WW – Birthday Dinner – Thanks Kids!

 

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Is Your Car Prepared For An Emergency?

Today might sound more like a Public Service Announcement than a picnic in the park.  Last Monday’s experience really opened our eyes and made us think about being prepared. Usually during the winter, everyone thinks about getting ready for winter, but are you really ready?  What if you were stuck in a snowstorm between exits barely moving for 4 hours.  Do you have what you need?  What if it was longer?

We were prepared, more than the average person.  We travelled up to Edinboro, PA overnight for a college visit with my son.  We knew that we would be gone overnight and that we might be caught in a snowstorm, so we packed for that.  We had drinks in the cooler, snacks in the car, including trailmix and fruit.  We had blankets, and pillows, gloves, hats, coats, and extra clothing since we were going overnight.  We also had a flashlight and other things. 

Since we were travelling, we were prepared for a long trip with a little extra in case something happened along the way.  What if you were leaving work though, and got stuck right behind an accident when the highway was closed down.  We were moving about a few hundred feet at a time.  The radio kept repeating that one lane was open, so there was hope or at least we thought (they apologized for the false reports the next day).  They also said traffic was being diverted, but it wasn’t.  We finally got close enough to an exit after 4 hours and felt comfortable enough to take it.  From there we were able to slowly drive home.  What if you ate lunch at noon, left work at 3, ended up behind that accident and weren’t able to eat or drink for a long time, would you be prepared?

What I want you to get from this is that you should be a good Boy Scout – be prepared.  Carry a bottle of water to your car every time you leave.  Keep trailmix in your car, or some other snack that won’t go bad easily.  Maybe an emergency bag or cooler to take back and forth from the car.  The accident where you run off the road, it’s good to be prepared for that.  The emergency you don’t imagine is being stranded in the middle of the highway during a snowstorm behind 20 miles of backed up cars in perfect condition with no bruises or broken bones, just a bad case of claustrophobia. It happened to us, and we were lucky, we were prepared – what about you?  Are you a good Boy Scout?  What about just running to the store or to work, are you then?

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WW – Black Quinoa (or Black Gold)

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WW – Chard From My Ohio Winter Garden

What a nice surprise after a dreary, cloud covered day, chard from my garden that I used for our dinner.  Isn’t that the coolest – in the middle of winter?!  It’s just a little bit, but it was so delicious. ( PS ignore the wilty looking stems – I pulled that part out).

 

 

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WW – Rosemary For the Table

Table Centerpiece, indoor winter garden, fresh herbs for cooking… Yes, Yes, Yes!

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Let ‘em Handle It

Some days that’s my attitude.  My son likes his friends to come over, and he likes them to stay.  It can become an evening of preparing and cleaning food for me, if I let it.  Sometimes I like to impress.  Today he was home for another snow day, but I had to trudge into work.  When I got the call from my son asking if his friends could come over and stay, I was willing, but only so far.  I told him I didn’t have anything ready for them to eat, and I didn’t want to run into the store (no extra driving please).  He said there were a couple of boxes of mac n cheese in the pantry, they could make it up and have it for dinner.  I thought well, they’ll live, let them handle it. 

Truthfully, it’s not the way I like to eat every night, but I keep things in my pantry because I don’t want to always deal with dinner and figuring out how to make teenage boys happy.  Lazy, maybe, or it could be that one of life’s important lessons to teach my son is that if he wants something, then he has to figure it out.  Something else to think about is that the boys are at my house more than each other’s. So, while I don’t mind providing, it can be expensive and time consuming for me if I decide to go overboard.  Letting them handle it puts the breaks on that – after all, they don’t care about the food so much as the game playing.

One of my tips for letting them handle it, without intervention is to provide the tools that make success easy. Shortcuts like boxes of mac n cheese help.  I also had Tyson’s Seasoned Beef Brisket in Fire Roasted Onion Sauce in the freezer.  Dinner was ready in 10 minutes.  They actually spent more time at the table gabbing, goofing and singing to the phone than they did cooking.  I did learn something new, you can’t carry around your cell phone and cook at the same time. 

My husband and I scraped the pots clean when they were done, it was good enough for us also.  Delicious as a matter of fact.

I have more Tysons Frozen cooked dinner foods in the freezer because they go over well.  I also have hot dogs, tater tots, and chicken fingers in the freezer as well as tuna, mac n cheese, noodles and sauce in the pantry and cans of soup in the cabinet.  I’m sure my son will have his fill of them when he’s on his own.  There are times we work on the meal together, chopping, peeling, sautéing, but then there are the shortcuts and really, I’m okay with that. Let ‘em handle it. 

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Wordless Wednesday – Present From My Daughter

I just wanted to share a couple of photos of a Christmas present from my daughter.  I think she got it right, don’t you?

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New Years Reflections 2010

A few years ago, I did a post about new things I’ve learned or done, and what I’d like to do now.  I think New Years Day is a good time to reflect again.  Learning new approaches to food, venturing out beyond my comfort zone, trying new foods or gadgets are all ways of growing.  I’ll share some of what I did this year that was new, and then try to come up with what I still would like to try.  I hope you’ll join in the conversation and share your favorites from last year (2009), as well as what you’d like to try new in 2010 (– or what you’d like to do more of).

 

   New Experiences 2009

1.  I took a tour of the North Market – that took me way out of my comfort zone and I’d like to do more like that.  I love the North Market, so it was a little easier because of it, but still I was nervous as heck.  I did it though, and I encourage you to step outside your comfort zone too.

