Thanksgiving is gone and the turkey is still here. Tonight I bring a special treat to all of my fellow Domestic Engineers. As if turkey salad, turkey Chili, turkey and rice soup, and turkey sandwiches weren't enough here's one more recipe to glean from the carcass of the turkey.
This little creation was quick, about 35 minutes to prepare from start to finish.
Ingredients
2 cups of cooked Turkey
1/2 cup Sweet Peas (canned or frozen)
3 Medium Potatoes (Diced)
1 cup Diced Carrots
1/2 medium Onion
1/2 Cup Flour
2 cups of Turkey Broth
1/2 cup Milk
Salt and Pepper
Topping
2 cups All Purpose Flour
2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup Shortening
1/4 cup to 1 cup of Milk
In a medium sauce pan bring 3 to 5 cups of Water to a boil. Add salt, Carrots, Potatoes. Cook until tender. Mean while prepare the roux.
Preparing the roux
In a small skillet over low heat add Turkey Broth. Whisk in Flour until smooth. Bring to a boil and add milk, salt, and pepper. Remove from heat and sit aside.
Preparing the topping.
Combine Flour, Baking Powder, and Salt. With a fork cut in shortening until the mixture looks like corn meal. Add in enough milk to make the mixture sticky. Set aside
In a large casserole dish combine Turkey, Roux, and Vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with Biscuit dough topping and bake at 400 degree F until bubbling (about 15 minutes)
The beauty of this recipe is that you can subsitute the Turkey and Turkey broth with Chicken or beef. Its very versatile and is very filling on evenings when you are strapped for time and everyone just needs a bit of comfort food.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Ways to Save
Yep, its time to start cutting those household costs, down to the bare essentials. If the economy hasn't gotten you to reign in your spending, the up coming Holiday bills will most certainly make you rethink priorities.
Here's my Top Five for saving money all around your home.
1. Ditch everything that's Disposable.
This might sound absolutely crazy as disposables are convenient, and the initial investment is usually cheaper than buying something that's reusable. For paper towels, and napkins I use cloth. Most of my cloths have come from old clothes I have turn up to make rags with. I have TONS of rags, and they are single use only. I put those in the washer, and before you start wondering about your water bill..don't. These rags don't take up much space and don't need special care, just throw in the dirty ones with whatever you are washing.
I am sure you are wondering, well what about Diapers. I could write an entire blog on the merits of Cloth Diapering in the Modern Age. To put it simply, there's lots of options on the market, and plenty of information on the Net. Bum Genius
Feminine Hygiene. There's plenty of reusable items on the Market without resulting to Tampons and pads. There's the Diva Cup, Sea Sponges, and Mama Cloth. Personally I use Mama cloth, but also like my cup.
You and your family deserves to eat off of Non Toxic, environmentally friendly dishes..NOT PAPER or Foam.
2. Shop the Same store. I know the thrill of saving money is an addicting feeling. Yet, I also know that its not worth saving $5 on my groceries if I have spent an extra $10 in gas to make the savings. Find the Grocery store nearest to you and start shopping. If you are shopping at the same store you can learn about Sale cycles, base prices, and the "Close out" section. There's also unadvertised sales that only loyal customers know about, if you spend your day shopping from one store to another you might miss the loyalty deals.
3. No More harsh house hold Cleaners. I clean my house, with Vinegar, Baking Soda, and a few essential oils. That's IT! I do have a bottle of Windex I bought on the fly one evening because I needed to clean my windshield. A Gallon of Vinegar lasts me nearly 3 months, and at only $4/gallon that's considerably cheaper than buying Windex or other glass cleaner. Plus Vinegar is a multi surface cleaner and disinfectant. I can clean glass, dust, and scrub the tub using the same bottle of cleaner for a fraction of the price. I also use Vinegar in the rinse tray on my Dishwasher
4. MAKE FOOD AT HOME;
Every Dinner, should also be a Lunch. Many people working outside of the home can spend more than $30/week eating out for lunch. Every dinner should be able to double as a lunch the next day. Casseroles and Soups are the best option. However, if you should find a great deal on a cut of meat like Pork tender loin or Roast Beef, before serving it, separate enough to make sandwiches.
