Monthly dinner Menu… February

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Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
FEBRUARY		Assorted Appetizers for Sunday evening. on Feb. 2nd….			1--Beef Flamade--stew meat--Missions Conference this might change Joshua’s Bday!!!	2-Fellowship dinner at church Korean Beef http://elizabethbryant.blogspot.com/2010/05/korean-beef.html
3-Fellowship lunch @ church	4-Crock pot swiss chicken casserole	5-Lasagna	6-Bf Stroganoff	7-Cheese Potato smoked sausage casserole http://www.food.com/recipe/joleans-cheese-potato-smoked-sausage-casserole-126623	8-Crab Cakes	9-Shepherds pie
10-Tortellini tomato soup	11-Enchiladas	12-Smothered Chk casserole http://www.heatherlikesfood.com/smothered-chicken-casserole/	13-Tacos	14-Mongolian Beef--flank steak Orient Express	15-BBQ Pork Pork Butt Shoulder	16-Chk Parmesan
17-Wet Burritos	18-Italian Chicken	19-Low Country boil--Kielbasa	20-Ranch sauce chicken tacos	21-Spinach stuffed chicken breasts—this might change….. Matthew’s Bday!!!	22-Chicken Manhattan	23-Salmon something
24-Chicken Caesar wraps	25-Meatball sub casserole	26-Lemon Chicken	27-cheesy Hamburger broccoli casserole	28-Stk and Ale pie--Round Steak

 

Well here is the proposed menu for February.  I made a trip to Sam’s Club the other day.  I am trying this idea of buying all my protein/meat for the month at one time.  The idea is that I will get the meat for a less expensive amount. With the meat off of the weekly budget that frees up my money to buy more fruits and vegetables and other items to fill in the dinners. I took a couple pictures to show what I ended up with. 

This was my goal stew-1, Chicken-9 hamb.—8, crab/sal-2, sausage-3,  cube stk-1,flank stk—2, tortellini-1, Pork—1, church-1

I was able to purchase all of the chicken 5 bags, all of the hamburger two “tubes/rolls”, the sausage, pork tenderloin and pork shoulder and stew meat as well as Cod for a meal this past Friday.  Later in the month, I will need to get the salmon as well as cube steak and flank steak.

  

I was able to use my Seal A Meal and divide each roll of meat into 4-2 lb sections, split the Jimmy Dean Sausage into two sections as well as the Stew meat.

The purchase of all the meat as well as a case of soda and a case of water came to $204 and some change.  Due to the size I am able to buy in at Sam’s the pork tenderloin will be enough for 4 meals even though I do not have it on my menu this month, I am planning ahead.  The pork Shoulder will be enough for six meals once it is cooked.  The stew meat was 3 lbs. and that will work out for two meals for our family.

 

I just realized I forgot to get the picture of the Pork shoulder, but I can do that later.  I have the comparison shot of what the size and price of the one I bought at the local grocer. The chicken I am counting on 2 meals per a bag, sometimes there are 10 pieces or 11 pieces so this works out great. The chicken at Sam’s was 10.99 for a 10 pound bag.

Well there you have it, we’ll see how we stay on track for our meals this month.  January had lots of missed days due to being sick where we just ate sandwiches or macaroni and cheese.  Take care everyone and God Bless.

Something besides a recipe….

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I am just waiting for Winter to be over this year.  Normally I don’t mind the change of season’s and the cooler temperatures that come with them.  This year, there has just been too many health issues and sickness.

It just seems like we get well for two days and then back to being sick again.  Last week my daughter and husband were sick to their stomachs on Monday and this week my son has the chicken pox.  My oldest son woke up today not feeling well and then sick to his stomach, I am hoping his bought with the chicken pox will not take too long to come to fruition.  The one son, who was the first victim, is having a hard time with the itching today but we are managing with Calamine and liquid Benadryl.

This week is our Missions Conference at church and I hate to miss it.  I missed our Baptist History week a few months back due to sickness and now we are sick again.  Thankfully, we can watch on the internet and still here the Word of God, it is just not the same as being there in person.  I am to bring several of the side dishes for the Lunch meal on Sunday, but I think we will end up having to stay home from service that day and just I will bring the food up.

