COOKING I love to cook and I love to bake. This has been a lifelong love of mine. I could cook a full meal by the time I was 10 or 11. Of course, I watched my Mom because in those days we only went out to eat on special occasions. I can remember when I was in the 6th grade and we went Christmas Shopping at a new mall, yes ne, as in never been one around before. We got to go to McDonalds, that was a big deal for our family of 5. These days a lot of kids don’t know what a family meal is. I still strive for that on most days. I learned most from my Mom. Another influence was my Great Aunt Vashti, or Ti as we called her. She was my Dad’s aunt who basically helped raise him since his own Mom died when he was around 7. I would go to visit her and Bill, her brother who lived together most of their lives, neither never marrying. She didn’t have inside water for a very long time and cooked on a wood stove. We would walk to the store, a few blocks, because they didn’t own a car. I could get most anything I wanted to eat or cook when I would stay with her. Sometimes that would be a week at a time during the summer. I guess it was smothering hot in the house, but I don’t remember that too much thankfully. Of course buying what I wanted wasn’t like going to a grocery store now. This was a small store in a very small town, about 200 people. Some of the things that were my favorite to purchase were the boxed pizza mixes and any kind of cakes. Ti loved her sweets. I think she lived on sweets and grease (lard for the most part). She lived to be 90 and had hardly any health problems plus never weighed more than 110 pounds. These days doctors would be after her to change her eating habits. Also, we had home-ec in school although I have to say our teacher wasn’t the greatest cook, but at least we had a chance to cook, learn some manners, and set a table. This step of life is getting missed by so many these days. Back to my cooking – I get tired of seemingly cooking the same meals and am always looking and trying to recipes. Between trying to save money, using coupons, and being busy, I still try to cook dinner most days. Not a full 5 course meal but enough for us and hopefully a few leftovers. I think my family will cringe sometimes when I say I have a new concoction or experiment. Today is one of those days. One of the best inventions in helping get meals on the table is the crock pot. I got my first one in 1975 and have 4 at this time. You must have a different size for different things. Right? I had seen a meatloaf recipe on The Pioneer Woman (don’t you love her) and wanted to try it. While shopping I was able to purchase bagged meat balls for only $1.25 for 14 oz, which is way cheaper than any ground meat I could get. I don’t use too many packaged items, but sometimes they do come in handy. I made a sauce of ketchup, brown sugar, a few drops of soy sauce and a couple tablespoons of Wild Tree Teriyaki Sauce. I do wish I had thought to add a few grated onions in it but too late now. It’s ready for Don to put in the oven before I get home. Taking the Saran Wrap off and putting in the oven is his kind of cooking. Don and Doug both love the teriyaki flavor, although I’m not a big fan of it. I will have to give you a review later on what they thought. I always tell them when I try or buy something new they have to give me their honest opinion so I will know either to change it up or take it off our menu. Have a great day. I would always love to hear what your favorite recipes are, including those for the crock pot.

Choices

Everyone seems to be having their word – “My Word”, “Word of the Year”, “One Little Word”. Have you chosen one yet? Has this been around for a long time or are we just hearing about it more because of Facebook? We seem to hear a lot of things on Facebook and some of it we could do without such as rumors, bashing of politics, and airing dirty laundry. OK – I’m guilty of some of this also. This brings me to my word – CHOICES. We make them all the time and sometimes without thinking. Maybe we should think about another word with this – consequences. Isn’t that what we strived to teach our kids? So many resolutions are thrown out there at this time of year with the most popular seeming to be get organized, save money, eat healthier, lose weight, spend more time with family, be more patient, do more for others, etc. Do you make resolutions? I really don’t because then if you don’t complete it to your complete satisfaction, it can be viewed as a failure. Or, maybe you can take this in baby steps in your CHOICES you make daily. What if you want to be more organized? Does that mean by next December you have to have all the shelves in your garage in containers, labels, and a list saved on your computer? Wouldn’t that be wonderful, but it could mean when you need a certain document, you know exactly where it is or that junk drawer got cleaned out. You have a choice – if you want to fit into that certain dress for an upcoming event, don’t eat those Orange Danish Rolls for breakfast, choose oatmeal instead. Want to get organized, choice to spend just a few minutes a day going through the pantry, that junk drawer, or that pile of magazine articles you have pulled out. These have already been my choices for the day. What’s yours?