Falling Leaves

Finley and Berlin helped me rake up the leaves in the front yard today. I can't believe how much had fallen overnight, especially considering I had already raked them up yesterday. Guess that nice storm blowing in didn't help us any. Neither did the neighbors tree. It's huge and close to our property, so 30% of the leaves we rake are from our tree, the other 70% come from the neighbors tree. Nice!


Berlin got a splinter from the small rake and soon called it quits. But Finley was determined to make himself a big pile to play in. Here he is lovin' his leaf pile.

 

 

The kids were such good helpers. I love Fall and I'm sad to see it go. We should have snow by tomorrow. Boo!

Pomegranate Ginger Pork Loin Steaks

Most of you (the few) who read this blog know I don't love to cook. But the past few months I have been trying new recipes. Some good, some bad. This one is one of the BEST ones I have tried. So I just have to share it ...


A few days ago I bought a bunch of pomegranate seeds at Costco and needed a way to use them. When I came across this recipe I knew I had to try it. Though I did alter some parts of the recipe, it turned out better than I expected! The clincher ... the hubby and kiddos loved it just as much as I did.


Here's my version:


Pomegranate-Ginger Pork Chops
(makes 4-5 steaks)

• 5 oz POM Wonderful Juice
• 1/3 C sugar
• 1 TBSP cornstarch
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (if you don't like heat, reduce this, but we loved it)
• 6 TBSP light soy sauce
• 6 tsp fresh ginger, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (originally calls for more, but Ry's not a fan so I reduced it)
• 4-5 boneless pork loin steaks
• 1 C fresh pomegranate seeds (I buy these at Costco. So much faster and easier than getting the seeds out of the fruit yourself. Cleaner too!)

1. Mix together the pom juice, sugar, cornstarch, and red pepper flakes in a med sized saucepan. Simmer over medium heat, bringing to a gentle boil or until the liquid turns into a syrup. Turn off heat and set aside.

2. Mix together soy sauce, ginger, and garlic in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. Heat frying pan on Med-High heat and add a little olive oil (or butter). Put your pork loin steaks into the pan. 

4. Place about 1 tsp of the garlic mixture on top of each loin steaks and cook for about 6-10 min (this varies depending on the thickness of the meat). Then turn them over and add another tsp of the garlic-ginger mixture on top. Cook for another 6-10 min. Cover the pan with a lid while the second side is cooking. This keeps the pork from drying out and getting tough.

5. Once the meat is cooked all the way thru, remove from the pan. Turn of the heat and add the POM-chili pepper syrup to the fry pan. Stir for a couple minutes, scraping up any pork bits. Spoon the syrup over the pork chops and sprinkle the top with fresh pomegranate seeds.

I served it with fresh broccoli (steamed) and butternut squash (mashed with a sprinkling of brown sugar on top).

My picture doesn't do it justice.

Twirly, Girly Girl

One of my projects this month has been cleaning off my sewing table which has been sitting neglected with lots of unfinished projects. But no more! On Saturday and Sunday I completed almost everything (and of course started a few more things - I just can't help it!).  One of the items I made was this skirt for Berlin. She wore it the minute I finished it Sunday afternoon and all day Monday. I love when she likes what I make her, it makes it all worth it.

All dolled up, new hair-clip & all. The best surprise was that she asked me to curl her hair! If you know Berlin she HATES having me do her hair. So sponge rollers overnight and wah-lah. She's a cutie to boot if I do say so myself. And, she's been standing in front of the mirror all morning admiring herself. I love it. 

A visit from the Fam and the Police

My sister from California came up to Utah the week we got back from Germany. We were so lucky to have her and her 3 little boys stay with us for a week. It was a blast and my kids loved having playmates 24x7. These are just a few of the things we did while they were here.



