PLEASE PRAY FOR MY DEAR FATHER
He had emergency surgery a couple of weeks ago to repair a leaking
aneurysm on his aortic valve and in his stomach. He was told he wouldn't survive and did. He was on a
ventilator for a week and now is home. Right now he suffers a lot from depression. He is refusing to eat and his dialysis treatments. He is having a hard time and has for a while now. Please, lift him and my family up in prayer through this difficult time.
YESTERDAY'S SUPPER AND RECIPE
This is a picture of chicken and dumplings I made yesterday for supper. There are two ways I make my dumplings. The first way is homemade and then there is a fast way. I begin all with a simple base. It can be used how your grocery budget can be spent. If you are in a tight..use one chicken thigh/leg and three bouillon cubes..you can also add extra eggs for protein. If you want to make it the regular way I use two chicken breasts..two bouillon cubes. First you boil the chicken. They can be added frozen and take about an hour to cook all the way. When done I put my eggs on..about three to four to boil. I then shred the chicken and leave the water on to come to a rolling boil. Add chicken back in, drop dumplings one at a time, and add eggs...I mash these up fine with a hand pastry blender. Here is the recipe for my dumplings:
FAST WAY
I buy a big pack of flour tortillas..about 1.26. I use some for a night of tacos. The rest I save for this. I just simply rip up the tortillas and drop them in piece by piece. I know this sounds crazy..but, it is very tasty. They do swell and taste like regular dumplings. They have a lot of flavor. The above picture is of my fast dumplings.
HOMEMADE(Which I do regular if we are not busy)
4 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of lard(you might be able to use shortening to get the same results)
1 tablespoon of salt and cream of tartar
2 tablespoons of sugar
buttermilk(I really don't have a proper measurement. I just use as much as needed for the consistency I am looking for).
I combine all dry ingredients with a fork. Then add the lard. I break it in with a pastry blender until it forms small balls. Add buttermilk til pasty. Then I use wax paper on the counter. I flour it really good and put dough on it. Then flour that really good. You can roll out thin and cut or you can pinch off and flatten really flat. These swell up big..so be careful if you pinch. They will naturally look big as you drop and will float to the top. Just take a spoon and make a hole..continue to drop. If you want this is also my buttermilk biscuit recipe...makes about twelve biscuits at 350 until done.
THIS WEEK'S CAKE
Was red velvet. I put extra walnuts in it for me:) I just use store bought cake mix. I saw Paula Deen always uses milk instead of water, three eggs, and good vanilla to store bought cake mixes. I don't use the vanilla in this. Everyone thinks I bake them from scratch..for years now. I make my own cream cheese frosting. It is a mix between my own recipe and an Amish butter cream recipe. I will have to get he recipe for you...I don't have it in front of me. But, if anything take two jars of store bought cream cheese and add about a half a box of fresh.
THIS WEEK AT THE THRIFT STORE
I went to get dd some new dresses and hopefully find me some shirts. When I got there I found they were having an half off children's clothes sale. Since Barry said that I could now buy shorts/pants for dd to play at home or at her grandparents. I had play clothes and regular clothes in mind. I also buy pants to go under dresses and skirts during winter for extra layering. I also buy a size in advance. So all these items can be worn next year. Except for the striped purple set. It was not true to size and turned out to be smaller. So that will be a this year outfit. I bought all of my finds for under 30.00(my budget is normally around 10.00 sometimes 15.00). I really splurged with the budget. But, Barry has been spoiling me. He wanted us to have a girl's day and to get me out of the house...since all that has been going on here with my Dad...and we really needed some new clothes. DD is growing so fast and bless dh's heart he tried to do a load of clothes and my shirts were involved in a laundry accident:) A for effort. Here are the picks of our finds: They include dresses/outfits for dd, dress/shirt for me, shoes for us both, wooden Noah's ark set for her, and four Lord's prayer on one side/footprints in the sand place mats for the table...oh, and a cute bonnet she could not leave behind.
TONIGHT'S DATE NIGHT
DD went to spend the night with DH's parents tonight. I miss her terribly. We decided to make a date night tonight. So we went adventurous. It isn't very often we get to go out to eat..let alone it being something that doesn't come with fries, carbonated drink, and a playground:) There is a Japanese restaurant here that we have never tried. It's one were you have the grill and chef in the middle and you sit with a group of people around it at a bar type/table setting. You watch him cook and he talks to you..and serves you. It was AWESOME!!! I have never seen anything so interesting. He threw an egg in the air and cracked it with his spatula. He set the grill on fire a few times. He also had a good sense of humor. He even had a fake squirt bottle. He told us what ingredients went into everything. He did tricks with his knife and spatula. He even had a holster for it..how neat...I want one. I followed along so I can make a knock off here at home. I did this at our local chinese restaurant..in guessing the ingredients...and now I make a mean peppered steak stirfry. The staff there was so sweet and they even would bow to us. I loved it. When I thank someone I kind of bow my head to in respect...so it was cool to see the different cultural aspects of the restaurant. It was like visiting Japan and never having to leave home. We hope we can go back on our seven year wedding anniversary next month. What a treat. Usually we may eat light at home, go grocery shopping, or browsing in book stores when dd is with her Poppa and Memaw..so this was a great experience. Since I love to cook it was also a learning experience and so entertaining. They also had a sushi bar..for the life of me I still can not give that a shot.
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