Sunday, October 18, 2009

Smells like Fall

Fall has most definitely arrived! This past week has been in the low 60s and 50s during the day, which is quite a break from our usual high 70s and 80s. It's even been cold at night, well, cold for here anyways. The leaves have begun to turn and it finally feels like Fall. To celebrate, we've enjoyed a toasty fire today and have been spending some time in the kitchen. H1 made a delicious cheesy potato soup for lunch. We'll have some leftovers of that for dinner, along with splitting a steak that I'm thawing out and some broccoli. There will even be enough for two lunches this week for H1 and 2 for H3 as well, and some to freeze for dinner. Mmmmmm!

Toasty Fire
Cheesy Potato Soup
After the soup, I made Peanut Butter Popcorn squares--a childhood favorite and incredibly simple to make (recipe below).
After the squares, I made a peach cobbler to go with dinner.
I must say that it smells divine in this kitchen, especially with the fire going! As I'm typing I can hear H1 out back chopping up more wood. I've been working on H3's scrapbook in between bakings. I'm hoping to have a few more pages done before my father-in-law arrives on Friday. I feel bad having my mess out on the kitchen table, so I'm going to have to stash everything somewhere before then.
Another project we've been working on this past week is the front of our house. Even though we are just renting it, I couldn't stand the mess. We put some grass seed down to help with our dirt yard (almost the entire front is black dirt, which turns to mud of course when it rains). The front planter bed is a mess too. While I'm not quite willing to spring for new rocks to line it, I did rearrange the concrete blocks and we have added mulch. Below is H1 working on that.
Before adding mulch to the right side
With mulch on the left side, and H1 working to dig up the walkway
H3 discovered how to get in and out of her toybox this week. Oh what fun! It does provide her endless amusement though. She loves to drop toys into it, then crawl in to get them and throw them back out.
Peanut Butter Popcorn Squares recipe
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
8 cups popcorn
Bring corn syrup, sugar, and peanut butter to a boil in a large saucepan, stirring constantly. Add popcorn and toss with wooden spoons to coat. Press into buttered 9x13 pan and let cool. Cut into squares and enjoy!

~H2

4 comments:

Carissa Blanchard said...

Have I told you how wonderful I think you are? I hope you know I am so proud of you for cooking well for your family, for documenting your family's history, for taking care of the things around you even if you don't own them and for marrying such a hard-working, God-fearing, Jessica- adoring man! Enjoy your time with your Father-in-Law and give H3 a kiss from me! God's many blessings to you Sweetie!

JJ said...

Awww, thank you so much. That means a lot, really it does. You've been such an inspiration to me as a wife and mom. I think I've tried to do so much more this year than I ever would have before getting to know you. Seeing how much you do with your family--all the crafts and cooking and writing--makes me realize just how much is possible with a family. I've been so blessed by your friendship! Love and blessings to you too!

Laura said...

Hi!

We made your peanut butter popcorn this afternoon. There was a resounding YUM in the house afterwards!!! Thank you for sharing the recipie.

JJ said...

I'm so glad to hear you guys enjoyed it too Laura!