Winter Wonderland! I Finally Have Flowers, Dining Table Crate

Winter Wonderland!

We woke up this morning to light snow falling and about an inch on the ground! So pretty! I thought by noon it would be all gone, but it was still snowing and at one point we had probably about 2", maybe a little more. I got some nice photos before most of it melted this afternoon, but there is more on the way this next week. Happy dance! Here are some photos around the yard show how pretty it was, not in any particular order...

My favorite shot!!!

I Finally Have Flowers-

I had quite the adventure this winter starting sometime before Thanksgiving. I was looking all over for a white or cream-colored amaryllis and could not find any. Instead of buying the red ones that were everywhere I kept looking and basically at Christmas I had no amaryllis. I had a wild idea to try Trader Joe's New Year's Eve night and found this great Amaryllis Garden for $15. It had three giant amaryllis bulbs (unknown colors), as well as a beautiful little Ivy, surrounded by moss in a really nice little wooden crate. What a steal! I gave it a regular little watering and the two smaller ones bloomed a few days ago and the large main stock bloomed today. It smells heavenly in the dining room. I read up on how to keep amaryllis bulbs after they bloom and will do that and have them again next year! Thank you Trader Joe's, for the cream and white blooms!

Staked them up

Dining Table Crate-

I found this cute little dining room crate on LTD Commodities a while back, bought it for after the holidays and I love it! On the side it has great graphics and quote. I always use table runners and have some kind of a small tray or basket holding regularly used condiments. So is perfect for the space, just a little something to organize things. Love the metal, rusty corners and rope handles!!!

Grandma's toothpick holder goes well with it too!

Big Snow On The Way

Big Snow On The Way-
First is a little series of storms coming our way! Yay, I LOVE snow!!! I plan on taking lots of photos... just hope it doesn't all melt down here.

New Year & Family Gathering In Oregon, Healthier Banana Bread, Sirloin Tip Roast

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!    

Healthier Banana Bread-
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!

Sirloin Tip Roast-
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.