windmorn

I got a free month of Prime when I bought my Kindle Fire. I didn't activate it because I was afraid I would forget to cancel it on time. The next time I went to Amazon the message came up telling me to cancel the account by March 3rd if I didn't want the $79 fee put on my credit card! I was kinda upset about it, but decided to try it out. It has saved me a bundle in shipping already, so I do plan to keep it now. I haven't learned how to borrow a book yet. I Was trying to borrow Dark Grid, but it charged me the 2.99 so I guess I didn't check it out right. Sorry I didn't see your question Dogmom4, but this is the first time I've had a chance to sit down today. I'm tired!

I just borrowed Hunger Games a couple of days ago. There was a button next to the buy button on my kindle.

Windmorn, when it first came out it wasn't on Kindle yet. It took a couple of months. I couldn't wait though and I'm glad I went ahead and bought it too.

That might be it too. I put it on my wish list when TMC announced it, and just hit add to cart.

Hmmm...that's odd. I do have Amazon Prime. But, it doesn't show up as available on Kindle at all for me. Only in paperback form.

 

 

OK, now I see it available when I click on TMC's direct link in her other post. Seems like it would make sense to have paperback and Kindle form available for sale on the same page.

 

http://www.amazon.co...29142725&sr=1-9

Maybe that's why when I bought it I didn't realize there was a kindle version. The only thing that came up that day was the hard copy which is fine. After I read "Last Light" by Terri Blackstock, I'm became afraid of losing the books on my kindle if . (It was a free book and the first time I had read about EMP's.) So now books I know I want to keep I get in physical form (i.e. books friends have published or really good reference books).

I just downloaded TMC's book 'Bystander'! I didn't know that it was available for Kindle. I'm into 'Dark Grid' right now, but I bet I can finish it fast! Congrats Carolyn. We are very proud of you!!!

 

 

Just check 2 Library Systems database (that is 82 Libraries total) and nobody has it. I am very sad!

I just checked Amazon. If you have Prime you can borrow it. If you don't, I think they have a 30 day trial on Prime. You just have to remember to cancel in the 30 days if you don't want to keep it.

I didn't know it was on Kindle either. I got the hard copy in last week, but haven't had a chance to start reading it. Sounds like a plan for Saturday - DS will be at a scout training and DD will be at a friend's.

So glad to hear he's doing ok. I can imagine how scary it was. I had taken my grandmother's dog after she went to the nursing home and living 300 miles away didn't know about the seizures and no one bothered to tell me. I found out afterwards he was supposed to be on meds, but she didn't give them to him. Hopefully the diet changes will help, but you might want to take him to the vet to get him checked anyway. He might not act on it this time, but he'll have it on record in case it happens again. that it won't.

bump

Thanks Debbie J for the bump! I missed it when Arby bumped it and hadn't stumbled across it yet.

to all the new members!

I saw this article this morning and realized this might be a good source for survival recipes and skills (they mention using an id card for chopping). I googled prison recipes to see what there was out there for free and came up with over 32 MILLION hits. I'm going to be looking at these for camping recipes, since many one the first page I opened are ramen noodle based and would be light weight. If I find any really good sites, I'll add them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/02/prison-cookbook_n_1249452.html

Prison Cookbook: Female Texas Inmates Release 'From The Big House To Your House'

GATESVILLE, Texas -- These women may not have an oven, refrigerator, stove, knife, or even the ability to boil water, but they do have plenty of time on their hands.

Decades, in fact. And that, combined with a few (admittedly peculiar) ingredients and a desire to cook despite the odds has resulted in a rather unusual cookbook – "From The Big House to Your House," a collection of 200 recipes by six Texas prison inmates.

The women all are serving at least 50 years at the Mountain View Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, all but one of them for murder. And a hankering for foods they enjoyed on the outside prompted them to get creative on the inside.

For example, they've found that an empty potato chip bag works for cooking in a quart-size electric warming pot, their only source of heat for cooking. A plastic ID card – similar to a credit card – makes an acceptable cutting or chopping implement. And tuna and mackerel can be made into great-tasting nachos.

"I know it sounds disgusting," said Celeste Johnson, 49, one of the authors. "But I love tuna nachos. And I've got so many people here converted to it."

The book was produced with the help of Johnson's mother, who typed the recipes and submitted the manuscript on the women's behalf to The Justice Institute, a Seattle group that works with convicts who maintain their innocence. The group published the book and now sells it online.

The book puts into print a long tradition of the joy of cooking behind bars, where generations of Martha Stewart wannabes have concocted legal and illegal brews and stews with a variety of success and failure.

And inmate cooking is not confined to women's prisons. Former Texas corrections officer Jim Willett remembers his days working in a men's unit, walking through a cell block and getting whiffs of simmering foods.

