Food & Family

Christmas Break started off early with a few snow days! I tried my hand at a few new dinners on those days. On Thursday, I made Taco Pie. The pie crust was taco meat mixed with crushed tortilla chips. The filling was spanish rice, corn, salsa, beans, and taco sauce. I didn't take a picture - and it's probably a good thing because it didn't look that spectacular. Brown and tan food doesn't photograph that well... BUT it did taste good!

Friday night I cooked up Chicken Caprese with Bacon.

Of course we had to add bacon because Zach loves anything with bacon.

I actually took pictures of this one as I went.

First, I thawed out 3 chicken breasts and put them on a piece of foil in a 9x13 pan. Then I brushed them with oil and sprinkled them with salt and pepper.

Next, the recipe said to top with a slice of fresh tomato and a fresh basil leaf... well, I didn't have either of those so I had to improvise. I topped them with canned diced tomatoes (that I drained first) and then sprinkled about 3/4 tsp. dried basil on top. (*Tip: if you rub the dried spices between your hands before adding it to the dish, it brings out the flavor more!)

Then came the bacon. The recipe had me cook it in the oven for a few minutes so it was partially cooked but still flexible before criss-crossing it over the chicken.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until no longer pink. Top with a slice of mozzarella cheese and put back in the over for about 1 minute (until cheese melts).

I served these with a salad on the side. Delicious!

We celebrated Cook Christmas on Saturday the 22nd in Frankenmuth at Zehnder's. There was a little room reserved for us and they served us a delicious, family-style dinner. Unfortunately, I didn't get to eat very much of it because my stomach wasn't feeling very well. I think I ate something bad a lunch the day before and had an upset stomach for the rest of the day. It got worse when I was trying to sleep and woke up every hour until I threw up around 1AM. Ick. I hate throwing up. But I felt better. When I got up in the morning, there was a purplish-blotchy rash all over my chin and up around my mouth. It looked like a bad 5 o'clock shadow... I did my best to cover it with makeup but it didn't really help. I called a nurse friend and asked about it. Since I hadn't started any new lotions, shampoos, or medicines, she thought it could be broken blood vessels from the vomiting. That's what it probably was since there were broken blood vessels in my eyes too. If those are the after effects of one vomiting episode - I'm not thrilled about what might happen when I have to push out a baby in April... Anyways, it was great to see everyone and catch up with them. Aunt Linda & Uncle Wayne got us a cute box of baby socks, a baby outfit, and this adorable little lamb stuffed animal.

Here's a week 25 belly shot. I've been told that it looks bigger in person that in the photos - so it's getting bigger than it looks! :)

25 weeks

The day before Christmas we got a package from Candace with this adorable pink John Deere onesie and socks. This baby girl is loved. :)

Christmas Eve was spent with my parents and family. Here's a picture of Simba hanging out under their tree.

Christmas Cat

Christmas Day (morning) we spend with Zach's family. I got a few things I was really excited about! One was an iPad from Zach! It's great and I've been trying to find time to play on it and use it often. The second was the Pioneer Woman Cookbook!

I first started following her blog a year ago or so. I liked that she put pictures of each step of her recipes on the blog and she also included step by step pictures in the cookbook too. There is a breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers, beverages, and canning section.

Later on Christmas Day, we drove to Farmington Hills for Thorne Christmas. We headed back home that night because Zach had to work the next day. My parents stayed a few days and it was a good thing they did because my grandpa ended up going into the hospital. He coughed really bad all night, nobody slept, and my dad helped my grandma take him to the hospital in the morning. They admitted him and put him on a lot of antibiotics and did a few breathing treatments and he started to get better. Doctors think it was bad bronchitis. All his symptoms were almost identical to what happened to him the day after Katie's wedding in June. He spent a few days in the hospital before they discharged him on Sunday afternoon.

Zach and I went to Livonia on Saturday the 29 for O'Neill Christmas. My grandparents live about 10 miles from there so we went and spent the night with Grandma then went and visited Papa on Sunday.

We celebrated Tyler's birthday by eating dinner at Pizza Hut then going back to Zach's parents for dessert and presents. Instead of giving him a gift card or big bills in cash, we took 27 one-dollar bills and taped them together then rolled them up and put them in a box. So when he opened it he kept pulling out more money. It was hilarious! And much more fun than a gift card!

Happy 27th Birthday!

We spent New Year's Eve at the Morse's house with a bunch of family and friends. Katie & Kyle came up from Illinois again and Rachel & Jared were even there too! (The only one we were missing was Amy, who went to a college conference called "Urbana" for a week.) We had people sacked out all over our house so I got up and made a big breakfast New Years Day before we went out to my parents' house to watch bowl games and play some backyard football. Pregnancy has limited the contact sports for me for awhile so I stayed inside. It was either that or stand outside and freeze playing referee...

Well, that's all for now. Next post I'll add the mini pineapple upside down cakes I made as well as some nursery ideas I've got rolling around.

Love,

Sarah

New stuff!

Welp, if you haven't heard already, we've gotten a lot of new "stuff" since winter.

We know have 6 chickens clucking, pecking, and laying eggs! Yay for not ever having to write "eggs" on my shopping list ever again! The whole story is a bit long.

My family had chickens when I was growing up (25 of them) and ever since I've wanted them as an adult. Now that we're in a home where we won't be moving anytime soon, Zach built a coop, we picked out some adorable chicks at Tractor Supply, and brought them home and kept them under a heat lamp for several weeks.

My little peepers!

We finally moved them outside into the coop but didn't let them into the fenced in part for a few more weeks. They finally went outside but that was only to their demise because a few days later a raccoon dug under the fence and killed them...all of them... A few days later we pulled in the driveway and the stinkin' raccoon was running away from the coop! Zach went running inside for a huge flashlight and I drove the car around the side of the barn. It climbed up to the top of a ladder in the barn. Zach could see it through a crack outside the barn and I could see the whole body. So, I ran inside and got my .22 rifle. It wasn't loaded and I was in such a rush that I fumbled around with the shells for what seemed like forever until I got about 6 of them in and called it good. It's a semi-auto so it holds about 12 rounds. I told Zach I was taking the shot (he was on the outside of the barn) and kept trying to tell me to bring the gun to him because he could see it --- and I kept responding that I could see the whole body and that I was taking the shot. He came around the side as I yelled, "Fire in the hole!" Baha ha ha! This is hilarious to me as I write this because it sounds so redneck! It took a couple tries but I finally hit it and it fell down. Unfortunately I only wounded it and there was blood everywhere and Zach finished it off. It was HUGE and had sick nasty mangey fur and NO TAIL! But at least I avenged the death of my chickens. :)

Boom! Take that 'coon!

A few weeks later, we got some full grown chickens from a friend and they've been laying ever since. There's 3 white ones and 3 black ones. I'm open to name suggestions.

The other new thing we have is a DOG! And not just any dog - an adorable yellow lab puppy! It took awhile for Zach to warm up to the idea of getting a puppy but once he did he set right to researching what kind of puppy to get and where. He's a details kind of guy. :) He located a lab breeder close by and went to look at the pups then took me back to pick out the one for us! There were three female pups to choose from: two of them ran around causing trouble and chewing on everything in sight so we picked the more calm one.

Baby June!

We paid the breeder and put the adorable (but very stinky) pup in a kennel in the back of Zach's pickup. Well, she yipped, cried, and howled the whole way home... I felt terrible but with the way she smelled there was no way she was sitting on my lap for 45 minutes. The 45 minutes also gave us a chance to figure out what the heck to name her.... we had always thought we would get a boy dog and had all kinds of sweet names for boy dogs so a girl name was hard to think of. As soon as we got home and opened the kennel door - she puked. Ick. After cleaning that up we filled up a tub with warm water and gave her a bath. She was so tiny and fuzzy and cute! We played with her for a bit outside and finally decided on the name June. We wanted a short name that sounded mellow and June seemed to fit.

Zach and June

Finally got my puppy!

Her birthday is April 1 so she's already over three months old and growing SUPER fast. So far she has learned to SIT on command. We're working on STAY and COME. She likes to ignore the COME command, especially when she wanders through the hayfield looking for bugs and other disgusting stuff to eat. She likes to eat poop. And bugs. Gross. But she also likes to run through the garden and chase butterflies which is adorable. Nothing cuter than a puppy chasing a butterfly!

June also loves tennis balls.

Third new thing, paint! Our living room and one wall in the kitchen got a fresh coat of blue/gray paint. It's called "Van Courtland Blue" by Benjamin Moore. Thanks, Pottery Barn for the inspiration. I'm working on a photo gallery wall in the living room and a friend is doing a 4 canvas series of paintings for the wall in the kitchen. I'll post pictures soon.

Last new thing, Zach turned 25 and Mom Thorne turned 52 on July 16. I surprised Zach by inviting friends and family over for cake & ice cream in the afternoon. :) Zach was definitely surprised!

Pig cupcakes for the farmerboy

Happy 25 Years!

We also surprised my mom with tickets to a Tigers Game! My brothers got her a Tigers t-shirt and my sisters gave her spending money for at the ballpark and we went to the game on Thursday afternoon!

Can you believe she's 52!?

It poured rain -- the two days it's rained all summer and we had tickets to a ball game on one of those days --- but luckily our seats were just under the upper deck so we didn't get wet! And bonus - the Tigers won! After the game we stopped at Astoria Bakery in Greektown per the recommendation from friends and bought some delicious pastries for later. We also got to visit with our Thorne grandparents after the game which was so nice! I love hearing their stories.

That's all for now.

Love,

Sarah

Birthday Month & Bread

February brings several birthdays for our families again. January is packed full of them but February had a couple notable ones.

My youngest brother, Michael turned 12 years old on February 6. I am twice his age this year... crazy. I remember watching when he was born - how blue his skin was and how he didn't cry for awhile until the nurse rubbed some color back into him, how we really wanted him to be the 7th kid born on the 7th of February but he came at 11:50PM on the 6th, how he didn't have a name for almost a week because my parents couldn't decide what to name him. Some of the options on the table were: Harrison, Jason, Michael, and Travis and Justin's pick: Roly-poly-poop-and-pie. Thank goodness mom and dad didn't go with that one! :)

Anyways, Michael fits him perfectly and our family wouldn't be the same without him. He's in 6th grade this year and plays soccer, basketball, and baseball. He plays oboe in band and loves polar bears and the computer game Madden. He's still got HUGE eyelashes, adorable freckles, and shock blonde hair. He loves to tell you stories but he takes forever to get to the point... And he's still pretty small and cries at the drop of a hat.... maybe we babied the baby a bit too much. :)

Love you, Peanut! He was so small when he was born that I started calling him Peanut and it stuck. His other nicknames vary depending on which sister is talking to him.

If it's Katie, she calls him Sonny.

If it's Rachel, she calls him Babushka (which I realize is Russian for "grandmother" but who knows where she got it from)

If it's Amy, she calls him Bubba.

blowing out candles on his Superbowl cake

Mom & Dad with their baby

Mike & sister Rachel

Mike's birthday guests, who also may have been in town for the Superbowl...

Me & Zach, Trav's friend Jake, brothers Travis & Justin, Mom & dad, Rachel & Jared

The other milestone birthday we celebrated was Grandpa Cook's 92nd birthday on February 17. Yes, you read that right 92, as in ninety-two, as in 9 tens and 2 ones!

We went to Harbor Beach to their farm on Saturday for a birthday dinner and gifts. Zach, me, & my in-laws spent the night so it was nice to get some extra time with them when it wasn't so stinkin' loud from the rest of the Cook family chatter. :)

Grandpa Cook is doing so well for a man of his age. Actually, he's doing a lot better than most 70 year olds I know! He just wears glasses and has NEVER had a cavity in all his life! He sailed the Great Lakes as a young man, married Minnie, had 5 children and ran a farm complete with crops and cows for many years. He's also got a memory for dates like none other! He can tell you the date to the date when he started sailing one season, or the exact date and year he bought out the neighbors farm, or how much sugar beets cost in the spring of 1952. It's pretty ridiculous but also pretty impressive!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Cook! You are loved by many!

Singing Happy Birthday!

It's probably a good thing they didn't put 92 candles on there!

Grandma Cook, Sue, & Aunt Marge prepping the cake for eating

If I back up to January for a bit, I got to make a few exciting purchases! And they're only exciting because I waited and waited and waited to get them and now I'm so glad! One was a cozy down comforter. It's the best. Sinking into our pillow top bed with that comforter on top is SO lovely. I could stay in there all day! Well, at least all morning, which I've gotten to do a lot of lately due to our snow days and Presidents' days. :)

The second thing was the duvet cover for the down comforter. I went back and forth on colors, patterns, and designs but finally went with a complete bedding set from Pottery Barn. I was not disappointed at all! It gives our room a little pop of color which it desperately needed since all the walls everywhere are white. Plus it fits over the comforter perfectly too since we also got that at PB. I'll be sad when summer's here and the down comforter will have to go away. But until then, I'm enjoying it!

