

Isn't this cute?  One of my creative storage solutions is what's under that leopard print blanket - it is my cedar chest :-)  But it is also a great foot rest.  On the opposite wall from the bubble gum machine is a full wall of bookshelves.  I have all books sorted by author, alphabetically!  (Don't you love the cat??  He's our house guest for a few weeks)

Next is day 9, which is toy organization.  Right now, I don't have a need for this.  We keep things pretty well picked up and have a cubby shelf in the living room plus toy boxes in each bedroom.  So instead, I'll show you my "other" desk - the craft/scrapbooking area.  And, only an after picture of my great desk!!

Now I just need to find time to work down here!

I love this new area - Darryl and I try to give each other some solitude time (break time!) every week and after moving the desks out of what was our office, I lost any "privacy" space.  Now, when it is my turn to get one or two hours "away" - I can retreat to the basement and work away! 

Finally, Day 10 is the Laundry Room.  My laundry sits on the other side of my "library"/craft area.  I only wanted to share you my new shelf that my dad hung for me!  Due to lack of closet space, I needed to get creative with where to hang our out of season clothes (I used to hang them in Nate's closet before it was his!).  I love this space now - it is also currently our game storage . .. which I think needs to be cleaned out a little but at least it is neat :-) 

It's perfect isn't it?  It's nice also because I can hang up clothes that can't be dried in the dryer.  Just below this shelf, I keep three laundry baskets for easy sorting before washing and that is my little freezer :-)  In that little doorway (which some day will have a door once my electrician (aka my dad)  moves a huge wire for me and my carpenter (my husband) finds time to put in a door, is my canning storage.  It holds a bakers rack that has been everything in almost every room of my home which has plenty of room for my pots and jars. 

That's it :-)  I'm caught up  - at least in the days.  So I hope for day 11 I can actually get the dresser drawers organized. 

So, the moral of this story - we all have at least 21 areas in our home to organize so jump in and clean out that drawer, closet, cupboard or small room!  You will be amazed at how much better you feel when you look at that one space :-)

Weekly Song - Everything To Me

These week's song is "Everything to Me" by Avalon.  I fell in love with this song when the group that Darryl is in, "Alive", added this to their song list.  Now anytime I hear it, I always hear Mike singing it instead of Avalon :-)  I just think it has a great message over all and is well written musically! 

I added it to my play list so enjoy :-)

Encouraging One Another Link Party

It is time for another link party over at Women Living Well.



This link party is a way to encourage each other in a variety of ways so check it out and do some blog hopping to read what ideas other people have out in blog land :-)

I'm linking up with this Post about Simplifying my Devotional Life.

Too Cute Not To "Toot"

One of the "dangers" of doing this post every week is that I find so many things I want to make!  I've found that if I copy the info into a word doc and save it in the corresponding folder, when I come back later, I can pick my favorites (instead of trying to make every single one at once!) 

Enjoy :-)

Tammys Sweet Spot gives a great idea for making alphabet magnets.  These would be a wonderful teaching tool and very easy to make.

Over at Creations By Kara, she gives a really easy tutorial for baby wash clothes.  You can follow the same general guidelines to also make burp cloths and even the warm fuzzy blankets.  I have some baby showers to go to in the coming months, I think I need to get sewing!

This recipe card holder from Lifes Sweeter with Chocolate is adorable and would make a great Christmas or Birthday gift.  Include some of your favorite recipes written out or typed up on cute recipe cards.  (I hope my sisters-in-law don't ready this . .LOL)

Here is an adorable Crayon wreath that is super easy to make.  It is another great teacher gift idea - it would look cute on the classroom door!.  Check out the full tutorial here

Over at Big Sis Lil Sis is a great idea, again with crayons, but this one is a way to recycle all of those broken crayons.  It is easy and would be great for both home and a classroom.  In the case of the tutorial, she actually purchased a new box from the Dollar Store to create these toddler  sized crayons.

Finally, over at Serving Pink Lemonade she gives the beginning of a tutorial for something called a quiet book.  I've seen these before and like the concept - it would be something great for my kids to use any time we have to sit somewhere - whether it be the doctor's office or a church service.  I'm going to be following this one closely and hope to be able to make one book for each of my boys - we'll see!

Once again, tons of great ideas out there. 

Happy Crafting!

Simplifying My Life - Daily Devotions

As I shared in this post, my theme word for 2011 is "Simplify" - to make everything in our lives and home more simple or, not so stressful.  I often tend to be an "over-achiever" not so much that I always go the extra mile on everything but more that I  plan way more than I can ever accomplish and put too many things into one day.  Even as I planned to Simplify my life this year, I found that everything I wanted to do to Simplify was causing me stress LOL  So, I decided to just tackle one little area at a time but as I work on any given area, I'm always looking at it saying "does this simplify?" 

I digress, the purpose of this post really, was to share how I am Simplifying my devotional plan for the next three month commitment with Good Morning Girls.