Pack the Snacks. We all have kids, and we all know they will get hungry as soon as they see a vending machine or snack bar. I have a small lunch box I pack fruit and crackers in every time I leave the house. I was getting a bit lazy about it and it was costing me several dollars each time I left the house. You may not think that the $4 or $5 in snacks at the gas station is a lot, but if you spend that several times a week, over a month you are looking at a real money loss.
5. Find out how much those "quick" Trips really cost you. I was surprised to find out every time I picked my step son up from school it costs one gallon of gas. When Gas prices were near 3/gallon that was more than $15/week just to make one round trip to school 5 times. We live roughly 20 minutes from the nearest town, so a quick trip could cost us as much as 5 gallons of gas and that can add up quickly. We only do things in combined trips to town. This saves loads of money but it also means a great sacrifice. For example, I don't go to playgroups if I have no other reason to go town. I don't do special nights out if we have no reason to go out.
I will elaborate in more detail on each of these top five. They work for me and have been very effective in the past.
Here's my Top Five for saving money all around your home.
1. Ditch everything that's Disposable.
This might sound absolutely crazy as disposables are convenient, and the initial investment is usually cheaper than buying something that's reusable. For paper towels, and napkins I use cloth. Most of my cloths have come from old clothes I have turn up to make rags with. I have TONS of rags, and they are single use only. I put those in the washer, and before you start wondering about your water bill..don't. These rags don't take up much space and don't need special care, just throw in the dirty ones with whatever you are washing.
I am sure you are wondering, well what about Diapers. I could write an entire blog on the merits of Cloth Diapering in the Modern Age. To put it simply, there's lots of options on the market, and plenty of information on the Net. Bum Genius
Feminine Hygiene. There's plenty of reusable items on the Market without resulting to Tampons and pads. There's the Diva Cup, Sea Sponges, and Mama Cloth. Personally I use Mama cloth, but also like my cup.
You and your family deserves to eat off of Non Toxic, environmentally friendly dishes..NOT PAPER or Foam.
2. Shop the Same store. I know the thrill of saving money is an addicting feeling. Yet, I also know that its not worth saving $5 on my groceries if I have spent an extra $10 in gas to make the savings. Find the Grocery store nearest to you and start shopping. If you are shopping at the same store you can learn about Sale cycles, base prices, and the "Close out" section. There's also unadvertised sales that only loyal customers know about, if you spend your day shopping from one store to another you might miss the loyalty deals.
3. No More harsh house hold Cleaners. I clean my house, with Vinegar, Baking Soda, and a few essential oils. That's IT! I do have a bottle of Windex I bought on the fly one evening because I needed to clean my windshield. A Gallon of Vinegar lasts me nearly 3 months, and at only $4/gallon that's considerably cheaper than buying Windex or other glass cleaner. Plus Vinegar is a multi surface cleaner and disinfectant. I can clean glass, dust, and scrub the tub using the same bottle of cleaner for a fraction of the price. I also use Vinegar in the rinse tray on my Dishwasher
4. MAKE FOOD AT HOME;
Every Dinner, should also be a Lunch. Many people working outside of the home can spend more than $30/week eating out for lunch. Every dinner should be able to double as a lunch the next day. Casseroles and Soups are the best option. However, if you should find a great deal on a cut of meat like Pork tender loin or Roast Beef, before serving it, separate enough to make sandwiches.
Pack the Snacks. We all have kids, and we all know they will get hungry as soon as they see a vending machine or snack bar. I have a small lunch box I pack fruit and crackers in every time I leave the house. I was getting a bit lazy about it and it was costing me several dollars each time I left the house. You may not think that the $4 or $5 in snacks at the gas station is a lot, but if you spend that several times a week, over a month you are looking at a real money loss.
