Christmas in July Part 2

For over twelve years now we've been having "Christmas in July" at our house. It began as just a fun way to pass the time when my youngest son was just a little guy and we wanted ways to keep busy during the long hot summers. Each year is different. There are no set rules. We make up the rules as we go along......sometimes its only for a day or two, sometimes for as much as a week. It all depends on what we all have going on in July. Now that Christopher is college age there's certainly no reason for us all to be looking for things to do to keep busy during the summer......but still we keep on doing this crazy little thing every year. There are a couple of reasons I think. Number one is that it is a deeply ingrained family tradition by now, and number two is that it is still just plain fun. I'm pretty sure Jim and I will still be doing this when we're empty-nesters!

Part of the tradition is to have a few favorite dinners that remind us of Christmas. This morning I made Navy Bean Soup in the Slow Cooker. When everyone got home this evening it was ready to eat with the little mini-cornbread muffins I had baked a couple of weeks ago and put in the freezer. No dessert tonight because I plan to make a couple of our Christmas favorites over the next couple of days .........we're going to have way too much dessert over the weekend! Well, after all, it is Christmas around here.

Slow Cooker Navy Bean Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups of Navy Beans or White Northerns

2 slices of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 onion, diced

2 or 3 medium carrots, diced

3 ribs of celery, diced

2 Bay leaves

Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Place beans in crock pot and cover generously with cold water. Add the rest of the ingredients then set the temperature on your slowcooker according to your manufacturers recommendations. I cooked mine most of the day, 6 hours on high. Obviously this meal makes itself and then looks so deliciously cozy when poured into a beautiful soup tureen.

Over the course of the next few days we'll be watching a handful of our favorite Christmas movies. Because of this our meals are going to be eaten in front of the television.......our nod to summer casual even though, like I said, it's Christmas around here. Of course, instead of eating around a roaring fire we'll be cozied up to our fans instead.

My tablescape tonight was set on our familyroom coffee table. I simply used a folded snowflake patterned table runner as my table covering. The white soup tureen was a birthday gift from my Mom .

I love the ladle that matches the tureen.

Basket of cornbread muffins............

I bought these little Christmas themed spreaders at a kitchen shop a few years back. They make perfect utensils for putting butter on hot cornbread muffins.

Sometimes at Christmas I use my "Love, Joy, Peace" tray as kitchen decoration along with the small canisters that make up the set. Here I thought it worked well to put the white ironstone bowls and soup spoons on. Every so often we like to set up our meals in here instead of at the kitchen table. Tonight it worked really well......we had everythng we needed to enjoy our meal while we watched our dvd. And as it turned out......when we sat down to eat it started to rain.....no kidding! Around here that's a big thing! :) We were able to open the windows and enjoy the showers as we ate. Christmas cozy!

As always, enjoying myself............

Tomorrow I'll be sharing a couple of favorite Christmas Season desserts!

I'm participating in Tablescape Thursday today with Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. You really need to go over to her lovely blog and see the beautiful tablescapes there.

Also Sandra is hosting Slow Cooking Thursday at her great blog Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. Be sure to drop by for some slow cooker recipes for these hot summer days.

Christmas in July, Part I

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for some Christmas fun!

Join Heather at Simply Heather for more Wordless Wednesday Posts

and

drop by The Secret Garden for more posts in Red!

Am I Cool or What? Part IV

Did I hear someone say 113 by Sunday? Be back in a minute........sure enough. I just checked the National Weather Service site and 113 degrees is right. As everyone around here loves to say, "It's a dry heat." Actually at only 10% humidity, it is a dry heat, and it does make a really big difference. That being said, however, the fact still remains............it's going to be hot! This is the time of year that those of us here in the Southwest have to remind ourselves that for eight months out of the year our weather is absolutely gorgeous. Still, this weekend we are going to be reaching for a lot of those cold drinks!

Actually this time of year if you live anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere you're going to be experiencing warm weather......and that means you need a plan. What kind of plan, you ask? A "stay-out-of-the-kitchen-as-much-as-possible" kind of plan that's what!...........which leads me to the subject of today's post. If you don't make a plan for your meals any other time of year, you should in the summer. Besides, there are just too many fun things to do in the good 'ol summertime to be stuck in a hot kitchen! So here's a short list of suggestions for keeping it cool in the kitchen for the next few weeks. I'm sure you'll be able to think of even more......just tailor it to your family and your circumstances.

The List

*Plan menus so you're not tempted to get fast food "just one more time".

*Think" make-ahead" main dishes that can be cooked early in the morning or later in the evening when the house has cooled down .......then reheated in the microwave.

*Use your crock pot!

*Prepare a big salad bowl with all your favorite lettuce. It'll be ready on short notice to top with the chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, and radishes, etc, that you enjoy making your lunch or dinner salads with. All these little goodies can also be prepared ahead of time and be stored in containers or baggies so they're right there when you need them.

