In my family January is a BIG birthday month. My oldest daughter’s birthday is January 3 and my twins’ birthday is January 25. That’s 3 right there but I have 3 friends who have birthdays in this month as well. PARTY!!!
Now, this always means plenty of cakes or the birthday person’s chosen dessert. Sometimes the celebrant doesn’t choose to have a cake. Some of the other desserts have been Boston Creme Pie, Slush Pie, Cheesecake, and well, you get the idea.
We also have the birthday person choose their special dinner if their schedule allows a dinner. Melanie, my oldest always picks Dried Beef Gravy (aka SOS) over toast for her dinner. This year she told me she only gets it once a year. I asked her why because she could just make it. Her answer was that when she makes it that it never turns out the same. That’s a nice complement to me but I suspect that it is just that it always tastes better if someone else makes it. Any person who cooks for a family will agree with that!
I make Dried Beef Gravy the way my Mom always did and I think of it as comfort food and serve it on toast (although mashed potatoes are good with it too) and peas as the veggie.
Mom’s Dried Beef Gravy (SOS = military men called it this in the mess hall. I am assuming you know what it stands for.)
1/2 gallon of milk
1 stick of margarine or butter (your preference)
salt and pepper to taste
1 large jar of dried beef (tore or cut into smallish pieces)
flour
Prepare a roux to make the gravy by putting about a cup of flour into about 1 cup and a half of water and shaking (if using a jar) or whisking until smooth in a bowl. Pour the milk into a sauce pan and add the margarine/butter and the salt and pepper. Heat until it just begins to come to a boil stirring frequently. Using a whisk slowly add the roux until the gravy is the thickness you desire. Add your dried beef and turn burner to its lowest setting until beef is warmed. This doesn’t take long. Serve over toast.
Variations:
Hamburg Gravy (best served over mashed potatoes)
For this version you just brown a pound of hamburg and saute one onion. Drain. You use water instead of the milk as the base. We always darken the gravy with Gravy Master and a cup of coffee. You will use salt and pepper but also garlic powder and any other spice you would like until it tastes good to you.
Sausage Gravy (best served over biscuits)
Brown a pound of pork breakfast sausage. You’re back to using milk as the base for this gravy. The only addition in spice that I do is adding some paprika but you may want to add onion and garlic powder too. It just depends on your taste.
Organization
How many of you cut recipes out of magazines and save them? I have two vintage metal picnic baskets filled with them! I am in the process of going through them. I find that I have liked a recipe I’ve seen so much that I have cut it out 2, 3 and sometimes 4 times! Geesh! As I am going through them I am looking on Pinterest to see if they are there. If they are, I then save them on one of my boards and get rid of the recipe I clipped. The only exceptions to this are when I was given a handwritten recipe from a friend or an old family recipe. Those I save in hard copy! If you would like to check out my Pinterest boards here is the link: https://www.pinterest.com/rhuberross/
I have boards for holidays, certain food groups or meals (breakfast, etc.), craft projects, repurposing ideas, and just things I want to remember. If you haven’t explored Pinterest you just have to!
Things You Should Know
So, this may seem like a personal question but I am going to ask anyway. How often do you get rid of your underwear and buy new? It turns out that you should do it once a year. Even though you wash your underwear there are bacteria that remain in them even after the washer and the dryer! These bacteria are not nice and can cause disease. As a matter of fact, the bacteria can number in the 10,000 range. There are many articles and much research on this topic. If you would like to read more about it here is a link to the Good Housekeeping article on the subject:
The article is from Australia but still Good Housekeeping and there are many other articles including one from Essence magazine. Consider yourself informed!
Cleaning
I am sure I didn’t invent my cleaning system which is “a room a day” system and that it is out there on the Internet somewhere. However, I thought of it and I put it into practice as much as is possible. I am retired now but especially when I was working some system for cleaning the house had to be in place because I just didn’t have the time. Actually, I am pretty busy in retirement too so it still comes in handy.
The system is very simple. I just do a roughly a room a day. That way each room gets cleaned once a week (it never gets bad because it is cleaned regularly) and the house doesn’t take too much sprucing up if company is coming or something like that. Here is the method that has worked for me. You can set up a system that suits your lifestyle and your time constraints too.
Monday – clean the bathroom and upstairs hallway
Tuesday – craft room and guest room (I lump the two together because neither are used daily and therefore don’t get as dirty)
Wednesday – my bedroom and the stairs
Thursday – foyer and livingroom
Friday – diningroom
Saturday – kitchen
Sunday – day of relaxation
Notes:
Since each room is getting done once a week it never takes long to clean it. I spend not even an hour a day with this system. Also, there are things I add to it occasionally such as going through a closet or a drawer, etc. so that those things get done too.
On Saturdays I also add in doing my wash, changing my bed and watering the plants so that each of those items get done once a week as well. When I was working and my kids were home it was slightly different. I did a load of wash a day and then on Saturday did what was left. I also changed all beds when I did that room.
If you have a system or trick that works for you please share in the comments. I know I don’t have the only answers to the cleaning of the house. I just do what works for me.
See you next week! Set aside some time to be good to you this week! Read, take a nap, whatever makes your life delicious!!!
