Cooking Is Love made visible...

"Cooking is Love made visible"--Unknown.

There is so much truth in that statement!  As a wife and mother I try to fix the foods I know my family will not only like but Love.  During the holidays when we are all together it can sometimes be a challenge as my three children often like different things and I do try to make at least one thing that they each will love. 

I'm a fan of the show "Everybody Loves Raymond".  My husband says I'm a bit like Debra but with shades of Marie tossed in!  LOL I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult!  But one thing I do know for sure is that both Debra and Marie love their family with all their hearts and would do most anything for them.  I can say that I'm a much better cook than Debra and I do get Marie's statement that when she cooks "it comes from Love".   

When I cook I want my family to enjoy the meal I've prepared.  I want the mealtime experience to be pleasant memories, I want their 5 senses to become a whirlwind of pleasure when we are all around the table eating, talking and enjoying each other being together.  I can say that most of the times when my children were growing up we always sat down together for dinner.  It's was nice to come together and touch base, visit and spend that time eating and relaxing around the table.  

I have such fond memories of family meals especially the huge family holiday meals or reunion picnics when we would get together at my grandparents home or another relatives home and eat, laugh and play with our cousins, visit with our Aunts and Uncles and listen to stories, play games, swim and just enjoy the day together.  Those were special times and I enjoyed being around the people I love so much!  I use to spend time at both sets of grandparents and I would often spend time sitting in the kitchen helping, watching and learning how to cook.  I'm blessed that not only both of my grandmothers,  who were great cooks, but also my Mother and my Aunts on both sides of my family!  I have many treasured tried and true recipes from many of those wonderful ladies!  Those recipes I treasure as much as my photographs!  I have made "Nanny's" Chicken and Rice for many a guest with rave reviews!  And Grandma's homemade Chocolate Cake is the best, bar none! Aunt Shirley's Italian Roast Beef sandwiches or Aunt Peggy's fried Pork Chops, Aunt Glenda's Creamed Corn or BBQ, Aunt Frankie's Fried Chicken, Aunt Zola's Mostcacoli, Aunt Terri's Spagetti and meatballs and of course my mother's potato salad, Cole slaw and Turkey Dressing are always on a request list when she comes to visit any of her children.  I've been told I'm a pretty good cook, but I can't begin to fill the shoes of these ladies when it comes to their culinary prowess in the kitchen.  My Grandmothers and My Aunt Frankie are no longer with us but their cooking and memories are forever engraved in my heart.

It wasn't just the deliciousness of the food that remains ingrained in my memories, it was the love.  They loved cooking for their families and it showed in every detail of the meal.  From the care and preparation to the setting of the table.  I always felt blessed, loved and special when setting down to a meal, especially when it was a holiday or other special occasion.  Everything was so beautiful and delicious.  My Grandmothers, Aunts and Mother were "making Love visible".  

Besides my cherished family recipes below are my "go to" cookbooks, they have stood the test of time.  One that I have and will forever cherish is the "To The Bride", it was given to my mother as an engagement present from some co-workers of her's before she married my Dad.  It is dated 1960...even though it is an old cookbook there are many classic recipes that I still use today!

And my family around our table....

Manic Monday--Week 4 Polka Dots and Ponchos

"Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself."--Coco Chanel

Last week I was a mess!  I'm not gonna lie nor sugar coat it...I WAS A MESS!  I had THE worst migraine headache four of the seven days last week.  Hence no blogging for me. It was everything I could do to show up to work and be productive but then I went home and straight to bed!  I did drag myself out of bed and showed up to work in a presentable fashion though.  But by Friday I did have to go home early and go straight to bed.  Saturday it was better but not gone, Sunday I played catch up with the house cleaning and laundry and prep for this weeks school lessons because I was a "slacker" all week due to my migraine.