School is taking a back page these last few days, I just feel like we are having a hard time this Winter period with trying to stay on schedule. I finally felt the timing was right to share with my daughter about Women’s health, she is 10 and will be 11 in April.  We have been using three resources so far.  The main curriculum I have used has been from Blessing God’s Way called Maidens by His Design.  I have really enjoyed the fact that it celebrates what God has created in us as Women. The curriculum gives us scriptures to focus on and shows us how to focus on the Lord each day of the month, how to not have a spirit of fear.  It basically takes a biblical approach and turns you to the Lord as opposed to a worldly view which would tend to point one towards thinking it is a curse and something to be negative about.

One of the other resources I have used briefly has been a book by Dannah Gresh Six Ways to Keep the Little in Your Girl there are some good points in there about modesty and there are some ideas presented about how to keep an open dialog with your girls so that they feel comfortable asking you questions.

I have used both of these in conjunction with a great resource from Queens Homeschool The Standard of Purity.  I had started this study in 2010 and with the study on health opted to finish it up and it has lead to some wonderful conversations about what God’s standards are for Purity and Beauty as compared to the worlds standards.  We have been able to talk about whether or not we need to wear make-up.  How much make up to wear if needed.   We have been able to talk more importantly about our inner beauty and how that radiates out from within.

If anyone is looking for some great resources for either boys or girls on how to navigate through these conversations Queens Homeschool has some wonderful biblical resources that can help any one out.

I am getting ready to post our Monthly menu for February in the next day or so as well! I pray you all have a blessed week, make it through the cold and any storms coming across your path.

Toasty Cheese Bake recipe card #6 Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library

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Have you ever had one of those recipes you just loved growing up as a child and still like to eat as an adult?  For me, the Toasty Cheese Bake was the one.  This recipe came from the fabulous 70’s and is due with great thanks to Betty Crocker.

You see in the 70’s BC came up with this great marketing plan to reach house wives by selling these ultra attractive boxes with recipe card collections…yes I am being slightly facetious here.  I have read comments on the internet about the slightly unappealing green color of some…we lucked out and ended up with the Harvest Gold Box.  You could subscribe to the recipe cards and each month you would get one new set in the mail.

The above card pictured is one the recipes that was fantastic…about 10 years ago, pregnant with my second child, I was visiting my parents in ID and I mentioned I wanted to write down the recipe.  Yes, my mom STILL has her box!!!   We dug the box out, I sat there reminiscing over old recipes and found the one I wanted….did I mention I was pregnant at the time….so we get talking about recipes, things get moved around on the table, cook books are out, etc….and the RECIPE DISAPPEARED!!! 

I kid you not, we looked high and low and have NEVER been able to find the recipe….anyone else have things like this happen when they were pregnant?????  We have thought many times about trying to find the recipe and to no avail.

Well recently about a month ago, I came across a blog post somewhere that got me thinking about those recipe cards once again and the lost recipe.  I started doing a search to find some Forums that might be able to help those who lost cards and would they be able to post the recipe, etc.  The same night I came across a blog that only had pictures of the cards and her running commentary about each one and how cruddy she thought the food was and would never serve to her children, blah, blah, blah……I spent over an hour going through pages of her blog and was ready to give up.  I pushed the refresh button one more time and I gasped out loud…it was like seeing a golden egg or something….so much time searching and there was the picture of what I had been missing all these years.  I sent a text to my mom asking her if the name of the recipe was Toasty Cheese Bake and she said she would check the index and sure enough it was!!!

The problem was it was just the picture!! And now for the silly part, why had I not tried to Google the NAME of the recipe years ago!!!!  I know, as savvy as I am at times with the computer, sometimes my mind just doesn’t think straight…I know, it is Peri-Menopause all over the place!!!

So I did a Google search and FOUND the recipe card and the picture!!!!!  I was so ecstatic.  So here I present to you a simple, humble recipe for ground beef.  It is just another economical recipe that uses ground beef and doesn’t end up as taco’s on your plate, or shepherds pie, etc.

With the size of our family I have modified it from the original.  I use 12 slices of bread and would triple the egg and milk mixture.  The first time I made it after finding the recipe I followed the directions and thought it a little on the dry side but still good. So to make it a little moister I increased the milk and egg.

I also needed to add extra amounts of cheese…for this to be cheeeeezy, you really need to have lots and lots of cheese, covering the meat mixture sometimes looks adequate but you need to load it on top to get that stringy cheese look when you pull it out of the pan.  The other possible change I might make the next time I make it would be to add in Velveeta cheese, maybe on the bottom layer? I am not sure as of yet but it is something I want to check out and see.

