Judy's Garage Sale Cookies

This is what the turkey's did while we worked at the Yard Sale; caused trouble!

(this is my chocolate hen, isn't she pretty?)

Picture courtesy of Teri, again.

Good morning!!!  Hope your week is going well; mine is just flying by!  Here it is already Thursday and I am just posting the recipe for my brilliant new cookie recipe, that I discovered last weekend.  Doesn't my modesty just blow you away sometimes?  No, really, this is a good one.  Tried and tested by the entire neighborhood; and truly loved by all.

As you all know we had our Garage/Yard sale last weekend to recycle some household goods, but even better to get some new shoes for my baby...Yes, tires for my truck!  We are leaving for Texas possibly this evening, but for sure tomorrow morning to deliver llamas and we were running on slicks.  Nothing like cutting it close, the Jeute way, of course, but I got my new shoes yesterday and we got a heck of a deal on used tires for $100.  So look around people when you shop for tires, because retail is NOT the way to go for tires, Baby.  Try a savings of over $500 and not much tread is missing from these tires, again we got really lucky with this deal, but we really shopped around!

As a matter of fact, while I waited for my tires, I snacked on the last of the delicious cookies.  Since they have oatmeal in them, I figured they were good enough for a snack food (as good as any of those snack crap items that put in wrappers these days) and packed 'em up to go!  Oh, and thanks Mom and Dad for the dried cherries, I raided them from your pantry when I got your mail the other day....couldn't resist...they were just too tempting.  But for most readers you can just get them at Costco or dehydrate them yourself; also you could substitute any dried fruit I would imagine, but the tangy taste of the cherry really added a nice flavor!

And by the way, we didn't make ANY money at all at the bake sale because some of our first customers were the local deputies, and were we really supposed to charge the badges for their cookies and lemonade?  And then of course we had to give a taste to our neighbors who just popped by to say hello and take some pictures....!!!

Judy's Garage Sale Cookies:

1 cup soft margarine
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (I would imagine regular would work just fine)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
3 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1 generous cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped

Heat oven to 350*.  Beat together margarine and sugars until creamy and then add eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl, adding oats last; then mix cherries into this dry mixture and coat them well.  Combine wet and dry mix, don't over-beat.  Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden, not golden brown or they will dry out too much in my opinion.  Cool on cookie sheet for a minute or so and then move to wire rack.  Makes about 4 dozen.  You can also make this into a bar cookie in a 13x9 (also ungreased) I would think and bake it for 30-35 minutes.  Enjoy!

Sweetened Condensed Milk (Homemade!)

Photo courtesy of ifood.tv

You know that ooey, gooey can of milk that you always have on your shelf for those extra rich baked goods...that is until you need it?  Well, I needed mine yesterday, and lo and behold, my son donated it to the canned food drive.  So what is a savvy baker to do?  Google it of course.  And I came up with a great second choice because I always have powdered milk on hand, doesn't everybody?

So here goes, it's easier than pie...

1/2 cup hot water

1 T. butter

1 cup powdered milk

1 cup sugar

Place all ingredients in blender and mix well.  I must admit, that I thought I could get away with saving myself from washing the blender and just mixing this by hand.  Big mistake.  I had lumps and an exhausted arm, so use the blender and then this can be stored in an airtight container in your fridge or freezer.  By the by, my lumps baked out perfectly in the toffee chip bars that I made, so it worked out fine, but it still would have been worth washing the darn blender!

Firestarters

As I have mentioned a few times, I am helping my friend Tiffany teach a class on Wednesdays at our local middle school.  Our class is called Environmental Action, perfect for her and I, huh?  Actually, she got to choose the class, one of the things that I am so proud of, in this day of budget cuts, our school found a way to add a slew of electives for our kids!  Not only are our teachers getting to teach things they have never taught, some of them for the first time in more than ten years, but our kids had a variety of electives that our district has never seen!

Okay, enough bragging, and on to the nitty gritty.  Last Wednesday, our goal was to use up the huge amount of eighteen packs of egg cartons that I get donated to me.  Although I love my egg carton donations, most families only use a dozen, especially once they learn of how rich farm fresh eggs are, so the eighteen packs were really stacking up.  I had a stack about two feet high, and that is with them all laid flat into one another!

