My Mommy Kisses The Principal

Honk!! Honk!! Came the sound from the mailman's car. Wooohoooo I thought. Oh Yeah the first wave of curriculum must be here. I do get so excited when stuff is coming in the mail. ;) My hubby (who works from home) went out to get the box since we thought it was books and there for heavy. How sweet right??
He came back into the house and put the box down so we could look at it.I must admit that I was pretty giddy with excitement. My husband looked up at me and said “stop you can't look” Errrrrrr?? What!! He said it was not curriculum it was a birthday present from Julie. (oh you sneaky, cheeky monkey you)
The heavy box was from Spice3 or spice cubed. www.spicecubed.com. Spice cubed was on my birthday wish list. Just a little interjection here. I hated having a birthday in August when I was a kid. None of my friends from school could come. I always got school clothes or supplies for presents and it was always to hot to do anything. But, as an adult I am a lot more inventive. ;)
It turns out that Julie had sent off a quick e-mail to my husband to make sure that they did not get the same gift for me. (purdy smrt huh??)
So, now we get to the fun part of the story cus you know I did not bring you on this journey without some sorta suspense. Enter the dilemma. (giggle)
When the package, now established as a birthday gift arrived it was 2 in the afternoon my time. That means it was 4 am the next day in Japan for Julie. She was asleep. Dun... dun...dun.... We were due to have our book club at 8pm my time. Gentle readers do see the excruciating set of circumstances that were happening here?? I would have to wait 6 that right 6 whole hours before I could even ask to if it was ok to open my box!!
By 3pm I had shaken the box gently. I had brought up the website and was pouring over it trying to figure out what was in the box.
4pm- I was very figgity by now. I had placed the box in several prominent places. So we could look at it. I had been offered by each of my family members to take the blame of opening it. After all they reasoned if they opened it and I had not then I could see it without getting into trouble. LOL Not much for patience are they??
5- 7am Julie's time. Now I was sitting with gmail pulled up. I was talking to my computer at this point. “Come on Julie wake up” “I know you are awake Julie since you go jogging in the mornings” “Wake Up!!” (will the hilarity ever stop??)
5:30- 7:30 am Julie's time. Her status on gmail said active. I could hear the angles choir. I sent her an IM and told her that her package had gotten here and please, please, please could I open it. She sent me back a message saying that I could if I wanted to but, she would like to see me open it on the webcam. I totally agree that it would be sooooooooooooooo much more fun to open it over the webcam. So, I had resigned to wait till 8pm. 2.5 hours to go. Julie and I talked for a little bit longer. When she finally got my vulcan mind meld thru the chat. “would you like to sign onto the webcam now??” She asked!! Does a bear poop in the woods?? I replied. Heck yes!!!! “Give me a sec she says” Let me tell you right now that Julie and I talk on the webcam at LEAST 3 times a week. So, this should have taken all of 10 seconds right?? About a minute later I sent her an IM “ummmmm what's up??” Julie- “You will not believe this, gmail will not acknowledge my webcam!!” Me- “Are you kidding me??” Julie - “I am gonna have to reboot”
5:45- Julie's green dot goes gray indicating she is offline. I on the mean time began shouting at her computer from 3,000 miles away. “BOOT YOU INFERNAL MACHINE BOOT!!”
While I waited we opened the outer box to reveal this:


I sat staring at the box. I have to say right here and now I am a sucker for an awesome box. After what seemed like an hour. Julie's gray dot turned green, and the dot changed to a little picture of a camera. Then the sound of the computer initiating a video chat. It rings sorta like a house phone. I answered and we said Hello. I showed her the super cool box. I even took the time to show her how nice the ribbon was. Really company wants people to be happy with their products.
You know when ever I buy something online I always have this feeling like it is a gamble. You know it looks so great on the website but, when you or your loved one gets it, it is well, less then what they hyped it up to be. Not so with this company. I dare say it is cooler than the site advertises.
I really enjoyed being able to show Julie exactly what everything looked like. I would say that if you are someone you know is a foodie or they enjoy good quality ingredients this would make a great gift.
I have tortured you long enough here are the pictures of what was in the box.

Here is me doing my price is right showcase pose. That's right Bob, all the foodies in the audience are swooning. giggle

Here we have one of the spices after I put the magnet on it. These magnets are good and strong.

Here we have a close up of the spices. You can see how full they are. You can also see how brightly colored they are.

Here they all are on my fridge. I just think they look so darn cool.

How cool do these look?? I love the fact that you can put the magnets on the back and hang them on your fridge,freezer, any magnetic surface or even a strip of magnets on your cabinet door.
All these spices made me think that I should leave you with a recipe so here it is...

