Casserole For A Crowd Recipe

This is one of my favorite go to casseroles. It is one my Mother made for us often and always made for me to take to pot luck at the youth camp I worked at growing up. (Everyone requested it each and every year)
My children also like it and it makes a huge batch, so it goes a long way. unless you have my family and there is usually only a small bowl left and usually gets eaten up before bedtime.

2lbs ground beef
1 1/2 cups of chopped semi fine celery.
1 large onion chopped semi fine
1 green pepper chopped semi fine
1 can of mushrooms
1 can of bean sprouts
1 can of beef  consomme
1 can of cream of mushroom
1 can of cream of chicken
1 can of tomato soup
1/4 cup of soya sauce
1TBSP of prepared mustard
1 large package of egg noodles(I use med. broad)

in a large fry pan fry up the ground beef with the celery,onions,green pepper, and can mushrooms season with salt and pepper.and cook until beef is cooked and veggies are tender.

cook noodles as on package directions. drain,

 in a roaster pan add the cans of cream soups, beef consomme, tomato soup, soya,and mustard.mix well

dump into the roaster pan the noodles (I like to make it in a big one to have loads of room to mix) I also use foil roasters if I have them on hand.(great for potlucks)

drain fat and dump the ground beef mixture into your roaster as well with the noodles, add the bean sprouts,and mix everything up really good and bake in a 400 degree oven for 35 mins to 45 mins mixing 1/2 way through.

This freezes great as well.

Back from Camping

Well we survived our first camping trip of the season. We left around 4 on Monday and took our trailer to our favorite provincial park Mount Carlton http://www.tourismnewbrunswick.ca/Products/M/Mount-Carleton-Provincial-Park.aspx

We arrived and the weather was perfect. We found a great lot and set up camp. We unhooked the trailer and unloaded. After whipping up supper, we went down to the beach for a swim and Justin went fishing. HB went for a shower and then we went for our showers.we had a camp fire, and a few tasty sweet treats.

We headed off to bed after 10, just as the rain started. It rained all through the night,and tapered off by morning. We slept in till 9:30 and crawled out to make up a campers breakfast.

We cleaned up and packed and got ready to head back home.

It rained all the way home and I don't think it has stopped since then. The gardens are starting to get to much rain. I hope the warm weather comes back soon and the rain goes away.

Mom ended up back in ICU last evening due to her heart again, but today she seems to be doing better. I ran back and fourth to the hospital today and came home and made up a casserole (casserole for a crowd) one of my favorites.

It is just about ready to come out of the oven, so I need to go get the biscuits ready to go in.
take care and I hope it is not raining to much in your neck of the woods.

Strawberries and Rhubarb

Last weeks hot weather brought out the best in everything, including the strawberries.We are starting to gather some wild ones but for now the tame ones are ready and juicy.

We picked Friday before the heavy rains came, and in the evening after HB went to work we settled in for the evening we began to take on the chore of getting the berries done up and made some jam.

While we were out picking we walked pass the rhubarb patch and decided to pick there as well.

The weeones came home with their arms filled with Rhubarb (they looked like they were carrying kindling)
The girls were very helpful and cut up all the rhubarb for me.

Please excuse the mess of my island. (cleaning it off is only once a week lately and it was not it's day)

We made up a double batch of  stewed rhubarb and decided to make a strawberry Rhubarb pie

It was as good as it looked as we had it last night for desert after our roast chicken supper.

I still have a bit of rhubarb in the house after doing some more up into 2 cup bags for the freezer,and I will take what is left tonight and make up a batch of muffins for breakfast, as we will be busy packing for our trip to bring our trailer to the camp ground. We will only be staying over night as the weather is so wet this week and we will go there on the weekend again. ( I will not be posting Monday and Tuesday but check back on Wednesday for a post about our adventure taking the trailer.)

If any of you have any great Strawberry or Rhubarb recipes please do share as I am always looking for new ones to add to my cookbook.

Part 2 Of Pics

Our trip to Fredericton, was so much fun. Even the weather was perfect.

 The first stop was the Government house, where the Governor General lives with his wife.

 Next stop Clay Cafe. What a great place to have fun. They got to paint a piece of Pottery. Here they are choosing their colors.

 Jayne choose a cat and decided to paint it the same as her cat Peaches. Even Mrs. Shnarr sat down and painted one. (Great way to end the year before retiring.)

Jayne can you see over that hat?

 Time for Science class and a trip to the Science east building for a little learning.

 Watch out Jayne you might get a shock.

Here we are at the legislative assembly of New Brunswick building where our laws are passed.
three floors take a look at these stairs.

