Be Ye Separate

Menu Planner (A Day Late) : UPDATED with lots of talk about the inlaws!

We did end up having soup last night after all.  It got rainy and chilly and by the time hubby was home, he was in the mood for soup and grilled cheese.  Here is our menu for this week, including last night:

Monday: tomato soup, grilled cheese

Tuesday: chicken enchiladas, spanish rice

Wednesday: nachos

Thursday: meatball sandwiches and veggies

Friday: PIZZA!!!!!!  brownies and icecream for dessert

Saturday: pork loin, vegetables (in the crockpot), hot rolls and apple butter

Sunday: planned leftovers (buffet, pick what you want, eat what you want)

On Saturday afternoon, we are planning on having Matthew's parents over for dinner.  I told Matthew last night I don't mind visiting with them.  I just hate having to do it in their house, eat dinner before we go or after we return, etc.  So this time, they are coming to see Noah play in his own environment.  LOL  Since his mother IS NOT a cook, I thought I would fix a nice Sunday dinner type of meal.  His father will love it!!!  For some reason, when I cook, she seems to get real quiet and jealous.  I can't help it that I am a good cook and Matthew prefers my cooking over hers.  LOL  We don't like her cooking (hamburger helper, corn dogs, sandwiches, etc.), and I don't trust her cooking because of her cleaning habits, so we do not eat there under any circumstance.  (Unless it is prepackaged food, or I have taken the dish myself, which is what I do on the holidays!!!)

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I thought I would add a little update for those of you who don't know the situation with hubby's family.  (And since Anonymous in Hicksville, New York decided to leave a rude comment!!!  LOL)

My hubby's family is some of the nicest people you will ever meet.  They would take the shirts off their backs for you, but cooking and cleaning is not their choice of pass times.  It is not only my opinion, it is the truth, and they would tell you so themselves!!!!   As for my hubby, he knows the problems with their cleanliness and we both decided (not just me) to never eat there, not because she doesn't fix food that is gourmet, but because her kitchen and the rest of the house is AWFUL!!!  Hot dogs, fine, I don't care....we are not fancy people.  But I would check the expiration date on the package and check the cleanliness on all pots and pans before she cooked them, or I would go hungry.

In response to what he thought of my parents (they are in heaven now), he adored them, and was able to find out how parents who love their children act and talk.  His parents were abusive in too many different ways.  He adored my parents and they loved him!!!  He had just as hard a time when they died as I did, and he only knew them about 1.5 years before they died.  We love his parents, but we won't forsake our own family's safety by eating there!!  it is as simple as that.

I have had a few people send me a message saying your post makes me feel so blessed for my inlaws.  Good for you!!!!  I am so glad not all inlaws are like mine!  LOL  I think alot of it has to do with the fact that I married the middle child, only son, and he was a momma's boy for a long time.  He moved out at the age of 17, and she was as sweet as pie with me, even after we got married until we had a child.  I am not sure exactly what it is about this that changed her, but I have since talked to several other girls that say their mother in law did the same!!  She is a sweet lady, but she seems to cling to my hubby because she doesn't have a close intimate relationship with her own husband.  (They live in the same house, different bedrooms, roomies only, no real relationship)   She has repled to Matthew several times about how was happy to see us being so close, but she was jealous because she never had that for herself.  Sad isn't it???  It makes me even more thankful to God for my hubby dearest.

Have any of you had problems with your mother in law like this, after getting pregnant and having a baby??? (No he is not the only grandchild, but he is the only boy, and the only one to carry on the bloodline.)  If so, how did you handle it?????

~Click On The Link~

Rootbeer Cookies!

This was a new recipe we tried and it's a keeper! These are fabulous and not just the ordinary run of the mill cookie!! My kids LOVED them!  The rootbeer used in the recipe is concentrate/extract not the rootbeer / pop you buy to drink. You can purchase the extract at the supermarket where the extracts are sold. ( next to vanilla)

The frosting/ icing is rootbeer flavored too!

YIELDS: 4 dozen

                                   Rootbeer Cookies

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup butter softened

2 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 tsp rootbeer concentrate/extract

3 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Icing:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 c up butter melted

2 TBS hot water

1  1/2 tsp rootbeer extract

Cream sugar, butter and eggs. Add rootbeer and buttermilk. Combine dry ingredients and add to creame mixture.  Mix until  smooth.  *Refrigerate dough for 1 hour*.  Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes. Cool completely before icing.

Glaze/Icing: Melt butter in pan, remove from heat and add hot water, rootbeer concentrate and sugar.  Stirl until smooht. Spoon over cooled cookies.  If glaze gets too thick you can reheat over low heat.

Enjoy!

~ gloria ~

Pantry Planning for Pets

Anyone with cats or dogs knows that there are ocassionally times when you run short on pet food.  Of course, if you live in the city it is easy to stop at a store to buy more.  Living in a rural area can make a simple trip to the store out of the question.  What do you do if you run out of pet food just before a payday?  What about winter storms or other situation when making a trip to the store is not possible?

If you are planning your pantry for winter, you should always try to plan ahead for your animals also.  Just as a winter storm can cause a hardship on us if our pantry is not well stocked, it can be devastating to pets. 

Our cats are all outdoor barn cats.  We never keep cats in our home.  For food, they hunt rodents which helps to keep the rodents from getting into the livestock feed and hay.  The added benefit being that because the cats hunt rodents, we have no large rodent-eating snakes around the house, barn or outbuildings.  Even though we only put out a small amount of food for the cats, mainly kitchen scraps that the sheep cannot eat, we still need to think ahead for winter.  During winter months, the rodent population is lower and there is much less for the cats to hunt.  This is where planning ahead can be a blessing.

Recently, I came across a couple of websites that have recipes for making homemade pet food.  The first is Pet Food Cookbook.  This site has many recipes for dogs, cats, and birds.  The second site is Healthy Recipes for Pets. Healthy Recipes for Pets has recipes for cats and dogs.  A special section for each also contains recipes for pets on special diets due to health issues.

I now have in my notebook a couple of recipes for cats.  I chose recipes that use items found in our pantry on a regular basis.  This will allow me to easily have the necessary ingredients on hand if the situation should ever arise that we need to make the homemade pet food.  We are planning to get dogs in the spring to start working with the sheep.  For that reason, I also have a couple of recipes for dogs. 

Here is a very simple basic recipe for cats that will work in a pinch.  Cook up some rice and lentils.  To this add some leftover vegetables and a can of tuna.  For cat food, you may want to have some tuna packed in oil.  The oil is good for them.  Mix this all together and let cool before feeding to your cats.  You can feed the same thing to dogs.  My husband remembers often feeding rice with leftovers mixed in to their dogs when he was growing up.

My dear sweet husband

....is bringing me home 2 bushels of organic apples from a local organic farm, He called me and told me the price and it was good so we had the man mix 4 different kinds in each of the bushels so I have red delicious, gala, johnathan and fuji...this combo makes the absolute best apple sauce and apple butter...and you can bet that tonight for dessert will be having homemade apple pie....yuuuummmmmy! I am also going to put up some apple pie filling and just plain apples...We are blessed!

~Kris