Kneaders Curried Turkey Chowder

I'm really not much of a leftovers fan. But one thing I DO love is this soup made with leftover turkey. I've also made it with turkey deli meat cut into small pieces. It is equally delicious. Also, the recipe calls for cream, however, I make it with milk and that's plenty of creaminess for me.

Whenever I make this soup, it disappears. All 7 of our kids love this soup. I also love this soup because it whips up in about a half hour. It's a handy recipe for those nights when it is 5:00 and you haven't thought about what is for dinner yet.

Ingredients:
2 cups water
2 1/2 T. chicken bouillon granules
½ cup diced green onions
1 t. curry powder
3 carrots peeled and chopped
¼ t. cayenne pepper
3 ribs diced celery
salt & pepper to taste
2 cups cream
2 cups chopped turkey breast

Roux for soup:
½ cup butter
½ cup all-purpose flour

Directions:In a stockpot combine water and veggies. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Continue to simmer until vegetables are tender. Season with curry powder, chicken bouillon, and cayenne pepper. Add turkey breast.

(Roux) In a small saucepan melt butter and slowly add flour. Stir constantly. Slowly add cream continuing to stir. Heat, but do not boil. Add roux slowly to turkey and veggies. Heat thoroughly. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with warm crusty bread.

Grandma Bradley

Thursday I flew to Las Vegas to enjoy a weekend in St. George, Utah with Mark's grandparents, aunts and cousins. As Mark's aunt picked me up, she told me the we were moving on the plan B, because grandma had unexpectedly died that morning. She had packed their bags and was ready to go to St. George, but, as Grandpa said, she had packed her bags, but didn't tell us where she was really going.

I drove that night to Salt Lake with aunt Barb. I had an amazing weekend staying in Grandpa's home. I saw so many relatives, and many times was moved to tears not so much because I desperately missed Grandma, but more so because of the outpouring of love that I both saw and felt from everyone. Grandma had 14 children, 86 grandchildren and 144 great-grandchildren. Although she is gone, she lives in each of us, and I have always wanted to be just like her. She taught me so much, and I admired everything about her. She was hard-working, honest, constant, bold, beautiful, spunky, well-read, generous, loving, practical, efficent and devoted. Maybe the thing I liked the most about her is that she was not afraid to say what she thought--good or bad. You always knew where you stood with her. She did so much for so many, and she couldn't sit still and just chill. She had to be reading or knitting or busy with something. She was amazing.

I have so many great memories of her, but one I am forever grateful for is the time she and Grandpa stayed with us for a week when Mark's brother got married. It was so fun to be with them, one on one, for so many days. Grandma whipped my house into shape, and she and I catered the wedding breakfast in my home. I got her hooked on my sugar cookies that trip. The day after the wedding, we were unaware that one of Mark's other brothers had invited everyone over TO MY HOUSE for dinner. We had about a 30 minute window to pull dinner for what we thought was going to be 25 people together. And then 10 more showed up, and he said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you I invited them." Grandma asked, "Is there anyone else you have invited that we should know about?" He answered, "No." Just then, the doorbell rang, and Mark's dad walked in, another surprise guest. You should have seen the look on her face as she threw her hands up in the air. I wasn't happy about 11 unexpected guests who thought they were invited, but Grandma really couldn't believe it. But we pulled it off, and she joked that night about the loaves and fishes we had served. It was a very random meal. We had one whole salmon that we cooked, and then tater tots, macaroni and cheese, and 7-layer dip. There were 2 apple pies and 1/2 gallon of ice cream left from the wedding breakfast, and Grandma did an excellent job of rationing the ice cream. Nobody dared to ask for a bigger scoop.

I love you, Grandma. I always have, and I always will.

Bella's Mittens

Next week I am going to start a new project. First I need to get my Halloween sewing over. Noah decided that his Rhino the Hamster needed a tail, Bolt wanted feet, and Jake decided he wants a gorilla costume. Tail and feet are done, but I'm heading to the fabric store in a minute to get the makings for a teenage gorilla.

I like to take my knitting bag with me wherever I go; you never know when you're going to end up waiting somewhere with nothing to do. I have a very hard time sitting still, and I need something to do in those situations.

Apparently these are the mittens Bella wore in the first Twilight movie. I am not willing to torture myself by watching it again to verify that fact--I'll just have to trust my nieces. I do love these mittens. Why do glove-makers make gloves and mittens so that 3 inches of my arm is exposed to cold, wind and snow between the end of my sleeve and the top of the glove? I guess it could just be my freakish anatomy where my limbs abnormally long. Who knows? At least these mittens will keep me toasty.

If you are a knitter, you can download the pattern here.

My 3rd teenager

Wow. I am an oldie. I have 3 teenage kids. How did this happen?

Jake turned 13 last week. He is such a sweet boy, and his brown eyes are just incredible. I love how he notices things that need to be done and does them. Don't tell anyone, but I know he is the laundry fairy that secretly does the laundry for me every chance he gets. He also notices things that might be a problem in the future and does what he can to make things go without a hitch. He's also a fabulous violin player.

I love my Jakey Bob.

Halloween sneak peek!