I assure you I did dress appropriately and did not show up in my " jammies" although the kiddos might have thought that was funny!  Thank goodness I do not get migraines that often anymore, I use to get them a lot when I was younger.  I guess one of the benefits I've experienced going through menopause has been a decrease in having those terrible migraines.  But on the down side...I do get terrible hot flashes!  I guess I'd rather have the hot flashes! :)

This week's line up will be reflective of the nice crisp Autumn days we will be having this week.  I do love Autumn, it's my favorite season.  I love the Christmas Holiday but the season of Autumn is my favorite!  I love to layer clothing and Autumn allows that.  And of course so do my hot flashes! LOL

I dress not only for the weather but I dress for comfort and those potential "hot flashes"....

Monday:  Style & Co. Boyfriend Jeans, Rust Shaker Knit sweater by 525 america, scarf by Cejon and Brown Suede boots by nobounderies. Earrings and bracelet bought in St Thomas on vacation 23 years ago.  The jeans, scarf and sweater are from Macy's and the boots from Kohl's.

Tuesday:  Beige Turtle neck top by Apt 9 from Kohl's, Poncho by Jon & Anna from Macy's, Brown suede pants by Coldwater Creek about 10 years ago, Necklace and earrings from Kohl's. Brown Suede ankle boots by Style & Co from Macy's.

Wednesday:  Black & White silky blouse by Jones New York from Macy's, Coral Boyfriend Sweater by Chadwick's, Black Suede pants by Coldwater Creek also purchased about 10 years ago.  Black & White Flats by Anne Klein Sport from Macy's and Pearl drop earrings from Amazon.

Thursday:  White cotton shirt by Chaps and Navy Paisley Capri's from Dockers both from Kohl's,  Slate Blue Poncho by Ralph Lauren $10 from Plato's Closet, Gray Vans Tennis shoes from Macy's.
Silver earrings from Coldwater Creek, Bracelet was a gift and the silver necklace is from Maurice's.

Friday:  Jean Jacket from Colwater Creek, Capri Jeans by Style and Co. from Macy's, Navy Polka dot cotton shirt by Chadwick's, navy suede shoes by boston design, silver earrings and bracelet are from Kohl's.

          

Thrifty Thursday---Organization is Key!

"Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up."--A.A. Milne (author of Winnie the Pooh)

I admit I'm an organizational junkie!  Does that mean that I am ALWAYS organized?  That I have everything where it should be?  That my home is always clean and tidy?  No!  But I do enjoy the satisfaction and sense of "calm" an organized space provides.

I love organizing stuff, my home, my office, my classroom....other people's stuff.  The routine of purging and creating a sense of order just delights me....weird I know!  I wasn't always like this though, it grew out of necessity when I was a divorced mother of two young active boys and I was working two jobs and very involved in my church and the boys school.  I was BUSY!  BUSY! BUSY!   Being organized helped me to "not be all mixed up!"  :)

Through the years I have found certain habits and ways to organize that helps me to not only save time but money as well.  My pantry, freezers and refrigerator being organized allows me to be better prepared and equipped at planning meals which is saving our family money.  I can go to any of those areas and with in a couple seconds pull out what I need to prepare our meals.  Are you interested in how I've set up my system?  It's really not hard nor expensive either, I use "areas" and containers to section off my items.

Here's some examples:

In the small freezer in the kitchen I have a small basket full of different cheeses, on my very top shelf I have containers of frozen chopped fresh herbs, onions, carrots, green peppers and celery.  Those items tend to be staples when it comes to "home cooking".....I also have a clear container on a lower shelf that have unopened frozen vegetables.  I also have a small container with a couple of "meat less" meats as I have a "daughter in love" who is a vegetarian.  I keep partial opened bags in the door so that I'll use those first before opening another new bag.  Haven't you ever cleaned out your freezer and found 4-5 partial bags of peas?  LOL I did before coming up with this routine!  Also on the bottom of my freezer is a drawer where I keep the meats I plan on using for the next couple weeks meals.

