Product review

Who – Velveeta cheesy shells. Barbeque chicken flavor
What – 1 pot meal
Why – Well 2 reasons; #1 easy meal for one of us to make. #2 Hello its Velveeta!!
Cost – ($1.75 at Walmart) and then there was a 75 cent off coupon in the box.
Thoughts – very easy to make, everything but the chicken is in the box. I used canned chicken instead of cook me chicken. I also added BBQ sauce – just wasn’t enough for our liking.
Results – I will buy again for those I am to tired to cook nights. I actually got 4 $1 coupons that I used today to buy 4 additional boxes. 2 of these went into my long term storage I did buy 1 can of chicken for one of the boxes but the other uses ground beef.

August prepping work

Its close enough to the end of August that I want to report on my prepping work. So far I have cleaned out 2 of the 3 boxes from my closet floor. And the clothes in them were donated.

I have bought the following for the prepper stockpile:
1 package pantiliners. Besides from the obvious use they can double as large bandaids.
5 - 8 pack packages of pocket tissues
container for my first aid kit

I moved from the regular stockpile to the long term stockpile:
6 bars of Ivory soap
5 containers of dental floss
8 toothbrushes

And I created the first aid kit. Right now all I have is 40 band aids but at least it is started.

Everyone along the US East Coast is in my prayers.
Blessings

Relaxing

Sitting out back tonight. You can hear the usual sounds, leaves in the breeze, birds chirping, crickets chirping and little boys yelling.

Two of the neighbor boys (B & G both about 4-5 years) are playing at our end of the field. it's been a long time since either of us have had little ones to run around but, to me, its a nice sound.

B's father just yelled asking wht they were up to the reply ws "Looking for animals". What will they find a stray cat, a snake, rabbits or a groundhog? Most likely they will find a stray cat or two, the old tire, the wooden pallet or the pieces of concrete that are hidden in the tall grass.

Regardless I'll sit here and enjoy their sounds of play and happiness.

Blessings, Laura

Recipe review - Mandalay Beef casserole

Mandalay Beef casserole
Pillsbury Family Cook Book (1963) page 271

1 pound ground beef
8 oz (1 cup) can tomatoes
1 cup cooked rice
¼ cup chopped onion
¼ cup canned pineapple tidbits, drained
1 Tablespoon raisins
2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon curry powder (I used Mild Curry)
¾ teaspoon salt
chopped peanuts, optional

Oven 350 and this serves 6

Saute beef in skillet; drain off fat. Combine with remaining ingredients (except peanuts) in 1 ½ quart casserole dish. If desired, sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes.

Opinion; yummmmm!!! Don’t let the idea of pineapple and raisins turn you off from trying this meal. Greg does not generally like pineapple but he ate 2 helpings of this one. Some things that I changed: I only had a thick style of Lea & Perrins (Worcestershire sauce) and since I have 2 more bottles I did not buy the regular style and as I stated I used Mild Curry powder. I also did not use the peanuts and did not bake the dish.

Recipe review - Easy Beef Stroganoff

Quick and easy beef stroganoff
Pillsbury Family Cook book (1963) page 273

1 pound ground beef
½ cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 Tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 tablespoon crushed rosemary
1 1/3 cup canned mushrooms pieces and stems, drained
10 1/2 oz condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
8oz chow mein noodles
2 Tablespoon minced parsley

Brown ground beef, onion and garlic in the butter until brown and tender. Add flour, seasonings and mushrooms; cook 5 minutes. Add soup; dimmer uncovered 10 minutes. Stir in sour cream. Heat, but do not boil. Serve over warm noodles. Garnish with parsley.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Results and comments: Good meal but I used egg noodles instead of the chow mein noodles. Also forgot to add the flour but I’m glad I didn’t; it turned out quite stiff and I almost added a bit of the mushroom juice or water to thin it out but extra water was not needed. I also added a dollop of sour cream when I served it.

Recipe review

Recipe review
Tuna Pasta Salad
1 package (8 oz) small shell pasta, cooked and drained
1 can (6 oz) tuna, drained and flaked
1 large carrot, shredded
¼ cup chopped onion
¾ cup mayonnaise (I used Miracle Whip)
¼ cup milk
1 Tablesppon lemon juice
2 teaspoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon dill weed
½ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

In large bowl combine pasta, tuna, carrot, onion. In another bowl, mix remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour liquids over noodle mixture, toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
Serves 4 servings

Results; very good and cool meal on a 96 degree day. Does need some type of crunchy so serve with a wheat style of cracker.
I followed the directions, except for the lemon juice (none in the house) and will not make any changes for future meals.

