More Recipes

Lance Family Terrific Taco Salad

All you need to prepare is to brown ground beef, then add taco seasoning

Pile on your plate any and all of your favorite taco toppings:

Tortilla chips
seasoned beef
black beans
refried beans
grated cheddar cheese
shredded lettuce
diced tomatos
chopped black olives
corn
salsa
sour cream




Aunt Linnea's Amazing White Chicken Chili

Saute 1/2 onion chopped in a small amount of butter & set aside.

In a pan add:

1/2 c. butter melted

1/4 c. flour - whisk

3/4 c. chicken broth

2 c. half & half

Simmer until thick and whisk constantly

Then add:

1/2 t. chili powder

1 t. cumin

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

2 small cans chopped green chillies

3 cans Gt. White Northern beans (Bush's)

1 c. or more diced cooked chicken

Sauteed onion

1 1/2 c. or more grated Monterey Jack cheese

Serve with Scoops/Fritos

Uncle Ben's Famous Scrambled Eggs

Beat eggs in a bowl with some salt and pepper, grated cheddar cheese, diced onions, green bell peppers and onion.  Do not add milk.  Pour into the pan and cook, stirring constantly, on medium high heat until cooked through but still slightly moist.  Ben never overcooks the eggs.  Do not allow to brown.

Aunt Cara's Slightly Less Famous Pancakes

At the beach I used Aunt Jemima's pancake mix, but at home I use Krusteaz.  My only secret is to add cinnamon applesauce to the pancake batter to make it thinner, and it also makes the pancakes fluffier and yummier.  Other favorite add-ins: blueberries, chopped apples, mashed bananas, chopped strawberries.  

Aunt Heather's Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies

TOP SECRET.  This blog to is too public...please contact Heather personally on a more secure channel for this amazing recipe.

recipes

Kalua Pork

To cook a lot at the same time use a  roasting pan (with 2 big shoulder roasts) and cook it in the oven and turns out fine. I double the ingredients and cook it at about 270 for about 10-12 hours. If you are using the oven method instead of the crockpot, make sure you cover the pan with aluminum foil and then put on lid.

Kalua Pig

5-6 lb pork butt or pork shoulder roast (shoulder and butt are the same cut, btw)
Crushed garlic
Hawaiian sea salt (coarse) --you can buy hawaiian sea salt on Amazon.com
¼ cup water
1 1/2 to 2 Tbsp. liquid smoke (we like Wright’s)

Score the meat with a sharp knife. Rub the pork roast generously with crushed garlic, and then generously with sea salt. Add ¼ cup of water to the crock pot, then add the roast. Pour the liquid smoke on top of the roast, and sprinkle pork with more salt (about a teaspoon or so.) Cook on low for 10-15 hours in the crock pot. The pork should shred very easily when cooked. Serve with rice or on rolls. Makes 12 servings.

Coleslaw

Jamie’s Favorite Coleslaw
Original recipe from ‘Cooking with Jamie’ by Jamie Oliver
½ a white cabbage finely sliced (I just bought bagged cabbage)
1 small red onion, finely sliced
3 carrots, thinly sliced (again, i just buy matchstick carrots)
2 red apples, cored and thinly sliced
1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
A couple of dollops mayonnaise
1 heaped teaspoon English mustard (can buy online or in nicer grocery stores)

1 to 2 lemons--juiced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Combine all the ingredients in a salad bowl. Add mayo and lemon juice a little at a time.
2. Have a taste and add seasoning as needed.


Fruit Salad:

Peaches, strawberries, raspberries blueberries and a couple of limes. Zest lime and squeeze lime juice over fruit. Sprinkle with a little bit of sugar to sweeten just a bit. Make a few hours ahead so the flavors can combine.

Cucumber salad:

Cucumbers, tomatoes and thinly diced white onion. Add a few tsp of olive oil and a few of red wine or balsamic vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Auld Lang Syne...so to speak

For anyone who happens to check here at the now outdated Reunion 2012 blog site----

Everyone is safely home this Monday, July 9th.  Grandma and Grandpa, and the California Redheads were the last to get home (9:00 PM last night).  I have been having fun perusing the OBX photos on the various blogs and FB.  We had a great time as a family and as individuals.  Everyone put so much work and planning into the week long event and Grandpa and I are so grateful.  We will always remember our beautiful family, grand kids and adults, and will always be grateful for what we have shared.  We are all different and are all the same and thus it made for a very memorable family time.

