Archive for December, 2008

December 17th, 2008 - Foster care beginnings

Just a quick note to let folks know that we’re about to officially begin the work to become a foster family. Our first appointment is Friday, at our house, with the licensing social workers. (Two because one’s in training.)

Plan: We’ll start in the spring doing respite care–temporary care for parents and foster parents who need a break or are going on vacation and can’t take the foster kids along. Sometimes it’s just because they need a break, other times because they are going out of state and can’t take the kids along, or want to go on a couples-only weekend (my in laws always went away for their anniversary weekend [they did foster care for over 37 years]), or having surgery, or a business trip, or whathaveyou. Could be overnight or for a couple weeks at a time. We’ll have a choice of when and what kid(s) we’re willing to take in.

Then, when Maggie goes off to 4K in September, we intend to become full time foster parents. We’re intending to only take kids younger than Maggie. And, if possible, only girls (or baby boys) so that they can share the bedroom. Otherwise, we have to move Maggie to the guest room–there’s no heating vent in there (just like our bedroom), and that’s not legal for foster kids. Some day, we intend to put in heating. So maybe we’ll do that this summer anyway and then it can be the foster kids room if we have boys. (Girls would share a bedroom–we fully support the idea of kids sharing bedrooms. Plus, I like my guest room!)

Process: Much like adopting, we have to go through a homestudy and make sure all sorts of things are okay with the house. (More intense than adopting a baby as they can’t get into stuff that an older kid can so we have to lock up medications, for instance. You have to have a certain amount of space per kid, so they check out the bedrooms. And all sorts of stuff.) There are also training seminars (some before we become licensed and a whole bunch more afterward). So some of it should be fairly easy since we’ve done the homestudy thing before. Some will be harder and may be expensive–at the very least we want to get a loft or bunk bed for the bedroom.

Cost: Theoretically, it costs nothing to become foster parents. Realistically, we will have to buy stuff to prepare for more kids. For respite, not as much as they should come with everything they need, except a bed. And we have a double bed that can come in the room and a crib and a pack n play. We’ve already bought extra waterproof mattress pads (white sale before Christmas!). We might buy more baby toys and a Boppy if we’ll have infants. And we got rid of our swing, trike, and highchair (to another foster family!) which may prove useful. For full time care, these and many more things will be necessary. Especially since I gave away so much stuff last spring when we said no more kids. (I thought we wouldn’t do foster care for at least 3 more years. If then.) We’ll also have to get a babysitter for Maggie for the training seminars (nights; maybe a friend will do it for free–but it’s a total of at least 30 hours).

We are going to reduce our charitable giving by one third (it was 3% of our income, down to 2%) since our lives will become full time giving. That 1% will instead become our foster care prep fund. And in the future, our foster care fund. In case you have heard that foster parents do it for the money, in WI, we have one of the lowest foster payments, around $350/month (for the least needy and youngest children). That’s right: about $10/day for 24 hour care. (If Eric and I both worked outside the home, the child could be put in day care for around $800-$1000/month paid by the state, and we’d be paid the same $350 for the rest of the day. But since we have a full time parent at home, we get $350 for 24 hours.) Anyway, just saying it’s not for the money and we should expect to spend more than that 1% (budget will be adjusted once we have kids in the house and some ideas of the extra expenses). [The highest paying states are in the $800-900 range, so don’t think that they do it for the money, either. A research project earlier this year estimated that the average cost of a foster child to the family was something like $800/month. Only a couple states paid that much.]

As it relates to living simply/frugally, I am likely to discuss foster care here. I don’t expect this to become a foster care blog but who knows? If it does, it will of necessity be vague as confidentiality is of great importance. If you have questions, let me know, happy to talk about how it all works here in WI. Some I already know and can answer, some will come with experience of course!

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December 17th, 2008 - Christmas tree

We bought our Christmas tree last night at Schroeders Forevergreens up in Neenah. This post is mainly to serve as a reminder for next year! Although now that we’ve done it two years in a row, we’ll probably be able to remember next year. But I like tracking my local buying on here. In fact, I’m thinking about creating a page just of local businesses I like to use. The other day, I made a list of some places for a new faculty member here. How much easier if I hadn’t had to look up all the websites and write up descriptions. Something to during during the break perhaps.