In the large freezer we have in the garage I keep my frozen foods in those "white rubber tubs" separated by descriptions like:  beef, chicken, seafood, pork, veggies and fruits.  This system seems to really work for me and when I do go grocery shopping it actually speeds up the unloading grocery process, another time saver!  Also when it is time to clean the freezers you just pull out the baskets or tubs, wipe down the inside with warm water and a little bit of baking soda, quickly dry the inside and replace the baskets and tubs back into the freezers.  If you chose to do the same system as I do you can quickly clean your freezers in no time. And it will not seem like such a huge task in the future.

Here's a picture of my small freezer and how I have it organized...

Easy, simple, fast....I'm all over that kinda stuff!

Weigh in Wednesday's ---What's for Dinner?

Week 3

A review of last week.....

I was successful in only spending $8.00 this past week at the grocery store and $3 of that was for a salad and chicken leg because I forgot my lunch one day!  I cooked all week and we ate leftovers.  I also froze some of the leftovers last week to use at a later time.  It feels good to be back on track and have a plan instead of just tossing money to Resturants and fast food places for meals.  Last week's menu was the following:

Saturday:  Steak & Chicken Fahitas, Spanish rice, steamed zucchini and yellow summer squash and German Apple Cake....my boss, friend and second mom to my daughter was over with her hubs for dinner.  Which made the cake a needed addition call me old fashioned but when we have guests I MUST serve a dessert!

Sunday "at Nona's":  My youngest Son, his wife who is a vegetarian and my granddaughter often come over for Sunday dinner.  We had leftovers!   My "daughter in love" enjoyed all the Fahitas veggies, Rice and zucchini.

Monday:  Italian Chicken Soup (recipe posted earlier blog)

Tuesday:  BBQ Chicken Wraps, canned corn and black beans (I steamed some leftover chicken tenders and shredded them in my mixer, I saw this on Pinterest and it works like a charm!  I then added BBQ sauce and reheated on the stove).  Yummy!

Wednesday:  Leftovers

Thursday:  Sausage Rigatoni, Frozen mixed veggies, garlic bread and pumpkin muffins (hubs has a sweet tooth so I found a recipe on Pinterest using only 3 ingredients!

Friday:  leftover Rigatoni


So realistically I cooked 4 meals and we had leftovers plus my hubs and I also had lunches from those 4 cooked meals!  I DID NOT have to buy anything as I already had all the ingredients at home. I feel very good about stretching my dollar this week!

Here's my recipe for the Sausage  Rigatoni

1 lb sweet Italian Sausage
1 teaspoon minced dry onion (I soak it in a small amount of water to rehydrate it)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 oregano
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (23oz)
1 box Rigatoni noodles (16oz)

First I remove the castings from the sausage if they happen to be in links.  I brown the sausage until no longer pink. Drain off fat and return to heat.  Add in the onion, garlic, basil and oregano and stir it all together for a minute or so.  Add in pasta sauce and bring to boil then lower to a slow simmer.  Prepare pasta according to package directions while the sauce is simmering.   Once pasta is done cooking drain and return noodles to the pot and mix the meat sauce in with the noodles.

This makes 6-8 servings

I do admit that my seasoning measurements are approximate because I kinda "eye ball it"....so you may want to season to your family's liking.


The pictures of the Sausage Rigatoni meal and the leftovers packed up and frozen from the Fahitas dinner, Italian Soup and BBQ chicken.

BTW....I lost 1 lb this week!   I walked a total of 6 miles this week too!  I think that eating the home cooked meals is making a bit of difference in not consuming excess calories.

Manic Monday--Week 3

"Be yourself, nobody can do it better"---Tally Weijl

Well....living in Missouri always keeps me on my toes.  Friday it was almost 80 and by game time we were bundled up in our winter coats!  This week it will be 76 all week give or take a degree or two.  Sooooo the shorts and sleeveless shirts are not put away yet for fall/winter!

In one of my earlier blog posts I stated that if you buy classic pieces and take care of them they will last whether they are expensive or not.  This week's wardrobe ideas are a perfect example.  I DO NOT like to spend a lot of money on clothes.  I wait for sales, go thrifting or "shop" my closet.  I do appreciate name brands but I'm not loyal to them, I'm loyal to my pocketbook!  If I have an expensive piece I either got it thrifting or on sale, a big sale.  So here's what I've come up with for this warm October week in Missouri.