I have always loved making Halloween costumes. Maybe for my next post I'll go through the old photo albums to catalog my creations. Last year was the first year I did not make any costumes. All because I ended up in the ER with tummy trouble during costume-making season last year, and the kids had to scrounge in the costume boxes for something they wanted. Fortunately, we have quite a selection after all of these years.

It all started when Abram was 5 months old and I saw a pattern for a skunk costume. I knew he had to have it, and so I got busy and made it. The next year, Aubrey wore it (with a new bow sewn to the head) and Abram got a new Winnie-the-Pooh costume. This was years before Winnie the Pooh was anywhere to be seen on anything, and so I had to create this one on my own.

Each year since, I have made 1, 2, 3, or 4 costumes. A couple of times I have purchased costumes (mostly on clearance at the Disney store after Halloween) and added them to our costume boxes. My new favorite is the owl at the top of this post. It is quite a spectacle, especially with the bright stripey tights Savanna picked to go with it.
Zachary wanted to be Bolt. He loves Bolt. He thinks he is Bolt. Apparently, Disney has no idea how much money they could be making with Bolt costumes, toys, clothes--ANYTHING! So I took creative license and stitched up this little Bolt costume for Zachary.Savanna and Zack posed on the stairs so I could get some pictures of their costumes. I have finished Noah's Rhino the hamster costume--and it is super cute, too. I just need take some pictures of him. He has the PERFECT teeth to be Rhino this year. And he is super wild and crazy and hyper and cute. Once again, Disney could have made a fortune on Bolt costumes. I'll get a picture of Noah later, and tell you about the crazy pattern hybrid I used to make his costume.
Savanna was going to be Penny from Bolt, but once we found this owl pattern, that's all there was to it.

Mt. Edith Cavell

There is an amazing, beautiful mountain in Jasper National Park called Mt. Edith Cavell. When I first heard this name, I thought it was odd. Who in the heck is Edith Cavell? Well, it turns out that she was one of the bravest and most noble women to ever live.

Edith Cavell was a British nurse in charge of a nursing school in Brussels, Belgium. When WWI broke out, Edith refused to leave her post, and even as the Germans conquered Brussels and and the Red Cross took over the nursing school, she stayed. She said, "I can’t stop while there are lives to be saved". She was free to return to England, but she wouldn't leave. She was not only saving German lives in the hospital as a nurse, but she also began hiding British soldiers and helping them escape to neutral Holland. She is credited with saving at least 200 soldiers through an underground organization. When the Germans discovered this, she was charged with treason and shot. The Canadian government later decided to name the grandest peak in Jasper Park after her to honor her.

On one side of this mountain, there is a mile-high cliff, and beautiful Angel Glacier. We love to visit Angel Glacier. It is a small hike, but you come to a beautiful lake of blue glacier melt, and you can see icebergs breaking off of the glacier and floating across the lake toward the shore. We interrupted a film crew there this year. They were annoyed, but we had driven a long way, and you have to get up to the glacier early in order to avoid the crazy crowds that visit it each day, and we weren't going to let them push us around. "But we are going to be showing this movie all over Europe." Big deal. We had driven 1000 miles in a van with 9 people. I wasn't in the mood for a temper tantrum.

Here are some random pictures from our adventure that day.


















If you're ever in Jasper, you must take the windy, one-lane drive up the mountain to get to Angel Glacier.

Icefields Highway

Here's another installment of the Canadian Adventure.

One of my favorite things in Alberta is the drive along the Icefields Highway. It goes from Lake Louise northwest to Jasper. It's not very long in miles (or kilometers), but it can take all day because there is so much to see. Seriously. I usually get annoyed by anyone wanting to stop on a road trip. A road trip is usually just necessary torture you must go through to arrive somewhere. However, some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life are on this section of Hwy 93 between Lake Louise and Jasper. For example:

Waterfowl Lake

The Saskatchewan River valley
Athabasca Falls


Mistaya Canyon
Sunwapta FallsI know there are many more pictures I could grab, but that gives you a basic idea. Waterfalls, glaciers and blue lakes galore. Most of the places you can simply pull over to see, but a few of them require a short walk or hike. Mistaya Canyon is a very hidden treasure. From the road you would have no idea that anything worth seeing was down the trail, but it is truly stunning to see how the river has carved and sculpted the rocks over time.

Sunwapta Falls is an easy one to get to and to walk around and see. The trails and bridges were mostly strategically constructed to not hinder the view. However, Athabasca Falls is a tragedy. It's such an incredible rushing river that suddenly drops into a garden of enormous sculpted rocks and then flows into a high-walled canyon. But some idiot in the 60s constructed a bunch of hiddeous concrete walls and bridges EVERYWHERE. Sure, it makes walking around easy, but it is like a really, really bad 60s zoo exhibit. But the Athabasca River is beautiful--even though you have to see it with ugly concrete in the foreground.

The whole drive is full of beautiful vistas. If you're ever driving through there, take your time, bring your camera and tripod, and bring plenty of water and food. There are overpriced cafeterias at Athabasca Glacier and Sunwapta Falls, but, other than that, you're on your own for food and water.

Although the drive was amazing again, it was nice to finally get to our hotel in Jasper--my favorite town. I'll save that for my next post.