good morning my friends. today holds such promise for us all. I look forward to seeing what God has in store for us today. it's quite cool right now, but it will warm up pretty quickly. one of my plans for the day is to see what my tater experiment has done. the greens have just about died back, so while it's still pretty warm, I'll see if there are any little taters. they will actually be little gifts, if there are any. it was just an experiment, so I'll not be disappointed even if there are none. I'll be sure and take pictures if I get anything and share with y'all. what are some of the plans that y'all have going on for today? whatever we all do, I hope and pray that we can keep God in the midst of our day.
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this is a funny story that I wanted share with y'all. it happened back on Jan 17, 2023. I found it and thought I would bless y'all with it. hahahaha
"My Egg, My story"
the day started out as any usual day. we got up, had breakfast and we done a little bit of this and little bit of that and a whole lot of "diddly squats", which we are known for. hahaha I started thinking about what we was gonna have for lunch. I already had plans to make a batch of chili and then after that, a batch of beans. (it is right now, as I type, 3:27pm cst and the timer on my electric pressure cooker off, so the beans are done. yay!!!) so my plans for the chili and beans went well.
back to My Egg, My Story. once I got all the ingredients in my electric pressure cooker for the chili I was making, I started getting the ingredients together for my cornbread. I have a wedge pan that makes 8 wedges, we love those because there is lots of crunchy crispy sides to the cornbread. I got the cornmeal mix, my egg, some oil and some milk and started mixing it all together. instantly, I smelled something that's not a usual smell for cornbread. what did I smell? well, if you was asking yourself that, let me tell you. the milk I used was chia seed milk. perfectly wonderful in it's own right. it's delicious!! if you haven't tried it, I would suggest you try it, it's quite yummy. BUT...........this particular one was NOT something you want in your cornbread. again, you may be asking "why?". well, this particular chia seed milk was unsweetened, VANILLA flavored!!!! yes, you read that right, VANILLA flavored. yes, I said it. yes, I did it!!! well, as I stirred the cornbread mix, I literally walked to the trash can and was going to pour it in the garbage. BUT...........I paid WAY too dang much money for that EGG!!!!!!!
sooooo, how do I go about saving that expensive EGG? well, I knew it was gonna take a lot of disguise to hide that VANILLA smell wafting up from the cornbread batter. off I go to the fridge and pull out the last little bit of an onion and I minced that up. it was not enough to cover the VANILLA!! what else do I have? I know, I have some garlic, in goes a big spoon of diced garlic. nope, not enough to cover the VANILLA!! what else do I have? I know, I have some beef base from the Amish store and if I use enough of that it will hide anything. BINGO!!!!! I saved my expensive EGG!!!! I got all that mixed together and quickly divied out between the 8 wedges in my cornbread pan and I popped it in the oven. when it started cooking, what did I smell? not onion, not garlic, not beef base. I smelled VANILLA!!!!!! you betcha I did!!!!
well, I laughed a little and I cried a little, but I'm telling you, I did not throw that expensive EGG away!!! my cornbread finished cooking while the aroma of VANILLA, onion, garlic and beef base wafted thru the house. my sweet husband didn't even know about this escapade that I was having. he never said a thing about smelling VANILLA. I really don't think his smeller is as good as mine, because it was heavy in the air. anyone out town could probably have smelled VANILLA. if you did and you enjoyed it, you're welcome. hahaha
ok, now it's lunch time and the chili was done, so was the VANILLA, oniony, garlicky, beef base cornbread in all it's glory and aroma. it was done, ready to be sampled. I fixed our bowls of chili and cornbread. blessing it was an understatement, I silently asked God for it to be much more pleasing to the taste than it was to the smell. hahaha well, my sweet hubby took a bite of the chili and he said it was outstanding. I was waiting with baited breath (VANILLA, onion, garlic and beef base baited breath, to be exact) for him to mention the cornbread. I kept glancing with a side eyed glance to see if he had tasted the cornbread yet. finally he did!!!! oh yes he did!!!! I glanced at him again with my non-obvious side eyed glance and there was actually a pleasant look on his face!!! there was!!! God had heard my prayer. (I really believe He had smelled the cornbread and decided He really needed to bless that bread) finally, my sweet husband asked, "what did you do to the bread?" uh oh!!!!! I side eyed glanced again and asked, "WHY?" oh my goodness, bless his heart!!! this is one of the reasons I love him so much!!! truly it is!!!! he said, "this has got to be some of the BEST cornbread you have ever made!!!!" 43 plus years and I have, just by accident made VANILLA, onion, garlic, beef base cornbread that happens to be some of the BEST cornbread I've ever made, I almost choked on my chili!!!!! I said, "really, you think so?!!!" he said YES!!!!!!
so, I had to tell him about , "My Egg, My Egg Story". so I guess the tears that I had shed was worth it after all. I was bound and determined to save my expensive EGG!!! it was a success. between the 2 of us, we gave it 4 thumbs up. that cornbread, in all honesty was really good!!! it was so good in fact, after we both got thru laughing about my escapade with trying to save my expensive EGG, hubby tells me I need to get my recipe patented before anyone else jumps on it and steals it right out from under me. well, I'm thrilled that he loved it, truly he did. but...............I won't be making it again any time soon, unless I make it by mistake, like I did this time. but I will do just about anything, as long as it's legal and moral, to save my very expensive EGG!!!!
