Nancy on the Home Front

Best Ever Broccoli Salad

I have been making this broccoli salad for years, and every time I make it this salad is a big hit. It’s a little more time consuming as you make a delicious creamy dressing to toss with the salad. The dressing can be made a day ahead of time. Then just add the remaining ingredients together and toss with the dressing before serving. I consider this to be the best ever broccoli salad.

Best Ever Broccoli Salad

Ingredients:

Dressing:

½ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp. Cornstarch
1 tsp. Ground mustard
¼ cup white vinegar
¼ cup water
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
½ cup mayonnaise
3 Tbsp. butter

Salad:

4 cups of fresh broccoli florets
2 cups sliced mushrooms
½ medium red onion, chopped
1-11oz can of mandarin oranges
6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
½ cup raisins (golden or regular)

Directions:

In a large saucepan combine the sugar, cornstarch and mustard. Combine vinegar and water. Stir into the sugar mixture until smooth. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat and cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat.

Stir a small amount of hot filling into egg and egg yolk; return all to pan, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil and cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Gently stir in mayonnaise and butter. Cool to room temperature without stirring. Chill.

In a large bowl combine the broccoli, mushrooms, onion, oranges, bacon, almonds and raisins. Pour dressing over the salad and toss to coat. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Makes about 12 servings.

Goal Setting Week #30

Five weeks and we are heading west! At least that’s the plan. We have had a little set-back with a few issues which we are hoping are resolved soon. In the meantime we just keep packing!

~~1. Find a new hosting site for my blog and make it secure.~~ Done! This was the first goal accomplished this year and I am so happy to have a secure website.

2. Monetize my blog. I have set up two affiliate accounts. You may be noticing links to my favorite items on Amazon. I’ve also teamed up with an amazing heirloom seed company, Mary’s Heirloom Seeds. Really don’t want to clutter my blog up with too many ads.

3. Create a cookbook. This is definitely getting put on hold. Hopefully I’ll have more time once we are relocated, this may be postponed until the new year!

4. ~~Be diligent about getting 10K steps in 5 out of 7 days a week.~~ I’ve decided to change this goal to 3 out of 7 days a week! Did better this week, managed to get all my steps in 2 out of the 7 days. Plus I had more steps overall than the week before!

5. ~~As we continue to prepare for our house sale, continue to de-clutter~~. DONE!!

6. Read 25 books this year! I’m on track! Finally finished reading The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag. Light entertaining reading about a smart eleven year old with a passion for chemistry and solving murders. Also received a notice from the library that thee books I’ve been waiting for are all in. Seriously, I’m going to find time to read all three in three weeks before I have to return them! I’ll do my best! Only 1 book left to read to complete this goal!

7. Have a consistent meal plan each week and prepare ahead. We had company over the weekend and also had a fabulous dinner at our friends house on Sunday. Rest of the week was spent eating whatever was on hand, frozen grilled hamburgers etc. Even had granola one night. This week our son is coming home to say good bye to our house. Will definitely have meals planned while he is here. Probably some of my husband’s fabulous pizza!

~~8. Finish 4 knitting projects.~~ Completed! Made two hats and two scarves. Since this goal is completed I am going to put the baby sweater I was working on aside. I have a hard time knitting when the weather is warm so I will finish this sweater but probably not until the fall! Maybe I’ll do some knitting on the drive west?

9. Clean out our freezer. Definitely a priority now! I have only 5 weeks to use up ingredients in the freezer and the pantry! Finally got those last packages of frozen tomato sauce out of the freezer to make spaghetti sauce while my son is home. Hopefully it will all be gone by the time my son heads back home, otherwise we’ll be eating spaghetti for the next week! Once Labor Day comes and goes this freezer will be completely empty and I can probably unplug it!

10. Take a few road trips and visit family and friends on the east coast that we will not see as often once we move to the west coast. We will be staying put until one last road trip in September. Instead we have friends coming to visit us! Looking forward to these visits although it will be hard to say good bye!

“All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim,

have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high,

one which sometimes seemed impossible.”

Orison Swett Marden

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For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Nancy On The Home Front

Things We Will Miss About Living in Vermont

While we are very excited about the sale of our home and our move to the west coast there are many things we will miss about living in Vermont. We have called Vermont home for over twenty years and it was definitely a wonderful place to live and raise a family.

My husband designed our home and we had it built almost twenty years ago. The new owners might not appreciate all the work we did in creating this beautiful homestead. It was rough land when we started and we’ve created gardens galore around the house.