Enjoy~~

Honey Apricot Sesame Chicken

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We eat our fair share of chicken here at our house.  I am always on the prowl for new chicken recipes to give us a variety of flavors and cultures.

This was a nice recipe to try because it gave me the option of having Chinese food but without having the proper cooking wok to make it all come together.  A simple stove top skillet will work just fine and you too will have mastered this recipe in no time.

Honey-Apricot Sesame Chicken adapted from Hungry Girl Porvida

Serves 4
2 tablespoons honey
3 tbsp apricot jam
1/8 tsp grated ginger
2 tablespoons sesame seeds…(I just used 1/2T. a little goes a long way)
5 tbsp tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or crushed with a garlic press
½-1 tsp red pepper flake
¼ of a small onion, diced
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 2-inch chunks ( for us we use 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts)
Coarse salt
vegetable oil
In a small bowl, combine honey, jam, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and ginger; set aside.

Season chicken with salt and dredge in cornstarch. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add half the chicken; cook, turning occasionally, until golden and opaque throughout, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate paper towel lined plate; repeat, adding more oil if needed.

Add more oil to the pan if needed and add red pepper flake, heat for about thirty seconds. Cook onions, garlic, and thinly sliced zucchini in the pan with the red pepper, when zucchini is tender add sauce mixture and bring to a boil.

 

Return all the chicken to skillet and toss with sauce to coat and cook until chicken is heated through, cook longer if a thicker sauce is desired. Serve with steamed white or brown rice.

Enjoy and if you make it come back and let me know!

Homemade Pizza

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Years ago, like back in the dark ages in the 80’s I used to work at Williams~Sonoma.  One of the nice perks of working there was access to the hundreds and hundreds of recipe cards. I only wish now, I had taken one of everything, knowing that I was going to come to love cooking so much.

One of the cards I did happen to bring home was their recipe for Pizza dough.  It is recipe card number 19364 in case I need to mention that.

I have used this recipe with great success and find that it will make either two thin crust pizza’s that are about 16” diameter or one really nice thick crust. 

The flavor is great and I like it the way it is made.  I have also started adding the addition of honey to the recipe which I found on another site.  Unfortunately, back in 2008 when I started really saving recipes from the internet, I did not think to save the link from where I found the recipe as is the case with the honey recipe.

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (1 Tbs.) active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm (110 degrees) water

4 cups of flour

2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup olive oil.

(optional 3 T. honey)

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup of the warm water.  Combine flour, salt, yeast mixture, rest of water and olive oil.  Knead for 10 minutes, until dough is soft and silky but not sticky, adding more flour if necessary.  Cover and let rise until double, approx. 45 minutes.  Flatten out dough to fit baking stone or divide and flatten to desired sizes, cover and let rise 20 minutes.  cover with tomato sauce, etc., and bake at 40 degrees for 10-20 minutes (depending on size) until golden brown.

As far as the toppings go…. we use a homemade pizza sauce which I have currently run out of and frustrated to no end that I did not get more made this year since we were trying to sell the house.

I like to take two fairly large onions, sweet onions if you have them and then caramelize them on the stove.  We then like sautéed mushrooms, as well as mild sausage.  Let’s not forget loads of Mozzarella cheese as well.

Enjoy!!!

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

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I found this recipe back in 2010 and have been making it faithfully for the last two years. This has been a favorite of ours and there never seems to be enough even when there are left overs. 

I really enjoy the fact that this is a forgiving recipe, in that you don’t have to be exact.  I have used both Jack cheese and Mozzarella cheese and “eye-balled” the spices when I was in a pinch for time and they turned out great. The recipe also works if you have left over turkey during the holiday season and are not sure what to do with turkey left overs!!

I think the first time I fixed these I tried the corn tortilla’s but we like the flour tortilla’s the best.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos adapted from Our Best Bites

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder (I did 1/2tsp.)
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken
1 C grated pepper jack cheese (could probably use more like 2.5 cups I just used regular jack)

small corn tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray

Heat oven to 425. for 15-20 minutes Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

I usually take boneless skinless frozen chicken breasts, defrost in the microwave, slice them in half lengthwise and then cook them up in the frying pan.  Once cooked, I toss them in the food processor and let it shred them.  I used to cut it all up by hand before I was blessed with my kitchen servant and it works out great either way.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.
You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges. roll them up, place on your baking sheet.  When you have used up all your filling, coat your tortilla’s lightly with cooking spray and give a very light sprinkle of salt over all.  Pop in the oven and then serve with sour cream.

