rockncook

With my side of the family, holiday get togethers aren't too bad as long as it's just the "core group". When we get extended family involved it does tend to get ugly, but we're more spread out now so that hasn't happened since the year I called my aunt's husband a child molesting (bleep) and got banned from family dinners at Gramma's house-well worth the price if you ask me. I don't want to be wanted somewhere that I'm expected to let my children sit at the table with him. DH's family I would dread a get together with, because his father has never spoken to me, and the only words his mother has ever said to me are "Is Larry there?" when she calls on the phone. I've tried to call her several times but they don't answer when I call (they screen). I imagine sitting through a holiday dinner with them to be much like a visit to the dentists without painkiller, but with lots of rum and vodka. However... I have chosen my own family for get togethers the last several years. When we lived in Cali, we invited single Navy guys who couldn't get home. Since I moved back to Colorado (still 5 hours from my parents), we have had the holidays with my very good friends (the ones I'm staying with). WE have a great time, there's zero tension, zero drunks hiding in the closet and zero child molesters. It does indeed feel like family coming together even though we see each other several times a week, and I"m thankful to have the opportunity to share that time with them. In most years, we've split the cooking down the middle, with me doing a ham and other stuff that our family sees as tradition but hers doesn't, and she does the turkey and other stuff that her family sees as tradition but mine doesn't. We show up in the late afternoon with lots of food to share and we chow down. This year we're down to one kitchen since we're living together, and the ham and turkey won't both fit in the oven, but I"m sure we'll find a way around that. WE may be postponing Christmas a few days, depending on when my oldest DD is coming home, but it will still be wonderful (even more so!).

I can only say three words about this recipe... YUM YUM YUM!!! This was perfect for our six...DH will have leftovers in the freezer for lunch! Quote: Shepherds Pie 1 pound ground beef -browned with onion 2 cans greenbeans 2 cans cream of chicken soup 1 pkg shredded cheese 5 cups instant mashed potatoes (prepared) Combine greenbeans with the cream of chicken soup, put in the bottom of a cake pan. Then layer the drained ground beef on top of the greenbean mixture. Next add the mashed potatoes. Top with cheese and cook at 375' until warmed through and cheese is melted. My kids love this and it's simple.. Sometimes I substitute on can of corn for a can of greenbeans.

Good morning! I can't believe I'm the first one here...it's been so long! Today I'm mostly working, and putting some apples up to dry. I didn't sleep well last night, youngest DD was up about 2 hours with a cough from post nasal drip. The medicine that worked last time didn't work this time...ugh. I felt so sorry for her. She woke up bright and cheery this morning-how do kids do that?!?!?!?!

wow! I'm lucky when the 70/30 stuff goes on sale for $1.50/lb-that's what I have stocked up on. I do a few things to make the hamburger go farther. 1. In a lot of recipes (casseroles, soups etc.) you can go down to 1/2 lb of meat, as long as you're serving another form of protein. I do this a lot in soups and CP dishes. When I make burritos, I use 1/2 lb of seasoned meat, then I mix it in with the beans so there isn't any fighting over the small amount of meat. 2. In just about everything that i need more meat for (except hamburger patties and meatloaf) I do 1/2 lb hamburger and 1/2 lb turkey. This works well for sloppy joe type recipes where the meat is more prevalent. That cooked hamburger that Cat mentioned would also go well in ANY CP dish calling for cooked hamburger (if the rest of your ingredients are also cold, you shouldn't need to increase cook time, as they all have to heat up as well), in burritos or tacos, or calzones, loose meat sandwiches, stuffed bake potatoes, etc. I routinely keep cooked hamburger, cooked beef brisket, cooked pork roast, and cooked chicken in the freezer. I can use them for quick meals or just to save a bit of time if I need it. The cooked beef brisket can go in to soups, be used for stroganoff, beef and gravy in the crock, BBQ beef sandwiches, etc. The pork roast is BBQ pork sandwiches, a great and easy crowd pleaser for unexpected company or for those nights when your middle kid says "What do you mean I didn't tell you that tonight was the Spring Concert?" I have also made pork pot pie in a pinch-not traditional, but yummy just the same. Cooked chicken I use in pasta, chicken salad, chicken and rice (I use rice a roni with this, the broccoli kind cause there are already veggies in there) and chicken gravy over biscuits (with a can of peas thrown in the gravy for veggie), as well as any CP recipes that call for cooked chicken. A few years ago my parents dropped in unexpectedly (250 mile trip) for just a few hours. I was so very pleased to be able to put together a nice lunch for them with no notice, and my mom was amazed, LOL. Last year every bus kid at our school got stranded-all roads out of town were closed, so they all had to board with in town families the next three days. We ended up on two different nights with twelve for dinner, cause while lots of folks had the space, not many had the food. It was so nice that I had the resources to help everyone out, and it certainly came back to me a thousandfold! Because I had the meat already prepared, it was no biggie to put a soup together on short notice (frozen broth), and everyone got to learn how to knead bread!

