Plum Jam And Jerusalem

Look, I hate plum jam. I only joined the WI to make my mother happy. I do, I hate plum jam, I'm crap at cakes, I can't make sponge. In fact, seeing as it is very unlikely that George Clooney would ever come to Skipton to do a talk on what it was like to be in ER, I see very little reason for me to actually stay in the WI. Except suddenly- suddenly, I want to raise money in memory of a man I loved. And to do that, I'm prepared to take me clothes off for a WI calendar, and if you can't give us ten minutes of your time, Madam Chairman, well then, frankly, guys, I'm going to do it with out council approval, because there are some things that are more important than council approval. A-a-and if it means that we get closer to killing off this shitty, cheating, sly, conniving, bloody disease that cancer is- Oh God, I tell you- I'd run around Skipton Market naked smeared in plum jam, wearing nothing but a knitted tea cozy and singing "Jerusalem".

There is so much to love about that paragraph. I do like plum jam. I love it. I just made a batch, and I want to make more. I ate a bowl of it for lunch. I did.

So, to the first person who tells me what movie that paragraph is from, what the name of the actor/actress saying it, and the year the movie was released will be given a jar of my FABULOUS plum jam. If you want to smear it on your naked body and go through the market singing Jerusalem, that is completely up to you. Leave your comment on the blog (not facebook if you followed the link).

Here's The Skinny:

I am fat. I weigh as much or more now than I ever did pregnant.
I have made a couple of lifestyle changes recently. First, I gave up caffeine. Not because caffeine itself is so bad (it is), but because I only like my caffeine loaded with sugar. No more pop or foofoo coffee for me.
The second change is that I was given an elliptical machine and I have been using it almost daily for at least 25 minutes, for the last 2 1/2 months.
So, the reason I am even telling you this is that I need some suggestions. I want to start Weight Watchers again as I have had success with their "points" system in the past, but I get SOOO incredibly bored with diet food. I would like your suggestions about what to eat that won't keep me fat!
Ah, and one more thing- I am not a short order cook, so whatever I make, everyone has to eat. I don't have incredibly picky kids (well, they don't eat hot dogs or plastic cheese), but they do have limitations.
OK, leave me a comment!

Mmmm, Food!

There is only one reason to go to Applebee's.

The nachos.

For a couple of years I completely boycotted them because they changed the nachos. Then one evening I was on a "mom date" with my girls, and that was where they wanted to go. Imagine my pleasant surprise when I discovered that the nachos were back.

But now, now I may never have to eat out again! I made Applebee's nachos at home tonight.

And since I am so very nice I am going to share my recipe with you.

But before I can do that I have to give you my special *super secret* pico de gallo recipe, begged from my favorite Mexican restaurant.

Pico De Gallo de La Hacienda

1 head of cabbage finely chopped

1 medium onion finely chopped

1 bunch of cilantro finely chopped

5-6 roma tomatoes, diced

2 limes, juiced

Salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients together in a large plastic container with a tight fitting lid.

Store in the fridge.

This is really fabulous on the second day when the flavors have had a chance to mix together.

I have a Cuisinart that I bought at the thrift store- it made short work of all the chopping. I just made sure to use the "pulse" button so I didn't end up with cabbage juice...

Then, you have to make the cheese sauce (This is what makes the nachos taste like they came from Applebee's- so don't skip this step!)

Cheese sauce

2 tsp butter

2 tbs flour

1tsp white pepper

milk

Velveeta or store brand equivalent

Your favorite hot sauce to taste

In a skillet melt butter. Add flour and pepper. Stir to soak up all butter. Slowly stir in milk a little at a time, stirring constantly to break up clumps of flour. You want to end up with a runny white sauce. Melt cheese into white sauce (I used 1/2 of a big brick). Add hot sauce to taste-the cheese at Applebee's is pretty spicy.

Now that you have made that, you are ready for the NACHOS.

Applebee's Nachos

Corn chips

Cheese sauce

Black beans rinsed and heated

Finely shredded lettuce

Pico de Gallo

Sour cream

**Applebee's also adds spicy ground beef and jalapenos- but that makes them too spicy for me so I leave them out.

Pile the ingredients on your plate in the order listed and enjoy!

3 out of 4 taste testers like this meal and I got to hear about how awesome I was all through dinner!

