Hostess with the Mostest

It's been a nice weekend. Got in lot's of flea marketing, lunch at the tea room, dinner at Oceans Zen, ordering new cabinets, and searching for an apron front sink. Took a two and half hour nap yesterday and woke up in time to watch two hours of AFV and two more hours of Extreme Home Makeover with the kids. Yes, very nice weekend indeed!

I was thinking about what I would post yesterday, and I came up with the idea that everyone (including myself) could improve their hostess skills in some way or another. So I will share with you the different things that I have learned either in books or by doing it wrong the first time.

Some things that I've read I totally disagree with, as you might disagree with some of the things that you read here. And some things on the other hand, have totally saved my life.

First and foremost, it is indeed so true that first impressions are everything, and I mean from the very first minute. I believe that the way you greet a guest at the door, gives them either the immediate feeling of being comfortable and relaxed or instantly ill at ease and uncomfortable.
Answer the door yourself if at all possible. Nothing is more awkward than all your kids running to the door and opening it, then having no clue what to say. So you guests are standing on the front porch feeling about as awkward as a human can feel.
Invite them in and show the kids where the fun is, then bring them into the kitchen with you and have some snacks and glasses of ice on the island. So they instantly feel as if they are at home in your home.
Ask questions about them and their day.
Don't hesitate to give the wife a job. I guarantee that she will feel more comfortable if she has something to occupy her hands.
Make sure that you've already prepared anything that might be time consuming or stressful, so that while you're visiting, you're not doing anything more than tossing a salad or frosting a cake.
This way you are able to concentrate on conversation and your guests instead of the gravy that won't thicken, or the chicken that won't finish getting done.

As for the table, my favorite is to put the kids in one spot, either another table or on a blanket in the playroom. This will cut down on the chaos, and also the stress of either you or your company being afraid that your children will misbehave.

Set the table with your nice things, but not so nice that the feeling is too formal. You want your company to feel that they are special without you looking pretentious. Try three small vases of beautiful flowers in the center. Not so tall that you can't see each other, but enough to bring some cheer to the table.
Candles can certainly be nice, but again sometimes too formal.
I would suggest saving the nicest china and candles for an adult dinner party. I've always wanted to have one, but just never quite gotten around to it. Ah well, there will be many years ahead to have adult only dinner parties.

Now as far as clean up goes, I read this wonderful tip in a coupon book funnily enough. Be sure that you keep a sink full of hot sudsy water and let your dishes be soaking (of course after you have already run the dishwasher so it can be ready to fill later) while you're eating. Then after dinner, get up and put the food away and all the dishes in the sink. Unless of course your guest is gracious enough to offer to help clean up, then jump on that opportunity. But if not, then while your visiting, you're not worrying about the food rotting, or the plates getting all dry and nasty.

Put on a pot of coffee, and serve dessert down in the living room. This just seems to feel a little more inviting then sitting at the table all night.

Remember that your goal is to make your guest feel special and at home. Do whatever you can think of to accomplish this goal. Keep things real for them. The more real you are the more relaxed you will be and there by making your company feel more relaxed.

One more little thing that should have been put at the beginning. Avoid using your guests as guinea pigs for first time recipes. Be sure that you're using a tried and true menu to avoid any embarrassing trips to Cheddars. Speaking from experience:-(

That about wraps it up for today. Hope you enjoy reading this and hope it helps you in even a little way. Enjoy the snow folks. All to soon it will be scorching hot with the blazing sun shining and you will miss the quiet days of fluffy whiteness sifting down to the cold earth.
Bye for now!

A Brief Respite

Due to an extremely busy week and weekend, I will not be posting again until next week. I have the most marvelous five days ahead of me that I will not be able to focus on cooking for a while. Mostly because I don't plan on doing much of it. I will give you our schedule and although to you busy folks out there, this might sound like the most uneventful weekend ever, please remember to consider that we never do ANYTHING!! Our one event for the week is Sunday morning church. My kids don't even wear shoes any other day because we're always here at home. Which amazingly enough, none of us seem to mind. We are all a bunch of homebodies and that suits us just fine.

