Works For Me Wednesday

This is going to be my first posting to Works For Me Wednesday now hosted over at We are THAT Family .

Making homemade soup from leftovers, this Works For Me.

Shortly after my eldest daughter moved away from home, she brought it to my attention that she didn’t know much beyond the very basics of cooking. She is an excellent baker, but the day to day cooking wasn’t something she was used to.

I felt like I had failed her, my Mama taught me so much, including cooking. I was upset with myself for not properly preparing her for life away from home.

After giving it much thought, I realized that I could cut myself a little slack. You see, both my daughters started playing highly competitive tournament softball early in middle school. As athlete scholars with very good grades, they were either in class, at practice, doing homework or asleep. Our weekends March through August, were dedicated to traveling to and from softball tournaments. After high school, they went to work fulltime during the day, and attended our local college at night. Not much free time in there to spend on domestic duties. I felt they would have the rest of their lives for domestic chores, but they were only student athletes for a short time in their lives.

One of the first things DaughterS remarked about not knowing how to make was homemade soup. As a staple meal in our family, I was surprised that although I’m sure she watched me make it a million times, she didn’t know where to start.The first step in making delicious homemade soup is also the same rule as living frugally, something we did, living on one income for 13 years, so I could be a stay-at-home-mom.

Step #1: Waste Not Want Not. Don’t waste food. Save everything for soup.Pan drippings? Scrap out of the pan and cool in the fridge, de-fat and into the stock pot in the freezer. There’s a lot of flavor in that lone tablespoon of pan drippings, well worth the effort. Left over gravy? Mashed potatoes? Last bite of macaroni and cheese no one has room for? Last few teaspoons of corn? A leftover burger patty no one wants? One last half slice of meatloaf? Crumble ‘em up and add to the stock pot in freezer! Even spaghetti sauce.

In my freezer you’ll find square plastic freezer containers, one for beef and one for poultry. I feed them generously, it’s guilt free. Why put leftovers into the fridge and let them grow fur before throwing them out, when they can go straight into the stock pot and nourish the family once again?

Step #2: Make homemade stock, it is very inexpensive to make, using the parts of the chicken we don’t normally serve. To make chicken stock for use in soups, I boil the bones and skin from the rotissaire chickens, throw in the necks, backs, wings and giblets from the whole fryers I cut up. Add whatever fresh veggies I have on hand, carrots, celery, onions-including the yellow papery skins, which will give the stock a lovely golden hue, butt ends snapped off of asparagus, woody parts of broccoli. I’ve taken to saving and freezing in a gallon ziplock baggie all the parings from fresh vegetables, such as carrot tops, onion trimmings, rind from winter squash that I’ve cut up raw for roasting, apple cores, skins from sweet potatoes, everything I can think of, till I’m ready to make a batch of veggie stock. Cover completely with water and boil down or use a pressure cooker to shorten the time it takes till the veggies are limp and the bones falling apart. Strain and then I freeze in 1 quart containers for later use.

Not sure a potpourri of leftovers will taste good together? Amazingly the flavors all blend together wonderfully, I may season with Lawry’s Seasoning Salt, or Spike Seasoning, add dried sweet basil, or an Italian herb blend or Lemon Herb Seasoning. Sometimes I’ll add a can of tomato sauce or I have even used ketchup in a pinch.

Which reminds me, when you cannot get another drop of ketchup out of the bottle, add a little water and shake, drain into stock pot.

For the stronger flavor of beef stock, I’ll add a couple of dashes of Whorchestershire Sauce. A1 Steak Sauce adds a very hearty, tangy flavor.

If I brown some hamburger, I drain the meat by propping one side of the pan on a small ramikin dish, when the meat drains, I siphon off all the juice with a turkey baster, let cool to seperate the fat and into the beef stockpot in the freezer it goes!

When short on leftover veggies, I’ll sometimes add canned veggies, without draining. Except for beans, I always rinse canned beans in a strainer before adding to the soup.

I will usually add some starch or carbohydrates to the mix, too, in the form of rice or pasta of some shape. To thicken to a more stew like consistency, add instant mashed potatoes. You can also add a can of condensed milk to make a ‘cream soup’.

Think of this as a primer, take it and run with it, make it your own.

Homemade soup from leftovers, without a recipe. It Works For Me!

Am I the only one who likes clowns?