*Fix bowls of cubed watermelon and cantaloupe and keep chilled. There's nothing more refreshing than to be able to grab a bowl of fresh fruit anytime you like.

*Strawberries, blackberries, and peaches can be "sugared" lightly and kept in covered containers the same way. Flash freeze your grapes on a big cookie sheet, then package in baggies in individual portions......these make a great snack for kids and adults alike.

*Make a big pitcher of tea or lemonade first thing every morning. Try making "sun" tea.

*Keep some extra lemons and limes for slicing into big glasses of ice water. By the way.....make sure you have plenty of good tasting, healthy-for-you drinking water in your home. There's nothing better for us in the summertime.

*Buy an extra bag of ice to keep in your freezer even if you have an ice maker. You don't want to run out.

*Prepare several main dish salads such as chicken salad (recipe below), corned beef salad, and egg salad to keep in your fridge for quick sandwich meals.

*Make homemade ice cream or buy your favorites from the store. Do the ice cream thing I talked about in this post.

*Now go ahead and think of your own......some that will work for you this summer.

Cool 'n Quick Chicken Salad

*This recipe can be easily cut in half if you want to make less than this at a time

Ingredients:

6 large boneless skinless chicken breasts

4 ribs of celery

1 cup of quality mayonnaise

salt and pepper

1 Tablespoon sugar

To Prepare:

Steam chicken breasts until done. I love to use my double- decker steamer, but if needed you can bake or boil the chicken.

If you steam or boil the chicken you will have the added bonus of several cups of chicken broth. Cool in fridge, skim fat off of the top, then label and freeze. This broth is invaluable for soups, chicken and noodles................all kinds of chicken dishes.

Season the cooked chicken breasts with salt and pepper to taste, then cut into cubes.

Dice the celery into small cubes.




 

Finally, in a large bowl add to the chicken the mayonnaise, the celery, and the sugar. Don't decide to leave out the sugar here because you've never heard of putting this in chicken salad..............you have to trust me.............add the sugar.

And you're done! To serve this as a main dish just put your servings on beds of lettuce. Serve with Wheat Thins or Club Crackers. Chicken salad will keep in the refrigerator for several days, ready for a sandwich lunch or dinner. Here you see it on our favorite deli-rolls served with cantaloupe and a cold veggie side dish.




 

Smaller sandwiches can be made by using the small potato dinner roll. Grab some sliced fruit from the fridge, add a few chips, and you're ready to go.

Enjoy! Be sure to join me on Wednesday the 15th for Christmas in July. Wouldn't you say we could use a little Christmas ?

Keeping it cool...............

For more delicious menus on this lovely Friday evening drop by to visit these two great sites.

Michael @ Designs by Gollum

Ann at Ann Kroeker.Writer

And for some lovely homemaking posts........  go visit Sarah at Blissfully Domestic

Am I Cool or What? Part III

The dogs have the right idea. Forget your pride. Stretch out on the deliciously cool floor and take a nap. No problems. No worries. Just nice and cool. Even five year olds seem to get it!

Kenedee and Bruno

Patrick

We could probably learn a thing or two.

Staying cool........

After your nap run on over to see Natalie at Dogs on Thursday

where you can enjoy more doggie posts!

Am I Cool or What? Part II

If you're not an early riser you probably shouldn't plant a garden where the summers are this hot. By early rising I mean about 5 am . This shot was taken at around 5:15 this morning. Not that it's easy. Not that it's fun. It's just that if you enjoy being outdoors, gardening, walking, running (a nod here to my son and daughter-in-law the marathon runners), or if you like having your devotions and/or breakfast outdoors, this is the only way to do it.

Don't hate me but I've always loved being up early.........everything is so fresh, so new-looking, and most importantly it's still so cool!

There's not an awful lot going on in my garden this time of year. Zuchinni is going crazy because it loves the heat, but everything else is to put it mildly, "languishing" , much like the proverbial Southern belle. I don't know why I even bother to plant anything in pots because it is so much work to keep them watered and shaded. My "Garden Guy" book is telling me its time to plant pumpkins for a fall harvest. I've always meant to......it's such a nice vision in the middle of July to see a lovely autumn garden overflowing with pumpkins! I have this vision every year, but so far I've never done anything about it........maybe I will this year......then again maybe I won't........it's just so hot!.

I'm alway grateful for my bouganvilla plants though.......they provide some of the few spots of color right now. Oh if everything were this easy.

The Pool Now when you have a pool you pretty much live in it all summer! Here I've pulled a couple of scrapbook pages from my archives.........

As I've said before, I like to keep my scrapbooking pages simple because I like the emphasis to be on the pictures.......add a few captions, a little humor......and you have a "cool" memory.

