My Grand mother Turney was a spry little thing. She was a great cook and spent much of her day preparing meals for her family. We always looked forward to spending time with her because we knew we would have a great big breakfast and a dinner full of fried catfish, succotash, and blackberry cobbler. So very good and comforting.
I remember one visit my grandmother and my Aunt Sue were trying to decide what to make for a snack for all the grandchildren running around the farm. They could make something out of nothing. They found a package of old gumdrops and turned them into cookies. I was amazed that they could make such a thing and that it actually turned out good.
I believe I developed a love of cooking from these two women. I am thankful for that. I saw what a joy they were to their family by preparing good healthy meals and sweet treats. I come from a long line of women who did nice things for their families.
I went to bed early last night and have awakened in the middle of the nights with thoughts racing fluidly in my brain. I thought I would share a few of them. I have over 60 years of life lessons. I am not saying that I know how the world should be or that I am an expert at anything. I am saying that by sharing me life lessons maybe someone can glean something from my harvested fields.
I was a real go getter in high school and my young adult life. I would write goals down and achieve many of them. I always felt I needed a purpose and would seek one out through prayer. This is how I function. My sister tells me that I should take it easy and live life as God gives it to me. That is how my sister functions, but I think God understands that my structure is different. I am not saying either is good or bad, just different.
I have had a time in life that I felt overwhelmed with being a victim. I had put myself in the victim role. I was accepting of mediocrity. Some members of my family thought of me as a door map personality. I would just tell myself that it takes more strength to be meek than it does to be hateful and combative. This has caused me many sad times and undue burdens that were not always self inflicted.
I find myself , often times, being accepting of mediocrity. I have had times when I was just too mentally exhausted to fight the battles of life. I have not been driven to succeed in my career because the battle was just too hard, or the management did not like me, or I was given the short straw over not being able to afford a formal education. I was in victim mode.
I took many years off to raise a family and to be a domestic goddess. I do not regret those years and I am very thankful that I was able to be a stay at home parent. I enjoy children and young adults. I have spent many years of my life dedicated to children and youth ministries. I am not bragging, I am just saying this is the direction God took me in my life.I am not saying I was good at it. I was just open to sharing myself with people.
I still love to tell stories in hopes that someone will get a glimpse of a way to solve there personal life issues. You never know what someone needs to hear and if you open yourself to be a tool for God he will work through your voice.
I have stopped being so aggressive in my career as I get closer to retirement age. I lean more on God’s leadership in my life decisions. If I go for interviews I give the decision making to God. If he wants me to have a job he will open the door for me to be placed in it. This approach has saved me from the victim mode of thought. I have applied for many positions that I was not confident for and have had jobs that I never thought I would get. It also makes me feel better if I get turned down for a job. It was just not God’s timing for me to be in that certain position.
I had a point in life that I did not feel a need to achieve goals. I was just kind of wandering through life without a plan. I look back on that time and realize that I was really depressed after losing my spouse. I was not giving up in life, I was just not moving forward. That was a hard place for me to be. I have since awakened.
I am not as driven as I once was, but I do see a need for moving forward in life. I function by needing a purpose and not just living from one day to the next. I make a list and check it twice, marking off things I enjoy achieving. My list has changed in order of importance over the years, but I still need a list for direction.
I am happy with the life I live. It is simple and relaxing and fulfilling. I hope someone finds some words or stories from me that help them in their life journey.
Thanks for listening. Glad you got a little insight into Dinky’s brain.
I love going to estate sales. Today after work I went to one and picked up a few interesting items.
stuff
I love slippers and scored with this fancy pair of fur trimmed pink bedazzled pair. I enjoy postcards. I look at them and dream of traveling. I collect Fenton glassware and Ruby red glassware. And of course, I love all things about cats.
I took a look see at what I could find in my overcrowded pantry to make a treat from. I keep some of my dry goods in vacuum packed jars and store them in this pantry. I also have some restaurant style mixes. This will be interesting.
Today I found a 1/2 pint jar of rice and a jar of raisins. I decided to make rice pudding.
My recipe called for half a cup of half and half. I had none in the fridge. I also did not have milk. I do not buy fresh milk because I only use it for cooking. Hmmm. . . I improvised. I made a quart of powdered milk for the base of the recipe and then I made a cup on powdered milk and added a tablespoon of melted butter for half and half substitute. I blended it in a blender to make sure the butter incorporated.
half and half substituteIngredients
I gathered all the ingredients needed.