5. Find out how much those "quick" Trips really cost you. I was surprised to find out every time I picked my step son up from school it costs one gallon of gas. When Gas prices were near 3/gallon that was more than $15/week just to make one round trip to school 5 times. We live roughly 20 minutes from the nearest town, so a quick trip could cost us as much as 5 gallons of gas and that can add up quickly. We only do things in combined trips to town. This saves loads of money but it also means a great sacrifice. For example, I don't go to playgroups if I have no other reason to go town. I don't do special nights out if we have no reason to go out.
I will elaborate in more detail on each of these top five. They work for me and have been very effective in the past.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Making it Easy: Helping a Child Clean Their Room
Like every Mother on in the modern world we wonder just how will we get our child to clean his room. There is the age old force method, "CLEAN YOUR ROOM OR ELSE." There's the permissive method" Its Your Room, keep the Way You'd Like, just keep the door closed when we have company." I don't subscribe to either types of parenting, although I have tried both approaches, to no avail the results either way are not positive.
I thought early on in my son's life, I'd make cleaning just as much a part of our day as watching TV, Sleeping, Making Crafts, or Driving to Play dates. There was a time when he was eager to pick up and clean with out much prodding. All I had to do was so "Its time to pick up your room." and off he went. Yet, the words, "Clean your Room" can turn my son into a stubborn donkey. LOL. I have to laugh as I rarely ever label my DS's behavior but this is one that perplexes me to no end. He will help me scrub the toilets, and bath tub, and can keep things reasonably neat in our public living areas, but his room can cause a battle of wills.
Part of me is on the side of being permissive, it is his space, free from the rest of the house. Yet, with that space comes a responsibility to keep it free of dangerous clutter, and pests. What's a parent to do.
I LOVE The Fly Lady , and discovered she has a plan that helps kids. She has a cleaning plan for big Fly babies like myself, that has revolutionized how I keep my home and stay organized. She also has a small plan for helping children become Fly babies too. The Fly Lady uses a method of "Zone" cleaning to help maintain a home and I highly suggest if you are reading this you go over to her site...even if you are NEAT FREAK, you will find something that will help you. I Digressed. For my DS, the matter of his room is one that overwhelms him. Yes, he knows to put things back, his room is also his play room, TV room, and sleeping space. In the past I have done a 5 minute room rescue, in which I set a timer for 5 minutes and we pick up and put away as much stuff as possible. That was enough to keep the floor clean and safe for walking across in the middle of the night, yet his toys and shelves would end up disorganized, which usually left me reorganizing everything when I had a spare afternoon.
I have looked at the Fly Lady plan for kids, and the Zones didn't really meet the needs of my DS's room. So I have devised my own. There are five areas or zones Bed, Tool Bench and Toy Box, TV Cabinet, Closet/Dresser, Book Shelf. That's 5 days a week in which I go in his room with him and help him reorganize his things in each area.
Today I started with the "BED" area. In this area we cleaned off the bed and made it. I don't require that he make his bed just yet, as he doesn't know how to do it. We put any books on the bed back onto the Book Shelf, and all of his special animals on the bed neatly. Then we cleaned from underneath the bed. He had a lot of fun with this part as he was trying to see how far his hand would reach. We put all of things underneath the bed back where they belonged and we cleaned the corner at the end of his bed, where his Tools tend to fall from his tool bench. In about 10 minutes he was finished and he was RELIEVED it wasn't an all afternoon marathon of cleaning.
Tomorrow will be the "Tool Bench and Toy Box Area". I don't have a big toy box, but instead I have a few small boxes that miscellaneous toys get thrown. Sometimes during the 5 Minute room rescues LOTS of other items end up in the boxes. So this is a time to sort those items. The tool bench in his room is the equivalent of a Play Kitchen. It has tons of little items that go with it, and they each have a specific home. Again this is a time to clean it off, and wipe it down with a damp cloth and return those items to their correct home.