Now back to my schedule. Today I am getting my sadly graying hair turned back to it's natural shade of sometimes blond and sometimes brown (depending of course on the weather and my mood). Then off for a fun night with the kids. At least, I hope it will be fun. We can't seem to agree on any activities even though there are many ideas on the table. Have you ever tried to entertain a twelve year old, a ten year old, a three year old, and two one year olds?

It is nearly impossible. The ideas being thrown out are: Incredible Pizza (and until flu season is over, I am not a fan of that place), Hinode, the mall (Ally's favorite idea), Chucky Cheese (Molly has been very loud in expressing a "YES" vote), bowling (ever tried to take three toddlers bowling?), and a movie (yea right!).

Then tomorrow is finishing up the last minute grocery shopping and packing for Jonny and me.

Friday Jonny and I leave the kids with Mom and Dad and get away for the weekend. We are going to spend Friday shopping for the new kitchen. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then dinner at my all time favorite, Oceans Zen.

From there on to the Walnut Street Bed and Breakfast. A beautiful place to stay, with fireplaces in the room and a skylight. Last time we stayed there it snowed, and it was perfect! I must admit that I am praying for a little snow this time too.

Saturday is shopping and lunch with Jonny and maybe a little flea marketing. We both love doing this.

Then Sunday church and maybe a long, long nap.

This sums up our weekend. I hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day!

Time for a Change

One thing you will discover the more that you read this, is that I like changing things on a regular basis. Hence the continuous change in color schemes around my house. I figured that it is cheaper to change my blog. So in celebration of spring which we know will eventually come, I have decided to freshen things up a bit. Hope you enjoy!

First and foremost let me express the deep gratitude I have felt over some very encouraging messages I have received from my readers. Being someone who depends far too much on words of affirmation, it has meant the world to me that you are reading and enjoying my blog. I have had so much fun writing it and it gets out some of the however many thousand words a day we females are said to utter.

I only have time for a quick post today because I have to go start the chili for chili dogs tonite for Superbowl Sunday. Maybe not the most original menu, but I am learning that men are not so very impressed if you bring down platters of homeade bread and thick slices of fresh chocolate cake as they are if you set out a couple of bowls of guacamole and some cold cokes.
So I will enjoy the rest from the kitchen today.

What are some things that you make for the superbowl?
I have to confess that I really care absolutely nothing for football and understand even less about it. I am pretty sure that it involves an odd shaped ball and several burly looking fellows.
I am much more exciting about the crafts that the kids are going to make tonight than I am about the noise that will be going on in the living room.

My last thoughts will be the recipe for the ham that I promised you that I wasn't able to make today due to three congested little ones.

Simply rub brown sugar all over the ham. Then pour on a can of coke. Using toothpicks, arrange pineapple slices all over the top and pop a cherry in each center. Then cover and bake for however many hours your ham suggests. Not only is this delicious, but it is absolutely gorgeous!!
Talk to you soon friends.

Popcorn Balls and Banana Pudding!

This morning for breakfast I made homemade bread, fried ham, potato cakes, and we had leftover cherry pie. I need summer to come if for no other reason than to stop having this insatiable urge to cook all the time! Bathing suits and fried ham just don't make a pretty pigeon pair.

I think this comes from mine and my girls love of reading Little House on the Prairie and watching Tales from Avonlea. They make being in the kitchen look so productive and like so much fun. So yesterday when we were sitting together watching Tales from Avonlea and watching Felicity cooking up ham and roast chicken and baking fresh cherry pies, we just had to get up and start our own superb dinner. And superb it was indeed!

Of course salty enough with all the fried chicken that everyone went to bed last night with cups of water by their beds. I like a little chicken with my salt.

Oh well, when summer comes I will get back to grilling chicken and veggies and hot dogs and hamburgers and making chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookies and potato salad and asian coleslaw and guacamole and OH DEAR!

Maybe I do live by the motto "Die young make a pretty corpse".