"You knew when there were certain foods cooking, just like being in your house," says Willett, now director of the Texas Prison Museum. "It would make you want to stop and join them, but that's not legal.

"Something like a Frito pie they're certainly not going to get in the chow hall."The reality of prison cooking is a bit different from "GoodFellas," the 1990 movie that shows mobsters delicately slicing garlic with a razor blade as they prepare a gourmet Italian dinner for themselves while serving time. And it isn't always pretty.

Inmates tend to be creative in the "kitchen." In the past, some have been known to fashion metal plates into skillets that get heated in toilets filled with burning toilet paper. Or to transform tooth paste tubes into spoons and turn fruit into prison "wine."

In 2009, a Washington state prison inmate's attempt to warm sausages in his cell's stainless steel commode didn't work as hoped. Smoke from the prisoner's makeshift oven went through a sewer pipe vent and officials evacuated the lockup for what they feared was a fire. The inmate became known as the "toilet chef."

More typical was the experience of Martha Stewart, the homemaking pro who was said to have dabbled in microwave cooking while locked up a few years ago in a federal prison in West Virginia while serving time for obstruction of justice and lying to the government.

At least she had a microwave, which Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Chris Burke said is available to many federal inmates, though they are prohibited from cooking in their cells.

The Texas women – who, in compliance with regulations prohibiting them from profiting from a business while behind bars, are donating proceeds from the book to their publisher – only have their "hot pot," a coffee pot-like instrument that warms water, but can't boil it (boiled liquid could become a weapon).

Ingredients also are limited mostly to what can be purchased from the prison commissary. They can forget about real milk – they get powder – or real butter, as well as most individual seasonings. Garlic? They squeeze that from garlic vitamin tablets.

"It looks kind of gross," Johnson says. "But it works. You'd be surprised."

Looking for alternatives to meals served in the chow hall, the Texas women began pooling their commissary food purchases and wrote down their discoveries, such as rehydrating potato chips in their warming pot. The resulting mush became a "baked potato."

"I don't know if we've been away too long, but it does taste like a real baked potato," says Johnson, who's been in prison for nine years and won't become eligible for parole from her life sentence until 2042.

Prison historian Mitch Roth said cooking is a way for inmates to "access their former lives to a certain extent," and to humanize the often dehumanizing prison experience.

Not every recipe the Texas women tried was a winner. Ceyma Bina, one of the co-authors who has served six years of a 50-year sentence for a slaying in Houston, winced as she described making ravioli from ramen noodles and salsa. And Johnson said rehydrated onion-flavored potato chips "turned like rubber."

Bina and the others who worked on "From The Big House to Your House," say in the book's preface they were confident readers on the other side of the bars would "enjoy the liberty found in creating a home-felt comfort during unfortunate times."

"It shows people how we survive in here," said Bina.

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Celery, carrots, raisins and a few cranberries that just don't want to dry. When their done I'm going to chop up the ham I have left and throw it in before it goes bad.

Homemade steak teriyak stir-fry (sauce = 1/4 C each: soy sauce, honey, mirin and sake) and store bought Schezchuan Green Beans.

DD made Girl Scout Ramen Noodle Stuff for brunch. We call it stuff because it's not really a casserole as it's cooked on the stove top and not really a soup because it's really thick.

Pizza for supper - 22 yr tradition that started when dh and I started dating.

 

I started making chicken stock yesterday. Even DH says it looks like stuff that should be garbage. In it I have: a whole chicken carcass (made a roasted chicken for dinner the day before), chicken skin, those ends of onions and onion skin peels (they give it a very nice color), carrots from the garden that were too short/deformed to peel safely, and old celery stalks and leaves (when celery gets "old", I put throw that in a bag in the freezer, too, for stock). I also put in parsley.

 

The stock doesn't look appetizing, but the house smells so good!! After I'm done and the pan has cooled, I put it in the fridge overnight and scape off the fat in the morning. I scoop out the big stuff (like bones) and put everything else through a strainer. After it's strained, it looks pretty good.

Wish I'd read this before I made stock this morning. I just threw out some "old" celery.

I did throw the extra cranberries, pineapple rings and grapes in the dehydrator. Might have some celery later to dehydrate as well.

I found this recipe several years ago. It's different, but very good!