Thursday is TV Cabinet day. Now this is one that DRIVES me nuts and I am not sure if its going to be Zone that stands alone. DS has about 40 VHS movies in this cabinet that he's free to watch when ever he'd like. About half the time, he puts the VHS tape back into its cover. To insure that the VHS tapes are where they belong, each week we'll go through the cabinet to make sure the tapes in the appropriate cover, and dust the entire cabinet and TV.
Friday Work Zone is the Closet/Dresser. My DS loves to put his own clothes away and get himself dressed. What that usually means is that Socks are in the pants drawer, and underwear end up with the Shirts. When I go to dress him I find that he's out of underwear and socks LOL. So once a week I will try and help him reorganize those drawers. The Dresser is in the closet and the closet has A LOT of big things stored in there. Those things include race tracks, and train tracks, puzzles, and games. Its very easy in our 5 Minute madness or just through out the day misplace a game piece or dump out one of the storage boxes, so we'll be picking those up and making sure they are all where they are supposed to be for next time.
The Final area is the Bookshelf. I have two book shelves that house our Montessori Work. These shelves are relatively easy to maintain as everything is put back during our work cycle. The problem is the books and miscellaneous toys that end up on Shelves at other times. The books I am notorious for just stacking books up with thinking about where they go and my DS is the very same.
What my plan ultimately means is that my DS can accomplish each of the tasks on his own if shown with repetition how to do it. At no point will he ever have to feel over whelmed by cleaning up the entire room at once. Cleaning each area will give him confidence in himself and there will be no "OR Else's " from me.
Before you start yelling at your kids to clean their rooms, take a lesson from the Fly Lady and make it easy for them. Customize what she has to say to your childs needs. Make sure what ever "Zone" you come up with your child can complete teh task in under 10 minutes.
I thought early on in my son's life, I'd make cleaning just as much a part of our day as watching TV, Sleeping, Making Crafts, or Driving to Play dates. There was a time when he was eager to pick up and clean with out much prodding. All I had to do was so "Its time to pick up your room." and off he went. Yet, the words, "Clean your Room" can turn my son into a stubborn donkey. LOL. I have to laugh as I rarely ever label my DS's behavior but this is one that perplexes me to no end. He will help me scrub the toilets, and bath tub, and can keep things reasonably neat in our public living areas, but his room can cause a battle of wills.
Part of me is on the side of being permissive, it is his space, free from the rest of the house. Yet, with that space comes a responsibility to keep it free of dangerous clutter, and pests. What's a parent to do.
I LOVE The Fly Lady , and discovered she has a plan that helps kids. She has a cleaning plan for big Fly babies like myself, that has revolutionized how I keep my home and stay organized. She also has a small plan for helping children become Fly babies too. The Fly Lady uses a method of "Zone" cleaning to help maintain a home and I highly suggest if you are reading this you go over to her site...even if you are NEAT FREAK, you will find something that will help you. I Digressed. For my DS, the matter of his room is one that overwhelms him. Yes, he knows to put things back, his room is also his play room, TV room, and sleeping space. In the past I have done a 5 minute room rescue, in which I set a timer for 5 minutes and we pick up and put away as much stuff as possible. That was enough to keep the floor clean and safe for walking across in the middle of the night, yet his toys and shelves would end up disorganized, which usually left me reorganizing everything when I had a spare afternoon.
I have looked at the Fly Lady plan for kids, and the Zones didn't really meet the needs of my DS's room. So I have devised my own. There are five areas or zones Bed, Tool Bench and Toy Box, TV Cabinet, Closet/Dresser, Book Shelf. That's 5 days a week in which I go in his room with him and help him reorganize his things in each area.
Today I started with the "BED" area. In this area we cleaned off the bed and made it. I don't require that he make his bed just yet, as he doesn't know how to do it. We put any books on the bed back onto the Book Shelf, and all of his special animals on the bed neatly. Then we cleaned from underneath the bed. He had a lot of fun with this part as he was trying to see how far his hand would reach. We put all of things underneath the bed back where they belonged and we cleaned the corner at the end of his bed, where his Tools tend to fall from his tool bench. In about 10 minutes he was finished and he was RELIEVED it wasn't an all afternoon marathon of cleaning.
