Alabama Soup

Hey, here's a super awesome food storage, 3 month supply type recipe which was given to me by a lady in my ward, LD, who, in my humble opinion, is one of the awesomest cooks
ever!

Sorry, I don't have a photo, but take my word for it, when the 15 year old is licking the bowl, that's a pretty good endorsement..... So here goes:

1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 lb sausage
1 small chopped onion or you can use dried onion from the cannery (hey!)
Brown together.

Add:
1 large can of tomato juice (1 quart) plus water if needed
1/4 c. sugar (I think that is the secret!)
Stir until sugar is dissolved

Add:
Beef bouillon cube or seasoning
salt to taste
1/2 t. garlic salt or fresh garlic
1 t. chili powder
1/2 scant t. oregano
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
1/2 scant t. of basil (i used a little more fresh from my garden)
2 T butter, optional (i didn't use)

(I cut back on some of the salt--since garlic salt, bouillon and salt are a tiny bit of salt overload in my household-also you can buy beef and chicken bouillon without MSG in it too-just comment and I'll let you know where)

Add in:
1 pkg frozen mixed veggies or canned or fresh (from your garden of course) veggies
1 can kidney beans or white beans, drained
1/4 c small salad pasta like American Beauty Salad Roni.

YUM!
EASY!

Two of my favorite words in the cooking language!

P.S. I made this Mon. night for the missionaries using fresh veggies from my garden: squash, carrots, onions, green beans and peas that I had grown last winter. We used fresh grated parmesan on top. I had a huge pot full and they scarfed the whole thing!! YUM.

Getting Involved in the Se/ Life of my Plants

**NO! This is not x-rated....I typed se/ so I don't get weird perverted comments....

Hey, did you know that some plants have male and female flowers?

Things like squash and melons and cucumbers?

Yes, they do!

See, here's a cucumber plant with the little fruit at the end of the flower. It's the female flower:

And here's a melon plant with the little fruit at the end of the flower (another female):

And here's a male flower.....no fruit....

I couldn't figure out why I was getting tiny little cucumbers, and then they weren't turning into big cucumbers, so I turned to the trusty google on line and asked that important question:

Why are my cucumbers drying up and falling off?

The answer:

Because they are not being properly fertilized. Ummm, go back to your basic biology class people if you want to know the details.

So I have to aid Mother Nature a little, by finding a male flower and putting a little of the pollen from that flower to the center of a female flower.....(yikes, can I say that??)

My only problem is that there seems to be a startling lack of male flowers on my cucumber plants, and an overabundance of female flowers.

My melons are just the opposite. More male flowers and fewer female flowers. The squash don't have that problem. Squash never has a problem reproducing....we all know that.

And that's the story of how I got involved in the Se/ life of my plants.

I'll keep you posted.

The Truth Can Now Be Told

Remember a few days ago, when I said I was "chillaxin?" (there, I said that word again!)

Wellll.....

Truth be told, I kept it a secret because it was a Mother's Day present for my own mom. See, a week ago today I called her and said I was arranging for delivery of her Mother's Day present on Wed. Would she be home?

She said yes.

Well, the present was.....me.

I surreptitiously planned a little flight up to SLC and presented myself at her doorstep around noon on Wed. and said "Happy Mother's Day!" I didn't want to share on my blog because she reads it daily and I wanted it to be a surprise.

She was quite pleased. She didn't have a heart attack or anything like that. (whew) She wasn't worried about meals, or beds or anything. (Maybe because I brought her some fresh squash from my garden!)

But it was super fun surprising her, spending time one on one with her and visiting the fun places I love to visit when I'm in Provo and I even got to spend a day with my Sis in SLC, doing girlie stuff..thanks for the bed Gin.....sorry I left so early!

And now my mom is all set up to post on all the family blogs, so if you see a comment by GGMA, that's her! (Actually I think that "handle" is really cool---especially when you are 80 something years old!)

Now here's a few photos to share from my own Mother's Day......The kids made me a DELISH meal!

We have a full "kids" table! (where I am going to put 3 more????)

My chickies are all back in the nest (so to speak) and I wanted a photo of all of us together finally after two years!

Well......let's try again.....Mom!Wait! Try again. (somebody probably farted)


Toooo far away!

Sheesh, there's one in every group! (you know who you are!)

And after about 15 tries, that's better!

How To Organize a Chest Freezer

If you are expecting a grand tutorial on how to organize a chest freezer, well...



not.



My title should have read How to Organize a Chest Freezer?????????

Please know that I am so grateful that I have a freezer, albeit a chest freezer.
I know that they are supposed to be more energy efficient and all that stuff.
But gosh, cleaning out my chest freezer should be on the list of


Most Dreaded Jobs.



Well, I girded up my loins this last week and decided to tackle:


The pit of despair.


I took out all the baskets I had filled with chunks of frozen stuff.
I bought these baskets thinking that they were going to be an awesome way to organize everything.

The problem is that they are so heavy, it is difficult to lift them when I need something or want to put things away, and when I am in a hurry, well naturally stuff just gets thrown in there willy nilly....

So then I hacked away at the frozen tundra of ice on the sides and replaced my baskets.

Take a good look....

Because that's as good as it will ever get. Tomorrow...back to the

Pit of Despair.

Anybody out there got any better ideas?

Chillaxin'

I've always wanted to say that word.

Chillax......

(Mom-it's a combination of the words chillin' and relaxin')

But you know that if a woman of my certain age says that word,

Well,

It might just interrupt the time space continuum.
Because people my age don't say those words.
We are allowed to say words like,

Cool.

Because people of my generation sort of made up that word...

But I just couldn't resist.

I am barely allowed to say the words-
Lame or lame-ish or
Awesome.

But that's really stretching the limits.

So actually in real life, while you are reading this post, I am actually off "chillaxin" somewhere other than the comfort of my home.
Fooled ya' huh?
Because there are really "awesome" tools like "post options" on Blogger so I can fool everybody so that they think I am slaving away on my blog every day.

Whilst I "chillax" somewhere else.

Cool.

It's All About the Flowers, Baby

This time of year, that is. Our spring/summer garden is in full swing. Unlike my fall/winter garden, flowers are a GOOD thing in the summer because their appearance means the production of the much anticipated vegies (or I guess technically they are fruits since they contain seeds).

Strawberry blossoms, underneath their netting..

Cucumber blossoms:

Lavender green bean blossoms:

The potatoes are blooming!

Summer squash blossoms:

Tomato plants flowering:

Pepper blossoms proliferating:

Marvelous marigolds (volunteers!)

And two flowers that LOVE the summer heat:

Lantana and

Verbena

I have to have something to keep me happy when it's 110 in the shade!

You've Had a Birthday-Shout Hooray!

Guess Who????


I still don't know how she got up there to this day!



Happy Birthday to my Lazy Boy Recliner Baby.....

Have a happy Day!