There is absolutely nothing like being hijacked by your family! You would think that sooner or later I would figure it out and not let it happen…but NOOO…not me! They got me again!

Sooo….Hubby and I were invited to our local OHV Park  to see our
Grandaughter get her birthday present. She is going to be 11 years old soon….I have no idea where the time goes! Anyway…we went down to the park and sang Happy Birthday, had cake and ice cream and waited for the big birthday surprise! Now…I have to say here that this Mamaw was not at all excited about what the birthday gift was but no amount of talking was going to do any good in changing the minds of her parents. So what do you do? You suck it up. Bite your tongue as best you can. And be excited that she got exactly what she wanted for her birthday!

I feel the need to repeat that she is going to be ELEVEN! She is not even really that comfortable riding her bike yet! YIKES!!! It is almost more than this Mamaw can handle. My daughter should be glad that I was too  young and naive when she was growing up to even begin to think of all the things that could go wrong or dangers that were around each corner. Trust me…we have discussed this. Her childhood would have been way different if I would have had her later in life. But…I digress. So…Grandaughter (I’ll call her K) got a brand new 4 wheeler to ride at the OHV Park. Her brother got one for his birthday last year and they have been riding it for a little while now. I honestly didn’t think this was something she would ever want because she is alot like me. As her Momma says…”Girlie”. We don’t like to get dirty. We don’t like to do scary things. We like frilly…crafty…girlie things. Well…it looks like they might be winning her over to the other side because she LOVES to ride the trails! Who would have ever thought?! Certainly not Me. Here she is…she looks girlie to me!

There she is getting her present. She absolutely loved it! Brand new and BLUE!

So the parents say we are going to all go down and watch the kids go around the kid track. They had two off road vehicles there so the guys got in one with Tyler driving and Me and Jenni got in the other one. I was driving because well…I am not a good passenger! So off we go. I had never even been in a vehicle like this before let alone drove one at a place that I had never been either. Tyler and Richie were leading the pack with C (grandson) on his 4 wheeler with his passenger in tow, then K on hers and me and Jenni following…we were the caboose. Just in case the kids needed help there was someone in front and someone in back. So…we get to the kids track….Tyler leads a lap around. I will be honest. I didn’t even want to go down the very first hill that you had to go down to get on the track!!! But I go down and go around. Now…this is not just a flat track…it had mud holes all over the place!!!  NOT A FAN!!! I went around one time and then pulled into the middle. My intent for even going was to be able to get pictures  of the kids riding. I went to WATCH!!! No where in any of this was it mentioned that I would be participating in a RIDE!

(photo credit Jenni Lindsey)

What was I saying as she was trying to take this picture  you ask? I was saying…you better get a good one because I am getting off this thing and this will be the last time you get me in it. And that was after one lap around the “10 and UNDER” track! Oh…I forgot to mention the 6 year old who we passed driving over to the track! He passed us…flipped us the peace sign…and flew on by!!! WHAT?!?!!!??

Just a couple pictures of K going around the kid track.

And here is one of C and his passenger A.

I haven’t mentioned this but…he is only 9!!! WHEW….too much for this Mamaws heart to take sometimes.

So after they spent a little while going around the track we headed back to the trailer. Or did we. The son in law is actually the manager at the OHV park and he decided to take us on a tour while we were out and about. I kept telling Jenni that I didn’t want to go but she kept telling me it would be ok because he was going places the kids could go and we had to follow because we were the caboose. I trudged on. Not willingly. He took us to places that I did not want to go! I had a hard enough time on the kids track…why in the world did he think that it would be ok to take me out in the WOODS just as it was turning dark….on trails that had massive mud holes…and HILLS! IN THE DARK!!! We came down and then up one hill, turned the corner, and C and his passenger were STUCK right in the middle of this big mud puddle. Jenni tried to call Tyler…she didn’t get him so she got out and had to go help C get unstuck out of the mud hole. I tried to call Tyler too so he could come back and help get them unstuck….NO PHONE SERVICE!!! Great….it is now almost dark. I am in the woods on this off road vehicle not knowing where I am or how far it is until I get back to civilization. When Jenni came back I said…”You need to tell Tyler to get me out of these D*!# woods right now!!! She got back in and we went forward. Now K is stuck. Tyler is trying to help her. C goes past and he is right behind the lead vehicle waiting for them to get K loose. Because she is stuck in an even bigger mud hole than the earlier one, he is over to the side of the front vehicle in a weird position. She is gunning the gas and just spinning and slinging water and mud everywhere!!! I was hoping that Tyler was getting most of it! Haha! Unfortunately, K got most of it. He got her out and they took off K right behind them. But guess what. C was stuck again because of the spot he was in. Jenni has to go up and get him. This mud hole was several yards long!!! She says…”Just let me get him going and you come pick me up on the other side”. Really. I have to drive through this thing by myself? And everyone else is already out of sight. What if I get stuck? No phone service. It’s dark. I am one unhappy Mamaw. So…I floor it!!! Made it to the other side. We catch up to the rest of them and Jenni yells to Tyler…Go back to the trailer NOW!!! He undid one of the gates for us to go out and onto the gravel road back to the campground. I couldn’t see where I was going but luckily we made it back without incident. Needless to say…Tyler was not on his Mother in Laws good side at that moment. One good smack to the shoulder made me feel better though!