A huge "thank you" goes out to Jason for sacrificing 90% of his vacation time to preserve this capsule in time about our family.  Times like these are very rare and very difficult to bring about and are very precious for the grandparents, and hopefully for the rest of you.  I am also very grateful that the Lord was brought into each of our daily "doings" and that our petitions for safety was answered.

If any of you have suggestions for making any future gatherings smoother and more enjoyable, let us know.  We always need and appreciate all the help we can get.

Sidenote:  I got 19 grandchildren autographs on my reunion T-shirt.  Only Chloe, Penny, and Xander are missing.  Now I am going to tenderly wash it and see how it survives.
Also, Cara is collecting a few of the recipes we enjoyed during our dinners and will be posting them on this blog soon.

Love all 32 of you beautiful people.
Grandma Nutt

4th of July Fireworks Show

We received an email from the Boxers today and I have copied it here for general info.  Thanks to Ben who can find the latest data on anything anywhere!

ROANOKE ISLAND FESTIVAL PARK

440TH ARMY BAND
FIREWORKS BY THE TOWN OF MANTEO
July 4 at 8 pm
Outdoor Pavilion
Pack up the lawn chairs, blankets and picnic and bring family and friends as the nation celebrates July 4th in the Outdoor Pavilion.  The 440th Army Band will begin their patriotic concert at 8 pm.  Fireworks will be provided by the Town of Manteo beginning at 9:30 pm.  Gates open at 6 pm.  Parking will be available at the Park until the lot is full and also in downtown Manteo.  Handicap parking will be available at the Park.  The celebration is free and open to the public.

Sounds like the perfect thing to do.  We can either eat dinner early or have our Wednesday hosting family do sandwiches, chips, etc. for all of us to take to the park.  Heather and Miles have that night and are ready to do whichever.  Any input?

Only two more days!!!!!!!!  Excitement mounts.  See all of you at the beach on Sunday afternoon.

The 'Big Picture'

Bing Maps Bird's Eye view site

To get an excellent view of our Reunion Home location and surrounding area, I suggest using Bing Maps: enter the home's address:   1001 N. Virginia Dare Trail, Kill Devil Hills, NC.
Or click HERE.

When you open the Bing page, make sure you are in the "Bird's Eye" view (at top) to get a great panorama. ZOOM-IN all the way to get a clear close-up view of the area.  You can rotate 360° (upper right corner).  While you're at this site, check out and "explore" Bodie Island (a.k.a. Outer Banks/OBX) to get an idea where the parks and sights are.  A great place with lots to see and do!     FUN...FUN...FUN

Took this photo from the Ballon-Ride Grandma and I flew on June 5, 2012.
NO,... not really...just kidding...we were Hang-Gliding when I took this!

Here's the beachfront of the house. As Grandma noted earlier, we will have a 10' x 15' cabana set up each morning and taken down in the evening, at the base of these stairs.

  

Grandma at the Bodie Island Light Station
June 5, 2012

Dinner Assignments

Since I know Danielle already has a fun game planned, we don't want to trump her activity with the talent show night.  So I moved Danielle to Thursday, and I'll take Friday with the talent show.  Since that means we don't have to plan an activity on our own, we can help with any of the other nights - so if Linnea, Devry, Heather, or Danielle need some extra manpower or ideas, please let me know!

Sunday - Grandma and Grandpa
Monday - Jason and Linnea
Tuesday - Quinn and Devry
Wednesday - Miles and Heather
Thursday - Kevin and Danielle
Friday - Ben and Cara
Saturday - "Get Your Own" - whether you want to go out to eat or not, we all can provide for our own and keep it casual on the last night.

