What to Do with 40# of Pears?

The cool thing about working at a farmer's market is

when the produce stands have a slow day...they reduce the produce and the rumors work their way around to the other employees.

So yesterday I scored a big box of pears for $5
BUT since I came home for a birthday celebration and not a pear preservation evening...

I was thinking hard what to do with all those pears today.

They really are not rotten...for some reason the skins got brown and they are not especially pretty...

So I made this

Ginger Pear Bread

and

Pear Cake    

the recipe calls for a bundt pan, but I always have trouble with them so I used a regular cake pan....yummy

but I still have pears....gotta do something with them on Monday.

One Year Older...Wiser?

 EEEK...I'm not 50 yet, but I am one year older

After I sent the kids off to school.

 I met DH for breakfast at a local Smorgasboard that  gives free birthday meals.

Then I went off to work at the sub stand at Green Dragon.

Stopped at the local grocery store for the special of  2 cheeseburgers and a bag of chips for $2.75

Ordered 6 "specials" I won't be winning any awards from the diet police or the wonderful much-quoted health book that my 4th and 5th graders use....I HATE that book!

 Anyway...I was sort of wondering if there would be dessert and I was not disappointed. I got a "plant"   DH mixed up ice cream and non-dairy whipped topping...added crushed cookies and a plant

Then they told me to sit on the sofa and "don't look!"  

Then they threw balloons at me...you never know what to expect with this bunch...

but since I had a similar gift 3 years ago, I knew what was up.

I got to pop 45 balloons, but inside each balloon was a note from one of them saying something nice about me..."you are a good cooker, Thank you for reading the same book to me every night, thanks for the good food, thank you for adopting me, I love you, thanks for being dependable,thanks for being someone I can talk to"....and some that made me just smile. Some of the children were very curious about those "what did daddy write? when he was writing them he had a big smile...like this"

Afterward there was a big mess for them to clean up and I have a bag of notes...oh and a bag of chocolate covered coffee beans did you ever have them?

A Phone Call

After almost a year of waiting, we received a phone call tonite that has our son smiling from ear to ear!

He spoke with 'my brother'...no, not Ezekiel or Ben...the "Ch*na brother"..."my foster brother"

Connections to be made.
He has wanted to apologize for something a long time already and I knew it bugged him...
It was one of the first things he got off his mind.

What an example!

I had done some footwork awhile ago, but did not tell Joseph about it, so as not to disappoint...maybe we need to do a little traveling this summer.

Happy Birthday!

Now we have a 10 year old

She was so excited about her gift

 She knew she was getting a camera...thank goodness a certain company is going/went out of business and the prices are affordable.

 Happy Birthday dear one...may you continue to grow into the beautiful young woman of which I am beginning to see glimpses.
  

And this is a certain young man that normally makes faces when I take his picture...until today when I told him I want a picture to show the girls at school...then I got this. So now I know the secret!

Just another School Lunch

Today another mom and I made General Tsao's chicken, rice, stir-fried veggies, and potstickers

Still frozen, just starting to fry

 After I added some water and popping on the lid.


Pot stickers are dumplings that are fried until they are 'sticking to the pot' then quickly add water and cover to allow them to steam and finish cooking. I made about 175 on Thurs afternoon and there are only a few left after our supper tonite and the  18 kids and a few adults at lunch time.

The general's chicken?

General Tso’s Chicken

Original        25 students          80 servings             100 servings                     Ingredients

¼ cup               1-1/4 cup             5 cups                       7-1/2 cups                      cornstarch

1/8 cup            3/4cup (more)    1 cup                          3-3/4 cup                       water

¾ tsp                6 tsp                      15 tsp                       22 tsp            minced fresh garlic ( less if using dry)

3/4 tsp             6 tsp                      15 tsp                      22 tsp      minced fresh ginger (less if using dry)

1/3 cup            1-2/3 cup              6-2/3 cups                10  cup                           sugar

¼ cup              1-1/4 cups              5 cups                       7-1/2 cups                    soy sauce

1/8 cup            ¾ cup                     2-1/2  cups              3-3/4 cups                 white or rice wine vinegar

1 cup                7-8 cups                20 cups                     30 cups                      chicken broth (more liquid makes thinner “gravy”)

Mix your sauce in blender if you have a large amount or simply stir will with whisk.  Stir well before you pour into the chicken.

