I Dare You To Eat It

In preparation for the September 25th, 2010 General Relief Society Broadcast, ALL the women in my stake have been invited to participate in an effort focused on nourishing, sharing, and preparing. During the next four weeks, we’ve been asked to organize ourselves, and our time, to accomplish a goal with the potential to bless families, and even communities. Knowing how to bake bread truly is a life sustaining skill, and we’re ALL about that!

Sign up posters have been given to every Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary in the stake. There are lines for women to sign up and note their contact if they are willing to teach OR willing to learn. Then it’s up to us to take the INITIATIVE. We’ve also been invited to contribute brief “nourishing moments” from our bread baking adventures during the Sunday opening exercises within Primary, Young Women, and Relief Society.

Last week, I was able to take the initiative during a little birthday celebration lunch for two of my visiting teaching sisters. Right before we left the restaurant, I quickly explained the details of the Big Bad Bread Initiative and offered to come to their homes, during the next month, to teach them, their daughters, and/or DIL how to bake bread. Turns out this crew wants to learn how to make the simple hubcaps using the NO-KNEAD BREAD recipe.

Also last week, I received a phone call from our new Primary President. Chris totally understands the principal of leading by example and wanted to…get herself LEARNED…ASAP. I decided to invite another sister from our ward to share in the fun and we had a speed lesson in the art of baking six loaves of whole wheat bread using my Seven Minute recipe. Too bad we had to start after 8:00 at night. Hey, we’re all busy and we do what we can. I sent them home with loaves ready to rise and bake so it didn’t feel like a hostage situation. Chris said that the hot bread tasted great at 10:00 p.m.

Today, Sunday, I was able to offer to help a couple more sisters plus  pressure my daughter, Lizzie, into experimenting with the no knead recipe. She’s a Relief Society sister in training and it really is true that even a child can successful make bread using this simple method.

Already, I love this activity! With the potential to accomplish what sister Julie Beck called, “…a valuable contribution to the Lord’s storehouse of time and talents,” our Stake is focused on building unity and sharing skills. I love that there are 30 days to accomplish the goal. The limitless flexibility means that both the teaching and learning can be tailored to suit individual schedules, or lack there of.

Lizzie just pulled herself out of a three hour Sunday nap to say with total exasperation, “Ahhh! Let’s get it done. I hate this stupid thing.”   

Quick. Someone call the New Era.

Notice the lead article in this issue? These people are trying to steal MYYYYYY ideas! (totally sarcastic but I AM jumping on the couch)

Page 166 reads, “With these 30 fast and fresh family meals, your only decision all month has to be: beef, pork, chicken, fish or pasta.”

While it’s not exactly my ;) system, because I don’t choose to focus on meat, I love that people at Woman’s Day have broken down 30 menus, a whole month’s worth of dinners, into 5 categories, each with 6 recipes. That’s what I’m talkin’ about!!! That’s what I teach in every presentation!!! That’s what I explain in my book!!! The only difference is that the 5 categories I suggest are based on 5 basic staples that can be stored for 30 years or longer! Meat can be added anywhere!

Yes, I’m really still this excited about it and it’s BECAUSE the system of designing 30 meals has made my life sooooo much better!

Knowing what to cook for dinner is a PAIN. At least it is to me. And knowing how to USE food storage, instead of just buying it, storing it, and eventually tossing it, is even a BIGGER PAIN. Please believe me when I tell you that a plan for “30 Fast & Fresh Dinners” is absolutely the secret to success! And it DOESN’T have to be about an emergency or some pending doom. And you don’t have to plan all 30 meals today.