I had shared this with my friend in real time while it was happening. we both was laughing and couldn't believe I had actually done it. and when we was eating I told her how good they actually turned out to be. she told me that her husband wants her to make him some of my patented cornbread with VANILLA, onion, garlic and beef base. hahaha that made my day!!!
with a well stocked kitchen, you can mask just about any odor or flavor. but most of all, with a well stocked kitchen, you will quickly learn how to salavge a very expensive EGG!!!!
in the famous words of Paul Harvey, "now you know the rest of the story!" this is my true story of one very expensive EGG that almost met it's demise in the trash can. hahaha written on this day 1-17-2023, by rosetresures, aka pjg
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let's do 2 minutes in the kitchen with me today, or more. hahaha I make what I call cornbread swirls. we love them with certain soups. they are really wonderful. they are easily made in my bread machine, so that's a win all day long. I thought I would share my recipe with y'all.
recipe for the cornbread swirls:
this is a bread machine recipe. for those of you who know how to make yeast bread, just do what you know and knead it and let it rest and knead it and let it rest over and over for about 30 minutes.
for bread machine set on "dough":
1/2 cup luke warm milk
1 egg
1 box of jiffy corn muffin mix (recipe below to make this mix)
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour, possibly more
1 1/2 tsp yeast
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the next 2 ingredients don't go in the bread machine.
1 tbls melted butter
1/4 cup cornmeal-optional
put first 5 ingredients in bread machine in order as listed. run dough cycle on machine. (it will knead the dough and rest many times during the 1.5 hours of time. I don't keep it in there that long. I take it out after about 35 minutes.) remove dough and roll to about 15 x 8 inch triangle. once you get it rolled out flat and thin, turn the long side towards you and roll the rectangle into a log. shape it pretty good and then slice it in about 1 inch slices and reshape as you put on parchment lined baking sheet. brush with melted butter and sprinkle extra cornmeal on. let rise for at least 30 minutes. preheat oven to 375* during the last few minutes of rise time. bake for 12-15 minutes. enjoy!!
while the jiffy corn muffin mix is relatively inexpensive, you can make even that mix yourself for actually pennies.
muffin mix:
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal, yellow if you prefer
1/3 cup of sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 T oil
mix in first 5 ingredients well. wisk in oil till smooth and no clumps. use this as you would the cornmeal muffin mix in a box.
the good thing about this mix is that you can pronounce everything in it. it's a bit healthier than the stuff you can't pronounce.
to make muffins: add 1 egg and 1/3 cup milk.
to make cornbread swirls: use just the mix just like it was a jiffy mix and then add all the ingredients from the cornbread swirls recipe.
the muffin mix can be made in big batches. just don't add the oil. if it isn't used in a timely fashion, the oil can go rancid. so, when you use it from a big batch, for every 8 oz of muffin mix, add 2 T of oil and wisk it till is blended well and no clumps. then proceed with the cornbread swirls or regular muffins.
don't these look so good. they really are. I'm so happy that we can now have cornbread swirls any time we want them. hope y'all will give these a try. I know you'll love them too.
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this was from 2022, and sometime this year I added the 2023 prices to it. it's kinda interesting. and some of the prices may have gone up a bit since I done the 2023 pricing, but it's still much cheaper than eating fast food every day.
some people were talking about groceries being more expensive than take out these days. lets look at the facts and I'll round up on the cost of everything instead of rounding down. and this isn't even taking into account that most of these items frequently go on sale. and yes, you can get any of these items and pay more for them, depending where you shop. we shop where we can the best deals. we are not store loyal or brand loyal. we are loyal to our wallet and we look for the best prices.
*****2022 prices*****
1 dozen eggs - 1.50 - generic
1 can of biscuits(8)- 1.25- 2 cans- 2.50 - generic
1 box of sausage links(10)-1.25 3 boxes-3.75 - generic
1 pkg pepperjack cheese(12 slices)- 1.00 - generic
grand total: $ 8.75 and taxes may be a few pennies higher or lower, if not on sale. divided by 8 is approximately 1.09 and taxes. and for just a bit more perspective on the prices, this is actually for 16 meals or 8 days worth for 2 adults.
