I have very recently discovered a fantastic blog called Keeper of the Home. Her values and ideas really mirror a lot of my own and it has been wonderful to read through her site and glean from her wisdom.
There is a giveaway on her blog right now for Bugaloo Kids baby shoes so all you moms out there, check it out! They are a high quality leather shoe similar to Robeez but sell for only $15 a pair (compared to up to $35 for Robeez, depending on where you buy them).
Another great thing is Bugaloo Kids will donate 5% of every sale to International Justice Mission. A group of the youth at our church is currently raising money to free 151 slaves through that ministry, so I will definitely promote that one! It’s a great cause and I recommend looking further into it on their website: www.ijm.org
If you are interested in what exactly our youth are doing to free slaves, visit their site at www.freedom151.com. It’s pretty awesome!
Please check out Keeper of the Home if you are interested in these great shoes! The blog address is: www.keeperofthehome.org
Monday, June 29, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Cooking with Cream of Mushroom Soup
Skillet Dinner
I really like to make a nice dinner for my family, but sometimes I just need to throw something together-and fast. I’m all about cooking without a recipe and I thought I would share what I whipped up for dinner the other night. It was extremely simple, used ingredients I always have in the kitchen, and tasted great. It was very simple and not at all fancy but thankfully, we don’t mind that!
I peeled and diced some potatoes and boiled them. In the meantime, I browned ground beef in a large skillet. When the potatoes were about three quarters done, I added them to the ground beef, threw in some frozen corn and peas, seasoned it all with pepper and onion soup mix, and poured a can of cream of mushroom soup over top. I let it simmer for about 20 minutes and it was done. I added a few drops of beef broth now and then when the sauce seemed a bit thick. Super easy and it was pretty good for a recipe I made up as I went! Served with fresh whole wheat bread and butter and a glass of milk and it was a decent dinner!
Cooking with Cream of Mushroom Soup
If you know me, you know I hate mushrooms. The taste and texture makes me gag something awful so I avoid them. I never used to cook with mushroom soup but my husband likes it so I adapted. It’s actually not that bad and I’ve made some delicious meals with it. I stock up on store-brand cans when they are on sale and I buy the low fat variety. It is so easy to put a roast and some onions in the crock pot, season as you like, and pour a can of mushroom soup and some beef broth over top. It cooks all day and makes really nice gravy. I thought I’d share a couple more meals I make with the soup that are very easy and pretty economical too!
Stroganoff
When I have sour cream that needs to get used up, I often make stroganoff for dinner. I brown some ground beef with onions, pour in a can of mushroom soup and some beef broth to make a sauce. I season with beef bouillon and during the last five minutes add sour cream to taste. Add a little dill, pour over egg noodles and you have a cheap and easy shortcut stroganoff. It is GOOD! I serve it with peas and a salad.
Pork Chop Magic
I’ll never forget the day my husband asked me to make pork chop magic for dinner. I thought it was so funny and cute! That is what they called this dinner growing up in his house.
Thinly slice potatoes and place in a greased 9x13 pan. Top with pork chops and season with salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, mix cream of mushroom soup with some beef broth (I really use that combination a lot, don’t I?). Pour over the potatoes and chops and bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes or until done (this will vary depending on the size of the chops and whether or not they are boneless). Pork chop magic!
Cooking without Recipes
You’ll find a lot of my recipes don’t include measurements or step by step instructions. I can’t help it, that’s just how I cook. Often, if I learn a new meal, I will follow the recipe and once I’m used to it I adapt it to my own ways and the recipe starts to fade into the background. I wonder if I’ll be one of those grandmothers who keeps all my recipes in my head?! I used to need to follow recipes exactly but I feel so liberated the way I cook now. If you haven’t tried it, I encourage you to let loose and experiment in the kitchen!
Coming Soon…
My grandma has been emailing me some of my Great-Grandmothers recipes. I decided I will start trying them out and posting the results here. From what I remember as a little girl, she was one good cook! Hopefully we’ll have some good ones coming your way very soon!
