Broccoli Cheese Soup -

Broccoli Cheese Soup

For a celebration, I bought a requested meal of Broccoli Cheese Soup from a restaurant for my daughter.  She was delighted.  It would have cost $40 dollars for 3/4 of a gallon.  I decided to make a gallon at home to feed the family while my daughter enjoyed someone else's cooking.  The homemade soup passed the taste test.  This recipe uses all items in my food storage.  The cost was less than $5.00 for the whole gallon. Victory again!  Thank goodness.

1 gallon water

2 cups white sauce mix

2 cups cheddar cheese ( or flavors you like - 1/2 pizza cheese and 1/2 cheddar)

2 TBS Parmesan cheese

1 can canned milk

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp lemon pepper

1 tsp salt

2 cups steamed chopped broccoli

I used broccoli pieces from our garden last year that were harvested after I cut the main head.  The little flowerettes that kept sprouting - I kept cutting, steaming for 3 minutes and freezing.

To avoid lumps, blend 2 cups white sauce with two cups of the water first.  Mix with the gallon of water as it is heating.  Stir constantly because it will burn easily as it thickens and heats.  Add all other ingredients.  When the cheese is melted and the broccoli heated, serve. Delicious.

White Sauce mix:

2-1/3cups non instant dried milk /4 cups instant dried milk

1 cups flour

1 cup margarine

Fortitude - a Parental Must

This post has been milling in my mind for weeks.  Time to get at it!  Amy Chua is a Chinese mother who wrote an article entitled "Why Chinese mothers are Superior" for the Wall Street Journal published 8 January 2011.  The world has been in turmoil ever since.  Asian parents hate and resent her portrayal of Chinese parenting.  Western mothers are defensive.  Leaving the controversy, I find much to be said for the reasons behind the "stereotypical successful" Asian student: Asian Mothers are "in the trenches" with their children.  She clearly shows how Mothers Matter - mothers can "prepare their children...for the future by letting them see what they are capable of, and arming them with skills, work habits, and inner confidence that no one can ever take away."  The methods are debatable and up to each individual parent but of little debate is that when Mothers care enough - it "requires fortitude." Too many parents from the western mindset have shown that mothers matter as well by their absence in aiding a child to be the best he can be.  They blame society, peers, or teachers for less than stellar performance  instead of taking responsibility.  Too many legislators and school personell want to create another program instead of expecting the best of our parents.

Last week we arrived home from the grocery store at 4:30, the children were starving and snacking on yogurts I had just purchased as they ran in and out of the kitchen searching for food - there was nothing else available to eat.  Hungry and exhausted myself, I fought a mental/emotional battle and decided I would be strong and I would try even though it would have been nice to call in a pizza or send someone out for hamburgers.  I threw some macaroni into water to boil.  In the next 15 minutes I decided what to do with the macaroni, cleared the kitchen, put groceries away and started setting the table.  My six year old ran into the kitchen, peered into the pot "What are you cooking. Mommy?"  Seeing the macaroni she exclaimed  " Oh! macaroni and cheese! I love macaroni and cheese!  I love you Mommy."  She hopped down, ran away and miraculously, the foraging in the kitchen ceased.   A calm prevailed and I prepared macaroni/ hamburger/tomato  (my from scratch version of hamburger helper).  We enjoyed a wonderful family dinner.  That is fortitude.  

Apple Muffins

This is an Applesauce Bread recipe that I make into muffins.  I often substitute pumpkin for the applesauce for variety.

2 cups shortening (melted butter, margarine, or oil.  If using oil the amount can be cut to 1-1/2 cups for a lower calorie version.)
1-1/2 cup white sugar
1-1/2 cup brown sugar
4 eggs (increase to 6 if trying to boost nutrition)
2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cloves
2 tsp salt
2 tsp  each vanilla and almond flavoring
8 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
4 cups applesauce

Optional:
2 cups raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, etc..

Top with Crisp topping and bake for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees.
Bake ahead of time and freeze or make batter and refrigerate ready to bake fresh.

Granola Bars

This recipe for Granola bars was emailed to me.  It is the best combination I have tried.  The children like lots of chocolate chips but I make them with lost of different add ins with wonderful results.  These are soft and chewy.

