Small Town Tuesday: Chicken noodle dinner

This is my weekly installment of Small Town Tuesday. If you have a small-town story (with pictures is even better! ) please send me a message at vash_ii@yahoo.com or on Facebook.

I'm so proud to be involved in a long-running tradition at my church. As part of women's fellowship, every year we make home made, from-scratch noodles for a Sunday chicken noodle fundraiser.

This is the 6th consecutive year, though it was done many years before until there was no one to run it. The super nice lady who runs it now told me the other day, "I asked why we didn't do it anymore and they said no one wanted to head it. But I realized I just needed to delegate."

I've never made my own noodles so this has been an education for me. All the ladies gather for a quick dinner of soup, bread and dessert on a Wednesday night.

We all have different jobs like wrapping napkins and silverware, mixing dough, rolling it, putting it through a flattening press, putting flat pieces on the table to rest, putting them through a second cutting press, then laying the noodles on a table to dry overnight.

Then the noodles have to be bagged and frozen the next day, and the Friday before the dinner they are cooked with chicken - provided by fellowship members - and other women provide mashed potatoes, desserts, bread, pickles and veggies. Still more volunteer the day of the fundraiser dishing out food, serving coffee, tea and water, cutting desserts and cleaning up. 

It's quite a process!

A person could make their own noodles at home and simply press and cut by hand since the amount would be so much smaller. Here's the recipe:

The finished product! YUM!

Homemade noodles

2 eggs
2 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/3 c. milk

For the fundraiser, we used 11 dozen eggs, 1-1/2 gallons of milk and 50 pounds of flour. It's our main fundraiser and always benefits someone in our community. Last year it went to a fire victim and a missionary.

This year it will help a teenage boy with brain cancer who is the grandson of one church member and great-grandson of another church member (I didn't realize these ladies had a child and grandchild who had married!).

It's a wonderful cause and tradition, and I'm so blessed to be a part of it. The camaraderie and fellowship with these ladies is good for my soul. And look, I even made the town paper (I'm in the middle!). Woot!

We had a lot of fun making the noodles! Can you tell?

First step, mix the dough. This was my job this year!

Next step, dough ball.

Press into flat strips.

Lay them out to rest for awhile.

Cut into noodle strips.

Let them dry overnight.

 

Are we in for a harsh winter?

I heard a few weeks back that the Farmer's Almanac this year is predicting a colder-than-normal winter. Oh boy.

There was the devastating and freakish snowstorm that hit South Dakota the first week of October, dumping a record 4-plus feet of snow.  

And I can tell you we've already had two very unusual snow events in Kansas this year. It snowed in early May, which is pretty rare for us, and now it snowed for several hours this past Friday, October 18. According to this article at the Great Bend Tribune, a Wichita meteorologist called it "definitely an early snowfall."

That means we've technically only had a 4-month break from snow this year and that on the heels of several previous years of mild winters, severe drought and record stretches of 100-plus-degree days.  

Now, it's Kansas, it's the Midwest, and any Midwesterner will tell you, "You don't like the weather? Just wait awhile." It's always changing and unpredictable. But I have an idea we're in for something more this year. There's just an ominous feel to the air.

Here's a quick photo I snapped during my travels Friday. Everyone I've talked to who has lived here a long time was just shocked and caught off guard. I wonder what's in store? Lucky for me it's in God's hands and I can't really do much about it but pray :)

Guest contributing at One Smiley Monkey

I am happy to share that I am now a guest contributor/reviewer at the blog One Smiley Monkey. In a nutshell it features, "the latest green, useful and unique family friendly products and services." There are lots of reviews, giveaways, recipes, parenting, homemaking and health tips. Here is the about page for One Smiley Monkey.

I'll be contributing reviews and posts there each month. I'm stoked!

My first post went up yesterday and it is a review of a Halloween movie. If you have a minute, head on over and check it out! Thanks! 

Corn Maze is once-a-year fun

    

This post is a part of the Fantabulous Fall Favorites blog chain put together by a great group of bloggers. The theme this week is treats. Be sure to check out all the great ideas shared at the end of this post!

Have you ever been through a corn maze? If not, I have to tell you, I think you are really missing something super fun.

Last year was our first year (I never went to one my whole life until age 41!), but I think we will make it an annual tradition. I get to be navigator, ha! It's not exactly like navigating small islands in a Florida bay, but not all that different either so I get that job.

