Thursday, December 29, 2011

Thai Dinner at Home

Tonight I made Pork in Peanut Sauce for dinner and we both loved it!  I got the original recipe on AllRecipes.com, but did make several changes to it.

Bailey's Pork in Peanut Sauce

Ingredients:
  • 2/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
  • 1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons (=3 cloves) refrigerated chopped garlic
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 5 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 1 pound boneless pork loin, cut into bite sized pieces
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil (the original recipe calls for peanut oil, and claims it adds a lot of the peanut flavor, but honestly peanut oil is on the expensive side, so I chose to use an oil I had on hand)
  • 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 cup peanuts
  • 1 bag (about 3 1/2 cups) frozen stir fry veggies (mine had sugar snap peas, carrots, onions, and mushrooms)
  • 2 bags microwavable brown rice
Directions:
  • In a large bowl, stir together soy sauce, chicken broth, ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, and peanut butter. (The peanut butter will not blend in completely, but don't worry, once the sauce is heated it will melt into the sauce.)  Add pork pieces and set aside.  (I only set it aside while I prepared the onion, but it would probably be great if you could marinate it for several hours or overnight.)
  • Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions to hot oil and cook slightly.  After about 1 minute, add peanuts and continue cooking until onions are soft and translucent.  Pour pork and all of the marinating sauce into the skillet. Cook until pork is done, about 10 minutes.
  • Add frozen veggies to the skillet and cook for another 5 minutes.
  • While the veggies are cooking, throw a couple bags of microwave rice into the microwave and cook as instructed on the package. (Mine only needed 2 1/2 minutes.)
  • Serve pork, veggies, and peanut sauce over rice.

The finished product:


The sauce was somewhat salty, but still tasty.  I saw someone commented on allrecipes, that they added milk to reduce the saltiness of the sauce. So, if you find it salty, that would be something to try.  We loved the crunchiness of the peanuts and that the pork was not dry at all, which is often our big complaint with pork dishes.  I will definitely be making this again.  It was fast and simple.  It would be a great home-made alternative on those nights when we think about getting Chinese take out.  One more picture to whet your appetite.
I hope you try this dish!

                 

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

A Little More Christmas

I wanted to share a few more pictures from Christmas.

Here's another family photo with my husband's family, at one of our favorite little restaurants downtown.


I also have a couple of our Cavalier King Charles/Bichon mix, Tucker with his Christmas presents.  He got a cow from John's mom and a package of special bones, as well as a reindeer from us.  Of course he loves them all, and has a hard time deciding which one to play with.



All worn out from Christmas, Tucker took one of his toys into his favorite chair and arranged it so he could snuggle with it while he slept.  His cuteness is almost too much!


One of my favorite traditions from childhood Christmases was how my dad would always hang all of the Christmas cards we received on the closet door in our entryway.  I loved looking at them over and over during the Christmas season, and they really added a lot of festivity to the house.  I decided to continue that tradition in our new house using the basement door, which is just off our eat-in kitchen area.  I love seeing all the cards and photos from family and friends.


We had a lot of fun watching Tucker open his presents this year.  He is generally a very well-behaved and slightly timid dog, so it's hard to get him interested in tearing paper off of presents.  We were surprised this year when, with a little encouragement, he tore right in.  It probably helped that John made the reindeer squeak before giving it to him, and that we cut a slit in the plastic packaging around the bones so he could smell them.  Here are a few pictures of him opening the bones.







I have a really adorable video of Tucker opening his present, but blogger is not loading it.  If I figure out how to get it to show up, I will definitely add it.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Catching up after Christmas

We've had a very busy Christmas week, as I'm sure is the case with everyone.  I'm thankful to have a busy Christmas, because it means we got to see many family members on both my side and John's. 


We had a great time decorating our house for Christmas, since this is our first year here.  I thought I'd document our decorations from our first year so that we can see how our Christmas collection grows and changes over the years.

First a shot in the daylight of the outside of the house:

Later I added a peppermint wreath to the front door. (I plan to post the pictures/tutorial for how I made it soon.) 

Here are a few of the outside in the dark.  I really wanted a picture of the outside after dark in the snow, but with the warm weather lately, we haven't had much snow to photograph!  I'm not complaining - as my dad said to me today - each warm day during the winter is also one day closer to spring!  (Effectively giving us less winter.)  Although we'd like to go skiing (me) and snowboarding (John) this winter, I wouldn't mind having to drive up north to do it!




I love the bow in the peak instead of a wreath, especially since our home is like a Christmas present to us!

Moving inside, I hung some dollar-store jingle bells on the front door.  They add such a festive sound when we are welcoming guests, or even just letting Tucker outside.


I'm hoping the eventually we will have some kind of garland to drape over and around the door.  I'd also love to put candles in every window in the front of the house next year.

Next I added a little Christmas fun to our wine rack in the front entry.