I really like to make a nice dinner for my family, but sometimes I just need to throw something together-and fast. I’m all about cooking without a recipe and I thought I would share what I whipped up for dinner the other night. It was extremely simple, used ingredients I always have in the kitchen, and tasted great. It was very simple and not at all fancy but thankfully, we don’t mind that!
I peeled and diced some potatoes and boiled them. In the meantime, I browned ground beef in a large skillet. When the potatoes were about three quarters done, I added them to the ground beef, threw in some frozen corn and peas, seasoned it all with pepper and onion soup mix, and poured a can of cream of mushroom soup over top. I let it simmer for about 20 minutes and it was done. I added a few drops of beef broth now and then when the sauce seemed a bit thick. Super easy and it was pretty good for a recipe I made up as I went! Served with fresh whole wheat bread and butter and a glass of milk and it was a decent dinner!
Cooking with Cream of Mushroom Soup
If you know me, you know I hate mushrooms. The taste and texture makes me gag something awful so I avoid them. I never used to cook with mushroom soup but my husband likes it so I adapted. It’s actually not that bad and I’ve made some delicious meals with it. I stock up on store-brand cans when they are on sale and I buy the low fat variety. It is so easy to put a roast and some onions in the crock pot, season as you like, and pour a can of mushroom soup and some beef broth over top. It cooks all day and makes really nice gravy. I thought I’d share a couple more meals I make with the soup that are very easy and pretty economical too!
Stroganoff
When I have sour cream that needs to get used up, I often make stroganoff for dinner. I brown some ground beef with onions, pour in a can of mushroom soup and some beef broth to make a sauce. I season with beef bouillon and during the last five minutes add sour cream to taste. Add a little dill, pour over egg noodles and you have a cheap and easy shortcut stroganoff. It is GOOD! I serve it with peas and a salad.
Pork Chop Magic
I’ll never forget the day my husband asked me to make pork chop magic for dinner. I thought it was so funny and cute! That is what they called this dinner growing up in his house.
Thinly slice potatoes and place in a greased 9x13 pan. Top with pork chops and season with salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, mix cream of mushroom soup with some beef broth (I really use that combination a lot, don’t I?). Pour over the potatoes and chops and bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes or until done (this will vary depending on the size of the chops and whether or not they are boneless). Pork chop magic!
Cooking without Recipes
You’ll find a lot of my recipes don’t include measurements or step by step instructions. I can’t help it, that’s just how I cook. Often, if I learn a new meal, I will follow the recipe and once I’m used to it I adapt it to my own ways and the recipe starts to fade into the background. I wonder if I’ll be one of those grandmothers who keeps all my recipes in my head?! I used to need to follow recipes exactly but I feel so liberated the way I cook now. If you haven’t tried it, I encourage you to let loose and experiment in the kitchen!
Coming Soon…
My grandma has been emailing me some of my Great-Grandmothers recipes. I decided I will start trying them out and posting the results here. From what I remember as a little girl, she was one good cook! Hopefully we’ll have some good ones coming your way very soon!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Makeshift Guacamole
This week, I found a bag of five avocado’s for a pretty decent price at the grocery store. I love avocado but rarely eat them because where we live, they are generally a dollar each. I was elated to have a bunch of them in my fruit bowl this week! I decided I better make the most of them and enjoy every last bite before I return to the emptiness that went before them.
I can easily just scoop avocado right out of the shell with a spoon and eat it, and that’s pretty much what I did with the first three. Today, I decided to be a bit more creative. At lunch, I cut one in half, fed half of one half to the baby (no, she did not like it), put the other half of that on my sandwich, then made a makeshift guacamole.
I LOVE guacamole! I could eat it by the bowlful. My husband hates it and won’t touch it (aah maybe the baby takes after her daddy here?) So, when I make it, it’s all mine! I didn’t have much in my fridge so I mashed up the remaining avocado half, mixed in some salsa, a squirt of lemon juice, and a sprinkling of salt. It was amazing! It took about 10 seconds to make and the same amount of time to eat. I ate it with tortilla chips but it would be good on a wrap, burritos, or on crackers.
