Meatless Chicken Fried Steak

This recipe is dairy-free and also free of artificial colors, artificial flavorings, and preservatives.

On Monday night we tried out a new recipe. This one was a meatless version of chicken fried steak.

The original recipe can be found at The Prudent Homemaker.

Our version can be found here. ;)

Meatless Chicken Fried Steak

2 2/3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup dried onions
1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 eggs
2 tsp homemade poultry seasoning mix
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for frying

Gravy:
1 quart home canned chicken stock or store bought equivalent
flour to thicken chicken stock


Lightly whisk the eggs. Combine with oats, dried onions, boiling water, and seasonings. The mix should be wet and stick together easily. Imagine meatloaf and that's the consistency you're looking for. If it doesn't stick together well, either add more water if it's dry and crumbly or heat it up on the stove top in a saucepan if it's too runny.

Next heat your chicken stock in a heavy deep frying pan. When near boiling add in flour to thicken. Cook until thick like a gravy. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Turn down the heat and simmer while you fry the patties.



Heat your oil in a heavy skillet or frying pan.

Pat the oat mixture into into 6 or 7 patties.



Fry it on both sides in hot olive oil. Cook on both sides until brown.



Add the browned patties to the chicken stock gravy. Gently simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.



Remove from heat and serve.



We enjoyed ours with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli!

The ants came marching one by one...

We've had the ants for our ant farm now since December 23rd and they're settling in quite nicely in their new habitat.

Here's a pictoral review of their progress and adjustment:


December 23rd - arrival day - you see them on top of the gel and checking out their new environment








December 24th - the ants have begun tunneling - excess gel mixture is on top in a granular form - that's what they removed from their tunnels






December 26th - more tunneling has been accomplished - they've removed much of the gel from one side of the complex

Butterscotch Brownies

This recipe is dairy-free, and free of preservatives, artificial colors, and artificial flavorings.

This recipe is an old standard and we found the original version in the Betty Crocker Cookbook - you know the one with the red cover.

Of course I modified it just a bit. ;)

Our version -

1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups brown sugar (don't bother packing them)
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix oil, brown sugar, egg and vanilla. Add in remaining ingredients and mix well.

Pat the batter/dough down into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake for 25 minutes. We find it best to cut while the bars are still a bit warm.

Homemade Poultry Seasoning Mix

This recipe is dairy-free and also free of artificial flavors, artificial colors, and free of preservatives.

This will resurface in a meatless recipe later in the week. ;)

Combine:
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon dried sage
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried marjoram
3/4 teaspoon ground pepper

Mix together well. Grind in electric grinder until powdery. Store in container with tight fitting lid. We like to re-use glass yeast jars since they have dark glass and are about the right size.

More Christmas ornaments

These were also a pre-packaged kit. I bought them at the Evil Big Box Store in early December thinking they were sort of kitschy looking and would be an easy craft for the big girl.

They're also going to be sent out to family members. Shhh!! I know we're late and all and I hate to spoil surprises, so if you're one of my family members you've spoiled your own surprise by reading my blog without being a subscriber!!! (seriously guys if you do read this blog regularly just drink the Kool-Aid already and subscribe to it)

The ornaments themselves are pretty self explanatory. You take the little pre-cut foam pieces and glue them together. Glue a trimmed photo to the back. We decided to choose several head shots of each child in the family. Cut a bit of embroidery floss and make a hanger for them. Done!

The big girl punched out the pieces and stuck on hats and noses. I trimmed the photos and glued them on. The hardest part was waiting for the glue to dry - seriously. ;)

This week's dinner menus

We've been menu planning for a while now - off and on - and the Hubster and I are resolved to do it consistently this year.

So - to keep me on the straight and narrow I've decided that I'll post our menus on Mondays. I'll also try to post recipes and updates when I have the time.

We also have additional motivation in that we're putting the big girl (and the rest of the family by default) on the Feingold Program. This pretty much means no processed foods and no eating out. We estimate that we're already about half way to eating like the program when we cook at home. We've already eliminated artificial colors from the big girl's diet but now we'll be eliminating artificial flavors and preservatives as well. We're delaying eliminating the natural foods until after we get all the artificial foods out of her diet. Then we'll see if we need to tackle the tomatoes, oranges, apples, etc.