So, brilliant Tiffany found a recipe for Firestarters.  We had the kids bring in old candles, shredded paper and cotton material.  We filled the egg cartons with the materials (I found that a mix of paper and cotton works best) and then filled with the melted candles.  Interestingly, you can just toss the whole candle in a double boiler, when you go to pour it into the cartons, any wicks or labels will separate.  We even used recycled double boilers, as we had coffee cans for the water and smaller steel cans for the wax.

Let them dry, and then tear them apart.  The extra egg carton that will be attached to each firestarter will be the "wick".  Now, I have not tried any, because the kids have decided to donate them, doesn't that make a person proud, but I'm sure they'd make your fire in the woods just dandy to start, let alone one at home!

Sorry about not having any pics, but with them not being my kids, I didn't think I could take any...what do you think Tiffany?  But you can check out a picture and another post, as a matter of fact it's what we based our idea on, here.

Summer Stir Fry

 (Not my photo, I of course was not thinking of blogging as I was rushing to get dinner on the table, but it gives you an idea, minus the pasta.)

I've got to tell you, this is one of the family's favorite new recipes, and I came upon it completely on accident.  And when I say I came upon it, it means that I just made it up...so please feel free to adjust it to your tastes.  As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the easiest things to make, because it is almost entirely made of leftovers, and only heats up your kitchen for just a few minutes, so is very temperature friendly on those very hot sticky days!  Here are the ingredients that I use:

~Leftover cooked meat; so far this has been diced pork that has been cooked in the crock pot or BBQ'd chicken.

~1 bag broccoli coleslaw mix (I get mine at the food pantry, but it is very inexpensive in the produce aisle)

~2 or 3 colorful peppers, I use 2 pretty non spicy peppers and one spicy

~veggies of your choice (I use whatever is good that week, squash, snap peas, the sky is the limit, or better yet, your kids are the limit!)

~cooked pasta or rice (we like our Chinese food lo mein style and I always have leftover pasta in the fridge that I can just toss in there so it saves me the time of cooking rice, but knock yourself out.)

~Soy sauce.  No kidding here, the first time I made this, I used leftover packets from when we had take out, and believe me, we can't afford take out very often, so it doesn't take much soy sauce!  We like this recipe so much I did break down and buy a bottle of soy sauce though and it is very cheap, look for it on the "Asian" food aisle.

Since everything is usually precooked, just start by heating your pan with just a tiny bit of olive oil in the bottom while you cut up your veggies.  Place all of the veggies, along with the slaw and brown for just a few minutes before you add your cooked meat and pasta.  Heat all the way through and add the soy sauce to taste and consistency.  I do want to remind you that soy sauce is very salty.  Tom got a little carried away with it the last time we had this and added some after I served dinner and had a stomachache in the night, so don't serve it on the side!  You'll hear about it later-ha!

This is a great dinner because all of your veggies, carbs and protein are all in one helping; I simply get my fancy bowls out and serve it up!  The family thinks they're getting a fancy schmancy dinner and it probably only takes me about fifteen minutes from start to finish, I haven't heated up my kitchen too much, it hardly cost me a dime and I cleaned out my fridge...let alone how many veggies I just snuck into their unsuspecting little bodies!

Deviled Eggs

When I was growing up my Grandma was always in charge of bringing the deviled eggs to all of the family parties, and they were the best deviled eggs you have ever tasted!  One of the things that she used to do to prepare for this big egg making event was to buy her eggs well in advance, her belief was that the fresher the eggs, the harder they would be to peel.  Now, whether this is a wives tale or not, I do not know; but it has had me quaking in my shoes since I have what I would consider the world's freshest eggs.  Directly out of the chicken.

Up until Easter Sunday, it really hadn't mattered how the eggs had peeled, it was just my family eating them, and if quite a bit of the white came off, no biggy, just feed it right back to the chickens for a strong healthy egg the next go 'round.  But for deviled eggs, for company no less, I really wanted them to peel nicely.  So, I hard boiled them, cooled them, and then cracked them all in the pan of water and then let them soak over night so as to let the water seep in between the egg and the shell.  If your pan has any aluminum showing, please use a different container to store the eggs in the fridge (in water) overnight, we don't want aluminum to leak into your wonderful eggs!

