Tonight my soul is aching to move back home. I don't mean like moving in with my mom home, I mean moving back to the country. To that quiet little northern Mayes County section.
You see, now that I'm a parent, I keep thinking of how I want my daughter to grow up. And I desperately wish she could grow up in her grandparents' milk barn, like I did.
I want to give my baby the romanticized rural Oklahoma childhood that I lived.
I think about how my heart would be so full, living the other end of that childhood. And it makes me miss home that much more. But, I don't foresee my mother becoming a dairy farmer and hiring me as a farm hand anytime soon. And I don't know if or when an opportunity to build a life out there would arise.
It's not so much the milking I miss, or the farming, but the smell of hay season (which is ending right about now), the strangely comforting sounds of calves bawling and coyotes howling at night during the spring, the sound of the wind against the corners of a house on an open plain when winter hits, the heat that is so hot you feel as though you could fry bacon on your front porch come the middle of August.
I like our neighborhood, don't get me wrong. It is quiet enough that you can hear crickets and frogs at night, the traffic is minimal, most of our neighbors are nice, and we're just far enough outside city limits that there aren't many sirens or bright lights. But I can't help reminiscing about the echo of a night train four miles down the hill at midnight, a sunrise whose view isn't hindered by trees and buildings.
I can't help wishing Robbie Jo could have a huge yard to play in, a few trees to climb, and an old creek to wade across, just to sit on the bank and count all the turtles that pop their little heads out of the muddy water. She would enjoy those things if I gave them to her. She would cherish memories of tractor rides and hard work if I could provide those too. She would love to live a life like I had as a kid.
Maybe one day I will be able to give her all of those things, and more. Maybe she will write home saying how she misses the sounds, the smell, and the feel of her childhood. Maybe she will talk about the red dirt from our road, how it is in her veins and how it calls her back to a place of simplicity and easy living. And maybe I can give myself what my heart longs for most.
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Adventures In My Kitchen.
Hello there! It's been six months and two days since my last post. Sorry about that.
Life was really sucky for about five of those six months. But last month I decided to stop wallowing in my self pity and loathing, and return to the land of the living. So here I am, living. By living I mean watching lots of RHOC, Total Divas, Dance Moms, and of course Disney Channel. I LOVE Disney Channel. It's great!
Oh and I've been cooking a lot. I've never particularly liked cooking but the baby finally started eating table food so I had to start making a variety of noms of us. And oddly enough, I've found I actually enjoy it now. Most of the meals I've made have been crock pot meals. But hey, I'm still counting that as cooking.
I made Robbie Jo's first birthday cake. Her party theme was "All American". It was only fitting she have an American flag cake, which was only slightly disastrous. The cake was a delicious vanilla red/white/blue layer cake. But the icing turned out horrible. I saw this cool "tie dye" icing on pinterest. You can just imagine the horror. My red, white, and blue tie dye turned into a star spangled mess. But it ate all the same and I enjoyed making it so whatevs.
Then this morning while watching The Pioneer Woman and contemplating whether Ree Drummond's name was Ree or Bree Drummond, because for the life of me I couldn't remember, I wondered if maybe I'd start cooking and blogging about it. Then Trisha Yearwood's show came on and I was inspired. Her show sucks, but she made a bad as pot pie and I thought "Well hell I can make that". So I did. And now I'm telling you about it.
I Googled Trisha's recipe and sort of followed it. She used an insane amount of butter, and her crust recipe yields more than I needed . So I used her recipe as a guideline.
I started out with 5 boneless/skinless/trimmed chicken breasts, dropped them in a pan with some cool water and a little salt, brought them to a boil, then turned the heat down to a little more than a simmer. Then I peeled and chunked up some petite red potatoes. Again, cold water and salt, boiled, reduced heat. Once the potatoes and chicken were done I removed them from their liquids. I saved the chicken stock, and then diced up the chicken. I just set the potatoes aside for a bit to cool.
The hard part was next. Making the filling is a pain in hind quarters. Her recipe calls for carrots, celery, potatoes, and onions but I just used a bag of frozen country medley veggies (green beans, corn, peas, carrots). I sauted the veggies with some butter, creole seasoning, black pepper, onion powder, a little garlic powder, and a dash of salt. When that was good I added about half a cup of flour and a little more butter and stirred that around until it got paste like or "became a roux" as Mrs. Yearwood Brooks called it on the tube. Then I splashed in some milk and some of the chicken stock until I got the consistency I wanted, almost like thick breakfast gravy. Next I threw in the chicken and mixed it all up.