Calendar Items

Now is the time to finalize calendar events, such as dinners, and evening activities.  Yesterday I noted some activities avvailable in the area which would be a lot of fun for the adults as well as the kiddos.  Any of these activities can be done in the evening as well as the day.  Families can take off and do things on their own or we can all decide to do particular things as a group.  Those things can be decided each day of the week and need not be carved in stone here.

Anyway,  the dinner nights do need to be agreed on.  Linnea has asked for Monday night and Grandpa and I will take the arrival night (Sunday).  I have a program in mind for that very first night.  The rest of the nights need to be claimed and I  know that some have been, I just don't remember.  So use the comment section to claim your night.  First come first served, so to speak.  The best way to do each night is to have one family responsible for the dinner, the clean-up, and the activity for that evening.

The activity for each night can be ANYTHING which involves the kids and teaches a lesson about moral courage in these latter days.  For instance, on Sunday Grandpa and I will do something about work and the joy of working and the challenge of working.  We will talk about keeping the beach house clean and being responsible for it.  We will also give out the handmade beach bags with towels to each of the oldest 19 grandchildren.  We will talk about rules around the pool and about rules pertaining to helping each other and loving each other and being kind to each other.  You get the idea.  If any of you have suggestions are want something discussed that first evening let us know.  We want the rest of the week to be a happy, safe, and bonding time for our family.

Another evening activity will be the popular talent show, which I am scheduling for Friday night.  So, whoever decides to take the Friday night dinner slot can work with us and the talent show and not worry about doing a separate activity.  If you already have something in mind that you would like to do for an evening activity, grab Tues, Wed. or Thurs. night.

About the Talent Show!!!!  Anything goes!  Individual performances or group performances, or family spoofs, etc., will be wonderful.  We will have fun and act silly and give the kids (and their folks if they want to) a moment in the spotlight to show off.  This is wonderful for the kids to see each other and team up with each other.  Last time was so much fun that Grandpa is already working on what he wants to do for the Talent Show.  Just don't let anyone stress out about it because it is all for fun.

I still haven't decided on what I want to serve for dinner and we still haven't decided whether or not to go out just the adults one night.  There are plenty of Food Lions in town and I think the more casual the meal the more in keeping with beach life.

Let me know what you all have in mind.  Love each of you.

OBX Scoping Results This past Monday morning Grandpa and I jumped in the car and drove to the Outer Banks to scope out the fun possibilities for our upcoming family reunion. We had a blast and have accumulated another load of in-jokes. Anyway, here are some findings for you all to consider. We are very happy with the house we rented via a catalogue, so we lucked out there. The beach which adjoins the house is fabulous. Grandpa has Already reserved a large, 10'X 15' canopy cabana which will be set up for us each morning by 8AM and will be taken down for us each evening by 6PM. All we need to do is schlep whatever beach chairs we need back and forth. Remember all of the oldest 19 grandchildren will be getting their own beach bags and beach towels from Grandpa and Grandma. The adults need to bring their own beach towel. The other recreational opportunities are a bunch of awesome miniature golf courses, several go-kart businesses, hang gliding, laser tag, jet skis can be rented for use on the sound side of the island. For the Fourth there will be limited fireworks along the beach front. They used to have larger fireworks display there but a couple of years ago an accident occurred which killed six people so they (the county) has minimized the professional fireworks. The drive in and out of the Norfolk/OBX area is beautiful. In Norfolk you will have a challenging drive but all the bridges, and a tunnel, and all the ships, etc, are fantastic. Use your GPS for sure. When you access the Chesapeake Expressway you will need $6 in cash for the toll. Along this area, after Norfolk, are a few fesh produce roadside markets. They are fun. Sights to enjoy while on the OBX are lots of black pelicans, lots of wind, and lots of sand. Grandpa and I went to scope out certain areas of interest. We went to the Bodie Island lighthouse but it is under renovation and won't be open to the public for another year...bummer! The Hatteras lighthouse is over an hour's drive south on Pea Island and the drive is fun with huge, huge sand dunes right up against the road. We also took Monday evening to check out Roanoke Island where the outdoor drama, "The Lost Colony", is performed (see earlier posting). There is also an aquarium there on that island. There is an outlet mall just before you cross over to Roanoke. There is plenty of commercial shopping and grocery shopping within walking distance from our house. Restaurants and even a Sonic are right there. Just down the street from us is the Wright Bros. Museum and another mile south of the museum is Jockey's Ridge National park which is all sand dunes and is a great place to turn the kids loose to see how much sand they can get in their eyes, hair, and mouth :). Also, it is a great place for kite flying because of the wind. There is no place suitable for launching rockets so that event will probably changed to kite flying. Back to the house, the linens and pillows for all the beds will be provided. I do ask that these four people bring their own pillows since they will be on air mattresses and I don't have enough pillows to provide them. Would Chloe, Asher, David, and Garrett bring each bring a pillow? Also, Moms, don't forget THE SUN BLOCK and THE BUG SPRAY! Also, re-read Devry blog about the color theme for our family portrait. Tomorrow I pick up the reunion T-shirts. I will post another entry about the daily calendar tomorrow. Love all of you!