Super easy lasagna
1pkg oven ready lasagna noodles
6-8 cups of tomato sauce (canned, jar,or home made all work just fine with this recipe)
1 pound of Italian sausage
1 16oz container of Ricotta cheese
1 egg beaten
4 cups of cheese for thrifty version and 6 cups for any other time
1 TBS each of parsley, oregano, basil, garlic,onion powder
1 tsp each of paprika and red pepper flakes (optional)
½ cup of parm cheese
1 large casserole dish long enough to fit the noodles in
1 sheet of plastic wrap large enough to cover the top of the dish
1 sheet of aluminum foil large enough to cover the top of the dish

Step one:
Remove the sausage from the casing and fry in the pan till no more pink is showing. Add a ½ cup of water. Now add your pre-made sauce. Stir till all the sausage and the sauce are well combined. Turn the burner down low. Remember the sauce will splatter if you let it boil.

Step two:
Put your egg in a bowl and whisk it. Now add all of the ricotta cheese. Put in one cup of the mozzarella cheese. All of the spices parsley, oregano,basil, garlic, onion powder, paprika, and red pepper flakes go in now. Mix all these ingredients together and set aside.

Step three:
Assembly, my kids love this part the best. ;) In your large casserole dish place a layer of sauce. Now layer your noodles no over lapping. Make sure you gently push your noodles into the sauce. On top of the noodles put ½ of the ricotta mixture and spread it around evenly. You can put a light layer or cheese on top of the ricotta, if not then a layer of sauce goes on now. Your first layer is done easy peasy lemon squeezy. Giggle.
The next layer is noodles (remember to press them down) the rest of the ricotta, cheese if you using, and sauce. For the last layer it is noodles, then sauce, then mozzarella cheese.
Now is the part that most people do not do. Tightly cover your pan with the plastic wrap. Yes plastic wrap. Lastly cover the top again this time with the aluminum foil. This will ensure that you will not get that nasty metal taste in your lasagna.
Bake in the oven at 350 for 1 hour. Then remove the plastic wrap and foil and let the cheese on top get all golden and melty.
One of the reasons people get soupy lasagna is they do not let it rest for a few mins. 20 mins should do just fine. I usually make my salad and garlic bread while I wait.


I thought y'all might like a photo. At least that is what Julie has requested. She says that she would like to see pics of the dishes when I write up the recipe.


I love all the layers. Some times I make veggie lasagna and that makes some very cool layers.
I hope you all enjoy. We are making peach cobbler tonight.

Today I thought I would post some recipes. I hope you all enjoy these. I also wanted to apologize for yesterday's dead link. If you type 599sherlockholmes into google search it will be the first result option. Please let me know if you all have any problems. OK now onto the recipes.

SOS over mashed potatoes.
This recipe was taught to me by my mother. It was my favorite meal when I was a kid. My mother learned it when she was a girl scout in the 60's.
2 lbs of ground beef or ground turkey
2 cups grated carrots
2 TBS of gravy master or kitchen bouquet or a packet or two of gravy mix
1 cup of flour water slurry
4 cups of broth or bouillon dissolved in water
To Taste salt and pepper
you can add what ever your favorite spices you like. My favorites are garlic, paprika, parsley,and a splash of soy sauce.
In a large pan cook the ground meat till there is no more pink. Drain the meat. I keep about 1 or 2 tbs of this yummy stuff naughty huh??. Add your grated carrots to the cooked meat. This is where I add all the spices I am gonna add. Add the gravy master or equivalent. Stir all of this together to incorporate. Next pour in the broth. Let this all boil for 15 mins or till the carrots are tender. If you are using gravy mix add it now and stir till it is completely dissolved. It should thicken up nicely. If you are adding a slurry add once the carrots are tender. Stir till a nice gravy forms. Turn off the burner and let the SOS sit on the stove for a few mins too cool. We want to serve dinner not lava. LOL I serve this several different ways. 1. over mashed potatoes 2. over rice 3. over toast 4. over baked potatoes. I bet you can come up with other ways to serve this. I really hope you enjoy this as much as my family and I do. Ok except for Lukas.

I also love this recipe so I thought I would share it.

Crock pot chicken
1 whole chicken
1-2 cups of water
2 TBS of soy sauce
2 TBS of bouillon
and your favorite spices.
My combo is: garlic powder, paprika, pepper, parsley, chili powder, Italian herb mix.

