Rachael Eliker's Blog, page 88

A Quick Two Years

Katherine making her birthday cake while Claire supervises.We celebrated Kate's birthday a few days ago (along with her birthday buddies, my sister Jenny and Shamu the whale).
Skyping with family while she opened presents. Isn't technology incredible???While it's been a quick two years that she joined our family, it seems like a lifetime ago--Jack was still a student, we were still in Iowa, I was still in my twenties(!) and the girls were all small.
[image error] As of late, most mornings Kate sits on m...

Happy Dog

Raven stretching her legs while we had a family night bonfire.Raven and I are averaging about three mile jogs four to five times a week. I get home and all I want to do is take a nap.
Raven's tired for all of thirty seconds, then she has spurts of fast speed and long, loping jogs where she weaves around with no particular destination. Once called inside, she spends her time snoozing in the cool storage room.
That's one happy dog.

Lemon Baked Tilapia

The girls gobbled theirs up!The girls love fish. But I don't. So we compromised by using this recipe that does a good job getting rid of the "fishy" flavor. I must admit, it was good! It'll go on the regular schedule of low-cost, low-calorie meals. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 pound tilapia (or other white fish)
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Paprika
Parsley
Lemon wedges (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Combing butter and lemon juice in one...

Chivalry

Up a ladder, ready to squash a wasp with his shoe that kept pestering me while I was painting.Though some think chivalry is dead, it's alive and well at our house. Since Jack is the only boy in a sea of girls, he has many opportunities to be gallant.
He lets the girls have a free ride on the lawn mower when it dies in the yard and won't start again. That's no small feat!
We'd walked a long way already and Claire couldn't take it anymore. She could practically nap on his shoulders.The girls get...

Two In A Row: Lessons of Multiple Miscarriages

My baby says she's no longer a baby anymore.I declare this a year of the baby! Everyone seems to be making their special announcements one right after the other and I can hardly attend an activity or meeting or run errands without spotting pregnant bellies and wrinkly little newborns.

Unfortunately, Jack and I have missed out on sharing any good news about upcoming babies. Twice. In a row. The first miscarriage was sad but it was fast and furious and over within a few days. The second was much...

At It Again

This is going to take a while...I originally started on the south side of the house, then decided to take a hiatus. It was so sunny and hot that I'd squint to keep the sun and sweat from dripping in my eyes and end up with a headache after about twenty minutes of painting.
Someone's always willing to help.So, we put up siding in the front and once that project was done, moved to the shady, cool north side of the house. Of course, once I did that, we had a spell of chilly, wet weather. Sti...

Apple Butter

Apple butter and honey butter remind me instantly of childhood and autumn. Since we've got a few apple trees, we've had a bounteous harvest and making and preserving apple butter is high on the list (especially since it's so easy: it's made in the crockpot and we got an apple peeler that the girls think is fun to use!). It's delicious atop fresh bread, wheat muffins, biscuits, bagels, cornbread, english muffins or toast.
Right to work after breakfast!Ingredients:

5 1/2 pounds apples, cored...

Ohio

A new adventure: we can cross Ohio off our list of states visited!We were so fortunate to take a quick weekend getaway up to the Lake Erie region of Ohio over Labor Day weekend.
In Kirtland, OH visiting the Newel K. Whitney store.It seems like we haven't had as many trips lately, which is sometimes good (I'm a slavedriver on Saturdays when Jack's around to help me fix stuff on the house), but we were all in the mood for something fun.
Lake Erie. We were far enough north that our hotel TV had Ca...

Buckeye Cookies

Friday night is usually treat night and more often than not, we experiment with different recipes to see if they're worthy of being added to the recipe box. These buckeye cookies are chewy, sweet and salty and will definitely be a go-to dessert.

Ingredients;

1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
4 ounces chocolate
1 teaspoon shortening

Preheat oven to 350F. In...

Zesty Salsa

 Now that our tomatoes have finally started to turn red after a cold spell that kept them an unripe green, I've got so many that I'm scrambling to use them all before they spoil. Of course, salsa is at the top of the list. It's easy, I've grown almost all the ingredients myself and after trying a few recipes, we created this version that's slightly sweet, zesty, tangy and has a bit of a kick. Plus, you can can it in a water bath and save it for later. Not much beats the taste of fresh ve...