(photo credit Jenni Lindsey)

See how thrilled I look? And this was way before the deep woods trek in the dark!!!

This is just another reason my life is MishapsandMayhem!

We came home shortly after returning to the campground because if it had gotten any darker we would not have been able to make it out of the park!!!  I felt better about the whole situation once I was safe at home! It might be something that I would try again…in the daytime.

I do have to say that I was so proud of both of the Grandkids. They drove those things like pros! They have been taught how to drive them. To obey all of the safety rules. I must say…I was impressed. I just want them to continue to be safe and not take for granted that everything is always ok. They need to pay  attention and follow the rules. I want them to have fun, and that is definitely a good family time for all of them. The safety of all of my family is my biggest concern!

Will you do something this week that is out of your comfort zone? If you do…let me hear about it!

Jo

I absolutely have to get better at this! Or….not have such a crazy life. But…wait…my crazy life is why I named this Mishapsandmayhem! So…I should be ok with the craziness! So…I did make two new Pioneer Woman recipes this week….TODAY! But I also did some other stuff…so….it is all good! I had a meeting out of town for work on Thursday this week. We usually bring snacks to these meetings and I always struggle with what to bring! I ALWAYS want to bring some great recipe that I made the night before….but sometimes that does not happen! Sometimes….I just end up picking up some Chex Mix or some other snacky type item. But this time…wait for it…..I actually baked something!!!! Chocolate Chip Pan Cookies! I love these! I used to make these all of the time! When I lived in Virginia, a very long time ago, my ex-husband was in the Navy, I made these all of the time!!! The guys who lived on the ship…The John F. Kennedy CV-67, loved them!!! They are so easy to make…and so yummy! Basically you just make the TollHouse Cookie recipe on the back of the Nestle Tollhouse chips bag but you cook it all in a 13×9 pan until it is golden. Well…maybe a little more than golden. If you take it to golden it is usually not done in the middle. It had been a long time since I made them and they were not as done as I like them. Honestly…now I can’t remember how long it said to bake them, but add 10 minutes to that time and then check them! Of course…this is all based on how your oven does! Here are a few pics of my process!

I think they were a hit! If you like a glass of cold milk…these are the perfect side!

Here is what I made today…which is recipe 5 and 6. Today I made Ribeyes with Onion-Blue Cheese Sauce and Twice-baked New Potatoes.

It was amazing! Loved the sauce with the steak! Not a fan of Blue Cheese but that is what this challenge of mine is all about. Pay no attention to the ingredients but adapt to the flavors. I will do this again!!!! As you notice on the finished plate…I made Jalapeno poppers too! YUMMY!!!

So..don’t hesitate to try something new. You never know what you will find!

Have a great week!