If you prefer to use corn tortilla’s the original recipe has steps for handling them as well as some other sauce recipes for dipping.

I usually get in excess of 20 taquitos with this recipe.  I made a batch yesterday and only had one pack of 20 and I had enough filling left over for probably another 6.  These are great to take for camping and they freeze well, if you need that option.  I would freeze them after baking first and then reheat in a toaster oven for small servings if needed.

Enjoy and if you make them come back and let me know!!

Pork Lo Mein

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Tonight we opted for the Pork Lo Mein off of our Monthly Dinner Menu.  One of the handy features when you plan out a months worth of menu items is the ability to swap things around according to your needs, energy level, time, etc.

Having been under the weather lately, things were swapped around and skipped over in exchange for easy to fix and Lo Mein was the winner tonight.

This is a relatively easy recipe to fix and does not take very much time.

Recipe adapted from Pillsbury back in 2010.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. Pork Boneless Loin

2 Cups fresh sugar snap pea pods

1 cup baby-cut carrots, cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch sticks (I used regular and just julienned them)

1/2 package (9-oz size) refrigerated linguine, cut into 2-inch pieces (I just cooked linguine pasta, did not buy any special type like they suggested)

1/3 cup Progresso chicken broth

1 T. soy sauce (I doubled this amount)

2 t. cornstarch

1 t. sugar

2 t. finely chopped ginger root

2 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped.

2 t. vegetable oil

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion (I just finely diced mine)

Toasted sesame seed, if desired

DIRECTIONS:

Trim fat from pork.  Cut pork with grain into 2x1-inch strips; cut strips across grain into 1/8-inch slices (pork is easier to cut if partially frozen, about 1 1/2 hours).  Remove strings from pea pods.

In 3-quart saucepan, heat 2 quarts water to boiling.  Add pea pods, carrots and linguine; heat to boiling.  boil 2-3 minutes or just until linguine is tender; drain. ( I opted to cook my pasta separately, set aside and then add back in at the end after the broth, I did not cook it with the pea pods and carrots.)

In a small bowl, mix broth, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, ginger root and garlic.

In a 12-inch nonstick skillet or wok, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add pork and onion; stir-fry about 2 minutes or until pork is no longer pink.  Stir broth mixture; stir into pork mixture.  Stir in pea pods, carrots and linguine. 

Cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Sprinkle with Sesame seed.

Enjoy and if you make it come on back and let me know!!

 

 

 

Homemade Shake and Bake Chicken

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I remember as a child growing up every once in a while we would get to have Shake and Bake chicken and it always seemed like a treat.  The chicken was always tasty but I think the fun part was being able to shake the chicken in the bag.

I have this great recipe book called 365 Ways To Cook Chicken.  I picked it up eons ago when I used to work at Williams Sonoma.  And while I think there may only be 20 palatable recipes worthy of eating, one of them is this Homemade Shake and Bake.  The recipe I use does not have the breadcrumbs to give the extra crunch however, the mixture of spices and seasonings gives the chicken great flavor.  I suppose if you are in desperate need of the crunch you could modify this recipe and add in the breadcrumbs if you desire.

So here ya go all of the spices:

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

4 chicken legs and thighs

1/2 cup milk

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Combine flour, paprika, salt, garlic powder, thyme, and pepper in a plastic bag.

Dip chicken legs in milk; shake off excess.  Add to bag and shake to coat evenly.  place chicken on a greased baking sheet.  Bake 40 minutes, until chicken is tender and coating crisp.

Now as you can see in my picture, we use the boneless skinless chicken breasts.  I take these and then butterfly them in half so they are not as thick and I end up with two complete servings as well.  I also find that when I slice the chicken breasts in half it takes just a portion of the baking time.  So if you decide to go with my version, modify your baking time to only 15 minutes for a nice tender chicken breast.

I happened to have served this with sweet potatoes and fried russet potatoes last night. The sweet potatoes were more like sweet potato casserole and I was not thinking straight and had wanted to have fried potatoes.  It wasn’t until I had the potatoes peeled that I realized that I had two potatoes on the plate.  Normally it would be zucchini or broccoli.

Enjoy and if you happen to make it come back and let me know!!

Apple Fritter Bread

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Well today is the second Tuesday of the month and that day is usually reserved for our Ladies brunch at church.  This is a ministry for the ladies to come together and pray for each other’s families and needs.  Sometimes the prayers may be requests that are not shared with the whole entire church and sometimes they are.  In any event, we come together each month to lift each lady up to the Lord.

