Mama's Country Kitchen

Oatcakes & Bacon

I love weekends! I enjoy the opportunity they bring to be with my family and do the things that are routine and bring comfort to us. Our weekends are usually pretty much the same: Saturday mornings I usually make breakfast, do a little cleaning, and then Ari and I go shopping or to the movies. Saturday evening we call "date night" which is just a set time when we will for sure spend some time together, usually watching a favorite tv program. Sundays are reserved for church, breakfast out and, if we didn't get to a movie on Saturday, we may go on Sunday. (we don't go to a movie every weekend!) Sometimes we get together with other family members on Sunday for a meal or just a visit. Simple pleasures!

This past Saturday I made Oatcakes rather that my usual pancakes. Seems the family likes the Oatcakes better and happily for me, they are healthier! They will become a regular feature on the "Mama's Country Kitchen" (what we call it when I cook-lol!) menu. I don't remember where I got this recipe but it sure is good...

Oatcakes

2 c. rolled oats

2 c. milk

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

a few gratings of nutmeg

3 lg. eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla

6 Tbsp. butter

1/2 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

The evening before: combine oats, milk, brown sugar, salt & spices. Cover & place in the fridge overnight.

The next morning: Beat eggs well & add vanilla. Melt the butter. Sift flour & baking powder. Add to oatmeal mixture along with melted butter & the beaten eggs. Mix well. Cook on griddle.

Quick Easy Supper Idea

A dinner I fall back on occasionally when I've had enough chicken, beef & fish is Pork Chops (or Pork Steak) with Creamy Salsa. It's fast, forgiving & super simple.

Take however many pork chops/pork steak you need or want. Season with salt & pepper (or Lawry's Seasoning salt or something that you think would work here-tonight I used a southwest type seasoning salt). Heat up some olive oil (or whatever oil you prefer) in a pan until a drop of water sizzles in it and then pan fry your seasoned pork until done. Remove the pork from the pan, pour off any excess fat/oil & then put some heavy cream (until it looks like it will make enough sauce for you-I dunno, maybe 1/2 cup or more???) in the hot pan (with the heat still on) & scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, mixing it up well into the cream (tonight I used sour cream & a little water to thin it because I was out of heavy cream and it worked just as well. Milk might work too but I haven't tried it). Then add some salsa (I use chunky Pace) to the cream & keep heating the sauce & stirring. It will be a pretty rosy creamy color. Again, I can't give exact measurements here...sorry :-(. When the sauce is heated through, put the pork back in to heat them up. Done.

I served with brown rice tonight (made a beautiful yellow color by adding turmeric to the cooking water) and used the sauce on the pork steaks and the rice. Add aveggie or salad & voila' dinner ready. I don't have any pictures because we ate dinner before I though of sharing...

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Ariana's Scarf

I recently completed this scarf for my baby girl:I love the jewel colors that she picked out! She's excited about it too...
I wanted her to model it but getting her, the scarf and the camera all in one place at one time has proven harder than I expected!

The past couple of weeks, DH has been experiencing major back pain. I went with him to the doctor today and he will be seeing a surgeon tomorrow to decide whether he needs surgery or not. We hope not. Please keep him in your prayers.

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Introducing...TJ's Sweet Home Etsy Shop!

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Peanut Butter Cookies

A couple of days ago, I made peanut butter cookies which are one of my favorite cookies. I've made this recipe many, many times and they always turn out yummy! It's from an old Southern Living cookbook that I've had forever.

Crisp Peanut Butter Cookies

1 c. margarine (I use butter)

1 c. peanut butter, creamy or chunky

1 c. sugar

1 c. (firmly packed) brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 c. sifted flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp soda

1 tsp. salt

Mix the margarine, peanut butter and sugars in a bowl until blended, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Sift flour, baking powder, soda and salt together and stir into sugar mixture until well blended. Chill, if needed. Shape into 1 inch balls. Place about 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet and flatten with floured bottom of glass or with floured fork, making crosswise pattern (I use granulated sugar instead of flour and have used both the fork and the bottom of a glass). Bake in 350 degree oven for 12 - 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Place 2 cookies together, using additional peanut butter as filling, to make cookie sandwiches (I haven't tried that yet). Follow recipe for Crisp Peanut Butter Cookies to make jelly thumb print cookies, pressing small indentation into each ball of dough with thumb instead of flattening (I think I'll try that next time!). Remove from baking sheet while warm and press again with thumb. Cool and fill each indentation with jelly or jam. Makes 6 dozen single cookies.

I enjoyed with a glass of rice milk (trying to cut down on the dairy). Mmm-mmm

Scheduling My Day

Today was my third day at home. Monday I set up a tentative schedule for myself to follow so that I could be somewhat efficient and not drift through the days. I'm using my One Note that was already installed into my laptop to create a home journal. I just leave the day's agenda on the screen and check it whenever necessary, which at this point, is quite often! Here's a sample of my day:


7am
Wake; Make Breakfast; Start laundry; Kitchen clean up

8am
Quiet time, Plants (water, planting, etc)

8:30am
Office work (bills, phone calls, correspondence, etc)

9am
Exercise

9:30am
Dinner & food prep/"molehills"

10:30am
Craft Projects

12pm
Lunch (Eat, Check Blogs, Make-Up if you haven't)

12:30pm
Craft

2:30pm
Fabric store

4pm
Pick up Ari, run errands

5pm
Homework help/cleaning/ambiance/spritz plants/dinner-set table

5:30pm
Dinner/Family time

7pm
Read/crochet

8:30pm
Bath/prep for bed (vitamins, read, tomorrows list etc.)

10pm
Nighty-nite

I copied & pasted directly from my calendar. So far, it is working great! It keeps me moving, on task and busy. I use my timer throughout the day so I don't lose track of time. When the beeper sounds, I move on to the next thing. I do allow for a little wiggle room when needed. For instance, the last couple of days, I've had to shorten the time for some things because other more needed tasks took more time than planned. Oh well, this is life!

And so far, I'm not doing too well getting to bed at ten. I struggle with my night owl tendencies but those same habits sometimes make for a grouchy me in the morning. I am working toward the ten o'clock bedtime and hopefully THAT will be on schedule.

House work is done but not written into the schedule as of yet. It does get done! As I said this is new and many kinks still need to be worked out. So far I've been allowing ten minutes per hour to address household chores...short & sweet just like I like my housework!~ giggle

Todays menu:
Breakfast- oatmeal with cinnamon & stewed apples, toast
Lunch-leftover Shepherds Pie
Dinner out at a Chinese restaurant-egg rolls, Happy Family & Shrimp fried rice (we all kind of share)
Well, it's time for me to hit the hay and whataya know...it's only 10:49PM. Early by my standards ;-) Good nite...

Lazy Saturday

Today I spent a great deal of time working on a child size scarf project, doing a little cleaning, laundry and just enjoying my family and being home.

Today's menu:

Breakfast-Doughnut Muffins found here. I substituted a 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour for 1/2 cup of the white flour and used plain yogurt with a big dash of pure vanilla extract in place of the vanilla yogurt. For the applesauce, I just dumped in a whole 3.9 oz. snack cup's worth. Very good recipe! The fam loved it.

Lunch-leftover chili dogs

Dinner-beans with smoked boneless pork chops cut up in them, brown rice and homemade cornbread