Jo

There is absolutely a reason I named this blog Mishapsandmayehem! It is the story of my life! If it isn’t one thing it is another! Most days the struggle is real for me! Sometimes the simplest of things turns into a major fiasco! Just like the story I am about to share with you! So….I found this great deal on Beef Chuck Roast at Publix….buy one get one free. AWESOME!!!! I buy two. After all….two for the price of one! SCORE!!! Sunday morning…cook breakfast…put a roast and potatoes and carrots in the Crockpot to cook all day, win win for me so I can mess around on my computer and learn some stuff that I have been working on. Rewind…got breakfast done and realized I needed to warm up some “grits” that I had purchased at Publix. Yes they were already made…don’t judge….I just wanted to try them out! Put them in the microwave and went on about my business. Then I realized I hadn’t heard the microwave timer go off. Checked the microwave. It seemed totally dead. I thought…”well it has finally played out…time for a new one.” Took the grits and heated them in the pan on the stove. All is well. But then after breakfast when I went to put things away in the fridge I realized the fridge wasn’t on either. Oh no….hubby checked the breaker and sure enough….it had been tripped.Too much going on at one time apparantly.  He fixed it and all is well. So I go in and start messing with my computer and the things that I was trying to figure out. Fast forward…three and a half hours later. I go in the kitchen to get a drink of water….look at the crockpot and realize…it has been off since the power issue!!!! It never even crossed my mind that the crockpot had turned itself off!  I take no chances when it comes to food. Soooo…..bye bye pot roast. We have another one…I can cook it in my electric pressure cooker in no time…everything will be fine. I run to town. Get what I needed to make my Pioneer Woman recipe for the day. Grab some more potatoes and return home. I start on the recipe and at the same time…brown the roast and prepare it all and put it in the electric pressure cooker. I cook the roast first.Then add the vegetables  and start it again. I know from past experience that it still takes a while to cook a roast to very tender in the pressure cooker. I start the timer, and as in the past, it doesn’t time. But I also know that, from past experience, it still cooks even if it isn’t timing. So I let time rock on, while I am making my brownies, and check the roast in about an hour or so. The potatoes are still hard! What?!!!??? Not sure why, but, I start it again, and let it go for another half hour. The vegetables were very tender and tasty. The roast…definitely NOT the texture we like our roast!Very disappointed.

So…today…I went back to Publix. Bought two more roasts. (Remember…buy one get one free!) Came home and cooked it in my cast iron dutch oven on the stove..and guess what…it came out PERFECT! The moral of the story is…you can have all of these fancy gadgets to cook with…and they are wonderful! But sometimes you just have to use the tried and true method!

So….my second recipe for last week was “Knock you Naked Brownies”. I have to say that they are pretty tasty! And very rich!!!!

Very chocolatey with a caramel layer! You use a German Chocolate cake mix, caramels, evaporated milk and chopped pecans. She recommends sprinkling with powdered sugar but I am not one to like that so I opted to not sprinkle. Here are just a few of the pictures of the process. I will add a link to her recipe later!!!

It wasn’t a long or hard process, but honestly…I am not used to working with caramels and it seemed like it took longer than necessary to melt these bad boys down into the spreadable creamy goodness! But, that’s just me!!! I think this recipe is a winner! I can’t wait to have some with some vanilla ice cream on them!!!

Have an awesome week!

Jo

I love to cook. I love to eat. Truth is…I love cooking more than eating! There is no greater pleasure than seeing people enjoying….TRULY enjoying…food I have made! Don’t get me wrong…I LOVE to EAT! Sometimes I feel like even though I love cooking and eating I hold myself  back because I don’t step out as much as I want to as far as trying new flavors. I look at a recipe and if there is an element in there that I don’t like…I walk away from it. I don’t embrace it and say….”It is only one part….I need to try it!” I usually think only about the part I don’t like and choose not to try it. This….is what this challenge is about! Hubs and I have decided that we need to step outside our comfort zone and try things that we normally would “cull”.Okay…I probably decided for Him that we were going to try some new things. But hey…luckily he trusts my judgement…and he likes to eat too!!! So far….we have loved everything we have tried! Again…I am trying recipes from The Pioneer Woman Cookbook “Food From My Frontier”. I am committing to cooking at least two recipes a week from this book for the whole year of 2017!!! So far…I am right on track!

Last night I made Crash Hot Potatoes! This is recipe #3!

They are from the cookbook! They are awesome! I will share a link to the recipe!

Tonight we had Chicken and Noodles that I cooked mostly in the crockpot. It is such an easy and satisfying dish!!! This is not a recipe from the cookbook. This is my own recipe!

I just put two Cans of Chicken broth, a can of Cream of Chicken soup, a can of Cream of Celery soup and three chicken breasts in the crock pot. I diced up three stalks of celery, 4 carrots and put them in. Cook on low for 10 hours. When I got home I added three tablespoons of Poultry gravy mix in the crockpot. I also salted and peppered to taste. These are the noodles I use. They are amazing with Chicken and Noodle or Beef and Noodle. You can find them in the freezer section at Wal-Mart!

I didn’t cook all of them but honestly…probably 4/5 of the bag. Boil them on the stove and then add them to the chicken and vegetables in the Crockpot. I let them simmer for about 30 minutes once they were added to the crockpot. With that I made some amazing Beer Biscuits! I just lucked up and spotted these the other night while I was at WalMart! But I can tell you…and hubby will agree..they are the BOMB!!!!

