One Ham, Three Yummy Meals

At least once a week, I hear the comment related

to feeding a family our size.

"WOW!  Must cost a fortune to feed all those boys!"

"I would hate to have your grocery bill!"

"How long is that food going to last?"

and on and on.

Yes, boys DO eat a ton!

Yes, it does cost alot!

and no, the food does not last long in our home!

Because my fella has always been in ministry work,

we've had to spend our money carefully.

We've never been without but we do have to spend our money wisely.

I have tried to live by certain tips that have helped our

money stretch.  One area has been with our food menu.

I only grocery shop once a week.  This is while the boys are taking

music lessons.  So I need to have a plan for each day and do

some preparing the night before.  This also saves

on gas, which is very costly when you drive a 12 passenger van!

I try to stretch food as much as I can.

Here is an example of how I did this with a ham I bought last week.

I don't often buy hams.  Probably three times a year.

But the boys so enjoy ham!

I also try to have our Sunday meal be a bit of a feast for us.

I want everything about Sunday to be a joyful memory for them

Getting up earlier, wearing our best, meeting

with other Christians, serving together and then coming home together

as a family and sharing a special meal together.

This is also the only day I try to always have a dessert. 

We all look forward to that!

So last week I got a ham while out doing the grocery shopping.

The ham was a little over $13.

I secretly hid it in the back of the frig.

I wanted the fun meal to be a surprise.

Saturday night, I peeled the potatoes and got them ready

to be boiled.  I also made a blueberry cake for dessert.

Ugh, the next morning we lost an hour of sleep.

That was hard, I had to get up a bit earlier to boil and mash the potatoes.

But I drug myself down the stairs, turned the burner on and

climbed back into bed for 15 more minutes of sleep.

The mashed potatoes were put in one crock pot.

The ham with some cabbage was put into another crock pot.

So that meal was ham, mashed potatoes, and cabbage in the crocks.
I boiled some broccoli and also served
some chopped, spiced apples I had frozen from the fall.

Monday's meal.

I used my potato slicer and sliced up some potatoes.

Let me explain about the potatoes.

I bought two 50 pound bags of potatoes in the fall.

They were $15 each.

We also grew another 50 pounds.  I try to use them very sparingly.

Once these are gone, that's it until next fall!

Alot of meals we have during the winter months are with brown rice

and that helps stretch the potato supply.

I store them on the top of the cellar stairs.

It's very cool in the cellar.

When I open the door to get them, I do it with much fear!

I'm scared to death of our basement!

It's very creepy. 

There are snakes, spiders, mice, and probably huge

monsters too waiting to attack, I just know it!

 I try to get one of the boys to do this job

but they don't know why.  I know they would truly think I'm a wimp!

I used the leftover meat from the ham,

chunked it,made a white sauce  and added it to the sliced potatoes.

This was a yummy dish of scalloped potatoes.

We used two 9x13's. 

I also had some pickled beets and a green salad with it.

Meal Three

I took the ham bone and boiled it all morning.

It smelt so yummy!

Once that was done, I took the bone out and strained the broth.

I added  chopped potatoes, onions and broccoli.

Once that was well cooked, I added milk. 

I know it would of been alot thicker if I had used cream

but I don't like to make it real fattening. 

  So I just used our 1 percent milk.  I did cut up some chunks

of cheese and melted that in.

I made home made biscuits to go with this meal.

I got HUGE raves and applause from this!

It was a  success with the gang!

Of course, almost each meal gets such praise.
I've learned, men act the way with food as females
act with new shoes, a dozen roses or a new outfit!

Totally excited and much anticipation with each hour that passes
closer to sitting down and putting that first bite into the hatch.
As each dish is carried over to the already set table,
you can almost begin to see the drool running from their lips.
Eyes big with excitement!
Hands loaded with their pronged tool, ready to begin!
Lids lifted, steam rises and so do the cheers!
Again, I feel like a hero!

http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

http://gnowfglins.com/2011/03/16/simple-lives-thursday-35/

http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/



Just Because

While my fella was out, I made him this to come home to.

This is his favorite pie.

Of course, I had to make two for the rest of the gang!

Can't wait for him to walk in the door and see it!!

