Category: Food and dining

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Quality time for New Years eve and day

For the next few days, I’m going to be spending some quality time with my children until they have to go back to doing what they do, and going to where they now are living. Welcoming in the New Year is a quiet time for my family. No one wants to party unless it is at home, with just a few of their very close friends here, and usually I try to stay up until “the ball drops”, but to no avail for the most part. But I do try!  I’ll let ya’ll know about this year, in a soon to come post.

Today I’m going to try some of recipes for snacks and finger food that my friend Elaine has given me. There are some awesome ideas for goodies to be made in the crock pot, and to bake up, or mix together! We are going to have our annual two day feast of cold cuts, and other yummy foods.

I’m so fortunate to have friends who are so domestically inclined in all areas. I’m learning from them slowly but surely. I wish they, would blog more about them, so I would have a handy reference. We all however  have decided to “spice” up our blogs with some tasty concoctions in this coming new year. But for now, I’m wishing everyone a very safe and happy New Years Eve. I’ll catch you next year!!

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Budgeting for the Holiday Feast

My favorite meal of the whole year is always the traditional Thanksgiving feast. I have always enjoyed a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, even the one year that I was so broke that I only had $20 in my budget to spend on the entire meal.

I remember going to the wholesale grocery that year and buying the cheapest possible brand of everything to be able to create a small but traditional Thanksgiving meal. I had to buy a frozen turkey loaf for $6, two white potatoes and one sweet potato, a box of stuffing and a can of generic green beans – I already had a can of mushroom soup at home in the almost empty pantry. I bought four apples and made a pie from scratch with flour and sugar and cinnamon already at home. It was a lot of work doing everything from scratch, but it tasted great and made me realize that I can create a great feast with just a little money.

This year I am spending $20 on just the turkey. It will be the biggest one they have in the store – I love turkey and there is not such thing as too much turkey in my house! The rest of the side dishes and fixings will be a combination of scratch and prepared, depending upon the brands and my taste preferences. And I think I will make an apple pie again – its not that hard to do and they always taste better than store bought pies.

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PeachSuite for Hotel Supplies

Having a close friend who owns a resort hotel, I have heard her often complain about not finding the supplies she needs, until she discovered PeachSuite Hotel Supply. She was thrilled at basically the “one stop shopping” online and the expert and helpful and sufficient way the company handle the costumers who are looking for their hotel needs.

Hotel Catering Supplies are a must, as the resort is on a Lake Front with a events like dinners in the banquet hall or even on the lawn when the weather is nice. It’s a great experience and my friend makes it as such, but she does need plenty of supplies and a reasonable price, since during the winter she often has to deal with business being slow. During the warm months, her place is packed and she wants the best so her customers come back. Buffet supplies are a must for her and it makes it so easy for folks to have a good time and also for her to mingle with the guests without the hassle of having the dinners served by employees.

Hotel Supplies are also a big thing to try and save money on, yet get a durable product that is good quality. Her resort is doing very well, and when she needs supplies now she knows where to get them!

 

 

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Only 6 Groups of Trick or Treaters Tonight

When I first moved here there were a lot of children in the neighborhood. Every holiday was a big deal to the neighbors. We all decorated our houses and yards with lights and yard ornaments and people used wreaths and yard flags to decorate. Halloween was a big deal with a lot of small groups of kids and parents going house to house collecting candy. I loved seeing the different costumes and happy, expectant faces of the kids as they held out their Halloween bags and buckets for their treats.

I guess most of those kids have grown up and there are not a lot of new families moving into the area. I was a little disappointed to only have my doorbell rung six times with trick or treaters. There were two groups of very young children, with parents and strollers walking down the street. The rest were older kids, and to be honest, one group of teenagers seemed to be a little too old to be going out trick or treating this year. i hope they did it just for fun, maybe their last hurrah, and didn’t cause any mischief for anyone in the neighborhood. The older kids make me a little nervous about causing trouble when it gets late and people stop giving out candy for the night. I hope that the fact this is a school night will send those older kids home early with the rest of the kids and that there is no trouble with vandalism and other tricks tonight.

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Is it taste or just a coffee habit

My husband drinks coffee by the gallon. To me, this is caffeine to the extreme, and since all of a sudden it’s found he has high blood pressure, I decided to make some changes that I’ll admit, isn’t that honest, but I haven’t been asked about it, so I don’t need to volunteer the information just yet. Okay, pure and simple it’s not being totally honest because I care.

I bought an off brand that has only half the caffeine and put it in the canister his normal brand comes in, which was a blend loaded with extra caffeine. Mind you, this I figure is for his own good. At least in my way of thinking.