Just try to think of one meal that uses wheat. This might be a tiny bit difficult so get it out of the way first. Lots of ideas of cooking with wheat berries are easy to find on line. I’ve got recipes you could consider posted in the recipe section of this web site. You can do it. Next, think of one meal that your family enjoys with rice. Easy. Now, think of one meal that uses beans. That’s easy too. Doesn’t everyone love Mexican food and Mexican food is only the tip of the bean iceberg. Pasta can be next. We all know simple ways to prepare pasta. So how do you like your pasta? That’s your first meal in the pasta category. Then it’s time to think about potatoes. Nothing could be more American. Happy 4th of July. Sorry I’m late. Think about things you serve your family with potatoes and then consider possibly switching to instant potatoes, even occasionally. That way you won’t be wasting the money you’ve invested in the long-term supply of these basic staples. Now you’re done! Well you’re done with the first round and look how easy it way! The next five groups of five recipes will even be easier to plan because you’ve been practicing!

I PROMISE that there are huge advantages to planning your meals in advance. Once you get organized, and buy all the dry, canned or bottled ingredients in groups of three, you’ll have a fully stocked pantry, a totally reasonable three-month supply, that will serve the specific preferences of your individual family AAAAAAAAND free you from the constant redesign and drudgery of planning and preparing your family’s meals!

Just start with ONE RECIPE and keep going until you have reached the goal of 30.

Anyone can do this.

I’m going to go lie down now. Amazing that all this gets me so excited. Probably need to be tested.

Well folks, she’s off and running! 

This Sister Card has completed week number one in 18 months of missionary service for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We’ve received one letter and one email and can already tell that she’s happy, learning, and growing in new ways. Evidently, the Mission Training Center experience has her ”whelmed but not overwhelmed”. And I was RIGHT about the no time to get ready in the mornings and how much she’d love the bottomless chocolate milk. Told ya!

Sometimes I actually feel a little embarrassed that I’m not in shambles with two daughters currently serving missions. I of course miss them both every day, but there honestly isn’t anything I would rather have them doing. Missions aren’t right for every Mormon young woman but when it fits it’s a completely remarkable experiences! In my mind, this (and marriage and family) is what all the years of hard work and family nights were for. We were trying to get them ready to do BIG things. I’m thrilled that two of our girls have been in a position to accept callings to serve the Lord through sharing His restored gospel in Missouri and Arizona.

And for the record, people are not joining The Church, the world over, solely or even primarily based on the individual testimonies of 19 year old boys and 21 year old women. I mean…really? These kids are great but they’re not that great. People choose to be baptized because they read The Book of Mormon and feel the power of the Holy Ghost testifying of its truthfulness in their hearts. The missionaries’ job is to share that opportunity.

Or maybe, “CRACK POT CROWD PLEASER.” I don’t know…I’m still in my jammies, from yesterday, and it’s already tomorrow.

Yesterday was our big family dinner honoring Rosemary before she leaves on her mission and celebrating her 21st birthday. We had the shindig at a local park and it only took 5 crock pots to feed the crowd.

Here’s what we served to sixty: 1-Toasted tortillas, in crock pot #1, keeping them hot off the electric grill. 2-Cilantro Lime Rice 3. Black Beans 4. Durango Corn 5. Sweet Pork

Then there were the usual toppings and sides like chips, pico de gallo, fresh guacamole, grated cheese, chopped lettuce, creamy cilantro dressing, watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberries, and lots and lots of desserts. Big big thank yous to everyone that helped!

Lucky for us, the pavilion had lots of electrical outlets, centrally located. Unlucky for us, the benches hadn’t been cleaned in 100 years. Nothing say’s Haaaappy 21st!!! Today is your special day!!! like having your mom roust you out, bright and early, so that you can help her SCRUB picnic table benches. So thoughtful. My friend, Jeanette, suggested that THAT would make an excellent service project for the Scouts. I want to personally suggest it to everyone. Rosie and I would have LOVED to have enjoyed the nervous energy of a few scouts helping us with the scrub brush action. Maybe she’ll get to sleep in next year. Probably not.