Also a note to remind me that my favorite is the Fraser fir. Well, not really. My real favorite is the concolor fir, but they never have any (they had one last year, sold long before we showed up). So my favorite of those sold in this neck of the weeks is the Fraser.

We set it up last night, and the smell is already permeating the downstairs. It is lovely to have a tree. I could live without it, but it’s tops on Eric’s list of things to do for the winter holidays. And I can’t say I don’t enjoy it. Especially since he does much of the work, like hauling it around, cutting off the end, tightening the bolts, hanging the lights. I suspect now that Maggie’s old enough, she’ll help with putting on the ornaments and my job will mainly be mild assistance with all of the above and getting stuff up from storage in the basement.

We bought some outdoor LEDs and started putting them up inside the porch. However, it’s been bitterly cold. We got half the porch done on the one day it was above freezing (high of 37 and not much fun inside the porch regardless). Now it’s in the teens and single digits again. Eric hopes to finish the other half–we so don’t want to be one of those houses we laugh at when driving around looking at lights–but boy is it a cold prospect! Next year, we hope to have something set up in the fall so they are outside as well. (Perhaps this year, LEDs will still be left for the after Christmas sales. Have looked for the last few years to no avail. On the other hand, prices have been slashed so much lately we got these at 60% off.)

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December 16th, 2008 - Weight loss update

Yesterday was the end of the diet. My final weigh-in: 135.2#. That means I made my goal of 135! When I made that goal, I wasn’t using a scale with decimals, so as far as I’m concerned, anything under .5 counts.

The only problem is that I’ve way overeaten yesterday and today. Mostly intentionally, but it’s very weird. Today I ate almost three cookies that weren’t even very flavorful, just because I had them here and though I wanted to. But they didn’t taste good! Why didn’t I get rid of them right away and eat something better, like my pumpkin seeds? Very weird….a week ago, I wouldn’t have even touched these cookies.

I’m paying less attention this week to calories, but what I really need to do now is understand what about 1800 calories a day would be like and working on that. I also have a couple weeks to decide whether I will try to lose another 5# next spring.

By the way, I don’t believe I ever said why Sunday was the goal day. I’m having surgery on Dec 22. This whole thing got started because I said I had to lose 10# before even considering the surgery. Then when that went fairly well, I moved the goal down to a more appropriate level. And I needed to lose it before the surgery–a week before as I did not want to be on a diet right up to that day. I want to be sure I’m in great shape for being out of it for a few days. I should be laid out Monday and maybe Tuesday. I should be able to return to work the following week. Just in case, I’ve taken both weeks off work (I can always go back early). (Don’t bother asking; I’ve only told a couple people the nature of the surgery and I’m not telling you guys either. Sorry, just prefer the privacy. Heck, I haven’t even told more than two people here at work that I’m even having surgery. I’m just taking my first winter holiday vacation since coming here. [Not counting maternity leave.])

I figure I’ll easily lose another 5# next week, so either I’ll hit that spring goal ASAP or else I’ll lose what I gain this week. LOL I don’t expect to eat at all on Monday–can’t for 12 hours before the actual surgery and I suspect I’ll be knocked out through the night on pain killers. Maybe some turkey broth but who knows if I will even be awake enough for that. Figuring on liquids for at least Tuesday as well. Beyond that–cookies and Chex Mix!!!!

Prayers and good wishes appreciated. I’m highly …. leery? worried? freaked out?…. about anesthesia. I’ve only had it once before, for my wisdom teeth removal, and I tried to talk the dentist into just using Novocaine. I was in tears before I went under and I have little recollection of getting out of it and getting home (unlike, say, Eric, who went through the same procedure around the same time and was quite lucid and remembers everything afterward). And since learning how poorly I do with open wounds, I’m worried about how I’ll react to my own scars. I know, I won’t be seeing them open and I’ve already seen my thumb sliced wide open and was just fine (although probably in some shock at that time). Thank goodness for Eric who has promised to do all the wound care needed and says I can avoid seeing them completely if I can’t handle it. (And we’ll also see if I can take some sort of relaxant before the surgery to get me through the morning until I’m knocked out. And Eric will not leave my side until I’m completely under.)

