The week in review Aug 20-28
August 30th 2011 16:27
Hey all,
Sorry it has been so long since I have written on my blog I will get back to it now. We had some growing pains and adjustments to make. We are hosting an exchange student and we had to integrate him into our; home, family, lifestyle, and get him enrolled in school etc…
Any way here is a summary of last week’s meals.
Saturday Aug 20, was a long and busy day with final preparations for the arrival of our exchange student. We ate on the fly thus not having the luxury of having a family meal – we met our student at the airport and brought him home around 930 Saturday night we had not had dinner yet and everyone was a little hungry. We had anticipated this and we had thawed a chicken so I did what I thought best, I dispatched the chicken into several small pieces, dredged them in seasoned flour and deep fried them to golden brown perfection and then just to make sure they were fully cooked they were placed into the pre heated oven for 15 minutes. All the cook and prep time were used to get to know our student. It was approximately 1115 that evening before we ate but guess what even thou it was just deep fried chicken with no sides we made it a family meal by taking time out finally from out unusually busy day to sit down as a family of 5 plus 1 and invited our intentions and thanksgiving for what we have and are blessed with and gave the first glimpse to our student of what our expectations were by having you got it our first Family Meal with our new family member.
Sunday Aug 21, today was a much calmer day (sort of anyway) we got up and woke our student up and had him attend church with us (we had a new priest to welcome) so after church we returned home and made breakfast/brunch – waffles and fried chicken from the night before – we had see this on TV many times on travel, food network and the food channel but never tried it I am amazed at how the flavors of each item work with the other who would have thought (well somebody did) genius idea everyone raved on how good they were together and when you have 5 males and 1 female that all agree that the meal works and is very good you know what you have? That’s right you have a great Family meal. J
Sunday night’s dinner was a simple dish pork ribs fried in a skillet lightly seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked to a beautiful mahogany color and the taste was pure pork heaven, you throw in a pot of lightly seasoned chili beans and some steamed veggies and yes you have a high quality fiber enriched taste of the edge of heaven. Now our student is not accustomed to our ways where we have pinto beans well where he is from its not a staple on their plate as a matter of a fact he said he had not eat beans before so he was introduced to the southern lifestyle and he enjoyed them and when you combine a new edition to the family and they take kindly to your ways however they may be like we always pray weather we are at home or in a public place it is always right to give thanks for the blessings in which we receive and for me my friends that makes for an excellent Family Meal.
Monday Aug 22, now you might have guessed that the reason I cooked beans the first day was so we could use them again another day and you are right the reason I made beans was because I had a plan to either do Mexican food (refried beans) or I was going to do chili – well it rained that day so guess what we had I went with the chili – now our exchange student you got to realize they diet is different and chili was not a dish he was aware of so I explained the origin and how it was made and that it was a cross between, a soup and a stew. And how it was seasoned, at the table we paid our respects to God and gave thanks as we always do before a meal and then we consumed a bowl of some of the best chili I have made in a bit. It was perfectly seasoned and the beans from the night before just enhanced the over-all experience. Our student too enjoyed his first bowl of southern goodness, and a family meal rides again … ye haw …
Tuesday Aug 23, tonight was a foot ball scrimmage and a school PTO meeting/open house. The family did manage to all get home around 9pm and I ravaged the fridge to find something worthy of eating, I found a chub of ground beef and I had a half pound of sausage. So I checked the cabinet and found some bread crumbs what can you do with ground meat and bread crumbs *** Ah ha I got it. Meatballs! I mixed up the meat and bread crumbs seasoned them up with a little onion and garlic salt and pepper and a little basil and oregano some cumin and an egg to bind it all together. These were not the sauced up kind you put in pasta and not the gravy covered Swedish style meatballs either. More like a meatloaf meatball I rolled ¼ meat balls up and baked them till they were done cooled them down and served them with a BBQ sauce with fresh carrots and celery with dips, and a couple of warmed tortillas with cheese melted on them. This was a stab in the dark of a meal but it turned out pretty tasty and we have some left over for tomorrow night’s meal spaghetti and meat balls. And when you have good food and a great family to share it with what do you have that’s right another successful family meal.
