It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!

Since early this morning, we've had a gentle rain! Don't know how much, but it's been warm enough for the last few days that it's just soaking in. After last year's drought, this creates a lot of hope. If we don't get enough rain or snow this winter, the ground water reserves will be  so depleted that even a light drought will be devastating.

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Potato, Ham and Broccoli Soup

Another by guess and by golly recipe :)

To begin with, put a meaty ham bone, several chunked potatoes and a large chopped onion in a dutch oven. Then cover half way with water and season with salt and pepper. 

Bring to a boil, cover and let simmer for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally.

When the ham is falling off the bone, remove it. Take off any meat that is still clinging to it. If the meat chunks are bigger than you like cut them up a bit before returning it to the pan.

Then you will need some frozen broccoli, 2 cups of milk and several slices of processed cheese spread. You can use other types of cheese if you want, but processed cheese tends to melt best.

Chop the broccoli into bite sized pieces if  needed and add it to the pan. If you are using fresh broccoli it is best to add it about an hour before it is done simmering. Bring it back to a boil and let simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes. If there is to much water, keep simmering until the water looks like this.

Recipe Collection

I've been going through this blog and copying the recipes I've posted here so they will all be in one place. Hop on over to http://gramasuesrecipes.blogspot.com/ and check them out. Some of the things you might have missed are oven canning, how to make applesauce and how I make tea. Be sure to subscribe by e-mail if you'd like to see more! I'm not done yet!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

To Live In a Barn

One of my dream houses is a barn style home with a gambrel style roof. A silo style staircase would be icing on top :) One of the first floor plans I posted was a home like this. Recently, I had a message from a woman who loved it. Her message was part of the reason I decided I needed to get back to posting on my floor plan blog. She was wondering about a smaller version. I've been working on that and I've posted one of the smaller versions I came up with. Hop on over to Grama Sue's Floor Plan Play Land  to check it out!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

How To Carve a Ham

Just in case any of you want to know! 

Don't feel bad if you've never understood this. I was well into my 40s before I caught on. In my birth family, the carving of meat was a manly job that my father always did, so I never paid any attention. (Of course, I rarely paid attention to anything my mother did either. But, that's my excuse this time :) In  Grampa Tom's family though, it was Mom's job, so he never paid any attention either. 

Put two people together who haven't a clue and give this responsibility to a woman who is spacially challenged (yes, I made up that term) and what you come up with is a mess when it comes to carving meat. I would stand the ham up on it's end, take a slice off the outside and then work in from there. I could never figure out how people got such pretty looking slices and I always wound up with at least a few slices of inedible fat. 

Then one day, I splurged and bought a spiral ham. The meat was pre-cut in slices that went from the outside straight down into the bone, but they didn't just come off. 

To be quite honest, this baffled me too, but Grampa Tom (who is not spacially challenged) saw me struggling and suggested that I cut around the bone.

And then cut the slices off by making a slice from the outside into the bone. It worked!!!

Now, I can actually do this with a ham that is not pre-sliced, but it doesn't look as pretty. I still have a great deal of trouble getting those slices from the outside of the ham down to the bone anywhere near even (remember, I'm spacially challenged). So, if I can find spiral hams on sale (I'm to cheap to by them regular priced.), I buy a couple just so I can have pretty looking ham. (Yes, I cheated with this one.) 

We won't use the hole ham in just a few days so after I get them sliced I pack what we won't use that day into in cheap zippy bags. I put  2 or 3 servings worth in a bag so that I can just pull what I need out of the freezer. We will use the entire ham within 5 - 6 weeks so there's not much chance of freezer burn, but just to make sure, I put all of them into a plastic grocery sack and tie it shut. 

So there you have it. One of the great mysteries of life that I did't figure out until I was over 40. Someday, I might have to write a book! I'm sure I have enough material :)

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

6 Days of Creation

God created man in His image. Did you know that every one of us is creative? I used to think I wasn't very creative because I couldn't draw or sing, but that is just plain wrong. The way I  read it, God spent 6 days creating and then spent the 7th reviewing all that He had made. . So, on Saturday's I post some of the things that I created the previous week.

Here goes:

Sunday - Grampa Tom and I were fussing. We don't do that as much as we used to. One of the things we've learned in the past 34 years is that when you get into a fight, you need to touch - and not the way your feelings tell you to touch :) - be nice, hold hands, hug, give a peck on the cheek. Some how doing that creates peace. I didn't create this alone. Grampa helped. 

Monday - The kids and I created bubbles! I know, bubbles ... inside ... in January? But it was fun!

Tuesday - I made toothpaste. In case you missed the post look here.

Wednesday - I just love it when you can see a light bulb go on in a little one's head. I was babysitting my 2 y/o grandson. He kept taking things away from the 3 y/o so I was correcting him. He'd get his feelings hurt and go crying, "Mommy, Mommy!" I finally started faking crying and screaming, "Mommy, Mommy!" He thought that was really weird and I said to him, "My mommy isn't here is she?  So, it's pretty silly for me to cry for mommy isn't it?" LIGHT BULB! He started listening to me a little more after that :)

Thursday - It was so cold!!! I needed to do something constructive with all the heat we were using so I decided to make brownies. I found a recipe that called for honey instead of sugar, but the dough seemed really dry for brownies. The kid liked them though. Anyone have some good recipes made with honey instead of sugar?

Friday - Still cold so I was still looking for ways to double duty the heat. Made an absolutely delish potato, ham and broccoli soup! Grampa Tom raved over it. I'll post about it next week. 

What have you created this week? 

Friday Favorites

On Friday's I like to give you a glimpse into who I am following. I've been following Stacy Makes Cents for quite some time. Don't really remember what I ran across on her blog that I found so interesting to begin with. But frankly, Stacy and her husband Barry (who chimes in now and then) fascinate me.

They live absolutely debt free! 

They've bought a house, cars and had babies without getting loans. This is one of our goals. We have lived on credit most of our lives, but a few of years ago we decided it was time to get out of the rat race. It is inspiring to learn from someone who is doing this successfully.

Take a look at what the banks have brainwashed all of us to believe is impossible:

http://www.stacymakescents.com

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue