How To Build A Fire

We had a lovely snow storm today. We were all at home safe and sound and so the blowing snow outside was not a worry. We built a fire, made chicken stew and ate dinner in front of the fire place. What a relaxing, enjoyable evening. I'll post the chicken stew recipe later this week.



We thought it might be fun to show you how we start a fire. Our boys were taught how to build a fire by their Grandfather when they were younger. It took them awhile to get the hang of it, but now they are experts. It is a super handy skill for them and hopefully it is something that they will use for the rest of their life.

You need some basic things to start a good fire. Dry firewood, kindling, newspaper, and matches. Gather these things up and we are ready to get started.




Step one is opening the flu. This is so important because if you do not do this correctly, you will have a house full of smoke. Your chimney has a little cap on it that should be closed when you are not using the fireplace. Pull or push the handle until the flue is open. You can stick your head in the fireplace and look up to make sure you can see some daylight. That will tell you the flue is open in case you are unsure. If you do not see daylight, then either your flue is closed or blocked somehow.




Now we can start building the fire. Our fireplace gets a lot of use and by nature they are kind of messy so please excuse the soot and ash. We had a leftover log from our last fire. We are going to use that for this fire.




We are also going to add another log to the fire set up. If you are starting from scratch, just use two logs in the same position.




Next we are going to add the kindling. Our kindling comes from the huge pile of branches that fall off our trees that we pile up behind our garage. You can buy kindling sticks, fat wood, or you can chop a few slices off a piece of firewood. Whatever you use will be fine. Just lay some kindling across the two logs.




Next we need to add the newspaper. Start with a sheet of newsprint. Do not use a shiny add page from the newspaper. You want black and white with a dull finish for your fireplace.




Our next move is very technical. Wrinkle and scrunch your paper up into a ball.




Then shove the paper ball under the grate. You want several paper balls under your grate. There needs to be enough paper to start the kindling on fire. A sheet or two of paper will not be enough. I think we used about eight to ten paper balls.




This is what our start up looks like.




Now we can start the fire. Light a few paper balls to get the party going.



Immediately you are going to know how your fire is doing. You want to see a big puff of smoke rising up your chimney. This is called drawing. You want the chimney drawing the smoke up and out of your house.




Then when the fire gets going a bit, you can add another log to the fire. You want a little space for air to circulate in between each piece of wood, so do not pack your firewood too tightly. Angling the wood is a good way to give the fire a chance to breath.



Firewood sheds bark and debris. Building fires can be a messy job to start, but it is so worth it. We always try to clean as we go so the mess is not too off putting.




Once you are happy with your fire, pull the curtain closed and all you have to do is sit back to enjoy the fruits of your labor. I hope you get a chance to listen to the crackle of a fire with your loved ones this winter.



Trouble Shooting:

• Hissing noise? You have wet wood. Firewood should be at least a year old before you burn it and if you can keep it dry even better. Chances are that wet wood will be difficult to burn. You might get more hiss and smoke than fire.
  
• Smell smoke? Either your flue is not open or your chimney is not drawing. If you are having a drawing problem light a twisted piece of newspaper and raise it up so the smoke automatically goes up the chimney. Once you get the chimney primed so to speak, this might solve your problem.
  
• Fire just won't keep going? Try adding more paper and more kindling. Sometimes a fire can be a tricky thing to get going. Just keep fussing until you get it going.
  

After the Fire:

• Leave the flue open until the fire is completely out. Any little bit of smoke coming off the coal will make your house smell in a hurry.
  
• Pull the glass doors shut if you have them. This will help keep your heat from going up the chimney.
  

A Cold Winter's Night

Bitterly cold days in winter are to be expected and embraced. The temperature outside is 1.9° F despite the beautiful sun shine we are having. The sun beams are falling on the floor making the whole house so cheerful. but never the less, I will be very happy when everyone gets home for the evening. Cold temps are not to be taken too lightly.



So in honor of our super cold day I am making thick and spicy gumbo. Have you ever made gumbo from scratch? I did. Once. It was okay, but not worth an entire afternoons worth of work. Then I tried a dried soup mix. Once. I am not a huge fan of processed foods, so when we do indulge in something processed, it better be good. This was not.

