Ladybug Farms: Kitchen and Other Adventures

My little helper chopping the onions for the stuffing

I was busy last week with family and Thanksgiving and didn't get around to blogging my 52 Weeks of New update. So this week's blog is a two-fer. You'll notice that a lot of my new experiences revolve around food. Can you tell what I have on my mind?

For Thanksgiving my mother-in-law asked me to make stuffing. I have made stuffing out of a box, but have never attempted to replicate the real thing. I asked my mom for any magical words of wisdom and plowed forward. I cut up the celery and onions, dumped the bread crumbs into a bowl, sauteed the veggies in butter, mixed in chicken broth and seasonings and threw it all together. My stuffing turned out...not so good. Apparently I do not have the knack for stuffing. I think MIL will probably ask someone else to make the stuffing next year.

My next cooking experience involved trying to makeover a family favorite dinner into a healthier version. My kids requested pancakes. So I searched online for a recipe that used whole wheat to healthify the pancakes a bit. I used this recipe, substituting the eggs with Ener-G egg replacer due to David's egg allergy. They were really good--my family declared them the best pancakes I've ever made and declared the recipe a keeper. David apparently liked them so much that he ate seven.

I also wanted to healthify our standard tater tots and sausage or bacon sides. I found an eggless hash brown and sausage recipe and gave it a try. I only used half a package of hash browns which officially was five servings, and one pound of leaner ground breakfast sausage. I browned the hash browns in the sausage grease (what little there was), and topped it all off with only a quarter cup of cheese. While not exactly healthy, it was healthier than what we usually eat, so I was pleased. And it was delicious! I was so happy that there was just enough leftovers to throw in a pan with an egg for my breakfast the next day.

My biggest accomplishment this week is that today marks the end of my first month of dinner menu planning. I only made a few changes over the entire month but stuck to the menu almost entirely. It made dinner preparations so much more peaceful and I always knew what to buy at the store so it streamlined my shopping even more than before. I already have my menu for December written out, I just need to type it up and then post it on my fridge.

And now two silly things that I did for the first time this week.

I slid down a mattress slide on the stairs. My kids took our old twin mattress and put it on the basement stairs so that it made a slide. I had to go downstairs for some reason and rather than walk down the mattress, I sat down and slid. The kids thought that was hilarious.

The last thing I did is that I learned how to use a smart phone. Mostly. I can check my email, facebook, search websites, make calls, text, and play games on there. I know that's just the tip of the iceberg, but I'm getting better at it every day.