random, random, random

When I was nine, my Mom started working nights. Previously, she had been a stay-at-home Mom. However, that was no longer practical and so Mom worked nights part-time as a nurse's aid so she could be home during the day and we would not have to go to daycare. Dad worked in town which was about two miles away so he would come home at lunch to check in on us. I am not sure how old I was when I took cooking and baking in 4-H. The only specific thing I remember learning was how to use the egg’s shell to separate an egg. As a result, I have never had an egg separator. I don’t know if it was immediately or a couple years down the road but it became my responsibility to make sure there was food for Dad at lunch. I remember pouring over the Betty Crocker cookbook to come up with something different to make. Dad never got a balanced lunch and I am amazed that my father wasn’t ever admitted to the hospital for severe heartburn. I was fond of making homemade fried onion rings for him. Other times, I made cheddar biscuits. Over the years, I developed a few specialties – two of which he was particularly fond: Extremely Spicy Beanie Weenies (I developed a knack for spicing them so they didn’t burn until after you swallowed) and Goulash.

I remember that the summer I lived in CA with my husband’s family, I would often make them goulash. I made it quite a bit when we were first married and then didn’t make it for years. Recently, I actually wrote down the ingredients and fine tuned it until I have a low heat version that my whole family will eat (it is easy to spice-up – just increase the amount of the warm spices to suit – when I was young I used to put raw serranos from the garden in it to).

Goulash

1 jar bbq sauce
1 can corn drained or half a bag frozen corn
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup vinegar
1/2-3/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp Spanish paprika
1 tbsp mustard seed
1 tbsp liquid smoke
1 pound browned ground beef
1 pound noodles

Mix first thirteen ingredients for sauce and warm in a large sauce pan. Add the browned beef let it simmer while the noodles are boiling. Serve over noodles.

Or do as I often do…put the sauce in the crock pot all day about an hour before serving add the ground beef. And when hubby calls to say he is coming home, boil the noodles and mix it all together.








Today, we ran to the store to get some medicine for K’s ears. She is working on her two year molars and is having a great deal of pain and last night we ran out of medicine for her. We’ve discovered that over the counter ear meds gives her a great deal of relief so after running it past the doctor it is our number one line of defense for her. After the store stop, we went to one of our favorite walking trails along Coon Creek off Egret. It was a fun walk until K decided stand up in her stroller while I wasn’t paying attention. I was trying to help C get something out of her sock and K knocked the stroller over. I know, I know, I should buckle her in...I just hate to cause she resents it and yells and then my ears resent it and I yell back.



Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. Abraham Lincoln

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