Fall Flavors

Day 12-Because nothing tastes better on a crisp fall Sunday morning than pumpkin and cinnamon (and maybe a little honey butter too! )

Vy am I dripping vith goo?

Day 11-Because I have two of your favorite things on my brain, Ghostbusters and coconut. Homemade German chocolate frosting you would've given up your first born for, sorry Molly.

Now why would one who has now seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows TWICE have Ghostbusters on the brain you might ask? Follow along if you can.

Last week I made Homemade German Chocolate Cake for my Grandpa's 89 birthday. It was divine, it was scrumdiddliumptious, it is still haunting me a week later. I had leftover frosting sitting in my fridge and my mom had a BRILLIANT idea to make them into German Chocolate Truffles, which now currently reside in my freezer. I love coconut but I also love Harry Potter which coincidentally have no relation what so ever, but thinking of ones loves leads to another love and just like the "If you give a Pig a Pancake" book Harry Potter will most definitely always end in coconut :). But where does Ghostbusters come into play? Well, look at the picture, does it not resemble goo? And when the word goo pops into my warped brain automatically I hear the line from Ghostbusters II when Janosz says "Why am I dripping with goo" but in his Eastern European accent. And there you have it why now Ghostbusters and coconut are on my brain and it's all because a mom went to see Harry Potter.

Phew, I'm exhausted from this mental whirlwind. I think I'll go nibble on a little German Chocolate Truffles now.

German Chocolate Frosting

1 c sugar

4 egg yolks

1 c evaporated milk

1/2 c butter

1 t vanilla extract

10 oz coconut

1 1/2 c finely chopped pecans

Combine sugar, egg yolks and evaporated milk in the top of a double boiler. Stir with a wire whisk until the yolks are fully incorporated. Add the butter. Place over the bottom part filled with simmering water and bring mixture to a boil. Simmer 12-15 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Add the vanilla, coconut and nuts. Cool. Frost. Eat. Savor. Drool. Enjoy.

Katie caught a bug

Day 10-Because the little girl who hated to read has finally found a book she talks on and on and on about.

My little warbler

Day 9-Because when "pissmas" music comes on the radio miss Emma starts singing along oh so adorably

Happy Workers

Day 8-For two little girls giddy about raking "big" piles of leaves.

Wishful Thinking

Day 7- For sincerely wanting to eat this every day of my life and not tiring of its deliciousness.

May I introduce you to my new love. Move over chocolate, vamoose peanut butter, there's a new food in town and it's name is Plantain Soup. Yes dear reader those rotten looking banana thingies that you have no idea how to cook. Fried, yummy yes they are but a little to much oil for this girlish figure (Ha!) try made into a traditional Cuban soup. After watching an episode of Ingrid Hoffmann's Simply Delicioso I knew I had to give this soup a whirl. (Did you know I loved soup? Oh yes, maybe a close third to peanut butter.) With cilantro, a hint of lime, what's not to like. Give it a try, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Plantain Soup

2 t olive oil

1 large onion, diced

2 carrots, sliced

2 celery stalks, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

6 or 7 c chicken broth

3 plantains, sliced

1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped

2 bay leaves

1 t cumin

salt and pepper to taste

lime slices

Saute onion, carrots, celery and garlic in the olive oil until tender about 8 minutes. Add the chicken broth, plantains, bay leaves and cilantro. Add cumin and salt and pepper to taste and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook 45 minutes or until plantains are very tender.

Transfer half the soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Add back to the soup and stir. Take a lime slice and squeeze juice over soup and garnish with cilantro if you want.

Oh so yummy, enjoy.

YUCK

Day 6- Because you. would have thrown these suckers away a long time ago.

Name that child

Day 5-Because in 6 weeks sleeping in on Sunday morning will be sorely missed.

I miss those days of just sleeping, simply stated, just sleeping. No reason to wake up, no bones that ache or child that has elbowed you 20+ times throughout the night and you just can't handle one more poke! No looking at the clock and reading 8:03 then instantly feeling that pain of guilt because you've slept too long and so much needs to be done. Oh those days, teenagedom.....ICK!!! Never mind give me the creaking joints, grey hair, elbows in ribs, guilt from sleeping in. I like my 30's, now 40 that's going to be another issue(Jessie ) =)

Beautiful Autumn Red

Day 4-For the autumn blaze maple trees that you adored and ALWAYS make me think of you.

Feeding the masses or otherwise known as Dinner

Day 3-For Friday night traditions started so many years ago.

Pizza and a movie is just as much a Summers Household staple as peanut butter and jelly. The week just wouldn't feel complete without a Friday night movie and picnic style in the living room pizza dinner. Some things just can't be tinkered with, enough said.

Day 2...Emma's Hair

Because you wouldn't believe how funky lucky number sevens hair can get and DANG it can get funky! Little miss curly or "turly" as Emma calls them sure does get a good head of cotton candy hair worked up when she sleeps. Curly Shirley always makes me smile.

A Day in The Life. ... 365 days for dad

Because you meant the world to us.

.

Needing to find joy, the positive side, the stinkin' silver lining, I've decided to find EACH day some snippet of sunshine Duane would enjoy. Today is Day 1 also November 10, 2010, two years since he physically left us to start his new assignment by our Heavenly Father. I earnestly want to fulfill this personal assignment, daily remembering to be grateful, finding those things that make me smile. I might completely fall flat on my patookie and go something like 80 days without posting but that is the task and I'm up to the challenge. Wish me luck and enjoy 365 days filled with the quirks of the Summers household; all seven nut heads, all three puppies, the weird food, the antics and of course me, the ringleader of all the chaos.

Cloudy With a Chance of Sneakers

I love my large family, but occasionally shoe accumulation occurs. Now if only those could be meatballs, that would be a yummy site!

pioneer "giants " in their covered wagon

Jack and Hannah

giddy up

Ben and Hannah heading out to nauvoo

Sometimes He Lets it Rain

Tonight I was given a simple, quick reminder. Molly called me outside to watch a summer thunderstorm roll in, the clouds, the lightening, the deep yellowy orange, it was such beauty.

The storm only took around 20 minutes from start to finish, short and sweet and to the point. I watched the rain start, the wind pick up and the girls giggle with excitement as they danced in the rain getting soaked to the bone.

But it wasn't until the clouds parted and I thought of this classic quote about weathering storms, "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass......

...... It's about learning to dance in the rain.", that I truely got the simple lessons from my Father in Heaven.

1. Don't wait, live your life now.

2.Enjoy each and every moment.

3.Get wet in the rain, chilled to the bone.

4.Wrap up in a blanket and cuddle with your kids.

5.At the end of the storm beauty is waiting, peace is waiting.

6.The storm ALWAYS does pass.

I love simplicity. Sometimes He just has to let it rain to remind me of all the simple things in life.