October 12, 2010

Good Morning!

Well, as you all can tell, I'm still messing around with this site trying to figure it out.  And, I'm not doing a very good job of it either !!  There are all sorts of features and gadgets on here and half of them, I don't even know what they are.  I have pushed every button and tab on here trying to figure them out.  It wouldn't surprise me I blew the dadgum thing up !  When I got my very first computer and went online for the first time, I didn't even know how to turn the thing on.  I used to tell everyone that if they heard a big boom or saw a mushroom type cloud in the sky, that was probably me blowing everything up!  So, that is pretty much where I am now with this site. 

What my original idea was to set up a seperate tab (page) that I could post the "Recipe of the Day", when I replaced it each day with a new recipe.  A friend had said she missed some of the recipes for that day because she didn't know I would be changing them everyday.  So, I thought I would just move the ones that had already been posted to another page.  Wrong !!  I tried doing that and it didn't work.  So as usual, I just keep plugging along.  Giving up just isn't in my nature, and to be truthful with you, it just ticks me off when I can't figure something out and I refuse to allow it to beat me!  One of these days, I'll figure it out and then wonder why it took me so long and what a dummy I was in the first place not to be able to make it work.  Oh well....this too shall pass so for now, let's talk !!  That...I can do well !! LOL

I think tonight for supper we are having Sweedish Meatballs and Noodles.  My husband loves pasta of any kind, so I know this is something he will enjoy.  I do believe he would eat pasta three times a day and not mind at all.  When we first married he was telling me about a dish that he and his family had made for years and it consisted of some sort of meat (usually ground beef), cabbage, potatoes and noodles (pasta of some sort..didn't matter what).  Now, I'm from the south and I had never heard of mixing noodles and and pasta and potatoes all in the same dish!  I guess that is because they are all starches and that just seemed a little much to me, but apparently he loved it.  Everyone has their own taste, so if he liked it, so be it.  There are so many different ways to make meatballs and I think everyone has their own recipe they use over and over.  I love spaghetti and meatballs but I also like the Sweedish Meatballs made with a creamy brown gravy.  I saw on TV one day, there are some Italian Restaurants that serve just Meatballs as a dish.  And I'm talking huge meatballs too !  So again, to each his own.  I will probably make a salad to go along with it and that will be supper.

Speaking of supper.  When my four kids were growing up money was tight.  So, there would be days that I would rumble around in the fridge or the pantry trying to figure out what to cook and make it go a long way.  You would not believe all the different dishes I would come up with trying to stretch one pound of hamburger meat or maybe three or four pieces of chicken to feed four kids and two adults.  Some of the combinations I came up with weren't something you normally would think that went togther, but hey.....it filled them up!  Sometimes the kids would come into the kitchen, lift the lid on a pot and say.."What's that, Mama?"  I'd tell the "Supper".  They would say "I know that, but what is it?"  Again I would say.."Supper".  This would go back and forth until they finally got frusturated and say.."Mama, I know it's supper but what do you call it?"  My reply would always be..."I don't know what you call it, but I call it "Supper", just eat it, and be glad you got it!"....LOL.  So the mystery dishes continued.  And how many times did we as Mama's know there wasn't enough food to go around so we just didn't eat proclaiming we weren't hungry or our tummy was upset ??  Don't know about Yall, but that happend several times at my house.  But that's OK...as long as my babies ate, my life was full and that is all I needed to know.  

As my kids grew up they all had a favorite dish or thing to eat.  Nothing special, just something they really liked.  A few years ago I made my daughter and daughter in law a cookbook for a Christmas Gift.  The book not only consisted of some of my own recipes but ones I had collected over the years, but what was really special in each particular book was, it had recipes of things that particular child liked while they were growing up.  Missy has a thing for my green beans, so I made sure my recipe for those beans were in her book.  My oldest son, David loved my BBQ Fried Chicken and Baked Beans, so those recipes were in my daughter in law's book.  Then as silly as it sounds, my youngest son Brandon loved what I always called "Egg In A Basket", so that was in my other daughter in laws book.  OK...I know, you want to know what an "Egg In A Basket" is...LOL.  Very, very simple ! But if you've never eaten it or made it, you need a recipe...right?  That is why she got that recipe.  OK...here it is:
Take once slice of bread.  Butter it on both sides (I know...that's tricky without getting butter all over you and the counter).  Tear a hole in the middle of the bread and place it in a non stick frying pan.  Crack an egg and drop it in the middle of the hole.  Cook this until the bottom side is good and browned, like a grilled cheese sandwich.  Flip it over and brown the other side.  Waaaa-Laaah!  Egg In A Basket ! LOL.  I think every mother has something only they make and the kids remember that sort of thing and this was something Brandon remembered and loved !  

OK...Speaking of Cookbooks.  I recently made one of my cookbooks for my niece for her wedding shower.  I have made some of these books in the past for gifts for different people.  I always include some of my personal recipes but other recipes that I had collected over the years and some that others shared with me.  Now, I'll tell you this.  For the ones of you that know me well, you know that I tend not to measure a whole lot.  So, when someone asks me for one of my recipes, if it isn't a cake etc., it becomes a real challenge for me.  I have to try and tell them what is in the dish and then guess as to how much is in there.  You know.....a little of this, a little of that, this looks right, that smells right, that tastes right!  So writing these recipes down for this cookbook sometimes took me awhile to get it right.  Anyway, I thought that the cookbooks would make a nice gift and personable.  When I gave any of these books to people as a gift, they loved them !  I decorated each book.  I use a three ring binder, print out the recipes and put them in individual protector sheets.  Then I cover the binder with fabric and decorate it.  When I recently made this book for my niece, I posted on Facebook about me making it and posted some pictures.  I can't begin to tell you how many people started asking me how they could get one and would love to order one for me.  Well, as I said, I had only made these for gifts and I was quite surprised that people would actually be interested in them.  So, I agreed to make these books for people, but I couldn't start making them until probably after the first of the year.  I just have so much going on until then.  One being that my stepdaughter is getting married in a couple of weeks and we will be in Iowa about a week or so.  If any of you are interested in one of these books, please let me know and I'll put you on my list.  Here is a picture of the book, but keep in mind they all won't be decorated the same.  Each one will be individual.  Also, I have not come up with a price yet, but I'm working on it and will let you know.

Well, guess I had better close this lengthy post.  I know....I do get carried away! Have a great day, my friends and .."Happy Eating" !

Muahhhhhhhhhhhh  ♥