*****2023 prices*****
1 doz eggs - 4.89 - generic
1 can of biscuits - 1.59 - 2 cans 3.18 - generic
1 box of 10 sausage links - 1.49 - 3 boxes - 4.47 - generic
1 pkg cheese singles - 1.25 - generic
(notice I don't support name brand products either, just a lot of hype and expense, but that's just me)
grand total 13.79 and taxes may be a few pennies higher or lower if not on sale. divided by 8 is approximately 1.72 and taxes. again, for just a bit more perspective on the prices, this is actually for 16 meals or 8 days worth for 2 adults.
while the prices have gone up in the grocery store, the prices have also gone up on fast food. watch for sales and use coupons. it's still cheaper to cook at home than it is to eat fast food every day of the week. it all just depends on what your goal is.
breakfast for 2:
biscuits- there are a total of 16 biscuits, that means 2 people can have breakfast for 8 days
how this works:
bake a can of biscuits, split 2 biscuits open and put the rest up for 3 more breakfasts.
break 1 egg in a cup and add 2 or 3 tablespoons of water and beat the egg. pour egg into small heated nonstick skillet. let egg cook. don't stir it, cook it like an omelet. when the egg is completely set, flip one half over on the other half and then split that and make 2 triangle pieces of egg.
pop 3 sausage links in microwave oven and heat those. when they come from the oven, split each link down the length of the sausage.
take a slice of cheese and cut it from corner to corner and make 2 triangles out of it. put a triangle of cheese on each biscuit bottom.
to build biscuit, put cheese triangle on bottom, put on 1 and a half sausage link pieces, next lay the egg triangle on top and then put the biscuit top on.
when the biscuits run out at the end of 8 days, there will still be 4 eggs, 4 slices of cheese, and 6 sausage links left, plenty to start on the next week.
now, tell me how much it would cost to eat breakfast for 2 people at any of the fast food places in town, for 8 mornings. it's convenient to eat fast food, but NO, it's not cheaper than groceries. it never has been and it never will be. you're looking at a weeks worth of groceries or more for 2 people to have convenience. convenience is nice, but it's a not a necessity. it just supports anyone not wanting to cook even a simple breakfast.
this is our breakfast most mornings and we are 2 healthy adults that love to eat good food as much as anyone and we don't get hungry eating this before the next meal time. I don't know how much easier a breakfast could be than to fix a breakfast like this. while we do support eating out, don't tell me that fast food is cheaper than groceries. most people that can cook and run the numbers will call that out and say, "not so".
and most of the rest of the meals that people eat out can be done the same exact way. run the numbers and go grocery shopping and check prices and know what good prices are these days. again, we support eating out, but it is a convenience and not a necessity under most normal circumstances. just fess up to not wanting to cook. but don't try to convenience anyone that fast food is cheaper than groceries.
if you don't want to cook, that's fine by me. but don't be telling anyone that fast food is cheaper than groceries, that's a big fat lazy lie. even in todays prices, that's not so. and the cost of eggs have come down considerably. where there's a will, there's a way. lazy people don't have a will, so they make the way, with fast food. and I'll say it again, I'm not bound to any one store or any one brand. our bank account is what matters most to us. this is just my opinion and that's the opinion that counts at the end of the day. we each make our own decisions based on what matters most to us at the end of the day. just don't try to force anyone to believe that fast food is cheaper than home cooked, it isn't.
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let's do another "2 minutes in the kitchen with me". so, I just wanted to share an experiment with y'all. my husband had mentioned "banana pudding". well, I got to thinking about that. I knew I didn't have any bananas, or did I? no fresh bananas, but I did have some dehydrated bananas. challenge on. how do you make a banana pudding with dehydrated bananas? I set out to find out how to do it my way. I had a box of mini vanilla wafers, 4 vanilla pudding cups and a box of cool whip. I got my jar of dehydrated bananas and got about 25 or 30 slices of dehydrated bananas and broke them up in bowl and poured boiling water over them and let them set for a while, then added a little more water. I wanted them to have a little extra liquid so they would thin the pudding down some. I popped them in the fridge to cool them down.
I then mixed the pudding cups with rehydrated bananas and then added some cool whip, next I added in the vanilla wafers. got it all mixed up and put it in the bowl, put the rest of the cool whip on top and crumbled a few of the vanilla wafers on top.
let me just say this. No, it's not a banana pudding made from scratch, but it is VERY good. no more of the banana slices than I used, it is very banana tasting. it's good and it won't be the last time I make this. I see more dehydrated bananas in the near future. I'm always thinking about ways to use my dehydrated goodies. sometimes we have to think outside the box. this time I was thinking about what was in my jar, my banana jar.
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