Venison Roast

So, today, I am supposed to be posting Abbott's 9 month pictures, but we didn't get those taken today, so that's going to have to wait until tomorrow. Instead, I will share another venison meal we had the other night. After seeing this sandwich served in the nursing home, I had been craving one for some reason, which is strange because I don't really like mashed potatoes, and this is not a normal meal at our house. I decided to go with it.

Ingredients:

Slice up the onion and throw it in the bottom of the Crock

Add in the Venison roast on top

(I don't usually buy seasoning packets, but I got this a while ago and we had it, so I figured, why no use it?) I mixed 1 packet with 1/2 c. water

I added about 1/2 the bag of carrots on top

Then, poured on the seasoning/water mixture

Then covered and cooked on low for 6 hours.

Took it out and sliced it up

We made it into these sandwiches (I'm sure there is some name for them, but I'm not sure what it is) with mashed potatoes and gravy over top of a piece of bread with roast slices.

This was pretty good, but really, I liked it better when I scooped the mashed potatoes off of there and added some kethup!

Chili with Venison and hidden veggies

It's been really cold here lately. I wanted to make some kind of hearty soup, and decided on chili! My mom used to make a super simple chili with tomato juice, ground beef, Mrs. Grimes chili beans with sauce, and sometimes a chili packet of seasoning. I used to think it was really good, even though it is so simple, so I decided to make a variation of it! I also wanted to hide some veggies in there, so I blended some cooked carrots.

Ingredients:

 

Boiling the carrots. I added the tomato for a couple minutes, then took it out and ran it under cold water to peel it.

Chopped up 1/2 of a red onion

Browned a package of ground venison and added the onion when it was almost done. 

I think it was about 1 1/2 lb.

Pureed the carrots in our Magic Bullet

I decided this was too much meat and I could get another meal from it, so I put half in a bag and popped it in the freezer...

Combined everything in the Crock and cooked on low for about 8 hours.

Add some cheese for garnish, and enjoy!

This was pretty good and I really couldn't even tell there was pureed carrots in there. 

Here's the recipe:

3 pieces of bacon

3/4 lb ground venison

1 quart of tomato juice

1 tomato

1/2 red onion

4 carrots

1 can Mrs Grimes chili beans with sauce

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp. chili powder

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp. cumin powder

Shredded cheddar cheese for garnish.

Fry the bacon until almost crispy. Crumble and set aside. Brown the venison with chopped red onions. Cut up carrots and boil, then puree. Peel the tomato, then dice. Combine bacon, venison and onion, carrot puree, tomato chunks, tomato juice, can of beans, garlic powder, chili powder, pepper, and cumin in a Crock. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Getting so big...

1/12/14 I started typing this and was going to add photos, but never did, so now I am just posting it so I can keep track of these kids' milestones.

As I'm writing this, I'm watching my little buddy crawl around on the floor and push himself up to sitting position, playing independently with toys, and just being an awesome little guy who is getting so big! We are in the living room, and Tom has the bath water on, so I said, "Go get a bath" and he is crawling to the bathroom being a little big guy! It's just awesome to watch milestones big and small. He still loves Elsie, and just loves to watch everything she does.

Elsie is getting so big too....she just cracks me up sometimes. Lately, she has been saying, "Gosh, gosh dang it!" when she is trying to do something and having a tough time.....apparently, I say this? I don't really know where she picked it up! She's still a mama's girl, which is frustrating sometimes when Tom can help her and I'm doing something with Abbott, but she INSISTS on mommy helping her and throws a huge tantrum if we tell her daddy can help her. But at the end of the day, I love hearing her little voice say "Lay with me." when I put her in bed and we cuddle for a little bit. She's pretty sweet most of the time, and I love her. I need to take her to a check-up, but she seems extra tall and skinny, so I would be curious to see what percentiles she is.

2/7/14
Abbott is just growing every day! He is pulling himself up on furniture, and a couple days ago, instead of just saying dadadada, he said, "Mamama" It made me pretty ridiculously happy, even though I'm pretty sure he wasn't saying Mama. It was cute nonetheless. One thing I wish I could change about this child is his inability to sleep by himself in his crib right now. When he wakes up in the night, he must be laying beside, which is cute and cuddly and awesome sometimes, annoying other times. I still love him though!

Elsie's grown-up room

 

 

 

 

Elsie has a grown-up bed! (well a toddler bed. It's not a crib anyways) We have had it for a few weeks, but she went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a little while, so I cleaned up her room and reorganized their clothing. What a job! We have way too much stuff! So, this is Elsie's room, it's basically the same as her nursery was, teal, red, pink, and lime green, but we have different furniture now....newly purchased toddler bed from Craiglist. I had debated whether to actually buy a toddler bed or not, but the room is so tiny, and I wanted Abbott to start using the crib, so I found one with mattress for $60. It was from a nice home, and even came with Elmo bedding! Even though it matches nothing we have, and it's a little weird that it came from some one on Craigslist.