In September 2010, I joined up with several other women to form a Good Morning Girls group which is designed for accountability through the Women Living Well website.  It was great getting to know these new friends and I'm looking forward to another session starting soon.  When I wrote about it at that time, I shared what I was going to be doing for my devotions which included, at the time, five different things.  It changed slightly during the 3 month session as I switched out one devotional book because it had no substance and I didn't use the prayer journal, because it is actually is a very detailed devotion book in itself.  Instead I made a prayer journal in the back of my devotional journal.  I've thought alot about what I want to do this time around and decided to pick my focus.  When I really thought about it, I realized that my main focus needs to be reading through the Bible in a year.  I am a little behind due to missing quite a few days between Thanksgiving and Christmas (or should I say now :-) ) and need to catch back up.  So, the main item I will be doing for my daily devotions will be reading 3 days worth of daily Bible Reading for this goal.  I plan to read the current days reading and than go back to where I stopped and read 2 days worth until I'm caught up.  One of the nice things about the plan I use is that it only has you read for 25 days leaving the last 5 days of the month for me to catch up even more.  If you would like to see the program just click here. 

To challenge myself this year, I've decided to try a Scripture Memory challenge to learn 24 verses over the course of the next year.  I found this challenge at Living Proof Ministries and liked the Simplicity of it.  I have chosen a passage to learn so I will actually end up learning more than 24 verses if I learn the whole thing.  I'm excited about this little challenge. 

And the one final thing I will be working on is a Study in James being led by the Good Morning Girls "leaders".  It is a 14 week study through the book of James and is really pretty Simple to follow.  I feel like I need this specific study to give me something to really study.  In reading through the Bible in a Year, I find that is what I'm doing, reading.  In order to complete it, I don't really have the time to study everything I read. 

So yes, it took a lot to write it, but I have simplified my plan to these three things:
1) Daily Bible Reading
2) Scripture memory
3) Bible Study. 

So what are you doing this year for your Bible Study? If you are interested in more info on the James study just click here

What I'm Reading - Book Reviews

1. Unlocked by Karen Kingsbury - Before You Take a Stand ... You Got to Take a Chance. Holden Harris is an eighteen-year-old locked in a prison of autism. Despite his quiet ways and quirky behaviors, Holden is very happy and socially normal---on the inside, in a private world all his own. In reality, he is bullied at school by kids who only see that he is very different. Ella Reynolds is part of the 'in' crowd. A cheerleader and star of the high school drama production, her life seems perfect. When she catches Holden listening to her rehearse for the school play, she is drawn to him ... the way he is drawn to the music. Then, Ella makes a dramatic discovery---she and Holden were best friends as children. Frustrated by the way Holden is bullied, and horrified at the indifference of her peers, Ella decides to take a stand against the most privileged and popular kids at school. Including her boyfriend, Jake. Ella believes miracles can happen in the unlikeliest places, and that just maybe an entire community might celebrate from the sidelines. But will Holden's praying mother and the efforts of Ella and a cast of theater kids be enough to unlock the prison that contains Holden? This time, friendship, faith, and the power of a song must be strong enough to open the doors to the miracle Holden needs
My Opinion:  If you like Karen Kingsbury, you will enjoy her writing.  This story was heavier than most of the books she writes and one story line, I felt, could have taken a different turn.  It does give great insight into the world of Autism yet is too short of a story to really get into depth on the many story lines going in within the entire book.  Would I recommend this book?  Absolutely! 

2. A Bride Most Begrudging by Deeanne Gist - When Lady Constance Morrow finds herself held against her will aboard a ship bound for the American colonies—a ship filled with "tobacco brides" and felons—she is quite sure that as soon as she arrives she will find a reasonable man who will believe her father is an earl and send her back on the next ship to England. Instead she meets Drew O’Connor, a determined Colonial farmer who is nearly as headstrong as she is. Drew wins Constance as his bride but soon realizes he has taken on much more than he bargained for.
My Opinion:  This is my 2nd read through this book and I really enjoyed it.  It is a pretty easy read but yet is a nice story.  It is a sad reminder of how life was for the early settlers here in the America's yet has a light hearted humor written in it as well.  Would I recommend this book? Absolutely - it's a "cute" read.

3. The Measure of a Lady by Deeanne Gist - Gist follows her popular A Bride Most Begrudging (2005) with a -damsel-in-distress tale set in 1849 San Francisco, where Rachel Van Buren is marooned when her gold-crazed father dies. Rachel must also care for her two young siblings. She finds a city filled with mud and sin, and there is no other decent woman, or "sunbonnet," in residence. She'll have to adjust her straitlaced outlook or die, and adjust she does in this amusing, often almost titillating tale brimming with period detail.
My Opinion:  Again, this is a second read of this book and I enjoyed it again.  It follows Gist's writing where it has a great story, with reminders of how difficult life was like in the time period it was written (during the Gold Rush), has a good lesson embedded in it, and has a fun love story involved.  Would I recommend it?  Absolutely - again, it is a cute read.

4. Courting Trouble by Deanne Gist - a 30-year-old single woman who draws up a list of the eligible bachelors in 1890's Texas
My Opinion : This was another 2nd read and I enjoyed it.  It has a little stronger story line about how this 30 year old single woman gets taken advantage of and than how she figures out what she really needs is just Jesus Christ as her Husband and also learns to forgive herself for what is considered unforgivable.  It still as the same humor and lightheartness throughout but also is a little bit of stronger read than the others I've read by Deanne Gist.

Just to note - the three by Deanne Gist are not related to each other - they are all stand alone books.  As I was looking up the descriptions on these though, I did find that there are many more I don't have!  I may have to check out half.com and pick up a few more :-)

As you can see, I'm reading for fun, alot.  I am in the middle of one of my goal books and really need to find time to concentrate on that one so I can get it finished up :- )

Keep reading!