Skirts and Tapioca

The boys have been asking for tapioca pudding

 the last couple weeks.

I kept putting it off because we didn't have

the extra milk.

Last night, on the way home from church, I asked

my fella to stop at the Dandy so I could run in and pick

something up.

"What are you getting?" was asked from the back of the van.

"Milk," I answered, "for tapioca."

"Yeah!!!"  was shouted all across the van.

This morning, I got the crock pot out and started the pudding.

I have a recipe that is using a crock pot and it's super

easy.  You dump the stuff in, mix in eggs toward the end

and then it's done!

I also started sewing some skirts I had cut out.

I tend to cut all the fabric one day

and then sew  next.  These skirts were easy because I could

use white thread on all of them so I didn't have to keep switching

thread colors.  

I love all the fun spring colors!  It'll be here soon!

I got most of them sewn together and the waste bands in some.

I'll have to finish the wastes and then the zippers.

Ugh, five zippers!

Then hem and wait for spring.

The blue ones and green one on the left are all the same pattern.

It has 12 gores and they take some time sewing together

and then sewing the seam down. 

I have a couple of skirts from this pattern that I did

last year.  They're so comfortable!

I tend to grab them the most so I thought I should make a few more.

We enjoyed a yummy supper together and then the boys

dug into the tapioca!  I think the wait was worth it.

 CROCK POT TAPIOCA
2 qt milk
1 cup tapioca
1 cup sugar (I used raw sugar)
Mix these together in a crock pot.  Cook on high for 3 hours.

Beat 4 eggs and 2 tsp vanilla extract.
Take some hot mixture from crock pot, add to eggs and stir.
Pour back into crock pot. 
Cook for 20 minutes more or until thick.
Chill.  Although we can never wait that long, we eat it warm.

I also double this recipe and the time is alot longer too.

http://www.houseofhepworths.com/
http://adventuresofthemichelenafamily.blogspot.com/
http://www.somewhatsimple.com/

Sweet, Loving Memories

I've been working our Valentine's Party all day.

Making our tradition cookies

(I only make these today.)

I did a scavenger hunt for my fella's Valentine.

I made 26 "clues" for him to find.

From A-Z, I wrote a quality I love about him

and then on the back of the note,

I wrote where to find the next note.

The table is set,

The mailbox is full!

Excitement is in the air for a fun, cozy night together

expressing our love for eachother.


Chocolate Heart Cookies

1 C butter, softened
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 C flour
1/4 C baking cocoa
1 C vanilla or white chips
2 Tbs shortening
1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar.  Beat in vanilla.
Combine flour and cocoa.
Gradually add to creamed mixture.
Roll out dough on floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness.
Cut with heart shaped cutter.
Bake 375 for 8-10 minutes.
Cool on wrack.

Heat vanilla chips and shortening (either in microwave
or in double boiler).
Dip cookie corner in white chips.

Melt chocolate chips and put in small plastic
baggie.  Cut corner and drizzle over cookies.
Enjoy!

http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/

Lots of Tea

This weekend our church is hosting a Sportsman's Banquet.

I was asked to be in charge of the meal.

I absolutely love doing things like this!

When I asked what the drink on the menu was going to be, I was told iced tea.

BUT not the mix type, they preferred brewed tea.

Yesterday I started that project.
How many gallons of tea do you make for 125 men??

First, pots of water were put on the woodstove to heat up.

Once I got started on the project, I had all kinds of helpers.

First the glass gallon jars were gathered from the basement

and then washed.

Each jar was filled with 13 tea bags.

Little hands removed the paper wrappers.

 Addan helped Titus count to 13 (or close to it) :)



This is such hard work tearing the papers off and not losing

track of how many teabags I put in my jar!

The jars filled with tea bags waited by the sink for the next pot of

hot water.

Then the jars will filled with hot water and sugar to sweeten.

14 gallons of yummy tea are sitting by the door, ready to go to

church tonight.

Such fun memories working together with my little guys!

Some Extra Protein

Sunday after church, we had two of our home grown chickens for lunch.

Once the meat was picked, I put the bones into the crock pot, filled it with water and let it simmer.

Yesterday the yummy, healthy broth was ready.

