Wordless Wednesday: Beach Buddy

Prayer Request Update...

June 2007

I wanted to be sure to thank all of you who prayed for Jamie today, I am so humbled that so many of you cared. She spent about six hours today at the medical center where she met a new doctor, a female, who really listened. That was my prayer, that someone would listen and try to find out the root of the problem of the myriad of different symptoms she presented.


She had various tests today, and a diagnosis (Praise God!) and now she knows the name of what is wrong with her, and will go back for more tests in the morning. She has been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).


What is so strange is that while she was waiting for one of her tests, she picked up and bought Kate Gosselin's book "Multiple Blessings" in the hospital gift shop. (Kate of "John & Kate Plus 8" fame.) Kate had polycystic ovarian syndrome and Jamie knew within the first few pages of that book that Kate was describing were her symptoms exactly.


So I just wanted to say that your prayers really made a difference and that they were very appreciated! There is no "cure" but now she can proceed with her life and getting on with it and she and her husband will go forward with starting a family.

Thanks again. I'm still amazed at the caring, sweet friends made through blogging!

Jamie says THANKS TO EVERYONE who was thinking of and praying for her today. *Ü*

Retro Housewife Bridal Shower! (And a prayer request)

The calendar says spring, but we're getting an icy snow and wind tonight....yup, there's snow on the crocus and the emerging hyacinths, daffodils and tulips~ and this last week we saw the bud covers on the big maple tree out front bursting with the promise of tiny new leaves to come. But winter's not giving up too easily, she's clutching on to her last month of being our most unwelcome visitor!

The Retro Housewife Bridal Shower invitations have gone out, the RSVP's look to be around thirty people, and I'm devoting most of my free time this week to planning and cooking and setting up for my sweet niece, Autumn Rose's wedding shower. I've planned the menu and I know my theme for decorating, and the games are my big hurdle right now!

MENU:

Baked potato soup with sides of green onions, crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese and sour cream

Chicken salad on croissants

Olive Garden's (copycat) House Salad with tomato wedges, red onion, black olives, banana peppers, croutons and freshly grated parmesan cheese and the special dressing

Deviled Eggs

Fresh Fruit

Decorated Cupcakes on tiered stands

Strawberry Mousse

(How does that sound?)

The theme is vintage household.

The saucers I've collected all have a floral theme and will be used for serving the cupcakes.

The food will be served on clear vintage snack plates, punch served in the cups that go with them.

I will be using vintage embroidered linens for each table, like the one shown here.

I'll use my vintage punchbowl that's been packed away for years.

There will be vintage household items in little vignettes around the room and on the serving table.

I'm going to put some big-band and old show tunes on the iPod for background music.

I'm inspired by MaryJane's FARMGIRL books for inspiration:

An ironing board decorated with vintage aprons,

Foods labeled with wood scrabble tiles in their wooden stands...

(If any of you have her books, you know what I mean. She's very inspiring!)

I just hope I'm able to tie it all together...

I'm trying to make it interesting, and to inspire memories and promote fun conversations...

Coffee and tea will be served in these cups...

These larger plates, below, will hold the croissants and the fresh fruits...

My hope is for it to be the opposite of your matchy-matchy bridal shower, but that we'll have a lot of Vintage fun!

Back to the games...I like paper and pen games and enjoy them the most, but I know I should have an action game of some sort to get people up, moving, and most of all, laughing.

I need your help with ideas on games and it would be nice, (but not necessary at all) if they were retro games, something played at a bridal shower in the fifties, sixties or even the seventies.

So, if you would, in the comments section, would you tell what two games you enjoy at bridal showers?

And, a prayer request....

If you would, say a prayer for my sweet daughter, Jamie. She found out last week that she's got a 1-1/2" x 2" cyst on her ovary. She seems to be doing okay physically, the pain of it has subsided in the last few days, but I'd like your prayers for comfort and a diagnosis that will give her some answers as to a health situation involved with this...

She called tonight and has an appointment in the morning and I would so love to be there with her to take her to that doctor appointment, but I'm 750 miles away and she was in tears on the phone tonight (nerves? and missing her mom a little, I think) and I held mine off until she hung up, but I'm missing her, too. If I could, I'd be in Alabama in the morning.

The happy times and the hard times are hard to go through without your family close by. Sharing in the joys and heartbreaks in life--those are times --especially-- when you want to reach out to your loved ones.

