Plans For Today

I had planned a big shopping day today but we are iced in so we'll enjoy our time at home instead. We spent our normal time reading aloud this morning. The kids and I are thoroughly enjoying our reading of Jotham’s Journey! I’ve wanted to read the book for several years and I’m sorry I waited this long. It’s definitely a favorite with all of us.

I really do need to get some baking/goody making done for get-togethers that we'll hopefully be able to go to later in the week. I have all the ingredients for caramel corn and that sounds really yummy.

I think I'll dig through my pantry and see if I can't make some tiger bark, too. Wonder what all we could make just using pantry items??? Could be a fun project! I'll post later and report our accomplishments.

The idea of making caramel corn and tiger bark came from friends. At our Thanksgiving meal I realized how every food on my table bore the influence of friends or family. Nothing was original with me. There was my Grandma’s Cranberry Salad, my Mother in Law’s Sweet Potato Casserole, my Mom’s bleu cheese/romaine salad, and Tim’s aunt’s hash brown Casserole. And a new recipe, Brown Buttered Pecan Broccoli, that Clarice recommended. I always take note when Clarice says something is yummy! I’ve never fixed anything that she suggests that my family has not loved, especially my husband. She’s just own of those ladies that knows what good food is all about!

I love food and I enjoy cooking. I always seem to have way too many new recipes to try. There aren’t enough meals to fit them all in! I so wish that over the years I would have kept track of all the different recipes that we love, but I haven’t! I make something new; we love it and I go on to something else new that we will enjoy, too, but I’m not organized in all of this. For instance when, we were first married, Tim and I had a very limited food budget. I would cook everything from scratch and I might add, I had a great time doing it! Pancakes are cheap food and we made them every way imaginable! We made special syrups for our special pancakes. One meal we remember was Scottish Oatmeal Pancakes with an orange syrup. I’ve tried many other Scottish Oatmeal Pancake recipes but none of them are like those first ones I made. Wouldn’t it be fun for me to be able to look back on all the different pancake recipes that I used in those first years of our married life?

I am making progress, though, not all is lost. I have a three ring binder with sheet protectors that I use to store favorite recipes.