Mickey in the Kitchen

A good friend called me on my cell phone last week asking if I liked cast iron cooking. I really do, however, it is hard since I have a glass top stove. She asked if I ever baked with cast iron, of course. So she brought me this little gift that she found for a few dollars at the local Salvation Army store. What a find, eh!

It was brand new, still had the tag hanging on it and hadn't been seasoned yet. I spent yesturday seasoning it and cooling it. For lunch today, I made corn muffins in them. They turned out so cute. Don't you agree! Here is my CORN MUFFIN recipe

1/2 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup white sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 eggs

1 can creamed corn

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup white flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup milk or buttermilk

Preheat oven. Grease muffin pan. Cream together butter, sugar, honey, eggs, creamed corn and salt. Mix in flours, cornmeal, and baking powder. Mix. Stir in milk. Spoon into pans. Bake 20-25 minutes til lightly browned on top. This recipe makes 1 dozen muffins and made 8 Mickey Mouse Muffins. This recipe is a sweet corn muffin recipe. If you like your cornbread sweet, you will love this recipe.

Have a sweet day, Suzie

6 x 6 Meme

My friend, Elaine at Commotion from the Ocean of Life tagged me. So I went purusing my 6th folder and my 6th photo, and here it is. I must say I am somewhat embarrassed at the condition of my home, for all the world to see, however, this is how it looks most often, played in. I am blessed to have such creative children.

This is youngest son playing the piano after having made this wonderful train all over the living room floor. This room is the heart of our home. Maybe sometime in the future I can share some other rooms in our home.

Blessings for a wonderful day, Suzie

Frugal Breakfasts

One fun thing we have discovered recently in the name of frugality relates to our breakfast time. One of the simplest and most inexpensive breakfast items you can make is oatmeal. We use freshly pressed oats but old fashioned oats from the grocery store are just fine too. Boil

3 cups water and add 1 cup oats and a dash of salt. Reduce heat and cover for about 8 minutes, til all the water is absorbed. We add maple syrup and canned low sugar fruit to ours but you could add just about anything including dried fruit,

brown sugar, and even chocolate syrup, YUM!

Now, what to do with those leftovers. In the past, I would have just pitched them, yucky,

sticky, leftover oatmeal.

WAIT, STOP, DON'T DO THAT!

Here are two recipes that your family will love,

and the ingredients are probably in your pantry already.

Oatmeal Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour (we use whole wheat but white is find, too)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 t salt

2 t baking powder

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup oil or butter

1 egg

1/2 cup leftover oatmeal

Combine and divide n muffin pan. Bake 350 for 35-40 minutes. Makes 1 dozen.

Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup unbleached white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t nutmeg

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1/4 cup applesauce

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup cooked oatmeal

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Sift dry ingredients. Add softened butter, applesauce and eggs. Beat til creamy. Stir in oatmeal. Drop on baking sheet. Bake 375 for 12-15 minutes. Makes 4 dozen.

Now the children are asking for oatmeal in the morning so that they can have leftovers for afternoon snack, How funny:)

Blessings for a wonderful and frugal day, Suzie

Counting Our Blessings

With the stock market crashing, unemployment at an all time high, and so many depressed about tomorrow, WHAT IS IT YOU ARE THANKFUL FOR?

I find myself often humming this little hymn Count Your Blessings. Many Sundays we sang this song in worship. It is fixed in my mind. For that I am thankful. It has helped me through many difficult times.

When upon lifes billows you are tempest tossed,

When you are discouraged thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Count your blessings name them one by one,

Count your blessings see what God has done

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your many blessings see what God has done.

When you look at others with their land and gold,

See that Christ has promised you His wealth untold

Count your many blessings every doubt will fly

And you will be singing as the days go by.

Count your blessings name them one by one,

Count your blessings see what God has done

Count Your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your many blessing see what God has done.

So, what blessings has God provided in your life lately?

Have we taken the time to be thankful or are we full of worry?