There had to be a happy medium. My boys ( big and medium sized ones ) love gumbo. So I thought it all over and decided that I needed the speed and convenience of the dry mix as well as the yummy goodness of the homemade gumbo. So I finally combined homemade gumbo with a soup mix. Bingo, the boys loved it and I'm going to show you how to do it too. Today, we are making the most un-traditional gumbo in the world.

I am using a dry gumbo mix. I don't think the brand of the mix matters as much as what you do to the mix that makes the big difference. I am adding sausage, chicken, shrimp and a lots of veggies like okra, bell peppers, onion, carrot and celery to the mix to take an ordinary mix over the top. Rice mixed with a little powdered file is an extra special touch if you want to get super authentic. I found everything I needed at my local grocery store, except for the file powder. I am using Zatarain's which can be found here if you cannot find something like it locally. Also, I forgot to put the okra on the cutting board for the photo. I just buy chopped okra in the frozen vegetable section of my grocery store.




Start by adding a drizzle of olive oil to the bottom of a large stock pot.



Add the carrot, pepper, celery, onion, salt and pepper to the pot. It would be most traditional to use green pepper (but not all of us like the green bell peppers so we use the colors instead), celery and onion. You can use whatever combination of veggies that you would like. It'll be okay.




Stir everything in the pot a few times.




Cover the pot with a lid to cook the veggies.




Cook until the veggies are soft. Aren't they pretty?




Add the water suggested on the package directions and cook according to package directions. My package says to bring the water to a boil.



Whisk in the soup mix, reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. This is the part where I am going to be a good girl and do exactly what they say.





After 20 minutes, you get a thickened soup that looks good, but we are not done yet. Add the the chicken and sausage. Cook at a low simmer for 10 minutes uncovered.



The soup will reduce ever so slightly while the meat is cooking. If you were making this ahead of time you would stop now. But if you are going to serve it right away go on to the next step.




Let's talk about the okra and shrimp now.



Okra is a very southern vegetable that adds an authentic feel to gumbo. If you add it to the soup to soon, then it will over cook and turn grey. You don't want that. You want cooked okra that is tender and green. Adding it to the soup at the last minute keeps it green and beautiful.




Shrimp is just a fun addition when you already have the sausage and chicken. Shrimp would usually be added to a seafood gumbo, but i think it works really well in this recipe. Shrimp can easily over cook. I add the shrimp to the soup very carefully so a few pieces float on top as shown below. As soon as the shrimp turns pink, you are ready to serve. By the time you dish up the soup and sit down to eat, your shrimp should be perfect. If you over cook the shrimp it will become tough so wait to add the shrimp until the last minute.



To serve, put a half cup of rice in the bottom of your bowl. I used an ice cream scoop to give it that nice rounded look. You don't have to do that though.



Then add a few ladles of gumbo. Sprinkle it with the fillet powder if you are using it.



The gumbo is thick, full of chunky goodies, and mouth watering good. I did not grow up in the south, but this proves that you don't have to be a southerner to love gumbo. You can serve it with hot sauce and some extra file powder on the side. All that is left to do is enjoy.

Gumbo

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup diced bell peppers
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced onion
salt and pepper
Package dry Gumbo Soup Mix
1 bag frozen okra
1 pound peeled & deveined raw shrimp
1 pound chicken thighs, fat removed and cut into bite size chunks
1 pound sliced sausage of your choice
3 cups cooked brown rice
Water for soup mix and to make rice
File powder (optional)
Hot sauce of your choice (optional)

Directions

1. In a stock pot over medium high heat, add the olive oil, 4 cups of vegetables, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Stir the vegetables together. Cover and cook vegetables 5 to 7 minutes until they begin to soften. Stir occasionally.
2. Add water to stock pot according to directions of soup mix. Follow the directions of our soup mix and make the gumbo.
3. When the package of soup is made, add chicken and sausage to the pot and cook over a low simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add the okra and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add the shrimp and cook for another two minutes or just until shrimp becomes pink.
6. Serve over brown rice with file powder or hot sauce on the side.
Enjoy. Serves 6 generous portions.


