Life with the Crew: Leftovers, Loaves, and Living Room Dates

We started this blog with the main purpose of rambling about life with a crew of littles.  The days fly by and sometimes it's hard to remember the small things that go on around here.

Since Rachel was born the days have been even fuller and the time for rambling has pretty much ceased.  But I miss rambling, so I thought about getting back into doing it on a more regular basis.

We currently have a cold/flu making its way around the Crew.  So far everyone has it, including 5-week-old Rachel.  Claude and I just have a touch of it so far.  I'm hoping that'll last.

Yesterday we started working on our Thanksgiving leftovers.  We made soup stock from the turkey carcass and then made this soup out of it.  Yum!

And then we froze some of the leftover broth for another meal.

Here's an easy way to store liquids in the freezer.

Line a large pitcher with a freezer bag, fill it about halfway with broth, sauce, etc., get the air out, zip closed, and lay flat in the freezer.  Once it's frozen you can stack and store for several months.

I also had a brilliant idea to make some bread (something I'm trying to do regularly with varied success) so that we could have turkey sandwiches for lunch today.

So, I set to work after the kitchen was cleaned up last night and made two loaves of bread.  This is what I found in the cold oven this morning:

Oops...I think I was supposed to bake these last night!

After another attempt here is what we ended up using for lunch this afternoon:

These were perfect loaves, except that they were gigantic because I forgot that the recipe is for three loaves, not two.  Oh, well...

The sandwiches were fantastic!  Probably because the turkey breast was juicy and full of flavor.  This is definitely the most delicious turkey ever!  And at 27-cents a pound it couldn't have been better!

Other turkey leftovers are still TBD.  I'm thinking of tacos and/or enchiladas and maybe some "pulled turkey" sandwiches.

Also last night, while the loaves of bread were rising sinking, Claude and I enjoyed a late night living room date.  We lit a birthday candle, poured some sparkling cider into the goblets we used at our wedding, and played a rousing game of Big Two (which we found out is called "The Hannah Game" in Canada).

Truth be told, this was a great date.  And we got to enjoy it in the comfort of our pajamas!  :)

Hannah, being the big game player of the family, was excited when I shared with her the Canadian name for her new favorite game.  She is my game-playing match - the only other person in the family who likes to play them like I do.  And she wins pretty much all the time.  I like this because that means we can keep score (which I like to do and no one else really does) and she doesn't mind since she's usually winning.

Abby brushed her own hair in preparation for family hike today.

So, while the healthy patients went on Saturday family hike with Claude, Hannah and I played "The Hannah Game" and whipped up a batch of these:

Overall it has turned out to be a good day, despite its beginnings.  Nobody likes being woken up by the following, "Yuck!  Jeremiah threw up in his bed!"

Yep...just another day with the Chew Crew!



Chocolate Chip Cookies (The Time-Saving Way)
1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees F.

2. Grease a large baking tray with sides.  Ours says its dimensions are 17.25x11.5x1 inches).

3. With a mixer (hand or stand), cream together:

2/3 cup vegetable shortening
2/3 cup margarine or butter, softened 
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar

4. Add and mix well:

2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

5. Add and mix until smooth:

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup oats, instant or rolled
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda

6. Stir in, by hand:

1 12 oz. package of chocolate chips

7. Spread cookie dough onto prepared baking sheet.  You may need to use a wet spatula or wet hands to spread it out evenly since the dough will be very sticky.

8. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the top is golden brown.  Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting and removing from pan.

Enjoy!