I only have one avocado left. I am a treat hoarder but that just won’t do in this case. I must eat it and soon before it turns brown. I need to enjoy it more than any other avocado I’ve ever had…I think a big bowl of guacamole is called for tomorrow!
I can easily just scoop avocado right out of the shell with a spoon and eat it, and that’s pretty much what I did with the first three. Today, I decided to be a bit more creative. At lunch, I cut one in half, fed half of one half to the baby (no, she did not like it), put the other half of that on my sandwich, then made a makeshift guacamole.
I LOVE guacamole! I could eat it by the bowlful. My husband hates it and won’t touch it (aah maybe the baby takes after her daddy here?) So, when I make it, it’s all mine! I didn’t have much in my fridge so I mashed up the remaining avocado half, mixed in some salsa, a squirt of lemon juice, and a sprinkling of salt. It was amazing! It took about 10 seconds to make and the same amount of time to eat. I ate it with tortilla chips but it would be good on a wrap, burritos, or on crackers.
I only have one avocado left. I am a treat hoarder but that just won’t do in this case. I must eat it and soon before it turns brown. I need to enjoy it more than any other avocado I’ve ever had…I think a big bowl of guacamole is called for tomorrow!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Making Homemade Baby Food
It really is easier than you think to make your own baby food. I was terrified even at the prospect of feeding solids to my little girl. Breastfeeding is so easy! When they are hungry, you nurse them, when they are fussy, you nurse them…easy as pie! Nothing to think about.
When my daughter was five months old, I realized I needed to start thinking about the next phase in her culinary life. Solids. The next big adventure! I planned to start with rice cereal at six months of age and go from there. While I was overwhelmed at the thought of having to plan three meals a day and figure out how to give her a wide variety of healthy foods, the thought of what to feed her was even worse. Do I buy the jars or make it myself?
It took one trip to the baby food aisle at our local, low-cost grocery store to answer my question. I was making it myself! Why on earth would I buy a jar of strained bananas for seventy five cents when I could mash up half a banana for only pennies. So began the journey. Now, I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not a stickler by any means! If it makes sense to me to cheat then by golly cheat I will. But after whipping up a few delicious (and some gag-worthy) meals for my baby, I realized that doing it yourself really isn’t so bad after all.
Easy to use Utensils
Thankfully, because of some generous wedding gifts, I had everything I needed right in my kitchen cupboard. So far, I’ve found all I really need is a blender, a hand mixer (or stick mixer), a large mixing bowl, a spatula, and some ice cube trays. How easy is that? Generally, the stick mixer works the best and makes for the easiest cleanup. I put my cooked product in a large bowl, blend it up by hand and I’m done. But some foods, like meats, need a little more work and for those I use the blender.
Getting Started with Vegetables
I started with sweet potatoes and it was extremely easy. I washed them, poked holes in them, wrapped them in foil and baked at 400 degrees for just over an hour, until they were tender all the way through. I cut an X in the skin which then easily peeled away. Cut into chunks, whiz the hand blender through until soft and voila! Baby food! That is the basic formula for all the vegetables I’ve done. You can choose to boil, steam, or bake. Make sure they are washed and peeled if necessary and cook until quite soft. I’ve done carrots, peas, and green beans also so far with no problems. Peas and green beans are a little trickier because they have a “skin”. My baby gags on them so I just thin them with a little water or breast milk before serving them and she does fine.
Getting Started with Fruits
Fruits are just as easy as vegetables. So far, I’ve done apples, pears, and apricots. Bananas can be mashed up right before a feeding. Alternately, if you want to teach your little one some feeding skills (and work on that pincer grasp) just cut the banana into very small pieces and let your baby have fun learning to eat.
Apples and pears I simply peeled, cut into chunks and steamed with a small amount of water. I blended them up with the stick mixer, adding some of the cooking water and they were done. They are so delicious I have a hard time not eating them myself. Apricots were a little trickier. I cut them in half, took out the pits, baked them face down in a small amount of water until soft, then pulled off the peels. The problem is they are a bit sour. And a bit stringy. This was the first food my baby threw back up. But if they are mixed with baby cereal, they go down much smoother.