This is soooooooo simple. You put the water, the bouillon, and soy sauce in the crock pot. Stir all of this to combine. Place the chicken into the liquid and then cover with your spices. Put the lid on and turn the crock pot on low, and cook 8-12 hours. I personally like to let it cook all night. In the morning I take the chicken out of the crock pot and let it cool. When the chicken is cooled remove the meat from the bones. Viola you have plenty of cooked chicken on hand for any number of recipes. I usually make soup the first day and Tetrazini the next day and some sorta casserole on the third day. If I find chickens on sale I will cook all of them over a few days and portion and freeze the meat.

Today Julie and her family boarded the plane bound for Japan. I am so excited for her. I am also very sad that it will be a while till I get to talk to her and even longer before I will get to see her. I would like for you all to pray for safe travels and for getting set up with an apartment and a car.

Our garden is sprouting!! With all the rain we have had our garden is blooming and so are my plum and fig trees. I am so happy to see all of this beautiful foliage. I guess you could say my yard is bursting with life. What a wonderful time of year. There is new life all around us, kittens, flowers, trees, and our garden. WOW!!

Last night at about 7 o'clock everyone came to me like a pack of starving mongrels. LOL
We are hungry and we want to eat NOW!! So, I looked in my kitchen and what did I see, not much. LOL You know how it is when you are moving you try to eat up what you have so, you only buy what you NEED. Well, with my husband and son having gone off to the new house this past weekend, we did not go grocery shopping this week. Pickin's was bare. ;) Then it popped into my head... Fried Rice!! Quick, easy, and uses left overs. I took a couple of pictures of my fried rice (cus everyone said it looked so good) and thought I would share the recipe and pictures with you all.

Fried Rice:
serves 4-6
3-4 cups of cold rice from the fridge (break up any clumps of rice before you put it in the pan)
¼ cup of soy sauce
3 tbs of oil + 1 tbs of sesame oil (if you don't have any just use reg oil)
2 cloves of garlic crushed and chopped or ½ tbs of garlic powder (we like a lot of garlic)
1 tsp of paprika
1 tsp of pepper
1 tsp of chicken bullion
2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables
¼ cup of water
4 eggs cracked and beaten to make scrambled eggs
**optional** 1 cup of cooked meat cut into bite size pieces – Chicken , semi-soft bacon, beef, hamburger, chicken nuggets, pork, garbanzo beans, you get the point you add what you like.

If you are blessed to have a wok awesome. If however you do not have one no problem. Just heat a large pan with the 4 tbs of oil. When the oil begins to ripple add in your rice. Stir the rice in a “fluffing” motion. Make sure to coat all of the rice with the oil. Let fry for about 3-5 mins.
Add the soy sauce and using the fluffing method make sure all of the rice is coated with the soy sauce. Let the liquid boil off this will take about 3-5 mins.
Next add all of your spices and bullion. Stir to incorporate. Once all the spices and bullion are wrapped snugly around your rice add the water. Stir this mixture and cook for 5-7 mins. I made this step up but, I find it essential to making great rice. The extra liquid allows you to replump the rice so to speak.
Once the water is absorbed add your frozen vegetables. (you can add leftover vegetables here I won't look I promise) If you are adding meat add it here as well.
Now, you just cook till the vegetables and meat are warmed through. About 7 mins or so.
Here is the part that gives people trouble. (so, I been told anyway) Time to do the eggs.
There are two ways to do this. 1. cook the eggs in a separate pan and add to finished rice. Or 2. You push the rice to the sides of the pan and cook the eggs in the middle then stir it all together. What do not want to do is pour the eggs onto the rice and cook that way. ICK!! You want lovely pieces of fluffy yellow egg in your rice. There you are you have just made fried rice. Ta-da!! So easy right?? This dish should take you 30 mins or less. After you have cooked it several times you can get the time down to as little as 18 mins. Take out, who needs it you can make fried rice. ;)

Have fun making this recipe. Have a blessed weekend with your families. From our home to yours. (((((((((HUGS)))))))))
You didn't think I forgot about freebie Fridays did you?? Here are this weeks freebies:

1.http://www.k-12freehomeschool.org/ - this site is a christian based curriculum that is tuition free. There is a 5.00 fee for each class that you take. (still a great deal) There is a deposit of 10.00 that you put down in order to receive the video's that go with the lessons. There are also optional courses that cost a very reasonable fee that you can choose to purchase. They keep track of grades.

2.http://www.exploringnature.org/ - This site has tons of information about natural habitats, animals, and nature in general. Really worth a glance or two or three.

3.http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/ - This is a relatively new site. Each day you pop on over there and take a look at what is being offered that day. If you like it follow the link and or directions and ta-da it's yours. There is even a newsletter you can sign up for that will tell you what will be coming in the new week. There is a catch though the links are only available for the one day. All past links become dead the next day. (bummer right) So, getting the newsletter is a really big help. That way you know which days stuff you want will be available.