Family Foodies

When Mom was moved into a nursing home a few years ago, my dad and my sisters carefully went through her things. I was delighted to receive Mom’s handwritten cookbook (I thought it was strange that my sisters would give me, the non-cooking daughter/sister, Mom’s precious cookbook!).

Will someone please tell me the difference? I think they are both the same. I like saying “Hot Chocolate” better though because I am an admitted chocolate addict!

I think this photo of the hot chocolate my daughter ordered at a local cafe shows what “perfect” whip cream looks like.

Next time we go there I’m going to ask why hot chocolate is served in mugs twice the size of their coffee mugs…I had to wait for refills!

Sweet Memories

I remember when I was young my mom would make homemade hot chocolate mix using powdered milk as one of the ingredients. She would store it in a big container for all eight of us kids. It was delicious! Over the years as I’ve purchased Swiss Miss for my kids I’ve often thought back to mom’s version of hot chocolate.

We’ve been having some pretty chilly days lately. The kind of days when you come in from outside and still keep your coat on for a while because you are just cold to the bone. Today I went to my daughter’s house to work (a really tough concept with my grandson there).

She made us lunch and it warmed me right up. I wanted to share a photo with you as she presented the meal to me. It was so cute

Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese on Homemade Bread!

Does someone do something in your kitchen that totally annoys you? I wanted to share my list with you, then you can share yours. Hopefully our lists aren’t too long! Okay here goes mine;

1. Stacking dirty dishes in the sink. Why do this? Will they then wash themselves? Won’t we need to use the sink for something else, like meal preparation perhaps?
2. Using the flour sack dish-drying towel as a hand towel. You know who you are, you wipe your wet paws on these towels rather than the hand towel.
3. Using the “show towels”. Okay, if you don’t know what a “show towel” is, I don’t think I can help you.
4. Soaking dishes in the sink. Why? For how long? Oh and my favorite, who gets to reach into that scuzzy cold water later to pull the drain plug out?
5. Leaving an open jar of olives (juice included) in the fridge where I can easily knock it over. Yes this has happened more than once!

So there you have it. Wow, this is food therapy for me, I feel better already just getting them off my chest. Can anyone relate to any of these pet peeves I have? Please share!

I remember the first time I had chai tea, it was on ice. We were living in Las Vegas at the time and my daughter and I walked about a mile and a half to our local Starbucks. You can do this if you go early in the morning, before the heat sets in.

I really liked the flavor of the iced chai tea and my daughter thought it was “unusual”. We had brought our dog with us on the walk and on the return home we had to call for a pick up, we had pooped the poor pup out!

Isn’t that how the commercial goes? “Aren’t you glad you have Glad?” Well, John sure is glad I found this alternative to saran wrap at Costco.

It’s Glad Press ‘N Seal and it works just like saran wrap…well, without the struggle that is. Just ask my son-in-law how much he loves fighting with the saran wrap at meal clean-up time

Individual Freezing

John really likes using this wrap to seal and store fresh hamburger patties just as they show on the front of the box. He is extra careful with freezing any foods, so he slips them inside a freezer bag for extra protection.

Cover Your Leftovers

When we have burgers he just cuts them apart with scissors as we use them. No more prying frozen patties apart, that’s a thing of the past. I like to use this wrap to cover bowls of leftovers in the fridge. You don’t have to fight with it like saran wrap, and because you cannot see what is in the bowl you are more likely to check on your leftovers! Isn’t that tricky?