Fun with Grandma Weber

This little baby Katelyn is the newest member of the Weber Family.

And because of her, My sweet Mother in Law came out to visit. Now I know that the trip was to come and help out my Brother and Sister in law with the new changes, help them get adjusted, make them meals, and take the two kids off their hands a bit so Kara could sleep and relax,

but we most definitely got the most Grandma time I think... :)

Because my parents live so close to them, she stayed with us. Kennedy loved it.

She had both Grandmas in the same house at the same time!

(this was the only picture that I got both Grandmas in.. but hey! Stana sure did a lot of help raising me so it counts!!)

We did some fun things, went to the Tree House Museum by Andrew's work, went to parks, spent Easter together, and just hung out.

Now my Mother in Law is an amazing cook. And always has been. So it was fun to spend lots of time with her in the kitchen, learning from her and just spending time with her!

She is all about trying new recipes and new things, so it was way fun to learn and try some new things myself.

Here are some of the things I learned...

A new way to cook green beans!
Get a pot of water to a rolling boil, then toss the beans in for 2 min.

They will be a vibrant green color, strain them from the hot water,

then dunk them into ice cold water.

You have got to stop them from cooking as fast as you can.

That's weird, you might think.. 'they aren't done!'

Well, they aren't.

Lay them out on a nice clean towel and let them dry off a bit. then roll them up.

In the meantime chop up some nuts.

Almonds and green beans are so good together.

Its like PB&J... A&GB

Definite must have.

Now just before serving, to make sure you serve them nice and hot but not over cooked,

drizzle a bit of olive oil into a pan, toss them on the stove and grill them for a minute or two.

Throw some nuts on top..

(you might notice we put every nut crumb on and stirred it before plating because sometimes the nuts only go to the top beans, and that is not fair to those who get the bottom beans...)

so good!

Pot Roast...

Ok so we did the usual as far as searing the meat and throwing in onions, carrots and celery.

But what was new for me was the gravy!

After it has cooked for about 6 hours, the veggies are too soft to normally serve. Throw them out? NOPE!

This is how she thickend the gravy! It is genius!
You end up using all the best flavors and juices you used for the meat.

After you take the meat out you strain the veggies out,

then get a thick spoon (we used an ice cream scoop) and mash those extra soft veggies through the strainer.

Yup.. that is all yummy flavor you want in your gravy.

Who would have thought?

Well, we were in a rush this day to take the meat to Michael and Kara,
BUT our gravy had a lot of unwanted fat oil.

Since my Mom didn't have a gravy separator, (if you are like Me, you might not know what that is... It pulls gravy from the bottom so you don't get the oils and fat off the top).

Anyway, we didn't have time to let it sit in the fridge and let the fat harden.
We called my Aunt LuAnn to see if she had a separator, and she said she didn't but to put ice in the gravy and it would cling to the ice so we could pull it out fast.

Gross looking, huh?

But hey, it saved us a lot of time, and kept us from eating all that the oily, fatty gunk!

We also tried making tacos a new way.

Spread the tortilla out and put salsa on first, then shredded chicken, and cheese.

Leave it open and bake it in the oven for 7 min. Pull them out and garnish.

(the first round we did we baked for 15 min, and my Dad loved them that way. I thought they were a bit too crunchy and so we cut the time in half.)

Then the last night we had Tilapia.
We had some fun helpers this time..

The bread crumbs were Asian, called Panko. Crispy and good!

Flour, egg, and bread crumbs, then in the pan, cook at 375 for 15 min.

Along with the fish we had sweet potatoes cooked my favorite way. Get ready, they are sooo good.

My kids inhale them.

So you peel them,

slice them

lay it them out on a cookie sheet and bake them for about 5 minutes or so at 375.

While they are in, mix butter, brown sugar and a bit of cayenne pepper together. Don't forget the cayenne pepper! It is the best part!

Pull them out and drizzle the brown sugar mix on the warm potatoes.

Now put them back in for about 10 more minutes, unil they are just soft enough to stick your fork through and start to bubble and caramelize on top.

Pull them out and serve.

I normal like to top them with nuts... but I used all I had with the green beans.

We did a lot of fun things with her!

We ate like Kings! (We had lots great meals I didn't get pictures of, and I am regretting it.!)

I just wish she was here longer!

She is training to run a Ragnar back in Connecticut, and so she has motivated me to start running! We ran a 5K with her while she was here and it was way fun!

They helped pitch in some money to buy a double jogging stroller! It has been awesome! The kids seriously love it. Since she has left we have logged about 15 total miles in it. Andrew and I both can't wait to connect it onto our bikes!

We love our Grandma Weber