We have had wonderful wildlife around our home over the years, everything from beautiful birds to amazing owls. Having less wildlife around us is one of the many things will miss about living in Vermont. We’ve had coyotes show up outside our window. Numerous bears have stopped by check and see if we have birdfeeders out. We always take our feeders in at night but after this daytime visit we stopped feeding the birds altogether!

Living closer to our four grown children will be a real treat but leaving our friends and family here is so hard. No more wood stacking parties. Our evenings sitting around the campfire and gazing at the stars are coming to an end.

Our home has been a wonderful place for friends and family to gather. I will miss the large meals around our table.

Friends will be missed and the good times we’ve had hiking together.Living surrounded by woods and peace and quiet will definitely be one of the things we will miss about living in Vermont. I enjoy sitting on our deck and watching the birds and listening to the stream. Such a peaceful and relaxing spot.

Being able to walk out our door and head out into the woods on snowshoes will also be one the many things we will miss about living in Vermont.

Rather than focus on all the things we will miss about living in Vermont what we need to do is focus on the adventures that await us in the Pacific Northwest. There will be new places to discover, new hikes to enjoy and a much closer proximity to our children and grandchildren. That we are looking forward to!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

As I continue to work on our goal of cleaning out the freezer I needed to use up some frozen pumpkin. I decided to mix up a batch of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. Not only did I use up some pumpkin I had on hand but also I used up a package of chocolate chips in the cupboard. Little by little our cupboards are getting cleaned out as we prepare for our move west.

Pumpkin Muffins are more associated with the cooler fall weather but I have to say they are just as tasty in the summer!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 (16oz) can of pureed pumpkin

1 ½ cup oil

3 cups of flour

2 tsp. Baking soda

2 tsp. Baking powder

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tsp. Salt

1 package of chocolate chips

Directions:

In a large mixing bow, beat the eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil until smooth. Add in the dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in the chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups ¾ full. Bake for 16-20 minutes at 400 degrees. Makes about 24-30 muffins.

Funny thing, I’m working on cleaning out our freezer and pantry which I did in making this batch of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins, however we couldn’t eat them all at once so I have to freeze a few. We’ll be enjoying these delicious muffins in the weeks to come! We may even take some with us for our cross country move!

Cooking Patty Pan Squash

This year in my garden I decided to try growing Patty Pan squash. My daughter grew it in her garden last year and had great success. I have two plants and they are producing like crazy! I then wondered about cooking patty pan squash.

After doing some online searches I found plenty of help in coming up with ideas.

Sautéed Patty Pan Squash

Just like any other summer squash cooking patty pan squash is easy. It can be sautéed with onions and a little spinach. I found a recipe on Allrecipes.com that sounded delicious.

Patty Pan Squash are best cooked when they are small but they can also be stuffed.

CountryLiving.com had even more delicious recipes! Roast it with garlic and fresh herbs. Or use it to make a creamy soup. They even suggested making a patty pan summer squash casserole with tomatoes and mozzarella.

I even found a recipe from the NY Times for Grilled Patty Pan Squash with Italian Salsa Verde. The squash are sliced to create a “steak” and then grilled. The “steaks” are then served with a delicious Italian Salsa Verde.

After reading many, many recipes for cooking patty pan squash I finally decided to create my own recipe using ingredients I had on hand.

I sautéed some mushrooms I had on hand with two sweet Italian sausages I had in the freezer. After the mushrooms and sausage were sautéed I added some panko crumbs, Parmesan cheese and herbs. I set the mixture aside while I parboiled the patty pan squash, just until it was fork tender. I then cut the top off of the squash and scooped out the seeds.

I stuffed the squash with the sausage mixture and placed the squash on a baking pan. I placed it in a 350 oven and baked it for 40 minute or until hot.

The result? It was delicious and served four, which meant my husband and I got two meals out of it.

If you find Patty Pan squash in your market, don’t be overwhelmed by it’s strange shape. Try cooking Patty Pan squash; you’ll be glad you did.

Goal Setting Week #29

Six weeks and we are heading west! Our days are packed with packing and passing along things we just won’t need. Exciting times to be sure. Goal setting has fallen a bit by the wayside, although I am pleased to have some of my goals completed!

~~1. Find a new hosting site for my blog and make it secure.~~ Done! This was the first goal accomplished this year and I am so happy to have a secure website.

3. Create a cookbook. This is definitely getting put on hold. Hopefully I’ll have more time once we are relocated, this may be postponed until the new year!

