can someone come get these scotch-a-roos away from me???

i think i am going to explode.  my eyes, mouth, fork and spoon were bigger than my stomach at our annual family Christmas dinner last week.  "were" is the operative word here, as i believe my stomach just caught up to all of them.  i come from a big family, and we didn't have alot to eat when we were young.  don't get me wrong, we got enough to eat...just enough, but until i was the second oldest and toughest in the house, i never got seconds. 
  so, when we get together now, i believe we overcompensate for that on holidays.  each sibling brings at least two or three dishes to pass, usually something they were denied as a child\.  i'm not blaming my parents, that's just the way it was.  i gained 33 pounds in boot camp in 13 weeks.  midnight chow was my friend. 
  getting together for the holidays gives me a fix.  i need to see everyone eating and talking and laughing together, older ones at the big table, younger ones at the card tables circling around.  that is one thing i will never tire of.  it is what we are made of.  we are a family, through and through.  you mess with one of us, it won't be long before you have a dozen of us breathing down your neck.  i try try to instill this in my children every chance i get, this unbridled loyalty.  it comes from the heart, and it always feels right. 
i truly believe it all started with the eight of us sitting down to eat together each and every night as we grew up.
 don't you think it's time to get back to the table?

splitting a pound of bacon brings a father and son closer

It's Sunday night, and it appears as though i have survived the weekend. my youngest son spent the weekend sledding down our hill with his buddys, and they came in the garage now and then to warm up their hands and feet.  they chattered back and forth, giggling and smiling, knowing full well i couldn't understand them with their 11 year old slang,  the only phrase i recognized was an occasional "I know, right?" 
  we also fit in some last minute shopping for my wife.  her birthday is today.  i wanted to fix a big meal for her on Saturday, but we just lost track of time.  we did sit down together, and it was then i realized i am not even close to being ready for Christmas. 
  this morning i got up early, let the dog out, put on a pot of coffee, fed the animals and started a good old fashioned breakfast.  Eggs and bacon, with toast and juice.  my wife ordered oatmeal and dry toast with her coffee, as she doesn't care for bacon and eggs.  this left my son and i to polish off a whole pound of bacon, and we were up to the task for sure. 
  it seems a bit quieter having a sit down breakfast as opposed to dinner, but it was nice.  at 8 am, we hadn't had a chance to get on each other's nerves yet.
  in church, my nieces sang and played Christmas songs, making me proud to be a part of a big family that enjoys time spent together.  that is, in my opinion, what it's all about, and it is also why i am an advocate for "Got a minute".  they are promoting these values, and i believe in their cause.

growing up in a big family

i grew up in a family of eight, and eating dinner together was a daily thing back in the 70's.  With a momma like mine, dinner was something we all looked forward to.  That woman could cook!  Her fried chicken was to die for, and on the holidays she would make turkey noodles that were so good, just looking at the pot would gain me two pounds.  i just couldn't get enough noodles.  she would start out the night before, rolling out the dough, slicing it into quarter inch strips, then hanging them all over the kitchen on coat hangers to dry.  when she got done cooking, there was a huge 6 quart pot full, and when we got done eating, there was nothing left, i mean nothing. It wasn't easy feeding all of us.  Saturday mornings we would wake to the smell of buscuits and sausage gravy, my dad's favorite food.  i can still smell those buscuits baking.
  Now days, at 74 years old, momma is still working full time as the food editor at Sauk Valley Newspapers in Sterling.  Every other tuesday, a crew comes to her house, films her cooking, taking pictures and video for the paper.
  I am going to put a few of her recipes on the recipe link so you all can enjoy.  Mom's recipes are always simple, and they use ingredients that a cook might have already in their pantry.

turning "Hop and Shop" chicken into a tradition

  This week my youngest son learned how to set a table for dinner, and i learned that my youngst son is very creative at getting out of school homework.  i would call it a success on both fronts.  sometimes, when you let a child speak, just let him talk, you find out more than if you had asked questions.  So, at dinner, i have let him talk, and boy can he talk. 
  Our dinners haven't always been conventional these days, but we have managed to sit down a few times each week to dinner.  it might be "Hop and Shop" chicken on tuesday night, and chili from a can on thursday, but i have thrown in a piece of fruit and a salad her and there.  The one thing everyone at the table likes is a nice salad.  i have to pick the tomatoes and cucumbers out of my youngest son's salad, but it's worth it.  "Pick your battles"  my dad used to say. 
  Anyway, i have received a wonderful payback already from the "Got a minute" program.  i have been given the gift of a son's rambling thoughts on a daily basis.  Maybe it doesn't seem like much to some, but to me it is an awesome gift.

where did those three pounds come from????

well, it's Wednesday on the third week of sit down dinners with the family.  i have found a flaw in this new system.  Somehow, i have gained three pounds in two weeks.  It could be the fact that i am the household cook, and i have included potatoes and sweet corn with almost every meal.  the main dish, more times than not, is deep or skillet fried. 
  On the plus side, i have found out more about my ten year old so0n's life than i ever knew before.  he has opened up to me, out of pure boredom i suppose.  i think he is getting tired of me asking questions, also. 
  So tonight we eat healthy.  Tonight we will have a salad, baked chicken, and sliced tomatoes in vinagarette. and i will try to stay away from the Captain Krunch for dessert.

