Let’s have a Monday Pretzel Bread

It’s Monday. I wanted pretzel bread. So I made some. How Sweets Eats provided the recipe.  This is mostly going to be pictures. 

Only bad thing is I forgot to salt it after I put the egg wash on. 

Don’t worry. I salted it at the end. 


I ate it. Fin. 

LIONS AND TIGERS AND PEARS OH MY

Sorry for the pun but it’s what my fingers typed so it’s staying. 

So Jerms’ coworker gave him some delicious Asian Pears and I decided I must make something with them. So I did. 

I used this Asian Pear Maple Crisp recipe I found on Pinterest. I took lots of pictures. 
Why yes, there IS a LEGO haunted house going up RIGHT NEXT TO MY COOKING. Standard flour, brown sugar, cinnamon for the filling. 

Then I knocked my measuring spoons mason jar on the floor. Ooops. 

Ok moving on. So this recipe called for using country crock. Personally, I think not. Obvs I used real butter. 

Ready to go in oven!



Nom nom nom. I think if I made it different I would add maybe either nutmeg or cloves to the mix. Mmm. Oh yeah, the recipe called for chopped pecans but I did not have those on hand.

That being said, Jerms loved it. The kids? Who knows. None for them. Ha! 

Crock Pot Chops

We are trying a new thing here...the kids are now choosing recipes from various cookbooks for us to try to see if that increases the amount of home cooked foods the kids eat. 
Tonight’s dinner courtesy of the Christmas Slow cooker cookbook. 

Pretty easy. Not horribly unhealthy and the kids could help make it. 

Now we bought these small boneless chops that I probably could have doubled. I also forgot to take pictures of it, other than this and at the end. Also, it’s me so when my in-laws we’re here my FIL suggested adding mushrooms. Done. 

Currently speaking 4/5 of us liked it, only one kid wasn’t here to try it. Would definitely make again but would use either double the skinny chops or some big meaty ones. 

Neither the Dijon nor the thyme overpowered it either. All in all. A success. 
Gotta say: not that pretty but definitely tasty. 

Burgoo Fest

Today we tootled on over to Utica, Illinois for the annual Burgoo Festival. What is Burgoo you say? 

It’s a beef stew that is cooked all night by “burgoomeisters” and has all kinds of veggies in it. Think potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, peas, okra (?), onions, hominy and I can’t remember what else. Before we tried it we asked lots of people if they thought it was good and we got lots of answers ranging from “skip it” to “needed more salt” and “absolutely”. Some people are grossed out that it cooks all night in the rain....

Not us. We were ADVENTURING.

These are the cookers. 

This guy asked if we liked cats and said they don’t have a cat problem anymore *wink*. 







Jerms is skeptical though he actually really enjoyed it. As did I. I may even make it. 

Other fun we ate included fair food such as corn dogs and nachos as well as what was called a Chimney Cake Sundae. Basically, the dough is rolled and put into a rotisserie and then filled with ice cream and toppings. I mean, YES. 








It was super messy to eat but YUM. We felt like we had made the right choice. 

This event has over 350 vendors and I ended up getting a dress and we got some giant amount of bath bombs, as well as some jewelry. The town is adorable and kind of in a valley. We saw the blacksmith. Jerms got his face painted. If one was inclined you could get drinks and walk with them since basically everything was closed down to cars. It’s seriously a HUGE event and we just happened to luck out that it was also happening this weekend as we drove home. Perfect! We did all the fall things these last two weekends and it was so fun! 

Downside: no interior bathrooms at ANY of the events (unless you go to a gas station or fast food). Loved seeing small-town Illinois as I never have before. (Ok, well I did go to Burgoo Fest once when I was a kid but all I remember is that it rained a lot and we got soaked and I didn’t like beef stew.) 

Chicken and Noodles

So Jerms and I are adventuring this weekend around Central Illinois for the Spoon River Drive. YUMMO. We have eaten our way through a lot of festivals....but one of the standouts to me is Chicken and Noodles. I have never had this dish in my life. Not have I ever come across it in Pinterest or FB recipes. First of all, delicious. Secondly, delicious. Going to have to make it stat. This one had mashed potatoes underneath. I approve. 
Also a bee was helping herself to waltzing around in it. Yum.

This was in Canton, Illinois. Jerms had a giant corn dog and a lime shakeup. That was amazing.

Also Canton, The Sweet Shop. I had a chocolate malt and Jerms had a butter beer. This place is in an old pharmacy and soda shop. Gorgeous building. The lady told me it was not haunted BUT we think she lies. Haha. So good though. 

Farmington brought us sugar nuts and lots of popcorns. Because literally what we do is eat.