The quilt is one that I made for her nursery, and the sheets are from a garage sale for really cheap. It is a full sheet set, but we are just using the pillowcase for now. There also isn't a fitted sheet, it's just a flat sheet and pillowcase, so I might have to just make it work somehow later. Pretty much, if it looks like something an elderly woman would have in her house, I wanted it for Elsie's room. Not really, just a few things.

 

This painting was one I got from the Nursing Home I worked at in Oakland. A resident painted it in the 70s I believe, and they were throwing it out, so emloyees could take some if they wanted any, and I thought this one was pretty cool! I like it in Elsie's room too, so that's where it will stay.

 

 

 

She also got this polka dot minky blanket from Grandma Mona, and it goes in her room so cutely. It wasn't even on purpose either. Just a coincidence, and Elsie loves it because it's "nice and soft"

 

The red dresser is a project from a few years ago. It used to have mod-podged magazine pictures all over it from an old 4-H project that went to the State Fair and received a white ribbon! I (when I say I, I mean I started it and mentioned it to my mom, and she did it) stripped off the magazine clippings and navy paint. Then, I (I actually did this) painted it with just one coat of red paint. It's not completely opaque and looks a little like red stain, and I really like it. I also bought some neat knobs from World Market.

 

This is the opposite side of the room. The dresser will eventually be in Abbott's room, which will be gray/mustard/rustic. But for now, it just has to sit in here and not match. I am also thinking of painting the little heart nightstand, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

The embroidery hoops are the ones I made for her nursery. Above the bed is a cross-stitch that my mom made for Elsie when she was born. It's a little too small for the spot it's in, but it will work for now.

 

And here is my (I mean Abbott's) ridiculous amount of cloth diapers that we own. The sad part is, these are the ones we don't really use....we just use Tots Bots Easy Fits and those are mostly all in baskets by the tv.

Another view. I still need to make some curtains, I have some light pink fabric with flowers that I have been meaning to make curtains from for a while, but haven't yet. Maybe on some rainy day...  Actually, I just got a new job so I will hopefully have some more days off to work on projects.

 

And that's her room! I think it's pretty cute, but of course it's never this clean or organized. We need to work on cleaning up better!

 

Abbott is 8 months old!

Where does the time go!? I can't believe it's 2014 already! Or that another month has gone by and Abbott is 8 months old. We were a little behind on his well-baby check-ups, but we went today and he got some shots :( and is 21lbs and 29inches long. 75th percentile for both. Still no teeth, but lots of smiles! He's starting to try to pull himself up, but doesn't get too far. He still loves his bath time and his mommy! I really am his favorite, although during Christmas, he was sick and couldn't nurse very well and got a new found love for daddy putting him to sleep. He has started to fall asleep on his own in the crib though, so we are making progress! Still not sleeping through the night, but it's ok!

He mostly just loves to play, watch Elsie, eat food, play with Ellsworth, and he is a pretty well behaved little guy. He has started to actually crawl around, but he is pretty reserved and isn't into everything the second I look away, he probably gets this from being entertained by whatever Elsie is doing at any given moment (jumping around, dancing, throwing a temper tantrum, you name it, he's entertained by it).....he's still just  my little buddy, I don't know what else to say!

I think he looks a little like both me and Tom, he still just looks like a little guy, not really a baby and I think it's so funny and cute.

Here's our life right now in 5 pictures.....awesome, I know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abbott is 7 months!

This little guy is 7 months old. These months are going by incredibly quickly. Abbott is getting more and more grown up it seems every day. He is pretty good at sitting up by himself now, he still has times when he falls over, but he does pretty well. He is also starting to crawl! He has been able to get up on his hands and knees for a while, but he is now figuring out how to move around a little better.

He is just the happiest little guy I could imagine. He loves to play in his jumper or on the floor and if he gets even a little crabby, a cracker or a bath will calm him down and keep him entertained. He loves to eat! Cereal, squash, bananas, carrots, basically anything.....he wants it! He gets so excited when it's time to eat, it's pretty adorable.

I feel like him and Elsie look nothing alike. When I look back at pictures, it seems like she obviously looks like a girl (even though people called her a little boy), and Abbott just looks like a little guy. I guess they have similar eyes maybe, but that's about all I think!! Of course, she needed her picture taken too!

He just always is so smile-y and loves to laugh. I just love him. I feel like I say this all of the time, but it's true! He's my little best bud. He is also starting to babble more. Da-Da, Ba-Ba, are his favorites. He also sticks his tongue out and makes a noise sometimes. It's pretty cute.

Elsie is getting to be a stubborn little 2 year old. When I tell her to stop she yells back and points, "No YOU STOP!!" But she is really usually pretty good and her vocabulary is growing! Every day she says things that amaze me, and some that make us laugh. I told her that we were going to see Santa and she could ask for anything she wanted, like a toy or something she thinks is fun. Her response was "Candy. Please Santa, please" I suppose I can work with that :) She is growing up so fast! She has been potty trained for quite a while now, just wears a diaper at night. She has a little mind of her own, but I love her too, and she's beautiful and funny and cute most of the time!!

Some other recent pics: