The Pauley Principle: Christmas

Welcome to The Pauley Principle!

The Pauli Principle, named for Wolfgang Pauli, deals with atoms and electron-sharing that results in new, stronger bonds. Think 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen, a shared delectable (!) electron and VOILA! Water!

Similarly, when you prepare whole food to share with family and friends, especially foods you've grown, something amazing happens. Meals become tastier and healthier. Your soul, not just your stomach, becomes fulfilled. You live life more abundantly as a result. During a shared meal, the bonds that people create grow stronger and become something new: GREATER than the sum of the parts! I give you The Pauley Principle.

Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Amazing Grace! Christmas at Our House

One of our granddaughters with Patience and Josh, all looking much too subdued for a Christmas party!

Ooh, making punch with the grandchildren! (We'll get this party started!)

Everyone gets into the last minute food prep. It looks like Chris is the Master Chef giving instructions.
Of course, I wanted Gordon Ramsay, but I guess he was booked!

Jessi, aka Gluten Free Girl, shares a hug with her niece.


The grandchildren open their group gift from Jessi while she snaps their picture in the background. Get ready. GET SET! GO!

Let the mad ruckus begin!

I could not contain my excitement!!! This is a can of grape pulp. We had a poor year for grapes and this is my consolation. YES!!! I can still make wine! Thank you, Chris!

Here's Chris asking, "Is this for real? Really, is this real or just some random box?" By the way, the bearskin rug he's sitting on is NOT real.

Things I didn't show: a shy guest, the group prayer led by the children, the bottomless punch bowl, the food, the eating, the children singing Christmas carols as they tried politely to lure the adults upstairs to where the tree and presents were waiting, the unveiling of the other gifts, the joy of just being with each other.

Having a family you love deeply and being able to be together is the best gift God could provide on this day that so richly honors His Son,
the reason for the season.

Wishing all of you the joy of love throughout the New Year and Always!

If you don't feel it yet, don't give up. Don't ever give up. Everyone in my family has gone through dark, dreary days when each person wondered if the light really shined, not being able to see through the darkness
to the end of the tunnel.
Work hard to create the love.
Let your light shine! You will be blessed.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

December to Remember Give-Aways

The holidays are here! The holidays are here!

I love this time of the year! In the spirit of giving, for all my family, friends and faithful followers, I'm doing a weekly give-away between December 1st and Christmas Day!

(No, not the boots. There's a story behind those boots, but not now.)

It's the time of year for gift-giving, and that can put a real stretch on family budgets! To help with that and to help spread the joy of Christmas, each week this December I'll be sending one lucky winner a gift that you can actually use and enjoy!

How to enter: First, you must be a follower of my blog, basically about country life. (Just click on FOLLOW at the top of the page. I will not be sharing your info.) Second, leave a comment. I'll be collecting names, one entry for each comment you leave, and throwing the names into a Santa hat. Yes, a Santa hat. Then I'll draw one lucky winner each week! Winners will be notified in a blog post right here on Sundays.

Get your entries in!!! My third give-away is coming up on Sunday, December 18th!!! The prize will be bacon, pancake mix, and our very own, open fire, iron kettle, slow-steamed maple syrup.

Chris gathered the sap twice a day from our maple grove. And the maple syrup is so delicious with a hint of smoke!

GOOD LUCK!

I have bacon, pancake mix, and our delicious and smoky open fire cooked pure maple syrup!!!

The drum roll sounds as I draw for the final winning name in our

Christmas to Remember holiday drawings....

AND THE WINNER IS...

mmeyre!!!!

Is that YOU, Marcia Eyre? Please get in touch with me!

CONGRATULATION S!!!!!

AND A HUGE

THANK YOU

TO EVERYONE WHO MADE THIS SO FUN!

Give Yourself the Fast Food Alternative: 1, 2, 3 makes 4 and More

For many people, late night ballgames, church, work and other events make fast food too convenient to resist, but what's in that stuff? I can't begin to answer. Big franchises such as Taco Bell say the 63% or so that isn't beef is made up of "the secret ingredient". If we consume their food, don't we have a right to know what that secret is? And more importantly, what's it doing to our bodies? My plan is worth the effort since meals eaten at home with the family benefit our physical and mental health.