Monday:  Pink Flowered sheath dress by Faded Glory at Walmart (after my daughter was born and she is 17!), Pink jeweled sandles from my nail salon on sale for $19 (3 yrs ago),  pearl drop earrings on Amazon a couple years ago.

Tuesday:  Blue and black sleeveless button down shirt Chadwicks $20, Black Linen Shirts from Faded Glory at Kohl's (5 years ago), Black Flower burst sandles and Black and white neckless, earrings and bracelet all from Kohl's (1 year ago).

Wednesday:  Nike Coral tee and Tan Lee shorts both from Kohl's (2years ago), Tan sparkle sandles from Amazon $15, my niece had a pair at a wedding  3 years ago and I loved them so much I went on an online search to find them! :). I got them 3 yrs ago!  Silver earrings Kohl's.

Thursday:  Pink and peach polka dot sleeveless shirt by Chadwicks bought it last year on sale for $20,  brown shorts from Docker's  at Kohl's (3 years ago!),  Vera Wang Brown flower sandles also from Kohl's (1 year ago), Pink and peach neckless and earrings from Maurice's both for $10 (3 years ago).

Friday:  White "Mickey and Co" cotton sleeveless shirt at Walmart (10 years ago), blue striped seersucker shorts by Lee at Kohl's (2 years ago), sliver/pewter sandles by Vera Wang also at Kohl's (1 year ago), silver drop earrings from Coldwater Creek (about 10/11 years ago)

As you can see these pieces have stood the test of time...only one item was a somewhat recent purchase and that was the Blue and Black sleeveless top from Chadwicks.  It also wasn't an impulse purchase either.  I found myself wearing the same colors over and over so I took a color inventory of my clothes and felt I needed a couple of dark blue and navy pieces in my wardrobe.  I look good in blue and found that I really didn't have much of that color in my closet! I waited until it went on sale and I had a coupon, SCORE!

  The sheath dress is my oldest piece, probably the oldest one in my entire closet! LOL. But it is well made, I've always hung it to dry and almost every time I wear it I get compliments on the dress.  Pink and Coral are my favorite colors and it looks well on me and is comfortable to wear,  I can "be myself" in that dress! ;).

Thrifty Thursdays---Take Inventory!

Alice:  "This is impossible."
The Mad Hatter:  "Only if you believe it is."   From the book Alice in Wonderland.

Money, Money, Money....people have a love/hate relationship with it but we must always deal with money one way or another!  My Hubs and I had a couple of long discussions about our budget this past week.  We both have the ability to be making more but that would mean he and I would have to give up the jobs that we both love.  We aren't willing to do that, but we need to cut back and save more.  So we have been tossing around some ideas.  And I told him that when I was a single mother and then later a stay at home mom, when the children were very young, I got creative in my meal planning and menus to make the dollars stretch.  I told him I felt I had let that slip away in the name of convenience and grabbing "meals on the run"...he nodded and agreed.  Let's face it I'm wanting to lose weight and be healthy in my food choices,  eating out a lot is NOT gonna help me or my family do that, it's impossible!

So I asked him to go through just the last month and add up all our eating out and drinks with friends expenses.  Keep in mind this did not include any of the ones I had also paid for.  The grand total came to just under $450.00!  That is more than my truck payment!  We both had a light bulb moment, it is too expensive to always eat out!  So after I apologized for being a crappy wife, (I was kinda joking, but not) he assured me that he too was to blame and that pointing fingers would be ridiculous.  We just needed to cut back and do better.

So Sunday I grabbed my cookbooks and iPad and sat down to look over some meal ideas and recipes.   Then I remembered that a couple years ago because I wanted to clean out the pantry and freezer, I took "inventory" of both areas.  I had challenged my self to not spend more than $100 a month on groceries for 3 months, that "saved grocery money" had become the down payment on our camper!