 Notice I'm using my non paper towels from my friend Tiffanys Etsy shop

In the morning I was really quite pleased, I still had quite a few eggs, probably the majority, that did not come out perfectly, but it went much more smoothly than I had anticipated!  You have to keep in mind when you get frustrated that the whites are the bottom of your deviled eggs, and that no one really sees that part after you decorate them anyway.  I had two trays that I planned on serving at the party and one for "Yucky's" as Isabella and I called them and it really took the pressure off when peeling and cutting them in half to have that extra tray to put the not so perfect ones; and believe me, they got eaten just as quickly!  

Okay, enough of the peeling secrets and on to the recipe, which as usual is not really a recipe because it depends on how many eggs you're making and what your tastes are.  But here is a list of my ingredients:

Eggs (duh)

relish (Grandma always used vinegar in hers, I think relish takes the place of that)

yellow mustard

spicy mustard

mayonnaise

salt and pepper

chili pepper for garnishing top

We just put all of the yolks into a bowl as we were halving the eggs and the whites into the trays.  Mix all of the devilish ingredients to the right consistency and taste, meaning that you have to snitch here and there of course, and put it all into a baggy.  A funny side note here, Isabella, shocked, looked at me and said "We get to use a new bag, Mommy?"  Poor girl, traumatized by a cheap, tree hugging, mother!

Anywho, snip the corner off of your brand new baggy and fill your awaiting vessels, top with a sprinkle of the chili pepper, it's okay to get a little on your beautiful serving tray, no one will notice!  Grandma used to go to all of the trouble to make them all and then transfer each and every one of them, but not me, takes too much time!  Share with your loved ones and enjoy the fruits of your labor, and hopefully not so much labor!

Corned Beef and Cabbage

No, this is not the post I had planned for today either!  That's what I get for planning-ha!  I realized that tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day and that I wanted to share my recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage with you, but if you are going to have it ready for the big day, you must start it tonight; therefore, another change in plans.  I have already started my brisket in the crockpot, and I will take pics throughout the next stages and add them to this post as I go, so check back for updates if you'd like.  For those of you that get this via e-mail, I'm sorry that you won't get all of the pictures, but click on the link by St. Patrick's Day and they'll be there!

This recipe is actually my Grandma's, passed down through the generations, and it is the only way I like corned beef because it is not stringy!  It is absolutely worth the time in preparation, and your slow cooker does all of the work for you!  So, tonight before you go to bed, place your corned beef in the crockpot on low and cover with water.  In the morning you will know it is St. Patrick's Day and you will not forget to wear green and be pinched once, unless of course you want to be!

Remove your brisket and let it cool while you finish getting ready for the day.  Chop your cabbage (I add some potatoes and carrots sometimes) and put it in the liquid and add more water if necessary; leave the slow cooker on low.  Don't forget to cover your beautiful roast and place it in the fridge for later or the dog will eat it while you are gone, at least that is what would happen at my house.

Okay, now the very important part, how to cut the meat.  When you get home, all ready for that delicious Irish dinner, turn your slow cooker up to high.  Cut your roast against the grain, again, very important!  This is what keeps it from getting stringy; you will know if you are doing it right because the meat will look sort of compressed instead of pulling apart in pieces.  When your meat is cut and trimmed of the yucky fat, dump it back into the crockpot with the hot veggies while you make the mashed potatoes to put it all on!  Since the pieces of meat are not too big they will heat through in no time flat and you will have your traditional Irish dinner ready for your family in a shake of a lamb's tail.  Did somebody mention lambs?

Sometimes I just crack myself up!

PS  In case you are wondering why I am doing our St. Patrick's Day meal a day early; yes, I am doing it for this post, but also it is to have dinner all ready for the big Caucus tonight!  I love to use my slow cooker on a night when we have a lot going, and politics is big in a small town.