Though my Mom did pretty well when we compared notes throughout the maze (Hi Mom!). It's exciting and fun and unique and even a little spooky. I mean, there you are, walking amongst 8-foot-tall corn stalks with only a map to guide you through twist after turn after dead end. All you can see is corn in every direction.

I thought it was a Midwest phenomenon until I looked at this map. And here's yet another directory. They're all over the country! Maybe there's one near you or somewhere you're traveling.

Corn mazes offer a lot of good things:

1. Fresh air.
2. Family togetherness.
3. Exercise.
4. Map reading skills.
5. Adventure.
6. Learning directions.
7. Goal achievement.
8. Making memories.
9. A family tradition.

They are a special treat available only for a short time each year. Here are some photos of this year's adventure.

Here we go.

Brady's being brave, except it was the wrong way!

This was the view from a small bridge. Corn everywhere!

This is what you see if you look up.

They also had a pumpkin patch, hay ride, pumpkin & corn shooters, games, snacks, etc.

But Brady's favorite (he's the one in orange, how appropriate) was the air-filled jumpy dome. Wheee!

Interested in more amazing Treats ideas? Check out these posts!

The Paper Vine - No Sew Treat Sack  

Life as a Field Trip - I Scream Sundaes and Sorta Spooky Scare-a-thons  

Momma on Wheels - Preschool Halloween Treat Cups  

Gift of Curiosity - Preschool Science: Exploring Candy

Still want more? Head to our Fantabulous Fall Favorites Pinterest Board!

Refigerator cucumber relish

My 2 jars of refrigerator cucumber relish.

Before I say anything at all, you'll need to go to Creative K Kids for this recipe. When I saw it at her blog - a grandmother's recipe no less - and with all my extra cucumbers, I knew I had to try it.

I asked her if she thought it would work for the frig instead of canning and she said once she opened a jar it lasted a long while since it has vinegar in it.

It turned out fantastic and the 2 jars are almost gone already! It is a nice, refreshing addition to any dinner and is glorious on biscuits.

I did the process just exactly the same way, only after cooking on the stove, I put it in clean jars, let it cool and popped it in the frig. 

I halved the recipe since I wasn't canning (As much as hubby liked it I could have made the full batch. He said it reminds him of his grandma who passed away a few years back. Awww.) and because of our personal tastes I left out the curry, hot pepper and mustard seed. I have no doubt those would taste awesome in it, but hubby isn't thrilled about those particular additions :) You know how it goes.

Anyway, Creative K Kids has some of the best recipes, so go on over and check it out. I am also getting ready to make her caramel corn and caramel dip.

The small kindnesses that give me hope

There are days I feel so blessed by kindness and generosity, and I see it all around me. There are other days I feel beat down by insensitivity and callousness, and by what I see on the news. 

This week was one of the former. We were the recipient of four small kind acts and I wanted to share them.

•  A total stranger gave me the giant sunflower head below that she had grown. My son and I will pick off and roast the seeds. And when I told her I garden as well, she gave me a jar of the seeds she's saved from her own garden, things like yard-long beans, banana squash, wax beans and okra, among others.
• Then my husband's uncle gave us a bunch of catfish he'd caught. I breaded and baked the fillets and they were awesome. They fed us for two days.
• Later in the week, a customer left two jars of canned salsa at our office door (we've also gotten zucchini red hots and sand hill plum jam!). 
• Then a lady in town my husband helped out gave him a container full of fresh, hot ham and beans that fed us another two nights. They were fantastic!

Wow. 

Kindness still exists. People are still generous. I'm so grateful to God for that knowledge and for the blessings given to us. May we turn around and do the same for others. 

Gosh, that sunflower is HUGE! I hope I can grow one like that some day.

Small Town Tuesday: Our city park

This is my weekly installment of Small Town Tuesday. If you have a small-town story (with pictures is even better! ) please send me a message at vash_ii@yahoo.com or on Facebook. 

When I lived in Columbia, S.C. - about 500,000 in the metro area - we used to do what I call "park hopping."

If we were super bored, we'd go to 3 parks in a day. Or we'd visit 5 or 6 in a week's time. We even named them all.

There was Baby Swing Park because it had a bunch of baby swings. Sprinkler Park because of the ... you guessed it... sprinkler. We were not creative park namers.

