A Friend in Need

It is Five Minute Friday.  Lisa Jo Baker posts a word prompt each Friday and those of us aspiring to be better writers take up her challenge to write for 5 minutes on whatever that prompt brings to mind.  Just write, don't worry about editing or thinking too hard, just write.

Today's prompt is Friend

Go

I am so very, very blessed with such wonderful friends.  They have become more sisters than friends actually.  People that I know, no matter what, will have my back.  They love me when I am happy, sad, crabby or patient.  They help me to escape from the reality that is my life and they help me stay realistic.  I don't know what I would do without my friends.

Some I get to see very often, some I only see once in a blue moon.  But not only am I blessed to have friends who are sisters but I have sisters who are friends.  And I have daughters and nieces who are friends as well.  Life is so much better when you like the people you love and who are an everyday part of your life.

But my very best friend....the one person whose faithfulness and love I never, ever doubt is Frank.
There is not another person in the world that I enjoy being with more than my husband.

Stop

A Double Celebration

We celebrated Tingting's 22nd Birthday today.  It seems like only yesterday she was new to our family and we were celebrating her Sweet 16. Since that time she has become our daughter. People sometimes say wow 7 yrs, she must be like a daughter to you.  Our response is always that she is not at all LIKE a daughter, she IS a daughter.  In good times and bad (man, can she be crabby) LOL.  I tease her all the time that she is my Chinese slave, the only problem is that it is us waiting on her hand and foot! LOL

We planned a special menu and invited all our closest friends and family and we also got to meet Tony's Mom, Marlene, and brother, Joshua.

Ting loves Barbecue Ribs and Frank makes the best around.  He uses this recipe, and his own homemade bbq sauce.  We use this sauce all summer long, on ribs, chicken and pork chops.  Try it...you will never use store bought again.

Frank's Special BBQ Sauce

2 c. Ketchup
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. worcestershire sauce
1 t. hot sauce
1 t. lemon juice
4 cloves garlic, minced

Mix all ingredients together.  Slather generously on meat of your choice during last few minutes of cooking allowing to carmelize.
Print Recipe

You can find the recipe for Fried Chicken here and Baked Beans here.  I used store bought cole slaw and the fruit salad was a mixture of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.  I also put out a bowl of Watermelon and I had some hot dogs and buns on hand in case I started running out of food (I didn't).

The Roasted Red Skins are a very common side dish for us.  In the winter I roast them in the oven as I did today.  In the summer, I throw them on the grill.  They are easy and delicious.

Roasted Red Skin Potatoes

3 lbs. baby red skin potatoes

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste.

Cut potatoes into even chunks (leave small potatoes whole, halve medium potatoes and quarter large potatoes) so they are all uniform size.

Toss with olive oil and seasonings.  Roast at 375* for 1 hour or more, until potatoes are browned and easily pierced with a fork.  Print Recipe

  

This Rice Salad is one of Ting's favorites.

It is a great side dish for grilled meals and a great potluck dish as well.

Rice Mingle Salad

adapted from Kitchen Fare, International Menus Cookbook

3 c. cooked rice, cooled

2 green peppers, chopped

1 English cucumber, diced

3 tomatoes, seeded and diced

5 green onions, white and light green sections, sliced

1/4 c.chopped parsley

1 c. olive oil

1/3 c. rice wine vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 pinches kosher salt

1 dash white pepper

In a large bowl, mix together rice and vegetables.  In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper.  Pour over rice mixture and toss to coat.  Chill before serving.  Print Recipe

Dinner is served

  

And Enjoyed.

By all.

After dinner we all visited for a bit and then we sang Happy Birthday and cake, provided by Amy, was served.  While we were singing, Tony dropped his fork and knelt down to get it.  While he was down there he pronounced his love to Tingting and asked for her hand in marriage.

She is not very happy!!

But she did say yes...

Many times!!

Her ring is beautiful!

We are so happy for them both.  And we are happy that Tony proposed properly.  You know it is not easy when you find out you are going to be grandparents and your daughter isn't married. We were not sure what we were going to do but THIS was always an option LOL.

Finishing up the Leftovers

Whew!!  Four days and all the leftovers are gone!!  Well, just about...I still have some baked pineapple in the fridge so tomorrow morning I will make some Carrot Spice Muffins and that will be gone too.

I am sharing today's leftover recipe with you and I am also linking up with Thrifty Thursday and the Eat from the Pantry Challenge.  Check out those sites for more creative ideas.

