This is a busy time for us. Our girls, myself, and some young ladies from another family host an annual Ladies Luncheon each spring. This will be our third. We are busy preparing. It is Saturday.

We got together the other night and made party favors/place names with toilet paper cardboard, gold and silver tissue and ribbon. We filled them with a handmade bracelet and candy. We were going to put in a seed packet, but forgot until half way through. I guess we will place those on the tables. Our theme is “treasure.” Where your treasure is, there your heart will be, so the gold was on purpose. The girls will be singing a few songs acapella and one instrumental on strings and recorder. Everyone is to bring a salad or sandwich. A friend is doing a devotional. We also asked everyone to bring a special treasure from home to show and tell. It will be fun and our prayer is to glorify the Lord.

One of my daughters already started making chocolate truffles (recipe can be found here). We will also be making Scottish shortbread and a lemon cake for the occasion, along with our usual baking. Busy bees we are!

Also Saturday, my 15yo daughter is taking the ACT. This will determine if she will be done with her home education courses or not.

Further, one of my sons is now graduated and has been hired by Horizon Airlines (part of Alaskan Airlines) and goes in for training Monday. They told him that he won’t have weekends off for a long time, so we have quickly been preparing his graduation open house/party for the 11th, the day before Resurrection Sunday!

We spent yesterday shopping for shoes for him and some last minute clothing purchases. He is excited. His goal, Lord willing, is to be a Mission Aviation pilot. We have been able to help him with memorizing all the airport codes for all the cities that Horizon and Alaskan flies to. He is doing very well and I am sure he will do fine.

We handmade all the announcements/invitations to son’s graduation, had his photos taken (by a dear friend) and sent all in a short time.

We have invited a family to both the graduation and dinner on Sunday. They live quite a distance, so suggested they stay the night with us.

Whew! If that’s not enough, we have begun starting our seeds in our living room window. . Has anyone else started any?

Tags: Family, kitchen cares, recipes, spring

Find Out How You Can Cut Your Grocery Budget In Half!

Anything to help us be more thrifty and wise with our husband’s hard-earned money.

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/half/

Tags: kitchen cares, Organization

This is either my sister-in-law’s (Fran) recipe or my mother-in-law’s.

March is the best time to make Eggrolls, as cabbage is on sale for St. Patrick’s Day. Cabbage is one of the most inexpensive vegetables and stores very well for several months.

Eggrolls are not difficult to make. Everyone sits at the kitchen table and island and wraps them. We do about 150 at a sitting and it takes my crew just about 15 minutes to wrap. I’ve never tried freezing them.

This is for a large group:

4 LARGE head cabbage, shredded or cut fine
1 BIG produce bag from the grocery store full of fresh bean sprouts (rinsed and chopped)
About 150 eggroll wraps (You might want to buy extra in case you get a hole and have to double wrap. Holes are caused by too much juice in the filling. See note below about straining.)
4-5 carrots, shredded
1-2 large onion(s), chopped
3 pounds of turkey burger or salad shrimp (YUM!). We usually use deer burger. I’m sure hamburger would be fine.
A good shake of garlic powder (can you tell I’m an eyeball cooker?)
Soy sauce to taste

Cook meat in large pot until done. Add vegetables and cook thoroughly. Place in colander so the juices can drain before wrapping.

Follow directions on package for wrapping. Even a 3yo can wrap successfully. Don’t let the egg rolls sit long after wrapping: Cook immediately, as they will become soggy on the bottom and get holes. Consider lining the pans with paper towels.

Deep fry in hot oil, turning so as not to burn. Remove from heat when there are no anemic spots and place in pan with paper towels for draining.

Do not layer the cooked egg rolls, unless divided by paper towel.

Dipping sauces:

We use the dry hot mustard from the grocery store and add water to a nice consistency.

We have a dish of ketchup with a bit of the mustard in it for a little zip. (See recipe below).

Sweet and sour sauce is another yummy dip. We make ours by using 1 can of gelled cranberry sauce (not the kind with cranberries in it), a tablespoon of brown sugar (or to taste), a teaspoon of lemon juice (optional)…depends on how acidy you like it. Cook over medium heat until cranberry has melted.

Sesame seeds are great to sprinkle on the dipping sauces, as well.

Enjoy!

Oh yeah and if you have mixture left over, add to scrambled eggs. If you have wraps left over, try seasoning some cream cheese with onion and garlic and deep frying those. YUM! The juices that were strained out make for wonderful soup broth.

Here is the recipe to the red sauce we use.

1 cup ketchup
1/3 cup water
1 /4 cup sugar
2-3 tsp hot mustard sauce (or however hot you want it)
Mix well.

Tags: Family, kitchen cares

Since cabbage is a deal right now, and because we like sauerkraut and I have heard it is quite simple to make, I have decided to try my hand at it. (See update below) I looked on YouTube to find some how to’s. I thought the first one below was very helpful, but found the bottom one to be more entertaining. Let me know which you like best. I will let you know how the sauerkraut turns out!

Update: I did try making the kraut. After sitting on our counter for some time, it began to show signs of molding. I would like to try it again, but need a better system that can keep out the air.

Tags: Food, kitchen cares, recipes

Since we make up our menu for a whole month (Middle of one month to the middle of another month), I thought it would be more expeditious to share our menu all at once, instead of weekly, which I am terrible about posting, anyway.

February

15th through the 21st
Sunday – Chili
Monday – Spaghetti
Tuesday -Potato bake with fried eggs
Wednesday – Nachos or burritos
Thursday – Cabbage soup
Friday – Home made pizza
Saturday – Krab bagels

22nd through the 28th
Sunday – Deer roast dinner
Monday – Spaghetti
Tuesday – Chili
Wednesday – Lasagna
Thursday – Home made pizza
Friday – Cabbage soup
Saturday – Leftovers

March

1st through the 7th
Sunday – Mashed potatoes with meat gravy
Monday – Chili
Tuesday – Spaghetti
Wednesday – Turkey quesadillas
Thursday – Nachos or burritos
Friday – Turkey soup
Saturday – Home made pizza

8th through the 14th
Sunday – Egg burritos
Monday – Leftovers
Tuesday – Chili
Wednesday – Cabbage Soup
Thursday – Pancakes
Friday – Enchiladas
Saturday (This is Pi Day!) – Turkey pot pie and several kinds of pie for dessert

Some of these meals may change or be swapped, if necessary.

Tags: Food, kitchen cares, Organization