We also liked Dirt Clod Park, Horsey Park, Downtown Park and a few others. And even in Florida, we did park tours. We no longer named them but we had ones on the waterfront, ones outside YMCA's, ones in neighborhoods, one we could walk to in five minutes.

Parks, parks, parks. We love them.

Here in our cozy little Kansas town - population less than 1,000 - there is one park. Oh sure, we sometimes go to parks 10, 20 or 30 miles away, but our main staple park is here.

In a little town, the city park serves many functions. Of course it's where all the kids end up to play especially on summer days, but it's also where the city holds festivals, and residents have family reunions and birthday parties.

It's where I send Brady after church when we "talk forever about boring stuff to everybody."

It is right in the center of town and takes up a whole block. It's full of big tall trees. There is a merry-go-round, a big plastic playground with slides, 2 metal dome-shaped climbing things, 2 sets of swings and a big complex of monkey bars and metal ladders.

There is almost always somebody there and we have had so many good times in that park. It's awesome for exercise. You'll even spot me sometimes climbing around to get in a quick workout.

Here are a few photos of our little city park.

The picnic area is HUGE. You'll often find parents gathered there while kids play.

I love that there are just tons of trees.

Such quaint little benches. The park is of course surrounded only by houses and small streets.

I love these old-timey lamp posts.

Lessons from church: Work is worship

My first job, like many young girls, was babysitting. I moved up to Baskin Robbins, Godfather's Pizza, grocery store bakery and finally writing obituaries for a newspaper. 

During college, I was a *wince* telemarketer. (Sorry if I ever called you.)

Journalism on and off for six years, brief stint in a casino marketing department. While studying geology, I decorated cakes and proofread for a newspaper.

Five years working on boats and investigating storm drains before becoming a stay-at-home mom to Mr. Brady. When he was 4, it was back to cake decorating, then magazine writer, then laid off, and now self-employed with my husband.

Sheesh.

Work has been a roller coaster for me. One thing I wish had known during all of those jobs was the simple idea that it could be a form of worship.

My faith didn't emerge until I was 38, but once it did this idea of work being worship - or even at times ministry - began to grow on me. And our pastor put it so well a few Sundays ago in honor of Labor Day.

The message resonated with me even more-so because we're self-employed. Our job can be what we make of it. Here were some points he covered:

Be humble

It's all too easy to think, "Look at what I did." While it's natural and healthy, I think, to appreciate a job well done and use it as motivation to continue to do well, I have also found it freeing to say instead, "Look what God did through me." We can offer up our work as testimony and worship.

Not only that, who along the way also worked through Him to help you achieve what you did? When you take the focus off of you and place it instead of the Lord and those around you, the accomplishment is even bigger.

Ask for help

A different pastor once said this during a sermon and it stuck with me: "It's not that God doesn't give you more than you can handle. He gives you more than you can handle WITHOUT HIM." If we try to tackle things in life alone, it will be much more of a burden than if we do our best, control what we can and give the rest over to God.

Work can be difficult sometimes, scary, uncertain, challenging. There may be rude co-workers or long hours or big decisions.

But you are where you are for a reason. You possess your talents and skills for a purpose. You can make a difference. You can bring something beautiful to your job. And you are not alone.

Have integrity

In every area of life, there are things that come up that don't feel right. Temptations, easy paths, coercion or pressure from others. I like to say that there's not a time for God and then a time for you. All time should be God's time, and all deeds should be done with Him in mind.

Your conscience should guide you in every aspect of your work. That is yet another way for it to serve as worship and to serve as an example to others.

Remember the ultimate boss

Like our pastor also said recently, JC is our ID. Our worth is in Him and that should be expressed through our job, but our job should not be what drives us.

Jobs come and go, bosses come and go. If you serve God - the Ultimate Boss - well, then the rest will sort itself out. Day in and day out, we do our jobs. It can seem boring, tedious, monotonous sometimes. It can seem thankless and pointless.

But if we offer it up as worship - the worship of helping others, of keeping things running smoothly, of serving a necessary purpose, of building things, teaching things, using the gifts given to you - then it becomes something more and it can help you rise above the daily grind. I really believe that.

Here are a few of my odd jobs. I wonder how much better they could have been if I had known that one simple thing:

Journalism days at a women's magazine.

Cake decorating. It was an ocean cake. I loved it!

Driving a boat, yes for work, really! We did water quality monitoring.

Investigating storm drains. Don't dump anything in them!