4-1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup melted butter
1 cup honey
1/3  cup brown sugar

Optional add ins for better nutrition or flavor

1/4 cup flax seed meal
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup wheat germ
2 cups chocolate chips
2 frozen and then thawed bananas

Mix all the ingredients.  Bake at 300 degrees for 18 minutes until lightly golden brown.  Do not over bake.

Vegetable Shortage

The newspaper reported a freeze in Mexico killed 60% of the vegetable crop.  Since most of our fresh vegetables come from Mexico this time of year, the market impact is significant.  Wholesale prices for a case of tomatoes rose from $21 to $64.  I am taking the hint.  I am planting a garden and bottling tomatoes, freezing green peppers, and increasing my reserves.  We can enjoy healthy vegetables from home preserves until the prices stabilize.

A webnar broadcast that teaches gardening skills and features 18 webcasts with an average length of nine minutes each was recommended to me. The innovative gardening techniques will encourage anyone to try.  This is inspiring enough to provide a living for homeless in Chicago and create beautiful, efficient living space in St. Louis helping people live without government aid.  It is worth a peek.

http://www.midwestpermaculture.com/the-case-for-permaculture-11.php

Breakfast: Rice pudding
Lunch: granola bars/ apple muffins
Dinner:  homemade Pizza

Snowed in - What are the Basics?

One third of the nation was buried in snow and ice last Monday.  We reveled in the excuse to stay home and make a memory.  We started with a candle light dinner on Monday night - spaghetti, homemade French Bread, lettuce salad, and eggless chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  Tuesday morning the challenge was to prepare pancakes that had been on request for several weeks with no eggs.  Again I pulled a couple of frozen banana's, thawed them in the microwave, added 1/4 tsp baking powder and 1/4 cup extra flour (for a recipe that called for 2-1/2 cups of flour.)  They were delicious and stayed together.

Deciding what to store:


As an exercise in deciding what would be best to put in food storage, look at the ingredients in these basic foods:

Sandwich bread:
water, yeast, sugar, flour, salt, oil

Dinner rolls:
milk (can use water), yeast, sugar, flour, salt, oil or butter

Pizza crust:
water, yeast, sugar, flour, salt, oil

French Bread:
water, yeast, sugar, flour, salt

Pie Dough:
flour, butter, water, salt, sugar

Naan (Indian bread)
water, yeast, sugar, salt, flour, flavoring of choice (onion, garlic, almond)

Croissants:
Water(milk), yeast, sugar, flour, oil, salt, Butter to roll between layers of dough

Irish Soda Bread:
buttermilk, flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, eggs, Additives as desired (raisins, caraway seeds, etc)

Tortillas
Flour, salt, oil, water

Chapati (Indian tortillas
flour, water, salt, oil

Unleavened Flat Bread (Passover style):
Milk(or water), Flour, salt, butter, eggs yolks

Biscuits:
Four, baking powder, salt, butter or margarine, egg(optional)
 
Cookies:
flour, butter/margarine, sugar, baking powder, salt, eggs

Pasta:
Flour, (eggs), water,  salt ( if the pasta is to be dried use water instead of eggs) olive oil can add flavor


If our shelves have Flour, water, oil, salt, sugar, yeast,  baking powder, and baking soda, butter or margarine... In most any combination, our children won't go hungry.

Using 45 minutes

Last Saturday I had 45 minutes to do cooking before the mad dash began-our whole family would be coming and going in different directions for the whole day.  I started onions frying for Joe's Potatoes; pork tidbits frying for pork fried rice, and water boiling for diced potatoes (turned into hash brows the next morning.)  While these items were browning, I peeled 10 pounds of potatoes - scraping off the cut and dark areas while leaving most of the skin intact (most of the vitamin C is in the skin and if the restaurants can serve potatoes with skin so can I).  I cut 5 pounds of the potatoes in rounds and diced 5 pounds to boil.  By the time I was finished peeling, the onions and pork was ready for the next ingredient.  I added the potatoes to the onions and water to the pork.  I added water to yield the finished amount of rice that I wanted then added to rice:  6 cups of cooked rice needs 6 cups of water and 2 cups of regular rice.)  I added spice, salt and pepper and turned the pans off leaving the raw ingredients to cook in the hot water on stove top while we were away before lunch.