Wednesday Aug 24, football practice, soccer practice, and meetings, as I anticipated a busy evening. So that idea from last night should work perfectly. So after a trip to the grocery store by my lovely wife we had the basic essentials to make pasta. I sautéed half a red onion and some fresh garlic in butter, and then I open a couple of cans of crushed tomato, seasoned it up with thyme, basil, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper. I took out the meatballs from the night before and put them into the sauce to simmer, while I got the pasta cooking and the garlic bread in the oven, I also chopped up a nice salad with shredded carrots. I got everything finished up and called the family to the kitchen to plate up their dinner we all made our plates and sat down to the table said grace, giving thanks for our family and the opportunity to share our home and lives with those around us. So everyone ate, to their hearts content leaving nothing to waste the sauce was tangy and spicy and stick to the noodles that were perfectly cooked the meatballs were able to absorb some of the sauce making them better than the night before the bread and salad added just the right balance to finish a sumptuous family meal.
Thursday Aug 25, I was not feeling well I went to bed and didn’t wake till the next day. That night my wife took the reins and prepared a meal of pork ribs seasoned and brazed to a perfectly fork tender melt in your mouth goodness they had a baked potato and some Normandy vegetables with their meal the best part even thou I was down and out the family did manage to sit back and relax and enjoy a family meal minus 1.
Friday Aug 26, after being down and out the day before I awoke around 12 and got to enjoy my wife’s delicious brazed ribs as a breakfast with an egg and toast. I went back to bed and slept till 5ish when I work everyone was just getting home from practices and school. I visited with my wife and recommended that we go out for pizza. She let the boys know and gave them an option between pizza and Mexican food and they all agreed pizza, we loaded up the van and headed to the best pizza in Fort Smith, Arkansas “Pizza Parlor” on Rogers Avenue. This place has been around for 40 plus years in the same spot with the same wonderful crust and topping choices we have been coming here for 20 years at least 12 times per year we make a trip in to have pizza with our family and sometimes a group of friends. The toppings are always superb and the pizza is the best in town. We have had two exchange students now and the first one said it reminded her of home she was from Germany and she had traveled to Italy and had pizza there and she said it was delicious. The same with the boy we have staying with us now he loved the thin crust and toppings. We had ordered 4 large pizzas one was the ever so lovely bacon and cheddar mine and my wife’s favorite, there was a pepperoni and Italian sausage, the little ones preferred, the middle boy asked for a chicken and spinach pizza, and then we got one that was supposed to be pepperoni and half with jalapenos well they forgot the jalapenos and to make up for it they made us a small pepperoni and jalapeno pizza. As I have said in the past it doesn’t matter if we are at home or out – we always give thanks for the gifts that we receive everyday and thank God for the opportunities that we have and after that we eat and share our day and things to come with each other at the table of plenty with the family and enjoying yet again another wonderful Family Meal.
Saturday Aug 27, what a beautiful morning, we had been asked to help a friend do a Jr High tailgate party, actually this was the 4th year in a row that we had done this and they have always done something so anyway our friend works for a very reputable poultry industry packaging plant as one of the division chiefs and has a massive trailer that is designed to feed thousands – so he drags this trailer and another small one now I say small but here is what we cooked – we cooked 240 hamburgers and 100 lbs of chicken wings – I don’t know about you all but that’s a lot of food for 5 guys to cook and feed 300 or more people, so we cooked fed and guess what they said grace and gave thanks and then they all ate and filled their bellies with the best burgers and wings in town.
