Cooking 101 for your College Student . . . Beyond Raymen Noodles. . .

I sold Pampered Chef for a long time and love their products, one of my favorites was their mandolin slicer.  I have the old school model without the finger protection.  I tell you all of that to share that last night while Sprat was helping me fix dinner I sliced my thumb.  All the years I used that thing and never had any trouble with it and I did it while showing Sprat how to use it and how not to slice a finger.  LOL!!  Well, in a round about way, how not to slice a finger. 
We made the zucchini pasta again because, we have zucchini in abundance right now.  Sprat had fun learning how to saute onions and garlic and this time we added a pepper from the garden.  Sprat does not particularly care for zucchini but he enjoyed the cooking and so did I except for the slice and dice I pulled on my thumb. 
Sprat wants to learn to cook other things too, he may try his hand at my amazing homemade alfredo.  He is even going to go to the grocery store for me to pick up all of my ingredients.  I will share my recipe for my alfredo today so that you can try your hand at it too.

Alfredo

1 box angel hair pasta
4 tbs butter
3 cloves garlic pressed
2 cups heavy cream
fresh Parmesan 1 cup
fresh or dried chives to top
1-2 tbs flour
dash of white wine


Melt butter and saute garlic till is smells yummy, add your flour and make  rue, all on med low heat. add a dash of wine and then slowly and while stirring add your heavy cream.  Turn you heat up a little and grate your parmesan and add it to your cream mixture.  It should bubble and get thick, when it does that it is ready to serve over your angel hair pasta.  You can use any pasta you would like and you can add things like broccoli, chicken, shrimp, beef, really anything. 
I have never been a fan of fat noodles so I always use angel hair, it is a texture thing with me.  You can add fresh chives and parsley too when you serve. 
Hope you enjoy my recipes and my funny stories about my kiddos.   Stay tuned Sprat is wanting to learn to cook this Summer and this should be loads of funny posts.

Thank You. . .

Thank you, two words that are not used nearly enough in our society today.  Today I would like to thank the teachers that have had my kids.  I am thanking all of them, good and bad.  The good ones, and there have been more of those than bad, because they encouraged my kids to shoot for the stars.  They encouraged my kids at times when they were struggling and really needed a positive word from someone other than their mom and dad.  Mom and dad can only do so much in the encouraging department but when that encouragement comes from an outside source it really reinforces what mom and dad have said all along.  I also want to thank my teachers especially my favorite science teachers; Mrs Waters and Mrs. Proctor.  I know I would have never majored in biology if it were not for Mrs. Proctor.   She encouraged me and gave me confidence in my knowledge and abilities.
Ok, enough about me, both of the boys are struggling right now in different areas of their education.  I know that these struggles are shaping them but it is very hard to watch, knowing you cannot help with certain situations.
I am thankful for those bad teachers because they did teach my kids a valuable life lesson about how some people will try to keep you down and that they will face road blocks in life.  I am thankful but also disappointed in these adults that think that demeaning a child in front of their peers motivates them.   It makes me angry to find out that an "adult" (I use this term loosely) believes that they are motivating someone by putting them down and being ugly to them in front of their peers.  This is not motivation even though it has taught my son a valuable lesson.  It is teaching him what not to do as a teacher and what not to do if you want to motivate young people.  It is also teaching him that no matter how much you try to please someone, some people will never be happy with you because they are not happy with themselves.  In order to lead young people you must encourage them not bully and demean them.  In order to lead you must lift others up in front of you not push them down and behind you.
It is hard to be thankful for the bad things but those bad things make you appreciate when you find the good ones.  I am thankful for good and bad today.  I am praying for all of those facing these issues both adult and child.   Love, hugs, and prayers to you all this week.

Things My Mom Taught Me. . .

Our mothers are our first friends, so to speak, and they are our first teachers.  What did your mom teach you?  My mom taught me that you always share what you have with others.  I remember my mom sharing what ever we got out of our garden with all of our neighbors.  We usually end up taking ours to Church and passing out cucumbers and zucchini as people make their way to their cars.  I love our Church family.  My Mom also taught me about respect and that you respect your elders.  Mom also worked very hard in our Church and she taught me to do the same.  Mom was over our nursery for many, many years and spent her own money to buy juice and cookies for the kids every Sunday.   Mom did not just teach by words she taught us by doing.  I learned more by watching my Mom than I could have learned had I taken a home economic class in school.  My Mom lead us by example,  I can only hope that my kids learn as much from me as I have from my Mom.
One thing my Mom was notorious for was making sure anyone that visited her house had plenty to eat.  I will never forget my roommate in college and I meeting mom and dad at the State Fair and the first thing out of my mom's mouth was; "how are ya and have you eat?"  She always fixed a ton of food to take to the Fair.  She was always prepared to feed the multitudes.  We usually spent several days there showing and of course they would catch a football game too.   Mom always made sure you had plenty to eat if you were around her.  She wanted everyone to be comfortable too.
Mom always worked in the yard, she mowed her own grass and plowed her garden and worked her gardens.  When I was in high school she had two gardens, one at the house and one at the barn.  I know I got my love of gardening from her.  I am thankful that my hubby's family was similar to mine.  He got his love of gardening from his dad.  
There are two things that I did not get from my mom.  Mom is very strong and can handle anything thrown her way.  I am not nearly as strong as mom, I think all of her strength went to my sister.  I am also not nearly as good at whipping up a meal as mom.  I remember my dad always came home for lunch every day and occasionally he may call at the last minute and say; "hey, I am bringing Bill with me for lunch today."  Mom could whip up a five star meal in the drop of a hat and it would feed whomever dad brought home.  I do not have that talent.
I am so blessed to have been raised by such a strong mom that taught me so much and she may not even realize how much she has taught me.  I would not be the woman I am today if it were not for the example that was set by my Mom and my sister.  I am truly blessed to have these two beautiful women in my life.  This black and white picture is of my Mom before she and my Dad were married.  The other is of my sister and my Mom at one of Big T's football games.