Cheating with Baby Food Jars
At this point, using the jarred food just makes more sense in some areas. Our apricots are sour because they aren’t in season. Peaches are not in season yet either. I don’t see what is so wrong with using jars so my baby can have some more variety in her diet. And to be honest, I feel overwhelmed at the thought of boiling and pureeing prunes at this point. It sounds like messy business. So I bought a couple jars to keep in the pantry. Is that really so bad?
Making Meat into Baby Food
Here is one area where I actually planned to use jarred baby food and ended up making my own. The thought of pureeing meat sounded quite awful as far as I was concerned. My trip to the baby food aisle had me changing my mind pretty quickly. The jars of just plain chicken or beef, without added vegetables or pasta, were $1.50 for a small jar! And the ingredient list included spices, but didn’t name which spices. Maybe I’m a little picky but I’d like to know exactly what I am feeding my baby. I didn’t want to buy the casserole type meats because I hadn’t yet introduced pasta and white potatoes into her diet.
I ended up buying some extra lean ground beef and chicken breasts. I poached the chicken to keep it from getting dry, cut it into pieces, and pureed in the blender with some water. The outcome was not pretty. It was like a runny chicken pudding. But my daughter ate it up no problem! Once you freeze them in ice cube trays, they thaw out to a much firmer texture. I used the same method with the beef, only fried it in the pan instead of poaching.
Storing and Serving Baby Food
As I’ve mentioned above, I simply pour my purees into ice cube trays, freeze for a few hours, then store the cubes in labeled freezer bags. They should be good in there for about a month. I try not to make batches that are too large to minimize the length of time they stay in the freezer. When meal time rolls around, I take out the cubes I want and heat them in a small frying pan over medium-low heat. They thaw very quickly and if they seem too hot, I pour some cold water in to thin and cool them off. I don’t use much liquid when making my purees as I prefer to thin them if necessary at her meal time.
If you are more organized than I am, you can take the cubes you need out of the freezer and store them in the fridge for a few hours and they should be thawed and ready to eat within a few hours.
Give Baby Food Cooking a Try
After reading the above, I hope you’ll give this adventure a try. It is not as daunting as I thought it would be and it is actually very fun to watch my little girl gobble up something that I myself made for her. It’s a good preparation for the days where she will be eating whatever her mom and dad are having for dinner. And you can’t beat the money savings!
When my daughter was five months old, I realized I needed to start thinking about the next phase in her culinary life. Solids. The next big adventure! I planned to start with rice cereal at six months of age and go from there. While I was overwhelmed at the thought of having to plan three meals a day and figure out how to give her a wide variety of healthy foods, the thought of what to feed her was even worse. Do I buy the jars or make it myself?
It took one trip to the baby food aisle at our local, low-cost grocery store to answer my question. I was making it myself! Why on earth would I buy a jar of strained bananas for seventy five cents when I could mash up half a banana for only pennies. So began the journey. Now, I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not a stickler by any means! If it makes sense to me to cheat then by golly cheat I will. But after whipping up a few delicious (and some gag-worthy) meals for my baby, I realized that doing it yourself really isn’t so bad after all.
Easy to use Utensils
Thankfully, because of some generous wedding gifts, I had everything I needed right in my kitchen cupboard. So far, I’ve found all I really need is a blender, a hand mixer (or stick mixer), a large mixing bowl, a spatula, and some ice cube trays. How easy is that? Generally, the stick mixer works the best and makes for the easiest cleanup. I put my cooked product in a large bowl, blend it up by hand and I’m done. But some foods, like meats, need a little more work and for those I use the blender.