Night swimming can be a lot of fun too, with the added bonus that you'll sleep like a baby! On this page we had just gotten back from vacation and Christopher had some friends stay over that night. Always a full house in the summer.





 BONUS PHOTO!

Now, Joan, forgive me for putting this one in......I just had to.....look at how cute Stacey was!

The Lawn

I probably water the lawn around here too much. I just love to hear it I think! So refreshing.

Then I water the lawn some more...........

Of course I'm not showing you pictures of the front lawn right now.......the automatic sprinkler we have out front just broke.....and a little while without water around here and........well you don't want to see it! If we don't get it fixed soon I'll just have to resort to dragging the backyard hoses out front. Like I said, you don't want to see it. In the backyard it's different though. I have another dilemma. It's too hot for any of us to mow! Good excuse, huh? Yeah, I thought so.

Think about this though. Some days, when the sun is about to go down, if I'm lucky, it's cool enough to go outside, take a cool drink, and tackle that summer reading list. I love the sound of a summer reading list, don't you? Even if there's never enough time to finishing reading everything it's just fun to have one.





The Mountains Finally, if all else fails in the "keeping cool" department, we just might take off for the mountains............

................find a cool stream

...............and stick our toes in! Ahhh........

Keeping it cool.............

Take some time to go over to see Susan at Southern Daydreamer to read about lots of other outdoor adventures.

And for beautiful water photographs join them here!

Am I Cool or What? Part I

Trying to stay cool in the summer can be challenging at best. In the next few days I'm going to be having a little fun with this subject. As a desert dweller for over twenty years I think I now qualify to be "dishing" out some advice in this area! Today the advice is........eat lots of ice cream. Yes, you heard me......eat lots of ice cream. I know. I know. The calories. The sugar. All I can say is you gotta do what you gotta do!

Seriously, though, you can go lowfat low-sugar if you like, just go for the cold. Actually around here we're not big ice cream eaters......but that all changes in the summer. I have an aunt who lived for many years in a very hot area of California. She surprised me one day by saying that every once in a while she and her family just had big bowls of homemade ice cream for dinner! That's it. Nothing else. That was a new thought to me!......can you do that, I wondered? Evidently you can, so we've tried it a few times over the years...............if there's a "nutritionally sound dinner rule" about this I guess I've broken it. Still, if there's a time for breaking rules it's in the good 'ol summertime. Try it if you dare.

Be sure to stock up on several kinds of ice cream cones too. Here's my grandaughter Kylie enjoying a cone, but even if there are no young ones around your house it's a fun idea. Adults like ice cream cones too. You know how it's always a gracious idea to serve drop- in visitors a cool drink? Try offering them an ice cream cone! Remember, it's summer......you can break the rules.

Finally, it you ever run across this book by Ben and Jerry, the famous ice cream moguls, be sure to snatch it up. I got this in 1987 and I'm not sure if it is even in print anymore. There's even the recipe for the delicious "Cherry Garcia" in here. Today, since I'm participating in Lisa's "Tempt My Tummy Tuesday" and since this is the time of year for fresh peaches, I'll give you the recipe for fresh peach ice cream from the book.

Fresh Georgia Peach Ice Cream

The best way to capture the elusive flavor of summertime. We prefer small peaches because they have more flavor and less water than the larger ones.

Ingredients:

2 cups finely chopped ripe peaches, peeled if you prefer

1 1/4 cups sugar

Juice of a 1/2 lemon

2 large eggs

2 cups heavy or whipping cream

1 cup whole milk

To make: *Combine the peaches, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and the lemon juice in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, stirring the mixture every 30 minutes.

*Remove the peaches from the refrigerator and drain the juice into another bowl. Return the peaches to the refrigerator.

*Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the remaining 3/4 cups of sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend. Add the peach juice and blend.

*Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions.

*After the ice cream stiffens (about 2 minutes before it is done), add the peaches, then continue freezing until the ice cream is ready.

ENJOY!

(and be sure join me tomorrow for more "cool" ideas)

Don't forget to stop by Lisa's at Blessed With Grace for more delicious recipes.

The Latest Buzz

"An infinite God can give all of himself to each of his children, he does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others"

A.W. Towzer I don't know about you but it thrills me to know how much God cares for me as an individual. He cares for each of us as if we were the only one. He cares deeply....His concern is personal. Let's take time to remember this as we begin this new week.......be blessed!

For more inspiration be sure to visit Ginger and Charlotte at http://bloggerspirit.blogspot.com/. You'll be glad you did.

A Garden in the Desert

I ventured into the garden this morning. This is the last of the tomatoes and peppers.....at least until September. Once the temps get so high the plants won't set anymore blooms....and without blooms there'll be no more fruit. So we are relishing these final few.

From My Cartoon Stash.....No Words Needed

Since it's Wordless Wednesday at Dixie's go on over and see more April Fool's Fun!