Things we love

James suggested we do this.  Things we love:

The Holidays.  Seriously, what is not to love?  The feeling, the food, the family.  It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!

 

 Living in Oklahoma, we get thunder storms all the time, even in the Winter.  We love listening to the rain, thunder, watching the lightening.  Makes for great sleeping weather.

 This is a no brainer.  What woman doesn't like, okay LOVE roses?  Before my husband and I married, he bought me a yellow rose bush and that thing smells like a rose should....wonderful.  And it continues to grow, just as our love for each other does.

 The ocean.  Some people don't like the ocean, but I personally LOVE it.  The smell, the saltiness, everything.  It changes my entire personality when I am by the ocean.  Give it a try.

 Snow, something we do not get in Oklahoma.  Not that much anyway.  So when it does snow in our area, I play in it, love it, savor it. 

Long walks on the beach.  Again, we don't live close to the beach, but it's nice to dream.

Of course, we love to hit up the yard sales, garage sales and estate sales.  Our entire wedding was created with sales and even some of it was free...once we said we were getting it for our wedding. :)

There you have it and my hubby is happy.  Things we love.  One day, I'll post more of the things we love. 

Time for crafts

My mother passed away 3 years ago.  And, my father has Alzheimer's.  Since my mother's passing, my sister's and I have taken turns hosting the holidays at our homes.  This year it's my turn.  I am providing the turkey, and everyone else will bring a side dish and/or dessert.  Knowing me like I do, I will be making more than just the turkey. :)

And, because everyone will be working on Thanksgiving, we have decided to do our day on the Saturday following Thanksgiving (better sales on food).

The husband and I were talking a few weeks ago and I want to have a "Thanksgiving Tree" as my center piece.  I went online and began searching for ideas.  Not sure I found any one that I liked, but together, with many ideas put together, I do believe I have come up with a wonderful craft idea. It's probably been done before, it's not that unique of an idea, but I like it and it's fun, and you can get the kids involved.  And, isn't that what Thanksgiving is about...family?

Go into the woods. We have woods, I call it a forest, in our back yard. Pick up some small type tree limbs.  Nothing big, more like really long twigs.  Now, you can either spray paint them a Thanksgiving/Fall color like gold, reddish-rust, dark green, or just leave them as is. 


Then, comes the fun part.  Find a Fall leaf pattern online.  There are many to choose from, just do a search for Fall Leaves patterns in your search engine, pick some that you love and print out.  You do not want them huge, as they will hang from the limbs/twigs.

Get some construction sheet paper, scrape book paper, old cards, whatever you have on hand, preferably in a fall color/theme, and trace the pattern onto the paper and cut out.  For some strange reason, I find cutting paper to be relaxing, so this is great for me.  Maybe it's the amount of concentration it takes to cut out the pattern, I'm not sure, but either way, it's fun.  And, you can get the kids involved with this, too.  Just make sure you supervise younger children when using the scissors.  

When all the leaf patterns are cut out, take a hole punch and punch a hole at the top of the leaves, and take yarn, string, or fishing line, whatever you have on hand, and make a hanger.  Stack them, or put in a pretty Thanksgiving bowl or platter and set on the table. 

Take the limbs/twigs and find a pretty vase, it can be whatever kind of vase, holiday themed, or whatever matches your theme/decor.  This is not rocket science, get creative with this.  If you want, and you have a really ugly vase, you can create a collage of Thanksgiving photos you have printed out and glue them to the vase, or put photos of you family INSIDE the vase.  It's up to you, make it personal. 

Place the twigs/limbs inside the vase.  Your limbs should have other limbs that branch off.  This is what you will hang the leaves on.

Get some marbles, small pea gravel, whatever you have on hand and place them around the limb/twigs to keep them in place.

Take the vase and place it on the platter or in the bowl, surround the vase with the leaves.

When you guest arrive, have them write on the leaves what they are thankful for and have them hang it on the tree.  After dinner, have a child or another adult read all the leaves out loud.  You just may be surprised what your guest are thankful for.

