Blog Reading

I've been sitting at this computer for two hours this morning. My mind feels over whelmed.  I've been blog reading - mainly reseaching info on writing blogs.  Or at least that is how I started out.  There is so much information.  I bounce from one site to another......and get further and further lost in internet land.  I have got to find a better way to spend less time looking for what I want.  I do have my booksmarks categorized in folders, but there are so many of them.

Recently, I have started using Stumble Upon (just for entertainment - not for searching - well, maybe for searching what other blogs look like).  I highly recommend this if you are looking for interesting sites to read.  There are really some unusual blogs out there.

I said all that to say this:  Here is a good article about how to find a niche in blogging that I ran across in my wanderings around the internet this morning.  You need to scroll down the page to find it.

Have a great day!

Recipe Book - And A New Follower

I have a new follower!! Thanks very much to The Older Geek.  She sounds like an amazing woman.  A mother of 4 teenagers, she writes a LONG list of blogs with current and very interesting content - one of which is about how she did the electrical wiring in her home. Her posts on blogging are written very clearly and are most helpful.

I seem to be thinking about things in the kitchen a lot this week - especially my recipes.  I have this idea that I want to make a "Mama"s Recipe Book using all of my old recipes.  I'm talking about sort of a Heritage Cookbook, I guess, with pictures and a few stories here and there.

I have all of my recipes organized on my computer.  I've used different formats for them over the years - made a couple of notebooks for them.  A few years back I decided I wanted to go back to 4x6 cards.  Now I have decided to print them and put them back into a notebook - mainly to organize them better.  I can use the pictures of them that I am using on this blog.

I have a recipe program called Big Oven that I have used for a long time.  It is very easy to import recipes from the web into this program.  It makes shopping lists and has menu planning capbilities.

How to really go about this is not really clear to me yet. Maybe as a scrapbook??

Does anyone out there have any suggestions??

Kitchen Tips

I would like to share with you my very best kitchen tip.

Before beginning any meal preparation, always fill the sink with hot, soapy water - yes, even if you have a dishwasher! You can rinse your hands off quickly, wash a bowl or utensil if you need it again, and put cooking equipment in to soak until clean-up time. I'm sure nobody ever thought of this except me. :) 

Also, here is an organizing idea I use in my kitchen for my spices.  I place them in alphbetical order in plastic trays (the kind that are usually used in drawers, but any will do).

Then I use my trusty labler to put labels on the top so that when I take them off the shelf I can see immediately what is in each container.When I empty a container, the label peels off easily and usually has enough stickum to use on the new spice top.

Here is my labeler.  I really like it - use it for all kinds   of things.  Of course, any label method will work.

Recipe: Skillet Barbecue Pork Chops

Here is my Skillet Barbecued Pork Chops. The first time I prepared this recipe was about 50 years ago.  I served it to our first dinner guests, a fellow university student and his wife. It came from a magazine, and I thought it was great.

When our children came along, they, like most kids, would not eat everything and it seems like the only meat we ever had then was ground beef - hamburgers, meat loaf, spaghetti, etc. Somehow, I drifted away from this recipe.  I have been using it again for the past 2 or 3 years.  I can't say that it is my favorite recipe.......but it is good for a change.

Skillet Barbecued Pork Chops                          
4 -6 pork chops  (I used only three which is what I needed.)
1 tbsp. Wesson oil (optional)
1/3 c. chopped celery  (I use more.)
2 tbsp. lemon juice  (Of course, fresh is nice, but usually I only have bottled lemon juice.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon Pepper
1 -2 8 oz cans Hunts Tomato Sauce
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard   

In a large skillet with a tight fitting lid, brown pork chops in oil over medium heat about 5 minutes on each side. Actually, I omitted the oil, heated the dry skillet on medium heat until drops of water sprinkled in it danced, placed the chops in the skillet for about 5 minutes until they released easily from the pan, turned them and gave them a couple of minutes to brown on the other side.

Drain off excess fat. Sprinkle celery, (I used 2/3 cup), brown sugar, lemon juice and seasonings evenly over pork chops. Pour tomato sauce over all. Cover; simmer over low heat 1 hour or until chops are tender. It takes at least an hour.

Here is dinner served.... And it was good! The cabbage and black-eyed peas give away the fact that I am from the South.  Baked potatoes are good with this dish also.

Menus and Grocery Shopping

Yesterday, I planned my menus for the week, made my grocery list, and went to the grocery store.  This is the one thing I do that always makes me feel as if I have a handle on things (whether or not I really do), and I usually am pretty consistent with it.  Since most of the time there is just the two of us, I usually only plan 3 or 4 menus per week as each menu usually is enough for 2 meals. We eat out with friends once a week.

This is what we are eating this week:

1. Skillet Barbecued Pork Chops/Black Eyed Peas/Sauteed Cabbage/Leftover carrots
2. Chicken Stir Fry/Rice/Chilled Mandarin Oranges
3. Oven Pot Roast/Potatoes and Carrots/Green Beans/Tropical Fruit with Cheese Salad

I rarely see anyone at the grocery store who appears to be shopping from a list.  I always have one. The other day I was talking with a neighbor about this. She admitted she never does - she always "knows" what she needs.  Now I am wondering if there is something wrong with me because her home and her life seem much more organized than mine.  Maybe I spend too much time making lists!

Years ago I made a project of marking down all the aisle numbers where items that I bought were located in the grocery store and using that information to make my Publix Grocery List.  This is the store where I buy most of my groceries.  Occasionally, I go to Sam's to buy meat. I have never believed that I saved much money by running around from store to store chasing sales. I don't really enjoy grocery shopping!