Schnitzel; Royal Ranch Style

Once again, I forgot to take pictures while I was making dinner (Ha! thank goodness for clipart), but my family enjoyed it so much that I thought I'd share my recipe with you all real quick.  Plus, I know I have been a bad girl about my blog over the weekend, so this may make up for it.  Actually if you try this, it will more than make up for it!

Schnitzel has quite a history, and when I went to do a little research for this post I was shocked at how worldly it is!  Wikipedia has an entire page dedicated to schnitzel and it's various origins and ways to be made.  I was actually quite relieved to read that many heritages have a claim to fame on this great food source, and that hopefully I will not be corrected by my German exchange sister on this one (just kidding, Irina).  We of course, are closer related to the German one, because that is what Tom was raised with and loves.
What I have learned is that you can "schnitzelize" (my spell check is having a heck of a time with this word, so it must be a Judy original!) just about anything, which is partially why I love it so much.  The fantastic part is that you can take an inexpensive cut (like cube steak) of meat, tenderize it and turn it into a wonderful meal for your family.  It is also great to take boneless skinless breasts and fillet them (cut them in half sideways to double the amount of breasts you have) and then tenderize them and you have twice the amount of food for the same amount of money.  Last night I used this recipe on elk steak, so it is even good on game meat!

To prepare the meat I lay it out on a cutting board (no plastic or wood to hold in meat bacteria remember!) and let the kids go to town with the meat hammer, they absolutely love this job!  If it gets too messy you can cover it with plastic wrap, which I never do because I prefer to clean up the mess than use plastic, but it is a good tip for those of you who can't handle the juices.  Turn the meat over and do the same to the other side and clean all surfaces of your children, cutting board, counters and kitchen with an antibacterial cleaner of some kind, preferably eco-friendly!
Mix bread crumbs, flour, seasoned salt, garlic powder, chili powder, and pepper in a shallow dish.  Amounts are a little tricky on this one as it depends on how much you are making and your tastes.  I am guessing that for 6-8 pieces (I always make a much bigger batch and never measure, so I am guessing here) you will need a total of 1 cup dry ingredients with about 1tsp. each of the spices.  Then you can adjust to your own tastes from there.  In another shallow dish scramble two eggs and add a dash of milk and really mix well.  Dredge meat pieces in egg/milk mixture and then in crumb mixture, place in a hot skillet with a little bit of olive oil in the bottom on medium high heat.  I use olive oil because it is much healthier.  Leave the burner pretty hot until the pieces are browned on the first side and ready to turn over.  After turning, turn down the heat, and let the meat cook through and the second side continue browning.

As I mentioned, this is a very versatile main course, it can be served with just about any side dish.  You can also mix Parmesan cheese and Italian spices into the dry ingredients and you have "Parmigiana" to serve over pasta with sauce.  Get creative, and if you do, don't forget to come back here and tell us all about it!

Cookie Day, Part 2

Good Morning!  I promised you all a follow up post about cookie day and here it is.  I'm not going to spend much time telling you what a great family tradition this is, because I have some great recipes to share.  But, it is a great day filled with time to catch up with the ones you love and get all of your Christmas baking done at once.  I really love the fact that we have such a large variety on the plate when we deliver them to our friends and neighbors.  My Mom is always the hostess, and each of us three girls brings ingredients for two types of cookies; meaning we end up with a minimum of eight kinds of cookies!
We usually do all of our all time favorites, and then sneak in some that may not be quite as fancy as Christmas cookies, but they are ones that everyone likes.  For example we did Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip; easy and quick to get through our baking lines, these are the ones that I really enjoy!  My Mom and sister, Kelly, both had different takes on a cookie that had craisins and white chocolate in them, and they are both delicious.  Hopefully they will keep those recipes for next year.

One of the funnest things for the kids this year was an idea Kelly brought to the table (I just kill myself-ha!), she brought the small pretzels and three kinds of candies (rolos, m&m's and kisses), the kids put one piece of chocolate (either rolo or kiss) on each pretzel and put it in the oven for just a couple of minutes.  Remove and place an m&m on top of each kiss and a pecan on top of the rolos.  These are really cute, taste great and the kids did a great job with them and felt like they were really contributing to Cookie Day, which they were; these were a great filler for the plates of cookies.  So, without further ado, I'll get to my very favorite recipes:

Peanut Blossoms
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. peanut butter
1.2 c. sugar
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Cream together the butter and peanut butter, add sugars and mix.  Add egg and vanilla and mix again.  Blend into mixed dry ingredients until combined.  Shape into balls and roll in sugar.  Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375* for 8 minutes.  Remove from oven and place a kiss or star in center and press down just until the cookie cracks.  Bake another 2 or 3 minutes until edges of cookies are brown.  Makes 3 dozen.