We usually start off with fellowship over food/brunch and then have a devotional followed up by prayer time.

Today I made this Apple Fritter Bread that I had found on Pinterest.  The picture, of course, caught my attention.  As with most food items I proceed to make it is because my eyes have already dined and decided that was the next thing I need to make.

The page I followed for the recipe has some great step by step photo’s and I suggest keeping that page open as a reference.  I took my pictures and you will see them below as well. I always wonder why this happens when I copy someone’s recipe and they have step by step pictures, mine never look the same!!  Anyone else have this happen?

So anyhow, here ya go.

Apple Fritter Bread adapted from Flour Me With Love

Dough:

3 C flour

1 package yeast—2 ¼ teaspoons

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 C brown sugar

1/4 C water

1 egg, beaten

3/4 C milk

1/4 C butter

Filling:

6 small apples, peeled & diced

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 C brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. cornstarch

Glaze:

1 Tbsp. butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 C powdered sugar

3 tsp. half & half (or milk)

 

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 5 bread pan.

In a skillet, cook apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, vanilla, butter, cinnamon & cornstarch until mixture is thickened.  Set aside to cool.

Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles; remove from heat. Add the butter and stir until melted; set aside.

Put flour, yeast, brown sugar and salt in a bowl, mix well. Add the water, egg and milk/butter mixture.

Mix until dough forms into a ball; knead for an additional five minutes. On a well floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle. (On the page I followed the recipe she has a picture here and she used a stand mixer, I mixed by hand and kneaded by hand as well)

Evenly spread apple mixture over dough. (This picture looks drastically different from hers…mine was soooo moist and I used the exact amounts called for….Its all in the apples…extra moisture I am convinced.)

Cut dough into even squares (she got 20 from her dough, I had 35 pieces  Go Figure!!!). So you are going to do something like 4 rows by 5 columns or slightly more.

Carefully stack pieces of dough onto each other forming four piles. (use a spatula, it makes stacking much easier!)  Place piles of dough into prepared pan.

Here is the picture that she does not have on her blog but necessary to show you….this is slightly messy to put together….Or at least in my case!!

Here it is all piled in the pan, I am not sure if it would have just been better to use a longer pan or leave part out since I had more pieces.

Bake 45-50 minutes; until golden brown.  Immediately remove from pan.

Mix butter, vanilla and powdered sugar into a bowl.  Add half & half; stir until you get a creamy consistency.  Pour on glaze and allow to setup for a few minutes. Pull some apart and enjoy!

So, because mine was so juicy, it took at least a half hour longer to bake.  This is where I am wondering if I had moved it to my longer bread pan it might have turned out even better.  The bread was very dense.  It had a sweet taste but it didn’t have the pull apart, monkey bread fluffy texture that I was expecting….so it was the first try and I will try again using a longer bread pan to give the bread a little more space.

Enjoy and if you make it come back and let me know!!!

Cheeseburger Soup

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This recipe I found on Pinterest and decided to give it a try.

Recipe adapted from: The Recipe Critic

Ingredients:
1/2 pound ground beef (use 1 pound)
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup diced celery
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
4 tablespoons butter, divided
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups of Velveeta processed cheese cubed (I used 20 oz on the markings of the Velveeta)
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup sour cream

1.  Brown the ground beef in 3 quart saucepan.  Drain and set aside.
2. In the same saucepan add 1 T butter and add onion, shredded carrots, and celery, basil and parsley.  Sauté until tender.
3.  Add the broth, potatoes and beef and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
4.  In small skillet melt remaining butter (3 T) and add the flour.  Cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly.  Add to the soup and bring to a boil.  Cook and stir for 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to low.
5. Stir in the cheese, milk, salt and pepper.  Cook and stir until cheese melts.  Remove from heat and blend in sour cream. 
Yield 8 servings

Ok here are my notes: Overall, I thought the flavor was really good.  I did change some things.  I used more than a pound of meat to serve our family and used more Velveeta. 

The second thing that occurred the potatoes seemed to me mushy, grainy???? I am not sure what could cause this except the extended time of the potatoes cooking with all the food and getting broken up trying to get softened.  I think when I make it next, I would make the potatoes in a separate pot and add in at the end, to retain firmness but doneness and not break up so much in the mix.  Perhaps that also adds to the thickening of the soup????