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December 15th, 2008 - Giving shoes away

Yesterday, I told Maggie she could wear her brown boots (not really winter boots, more dressy boots. Or winter boots if you live south of the Mason-Dixon line I guess) with her dress, instead of sneakers. She declined, telling me “I never wear those boots. I don’t like them. We can give them away to the other kids.”

That’s right: At 4, my daughter has already learned that if you don’t use something or don’t want it anymore, the appropriate thing to do is give it away!

If only she did this with things I didn’t care about. These are her only dress shoes for the winter, so she needs to wear them to the preschool winter program Thursday and her child dedication ceremony at church Sunday. I guess we can donate them on Monday. LOL

And, in the interest of complete honesty, I do not know if she really knows that anything we “give away to other kids” disappears from the house and thus she cannot use that item again. We’ll see. We’ve been working on going through her toys lately and the box will disappear as soon as we go through the toys in the living room….

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December 11th, 2008 - Simplifying the holidays: Cookies

One of my treasured holiday traditions from growing up is cookie baking (and eating). I haven’t done it very much as an adult, however, because I’ve previously thought about doing it the same way. We baked dozens and dozens (probably a few hundred) cookies and bars. Each batch was huge and/or complicated. I adored the results, but didn’t have the time to duplicate these efforts or in some cases the equipment.

My three favorites: Spritz–we had a cookie press but it didn’t work for us so I gave it away. Aunt Chicks–need their recipe and cookie cutters (Michael: I want to inherit these! If I don’t buy my own set soon.). And painting them takes forever, even with two older kids helping. Ausukes: Lithuanian “little ears.” Which Dad always helped make because the dough has to be rolled thin enough to see through and took forever. Plus they are fried and I don’t have an electric frypan (my little fryer would only fit two at a time). And they make at least a hundred if not more. We’d store them in the canning kettle!

So what to do? Well, why not make fewer cookies for starters? Small batches take less time and can even be done between work and dinner. And why not try some other favorites as well as some new recipes? Right now is the perfect time to try new ones because if we don’t like them, there will be something else around. And that’s exactly what I’ve done. Here’s what I have so far (all sitting on the front porch, freezing till the Solstice comes ’round [nice side effect of celebrating the Solstice is we get holiday treats a few days early. We do also celebrate Christmas in this house.]):