The One About Eating Northern California

What do you say when your husband calls on Christmas eve and asks if you want to go to California? You say, "Of course," Right?
So, what if he says, "Do you want to go Tomorrow?"
Do you say yes?
Well I did- because I'm crazy like that.

We had Christmas dinner at my house, packed, and then left for California. At Midnight. So our kids would ride quietly- asleep.
We got to Fairfield, California at noon on the 26th. And stopped at the Jelly Belly factory. And ate lots of Jelly Bellys. Lots.

We went to Chevy's. they used to have those here. Sadly, they don't any more.
We ate a lot. A lot more.

The next day we went to San Fransisco. And ate at the Boudin Sourdough Company. On the way home we ate IHOP. We also got to go see Yosemite.
Where we ate out of our cooler.
But did stop to buy hot chocolate.
When it was time to go home we stopped for one more lunch at Chevy's- because it was that good.
We drove back to fairfield and went to the Budweiser factory- and tasted some beers.
Then we found out that I-5 was closed at Shasta due to severe snow storms. The only way for us to get home was to drive up the coast. So we headed west to Petaluma- where we had dinner at In&Out Burger.
We drove all night and hit Vancouver, WA at 9:30. We stopped to see some good friends- and breakfast was ready- and we were hungry!

We ended up having Applebee's for dinner that night.

So, how about you? Do you ever just take off at the drop of a hat?
Have you ever eaten an entire state?

Home ECONOMICS

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate to go grocery shopping? I usually wait until we are down to condiments- literally- and we have to eat out on the way to the grocery store. It's sad. And true. I hate it when they ring up the bill and say, "That will be $220, please." Try not to snort coffee out your nose as you read that. That's the correct amount for a family of 8 for 2 weeks. Yes, it is.
But stop to think about it:
$220/2 weeks= $110 per week
$110/8 people= $14.75 per person, per week

What does that really mean?
It means that I can eat out once at a restaurant that serves it's food on a plate- but I have to go hungry for the rest of the week.
Or I could eat out 3 times at a restaurant that serves it's food in a paper wrapper. I'm still going to be really hungry at the end of the week.
Or, I could eat at home 21 times. And not be hungry at all.

Hmm, maybe $220 isn't so bad after all.

I Ran Out Of Mustard

I know, you can hardly fathom why this is a problem, right?

Last summer, our local grocery store ran a promotion where you spend $50 and get a coupon for a free picnic- complete with hot dogs, buns, katsup, amd mustard. Well, if you split your order into $50 chunks, you get that many coupons. You follow? That means that I got at least 16 bottles of mustard last summer. One bottle of mustard is not needed for each pack of hot dogs. I had mustard for a long time. Sadly, I don't anymore. My hamburger was kind of plain at dinner time....

Heat Wave

I'M MELTING!

Seriously. folks, here in the beautiful, rainy PNW, we don't do 80*+ temperatures often. Especially where I live at 0 ft above sea level. Right now it is 83* and I am sitting in my garage. Well, that's where my office is, and therefore where my computer is, and it would be hard to post this from anywhere else, BUT I am sitting in my garage actually getting work and filing done because it is the coolest place in the house.

Is it wrong to serve ice cream for dinner?

It's Not What It Looks Like, I Swear!

Welcome to my suburban pill poppers paradise! Well, That's what it looks like anyway. But it's not. Really. Caleb has many, many, many food allergies which mess with is behavior. In order to decrease their impact on his life, he takes digestive enzymes. In the past I have served these dissolved in juice because he couldn't swallow the pill. He drank a mixture at breakfast, lunch, dinner, elevensies, second breakfast, tea time, you name it. If he wanted to eat he had to have the juice. The juice that tasted like fresh mown grass. Or worse. He was pretty good about taking it for a long time. But then I started finding the lunch dose still in his lunch bag at the end of the day. Or he would "accidentally" throw it away. Or not take it to school at all. Now, these puppies are pretty expensive as a maintenance item, so I decided to stop wasting the money. Except he was getting in trouble a lot at school. A LOT. And the rims of his eyes were so red and inflamed (His only external physical symptom) that he was starting to lose his eyelashes. Poor boy. I finally ordered more of his enzymes and when they came we worked on swallowing the capsule whole. It took about 24 oz of water, but he finally managed it. Now we could dispense with the yucky, grass flavored juice. Hooray!




















