Food for Thought

I heard a man talk today about marriage and divorce. It was so true. He said that today people jump into bed before finding out if they are compatible. Meaning what is their common thread. Are they the same religion, do they have the same family values, was their upbringing similar, do they want the same things out of life? He stated that jumping into bed should not be the first thing a couple does to find out if they are compatible, in fact, it should be the last thing. Get to know that person, find out what he or she was like as a child, what their likes and dislikes are, and see if you have fun together. Not all people who have the same religion are going to magically get along, or not all people who have the same family values will get along, but that is the beauty of it all. Get to know that person. Remember in the old days when they talked about courting? Try it, it works.

Realizations

Life is fragile. We don't think so, but it can be gone in a second without any warning and then the rest of the world is left to pick up the pieces and carry on. We all know that there is a beginning and an end; we know when the beginning starts, but we don't know when the end comes. We just pray that we are prepared for it.

I have been to more funerals than most people and partly it is because I have such a large extended family. What I have noticed is that the older I get and the people who pass on are closer to me, it affects me more deeply. It is as if I am finally realizing my own immortality. I mourn for my family, but also a little for me. I don't want to be alone.

Don't even breath without asking me!

That's what my son told his sister after I left them alone for awhile. When my daughter told me that I almost burst out laughing, but I held it in for fear of hurting her feelings. Why is it that the older sibling always gets that tone of superiority when the parents are gone? It's because they know they are in charge and the younger ones have to listen to them. I'm not so sure that I wouldn't have done the same thing. I never did, but that was because I wasn't the oldest sibling. My older sisters stayed home with us. So I had to listen to them tell me what to do while my parents were gone. As a matter of fact, maybe that is why my parents were hardly ever away from us.

June 9, 2011

Today my To-Do list is short. In about 45 minutes I will have to go pick up my children from school. It is getting closer to the end of the school year for them and they are ready. I'm not sure I am. I mean, yes, I won't have to get up as early any more to make lunches and breakfast. But then they will be home all day, asking "What's for lunch? What's for dinner? What kind of snack can I have?" Or they will be inside the pantry all day eating. The other part of the day they will want to be on the gaming system or the computer to play. And they will wear me down. By the end of the second week of school being out they will have worn me down and out.

There is something about your kids being around you 24 hours a day. When they are just babies, you want them around all the time, but when they get to be teenagers and pre-teenagers, as much as they need to be supervised and kept an eye on, you don't want them around 24 hours a day. You need a break. Either there is to much talking or to much sulliness. Take your pick. And they want to be entertained. All the time. And all I want them to do is to go outside and commune with nature. There is nothing like digging in the sand and dirt and weeds to feel alive. Maybe I'll buy them shovels and rakes and tell them that is their entertainment for the summer.

Chicken Stroganoff - Who Knew

I found this recipe and I just knew I had to try it. I just can't figure out why I have never thought of this before. I mean anything that can be done with beef can be done with chicken. This recipe came from the March/April 2011 issue of GRIT magazine (www.Grit.com) in the Comfort Foods area. There are a couple of tweaks I would give it next time; I'll discuss them after I give the complete recipe.

Chicken Stroganoff


1/3 stick butter
3 medium to large chicken breasts
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 small carton sour cream

(1) Melt butter in pan. Add chicken breasts (can be taken right from freezer, washed and thrown in the pot), salt, pepper and soup. Cover and simmer, checking after 30 minutes, then checking every hour or two. Add a little additional butter, if needed, to keep chicken from burning. Cook 3 to 4 hours.

(2) Add sour cream and cook an additional 30 minutes to 1 hour. If chicken is falling apart and liquid is blending together, it's done. Serve over rice or noodles, with a tossed salad on the side.

That's the whole recipe. However, instead of cooking over the stove, I put it in a crockpot (I love to slow cook my meat). I did put in the butter first, however because my chicken breasts had skin on, I didn't feel it needed the butter. If I had the skin off the chicken breasts, then I think the butter would be good. I also felt that 2 cans of mushroom soup was too much for 3 breasts of chicken. I believe that it was a little runny and maybe I could have added another chicken breast. I would not add the sour cream until almost ready to serve, the sour cream could cause separation when heated to long. I also would de-bone the chicken breast so that when it is eaten you don't have to worry about bones. I cooked it in the crockpot the same amount of time as over the stove, maybe a little longer, but it is so much easier.

Try it, let me know what you think.

May 13, 2011

Lately I have been waking up at 6:30 a.m. I am not usually a morning person, in fact I love to sleep in. I think that is where my children get it from. They are extremely hard to wake up in the morning for school. I even went as far as saying that they are responsible for getting themselves up in the morning. It actually went good for a while. Then my husband, for the lack of words to use, flaked out. He started waking the kids up if they weren't up by a certain time. I told him that they were responsible and if they were late to school, it was their fault. I guess he is not ready to let them be responsible. He keeps saying that he doesn't want to be late for work; funny thing is that he comes right back home after dropping my son off and then he eats breakfast and gets his stuff ready. So I am not understanding his logic.

But I am making them get dressed before they eat breakfast, because otherwise they take too long at the table and again, it causes them to be late. I don't know how else to instill that they have to be on time. I can't keep yelling at them, it does no good. So, yes they do get dressed first and sometimes it takes them too long and they are not able to eat breakfast. I have made them cinnamon toast to take on the way to school, along with either tea or hot cocoa. My son would prefer coffee to tea, but I don't allow that. I'm sure soon enough he will be drinking coffee like there is no tomorrow. I guess that is his way of waking up. I know I need my tea to wake up in the morning, so I am no different.

April 24, 2011

Today is Easter Sunday and millions of people are gathering across the country and eating their Easter lunches. There are also millions of people who are going out to eat lunch instead of being stuck at home making food for everyone. I think that more people tend to go out to lunch for Easter Sunday than on any other holiday. Of course I could be wrong, but the grocery stores were all open and restaurants were open, ready for the influx of people. I planned on staying home, in fact I had a tri-tip all thawed out and seasoned ready to be bar-be-queed. However my husband had other ideas. He planned on going to Costco to do a little shopping. Costco had other plans, they were closed. So he had to nix those plans. We always take a drive, always near lunch time or after lunch time and inevitably we are always starving. So we have to drive around looking for someplace to eat (actually we don't, but I think that it is his way of letting me not cook once in a while). Then comes the question - "Where do you want to go for lunch?" At this point when he asks, we are so hungry that we can't think straight and we (meaning me and the kids) could go anywhere. Our son chooses to go home and eat, my daughter chooses to go to her grandmothers' and make her cook for us. Me - I don't care, just give me food before I fall over. This is how my husband is different than us. He can go all day without eating and the rest of us need to eat every hour. And how come you might say haven't I figured this out and bring food with us? Well most of the time I honestly think that it will be only 1 hour that we will be out, so I am still learning.