Family Best: Life, Family, Farm, Fun, Food and Everything Else Under The North Georgia Mountains Sun!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Summer is nearing an end but there are still memories to be made
Although summer is coming to an end and school will be starting again soon, there are plenty of things to do with your kids. Spending afternoons making memories that will last a lifetime is important when raising kids. Take a little time to find something affordable and exciting to do with your family. READ MORE
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Playground safety and children
Taking a child to the park for the afternoon is memory making fun. The playground can be an exciting place for a child to play. Climbing and swinging and going down the slide. Safety is important as injuries on playgrounds are astounding. READ MORE
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Asthma in children
Stress can cause asthma in children, along with other triggers. This new research is concerning to a parent. There are more and more children diagnosed with asthma each year and parents need to be educated on asthma even if their child hasn't been diagnosed to be aware of symptoms and triggers. All children should live in healthy environments. Read More
Friday, July 24, 2009
Family coming to visit
I love when family comes to visit, once they get here and we all say our hellos and I can take that deep breath and relax. The week prior is like a military regime in my house trying to get the kids to clean their rooms and get everything in what I call "company order" It's not hard and my house isn't that messy, its' just ME and my panic mode. I don't know why I worry so much about a magazine being left out or the kids room looking messy. It makes me crazy and I want my home to look perfect when visitors arrive.
Now that today is the day I'm on the panic mode of what to do to entertain them. Do they even want to be entertained or do they want to sit around and relax. I never know and try to offer up suggestions either way, but do I sound like I'm trying to push one way or the other? I hope not, I'm just trying to be a gracious host.
Living so close to Atlanta there is a plethora of things to do with visitors or just with the family. It's almost overwhelming all the things that are around that are fun and entertaining. We live in the North Georgia mountains and just visiting areas around here can take up more than a weekend. I love where we live, its so central to culture and scenery and within two hours we can be in another state looking for their fun activities as well.
My hopes are that this weekend goes well and everyone has a great time, including myself if I can relax a little bit, and I have some amazing photos to show off on my blog.
I'm going to make something yummy that will feed a large crowd and the kids love and that's spaghetti. It's my traditional visitors dinner when I know I'm going to feed an army. I used to work all day putting together my sauce, but have streamlined it down to as Sandra Lee says "Semi Homemade". The best thing about my sauce is that I always get rave reviews as if I had slaved over it all day!
Jaymie's Spaghetti Sauce:
4 cans Hunts garlic and Herb spaghetti sauce
1 can Hunts Italian style chopped tomatoes
1 can Hunts tomato paste
1 beer, any kind will do
2 lbs ground beef
2 small cans mushrooms,(I use one container of fresh sometimes)
1 small onion chopped
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning (I go light on this it can be overwhelming)
Brown the ground beef and chopped onion together and drain off fat. Place the ground beef, sauce, tomatoes, tomato paste, beer, mushrooms and seasonings into the pot. Let simmer for one hour on low heat. Serve over cooked noodles of your choice (spaghetti, angel hair, vermicelli)
Now that today is the day I'm on the panic mode of what to do to entertain them. Do they even want to be entertained or do they want to sit around and relax. I never know and try to offer up suggestions either way, but do I sound like I'm trying to push one way or the other? I hope not, I'm just trying to be a gracious host.
Living so close to Atlanta there is a plethora of things to do with visitors or just with the family. It's almost overwhelming all the things that are around that are fun and entertaining. We live in the North Georgia mountains and just visiting areas around here can take up more than a weekend. I love where we live, its so central to culture and scenery and within two hours we can be in another state looking for their fun activities as well.
My hopes are that this weekend goes well and everyone has a great time, including myself if I can relax a little bit, and I have some amazing photos to show off on my blog.
I'm going to make something yummy that will feed a large crowd and the kids love and that's spaghetti. It's my traditional visitors dinner when I know I'm going to feed an army. I used to work all day putting together my sauce, but have streamlined it down to as Sandra Lee says "Semi Homemade". The best thing about my sauce is that I always get rave reviews as if I had slaved over it all day!
Jaymie's Spaghetti Sauce:
4 cans Hunts garlic and Herb spaghetti sauce
1 can Hunts Italian style chopped tomatoes
1 can Hunts tomato paste
1 beer, any kind will do
2 lbs ground beef
2 small cans mushrooms,(I use one container of fresh sometimes)
1 small onion chopped
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning (I go light on this it can be overwhelming)
Brown the ground beef and chopped onion together and drain off fat. Place the ground beef, sauce, tomatoes, tomato paste, beer, mushrooms and seasonings into the pot. Let simmer for one hour on low heat. Serve over cooked noodles of your choice (spaghetti, angel hair, vermicelli)
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Cooking with your kids
I enjoy getting into the kitchen with my kids, teaching them how to cook and bake and knowing that they will be able to survive when adults. What is the saying give him a fish and he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime. That is my philosophy with cooking and my children. Around age 6 I will start letting them use the toaster and the microwave and we move up from there into baking and cooking full course meals. Now that my children are older they love food competitions. I give them $20.00 and take them to the store they have a theme, ground beef or chicken or a vegetable and they have to make a dish. It's a steal from food networks food challenge shows, but made for home fun. It brings out the best in them and they are so proud of their hard work. My husband and I will judge along with a neighbor or friend. It's a lot of fun and this summer they have had a few cooking competitions. Most recently a ground beef competition where my 14 year old son made a delicious baked ziti and my 10 year old, now 11 years old made a Mexican ground beef casserole. They were hard to judge both being so tasty. Recently my daughter made monkey bread and I wanted to share the recipe. Maybe you could share it with your child.
16 to 20 whole pecans
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butter
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 10 oz cans refrigerator biscuits
Directions:
Grease a muffin pan. Place 2 or 3 whole pecans in each cup, and sprinkle half of the chopped pecans over them. In a saucepan melt the butter. Add the sugar, water, and the remaining chopped nuts. Cut the biscuits in thirds and roll into balls. Place 3 in each cup, then drizzle with sauce. Add 2 balls and drizzle with the remaining sauce. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 15 minutes.
16 to 20 whole pecans
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butter
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 10 oz cans refrigerator biscuits
Directions:
Grease a muffin pan. Place 2 or 3 whole pecans in each cup, and sprinkle half of the chopped pecans over them. In a saucepan melt the butter. Add the sugar, water, and the remaining chopped nuts. Cut the biscuits in thirds and roll into balls. Place 3 in each cup, then drizzle with sauce. Add 2 balls and drizzle with the remaining sauce. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 15 minutes.
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