I know that it's not life-threatening, but I'd sure appreciate it if you would pray that she will feel our Lord will wrap his arms around her...because I can't be there to do it myself. You know us moms when we can't be there physically for our kids...it's hard. I know that He'll be there to comfort her.

Jamie with her cousin Sarah last fall...

SCENIC SUNDAYS....Silent Ore Carrier Glides By...

Lake Superior near Paradise, MI

GOT TEA? LET'S GO!

~~15.APRIL.2009~~

It's just over two weeks now, and I've got some Colonial-era costumes coming, I've got an Uncle Sam hat, an Abe Lincoln hat, a John Adams outfit, a George Washington outfit, my "Spirit of '76 flag" and I've got teabags, too.
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I've purchased my extra-bright foam board, and the fattest, baddest broad-tip Marks-a-lot felt pen that I could buy.
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I'm locked and loaded, ready to take aim at our government with my WORDS. I want them to see that I pulled my son out of school to join in and fight while we can, before we lose our beloved country to leftist, socialist Marxist government.
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I'm all set for friends to come and fill up my Suburban (wanna go?) and head to the state capitol in Lansing and demonstrate against this administration and their multiple bankrupting "STIMULUS" (another word for Marxism, as Jay Leno so wisely put it!) packages. I'm sick of the word stimulus and I'm sick of their stinkin' packages. I'm ready to say so.
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I've got a list going of slogans to put on each side of my foam boards, and I wouldn't mind your ideas to help me out.
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LET'S GO PEOPLE, we've waited long enough! Reserve April 15 as an important day on your calendar, and honor the sacrifice of your forefathers....they'll be behind us all the way.
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I've been living in a socialist state for almost eight years and I'm sick to death of the DEPRESSION. We've got 12 percent unemployment and higher fees, taxes and anything else our Canadian governor (who, shockingly advises Obama on the economy!) throws at us. I know what's ahead if somebody doesn't stop this government in its tracks and tell it to STOP STOMPING ON THE CONSTITUTION!
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Here's some of my ideas for sign slogans, I'd love to hear YOURS...leave them in the comments section!


T-axed
E-nough
A-lready!
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OBAMA: CHAINS YOU CAN BELIEVE IN!
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SHAME ON YOU! GET YOUR HANDS OUT OF MY WALLET!
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BANKRUPTING OUR GRANDCHILDREN IS STOOOPID!
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READ MY TELEPROMPTER: NO MORE BAILOUTS!
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DON'T TREAD ON ME!!
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IN '76, YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN TARRED & FEATHERED!
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OBAMA: A JOKER IN THE WHITE HOUSE
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OBAMA, KENYA'S CALLING! THEY SAY TO COME HOME!
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OBAMA: YOU AIN'T IN CHICAGO ANYMORE!
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OBAMA: MAINSTREAM MEDIA "IDOL"!! SIMON SAYS GO HOME!!
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In Business There Are Winners & Losers! Get Over It!
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Let Them Fail
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How boring would a ballgame be if NOBODY LOST?
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PHOTO HUNT SATURDAY: Hands

Go HORNETS!

(My son's hands belong to #53)

The hands that belong to my daughter and son-in-law; taken on their wedding day.

Seriously! A Friday Flasher & Other Absurdity...

I loved this picture, it just hit me right. I laughed so hard, tears squirted out of my eyes and hit my glasses. Geesh! I must have needed the comic relief. So I thought I'd share, a little bit of humor for all of us adults today, it's been a LONG WEEK, especially in the NEWS DEPARMENT, right?

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So laugh....it's alright, that IS, seriously,a very funny picture. My daughter sent it to me first thing this morning.

