It Started Like This.....

Thanksgiving-2011! We adore our Thanksgiving traditions with our Olsen Family. We begin like this.......watching the Detroit Lyons football game. Come as your are---pj's, sweatshirts, pillows, blankets, slippers, etc. Touchdown's, you score chocolate delights...YUM! When the opposing team scores....someone draws a slip of paper out of a bowl and we have to do whatever it says on the paper....we ran laps, danced, etc. Always fun.

Table clothe art, after the football game.

Here are the results, before dinner was served buffet style.

My husband drew this around his table setting.

And, he drew this around mine....oh, good. You get a chance to see my dinner. It was so good.

When I cleared my plate from the table, I found this......yep, he is a good catch and all that goes with it.

We adore our traditional desserts. We have divine fudge over to the far left upper corner....can't miss the fabulous chocolate cake.....pies---need I say more? Well, a little more. L to R, coconut cream pie (with a bottom layer of nuts, butter and brown sugar), apple crumble pie, and double layer pumpkin pie (theirs a whip cream, cream cheese, sugar layer hidden beneath the pumpkin). This has to be served buffet style so that you can have a little of each. It is a must!

We then, settle ourselves down into the cozy couches and watch a fun movie to top off our Thanksgiving day.

Love the holiday season. Wonderful memories from Thanksgiving with those near and far....loved all the email, texts, phone calls and conversation from before, during and after the holiday weekend.

Happy days to you and yours! xo

Vampire and Music

Hello Mr. Vampire. Just a little bit more of Fall/Halloween delight!
Fall Echo's--- Marching Band final concert. This is such a fun way to end the marching band season. Love hearing the band perform their regular football field half-time show. My son is the middle snare drum player. He is percussion leader this year.
Rats...a little blurry, but you get the idea. The sound is so massive and cool in the gym.

And, a little surprise!!! Fall Echo's includes the senior band members choosing their favorite song from over the past 4 years. They chose, In The Stone...Journey. We were more than a little bit surprised when our son left the percussion section, ran up to the conductors stand, and led the band in this piece of music. Really super fun.

Wish I could have gotten all the band in this picture.

And, a final farewell to the seniors....(our son is 4th from the right) their names were called out along with their parents, who proudly stood to honor their child, and vice-a-versa. Sigh! WE swallowed hard and worked hard to keep our eyes dry. Proud of our son and these kids, but, sentimental about the conclusion of this era of time.

HALLOWEEN and such!

Great HALLOWEEN!!!

Zombie time!!

Yep...getting into character and all that goes with it! Party on, Zombie boy!

Lots of Halloween parties over the last week. All good! Our town hosts trick-r-treat from 4pm until 6pm...followed by cider and donuts and a costume parade for the little ones, downtown. Makes for a perfect Halloween and love that everything begins early in the day...no late night stuff.
So, our family had a nice yummy dinner of Pumpkin Corn Chowder and crackers. It was delicious. I must admit, I was sceptical, but, WOW! This was really a tasty Fall soup recipe.

We had what we call "dinner theater" and ate our dinner and watched the Halloween episode of Psych from last week----and for those of you who follow this series, you will understand our dessert choice----we cut up a fresh pineapple and boy oh boy was that delicious.

Now, these little pumpkin cookies may look like dessert. Not so fast! Ha! I made these pumpkin cookies fairly healthy...whole wheat, oatmeal, ground flax seed,wheat germ, raisins, walnuts, very low sugar...added some dark chopped chocolate for the fun of it. These actually became our appetizer...not intentionally. Just turned out that way as everyone arrived home from work, school, and Halloween doings----nearly starving to death. So, piping hot pumpkin goodness was enjoyed right away.

Hope your Halloween was sensational and that your holiday season, (which has begun here in our household ---even heard Christmas carols on the radio over the weekend and I don't seem to mind--ha!), will be wonderful and full of joy and happiness. I have got Thanksgiving thoughts running through my head. Watch out Olsen's....we will be to your house to celebrate and eat turkey and all the fixing's before you know it. And of course, GO LYONS! XO

Pumpkin Corn Chowder

In a large soup pot (Dutch oven works well), melt 2 T butter. Add in and cook for 5 minutes, 1/2 small yellow onion and 2 cloves minced garlic.

Stir in 1 t Curry Powder and cook for 30 seconds or so.

Add in 2 cups cubed sweet potatoes and 2 cups cubed potatoes.

Next, 1 14 ounce can of chicken stock, 1/4 each salt and pepper.

Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered for 15-20 minutes.

When that is all cooked nicely, add in.....1 14 ounce can pumpkin, 1 14.75 ounce can cream style corn, 1, 10.75 ounce can cream of celery soup, 1 cup milk, 1 t dried thyme, crushed. YUM!

I let this soup sit for about an hour and 1/2 before serving...just like spaghetti sauce...this soup tastes better with a little aging. Can't wait to taste what little soup was leftover for my lunch today. Bet the flavor will be bold and divine.

Can serve with a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds, sour cream or crackers.

Pumpkin Cookies

My mom makes excellent cookies. I do remember her making pumpkin cookies and applesauce cookies. These two cookies were always so moist and delicious.

Oven...375 degrees.

Mix 1 regular can of pumpkin, with 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup shortening. ( Can decrease sugar to about 1/4 and add in 1/4 cup applesauce and reduce shortening to 1/4 cup).

Add in....2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 t baking powder, 1 t baking soda, 1 t ground cinnamon, and 1/4 t salt. And, if your care to, here is where I add in a little ground flax seed, and wheat germ. I also use ground oatmeal with the whole wheat flour to equal the 2 cups.