wowowow! ARe you going back after Christmas? If so, can we send you care packages to where you'll be over the holiday so you can take it back with you? Tomorrow when I go shopping I will remember what a blessing that $3.79 gallon of milk is!

Mommy of 5 sneaks up behind WiccaD with an (opened) can of blueberry pie filling, dumping it out in it's entirety on her head, giving her that blue haired feeling again. Then she puts her hands inside the can to get the remains all over her hands, and pats them randomly on Unike's rain gear, making her resemble that handprint wrapping paper.

Oh, it's my turn! True. I'd love to explore in Brazil, but I'd pull a Lois and try to ride a snake on accident. This is so cute, I was soooooooooo very surprised that I was not the only one on this forum that used to have purple hair (and blue, too, but these days I let my oldest DD claim that shade!). I do hear that the person below me holds on to things she swears she will find uses for-including those 30 year old hip riding bell bottom jeans (oh wait, those DID come back into style, didn't they?).

Morning, Housewise, I haven't done anything today. I've been working. Things are going from bad to worse with oldest DD. She wants to come home at Christmas, her dad doesn't want her to. Last night we all three had a talk on the phone and I couldn't believe the way that Aimee talked to her dad. She treated him very badly, and I got angry at her for being so disrespectful to him. I had a talk with both of them privately, told her she would have never spoken to me like that, that she can't speak to him like that, and told him that he can't let her treat him that way. he said it's been going on for some time but he hadn't done anything about it. I said "She's 12, it's your JOB to do something about it. If she's doing it now, she's going to be ten times worse by the time she's 16. He agreed (finally) and asked my advice on how to handle. I told him to ground her from everything for a minimum of two weeks. He said that's rather strict (and he thinks he's more strict than I am!) and I said "She treated you like (bleep). You need to be strict on this." So this morning he tells me he grounded her for a week. I just want to go pick her up right now! UGH. I would appreciate any prayers in this direction, ladies.

That shepherd's pie sounds yummy, I added it to the meal list for next week. I always try to try one new recipe a week, next week I'll be trying 2! I wholeheartedly agree with the crockpot suggestions-when DH has all day to prepare, so it will have time to cook. The GREAT thing about having crockpot stuff ready for DH if needed is that he can put the meat in frozen if he has to! I'll add all of those to my list for him, too! Thanks, ladies!

hehe Cat, if that doesn't work I have a plate of steaming pasta here...maybe dinner AND dessert will lure him out!! Chicken or beef on the side of that? I have both Life is good, it's just a lil glitch!