So, this is what we'll be having for dinner:

Monday, December 28th - Meatless
Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes, gravy (made with home canned chicken stock), steamed carrots


Tuesday, December 29th - Pork
Pork chops, rice, gravy, steamed broccoli


Wednesday, December 30th - Soup
Ham and bean soup, bread


Thursday, December 31st - Poultry
Arroz con Pollo


Friday, January 1st - Pizza
Pizza (one with cheese and one cheese-less version)


Saturday, January 2nd- Pantry Ready to Eat
Tuna noodle salad, carrot sticks


Sunday, January 3rd - Pork or Beef
Swiss steak, potato, green beans


For simplicity's sake I've assigned each day of the week a category -
- Meatless
- Pork
- Soup
- Poultry
- Pizza
- Pantry Ready to Eat
- Pork or Beef

The meatless category isn't exclusively meat-free but it will be primarily vegetarian meals. Pork is, well, pork. Pretty easy to understand there as are the other meat categories. We'll have one night (at least) each week that is a soup. Soups and stews will also occasionally show up on the various meat nights. Pizza was picked because it's a favorite. The pantry ready to eat category is our realization that our Saturdays are hectic and we need meals that are extremely quick to make. Most of the ingredients in these are the sort we keep in our pantry or are always in the house. We chose the meat categories based upon what we have in our freezers already.

January is also a mostly eating out of our food storage month. Not really a problem because we have three small freezers full of chicken, turkey, beef, and pork as well as a well stocked pantry and food storage area in our basement. We'll supplement with eggs, milk, and some fruits and vegetables but I anticipate spending under $100 this month at the grocery store.

Seed catalogs already?!?

That photo was taken on December 24th - Christmas Eve!

Are you getting seed catalogs as early as we are? I like to spend lots of time looking at seed catalogs and planning out our gardens and since we now grow our own transplants we do need seeds in the later winter, but this is the very earliest I can ever recall getting seed catalogs in the mail.

Do you have any new plans for your gardens for 2010? Any great tips on planning your garden?

Making Gift Tags

One of the planned Advent projects we actually did complete was our homemade gift tags.

They are SO easy to make.

You need:

- cardstock
- hole punch
- paper cutter or scissors
- ink pads
- stamps

We used our paper cutter to cut strips of cardstock into pieces roughly 3" x 8". We folded those in half to make a small card. Then the Hubster used our three hole punch to punch one hole in the upper corner of the card.



This is where you'll string ribbon through the card.

Then the big girl used stamps and ink pads to make designs on the cards.

We primarily use fabric gift bags for our gift wrap so we just string the ribbon from the gift bag through the hole and tie the tags on our gifts.

Making Christmas Ornaments

This year we wanted to make our Christmas tree decorations by ourselves. We have a huge collection of real ornaments - most of them vintage treasures I've collected over the years, but when I have toddlers and young children I prefer to have a family friendly tree.

So once again (as it's been for the past four years) we substituted.

We purchased a small pink artificial tree because we knew it'd please the big girl.

And we planned to make lots of fun Christmas ornaments and string popcorn garlands.

Well...then the boy left for his month long visit with his bio dad. And then the baby girl decided to have her fever-a-thon. And then we just plumb ran outta time!

We did manage to make enough popcorn garland to cover half the tree.

And we did make a few ornaments.

Hobby Lobby had some neat ornament kits available and I intuitively picked some up in early December thinking that if we didn't get to the really homemade projects I had planned we could use them. And we did!

The one we've done so far reminds me of crayon art projects from elementary school. There are red and green areas beneath a black waxy substance. You use wooden sticks to scrape off the black stuff and make designs on the crosses. Then you string them with red ribbon and hang them on your tree.

The baby girl thought the packet of sticks was a great teether.




The big girl had fun making the ornaments.




Even the Hubster joined in.





It's not the handmade Christmas we had planned and hoped to have, but it was a fun afternoon of ornament making nonetheless. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that flexibility and fun trump even the greatest plans. ;)

Don't forget - the rationing begins today!

That's right, today begins the day of WWII style food rationing by the family at Rational Living.

Please stop by and see their journey into an experiment in eating as if they were participating in World War II food rationing.

Merry Christmas to you and a very blessed New Year!

The Three Kings a Christmas poem by Longfellow

The Three Kings a Christmas poem by Longfellow

Three Kings came riding from far away,
Melchior and Gaspar and Baltasar;
Three Wise Men out of the East were they,
And they travelled by night and they slept by day,
For their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star.

The star was so beautiful, large and clear,
That all the other stars of the sky
Became a white mist in the atmosphere,
And by this they knew that the coming was near
Of the Prince foretold in the prophecy.