I made chicken, vegetable soup with it.

I also grabbed the huge, camp sized bag of egg noodles and added 4 handfuls to the soup.

Meals together are always fun and some times too loud.  A certain son is always told to be quiet.  Can you guess which one?  He just can't seem to keep quiet for more than two seconds! 

Brendan said to me, while enjoying his third bowl of soup (soup is his favorite meal!), "Mom, what are these little white things?"

I looked and said they must be part of the noodles.

This sparked too much curiosity for the boys. 

The microscope was brought out and the "little noodle parts" ended up being creatures that were eating the noodles.

The soup was loaded with tasty worms floating dead in my healthy, yummy broth! 

My pride was dashed in seconds!

I fed our boys worms!

Oh well, they didn't seem to mind.  A few were grossed out and didn't finish their second bowl.  My fella brought his soup to school today and will enjoy his protein filled soup.  What a man!

Thanks Dad for all the bags of egg noodles you gave us that will now feed our CHICKENS instead of us!  :)

Warm Bellies

It's the time of year of rosey cheeks, runny-cold noses and hot chocolate!

The boys have been skating/sliding on the pond every afternoon after school.

Today it's VERY cold out.  The thermometer in the kitchen didn't show it getting above 20 degrees and it's super windy.  There's been a constant roar outside from the wind. 

They came asking for some hot chocolate to warm their little bellies.

We got the pot, milk, cocoa powder out and started making some.

I filled six mugs and brought them down to the ice players.

As I got close to them with the steaming mugs, I heard, "She has hot chocolate!"

Such fun winter days!

Here's the yummy recipe I got from a friend.  Home made is so much yummier and I know what all the ingredients are.

1/2 C sugar

1/4 C cocoa powder (I used natural cocoa powder)

dash of salt

1/3 C water

4 C milk

3/4 Tsp vanilla

Mix cocoa, sugar and salt in a large pot.  Add water and stir.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.

Add milk and warm.  Add vanilla.  Whisk until frothy.

Serve with marshmallows, whipping cream or fluff. 

I added whipping cream with little Andes candies sprinkled on top.

I doubled it but learned today I need to triple it!

Kitchen Helpers

Proverbs 31:15

She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household,  and a portion to her maidens.

I've heard much teaching on the Proverbs 31 woman.  What a great lady to have as a goal.

This verse above was pointed out to me and it really made me think.  It also made my husband think.  He's so sweet.  

This lady had maidens.  These were probably ladies that lived with her or were hired by her to help her.  

Not having daughter to help me or hired maidens, my fella has been so good about making sure my kitchen is well equipt.  He knows all the help will lessen my load and feed us all well.

These are a few of my favorite kitchen "helpers".  Of course,  this is not a complete list.  I'm very thankful for a refrigerator, two freezers, the oven, running water into a sink and the dishwasher!!!  We lived here for a year without the dishwasher and that year without made me so appreciate having it! 

This is more a list of gadgets and tools. 

The Nutri Steamer

I use this juicer for all our jellies and juices.  The steamer is great for steaming veges.  I used this when I made applesauce, pumpkin, and veges with our meals.  But the part of this great set I use the most is the bottom pan.  I probably use this 3-4 times a week!  I use it for soups, stir-fry meals,  and stews.  It's a great size for our family.

Man, look how cute they were! 

Pampered Chef Stones

Our family loves pizza!  Thankfully I learned how to make it.  My first few attempts were horrible.  I found the stones make the crusts great.  I also use these stones for cookies and bars.  They clean well and aren't bad for you like aluminum pans are.

Crock Pot

Each Saturday night I get our meal for Sunday together.  We love coming home Sunday after the church meeting and enjoying a hot meal.  When we open the door, the air smells sooo good!  These are great time savers!

I also use the crock pot to make our broth from the chicken carcuses.  I fill the pot with water, add spices and the bones and let it simmer over night.  Yummy, healthy broth for the soup. 

We have three crock pots and a big roasting size pan.  Sometimes I have 3 crocks going at once. 

A good, sharp Knife

This is my favorite knife.  Because we have alot of meals with chopped veges, this tool comes in handy often!