For a printer friendly version of this recipe click here.

Super Bowl XLV

My Super Bowl Highlights:

• Company...My favorite crowd in the whole world.
  
• Commercials...Funny.
  
• National Anthem...Disappointed with the lyric mix up, but still liked the performance.
  
• Half time show...They were right! It was going to be a good night.
• Penalties...Shame on you Packer fellas for some of those penalties.
  
• And the game...Loved that it was not at all boring. :-)

And now for the food. This is what we wound up with...



I made beef sandwiches and then wrapped them in wax paper to keep them warm and so that the kids could help themselves in the non messiest way.



We had grilled onions and peppers to go on the sandwiches.



Potato Salad. I know it's not a picnic, but the kiddo's love this stuff. They were so happy.



Packer veggies. :-)



Jello. My kids love jello, but I have to admit it's probably not the most common item you would find at a Super Bowl party.


And dessert. Messy, oozy, lemon bars were so good.


And this was my version of Packer cupcakes. I tinted some homemade cream cheese frosting to match the Packer napkins and some green non perils topped these mini cupcakes off perfectly. I think they are so cute.


Our official mascots of the evening. Don't they look thrilled to be sitting still for a photo while they could be begging for scraps?

Getting Ready for the Super Bowl

We are getting so excited for the Super Bowl this year. (We do every year actually.) We love the Super Bowl no matter who is playing for the NFC and the AFC. We love the commercials and the half time show, we love planning a fun menu and enjoying the rare treat of eating in front of the television, we love the hype of the big game and we love the game itself.

Our usual Super Bowl party is a mini celebration of both teams. However, this year our kids have caught Packer Fever. It is a new law here in Wisconsin. Just kidding. But everyone is so excited it is hard not to get caught up in the pride the locals have for their beloved team. So, at the kids' request we are breaking tradition and having a Packer party this year.


Now, we have not lived in Wisconsin for all that long so we do not have a huge collection of Packer 'stuff.' I went shopping for a few fun things and came home with a package of napkins and two spools of ribbon which my husband was quick to point out were not exactly the ideal items for a FOOTBALL party. I did not want to spend a fortune on stuff that I may never use again. So making our Super Bowl Party super was going to require thinking outside of the box. This is what I came up with using my napkins, ribbons and a few other things and I am pretty happy with the results.




My son found an old football garland that I had picked up ages ago for a quarter. I strung it between the two arches in our family room. I added some green and gold ribbon to it, but it was in need of more. I spread some pom poms out by the TV that we had gotten from a Packer game. I liked the splash of...I don't even know what color they are. Anyway, we were getting there, but we still needed something more.


I gathered up a few of the napkins I had purchased, some thin white cardboard, a bit of decoupage glue that I had left over from another project, scissors, a home made football template and a foam brush.




I cut a football shape piece of napkin using the template to guide me. I also cut the word Packers from the front panel of the napkin.



Then I spread a thin layer of glue on the cardboard and placed the napkin on top of the glue. Give the napkin another coat of glue.



Then I added the green Packer cut out to the football.



I gave the new addition a top coat of glue as well.


After that, I just kept cutting the napkins apart and gluing them down.



The dried product is rather rustic. I was very happy with how they had turned out. I was happy with the way they turned out. I did not want them to be too perfect.



I cut the cardboard out leaving a small border area around each shape. Then I simply used a hole puncher to make holes so I could hang them up.



Before I could even hang everything up on the garland, the cardboard started curling up. I taped a few bamboo skewers to the back of each piece and it worked like a charm. I also un-bent (official crafting term) a handful of paper clips to be my hangers.




Ta da! I also printed a few Packer helmets as well. I found a free download on the computer for them. I glued them to the card board so they would not curl up.




While the festive decorating is mostly done now, the food pictures will have to wait until after the Super Bowl. I'll post some pics on Monday morning. But I can share our menu with you and some of the inspiration for our Super Bowl spread.





A pack of Packer peppers. Just kidding.


I bought Packer tortilla chips. Not really, but they really look like they should be.






I just can't wait to spend Super Bowl Sunday at home laughing, watching, munching and cheering with my family. I hope your Super Bowl is just as super!