But the weather was great and the food was fine. When Mike was welcoming all the guests he made a joke about how I had been preparing the food for the past year. I was laughing but it sort of felt like that. With everything washed and put away, and having done it once, I can see that I only needed half as much food as what I had originally thought. The cooking/bottling/freezing-ahead-of-time warm-and-serve-in-multiple-crock-pots method worked like a dream! I didn’t have to rent one thing. I simply borrowed a few extra crock pots and the food stayed perfectly hot and ready for hours. No babysitting required.

I’m so glad that we had beautiful weather. (Our whole family was in Southern California last week but I guess some of our mountains had snow, again. That’s Utah.) I’m also glad that we hosted this “open house” on a Thursday night. Plenty of people were able to attend and share in the big family meal before Rosie leaves for her 18 months of service for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mesa, Arizona. With the party behind us, now the biggest thing on my plate is helping her be ready to speak in sacrament meeting this Sunday. It’s a great feeling. And tomorrow (today) I’m going to shower and get dressed.

Provident living really works, especially when there’s lots of work.

18 years of serving in the Young Women’s organization, twice as ward president, helping all four of my older girls achieve their goals, and I never HAD TIME to complete my own Personal Progress. D*U*M*B, D*U*M*B, DUMB DUMB DUMB! (Card family cheer)

But I’m working on it now, with my 13 year old, and it’s a great experience. My 10 hour project for Knowledge has been to learn how to pressure can meat.  

!!!

Last Saturday I bought about 30 pounds of boneless pork spare ribs, from Costco. (Side note: DO NOT GO TO COSTCO THE SATURDAY BEFORE MOTHER’S DAY. EVER.)

My plan is to have all the lovely bottles of precooked pork ready and waiting on the shelf when it’s time to serve my version of Cafe Rio sweet pork to the masses.

I also bought seven roasted chickens because they seemed to be even cheaper than than the fresh whole chickens, and needed much less cooking.

(So many things to do with canned chicken.)

The next step was to boil the pork. This took about an hour and a half because there was a ton meat.

I also decided to speed boil the roasted chickens. A dip in the bubbly made the meat fall off the bones, plus I needed the chicken broth. My dear friend, Linda taught me that it’s a super good idea to purchase a fresh pair of rubber gloves so that I could handle all this meat while it was still steaming hot. Linda also suggested that the meat be prepared ahead of time so that it could chill in the fridge, at least overnight, making it much easier to skim off the extra fat from the broth.

On Monday I went to Linda’s house for the actual processing. She’s such a great mentor and always a riot. After quickly reheating the meat and broth we added 1 teaspoon of salt to each jar and packed the meat into the bottles. Linda was amazed, even shocked, at how well I could pack in the food. Years of practise.

Then we slid a…skinny…spatula thing down the sides of each bottle setting free hidden air bubbles, topped it off with hot broth, added the lids, screwed on the rims, and loaded the pressure canner. Each batch of 7 quarts took about 90 minutes to process.

So now I finally know how to do what I’ve always considered to be an awesome trick! And believe me, I’m going to feel pretty dang tricky about 6 weeks from now when I’m hosting 50 friends and family for dinner prior to Rosie leaving on her mission to Arizona. It’s GREAT to know that all that shredded pork (oh my) for the Cafe Rio salads is ready to go and only needs to be heated with salsa and brown sugar added. I love having it preserved in bottles because the meat is not taking up all the space in my freezer. It means I still have room to store the 35 cups of black beans, and piles of cilantro rice, and whatever else I need to buy.

Work is work. But for me, and my crazy schedule, it just works better to do as much as I can ahead of time. Hey, can anyone direct me to some great instructions on pressure canning dried beans? With pictures? Please?

 Thanks friends!

With endless thanks to the hundreds of women and girls that helped with this service project, the Stake Relief Society President and I delivered 200 chemo caps and about 150 skinny scarves to the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

And yes, they do want more of these so please email me your full name and address if you would like to be mailed a copy of the beanie pattern with sewing instructions. I’m sure there are hospitals in your area that would appreciate being able to offer their cancer patients a hip alternative to the traditional turban.

We also completed about 150 original skinny scarves to tie around the caps.