When I was expecting our first child and shopping for nursery themes, I knew I wanted white embroidered eyelet and I wanted to use bright primary colors, red, blue, yellow and green, too (yes, I know green isn't primary, but it is a good compliment to the others). The only nursery theme I found that met the requisite primary colors was a juggling clown. I had always associated clowns with cheery fun, lightheartness, and playful. Years later, I find out all my sisters think them scary and sinister, my kids, too. I'm guessing DaughterS won't be asking to use her own cribset should the day ever come. Anyway...

Last weekend SisterG told a clown joke that even made me laugh.

A little boy and a clown carrying a chainsaw walk into the woods. The little boy looks around and says to the clown, "Man, these woods are really creepy!" The clown replies, "Tell me about it, I have to walk out of here alone!"

Roadtrip to Mt Baker

Valentine's Day weekend: rest, relaxation, fireplace and steam shower, and a sightseeing day trip. All without leaving the county.

We ran away for the weekend. Ran all the way to Lynden.

Stop laughing!

The kids got the biggest belly laugh when we bought into a timeshare whose flagship resort is in Lynden, where DearHusband works. The literature for the timeshare touts how close it is to the beach, only a short half hour trip to Birch Bay! They still think that's funny as all get out! Buy a timeshare for the city you work in so you can visit to bay you live on.

Okay, maybe it is funny.

We enjoyed Friday and Saturday nights away from the house. While DearHusband worked Saturday, I enjoyed a Valentine's Day of Pampering including a massage and a facial.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny. We left Lynden to take a Sunday afternoon drive and look for eagles. All told, we saw 8 eagles, including 4 in one tree with a nest. We saw one on the ground in a field not far from the road. We saw other nests, one with a eaglet visible.

We eventually ended up on Highway 9, winding our way slowly southward till we came to a crossroad. We headed east and ended up at the ski area at the top of Mount Baker. It was a beautiful drive. A leisurely drive in the sunshine, listening to good music and enjoying each other's company.

We decided to head to the mountain, when we realized that even though we've lived in the county for 22 years, we've never driven up to the mountain. Here's a couple of shots I snapped on my cellphone.

A little bit of snow along the highway up on Mt Baker

The Magic of a Full Moon

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, crisp and clear. The high wispy clouds moved in during the afternoon and it seemed most cloudy. I'd heard they are predicting snow Monday night and judging from the snap in the air, they might be right.

Last night DearHusband and I enjoyed our hot tub for the first time in months. After dashing to the hot tub in the cold crisp air and getting settled in and relaxing, I glanced up and the full moon was spectacular. I've seen pictures of the moon ringed by clouds but had never before seen it live and in person, so to speak. Bright enough to read by, in sharp focus, a large circle of clear sky ringed by cloudy sky. It looked like the moon had burned a perfect circle of clear sky edged in clouds. A lunar corona.

The neighborhood was quiet, and kids were away, the moon was bright and we were cocooned in steam. We always ask ourselves, why did we go so long without using our spa?

A Day of Note and It's A Small World After All

Happy Anniversary to me! Today marked my eighth anniversary of being a branch office administrator for a national investment brokerage (my how time flies when you are having fun). That makes this the absolutely longest position I’ve ever held other than Wife (24-½ years) and Mother (22 years) .

Today is also the day I can officially hang up my chauffeur’s cap, as our youngest is now a fully licensed driver! Woo Hoo! I now get to replace running here and there to just worrying while he goes here and there! Life is a trade-off.

Another good note on the day….

Tonight, SonMySon dropped me off at the local coffee shop on his way to Tae Kwon Do (as opposed to the usual: me dropping him off and then going to the coffee shop to be comfortable while his daily class was in session). As I made my way to the comfortable leather couch in front of the fireplace at the coffee shop, I spied the same two ladies that I’ve seen the previous two Thursday evenings. We exchanged smiles as the pretty lady with the dark hair teasingly remarked that I was late! While waiting for my hot cocoa to arrive, I had my ‘puter on the fireplace hearth to the side of me, making it visible to others, when this same lady delightedly remarked that she recognized the header on the blog page I was reading: Works For Me Wednesday(www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com). And she challenged me to find her post. As it turns out, I’ve been reading her blog, http://www.adventuresindailyliving.blogspot.com/

for several months now! It was hard to tell who was most pleased, she to find out she has a regular reader, or me to meet a famous blogger! I never would have imagined that one of the writers I enjoy lives in my little corner of the world!