Lastly, I added an extra cup of stock because the amount of my potatoes were not covered by the liquid called for.

The soup made a bunch, partly because of the additions I made for our size of family, and we had some left over which is always a plus for lunch the next day.

Enjoy and if you make it come back and let me know!!

Dealing with Asthma….A lifestyle change for me.

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Figure A shows the location of the lungs and airways in the body. Figure B shows a cross-section of a normal airway. Figure C shows a cross-section of an airway during asthma symptoms.

The graphics in this post and brief synopsis below are from the National Heart, lung and blood Institute

Asthma (AZ-ma) is a chronic (long-term) lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways. Asthma causes recurring periods of wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), chest tightness, shortness of breath, and coughing. The coughing often occurs at night or early in the morning.

Asthma affects people of all ages, but it most often starts during childhood. In the United States, more than 25 million people are known to have asthma. About 7 million of these people are children.

Overview

To understand asthma, it helps to know how the airways work. The airways are tubes that carry air into and out of your lungs. People who have asthma have inflamed airways. This makes them swollen and very sensitive. They tend to react strongly to certain inhaled substances.

When the airways react, the muscles around them tighten. This narrows the airways, causing less air to flow into the lungs. The swelling also can worsen, making the airways even narrower. Cells in the airways might make more mucus than usual. Mucus is a sticky, thick liquid that can further narrow the airways.

This chain reaction can result in asthma symptoms. Symptoms can happen each time the airways are inflamed.

Sometimes asthma symptoms are mild and go away on their own or after minimal treatment with asthma medicine. Other times, symptoms continue to get worse.

When symptoms get more intense and/or more symptoms occur, you're having an asthma attack. Asthma attacks also are called flareups or exacerbations (eg-zas-er-BA-shuns).

Treating symptoms when you first notice them is important. This will help prevent the symptoms from worsening and causing a severe asthma attack. Severe asthma attacks may require emergency care, and they can be fatal.

Looking back over these last months I realize I have been dealing with this since October and possible even as early as August of this year and prior to that I am not sure.  And to say the least, I am on a terrible learning curve as to how to manage this disease.

While many Asthma attacks can be triggered by environmental triggers i.e. pets, smoking, dust, vacuuming, cold weather, the main culprit in my situation are bacterial infections—getting sick, and the cold weather…

My issue has been trying to figure out which is the cold symptom and which is the Asthma.  Both issues cause excess mucous to be produced and terrible chest coughing.

This past few days has been a roller-coaster and I am still trying to recover. I am running into a potential health hazard for me.  I will get sick, end up missing church services, get better, and then go back to helping out at church, get exposed once again and then end up getting sick.  My immune system is not strong enough to handle exposure to regular germs like most people.  It seems the slightest germ attacks me viciously.

On the 2nd of January, after having been healthy for about a week, I went back to church on a Wednesday to help out in our children’s program called Kings Kids.  I enjoy the program, we have on average about 80 students each week and then in my classroom we have about 10 students sometimes more sometimes less.  The class rooms are about 8’ by 10’ in my estimation.

By Friday myself and a few of my children were feeling sick and by Sunday we were a sinking ship.  Several children had fevers, one was throwing up.  Thankfully I had some medication left from a while back that my Dr. had given me to use in my Nebulizer breathing machine. I started taking some Monday and used two, Tuesday I used 3 and I had one dose left that I was going to use Wednesday evening.  I was having some difficulty breathing Wednesday evening, and took the dose that night after church.  That night sleeping was miserable.  So much coughing, having to try and stack up pillows to sit up and I was running out of my puffer inhaler.  In hindsight I see, based on having scoured the internet about Asthma episodes that my last dose of nebulizer was not having any effect because my Asthma had become so severe…I just didn’t know what was to come.

 Thursday was probably the worst day I have ever had.My breathing ability had gotten so bad that I couldn’t walk across the house without breathing heavily.  By heavily I mean like you see those people run the Boston Marathon and they cross the finish line and they bend over gasping for breath and collapse on the ground trying to get enough oxygen.  That would be me…..and then it became that way just sitting on the couch not doing anything.  I couldn’t talk to my children every word I would speak I had to stop afterwards and try and get enough air to say the next word. I have never been so scared that I was going to die as I was that day into night.

