Laine's Letters. Gouter and Meal Planning.

 Dear Sisters,

For the past ten years we have lived next to one or more of our kids' families. My son Brady and his family rented my parent's house next to us on our 2 1/2 acre property. And directly next to them, Quincy and his family lived in a trailer. Then a couple of years later, Abbie and her husband moved into a 5th wheel on our property. It was not uncommon for us to have our grandkids running in and out of our house. Before my sons moved to buy their own homes six or seven years later, we had five grandchildren on our property plus Lucy. Did those kids have fun! We women had such camaraderie. All of us shared one washer, too! Presently, we have Abbie's three little girls living next door. I am so thankful to have lived next to my grandchildren. And to be still living next to three of them and in close proximity to the rest. Thank you, LORD, for Your indescribable mercies!

"Yes, you shall see your children's children, and peace upon Israel." Psalm 128:6

It is so great to see your children's children!

The older grandkids loved to be over at dinner time as soon as their grandfather walked through the kitchen door. They would hide and shout to him as he walked in at 3:30 pm which is when we ate our dinner. We had a tradition with them. Since it was so early before their own dinner, they could have a "gouter" with us; which is a French word meaning "a taste of something". (I am part French, which is why I think I love cooking so much.)🙂They loved having a gouter at our table, and we loved conversing with them 

about their day. They would ask their grandfather about fishing from a lake when he was a kid. They loved to hear the stories of his childhood. I often thought they were amazed that he was a kid once upon a time.

"Your wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of your house; your children like olive plants around your table." Psalm 128:3

I learned something many years ago that has served me well. My husband, Art, wants to eat dinner the minute he walks through our kitchen door. Which is at 3:30 pm. Pretty much every day I start cooking dinner at 2:30 pm, unless it's a crock pot meal. When Art walks in the door, everything is hot and ready for him. He says he is spoiled, and that he likes being spoiled. I love spoiling him! But in the first years of my marriage, I would have my meat still frozen and unsure what I was making a couple of hours before he came home.

 Frozen meat. It didn't make for peace. 

I was always worrying about it in my mind, and then throwing something slap dash together at the last minute because I had forgot to thaw the meat. Now I pull the beef, lamb, chicken, or fish out to thaw, and I know this sounds crazy, but I am not sure what I will even cook with it. The important thing is that it is thawed!

I love a peaceful home. And having my husband's dinner ready when he walks through the door after a hard day's work is an important part of my making a peaceful home for him.  I try to have us eat nutritiously, frugally, and timely. It definitely took me awhile to figure all that out.🙂 

"You shall eat the labor of your hands; happy shall you be, and it shall be well with you." Psalm 128:2

I think some of our happiest times have been around the table sharing a delicious meal.

The other thing I've learned over the years is not telling my husband what we are having for dinner. When we were younger he would ask me in the morning or on a call at lunch saying, "What's for dinner?"  I would say this or that, then I would change my mind later on in the day. Well, he would tell me he was looking forward to that "this or that" meal, and now we had something else on the table. So now he knows I'm just going to say, "It's a surprise!" Honestly, it still is to me many days. I've learned that is just how I roll. I food shop the same way, but that's another letter.🙂

 I have tried so many meal preparation plans in my almost 40 years of marriage. I wish I could give you a tried and true meal preparation plan, but I cannot. I guess I am a Meal Unplanner. I can change my mind several times a day as to what we're going to have for dinner. Basically, I make sure some sort of meat is thawed, then I decide at some time of the day before 2:30 pm what I am making with it. Sometimes right before I make it! I am a recipe collector, so I just pull one of my recipes for that particular meat and then make it. I also love to try new recipes and switch up ingredients depending on what I have on hand, Yesterday, for example, I had half a rump roast left. I made this meal in the Instant Pot.  ( I kind of made it up from a couple of recipes.)

IP Roast Stew

Salt half a rump roast all over and brown all sides in oil in the IP. Take out.

Chop a little onion, add handfuls of chopped celery, zucchini, rutabaga, and butternut squash. Salt a little. Sauté in a little more oil til softened a bit. Put the roast back on top of the veggies. Pour 3 c of water over the veggies with a little more salt. 

Seal and set the Instant Pot for manual at 70 min. Let pressure come down naturally. Thinly slice the beef after cooking. Serve over hot rice with the lovely broth.

Lucy loves rice. After I made the  rice, she whipped up some California rolls for her and her dad. He was so pleased when she handed him a plate with the soy sauce encircled by the California rolls. "Surprise!" 

Does that remind you of someone?

And that is kind of how my cooking goes. It's all pretty spontaneous. I might see some cabbage turning brown, so I'll whip up some sautéed cabbage and onions, which I did yesterday. Today I have three bananas going brown, so I'm going to make a gluten free banana bread that Lucy likes in the bread machine. This morning I spotted my kale in the garden getting pretty big, so I clipped all the bigger leaves off and cooked that up for breakfast with eggs. I've also spotted some green onions that I grew from the cut off ends which need trimming, so I'll use that in today's dinner - which is possibly chili or a shepherd's pie. I haven't decided which yet. 😍

Love,

Laine

P.S. It ended up being hamburgers because it was so hot today. I am such a Meal Unplanner. 🙂