And last but not least, I have found a WONDERFUL bread recipe! I've made it twice now because the first time I didn't bake it long enough and the middle was still doughy, whoops! Anyways, I made it again Monday and it got my in-laws stamp of approval when they came over for dinner last night. Zach loves it too! I got the recipe from here. I followed her directions exactly. Bread is too sensitive for me to go messing around with the ingredients or doing my usual measuring method of estimating... I learned that the hard way.

Just beware, it makes 2 big loaves and it was pretty tough on my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Probably because there's between 6-8 cups of flour might be the reason it was a huffin' and puffin' away.

But who cares.

The machine lived and we got yummy warm bread!

I usually eat as many slices as possible when it comes out of the oven because it's only warm and fresh once. Reheating is just not the same. My recommendation is to slather butter on it then drizzle some honey on top. Or put raspberry preserves on it. That's good too. Actually, just about any way you eat homemade bread is good.

bread straight from the oven

It might be weird to say, but I was super scared of making bread from scratch. It just seemed so complicated and too many things could go wrong then I would have wasted lots of time and ingredients. But it's not so bad after all. The result was worth the risk of learning how!

homemade bread success!

Love,

Sarah

Our First Thanksgiving

For some reason, it seems that hosting your first family Thanksgiving is like a rite of passage. Just like turning 16 and getting a drivers license or turning 21 and being able to drink alcohol, hosting a family holiday event moves you into the responsible adulthood category. I guess we're growing up. Ha ha. When we decided to have Thorne Thanksgiving at our house, we got a lot of "Wow, you're brave," type responses. Were we supposed to be afraid of this event?!?! Is it really that awful to have your family come over to your home for a day?!?! Should we be worried about what we got ourselves into?!?!

Now, the actual event was not scary. It was quite a bit of prep work and made for a long and tiring day, but it wasn't a day we had to "survive." It was a great day. Zach cooked & carved his first turkey and I cooked my first pumpkin pies. :) I think a lot of the fear that comes with hosting a family event is from two things: 1. when a family doesn't get along and the relationships are strained which makes for walking on eggshells the whole time or family fights. Not fun. The second thing is trying to meet the expectations - real or imagined or from memory - of what a great Thanksgiving looks like. Some families set the bar high and trying to cook a turkey "just like dad" or make pumpkin pie "as good as mom's" can cause incredible amounts of stress.

Were my pies perfect? No.

Did they taste okay? Yes.

Did anyone complain about them? No, they were just glad they didn't have to bake them.

One of two pumpkin pies from scratch

We really did have a great day. Everyone pitched in and brought a dish or two. It all tasted great! We missed the other half of the Thorne family but they got some much needed time with Papa and Grandma. (Papa's not doing well so I think he needed something to take his mind off his pain for awhile.) We got to sit around, talk, catch up, tell stories, play games and relax. And what's a Thanksgiving celebration without a game of backyard football! In the Thorne household this was pretty much a mandatory thing to do, especially since we have a big, flat, grassy yard! We split up teams and played a game. Mikey threw a TD pass on our team's first possession and caught one on our second possession that he'll probably talk about for the rest of his life. :) It was one of those days where I wish I could bottle up the smells and the feelings and open them up on a dreary, lonely, February day.

Uncle Dave (dad's brother) & Aunt Jody

Cal, Luke, Zach, & James, AKA "Cousins"

My ageless parents

Our First Thanksgiving smiles

Kyle & Katie - engaged

Travis is kneeling and STILL taller than Michael

carp faces

Dinner was great. Our menu looked like this:

Turkey - with secret seasonings that Zach wouldn't tell me. He researched for about a week about how to best cook a turkey. Love that boy!

Sausage & Sage stuffing - my first attempt at homemade stuffing. Pretty good. A little heavy on the sage though.

