| Good Sunday Afternoon to you! How about this weekend? I've been a little under the weather and that allowed me to do some resting and watching TV. I can whole heartedly recommend the movie NYAD on Netflix, wow, what a story. But, on to the FOOD! Last weekend my good buddy Mary and our gentlemen went to dinner at Milners and a concert. I always recommend the fried chicken with extra tomato gravy. Mary gave it a go and when her plate came, she agreed that the tomato gravy sounds strange and yet is one of the best parts of the meal! (Always get extra tomato gravy, no joke!). Once while visiting that restaurant, the waiter who had seen the chef making the tomato gravy told me the basic ingredients and the process. I went home and figured it out. So, here it is, you should give it a try! Tomato Gravy Recipe. You can run it through a strainer which is how they serve it in the restaurant but I love the chunks of tomato in it and so I leave it as is. Serve tomato gravy with Fried Chicken or Rice or Mashed potatoes. It's also great with anything served with mac and cheese, no joke! This homemade pizza dough has our YouTube on fire! So does this Crab Rangoon Dip. Give those a try and let us know what you think! _____________________________ HOT COOKING TIP OF THE WEEK This past week, I cooked a large dinner and set up a buffet line for dinner. It made me think that as Easter approaches some of you will be getting ready for a large dinner with many people attending. Maybe you would like some tips about how to make that happen more easily? It's all about the planning. You want to cook things that don't require all of your attention all at once. Then, if you have things that have to wait a while before consuming them, you want to plan for items that hold well. For example: This Pot Roast does GREAT in a crockpot and will hold for a LONG time! This lemon chicken does great as long as you just cook the chicken till its JUST done and remove from the skillet and then allow to warm with the sauce over the top. If you are doing fresh veggies like sauteed squash, cook those at the last moment and just BARELY cook them and put them in the warmer with the juices. They will finish cooking in the warmer. Of course, most casseroles do fine if allowed to sit for a while. Plan your cooking so that you are not cooking everything on the stove top and so that you have some cold items or some things that can be done long before hand. Many desserts can be made ahead of time. Prepared rolls mostly just have to be warmed at the last moment. Check out the other ways you have to cook things like crockpots, grills, smokers, instant pots, toaster ovens, etc. I don't recommend cooking things in the microwave or heating in the microwave because the heat doesn't tend to stay long. ____________________________ THREE LITTLE THINGS I'm trying to notice and be thankful for the little things in life so that I am more appreciative of the larger things too. - Thankful for the beautiful little blooms on the daffodils in my yard. What a nice sunny sight!
- Thankful for the helpful people who work together in animal rescue to make sure that many countless lives are saved every day. I'm grateful to know some of these people. I will say that while those providing hands on care are often applauded and lauded, the management and leadership of such organizations works just as hard or harder and mostly goes entirely un-noticed. So, many thanks to all of those people. I love and appreciate all of you!
- Thankful for true friends who value and see the true me and love me anyway. There are only a few of such people in the world and I'm happy to know and love the ones I do!
_______________________________ A FINAL WORD Recently I've have the good fortune to help plan some meals for fun events. This is something I love to do. When I shopped for one of those events last week, I was astonished at how the price of the food supplies have risen! I mean, I know the price of groceries, I probably buy more groceries than anyone I know and feed more people on a weekly basis than most. That said, it's been a while since I specifically shopped for an event where I was purchasing everything. Prior to Covid, I could produce most any meal for $10-12 per person. This week, my cost was $20 per person. That's my cost BEFORE cooking a single thing. On the website, I purposefully try to stick with lower cost foods but when I'm cooking for an event, it's usually high end food with everything made from scratch. We are in some hard times my friends. I believe we need to know how to do some things for ourselves to help ourselves through these times. I often hear about the high cost of housing, etc. Recently, my electric company increased power costs by almost double. If these trends continue, I can't imagine that whole families will be able to afford a dinner out at Chick-fil-a for $60, much less have that meal delivered to the door. Anyway, if I can help you cut those costs, I'll do it. Please let me know if there is something you are looking for, I'm happy to help! We have to hold hands and get through these times, we have to look past differences and find common ground. I know we can. Much love, Till next week. Love you! Wendi | 
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