epiphany for a dummy

Oh, I almost didn't share this . . . .  

Since the kids are still sharing a room, we're planning to use the third bedroom as a guestroom. It will be decorated in a very girly way and will one day be A's room. While we are waiting for a double bed mattress to magically appear or go on a deep sale, it's a catch-all room for  sewing supplies, linens and I know not what. Sometime ago, I had this brilliant idea to set up J's train tracks on the floor of the closet. That way he could spend some nap-times playing with trains and we could leave it out. Since we've moved, that's the way it's been.

However, as we've been working through the bric-a-brac, I had reached the point where things just needed to be stored and stacked until a mattress magically appears. This afternoon, I was moving things around, stuffing boxes under tables and throwing shower curtains over said tables to conceal the junk. It looked ridiculous. I opened the closet to put something on a shelf and just about smacked myself in the head. "Stupid Hobbit! Why am I not using the closet for all these boxes, crates and pack-n-plays?" 

Out went the train tracks and in went the stuff. The room is much cleaner now and a set of tracks on the floor make far more sense than a jumble of other stuff. I was mentally kicking myself the whole time for not thinking of it sooner and am so embarrassed to even admit it took so long. But it was such a good lesson for me to not get stuck merely because there is a brick wall in my path. 

If there's a metaphorical brick wall in your path, take a moment to see if you can walk around it, climb over it, knock it down, or, gulp, move it. : ) This was so cheesy. I am sorry, but I'm not going to delete this after having written it. So, there.

Moving . . . "aarrugghhem"

I once took a seminar at Summer Conference that Bebo Elkin taught. It was titled "Heros of the Faith" or something like that. Anytime he would mention a "hero" he'd follow the name with a low guttural groan/mutter.  "Jonathan Edwards . . . ." he would say and then you'd hear that "aarugghem." I suppose the meaning was that these are intimidating people. I think I'd follow thoughts of Elisabeth Elliot and Nancy Wilson with that sound!

While I've held onto the true purpose of the seminar, I've also kept that sound effect, too and frequently add it onto my thoughts. Moving deserves an "aarugghem," I think.

We are settling and then unsettling and then settling some more. Having this much space is just marvelous! This is the largest house we've lived in since we got married and while we were content in the Lake House (but for storage), and possibly even dreaded leaving our little home, I have to say that the first or second night here we sat down in the living room and felt this great sigh of peace come over. Comfort and space! What richness! 

There are still things to get used to, but I truly only miss one thing about the old house: windows and light! That aside, I do want to share what I am loving and giving thanks for with the new house.

1. The Attic and Storage Room. We've never had either and it is just amazing. In the old house everything was stored under our bed and in our closet and a closet at Warner and Becky's.  It is a marvelous, marvelous thing to have tools in the storage room and not in the bedroom!

2. Our dishwasher. TL replaced the old one and I was skeptical of this particular model at first, but now that I've learned how to load it--I LOVE IT! It cleans so well, although it is so loud, I'm sure our neighbors wonder what we're doing over here.

3. An updated faucet. The faucet is the accessory of the kitchen and we have a lovely, new one!

4. A deep sink! The Lake House sink was so shallow you could put a fork in it and it was overflowing . . . . Okay, that's not wholly true. It was shallow, however, and this one is delightfully deep. I just want to give a shout out to the fellow who damaged the old sink while trying to remove the faucet--we love our new sink. Thank you so much.

5. Closets and bedrooms and bathrooms, Oh my!

6. A laundry closet that is solely a laundry closet!

7. A covered carport. Unloading groceries is easier as is cleaning out the car and keeping things out of the elements.

8. Neighbors! It's nice knowing someone is next door and having folks to talk to and kids for our kids to play with.

9. We now live in the country. There are woods behind our house and we have a place for a fire. I only thought we lived in the country before. 

10. Our own mailbox. Just 'cause I love to check the mail. 

I think I could go on and on. I love the little Lake House and am so glad that Zack and Kristen are moving into it. I hope their time in it is as wonderful as ours was. But for now, as I get overwhelmed at the things on the "to-do" list and the boxes that keep appearing, I will count my blessings. And, soon, there will be pictures!

only time for a short post

My heart is grateful. All of our appliances are installed and working. The view outside our bedroom window makes me feel like I live in a tree house and the house is falling into order. After the initial flurry of furniture placement and bed-making, I'm working room by room from our closet out--I feel like it's a spiral. An upward spiral. Life is good.

When this poor, lisping, stammering heart

lies silent in the grave

Then in a nobler, sweeter song

I'll sing Thy power to save!

Leg Quarters and What to do with Them

My dad comes from a family of four. By the time I was twelve, all his siblings were married and most had kids. Nearly every weekend most of us gathered at my grandparents house for Sunday "dinner" or Saturday supper. While Sunday was a true dinner of epic southern proportions prepared by a perspiring, busy grandmother and aunts, Saturday nights were the domain of my grandfather (okay, mostly). Many Saturdays, he and my uncles would spend the day fishing and we'd fry quantities of fish that would feed us all with leftovers for the less fortunate in the community. On non-fishing weekends, the meal was almost always grilled leg quarters, baked beans and an assortment of sides. Cold or warm weather, Papaw would stand over the grill, sopping the leg quarters with sauce and visiting with the family who were gathered on the patio. The smell of cheap beer, sprite and bourbon and charcoal take me back there in a heartbeat. 