So far, so good. he’s not noticed and even said he had made an “exceptionally good pot of coffee” the morning after I did the switch. Next is the sugar intake. I’m sure I can find something as a look alike substitute. I’ve never seen or even heard of anyone who puts more sugar in a cup of coffee. It’s expensive and once again, worrisome to me. Of course if I’m asked, indeed I will tell him about the switch in the coffee. But if he likes it now and I’m saving a great deal of money, we’ll just keep it a secret for now.

 

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Healthy Ducks for Sale

After me voicing that I wanted a pond in the back yard, my husband jokingly said to find some Ducks for sale while I was at it. I don’t think that is a bad idea at all. If all goes well with building the pond that I would like to have at the edge of the back yard, they would be an ideal addition to it. Plus, not many people I know like duck eggs, but I do! They have a nice rich flavor and are great for omelets, in my opinion.

If I can Buy Ducks along with the chickens, I’d be on way to becoming a back yard farmer of sorts. Plus I think these animals are so darn cute to watch. They would be a most welcome addition to my back yard. They might even turn out to be nice pets also!

I thought it would be so nice to find some nice laying  Chickens for Sale. I would love to go out to their coop and fetch my own eggs that came from my own chickens, and ducks without having to buy them in the store at a really high prices for brown chicken eggs. My whole family love fresh eggs, and brown ones are the best. I think they have a much better flavor when they are fresh and brown.

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A perfect hard boiled egg

After trying dozens upon dozens of tips on how to make the perfect hard boiled egg, I decided to wing it and try to make the perfect egg without using these tips. I didn’t want a green outside for the yolk and I didn’t want my eggs whites, to turn out like rubber. Below is what I did and the results were perfect for me.

Put one dozen eggs into a large pan big enough to hold them without crowding. Cover with water, an inch or so over the eggs. Put on burner at high heat, until it comes to a rolling hard boil. Boil for one half of a minute.

Take pan off heat source and cover. Leave it alone for 9 minutes. Drain and stick in the sink filled with cold water and ice cubes. I waited until the ice cubes melted to take my eggs out. One tip is, to use old eggs. I bought eggs especially for cooking hard boiled and let them sit in the refrigerator for two weeks. Took them out and got them to room temperature before I put them in the water. My eggs peeled perfectly, and were a nice yellow color with no grey or green tint to them! I’m not saying everyone’s will turn out like mine. I think it’s trial and error…like to each their own in the cooking department when it comes to hard boiling eggs. That is at least my opinion.

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What is for supper

I hear this all the time. The problem is, since it’s summer and the temperatures have been as high as 105 degrees, I by no means what to fire up the oven. My gas grill isn’t working right and pure and simple, it’s just been too hot to cook.

I’ve been buying a lot of produce, fruits and also cold cuts for the family. The extent of my cooking lately has been to make things like potato salad, egg salad, tuna salad and ham salad. Oh yes, pasta salad of various sorts also is on the menu.

Tonight I’m going to suffer a bit and make a large supper. I plan on making a pork loin roast, a leafy salad, baked potatoes and also corn on the cob. At least that is the game plan. My husband bought me a very large floor fan for the kitchen and I’m going to try it out. Supper will be later than usual, since I’m going to wait until the sun is going down, but I don’t think anyone will complain. I’ll put out some light munchies to tide them over until my roast is done.

 

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The gift of a spice rack

My oldest daughter called me and asked what kind of spice rack she would need for her kitchen. I sat on the other end of the phone in puzzlement. My  kids have asked me a lot of various questions in their lifetime, some of which were quite strange questions, but never about a thing like this. I think maybe she was hinting that she would like to have one.

Spice racks to me are personal. I don’t really like to cook, but cook I do, and I’m good at it. One can be good at something and still not like to do it. When it comes to my spices, I’m very picky. The order they are in, and the type of spice group they are in is important to me. That is where good spice racks come in. They are awesome for organization of spices and also save space.

I think, judging how my daughter’s kitchen is set up, that she should look into a wall spice rack. She is learning now how to use various spices, and this way they would be right within her reach, organized, and would be a nice decor touch for her kitchen. I’ll be buying my daughter’s her first spice rack. I’ve seen some nice ones that she will be sure to like.

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Shopping with mom

Yesterday I went with my mom to “pick up a few things” at her favorite super store. I actually thought she would stick to her short list this time and not buy items that weren’t on this list. Wrong. We went down every single aisle in the food section of the store. Granted, both of us got some great deals, but it took nearly an hour and a half to go shopping for “a few things” that my mom didn’t even really need.

I enjoy spending time with my mom, there is no doubt about that. When she asks me if I want to go to her favorite store though, I have to remember that the list grows and to know that we are going to be in that store for quite awhile!