Getting Started with Vegetables
I started with sweet potatoes and it was extremely easy. I washed them, poked holes in them, wrapped them in foil and baked at 400 degrees for just over an hour, until they were tender all the way through. I cut an X in the skin which then easily peeled away. Cut into chunks, whiz the hand blender through until soft and voila! Baby food! That is the basic formula for all the vegetables I’ve done. You can choose to boil, steam, or bake. Make sure they are washed and peeled if necessary and cook until quite soft. I’ve done carrots, peas, and green beans also so far with no problems. Peas and green beans are a little trickier because they have a “skin”. My baby gags on them so I just thin them with a little water or breast milk before serving them and she does fine.
Getting Started with Fruits
Fruits are just as easy as vegetables. So far, I’ve done apples, pears, and apricots. Bananas can be mashed up right before a feeding. Alternately, if you want to teach your little one some feeding skills (and work on that pincer grasp) just cut the banana into very small pieces and let your baby have fun learning to eat.
Apples and pears I simply peeled, cut into chunks and steamed with a small amount of water. I blended them up with the stick mixer, adding some of the cooking water and they were done. They are so delicious I have a hard time not eating them myself. Apricots were a little trickier. I cut them in half, took out the pits, baked them face down in a small amount of water until soft, then pulled off the peels. The problem is they are a bit sour. And a bit stringy. This was the first food my baby threw back up. But if they are mixed with baby cereal, they go down much smoother.
Cheating with Baby Food Jars
At this point, using the jarred food just makes more sense in some areas. Our apricots are sour because they aren’t in season. Peaches are not in season yet either. I don’t see what is so wrong with using jars so my baby can have some more variety in her diet. And to be honest, I feel overwhelmed at the thought of boiling and pureeing prunes at this point. It sounds like messy business. So I bought a couple jars to keep in the pantry. Is that really so bad?
Making Meat into Baby Food
Here is one area where I actually planned to use jarred baby food and ended up making my own. The thought of pureeing meat sounded quite awful as far as I was concerned. My trip to the baby food aisle had me changing my mind pretty quickly. The jars of just plain chicken or beef, without added vegetables or pasta, were $1.50 for a small jar! And the ingredient list included spices, but didn’t name which spices. Maybe I’m a little picky but I’d like to know exactly what I am feeding my baby. I didn’t want to buy the casserole type meats because I hadn’t yet introduced pasta and white potatoes into her diet.
I ended up buying some extra lean ground beef and chicken breasts. I poached the chicken to keep it from getting dry, cut it into pieces, and pureed in the blender with some water. The outcome was not pretty. It was like a runny chicken pudding. But my daughter ate it up no problem! Once you freeze them in ice cube trays, they thaw out to a much firmer texture. I used the same method with the beef, only fried it in the pan instead of poaching.
Storing and Serving Baby Food
As I’ve mentioned above, I simply pour my purees into ice cube trays, freeze for a few hours, then store the cubes in labeled freezer bags. They should be good in there for about a month. I try not to make batches that are too large to minimize the length of time they stay in the freezer. When meal time rolls around, I take out the cubes I want and heat them in a small frying pan over medium-low heat. They thaw very quickly and if they seem too hot, I pour some cold water in to thin and cool them off. I don’t use much liquid when making my purees as I prefer to thin them if necessary at her meal time.
If you are more organized than I am, you can take the cubes you need out of the freezer and store them in the fridge for a few hours and they should be thawed and ready to eat within a few hours.
Give Baby Food Cooking a Try
After reading the above, I hope you’ll give this adventure a try. It is not as daunting as I thought it would be and it is actually very fun to watch my little girl gobble up something that I myself made for her. It’s a good preparation for the days where she will be eating whatever her mom and dad are having for dinner. And you can’t beat the money savings!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Planting Flowers
One thing I've never done but always wanted to do was plant flowers. Seems like a typical housewife thing to me! Our deck needs a serious painting (we'll be getting to that later!) so I thought some flower pots might spruce up our front door quite nicely. I was, of course, completely clueless about doing this so my mother in law stepped in to help!
We bought some plants that would be easy to care for in our hot and sunny climate. It was actually very simple. Fill the pots with soil, soak the soil with water and begin! You just dig a small hole to fit the base of the plant and pack the dirt around them. I planted petunias, geraniums, daisies, and pansies and some pretty pot fillers (the names of which have slipped my rookie gardener mind!)