4. ~~Be diligent about getting 10K steps in 5 out of 7 days a week.~~ I’ve decided to change this goal to 3 out of 7 days a week! Did not do well at all this week on this goal. Between the traveling and the rain it just didn’t happen.

5. ~~As we continue to prepare for our house sale, continue to de-clutter~~. DONE!!

6. Read 25 books this year! I’m on track! This week I’m still reading The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag. Light entertaining reading about a smart eleven year old with a passion for chemistry and solving murders. Good book but haven’t quite finished it yet. Only 2 books left to read to complete this goal!

7. Have a consistent meal plan each week and prepare ahead. Not happening! Meals are being planned around using up ingredients on hand. Last week we used up some wraps and made Tortilla Pizza. It’s a favorite in our house and along with some appetizers made a perfect dinner.

9. Clean out our freezer. Definitely a priority now! I have only 6 weeks to use up ingredients in the freezer and the pantry! The downstairs freezer has two frozen lasagnas for Labor Day weekend and only a few bags of frozen tomato sauce left. This hasn’t changed much as we were out of town for much of the week!

10. Take a few road trips and visit family and friends on the east coast that we will not see as often once we move to the west coast. We spent the weekend in Connecticut visiting family. I enjoy these breaks from packing! When we are home every free minute is taken up with packing boxes. It was nice to have a relaxing weekend. Such fun to gather with family and friends!

“A goal properly set is halfway reached.”

Zig Ziglar

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site.

For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Nancy On The Home Front

Moving Checklist

Yes, it’s real. We’ve sold our house and we’ve created a moving checklist! The days are flying by as we work, pack and get together with friends one last time before we head for the west coast. It all makes me rather breathless. By creating a moving checklist I feel a little more in control and slightly more confidant that all the bases are covered and nothing will be missed.

The first thing I did was to create a folder to keep track of all our move related paperwork. We then interviewed three different moving companies to decide who will be the one moving our belongings across the country. We thought briefly about moving ourselves but I did not want to drive a truck and so we’ll let the professionals handle the move. We are doing the majority of the packing however. We packed ourselves before and do a good job. Six to seven weeks before your move you should have a moving company booked.

Luckily we’ve had several friends that made recent moves and were kind enough to give us all their moving boxes. We have packed all the non-essentials such as books and pictures. We’ve also collected various packing supplies such as tape, markers and bubble wrap. After each box is wrapped I mark on a list what is in that box and number it. This should help us at the other end with unpacking.

In the next week or so we will contact our dentist, doctors and eye doctor to get copies of our medical records. It is also possible to have the records sent directly to your new doctor once you know who they are. Usually you just need to sign a paper giving permission to have the records sent.

Four to six weeks before the move notify your insurance company. If you are buying a new home make arrangements to have your homeowner’s transferred to your new home. If you are renting a home plan to purchase renters insurance.

One month before moving be sure to notify the utility companies such as your landline, electric and propane company. Fill out a change of address card for the post office and notify any subscriptions you may get.

Three weeks before the move use up the last food items that you don’t want to move. Plan ahead so you have nothing left in the freezer or fridge before you leave. Since we will be making a cross-country move we will also have our car serviced so it will be ready for a long drive ahead.

Two weeks before your move pack with a vengeance. Plan which items you will be transporting yourself. Do a thorough cleaning; make arrangements to have the house cleaned after the movers. Dispose of any items that can’t be moved such as cleaning materials, propane or paint.

One week before the move confirm with the movers. Pack an essential kit for things you will need right away and plan to take those things with you. Keep all of your important documents on hand.

The day before the movers come cleanout the fridge and freezer completely. Check all cupboards and pantry shelves and make sure you haven’t forgotten anything.

On the moving day plan to work with the movers, identify the fragile items or large items right away. When you are sure that everything is accounted for sign the bill of lading. Take one final sweep to make sure nothing has been left behind and say good-bye.

Leaving our home of twenty years is a bit overwhelming. Having a moving checklist has been a great help and has helped us with the packing and moving process. Saying goodbye to our family and friends is so hard but we’re looking forward to the adventure that awaits us on the west coast.

Healthy Appetizers – Chocolate Hummus

Have you heard of chocolate hummus before? Several weeks ago friends of ours served us chocolate hummus as a snack with apple slices and pretzels. It was so good and certainly did not taste like it was made with chickpeas! Who ever thought of combining a can of chickpeas and some cocoa powder and making this delicious concoction? Who thinks of these things?