If you need a fun Achievement Day activity, or YW’s Personal Progress goal, or Additional Meeting in Relief Society, I highly suggest making these. They’re a great way to teach the most basic sewing skills and celebrate creativity. Eye candy for sure. Here’s just a sample to wet your whistle.

Each one was a work of art, made with loving hearts and hands. We believe that love has the power to heal.

Happy Easter dear sisters!

If you want to use the pattern, please visit the pattern post.

You know, my amazing mother passed away just one year ago, yesterday. Yesterday had some quiet moments for me. 

I would love to be able to share so much of her remarkable life and example but I don’t think I can. It still feels…too big, and I’m still too small. But I do want to share something specific about the end of her life, and this has lots to do with provident living.

At the end of my mother’s life, she suffered greatly from Alzheimer’s and the additional complications of a stroke. To say the least, it was not a good time for her. As a family, and like many many people today, we, her six adult children were faced with the challenge of how to best care for an elderly parent, who literally gave everything for us.

I remember the day when I thought, “I want her to have the very best.” Then I realized, “Wait a second,” as far as my mother’s concerned, I was “the very best.” Not because I have any special training or nursing skills, but simply because I was her daughter, and I loved her with all my heart, I felt like I could give her the kind of care that she would want.

And this is how we, meaning all my siblings, and their spouses, and the grandchildren, made it happen.  We worked together. My three sisters and I each created a ’set up’ for our mother in our own home. In some homes it was a private room, and in my tiny home it was only an area in my office, but we made sure that she was comfortable and safe. We even organized all her clothing so that we each had a supply that could remain in our homes.

Then we organized our schedules. No one had enough time to do this, but we chose to do it anyway. We divised a calendar where my mother could stay in each of her daughters’ homes on a rotating basis. It was a huge blessing that she was happy with the frequent ‘visits’. The changes in her address didn’t upset her. She was always surrounded by the people she loved.

My two brothers helped in ways that made sense for them. One brother, managed all the financial and legal details of my parents’ needs. That was a huge help to us. My sisters and I didn’t have to worry about the ‘back of the house’ while we were carefully managing the ‘front of the house’. Another brother, who lives out of state, did everything he could to carry an extra load in the care that my father required, while living in an assisted living facility, during these difficult years. He made extra trips and looked for practical ways to send his support long distance. He did things to support his sisters so that we had more to give to our mother.

It was a team effort, and that’s what made it successful. Provident living is about team efforts and doing more at home. We were able to care for our dear mother, on our terms and on our own turf, with only minimal professional support, for the last few years of her life.  I know absolutely that we were blessed and strengthened in this whole family effort. We couldn’t have done it on our own.

And here’s a short list of those blessings.

We never worried about our mother’s care or safety. We enjoyed being with her until the end of her life here on earth. Our children learned that there is no shame in growing old and needing help. We all learned new skills. We learned that elderly people matter and that our busy lives are not more important than theirs. We learned how to slow down and be more patient. We learned to work together and not compare what we could give to what someone else could give. We learned to appreciate the unique help from each sibling. We learned to listen when someone was at the end of their rope. We learned to laugh at little things. We learned to find new ways to help our mother feel happy.

In the end, caring for my mother, in my own home, was one of the greatest experiences of my life. She was a great person. And we will be eternally fortunate to have known her.

Over the past year, friends have asked me to share some less expensive design tips. We’re in the middle of doing some remodeling in our own home, so I thought I would begin by sharing this little drapery trick, quickly, before I give the valances to my contractor. The design concept behind the look is fairly sweet and grandmotherly. Both my mother and grandmother lived in this neighborhood so when we bought the house I was thinking of them. While the combination of traditional fabrics with lace speaks Tudor cottage, the overall treatment could easily be reinterpreted as transitional or contemporary by simply using exaggerated graphic prints or bold solids. (Wow. I sound like an idiot.)

