Family Recipe Book - Cavatini

The recipe that I am going to try this week is from Patrick's Aunt Linda.  She is Patrick's Dad, Joe's, sister-in-law.  It was so easy and made 2 8x8 pans.  Perfect to eat now and then one to freeze for later!  We will for sure have this again.  It is super easy and yummy.   Kitchen mess factor was only a 3 out of 10.  I made my own taco sauce with some ketchup, cumin, and chili power.  I think it is easy enough to read from the photo, so I won't type it out.  :)

Linda's entry in my cookbook!  She says that it is a family favorite, we agree!

Hot out of the oven.

We paired it with some sautéed green beans.

Family Recipe Book - Wine Country Beef Stew

This week's recipe that I am going to try from my family recipe book is from my Aunt Carol.  She is my mom's sister and a fellow Kindergarten teacher!  She lives in Northern California with her husband Allen.  She wrote that this recipe for Wine Country Beef Stew with Fennel and Dried Cherries is from the chef at Alderbrook Winery.  Fancy!

Aunt Carol's submission to my recipe book.  It is extra special because it is handwritten.

Ingredients:

2lb lean stew meat in 1'' chunks (I had chuck roast in the freezer that I used.  It was not the greatest.)
1/3 c. olive oil
1/4 c. seasoned flour (salt & pepper)
2 T. brandy (I used apricot flavored.)
1 Fennel bulb, diced (I subbed in celery because I couldn't locate fennel bulb.)
2 yellow onions
3 garlic cloves, minced
5 med. carrots, peeled and sliced
10 small red potatoes, cut in half
3/4 c. cabernet sauvignon
3/4 c. beef stock
1 15oz can chopped tomatoes & juice (I used diced.  Same thing, right?)
1/2 c. dried cherries (I was a bit more liberal with these, I dumped the rest of a bag that I had in the pantry.  Maybe a whole cup?)
1 T. tomato paste
1/2 t. dried thyme
1 1/2 t. dried rosemary
1 bay leaf (since I had to pans, I put one leaf in each pan.)
1/2 t. fennel seeds

Instructions:

Toss meat cubes in seasoned flour.  Brown in small batches in hot olive oil in skillet.  Transfer to large (It will not fit in a 9x13 baking dish, I had to use 2.  I cooked them both, but then froze one.) cooking pot.  Douse all meat in brandy. (FUN!)

In hot skillet, cook onions and garlic for 3 min or till soft. Then add to pot.  Add fennel (or celery in my case) and carrots to hot skillet.  Cook 3-5 minutes.  Then add to pot.

Add potatoes, wine, tomatoes, dried cherries, tomato paste, and all the seasonings and herbs to the pot.

Either cook on stove top or bake in oven 325 for 2 1/2 hours.  Occasionally stir and add more liquid as needed.

Meat cubes browned and onions/garlic done, now cooking carrots and celery.

My little helper was not super excited.

Mix it all up!

In the oven.  I had to use 2 pans!

My mess.
No one ever shows this part in their blogs.  I feel like recipes should also have some sort of mess rating.  On a scale of 1 to 10, how messy does your kitchen get making this recipe?  I give this one a 5.

Overall it was good, but the time and emotional toll it took to make this recipe wasn't good.  While I was cooking, Silas was screaming for 50% of the hour or so it took me to get everything cooked and in the oven.  Dean was upset that I couldn't cater to his every snack and tv need during this time.  He did a spite poop in his underwear that I had to clean up.  To date it is the only poop accident he has had in his underwear.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Ready to eat!
We had some delicious chunky French bread from the Kroger that was a perfect side.

It was quite an adventure compiling all the ingredients.  It took me about half an hour wandering around Walmart with a sleeping baby attached to my chest to realize that we not live in a dry county.  No matter how hard I looked, I was NOT going to find any wine or brandy or sale!  Patrick and I ended up stopping at a liquor store on our way home from our date in Little Rock to get the cabernet sauvignon and the apricot brandy (I bought apricot flavored because I can use that in another recipe that I love).  The other difficult ingredient to obtain was fennel bulb.  Neither Walmart, Kroger, nor the local health foods store carried it.  It wasn't until after I had already made the recipe did I stumble upon some fennel bulb at Harps, a regional employee owned grocery store chain.   Now I know for next time and there will definitely be a next time!  The stew was good and I know with a bit more practice (and better ingredients) it will be GREAT!

Muscadine Jelly

So there are these AMAZING watermelons for sale at little roadside booths.  The melons are from Cave City, AR and they are the best that we have ever tasted.  The huge melons are sweet, crisp, and juicy.  They are so fragrant that I can smell it from the other side of the house when Patrick starts to cut one up.  These melons are heavenly.  But I digress... this post is supposed to be about muscadine jelly!  Ok, so I was at the little Cave City stand buying a watermelon and I began to eye some of the other produce that was for sale.  I picked up some cherry tomatoes and noticed some little purple tomatoes right next to them.  Assuming they were those fancy heirloom tomatoes, I told the cashier to bag me up some of those too.  With a grin she told me those those were actually muscadines (muhs-cuh-dine), a sort of wild grape.  Oh!  A new fruit that we have never tried!  Since we are trying to be Southerners now, I figured we must try them!

