BLT Salad from Pinterest

I've been trying to actually use some of the things I've pinned on Pinterest, so I tried the BLT salad. I was actually thinking of our SIL, Kyle, since I know he likes BLTs, but they didn't come for supper. Sorry you missed out Kyle because It was fantastic! It is evidently kid friendly too, as even Payton loved it.





You can find a prettier picture at A Bird and a Bean blog.

Here is the original recipe with the changes I made in parenthesis. (I tried to lighten it up a bit.)

BLT PASTA SALAD

Ingredients
12 ounce corkscrew shaped pasta(I used bowtie because that's what I had)
1/2 cup milk
12 ounces lean bacon(I used turkey bacon)
3 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks(I used cherry tomatoes)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme(didn't have any)
1 clove garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup mayo (I used 1/4c light light mayo and 1/4c yogurt)
1/4 cup sour cream(light scour cream)
4 tablespoons chopped chives(didn't have any)
5 heads Bibb lettuce, quartered, or 5 cups chopped romaine hearts(used iceberg)

Directions
Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water as the label directs. Drain and toss with the milk in a large bowl; set aside.
Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Discard all but 3 tablespoons drippings from the pan. Add the tomatoes, thyme and garlic to the pan and toss until warmed through; season with salt and pepper. Crumble the bacon into bite-size pieces; set aside 1/4 cup for garnish. Toss the remaining bacon and the tomato mixture with the pasta.
Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream and 3 tablespoons chives with the pasta until evenly combined. Season with salt and pepper. Add the lettuce; toss again to coat. Garnish with the reserved bacon and the remaining 1 tablespoon chives. Serve at room temperature.

So you can see that I changed it up because of lack of exact ingredients and lightened it up some with turkey bacon, light mayo and yogurt, and light sour cream. It was still delicious!

I'm sure this will become a family favorite.


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Pink Camo Quilt

My nephew and his fiancé had a daughter born in March. They wanted pink camouflage in the quilt. So, I began looking for it. I couldn't find any in the quilt stores around here, so I had to find it online. I knew I had to feature the camo fabrics in the quilt, or it wouldn't be apparent that it was camo. But I wanted it to be girly too. So this is what I came up with.



I often struggle with deciding on a pattern. I found a tutorial for the flowers from That Dorky Homemade Look blog, and went with a modified version of a quilt she had posted. The blog has not had a post in several years, but this one was helpful to me. I also backed it with camo.



I used a pink gingham with flowers as a border and the binding. (I had to get in as much girly as I could.). I meandered it all over except the borders. There I used a special stitch.




I hope that she enjoys it for many years to come. Now, my next baby quilt is a boy one again!



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June Birthdays

We celebrated two grandchildren's birthdays in June. Cael turned nine on June 13th.


He was trying hard NOT to smile! We celebrated with supper at their house. This is what we gave him for his birthday.


He had a fun time trying to guess where it would end. (Yes, it was from Pinterest!)


It all went for a Legos set he had been wanting because he is a Legos kind of kid--notice the decorations on the cake!

Clara turned two on June 28th.


She took time out from swimming with cousins to blow out her candle. Right now she is crazy for Dumbo, so Tasha made her a Dumbo cake.


She had help opening her gifts from cousin Chance.

Happy Birthday, Cael and Clara!
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Facebook has taken yet another surreptitious action* in your account without your permission by changing your preferred email address to a Facebook email address based on your user name (or the number assigned to you if you haven’t chosen an official user name). This means that the contact email that visitors will see is the Facebook email rather than your usual email address. If you would like to change your preferred contact email address back (as I did), take these steps:   1. Go to your profile page. 2. Click “About” (or if you haven’t switched to Timeline yet: Click “Edit Profile” in the top right corner.) 3. Click the edit button on the “Contact Info” section or select “Contact Information” in the left sidebar. This will bring up a list of all the email addresses Facebook has on file for you, including your new facebook-domained email address. 4. Left click on the open circle to the right of (your name)@facebook.com and choose the “Hidden from Timeline” closed circle. 5. Choose the email address at which you would like to be contacted and change  it from “Hidden from Timeline” circle to an open “Shown on Timeline” circle (or “Shown on Profile” rather than “Hidden from Profile”.)  

Roughin' It!

Back in the day we used to enjoy getting away from it all on the weekends. We packed up the camper and kids and took of for the campground....most often at Lake View. The most electronic thing we took with us was a fan! We started out in a tent, then a fold down, next a travel trailer. When we had the travel trailer we were high tech --we had a fridge, stove, oven, furnace and we brought along a TV(which was seldom used), and the girls needed their blow driers by then. And I can't forget the electric skillet used for making bigfoots.(see tutorial here http://kimjuilfs.blogspot.com/2009/07/bigfoot-tutorial.html)

We sold that TT as the kids were older, had jobs, and activities and were too busy to go camping. Later, our next camper was once again a fold down. But this time it was a real fixer upper. We only used it once or twice and graduated to an older fifth wheel. Once again we had the stove, fridge, etc., but for the first time we had air conditioning. Nowadays we have a nicer fifth wheel with all of the above including a slide for more room. Only two people now, but the most room we've had! Go figure!



What struck me today as I was sitting here is how "connected" we are when we're camping. Here is my evidence.



These things are beside my chair as I sit by the fire next to the river. Between the two of us we have talked to all of our kids at least once this weekend. Can't(?) go anywhere without a phone--mine a smartphone, Bud's a regular phone. I don't go anywhere without my iPad which is connected to 3G. Now my laptop isn't connected, but I am studying, so I need it for word processing. REALLY?

I know all of this technology is making the world flat. I know my students need this to learn and to keep up with today's world which means I should be knowledgeable about it too. But when do we ever just be? When do we teach kids to be happy with themselves connected or not? When do we teach them to go make their own fun. To go outside and cut up that dead pig like Travis used to do? I'm struggling a little with change. I'm sure every generation has had that. I guess I just liked that weekend away with just our family..swimming, fishing, and having fun--not being connected to anyone but each other. Today I am longing for those simpler times....
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Birthday Quilt

My niece was born 30 years ago on my birthday--February 24th. When she was younger she was always upset that I shared "her" birthday. As she has matured we enjoy sharing our special day. So this year I decided to make her a quilt to celebrate her milestone birthday.

I used the fabric line, Pure by Sweetwater for Moda.



I used a whole layer cake for this pattern plus the tan for sashing.


I love the blues and browns. I bought the pattern at Creekside Quilting in Clive. It went quickly, but as usual I spent a HUGE amount of time playing with the fabric placement. It is so hard to get just the right mix. I used a brown fabric withe the same blue for flowers along with a little green thrown in.


I straight line quilted it on the diagonal.



I hope she enjoys it for many years to come!

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A Little Field Trip!

I spent the day with the three oldest grandsons Tuesday. I thought it would be a good day for a little field trip. (Picture heavy post) We started out at the Kalona Cheese Factory where we bought some cheese curds.


The boys enjoyed watching them work through the windows. We bought some cheese curds, and they were quite "squeaky"! (if you aren't familiar with cheese curds, you WANT them to be squeaky when you chew them)

Our next stop was Godfather's Pizza where we has their lunch buffet. It was a great choice!


Really! Do you know how much these three can eat??? We did this first so we wouldn't get hungry during the next part of the trip. I wasn't born yesterday you know!

Then we went to downtown Iowa City where we parked in the Old Capital Mall parking ramp. When you take the "country boys" to town even the parking ramp amazed them! LOL. We headed for McBride Hall on the University campus.


McBride Hall contains the three places we visited. First we visited Iowa Hall. Iowa Hall is a trip through the development of Iowa including it's landforms, animals, and vegetation. The highlight was the Giant Sloth.


Nate would NOT go into the room alone! They enjoyed the video which showed the sloth bones being excavated at a farm in Iowa. They also enjoyed the information about the Native American tribes and how they lived.


I really need to watch the movie, Ice Age. The boys kept referring to it and made the connections between some of the animals and the movie. The next stop was Bird Hall.


Do you notice the "cool"poses of Payton? That's the way you roll when you're a cool fifth grader! Our last stop was Mammal Hall. The skeletons freaked Nate and Cael out, but they loved the other animals.


They each chose their favorite mammal-
Nate chose the flying squirrel. Just in case you can't tell, these are displays of stuffed mammals.


Here is Payton's choice. (Seriously, I can't remember the name of this animal!)


Cael was upset that they didn't have a cheetah, so this would be his second choice. He wanted me to make sure I got the ENTIRE scene in the picture.


As we went back through the Old capital Center Nate was dying to go on the escalator.


Once he got on he was too scared to turn around so I could take his picture!
Then we headed for the mall so the two little ones could play at the play place, and Payton played games on the iPad.






We ended our evening with an impromptu BBQ at our house with the boys(minus Payton who had been delivered to 4-H Camp), Trilby, Tasha, Kyle, Clara, & Aela.

It was a great day! Nate asked me, "Nana, when will you take us to more museums?" So, I think the boys had a good time too. I know for sure that this Nana was tired!
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