Recipes!

Over the past few months Pat and I have been trying all sorts of different recipes and these are the two that we enjoy the most so far. That is apart from the ol' stand by's like potato soup, tacos, Parmesan chicken.

Taco Casserole  

1 lb. ground beef

1 can creamed corn

1 can pinto beans

8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

Tortilla chips

Brown ground beef. Add creamed corn and pinto beans (with juice) then mix together.

In a glass baking dish spread the tortilla chips over then bottom then spread the beef mixture over. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes. Cover the top with cheese and place back into the oven until melted. We love to eat it with sour cream.

BHG's Garden Spaghetti

8 oz. spaghetti 

2 cups small broccoli florets

2 cups fresh, canned, or frozen corn

1 cup chopped carrots

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 cucumber, chopped (optional)

2 tbsp oregano or basil

1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel

2 tbsp lemon juice

2-3 tbsp olive oil

Tomato or pasta sauce optional

Cook spaghetti with 1 tsp of salt added to water. Add broccoli, corn and carrots the last 3 minutes of pasta cooking time. Drain. Return pasta mixture to pan. Toss in tomatoes, cucumber, oregano, lemon peel, lemon juice, and enough olive oil to lightly coat ingredients. Makes 6 servings. 

For those of you who have a sweet tooth check out these Crisp and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hope you enjoy!!

Jess

 

The Autoharp

You may recognize it most from Mother Mabel Carter of the Carter family. The autoharp is a stringed instrument with a series of chord bars attached to dampeners that come in contact with the strings. When a cord bar or button is pressed all the strings except for the strings that form the chord pressed are deadened. Only the string producing the desired chord will play. This is instrument is not technically a hard but a zither. In 1882 Charles F. Zimmerman gave this instrument the name "autoharp" but Karl August Gütter created the shape that is still applied to all autoharps made today. The U.S. Music Corporation owns the trademark of the term "autoharp" so the only manufacturer of this instrument is Oscar Schmidt division. Two types of autohaprs are made: diatonic and chromatic. The diatonic harp have only a limited number of chords it can play and restricted to 4-5 five buttons. The chromatic harp can play most chords on the scale and range from 15-21 buttons. While the chromatic harp is easier to play with a wide array of songs the diatonic is preferred among more skilled players with particular songs.

In Appalachia, music has always been such an important part of life. Family reunions or get-togethers just arn't truly get-togethers unless someone pulls out the instruments and play a while. The autoharp was designed to be able to play and follow along without having to know finger positions. As long as you know where and when to change chords you can play along with any song on the autoharp. 

Mother Mabel Carter brought the autoharp into the spotlight, however it was Cecil Null who introduced the upright way of playing this instrument. Previously, it had been played by laying it across one's lap. The Carter family routinely used this position and since then most players use this method. 

Though this is a simple instrument to play it can be picked and plucked to make extraordinary sounds! Jo Ann Smith is a distinguished player of the autoharp and my personal inspiration of learning to play. My grandpa Doc owned an autoharp and it was passed down to my Dad. I had never paid much attention to it before but one day I started plucking around on it. I stumbled on to Jo Ann playing Amazing Grace and have been playing ever since.  

Jess

Our Honeymoon!

Hello again! I didn't post anything last week because Patrick and I were on our honeymoon! As you know, we were married in May but could not go on our honeymoon right away because Pat had to take the Bar Exam soon after. We were fortunate enough, with help from our wonderful family, to take a cruise! We decided to go all out and go on the biggest cruise ship in the world (at the moment) the Royal Caribbean International's Oasis of the Seas. It was amazing!! We went to the western Caribbean including places such as Labadee Haiti, Falmouth Jamaica, and Cozumel Mexico. Those places were pretty nice but we liked being on the ship most of all! Here are some pictures from our trip, enjoy!

This was the main deck of the ship. It's where all the parades and shop were plus all kinds of pubs and bars.

We had a tiny room but it was very clean and they had a safe for us to store our valuables!

This was the only person at the dock to wave goodbye to so we all let it out on him!

Did you know there was a park with live plants on board?

This was the aqua theater where all the water show were performed. All the entertainment was top notch! 

The service in the dinning room was superb! When we were seated the waiters would put the napkins in our laps for us! On lobster night they brought out the dinner and then de-shelled it for you. The food was mind blowing. Everything was delicious!

Cozumel, Mexico

Montego Bay, Jamaica

Labadee, Haiti

While we were in Mexico we got enjoy real Mexican nachos and a mariachi band!

If you are thinking of taking a cruise do it!! We will definitely be doing it again sometime. You get a great deal for your money if you take advantage of everything they offer on the ship. We had a great time and look forward to more trips in the future. 

Jess

Flash Back II

Continuing with our trip down memory lane we'll be covering cartoons, TV shows, and movies today. Prepare for picture overload! Here we go!

 Cartoons:

TV Shows:

 Movies:

Hope you enjoyed our trip!

Jess