So this is Christmas...

My husband and stepson should be arriving at Grandpa's place at any moment, to drop off goodies for dinner and visit for a little bit. They'll be home in an hour or so.

Meantime, our 6 year old (darn close to 7, as his birthday is December 30) is crashed out in the recliner in the living room. He has a stomach bug that kept him up until 1:30 this morning. We thought he was okay today. He was up and wide awake at 5 a.m. He kept fluids and food down - until about an hour ago. So, he and I opted to stay home and rest.

My 19 year old daughter is in Maine having Christmas with my parents, sister and brother. My 11 year old son is with his father for the holidays. Such is the life of a blended family. But, no matter where everybody is, we are all connected by love, light and hope.

From our houses, to yours, have a very Merry Christmas!

Too Funny!

My six year old son loves music and dancing. Now that the weather isn't conducive to playing outside in the evening, he's been dancing for an hour or so before bed. Last night, my husband headed upstairs to tell him to shut the music down and get ready for bed.

With a whine, on the edge of sobbing, my son said "But I'm not even SWEATING yet!"

Messed Up Mashed Potato Soup

Last week I made a venison roast for dinner. And, I wanted real homemade mashed potatoes to go with it.

I peeled three pounds of "B" size reds, put them in a pan and boiled them until they were soft enough to mash. My step-son wanted to help, so I asked him to splash some milk into the pan. I neglected to specify how much milk. The mashed potatoes ended up the consistency of Elmers glue.

I put the pan on the back burner, until after dinner. I didn't want to waste three pounds of potatoes, so I decided to try to make a corrupt version of a soup I love. The original recipe calls for one cup of heavy whipping cream, but the potatoes were already criminally creamy.

What I did was essentially the same as the recipe, but the result was a much lower calorie, more mellow and savory soup. I was fully prepared to dump the entire concoction in the trash, but as it turns out, it was delicious and I had it for lunch the next day and even shared it with a friend.

Messed Up Mashed Potato Soup

Ingredients

2 tbls butter or margarine
1/2 c onions; chopped
1/2 c carrots; chopped
1/2 c celery; chopped
2 cloves garlic; finely chopped
2 tbls all-purpose flour
4 c chicken stock
1/4 cup dill weed
1/4 ts black pepper
1 cup whole milk
3 lbs. "B" red potatoes; peeled and diced
2 tbls cider vinegar; (2 to 3)

Instructions

Boil the potatoes in a large Dutch Oven pan until soft enough to mash. Drain water from potatoes in a collander, and return potatoes to pan. Whip potatoes with the 1 cup of milk. Consistency should be like Elmer's Glue

Melt the butter and saute in a large frying pan the onions,
carrots, celery, and garlic on medium-high heat for 4 to 6 minutes, or
until the vegetables are tender, but not browned. Reduce heat to medium.
Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. (Do not
brown.)

Stir chicken stock into the potatoes and whisk. Add sauteed vegetables, vinegar, black pepper and dillweed. Stir well and let simmer on low for 30 minutes. Serve warm.

The Pantry Is Bare...

...of pre-processed foods that is.

My 11 year old son (and I) have a terrible adverse reaction to MSG - mono sodium glutemate. Within hours of ingesting it, we both experience excruciating migraine headaches, vomiting and then the need to sleep for hours. We've become avid label readers in this household. Neither of us can afford to lose from 24 - 48 hours of our lives each time we eat something that includes MSG in the ingredients.

MSG is found in many canned and boxed foods. It is a neuro-transmitter. It tricks your brain into thinking food tastes better than it actually does, and encourages you to eat more. For more information about its side effects, you can find it here -
MSG is a DRUG and NEURO-TRANSMITTER.

So, needless to say, most of the food eaten in this house is made from scratch. The pantry is full of spices, herbs, MSG free stock, and baking goods. I can honestly say my family eats healthy and well.

Happy Halloween and a pumpkin carving tip

First off, Happy Halloween! Have fun and be safe. We'll be having a quick dinner and then heading out to Trick or Treat. My youngest is going as Darth Vader, and my older son is dressing as a deer hunter.

Now, if you're like my neighbor, you LOVE Halloween. She goes all out with her decorating. Me, I like carving pumpkins. Each of the kids gets a pumpkin of their own, and I get one, all for me.

This year, we had some templates. One was a ghost. I bought a white pumpkin (which, by the way, are absolutely edible) and decided to carve my pumpkin so that some of the flesh was left between the candlelight and the design. Trying to cut a pumpkin this way with a knife is tough, so I asked my husband to bring me his woodcarving chisels. Very, very, very carefully, I made small shallow cuts to remove the skin, and then slowly peeled away layers of the flesh, until the light from a flashlight glowed through.

The ghost turned out so well, that my husband requested a pentacle pumpkin. I can't wait to try out some new designs next year.

His poor little hands

My youngest son really suffers when the weather turns cold. He has fine Irish skin, like a porcelain doll, but his knuckles dry out and crack every single winter. We use Vaseline on them, mostly because it doesn't sting. Vaseline isn't the best thing for him to be putting on his hands in his first grade class.

Yesterday, I discovered Vaseline® Intensive Rescue™ Healing Hand Cream. This stuff is fantastic! It isn't too wet or too sticky and dries quickly. It has virtually no scent and it doesn't sting raw skin. He rubbed some into his cracked knuckles yesterday, and they are at least 50% better today.

Family First

There are a ton of "mom-blogs" in the blogosphere, but there have been many things happening that I'd like to share about my family and my life. I blog about writing and books at Virtual Wordsmith, if you'd like to check that out, as well.

I'll be writing about the cute (and sometimes not so cute) things my kids do and say, reviews of things that work for us, books that are relevant to children and family, ways to cut corners on costs and cooking from scratch.

Hang around, you might be highly entertained.