Three caskets they bore on their saddle-bows,
Three caskets of gold with golden keys;
Their robes were of crimson silk with rows
Of bells and pomegranates and furbelows,
Their turbans like blossoming almond-trees.

And so the Three Kings rode into the West,
Through the dusk of the night, over hill and dell,
And sometimes they nodded with beard on breast,
And sometimes talked, as they paused to rest,
With the people they met at some wayside well.

"Of the child that is born," said Baltasar,
"Good people, I pray you, tell us the news;
For we in the East have seen his star,
And have ridden fast, and have ridden far,
To find and worship the King of the Jews."

And the people answered, "You ask in vain;
We know of no King but Herod the Great!"
They thought the Wise Men were men insane,
As they spurred their horses across the plain,
Like riders in haste, who cannot wait.

And when they came to Jerusalem,
Herod the Great, who had heard this thing,
Sent for the Wise Men and questioned them;
And said, "Go down unto Bethlehem,
And bring me tidings of this new king."

So they rode away; and the star stood still,
The only one in the grey of morn;
Yes, it stopped --it stood still of its own free will,
Right over Bethlehem on the hill,
The city of David, where Christ was born.

And the Three Kings rode through the gate and the guard,
Through the silent street, till their horses turned
And neighed as they entered the great inn-yard;
But the windows were closed, and the doors were barred,
And only a light in the stable burned.

And cradled there in the scented hay,
In the air made sweet by the breath of kine,
The little child in the manger lay,
The child, that would be king one day
Of a kingdom not human, but divine.

His mother Mary of Nazareth
Sat watching beside his place of rest,
Watching the even flow of his breath,
For the joy of life and the terror of death
Were mingled together in her breast.

They laid their offerings at his feet:
The gold was their tribute to a King,
The frankincense, with its odor sweet,
Was for the Priest, the Paraclete,
The myrrh for the body's burying.

And the mother wondered and bowed her head,
And sat as still as a statue of stone,
Her heart was troubled yet comforted,
Remembering what the Angel had said
Of an endless reign and of David's throne.

Then the Kings rode out of the city gate,
With a clatter of hoofs in proud array;
But they went not back to Herod the Great,
For they knew his malice and feared his hate,
And returned to their homes by another way.

Christmas Bells by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Christmas Bells
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The Carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said;
‘For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!’

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
‘God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!’

Did I mention the boy is gone again?

Probably I forgot to in the rush of fever and whatnot.

Yep, he's gone again. No photos this time. He left late at night on Tuesday, December 15th after the girls and I were asleep. Why on earth do buses leave in the middle of the night?

This time he took the bus to Michigan and from there he drove with his paternal grandparents to a Carolina (I forget if it's South or North) where his bio dad picked him up.

He'll be gone until the middle of January. We miss him.

The baby girl had an awful night on Monday and we finally figured out it was because she "talked" to him on the telephone. Every time he goes off to spend time with his bio dad she takes it the hardest. Poor little one! She doesn't quite have the words to express her loss.

We're able to keep in touch via FB (a little bit) while he's gone and there are cell phones, but it's really not quite the same as having someone with you.

He has a big adventure planned, though. His bio dad and step-mom are driving him out to Louisiana to pick up his favorite cousin and then they're off to Disney World and other assorted magical places.

Our family feels incomplete when he's gone.

So when do you adjust to kids leaving the nest? How long does it take? Does your family always feel empty?

Yet another reason to homeschool

Seriously, when I saw this photo on
The Wilson Clan's blog I just had to share it!

It combines two of my fav topics - the Zombie Apocalypse and Homeschooling!!



You can find more demotivational posters here.


And as always remember you can click on photos on this blog and they will get uber big!

So what did the poor big girl do while you were holding that pudgy baby girl for a week?

Come on, I know *Someone* out there in cyberland is accusing me of neglecting the big girl while I tended the baby girl during her latest fever-a-thon.

Well, rest assured that the big girl gets plenty of attention - even when her sister is fryin' up a storm inside her pudgy little bod.

Some of the luxuries that the big girl gets to enjoy when her sis is sick:

1. unlimited computer time. Yep, we break out the big guns when illness strikes. Usually the big girl is limited to using the computer when her sister is sleeping. But when the baby girl is sick then the big girl can view online shows and play online games until she's had her fill.