My thought is I can do it again, just for a longer time frame, say 6 months instead of only 3 months. So here's my plan:

Take inventory of freezers and pantry
Purchase only fresh fruits or veggies needed for meal plan
Purchase only needed staples
All grocery store purchases must not exceed a total of $100 per month,  I realize this will be a challenge in the months of November and December  but I am going to try to really stick to this!
Plan a weeks worth of menus

My goal is to use up freezer and pantry items first by "shopping" them before stepping foot into a grocery store.  Case in point below is a picture of my Kitchen freezer, we have a full size one also in our garage, as you can see I have plenty of meat items and frozen vegetables to create some great meals. I'll share in next week's blog how I cleaned and organized it all.  I'm meal planning to take the dreaded "what's for dinner" question out of everyone's vocabulary.  I must admit there are days I hated that question and it would bring on frustration for me!  I will also be pre prepping or cooking some items to help relieve the mad rush to "throw something on the table."

I will be sharing my weeks worth of menus and I will post some of my families favorite recipes and source where I got other recipes that way if you want to recreate some of the meals you know where to get them.  I'm not wanting to type a bunch of recipes up! LOL.

 One of the recipes I made this weekend was in my Crock pot.  It was Italian Chicken Soup and I had ALL the ingredients already in my pantry and freezer.   I actually cooked it on Sunday for Monday night's meal AND we have enough for leftovers or I can freeze the rest.  That recipe is posted on my previous blog.

Is this impossible to accomplish?  Nope, only if I believe it is!  ;)

Weigh In Wednesday--week 2

"Love yourself enough to live a healthy lifestyle."--Unknown

At first last week when I "only" lost 2 lbs I saw a picture of a pound of fat that was floating around on Facebook, it was then that I felt proud of myself for losing just 2 pounds.

This week's weigh in is 175...I stayed the same.  Not great but I had to start taking Prednisone and some Antibiotics for a spider bite.  And well if any of you have been on Prednisone it kinda ramps up your appetite.  I'm trying to not give in to all the hunger pangs but I'm not gonna lie, it's difficult!  I'm walking and doing some yoga this week as my left hip is bothering me and that usually happens from sitting in tiny chairs in my classroom during the day.  So I'm just glad I didn't gain this week.  I'm on the mess for 10 days....wish me luck and determination for next week's weigh in!

My hubs and I had a serious talk about finances and how can we cut back, pay off debt and save for vacation and the fact we will more than likely be needing to purchase a car in the next year, his car is 11 years old and still driving good but we will have another driver in the family soon so we are planning to give her "Dad's car" and Dad will get a new or almost new car.  One of the things that we discussed that I feel I need to get better at is meal planning.  I USE to be very good at that.  I'd plan our meals based on the grocery sales items and would also "shop" my pantry and freezer to prepare home cooked meals.  Well this past year we have been eating out more or grabbing fast food which I know is not only unhealthy but expensive as well.  We added just last months fast food and eating out expense and it came up to almost $450.00, for  just one month.  Sooooo I've dug out my cookbooks, cleaned my freezer and took inventory of  both the freezer and pantry.  One of the meals that I fixed was on Monday and it was delicious and simple. AND I already had all the ingredients.  I love using my crock pot and in the Autumn months it just seems to scream soups!  So here is my Italian Chicken Soup Recipe:

5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 c low sodium chicken broth
2 c water
1 small white onion, chopped
3 carrots, diced or shredded
1 stalk celery, diced
1/4 t thyme
1/4 t basil
1/4 t fennel seed
1/4 t pepper
1 cup orzo or digital pasta, uncooked

Place all ingredients except the pasta in a crockpot and cook on high for 4-5 hours.  If you use frozen chicken like I did you may need to cook it a bit longer until chicken is cooked through.  After chicken has cooked I "fish" the breasts out of the crockpot and put in a bowl or on a plate to shred with two forks.  After I'm done shredding the chicken, I place back into my crockpot and added the pasta and cook on high for 30-40 minutes or until the pasta is done.

Yields approximately 6 servings, I hope you enjoy it!