2. I cooked with bulgur.  I’m always looking for new grains to try.  I now have a shelf full of grains in containers with screw top lids to hold them – instead of leaving them in the plastic bags.  It’s so cool to look at the shelf and think of how different the recipes would taste using one type of grain over another.  My mother who loves the wild rice I make whenever she’s visiting, went and stocked her own shelves with it, and made it for our family dinner.  She pointed out the containers when I visited, she was so proud.

3.  I stopped using paper napkins.  I’ve wanted to do that for a while, but finally found some on clearance.  Whenever I find one on sale for less than a dollar, I buy it.  I can rotate the napkins in and out of the laundry, and I roll them up to fit in the basket where I kept the paper napkins.  No complaints from the kids or husband because they work great.  I don’t buy paper towels as much either because I put the rag container closer and easier to reach.

4. I now grind my own coffee.  My husband bought me a coffee grinder for Christmas.  The beans stay fresher than the ground coffee.  I just want Peggy – who said she’d buy me a coffee grinder about two years ago and never did, to know that I’m not waiting on her anymore.  In fact, don’t wait on someone to give you something.  Control your own destiny and save your pennies to get what you want.  I bought my own microplane and I love it.  I have learned to tell my husband exactly what I want for presents too, it’s so much better that way.

5. I grew more of my own greens to use this year than ever before.  We had lots of lovely vitamin filled chard from spring until late fall.  When I buy the greens from the store they seem to go bad fast, but pick as you grow or as you need is so much better.  I didn’t can or freeze any, and I’m disappointed that we don’t have any chard available now. 

6.  I followed Rachel Ray’s advice and peeled and froze my ginger.  It’s so much more accessible, so I use it more often.  Adding spices and herbs to my dishes give it a little somethin’ extra. 

 

What I look forward to in 2010.

1.  Classes.  I want to take some cooking classes, so that I can expand my horizons.  Time wise we’ll see.  Trying to get my son into college is time consuming.

2. Lentils- that’s an ingredient waiting to be used. 

3.  Cardamom – my daughter gave me some fresh ground for Christmas.

4. Cooking with my husband.  I’ve enjoyed doing some of it last year, and hope to do more this year.  I’ve learned to let him take the lead when he’s making a meal, and give him tasks to help out when I’m in charge of the meal. 

5.  Dinner out – that would be a nice change for us, we never have time to go out, or maybe we just feel guilty when we do.  Either way, dinner out would be nice.  Besides, I’ve got a gift card, and I’m gonna use it.

6. Menus – I need to start making up menus for the week.  Planning is my weak spot.  I don’t plan, then I don’t always have the ingredients, or I have the ingredients but no time to make it.  I need to be more organized.

 

Join in the conversation – What are you happy you did in 2009?  What would you like to try in 2010?

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Merry Christmas – 2009

Deb and I are sisters, but two different people.  You can see that our writing styles differ.  As a person who writes technical specifications and develops software, my Cookerati writing is drier and more to the point, while Deb’s flows better with a little more fun.  She also watches and can repeat word for word the movie – The Christmas Story, while at my house we’re watching – The Walton’s – The Homecoming.  Deb listens to metal, and I listen to country, but we both like good old rock and roll. She likes her coffee really strong, and me medium.  We both like good wine, though I’m more of a chocolate snob than she is. We’re both big on spending time with family and traditions, even if most of the time, those times are not together because we live 500 miles apart. 

So, if you are with your family, or just thinking of family, or even all alone, I hope your day is filled with reflection and love of all that is good in the world.  After all, it doesn’t really matter if you are a Christmas Story fan, or a Homecoming fan –( unless Deb has control of the remote).

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After Thanksgiving Musings

This is the second year  that I grabbed the turkey carcass.  My sister in law doesn’t see gold like I do at the sight of a turkey carcass.  I grabbed the drippings too in a separate bowl, so I can skim off all the fat, and be left with the wobbly turkey gel that helps to make up a great stock. We pull off the meat, throw in some veggies with the bones and simmer it all day in a vat of water.  Then at the end,  I drain off it all off and stick in the fridge overnight so I can remove any grease from that.  Next day I reheat the stock, throw back in the meat and the gel to reheat up.  Then portion it into freezer containers.  All year long we have turkey stock with turkey bits for quick additions to a meal. This is gold to me. 

My sister in law forgot the stuffing, which was fine, but my brother in law was determined and got out the box of stovetop.  In five minutes he had stuffing to go around the table and damned if he didn’t dish it out to every plate himself.  My daughter loves it though and had a nice helping too.

My husband’s family is always a lot of fun at the table and my mother in law and sister in law always put on a great spread.  None of us have black Friday tendencies though, we just relax and sleep in.

I made waffles with bacon for breakfast.  That was something my mom made for special occasions growing up.  You mostly cook the bacon, then put medium wide strips on the waffle iron before you cover it with batter.  I love when the syrup and bacon get together in the waffle.  Mmmmm.

Our gatherings are quite reduced from the ones we had growing up.  The kids are grown and have their own kids (I’m a great aunt many times over), so they have their own family gatherings to host.  It was funny sitting all down a long row of tables filled with about 18 people and thinking,”There’s hardly anyone here this year”.  My son is the youngest grandchild,  and the oldest great grandchild is around 12.  That circle of life keeps spreading the family out.  The more it spreads, the more difficult it is to have the whole family gathered. Darn.

My sister in law also gave me turkey leftovers because it was too much for her and my brother in law to finish up.  I’m going to do something delicious with it tonight.  What do you do to your turkey leftovers?  Just reheat, or do you have a favorite dish?

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