 It makes a pretty cool picture. (I got a little dizzy going up)

cute group

We all enjoyed a cool morning air break from the heat at Kings Landing historical park.

 and I will end with this cute little soup can of Jayne from the beaverbrook art gallery.

Ok, Let's Back Up A Bit

Super exciting news!!! I got my camera to download on the computer again. So I have so much to share with you. I decided to make this post into 2 parts.

Let's go back to May. Mother's Day 

Remember I had a wonderful day well here are my pics that went along with my post. 

 Here is that cute little fridge magnet that Jayne made me of me. Her hair looks a  whole lot better then mine did. (talk about bed head)

Look at this wonderful card I received as well. 

The weather here has been so Summery. Very hot temps. The day Jillian had here field trip to the pool was one of those days. After the public pool,which I was lucky enough to attend we headed over to the park where we had lunch in the grass and a afternoon of playing. 

 Here is Jill and her best friend enjoying a cool treat that one of the Mom's brought along.


Last Sunday was Father's Day. I asked HB what he would like for Father's day as did the weeones. His response was very simple. "I want to go fishing with my family"
So here we go. That is what we did. We went to a new spot that we had heard about.

 Justin could not wait to drop a line.

 He caught the only fish in that whole pond I think.

All that hard work makes for a thirsty fisherman.

 Time for a picnic lunch. My families favorite meal.

After only Justin catching a fish in that pond we decided to continue on our journey. We did the loop and ended up at our famous no tell pond.

 The water was very high.

 The fish were biting.

 Jill fell in and Jayne got her hook caught on a branch. All in all I think Dad enjoyed himself very much.


Monday Jayne and I headed off for Fredericton. Two days of jam packed fun and run.

Jayne was settled in as we were getting ready to leave the school.(see the school's name on the school in the back ground I really like that) I think I might use that pic as some kind of leaving elementary school scrap book page. 

Here's at pic at Burger King after lunch in the big capital city. After having lunch at Burger King we headed out on our 2 day adventure. Tomorrow I will back to post more pics of Fredericton's grade 5 field trip. 

GRADE 5 OVERNIGHT TRIP

I am doing my post this morning very early and from the halls of a hotel. Yes, I am on Jayne's grade 5 trip. Throughout the night we all take a shift to sit in the hallway for one hour and make sure everyone is alight. My shift happened to be from 4 to 5. Which is fine with me as that is my normal time I usually ge up anyways. So far our trip has been great. Left with no problems and had great weather so far. We never stopped to long. So the kiddies were all pretty tied at 11 last night, as we're the adults. First stop was Lunch at burger king. The staff there was great giving us all a 15percent off our meal and treating us to baby soft ice cream cones as well. Then we were off to the old government house which is still used today. Back onto the bus and over to clay cafe for a couple hours of doing some pottery. Then we walked up 5 blocks to science east where we were in for some great science facts and a tour. ( the science east building use to be the old city jail) so the basement has been left that way and still has the jail cells. Back on the bus to our next stop that was the university. UNB is a great university to go to and is very state of the art. Supper at the food court at the mall,then a couple hours of shopping that went by way to fast. We ended our shopping trip with a trip into Chapters book store where every grade 5 student was given $10 for a book. We headed off to our hotel, where we settled in and the excited kiddies went for a dip in the pool. Showered and into PJ's it was time to meet in the conference center for milk and cookies and a bedtime story. 11 o clock lights out. Today is suppose to be anton hot day and we have lots to do before we he'd home.

Thursday life

The weather this week has been great. We are holding at mid 20's all week long,except for Tuesday when it got to 30. (Jill had her field trip to the pool and lunch in the park that day and I went along as well it was a wonderful day)
It rained last evening and throughout the night which was good because my garden so needed it. There is no rain in the forcast for next 7 days so far
.
Jayne and I are going on her overnight field trip the capital city on Monday and Tuesday and we are so looking forward to it. (the weather is suppose to be in the high 20's then as well)
She has begun packing and is getting super excited.

She got wonderful news yesterday as the grade 5's went to the middle school for a tour and when they returned to the school they were told which team they would be in for the Fall. She got the team she wanted BLUE!!!! Which means a whole lot of field trips away and a whole lot of overnight trips,which means a whole lot of fund raising as well. They base the three years of middle school on these trips and use these trips to do their school work.