I was originally going to have Kielbasa and Eggs for breakfast this morning but when I went into the fridge to get the Kielbasa I discovered Mom and Nancy had eaten it for lunch yesterday.  YAY!!  So then I was going to make some poached eggs but when I looked to make sure I had bread for toast I came across a quarter loaf of Bacci Bread that Roz had made for us this Easter and that had gotten stale and was slated for the chickens.  Bacci is the name for Grandma in Polish. This is a sweet bread that she would make.  Frank remembers fondly eating Bacci Bread with unsalted butter and stale Vernors.  Isn't it funny what memories remain with us as adults?

Bacci Bread is an Egg Bread with Raisins.

This is what was left of the loaf Frank's sister had made for us.

I decided to make this bread into French Toast for Mom and Nancy.  There was not enough for me to join them but I had one more piece of  Ham and Asparagus Quiche left so I finished that off.  But back to the French Toast.

I took a couple eggs and a 1/4 c. of milk and placed it in a shallow bowl.

I did not need to add any vanilla or nutmeg since I was using a sweet bread.

I mixed this together well with a fork.

Then I cut the Bacci Bread into slices and let them soak for a moment in the egg mixture so that they soak up all the custardy goodness.

After the bread slices were soaked with the egg mixture.

I cooked them on a hot griddle until they were browned.

This was the last photo I got because when I turned around to get one with the butter and syrup, Mom and Nancy had already began chowing down with gusto.

French Toast

Stale Bread of any sort

1 egg for each 2 slices of bread

1/8 c. milk for each egg used

1/4 t. vanilla for each egg used

dash of nutmeg

* You can eliminate the vanilla and/or nutmeg if using a sweet bread.  I often use cinnamon raisin bread.

Whisk eggs, milk, vanilla and nutmeg thoroughly in a shallow bowl or pie pan. 

Place each slice of bread into the egg mixture, allowing it to soak up the custard on each side.

Cook on a preheated griddle or in a preheated fry pan over med high heat until golden brown on both sides.  Print Recipe

Ok, I am off and running.  We are having Tingting's birthday celebration tonight so there will be about 20 people over for dinner.  I have lots of errands and cleaning to do before guests arrive.  I will be back later to tell you how it went.  See you then.

Night 3 of Planned Leftovers and Eating from the Pantry

This is post #500 for me....so what am I blogging about?

Food, of course.

We had another meal made using the leftovers from Easter.  Tonight we had Split Pea Soup with Ham.  You can find the recipe for my soup, made in the crockpot, here.  I like making my pea and/or bean soups in the crockpot because you can skip the soaking of the beans the night before.  The peas and beans are always tender and the soup is always flavorful.  Split pea soup has always been one of my favorites.

Frank and Mom like crackers in their soup but I didn't have any only had 3 crackers in the pantry.  What I did have was a roll of refrigerated pizza crust in my refrigerator so I decided to use that to make some soft breadsticks to go with the soup.  They were happy, and I was happy with how they turned out.

Soft Garlic Breadsticks

1 can Pillsbury Refrigerated Pizza Dough,  cut widthwise into 9 strips

1 T. butter, melted

1 clove garlic, minced

Twist strips of pizza dough from both ends and place on a baking sheet.

Add minced garlic to melted butter and brush onto the pizza dough.

Bake at 400* for 8-10 minutes.

Print Recipe

Always and Forever....

Today is One Word Wednesday, created by fellow blogger and caregiver, Lisa Moles.  Lisa, like many of us finds herself in the role of caregiver.  A role we never expect to find ourselves in until it happens to us.  So take our word for it...there is a good chance that someday you will have to walk in our shoes.  Come and walk with us for a while, we are happy to share our triumphs and defeats, our laughter and our tears, our good times and bad. Today we are going to talk about ALWAYS.

I ALWAYS pictured my parents, who were very vibrant and healthy well into their 80's as invincible.  I was convinced that one or the other of them would die suddenly and the other would follow shortly thereafter of heart break.  Unfortunately, this scenario did not take into account that Pop's would get lung cancer and die slowly, in hospice, as we watched and that Mom would suffer dementia and not realize that Pops had died and she was going to follow.

So instead of what I ALWAYS thought would happen, I spend my days ALWAYS listening to mom ask where her husband is.  ALWAYS agreeing with her that he should be home soon because the alternative is to watch her grieve for an intense few minutes and then say again "Well, I hope my husband get's home soon".  You never know what scenario she will have in her head at any given moment but you ALWAYS know she has one.  Her husband is at work, or at war, or travelling or just out for a while.  Sometime's she remembers her husbands name and sometimes not but ALWAYS she remembers that he is a good husband and that they love each other very much.

Mom and Pops Golden Wedding Anniversary

They had 74 years together.  That is more than many peoples lifetimes.  I ALWAYS remember how lucky we were to have parents who loved and doted on each other and who showed us what marriage is meant to be.

By their example, I learned to Thrive at Home.

Yep, it is definitely Spring.