Here's an alternative and my answer to Rachael Ray's A Week in a Day. I call it 1,2, 3 Makes 4 and More. On the fifth day, Friday, make a quick and easy pizza.
In one day, you can make a roast, a hearty soup, and a one-dish casserole to get you through most of the work week.
Meal 1: the roast with salad and a veggie.
Meal 2: the soup served with warm bread or in a bread bowl.
Meal 3: the casserole with a salad.
Meal 4: soup from Meal 2 served with sandwiches using the roast, Meal 1.
Meal 5: homemade pizza.

Plan meals and shop for it. Then take a few hours to prepare the entrees ahead. Start with a roast seasoned to taste. I'm talking real meat. While that's slow cooking, start chopping veggies and meat for a good, hearty soup, one that will be a meal in itself. Get it started and simmering away and then begin a one-pot meal that takes a little more attention.

This week my plan is Day 1, a slow roasted ham with salad and mashed potatoes; Day 2, minestrone; and Day 3, shepherd's pie. I'm making mashed potatoes for two days (meals 1 and 3) at one time on my cooking day. The fourth meal will be ham sandwiches with minestrone. Salads and breads round out the meals for the week. Fruits with cheese make a quick and good-for-you dessert. A truly delicious recipe for shepherd's pie is in my blog.

Be good to you. Be good to others. On days 6 and 7, change it up by going out, having a pot luck with friends and family or grilling out. Remember, live your life abundantly.

About Venison

Venison should taste really delicious! No kidding. It is my favorite meat, except for crab.

Some things to consider though:
*If you wouldn't think of eating a bull, then don't eat a deer that had huge antlers or was in rut. I don't. It affects the flavor and tenderness of the meat.
*Replace the deer fat with beef fat for your ground meat for an 80/20 ratio. Deer fat tends to be slightly bitter and leaves that thick coating in your mouth that, although edible, is not palatable.
*For roasts, sear with butter and olive oil. These impart a wonderful flavor.
*For sausage, use pork shoulder, at a ration of about 3 parts ground venison with 1 part ground pork shoulder.
*Venison by nature is a lean red meat. A good young deer processed properly will give you many delicious meals.
*Anything you would do with beef, except ribs, you can do with venison. Look for my recipe for Shepherd's Pie. Use either beef or venison. Enjoy, share, and live abundantly.

Plan Now for Maple Syrup

Maple syrup is cooked down from sap that you gather from sugar maple trees. There are no other ingredients, not even water. And it's incredibly good. On the market, maple syrups will often have corn syrup, gluten, color and other additives which can stretch profitability and decrease the steaming time required. Since it takes 35-45 gallons of the thin slightly sweet sap to make a gallon of pure maple syrup, doing it the old-fashioned way takes time but the result is pure YUM!

If you have the opportunity to tap into maple trees and decide you'd like to give this a try, plan ahead. If you steam off the sap inside your kitchen, it can strip your wall-paper! Been there, done that, at our old farmhouse. If you cook it down outside with a gas turkey fryer, the cost can end up being around $8 a pint. We began cooking over a wood fire a few years ago, using a tripod and kettle. Oh, and a large firewood supply. Whatever method you choose, proceed slowly and with caution.

Gather your supplies. We use food safe plastic jugs, buckets, and little water line spouts. Maple syrup production houses will collect into stainless steel vats using long water lines but we simply gather the jugs, pour into buckets and bring it to the kettle twice daily. I buy little pint jugs to store it in. Very fresh, very pure. Start tapping the trees when daytime temperatures are going to be above freezing but nights are still very cold. In Ohio, the sap will be running fast sometime in February.

Try my cousin Stephanie Krupla's recipe for Sticky Bun Tea Ring and you'll want to search for maple trees you can tap into yourself!