A funny note tonight…

This is what happens when you fall asleep sitting up with your dinner plate on your lap. Do you think 2 PE classes, an hour and a half at Tae Kwon Do working out in anticipation of taking his Instructor’s Belt Test tomorrow night, a full day of school and the stress of taking his driver’s test might have taken a toll today? He didn’t even wake up when Brindle walked all over him, butted him in the face trying to wake him and finally settled on finishing his dinner for him. Sweet dreams, SonMySon.

New Year's Day

Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given;
While angels sing with tender mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth.~Martin Luther


A happy New Year! Grant that I
May bring no tear to any eye
When this New Year in time shall end
Let it be said I've played the friend,
Have lived and loved and labored here,
And made of it a happy year.~Edgar Guest


Another fresh New Year is here...
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest...
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs! ~ William Arthur Ward

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A new year, a new beginning.

A fresh start is supposed to begin January 1. I am finding the new start began the day my mama left us to continue her eternal journey. Just as life is measured mile markers such as “when I was in school”, “before I was married”, “before we had kids”, I am now finding time measured as “it was the week before Mama died’ or “in the six weeks since Mama died”.

We gathered together last night, resolutely determined to keep our bonds of family, to honor Mama’s memory by continuing our traditions. Determined to stay united as friends and we enjoyed each other’s company, shared some laughs, and a few teary moments. Some us came out ahead after a couple of hours of poker, some of us found their pockets lightened of their $5 buy in!

I reveled in the noise and the confusion of having a house full of 18 people, Mama would have loved it. All the activity, all the conversations. Seeing the cousins interact with each other, as well as the sibling dynamics, too.

We sorely missed those not with us, by will or circumstance. We welcomed a new girlfriend into the mix, a sure sign that my youngest has seen the last year of childhood, as he enters the last years of his teenager status. Our family mix is changing, ever growing. We no longer have babes in arms or toddlers under foot. The youngest is in school fulltime and the oldest has graduated college.

One thing I know for sure, this well be a year a change, many ways unwilling change. In other aspects, conscious change as we all cope with the loss of our Mother, learn how to help our Father navigate the waters of “going on”. I hope we will all find our ways, support each other when we stumble, continue to grow and learn and knit closer to each other. Please, let not inertia and the daily routine let us drift apart.

My Heart Hurts

Picture taken late December 2007 at our annual Girls Night Out


My heart hurts.

I have lost my best girlfriend, my closest and most trusted confidant, my mentor and greatest cheerleader, my Mama.

It was three weeks yesterday and yet I am still undone by overwhelming bouts of grief that overtake me like I’ve been punched in the stomach. It knocks the wind out of me when once again the realization that I will never again talk with her hits me. It is different from the absolute panic I felt as she weakened and I feared we were losing her. It hurts even more than I thought possible, and I feel more lonely than I ever have.

Several times each and every day I think of something I want to tell her, a little snippet of my day, maybe something that struck me as funny, to share a small victory for one of my children, or when I need a sympathetic ear or a bit of a pep talk. Next to my husband, she was the first person I wanted to share good news with and the best person to share bad news with as she always had the time, the unconditional love and the ability to make me feel better, just be being there.

Mama, I miss you so very much! If you are watching from heaven, know that I am trying to be strong, trying to carry on like you would have done, like I know you want me to, but it is so very hard.

My umbilical cord may have been cut, seperating us forty six years ago but I miss your touch, the thrill of what I call the cellular recognition I experienced when we held each other, the knowing I felt this body also is mine, or more truly, I was of you and will always be. I have lost a third of me, the part that was before, it has been cleaved by death. As long as I draw breath I will always have the now, as that is me. I pray to God I never lose what has become, my children. With the promise of tomorrow, I look foward to what will be. The day when I hold my grandbabies in my arms and I will recognize them both in my heart and in the cells of my being. I remember Mama telling me as she held my newborn daughter, her firstborn grandbaby that as she held her, she knew the baby was also hers, she could feel it. Another bond between mother and child, a grandchild. Please God, grant me this also before I go.

So, now I will once again, set aside my grief for a respite that keeps me sane and functioning, and will start my day. To welcome the Christmas season and keep the true meaning of it foremost in my mind. I know Mama would be telling me that life goes on and I must live it, so I will, with God's help and that of my family. Thank you, God, for giving me the large and loving family I will wrap about myself and draw strength from to carry on. May I also be a source of strength for them, too.