Meltaway Dreams (I think this is the entire family's favorite!)
1 cube softened butter
1 cube softened margarine (do not melt)
1/3 c. powdered sugar
3/4 c. corn starch
1 c. flour
Frosting
1 small package cream cheese, softened
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter, margarine and sugar.  Add rest of ingredients one at a time, and blend well.  Drop from teaspoon on to greased cookie sheet and refrigerate for at least an hour.  Bake at 350* for 10 to 15 minutes on top shelf of oven.  To make frosting: sift sugar into cheese a little at a time, add vanilla.  We use food coloring for red and green and put the frosting in a bag, clip the corner and go for it!  Makes 50-60 small cookies.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip

1 3/4 c. oil

2 cups sugar

1 16 0z. can pumpkin (My Mom already had pumpkin, or I would have used my frozen, but if you do, bring down the moist ingredients a bit and add extra spices!

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

4 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. salt

1 bag chocolate chips

Cream oil and sugar.  Add pumpkin eggs, and vanilla, beat well.  Stir together dry ingredients and add to batter.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop in rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart on greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350* for 12-15 minutes.  Cool on rack.  Makes 7 dozen.

So, go make some cookies while you're making your miracle today!

It's Cookie Day

Good Morning, and happy weekend to you all!  My family has a great tradition; each year we get together and have what we call "Cookie Day".  My two sisters and I head "home" to Mom and Dad's for the day taking as many of the kids as we can pull together at one time.  Each of us brings ingredients for two kinds of our favorite cookies, so we end up with a great variety of the all time family favorites.
But, as usual I am running late, so I will try to post some pics and possibly even some recipes later.  Who knows, you may get a two for one deal out of this.  Really, I just wanted to share the idea because it is a great way to get all of your Christmas baking done while having a great visit with your friends or family!
Make a miracle today!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins...

How to turn these:

Into this:



Good Morning! Like many of you, I'm sure, I have pumpkins that I refuse to not use every last bit of. So, I'd like to share some pumpkin recycling ideas with you. Being the terrible Mom that I am, I waited until after my local store only had very small pumpkins, so I started out with 4 small pumpkins, which is about the same amount I got last year from one medium pumpkin. Start by washing the pumpkins, scrape out the remainder of the innards that didn't get removed when carving, and cut them into pieces and place on a cookie sheet like this:


Bake them in a 350* oven for about an hour. I heard on the Rachel Ray show yesterday, to put the skins up, and I will try it next time, but this method has worked great for me so far. They will come out looking like this:



Let them cool for a while, and peel them. It is easiest to break the piece in half and peel from the middle out, I have found. Keep the peels for the wildlife (or chickens in my case) and put the pumpkin in a bowl. I have tried quite a few ways of mashing the pumpkin, and found my good old fashioned hand mixer did the job best. I have not tried a large food processor, because I don't have one, but my small one didn't work. The pumpkin should come out like this:

To make the crust:

3 cups flour

1/2 cup lard or 1 cup shortening (I used lard because that's what I had for suet making)

1 tsp. vinegar

milk (for consistency)

Place all of the ingredients, except for milk into a mixing bowl, adding it only a little bit at a time, just until it is the right consistency. Combine with hands, it is much more fun that way, and separate into two balls, now you have a spare crust in the freezer also. I put the one that I am going to roll right away in the fridge for a little while before I roll it out, they just seem to need time to "rest". Generously flour your rolling surface and roll 'til you think it's right, we like ours a little thicker, and this is what it looked like:

To make the filling:
Take about 1/4 of your pumpkin, and freeze the rest (you should have three pkgs for the freezer).

Cream together pumpkin, 4 eggs and 1 3/4 cups sugar.