Let me preface this by saying I love my husband dearly. He is a wonderful partner, a great father, and his actions show each and every day that he loves me. That being said, I actually get scared when he walks in the kitchen. A few years ago, when our youngest was sick and I had been up all night, I went in for a nap when she was sleeping, and asked if he could take care of dinner, knowing that there was plenty of food in the pantry so he wouldn’t have to handle anything complicated. I woke up a few hours later to the smells of something, well, odd from the kitchen. I headed in to the living room to sit and wake up for a few minutes, and, about that time, DH announced that dinner was ready and started getting it ready for the kids. At this point in time we didn’t have a dining room table, so we all ate in the living room. He brings in youngest DS’s bowl and sits it at the kids table, and oldest DD comes in with her bowl. DH asks if I’m ready to eat (I declined), then headed back in to the kitchen to fix his own bowl. As the kids start eating, I see my son picking what I can see are ramen noodles from the bowl, shaking them off, then eating them. Oldest DD takes one bite, wrinkles up her nose, and sets her bowl down. Just then, DH comes in, sits down, and starts eating like he’s been starved for days. I should tell you that DH will eat just about anything. He has a healthy appreciation for what I cook, but unless it’s really bad, he’ll eat it no matter what. I can count on one hand the number of times he’s said to me “Please don’t make this again.” When I try out new recipes, I invite people over for dinner, so that I actually know it’s good, rather than relying on how many servings my DH has managed to shovel in, which is usually related by how hard (physical labor) of a day he’s had. As I wake up a little more, I realize that oldest DD still isn’t eating, and my youngest DS, who has not one but two hollow legs (he must, he’d eat five meals a day some days!) has finished eating already, which is strange considering that ramen is one of his faves. So I ask DH “What did you make?” A rough approximation of his answer follows: “Well, I saw we had some chicken ramen so I put water on and put the seasoning in, then put the noodles in when it started to boil. I dug around in the pantry some more and found a can of tuna, so I opened it and dumped it in. I figured the tuna water would make it more flavorful.” I can appreciate that DH spent the majority of his adult years as a bachelor. When he got married for the first time, his first wife didn’t cook-they would go across the street to his mother in law’s house or rely on take out for dinner. I am assuming, since I’ve never been one, that when you’re a bachelor, anything that fills you up ends the hunger pangs, and if it tastes good, that’s just a bonus. And I KNOW that people who never watch others cook, or cook themselves, don’t learn how flavors blend together and affect other people. I will NOT accuse my DH of not having taste, because that would just make me look bad. I will, however, continue to suspect that he burned his taste buds on extra hot coffee that morning. I thanked him for cooking for the kids, and went in search of some replacement meal that wouldn’t look like a meal. I don’t recall what they ended up with, but I saved them from chicken and noodle ramen. A few months ago, I got horribly sick. Not the kind of sick where you’re in any real danger, but certainly the kind where you find yourself wondering if you could convince your DH to knock you on the head so you could finally sleep through it. DH was working that day, and had planned on working that night, so I went ahead and started one of my simple dinners, macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. Two boxes of macaroni and cheese, cooked to directions, with 2 packages of cut up hot dogs added halfway through boiling. DH came home from job #1, took one look at me, and told me to go sit down, that he would call in to job #2 and finish dinner (see, told ya he loves me!). About 15 minutes later, macaroni, hot dogs, and cheese dissolved into about 3 cups of milk was served. Yes, it did the job, but no one but me and DH ate much (I was too tired to find something else, DH just got a spoon). The kids ate cottage cheese and cucumbers after their mac and cheese. So I decided, when I got better, to go through my recipes and find something simple enough for him to fix, yet edible enough everyone would enjoy it. Here’s what I came up with: Chili Casserole 1 1/2 lb. ground beef 2 (15 oz) can chili 2 cups fritos, slightly crushed 1/4 tsp. pepper 2 cup cheddar cheese, grated 2.5 lbs potatoes, peeled, sliced, and boiled until fork tender In a skillet, brown hamburger. Drain off any fat. Stir in chili and pepper. Preheat oven to 350. In a greased casserole dish, alternate layers of chili mixture, fritos, potatoes and cheese. Cover and bake until heated through (about 10 minutes). Chicken and Stuffing Casserole 2 cups of cooked chicken 2 cups of prepared stuffing 1 can cream of chicken soup 1 cup sour cream 1/4 lb. cheddar cheese 1 small pkg. frozen broccoli Spread stuffing into a 9x13 baking pan. Combine chicken, soup, sour cream, broccoli and 1/2 of the cheese. Pour on top of stuffing. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Add remaining cheese and return to oven when cheese is melted. Chicken noodle soup Heat up frozen chicken broth, add 1 pkg noodles, 1 pkg cooked chicken, and cook noodles as per package directions All of these meals are what I call complete meals. They have protein and carbs, and only need a canned veggie as a side, or poured in, in the case of chicken noodle soup. It’s something I’ll eat through most sicknesses, and something the kids will enjoy. I do keep canned stuff like soups and spaghettios on hand, but I only buy those when on sale, so if we’re running low on that particular item, he’d have to actually cook something! By having these items ready, and the recipes printed out for him, I can insure that he will be preparing something that won’t stress him out in the kitchen, and won’t make the kids want to rebel against the parental government. Have any suggestions of your own?