Visit from the police
Yep, we had a visit from the police the second day they were here.  I had been picking up the fallen apples in the back field that Saturday and noticed a large box upside-down tucked behind the tree. I went over and picked up the box (thinking it had just blown over into the field while we were out of town. But when I picked it up there was a rusty old tool box with a shiny new padlock on it underneath. The inside of the box was insulated - lined with that padded foil plastic lining. Odd, really odd. What in the heck was it doing here of all places? So of course lots of things started pouring into my mind: skeleton bones or a corpse, a dead animal, stolen property, treasure, weapons or even worse a bomb. Who knew - it could have been anything - and of course I thought of everything. 

So I nudged it with my foot and it was heavy - very heavy. I went and told Ryan and after much discussion (and one sleepless night of bad dreams) we decided that we'd call the police. Cause really, who dumps an old rusty toolbox, locked with a brand new shiny padlock, in the back of someone else's property and then covers it with a very large, insulated cardboard box? Yeah, weird. So, Sunday after church we called and they sent two officers over. Yes, I felt silly and foolish for calling them on such a lame matter, but at the same time, better safe than sorry. My nephew K, however, thought this was the COOLEST thing and was so excited to have them over. He loved it so much that he even remembered to thank Heavenly Father for the police officers in his dinner prayer later that night. So sweet.

In the end, it was nothing but a bunch of old rusty tools and newspapers (from March of this year). Darn it, no treasure! The officers took it to enter into evidence in case anyone reported it missing. But it was probably someone just dumping their junk in the back of our property. Makes me feel oh so safe, right?


We sure do know how to kick-off a visit!



Cornbelly's
This is an annual tradition for our family. Ryan usually comes with us but this year he had to work and bring home some bacon. Guess that's what happens when you take off for a month :)  But it was still fun and we can't wait to go next year when he can be there. They added a ton of new stuff to Cornbelly's this year. We almost didn't have enough time to see and do everything. But after 4 hours, we were beat (and cold) so we headed home totally satisfied with what we were able to do.

 

  
  

  

 

   

Gardner Village Witches
Another annual tradition for us. In the past the kids have let me take their official Fall pictures here, but this year there were just too many distractions and they wanted nothing to do with standing still for the camera. But it was still fun.

 This is how Finley would get every time I asked them to turn around for a picture. Yeah. Lovely.

  

This is one of our favorite witches to find. This year they must have placed it near a sewage drain because the smell really was appropriate. The kids are not pretending it stunk - it really did!

And my our reward ... homemade caramel apples from Sweet Afton's - YUM!

Sugarhouse Park
My older sister from So. Weber was able to meet up with us at Sugarhouse Park for lunch, feeding the ducks, and playtime at the playground. It was a blast to see all the cousins getting along so well. They really had a blast.

Seriously, I had the best time with my sister. I don't get to see family enough and I wish we all lived closer. I am so glad she came up for a visit.

Halloween Loot

Looks like the kids are going to be eating candy until the cows come home this year. They had so much loot that after filling 4 gallon Ziploc bags with the good stuff, I threw away the rest. Shhhh - don't tell them!

Berlin (She-rah - the modest version) at her school party.

Her teachers are so cute. Here they are making a potion and then drinking it. It was pretty tasty!

Finley (Link from Zelda) at his school parade.

 

We missed the neighborhood Trunk or Treat last year so I promised to take them this year. I don't think we'll do it again - way TOO much candy. I'd rather just go door-to-door.

And just after getting all sorts of loot. They are SOOO happy :)  Isn't Finley such a hoot!

 

  

 

Here's the inspiration. I sewed both costumes in 1 1/2 days. Crazy ... and never again! I was so exhausted that I bagged the wings for Berlin's headband and the brown leather armbands on Fin's. Guess I should have done it all BEFORE our vacation like I had originally planned. Oh well. They turned out great and I can add those pieces later for when they dress-up. 

Our pumpkins this year. The kids drew faces on paper and then we cut them out and use that as the pattern. Finley was having a tough night (aka meltdown) and instead he found his Lego jack-o-lantern face and asked for that. So, Berlin's is the skeleton and Fin's is the scary jack-o-lantern face. 

Here they are with all their candy, right before choosing the 50 pieces they were allowed to keep. The rest was put away to use on our Gingerbread Houses next month (I borrowed this idea from a friend).