Then, my favorites...add in raisins and chopped walnuts.....as much as you want. So good. Can add in chocolate at this point, as well. Mix and drop by teaspoon full onto greased cookie sheet.

Dough is very soft and fluffy. That is ok. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

SUPER delicious if you can manage to eat these cookies right out of the oven.

XO

Yummy FALL!

Mmmm....do you love these fall pillowcases as much as I do?

How about this spooky-licious fabric? Can't see it very well, but their are silver sparkles all over this fabric.......which means my children literally woke-up with silver sparkles on their faces. Ha! Yes, I did pre-wash the fabric.


Back of pillowcases!! Got to love orange with dots!



My neighbors soy field.

Colorful changes---on my way home from town!

A farmer taking down his soy field.

Back road drives are so gorgeous these days!

Such a classic picture...of how to take a picture....ha!

Friends and family at our churches weekend General Conference meeting! We had such a good time together.

Our sweet friends, the Schulte's, and us!

Yes, their was loads of laughter and fun...especially when these two boys get together.

More of the same....ha!

My daughter, hubby and myself----under a shade tree...lots of spotty light filtering through the tree leaves.

Look at these faces...two with regular poses and two with silly poses. Love these kids to pieces!

Then, the weekend was over. Memories made. Time to drive one of my daughter's back up to school. We found this little treasure along the way.

Oh, the beauty of a strong tree...standing in the middle of a soy field.

Hope you all are enjoying the spectacular beauty of this fall season and all the activities that accompany this time of year. We have already been making pumpkin pies....just for ourselves to enjoy. I mean pumpkin is a squash. It is good for you, right? Just keep the sugar low or completely out of your recipe. The ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon make up for the deleted sugar. Last night we had pork chops, green salad with loads of veggies, home applesauce, with a slice of pie...not on the side, right on our dinner plates. Worked out well. Today...making pumpkin muffins. Can you smell them baking? Divine. xo

Hurray! Computer is back up and running!

Sorry, friends. My computer has been down since before Thanksgiving--bah! Today, the computer is back up and running and I have something to show and tell. Read on.

Have you ever experienced this before?

This is a favorite holiday treat that my parents send to us right before Thanksgiving...... every year.
Do you just love it? We do! Look what can be done with a Fuji apple...and not just any Fuji apple....this apple is HUGE.....with caramel, dark chocolate, chopped almonds...divine!

Now, compare the Willams - Sonoma Fuji apple with my local store's Fuji apple. See how big and delightful it is?
Do you need to get one of these for yourself? Maybe so-ha! It is so delicious and makes us smile! It is so festive and never a complaint.
YUM!

Thanks Mom and Dad! xoxoxoxo

Holiday Slumber, Cookies and Apron's!

I just love a fun and festive pillowcase! I made a couple of these. Loved using the leaves as the main body of the case and the turkey's as the trim, too.

My mother's wonderful and delicious pan cookies. We grew-up on these and so did our friends. They are heavenly and hold up well for lunches or travel.
YUM! These are so fast and easy and you can add such a variety of things to your pan cookies: walnuts, pecans, butterscotch chips, raisins, etc. They are best just right out of the oven and a good 24 hours later. Second day, they are still pretty good. Third day...they loose their zip. Not sure why this happens, but, these cookies are usually all eaten before the third day anyways-ha!

Recipe ---Congo Bars
Mix...2/3 cup oil, 3 eggs, 2 and 1/4 cups of brown sugar, and 1/2 tsp salt.
Add in 2 and 3/4 cups flour, 2 and 1/2 tsp baking powder, ...and your walnuts or chocolate chips, etc.
Pour onto a greased cookie sheet. Pat with wet hands to spread dough so that it covers the entire bottom of your cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Keep a good eye on your cookies. The tops of the pan cookies should be light brown when done. When done, let them sit for 5 minutes. Then, cut into squares. Let them sit another 5 minutes or so before gently removing and cooling. DO NOT let them stay in the pan for very long or you will have to really make some effort to get them out.
There you go! Enjoy!


Remember a few posts back when I showed a pic of fabric and dish towels? Well, here is my finished product.....aprons. They turned out cute and fun and were so easy. I threw in a few tucks on the towel edges...can you see them? And, just made a tie out of the contrasting fabric.
Then, I just sewed the tie to the top of dish towel and there you have it.

These make wonderful gifts. Give it a try. Treat yourself to a new apron for the holidays. You deserve it! xo

Fog and stuff!

Cannot remember the last time we experienced 5 straight days of FOG! Well, actually, the fog rolls in at night and greets us in the a.m. It burns off and we have been basking in 10-15 degree warmer weather than usual. As I told a friend who just received their first snowstorm...we are in t-shirt and jean weather by early afternoon. Glorious!

Been doing a little of this and that!
And, eating a little of this...pumpkin bread. Yummy!

And, getting ready to make something out of this....

Stay tuned for the results of this simple and fun little project.

And, hey! 14 days until Thanksgiving. Love this time of year. Hope you are all enjoying your week! xo

My Kind of Orange........

No...not this!

Ummmm.....I don't think so! Yep! Here we go. I love going to our grocery store with the entry way all decked out!
So bright and pretty on a very sunny day!

And then theirs the pumpkin patch on the way to the dentist office.

Do you see it? Beware! Camouflage outhouse ahead...ha! So funny!

A field of ORANGE You can tell how cold it has been at night. The frost and chill has gobbled up the vines and leaves.

But still....loving the ORANGE!

Happy Halloween!