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And, on the email was the name B-u-f-f-y B-u-t-t-s. Buffy. Butts. For real. No kidding. My daughter has a co-worker who is in the email loop and that is really her name. So, more laughter followed after my first attack from the sight of the flashing banana man. It made me think of absurd names I'd heard before.
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I once knew a girl named Penny Money. Come on. Why would a mother allow that? I always wonder, did she go into the oldest profession on earth?
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My sister not long ago heard a mother calling her daughter to come to her in the aisles of a mall one day. She thought she was imagining things, but no, the mother repeated the name so often and so LOUDLY that there was no mistake: she'd named her daughter Chlamydia. Stop laughing, that POOR GIRL! Wait until a certain subject somes up in the serious sex education classes in fifth or sixth grade and all the kids find out what that name means!
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I have a friend who is a nurse, and sometimes venturing into the nursery where the bassinets lay with all those sweet babies can turn from the emitting of all those natural "oooh"and " awwwws" into a nightmare. The names some of the mothers allow their children to carry! Like Necrophilia. I'm not kidding. Look that one up and find out the meaning of that moniker. Oh. That's the worst. Can you beat that? (necrophilia is a mental illness of some sort that involves s*x and corpses. EWWW!)

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WHAT RIDICULOUS, AND ABSURD NAMES HAVE YOU HEARD?

Let me know in the comments section...and I'll add them to the list.

Here's a few, so far, submitted by email or comments:

Barry Barefoot

Crystal Chandelier

Anita Miracle

Anita Pea

Candy Cane

Cindy Pigg

Buck Pigg

Patty Cakes

A girl named Charmin

A man named Shirley

Penny Nichols

Buck Service

A woman named Female' (wow! pronounced Fee-Mall-A)

Monica Moose who lived on Buck Trail!

Milton Born With A Tooth

Inspired By Farmhouse Freshness

Click on any photo for a larger view. The porch is so welcoming! Hello, is anyone home? Can I have a look inside? Gosh, let me tell you, I just love the trim over the doorway, the screen door (that would most likely have that pleasant and timeless "slam" after I walk in), and the cheerful geraniums, the six over six windows (I WANT THOSE!) and the old signs, the Coca-Cola cooler (oh, how I love COKE!) and the metal glider...all of it!

Click on any photo to enlarge and see more details and read the text...I like how she's worked white and off-white in together in the buffet photo on the upper left, the bucket of daisies, the all white plates on an all-white wall, all over an off-white buffet (Who would've thought?) and the blue and white bowlful of apples. And, if you click on this photo, on the top right you can see the homeowner's clever use of an old laundry room sink in the bathroom!

Oh, be still my heart: a planter made with an old marbled blue enamelware container! And that little curly-haired boy bringing the eggs inside with that gorgeous bucket! I just can't tell you how happy all the primary colors make me!

This kitchen makes me go weak in the knees, there's so much that I love, love, LOVE about it! For one, the plates on the wall, the cafe curtain fashioned from dishtowels, the glass jars on the work island with all the different color metal lids, the glass cabinet doors and what's inside them, and that LIGHTING!


A cozy upstairs bedroom tucked under the eaves, with quilts in my favorite colors: red, white, and blue, and that adirondack chair with the starry pillow would be perfect to sit and read a book. Check out the curved railing and curved steps: I can just hear them creaking under my feet as I walk upstairs to go to bed....in that cozy bedroom!



Oh, look! A red gingham slipcovered couch with blue ticking covered pillows! WOW! Roosters, and baskets, oh my! Rag rugs, Boston ferns, green shutters hung on the inside! And the sun showing up those shiny oak floors!

Blue willow dishes with the gorgeous red geraniums are GORGEOUS! If you click on the photo, you'll see another clever use of a redwork dishtowel in place of a cafe curtain!


What a cool cabinet to have in the kitchen...WOW! And more cool lighting, and don't you just love how she repurposed large napkins for placemats and just hung the extra over the edge of the table? And those cheery cherry chair covers (say that ten times, fast), mixed with red-painted chairs, all so crisp and cheerful!



Another red gingham couch with a blue ticking ottoman...couldn't you just sink in and put your feet up? And a milk-can lamp? Oh, mercy! I think I better stop gushing now and hush.



This is the cover of the magazine, so that if you go looking for it and all the inspiration inside, you'll know what it looks like. The spread featured in my post is just the beginning of the all the fun inside!

The recent notifications from publishing companies whose certain magazines will be discontinuing publication are sad; for me it means at least three of my favorites are gone.

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Blogging helps with the enjoyment I get from being able to browse and look at other homes for ideas, and inspiration and admittedly, a bit of escape--however, you can't take the p.c. with you to browse through while on a road trip, while rocking in the chair as you watch television (magazines are great to flip through during the commercials) or for times like waiting in the school parking lot in the car for your son to finish basketball practice.