This was a very inexpensive project, which always makes me happy. The previous owners of our home had left flower pots in our shed. My sister in law just happened to have some extra soil and the plants cost me under $12 in total. I have three pots welcoming people on our front porch. I could have bought pots that were already filled with flowers for about $20 a pop. I don't think so! The little bit of work this took was worth it.
I think they turned out quite nicely and I'm very proud of myself! After about two days I called my mother in law with the extremely disappointing news that my flowers were dying. I supposed I just wasn't cut out to grow flowers. How sad. She quickly informed me that I had to perform a procedure called "deadheading" which basically means to pluck the little dead flower off of the plant. Sure enough, new ones started blooming the next day. I think I can handle this after all!
Bright and colorful flowers brighten up a home, even a home with a drab deck. That is my rookie homemakers tip today!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tea and Cookies
I love tea! I can barely make it through a day without having a cup of tea. When people come to visit, I love to make a pot of tea, served in my pretty china cups, and sit and chat. To me, tea equals hospitality! Well, maybe that’s a stretch, but I certainly think it’s hospitable to offer someone tea when they come for a visit. And what goes great with tea? Cookies! I am the cookie queen. If I ever need to bring something to a party or pot luck, it’s going to be cookies. They are my signature dish!
Since having a baby, I just don’t have the time like I once did to bake cookies. My latest trick is to bake a big batch, and pop them in the freezer. Then, when someone comes by for tea, I don’t have to rush around trying to find a treat for us to nibble on. If you freeze cooled cookies in freezer bags on the day you make them, they will taste great even a month or two later.
Here are a couple of my favorite recipes for cookies that (to me) go well with tea. Both of these will thaw within minutes out of the freezer and taste as fresh as the day you made them.
Soft and Chewy Ginger Cookies
2 ¼ cups flour
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. salt
¾ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
¼ cup molasses
¼ cup sugar
Directions:
Combine flour, ginger, soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside. Cream butter until soft. Beat in sugar until fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg. Stir in half the flour mixture, then stir in the second half. Roll into 1 inch balls then coat the balls in sugar. Press down with a fork. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for about 8 minutes. Do not over bake! They should be slightly underbaked in order to remain soft.
Brown Sugar Shortbread
1 cup butter, room temperature
½ cup brown sugar, packed
2 ¼ cups flour
Dash of salt
Cream butter and sugar. Stir in flour and salt. Knead on a floured surface for three minutes. Form into two logs and refrigerate until firm. Cut into 1 inch slices. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 300 for 25 minutes.
That is our family’s original recipe. If you want to do it even easier follow along here…!
Throw all the ingredients in the food processor. Pulse until the mixture forms a soft dough…voila! Form into logs…and you know the rest. It is much easier this way and they turn out just as delicious without fussing with kneading.
And for all you health nuts out there (I suppose I’m an occasional health nut myself) here is a healthy recipe for some bars that taste great with tea. I found it years ago in a Light and Tasty magazine.
Berry Oat Squares
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 jar (10 ounces) 100% raspberry spreadable fruit (or whatever fruit you like…I don’t use the whole jar)
Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, soda, and salt; stir in butter. Reserve ¾ cup for the topping. Press remaining oat mixture into a greased, square baking pan. Spread with fruit spread. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over top. Bake 25-30 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
Delicious! Have a cup of tea and enjoy!
Since having a baby, I just don’t have the time like I once did to bake cookies. My latest trick is to bake a big batch, and pop them in the freezer. Then, when someone comes by for tea, I don’t have to rush around trying to find a treat for us to nibble on. If you freeze cooled cookies in freezer bags on the day you make them, they will taste great even a month or two later.
Here are a couple of my favorite recipes for cookies that (to me) go well with tea. Both of these will thaw within minutes out of the freezer and taste as fresh as the day you made them.