Both the reindeer and the snowman sing and dance.  I love corny decorations like that!  The reindeer is very special to me.  I had given it to my grandma Noney several years ago at Christmastime.  She thought he was just the cutest thing, with his light up antlers.  She actually kept him on her bed all year long.  Since Noney passed away this year, I wanted a special place for the reindeer at Christmas, so I could see him everyday.  Of course I think about Noney all the time, but this is a fun reminder of all the joy she felt in little things (like a singing reindeer!).  I miss my Noney every day, but I'm also so incredibly thankful to have had such a wonderful grandma in my life for so many years.

Next up, a couple shots of our Christmas tree.  I just love how it turned out.  I especially love the cozy warmth of the lights in the evening.  That's probably what I will miss the most when it's time to take it down.



Tucker snuck into the second one!

Next I have a few pictures of the mantle - I really loved decorating the mantle this year.  This house has such a substantial hearth and mantle - it feels so cozy.



I'm thinking about keeping the light garland up all year - so I can keep some of the pretty, cozy light in the living room (after the tree is gone).


The candle holder gives the little snowmen a little more presence.






And a picture of the family in front of the fireplace.  A great place for a family picture.


Just a couple more accessories completed the extent of my decorating for this year.


Flowers from Hobby Lobby in festive colors.


A dollar store platter with some Hobby Lobby cranberries and a piece of the pearly garland left over from the twig wreath project


Of course, the twig wreath itself.


I added a couple more things after taking the pictures for this post, including a basket full of peppermints.  To make the basket look more full, I placed an upside-down bowl inside the basket, then covered it with green tissue paper before placing the mints inside.  I also have a little Christmas candle holder on the kitchen counter.  You will be able to see it when I post about the edible Christmas presents I made this year.  At the last minute, I bought two antique looking 3D snowflake shaped tealight holders from Pottery Barn on clearance - I love the sparkle and charm they add sitting next to the fireplace.

Well I think that concludes the Christmas decoration tour 2011.  Hopefully I'll be back soon with a couple of the projects I did before Christmas, but didn't have a chance to post yet. Hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 10, 2011


Welcome to Small Town Love

Hi there!  I'm Bailey and I live with my amazing husband John in a small town in Wisconsin.  We were both raised in small towns, and after 4 years in Madison, we are so happy to have had the opportunity to move to rural Wisconsin and buy a home.  We are enjoying becoming a part of our little community, and taking part in all the festivals and nuances of small town life.  We love our home, but also have many projects planned for it.  It will be fun to see how our home evolves over the years.  We do not have children, yet :-), but this blog will hopefully be a way to stay connected with our widespread family, and to share our lives as we change and grow. 

Now that I'm finally out of school, I've developed a lot more interest in cooking healthy, interesting meals.  I hope to post recipes and pictures of my cooking. 

I've also started to get into more crafting and decorating, now that we have a big beautiful house to work with. We are enjoying decorating for the holidays, with a lot of firsts for us, since this is our first home.  First Christmas tree, first mantle to decorate, first outdoor lights...it's been fun and we are excited to see how our collection of decorations grows over the years. 

I guess the real reason I started writing the blog today is because I want to share my first crafty project. 

Today I made a starburst wreath out of sticks from our yard! 

Here's a list of materials you'll need if you'd like to create a wreath of your own.

Cardboard
Hot glue gun (and glue of course!)
Sticks cut to various lengths (relatively straight sticks will work best, and you will probably want a variety of diameters to fill the wreath out)
Ornaments or other decorations to add to the wreath
Twine-wrapped florist's wire

First I cut out two circles of cardboard, and cut out the centers of the cirlces.  Then I hot glued them together to make a sturdy base for my wreath.  I covered the circles with tiny sticks that were only slightly longer than the width of the cardboard.  The little sticks looked a lot like pretzel sticks!  Next I cut even numbers of different lengths of similarly sized sticks.  I arranged them around the wreath in a way that I found pleasing.  Everything was simply hot glued onto the cardboard circles.  The sticks ended up covering the cardboard almost completely, and the natural color of the cardboard blends in well in those places where it may show.  I added a sparkly 3-D star ornament and some pearly garland from Hobby Lobby and my wreath was finished!  In order to easily hang it, I wrapped a small length of twine-covered florist's wire around the wreath and formed a hanging loop.  I was thinking about hanging it on our front door, but opted for the wall in the eat-in area of the kitchen, so I can enjoy it every day.  I'm planning a peppermint wreath for the door, which I think will stand out better since our door is dark green.  Anyway, here is my completed wreath.


Here is another closer shot of the wreath.


I did not hot glue the ornament or garland onto the wreath, because I'm hoping to be able to change out the "accessories" on the wreath with the changing seasons.  Hope you are able to go out and make your own wreath.  If I can do it, anyone can!