Tomorrow will be the "Tool Bench and Toy Box Area". I don't have a big toy box, but instead I have a few small boxes that miscellaneous toys get thrown. Sometimes during the 5 Minute room rescues LOTS of other items end up in the boxes. So this is a time to sort those items. The tool bench in his room is the equivalent of a Play Kitchen. It has tons of little items that go with it, and they each have a specific home. Again this is a time to clean it off, and wipe it down with a damp cloth and return those items to their correct home.
Thursday is TV Cabinet day. Now this is one that DRIVES me nuts and I am not sure if its going to be Zone that stands alone. DS has about 40 VHS movies in this cabinet that he's free to watch when ever he'd like. About half the time, he puts the VHS tape back into its cover. To insure that the VHS tapes are where they belong, each week we'll go through the cabinet to make sure the tapes in the appropriate cover, and dust the entire cabinet and TV.
Friday Work Zone is the Closet/Dresser. My DS loves to put his own clothes away and get himself dressed. What that usually means is that Socks are in the pants drawer, and underwear end up with the Shirts. When I go to dress him I find that he's out of underwear and socks LOL. So once a week I will try and help him reorganize those drawers. The Dresser is in the closet and the closet has A LOT of big things stored in there. Those things include race tracks, and train tracks, puzzles, and games. Its very easy in our 5 Minute madness or just through out the day misplace a game piece or dump out one of the storage boxes, so we'll be picking those up and making sure they are all where they are supposed to be for next time.
The Final area is the Bookshelf. I have two book shelves that house our Montessori Work. These shelves are relatively easy to maintain as everything is put back during our work cycle. The problem is the books and miscellaneous toys that end up on Shelves at other times. The books I am notorious for just stacking books up with thinking about where they go and my DS is the very same.
What my plan ultimately means is that my DS can accomplish each of the tasks on his own if shown with repetition how to do it. At no point will he ever have to feel over whelmed by cleaning up the entire room at once. Cleaning each area will give him confidence in himself and there will be no "OR Else's " from me.
Before you start yelling at your kids to clean their rooms, take a lesson from the Fly Lady and make it easy for them. Customize what she has to say to your childs needs. Make sure what ever "Zone" you come up with your child can complete teh task in under 10 minutes.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Did you say Pumpkin Pie
Thanksgiving has come and gone and I cooked. This blog is coming a bit late but I wanted to share. We do Thanksgiving in my home as a time to Give thanks to all that we have in the very moment we are living. Last year we were Thankful that we could cook dinner in a crock pot, and share it with Motel staff.
This year has been an abundant year in our house and for my family. We were going to visit Family this Thank giving and I was very Thankful for that. However, like many things in our ever changing and busy lives those plans were cancelled. I woke up 5AM Thanksgiving morning and began the marvelous feat that is cooking a huge feast. To make it short I cooked at 15lb Turkey, Dressing, Cheesy Green Bean Casserole, Cherry Cream Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Mac n Cheese, Butter Beans, Corn, canned Crane Berry sauce and Rolls.
I set the table with our regular dishes (I don't have "Good China" yet ) and the heirloom flatware my mother gave me one year for Christmas. I used a Table cloth my son had picked out the day before and served real Sweet tea to drink.
We invited a few friends over for dinner and one of them arrived right on time with all of the fixing for a great garden salad. He marveled at my domestic masterpiece and filled himself to the point he couldn't move. I found that a bit of a compliment.
At about half-time during the Dallas football game, everyone wanted desert. I had made a Cherry Cream pie, and a Pumpkin Pie and our Guest brought along some wonderful Chocolate chip cookies.
The highlight of the evening however was the pumpkin pie. Never mind that I had taken the time to prepare it with the pumpkin that I had processed myself. It was great. I am no gourmet, however, I usually get a recipe and change it up to meet my needs.
