A New Year!

We are almost through a full month into the new year, and not one post from anyone.  Soooo... I figured I would put something down.  I finished all of the Mitford series - 7 books in total.  By the time I finished, the characters were close friends and I wanted to be part of their little community.  I have been trying to read some Jane Austin or Charles Dickens but so far no luck with that.  It just puts me to sleep.  So now I have been trying to get through the Book of Mormon again, only to really study it.  I am already behind on that.  Do I get points for trying?
We had decided to work on some emergency preparedness this year.  On February 21, our Relief Society is going to have mylar bags, packets and the sealer, if anyone wants to come and make food packs for your 72-hours kits.  My goal is to have them done by April, hopefully.  Here is the list of contents you will need for each packet.  The  packet is good for 2-5 years, depending on where you keep it and if it gets opened.

Ultimate 72-Hour Kit
3 packs of instant oatmeal
3packets of hot chocolate
2 granola bars
3 beef jerky sticks
4 apple cider packets
3 packs of Ramen
2 small cans of fruit (lunch sized fruit cocktail things)
9 pieces of small hard candy ( like a pack of Life Savers)
1 small pack of gum ( no peppermint flavor)
2 fruit snack type food ( this can be fruit roll-ups small boxes of raisins, fruit chew snacks...)
1 plastic spoon

If you plan to do multiple kits, you times the above amounts by the number of packs needed.
You will need to store a gallon of water per pack for cooking some of these items and another 2 liters per person per day in your completed 72 hour kit.

I would guess that if you can find an appropriate substitute for any items that you don't care for on this list, you could include it.  Remember this is just for emergency purposes, so you can't put a lot in your kit.  Also, I cannot stress that you do not put anything peppermint in your food pack.  It will permeate all of your food pack and it isn't very good.

If you want to go in together, let me know.  Give me a call if you have any questions.

The Recipe Stash (Mel)

I was looking for some recipes that I'll never make but sounded good and I found a few that sounded pretty good to me.

Crock Pot Chicken W/ Black Beans and Cream Cheese (I got this from www.food.com)

Ingredients:

Servings:

  4   4

4

Units: US | Metric

• 4 -5 boneless chicken breasts
• 1 (15 1/2 ounce) can black beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can corn
• 1 (15 ounce) jar salsa , any kind
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

Directions:

1. 1
   Take 4-5 frozen, yes, frozen, boneless chicken breasts put into crock pot.
2. 2
   Add 1 can of black beans, drained, 1 jar of salsa, 1 can of corn drained.
3. 3
   Keep in crock pot on high for about 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked.
4. 4
   Add 1 package of cream cheese (just throw it on top!) and let sit for about 1/2 hour.
5. 5
   All done and enjoy!

If you want more flavor use fresh made salsa! I think I'll eventually make this one and every now and then I'll post some more recipes. This website is pretty good. There is also a place called myrecipestash.com

Happy Thanksgiving (Mom)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Gregor, the Overlander (Mom)

So I have been devouring books lately.  I just read the Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins, the same author who wrote the Hunger Games series.  There are five books in the series. It was written for the younger reader, but some of the thoughts and actions are not that of  Gregor, an eleven year old boy.  I certainly pictured him older as a 17 or 18 year old.  Maybe I don't think that an eleven year old would be able to cope with such an adventure with giant rats, bats and spiders, be able to wield sword and daggers and fight like a grown person.  There was a lot of fighting and violence in this book, but nothing extremely graphic.  I liked the series, I liked the characters, I just thought the main character, Gregor, should be older is all.  The moral of the the story is that parents should listen to their children, no matter what they say.  You never know what you may encounter!

Vacation in Mitford (Mom)

So I've been away for a while.  Well, it seems like it because I just  read the next three books in the Mitford series.  Even though I should be some fall cleaning or canning, I choose to read.  What uplifting and great books they are.  Written by Jan Karon, they are based around the life of an Episcopalian priest.  If anyone recalls, I read the first book in the series a few months ago and really wanted to get my hands on the rest of the series.  No swearing, no sex, not one thing to make you uncomfortable or weird.  The characters in it are delightful and recognizable.  There are some very sad parts when some old friends pass away, but such is life right?  I highly recommend this series and I am anxious to finish it and read some more by this author.
      I also read all of the Hunger Games.  Great books! Easy reads and can't wait for the movie to come out in March of next year.