When we were first married, we lived in Virgina.  We had some close friends there and brought them to Amish country.  On the way to the shops, we stopped at some yard sales.  My fella  picked up this knife at one of the sales.  He always finds things I don't tend to even notice.  I look more at toys and clothes. 

I thought the knife was an odd thing to pick up but I'm so thankful he did!  I use it constantly!!!

Garlic Press and Slicer

I use lots of garlic in our meals.  I grow it all so I know it's very healthy (no poisons). 

The tool on the left slices the garlics.  First I take a clove, put it on the counter, and push it real hard with the palm of my hand.  This loosens all the peels.  Once peeled, I put the cloves into the tube part and turn.  The garlics cut on the sharp blades. 

The press is great for smaller/minced garlic pieces. 

These two tools are both from Pampered Chef also.

Kitchen Aid Mixer

Baking is so much quicker with this mixer.  I can throw the goods in and let it whirl!

Fluffy white frosting takes minutes to whip up.  I remember standing there for what seemed  forever waiting for the peeks to stand,,,, now just put it in and pull the lever.  It does all the work!

Ruthie licking the fluffy white frosting.  She always did all the traditional angel food cakes for Thanksgiving, we'll miss her SO much this year!!!

Cast Iron Frying Pan and Griddle

Every morning, some of us have fried eggs.  The frying pan gets used lots!  Cast iron is good because it doesn't leave bad metal in your food but actually leaves good minerals in your food.  Once the pan is seasoned well, it cleans in a jiffy.

We also have a large cast iron griddle for pancakes and grilled sandwiches.

Mill and Mixer

This is the Whisper Mill (what a joke, it's anything but a whisper!!).  We couldn't eat vitamin filled bread without this mill.  Flour loses all it's vitamins after a couple days of sitting.  There are very little vitamins left in flour once it's been sitting on the shelf.  The best time to use flour is within 24-48 hours of milling.

That brings me to the next item,

the Bosch Mixer.

This mixture is what I use to make all our bread.  It also has a spot on it for a blender.  See the spot on the right, that's where the blender goes.  This blender is super!  Ice gets chopped up quickly in it.  Smoothies are great made by it.
I make our salad dressing  and mayonnaise using the blender attachment.

Cory Coffee Percolator

This makes the BEST, hot coffee!  My fella likes his coffee HOT and I like the taste of this the best.
I can only find these on Ebay.


I have found, living in a house of  men/boys, that they like to eat!  No, I mean LOVE to eat!
When I was a kid, I looked forward to supper.  Sitting together and sharing our meal together brought great memories.
But with males, it's different.  They enjoy the FOOD.  I hear "What's for supper?" oodles of times each day.
OOOh's and AAhhh's are heard when favorites are planned.  Plates are licked, pans scraped and bellies are rarely full!
When the plate is empty, then the nice conversation can start.

I have learned to make LOTS of food and enjoy doing it. It's going to be my task for many days, so I have found it to be a joy to get the most reaction our of each meal.

"Thanks Mom, that was good!"

It's Pumpkin Today

I've always wanted to process pumpkin.

I've always heard so much doom and gloom about it that I didn't bother.

Since I got this great mill (thanks Mom for a wonderful Birthday gift!!), I wanted to try to also do pumpkin!  I ordered the pumpkin attachment with great excitement!

You always read in garden books do's and don'ts.  This year I did a don't and learned why.

I planted the squash and pumpkins too close.  My pumpkins sure look weird!  They look a little too zuchini-ish.

I was so bummed as I wanted to try and process them!

But the Lord is good!  Our church had their fall program and they gave out pumpkins!  Each of us got one.  There were 10 to start with.  After the harvest dinner at church, I also got about 10 more! 

So today that was on my list to tackle!

It was rather fun!

First I washed the pumpkins and then quartered them.

I scraped the seeds and stringies out.

Then I put them into the steamer until they were soft.

Into the mill to make the beautiful orange goo!

I cut a piece of cheesecloth and hung the pumpkin goo to hang!

Drip, drip, drip it's been going all day.

I'll let it hang overnight. 

Tomorrow is bread day so I'll add pumpkin bread to the list!  Should be fun! 

Here's what Titus did while I was doing pumpkins!