Activities to Consider

Grandpa and I have run across some interesting possibilities to add to our "maybe do" list while we are maximizing our week on the Outer Banks.

There is an open air theatre there which has the longest running show in the nation.  It is titled, "The Lost Colony", and is a factual representation of the Roanoke Colony and the first white baby born in the New World...Virginia Dare.  It will be performed every night that week except for the Fourth of July evening.  The tickets are $7-$24.  Here is the link: Lost Colony.






Also, another interesting thought is about the history of the North Carolina lighthouses and the history about the Atlantic water currents which converge there at Cape Hatteras.  In Nags Head is the Bodie Lighthouse and we will try to get a family shot with our Reunion T-shirts there.  A great day trip down to Caper Hatteras would be an hour's drive each way and would be great for the older kids.  Check it out here: Sentinels of the Night

One note:  the order for the family reunion T-shirts went in yesterday and should be finished by June 8th.

I have bought my Navy and Khaki outfit and Grandpa's soft yellow shirt and Navy shorts for our family  portrait.  That  portrait will, hopefully, be taken at the beach.  I have to coordinate with our photographer (Jason) and make sure that he is planning on recording our great seaside adventures.

Any other ideas?????  We only have four more weeks and Grandpa has already made the last payment on our beach abode.  Everyone stay healthy and buy lots of sunscreen.  Memories of the best kind are about to be made.



 

Reunion Shirts

Another update from Grandma Nutt...

T-shirts are in the works…..decision making time.   

I need the T-shirts sizes of each member of each family.  You can either email me with your sizes, or leave them in the comment section here.  There are youth sizes and adult sizes (XS through to 4X).  For the babies it is up to the parents if you want to purchase a youth XS shirt for them to have and grow into, or if you would prefer to get them a onesie or baby shirt in a matching color.  Just let me know your preference.

Regarding colors, there are 2 ideas.  Either we can all go with the same color for everyone, like before, or we can try to get a different color for each family group.  Both ways would be fun, but I still have to check with the shirt making company if ordering different colors will increase the price of the order.  I will let you know what I find out.  In the mean time, let me know what colors you might like.  Here are some colors that I think will look great and seem “beachy”:

Lime green – Lances have asked for this

Carolina Blue – figured the North Carolinians would want that color

Orange

Yellow

Sand

Teal 

If you want a color not suggested here let me know.

A really exciting sidelight to this project is that Eden is designing the logo.  Let’s all hear it for our resident artist!!!!

I will let you know more about price when I can get a good bid from our local company.  Stay tuned!

Grandma and Grandpa Beach Bags

Grandma Nutt here!  I have been busy the past several weeks working on something special for each of the grandchildren to have at our upcoming beach reunion - their own personal beach bag!  

The bags are only for each of the oldest 19 grandchildren and are made out of Grandpa's old t-shirts.  They are completely washable and can be junked at the end of the week if so desired.  

And BONUS! there will also be a gorgeous, new beach towel inside each bag with names of each grandchild on both the bag and the towel.  This is to encourage the kids to be responsible for their own beach needs and not to expect their moms to schlep all the kid's stuff back and forth to the beach.  