It's a little early for me to be doing this craft project, as Halloween hasn't even happened, however, when I do and I will, I will come back and post photos of the steps.

What do you like to do for Thanksgiving Center pieces?  Let me know.

Chicken, It's What's for Dinner!

So, James, my wonderful husband, comes home from work tonight.  I'm working on homework, and this blog.  Jack, our newest addition has been on me all day.  Jack is a 2 month old Dauchound.  He will NOT let me do anything without him.  So, as I was saying, James came home and I'm busy and stressed.  We do our usual talking, I read him what I have of my homework, and we begin to discuss what we are going to have for dinner the next night.  A quick look in the freezer and we decide on chicken.  End of the month, the pantry is almost bear again.  I begin to look online and find this wonderful sounding recipe,  http://www.crockpotchicken.net/crock-pot-lemon-dill-chicken.html

I have everything except the lemon zest and broth.  So, tomorrow I will go shopping at my parents pantry.  I know they have what I need there.  Come back tomorrow and I'll let you know how it turned out.

What's for Dinner, Part 2

DH was getting ready for work this afternoon.  Getting a late start on everything, I asked, "What do you want for dinner tonight?"  To which, he responded, "Whatever you want to make, babe.  You always cook so good."  So, I offered some suggestions, "Chicken soup? Beef stew? Smoothered Pork?"  "No, I think hamburger patties with brown gravy would be good. With mashed potato."
My mind began to race...everything is frozen, and we have no potato in the entire house!  Being the loving wife I am :) I said, "Sure, no problem."  After he leaves for work, I go into panic mode!  I am not sure how this will turn out, but I got the crock pot out.  Here is the recipe:

1 lbs of ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
1 package brown gravy mix
1 can sloppy joe mix
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
Pasta, cooked according to directions on box or white or brown rice, cooked according to directions.

Throw everything in the crock pot, except rice or pasta, (I know you should brown the meat first and drain the fat off, but I didn't) and put on high.  Cook for about an hour and a half, take a potato masher (I did mash something and it IS a POTATO masher), break up meat, and stir to combine.  Replace lid and let cook for another hour or so.  Cook the pasta or rice, warm up a veggie.  When ready to eat, put rice or pasta on plate, top with meat mixture, throw the veggie on and you are set.

When it is done later, I will have pictures and let you know how this turned out.  :)

NOTE TO SELF: Do NOT wake up late and always be prepared.
PS: I promised pictures....here they are.

                                             Add your onion to the crock pot

                                          Ground beef and brown gravy mix

                                                 Can of sloppy joe mix

                                                     The finished product

What do I call it??  Well, I am open to suggestions.  Was it good? Oh yes it was!

Hush Puppies

After a year of searching, cooking, throwing out and starting over, I do believe I have found the secret to those hush puppies you get at the catfish place. I'm not sure if it was sheer determination or what, but I played with different recipes and this is what I have.

2 cups of Sunflower White Self-Rising Cornbread Mix (any cornbread mix will work, this is just what I had)

1 tablespoon corn startch

2 tablespoons water

1 med. size onion minced

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 can of sweentened condensed milk

3 tablespoons water (this is approximate)

Put 2 cups of cornbread mix in a bowl.  Add your onion and garlic.  In a separate bowl, mix together the cornstartch and water, add to the cornbread mix.  Add the milk and mix.  Add the water, one teaspoon at a time until it is just mixed.  The batter will be very, very thick.  Heat oil or shortening in a pot. Keep the heat at a med-low temp. Add the batter. I use a cookie scoop.  Make sure the balls are small, they expand when they cook.  If you cook them at a high heat, the outside will get done before the inside. So keeping the temperature low will, yes, take longer, but they will get done on the inside.

That's it.  Nothing fancy, but oh they are so good.  I plan on cooking up another batch in the near future and I will add photos.  My camera is dead right now. :(

Happy cooking! 

Beans and more beans

I love pinto beans.  They, however, do not love me.  I have been on a quest for many years to figure out how to cook pinto beans and not have them come back on me. I have asked everyone, researched recipes and I think I have found the method.