The first step was to buy stock shelving and wrap it with fabric. Most home stores will cut lumber to specific lengths without an extra charge, and I think I only used about three yards of clearance fabric for wrapping those five boards.

I used masking tape and then a staple gun to secure the material on the back side. Placing the valance board right above the window casing gave at least another 12″ to the visual height of my windows. 

It also gave added support which was needed as we drilled one screw each into the original lathe and plaster walls. (Don’t get me started.)

Completely avoiding the cost of expensive hardware was another easy way to save money on this deal.

The unconstructed swag sections from a discontinued Scalamandre cabbage rose print were only self-lined, approximately double length cuts, which I bundled in the center and on both ends. This is one of those steps where you mess with it, and mess with it, and mess with it, until it looks like it JUST HAPPENED!

It’s fitting that I took this picture on the floor…because that’s exactly where I made them. I didn’t know how long they should be so I folded my fabric in half lengthwise, twice, knowing I could produce two lined scarves from each width, and experimented with gathers and swags until I found the drape I was trying to achieve. Then I measured it, cut multiples, and with one seam, sewed the long strips into tubes. The actual construction part of the process only took about 30 minutes and then I carefully hand stitched the ends closed and sewed little ties for the top edge.  The fabric bundles secured by another band of fabric tied in a square knot made a nice little Fleur-de-Li’s finish. Oh, and under the knots, keeping the fabric perfectly bundled (phfft), I originally used rubber bands. But after about six months I learned that rubber bands petrify and fall apart so I had to switch them out for the plastic covered wire twist-ties from my box of trash bags. Nice. 

Next, I added three tiny cup hooks to the valance boards (you can just barely see it shining at the very top of the middle corner) and attached the knots by hooking them under the twist-ties.

I’ve had my drapery people produce this same look with nice results for a few clients, in a couple of states. Besides topping the windows in kitchen dining and family rooms, this treatment has worked well to decorate over a slider or pair of French doors, as long as the swags don’t hang down too low.

For us, this window treatment is now officially a happy memory. I hope it gave you some new ideas!

When I was a teenager, I thought that the notion of disguising your food storage as furniture was totally nuts. Now it seems totally normal. Not sure what that says about me. Don’t really care.

But I was thinking that it might be fun, and only slightly useful, to share the wacky ways we, meaning you and I, have ‘used’ our food storage. I’ll go first. This story is titled: THE BIG ONE THAT GOT AWAY

Last summer I did the design work on a 3,300 square foot basement playroom. Yup! One of the very first ideas I pitched to the client was to use her food storage cases, spread out in an area about 21′ x 17′, as the support structure for a STAGE. (Warning: Even in my interior design business I try to encourage investing in food storage. This client doesn’t happen to currently use her food storage, as in cook with it, but she has it, and that’s the first step.) Catching my design vision/version of “if you build it they will come”, she agreed to the idea of the stage but opted to have a contractor build the structure, sans case. BUT IT WOULD HAVE WORKED! I’m sure of it.

Next, and not nearly as grand, I’ve helped two of my daughters use their food storage hand-me-down cans and cases of wheat, as the supports for their new upholstered headboards. (Originally from Thomasville for $935.00, I salvaged the headboards for only $50.00 each. More on that later. See, this post is also about me trying to dip my big toe into the requests for sharing provident living interior design tips. Aaarg!) At first the girls thought they would have to pay someone to build the connection-contraption but I suggested that they first experiment with using their extra food storage. Worked like a charm!

 Anywho! That’s what we did and we’re not ashamed. Now tell us your story.

And here we have the lovely bride! (Duston Todd Photography)

Her wedding dress was from J.Crew for only $395.00. (Obviously not the dress we originally planned to have sewn, but still a good deal.) Samantha added a lace top underneath to help the dress be a bit more modest. That’s the way we roll. I can’t post a picture of the lace top because it appears to have sold out. Anyway, you get the idea. It’s this dress, with a little custom detailing layered underneith for coverage, and yes warmth. Brrrrrrr January weddings.