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All that is to say I don't see the need for me to have a magazine close at hand going away anytime soon. I have at least five years more of waiting for practice to end, and a lifetime (I hope!) of travel.

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Recently I stopped into a home improvement store for a tension rod, and near the cash register I spotted this: "COTTAGE STYLE" but wait, it's a publication by Hearst Magazines, (so is it actually a magazine?) and best of all, THERE ARE NO ADS to interrupt photo spreads! It was around $10, but so worth it, and I can't wait until the next one comes out. Inside are many homes done in the cottage style, and all so different and all lovely to look at.
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But, inside was also a home I'd seen a year or more back (and never forgotten!) in "Midwest Living" and I thought I'd saved the article, and I probably did, but now I don't have to hunt it down because here, at the front of the book is a spread on this inspiring farmhouse! (Click on link for more photos on the Midwest Living website.) I wanted to share the photos of it with you, so you can enjoy some farmhouse freshness with me.

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This is what I aspire to in our old farmhouse...what I like about it is the combination of farmhouse country and the cottage look living in perfect harmony! I love, love, love the bright use of color in this home, and am so happy that I've been able to find another publication (even though it's only published bi-monthly, it featured SIXTEEN homes!) that I can take along with me for browsing through with that cup of coffee or wherever. Enjoy!

The Magic of Ordinary Days

I want to make a movie (and the book is really good, too!) recommendation to you...and all of us who love anything vintage will love this sweet movie: it's an unexpected love story from Hallmark called "THE MAGIC OF ORDINARY DAYS". It's set in WWII, and the set design is wonderful and the costume designer outfitted a gorgeous looking cast: the clothing is beautiful and the countryside, the automobiles are all wonderful to look at, the outfit Livy wears in the opening scene, (the one shown on the movie jacket) is stunning, is that hat gorgeous, or what? Anyone who loves that period or lived through WWII, will enjoy this movie.

And, for those of us who love farms, farmhouses, small town-living and cooking, there's plenty of that in here, too. I've included the information about the movie from Wikipedia, so you can read that before you decide to try to find it, it's not easy to buy , but look here, too. But, it can be accessed to watch in several parts on YOUTUBE. Watching it in parts on Youtube won't be the same as snuggling in a chair with a blanket and your sweet doggie and a bowl of popcorn! Skeet Ulrich and Keri Russel are perfect for these two leading roles.

It is a wonderful movie and I highly recommend it, it's right up there in my view, with the SARAH PLAIN AND TALL series; something you'll enjoy watching again and again and share with your friends and family. Read here about 2009-10 movies planned for by Hallmark.

The Magic of Ordinary Days
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The Magic of Ordinary Days was a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation based on a novel of the same name by Ann Howard Creel and adapted as a teleplay by Camille Thomasson [1]. It first aired on CBS on January 30, 2005. It was directed by Brent Shields [2] and produced by Andrew Gottlieb [3], Cameron Johann, Jim O'Grady, and Richard Welsh (Executive Producer).

Set in 1944 Colorado, The Magic of Ordinary Days is the story of a young woman, Livy Dune (played by Keri Russell), who became pregnant before marriage. Her father, Rev. Dunne, decided to deal with the situation, by arranging a marriage to a shy farmer through another preacher. The groom, Ray Singleton (played by Skeet Ulrich), lives on a remote farm and is very different than Livy. Ray focuses on what is close to him: his family, his land, today. Livy thinks on a much grander scale: the world, ancient civilizations, far away places.
Ray's farm utilizes the help of Japanese Americans from a nearby Japanese American internment camp to help work the farm. Livy befriends two well-educated Japanese American women who were working the farm, Flora and Rose (Tania Gunadi and Gwendoline Yeo). She finds comfort and familiarity in their friendship. Livy is polite and civil to her new husband and his sister Martha (Mare Winningham), but she harbors feelings for the father of the baby, a World War II soldier, and feelings of guilt for the pregnancy. Ray, however, is caring, patient, and supportive of Livy, but the fact that she does not want him hurts him deeply. Slowly over time, the two come to understand and love each other, and appreciate that though they are different, neither is better or worse than the other.

Thriftin' on a Thursday: Cheery Cherries

These beauties I found in the Salvation Army store for fifty cents for each pair of snack plate and cup so I bought the whole set.

