Home Sweet Home

 How cool is this cabin!! Needless to say we had a GREAT time in the mountains at the Rainbows End cabin.

 Lots of room to hang out and let the grands run wild. Along with this room their was a wonderful family room downstaires as well as a loft full of even for fun family stuf.

 A nice size kitchen for all the cooking I did. I do mean LOTS of cooking. Breakfast 2 1/2 dozen eggs, 3 pounds bacon, 2 pounds sausage, 3 cans of biscuits and 2 bowls of gravy each morning. Of couse lunch, supper and snacks each day. Holy Moley!!

 The bedrooms were all warm and cozy with a full bath for each one. Need lots of bathrooms for our crowd.

 The bar was really cute. The little girls had fun using it for tea parties.

 Check out this wood carved door, amazing!!!! The entire cabin inside and out was loaded in wood carvings of bears.

For me this was the best part. BTW none of the photo's above are my own. I still need to download my camera.

Back to reality and technology!! We have had no Internet service or cell phone service since last Thursday but at least they could all text so they were not totally disconnected from the world. Ha At one point I did drag the lap top down the mountain in an attempt to get on line but the service was so slow I gave up and just enjoyed a Salted Carmel Hot Chocolate then headed back to the woods.

Lots of laughter, eating (cooking for me), naps and of course football this time of the year. The amount of work it takes to keep a family of 12 feed still blows me away!!!! My family is VERY lucky I like to cook, washing dishes sorta stinks but the bright side of all that was I knew I had knocked out at least one more meal and all were fat and happy.

Very short post today as I have to get back to sewing of Christmas gifts. I did take my machine along on the trip but it never came out of the car. The little girls are way into helping me sew these days, can't get much done with both of them on my lap.

If you are looking for an affordable vacation for your family check out American Patriots Getaways. They are always running a special but Christmas day is the big sale, all cabins are 50% off!!! We rent our cabins for the family getaway, my girls only weekend, and our anniversary trip at that time. We couldn't afford to head to the mountains that many times without a great sale. Use the drop down box on the right side of their site to take a virtual tour of the inside of each cabin, so cool.

Before I sign off check out the recipe below for a MEATLESS meal to help build up your pantry. After all the cooking and grocery shopping from the last week we are in much need of some meatless, easy meals!!!

White Bean Soup

1 Pound white beans/Great Northern beans REMEMBER to soak overnight and drain in the AM

6-8 Chicken bullion cubes

1 Small onion chopped  (I use dehydrated onions from the garden)

2 Garlic cloves chopped (I use dehydrated onions from the garden)

1 Cup chopped carrots (I use dehydrated onions from the garden)

1/2 Cup chopped celery (I use dehydrated onions from the garden)

1 Bay leaf

1 tsp salt or to taste

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp black pepper or to taste

12 cups water

Once the beans have soaked overnight drain them then throw them along with everything else in a stock pot and bring to a boil.

Turn the heat down, cover and let it simmer 2 to 3 hours or until beans are soft.

If you are using dehydrated veggies WAIT to add salt until the end of cooking. Salt will slow down the re hydrating of the veggies.

We like this soup with a big batch of home made rolls

If you have real meat eaters in the house throw in some leftover ham or a ham bone. Hubby and the boys like meat in their soup. The girls and I not so much!!