I had called my husband and told him I did not think I could make it through the weekend to get to the Dr.  I knew my situation was bad, I just didn’t know how bad…I didn’t know what the severe symptoms were to watch out for.  I am seeing an Intern Specialist(not that he is an intern…NO, he has been in practice for 25 years) not an Asthma specialist  He was able to get an appointment for Friday morning.  Now I just had to make it through Thursday evening.  I had my emergency inhaler, however, it is the only one that does not have a counter so I did not know how much was left.  The canister felt less than half full.   I was trying to not use it during the day because the night time is soooo much worse with all the coughing. I needed to go pick up pizza for the kids to eat about 3 min. from the house for dinner.  I made one of my son’s go with me and when we got in the car I told him how to call daddy on the phone in case something happened…this is how scared I was.

I used my inhaler once late in the evening prior to going to bed around 10pm.  You are supposed to use two puffs but I used one to save it for any attacks during the night.   I was able to sleep for two hours and then hit with a horrific cough attack.  I awoke at about midnight and Tim was still up working.  I went out and sat in our recliner hoping that sitting up would help and tried to lean on a pillow next to my head.  At about 2am I thought I would try again to lay down.  I had taken one more puff and the last puff from an older inhaler I had and was able to fall asleep until morning, praise the Lord.

Friday, yesterday, I went in and the nurse took my oxygen reading.  At rest the oxygen level was at 87% the normal, where it is supposed to be, is 94% minimum.  And my reading was at rest, it is only supposed to get low if you are active.  I can only imagine what my oxygen level must have been the day before when I could not breathe at all.  The Lord was truly watching over me. I should have been in the back of an ambulance heading to the  ER and them pumping me full of steroids and oxygen.

I was able to get prescriptions for my nebulizer which should last me easily two months, and prescriptions for two more inhalers.  Just in the nick of time if you ask me.  It just overwhelms me to know now how bad I was on Thursday night. It has me crying just thinking about it.  If you look at the picture below you will see this handy chart to help manage your Asthma.  You always want to be in green, that is ideal.

Then there is yellow caution, I guess if you will kind of like a traffic light.  Following next is red….you are in a serious state…and if you look below that is DANGER….this was me….If I had only seen this on Thursday, I would have done things a little differently. I can look at this now and see I have not been in the green zone yet and at least I now know what the symptoms are of the different zones and can take action immediately.  I think you only need to have one bad Asthma episode to know what a bad one is and never want to go there again.

So I am hoping I am on the way to actually managing my Asthma and in the meantime I need to make some decisions with my husband as to whether or not I should continue working in this capacity at my church and find other avenues to help minister to others.

If you would join me in praying that the Lord would continue to watch over me and keep me safe and turn this disease around so that I can have a healthy quality of life.  Thank you so much.

Hamburger Pinwheels

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Hamburger Pinwheels adapted from Hillbilly Housewife

Dough:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 cup milk (or a little less) (my notes: needed more milk to keep it stuck together)

     Filling:

• 1 pound ground beef (see note below about taco seasoning)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup milk

 

“I usually make the filling first, so it has a chance to cool down. Fry the hamburger in a skillet until it is crumbled into small pieces, and grey all over. Cook the onion with it if you like (I always do). Drain or spoon off some of the fat. Don't get rid of all of the fat. You need some of it to absorb the flour.(Save at least 2-3 Tablespoons) So after you have spooned off most of the fat, add the flour, salt and pepper. Stir it up until the flour is dissolved in the fat. Add the milk and continue stirring until the mixture thickens considerably, and boils. Boil for a minute and remove the filling from the heat. If you want to cool it down quickly, transfer the filling to a bowl and put it into the fridge or freezer while you prepare the dough. This is what I usually do. It also gives me a chance to wash the skillet before anything sticks to it unmercifully.

To make the dough, get out a big bowl. In it combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the shortening. Use your fingers or a fork to mash in the shortening until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in the milk, forming a nice, slightly stiff dough. Knead it about 8 or ten times to get the gluten in the flour activated a little bit. Rip a piece of waxed paper off of the roll. Place it on your counter and pat the dough into a thick rectangle on top of it. Use a rolling pin or sturdy jar to roll the dough out into a big rectangle, about 1/2 an inch thick, or a little thinner. 

