With Praise and Thanksgiving

I forgot to hit publish on Day 300. To celebrate the three hundredth day of the year, we had turkey! Just kidding. We got a great deal on turkey breasts at Cash Wise and it was thawed and ready to cook. We also had a can of biscuits and some potatoes from my father-in-law's garden. So as it went, I channeled my inner Janis and whipped up a half decent meal! So what if I forgot a vegetable! It was bland in color but fab in flavor. My gratitude for the day was that we can have this delicious food. I have never had to go hungry and I take that for granted way too often. Like almost always. We do try to buy what's on sale and to be good stewards of what we have, but the fact is, we are extremely lucky that we don't have to worry much about our grocery budget, or food allergies, or where our next meal is coming from. I should try to remember this when I complain about always having to make all the meals for the ungrateful child set.

I thought about taking a pic of my dinner plate but because every self-respecting blogger knows you need to include a picture with every post. But then I remembered that I have rarely seen an amateur food photo online and thought anything besides, "Huh. I bet that was yummy but it looks disgusting." So I didn't. For the record we had dry-ish crock pot country style ribs and corn. Also on my plate was a nice slice of white bread with butter. Yum! Growing up, my dad had bread and butter with almost every meal. We blew through loaves of bread at breakneck speeds. I try for high fiber bread if I can, and I mix up what I buy so that the kids are exposed to more than just plain white bread, but it is comforting to go back to good ol' white bread sometimes. Bread and butter is so simple, so yummy, and comforting because it reminds me of growing up and of my dad.  Please accept this picture of a half loaf of bread and my cute little butter crock on my messy counter...

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. I could, as many daughters would, go on and on about why I am so grateful that my mom is my mom. Today's not that day, since I'm thumbing away on my phone and hoping to get caught up here! She's great, though, so stay tuned for more on my million reasons to be thankful for her.  I'm thinking of her today because I was actually able to prepare a decent meal and have it all ready at the same time, something my mom makes seem effortless, as did my grandma before her.  When I got married and started cooking (although my husband did the majority of the cooking in those early years and still does quite a bit), I was certain I would never master the art of having a meal ready at the same time without one thing being burned, another soggy and another raw.  I still don't consider myself an expert meal preparer, but I celebrated it today. We had a tough day at our house and this little victory was exactly what I needed. 

For my first few years as a grown up, I made frozen or "easy" lasagna. It was lasagna, I guess, but it always left me disappointed. I finally asked my mom for her recipe, because her lasagna is the best. The recipe isn't hard to follow, and lasagna's really not that hard to make, but I continued to shy away from it. For some reason I had in my head that it's a labor-intensive undertaking of mammoth proportions. In the last few years, I've made mom's recipe more often. Although it makes a huge mess in my kitchen, it's really not as big of a project as I'd always thought. If a normal person makes it, not constantly stopping to mediate fights or doing it one-handed with a babe on the hip, it could be put together in 45 minutes or less.  I made it for supper last night and, man, was it worth the work and mess. Even the shredded mozzarella the baby toddler dumped all over the floor: worth it.  Lasagna is my love language, I'm pretty sure...

I first heard of Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman when a thoughtful friend brought a meal over after I'd had #2. She mentioned it was a PW recipe and shortly after I started following her blog/website.  http://thepioneerwoman.com/ She posts so much more than just (just? they are fantastic) recipes. There are lifestyle posts, home and garden posts, and lots of giveaways. Which I've never won, cough cough,  She has over a million followers on Facebook, and so I'm sure many more on her website, but she seems so friendly and down-to-earth that sometimes I forget we're not real life friends. Because I get crazy attached to bloggers, I guess.  At any rate, I dig her work and have enjoyed most of the recipes of hers I've tried, which is more than a few. Last night, even though it was Wednesday, I made her Sunday night stew with mashed potatoes and it was delightful.  http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/sunday-night-stew/ The kid who hates everything hated...