Soft and Chewy Ginger Cookies
2 ¼ cups flour
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. salt
¾ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
¼ cup molasses
¼ cup sugar
Directions:
Combine flour, ginger, soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside. Cream butter until soft. Beat in sugar until fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg. Stir in half the flour mixture, then stir in the second half. Roll into 1 inch balls then coat the balls in sugar. Press down with a fork. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for about 8 minutes. Do not over bake! They should be slightly underbaked in order to remain soft.
Brown Sugar Shortbread
1 cup butter, room temperature
½ cup brown sugar, packed
2 ¼ cups flour
Dash of salt
Cream butter and sugar. Stir in flour and salt. Knead on a floured surface for three minutes. Form into two logs and refrigerate until firm. Cut into 1 inch slices. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 300 for 25 minutes.
That is our family’s original recipe. If you want to do it even easier follow along here…!
Throw all the ingredients in the food processor. Pulse until the mixture forms a soft dough…voila! Form into logs…and you know the rest. It is much easier this way and they turn out just as delicious without fussing with kneading.
And for all you health nuts out there (I suppose I’m an occasional health nut myself) here is a healthy recipe for some bars that taste great with tea. I found it years ago in a Light and Tasty magazine.
Berry Oat Squares
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 jar (10 ounces) 100% raspberry spreadable fruit (or whatever fruit you like…I don’t use the whole jar)
Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, soda, and salt; stir in butter. Reserve ¾ cup for the topping. Press remaining oat mixture into a greased, square baking pan. Spread with fruit spread. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over top. Bake 25-30 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
Delicious! Have a cup of tea and enjoy!
Housewife Padawan
All I ever wanted was to be a wife and mother. That was my great aspiration as I entered my adult years. I dreamed of my house being the place where all the kids wanted to play because I was the mom who made the best cookies. All the kids would want to stay for dinner in my tidy, cozy, warm little home.
These dreams were all well and good but I had one major problem. I didn’t actually know how to do anything required of a good homemaker. I couldn’t make a bed to save my life. Forget sewing, I didn’t know how. My cooking skills were pretty shabby and rolling out a pie crust was out of the question.
Let’s face it; in this world of working mothers, not all of us are getting the training of generations past. I know my mom had the same dreams I did when she was young but life gets in the way. She didn’t plan to end up a single mother working long hours week after week, year after year until suddenly her kids were grown and out on their own. I have a wonderful mom; she is my great friend and I love her dearly. She is a great cook and housekeeper and she did teach me a lot. I know she would have taught me more had circumstances been different.
Before I met my husband, a desire sprung up within me to become an expert housewife. I needed to know what to do so that I would be ready the day after our wedding. What silliness! I did teach myself to bake and thanks to my love for it, I found it very easy. My mom is a fantastic cleaner but the actual desire to keep things clean and tidy did not come naturally to me. Baking was much more fun! By the time I met my husband, I was an excellent baker, a decent cook, and a lousy housekeeper. I’m still a lousy housekeeper!
We spent a summer living with my husband’s parents and that is where the padawan training began. At the time, we were going through each of the Star Wars movies. I won’t even pretend to be a Star Wars expert but I do know that a padawan is like an apprentice being trained by a Jedi master.
I naturally started following my mother in law around the house, watching her every move. I actually carried a little notebook with me and would sneak to my room to write down a tidbit of information from what I saw her doing. My husband began to call me “Mom’s little padawan” and it stuck!
My mother in law is a classic housewife. She is one hard working lady! She stayed home to raise all four of her kids. She cooks delicious meals, bakes amazing treats, and is extremely hospitable. She can sew, make crafts, press flowers and knows how to make a Christmas angel out of a necktie. At any given time, she can tell you which store in town has the cheapest produce and meat. If I think I got a great deal on laundry detergent, she’ll have already found it somewhere else for a dollar less. She just knows.
So it only made sense for me to follow her around. She didn’t know I was taking notes and still refer to those notes to this day. She just took me under her wing and showed me what she knew.
