Monthly Archive for August, 2008

When Creamed Chicken and Sausage Cornbread Dressing Join Hands, the World Sings

Published on August 25, 2008 in Home Life and My Favorite Recipe Websites. 3 Comments Tags: , .

Well, maybe my taste buds do anyway.

I tried two new recipes tonight from my More With Less cookbook. I highly recommend this cookbook. It has all kinds of wholesome recipes in it, gives directions on being frugal and eating nutritious meals. It even has directions on how to make lye soap, though I don’t intend to do that anytime soon. My mom gave this cookbook to me shortly after David and I were married. (Thanks, Mom!) I had forgotten I even had it until fairly recently and have been excited to try some recipes from there. The other day, I made some cornbread to go with some stew and had a bunch leftover. When I was looking through More With Less, there was a recipe for cornbread dressing which sounded really good. It had an option to serve it with creamed chicken, which is basically chopped, cooked chicken mixed in with a white sauce. I had all the ingredients (mostly) so decided to give it a try. I liked it! The kids didn’t, but that really didn’t surprise me much because if they had their way, their diet would consist of pizza and chicken fingers with an occasional trip to Chipotle every now and then. Oh well. They’ll thank me one day, I hope.

Oh yeah, you may have noticed my new look! That is all David’s doing. It’s nice to have a web designer for a husband. He did some tinkering on my friend Cara’s blog and convinced me that I needed a new look too. I really, really like the new layout and especially the title. Thank you, David!

Over at the Crockpot Lady’s site, she posted a recipe that looks really good. I’m thinking about trying it but have folks over so I don’t end up gorging myself (though I might do that anyway and not leave them any). My tastebuds would probably be singing again but my waistline might be begging me for some serious crunches.

Our Great Dinner Challenge is going really well! I’ve definitely had to be more organized but I am enjoying having home-cooked meals and doing some experimenting while I’m at it. I am not even sure how many days we have left exactly but it’s roughly six weeks. I hope we can keep it up even after that, though. Eating at home is a good habit to get into, for sure.

Well, friends and family, it’s time to say adios. I’m about to go get my sweat on with a Denise Austin workout video. It’s going to be grand…

With Silver Bells and Cockle Shells and Zucchini Plants All in a Row…

Published on August 18, 2008 in Gardening. 3 Comments

As promised, here are a few more things I’ve learned from gardening this year. Hopefully this will be of help to some.

  1. Weeds are lousy.
  2. See above. Okay, seriously, I know I’ve talked about weeds before but they are really hard to keep a handle on. As I’ve been thinking about weeds more, I’ve realized how interesting they are. For instance, no one has to plant them. They just show up. Uninvited. They grow fast, overnight it seems. Also, they don’t have anything that wants to eat them. Apparently, the pesky insects that eat my zucchini plants also know that weeds are no good. Because of that, they can really take over.
  3. Zucchini plants can get these little whitish-gray beetles on them and take over the plants. It’s gross! My zucchini plants had been crawling with these little things. I had sprinkled some Sevin Dust (it’s actually spelled that way) on them but we have had so much rain this year that it kept washing off. I debated sprinkling more but we are tired of zucchini around here so just let the little guys go at it. The beetles sure seemed to be enjoying them!
  4. You can plant some seeds now for various veggies and have a fall crop! I planted some radishes and turnips so we’ll see how they turn out. I don’t remember the last time I had a turnip.
  5. Compost is cool! It’s amazing that all those things I put in there turns into this dirt-looking stuff, and it doesn’t smell like rotting food! One way to know if you have the right mix of stuff in there is if your compost has an “earthy” smell. If it stinks, you need to add more dry stuff (dry leaves or grass clippings).
  6. Your compost pile needs to be turned every now and then but be prepared! There are all kinds of things living in the pile: ants (lots and lots of them!), spiders, zucchini beetles (if you put your dead zucchini plants in there), crickets, grasshoppers. If you compost it, they will come…

All in all, I like having a garden and will probably do it again next year. I don’t think I’ll be doing zucchini however, but you probably already figured that out!