pebbernodder: Different from every recipe I found online, this is my Danish uncle David’s family recipe that I loved as a kid (they often visited for New Year’s and he always brought these). Intimidated because the recipe makes 1000. So I made 1/4, got about 100, and plan to make lots more because they are little and yummy! I so should have made these before. They are easy. Oh, and I also make another similar kind from an online recipe, but they aren’t as good.
Mint snowcaps I adapted the recipe since I don’t like mocha and used mint flavoring oil instead. Yummy. May make more of these.
Chocolate shortbread: These were from a mix I bought after Christmas last year. The chocolate didn’t melt like it should have, the orange peel isn’t noticeable, pretty lame. But at least the box is out of my pantry.
my shortbread: I loved shortbread as a kid but figured it was difficult to make. Until I tried it here in Oshkosh back when we lived in the apartment. It’s my favorite dessert to make and is the EASIEST thing I made this year. I tried an oatmeal one and a regular one. These are Eric’s favorites, too. I cut them smaller than usual, to assist in the losing weight effort. But now I’m afraid I’ll eat more because “oh, but they are so small, I can have 4!”
cranberry slices: I’ve been going through all my printed and copied recipes trying to pare them down to things I’ll actually make or have made and really liked. I have a tendency to copy more than I’ll ever actually do. One of those was for a cranberry dessert bar, so I decided I had to try it now, or get rid of the recipe. (I have three bags of fresh WI cranberries in the fridge to use.) I halved the recipe to fit in an 8×8 pan. They are good and it’s a keeper!
Raspberry fudge Another recipe from LorAnn Oil (snowcaps from there, too). Very delish, but didn’t come out right. The raspberry layer didn’t cook up the first time (note: Add the powdered sugar slowly, not all at once, and use less). The second time, it was so dry it hardened before I could move it around the entire bottom layer (but yet was warm enough to melt some of that layer). And it’s hard and dry while the chocolate part is soft so they don’t stick together well. I don’t know how to solve it, but I’d love to make these again, despite the hassle. Because I love raspberry. You can make them in any flavor (if you figure out the favored layer’s cooking). So glad to have extras in the pantry, as I couldn’t have had a second chance at the middle layer if I didn’t have another can of sweetened condensed milk there. But now I have to make something with 12 ounces of SWC!
chocolate covered Chex mix: I’ve gotten some white chocolate chex mix in the past and loved it. Except I’m not a big fan of white chocolate (or almond bark or such) and I’d have to but it special just for this. So I decided to cover it in melted chocolate chips. I’ve tried two batches so far, one with semi-sweet and one with milk. The latter tastes better, but both of them melt quickly in your fingers. Glad I’ve tried 1/4 recipes. I found online recipes for dipping chocolate with chips that call for 1 Tbs of shortening per cup of chips. I’ll try a third batch soon. I also tried it with mint chocolate chips, which also didn’t go over well. They are larger than regular ones, so don’t go as far and are overpowering the rest of the flavor.
regular Chex mix: For whatever reasons, I only have this around the winter holidays. Family tradition, I guess! For the last two years, I purchased it (along with the white chocolate Chex and caramels at my church’s auction fundraiser. It wasn’t on the list this year plus I got sick and didn’t go. So have to make my own. Actually, Eric and Maggie made it. I fiddled the recipe since I don’t like wheat Chex so drop the amount of that, but I add in pretzels, Cheerios, and peanuts. I intentionally didn’t adjust the seasonings, since there’s a lot of butter. But it wasn’t enough; Eric says he thinks the butter is an okay amount, but the dry seasonings and Worcestershire sauce could be increased. Will likely make a second batch. Almost had him make a double batch–over 30 cups!–so glad I changed my mind. We have plenty of the cereals–bought 8 boxes for some store specials. Plan to also make a ranch cheese variety.

Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? But each one–except the Chex–was a small batch. (One batch of shortbread only makes a 5×10 piece). Even the Chex fits in a 5 qt ice cream bucket. And having the variety also make it a snap when our neighbor blew out the of our drive and our sidewalks yesterday–the day our snowblower wouldn’t start. The same day we got 8″ of snow. (It’s the spark plugs and should be replaced for Eric to pick it up this morning.) I quickly fixed up a variety of desserts to take over to him as a thank you. (Now if only we could catch him at home!) And–with the exception of the boxed shortbread–everything on the list is something I really wanted to make!

I’ve been inspired, too, by simplfying. I could make Aunt Chicks, but make just a couple dozen. Or just wait until Maggie is a little older (like, say, next year!) and she does the painting! Similarly, if I get a new (to me) cookie press like Mom’s for spritz, just make a small batch so I’m not overwhelmed. Ausukes aren’t in the picture yet.

I wrote this post early this morning because I don’t get to eat breakfast and I needed to keep busy. Strange to write about all these goodies while avoiding food, but it kept me occupied and until now, I wasn’t even getting hungry for them! (I’m having the annual blood test to make sure everything’s fine, with a 12 hour fast.) Time to go read the paper and keep occupied until time to go to work.

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December 9th, 2008 - Bread, wonderful, wonderful bread (and the Winter Market)

I very, very rarely rave about things I buy except those I really, really, really love. I will commence raving now (actually, I haven’t stopped since Saturday!): I have discovered an artisan bread maker from the other side of the lake, RealBread. I love bread. I make a few loaves a week at home. And I would buy his bread a few times a week if it were sold in Oshkosh. I have been raving about it since I tried it Saturday and bought a loaf at the indoor Winter Farmer’s Market up in Appleton. Mostly, just to Eric and Maggie since they are the ones around when I eat it LOL, but I just can’t say enough about how fantastic it is–it’s dense and flavorful and savory and complex. I never understood what that meant in terms of bread but I’ve seen/read it. Now I understand. This is complex bread.