The three babies...Beckham, Xander, and Penny and all the adults will NOT be receiving a grandpa beach bag or a beach towel.  Sorry kids, but you are on your own there!

Family portrait clothes

I got shirts for the boys and little dresses for the girls in all the appropriate colors of navy, teal, and pale yellow - so I think we are all set for the family picture.  Of course Chloe has been wearing her teal sun dress all day - I really hope it's still in good condition come July.

Has anyone done anything about family T-shirts?  I am just wondering, because it takes time to have an order like that filled, and we are running out of weeks.

beach rentals

I wanted to post a few links for places to rent beach equipment etc... This list is by no means exhaustive. There are a ton of sites out there.

http://justforthebeach.com/store/home.php

http://beachdazerentals.com/

http://www.oceanatlanticrentals.com/home.php

When we did a reunion at the beach last year, all of my family flew in so they rented a lot of stuff from these places.

I plan on renting stuff as well. I'll probably rent some beach chairs and an umbrella and perhaps a high chair depending on how many the house has, baby gate, etc... The prices are reasonable and can really make a week stay more enjoyable.

A lot of these places will deliver for free for orders over a certain amount. They deliver to your house and then on check out day you simply leave the stuff outside the house and they pick it back up. Easy as pie!

color scheme

I spent a considerable amount of time looking at beach photographs to see what looked good in that sort of background/setting. I also wanted to choose a few colors to give everyone options.

Here is what I came up with: 3 colors and 2 neutrals. The neutrals are good for short and pant options.

Navy

Teal

a soft yellow

Khaki

White

The best thing to do is to make sure the colors are spread throughout your own family (so that if your family was doing a stand alone photo all the colors would be represented). That way when we all get together we all blend. Otherwise if one family does all navy and white, it might look odd when we get all together.

What do you guys think?

I wanted to post an inspirations board but haven't gotten around to it yet, but wanted to get these colors out as quickly as possible.  

Update:

Ok, here is my inspiration board that I created for my family. I know I'm crazy but I wanted to make sure what I had in mind would work before I go out and buy the stuff I don't already own.

 

Family Photos

So, folks, lots of action here on the blog....NOT.  :)  Are we planning on the same formula for pics.  Jason taking one family each day?  I was thinking it would be nice to get the large group picture the first day when we are all fresh and not sunburned etc.  But that's just my humble opinion.  Any ideas on wardrobe yet, Devry? We all appreciate how fashion savvy you are!  I guess that's it. I 've been seeing cute ideas on Pinterest...most of which I will probably never execute.  But it is fun to look.

Best Quote Ever

First quote for the 2012 reunion.  “Mom, the one thing I hate about our family reunion is when we get there I can’t figure out who to hug first!”  Pretty Alexa DelHoyo

Some theme ideas

I had some nightly theme ideas, but not an overall reunion theme.  Maybe "Beyond the Sea" or something totally corny.  Somebody else has GOT to have a better idea than that.

This is kind of what I have gathered from people requesting certain nights for dinner - so correct me if I'm wrong.

Sunday: settling in, casual dinner
Monday: Jason and Linnea dinner, theme of "Charting the Seas" (the Journey)
Tuesday: Quinn and Devry dinner, theme of "Aloha Ohana" (Family) possible luau games/dinner?
Wednesday: Miles and Heather dinner, theme of "Red, Hot & Blue" (Freedom)
Thursday: Ben and Cara dinner, theme of "Walking on Water" (Faith), possible swim challenge
Friday: Kevin and Danielle dinner, theme of "Sink or Swim" (Courage), talent show night
Saturday: Dinner out, while those with the short straw supervise the little kiddos/babies

Let's do this "do"!

Exactly 2 months from today we will all be together!  I can hardly wait.  Wanted to get this blog up and running as a place to share our thoughts and ideas on themes, meals, activities, photo opps, etc etc.  Do we have a theme name for the reunion yet?  What about t-shirt ideas?  Devry is working on wardrobe options for family photos.  I have invited each family as authors to the blog so everyone can post.  Good times ahead.....

T-Shirt ideas?

Love this, maybe with biplanes instead of bicycles to stick with our Kitty Hawk location!

 And this is just fun fun fun.