An objection I have heard to a list like mine has been that stores are always moving things around.  I only remember that happening one time at Publix.  (The key words here are "I only remember".  I have shopped there for years, and they must have changed more than once.) By that time, my husband (who loves to go grocery shopping) was so hooked on my list that he took a tour around the store, noted all the changes, came home and edited my chart for me.

Tomorrow I will post the Pork Chop recipe. Have a great day!!

Thrifting: Estate Sales

I wish that I had known about estate sales when I was a young wife and homemaker.  I could have furnished our home a lot quicker and a lot cheaper. 

Several days ago I wrote about the valentine that I bought for my husband at an estate sale.  Here are the other bargains I got at that sale.  

This cake plate and server cost $2.50.  I love the rose design.  Roses are my thing!

 

This floral picture (roses again) in a gorgeous gold frame was $7.50.

 

A teapot for $2.50 (more roses, apparently also the "thing" of the woman who had previously lived where the sale was held)..... The ivy is from Joann's. I had a coupon.

I got all of these at half price because I was there on the last afternoon of the sale when they had reduced the prices of whatever was leftover.

I subscribe to Estate Sales.Net, a web site that emails notifications of estate sales in certain areas. 

Click to enlarge the photos!

Today's Pursuit: Yardwork

This time of year in Central Florida our big oaks start shedding their leaves.  I have already raked one time just a few days ago, but you would never know it. Though there were other things that I would much rather have done today, those leaves were calling me. They look messy, but they do make good mulch for our azalea bushes.

We have a lot of big oak trees on our street though not as many as we had before Hurricane Charley.  There were 8 big trees blown down across the street.

There is also a lot of work to be done in the back of our house.  My husband has already trimmed a lot of dead limbs, etc. that were a result of the freezes we had this winter.  The lanatanas that I planted around a Florida Holly tree in the back were damaged, but they are very hardy.  I gave them a haircut and they will come back. Today I did a little more weeding in that bed. The pavers that surround the bed have become buried in the ground so I started digging them up and will reposition them.

My husband had planned to spray Round Up on the patio as there are a lot of weeds peaking up between the pavers, but there is too much wind this afternoon. The patio also needs to be sprayed with bleach for the midldew on the pavers.

There are big beds along the back that need to be weeded and mulched.......a lot to do.  I don't like yardwork!

**Clicking on the photos will make them larger.

Blog Reading

It is Sunday morning. My granddaughters, who spent last night with us, are still asleep on the pull-out sofa in the family room.  Our guest room is currently occupied by my son-in-law who has been staying with us. He and my daughter and granddaughter are moving to another country (oh, wait....another state....just feels like another country) and he has been in job transition while my daughter has already gone ahead.  Since I can't go out to watch news, knit, and have my cup of coffee, I am in the computer room (also the sewing and ironing room) trying to catch up on reading blogs.

My list of blogs to read and check out gets longer and longer.  I feel a little frustrated that I can't keep up with all of them.  One site leads to another and another...........I was on I'm an Organizing Junkie this morning and found another great-looking site, Reluctant Entertainer.

I here someone rattling around in the kitchen.  Guess I'd better go check.

There is a lot going on at my house this weekend, and I don't have time to blog........so here is a funny joke that I plagarized from Grandma P's blog.  She admitted she had plagarized it so I guess it will be ok if I do.

This doctor has some unique ideas that I thought you would appreciate.

Doctor

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true? 
A: Heart only good for so many beats, and that it... Don't waste on exercise. Everything wear out eventually. Speed up heart not make live longer; that like say you can extend life of car by driving faster. Want live longer? Take nap. 
 
Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables? 
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does cow eat? Hay and corn. What are these? Vegetables. So, steak nothing more than efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef also good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And pork chop can give 100% recommended daily allowance of vegetable products. 
 
Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake? 
A: No, not at all. Wine made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine. That means they take water out of fruity bit; get even more of goodness that way. Beer also made out of grain. Bottoms up! 
 
Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio? 
A: If you have body and you have fat, ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, ratio is two to one, etc. 
 
Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program? 
A: Cannot think of single one, sorry. My philosophy: No Pain...Good! 
 
Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you? 
A: YOU NOT LISTENING!!! .... Foods fried in vegetable oil. How getting more vegetables be bad for you? 
 
Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle? 
A: Definitely not! When you exercise muscle, it get bigger. You should only do sit-ups if want bigger stomach. 
 
Q: Is chocolate bad for me? 
A: You crazy? HELLO ... Cocoa beans! Vegetable!!! Cocoa beans best feel-good food around! 
 
Q: Is swimming good for your figure? 
A: If swimming good for figure, explain whales to me. 
 
Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle? 
A: Hey! 'Round' is shape! 
 
Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets. 
 

More Menus and Blogging

I spent time yesterday writing the "About Me" post in the sidebar and working on my template - also researching some blogs.  I found a site called Blogging Basics 101 that promises to be helpful with my blogging and  also this site,  another interesting blog listing the ten top blogs in all kinds of subjects.  I have spent some time - using instructions in Blogging Basics to insert an RSS feed.  I have taken all of my "blogging time" with these things which has not left much time to post. I have to get up and start house cleaning as we are having a little company this weekend.

However, as I wrote about menus last, here is a photo of the Pinto Bean menu.  This was dinner for Tuesday night.  I ended up making just a quick tossed salad with what I could find in the frig as Tuesday nights are Little League Games right now and I did not have time to make the Columbia Salad.

Everything was good anyway.  As far as I am concerned, you can't beat pinto beans with fresh chopped onions and cornbread.  It's cheap, too!

I never use placemats.  (I do use tablecloths when we have company) This place setting would look much better with a placemat - I keep thinking I am going to make some.