Except that these babies are in a cellulose or v-cap. And v-caps take 30 to 40 minutes to dissolve enough to release the enzyme that must accompany the food. What 9 year old plans that far ahead? What 9 year old's mom plans that far ahead?




















So they need to be repacked into these gelatin capsules which dissolve immediately. It took a long time to repack 180 pills (Which lasts about a month).




















And you are left with a massive pile of v-caps and a powdery substance all over the counter tops, making you look like you live in suburban pill popper's paradise.

Note To Self:

Next year, when making green milk for the Lucky Charms on St. Patrick's Day, only dye 1/2 gallon.

Eating Our Way Through Seattle

The weekend after New Year's we decided to go to Seattle on a whim.

Abigail was our official photographer, although, I took some of the pictures, too.

We started at a small bakery near here.

Where they didn't have a public potty.

So I had to walk through the public market.

Which was crowded.

And I hate crowds.

And when I did find it, it was icky.

But we got back and had some GREAT bread and yummy, delicate cookies.

Then we walked through the market.

We went to the place where they throw fish.

My kids were rather amazed.

I have no idea what that nasty looking bugger is, but it was not something we saw flying through the air.

This pig's name is Rosey.

She's a piggy bank that has a bill slot.

They use the money for general market upkeep.

Do you know how I know?

I read it in a Boxcar Children Mystery.

Book #111, The Seattle Puzzle.

Oh, yes I did.

We went to a yummy Italian gellateria.

The kids and Sebastian hed gellato.

It was 37* outside.

I just couldn't have gellato.

Besides, I don't really care for icecream.

I settled for a really good latte and a biscotti.

We went to some other places and ended up in China Town for dinner.

Basically, we ate our way through Seattle.

Chicken and Dumplings- Use What You Have Style

Yes indeed, folks, Princess Kat did inspire tonight's dinner. She posted a super looking recipe for Chicken and Dumplings the other day. The only catch was that I had exactly 1 of the ingredients she called for. Chicken. The good news is that I am not a total loss in the kitchen. Here's what I came up with. It's completely different, but all the way inspired by Kat.



In a large skillet mix 3 cans of broth (I used beef broth because that is what I had and I knew no one would notice that the CHICKEN was in BEEF broth) with about 1/4 cup corn starch. Heat until bubbly. Add 3 cubed chicken breasts and 1 1/2 cups sliced carrots. While the chicken and carrots are cooking mix together a biscuit mix. The recipe that I have swimming around in my head for this is 2 cups flour, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup oil, and 1 T baking powder. After chicken has cooked, add 1 drained can of corn, 1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup and drop biscuit mixture onto the top. Put into a 375 degree oven and bake until biscuits are cooked, about 1/2 hour. Serve and enjoy. We did.

Pssst, Down Here...

Hey, Guys. I wanna showed the best food dat my mom maked for dinner.

It was so yummy. She said she getted dah idea from Princess Kat- cause she maked some yummy looking stuff like dis dah udder day.

Dis is what it looked like when Mom called us to eat. She hasta yell real loud cause we never come dah first time! Mom sayed dat it was eat out of dah pantry night. I say it was good.

All of dah kids toadally liked Mom's dinners. We fink she maked good dinners tonight.

And speaking of pantries, my Aunt Kris comed over on one day dis week. Mom sayed it was Twosday. Mom was ready wif a project for Aunt Kris cause she is TOADally good at dem.

Mom finks dat dah pantry was a mess since dad broke dah kitchen. Mom sayed dat she never wanted to put dah food in here cause it wasn't acshully made for food. But she haves food in here now.

But since Aunt Kris comed and helped Mom put anodder shelf in dah pantry, all of Mom's stuffs are toadally, super neat. I fink it was nice for Aunt Kris to come over dis Twosday cause now my mom can make my yummy dinners super fast.

And see how happy dat makes me?

If A Vegetarian Eats Only Vegetables, What Does A Humanitarian Eat?

Abby, my 6 year old, watched me cubing some beef for curry last night. She thought it was rather gross. She sat down to the table and declared that she was going to become a vegetarian for dinner. I rolled my eyes, plated her up, and sat down to my dinner. I have decided to become a Libertarian. From now on, I'm only eating Liberals!