I know that I am often full of worry and then that little song comes into my head!

See what a blessing it is!

Here is my blessing list, and the more I think about it, the longer it gets. I am so blessed!

I am thankful for my dh. He is the strong but silent type and supports me in every imaginable and Godly way possible.

I am thankful for my children. God has blessed me with three wonderful children. Do we have our moments and even sometimes days, YES!

I am thankful for Christ who died for my sins so that I can focus on heaven. I don't have to focus on all the things that I cannot do anything about, I can focus on him. I feel sometimes like the Thessalonians did, they wanted Jesus to return, and quickly.

I am thankful for the inquisitiveness to ask a lot of questions and think and reason through the answers. There are so many things that folks simply take for granted, that I, because I seem to question everything, have made different choices, and thus, I feel, our family is in a better place.

I am thankful for parents that raised me in a Godly home. It was not perfect, but what home is? They strove to be Godly examples and that is what is most important.

I am thankful for our church family. They are a Godly group of people committed to spreading the gospel, just as they did in the first century church.

I am thankful for a home just big enough for us. If my home was any bigger, it could become a distraction to keep clean. What we have is a perfect size for our family.

I am thankful for God's provision of food. While things have been difficult in this manner recently, none of us have gone hungry.

I am thankful that I live in America. While it is not perfect, I can still worship God, raise my family as my own, and live in peace. I cannot think of another country that I would want to be a citizen.

I am thankful for the ability to use my eyes. We attended a Blindness Seminar the other day and were amazed at this lady who could do everything a seeing person did, just in another way. I am truly thankful for my eyesight.

I am thankful for the ability to use my hands. My grandmother has hands that are crippled with arthritis and she can no longer use them to do the things she loves to do. I can love my children, garden, quilt, sew, cook, clean, and so many other things that I don't often think of.

As a faithful child of God, I do not need to focus on the here and now, because I know there is a place prepared for me in heaven. Jesus emphasized that over and over in His parables.

If you are not a child of God, I would encourage you to read the Safety Chain part I and part II. Part one will show you from God's Word, how to become a child of His, and part two will show you from God's Word what His Church looks like.

During difficult times, these words of Jesus have brought me so much comfort.

"Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

Matthew 6:25-26 (NKJV)

May the blessing of thankfulness fill your day, Suzie

Elegy in E - Piano Competition

Oldest son competed in Gold Cup Festival Auditions and was the winner in his upper elementary piano level. He will compete at the state level in April.

Take a listen...

He first appeared before a judge, privately and then went on to a play-off recital. This video was take during that recital. You know when you want something so bad for your child and how you feel when they achieve it....well, that is the feeling I have. He didn't do so well last year and was full of determination this year. I am so proud and happy for him.

We celebrated with dinner at Golden Corral and an evening of family games, what fun!

It has been an amazingly busy day. We are getting ready for the Lord's Day tomorrow.

May you all be tremendously blessed as you worship Him,

Suzie

I Got Bit By The Gardening Bug

I can't help it! Every year the same thing happens. Dh says, "So honey, what do you want to plant in the garden this year?" and I usually respond, "Oh, I don't think I have time for a garden this year, after all we have school, music, church activities......and what about the expense..."

All the while that seed has been planted..in my head. So today, I had a little gift that was given to me by our good friend Nick, who loves flowers, too. He blessed us with this little kit that has been sitting on my window sill since December, waiting for springtime. Well.....springtime is here, almost?

So I put together the kit and had lots of seeds leftover so I dug around in my gardening bins and found some leftover peat pots and potting soil and now I will have lots of herbs I hope. OK, that was when the gardening bug bit! It must have been the dirt, I love playing in it!

Dh must have been delighted (he loves to garden but has difficulty also finding the time) when I telephoned him in the middle of the day to ask, so how inexpensively can we do our garden this year? Earlier in the week we had looked at the Earthtainer method but decided that was too much outlay this year. I also had a good friend suggest using things that we already had, just implement the ideas in different form. That too, seemed like a lot of thought work. At dh's suggestion, I just went out to do some spring clean up in the flower beds and look what I found!

