View from the Prairie Box

Sometimes music has the power to touch my heart in an inexplicable way, but yesterday it was the words of this hymn, and not the music, that brought tears to my eyes.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say,
“It is well, it is well with my soul.”

O Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,
“Even so” — it is well with my soul.

[Horatio G. Spafford, 1873]

Liv took her first ever paddle boat ride last weekend at Mahoney State Park. Buckled into her teeny life vest in no less than four places, she was passed into my arms while I stood on the boat, which bobbed and bounced as boats tend to do. The bobbing and bouncing increased exponentially when my father-in-law came on in — and continued as the rest of the family clambered on board. By the third paddle into our 30 minute boat ride, Livia was frantically signing “ALL DONE!” (Ah, we’ve created a landlubber. Go figure, we live in the middle of the plains.) She cautiously eyed the little lake until her funny daddy made her crack a smile, and then happily spent the rest of the time splashing in lake water while my mother-in-law and I mused about why our boat was taking on so much water. Just ask Jeremy about how easy it was to paddle five chunkies around the lake. (Make that three chunkies. Liv and Grandma Karen have no need to embrace the Tredway Summer Challenge.)

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Tredway, we enjoyed the rest of the evening in their lodge room. Fabulous steak dinners were consumed at Around the Bend Steakhouse (home to the infamous Testicle Festival) and Livia passed out into a paddle-boat/no-nap/lots-of-the-time-in-the sun-induced slumber by 9pm that night. Well-rested by sunrise the next day, she forgot the first rule of vacation (You Must Sleep In!) and “encouraged” mom and dad to rise and shine at the crack of dawn. Before heading home that morning we drove through a Nebraska Safari, on the opposite side of I-80 from Mahoney State Park. It turned out to be a really interesting little expedition where we rolled up our back windows so the elk wouldn’t consider our toddler a nice appetizer. Bison, white-tailed deer, and cranes, oh my!

**This blog post is all for Jill, by the way. If anyone else enjoys reading it, that’s cool. But the pics? Primarily for Jill’s enjoyment.

It’s nice to know that Livia really truly thinks about things.

I went into her room a few minutes ago to pick her up after a nap and she said, “Sun down?” while pointing around her room.

“No, it’s still up,” I said, tugging on her room-darkening shades and twisting the mini-blinds open. “The sun is still out.”

She blinked in the brightness and nodded in affirmation. And I thought, Mission accomplished, room-darkening shades!

I ain’t no Keith Ghormley, but the Nebraska State Capitol is a building that just begs to be photographed.

We started off with a Baby Einstein and a Veggie Tales or two — gifts, all of them. But then time went on and being the word-lovin’ mama I am, I felt Livia needed a new Baby Einstein DVD, Baby Wordsworth. Now, I believe it was entirely worth it to buy this one for Liv. She’s learned many words and a lot of sign language from it (and she has thoroughly entertained us during all the learning), but overall I would rather not spend another dime on a children’s video. Why is that? Because our library ROCKS.

I can pick up scores of different children’s shows on DVD (many more on VHS) at our library for, and here’s the clincher, FREE. Free! We can check them out for three weeks at a time (four weeks from the Bookmobile) and return them any time before that, at our own convenience. That’s not all… I recently learned that if Livia checks out her own books (and, ahem, some of her mom’s, too), late fees are reduced to a dime per day, per item. This is definitely something that works me me considering the fact that my late fees alone could pay for the eventual renovation of the public library downtown.

Normally I’d consider it redundant to post on a topic someone else has already covered, but I feel I must mark the passing of time by sharing photos of our glorious catalpa trees. There’s something stunning and unexpected about our “wedding” trees. They are fairly ordinary and commonplace (albeit to the untrained eye, not you, Christina!) during most of the year, except for late spring/early summer when they develop white blossoms, which eventually fall beautifully on our lawns. When I walked out front to snap pictures today, the flowers looked like snowflakes, gently falling in the midday breeze, blanketing the green grass.

It is trees like catalpas, not to mention the numerous perennials and annuals planted in our gardens, that make this season, the spring season, my absolute favorite.

Though I am definitely not the genius behind freezer meals (the true genius would be hard to pinpoint anyway), I am extremely thankful that this tactic works for me as I enjoy cooking only when I’m in the mood, which is most certainly not every day at 5:00pm.

Within my circle of girlfriends, the first freezer meal session came by way of The Occasional Cook, a how-to by Cyndy Salzmann. Salzmann’s book is really helpful; it contains recipes and teaches you how to go about preparing and freezing meals. My good friend Carrie ran with these ideas and, at the last cooking day, saw eight women (and two husbands) in her kitchen/dining room darting around like mad and preparing 30+ different meals for our freezers. Suffice to say that I wouldn’t engage in this process without the genius and hardworking spirit of Carrie. She does almost all the meal-planning and grocery shopping, then enlists the other ladies’ help to do things like browning ground beef, cooking pasta and deboning loads and loads of chicken. On cooking day we all gather together, pair off in twos and begin assembling meals. By the end of four hours (the process used to take 12 or so hours, we’ve become more efficient now) each woman takes home 30+ meals and places them in her freezer.

Many recipes can be easily frozen, then defrosted the day they are needed. Some thick casseroles, like lasagna, require a little more defrost time. You don’t need to invite all your girlfriends over for cooking day — though a party does makes the work more fun.

Here are two tried-and-true freezer meals our family enjoys:

Ham/Cheese Quiche
– Joan Texel

9-inch deep-dish pie crust (unbaked)
1/2 cup Swiss cheese
1/2 cup Monterey jack cheese
1/2-cup mushrooms, sliced
3/4 cup cubed ham
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup half and half
2 Tb flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper (opt)
1/4 cup sliced green onion (opt)

Assembly: Combine all ingredients, reserving only pie crust and cheeses. Place Swiss and Monterey cheeses in separate self-sealing bags. Place all bags in 2 gallon bag. Label. Freeze.

Preparation: Thaw. Preheat oven to 350. Sprinkle Swiss cheese on bottom of crust. Pour egg mixture into pie shell over the Swiss cheese. Sprinkle Monterey jack cheese over the top of mixture. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

*This recipe came from a friend and works well as a freezer meal. A lot of our meals are along the meat-and-potatoes line, so I like this one because it’s a lighter meal. Paired with a fruit salad, it makes a simple lunch or dinner.

Swiss Casserole
– The Occasional Cook

3 C cubed cooked turkey or chicken
2 C sliced celery
2 C croutons
1 C mayo
1 C swiss cheese
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/3 C chopped walnuts

Assembly: Mix all ingredients except walnuts. Place in 1-gallon freezer bag. Place walnuts in small self-sealing bag. Place both bags in 2-gallon self sealing bag. Label. Freeze.

Preparation: Thaw. Place in 2 qt casserole dish. Sprinkle with walnuts. Bake uncovered at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

*This recipe sounds a bit strange (at least to me), but Jeremy and I love it. The flavors combine to make a yummy dish. Great paired with a fresh green salad.

Here’s tidbit that’s been floating around… (chuckle, chuckle)

“Most people don’t know that back in 1912, Hellmann’s mayonnaise was manufactured in England.

In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York. This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York.

The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost. The people of Mexico were crazy about mayonnaise, had been eagerly awaiting its delivery, and were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day.

The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as Sinko de Mayo.”