That evening we had a small party at our house a pool party none the less. It was so my wife could take care of some business and so the boys could socialize and let our exchange student meet some of our friends. So it ended up being like 26 people 8 adults and the rest were teens and 2 little ones - at the pool party some neighbors came and my wife’s business contacts joined us with their family. I grilled our hamburgers and hot dogs and their happened to be some left over wings from the tailgate party that we brought home and we used them with our giant group of people the guests all chipped in with sides a beans and rice dish and watermelon for desert and we made a homemade shells and cheese casserole and then another guest brought cookies and yet another introduced us to a nice bottle of Riesling wine. To pay homage before we broke bread I asked one our guests to give thanks because she is a youth minister we all stood and gave praise and blessings and then we consumed the mass amounts of food that were there for the eating. And we sat as a community of friends enjoying the company and collaborating on exchange programs the food, day’s events and experiences, and the fact that we were all there together I can say it was a successful and enjoyable -- EXTENDED -- family meal.
Sunday Aug 28, brunch was a culmination of the weeks meals which I like to call leftoverpalooza and I made pancakes. It was tasty and we all sat as a family blessed our food and each other and enjoyed our food as a collective group discussed the day’s events and weeks expectations.
Dinner well the night before a couple of folks could not make the party so my wife invited them for the next evening this evening was a much smaller gathering with very few in attendance there were our 6 and they brought 4 and we had one straggler guest it was a business slash family event so they arrived my wife and her guests took care of their business while I had the boys all out in the pool and I cooked burgers and hotdogs and warmed some more of those delectable wings and we pulled out what was left of the homemade shells and cheese which was a lot, the other family brought some marinated veggies in like an Italian salad dressing “vinegar and oil” it was very good they also brought a little desert a toffee & chocolate chip cookie bites plate very tasty. I was feeling pretty good so I asked my son who wants to be youth leader at church to lead in the giving of thanks and he blessed the meal and those in attendance and we proceeded to plate our food and enjoy the most basic of basic of meals with a very nice group of people – we enjoyed there company.
There really is nothing that can come between a group and their thanks and when you have a group at your home they are family and you can always enjoy a Family meal I suggest you take the time at least once or twice a week. I just gave you a glimpse into our week and we didn’t miss out, every day there was a family meal.
Sorry it has been so long since I have written on my blog I will get back to it now. We had some growing pains and adjustments to make. We are hosting an exchange student and we had to integrate him into our; home, family, lifestyle, and get him enrolled in school etc…
Any way here is a summary of last week’s meals.
Saturday Aug 20, was a long and busy day with final preparations for the arrival of our exchange student. We ate on the fly thus not having the luxury of having a family meal – we met our student at the airport and brought him home around 930 Saturday night we had not had dinner yet and everyone was a little hungry. We had anticipated this and we had thawed a chicken so I did what I thought best, I dispatched the chicken into several small pieces, dredged them in seasoned flour and deep fried them to golden brown perfection and then just to make sure they were fully cooked they were placed into the pre heated oven for 15 minutes. All the cook and prep time were used to get to know our student. It was approximately 1115 that evening before we ate but guess what even thou it was just deep fried chicken with no sides we made it a family meal by taking time out finally from out unusually busy day to sit down as a family of 5 plus 1 and invited our intentions and thanksgiving for what we have and are blessed with and gave the first glimpse to our student of what our expectations were by having you got it our first Family Meal with our new family member.
Sunday Aug 21, today was a much calmer day (sort of anyway) we got up and woke our student up and had him attend church with us (we had a new priest to welcome) so after church we returned home and made breakfast/brunch – waffles and fried chicken from the night before – we had see this on TV many times on travel, food network and the food channel but never tried it I am amazed at how the flavors of each item work with the other who would have thought (well somebody did) genius idea everyone raved on how good they were together and when you have 5 males and 1 female that all agree that the meal works and is very good you know what you have? That’s right you have a great Family meal. J
Sunday night’s dinner was a simple dish pork ribs fried in a skillet lightly seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked to a beautiful mahogany color and the taste was pure pork heaven, you throw in a pot of lightly seasoned chili beans and some steamed veggies and yes you have a high quality fiber enriched taste of the edge of heaven. Now our student is not accustomed to our ways where we have pinto beans well where he is from its not a staple on their plate as a matter of a fact he said he had not eat beans before so he was introduced to the southern lifestyle and he enjoyed them and when you combine a new edition to the family and they take kindly to your ways however they may be like we always pray weather we are at home or in a public place it is always right to give thanks for the blessings in which we receive and for me my friends that makes for an excellent Family Meal.