I used the Libby's Pumpkin Pie Recipe. However, this recipe calls for a frozen pie crust. I never frozen pie crusts. I simply made mine using a recipe I developed all my own.
Pie Crust
2 cups All Purpose Flour (unbleached is better than bleached)
1 tsp of Salt
1/2 cup Vegetable Shorting
1/4 cup Unsalted Butter
2 tbs Ice Water
Sift Flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in Shortening and Butter. Add water to the mixture to help incorporate the flour, Shortening, and Butter. When well mixed roll into a ball and Freeze until firm.
Rolling.
On a floured surface, sprinkle 1 tsp of Ground Cinnamon. Roll pie crust dough over "Cinnamon Flour" surface until its larger than the pie plate. (Should be about 12 inches in diameter) Put dough in Pie Plate.
Cooking
Using a fork poke air holes in the bottom of the dough. Bake at 350 degrees F, until golden brown.
The cinnamon and butter give the crust a great flavor that compliments the pie filling. This crust is also excellent to use with Apple pies.
I also made some other Changes to the Pumpkin Pie Recipe
The Recipe calls for 1 can of Pumpkin, I used 2 cups of Fresh Pumpkin.
I always use ground my own Cloves, instead of using ground Cloves. In the past I have also ground my cinnamon.
That's really all for now. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving no matter what you served and who you share it all with.
This year has been an abundant year in our house and for my family. We were going to visit Family this Thank giving and I was very Thankful for that. However, like many things in our ever changing and busy lives those plans were cancelled. I woke up 5AM Thanksgiving morning and began the marvelous feat that is cooking a huge feast. To make it short I cooked at 15lb Turkey, Dressing, Cheesy Green Bean Casserole, Cherry Cream Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Mac n Cheese, Butter Beans, Corn, canned Crane Berry sauce and Rolls.
I set the table with our regular dishes (I don't have "Good China" yet ) and the heirloom flatware my mother gave me one year for Christmas. I used a Table cloth my son had picked out the day before and served real Sweet tea to drink.
We invited a few friends over for dinner and one of them arrived right on time with all of the fixing for a great garden salad. He marveled at my domestic masterpiece and filled himself to the point he couldn't move. I found that a bit of a compliment.
At about half-time during the Dallas football game, everyone wanted desert. I had made a Cherry Cream pie, and a Pumpkin Pie and our Guest brought along some wonderful Chocolate chip cookies.
The highlight of the evening however was the pumpkin pie. Never mind that I had taken the time to prepare it with the pumpkin that I had processed myself. It was great. I am no gourmet, however, I usually get a recipe and change it up to meet my needs.
I used the Libby's Pumpkin Pie Recipe. However, this recipe calls for a frozen pie crust. I never frozen pie crusts. I simply made mine using a recipe I developed all my own.
Pie Crust
2 cups All Purpose Flour (unbleached is better than bleached)
1 tsp of Salt
1/2 cup Vegetable Shorting
1/4 cup Unsalted Butter
2 tbs Ice Water
Sift Flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in Shortening and Butter. Add water to the mixture to help incorporate the flour, Shortening, and Butter. When well mixed roll into a ball and Freeze until firm.
Rolling.
On a floured surface, sprinkle 1 tsp of Ground Cinnamon. Roll pie crust dough over "Cinnamon Flour" surface until its larger than the pie plate. (Should be about 12 inches in diameter) Put dough in Pie Plate.
Cooking
Using a fork poke air holes in the bottom of the dough. Bake at 350 degrees F, until golden brown.
The cinnamon and butter give the crust a great flavor that compliments the pie filling. This crust is also excellent to use with Apple pies.
I also made some other Changes to the Pumpkin Pie Recipe
The Recipe calls for 1 can of Pumpkin, I used 2 cups of Fresh Pumpkin.
I always use ground my own Cloves, instead of using ground Cloves. In the past I have also ground my cinnamon.
That's really all for now. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving no matter what you served and who you share it all with.
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