When I returned, the house smelled wonderful and I felt an instant security that food was ready.  My husband and a couple of children were there sampling the goods.  The morning had been a success.  I finished the pork fried rice by adding some garlic paste, ginger paste and soy sauce.  Leftovers from that 45 minutes preparation would feed us over the next few days with a lunch of fried rice to put in the freezer for next week as well (yes it was a lot.)

Getting the Best Deal

Buying food without spending a premium is a skill that comes with practice.  To start build a menu that uses basics instead of ready prepared or boxed mixes.  The difference in cost between a box of au gratin potatoes and au gratin potatoes from scratch is  enough to  pay for two meals.

Secondly list the ingredients that you use most frequently.  Track the high and the low prices on these items.   I have one friend that carries a list of maybe 50 items that she regularly buys with the best prices she can find on a regular basis (non-sale).  Then when she is in the grocery store she can double check  the current price and compare between stores to help her make a good choice when buying.  Sometimes sales are not really sales.  For instance, 4/$5.00 may be higher than regular price at a different store.  If it is a good sale, buy double what you normally use.  Slowly the shelves fill up.  The same strategy can be employed with coupons.  Know what is a good deal and what is not.

On items that go on sale seasonally, buy lite through the rest of the year and save for stock up when that item comes on sale.  Flour is such an item.  The best time to look for loss leaders is between November 15- December 25.  Potatoes are a loss leader around the first of October, the end of January, and again the last of May/first of June.  Frozen Salmon and fish are on sale through Lent.  In most cases the Loss Leader sales are better than road side stands, restaurant supply, or regular grocery store prices.   Although all of these venues may be the bast route to take in any given area.  (In WI maybe the wholesale outlets are the best place to buy produce in bulk and split it up.)

Price out the price per unit (ounce or for Toilet paper it is the square) to make sure that you are comparing apples and apples.  Frozen vegetables are packaged in 12 ounces and 16 ounces.  Don't be fooled by a lower price for a lesser amount.  Here is also where one can determine if buying in bulk is effective or not.  Sometimes it is more expensive.

Don't worry if you don't always get the best deal if the bulk of the menu is built on the basics the cost per meal will most often be lower than eating out or buying boxes.  A regular price potato is $.30 per pound ( $.50-or higher for large bakers).  I counted the potatoes in a 10 pound sack and found the  average to be 10 cents per potato on the most expensive end.  Serving a meal where the main portion of the meal only cost 10 cents per person is still a very good deal.  Spice that potato with some onions, chili flavoring or butter and to give a delicious simple meal.  Rice is the same - an inexpensive way to build a delicious meal out of a long term shelf stable grain.

Be creative and know the sources, say a prayer and you'll find the price that is right for you.  I loved reading the story of a mother who always said a prayer before going into a store.  Inevitably when she entered she would hear over the speakers that a particular item would be on special for just the next hour.  She thanked God for leading her to that store at that time.  Those items were ones that she needed but had even forgotten to put them on the list to shop for them.  

MOTHERS MATTER

A year has passed since our family completed a challenge to stay out of grocery stores for 90 days.  Two days ago when the teenagers suggested we stock up on items for food storage, I knew they had internalized the lesson.  Preparation yields comfort and security.  I also realized a mother's pay off when her children learn a lesson that will protect them for life.  Mothers Matter.

Empty Shelves in Georgia - Indian Potatoes

The stark grocery shelves in Georgia this week serve as a reminder to each of us that we need to prepare.  I almost feel guilty posting on Sunday until I remember that it is God's purpose to keep body and soul together.  This week I reviewed the story of Joseph sold into Egypt.  God prepared him to be in Egypt during a time of plenty so he could offer life saving food to his family during the times of want.  Each of us must prepare.

Our family bought potatoes last October when they dropped to 10 cents a pound.  We have eaten these potatoes for 3-1/2 months.  We have 6 weeks more storage of fresh potatoes.  We have enjoyed them mashed, baked, fried in potato skillets, Indian potatoes (recipe follows), and in soups.  It cost less than $20 for a 20 week supply for our family of 10.  Potatoes have 45% per serving of the RDA for Vitamin C if the skin is included in the meal.  This is a smart investment if the climate allows for storage.