I greased a couple of baking pans, layered the taters, then the filling and set it aside so I could make my crust. I kind of flubbed up here. I wasn't using my head, and didn't grab self rising flour, and I didn't think to add a leavening agent. As a result my crust was a little on the dense side once it was done, but it was more like the crust of a pot pie should be and less biscuity. I did followed Trisha's crust recipe though, 2 sticks of butter (which is like 16 tablespoons of heart attack btw), 2 cups of butter milk, 2 cups of flour, a teaspoon of black pepper, whisked until smooth. It was too much buttermilk for my taste, so next time I'll do some regular milk, self rising flour, and some crisco. Hopefully it will taste better. I poured the crust over the top of the pie filling and baked until relatively brown, and not doughy.
Now I am devouring the fruits of my labor. My kid of course is crying about having to try something new and only eating the chicken out of it. The dog seems to like what Robbie throws on the floor though. So I'd say dinner is a success. Let me know if you enjoyed this and would like to see more. Thanks for reading!!
Life was really sucky for about five of those six months. But last month I decided to stop wallowing in my self pity and loathing, and return to the land of the living. So here I am, living. By living I mean watching lots of RHOC, Total Divas, Dance Moms, and of course Disney Channel. I LOVE Disney Channel. It's great!
Oh and I've been cooking a lot. I've never particularly liked cooking but the baby finally started eating table food so I had to start making a variety of noms of us. And oddly enough, I've found I actually enjoy it now. Most of the meals I've made have been crock pot meals. But hey, I'm still counting that as cooking.
I made Robbie Jo's first birthday cake. Her party theme was "All American". It was only fitting she have an American flag cake, which was only slightly disastrous. The cake was a delicious vanilla red/white/blue layer cake. But the icing turned out horrible. I saw this cool "tie dye" icing on pinterest. You can just imagine the horror. My red, white, and blue tie dye turned into a star spangled mess. But it ate all the same and I enjoyed making it so whatevs.
Then this morning while watching The Pioneer Woman and contemplating whether Ree Drummond's name was Ree or Bree Drummond, because for the life of me I couldn't remember, I wondered if maybe I'd start cooking and blogging about it. Then Trisha Yearwood's show came on and I was inspired. Her show sucks, but she made a bad as pot pie and I thought "Well hell I can make that". So I did. And now I'm telling you about it.
I Googled Trisha's recipe and sort of followed it. She used an insane amount of butter, and her crust recipe yields more than I needed . So I used her recipe as a guideline.
I started out with 5 boneless/skinless/trimmed chicken breasts, dropped them in a pan with some cool water and a little salt, brought them to a boil, then turned the heat down to a little more than a simmer. Then I peeled and chunked up some petite red potatoes. Again, cold water and salt, boiled, reduced heat. Once the potatoes and chicken were done I removed them from their liquids. I saved the chicken stock, and then diced up the chicken. I just set the potatoes aside for a bit to cool.
The hard part was next. Making the filling is a pain in hind quarters. Her recipe calls for carrots, celery, potatoes, and onions but I just used a bag of frozen country medley veggies (green beans, corn, peas, carrots). I sauted the veggies with some butter, creole seasoning, black pepper, onion powder, a little garlic powder, and a dash of salt. When that was good I added about half a cup of flour and a little more butter and stirred that around until it got paste like or "became a roux" as Mrs. Yearwood Brooks called it on the tube. Then I splashed in some milk and some of the chicken stock until I got the consistency I wanted, almost like thick breakfast gravy. Next I threw in the chicken and mixed it all up.
I greased a couple of baking pans, layered the taters, then the filling and set it aside so I could make my crust. I kind of flubbed up here. I wasn't using my head, and didn't grab self rising flour, and I didn't think to add a leavening agent. As a result my crust was a little on the dense side once it was done, but it was more like the crust of a pot pie should be and less biscuity. I did followed Trisha's crust recipe though, 2 sticks of butter (which is like 16 tablespoons of heart attack btw), 2 cups of butter milk, 2 cups of flour, a teaspoon of black pepper, whisked until smooth. It was too much buttermilk for my taste, so next time I'll do some regular milk, self rising flour, and some crisco. Hopefully it will taste better. I poured the crust over the top of the pie filling and baked until relatively brown, and not doughy.
Now I am devouring the fruits of my labor. My kid of course is crying about having to try something new and only eating the chicken out of it. The dog seems to like what Robbie throws on the floor though. So I'd say dinner is a success. Let me know if you enjoyed this and would like to see more. Thanks for reading!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)