What a treat to be able to host Carla and Don! I'd love to be able to do that someday! Wonder if the weather had anything to do with the turnout. Did you post what she had to say somewhere? Cat, I love being able to be here more often. Not sure how often it will be until we get in our own place cause I'm trying to work as much as possible, but I have to devote one day a week to household matters (books, groceries, etc.) and today is the day so I snuck in again! I can justify that by looking for new recipes In The Kitchen, hehe! I didn't get as much done yesterday as I thought I would. The time just flew by. This morning it was COLD (but high 60s yesterday, Cat!) so when I got done picking off the leftover chicken I put the carcasses in to make a stock to warm up the kitchen. Sure smells nice in there! I also had some chicken I had cooked just to have on hand and have enough bones and scraps to do another pot of stock. I froze those, though, to save for another cold day or when we really need it! I was so proud of my youngest two-at conferences yesterday their teachers could only rave about them. As we were walkingin, some lady that I've not yet met said "Oh, that's the little cutie from the preschool, isn't it?" I just beamed and said "Yes, ma'am!" Oldest DD finally told her dad that she wants to come home at Christmas time, but she waited until she'd been punished for not doing homework to tell him, so now he thinks it's cause she's mad at him, which we all agreed in the beginning would not be an acceptable reason to want to come home. He wants me to talk her out of it and as much as I agree that she can't come home cause she's mad, I know that's not the cause and feel like I should try to make him understand that. OK, off to go do one more post and then back to the kitchen and working on the grocery list. So great to read everyone!

Thanks! WE had been considering a six foot fence, and have actually included it into our figures for moving in to a new house, as long as we can find a landlord who will let us replace the fences (we're willing to put the old one back if need be when we leave, or leave the new one). I talked to a guy that breeds pits and he said he's seen pits clear a six footer, but...of all the options this seems the best. When we buy we're going to have to dig a fence, he digs, too, LOL. I'm not sure how to break him from this. He's just short of two-I'm sure boredom may be part of the issue here so I'm working on that. Just like kids, always something new to take in to consideration!!

Unike, I'm sorry to hear about your sick kiddoes. Take care of you, too, and relax a bit if you end up with it! Yesterday I got the broth from the remains of the brisket poured and put into the freezer. Today I"ll take them out of the containers I put the baggies in to keep them upright and wash those out, and then cleaned up the kitchen from all of that plus the cooking the day before. Dinner was a disaster. I tried a new recipe for chicken and roasted potatoes-the chicken was great, but took 50 mins longer in my oven than the recipe stated. After all that time in the oven, the potatoes weren't even close to ready. Fortunately, I had cooked two chickens, so there was plenty, with some leftover to go into another meal. Tonight for dinner I am perfecting a recipe I tried for the first time a few weeks ago, I'll let you know the results. We have parent teacher conferences today, so not a lot of time for working, but plenty of time to do household stuff.

That is definitely something I would try if we were on our own. Right now we are living with friends and my roommate is rather, umm, particular about her milk. Before we moved in, all of my milk was half regular 2%, half powdered mixed up. Since it's too expensive for us to keep separate food except for a few particulars, we share most everything so this is one of those things I've had to compromise on! Thanks for the suggestion. That whole milk was $1.19/gallon (I think it was mismarked!) so even if all I can use it for is cooking I will feel OK about it. Thanksgiving is coming up and there will be lots of goodies for it to go in.

I completely agree with the chamomile and fennel. My oldest was extremely sensitive when nursing if I ate anything other than a pretty bland diet. cham and fennel helped a lot. My middle son went to a bottle fairly early, I couldn't produce enough milk. We went through evrey formula, numerous upset tummies. He went through the rest of his first year on goat's milk with no problems. I did wait as long as possible to introduce food, cause introducing too early can induce allergies, but by 4 mos. he had a voracious appetite and now at almost six has two hollow legs, LOL. He'd eat constantly if I'd let him on some days! Titus 2 (click here) has a recipe for making your own baby rice cereal, if you're not on WIC it may save you a bit.

