Cozy Home Journal (homemaking and recipes)

Spring Cleanin'

at 6:50 am on Thursday, May 22, 2008

We have been busy little bees around here with spring cleaning since the last week of March. We have dusted, polished, washed down and/or vacuumed just about every surface of our home; inside and out. This does not include all of the sorting out, tossing, donating and re-organizing of the items in closets and toy boxes—WHEW!!!! We still have: the fence to paint, porch benches to be built–maybe–curtains to make and a sign to be made for the front porch. I want a really cute wooden sign cut and routed by my husband that I can paint with the phrase: "Welcome to Our Cozy Home" to hang over the steps as you come onto our big front porch. We will probably get that done some time in June.

Meanwhile, we have also finished and had our evaluation on Caleb’s homeschool portfolio. I am glad to say that he has passed to the 4th grade. He is happy and the teacher that did our review seemed impressed with all that he had learned this past year. She especially liked the model Conestoga Wagon that Caleb and his dad had made together. He even showed her the rain barrel they had turned on my hubby’s mini-lathe. She thought that was very clever of them. I am always relieved to get through the review and to turn in my paperwork to our local BOE for the next year. We did that on Monday and so we are ready for next year. We will continue to learn and to go on lots of "field trips" over the summer, but for now, school is officially "out" at our house.

I have been experimenting a bit in our kitchen lately with new (or revised) recipes and have a few new "hits" added to the family favorites category. Last Friday, I made a little casserole for breakfast that was simple and did not take a lot of ingredients. Mostly because I did not have a lot of ingredients on hand–LOL I called it "Use-What-Ya-Got Casserole" and the men of the house really liked it. Caleb gave me the ultimate compliment when he said "This casserole is DECENT mom"—too cool, cowabunga dude!!! I am going to leave you with my basic recipe, add or subtract ingredients according to what you have on hand…..hope yours turns out DECENT, too:

Use What Ya Got Breakfast Casserole

9×9 pan buttered or sprayed.
3 slices of bread-one torn in half placed in the
bottom of the pan.
Ham sandwich slices torn and placed on bread.
Shredded cheese, any kind, as much or as little as you like.
4 eggs beat with a splash of milk poured over all.
Bake the casserole for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Enjoy

Love and Prayers,

Charlotte


Say "Cheese"-A family favorite


at 8:02 am on Saturday, June 14, 2008

If you are anything like me, you are a REAL fan of cheese, I mean real cheese, not that processed stuff that you have to peel a wrapper off of–ICK!

My dear Aunt Louise lived in the little picturesque town of Minerva, OH for most of her adult life and was also a fan of good cheese and dairy products. This was good, because Minerva is right in the heart of Ohio dairy country. One of her great traditions in the last 20 years of her life (she lived to be a blessed 95 years old, had a wonderfully bright mind and good health up until the last 2 years) was to send family and friends gifts from the Minerva Dairy located near her home. Their dairy is family owned and the cheese is AWESOME!!! I sometimes get so hungry for it that I just have to order a bit. My favorite is their Baby Swiss, but I also like the Farmer’s Cheese—YUM!!

Their web address is http://www.minervacheese.com/ and they include a page with the family business history as well as an area for you to choose gift boxes for sending to friends and family as well. I just had them on my mind this morning, (feelin’cheese-y, I guess) and thought I would pass their info on to all of you as well. Hope you have an AWESOME week-end.

Love and hugs,

Char