I can not even describe the texture of these biscuits! They are so soft, and fluffy and tasty! I  can only imagine all of the things I can do with these. I will be buying MANY boxes of these the next time I am at WalMart!

Honestly I had more pictures to share with you but for some reason technical difficulties are preventing me from sharing them with you tonight. Maybe I can post later and catch you up with the pics!

Have a great Hump Day tomorrow!

Cook on!

Jo

Pioneer Woman Sloppy Joes!!! And I have to say that we were not disappointed! So much more flavor than any other that we had ever had!

Lots of levels of flavor in these, they don’t just taste like hamburger with ketchup! She suggests serving them on a toasted Kaiser roll, but I bought French Hamburger buns at Publix and buttered them and toasted them in my cast iron skillet and they tasted really good with them!

We also thought of many more of the sandwiches that I make that will taste good on these too!

I think we are really going to enjoy this adventure of trying The Pioneer Woman’s recipes each week of the year. I will definitely be posting our reviews.

Have an awesome week!

Jo

So…today I made my first recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks Cookbook. It was the recipe for Beef Stew on pages 165 – 167. And all I can say is Oh My Word! I have NEVER had beef stew this good before!!!! This had my two thumbs up….Hubby’s two thumbs up…and if anyone else would have been here…they would have had their thumbs up too!!!! This is the most amazing, tasty and satisfying beef stew I have ever tasted!

I have to say that I, in my head, was questioning how tender things would have come out in the amount of time that is told to cook…but oh my….it came out perfect!!!! I can not begin to describe the flavor, the comfort factor, the amazing goodness of this beef stew!!! Hubby has already said that this is what he will be having for supper tomorrow!!! And I am pretty sure…IF there is any left after that….he will be eating it the next day too!!!  I am not going to go through the recipe or all of the steps because you can hop on over to Ree’s site and check out all of her great recipes! You will find the recipe on her site if you just search Beef Stew in her search bar!

Just want to share a few pictures with you of the process.! And Please…whatever you do….TRY THIS RECIPE!!! I don’t think you will be disappointed!!!!

So in short…brown the beef, chop the veg, saute the onions…add the other ingredients, simmer for a while and end up with this amazing goodness!!!!

So good!!!! Can’t wait to do the next recipe!!!

Jo

Ok…so I realize that my earlier post was a little vague. So I am going to expand on it just a bit. I watched the movie Julie & Julia yesterday after wanting to see it for a very long time. It is based on two true stories. One about Julia Child and her life and what led her to be the amazing Chef that she was. And Julie Powell a young New Yorker who wanted to be a writer, but decided to do a blog based on cooking every recipe in a cookbook by Julia Child. 365 days to cook 524 recipes!!!! I wasn’t exactly sure what the movie was about…but I have wanted to watch it for some time…because….yes….I am a foodie! I love food….I love to cook food….I love it when people love the food I cook!!!! So…after watching it….or in fact while I was watching it….I decided that I would love to do something like that! Now…a new recipe every day….or sometimes several recipes a day…is more than I would like to subject hubby to! But I thought….”We can do a couple new recipes a week for a year!” My next choice???? Which cookbook? Well…there were only two natural choices for me! It had to be either Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond or Paula Deen! I absolutely LOVE them both!!! Well…the votes are in and both the daughter and the hubby have said PIONEER WOMAN! So…I will be cooking at LEAST two recipes from her cookbook each week for the year of 2017 and I will be sharing my  adventure with you!!!!!

Can’t wait to get started and share this journey with you!!!!

I just watched this for the first time ever! I have been wanting to watch it for a long time and just have not made it a priority. Got it from Netflix in the mail yesterday and thought this dreary rainy last day off would be a perfect day to watch it! Now I totally want to do something like this!!!! Maybe not the whole cookbook…but maybe one or two recipes a week for a year! Now my decision is which cookbook to choose. I have two options!

I would love those who are reading this to help me choose which one to do!

Hello 2017…it’s nice to meet you! It will probably take me half a month to write 17 instead of 16 on the millions of things that I have to date on a daily basis at work.Anybody else struggle with this? For me…the struggle is real!

I am not sure where December went but it sure did fly by. I guess I was just so caught up in getting things done that I didn’t realize that I had not taken the time to blog…not even ONCE! Continue reading →