Morning, ladies! I do so enjoy reading what everyone is doing. Hopefully I'll get caught up at work and be able to do the daily posting again, I miss it! Today I'm doing a few work things, then cooking up the last of my stash of chicken thighs in the crock so that I have some prepared chicken for quick dinners. Thighs are on sale again for $.59/lb, so I'm going to buy more. Plus I have to make room for turkeys! I'm getting two this week, then we'll see what next week's sales bring. I love this time of year cause I can stock up on turkey and ham. The one turkey will be about $.32/lb. Can't beat that! I'm going to rearrange the freezers and work on the living room, it's a disaster. For colds, I found this really neat thing-it's a waterless vaporizer by Vicks. It's near the other vaporizers and humidifiers at Walmart, is small, sits on a table, and there's no hot steam to worry about with little ones. They have pads that put out Vicks stuff and it really helps clear you out. I was amazed when I bought mine! I'm working on doing one a week until we get one in every room.

Thanks for these posts-I am having a heck of a time with my Rhodesian Ridgeback/Pit mix. He has figured out how to haul his butt over the fence, and is getting out a lot. We have started chaining him when he gets over the fence, but that only works for a short period of time. He'll be good for a day, maybe two, after being chained. I'm also worried that he's associating being chained with coming back in to the yard, rather than going over the fence. He's a smart boy, but stubborn, and this is a HUGE hunting area, and we have 4 or 5 meat processors in our small town of 600, and for most of them it's easier to chuck bones in the yard rather than drive them somewhere else to dispose of them, so the ready availability of meat isn't helping with his training. I can't tell you how much rancid meat we have picked up out of the yard or off the side of the road! He's a big baby, and when he sees people only wants to make friends, but he is BIG, and scares people when he comes running up to them, and I'm worried about him getting hit by a car or in a fight with a dog or coyote when he's out. We're thinking about a shock collar-we don't want to install a shock fence when all the houses we are looking at are going to need new BASIC fencing anyway, to keep the kids and critters inside. The problem with a shock collar is that I don't always SEE him jump the fence. Even when I'm out with him, there are four other dogs to be played with, LOL. I have tried just about everything I can think of to get him to figure this out, but am out of options. Any suggestions from those of you more experienced? I'm now re-thinking the shock collar after reading these posts.

I had read on another forum for frugal moms (Titus 2, I posted I think in this section) that the big round indentation in the milk gallon is supposed to allow for freezing, so I had been just throwing mine in-had to rescue 3 gallons that burst so now I always take some out. 2% freezes better than whole. The whole I have frozen I have to use for cooking cause it separated a bit and no one will drink it LOL. I tried shaking it and running it through the blender blade on my food processor, no such luck!

Me too!

What a cheerful good morning! I haven't gotten a darn thing done today! We watched The Pianist, and now I'm totally depressed. I will be working in the kitchen, though, have some apple sauce to finish up. Oh, I did get a loaf of bread in the machine for dinner tonight.

Thanks, I see I've got some reading to do!

So this weekend we harvested about a bushel of apples from the apple tree in the yard. I saved all the cores from the ones that hadn't been munched on and then dug out all the seeds. This morning when I finally had time to sign on to the computer, I discovered that you can't really do good apple trees from seeds, but that you need a cutting from the original tree. How do I do a cutting? From where do I take it? How long before I can plant it? I couldn't find anything on the internet (maybe I did the wrong search terms). Thanks!

Hi! When it comes to putting stuff together like that, I always take the easiest route for ME. They will enjoy any kind of made thing, so pick whatever's easiest for you. They know you have your hands full with your girls and organizing this event, so just the fact that you MADE something for them will be neat, and very appreciated. Personally, I'd do apple pies for the fall LOL. But then again, we have an apple tree that I'm going to raid tomorrow am for more applesauce, so that makes a difference! Quote: Question..I am planning my girls elemetary schools Halloween carnival. Every year there is a basket auction for the teachers so they can buy supplies and such for the classrooms. This year they have been asked to run all of the games and work in the kitchen. They've all been very wonderful to me and I would like to give all a thank you gift when its said and done. Any ideas? I thought about finding some nice fleece and making everyone a scarf for the winter...Or baking bread, just something I can put altogether in a basket and leave in the staff room for them. Let me know... Love to all, MOM

Oh my goodness, the things I've been missing! I haven't laughed so hard in ages...laughing cause I've been there. I cooked my amazingly easy chicken and rice recipe last night, one of those fool proof easy meals to make when something else doesn't work out right, or you just want some gooey comfort food (with lots of hidden broccoli!) and THE RICE DIDN'T COOK! So maybe it's not the kitchen, but the rice that hates you! I'm so glad you finally got some recipes that turned out well! Nice to meet you, Magpie!