My Purple Coneflower or Echinacea. I have planted many over time however, I have never had any overwinter and survive til the next spring, yea!

Of course, the beautiful Daffodils, signaling that spring is almost here.

This is my Blooming Magnolia. Last year was the first time it had ever bloomed and it has been planted here for at least 3 years. It is covered with a bloom at the end of each stem and will be in full color in a couple of weeks, yea!

These are some Hollyhocks that I planted last spring and I thought they had died as they never came up. Guess what, the aren't dead, yea!


And one lone strawberry!



And of course, the tulips are peeking out of their beds!

"While the earth remains,
Seed time and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease."
Genesis 8:22 NKJV

May God bless all of your endeavors this day, Suzie

Cream Soup Recipes

In my previous post The Frugal Kitchen I posted a recipe for fake cream soup that is healthful, yummy and economical. I absolutely replace it everywhere and in any recipe that calls for any flavor of cream soup.

Here are a couple of my family's favorite recipes that are easy, economical, and yummy.

Ham and Potato Casserole

This recipe is one that I call a 'scrap casserole' recipe. I use the basic cream soup mixture, potatoes, sour cream and cheese and then fill in with whatever I have on hand. I have used chicken instead of ham and have substituted corn flakes for dry bread crumbs, crackers, whatever. Personally, I think finding and using these type of recipes is the key to learning to use what we have rather than running out and buying more (something I sooo want to get better at). The simple life for me!

2# frozen, cubed hash browns

2 recipes of cream soup mixture (see previous post)

3 cups water

16 oz sour cream

2 cups cooked ham

1/3 cup green onion (or dry chives work well too)

1 cup cheddar cheese

1/2 t pepper

2 cups corn flakes (or crushed crackers work well too)

1/4 cup melted butter

Combine all ingredients minus corn flakes and melted butter. Mix well. Place in well oiled/buttered/sprayed pans. If baking for dinner, combine cornflakes and melted better and mix well. Sprinkle over casserole. Bake 1 hours. If freezing reserve this part for when you place it in the oven and bake 1 and 1/2 hours from frozen. This recipe makes one huge 9x13 or two 8x8 pans. I usually make one for dinner and freeze one for another time. It freezes well. I usually serve it with a salad.

White Chicken Enchilada Slow-Cooker Casserole

1 whole chicken boiled and picked (or you can use canned)

(I only use 1/2 of the chicken and use the rest for another meal...cheap, nobody knows, shhh)

2 recipes dry cream soup mix

3 cups water

2 cloves garlic

16 oz sour cream

7 oz. can of diced chilies

10 flour tortillas

4 cups cheese (Monterrey Jack is what the recipe calls for, but I just use what I have on hand)

10 oz can black olives - sliced, optional

Cover chicken with water and simmer for several hours. Cool. Pick meat. Cut in small pieces. In medium saucepan combine dry cream soup mix and water. Heat stirring over medium heat until a little thick. Add chicken, garlic, sour cream and chilies. Spray slow cooker with non-stick spray and begin layering tortillas (cut in half or torn in pieces), chicken mixture, cheese and olives if desired. I unusually make 4 layers but you can do as many as you want and have ingredients for. If you wanted to stretch this recipe, you could add another recipe of cream soup mix and have more for less...if you know what I mean. And best of all this is a slow cooker recipe. I set it on LOW for 4-5 hours. Instant dinner that your family will love! I usually serve with a salad and fresh bread or rolls.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Proverbs 31. I have a piece of needlework hanging in my kitchen that references a portion of those verses. Let me share with you the best part.

Proverbs 31:27-31

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, and thou excellest them all. Favour is deceitful,and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.

Blessings to you as you minister to your families in these difficult economic times,

Suzie