They were made in Japan and are marked "Maraschino" and "The Tuscany Collection". I'm planning to use them on one of the tables for my niece's Retro Housewife Bridal Shower.

Ugly Laundry Room Challenge by Parisienne Farmgirl

Who knows...what ugliness....lurks inside of...an old, old, house? What kind of monsters and nightmares await? Don't let the outside fool you....there are all kinds of surprises inside, and they're not all good. Just ask my long-suffering husband. I had stars in my eyes, until the weekend we moved in. It wasn't long before I was in a heap of tears on the living room floor. Yes, it's true. Old houses hold VERY UGLY SECRETS. Come with me and see the OTHER (seedy) side, the parts you don't see in magazine shoots, or the beautiful blog posts: the UNKNOWN PARTS of living in an old house. It isn't pretty. You must be brave.


Parisienne Farmgirl (PFG) has challenged us to show our dirty laundry rooms for the whole blog world to see. You see, PFG lives in and loves, a sweet old home, like so many of us do. And yet, on laundry day she feels like she is descending into a dungeon and into hostile territory because of the wiggly worms and other bugs or rodents she may or may not find there. She showed us the whole ugly situation...and I agreed to back her up...we out here in the country stand behind our friends...so here you go, PFG: here's my ugliness and my bare-naked truth; I back you up, and I'm showin' it all. I do hold the line at opening the cabinet doors, or showing you the jumbled mess in my cloth bins of various cleaning supplies, rags, and light bulbs overhead on the shelves.

Hope it doesn't make anyone feel sorry for me though. It could be much worse, and at one time, it was! We are the third owners. And thankfully, the previous owners moved the laundry room UP to the top landing of the basement stairway...here's why.
Our basement is a "Michigan" basement, meaning that its walls are made of rock, the ceiling is rather low, you could bump your head on the way into the basement because the doorjamb is so short; and only the necessities like canning jars and lawn ornaments can be stored there because of the "moisture" factor: the cement floor was poured much later on top of the dirt floor that was there, and can sometimes have a "seeping" of water, especially this time of year when the ground thaws or when we get very heavy, sustained rains in the summertime. The sump pumps runs a lot. The poor dehumidifier works constantly. It's also a place where it's magically impossible to keep the cobwebs away.

So....if you have all these "romantic" notions about what a storybook life you would have if only you had a sweet old farmhouse, or that adorable, turn-of-the-century cottage, please know that reality will descend upon you at some point: if it's not the day you move in it won't take long!

Like when you discover there are only two small closets in the WHOLE house, or that there are NO OUTLETS in the upstairs except for ONE and that all the ceiling lights are PULL STRINGS and that there is only ONE register upstairs for heat...or that underneath the wallpaper is horse-hair plaster that has dried to the consistency of the sand in the Mojave desert (and it all falls in your face when you remove the 85-year-old wallpaper)....just know that it's NOT all wonderful, and that you have to be pretty tough to put up with some of the surprises a really old house can deal out to you. One job turns into three, there's always way more surprises underneath that beautiful old facade than you'll ever dream.

BUT....this house has its own story: and even though we feel sometimes like we could have built from scratch and spent way, way less-- we do feel proud at times that we are preserving a nice piece of this area's history, in spite of all those frustrations.

We know how much they paid the carpenter per day to build it (one dollar), we know where the original log cabin once sat, we found the names of family members carved in the wood of those old barns, read the dried-out newspapers we found in the wall studs before it crumbled to dust because of age, and we know who planted the big maple tree in the front yard, and that there are a farm wife and mother's sweet, stillborn twin boys buried under the lilac tree, and that we will never disturb it. We love our house, feel that this place deserves love, just because of the families it sheltered and the love of the farmer that built it and those generations have passed away and we want to love it, too.

Here's my little, dinky, tiny and crowded laundry room...(it's not in our basement) there is no way to dress this little secret up! I am thankful for the surface for folding clothes on top of the front-loaders, that has been different from the top-loading traditional washer and dryer I once had. Back then I had to fold clothes on the dining room table.

Right off the dining room, is my laundry room. It's one half a step down and has about eighteen inches of clearance in front of the washer and dryer. The clothesline rotates and is good for line-drying inside if necessary or to hang clothes on hangers until the laundry's all done. Since there's practically no storage in any old farmhouse, you hang shelves where you can and stuff things in totes and push 'em in.

