Happy New Year. John, his wife Christine, and Romeo came over last night for supper. We had a ball! Well, anywhere this family is, you can't help but laugh and have a dandy time. They had to go to Missouri for Christmas so they brought our Christmas presents over last night. They gave me a lovely sweater and Jim a billfold and bedroom slippers. We had given them a crockpot. That's what they wanted. Also, we got Tiff one, and Tiff and David got us one. Susie, Dan's wife, cooks in hers every day. We all love our crockpots. I had one but it was wearing out.
Last night, I had fixed vegetable soup in my new crockpot and we had Pasta Salad. Also, I had made tomato bread and we had a lot of homemade Christmas candy and cookies. Jim had to work yesterday so I made some things, but he was home for the evening.
I had like 2 half cans of mixed nuts that I knew we weren't going to eat. So I took some chocolate chips and some chocolate almond bark I had leftover and put it in the microwave. Ya gotta work with it and add milk and stir it up until it is smooth. It takes a while. So I got this all melted and then added a half a bag of the miniature marshmallows and the nuts. Then I spread all of this on a buttered cookie sheet. It's really good. So I gave about half of this to the kids to take home.
I had about four cups of the soup leftover so I sent that home with Christine. She said she had a bunch of fresh vegetables and wanted to go home and make soup using my leftover soup. I had just made hamburger vegetable soup. And for the base, I used tomato soup diluted with about 5 cans of water or whatever would cover the vegetables and 1 brown gravy mix. My kids love it all like this. And I get the dried soup greens in a bottle, made by McCormick. Get it in the spice aisles. But, anyway, Christine will use my leftover soup as a soup starter. She and John both love vegetables. Romeo eats some, too, but not like his parents will. Christine would just sit down and eat a can of kidney beans as a snack. She loves all kinds of beans. So I know that today she will get out her new crockpot and make soup in it.
In the old days, when the children were little, I would get a soup bone from the store and make vegetable soup. Can you still buy a beef soup bone at the store? I haven't even looked for one lately. But, anyway, I would cook the soup bone for hours with onions and herbs. Then, after all the meat was tender and falling off the bone, I would add the vegetables to make soup. You could do this with chicken pieces, too. For a soup stock, just add the meat and herbs and then water to the top of the pan. Then just cook all of this for about 3 hours or all day. And, when it is all done, then just put a pan in your sink and strain the soup of all the bones and fat, etc. And then you have a nice soup stock. You could then can it or freeze it to make soups with.
To make the soup stock to begin with, when you add the bone, you could add celery, onion, garlic and carrots for flavor. But then, when you strain it out, strain out the carrots and celery, etc., as these veggies would be cooked to death. I would just add these veggies to my outside compost pile for the garden. Your soup stock should look somewhat clear and strained. Like the chicken stock you buy at the store.
I have used the homemade chicken stock to put on fried potatoes when they needed a bit of moisture to get soft, but still crisp on the outside. You can also make mashed potatoes with chicken stock instead of the milk. Soup stock is nice to have on hand and easy to make.
I try to save my celery leaves for soup.
For the Pasta Salad, I just make the pasta and add fresh veggies. Whatever I have. Then I add the vinegar and oil dressing. But you could add any dressing. I had made mine with the vinegar and oil Italian dressing. But when I went to eat it, I put Ranch dressing on it. I think John did, too.
Simple Soups
Sometimes I just made a quick soup for the kids. One I used to make went like this. I would cut up leftover cooked chicken. Then I would put it in a pan with about 4 cups of water. Then I would add a can of cream of chicken soup and a can of chicken noodle soup. And also a can of the mixed vegetables from the store. I just brought this to a boil and it was done. You could add pepper and whatever herbs ya like. Also, for a nice tomato soup, I would cook up peeled tomatoes and onions and cook them until soft. At the end, add a couple cans of tomato soup. We almost never had just a can of store bought soup for a meal. I always made a can of soup go for about 8 servings.
I know some of this don't sound very healthy. But we do have to cook for our husbands and children. And if they wont eat what you fix, then you defeat your purpose.
Also, I would take, like, apples and all kinds of fruit the children weren't eating, and I would cut it all up and put it in a pot. Then just cook it all with some sugar for stewed fruit. Then I would serve this in little sauce dishes with a meal. Like maybe apples and cranberries with cut up oranges. One salad I used to make, if the bananas were going to be wasted, goes like this. Just take a can of peaches from the store and mix it with about 4 bananas. Fruit cocktail is usually cheap and I would buy this each week for the children. I would put the miniature marshmallows in it with the bananas. Sometimes I would add coconut or whatever. The children would eat this in a bowl for breakfast along with pancakes or fried potatoes.
All of my children and Jim love fruits and vegetables. We never had a lot of meat at our house. But usually each meal had some meat, mostly for flavor. I would make a whole meal for 8 people with a half pound of hamburger. So I would use a gravy mix to make it look good and brown. Tomato soup and brown gravy mix makes one think they have had some meat. Well, a housewife had to do what a housewife had to do, to keep everyone happy and fed.
My kids still laugh about my Chicken of the Sea soup. I would use tuna and tell the kids it was chicken and made it with chicken soup and vegetables. They never knew the difference when they were young. I don't know how they eventually figured it out. Well, they didn't care, anyway, as they liked tuna, too.
I used to make tuna patties from drained tuna and crackers and eggs. It's like meatloaf. Anyway, I would use just one can of tuna for about 7 patties. I would fry them up good. Then I would put these in a 9 by 13 pan. Then, over the top, put a couple cans of cream of chicken soup diluted to be creamy like a gravy. Then just bake it in the oven until it bubbles. My family loved this meal. Then have potatoes and vegetables with the meal. Make up some baking powder biscuits or some kind of bread and you have a nice meal.
My children were always healthy and never needed a doctor. We ate more hillbilly, I guess. Not really back to the land. I went back to the land as much as I could in town. But I did what I had to do to keep my home happy. No, all the soup wasn't probably a good idea but it was all I had. Either ya gotta have meat or a meat flavor if your husband likes meat. Jim would have to have a piece of meat once in a while. But he didn't want it all the time. He is very healthy, too.
Now days, we can have what food we want. But Jim prefers the old time comfort foods. He asked me this morning if I would make some chicken soup for today. He has to work but will be home for supper.
I love my new crockpot and the girls love theirs. We got Susie a nice mixer on a stand with dough hooks for Christmas, as she has a crockpot already. Boy she loved that. She loves to cook. The crockpots around here are only about 15 bucks. And we found this nice mixer on the stand for Susie for only 15 bucks. We got all the appliances at WalMart.