Mel's Book Review- Gap Creek

I think this may be the one and only book review I've done on here. Maybe not, I don't remember. SO I stayed up until 3 this morning reading a book called Gap Creek written by Robert Morgan. mind I didn't stay up late because I love the book so much that I had to finish it. I actually really didn't like it. It's on Oprah's reading list and once you start reading it, you can see why. It has that down south bad grammar. I know, I know, I'm an awful person. Anyways, it's about this young girl named Julie who has worked every day of her life on her family's farm and is the main person do take care of her family. She witnesses her baby brother's death in the middle of a winter night then not a few months later her father dies. All the work on the farm fell to her to responsible for. She meets Hank and they get married after a month or week or something of courtship. (You know, in the south, it's all the same thing.) They moved to this place called Gap Creek and the book after that is all really random. They move in with an older man because the rent they pay is Julie cooking and cleaning the house, which it turns out she's not really good at because she's always been working outside with her father. So she's a new bride, she lives in this nasty old house, with this nasty old man that she is supposed to make meals for. Then things start to just be sad and weird. While Hanks mother is visiting, Julie lights the kitchen on fire with pork lard and the old man they live with dies from burns when kerosene blows up in his face. They save the house but only just. Julie finds out she is pregnant. So yes, there is sex in it and it's AWKWARD. Just saying. While Hank is out working, a man swindles Julie into giving him all the money they have to stay in the house. He gets upset, gets all moody and things start to go down hill for Julie. All she begins to care about is the fact that she's pregnant and she needs to build a life for her and the baby. Hank is fired and they end up having to live in someone else's house they don't know how to reach the heirs of the old man's estate so when a couple comes saying they are his children ant they just want to take a few things and collect some money for rent, they believe them, just to find out they had been swindled again. Julie and Hank learn to live off meager meals and starvation. They join a church and become god fearing people. They find their purpose and make it through a frightening flood and a harsh winter. Julie has the baby in the spring early and almost dies from infection. PS the baby dies because she couldn't eat to nourish her. Anyways the REAL heirs find out the owner of the house is dead and want to collect back rent or they would be arrested. Because Hank had not been working and there was no on e who would hire him because not only did he get fired from his last job but he got fired because he's hot tempered and he hit his boss, so yeah they have no money so they end leaving the house before anyone can show up to collect anything and go back to their home town in North Carolina.On the last page you find out that Julie is pregnant again. So it's like a new fresh start for them. Meh.  Hank to me just is moody and childish, and Julie should be able to say what she wants but it is supposed to be set in the time after the Civil war, and that would be the status quo for then. Anyways, I just thought that I should review it. I read so I should share. Right? Read it if you want, if not, you're not missing out on anything. But that's what I did at 3 this morning. It was a free book. Can't complain, right?

Chicken Creme and Pepper and Tomato Chutney (Melanie)

Tonight we had an awesome dinner because I'm amazing!! Yeah I made dinner (yay).
So if you want a taste of what we had tonight you can make it because we don't have any left.:)
Stuff you'll need:
Chicken breasts                                tomato
cream cheese                                   yellow pepper
basil (fresh or dried)                         half white onion.
salt and pepper
italian bread crumbs

Fillet chicken breasts; pound flat. Fill with 2 teaspoons of cream cheese sprinkle with seasonings. Roll up chicken; containing filling.
Coat chicken in bread crumbs and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
While that's chilling make the "chutney" I don't know if it's really a type of chutney I just don't know how else to describe it. Chop up your tomato, your pepper and onion We cut up a crookneck squash and added that to it too but that's just because we needed to use it. Toss vegetables in olive oil, salt, pepper and basil. Chill for 30 minutes.
Bake the chicken at 375 for 35 minutes and saute the vegetables in a VERY HOT pan. and cook down in to a sauce. Serve it over the chicken and love it. We sure did.