And the coolest thing is that he is starting a bread share–like a CSA but with bread. And he’s going to deliver to Oshkosh (I think the NDC downtown but that’s not confirmed) starting in January. He’s willing to deliver for just a few of us this first time, but needs 10 to keep it going beyond that, so I’m trying to drum up business for him with the few folks I know around town. Right now, I wish I were more connected, especially with green folks who might be into this sort of thing like me. I’m a bit stuck with a few folks on campus and my Covenant Group from church. And this is the last week of classes, so I’m not sure how much interest I’ll get here. But I’m going to try. Already told Peter about it, and maybe he’ll share it with others over there. Especially if I get some bread to hand out. (The baker hopes to get some to me, but with the weather, I’m not sure he’ll get to Oshkosh this week.)

So, I tried his honey whole wheat and something else. And then I didn’t even buy either one of those, I got a 40% rye instead. See, he always makes the flaxseed ones, and the honey one will be around until he runs out of the barrel of honey he traded for a bread share, but the 40% rye was a first-run trial and it might never appear again. It was yummy, however, so I hope it does. And it just goes to show how great a bread maker he is if he can make up something and it’s completely yummy and he can sell it without even having tried it himself! I was tempted by the sourdough baguette as well. Actually, everything is sourdough, but not a strong sourdough, just like the ones I was making. (The only similarity–not a strong sour taste.) I ate the bread for lunch Saturday; breakfast, lunch, and a snack Sunday; lunch Monday; and lunch again today. That will be the end of it. ::sigh:: It only lasted this long because of the diet. Otherwise, I could have eaten the whole thing on the weekend.

And the Winter Market! I’ve known about it for a year, but never went. Almost didn’t go this year, with the whole cutting down on driving we’ve been doing. I found out Stephen goes, and made vague plans to go with him some time. Then I mentioned it to Eric and he reminded me he needed to make an exchange at the mall. So we did both errands on Saturday morning. The market took far more time–and money–than I’d expected! There’s meat [bison, Cattleana farms, elk, sausage guy], goat cheese and milk, caramel corn, a whole grains baker, crafts, cheese, canned goods (from pickles to syrups to sauerkraut) and farmers (mainly root crops plus at least one person with eggs). It was far more than I was expecting from it and I so wish it were down here in Oshkosh! But this bread alone (and the feta cheese from the goat farm is fantastic with it) is worth the trip to the Market, frankly.

We bought: a bison chuck roast (made yesterday in the crockpot), Cattleana meats (that’s the place where we’ve regularly bought meat), feta cheese, fresh cheese curds (they squeeked!), jalapeno pickles (since Eric didn’t like mine, we’re trying someone else’s), a whole grain chocolate chip cookie (when Maggie got hungry and I didn’t think of the curds), tomato sausage and brats (had them Saturday night; good, but not organic), Jerusalem artichokes (I wanted to grow them last summer, but only found them at my usual places in 5# bags which is far more than I needed), and eggs (green ones! and speckled brown ones! They are so pretty. I have to show them to Maggie.)

Darn, writing down that list has just made me even more eager to go back again…except it’s a long drive just to get eggs, bread, and cheese each week. Maybe once a month.

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December 9th, 2008 - Used nature’s gym today

It’s gorgeously winter today: We had about 11″ of snow as of Monday morning. Then it started snowing around 3:30 and kept it up most of the night. And it should continue today. Perhaps up to 14″ in the next two days. When you walk to work at 6:45am, few people have cleared their sidewalks yet, so it’s a workout. I could have walked in the streets–which were quite clear (well, relatively speaking), but walking in the snow meant I could skip my cardio workout at the gym later today. I probably won’t skip it, but it’s such a GOOD idea to use the world around us to get exercise. It saves money, energy (in terms of creating products not my own personal energy), and time. I had to walk to work anyway, so why not get more of a workout in at the same time?

Others aren’t as thrilled as I am with the snow. But when you don’t have to deal with it except walking, it’s great fun! (And the walking is better with all this snow–not as much ice to worry about.)

