Sunday Supper, LeBron, Wal Mart, and Other Important Matters......

Good Monday Afternoon!!

How was everyone's weekend? Ours was a nice mix of productive and uneventful....my kind of weekend. It's definitely hot now....all of the cool weather and rain that we've enjoyed the past few weeks is probably going to be a no show for awhile. I loved the rain...it reduced the amount of watering we had to do and my trees definitely needed it. Gary isn't a big fan because he ends up mowing every other day when it rains. Oh well, comes with the territory...all 5 acres of it!

So, I didn't make it on my Sister trip and at first I was pretty bummed out about it. But hey, what can you do? I knew on Friday that my odds of going were dwindling fast. We've got jobs out of town, a supervisor with a broken foot, and not enough Indians for all of our Chiefs, which means, Big Chief Gary has to work. I hope the Sisters that did go have a wonderful time. Maybe Paige and I can take a MommyBaby trip in my trailer and have some girl time! Paige and Zoe are excited about one of the trailers taking up residence at the house for their personal use. I'm going to completely clean it out and let them decorate it to their little hearts' desire! I had a few "Vision Quests" as Gary would call them about my trailers, so I can't wait to get to work on them!

I'm unashamed to say I got sucked into the whole LeBron James spectacle...yes, I watched "The Decision". I love basketball and I LOVE King James. I think he's a badass and so what if he was tired of being the only reason to watch Cleveland! I hope he goes to Miami and they win a title. I think that would be awesome. And the Cavs owner, Dan Gilbert - what a MORON!!! Who writes an open letter to the fans using Comic Sans font and then sends it to ESPN. What a jack ass. LeBron had every right to leave Cleveland. They weren't going to get him any real help and he can't keep doing it on his own. I'm rambling today...but I have a lot of ground to cover :)

When I was growing up, we always had Sunday Supper. Saturdays were usually the day we grilled hamburgers, but Sundays were when my mom always made a roast or chicken or something that she spent most of the day preparing - especially in winter. I grew up on slow cooker pot roasts, chicken and dumplings, fried chicken, you name it. It's one of the things that is completely ingrained in me as a person. I think that I'm a bad wife/mother/human being if I don't prepare some sort of elaborate supper every Sunday. Yesterday I made Beef Short Ribs, Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes, Homemade Yeast Rolls (well, the frozen kind that rise - isn't that sort of homemade??), Roasted Broccoli and Peach Plum Cobbler for desert. I'll share the recipes below...it was a really, really delicious meal!

The Ennis Wal Mart was recently remodeled. Has anyone else noticed that Wal Mart has cut back on the variety of items like candles, bedding, dog food, etc? Or is it just in Ennis? I don't mean that in a conspiracy theory way, but I wonder if it's a regional thing and Wal Mart is scaling back on less popular items. I mean, they stopped carrying fabric for God's sake. No, I'm not kidding. Wal Mart in Ennis no longer carries fabric. Weird, huh?

God Bless my child...Paige, Peapod, Juicy...and all of the other names I have for her. That child is one exceptional little person. We went to a wedding Saturday night and to say she was bored is a HUGE understatement. Even with her BFF there, she was still a little toot. At one point she asked me why I wasn't smiling very much...uuuhhh...because I'm about to have a meltdown over you being such a whiny toot, Paige....is what I wanted to say. Instead, we talked about behaving better and she seemed to get the drift. I completely understand that a wedding is probably not #1 on her (or any other little one's) list of most fun things to do, but my God, she bordered on being BAD. And she's never bad. She is articulate, well behaved, social, and easily adaptable. This just wasn't the ideal setting for her. Until, that is, it was time to dance. Yes, folks, my pole dancer in training got out on the dance floor and showed EVERYONE her moves. She didn't hold back. She didn't care that her dad and I were trying to sneak off unnoticed before the looks of amusement cast in our direction turned into looks of "Oh my God...get control of your child" or "Ohhh...you are so screwed". We couldn't get away. In fact, we couldn't stop watching as our precious little angel slithered, shaked and posed her way through all of the songs. At one point she was "Vogue-ing". It was so funny and I wish I had filmed all of it. One of these days I'm going to post a video of Paige dancing. It's unlike anything you've ever seen before - I promise!

How about some yummy recipes?????

Cadillac Cowgirl Short Ribs

12 Beef Short Ribs
1 large Sweet Onion, quartered
6 oz sliced Portabella Mushrooms
4 large Carrots, chopped into 3 inch pieces (or so...doesn't have to be exact, you just don't want them really small)
10 whole Garlic Cloves
4 slices Slab Bacon, diced
2 T Butter
1 cup Red Wine
3 cups Beef Stock
1 cup Water
2 sprigs of Rosemary
2 Bay Leafs
1 tsp each Salt and Pepper
Flour, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder to coat short ribs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large baking dish, combine enough flour, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder to coat the ribs. I don't use exact measurements; just enough of each to give the short ribs some flavor besides just coating them in plain flour. Set the ribs aside and fry the bacon over medium high heat in the dutch oven. When the bacon is done, drain it on a paper towel, but leave the bacon grease in the dutch oven; add the 2 tablespoons of butter. Brown the short ribs (you'll need to do it in batches) and remove them to drain on paper towels as well when they are brown on all sides. While they are draining, turn the heat down to medium and pour the red wine in the dutch oven in order to deglaze the bottom of the pan. While it's bubbling and thickening up, add the onions, garlic, carrots and mushrooms; cook the mixture together for a few minutes and then add the bacon and short ribs to the dutch oven. You are going to have to tuck everything in together and maybe even lay a few of the ribs on top of each other; that's okay - everything will still cook evenly. Add the bay leaves and rosemary as well as the beef stock, water and 1 tsp of salt and pepper. Let the liquid come to a boil, cover and put in the oven. Cook for 3 1/2 hours at 350 degrees or until the rib meat falls off of the bone (or is fork tender at the very least). Serve over Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes. Recipe below:

Cadillac Cowgirl Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes

1 1/2 lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes (Green Giant sells the baby ones in 1 1/2 lb bags and they are PERFECT for this recipe). You can also use baby red/new potatoes as well.
4 oz Goat Cheese
4 oz Heavy Cream
2 T Butter (or Smart Balance...but hey, it's Sunday Supper!)
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large pan, cover the potatoes with water and bring to a boil. (I don't peel these potatoes, but feel free to if you have anti-skin people dining with you.) Once the potatoes are fork tender, drain and put them back in the pan on the stove to help the rest of the water evaporate off of them - don't let them burn, though. To the potatoes add the goat cheese, cream and butter. Mash with a potato masher until smooth and creamy, adding more butter or cream if needed. Salt and pepper to taste....serve and enjoy!

Cadillac Cowgirl Peachy Plum Cobbler

I don't bake and even I can't screw this up. It's sooo easy and sooo yummy!

3 Peaches, sliced
3 Plums, sliced
1/4 Cup Walnuts, chopped
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Milk
1 Cup Self Rising Flour
1 Stick of Butter, melted
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x9 baking dish and set aside. In large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients (Peaches through Butter). Pour into the greased baking dish and sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Bake for an hour and then sprinkle with more cinnamon and brown sugar if desired.! Bake it until the edges are golden brown and the fruit is bubbly.

Have a great afternoon! I'll be back tomorrow :)

Kelly