Pumpkin Ice Cream

A here,

I saw a recipe for pumIpkin ice cream on pinterest and my first thought was "yes, that's happening." Here is the recipe I used. I doubled mine so if you want a smaller batch without having to do any math go check out that site!!!

Let's get started...

 Spread the pumpkin puree in a baking dish. Set aside.

 Separate 12 eggs (you will be using the yolks...obviously)

 Add sugar to the yolks and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Set aside.

 Heat the half and half until just before it simmers. Here is where I went astray from the original recipe. She used whipping cream and whole milk. I substituted both for half and half. 

 When it gets to where is needs to be you are going to temper the egg mixture. Remove the milk from the heat and add one ladle into the eggs. Mix until it's combined. Continue to do this until the eggs have risen in temperature and most of the milk has been incorporated. 

 Add the eggs into the rest of the milk. Put back on the stove and heat it until it is 170 degrees. You need to stir it the entire time. This will give you a custard. When it has reached 170 take it off the heat and pour it over the pumpkin puree and stir it all together.

 When it's combined add the spices and vanilla

Pop it into the freezer until it reaches room temperature. When it's room temp put it into your ice cream maker and then enjoy the most delicious taste of fall you will experience!

I forgot to take some pictures of the process but if you head over to the original site she has lots and lots of pictures!!!

Here is the recipe doubled and changed to use half and half:

6 cups half and half1 29-oz. can of 100% pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)12 large egg yolks1 1/2 cup sugar1/2 teaspoon ground clove
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon7/2 teaspoon ground allspice4 Tablespoons vanilla extract

Prep the pumpkin by putting it in a dish and spreading it out

Make the custard. To your yolks add sugar and whisk til smooth. Set aside. Heat the half and half until just before it simmers. Temper the eggs with the milk. After tempering put the mixture back on the stove top and heat until 170 degrees, stirring constantly. When it has reached the desired temp take it off the heat.

Pour the custard over the puree and combine it. Add the spices and vanilla.

Chill the mixture in the freezer until it reaches room temperature then use your ice cream maker to turn it into ice cream.


Until next time,
xoxo

Roasted Vegetables

A here,

Last week I decided to make some roasted vegetables with dinner. I pulled out some carrots, potatoes and onions. Usually I will just put some parchment paper on my pan but this time (for reasons unknown) I went with foil...

 I just laid out the vegetable

 Then I put a little extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and some rosemary on them. (The rosemary I had actually thrown into my freezer awhile ago so when I put them on the vegetables they were still frozen) I usually roast all my vegetables at 350 degrees. The time will vary depending on what you use. These particular ones were in the oven for about 20 minutes. The carrots had a very slight crunch (exactly how I like them), the potatoes were PERFECTLY cooked and the onions were translucent and delicious.

 Here is the only sad part about this post. Clearly I should have tossed the vegetables or just sprayed the foil with Pam. Earlier I mentioned that I use parchment paper and this is confirms why. I don't have to worry about this happening :) Noted.

Dinner that night was amazing. Roasted vegetables, elk steak (or it might have been deer) and salad. The dressing on the salad is my homemade strawberry vinaigrette. It puts just the right amount of summertime on my plate whenever I use it.

Until next time,

xoxo

Hunting mixed with quality couple time

A here,

Mr. Wonderful is a huge fan of hunting. He gets at least 5 animal tags every year and generally fills them all. So when hunting season rolls around it is fair to say I am the definition of a hunting widow. He leaves in the early morning and comes home late at night so I get to spend hardly any time with him. Well instead of trying to pull a guilt trip and asking him to stay home and spend time with me I decided at the end of last years hunting season that I was going to flip the script. When the people I love the most are happy it makes me happy. It makes life easier to live and stress is at an all time low. When I told my Mountain Man that I wanted to accompany him I don't think he took me very seriously. But I was determined to spend some time with him during hunting season!!!

It took more time that I thought it would to even be in the vicinity of shooting an animal. First I had to attend and pass hunters safety. For me, this was a 2 week course. I went every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 3 hours. The class was at 6 at night so Mr. Wonderful was in charge of dinner and baths for our little princesses while I was away. He was lucky that I set a strict 6:30 bed time for our twins!! After passing hunters safety I needed to get comfortable with a rifle.