I brought them home and did a little research.  Apparently not too many people just eat them, most people make jelly or pies with them.  Pie did sound delicious, but I don't have that kind of time right now.  I planned to make a jelly and bought some pectin.  Then they sat in the fridge for a week or so.  Does stuff like that ever happen to anyone else?  

My awesome hubs and sweet MIL helped make the jelly one night when Dean went to bed.  Patrick was worried they would go bad before I could get a chance to finish my project.  He cut them and began to boil them while I fed Silas.  Gail helped. I helped from the couch.  Patrick was so happy to have his wife AND mom telling him what to do.  Haha!!  He did finish it (he threatened to quit a few times) and there was enough for 2 jars.  It was a great mix of tart and sweet with a deep aged grape flavor,  almost like wine.  I don't know enough about wine to tell you what type!  I also don't have a recipe to share since all three of us were looking at different ones on our phones.  You will have to google/Pinterest it yourself if you ever decide to try it!

The muscadines were a beautiful purple and dark red color.

Patrick is cutting the seed out.

Pouring the jelly into our jars!

Beautiful color!

Patrick and his "helpers."

Thankfully, we had a loaf of bread from Wild Sweet Williams, our favorite bakery here in Searcy.

Yum!

Wild Sweet Williams Bakery

     On our quest to find the best donuts in town we discovered our favorite bakery in Searcy.  They actually don't sell actual donuts, but we don't mind because everything they DO sell is SO DELICIOUS.  Everyone that comes to visit us gets treated to some Wild Sweet Williams scones, cinnamon rolls, danishes, and kolaches for breakfast.  We love to share these tasty treats with everyone!  The bakery is small and closes when they sell out, so you have to get there early early early if you want your favorite flavors!  Patrick's parents, Gail and Joe, are visiting us this weekend from Indiana so we are treating them for breakfast!

They are only open W-Sat from 7am-11am(or when sold out).

The bakery is small.  You take your baked goods home to eat them.

You pick out your flavors out at the counter and the staff boxes them up for you.

The shop is pretty small!  Sometimes the line is out the door.

It was really hard not to open the box on the way home.

OK. I opened it.  And I ate a piece!

We all enjoyed breakfast together!

Kids Track Night

Last week I was scrolling through my FB feed and found a neat post on the unofficial Searcy town news page.  There are track meets for kids!  A group holds track meets (and “track meet” is applied loosely, it is very informal and just for fun) for kids ages 1-13 at the Harding University track.  The kids run several little races.  There is also water and snacks, as any sporting event should have!  I registered Dean online for the next Searcy Kids Track Night - August 20th.

It turned out to be SO MUCH FUN!  Dean took off running at first and we had to corral him back to his age group.  After some stretching, they began the races!  Dean ran 3 times.  He was unsure the first race and then “won” (his words) his two other races.  We were home in an hour to take baths and go to bed.  Perfect.  It was a fun night and we can’t wait for another!

Our own little track practice on Friday morning to prepare for the "meet" on Monday night.  I wanted D to be familiar with the track and the concept of running in the lanes.  He did pretty well for his first time!  And I got some much needed exercise too!

Stretching!  The kids were grouped by their ages. 

"On your mark, get set..."

Dean's first race was going great, until he heard/saw me cheering him on!

The second race went so much better!

By the third (and our final) race, he really was getting into it. 

Snacks after the races!  Provided by a local restaurant, Tropical Smoothie Cafe.

Hasta La Vista Lafayette!

On June 1st, we sold our home on Thomas Jefferson Road in Lafayette, IN!  We were able to sell it for more than we bought it for, which was a huge blessing.  We plan to pay off student loans.  Since we don’t close on our new house in Arkansas until Monday, June 4th, we will visit with family and then take our time driving to Searcy, AR.  We will keep you updated on our adventures!

Our last selfie at 3813 Thomas Jefferson Rd.

The moving truck was just big enough!

The moving truck loading up our home.

We were able to visit Patrick’s Aunts and take a swim in their pool before we left on our long drive. 

Dean's First Homecoming

Yesterday was Purdue's Homecoming Fotball game.  Dean and I walked around the the engineering fountain and down Stadium Mall with my parents, Georgia (Gigi) and Bill (Pops).  Patrick was hunting at his Grandparent's home in Winimac.  We visited all the booths the different colleges set up.  Dean scored some fun Purdue swag including a football, balloons, and a mini frisbee.  My Dad also got to introduce Dean to the Purdue All-American Marching Band.  Dad, my sister, and I are all Alums of the AAMB.  It was a fun morning!