2. unlimited use of the dvd player and vcr. Again, we aim to overstimulate. ;)

3. When she's finishing gorging on media, then she turns to creative play. This past week we had a bit of the following:

3a. train play - inspired by a clip of Thomas and Friends the big girl built a mountain and some bridges for her trains to travel upon. The trains are, believe it or not, hand-me-downs from the boy. Those Thomas trains are over 16 years old and still provide days of enjoyment








3b. imaginative dress-up play - this ensemble is one the big girl likes to call Princess Queen. Too royal for just ONE title, she is!





4. We didn't get any film (or digital) proof of it but she also had a craft-o-rama. Since the baby girl wasn't mobile enough to interrupt crafting it was the perfect time for the big girl to work on more of her sticker/marker/stamper creations.

5. Books. The big girl spent a lot of time looking at books and being read books. It's fairly easy to hold a sick toddler and still read to her big sis.

So how about your families. Are there rules that change when illness strikes your households? Do the kids get special privileges if your attentions are turned toward healing the sick?

I think I may have found a new hero

in Harry Reid.

For those of you who don't know Senator Reid, he's the Senate Majority Leader and he represents the State of Nevada in the US Senate.

He's also a Mormon. My kind of Mormon, in fact. Moderate - maybe even considered Liberal on some issues. I honestly didn't know we had those sort of people in the Church. At least I hadn't met too many before.

My blog friends probably don't realize it but I was once an active Democrat. I served an internship on Bill Clinton's second Presidential campaign and also served an internship in Congressman Bart Stupak's Marquette, Michigan office. Both were experiences I treasure. I was even able to attend President Clinton's second innaguration and attend one of the balls.



Most of the Mormons in my ward are very conservative on political and social issues and it's so nice to know that there are others out there like me!

Mothering's Holiday Helper Program

If you're looking for a last minute holiday charity idea, please go visit the Holiday Helper threads over on Mothering.com. Each year the kind mamas (and a few papas) in the Mothering community help each other out.

These families in need receive warm clothing for their children, warm blankets and quilts for their beds, and a toy or two.

The program accepts donations of newly crafted items, gently used clothing and toys (with lots of life left in them), gift cards, and even gifts of PayPal money to help with postage.

This is a grass roots efforts of people helping people. There are absolutely no administrative costs as all the coordinators are fully volunteering their time and Mothering contributes the web space free of charge as well. All donations go directly to the people who need them!

Our family has been participating for quite a few years now. We started by sharing baby clothes and toys and lately I've been donating mama cloth and postpartum pads for mothers in need.

In fact, here is a stack I'm in the process of sewing up.



In past years this program has been kept going into January, but you can probably even help out a family before Christmas!

So stop on by the Holiday Helper Program at Mothering.com and see how your family can help a family in need this season!

ETA - I just found out that the program will be active until January 1st - so hurry over to see how you can help!

We might just have recovery here, folks!

The baby girl had a mostly normal night last night! She nursed frequently, but no whining and moaning and no thrashing about. No fever, too!!!

She woke up around 8am happy and saying "Hi!" to me. :)

She's picking out her ensemble for the day as I type. Really. She's thinking white tights and the red velvet pants should do. Maybe she needs my help. ("

Day Seven of the Fever

The baby girl woke up with a 102 degree fever. The Hubster and the big girl went off to church without us. :(

She napped once with my in the rocking chair and again upstairs on the big bed before they came back home.

The afternoon was a bit better and the girls played together.

I know it will end. It will end. She'll get better. Sometimes the light is just.so.hard.to.see.

I'm feeling lighter today

and it all came off of my head!




Today I finally went in to the hair salon to have my hair cut off. The new "do" is an angled bob with a stacked back.




I was long overdue for a trim as it's been nearly two years since my last haircut. My last trim was in March of 2008, just before the baby girl was born. It was above my shoulders then.

Today I not only got an updated style, but I also helped out a child with long-term hair loss. I donated my hair to a nonprofit program called Locks of Love. This program provides natural hair prosthetics to children who have long-term hair loss.

Soon my hair will be in the hands of staff at Locks of Love and will either become part of a natural hair prosthetic or will be sold to help finance the program. Either way my new "do" will benefit children who suffer from long-term hair loss.

If you've been thinking of a change, consider this program. They accept ponytails that are 10" or longer and your hair must not have been bleached or highlighted. They even accept grey hair! Any hair that they cannot use for the prosthetics is sold off to finance the program, so everyone can participate even if they don't have kid-friendly hair any longer. ;)