Dropped an egg
I hate it when I drop things. Oh well, nobody is perfect.
First ingredients
I put the three ingedients into a sauce pan on low heat. Those ingredients are a quart of milk, a cup of rice, and a teaspoon and a half of vanilla. I like to use Mexican vanilla. It has a very strong rich flavor. I made Madagasgar vanilla extract this winter but have not started using it yet. This mixture smells great. It has to simmer, covered, over low heat for forty minutes. I went and watched a series on Netflix for a while.
Burn baby burn
Guess the heat was too high. That will be a mess to clean. I give you another example of imperfection. Reminds me of Julia Child cooking shows when she would advise not to tell anyone your mistakes because for the most part they will never know.
The rest of the ingredients
Next you mix up the rest of the ingredients except for the raisins. This mixture is one half cup of half and half ,one cup of sugar, one half teaspoon of salt and one teaspoon of cinnamon. (I got a replacement egg out of the fridge for the one I dropped on the floor.)
small amount in egg mixture
Take a small amount of the rice mixture (about a third) and mix with the egg mixture. Put all back into the saucepan with remaining rice mixture. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until bubbly and thick.
All mixed now heat till thick
Add one cup of rasins. Serve hot or cold. This is delish. I cleared two jars and one milk packet out of my pantry. Way to go me.
I dare you. Show us your pantries. No judgement,this is simply a cultural exchange. Mine is horrible. I am using this blog as an exercise on cooking from my food hoarder pantry. Today I was able to get two jars removed from it by making rice pudding. Rice pudding post to follow.
Oh the shame
My goal is to organize this mess and to post recipes on my blog. I will just go from left to right and cook whatever comes next. This will be interesting.
Last night I had one chicken thigh in the package I used for my paella dish. I boiled it and then removed the meat from the bone. I saved the broth to use at a different time. I mixed diced chicken, boiled and diced eggs, zuchinni relish, dried cranberries,celery diced, chopped pecans (from my earlier gathering), mayonaise, salt, pepper, and onion powder. This has a really good flavor and makes for a really good light lunch with butter crackers.
I tried something new today A friend gave me a paella kit. I love to experiment with different foods and I have a snow day from work today. I still have not got over my cold so I am not sure if I can taste every flavor.
Here is a picture of my Texas snow.
This dish has many steps. First step is to simmer the spices in chicken broth.
Then you brown chicken thighs.
Then you cook the veggies.
Then you fry the rice and put it all together. The shrimp is steamed on top of the rice. You don’t stir this.
Cooking for one person can be difficult. I used to cook for 8 amd then my household went to one, sometimes 2. I am learning some tricks.
Tonight I made chicken and dumplings. I had purchased a baked chicken on grocery day. I had a meal from it. I used the left over chicken, some frozen onions, a rib of celery, some mixed veggies , a can of cream of chicken, some broth and four frozen biscuits cut in quarters. I added salt and pepper and cooked on low covered for 12 minutes. Do not lift the cover or the dumplings will fail. This made three meals for me. It was great food on a snowy winter day.
My cows love the sunshine and warm days. When Texas decides to have a winter storm we have to prepare. I probably won’t go to work tomorrow and I also don’t want to be in the cold getting shelter ready for the cows.
I’ve been sick so I dressed warm. Then I put some square bales in the barn. I then opened up the barn for the ladiea and gentleman to have protection.
On another note, the plants in my greenhouse are looking pretty good,
After being sick for a week due to chasing Penelope back into the corral, I said good bye to her today. I woke up yesterday morning and saw Penelope in my front yard eating on a grass pile. She has been roaming the yard for the past week while I was sick. I had the gates closed to the street so she could not get into traffic. It is time for her to go.
I called the local hire a cowboy and he showed up this morning to help me out. It is not a bad little system. At the age of 60 I should not really be corralling cows by myself. We hopped on the four wheeler and went searching for the cows. They saw us and have learned that I usually have treats for them. They follow me back up to the corral. Cows can be pretty stupid. You just have to train them like big old dogs. We got Penelope loaded up and off she went to the great big Sale Barn. I was told that the price of cattle is through the roof right now so I should make my money back on her plus a little extra. Not bad for a few days work.
I will update everyone with the real numbers if I made anything.
Peace out.
Dinky
Lost a little $ selling Petunia but not worh the risk of her hurting anyone.