Meat

1-1/2 lbs           8 lbs                    27-28 lbs                   33-34 lbs                   boneless, skinless, chicken-uncooked

I figured about  1/3 lb per serving, this will vary depends on your people and how much ‘gravy’ they need on their rice. In other words the more ‘gravy’ with the chicken the further the meat will stretch.

½ cup                ¾   cup                15 cups                        22 cups                 soy sauce

Green onions

Small hot peppers-seeds removed   or  dried red pepper

Fry your meat in batches in a frying pan with a little oil. Add soy sauce to the meat as you are frying. I don’t always use the full amount of soy. Fry green onions and hot peppers with your meat. You can use as much or little of the onions and peppers as you like. The meat should have a bit of ‘heat’ from the peppers. If you are using dried red pepper, just sprinkle about ½-3/4 tsp on the meat as you are frying it.

Add your sauce after the meat is cooked and stir and cook until sauce becomes thick. At this point transfer to a crock pot to keep hot or serve with rice.

Out of Casts

Flying trip to Shriner's this morning. Normally I expect to spend most
of the day in Philly when we have a Shriner's appt. But today we were
leaving by 10:45. The casts...including daddy's improvisation (pieces of
sanding belt epoxied to the bottom of the casts) came off.
The few stitches disappeared like magic when the Dr took a look
Thank you Dr....
Joe tends to hang on to stitches like loose teeth...worrying them, but
never having the nerve to just get rid of them.
He was actually able to get back into his legs and walk out of the hospital!
Sent him to school for the last half of the day and I went home to make
more than 150 potstickers for tomorrow's lunch for the 4th grade class
Another birthday month at our house...will have a 10 y.o. this weekend!

Burning the Candle

at both ends.
Last evening I realized we had church AND I still needed to come up with hostess gifts for Ben to take along for their Gospel Team tour. Our high school chorus goes on tour at the end of the school year. This year they are headed south and will hopefully sing at Duke University chapel, a prison, and a camp for troubled girls...and a few churches. Anyway they are hosted in people's homes and we try to send some small hostess gifts for each place.
Quickly now...what can I make and still keep my vow to stay at home as much as possible this week?
I searched the internet for a pattern for re-usable grocery bags...found a pattern that is taken from those common plastic t-shirt bags and got to work...

By 11:00 PM I had 4 of them made, but today my brain was a bit fuzzy.

Looks just like a t-shirt...big deal!!

But I did manage to add the borders to this 100 Best Wishes Quilt. I love what we came up with. After I finish this one and one other I will take orders. Contact me and we can talk details.

Easter Finery

The focus of Easter is on the risen Lord.
But like all special occasions the females of the household love new clothes.
I almost decided I'm too busy working on this

But decided that my dress/clothes fast does not need to extend to them. The last new dresses we made were 'way back in October for the wedding. And since a very nice and considerate friend dropped off a pile of jewel-toned, springy fabric the other week. I decided to take a break from my other projects and make 2 dresses quickly. Thanks Sarah, the colors are perfect for the girls.

Oh and guess what arrived in the noon mail yesterday? Our notarized, finalized home study!!! Within 2 hours I had it and all supporting documents AND $$ off to the Fed Ex box for pickup ASAP - which unfortunately is Mon afternoon.

Good Friday

A day to commemorate Christ's death and suffering, but thankfully Sunday is coming!


Today hubby decided that he needs to finish a landscaping project started yesterday while Joe and I were in Philly.
The girls decided to pick dandelions for dad, but he didn't have a free hand to hold them! So a little  thought and he added a bouquet to his hat! Just before the camera snapped the picture, the girls were laughing like hyenas, of course they timed their laughter just right...I missed it.

Just some spring time cuteness...they are growing up SO fast!

Praises

There is only one reason this surgery went so well.
Prayers
He woke up with a pretty good attitude and by this evening, he asked for
his walker.

Then decided that was too slow and went on to walking.

The doctor gave me a bit of pause when he said "we'll keep him overnight
and send him home in the AM"
I left him know that did not sound like a good idea and that Joe does
better at home.
I hope he feels this positive in the AM...keep praying.

Out patient?

Hopefully we have a quick, out patient surgery for today. The offical name is epiphysiodesis   but really it is just slowing his bone growth in his lower legs.
Unfortunately it will mean no prosthesis for 3 weeks. Hopefully he will accept the walking casts and be up and around even if he is not running marathons.

If you have extra prayer time, you can add us to it.