He was quite excited to show me his name!

Yummy Cranberry-Apple Recipe

                                   8 Tbs butter (I used unsweetened, organic applesauce)

2 eggs (fresh from Philbrick's Dude Ranch are the BEST)

3/4 C sugar (I used honey)

rind of 1 orange, grated

1 C orange juice (I didn't have any so I squeezed the juice out of the grated orange and added water to meet the measurement)

2 C flour (I used whole wheat)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp ginger

3-4 peeled and chopped apples

1 C cranberries, cut in half

Melt and cool butter.  Whisk eggs and add to butter.

Add sugar (honey), orange juice, and rind. 

Add flour, b powder, soda, spices, apples and cranberries.

Fill greases muffin pans.

Bake 350 degrees for 20-25 min.

Makes 2 dozen.

These freeze super well!!  I put 2 in a plastic baggie and threw them in the freezer.  Now Mark can grab two every morning for his snack at school.  If I don't put them in the freezer, other little men eat them all! :)

I think I'll go have one with some sleepy time tea.

Tincture Time

Because Mark works with kids all day, he tends to be around sickness often.  He's brought/shared many different sicknesses with us (how nice!). 

This past Friday, Mark came home early from work (he didn't do windows) and went right to bed.  He got the lovely bug that's going around at his school.

Before he hit the hay, he asked me where the tincture was.  I was mad, I hadn't made any yet.  I should of had some ready for my fella.  So I loaded him up with the vitamins we had and watched him march off to bed.  When he woke up at supper time, I fed him some "soup" I made.  Man, he reeked the rest of the night from it!  It was mostly garlic and onions.

So this afternoon, I got my herbs out and made some tincture.  It should be ready in 3-4 weeks, I just hope no more sickness hits the house!

I measured out the herbs and put them in a gallon jar.

Then I added enough vodka to cover the herbs.  The jar is safely put away in the cupboard until they're done seeping.  The herbs need to soak for 3-4 weeks in a dark place.

These are the herbs in this batch of tincture:

Red Clover- a blood purifier

Echinacea- infection fighter and is used as a powerful natural antibiotic

Alfalfa- called the King of plants beacause it is extremely rich in vitamins and minerals

Rose Hips- much vitamin C and infection fighter

Bilberry- ( I added this one mostly because I knew it was good for the eyes but there is a big list of things it helps)

Mullein- used in respiratory problems,  loosens mucus and expels it out of the body

Once the herbs are done soaking, I'll strain them and put the liquid in a canning jar and store it in the cupboard with all our vitamins.  As we start to feel illness coming, we'll take a tablespoon of tincture.  This has really helped prevent sickness in our home.

The How to Herb Book: Let's Remedy the Situation

Pass the Hammer, Please

I had a large list for today.  I like to have a list and try to get it all done.

First thing was to move two trees and plant them by the back patio.  Our large maple tree that shaded that area in the past, died and we really noticed a difference this summer without it.  It'll be many years before the two I planted today produce the same amount of shade.

Next was to get the hammer and my good knife.  I got some turnip yesterday and wanted to get it cooking.

I have to use a hammer to cut through it

Since the woodstove is going today, I thought it would be a good time to do them.  My mouth is watering just smelling it, I simply LOVE turnip!

The fruit and vege stand that I buy our fall produce from closed this past week.  I went there the last day it was open and got lots of deals. 

She sold me a large box of squash for $11.  The boys all love squash so I steamed them all today and got it all in the freezer.

I also bought some cranberries from the stand.

I have a muffin recipe and I only make the muffins in the fall.  I decided since I was going to be in the kitchen most of the morning, I'd make them too.  They're a bit of work (lots of different cutting) but they're so worth it. 

Some baked goods I make knowing they're not the best for our health, but at least I know what's in them.

These muffins are not like those.  I enjoy seeing the boys eat them, knowing all the ingredients are good for them.

They also pass Mark's bread test.  He read somewhere, "The whiter the bread, the quicker you're dead."  I often hear him quoting that to the boys about not eating white flour.  I can't believe how much he's changed since we were first married :)

They were some honkin' apples!

It creates tons of dishes and a full freezer for winter :)