This cabinet is the only spot to hold canners, roasters, electric frying pans, etc. I would never show you what's jammed inside..


Room for one small sized laundry basket in front of the dryer, my dust mops and brooms stand in the corner, the clothes hampers are jammed in behind the dryer, I practically stand on my head to get the clothes out when they're done.

I did have room to hang an ironing organizer, but the ironing must be done in my bedroom, but there's no way it could be set up in this tiny room.

There are pulleys hung on opposite sides of the room for that double clothesline, hanging on this rack are all my son's sports-related uniforms and clothing.

The steps leading down to the basement...where Shrek would love to live. There's a shelf there that holds "things that don't go anywhere else" you all know about that! And a pegboard holding electrical extension cords, flags, campfire thingies for the marshmallows...that sort of thing. I am coming after this spot with garbage bags...what a mess!

The only nice part about the laundry room...the spot where the kids have been measured and the dates written with their initials. I couldn't paint over it ...ever.

Since PFG showed the ugly basement in her house, I'll show you the belly of my old house even though my laundry room isn't down there. It's small, it's only the size of the original house. All electrical wires or satellite wires, or other cords must be up in the air because the floor gets wet; so there's cords running to and fro along the floor joists. So, walk low, wear shoes, and don't be a sissy about the spiders.

Do you want to see the DUNGEON? Get ready. It's scary, dank, and dark....and damp!

Watch your head...you'll hear squishing sounds, that's the water coming up through the floor as you step on it.

The furnace has its own little platform...good idea, so it doesn't sit in the water. The water is less than an inch, it's just covering the floor, and doesn't usually get any deeper than this, the house hasn't floated away in 111 years.


See, I told you there were creepy crawlies. And wires EVERYWHERE. Let's go, that spider might eat us! Now, doesn't this make you want to run out and find an old farmhouse to buy?

Ice Invades Bay Homes

Where's Al Gore? Somebody call him. These people have something to show him. Lake Huron had a huge burp and because of an unusually strong wind out of the east a couple weeks ago, they had a huge invasion of enormous chunks of ice.

Doomsday Al, wouldn't believe it: the homeowners didn't beg for anything from the federal government, or blame anyone for the mess, or cry on television! Like all good Americans should, used their sense of humor...then people just got busy and cleaned up the mess (and took pictures, of course)!

*Sorry, this post is a couple weeks old...I got it all ready and forgot to post it! I thought it was interesting and wanted to share it....how the massive amounts of big huge (some of them 20 feet!) chunks of ice blew into homes and roads on the bay (Lake Huron).

Random Thriftiness & Frugality! The Bee's Knees!

This post contains some random tips for thriftiness, remember the laundry soap I've begun using that MaryJane taught us to make ourselves? The pride I feel when I know how much we'll save on laundry soap over the years now is immense. We are all becoming more frugal these days and for good reason. We all want to save money; and what was once considered silly or old-fashioned by some, is now being embraced by more and more of us, out of necessity or out of fear of the unknown.

#1--Did you know that "hardening off" (or unwrapping) your bar soap will make it last longer in the shower or bathtub? It won't get as soft and squishy (making it so much easier to hold onto) and won't dissolve as quickly. We're all trying to save pennies and this is so simple, but the side benefit of doing this is that the closet or cupboard where you leave your unwrapped bars of soap will smell great! Try it and see what you think. I've noticed I'm not going to the cupboard as often as I once did to retrieve a new bar of soap.

(Remember, we all need to be more frugal so that our all-knowing and extremely efficient government can keep more of what we make to fund more "snowboard research" , or perhaps another study of "pig manure". I know you'll be thrilled to help out and do your part.)


(Saying "the bee's knees" was a something my mom said alot. Her mother was English and that saying is slang that comes from the British combination of the words "be all and end all" meaning there could be no more improvement; something excellent and outstanding.)

#2--Here's another way to be frugal: when you have leftovers, especially meats, make them into something else altogether. I'm sure you all do this. I do this on the weekend day that I clean out the fridge and I figure as long as the whole kitchen will be torn up and I'll have a boatload of dishes to do, I might as well make a couple extra meals while I'm working. Saturday, I had leftover pork, chicken and corned beef (from St. Patty's day) so I made corned beef hash with the potatoes and the corned beef, pork bbq with the pork; just cut it and shredded it and added a great bottle of bbq sauce; and I also cut and chopped and shredded and seasoned the leftover chicken breasts to use for chicken quesadillas...all within about twenty to thirty minutes time!

