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Sent the boys off to the lake house with food for the weekend: double pot of spaghetti, double pot of stroganoff, and a meaty cheese dip.

I have 6 sets of bedding (inflatable twin bed, fitted sheet with attached top sheet, light blanket, sleeping bag and pillow) in the cabinets of the common room (kitchen area on one side, bathrooms on the other end, living area in the middle with one lengthwise wall of cabinets and the other of windows). I've put the latest xbox gaming system in and stocked some "classic" second hand games. The older boys use the common room, if they take/have the younger boys around the younger can stay in my attached cottage room - play their games (and toys) and have a tv for their viewing.

Last night was a "party" hosted by my 18 year old grand-nephew with his "battle of the build" teammates who are competing today showing their construction skills. It's the first "event" I allowed without my supervision. The boys have used the lake house before on weekends where I stayed some/most of the weekend with no problems. If the weather holds, I'll be going up Sunday afternoon to grill some steaks and see how the place survived.
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Bandy, wasn't able to reply to PM messages to me. Energy is zapped with positive and negative reasons. The bad is that my mother in hospice is growing worse at a very slow rate. More untreatable bedsores appearing although facility is trying to treat them.

I am taking 2 online lessons a week with a woman in Athens to work on my Greek. I heard it alot growing up and spoke it with my grandmother. I just never knew how to read and write it and at 67 this is challenging but I am persevering.
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Our Greek dinner was simple. Souvlaki (pork and lamb) with roast potatoes and rice. Tastiest, most potent tzatziki. Salad, but it had lettuce. North American Greek-style take-out. Most importantly, we had the family favourite, saganaki of kasseri. I also love spanakopita (hard to find really good anymore) and dolmades. Gyros too. My husband loves grilled squid. We have leftovers for tonight. I love food!
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cw,

You were right! I didn’t miss out on flavor making my black bean soup with canned beans.

It turned out well. The only change that I made was I added a bit more heat. I like my black bean soup on the spicy side.

So, all I have to do is make a salad to go with our soup and dinner is done!

One day I am going to attempt to make flan. I love it and occasionally order it from restaurants but I have never made it myself. I can do puddings and a baked custard. So, I should be able to manage making a flan.
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Thanks, cw

I just finished everything except for the simmering and then I am supposed to blend some of the beans to thicken it.

I don’t have an immersion blender so I suppose that I will use my processor or blender.

I found a recipe that looks good. It’s from twopeasandtheirpod.com

It’s a fairly quick soup to make! A lot quicker than when I make my black bean soup from dried beans.
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Not for black bean soup but I do use canned beans a lot, I don't think you are missing out on anything when you use them NHWM.
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Has anyone ever made black bean soup with can beans? I have only made black bean soup from scratch but I am out of black beans. I do have a couple of cans though.

I guess I will research recipes for soup using canned beans. Please share if you have a good recipe or advice for me.

Thanks! 😊
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Yay! The Malaysian woman won on The Great British Baking Show.

My DNA results show that I am predominantly British but I certainly don’t have those baking skills.

It takes patience that I don’t have to bake those intricate baked goods. I don’t have the chemistry skills to combine the proper ingredients, nor the engineering skills to assemble the final product.

I truly admire pastry chefs. They create works of art!

I like seeing Martha Stewart bake. Is there anything that Martha can’t do though?

My fantasy would be to become a great chocolatier! Has anyone seen the movie. Chocolat? It was entertaining.
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Greek salads are fantastic! Don’t even get me started on the lamb, moussaka, gyros or the pastries.

I don’t do the shots of ouzo! I will order the Greek wine and enjoy it while sitting beside Bayou St. John.

My childhood home was one block away from our Greek fest and the neighbors were invited for free every year. Mom would give me her tickets to enter the fest. I bought tickets after mom lost her home in hurricane Katrina.

It was awful seeing the beautiful Greek cathedral ruined from the hurricane. They rebuilt it and they have a strong presence in the community.

The raffle prizes a great. a trip to Greece! The Greek cathedral is beautiful and I never miss attending a service there.

I would tease my daughters and tell them that they should date one of the handsome Greek men. Of course, I am partial to handsome Italian men like I married.
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I’m still watching The Great British Baking Show on Netflix. They are so creative! I could never bake like they do.