On a more positive note, I went back to Dillons last night and here is my list:

4 boxes of Cheez-it's

5 boxes of Ritz crackers

1 bag lime Tostitoes

1 package Nestle chocolate chips

9 boxes of Colgate toothpaste

3 bags of bread

10 bags of frozen meatballs

10 packages Johnsonville sausages

5 cans Edge shaving gel

4 bottles of Franks hot sauce

6 bottles of French's mustard

2 bottles Suave lotion

Grand Total $192

After sales and coupons my total $55

Can I get a wowwie wow wow!!!!

Now for a couple of dessert recipes that my family loves.

Popcorn Balls (from the kitchen of Melahnie R)

Mix; 1 cup sugar, 3/4 cup karo syrup, 1/3 cup butter, in a pan and slowly boil for 1 minute. Take off heat and add 3/4 cup peanut butter. Stir well. Add 6 to 9 cups of freshly popped popcorn (not microwave). Stir and shape into balls.

Easy and delicious!!

Banana Pudding (my dad's all time favorite)

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk and 1 & 1/2 cups cold water. Add 1 (3 & 1/2 ounce) box vanilla instant pudding. Mix well and refrigerate five minutes or until set.

Whip 2 cups heavy whipping cream until softly stiff.

Combine gently with pudding mixture. Layer in a trifle dish, pudding, vanilla wafers, bananas (I dip mine in Sprite to keep them from turning brown and it doesn't taste as strong as lemon juice). Then repeat and top with pudding and garnish with two or three cookies.

Goodbye for today my friends. I am off to play some board games with my girls.

All the Comforts of Home

Right now I am sitting at my computer by the big window watching the beautiful snow while the soft music is playing in the living room, the chocolate cakes are cooling on the stove, homemade bread is rising near the warm oven, and the house is filled with the irresistible scents of different candles twinkling. Ally is in the kitchen making a cherry pie and a green bean casserole and all the babies are watching Lady and the Tramp. The fryer is sitting waiting for me to fill it with oil and start frying up all the chicken thawing in the sink.
It is indeed pleasant in the Jeppsen house today.
I cannot decide what else to put with this feast. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, green bean casserole, bread, and cherry pie. Something seems to be missing. Maybe I'll fry up some apples with lots of butter and cinnamon.
Some people call me crazy because I love days like this so much. Days when the snow is flying, and the sky is gray, and it's colder that a cast iron toilet on the shady side of an iceburg. But this is why. The house feels so cozy and inviting. Coming in from the cold to hot coffee and fresh chocolate cake with the fireplace spreading it's cheery warmth all over the house.
Why wouldn't I like this time of year.
I will admit that I'm getting a little excited for spring and summer. For warm weather and a whole new host of cooking ideas. Everything from potato salad and deviled eggs to chocolate chip cookies and lemonade.
But for now, I will sit snug and cozy in the big chair by the fireplace and enjoy the soft fluffy snow falling quietly and keep on thinking up new warm and inviting ideas to share with you.

Sincerely,
Pollyanna

More ideas

Imagine this ceiling tile painted white. These adorable plates hanging on the wall. I'm telling you what, if Jonny started this tonite and finished it in the morning, it would still be too long for me!

Ahh, patience is a virtue I wish I had.

Due to indecent amounts of organizing and sorting and cleaning, my cooking has slacked off some. This week has started off with some quick easy recipes that don't necessarily taste near as good. Beef stew on Monday, stir fry last night (I was trying so hard to make it taste like Hinode but I failed miserably!), and jambalaya tonite. I do have a huge ham thawing in the fridge for this Sunday's lunch. Mom gave me a recipe using Coke and brown sugar with pineapples and cherries and ooh la la is it delicious! I will give you the recipe and the rest of Sunday's menu this weekend.

One of my family's favorite dishes is jambalaya. I really do love making this because you can make it however your family likes it. I use lots of sausage and shrimp in mine. With stewed tomatoes, chicken broth, garlic, and lots of Tony Cachera's.

The beef stew was not so good this week. I was trying to use up some leftovers and you could tell by the way it tasted.