My grandparents were some of the most hospitable and generous people I know.  My grandmother is still living and I see that quality in her today as well as in my parents. Often, my mom's family would even join the party--how many families can mix in-laws like that, I wonder? 

My grandfather left us many memories that still cause me to chuckle. Once, he was grilling and it was very cold. He started talking about the great head-warmer he'd found in the house. It was my aunt's tube top (hello, eighties). 

So, it is from this legacy, that I share the leg quarter love with you all. I see now that the reason we ate leg quarters all the time was that it was probably the only economical choice for my dad and his brothers--all three had and still have healthy appetites. One of the first times my aunt brought her future husband over, they cooked leg quarters and the family chowed down, as usual. When the meal was done, she leaned back and commented, "I did pretty well tonight, I only ate two pieces of chicken."  "Nancy," he replied, "you really ate four." Now he is in the poultry business and knows his chicken, so although he was absolutely correct and yet perhaps out of line for a first date, she married him anyway. 

Back to the actual cooking. Perhaps you've taken my advice and thunked that huge plastic bag of chicken quarters into your buggy, taken it home  and placed it in the sink. "What have I gotten into?" You may be asking yourself, "It's so yucky and so much skin--gross--and how do I cook it?" No fear. I will not abandon you to poultry paradox. (I'm sure that doesn't make sense, but it was fun to write)

We'll start with a grilling and crockpot marinade. Do this several hours ahead of time.

Assemble your tools:

Grab a good sharp knife or scissors (kitchen or plain), some gallon zipper bags (to store/marinate) and a casserole dish  We usually go ahead and put some soap on the sink so we can clean our hands quickly thereafter. Leave the implements and chicken by the sink while you make the marinade.

The Marinade:

In a food processor, by hand, or in a mini-chopper, mince/puree together: 1 clove of garlic per chicken piece, salt, pepper and sugar (in order of greatest to least). Tuan does this, so I am going to say that the seasonings should be "to taste".  You should not be afraid of the salt and pepper and use less sugar than salt (my husband will never write a cookbook). He says that you want to end up with app. 1 Tbsp of marinade per piece.  This will smell strong--no fear.

Prep and Marinate:

Open up the bag, drain the juice and trim the excess fat/skin off of the chicken piece. Do not remove all the skin! You want to leave the skin that covers the meat, but there is some excess on the sides that should be cut. The skin has some good things in it and does some good things for the chicken. Scissors are great for this. Rub a little marinade all over the front and back of the piece and plop it into your casserole dish. Repeat, repeat, repeat. 

At this point, the smell will be garlicky. If you are pregnant, you may want to delegate this to your spouse. : ) You can put the chicken straight into the fridge or into plastic bags and then into the fridge (we highly recommend this--it contains the odor). Into the fridge go the pieces you plan to cook that day or the next. Into the freezer go the future pieces.

Grilling: 

Confession: I've grilled twice in my life. Twice in one week and it was chicken and hot dogs for several hundred each time. So, I am passing this on hearsay as a woman who has not been liberated from the kitchen to the grill and I am okay with that. 

This is what I've pried from Tuan's deep mind. Get your grill hot, but not flaming. Put the leg quarters on and cook them with the lid alternately on and off. You want the grill to stay hot and smoky, and not go out, nor flame up and burn the chicken. This is not one of those quick and speedy things--but, oh, the rewards! At least forty-five minutes on the grill. Move 'em around, flip 'em, just keep opening and closing that lid. 

To check for doneness, examine the joint--no blood, or rawness and check the thick part of a thigh. The meat will be pink-ish even after it's done, but not raw. I guess you could use a thermometer--ha! But that would be too easy. 

The tenderness and yumminess of this chicken is unbelievable. It's a great company meal. The guys can fellowship around the grill while you and your friends watch them work. : ) 

Sunday Chicken in the Crock-Pot:

We made this last weekend and nearly cried when we finished it on Sunday night. It was so good.  Saturday evening around five: Remove a bag of marinated, frozen leg quarters from the freezer and place them in the crockpot. Start off on high heat to get them going. Around two hours later, turn it to low and leave it overnight. Sometime Sunday morning (it was 7:30 for me), add as many cut up potatoes (finger size) as you like, sprinkle with salt, then as many carrots, cut the same length as the potatoes as you can cram on top, with a bit more salt. Pull up one of the pieces and lay it on top, then add just a bit of water to the pot. Leave it, go to worship and come home at lunch to bliss. 

A Cleaner Alternative: 

Some folks don't like dealing with chicken bits in their Sunday dinner. Here is my suggestion: On Sunday morning, pull the chicken from the pot and throw the veggies in. Quickly remove the skin, and if your are feeling especially particular,pull the meat off the bone and throw it back in on top of the veggies. I usually use some tongs and a fork. It leaves less to deal with at lunch and makes it more company friendly.

