We had Hen Day at my house on Wednesday. For me, it's been several weeks, since we were working crazy-like to get ready for vacation and gone for vacation. It felt like coming home. It's a little odd, with Toby here, but I hope nobody minded.
We made gumbo with some okra and squash and zucchini from the farmer's market. It was lovely. Then Lucy showed us how to make a menu planner for the whole month. It's little cards in a pocket binder sheet (for coin collecting). Each card is color-coded, like red for pasta, green for stir-fry, etc... Then on the back of each card, you write the ingredients needed for the meal. So in planning out your weekly grocery shopping, you look at the back of the cards and make your list. I have a picture of it above.
I know this is a valuable planning and organizational tool. I was very impressed, also, by how many meals Lucy and Rebecca have regularly and that have names. I realized we are TERRIBLE at planning meals. It's always sort of: "Well, it's time to eat, everyone's starving,what is there?" Hmmm, I know that means we NEED this project. I just have a hard time deciding how specific to be. You know, is it generic stir-fry once a week, varied by being served with noodles or rice, and by whatever we have on hand? Or do I list Onion-Carrot-Cabbage-Pepper stir fry?
I'm working on it. We do have one standard in our family: Friday is Pizza and Movie night. We make looooovely homemade pizzas on the pizza stone. I have fresh basil and tomatoes growing in the garden, so the sauce came from here. We have a lovely recipe from the Bread Bible for crust that's easy and quick. It also mixes up in large batches and makes lovely hole-y bread.
This is Toby's Great-Grandma McDonald. She packs heat. To the hospital, when she had open-heart surgery. I'm not kidding. She is an awesome lady.
Grandma and Grandpa Higginson. They have the most amazing green thumbs. You should see their garden. Maggie ate her body weight in tomatoes while we were there.
This is the view from where we camped three years ago with the whole McDonald family. The elevation is 9000 plus. We just drove up into the mountains above Heber. It gets so nice and cool the higher you go.
Liv and Hollis in the clearing where we used to camp. Liv is showing off her new "pirate" boots we got at the Deseret Industries. I know the church is true...because of their thrift store!
Here we all are. We're happy to be home and now trying to get back into routines. Hollis and Olivia already have two days of school under their belts.