I am 27 and have never ever shot a gun. It was by far the most intimidating activity I have done. I don't know if you know but rifle's make a big KA-BOOM when you shoot them...something I knew, but never having shot one didn't realize how loud it is. I know very little about guns so all I can tell you is I shot a 243, apparently it's big enough to shoot an antelope but not big enough for a deer or elk. We went a couple times over the course of 2 weeks just so I could get comfortable. The first time I went I probably took 15 minutes between each shot. Mr. Wonderful was happy that I was even venturing down this road so he was super supportive and didn't tell me to hurry or anything. He just let me take my time and do things my own way. He told me he wanted me to try shooting at the 200 yard target. (That's the length of 2 football fields) I told him he was crazy but he just said "You'll be surprised. The scope does all the work for you. Just put the cross hairs in the center of the target and pull the trigger." Because I had never done this before my confidence was at an all time low. Did he really expect me to hit that little target on the hill?! He told me my first shot was low...just try again!! I did. I tried 3 more times and hit the target every time! I decided to leave that day on a high note so I called it quits. As we were leaving he told me that women are better shots than men statistically. Apparently it comes more naturally for us.

While family was visiting this summer we meant to go to the range more often and practice but life got in the way and it never happened. Fast forward to this week. On Wednesday I went to town so we could shoot but Mr. Wonderful couldn't get away from work and said we would just have to go on Friday. Friday came and at the range I took some shots at the ground target (100 yards), the 200 yard target and the 300 yard target. At the end of the day I told him I feel most comfortable shooting at 200 yards. He didn't tell me at the time but it turns out he has never been able to shoot an antelope at 200 yards...they have always been 300 or farther. So he didn't think I would end up getting one. Let me rewind that statement for a second. My mountain man has recently been bow hunting. At the beginning of hunting season bow opens before rifle. The animals haven't been shot at so they aren't as scared and generally hang out close to the roads. When he went at the start of the season he harvested his first antelope at 70 yards. As hunting season progresses and rifle opens the animals are getting shot at a lot more and become more nervous when they see you and run away at the drop of a dime. So it makes sense that as the season progresses the antelope are more skid-dish.

We left our kids with their grandparents on Saturday so we could go get me an antelope. After a couple hours of driving around my first real chance came. There were 2 antelope (a male and female - I had a doe tag) bedded down. The range finder said they were 201 yards away. PERFECT! And then reality set in. There was a road right behind them...and occasionally trucks would drive by. If we drove behind them on that road we were facing a few guys working. We decided to pass with the hopes that making the responsible hunting decision would give us something better. We rounded 2 corners in the road and opportunity struck. Sitting 168 yards right off the road were 8 antelope. "Get out of the truck and grab your gun." Here we go!! Mr. Wonderful told me to look through the scope and try to find a female. Just as I found one he said "Shoot the one that just stood up. It's a doe." What?! So I panned over lined up my shoot and fired. I remember thinking "I don't think I got it." So I reloaded. Then Mr. Wonderful says "You hit her. Get ready to shoot again." But by this time I have ZERO idea where she is. I mean ZERO! Then I hear "she's down! You got her!" High five!!

From the beginning of this experience I told Mr. Wonderful that I was most nervous about just wounding an animal and having to shoot them again. So as we were approaching her that is what I was thinking about. I made him go first to see if she was still alive. She wasn't (thank God). 1 bullet...I shot her through both lungs missing all bone. She didn't even know she was hit.

After the field dressing was done and we were back in the truck I said "I didn't think this is how it would be." He said "what do you mean?" I guess I anticipated that I would feel some kind of way. Guilty for taking an animals life, or so happy and excited that I had just done that. For me it was neither. My heart rate never went up when I took the shot. It didn't go up when he said "she's down! You got her!." It didn't go up when I saw her. It remained the same. I definitely didn't feel anything. I feel like I felt before I shot her. With that, Mr. Wonderful looks at me and says "should I be worried about you? Are you a killer?"

I will continue to hunt with my mountain man next year. It was fun and I learned a lot. I mostly liked spending quality time with him and seeing him in his element. This is the thrill and excitement he lives for I love seeing him so happy. We couldn't stop smiling after I got her. He was so proud of me! Next year we plan on taking our oldest. She's a pretty tough girl and has already asked if she can go :) 

Until next time,

xoxo

Pinterest DO or DONT!!

L here!!

So I found this post on pinterest and it goes a little something like this.......

I couldn't find the link to this picture.....but it basically tells you to divide your hair in half and twist each half up really tight.  Then get your hair straightener and put your hair between the plates until the entire piece of hair is heated through.  then let cool, run your fingers through your hair. and Viola!! Gorgeous curly hair!

Well..............this is Shicucka!!!  NOT TRUE AT ALL!!

Its a BIG big Pinterest DON'T!

My pictures are this...

Please excuse the no make up and huge T-shirt I am wearing.  I needed a post that I could do that wasn't going to kill my back!!
so this is what you get....Sorry!


This is my before picture....Blah blah blah

half my hair twisted tight!!

Me heating up the curls.......I had to take the picture, so I wasn't holding the ends very tight.