Q and A

A friend (do you want to remain nameless?) asked for some money-saving tips for feeding a family.

I am so flattered by this, but first must admit that while I am usually frugal with grocery shopping, I make many mistakes and do over-spend. We also eat out too much. Living at a place where others get away to, means that we end up getting-away to Jackson and restaurants, or end up on the road during meal times, thus spending too much money on eating out.

But back to groceries and money-saving tips. These are going to be random and all over the place.

1. Prioritize what's important for your family.  What do you really want to put on your table? Organic milk for the kids and meat for Tuan--that's our thing. We eat meat at nearly every meal. I'm trying to incorporate more and more produce into our meals as well, so that's where our spending priorities are. 

2. Make your own baby-food and look for alternatives to expensive baby foods when you can't make things.

a. unsweetened plain applesauce in a big jar stretches much further than individual servings of applesauce. 

b.For convenience, fruit and vegetable cups from the veggie aisle (GV brand) cost far less than buying the baby food versions.  Do read ingredients though and make sure the peaches aren't floating in sugar or splenda, for example! 

c. I made my own baby cereal. Rolled oats thrown in the clean coffee grinder worked just as well as baby cereal and I only had to buy a box of oatmeal for us and the kids, plus a giant box of oats cost less than a box of baby cereal. 

d. Frozen/fresh vegetables steamed and processed in the food processor, plain yogurt instead of  "'Yo baby"

3. Buy bread at a bakery outlet. At the Sara Lee outlet in Richland, I can get loaves of the multigrain, expensive bread for more than half off. I once got three loaves of the expensive stuff and two packages of English muffins for around five dollars. Keep it in the freezer until you need it.

4. I keep a mental price book in my head of how much things usually cost. Some folks do this in a notebook that they take grocery shopping. I usually shop at kroger and spend less money, but there are a handful of things that are cheaper at Wal-mart and I go there for them. This also helps you know if a sale is really a sale!

5. Don't assume Wal-mart is cheaper. It isn't always!

6. Kroger.com has weekly ads online. When I make time for this, it helps me plan ahead, especially with meat purchases. I also try to hit Kroger in the morning, when the produce is being marked down and/or on Thursday when a lot of things are being marked down. I let the produce mark-downs influence the menu, too.

7. Whenever I'm at a store, I check the clearance area and day-old breads, as well as the fancy cheese/butter area. If something is marked down that we will use, even if not immediately, I'll go ahead and get it. Or, if a high-quality item is marked down to the equivalent of the usual thing I buy, I will stock up. For example, this summer I was at Kroger and organic butter was marked half-off. I bought around eight pounds of it and kept them in the freezer. It cost the same as regular butter, but tasted so much better. That's also where I often find more "indulgent" things, like olives or capers. I bought four two gallon jugs of organic applejuice that was marked down, for example. 

8. Don't be afraid to stock up and freeze stuff. This also means leaving room in the budget for these kinds of purchases. They will pay off in the long run.

9. Shop by unit price rather than package price. For example, Kroger has Boston butt pork roast on sale for .97. It probably won't come in a two pound package, but spending ten dollars on a pork roast that I can divide and freeze pays off later. 

10. I don't usually bother with coupons unless it's something I would have bought anyway. The ones I find are usually for processed food and I come back with all sorts of snack foods I wouldn't have bought otherwise. 

11. Shop the perimeter (dairy, meat, produce) and only duck into the inner aisles for specific things. 

12. Unless the taste is discernable, store brands rock! GV mustard, however is gross.

13. Mix high and low foods to balance things out. One of our meals may involve avocados (I wish every meal did!), but another meal may be egg salad, bread and fruit.

14. Plan menus strategically. For example, if you want to make a snazzy carrot salad, be sure to include carrots on that week's menu again so that you use up the package and don't end up with the same carrots limping around in your fridge two weeks later. Likewise, triage your produce so that the most perishable things get eaten first. (strawberries, bananas, grapes, apples)

15. Buy beans dry, boil a big batch up and freeze what you don't need for later. It is much cheaper to buy dry beans. 

16. Salvage stores. These are great fun and I used to shop at one once a week when we lived in Mt. Olive. If you don't live near one, go in with the intention of buying a lot. This situation is where the mental/written price book comes in. Refried beans and chickpeas for twenty-five cents a can? Absolutely! Canned veggies for .75? nah, not worth it.  I buy only canned, jarred and wrapped things at salvage stores and get some good deals and fun things to try.  This summer, I was at one and found canned salmon for 1.25. I knew that at the grocery it went for around 2.29 a can--that was a substantial savings! I picked up around ten or so cans that day.

17. Cook from scratch when it's worth it. 

18. Go to Sam's with a friend who has a card and shop with a discerning eye. We save so much money buying tea in bulk once or twice a year. The same with a few other things. 

19. Know that some things are worth spending money on. Many processed foods are cheap, but not nutritious. 

I hope this answered your question without seeming super didactic. I drank coffee around eight and am up at 1:30 writing this all out! I'd like to share some menus and recipes with you, but probably should not at this hour, so I'll do that later.! If you have more questions, please ask again!