Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Tday.

We had our dinner last Sunday. Less conflict with children that are from split families and those that have in laws that feel the holiday must be held on the actual day.


so today hubby and I are snacking thru the left overs and prepping the rest for the freezer for future meals.


my youngest and I did kick ourselves Sunday while prepping the crudite( veggie) trays and peeling 20 lbs of potatoes. We throwed the peelings into the trash can then remembered we had wanted to keep them for broth following Gayle's recipe from grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com

Probably would have gotten over 6 gals of broth. That's a lot of soups for this winter for half our family is out of work and it doesn't look good to finding even part time work to make ends meet.


so we are thankful for what we have, what we can share and pass those Blessings to you and yours


Blessed Be

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

stocking up

stocking up, putting up, putting by....words that you are hearing quite often in this time.

words I grew up with.

I try to stock for the year. Yes I live with in driving distance to the store. Hubby can even stop on his way home from work if needed.

I do it for several reasons.

First, it's in my blood right along with gardening. I now live in the city, rent from a wonderful young lady who would not be happy to find me plowing her yard up. So I have already planned to do raised beds following the square foot gardening plan ( which I used in the country and would tell any one and every one to follow this plan). I always have something to process with a garden

I do home canning, dehydrating, oven slow roasting and freezing.

Second reason... I get a sense of security from seeing the food on the shelves. I won't go hungry and I could feed my grown children and their children if needed. Not for the year I try to plan for for us but I could take us all a good few months.

Third reason, if I am not in the store, I am not spending. Most of us go to the store for milk and bread and come back with a lot more items and a lot less money. When you are struggling to pay the basic necessities the groceries is where you can take the hit and still have a good meal to sit down to.

Fourth reason, my kids and grandkids love getting home made food for Christmas or any time during the year.It is a gift of myself.

enjoy your day...

until next time

Blessed be

Monday, November 16, 2009

Hi I am Chef ( Julia) Owings

I am a Personal Chef , not cordon bleu trained .

I am a wife, a mother of 6( over 18 but I am not sure about the "grown" part), grandmother to over 20 not counting their pets and the "mommy" to 2 very large dogs.

This is probably not the best timing I have for starting a blog. So forgive me if I spit and sputter in getting this rolling

I am looming( lap loom) afghans for all the kids and grandkids. should have started it earlier and worked more steady on it during the year. Writing 1667 words each day for the Nat'l Novel Writer month and cooking Tday dinner for around 50. Most dishes made from scratch and I do all the cooking. OKAY hubby deep fries 2-3 small turkeys but I still roast a large one amongst the 100 dishes that is served. We have our dinner on the Sunday before Tday so our kids that are in food service or in military can come for dinner. Also keeps the "we spent last yr with your parents" arguements down.

If that wasn't enough, we bake 120 dozen( yes you read that correctly) cookies for the kids, not including candy, buckeyes etc. AND our one son volunteered us for 60 dozen cookies for Operation Thank You to send to the troops. Some times all you can do is love them for believing in you. AND ask for the money for ingredients.

I just wanted to pop in, say hello and get this blog rolling.

until we meet again

Blessed Be