Spread the cool filling onto the dough, like spreading butter on bread. Spread it to within 3/4" of the edges. It is good to cool the filling down because hot filling is challenging to work with. Warm filling is acceptable. Now, using the waxed paper to help, roll the dough up like a jelly roll, peeling back the waxed paper as you roll. Form a long cylinder of dough and filling swirled together. Toss the waxed paper in the garbage. Slice the roll with a sharp knife into 12 or 15 pieces. Lay the pieces on an oiled cookie sheet, rearranging them slightly so they are pretty and pinwheel shaped if necessary. Bake at 425° for about 20 minutes. These are good served with Italian Tomato Sauce or canned tomato sauce, or Cheese Sauce or Tomato Gravy or even plain old ketchup. I like them with steamed broccoli and carrot raisin salad, and macaroni and cheese. Kids like these pretty well.”

 

So I made these this evening and I will add some of my notes/thoughts here with some pictures for those that find it easier seeing the process so that they can compare that there stuff looks like the picture thus giving confidence that they are doing the recipe the right way…at least that is how it goes in my head when I look at pictures!!

And before I go any further….DISCLAIMER….I am a Stay At Home Mom…I homeschool, I raise six children, I love to cook, I really love to share recipes, I like to take pictures….HOWEVER, I am NOT a professional photographer….gasp….so you get the occasional over saturated photo’s, you get the slightly blurry pictures, you get stuff in the backgrounds…because that’s how it is at this house…and I am not doing this because I want to become the next greatest Foodie Blogger….uh NO…I really really love to cook and I love to share recipes…well except the four that are in the family vault…lol…and I want to encourage others who might want to cook to see how easy it is and to not be intimidated….I like tasty food that doesn’t take forever to fix….and so those last comments also sum up the perception that some might have that all those who post cooking recipes on their blog are “showing off” and have the attitude of “oh look at me and look what I did today”….that is not me and if you know me in real life I sure hope you know that image doesn’t go with who I am…. If I can inspire someone to become a better cook or to experiment more often with different foods and in the process they become a better homemaker in the cooking department then Praise the Lord that it worked out that way…its not about me….ok end of the Disclaimer!!

Ok back on track… So the first part, brown the meat, drain, mix in the flour…at this point I usually add about a Tablespoon of Mexican Seasoning, you can either use a homemade mix or buy one of those seasoning packets from McCormick.  I just happen to like the extra kick it has but not overly spicy.

The consistency is somewhat paste-like from the thickening brought about by the flour and milk and as you can see by my picture….I forgot the onion tonight…I was in a rush for Wednesday night Kings Kids at church and didn’t realize it until the meat was already browned…it’s ok though it still came out really tasty.

Then the dough part…

This is what it looks like when rolled out and I would guess this was about 16” high by about 24” wide.  Here is a picture of the thickness up close.

Pretty thin, less than a 1/2” in thickness.

The next step would be to spread the meat mixture onto the dough.

Now I believe in putting the mixture right up close to the edge closest to you (the edge of the counter) the reason being this is going to be the center of the pinwheel so I don’t want it to be just dough, I want it to be nice and meaty all the way through.  Just an extra tip there.  Now I usually like to use an icing spatula to spread the mixture and since that was used to scrape play dough off the counter this afternoon it wasn’t available.  The next best option is the back side of a large soup spoon, or you could use a knife you use to spread jelly with on bread….you get the idea….  mash it down.

The pointer about letting your meat mixture cool is important, otherwise your dough gets soggy and that creates a mess on the counter. I usually make mine, put it in a glass bowl and pop it in the freezer.  The freezer will cool it down but not freeze it in the time it takes to roll out the dough and you will be set to go.

Now for the rolling up, start at the long edge closest to you and roll it all the way up and then slice it into about 1/2” slices….

 

Those little dimples on top..those are just from me holding it steady while slicing through, make sure you flour your knife about every two cuts to keep it going smoothly and not tearing the roll apart.  Place them on a cookie sheet, I actually don’t spray my sheet pan and have not had any issues with it sticking so try it both ways and pick the best for you.

  So here we have fresh out of the oven, lightly browned.  I had approximately 30 slices out of the roll.  I have served these with a brown gravy in the past as my husband liked that option.  However, the favored sauce is actually ketchup as seen this evening.

  Enjoy and if you give it a try pop back over and let me know.

Columbine Students Father 12 Years later

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COLUMBINE STUDENT'S FATHER 12 YEARS LATER !!

Guess our national leaders didn't expect this. On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.

They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness.. The following is a portion of the transcript:

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.

"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. 

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!


"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts. 

"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!
My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"
- Darrell Scott

Do what the media did not - - let the nation hear this man's speech. Please send this out to everyone you can. 
God Bless