Chicken ready for tacos or quesadillas

corned beef hash


Bbq'd pork ready for an all day simmer in the crock pot.

#3--While we're on the subject of meats, have I ever told you that one of the best shortcuts ever that I learned that gets used so often is this: hamburger that has been browned, drained, and put into quart-sized ziploc bags for the freezer?


This way, you can take advantage of ground beef on sale (or like us, we buy a half an organic angus beef so I mix it with equal amounts of ground turkey {and ground venison, if you have it} to stretch it even further).

This makes for super fast meals on the nights you want to put together tacos, spaghetti, lasagna, etc. This saves at least twenty minutes time in the preparation of those meals. I cook up big batches of this every couple of months and date them before freezing them. They usually never have a chance to age....they're used within a couple of months!

Brown the burger/turkey mixture in large quantities, drain in a colander so the fat will drain into a bowl underneath, crumble finely, and cool it down somewhat, then bag it up in quart size freezer bags with 2-4 cups each depending upon the size of your family. Remove the air and flatten the ziploc bags and lay them down in the freezer to take up less space.

If your family likes onion and/or green pepper in their ground beef, go ahead and throw that in when you're browning it.

WHAT YOU CAN MAKE WITH YOUR GROUND BEEF PACKETS FROM THE FREEZER:

spaghetti or delicious spaghetti pie
lasagna
stuffed shells
goulash
tacos/nachos supreme
hamburger quiche
impossible hamburger pie
sloppy joes
hamburger soup
stuffed pepper soup
taco soup
spanish rice
chili
hamburger casserole


Remember that by doing this, you have ELIMINATED A STEP, a very time-consuming step from the recipes making your prep time much less!! A timesaver on those busy nights when you need something fast, warm and healthy for your family.

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Time To Make Runza!

I made a big batch of these and took a basketful of these to a dear neighbor and friend yesterday...she and her husband had to move out of their farmhouse into a travel trailer because while on vacation they had furnace trouble and their whole house was filled with soot and debris; they had to move out of their home. I hope they enjoyed these for their dinner. They're going to be living out of a fifth-wheel camper for a good three months so I plan to be a regular contributor to their suppertime until they're back in their own farmhouse.












The process starts with browing your ground beef just past the point of pink so it's not too dry (not shown here), setting it aside, and cooking your shredded or finely diced onions, cabbage (I use a coleslaw mix that is chopped or shredded) and chopped or shredded carrots in a large saucepan to the point of tenderness, and then mixing the meat and the vegetables and seasonings together for the filling and heating to hot without cooking to the point of mushiness.

With your thawed bread dough, take a piece and stretch it to the size of a dinner plate (or almost). The filling goes inside on one half, fold over the top, use a bit water to pinch the dough together and bake!

What is a Runza? In short, it's a meat pie but full of vegetable goodness. A meal in your hand, and it's one I think you'll love! There are many variations on this meal, but have fun with it and find your perfect combination for the filling. The filling, which you'll not be able to resist, even while you're preparing it, while tasting, check it to make sure it's seasoned properly. The filling is made of ground beef, and lots of cabbage, carrots, and onions. (My filling has a good deal of ground venison in with the ground beef.)

This filling is then put into a bread dough and baked, and from the time the filling starts to cook, your whole house will smell wonderful. These little pies are great served hot out of the oven, or, once they're cooled, wrapped or put into a ziploc, kept in the fridge to re-heat for a lunch or dinner, or even a supper or lunch on the go. (They make a great take-to-work lunch the next day. When reheating in the microwave, wrap completely in a paper towel.)

Here's the link to the ALLRECIPES.COM website...just type in "runza" and take a look around at all the runza recipes to see what would suit your taste. I saw one that looked interesting that had sausage and sauerkraut inside! YUM! I can picture putting lots of onion and maybe some pepper in with that variation.

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My recipe is most like this one except that I take the shortcut of using loaves of frozen bread dough (you can get three to four runza per loaf) and I add Morton's "Nature's Seasons" and some coarsely ground black pepper to season my filling mixture. Once the hot pies come out of the oven, I brush the tops with melted butter to keep the tops soft and glossy. Enjoy!

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