Since we were introduced to this crazy concoction I’ve made it twice! Think I may be addicted. It’s just so easy and so tasty. People can’t believe it’s chickpeas either! It would also be good served with fresh strawberries too.

Chocolate Hummus

Ingredients:

1-15oz can chickpeas (1 ½ cups cooked)

¼ cup tahini

¼ cup maple syrup, to taste

½ cup cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla

¼ tsp. kosher salt

1-2 Tbsp. water

Directions:

Drain the can of chickpeas. Add the can of drained chickpeas to the bowl of your food processor along with the tahini, maple syrup, cocoa powder, vanilla and kosher salt. Puree for 30 seconds and then scrape down the sides of the bowl. Taste, add more maple syrup if desired. Add the 1-2 Tbsp. of water and puree again until it comes to a creamy consistency. Store refrigerated for 7-10 days.

Serve with pretzels, green apple slices and strawberries.

Enjoying My August Garden

Making a move away from a place you have called home for over twenty years is bittersweet. I’m so excited for the adventure that lies ahead, and so sad to be leaving New England and all our friends and family here. Our gardens have been doing extremely well this year so in the midst of packing I have been enjoying my August gardens.

It was a wonderful year for berries. Our raspberry bushes produced more berries than ever before. Not only did we pick many quarts but I had enough to make a double batch of raspberry jam. I also made a delicious Raspberry Cream Pie.

The blueberries have just started to come in. The bushes are not covered this year so we are fighting with all the various critters to pick the ripe berries before someone else eats them!

The flowers are beautiful this year. I’ve left gardens before and it’s hard. I’ve put so much work into creating the various flower and vegetable gardens. Hopefully the new owners will enjoy them and take care of them. In the meantime I’m enjoying my August gardens.

I grew Patty Pan squash for the first time this year. Such a fun garden squash, bright yellow and reminds me of a flying saucer in the garden. The first couple I picked too small. The next ones I’m going to let get a little larger and then try stuffing them.

The eight raised beds are not all planted with vegetables this year. More than half of them have flowers in them. The beans are coming in well this August providing more beans than we need! I’m looking forward to the zinnias blooming. Hopefully the sunflowers will open up while we are still here.

Have you ever moved and left a flourishing garden behind? I look at the numerous daylilies I have, many of which are from three daylilies my mother gave me one year, and I’d love to bring them with me… but I will have to start afresh on the west coast.

I hope you are enjoying your gardens this month. I know I am really enjoying my August gardens.

Goal Setting Week #28

Seven weeks and the adventure of heading west begins! Our days are packed with packing and we have a busy month ahead with lots of company coming to visit one last time. Exciting times to be sure. Goal setting has fallen a bit by the wayside although I am pleased to have some of my goals completed!

~~1. Find a new hosting site for my blog and make it secure.~~ Done! This was the first goal accomplished this year and I am so happy to have a secure website.

3. Create a cookbook. This is definitely getting put on hold. Hopefully I’ll have more time once we are relocated, this may be postponed until the new year!

4. ~~Be diligent about getting 10K steps in 5 out of 7 days a week.~~ I’ve decided to change this goal to 3 out of 7 days a week! Did pretty well this week and managed to get my 10K steps in 4 days out of the 7. Most of it was done running up and down stairs as I pack!

5. ~~As we continue to prepare for our house sale, continue to de-clutter~~. DONE!!

6. Read 25 books this year! I’m on track! This week I’m reading The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag. Light entertaining reading about a smart eleven year with a passion for chemistry and solving murders. Only 2 books left to read to complete this goal!

7. Have a consistent meal plan each week and prepare ahead. Not happening! Meals are being planned around using up ingredients on hand. Enjoyed the last of the pumpkin muffins this week.

9. Clean out our freezer. Definitely a priority now! I have only 7 weeks to use up ingredients in the freezer and the pantry! The downstairs freezer has two frozen lasagnas for Labor Day weekend and only a few bags of frozen tomato sauce left.

10. Take a few road trips and visit family and friends on the east coast that we will not see as often once we move to the west coast. We have a few short road trips coming up. Visiting friends in the Northeast Kingdom and in Connecticut this week and traveling to the Cape in September to visit family. Much easier to make these trips while we are still on the east coast! Looking forward to sitting on our friend’s porch in the Northeast Kingdom this week. It is one of the most beautiful and relaxing spots. Plus it will be so nice to take a break from packing boxes!

“If you want to be happy,

set a goal that commands your thoughts,

liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.”

Andrew Carnegie

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site.

For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Nancy On The Home Front