Posts from the ‘Self Help’ Category

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Well we dodged the January 1^st. bullets. I say “dodged” not “missed” because the Farm Bill is only postponed until September, so milk may still be an issue this year, and the Fiscal Cliff “save” carries some unpleasant results. This was made very clear to me during a conversation I had with a younger friend last weekend.

 I have known this girl all her life, and always admired her level headedness. She and her husband are executives of large corporations, one a financial institution, and they are two of the most economically responsible people I ever met. Their focus is in providing for their young family, planning for the future and being able to face any emergencies that might arise.  Their combined  daily commute is more than 5hrs., so gas prices presented a problem requiring some adjustment this past year, and will this year too, since they are expected to go up again. They were prepared for the food price hikes  due to the drought. What they weren’t prepared for was the difference the payroll tax would make in their incomes .As my friend explained, despite a raise in December and a Christmas Bonus, her first paycheck this year was 3 digits lower  than her last one. Her husband had a similar shock, as did most of the people in their respective offices. As I suspect did many working Americans. Read more

Hello 2013

Here’s hoping you all had a nice holiday, had a chance to relax, catch your breath and get ready to face the New Year and apparently, 2013 will present challenges to be faced.  It is now two days before the year ends and I sincerely hope there will be some last-minute agreements reached, but according to the news reports, that seems doubtful.  If Congress fails to act, we can expect to see the consequences reflected in many aspects of our lives, not the least of which will be the cost of feeding our families. Read more

A peek at 2013

It’s nice to be validated, especially by official sources. It means your opinion has worth and kinda makes you want to stick your thumbs in your suspenders and strut a few steps. On the other hand, being able to say;”I told you so!”  isn’t always so pleasant. It usually means something unwanted has come to pass. So I have mixed feelings writing this. The report from The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Department is out and I was right about anticipating a larger gain in food prices in 2013 than 2012. Last year they expected a rise of 3% to 4%. This year they’re forecasting price increases of AT LEAST 5%, pending the full effects of the drought, and no reversal in the trend until 2020 at the earliest. So hold onto your hats people, we’re in for a ride. No matter your financial position, you will feel the consequences. Read more

After the ball….er…feast

In my first posting on Dec. 17, 2011, I discussed ways to store and use leftovers from holiday dinners and mentioned two of my favorite recipes which are available on this site; one for Hot Chicken Salad and the other for Stuffing Soup. Over the months I’ve offered other poultry recipes, especially for salads, in which leftover turkey can be substituted. In fact I don’t believe there are any in which it can’t. Two weeks ago I discussed stripping and freezing the leftover meat from the cooked turkey and boiling the bones for stock. All of this information can be easily found on this blog site and can be very helpful but would be far too time and space consuming to repeat here. So please look it up. Read more

Let’s talk turkey

When I think of a turkey in its natural setting, I picture colorful autumn woods, falling leaves, pumpkins and acorns. I don’t visualize tropical foliage, sun-drenched fields, blue water and a cactus. We learn, as children, that the turkey is native to North America, but that covers a huge area. It turns out that the Aztecs in Mexico domesticated the turkey years before they introduced it to the Spaniards in 1591. Their counterparts in Massachusetts were still picking them out of trees when the Pilgrims arrived in 1630. To further disillusion you, the birds we prize today for their plumpness, are bred from a Dutch strain. Oh yes! And I saw as a child, when visiting a farm on a class trip, the birds grown for the markets are white, not brown.  It seems the common, sedate turkey has a bit of mystique that would make it a good topic for True or False quizzes, from its history, through choosing, to preparing, to cooking to carving one. So let’s start from the top, bearing in mind that this discussion is “Roasting a Whole Turkey 101”. To widen it further would allow enough information to fill a book. Read more