And the best job of all, raising Brady.

Health benefits of pumpkin

This post is a part of the Fantabulous Fall Favorites blog chain put together by a great group of bloggers. The theme this week is pumpkins. Be sure to check out all the great ideas shared at the end of this post!

 

This is what has been appearing in front of the grocery stores lately. I took this photo in front of a Dillon's store, which is part of the Kroger chain. Aren't they beautiful?

 

And not only are pumpkins plentiful now, they are starting to go on sale. In a few weeks, they'll be really cheap! I, for one, plan to stock up and I'll tell you why. Pumpkins are good for you! 

I like pumpkins in general because they are so versatile - pie, soup, muffins, pancakes - on and on. And not only that, their consistency makes them a good substitute for egg which I always need because of Brady's egg allergy.

I had the idea they were healthy, but just recently did a little research to find out just exactly HOW healthy.  Here's what I found out about the nutrition of pumpkins as well as their interesting history:

• Pumpkins are loaded with beta carotene. Every source I looked at, from CNN to Men's Health, mentioned this benefit. This antioxidant gives it its orange color and may help prevent heart disease and cancer and boost immunity.
• It has tons of Vitamin A and Potassium. 
• 1 cup has few calories (49) and lots of fiber (almost 3g). 
• According to this article at How Stuff Works, canned pumpkin and fresh are about equally nutritious.
• At WebMD, this article states that 80 % of the U.S. pumpkin supply is available in October. This article also states canned and fresh are fairly similar with small variations in Vitamin C and Vitamin A. 
• According to the Poughkeepsie Journal it is also a good source of vitamin E, thiamin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin C, riboflavin, copper and manganese. 
• The Huffington Post reports that pumpkin seeds - also called pepitas - are rich in phytosterols which are touted for reducing bad cholesterol. Wikipedia states they are a good source of protein, magnesium, copper and zinc. 
• The Huffington Post also states that pumpkin seeds can boost your mood because they contain the amino acid tryptophan and that pumpkin boasts more potassium than a banana. 
• Livestrong.com touts the seeds' zinc content. 
• Jack Creek Farms in California has a really neat website all about pumpkins. There is a full nutrition break down here, information on growing pumpkins here, a great list of varieties here and recipes here.
• According to the farm website, pumpkin is a fruit!  Here's more about what constitutes a fruit or vegetable at Mayo Clinic's website.
• Pumpkins originated in North America and were grown, cooked and eaten by Native Americans. I had no idea!
• According to Wikipedia, the oldest evidence of pumpkin-related seeds dates between 7000 and 5500 BC in Mexico.
• Also at Wikipedia, Nestle (under the name Libby's) produces 85 % of the processed pumpkin the U.S. I remember in 2009 when canned pumpkin had a shortage because of rains in Illinois.
• When I first attempted to grow pumpkins last year, I was surprised to learn that the plant has both male and female flowers. It is well described here at Missouri Botanical Garden's website.

I hope this little research project has inspired you to go out and stock up on pumpkin as well. It's a far more interesting plant than I ever knew. Happy Fall!

Interested in more amazing Pumpkins ideas? Check out these posts!

Bee Tree Studios - This is Halloween, Halloween!
Gift of Curiosity - Pumpkin Decorating with Melted Crayon
Creative K Kids - Monster Pumpkin Cookies
Called to Be a Mom - 6 Easy Pumpkin Activities for Preschoolers

Still want more? Head to our Fantabulous Fall Favorites Pinterest Board!

My peaceful place is gone... for now...

Fall has come to Kansas. There are a few patchy yellow spots in the trees now. Our morning temps dipped  into the 30s this weekend.

The growing season is over. The picture below is of a garden in its prime. Now the plants are pale, listless; the growth all but stopped. Except those okra, I'm telling you they are nearly indestructible.

Last week, I picked my last big bowls full of green tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and okra. I have one squash left to cook. And I need to dig up the carrots. 

To be honest, I'm ready to be done. The coming of fall does that to a person. It tells you it's time to dig in and brace for the coming cold. Here our habits follow the weather.

But I will miss it. This is a place where I always find peace. It is the most interesting and hopeful place I know. I will turn my mind to winter things, and turn my energy toward jewelry making and cleaning old bottles I dug up and cold-weather cooking.

But I will also start planning for next year's garden.

What gives you peace? And are you ready for winter?