leftover turkey recipe

Hey y'all, i had dinner duty last night, and we had a ton of turkey left over, so i looked in my mother's recipes, combined two recipes and it turned out great.  here it is, try it out!

ingredients

2 small cans cream of chicken soup
3 cups left over turkey, cut in small pieces
1/3 stick of butter
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 deep pie crust in pan
one package corn bread mix
1 egg
1/3 cup milk

pre-heat oven to 350
in frying pan, bring turkey, butter, soup and garlic to a boil then take off heat.
in a bowl, mix corn bread, milk and egg.
pour soup/turkey mix into pie crust
pour half the cornbread mix on top of pie mix
put the other half of cornbread mix in muffin pan
put pie on a flat pan(in case of boil-over) and put in oven for 30 minutes
or until crust is deep brown
put the corn muffins in for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

simple, easy. and you get rid of some leftovers....

what a week!

Well, we made it through the first week, managing to sit down to dinner, all together, no television, no laptop, just me and the family, face to face. 
  The first night was Monday, i was still fresh from the weekend, so i really did it up right.  a full course meal with beans and corn and desert.  It took me half the afternoon to find and clean the dining room table.  On the plus side, i found twelve dollars in change, my work keys and the hampster we lost last fall.  At my house we have a disorder, Flat Surface Syndrome, or FSS, as we call it.  Every flat surface in the house has turned into a pile of books, school papers or newspapers.  i even tried building more flat surfaces, but we seem to find more stuff that absolutely has to sit out in the open.
  Anyway, as i sat down at the table i expected two things.  First, speed eating, and second, awkward silence.  To my surprise, we didn't get much of either.  As we ate, we took turns telling the best and worse part of our day.  That sparked other conversations until soon we had spent 45 minutes together.  I guess that is the point, huh? 
  Two of the dinners this week were with others, as we had a big gathering at my niece's home in Albany.  We sat together, and afterwards we played a little music, then something strange happened.  I got up, went into the kitchen, and started cleaning up.  Before long there was another, then soon all the men were washing dishes, wiping tables and putting food away, while the women sat watching football.  It was like something straight out of "Twighlight Zone", where the roles of nature are somehow reversed.
  Well, it's now Saturday evening, and i just got up from a big meal of turkey and ham with all the fixins', and i'm starting to get used to this eat with me thing.
  Below you will find a few recipes i used this week, simple and quick.  Try them out, i'm sure they will be at hit at the table.

Sisters Tuna Casserole With A Twist

Ingredients
Two small cans of tuna
1 cube of unsalted butter
I can cream of mushroom soup
4 half inch slices Velveeta cheese
1 small bag baked potato chips
One 12oz bag of Amish egg noodles
1 table spoon of salad dressing
¾ cup milk
2 chicken bouillons
Garlic salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 350*. Boil egg noodles in water with chicken bouillons for half the recommended time on the bag. Strain the noodles but don’t rinse them. Put them back in the pan with the butter, milk, salad dressing, cheese, cream of mushroom soup, tuna and salt and pepper to taste. Put into baking dish and spread contents of crushed potato chips on top. Cook for 30 minutes or until brown on top.

Tater Tot Casserole

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 ½ pounds of hamburger
1 bag Tater Tots
8 oz mozzarella shredded cheese
Garlic salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 350*. Fry hamburger in a big frying pan on high, stirring constantly until it is crispy and crumbly, being careful not to burn. Turn heat to medium, salt and pepper to taste and pour in soup, stirring constantly until mixed. Line up Tater Tots in the bottom of a medium size baking dish. Spread half the mozzarella cheese over the Tater Tots. Pour in the hamburger mix and pat down into dish. Line Tater Tots up across the top over the hamburger mix, then spread the rest of the Mozzarella cheese across the Tater Tots. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

The first day of our family dinners.

Hello fellow dinner eaters.  Today we start the "Got a Minute, Eat With me" campaigne, and i am in charge of dinner preparation.  There will be three of us eating tonight, unless one of the kids I already threw out of the house gets hungry and stops by.  We have three children in their5 20's and "on their own", and one ten year old still under our roof.  He happens to be a finicky eater, so this will be my opportunity to say to him "You can't leave the table until you eat your brussel sprouts." just as my father used to say, although I may change it to "You can't have your laptop until you eat your brussel sprouts."
  Seriously, I believe this is going to make a big difference for many families.  We get so busy, we forget to ask the little questions that keep us all close, like "How was school today?" and "What do you want to do this weekend?". 
  I will be blogging tonight or in the morning on how the first night went, so keep checking in, will you?

The Whitten Family Blog

Bob Whitten from the Clinton Herald and his family have taken the “Got a Minute? Eat with Me” pledge.  He will be blogging weekly about his family’s experiences throughout the duration of the campaign. 

The blog will begin the week of Thanksgiving and will end March 1st, 2011. 

Check back regularly to read his blog and make comments.