Three years later, I still have so much to learn. I’m definitely still a padawan! I picked up some great tips from my mother in law. I learned how to cook great food that’s lower in fat. I learned some new recipes for amazing cookies. I learned how to sew a pillowcase (that was my sister in law, the first padawan of mom). Despite all that she can do, the vital thing I noticed was this: my mother in law will leave the dirty dishes in the sink if her family wants to watch a movie or play games. She always puts the people before the housework. That is the most important lesson I have learned; the basic art of being a great homemaker. Love God, love your husband, and love your kids. This is what really counts. All the cooking, cleaning, and nurturing is done because of the deep love I have for my family. They are always going to think I make the best cookies because they know the loving care that goes into those cookies. And the fact that they are the best cookies ever kind of helps too…don’t you think?!
These dreams were all well and good but I had one major problem. I didn’t actually know how to do anything required of a good homemaker. I couldn’t make a bed to save my life. Forget sewing, I didn’t know how. My cooking skills were pretty shabby and rolling out a pie crust was out of the question.
Let’s face it; in this world of working mothers, not all of us are getting the training of generations past. I know my mom had the same dreams I did when she was young but life gets in the way. She didn’t plan to end up a single mother working long hours week after week, year after year until suddenly her kids were grown and out on their own. I have a wonderful mom; she is my great friend and I love her dearly. She is a great cook and housekeeper and she did teach me a lot. I know she would have taught me more had circumstances been different.
Before I met my husband, a desire sprung up within me to become an expert housewife. I needed to know what to do so that I would be ready the day after our wedding. What silliness! I did teach myself to bake and thanks to my love for it, I found it very easy. My mom is a fantastic cleaner but the actual desire to keep things clean and tidy did not come naturally to me. Baking was much more fun! By the time I met my husband, I was an excellent baker, a decent cook, and a lousy housekeeper. I’m still a lousy housekeeper!
We spent a summer living with my husband’s parents and that is where the padawan training began. At the time, we were going through each of the Star Wars movies. I won’t even pretend to be a Star Wars expert but I do know that a padawan is like an apprentice being trained by a Jedi master.
I naturally started following my mother in law around the house, watching her every move. I actually carried a little notebook with me and would sneak to my room to write down a tidbit of information from what I saw her doing. My husband began to call me “Mom’s little padawan” and it stuck!
My mother in law is a classic housewife. She is one hard working lady! She stayed home to raise all four of her kids. She cooks delicious meals, bakes amazing treats, and is extremely hospitable. She can sew, make crafts, press flowers and knows how to make a Christmas angel out of a necktie. At any given time, she can tell you which store in town has the cheapest produce and meat. If I think I got a great deal on laundry detergent, she’ll have already found it somewhere else for a dollar less. She just knows.
So it only made sense for me to follow her around. She didn’t know I was taking notes and still refer to those notes to this day. She just took me under her wing and showed me what she knew.
Three years later, I still have so much to learn. I’m definitely still a padawan! I picked up some great tips from my mother in law. I learned how to cook great food that’s lower in fat. I learned some new recipes for amazing cookies. I learned how to sew a pillowcase (that was my sister in law, the first padawan of mom). Despite all that she can do, the vital thing I noticed was this: my mother in law will leave the dirty dishes in the sink if her family wants to watch a movie or play games. She always puts the people before the housework. That is the most important lesson I have learned; the basic art of being a great homemaker. Love God, love your husband, and love your kids. This is what really counts. All the cooking, cleaning, and nurturing is done because of the deep love I have for my family. They are always going to think I make the best cookies because they know the loving care that goes into those cookies. And the fact that they are the best cookies ever kind of helps too…don’t you think?!
Welcome!
Welcome to the Rookie Homemakers Playbook! I'm just a simple wife and mother clumsily learning to make a warm, loving home for my family. I've always dreamed of having a cozy, neat and tidy home where people love to visit because the atmosphere is great and the food is delicious. I'm not there yet (far from it, actually) but I thought I'd share what I'm doing as I make my way through. Feel free to look around and I hope you find something that helps you along the way.
My favorite things to talk about are cooking and baking so you'll find a lot of that here. But I hope to make it a well rounded place to visit!
My favorite things to talk about are cooking and baking so you'll find a lot of that here. But I hope to make it a well rounded place to visit!
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