As for my Mother she is still not out of the woods yet but she is holding her own and is not ready to give without a fight. She sure is the strongest person I know. Her heart is very week and the Doctors met with me  and my Dad on Tuesday evening and explained it all to us.
The children are getting excited that next week is the last week of school. I am getting excited as well and I can see they are beginning to get tired of it. Thursday is a last day and it is a full day for them. (this is the first time the school's have done this as the last day was always on Friday's and it was only a half day)

The garden is coming well, and I am still on top of the weeds. As far no more slugs in the garden. Just a pet snake who comes out to visit every now and then. Jill has named him "Nofeet" like the TV show Little bear.

I have downloaded a few new great magazines on to my IPad to take away on the bus trip, and I am keeping myself busy so that I don't read them before I go. (very tempting)

We received 2 new roosters from a farmer. We had lost ours throughout the winter months and I have so missed the morning crows. HB trimmed their wings so they could not fly away,and put them in the sheep barn to roam freely and hang out in the rafters. Well the next morning they were gone. We thought they were gone for good until this morning I heard them crow over at the sawmill. I was happy to see they are still on the farm.

My new hens have begun to lay and we are getting a abundance of eggs of many colors daily. I am going to have to make a couple of batches of pickled eggs before I go away.

The pool is just about full and over the weekend we will turn it on and begin to add our  chemicals to it. We had to drain it this year as we had a hard time with the water last year.

Shearing is on the agenda for the weekend as well as moving the camping trailer out to the front of the house so we can do a bit of work to it before heading out with it Monday the 25th. We are parking it at
 Mount Carleton Provincial Park
It is a wonderful nature park that is protected. Please if you do get a chance google it and see for yourself it is amazing.
We are getting super super excited and I have been filling the cupboards with camping goodies for a while now and the whole family can't wait.


Well that is pretty much the highlights of the past few days and I need to jump into the tub and wash after being out in the yard most of the morning. I am picking the girls up after school today and Jayne has a hair appointment.

Have a great day and I hope the sun is shining where you are too.

Slug B Gone

Last Thursday I went to the garden and felt my heart in my throat. I opened the garden gate and could not believe my eyes. There were hundreds (well at least 50) of slugs in my garden eating my plants. I almost cried(well I did really) HB felt so bad for me that he came and picked slugs till after dark. I stayed up late and tried to find all I could online on how to get rid of them.
Friday morning I was still not sure on what would get rid of them. Hb and I went into town and bought a bag of slug b gone.

Well HB and I sprinkled it all over as the directions to do late at night. And I must say it has been working not a slug to be found. I will keep using this and will let you all know how it turns out.

Praying Is Just What The Doctors Ordered

Thank you all for praying for my Mom and our family. Last week they were getting ready to give up on my Mother and letting her go. Well instead they decide to hang on a little longer and she did it. She is doing well. She is off of life support and is breathing on her own. No oxygen she is doing everything on her own. Her blood pressure is back to normal and now we try to get her to eat. If all goes well she could be back on the floor and out of ICU by tomorrow. 

I am terribly sorry I have not posted any updates sooner but I pretty much had been living at the ICU. 

I did get a little break Saturday,Sunday ,and Monday and got to spend sometime home on the farm. 

Saturday was the last fund raiser for Jayne's end of year school trip. It was a BBQ and car wash in town. I was able to attend and it went really well. They raised what they needed to make the trip happen. (The trip is to the capital city of our province. Fredericton which is 3 hours away from us.) 

I will also be attending this trip this year as a chaperon. (I went when Justin was in grade 5 as well) 

We leave on Monday the 18th of June and return the following evening after 7) All the children in grade 5 are looking so forward to it. 

Saturday evening we were all pretty played out from the BBQ and HB had to go to work on night shift. Justin decided to go fishing with the neighbour and I have so missed just lazing around with my weeones watching a good movie. So that is what we decided to do. I rented the new movie, The secret World Of Arrietty. 

This was a great movie and the girls and I enjoyed it so much. It is a great remake of the Borrowers. (which my children have never seen either. I will need to try and get that as it was always one of my favorites)

Sunday morning I went up to the hospital for a bit then came home. I decided to take a little farm time for me. I went out to the yard worked in my garden, planted a few more veggies with the help from Jill. We weeded the peas,and transplanted a few more goodies out of the green house. 

I cleaned out the chicken coop and got to spend a little time with some of the newest additions to the farm.  We  now have 7 Indian runner ducklings, and 4 meat duck babies. The piglets are getting long and have grown so much. They now have began to eat slop so my bucket in the house is back in action. 

I spent some time with the sheep before making my way to the horse paddock. It was a very cold and windy day but great for yard work because of no flies. I mowed the lawns and called it a day. We had a beautiful Roast chicken dinner before HB heading to work and it felt good to have life the way I like it.