The 25 pounds of rice that we purchased for $7.00 in the summer lasted easily 3 months with heavy use. We use rice under stir fries, gravies and curry soups; in soup, in chicken and rice dishes cooked in the crock pot and oven, in rice pudding, in jambalaya, pork fried rice and meatballs...

Flour dropped from $2.00 for 5 pounds to $.80 a 5 pound bag.  We bought a years supply of white flour.  We put it outside when temperatures were below freezing for 2-3 days.  This killed any larvae that may have been in the packaging.  Flour will store well if frozen for 48 hours and put in water proof containers.

Celery dropped to 20 cents a bunch at Thanksgiving.  I bought 8 bunches.  We are still enjoying the celery in soups.  It is still crunchy.

We have enjoyed a couple of turkeys from Thanksgiving sales, 80% lean ground beef has been on sale for $1.68 per pound.  I brown 10 pounds at a time, drain the fat and rinse the meat with hot water unless I am cooking to add calories and flavor. I freeze the browned meat in meal size portions.  For people with severely restricted diets due to allergies or intolerance's, the fat and flavor are needed.

Chicken hind quarters purchased for 40 cents a pound are prepared the same way: boiled, boned, and frozen in meal size portions.  The broth from boiling the chicken is used in a big pot of soup.

Other loss leaders over the last few months have allowed us to have all the cottage cheese we wanted; pasta, cake mixes, and pineapple tidbits to last over a year.

Our homes are the most reliable place to have food stored for times of need.  It takes minimal amount of cash to buy and store what one uses on a regular basis.  Buying on loss leaders and using what one has allows families to store what they normally eat.  The more variety in a "normal diet" insures greater flexibility in times of need.

Here is a recipe that our family really enjoys.  Originally this is an aloo gobi recipe from the Internet.  At an Indian restaurant, we found this dish to also be served with cabbage instead of cauliflower. I've modified the spices so it is not hot.

Indian Potatoes (for 10)

2 Tablespoons of oil
5 pounds potatoes peeled and cut into 1/2 inch squares
1 small head of cabbage cut into wedges and halved again (or 1/2 head large cauliflower)
1 Tablespoon fresh ground ginger (purchased fresh in a jar from Indian store)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
salt to taste
1/2 cup water

Put oil in large pot, add cabbage or cauliflower cut into large floweretts
Add potatoes.  Stir frequently.  Add spices and water.  Stir.
When potatoes are almost tender, I turn off the pot, cover the pot, and let the whole mixture steam.

Enjoy.

Expecting Miracles and Conversations

This Holiday Jesus's first miracle caused me to smile at the vision and power of Mothers.  Jesus's mother comes and makes him aware that they have run out of wine.  Jesus makes large jars of water turn to wine.  The guests acclaim the best wine was saved for last.  Guests at the party are blessed, Jesus's mother is relieved and for the first time the public becomes aware of Jesus's power to perform miracles.  Could Jesus have done such marvels if his mother had not first expressed faith in Jesus and second had not asked Him to intervene?  Most miracles come as a result of asking.  Mothers have special interest and can ask with a sincere heart.  God will answer such prayers.

Today:

We made a large pot of soup the ratios were:
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can corn
1 can cut green beans
1/3 pound ground beef (already browned and in the freezer.)
1/2 cup raw macaroni added to the mix
1- 1/2 cups (or 1 can) water
2 bullion cubes
salt and pepper to taste

While my four year old sat and ate his soup alone this morning, he posed the dilema,
"Mom, I have to find a girl."
"A Girl?"
"Yea, the right girl to marry."
"Oh, how are you going to do that?"
"I don't know," with a really worried tone.
"Do you think God wants you to have the right girl? May be you can pray and ask him to help protect the right girl for you."  

Such innocent conversations are shared spontaneously over a bowl of soup/simple meals.  I cook to have such conversation.  

