The Holidays!

The Holidays went way too fast for me! First of all I didn't get to shop until the Tuesday before Christmas - and my sister and her family didn't get to stay nearly long enough, and the fun visiting with family and friends just went by in a blurrrr......next year, I'm really gonna do my best to be prepared for it. Anyway this is what has been happening in the last month.
Yes, I know the living room furniture is arranged strangely in my mom and dad's house. This is to accommodate the many children we have running around. We shove all the furniture out of the way so that we have more room to hang out. This picture captures a few of the children and grandchildren lounging around talking, and waiting patiently for paw-paw to hand out the gifts. We always have a Christmas get together a few days before Christmas to visit and exchange gifts.
This year at our Christmas Party, one of my sisters brought all the stuff to make Chinese dumplings.....they were a hit. She always shows me up!!!!! Grrrrr!!! The only problem was she couldn't cook them as fast as everyone of was eating them. Kass gave her a hand. Mind you, we had plenty of other other delicious stuff to eat as well. If you want to be a hit at the next party, try making these....here is the link http://plainoldkristi.blogspot.com/2011/10/pork-dumplings.html. Also, please note the video at the bottom. It explains just how popular these little dumplings were! Of course, much of it was just being silly together. I promise you we really aren't greedy little pigs! We just couldn't help ourselves!
Oh course, we went one night to Celebration in the Oaks-a family tradition. If you look close enough you can see Ave trying his best to stick his head in the alligator's mouth.
We also had our annual Christmas get together at Aunt Sharon's house which is always so much fun. Above is a picture of one of the Department 56 village houses that she gets us each year. My collection is the Alpine Village. I think I have about ten or so now. Aren't they pretty!

This time of the year always brings about the duck hunters. This handsome little duck hunter showed up at my front door with his trophies. I hear duck gumbo is so good. I'm still waiting on someone to make me some. Ave and Mil-mil (above) have also spent quite a bit of time outdoors cooking hot cocoa over a fire. For some reason they say it's much better over a fire outside. I don't know...I'll have to try it one of these days.

Lemons are always available this time of the year as well. My mom's lemon tree did so well. Her lemons make the puny little lemons from the store look so pitiful! So, we have been eating lots of lemony stuff this month! A very easy lemon pie recipe is: 1 can of condensed milk, about 1/2 cup of lemon juice, 1 small container of cool whip, and 1 graham cracker pie shell. Mix the first three ingredients together, pour into graham cracker pie shell, and refrigerate for 1 or 2 hours before serving. So easy and yummy, too. My mother in-law really likes in because it has no eggs in it. Ave's gingerbread house from the church's Christmas party gingerbread making contest. I still think he should have won first! Just kidding-plainoldkristi's bunch are the bomb!
Ave's been studying healthy eating habits in school this past month. He made his own lunch on this particular day. He dug around in the fridge and this is what he came up with - the arrangement and all. Doesn't he have a prideful look on his face. We were eating hamburgers that day and he scorned our eating habits. Believe it or not, he said his lunch was great and ate every bite of it. The cup has vegetable juice in it. Whit helping Ave with his house.

Snoopy even seemed to enjoy the holidays. He is wearing a cute little outfit I picked up at Hudson's Salvage Store for only $1.80. I didn't think he would like it, but I think he actually felt quite handsome in it.

For New Years, we celebrated in the usual wonderful way (I wouldn't want it any other way)--at church with family and friends. We do communion, wash feet (just as Jesus washed the disciples feet), have a party afterwards (yummy soups, sandwiches, and desserts made by the ladies), and run outside in the church yard at midnight to cheer the New Year in! I've also posted a video of the New Year's Fireworks in our part of the country. Nothing professional, just a bunch of people celebrating, once again, a new beginning. I must admit it does get a bit out of hand around here.

Happy 2012 everyone! I hope all of you have a safe, happy, healthy, prosperous, and blessed New Year!

We Did It - We are Getting Rid of the Chemicals!

We did it! We are getting rid of the chemicals. Well not completely, but as much as possible, and I can't bring myself to throw away the chemicals that I already have so I'll probably use those up first.

After searching the Internet, and arming myself with a list of healthier supplies, we headed to Walmart and Wholefoods.

Here was the things I wanted:

Baking Soda (I already had on hand)
White Vinegar (I already had on hand)
Borax (Found at Walmart)
Washing Soda (Found at Walmart)
Fels Naphtha Soap (Found at Walmart)
Essential Oils (I ended up getting peppermint, lavender, and tea tree oil for now)
Coconut Oil (This is good for all sorts of stuff)
Arrow Root Powder (sort of like cornstarch in the baking section)
Vegetable Glycerin (I ended up not using this-it was sort of a waste-I'm gonna try to see what I can do with it)
A Few Empty Spray Bottles (Found at Walmart)
A 5 Gal Bucket with a Lid (Found at Walmart)
Lemons (From my mom's lemon tree-I planted one in the spring, but it's still trying to get established)

I also bought a few extra things not for cleaning. My big sister introduced me to pure Elderberry Syrup for colds. It really does help! It's all natural and contains no alcohol (which is a must for Kass)

So here is a photo of my purchases:

Next, we went home and got busy. It was too easy! Everyone wanted to help including my husband who critiqued the whole process, told me if he thought I was adding too much soap or some other ingredient. It was a family event.