Monday Aug 22, now you might have guessed that the reason I cooked beans the first day was so we could use them again another day and you are right the reason I made beans was because I had a plan to either do Mexican food (refried beans) or I was going to do chili – well it rained that day so guess what we had I went with the chili – now our exchange student you got to realize they diet is different and chili was not a dish he was aware of so I explained the origin and how it was made and that it was a cross between, a soup and a stew. And how it was seasoned, at the table we paid our respects to God and gave thanks as we always do before a meal and then we consumed a bowl of some of the best chili I have made in a bit. It was perfectly seasoned and the beans from the night before just enhanced the over-all experience. Our student too enjoyed his first bowl of southern goodness, and a family meal rides again … ye haw …
Tuesday Aug 23, tonight was a foot ball scrimmage and a school PTO meeting/open house. The family did manage to all get home around 9pm and I ravaged the fridge to find something worthy of eating, I found a chub of ground beef and I had a half pound of sausage. So I checked the cabinet and found some bread crumbs what can you do with ground meat and bread crumbs *** Ah ha I got it. Meatballs! I mixed up the meat and bread crumbs seasoned them up with a little onion and garlic salt and pepper and a little basil and oregano some cumin and an egg to bind it all together. These were not the sauced up kind you put in pasta and not the gravy covered Swedish style meatballs either. More like a meatloaf meatball I rolled ¼ meat balls up and baked them till they were done cooled them down and served them with a BBQ sauce with fresh carrots and celery with dips, and a couple of warmed tortillas with cheese melted on them. This was a stab in the dark of a meal but it turned out pretty tasty and we have some left over for tomorrow night’s meal spaghetti and meat balls. And when you have good food and a great family to share it with what do you have that’s right another successful family meal.
Wednesday Aug 24, football practice, soccer practice, and meetings, as I anticipated a busy evening. So that idea from last night should work perfectly. So after a trip to the grocery store by my lovely wife we had the basic essentials to make pasta. I sautéed half a red onion and some fresh garlic in butter, and then I open a couple of cans of crushed tomato, seasoned it up with thyme, basil, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper. I took out the meatballs from the night before and put them into the sauce to simmer, while I got the pasta cooking and the garlic bread in the oven, I also chopped up a nice salad with shredded carrots. I got everything finished up and called the family to the kitchen to plate up their dinner we all made our plates and sat down to the table said grace, giving thanks for our family and the opportunity to share our home and lives with those around us. So everyone ate, to their hearts content leaving nothing to waste the sauce was tangy and spicy and stick to the noodles that were perfectly cooked the meatballs were able to absorb some of the sauce making them better than the night before the bread and salad added just the right balance to finish a sumptuous family meal.
Thursday Aug 25, I was not feeling well I went to bed and didn’t wake till the next day. That night my wife took the reins and prepared a meal of pork ribs seasoned and brazed to a perfectly fork tender melt in your mouth goodness they had a baked potato and some Normandy vegetables with their meal the best part even thou I was down and out the family did manage to sit back and relax and enjoy a family meal minus 1.