Corn Casserole - Aunt Jody's delicious dish

Green bean casserole - mom

garlic mashed potatoes - mom made a HUGE pan of these, and by HUGE I mean, she has a pan that's much bigger an a 13x9

mixed greens salad with tomatoes & feta - Aunt Jody's fancy salad

Dessert was the best. Aunt Jody brought pistachio pudding (so creamy & delicious!), I made pumpkin pies and an apple walnut spice cake, plus a few extras: chocolate ice cream, and carmels.

Okay. Enough about that. Let's just say there will be a few blog posts later on about several of the dishes I cooked up for Thanksgiving dinner.

Apple Walnut Spice cake with cream cheese frosting

My sister Amy is a sophomore at Concordia University in Ann Arbor. She plays basketball and she's an R.A. plus she plays her french horn in the band. Oh wait! And she goes to class! :) The girl is busy all the time.

Wednesday night, we (as in, my whole family) got to go to one of her basketball games. She plays on JV usually but varsity has been pulling her up with them quite a bit lately and Wednesday night was a varsity game at Alma College. She got asked to go with them but was unsure of playing time possibilities. Usually JVers get playing time in the 2-minute brigade (aka: the last two minutes of the half or of the game) or if the game is blowout. I was hoping for a blowout they would put Amy in and we would get to see her play. No such thing happened. Conco was down by 11 points at one point and made a comeback in the second half to win! It was an exciting game to watch and it was a bummer that Amy didn't get to play.

But don't worry. The Thorne family made an entrance! First of all, we were late.... surprise, surprise. We took up about 2 rows worth of bleachers, held up signs (the making of which caused us to be late), hooted and hollered the whole game. :) Whether she played or not, whether any family member plays or rides the bench, we were there to support her and she knew it. Take a look!

Amy's fan section

You can seen a sign that says, "Go Megan." That's for Amy's friend Megan whom we also love. My dad is holding up a program. Travis is holding a notebook.... that's because on the way to the game, Travis and Justin wrote a rap about going to this game. It was pretty sweet. After the game, the boys performed it for Amy and Megan. Zach, Justin, and dad did the beat and Travis spit out the rap. I have this entertaining scene on video and hopefully I can figure out how to post in on the blog here. You'll have to settle for a still photo for now.

rap practice

Amy & Megan

Amy and the boys - Kyle, Justin, Amy, Zach, Travis & Michael in the front

The Cheagle puppies are getting bigger and cuter! Their eyes are open, their little tails wag back and forth, and they are starting to play with each other. Out of the seven puppies, only 1 is spoken for so if you or anyone you know is interested in a puppy as a Christmas gift let me or my parents know. The adorable pups will be ready to go to loving homes right before Christmas! In this picture, you just have to imagine the little tan one saying, "You know you want me for Christmas!"

Wink! Wink! How can you resist!

My birthday was on Sunday. I went over to my parents house after church. Mom made chicken and dumplings. Mmmmm! It felt really different to celebrate a birthday with just my brothers and parents. Zach was working a parade in Virginia with his friend Josh and my sisters were all scattered. I guess after 24 years of life it's about time a few of my siblings couldn't make it. :) This year I will be exactly double my youngest brother, Michael's age. He turns 12 in February and I just turned 24. Crazy. Anyways, my parents got me the Three Wisemen set to add to our Willowtree Nativity Set! I also got The Band Perry's CD and a cozy new sweater.

24th Birthday with my brothers

My sister Rachel's birthday is coming up on November 30th so we celebrated her birthday after all the Thanksgiving festivities yesterday. My mom has this tradition of getting us 21 random gifts for our 21st birthday. It started when I was at Michigan State and I turned 21. Around my birthday I got this huge box in the mail from mom & siblings. It was stuffed full with all kinds of my favorite things and some random things: gum, hair ties, a jar of peanut butter, my favorite box of cereal, wine glasses, a coffee mug, CD, etc. We did the same thing for Katie. She got things like nursing scrubs and a wiffle ball and bat. Rachel was no different. She got pomegranates, dress clothes for her upcoming internships, headbands, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It's always great fun!

Font of Card: "I'm smiling because you're my sister..."

Inside of Card: "...and I'm laughing because there's nothing you can do about it!"

Rachel's 21st Birthday gifts

Siblings with Rachel - wow, there's a lot of us!

We have similar tastes -- and completely different color palettes.

Hope you've enjoyed all the photos and updates!

Love,

Sarah