So, take your beans.  Pick through them, as usual.  Put them in cold water and let soak over night.

Get some ham hock (makes the beans taste so much better than bacon, or salt meat) and put in a pot with water, onion and minced garlic.  Put on the stove and boil for 30 minutes.  Put this, meat, pot and all in the fridge over night.

When you are ready to begin cooking the beans, rinse and place in a slow cooker, add the ham hock with the water.  DO NOT DRAIN THIS WATER.  Add enough water to cover the beans and the ham hock.  Set on high and cook for 8 hours or low for 12.  Half way through, add salt, pepper to taste.

When the beans are done, pour into a large pot and place on the stove.  Boil the beans, ham hock, onions and garlic until the beans begin to thicken.  Turn the beans to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally until as thick as you like.

This is the way I have made beans the last 3 times and let me tell you, they are to DIE for!  My husband is the gasiest person I know and they have no effect on him...or me....or anyone else that had tried them.

Have fun and enjoy!

The Mexican Casserole

Well, the Mexican casserole turned into the worst nightmare EVER!  What I did:
One box of Mexican Rice mix: cook according to directions on the box
1 pound of hamburger meat
1 onion diced
Cook rice mix according to the directions on the box.  Brown the ground beef with the diced onion, drain.  When rice is done, mix in the ground beef, top with about 2 cups of Mexican cheese blend, place in oven at 350 till cheese is melted. 
Pretty simple and tasty.  The problem?  The hamburger meat, the entire package was BAD!  I ended up sick for 2 days as did my husband and son. :(  We had to throw away 4 lbs of hamburger and notify the store where we bought it.  I thought I was gonna die before it was all over with. 
So, tonight, we are having.....wait for it....CHICKEN!
Baked chicken...simple.  Salt and pepper, a little bit of garlic and some onion powder and cook in a 350 oven till done. 
Good luck.

Homemade vs. Convience

In my last blog, I admitted that I am poor.  And, I am...to a  point.  Today just happens to be my 2nd wedding anniversary.  My husband and I didn't do a lot this weekend.  Okay, we did. We went food shopping Saturday...that took 4 hours, because I wanted to make sure we would NOT run outta food before the end of the month.  I think I did fairly good.  I spent 169.00 and almost could not fit it all in the car. My pantry is stocked, my freezer is full.  I'm happy...but still poor.  When we got home and got the food divided and put away, we began the task of moving rooms.  We moved our bedroom out of the living room, and the living room back where it belongs.  WHY I thought (originally) having the bedroom in the living room was a good idea, I have no clue.  Everyone, including my, hated it.  It took all afternoon, but it is done.  In the process, though, I had to stop.  I have a home that is paid for,  car that is paid for.  I have a wonderful husband and great children.  I'm in college, getting that long awaited degree, I have food, water, electric, gas, a TV, a shelf full of movies, both great and horrible.  Am I really that poor?  No, I'm not.  I'm a mom, wife, daughter, aunt, sister trying to make it day by day, but that does not make me poor.  Yes, we're behind on bills, yes, we struggle, but who doesn't in today's economy?
I made homemade chicken stock and froze it for future uses such as chicken soup, casseroles, chicken and dumpling, etc. I made a huge pot of pinto beans with ham hock and a huge pan of homemade cornbread.  I even got adventurous and made 2 loaves of homemade bread!  I must say that I was not impressed with the bread.  I will have to do more research on that one.
However, today is special.  As I said, it's my wedding anniversary.  My husband has to work tonight and won't be home till 10:30 pm.  :(  I was wondering to myself, what can I make that is fast, easy and tastes great?  Mexican casserole?  Meat loaf?  Salisbury steak?  Do I use a box of Mexican rice mix with the casserole or go homemade?  The truth of the matter is that homemade food taste better, looks better and is better for you.  Yet, sometimes you just have to go with convenience.  So, for today, I will set aside the homemade version and go with boxed items for dinner tonight.  I will let you know what I make, how I made it and if it is worth it or not.