The weather yesterday was gorgeous. Today not so much but April showers bring May flowers, so life is good.  We know for sure that it is Spring now because 1. My chick's arrived and 2. Frank had a tick climbing on him today.  Welcome to A Day in the Life on the Farm!!

I wanted to mention that we watched "Cloud Atlas" last night.  It was a very intriguing movie.  I think it is one of those movies you could watch numerous times and always catch something you missed the previous times.  I would recommend it, but not on a night when you want something lighthearted.  However we did laugh out loud during a couple of scenes, but it was a very intense movie and required your complete concentration.

Today I had the backpack program after which I stopped by for the church linens.  I had forgotten it was my week for them this weekend. After delivering the backpacks, my friend, Sandy, invited me over for lunch.  She served me a delicious hamburger soup and blueberry pie ala mode. Mmmmm.

The next stop for me was Family Farm and Home to get the Seresto flea and tick collars for the dogs.  This will take care of any other ticks that came into my house.  We used these collars last year with great success.

I thought I would be sore today after out marathon bike ride yesterday but I am not at all sore. In fact, I felt so good that I was planning on going for a walk this afternoon but after all my other running around I ran out of oooomph.

I used our leftover lamb from Easter to make dinner tonight.  Mom is at Dawn's and Frank has a late meeting and probably won't be home until 9 pm or there about, Max is having dinner at Emily's and I am not sure what is going on with Tingting and Tony tonight so a casserole is perfect.  We can just reheat a portion and eat in shifts and leftovers can be taken to work tomorrow for lunch.

I found this recipe for using leftover lamb on About.com, Southern Food Section, submitted by Diana Rattray.  I had all the ingredients called for and there is nothing I needed to adjust for my family's taste so I made the recipe with very slight adaptations.

It was as if my guests knew just how much leftover lamb I needed.

Season the onions and mushrooms and saute in butter.

Add remaining ingredients except cheese.

Add the tomatoes last.

The juice from the tomatoes will deglaze the pan so you don't leave all those tasty little morsels stuck to the bottom.

Turn into a treated casserole and sprinkle with cheese.

There is no reason for this photo.

I just wanted to show off my casserole, that I got from my daughter for Christmas, once again.

It looked good.

And it tasted good.

I think in the future I would add some garlic to this dish.

Lamb Casserole
slightly adapted from About.com, Southern Food, by Diana Rattray

2 c. cooked lamb, diced
2 T. butter
1 small onion, diced
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1/2 t. curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 c. cooked rice
1 lg can or 2 small cans diced tomatoes
1/4 c. Parmesan Cheese, shredded.

Saute onions and mushrooms over med-high heat until onions are softened and mushrooms are browned. Season with salt, pepper and curry, add in remaining ingredients except for cheese.  Pour into a casserole prepared with cooking spray.  Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake at 350* until hot and bubbly, about 30-40 minutes.
Print Recipe

Proof Positive that Spring has Sprung on the Farm

The phone rang at 6:45 this morning and I was greeted by our postmaster informing me that my chicks were waiting for me at the post office.

This is an exciting day here on the farm.  Since it is List it Tuesday, I will take you through the process, step by step.  I hope you enjoy sharing our morning.

Frank and I throw on our sweats.  I head out to the post office.  Frank heads out to the barn for the pool that will be our chicks temporary home.  The pool is readied and placed in the garage.

Our chicks arrive in a box.
They are one day old and have never met their mother.

They are introduced to their new home, one at a time.

As I place each chick into it's new home, I dunk it's beak into the water.
They immediately start drinking and after a moment will find their food.

Before long, they are all settled into their new home.
They will only remain in this home for a couple of weeks.
As they grow, we will move them into a bigger pool, still in the garage.
Eventually they will move out to a coop in the yard but not until they grow feathers.

Aren't they cute.
The chicks of different colors are my new laying hens.
They will remain cute.
The yellow chicks are my meat chickens.
They will be cute for the first week or two and then they get homely.
Before long, those meat chickens will just be eating and pooping machines.

The next step is to introduce Fiona to the chicks.
This is her first batch of chicks, so she needs to be taught early.
This is the first, of many training sessions letting her know that the chicks
 are not to be harassed or eaten.

She is not sure what to make of them.
She backed up and barked and then went and hid.
She finally decided to come and see what it was when Frank held one of them.

Okay, I guess that little chick is not going to hurt me after all!

I'll even move in a little closer!!

I will continue to occasionally document the life of my chicks.  The meat chickens will take about 7-8 weeks before they are ready to go to slaughter.  The laying hens, will be given another month or two after that in their own coop and pen before being introduced to the rest of the flock.

I am sharing this post with Wednesday Whatsits. Stop by to see what else people were up to this week.