Friday Aug 26, after being down and out the day before I awoke around 12 and got to enjoy my wife’s delicious brazed ribs as a breakfast with an egg and toast. I went back to bed and slept till 5ish when I work everyone was just getting home from practices and school. I visited with my wife and recommended that we go out for pizza. She let the boys know and gave them an option between pizza and Mexican food and they all agreed pizza, we loaded up the van and headed to the best pizza in Fort Smith, Arkansas “Pizza Parlor” on Rogers Avenue. This place has been around for 40 plus years in the same spot with the same wonderful crust and topping choices we have been coming here for 20 years at least 12 times per year we make a trip in to have pizza with our family and sometimes a group of friends. The toppings are always superb and the pizza is the best in town. We have had two exchange students now and the first one said it reminded her of home she was from Germany and she had traveled to Italy and had pizza there and she said it was delicious. The same with the boy we have staying with us now he loved the thin crust and toppings. We had ordered 4 large pizzas one was the ever so lovely bacon and cheddar mine and my wife’s favorite, there was a pepperoni and Italian sausage, the little ones preferred, the middle boy asked for a chicken and spinach pizza, and then we got one that was supposed to be pepperoni and half with jalapenos well they forgot the jalapenos and to make up for it they made us a small pepperoni and jalapeno pizza. As I have said in the past it doesn’t matter if we are at home or out – we always give thanks for the gifts that we receive everyday and thank God for the opportunities that we have and after that we eat and share our day and things to come with each other at the table of plenty with the family and enjoying yet again another wonderful Family Meal.
Saturday Aug 27, what a beautiful morning, we had been asked to help a friend do a Jr High tailgate party, actually this was the 4th year in a row that we had done this and they have always done something so anyway our friend works for a very reputable poultry industry packaging plant as one of the division chiefs and has a massive trailer that is designed to feed thousands – so he drags this trailer and another small one now I say small but here is what we cooked – we cooked 240 hamburgers and 100 lbs of chicken wings – I don’t know about you all but that’s a lot of food for 5 guys to cook and feed 300 or more people, so we cooked fed and guess what they said grace and gave thanks and then they all ate and filled their bellies with the best burgers and wings in town.
That evening we had a small party at our house a pool party none the less. It was so my wife could take care of some business and so the boys could socialize and let our exchange student meet some of our friends. So it ended up being like 26 people 8 adults and the rest were teens and 2 little ones - at the pool party some neighbors came and my wife’s business contacts joined us with their family. I grilled our hamburgers and hot dogs and their happened to be some left over wings from the tailgate party that we brought home and we used them with our giant group of people the guests all chipped in with sides a beans and rice dish and watermelon for desert and we made a homemade shells and cheese casserole and then another guest brought cookies and yet another introduced us to a nice bottle of Riesling wine. To pay homage before we broke bread I asked one our guests to give thanks because she is a youth minister we all stood and gave praise and blessings and then we consumed the mass amounts of food that were there for the eating. And we sat as a community of friends enjoying the company and collaborating on exchange programs the food, day’s events and experiences, and the fact that we were all there together I can say it was a successful and enjoyable -- EXTENDED -- family meal.
Sunday Aug 28, brunch was a culmination of the weeks meals which I like to call leftoverpalooza and I made pancakes. It was tasty and we all sat as a family blessed our food and each other and enjoyed our food as a collective group discussed the day’s events and weeks expectations.
Dinner well the night before a couple of folks could not make the party so my wife invited them for the next evening this evening was a much smaller gathering with very few in attendance there were our 6 and they brought 4 and we had one straggler guest it was a business slash family event so they arrived my wife and her guests took care of their business while I had the boys all out in the pool and I cooked burgers and hotdogs and warmed some more of those delectable wings and we pulled out what was left of the homemade shells and cheese which was a lot, the other family brought some marinated veggies in like an Italian salad dressing “vinegar and oil” it was very good they also brought a little desert a toffee & chocolate chip cookie bites plate very tasty. I was feeling pretty good so I asked my son who wants to be youth leader at church to lead in the giving of thanks and he blessed the meal and those in attendance and we proceeded to plate our food and enjoy the most basic of basic of meals with a very nice group of people – we enjoyed there company.
There really is nothing that can come between a group and their thanks and when you have a group at your home they are family and you can always enjoy a Family meal I suggest you take the time at least once or twice a week. I just gave you a glimpse into our week and we didn’t miss out, every day there was a family meal.
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