Mount Hood, Oregon
New Year & Family Gathering In Oregon-
Things have been busy here at the Little Homestead! We had a little snow this morning and it melted later with more on the way. More snow on the horizon in a few days.
Dave's Christmas gift to me, new prayer flags for the coop!
Not much snow this year so far. We had a really nice Christmas Eve dinner here that we hosted for all of our family and that was great. I made a hearty marinara sauce with sausage, green salad, Italian bread, I made Annabel Langbein, The Free Range Cook's, amazing chocolate almond cake and Panettone bread (Trader Joe's). I made each of the girls a gift of a beach memory jar. We took a family trip n September to the Oregon coast and shared a rental home. I took a bucket and brought back sand, driftwood, seaweed and seashells-
I used canning jars, add sand, then the rest and added some tumbled back glass I had. I think they came out really nice! I'll be making one for Dave and I when I catch my breath!
The weekend after Christmas we flew to Portland, Oregon where my husband's family is for their annual Christmas party, a couple of nice shots from 30,000 feet-
Pink hole in the clouds, really unusual
Living out of state has its disadvantages as most of his family is not able to travel this far. We had a great flight, had a fun dinner Saturday night. We wanted to bring back Chewy, a 6 month old lab-
He was such a love bug! Kisses for Dave-
Sunday morning we squeezed in a short trip to Ikea, for some small things we could fly back. We found some great photo frames, a small reading light for Dave and a few other things. Dave found some old framed photos of his Father that we will repair, rehab and hang up in our house. All in all a fun trip, then flew back Sunday night. We did have New Year's Day off and it was great since we had most of the day with River our older grandson. He's 3 1/2 and just a hoot! Smart, funny and very entertaining. Then a short work week, then a very busy weekend this weekend. I deep cleaned most of the kitchen, we gathered donations and are planning a spare bedroom closet makeover ( more later). Back to work tomorrow so I can rest!
I used this base recipe The Best Banana Nut Bread. I subbed Whole Wheat pastry flour, 3/4 brown sugar, 1/4 white and skipped the honey for a healthier version of banana bread. I did use butter, but you could swap that. I was happy it came out moist, not too sweet and light! Crunch on the top from the extra walnuts was a nice addition. Previously I just put them in the batter. Great in the winter with a hot beverage!
I found a nice little roast on sale and decided to try this cut. I used this recipe Sirloin Tip Roast with some changes. I didn't salt the day before, so I added 1 1/2 Tsp salt to the herb mix. I also roasted at 300 degrees, instead of 250. I started with one hour and then checked the internal temp. At 140 degrees I took it out and let it rest. It was a bit more rare than I wanted, next time I'd go to 150 degrees. BUT it was juicy and tons of flavor! Great mix of herbs with the garlic. Roasting was about 2 hours or so. Leftovers will be for some Italian Beef and Roasted Vegetable Sandwiches.
Nancy, sounds like you had a great week. Love the look of both the banana bread with nuts on top and the nice little roast. And, yes, peas with everything, please--love them!
ReplyDeleteThanks and peas have so much protein!
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