Pajama Day

Today was officially a Pajama Day in the Hopper household.  It all started off very unintentionally.  You get up, eat breakfast, start a task, check your email then before you know it, it is 2:27 pm.  You eat lunch.  At this point you are not leaving the house, so why not continue on in your pajamas?  For about a half hour I was feeling really cranky that I never showered or got out of my sweatpants.  I  loathed my lack of accomplishment but finally surrendered to the fact that today was just one of those days and I should enjoy it.  For tomorrow, we work!

This past week however was tainted with a streak of misfortune.  I missed out on the PERFECT dresser for the baby at an estate sale.  We spent Saturday morning roaming the Augusta area looking for a good quality dresser for baby G.  After many "legal U-turns" per the GPS we arrived at our last rummage for the day.  But alas, the white brand new Bassett dresser was already sold.  This spurred me on to create a yard sale map for this coming Saturday.  I've been tracking listed yard sales in an effort to effectively target those close by home and that might hold that diamond in the rough I'm looking for.

Secondly, I picked up my locally grown goods on Tuesday.  My only disappointment here is that the milk didn't come in a glass jar like I'd hoped.  The glass jar is purely to please me asthetically but still, I had high hopes.  So far I've tasted the milk, butter, grass-fed beef and organic romaine.  All have been wonderful (even if the beef was covered in man-made taco seasoning mix)!  The highlight of this day was that my good friend Liz came to visit and helped me find a few more maternity pieces to add to my wardrobe!

Thirdly, my strawberry-rhubarb crisp was not as fantastic as I imagined it would be.  I haven't had anything with rhubarb in it for many years so I thought I would give it a try.  The overall product came out alright, but just didn't have either one of us coming back for more. I will include that recipe here for anyone that might be a fan and also the recipe for Lentil soup which did come out as tasty as it always does!

Lentil Soup (freezes well and is great for a rainy day):
1 cup dried lentils
2 1/2 cup water
2 beef bullion cubes
1 tsp salt
Bring all to a boil, then simmer 20 minutes.

After simmer is over add the following to 6 qt pot:
1/2 bag lil' smokies (cut into thirds), 1 large onion, 1 clove garlic
1 cup chopped carrots
5 or so red potatoes cut into cubes
1 tsp oregano
1 TBSP parsley
1 tsp vinegar
14 ounces petite diced tomatoes
6 cups water with 6 beef bullion cubes (it is okay to use less cubes but it won't be as salty)
2 stalks celery cut up (optional)

Cook together for at least 1 hour. Yummy when served with warm bread or rolls.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp
4 cups cut up strawberry
4 cups diced rhubarb (about 5 stalks)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 TBSP lemon juice
Coat crock pot with butter or pam and place above ingredients in pot on High for 1.5 hours.  If it is dry, add a little water.  If it is too wet (mine was full of liquid) mix a 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch with a little cold water then add to pot and stir to thicken.  Cook additional 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 and make topping:  1 cup all purpose flour, 1 cup old fashioned oats, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/2 cup butter cut into small pieces, 1/2 cup sliced almonds (optional). Cut butter into mixture with 2 knives or pastry blender.

Place topping on fruit and transfer stoneware to oven.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until topping begins to brown.  Best served with vanilla ice cream!