New Years Resolutions

Our homes are the soul of our country.  The moral character of our citizens is directed in the ebb and flow of conversation around the dinner table.  To strengthen our homes, our communities and our nation it would be prudent to retrench to a lifestyle that requires 1) cooking from scratch, 2) sitting together for mealtimes, 3) nourishing relationships of friends and family, and 4) building our own strength to carry out such a plan.

This holiday my 18 month old helped me roll out gingerbread men.  She was grabbing the little boys scrunching them into a handful and plopping them on the baking sheet as fast as she could.  I was desperately trying to roll, cut out, and get those gingerbread boys on the sheet before she could pull them off.  It was chaotic.  Just as I was ready to scream, I had to laugh.  My baby was loving the moment.  She was in the center of the fun.  I had to re-evaluate.   The goal was to build a memory and a pleasant feeling of holiday cooking with my baby, not to produce a perfect gingerbread boy.  I smiled and gave her a compliment.  Success had been achieved.

For New Year's Eve (We ate all evening as we watched the New York ball drop and other festivities, played games, and watched movies at home.)

Cream cheese ball with crackers
Vegetable tray
M&M's and chocolate mint cookies
Shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce
Twice baked potatoes
Banana's Foster with Ice Cream
Chips and dip

The Comforts of Home

Instinct tells us all is well if we smell something cooking.  One of the biggest anxieties is the fear of no food, or no shelter.  This week I kept life simple with soups and fresh bread but it was amazing what  even savory onions browning on the stove added to the "glad to be home" feeling of the holidays.



Wednesday: Baked potatoes

Thursday:  Fresh white bread, pineapple, and milk for supper.  Holiday Stuffing for the party I attended.
The Stuffing was made of 9 cups cubed fresh bread, 1/2 cup butter, 1 large onion diced,1-1/2 cups diced celery, 2 tsp thyme, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper and 1 cup cranberries all mixed with 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup.  Brown the celery and onions in the butter.  Mix all ingredients together with sauteed onions and celery.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until heated through.

Friday:  Joe's potatoes.  Potatoes were on sale the first of October again.  We stocked nearly 300 pounds for our family.  They are being stored in open totes in the garage.  I also bought a large bag of fresh onions.  Many onions are 4 inches in diameter.  To use the onions and potatoes before they rot, dishes like "Joe's Potatoes" are fantastic.  Brown 2 large onions cut into circles in 1/2 cup butter.  Add 7 pounds peeled, sliced potatoes (in rounds).  Cover with enough water to just barely submerge the potatoes.   Cook until potatoes are soft to a fork.  Salt and pepper.  The potatoes brown with the caramelized onions and thicken the broth as it boils down.  This dish is a Depression Dish that my grandpa would often make to feed his eleven children.  Savory onions helped assuage the lack of meat on their table.

Saturday:  Macaroni, taco flavored ground meat and tomato sauce were added together to make a variation of macaroni/ hamburger/ and tomato dish.  The children assembled all the ingredients while I went out.  They ate it all.  It must have been delicious.  I start with the macaroni-  measuring1/2 the volume that I want in the end.  So to serve 8  people 1/2 cup servings each, we needed 2 cups of macaroni.  We added 1 pound of meat, about 3 cups of crushed tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste.

Recipes are Refreshing

My thirteen year old walked in from a stressful day at school, picked up a recipe book and made custard.  I was oblivious to his project until I saw the creamy yellow pudding cooling in a bowl of ice water.  Cooking is relaxing for him.  He is not afraid to try new methods.  This custard did not set before he ate it but he has tried something I have yet to do.

Over the summer when the raw ingredients in our house were flour, sugar, milk and eggs, I made flan for the first time.  It was great fun, felt elegant but didn't use any "exotic" ingredients.  If one is a little afraid of cooking there is no better way than to read a recipe book.  I like books that are from country cooks or small towns.  These recipes are delicious, most of the time from scratch and simple.

Today:
Breakfast:  Baked Potatoes for some and leftover pasta for others with milk
Lunch/Dinner:  Chicken noodle soup - I started the chicken boiling after breakfast, peeled carrots, and chopped celery at noon, chopped the boiled chicken while the carrots were boiling in the same water the chicken had boiled, added curly egg noodles, flavored it with bouillon cubes and a little salt.  The soup served the family for lunch and dinner.  (It was ready and savory on a cold winter night.  I could take two of the children shopping with a clear conscience).