Apple Jack Giblet Gravy

1 med. onion 1/2'd

1 celery stalk, chunked

1 bay leaf

4 parsley sprigs

turkey neck and giblets

4 Cup water

1/2 Cup apple brandy (apple jack)

1/2 cup flour (wondra works well)

1/2 teaspoon salt

Bring the veggies, turkey parts and the water to a boil. Simmer 45 minutes. Srain teh broth and set aside. Pull the meat from the neck and chop the meat and giblets. You can stop here and store for up to 2 days. Remove the rack from the roasting pan and strain the drippings. Let stand until the fat separates. Spoon 2 tablespoons of fat into a 3 qt pan. Add broth and water to make 4 cups. Add the brandy, fat and salt. (you can deglaze the roaster with the brandy and strain before adding for extra flavor, but I don't.) Cook until golden brown. Stir/whisk in the broth and flour. Cook until thick, stir occasionally. Stir in the giblets and meat.

Can I say we LOVE cranberries?!? 3 kinds at our house on holidaze!

Rum Cranberry/Pineapple Relish (I 1/2 this since we have other cranberry dishes)

3 cups pinapple chunks

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 3" cinnamon sticks

12oz cranberries

1/3 cup dark raisins (optional)

1/4 cup dark rum

Heat sugar, cinnamon and water over high heat 9-11 minutes until melted and a nice caramel color. Swirl pan occassionally. Add the rest of the ingredients. The mixture will "freeze". Heat until melted and boiling. Stir occassionally. Reduce heat to med-low and cook until the cranberries pop. Chill 2 hours - 3 day. PS don't forget to take out the cinnamon stick before serving.

Cranberry Marshmallow Sauce - Sorry I don't have measurements for this one. DH's mom made it and his sister told me the ingredients, but didn't know measurements so I play it by ear.

cranberries (I use the other half of the bag from the Rum Cranberry/Pineapple Sauce recipe)

water

sugar

mini marshmallows

Put the cranberries in a pot and just cover with water and sugar to taste. Cook until the berries pop. Stir in marshmallows to taste. I usually make it a really dark pink color and a few marshmallows not completely melted as they continue to melt after putting in a bowl.

Cranberry Fruit Salad

1lb cranberries, ground into really small pieces (I use a 12oz bag to keep it simple)

1 cjup sugar

1/2 cup grapes, halved

1/2 cup pineapple tidbits or chunks (I use what is left from the Rum Cranberry/Pineapple Sauce)

1/2 cup apple, chunked

1/2 cup oranges, chunked (canned mandrians work well or sweet fresh ones)

1 large tub cool whip

Mix the cranberries and sugar. Let set for 1/2 hour. Stir in the other fruits and fold in the Cool Whip until you get a nice light to med pink color. This is perfect for those that "hate" cranberries. They think it's Jello-Fluff. :wink (2):

Bonus cranberry recipe!

Cranberry Chutney

1 14-oz can whole berry cranberry sauce

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup apple, peeled and diced

1/4 cup +2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons vinegar

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

dash ground cloves

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Cook on med. heat, stirring occasionally, until apples are tender and sauce has thickened slightly, about 30 minutes.

Thanks for the recipe! I'm thinking I might try this for a Christmas party. Hopefully I can find some that will sprout. Have you tried soaking a few frozen ones to see if they sprout?

I found one that only uses lemon juice and soy milk. http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/homemade_soy_cheese I've never made it and not sure how well it works. I had found an article when looking for a soy sauce recipe that said that miso is the by product of making soy sauce and soy milk is the by product of making tofu. Since when you make cheese you are separating out solids, I'm not sure there's enough in soy milk. I think that's probably why most of the recipes use tofu added in.

Taco chips!! Celery and/or carrots if I can get time between homeschool, dishes, clothes and cleaning. Change in the gameplan. Had stew leftover from lunch so that's on 2 trays. The kids didn't think the apple chips were crisp enough so back in they went on 1 tray, the taco chips are on 2 so that left one for a can of mixed veggies for showing the Girl Scouts how to thermos cook in a 4C ziploc container with a screw top with a bubble wrap insulation sleeve to keep it warm.

We were having chicken legs, mashed taters and peas, but the chicken smelled funny. We had Dinty Moore instead.

Spiced pumpkin seeds yummmmmy!

Hi snapshotmiki! Looks like you already knew of magnesium's benefits. I'm glad you brought up kidney stones. Thinking about the magnesium reminded me I haven't been taking mine and that may be why I have been having trouble going to sleep.

From personal experience and THEN research-- If you are prone to kidney stones, be careful taking large doses of Vit D3 for any time period. Kidney stones can be a side effect for those prone to them.

It maybe be because many of us are deficient in magnesium and don't know it. Research from as far back as the 60's has supported this. Here's a couple articles on it (kidney stones are toward the bottom).

http://www.calmnatural.co.uk/magnesium-deficiency

http://www.annlouise.com/blog/2010/02/24/magnesium-a-must-have-supplement-for-your-heart-and-bones/

The thing I'd add to the flu kit is the Kleenex with menthol in them. They are the only ones my daughter likes and they do smell good and help open you up a little. They are getting harder and harder to find though.