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December 5th, 2008 - Turkey soup

Last night, I roasted veggies in the toaster oven (beet, potato, rutabaga, onion, carrot, garlic, with some sage and sea salt) that were just delightful. And wonderfully filling! I will definitely make them again. I simply diced everything (fairly small to make them cook faster), coated them with a tablespoon of canola oil (will use olive next time if I think of it, and I should have put some on the pan first), sprinkled a bit of salt, and crumbled two sage leaves. 425 toaster oven for 45 minutes. (Original recipe said an hour for 4# of veggies.) I stirred it every 15 minutes. Making a small batch–enough for two servings–made it a quicker prep than trying to do a big batch.

Tonight, I finally made turkey soup from the broth I canned last weekend. (I’ve been eating other leftovers before.) I used the broth (including meat), the leftover roasted veggies, and some kugelis. I added some more sage (didn’t have enough to taste it last night) and kosher salt. Something wasn’t quite right in it–I’m guessing the kugelis since it has eggs, but who knows. The beets made the broth a lovely, though strange, red.

And it took only about 15 minutes start to finish to make! Woohoo!

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December 3rd, 2008 - Another thing about being sick

I was worried about my weight loss continuing while I was sick. Traditionally, when sick with a cold, I eat a lot. The stuff running down my throat makes me sick to my stomach unless I’m eating or sucking on candy (which also helps with sore throats). I think I was lucky the first couple days because I slept so much I ate pretty normally. The rest of the time, I made an effort to stick to what I typically ate. I originally wasn’t going to count calories while sick, but I ended up doing it anyway, although I wasn’t going to punish myself if I went over. In fact, I never went over! (Assuming I did indeed remember to write down everything I ate. That’s debatable, but except for Thanksgiving and one other day, I didn’t even go over 1260 calories. And those two I did go over were under 1500. So I had plenty of wiggle room. And Thanksgiving only went over because I didn’t know Eric was going to bring home doughnuts later, so I ate an extra special breakfast (butter! cocoa with milk!).

I spent two weeks not exercising. I didn’t even walk to work until this week. Either I didn’t go in, I drove, or Eric drove me. I didn’t even take the bus (which would give me a 3 block walk at least).

I didn’t lose much, but I did continue to lose! If you take my best weigh in, I have only 1.7 pounds left. If you take my most recent one, 2.5. The latter is unlikely in just two more weeks, so I’m hoping the former is more my real weight. The “deadline” is Dec 12.

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December 3rd, 2008 - Quitting contacts

The past 10 days with an eye infection afforded me the opportunity to consider life without contacts. I’ve worn them since 9th grade, or about 22 years. I recently heard about a woman who gave up contacts as part of a less plastic life and it got me thinking.

Ever since I switched from annual contacts to disposables in grad school, I’ve felt guilty about the waste. The less chance of an infection, however, always outweighed that. (My cousin once got one that was exacerbated by contacts and it was pretty awful and he spent weeks if not months dealing with it.) But if someone else could do it, maybe I could, too.

Unfortunately, not during winter in Wisconsin. Wait, let me add another caveat: Not during winter in WI if you walk to/from work every day.

It was downright scary walking without glasses. Two major problems–one is the condition of the sidewalks. Was I walking on snow, ice or concrete? Was that a patch of ice up head or just more snow? Having spent quite a few winters with sprained ankles and wrists from falling on ice, this is a huge concern of mine and made the walk very slow and stressful. The other is cars: If a car had headlights on, I could see it over a block away. If not, I couldn’t. And that made me nervous that I might be missing a closer car. And in the middling light of morning or cloudy, snowy days, you can’t guarantee everyone will be smart enough to put on their headlights.

Yesterday morning there was also the barking, running dog who wasn’t leashed. I couldn’t tell where he was between the foggy glasses and the head coverings and that freaked me out. That he was 3 feet away when I finally did see him really scared me. (He didn’t come closer, thank goodness, but I was frozen in place and screaming at his owner until the dog finally left a couple minutes later.) I forgot each morning to walk my normal route, where I’m pretty sure of the two unleashed dogs. One is so old he never runs and has never come near me. The other I cross the street before reaching.

So, could I do it during other seasons? Perhaps. In summer, the other problem is needing sunglasses, but you can get Rx sunglasses, or glasses with attachable shades. (But I ADORE my current glasses, and got lots of compliments on them.) I usually wear sunglasses all year ’round if there’s much sunlight, which means most days.