From Taste of Home April/May 1996 page 19
Made during June 2011

Preparing our house for an emergency

I’ve been watching several TV episodes about “Preppers”. If you’re unfamiliar with these people, they prepare themselves for a world collapse of almost any sort. I actually understand their thought process as I expect some sort of another Great Depression similar to 1929’s.

Preppers have hidden or some not so hidden at least a one year supply of everything needed to survive for their group/family unit.

My stockpile is so low after the hardships of the last 2 years (unemployment or underemployment) that I doubt that Greg & I could survive for 2 weeks. That has me worried not only for a years survival but what about this coming winter?

So many thoughts keep going thru my head –
What do we need to do?
How/where to start?
Where can I hide everything?

Well I have some thoughts on those matters. Storage we each have a closet in our bedroom – we can put things at the bottom under the hanging clothes. We need to be careful in Greg’s - his has the hot water heater that we must maintain access to.
Under our bed – we can put small containers like wrapping paper holders. I bet 6 of those could fit under the bed. Personally I am curious how many flat rolls of toilet paper will fit in one of those.
Under our trailer – plastic bins again to keep the dampness out
Our shed – needs cleaning but will hold stuff.

Next we need to figure out how many we will/can we provide for? Obviously we have us plus Simba. What about my brother Tom (he’s a special case) and if we provide for him how can I not provide for AJ & Kelly. What about the rest of the family – should I really be expected to provide for all? Tough choice there.

I was given a link to the LDS preparedness manual. Wonderful book, very thorough and includes biblical verses to back up the thought process. I think instead of printing all 222 pages I may find a hard copy of the book. I’ve read parts for 3 days now and know that I would often read thru the book over the coming years.

So to start I’ll clean out my closet – only has 4 boxes in it so easy work. And just start buying as I can. I’m going to focus on food and tools, a major first aid kit, backpacks, hunting/food gathering equipment, flashlights (need them anyways) and batteries.

This will be an ongoing process but at least I feel I have a starting point.

Blessings

The favorite sounds that home canners love to hear

#4

The sound is the lids popping on the freshly canned goodies.

#5

On the back of my Ma Ingalls post, it was canning day at our house.
Today I made some vegetable stock - 6 half pints. and some tomatoes - 3 pints and qa half pint (mostly juice in that one).

I'm going to can apples this year and we noticed that they are turning red :)

May you be blessed, Laura

Saturday July 16, 2011

For whatever reason I woke up thinking about how women took care of their families during the Laura Ingalls Wilder days. The outside temp was going to be in the low 90’s with a very large boatload of sunshine. We are in the middle of a hot spell with very little rain and personally it makes me feel like doing nothing at all.

But like Ma Ingalls I had no choice, I had the garden to tend to. A couple cherry tomatoes and a bowl full of green beans. I also had to be at the toy store by 4:30. Instead of taking the earlier bus and sitting at work until it was time to clock in, I stayed home until the very last minute. All I wanted to do was sit in my bed in the air conditioning but Ma Ingalls was in my head – take care of that garden. That garden will help provide us with food over the long cold snowy winter. Also Greg and I get a great deal of satisfaction tinkering in our garden.

Watching the weather the weather man is calling temps in the 90’s all the coming week. The kitchen has no A/C but Ma Beadle–Peeples has work to do this week;
I need to make the Dilly Green beans with today’s green bean harvest. Dill is not ready so I cleaned and cut the beans, and put them in the freezer.
Need to make the Hungarian mustard with the peppers (from our garden and our neighbor’s garden).
I need to fix the Mulberry jam I made 2 weeks ago – oh bad its very gritty but has a great taste.
I have a hankering for oatmeal cookies.
Not to mention the usual things like washing dishes, laundry, weeding the garden and harvesting any goodies that come forth. Oh and yes we might want to eat sometime so some food will need to be cooked.

I'm back after a short internet break

Hello friends, I have returned nicely refreshed.

While I was gone I did create some posts and took some pictures so starting tomorrow 8/17 I will be posting regularly.

Today I need to do some laundry and figure out all my passwords that I forgot.

Until tomorrow, Laura