Monday, August 11, 2008

mama said there'd be days like this...

The final score today for Matt's potty training: Tammy's floors 2, Potty 0.

I have been feeling progressively sure over the last 3 days I have a developing UTI. So I sent Ben to WalMart for cranberry capsules and cranberry juice... ensuring the cranberry capsules I have on hand will turn up in the next day or two. I have been adding colloidal silver to my water. (and feeling more and more miserable.)

I did get several items ordered for school. We got a start on reviewing 'old' material. I will spend a week, maybe two, on review. I noticed a great improvement in the boys' spelling. I found a lighted, handheld "field microscope" for $13.00; which is better than NO microscope, and ought to be good enough for our purposes. It is in my Amazon 'cart' waiting for next payday. I got free shipping from the homeschool catalog that I had planned on buying from. "It just happened" that they offered free shipping with a very minimum ($29) purchase this week. Hooray! http://www.lovetolearn.net/

You know that all of the "it just happened" things in our lives are God controlled, don't you?

We put a roast beast into the slow cooker this morning, before I got to feeling so bad. So supper is dealt with.
My "controversial" roast recipe : dredge a roast through seasoned flour. Heat a few tablespoons of cooking oil in a (cast iron) skillet and put the floured roast in to brown on a high heat. After browning the roast, transfer it to a slow cooker (crock pot). Add leftover unsweetened coffee or tea. (Helps tenderize the beef). Add an envelope or two of powdered onion soup mix. (For the smart @$$ among my children- use the CONTENTS of the envelope and NOT the envelope itself). I add some garlic, some water if I didn't have much coffee. (This is your gravy base later). I also add some "better than bullion" beef soup base concentrate. Allow to cook a couple of hours. Add potatoes, scraped and trimmed carrots, and a few whole, trimmed onions. Cook until everything is done. Remove the 'juice' from the slow cooker and place in a skillet on the stovetop. Mix cold water with cornstarch, add to hot juices. Stir over medium-high heat until as thick as you like your gravy.

Why did I call it a controversial recipe? My DS#1 once told his (now ex) wife she was cooking the roast "Wrong". He actually called ME and wanted me to tell her she was wrong. Just because she had never heard of adding coffee or tea to a roast. I explained to DS#1 that just because his wife did things differently, it didn't mean she was WRONG. She never would eat a roast that either DS#1 or I cooked after that. Oh well. My kids all like the way I fix a roast. (In the winter I may even actually ROAST it, instead of using the slow cooker.)

Well, I'm going to go lay down until Ben gets back. I hope the cranberry+ silver knocks this out. I don't have TIME to go to the doctor.

1 comment:

Truth said...

Sorry to hear you aren't feeling well. The roast sounds delicious. I used to use coffee in my gravy just to make it a nice color, lol.