mollyhousemouse

Everytime, tim. Every. Darn. Time. Your words reach deep. It's sad, but beautiful. Did you ever see the movie Ladyhawke? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089457/?ref_=nv_sr_1 They were cursed to live together, but always apart. She had to live as a hawk by day, he a wolf at night. But there was a moment, twice a day, when they could almost touch. The last stanza (is the right term?) is that movie. Thanks again, tim.

OK, I laughed. Out loud. No, really! This was such a sweetly written chapter! Full of love, and warmth! It's a love letter to fathers and father figures everywhere. I could feel the tears starting! Makes me really, really glad I took a chance on what I at first thought was just another vamp story. (in my Chapter 11 comments) Thanks again!

You are sneaky so and so you are Jim! And now that I'm caught up, I can't wait to see where it goes!

That chapter just had so much going on! And it was GOOD! Now, for Christmas...

Hi Jim, My moniker, nice word, is an homage to a mentor who once caught me doing cross stitch while I was working. He walked in behind me and said, "Well, well, lookit miss Molly House Mouse." Having the secondary characters be so richly and fully developed adds so much to the story. You better understand their motivations for the things they do and say in the lives of the main characters. Please, don't change a thing! Molly

Can't stop reading! Which is awesome! It's taken me about 2 days to get here, with all of "life" making a full-out binge possible. Thanks very much for sharing these people and their stories with us!

The Midnight Special! I would sneak back downstairs to the basement rec room to watch that! Or, if I was lucky, could have a slumber party and stay awake to watch it!

@jamessavik mustn't forget these guys:

I had the suspenders, and those Wacky Packy's! Remember Garbage Pail Kids? lol! And every boy I knew, had that big belt buckle....

What a great chapter! Danny's response was spot on! And Joe and Raymond's conversation was priceless. Well done...

I'm really enjoying the story! However, I'm too late to chime in on how they handle this, but I can't wait to hit the next button!

I always knew, that if Fendral was able to "come back" he'd be important to Kellar and Tobyn's journey. Thank you, Gary, for this wonderful story. It is a love story. A love story about all sorts of love! I'm about 6 weeks away from making the same trip Gigi was making. To go home to people who had disowned her. Also so that my kids can know their grandparents. I can only hope that my own Fendral, my own pack, will be this accepting. There were tears, Gary, there were tears. This chapter has given rise to a lot of feelings, and "self talk" about my upcoming trip. Some of what Fendral said, some of what Kellar said. Now, how long until next Monday?

I'm getting ready to do the menu plan and shopping list for this week and wanted to share with y’all a “cook once eat twice" meal. Please keep in mind that we are in the South Central Texas, so the flavors may not be your thing. One of the meals we’ll do this week is Salsa Chicken. This is one of those dishes that you can make a lot of and have leftovers for lunch, or put it into freezer bags for later. Also if you don’t like salsa, or if you can’t get salsa where you are, use a different sauce. I’ve also been told that sometimes salsa is called “picante sauce.” You don’t want the fresh salsa that some stores sell in the produce department. The last thing that makes this dish such a winner is that you can make it on the stove top, or in the oven. You can use either boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs. Trim any excess fat. Season with a little salt and a gentle sprinkle of ground cumin (comino). To cook it in the oven, pour a little of the salsa into a baking dish, put the chicken on top, and cover with the rest of the salsa. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes. Remove the foil and continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through. OPTIONAL: sprinkle some cheddar cheese over the meat and put back in the oven until melted. Serve over white rice with a spoon of the sauce. Stove top preparation: Cut the chicken into bite size pieces season as above. Cook in a frying pan just until no pink shows. Add the salsa, and cover simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve over rice. The meat can also be shredded and used for chicken tacos, shredded and added to Mexican (Spanish) rice. It freezes and reheats well so it makes good lunches. You can use this as a blueprint recipe with flavors and sauces your family enjoys. If you use a marinara or other “spaghetti” type sauce, this is really good over pasta. As far as cost, the thighs are much cheaper than the breasts. Also, don’t be fooled by those big family size bags of “individually frozen breasts.” If you check the unit price, they usually don’t cost less. They are also, in our experience, of inferior quality. For the salsa, since we aren’t eating this straight with chips, we just get the store brand. If you try it, let us know what you thought of it. If you have any questions, also let me know.

I'm glad I got it explained well! For our family, we stay away from the corn syrup as much as possible. It's one of the things I read labels to avoid. I'd rather have smaller amounts of sweets with real sugar than larger amounts of the over processed ones. What's sneaky is that it's in things like prepared sauces, and condiments. Makes me every more grateful for the many farmers markets and the small shops in our town that sell locally made products.

Sure, Lyssa. I'll give it a shot. Many of the foods here are made using corn syrup instead of sugar from sugar beets or sugar cane. Nutrition folks tell us that the body doesn't process the "high fructose corn syrup" the same way as regular sugar. On the nutrition label, the total carbohydrates are 20 g of those 10 g are derived from the different sugars in the bars. Was that helpful?

I can't eat in the morning. The very thought of food makes me ill. I have water and coffee first thing, then about 8:30 or 9:00 I'll have some low fat vanilla yogurt or these great whole grain fig bars I found. https://naturesbakery.com/snack-products/fig-whole-wheat-fig-bars

With hubby developing diabetes and my auto immune thing making me susceptible to weight gain, we just don't do pasta as often. I'll have to try the spaghetti squash swap.

When I used the phrase convenience foods, I meant things like "Hamburger Helper" and the like. I'm all for using canned and frozen vegetables. In fact, one of my favorite "tight budget" meals uses canned vegetables and V-8 or tomato juice to make a hearty vegetable soup.

A much needed giggle. Although I had to explain why I was giggling after writing a not so happy email to a customer who will now also be not so happy. Thanks tim!

It really has been a good start! When I was going to the local food pantry, I noticed a lot of "convenience foods" I started using my choices to make meals. And how I could use what I was allowed to take from there to stretch what limited food budget we had. It's why I'm so passionate about this now. It's one of my triggers, not having a stocked pantry. If we can help/advise/guide someone else through it, that's a win. Because then that person can help someone else, and the world becomes just a little better. If we can talk about food insecurity, and it makes just one person remember the conversation when there's a food drive, or other volunteer opportunity for ending hunger.....whew. Sorry about that, I'll put the soap box away.

Simply by dropping by, you have been accepted! Pull up a chair and a keyboard, and stay awhile!

Thanks, tim! After so many years of being "food insecure"* it's a topic that is near and dear to my heart! I'm so glad we've started this discussion! *"food insecure" is what they call being so poor you aren't always sure there will be a meal here in the US

I follow this philosophy. Cook once, eat twice (or more). I'll cook a family size package of boneless skinless chicken breasts, simply baked in the oven with salt and pepper, or boiled gently on the stove top with salt, pepper, maybe a bay leaf. Then we'll have chicken that can be sliced in a chicken taco, added to some ramen noodles with some frozen vegetables for a stir fry. For meatless meals, try 2 pounds of pinto beans, in a large crockpot. Season well with just salt and pepper. Cook low and slow, portion into zip top freezer bags. Now you have beans for a bean and cheese burrito, beans and rice, add some diced tomatoes and southwestern seasoning, for a meatless chili. One good tip to make this work, is to have a "menu." Not that you HAVE to eat what you put on each day, but this will ensure that you have shopped for all the items that are needed. You'll be less inclined to grab one of those microwave meals if you know you have precooked chicken or precooked beans ready to go.

These are wonderful ideas for herbs. Thank you!