Then let that side down to cool and start twisting the other half of you hair.

Let them both sit until cooled down.

this is when I ran my fingers through the first piece I twisted......
EEHHH.....its curly, but its not that cute.    It was like that for about 2 minutes and then went away.

and this is After.......need I say more?!?   
It didn't work and I give this pinterest post a big thumbs down!!
Maybe if my hair was damp or maybe if I had thicker hair.........I don't know!  wasn't successful at all!!
Good Try Pinterest Good Try!!

cheap snack idea for school!!

This is L again...

so I was talking to A and she was telling me about a lady on the web that makes jello and puts it into containers before it sets up so that she can give it to her kids for school!!

Genius!!!!

So I thought I would try it out!!
I went to the store and found some plastic containers that hold 1/2 cup.  I got 8 of them for like $3. I'm pretty sure you could find some at the $1 store, but I don't have the luxury where I live....whhaa whaa.
Then I got some Jello!  I picked strawberry, but pick your fave!!  it was $1.

I chose the smaller box of jello thinking that it was going to make 4 1/2 cups.  then when I actually read the box, it said it makes 4, (1/2 cups), so I should have got 2 of those boxes or I should have bought the bigger box.....  good to know for next time!!! 

When I got home, I realized I had and extra box of strawberry at home so I was able to fill up all 8 containers!!!

Just follow the Jello directions and instead of chilling the entire bowl, just divide it up into your containers and then let set in the fridge!

So simple. Soooo cheap.  this snack for the first 8 days will average out to .50/day.  Next time I make it, it will be .25/day (because the bigger box was about $2 and I won't have to buy the containers.)

Jello is great because you can choose the sugar free kind and it tastes the exact same!! Its cheap! and my kids LOVE it!!

see you soon!!

SORRY!!!!

this is L....

so I wanted to say sorry for not posting my DO or DON'T!!
I was in the process of finding a post to try, which I did find one, but I woke up to a very sharp and painful feeling in my lung!!
Sounds dumb, but its true!!
I had a rib out of place and I couldn't even pick up a gallon of milk with out wanting to curl up in a ball and scream....
Ribs out of place SUCK!!!
seriously.....I would rather deal with kidney stones again and again than have this shit again!!!

so with 2 trips to the Chiropractor to put it back in......Victory!!

I can breath, but I am very sore!!  Apparently I have stretched out my ligaments or something....so it still hurts to do anything... 

I will post something on here as soon as I can!! hopefully its alot sooner than later!!
knock on wood!

just thought I would let you all now that I haven't forgotten about you!!
see you soon...

L :)

Clean-up time

A here,

I've been spending this week cleaning up the yard to prepare for winter. All the summer toys go away and we make room for our winter ones. Snow has fallen twice here already and each morning we wake up to frost so I think it is safe to say that fall is coming to an end. How sad. It had only just begun 3 weeks ago!

I guess it is officially time for hot chocolate, soups, chili, and all things warm. I must admit I do love this time of year!!

I never posted pictures of our ground level trampoline or our massive swing set we built for the kids. Deep down it's because I am so embarrassed of our yard! I think this spring when we get our yard in and garden going I will post some pictures then.

Until next time,
xoxo

Pinterest Do's and Don'ts!!!

Hey there!!!

This is L......

So I was on Pinterest yesterday, naturally, and decided that I am going to start blogging about the DIY pinterest posts!! 

I am going to pick at least 1 every week. 

I'm going to pick the posts at random!!  I really want to choose the DIY's that are really odd and not really important to life, but I am also going to try the ones that appear to make life easier as well....

This is going to go one of 2 ways:  Either its going to be a DO or a DON'T!

If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!! 

I will pick one today and let you know how it turns out tomorrow!!

see you then
:-)

house building update!!

Hey Everyone!! this is L here.....

So yesterday I went to my lot and was pleasantly surprised at how much they had done since 2 weeks ago!!

this is what it has looked like for the past week because the foundation was off by a foot and it wasn't passing the inspection!!

so they fixed it and now it looks like this...... da da da daaaaa!!!!

hahahaha.......well its not exactely what I thought would have been done, but at least something is happening and to be honest, we thought that they weren't going to start pouring until wednesday!!  so we were surprised to say the least!!

Building a house!!

Hey everyone!!!  This is L...

So last time I put a post on here it was about removing a stain..........WOW!!  I thought that I would post something about what is going on in my neck of the woods.
My husband and I are building a house!  We bought this beautiful lot, but it is covered, and when I say covered I mean its covered with a shit ton of trees and bushes!!