As far as the stir fry, I think I will leave Asian cooking to the Asians. I'm pretty sure that they don't use instant rice for the fried rice. Not to mention the fact that the veggies tasted like I started cooking them the day before. Plus what is Japanese food with out yummy-yummy sauce. If you can't tell, one of our family's favorite restaurants is Hinode. Entertainment and delicious food all at one table. Those chefs know how to keep my kids attention better than television.

I really am tired of all the quick dinners. My mouth is really watering for a fried chicken dinner complete with mashed potatoes and gravy, broccoli with cheese sauce, biscuits with honey, sweet tea, and sour cream chocolate cake.

Given the fact that I have about seventeen bags of chicken in the freezer and have done about everything around this house that I can think of, I think that will be the meal for tomorrow night.

My goals I have accomplished so far this week have been scrubbing both ovens to look like new, sorting through every piece of paper in the entire house and filing it away, washing ALL the bed linens, and vaccuming the mattresses. Very productive week thus far.

Hope you are having a marvelous week!

Coupon tips and more recipes to clog your arteries

This morning I woke up and started peeling potatoes and onions. Then I put them into a big pot with some leftover stir fry meat and cut up carrots with lots of beef bouillon and some onion soup mix. Now it is bubbling on the stove and filling this house with it's rich beefy smell and I have the peace of mind all day, that dinner is already made! I need to do this more often.
I just realized what I will blog about tomorrow! Crock pot recipes and other things that you start in the morning. Today I will answer a couple of questions about couponing and then I have some very unhealthy recipes for you.

As far as the couponing thing goes, I get most of my coupons from the Kansas City Paper because that is the biggest one available here. But I also get many from coupon.com, couponbug.com, and couponmom.com. There are also alot of coupons in the All You magazine sold at Wal-Mart.
The stores I shop at most frequently are Dillon's, CVS, and you can even do well sometimes at Wal-Mart. Walgreens is a good spot too just not one of my personal favorites. Find the store nearest you that doubles coupons and then watch for their sales. The trick is to combine coupons with sales. That's when you really hit the jackpot.
There are some great websites out there such as, hiptosave.com and southernsavers.com. There are many more but these are the two that I watch the most. They will tell you step by step what stores have the great deals and what coupons to combine to get the most for your money.
Feel free to ask more question. This is one of my all time favorite subject and I love helping people get started with it.

Now for the three recipes. Today I will introduce to you; Smothered Steak, Chicken Continental, and Chocolate Pie. Don't ask me where these recipes come from. My mom has been making them ever since I can remember.

Smothered Steak: Dip salted cube steak into flour with a little pepper and fry till done. After letting dry on a paper towel, place steak in a casserole dish in a single layer. Pour off some of the grease from the frying pan and save the drippings and crusties on the bottom. Add cream of mushroom soup ( I usually do a large pan of steak so I use about two large cans of soup) and whisk together to make a rich looking gravy. Pour over steak. Saute an onion and a bell pepper in pan until soft and arrange over top of gravy. Bake at 350 degrees for about thirty minutes or until bubbly.
Can you feel your arteries clogging right now? Just wait...

Chicken Continental: Place dried beef all over the bottom of a casserole dish. Wrap boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a piece of soft cooked bacon. Arrange over dried beef. Mix equal parts sour cream and cream of mushroom soup in a large bowl and add a little flour to keep from being to runny. Pour over chicken and bake at 350 degrees about an hour.

Chocolate Pie: Combine one stick melted butter with one cup flour and 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Press into bottom of casserole dish and bake @ 375 degrees for about 15 minutes then allow to cool completely.
In a mixing bowl, beat 8 oz softened cream cheese, one cup powdered sugar, and one cup cool whip. Spread over crust.
Mix one large box chocolate INSTANT pudding mix and 2 & 2/3 cup milk. Pour over cream cheese mixture.
Cover all three layers with cool whip and top with chopped pecans. Refrigerate.

I hope these work as well for your family as they do for ours. These are some of our all time favorites.

More on the kitchen remodel later!