Surprises Abound!

Published on August 16, 2008 in Gardening. 1 Comment

We stirred the compost pile the other day and guess what we found (besides hundreds of ants and a really huge spider)? Compost! It’s nice to know that I’m not messing it up!

I need to go to bed but will hopefully post a few more gardening tips in the coming week. G’nite!

Doing the Next Thing…

Published on August 13, 2008 in Christianity and Home Life. 1 Comment

I am busy. Busier now than I’ve probably ever been in my life. Staying busy is good. But there comes a point when I feel like I just can’t do it anymore. The other day, however, I came across a poem that was posted on a woman’s blog whose husband died of cancer just three months ago. He was not that much older than me and not only left behind his wife but three young children. The poem that she posted was written by a woman named Elisabeth Elliott whose husband was a missionary. She was eventually widowed twice. After the death of her first husband, she wrote a poem called, “Do the Next Thing.” I know my trials are relatively small compared to hers, but I found her thoughts helpful for my situation, too. When I get overwhelmed in the mornings, thinking about all that I have to get done for the day: do the next thing. When the laundry is piling up, the fridge is bare, and I have four hours of work ahead of me: do the next thing. When I get worried about tomorrow, wondering in my unbelief if God will provide for us: do the next thing. When my children are fighting, our car breaks down, and the amount in the bank doesn’t look like it can possibly carry us through the month: do the next thing. God gives his people grace as they need it. He will keep me going, putting one foot in front of the other, doing the next thing whatever that may be. All of my worry, fear, unbelief, even my tears won’t make the busyness go away. “Do the next thing.” As Christ himself said, “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” I will leave you with Elisabeth Elliott’s words to think about.

“Do the Next Thing”
Elisabeth Elliott

At an old English parsonage down by the sea,
there came in the twilight a message to me.
Its quaint Saxon legend deeply engraven
that, as it seems to me, teaching from heaven.
And all through the hours the quiet words ring,
like a low inspiration, ‘Do the next thing.’

Many a questioning, many a fear,
many a doubt hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from heaven,
time, opportunity, guidance are given.
Fear not tomorrow, child of the King,
trust that with Jesus, do the next thing.

Do it immediately, do it with prayer,
do it reliantly, casting all care.
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand,
who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on omnipotence, safe ‘neath His wing,
leave all resultings, do the next thing.

Looking to Jesus, ever serener,
working or suffering be thy demeanor,
in His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
the light of His countenance, be thy psalm.
Do the next thing.

Apparently, this poem was not written by Elisabeth Elliott but was quoted by her (maybe in a book?) at some point. Regardless, it’s good!

…the Livin’ is Easy

Published on August 5, 2008 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

I haven’t had any coffee today. What started as a dull ache is now a throbbing headache. The best part is that I have to work here in about 30 minutes. But, we’re having steak tonight (at home) so that makes it all the more bearable. I’m also making mushroom sauce and mashed potatoes. We were going to have some French bread too, but the mold got to it before we did. I suppose that’s part of living in a humid environment, especially in the summertime.

A couple weeks ago, we piled into the car to drive down to Austin, TX to visit family. We ended up driving through the night and were exhausted the next day. We had a nice, albeit short, visit. We went to a reception at the Texas Culinary Academy on the Friday we were there. Oh. My. The food was grand and plentiful. There were lots of students dressed up in their chef garb with plates of hors de ouvres. There was pan after pan of cookies and all kinds of fancy treats. There was an ice sculpture the shape of a clam with huge cocktail shrimp in the bowl part. We could have stayed there all day feeding our faces. It was excellent!

On our return home, water started collecting on the floor in our car in the back. By the time we pulled up in front of our house, there was standing water back there. Apparently, it had something to do with our AC. We ran it quite a bit that weekend. It is central Texas in the summertime after all.