It's my turn! and Progressing in the kitchen

The six year old asserted that she could the tomato sauce for dinner.  She turned over a small trash can and started stirring the crushed tomatoes.  We added salt, basil, and garlic.  "This is good."  she said,  "But we had a lot more to do."  She went to the spice cupboard and pulled lemon pepper, brown sugar, a secret ingredient or two and began stirring.  The siblings came to taste test.  More salt was added and more sugar.  She proudly tasted the finished sauce.  We poured it over rigatoni and bow tie pasta, added grated mozzarella, some cream cheese, and Parmesan and stirred it all together.  Served with a green salad, dinner was great because we were all together around the table feeling like everyone had contributed.


18 months
My babies are nearly always close by me.  So they are often on the kitchen counters while I am peeling carrots, mixing bread, or cracking eggs.  Almost from birth they are in the kitchen.
 
5 Years
My children start cooking by frying eggs.  At a young age (5) they can manage cracking the shell, the results are ready to eat quickly and the possibilities of what an egg can do are limitless.  They start with a basic fried egg, then scrambled, then sunshine up, then over easy, then they create an omelet.  Each egg is eaten with relish because it is their own creation.

8 years 
Somewhere in this age range  the children graduate to creating their own hamburgers.  In my recipe collection I have the prized "Brent's Burger"  that lists the special spices he added to his burger.  It was a little too hot - too much curry but it was his and delicious.

11-13 years
Cookies are a great way to get familiar with the kitchen, a mixer, teaspoons, tablespoons, fractions and tasty products.  Everyone in the family applauds the cookie maker.  My husband could make eggs when we got married.  Then he started making cookies, now he can make caramel from sugar and water, and delicious cream cheese cakes.  Cookies were the gateway to kitchen confidence.


Then menu Monday the 13th of December:
Breakfast: oatmeal blender pancakes
Lunch:  leftover potato, carrot, beef stew
Dinner:  Pasta with tomato sauce and green salad.  Dessert  cookies from the Holiday Cookie exchange at school.

Family Ties

The power of hearing kind supportive voices who will encourage a person to surmount challenges is incalculable.  This is the power of family committed to one another.  Individual family units, extended family, church family, the friends who become family, communities that pull together, and a nation unified in goodness:  these are the units that capture the power of family.  If we didn't come from a nurturing home, we can create one.  If we don't have siblings to encourage us, we can find them at church.  If we don't know how to speak with love and encouragement nor how to build an environment that puts sparkles in children's eyes, we can find others who are so dedicated and model our lives after theirs.  Life has its challenges, God has intended for us to for us to face them together.   It is this strength that motivates mothers and fathers to forget themselves and create a home full of  peace and joy.  It is the collective strength of many such homes that fortifies a nation against troublesome times.

Breakfast:  Leftover fried Rice and bagels
Dinner:  Taco soup with hominy ( 1 pound ground beef flavored with taco favoring out of the freezer, 4 cups tomatoes diced or paste, 2 cups ( 1-15 oz can) hominy, with 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp onion powder or 1/2 cup chopped onion.)

A Birthday Celebration

The children woke to the savory smell of onions browning for a potato skillet with extra fancy bagels in honor of our daughter who was turning 15.  Given any opportunity to go out on the town, invite friends for a party, play games or watch a movie, she chose to have a family party.  She said "My family really are my best friends."  So we stayed home most of the day.  The younger children went shopping for gifts while I baked a Hummingbird Cake (delicious banana cake base), made pork fried rice and steamed carrots and broccoli.  With an extra large helium balloon wishing a Happy Birthday! in the center of the table the festivity was complete.    We made a great memory.

Taming the December Circus

If there is any time of the year that has the power to stitch families together, it is this magical season.   The first snow flies and the children exclaim "This is the best day of the year!"  It is also the time when homes are most at risk.  I was shocked to listen to a friend describe her instinctual dislike for Christmas and Easter because that meant the grown ups would be drunk and the children ignored.   As an adult these scars of childhood still bleed each holiday.  The only way to find healing is to create new memories, new associations, new traditions.