We made soap, deodorant, and toothpaste (although I'm not giving up my fluoride toothpaste-I don't quite feel comfortable with that).

Here is a link for the deodorant recipe we made http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar0BF6hMuGE. It really works! We love this particular recipe.

You can find the recipe for the laundry detergent at http://plainoldkristi.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-make-homemade-laundry-soap-step.html. I made mine a little bit different, but it made a little more detergent. I used 1 cup of washing soda, 1/2 cup of borax, 1 bar of grated Fels Naphtha, and essential oils, and 3 gallons of water. Besides that it is pretty much the same. I've even read some recipes that added OxiClean. Anyway experiment and have fun. It really is fun.

So now for some pictures.....

The grated Fels Naphtha Soap. Ave had fun doing this.
He also wanted to be the one to add the hot water in the detergent bucket.
After trying on the deodorant-he did a smell test.
We stored the deodorant in these little plastic cups. We made some for all of us except for Gene. He thinks we are crazy. I wished I would have had some little bitty canning jars or some other pretty small glass container to store it in. Some people even refill their old deodorant containers with it.

I think this was the toothpaste we were making. It consisted of 3 tbsp of coconut oil, 3 tbsp of baking soda, peppermint oil, and one packet of stevia. The recipe also called for an optional bit of vegetable glycerin. I opted out because I read that it puts a coat on your teeth. I'm not a pro, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to leave it out to be safe.

Kass melted the soap for the laundry detergent (of course it must be melted in boiling water).

We have also been using the products to clean our house--particularly vinegar. Believe it or not, the vinegar smells grows on you.

Anyway, we had fun. It was easy, and we're feeling a little bit better about our household environment.

Southern People May Not Be the Healthest, But They are So Much Fun!

I thought that I would share with all of you this great site that my cousin told me about. If you are from the South, you can really appreciate the humor, recipes, and great personality of the cook. This site is Southernplate.com. I'm planning on purchasing the cookbook. Although, I'm sure the book will not help me keep my New Year's Resolution of eating healthier.

One particular post was really humorous. You must see this one. If you go to her site, then go to Southern Classics listed on the menu bar, and then scroll down to the post labeled Fried Bologna and other Southern Sandwiches. The potato chips on the sandwich was so funny, but I have seen plenty of people do this.

This post made me recall some of the crazy sandwiches I have eaten at home as a little kid (I was raised in Mississippi until I was 8 years old). Sandwiches like banana sandwiches (this was two slices of bread, smeared with Mayo, and then topped with banana slices. I really liked this sandwich when I was little. Of course, there is always the famous tomato sandwiches (the tomato's must be ripe and juicy). I still enjoy a good tomato sandwich.

I can also remember getting butter, smearing it on a piece of bread, and emptying the sugar bowl on top of it, then putting another slice of bread on top. This sandwich was usually made by me while my mother was not paying attention and was busy attending all my other little siblings.

After moving from Mississippi to Alabama, then to Louisiana, I discovered that people down here eat french fry po-boys. This sandwich can be dressed with everything (tomato's, mayo, mustard, pickles, lettuce, etc.), but the main ingredients are french fries and roast beef gravy. It's actually pretty good, but definitely not healthy.

Anyway, I enjoyed the site and thought you might, too. The cook really has a great personality and some good and easy recipes. So far, I have made her old fashion Hoe Cake, and it was really good. It's the first time that I have ever been able to make anything that resembled a good biscuit, and it really is easy and good.

I hope that you enjoy the site. Thanks to my cousin for sharing it with me.

Caramel!

Some things I discovered about caramel -

that chewy brown candy stuff.

Ordering Caramel Corn

#1:Did you know that different people from different places pronounce caramel differently. For example, people from where I live say kare-uh-mel. Other people pronounce it as kar-mel. I have no idea which way is proper or if it really matters at all.

#2:Call me dumb if you want to, but I did not know that caramel is made basically from heating up sugar slowly over a long period of time. Basically it's the removal of water from sugar.

#3: Another thing I learned from my country cousin - If you take a can of condensed milk, remove the paper from the can, place the can in a pot covered in water and boil it for around three hours, checking occassionally and adding water to the pot as needed that eventually when you open the can you will have CARAMEL!

It's really good. You can put it in a gramham cracker crust, add cool whip, and refrigerate until cool. You can also use it as a dip for fruit, and a topping for icecream.

Buttermilk Pie

Thanks to my dear country cousin, I discovered buttermilk pie. It's simple to make and very tasty.

Buttermilk Pie

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 stick butter, softened

3 rounded tbsp self rising flour

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla flavoring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together ingredients in order listed. Pour in unbaked pie crust and bake 45 minutes to 1 hour.

I hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as we did.