Well, and the whole reading glasses thing. I’d probably have to get bifocals and I so really don’t want them.

It sure would be cheaper to wear glasses. And overall simpler–my morning/night routines were so much faster!

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December 1st, 2008 - The holiday in review

I was still under the weather Thursday, so we cooked the turkey Saturday instead. Eric picked up some sliced turkey for sandwiches Thursday morning. And a special bread for me, which I am still enjoying. We cooked the turkey Saturday. At 20#, it required both of us for much of the work (mainly, Eric for lifting it). But thankfully, it was still small enough that I was able to lift it, as it finished nearly an hour before I expected it to, while Eric was gone to the gym!

We had just a little bit of it for lunch, along with my cranberry jelly. I’m not sure I mentioned it–Eric is a huge fan of jellied cranberries. I have never been able to eat the stuff, finding it absolutely horrid as a kid and not touching it since. But we always get fresh cranberries every winter (since the majority of cranberries grown in the US come from about 100-200 miles east of here). So I decided to try making my own jelled cranberries for him this winter. Unfortunately, some of the seeds remained after pressing it through the food mill, so he didn’t like the mouth feel. He did like the taste, however, so I will be making it again, this time employing the jelly bag. And, even better, Maggie and I like it. She adores it; I think it’s a bit sweet for a meal. I think it would be lovely on toast! And since I was having apple cider with the meal, it overpowered the sweetness of that and made the cider disappointing. But it was yummy with the turkey. Now I understand Eric’s great love of turkey + jellied cranberries sandwiches!

In the afternoon, we dissected the turkey and pressure cooked the carcass, fat, drippings, and skin for stock. We chopped up the bits and pieces and Eric saved slices for sandwiches. We were smart this year: The slices were bagged up in 2-sandwich allotments, instead of piled in a few boxes. (I know, quite a bit of wasted plastic bags, however. But they wouldn’t have worked in any of the plastic boxes we have. And take up a whole lot less room than a dozen boxes would.)

On Sunday, I pressure canned the broth–which is stock + the chopped up bits of meat. My first time time pressure canning went smoothly, except that I over-pressured it. Had trouble keeping it at exactly 11, and when I thought I was fine, I left the room, only to have to jump up. But that’s better than under-pressure. I bought the pressure canner specifically for soup, so I’m thrilled. It’s not quite soup yet–they don’t recommend including the veggies. Nor did I salt it. But it will still be pretty easy to heat up the broth plus some frozen veggies quickly. I’m so looking forward to deciding to have soup and opening a jar, instead of defrosting a box from the freezer. In fact, I plan to do so with one of the jars tomorrow for dinner. Have to try it right away to see how it came out, after all.

Oh! I almost forgot the best part of Thanksgiving: We made kugelis! That’s an old family recipe, on the Lithuanian side. Eric helped–he grated the potatoes and onions and squeezed the water out of the taters. It’s just as good as I remembered, especially reheated the second day. (I should have brought it for lunch today.) We baked it in two 1.5qt dishes, in the toaster oven. I put one in the freezer. In the future, we’ll just do a half recipe. Mom though the full recipe was about 8 servings. I was overfull with 1/12 and later tried 1/24th–and that was plenty! (With some sour cream, of course.) Maggie’s not too into it–probably because it’s a new food. But then again, she might be just like Moms: I couldn’t stand it as a kid. Didn’t like sour cream either. Then something changed as a teen and I fell in love with both!

We didn’t actually make it for Thanksgiving, as I learned from Mom, because we always had stuffing. But I prefer it to stuffing (and to mashed potatoes) so I believe we have a winner for a family favorite for holidays. This is delightful to me, as we haven’t had many family traditions and we’re still working on what we’ll do. I’m not into the big family meals, but Eric would like to do it. I realized this year that if we figure out the traditional foods we’d like to have, I’d be more interested. I was thrilled with the turkey/homemade jellied cranberry/kugelis meal, for instance. (Plus pumpkin pie from the store. Next year, I’ll make my own. If I’m not sick again.) And I have to get the cardamom bread recipe from Mom for a special breakfast.