Staying Busy in the Kitchen

Tuesday - January 3, 2012

For the last six weeks my head has been spinning with grocery list, menus, how much, how many, what do they like, what can they eat, and how in the world am I going to get it all completed!!!! Staying with Mom most of the week was an obstacle that I was going to have to overcome if I wanted to prepare the food for at least four family gathering in a time span of five weeks! With the aid of my nieces, nephews, and my brother - who took over staying with Mom - I was able to go to the store, clean, and prepare the goodies for each gathering.

The first gathering was Thanksgiving. There was eight of us who gathered around the table for a day of giving thanks. We enjoyed turkey, dressing, gravy, cranberry salad/sauce, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, green bean casserole, potato salad, broccoli and cauliflower salad, pumpkin pie, and cherry cheese pie. There was enough that the food was divided and sent to four different homes as an extra meal. I really love cooking and seeing those I love and care about enjoying the results of my work in the kitchen!

The second gathering included all of my nieces, nephews, and their families to surprise Mom on December 17th! I couldn't prepare food for all without telling Mom about all of them coming in to see her. So, I told Mom I was putting a big crock pot full of lasagna for her and Mike over the weekend. Mike was to turn the pot on early Saturday morning. He told Mom it would be better than Wendy's! She never suspected of the bombardment of nieces and nephews! Rhonda said she would fix a big pot of chili to bring down, and some of the others said they would bring in home made goodies too!!! So we ended up with lasagna, chili, veggie tray, fruit tray, cheese ball/cheese chucks/crackers tray, chicken squares, pig-in-a-blanket, chicken nuggets, and cookies that were oh so good!! We had a great day wit all 28 there have more than enough to eat!!! Very little food was left over for any of us to take home! :):) I guess that was a good sign!!!!

Christmas was our third gathering!!! Nine of us gathered together after church for a family feast. Since we had turkey for Thanksgiving, Mom decided we were to have ham. I didn't really want the ham because the high BP we all have, but she won out and ham it was!!! We had ham, baked beans, mashed potatoes, veggie tray, fruit tray, crescent rolls, banana pudding, chocolate pudding, and cherry cream pie. Again it was another great day being with family!!!!!

The last gathering was this past weekend when David. Jeni, Cora, and Ben came for a visit. Due to the gluten free, no grain diet they need to be on, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to fix something that was tasty and good for them!!! They can have meat, veggies, and fruit - I just needed to watch how it was prepared. We had organic eggs, bacon, sausage patties, biscuits, and fruit for brunch. Jeni had to watch what to eat - no biscuits - but I think (and hope) all had plenty and enjoyed it. Cora loved the fruit - especially the blueberries! for supper, I prepared a pork loin in the crock pot, fresh green beans, and roasted veggies that included zucchini, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, snap peas, carrots, red/yellow/orange/green peppers, onions, and a few cloves of garlic which were tossed in olive oil infused with basil and garlic seasoning, and cherry pie!

Four different gatherings with four different ideas as to what to prepare. Yes, some of them had the same dishes, but I tried to make something special for each gathering . . . and I didn't want them to eat the same thing each time we were together!

Following are some of the dishes I put together for the four family gatherings, while the others were for a regular supper at home and/or Mom's. Hope they spark your imagination for your next family gathering!!!!