Rachael Eliker's Blog, page 13

Homemade Noodles

Ever since Jack got a pasta press for his birthday (we got this one and LOVE it), we've been using it weekly to make fresh pasta. It took a few recipes to figure out a really good one, but this is our new go-to, specifically for spaghetti and linguini. A pasta press certainly makes things easier BUT it's not necessary--it can be rolled out and cut by hand (here's a great how-to video). These noodles are buttery (even though there's no butter), soft and chewy, and perfect for a hearty dinner.
Ingr...

Witch's Brew Swirl Cookies

Halloween is going on during the entire month of October at our house!

The Devil's Staircase

Though we got a healthy dose of mountains driving through Yellowstone and hiking with Jack's family, we still wanted to explore more of them while we were so close. The Devil's Staircase (ever notice how pioneers named everything Devil's something or other? Devil's Tower, Seven Devils Mountain [although named by native peoples], Devil's Washbowl, Devil's Bedstead...) was on our shortlist of hikes we were considering but I was hesitant because of the distance and the fact that it had switchback t...

Waiting and Waiting and Waiting

Henry has been waiting and waiting and waiting for his fifth birthday to arrive, then one day, like it always does, the day came. Hallelujah! I love reminiscing about the years Henry's been a part of our family. As our first son, he's been doted on by his older sisters like he's had four mothers all his life. From his first smile, he's captured hearts because his joy, goodness, and kindness oozes from every grin. He loves to be in the middle of any project, especially if a hammer is involved. He's...

A Sister Pact

With four girls in the house (five, I guess, since I'm one), there's a lot of collective hair. There are never enough brushes or hair ties and it takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get out the door if one of them decides to fix the hair. We're talking braids, twists, hairclips, the works. When we made it to Idaho, one of the girls' aunts works in a salon and graciously offered to give the girls and I a trim, which we all desperately needed. We'd all been growing ours out in preparation to donate again and up...

Homemade Cheese Popcorn

If there's one thing I am, it's a popcorn connoisseur. I'll eat it in any form and I've begun mastering making lots of different varieties, from crunchy caramel corn to marshmallow popcorn balls. The latest in my repertoire of popcorn production is homemade cheese popcorn. Holy cow. We're in trouble. It was so easy and the kids loved it as much as I did...we're never going back to storebought.

In the Tree Tops

Yellowstone was only the very beginning of our mountain adventures. At Old Faithful, we met up with two of Jack's sisters and their families, did a bit of sightseeing, ate a giant hamburger, then ended up at his oldest sister's house, in Idaho. We wasted absolutely no time getting started exploring Idaho. It was my first time to the state and had been a good ten-ish years since Jack had gone. We had been planning a backpacking excursion there earlier in the year but my car accident put a damper o...

Peanut Butter & Pumpkin Dog Treats

Raven is a funny dog. She's not particularly picky about what she'll eat but she rarely eats in front of anyone. Ever since we've had her, she waits for us to leave the room to start eating her food but when it comes to these treats, she'll delicately take them and snack on them while we're watching. Apparently, they're that good. Plus, they're easy and only require five ingredients which we all had in stock. Happy dog ever since!
Ingredients:
1 cup pumpkin puree2 eggs1 cup dry roasted peanuts2 cu...

Yellowstone

We made it!

Yellowstone is one of those iconic destinations that's been on my to-do list for ages but because we live so very far away, we've never been able to cross it off. I mean, an entire day's worth of driving--not an eight-hour workday, I'm talking the full twenty-four hours was enough to deter us until the perfect opportunity presented itself. We had decided earlier in the year to take a trip out to Idaho and Utah to visit Jack's sister but a combo of my car accident and then the pandemic...

Creamy Mac 'n' Cheese

Who doesn't love a good mac 'n' cheese recipe? We sure do! This is another recipe I can make without complaints from a-n-y-b-o-d-y, which is an added bonus. I keep the ingredients on hand and we've not made the boxed version in months. You know what? No one's complained about that, either.