It doesn't take an alcoholic home to leave the children desolate of family togetherness.  The shopping, the parties, the seasonal concerts, the ball games all crash with speed this time of year.  If not on guard, dinner is each man for himself as he comes and goes.  Children are thrown a fast food sack or a box of macaroni in the rush.   Exhaustion sets in and the magic of the holidays is reduced what can be purchased.

So, for this holiday, we are on guard.   As a mother I am going to create enticing aromas in my home every day.  Make a point to sit down together to read, sing, and eat.  We are creating memories of joy, peace, and love.  These are the threads that weave hope for future generations and give meaning to life.


Today:
Breakfast: pumpkin bread and leftover taco soup with hominy (this was soo delicious last evening we can't leave it alone this morning).
Lunch:  Canned Salmon and noodles, green beans and milk
Dinner:   A freezer meal of Upside down spaghetti while my husband and I went out on a date.

Thanksgiving Tradition

The magic of the Holidays starts with Thanksgiving.  I knew we stuck gold when the children ran in the kitchen to discover that we were rolling out pie dough.  Each clamored to make his own special pie.  We rolled out pumpkin pie shells, apple pies and cherry pies.  We baked shells for lemon meringue, chocolate silk and a special pie just to remember my grandmother, mincemeat.  Thanksgiving starts weeks ahead when I purchase the staples on sale: potatoes, carrots, frozen peas, flour, eggs, pumpkins, real butter and even cranberry sauce.  But the week proceeding Thanksgiving is the best time for sales on celery, olives, oven bags, water chestnuts,  other specialty items and of course, the turkey.  We buy an extra turkey for the next holiday and count our blessings.

Thanksgiving is a time to relish each other.  This often means that children learn to forgo their own special preferences during this celebration.  Maybe they can expect singular treatment on their birthdays but Thanksgiving is not a time to allow preferences to force the kitchen to become a short order restaurant.  Thanksgiving is a time to preserve family traditions, create memories of being together and that often requires sacrifice.

The HOW:

Our "Thanksgiving Dinner" is jotted down on a sheet of yellow card stock in my recipe book.  We check and recheck the list when we are shopping, cooking, and setting all the food on the table.  We still have flexibility to add dishes, try new recipes and introduce new favorites but we have the framework all written and it saves a lot of stress to have the Tradition recorded for use year after year.

The pies and sometimes the rolls have to be made the day before to free up the oven for the turkey Thursday morning.  We also make all the salads the day before:  drain the fruit for a fruit salad, make the Hawaiian and cranberry jello, make a seven layer salad (it stores 3-4 days better than a pain green salad), and do the prep fro a relish tray.  Thanksgiving morning we are baking turkey, mashing potatoes, steaming carrots, heating the stuffing (assembled 2-3 days ahead of time from fresh homemade white, wheat, and cornbread and put in a casserole dish), heating green beans and setting a table with butter plates, cranberry sauce, garlands and goblets.  The festive aromas and pretty tables make the eyes of the children glitter with joy.  Every one (except the babies) goes without breakfast so they have an appetite worthy of the meal.    When we do eat, we are really grateful to have food, friends and family with whom to share.

Bread and Little ones

Cooking with little children can be messy.  The trick is to make them feel included without letting them destroy the kitchen.  One way my grandmother and mother kept us occupied was letting us make our own little bread creations while they cooked the rest of dinner.  We sometimes made loaves or sometimes put blobs of dough together to form shapes of animals or plants.  We baked our creations and relished the hot snack.  The kitchen experience let us feel warm and cozy beside our mother while keeping us out of trouble.

One loaf of bread:

1-1/4 cup water warm
1 TBS yeast
1 TBS sugar
2-1/2 cups flour (part white, part wheat or all one type)
1 tsp salt
1 TBS oil or butter

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.  Add flour to make a dough that is not sticky when poked with damp fingers.  Freeze the whole batch if desired. Make scones, form a loaf, roll out sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon for cinnamon rolls, roll out into wreath shapes or snip with scissors to create a braided look,  form dinner rolls in crescent shapes by rolling a triangle, or cutting the tops of the roll, or making Parker house shapes out of circles folded and pressed together.  The possibilities end with ones imagination.  Making bread is family fun.