A Vast Conspiracy

Some of you (*Kat*) are shaking your head about what a right wing nut job I am.

"Oh, no," you groan as you read my title.

But I'm telling you it's a conspiracy.

I went to the grocery store today and did my shopping. As I make my way through our store, frozen foods are last. I was almost out of the store when I became a victim of this VAST CONSPIRACY.

I swear that the stores hire a "Juice Watcher" so that when someone finally manages to get a can of juice concentrate out of the tightly packed, horizontal row, the Watcher rushes over and fills that spot. Now the juices are once again fully stocked in tight packed, horizontal rows with nowhere to wedge your fingers for a grip on the frozen juice!

Convince me that it is not a conspiracy. I dare you.

The $.69/lb Cure For Warts

As moms we do our best to care for our children. We love them, feed them, read to them, tickle them, kiss them, and tuck them in bed each night. And, when they need it, we take them to the doctor.
We each have our threshold for “need” in that regard. I for one, will let them snot it out, let the fever burn off the germs, and know that the cough will likely go away soon. I hope. Warts are a different story. They are gross, icky, nasty, and did you know they are a virus, and therefore contagious?
In the past, with the bigger boys, have taken them to the doctor to have those little buggers burned off- to a tune of $130 each visit. OK. I think I mentioned that warts are gross and contagious. This summer we dealt with another bout of warts with our girls and our baby boy. All three of them had plantar warts. We took them each to the doctor for a treatment or two. Those darn warts would not go away.
We farmed our kids out for a weekend early in the summer, and we left our youngest son with my sister for the weekend. She is the one who taught me the $.69/lb cure. You probably already have everything you need.

First, feed your child a banana just before they brush their teeth before bed.
Second, cut a small piece of banana peel just big enough to cover the wart.
Third, place peel over the wart with the inside to the skin and tape in place with medical tape If the wart is in a tricky spot, use Coban tape, which sticks to itself but not the skin, to wrap as much of the area as needed to keep the banana peel in place.
Fourth, put your child to bed.
Fifth, in the morning, remove the banana peel, but don’t wash the area. IT WILL LOOK GROSS. If it will be visible and this will bother you, cover it loosely with a band-aid.
Sixth, After bath time, buff lightly with a foot file and start over.

After about a week, you should be able to file the wart right off.
We have had some really nasty and difficult warts that would not respond to any other treatment disappear within a week.
I have just saved you a few co-pays. You’re welcome.

Apples Coming Out Of Our Ears

Well, not really. Actually, they came out of our tree and the one across the street where nobody lives. On Saturday I enlisted my children to help me strip the trees before the apples fell to the ground and rotted.

After the kids picked the apples I got to work. We made 2 gallons of apple cider to take to my nephew's birthday party. And I made applesauce. Much applesauce. I don't think I'm going to have to buy any apple sauce this year....

Halfway there.

All Done!

The pink applesauce is from the tree across the street with red apples, the green comes from our green apples.

And this jar is where the two meet.

More Preserving

We also have a HUGE Italian prune tree in our yard that was dropping prunes like crazy.

We (By "we" I really mean Sebastian) picked as many as possible and I made 2 HUGE batches of plum butter.

And The Winner is....

Sorry about the sideways video. i forget that blogger hates my camera's sideways videos. It wont let me turn them.
So, without further ado:


Julie @ My Journey To Family!

Julie will be getting this lovely tin filled with Starbucks goodness.

Which is filled with this cutie-patootie travel mug,

a $10 Starbucks gift card,

Hey, did you know that the first coffee card that you register to your e-mail address earns $5 in rewards? So, if you happen to have multiple e-mails... I'm just sayin!

And because I am such a nice person, I am throwing in the coupon that just came today for a free bowl of oatmeal that came in today's mail.. Apparently, it is perfect.

Congratulations, Julie. E-mail your address to me at ginagae at aol dot com, and I will put this into the mail for you by Wednesday. (No promises about tomorrow, sorry.)

A Give Away- Homemade Gourmet

My newfound bloggy friend, Jen (Thanks Debbie for the intro) is doing a give away. What precisely is she giving away? Why dinner, of course. Actually 4 of them. Who among us hasn't stood peering into the fridge in frustration wondering what to make? Well, she has the answer to that. Go check it out.

Picking Blackberries