See......

soooo we have been about a month behind schedule because this lovely county we live in only has 1 person to approve new building permits!!  how exciting right??  Wrong!!!
anyways....so finally we got our permits and the clearing of the lot has taken place.....picture below!

I was a little  bummed at how many trees we had to get rid of, but we had to get rid of them so that they could put the foundation down.....bummer, but what can you do?!

this process took so damn long though!!! that piece of machinery that you see in the picture up above...broke about 3 times in 2 weeks.....we were getting really bugged!! but they finally got a decent piece of equipment and got the job done as far as they could before they have to come back and finish the work after the house is up!!

so now they have got the grading done and are going to start putting down the foundation this week!! hallelujah!!! 

this is where our driveway is going to be.....

but this is as far as we are right now and hopefully this week we will see some walls up!!
I will keep you posted on how the progress is coming!!

see you soon :)
L

Can we be done with this already?!

A here,

This week I'm putting forth all my energy and time into potty training my 18 month old twins. I really want them to be 100% out of diapers by their 2nd birthday. My motivation?! Not having to buy anymore of these:

I can not stand diapers!!! So gross...so expensive...so GROSS!  Currently I have 2 potty's set up in my living room. I know some people do all their training in the bathroom. I am so jealous of the people who make this work. Clearly, I am not one of them. I chase my children enough all day long and the last thing I want to do is coral them into my teeny tiny bathroom. I like being able to have room around me! When I potty train I read to them while they are sitting and I also need to pay attention to my oldest princess so I need to be available and I don't want to leave them in the bathroom.

So this is my set up:

A couple diapers on the left for nap time and a big pile of undies on the right to go through. As if I don't already have enough cleaning to do through out the day I have added an additional load of laundry with little bitty girl panties!! It needs to get done and I am up for the challenge!

I will keep you posted about my progress with this (because I know you want to know!) new adventure!

Until next time,
xoxo

Spring time dreams

A here,

My awesome neighbor just brought over some carrots out of her garden and it made me wish spring was in the air instead of winter. Not only does winter last half the year (and that's a short winter) around my parts but it gets COLD! Ridiculously cold....like negative 30 I swear. I have a pair of cross country skis and I have been telling myself that "this year" is the year I will commit to doing it at least twice a week for the past 4 years. But I really think that THIS YEAR is THE YEAR!! Working out has made me want to be more active so I think I just might get off my lazy bum and do something this winter :) Maybe if I have a wintertime activity the winter won't seem as long...we shall see.

Bringing it back to the carrots. DELICIOUS. Nothing is better than fresh. And fresh out of my neighbors ground is perfection. The only thing that could make it even better is if it came out of MY garden. I am excited for this spring because we are going to work on our yard and my garden! The outside of my house is in need of some serious help. We are on 2 acres and don't even have a yard. It's just weeds and dirt. So Mr. Wonderful told me to tell him what I want and he would make it happen. I just love those words..."whatever you want honey!" Perfect. So we are going to get a big yard for our 3 kids to play in and I am going to get a big garden. I plan on filling it with lots of delicious fruits and veggies. I have a really good friend who told me that some flowers will make help certain veggies grow. WHAT?! So my garden is going to be delicious and beautiful. Just what I like to hear!

This winter (in addition to cross country skiing) I will be busy researching, planning, and laying out my visions for a vegetable & fruit garden. I will continue to buy Bountiful Baskets but ideally I would like to have my own supply and only have to buy veggies and fruits at the store sparingly. One can dream...

I have lots of fun posts lined up for the winter so if cross country skiing doesn't work out for me there will be other things to blog about! ha


Until next time,
xoxo

My favorite room of pain

A here,

The past two months I have been going to work out 2 days a week. This is the first time since high school I have actually been committed to my health and fitness. I am addicted to it now :) I do cardio unique training and every time I go I get my butt kicked! I love love love it

Here is the gym. Not lots of machines...just you and some weights

The rowing machine and pull up bars

Here are the workouts I've been doing the last 2 months. Some I finish...some I don't. But I always push myself to the limit and try to do more than I think I can. 

The stats! Here we go...no holding back right? My start measurements and where I am headed...in a positive, healthy direction!!! I am very proud of myself considering I only go 2 times a week and I haven't changed my diet AT ALL!

Food Challenge! This is new the month...I will admit I don't have the best eating habits. I drink coffee with my creamer, don't eat breakfast, have sugar cravings and don't drink enough water. The first step is admitting it right?! So this is the challenge and I'm really trying to drink more water and more fruits. I eat a good amount of vegetables already. We will see! I don't work out at home so this week that's my goal. While the babies are sleeping mommy will sweat! 

I will keep you updated with my progress and post workouts so if you are feeling up for it maybe you will try?!

Until next time,

xoxo