Add:

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp ginger

Mix well together with pumpkin/sugar mix.

Heat 1 cup of milk and add 1 T. (not tsp.) butter to milk and mix with pie filling.

Pour into crust and bake at 375* for 30-40 minutes, when center of pie is firm, it is done.

Let cool, and top with one small container of whipped topping.

Now, a few other pumpkin recycling ideas. As we all know pumpkin seeds can be roasted by covering with spices (we use garlic salt, pepper and chili pepper) and roasting at 400* for fifteen to thirty minutes. One very good thing I found with the small pumpkins is that their seeds are much more tender. If you don't like pumpkin seeds, still wash and dry them and put them out for the wildlife, they will really appreciate sharing in the Halloween leftovers. This is what ours looked like, and they were delicious.

But, the funniest part of the story is the pumpkin bread I made the same day as this pie. Everything looked beautiful, I put them in the oven and ran to do other things. Well, I could tell that they were done by smell, and was a little surprised the timer had not gone off, but I went to check them anyway. The middle had fallen so badly that my loaves of bread looked like huge pumpkin canyons! This has never happened to me before, so I was quite flustered and for the life of me I couldn't figured out what I had done differently. The next night (Monday) I went to go make dinner, and when I came back into the kitchen to see if the oven was preheated, it was on FIRE!!!! Our element was literally throwing flames as high as the ceiling of the oven! Luckily as soon as I turned off the oven the flames went out, but I got the giggles so badly I couldn't hardly talk; here I'd been beating myself up over three messed up loaves of pumpkin bread, when I'm darn lucky I didn't burn down the house!

Have a miracle of a day!
P.S. Aren't you proud of me for remembering to take pictures? And, no I'm not showing you my failed loaves-ha!!!!

Judy's Spaghetti from Scratch

I am always a little hesitant to use my recipes on this blog since they just come out of my head, and are not at all exact, but that is really the way I would like to teach people to love to cook, with your heart and senses. When I ask you to use so much of an herb or spice, use a little more or less, if that is to your liking, that is how most of these recipes came to be. Also, I have not figured out exactly, but this spaghetti must cost cents per serving, it is VERY cheap to make and it is one of my family's favorites; I get a request for it at least once or twice a week! So, here goes:

1-1.5 lbs. ground meat (whatever is on sale beef, turkey, wild game)

1 can tomato paste (cheap is fine, organic is better)

1 can diced tomatoes w/ peppers (again, I buy the cheap stuff, or organic when it is on sale w/ a coupon, and then I stock up, this goes for the paste as well, I use them in a lot of stuff)

Garlic salt

Pepper

Chili Pepper

Italian Seasoning

Place thawed meat into a deep skillet on medium high heat, and sprinkle with spices, I'm guessing here, but I use at least a tsp. each of garlic, pepper and Italian seasoning, and then half that of the chili pepper. Again, this is really to your specific taste and smell. If you are on a low sodium diet, you may want to do your salt and garlic separately so that you can have a little more garlic taste without adding too much salt. My ground meat usually looks pretty well covered with the spices when it is still pink, that way I can see what I have added, and the flavors are cooked all the way through the meat.

I have the coolest trick to open those nasty tomato paste cans! (I wish I could remember where I read this so I could give due credit!) Open both ends, and remove one lid; when the meat is finished browning, just push the paste through with the other lid right into the skillet! Add the tomatoes, and since your rinsing the can for recycling anyway, put the first couple cans of water into the skillet to dissolve the tomato paste. Let simmer for at least 20 or 30 minutes.

I usually do the sauce, because it goes very quickly, and then get the water going for the pasta. Here is another one of my favorite tips, especially for us high altitude dwellers; always put a lid on your pot, it will help the water boil faster. It takes less energy, and less time, and at 9,000 feet if you don't want to wait a half hour for a pot of water to boil, it is a necessity.

Back to dinner, make a quick salad and maybe some garlic toast and you've got yourself a quick, easy, budget friendly meal that your family will love, I hope!

Have a miracle of a day!

PS I will try to take pictures as I am making some of these things, I know that would probably be helpful, are you getting sick of clipart?