I want the woman from Malaysia to win! She’s incredible! This is the 2022 season that I am watching. All of the episodes have been fun to watch.
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Thanks Bandy. My issue is with PM's. Lately I haven't tried alot but a month ago or so I seemed to not be able to do them and I never had problems in the past. I wasn't sure if it was me or this site. I haven't had alot of energy to keep trying but I should if I felt it would work out.
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@cwillie

Your menu here sounds like a special family meal at my grandmother's house.
I can remember making the stuffed grape leaves with her and my aunts when I was little. We'd make so many and eat so many.
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I was thinking the only Greek food I know is the lamb I had at a restaurant years ago until I did a little web search. Ah! - baklava, gyros and souvlaki, feta, spanokopita, tzatziki are all so ubiquitous I'd forgotten they are Greek
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I love Greek food! We have a Greek festival every year here. It’s one of my favorite festivals! The food and pastries are amazing. The Greek music and dancing is so much fun.
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AnaB, I am half Greek. What did you get for takeout?
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Greek take-out! That’s the only positive about having to go to the dentist. Restaurant nearby so we always bring home food.
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Techie,

You have a busy household! Whew! Never a dull moment, I bet.
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Cwillie, the foster sons are just now getting to "normal" weights for their height. The older boy seems to be hitting his growth spurt and has added 8" in the almost a year he's been with me. My 14 year old grand-nephew is currently dropping weight slightly while adding adding muscle since he started high school football weight lifting; down to 228 from 236 lbs while he continues to add about an inch a year. His "big" (older) brother is up to a very chiseled 191 lbs. "Little" brother is about a yard behind him in a 100m run even though he is carrying 30 more lbs... older foster son is a sprinter, coming in 2nd in 100m track meet - the first time he has ever placed in a sporting event (and beating older grand-nephew).

It takes a lot of fuel for the growth and particularly for the foster sons, I encourage them to eat as much as they want. In addition to the meat dishes, they also consume a lot of brocolli, cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, carrots, spinach, cabbage, watermelon, cantaloupe, apples, corn, salsa, cheese dip with tortilla chips, cottage cheese and chocolate milk. Thank goodness for walmart grocery ordering - don't know I could keep up with the shopping otherwise! Fortunately between the stipend the state pays for the boys' care and my retirement I can afford the eats; hopefully inflation won't be changing that. I still spend less in a month cooking than my nephew's household spends in a week of mostly restaurant meals.
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Does anyone watch The Great British Baking Show?

I would fail miserably if I were on that show. I have no patience for that kind of precision and detail in baking.

My precise husband would be perfect for that show! I am more organic in my approach, which is why I am a better cook than a baker.

Baking isn’t very forgiving so I have a feeling that I would be the first person eliminated on the show
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I had some bacon in the oven but was stuck trying to sort out some cell phone overcharges and ended up with it getting extra crispy :(
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You feed those boys very well Techie, I don't think our 3 ever got that much meat in a week.
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Techie,

Good for them! They are going to be great cooks too.

It is easier to cook a large batch of food and freeze some.
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The lean ground beef I like to cook with costs $5-6 a pound now. I'm buying about 9-10 lbs a week along with a beef roast, a turney breast and about 10 lbs of chicken! I buy and usually cook in large batches, often freeze portions for later quick consumption. I know there will be at least 2 boys (usually 4) but often 4 or 5 will come for supper and stay to snack while watching movies or gaming. Double pots of spaghetti seem to always disappear but having some freezer options is a must! 2lb bags of frozen crinkle cut potatoes go fast too (usually baked). The boys will cut fresh potatoes and fry them in the deep fryer several days or wedges in the iron skillet.
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The 14 year old grand-nephew and 15 year old foster son do a lot of the "one pot" cooking. It started as learning life skills but now I think they have a competion going. Most Saturdays we make a "full" breakfast with eggs or egg muffins, bacon, blueberry muffins and pancakes, hot tea, orange juice, buttered toast and jelly or apple butter. Since I'm the only person who needs to watch my weight, the 3 or 4 teenagers and the 2-4 younger children really enjoy a relaxed breakfast with all their favorote options. About once month I make sausage and gravy with biscuits too.
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Techie,

Your boys sound like they have good appetites!

It’s expensive feeding growing boys. I grew up with brothers and I think my mom knew a million ways to cook ground beef!

Mom was very smart with pinching pennies. I think most people who lived through the Great Depression knew how to budget.

I hate having to spend as much money as we do at the grocery! It is cheaper than eating out though.
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NHWM, I usually buy hamburger helper and use 2.5 lbs 97% lean ground beef/sirloin from walmart with 2 boxes of helper and then add a little shredded cheddar cheese when the mac is done. Homemade is the hamburger, onion and garlic powder, tomato sauce, macaroni, water to cover the macaron and cheese added after mac is tender. I like adding some black pepper too but some people prefer it without. If you really like it spicy, a dash of hot sauce will do the trick too.
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I’m doing roasted veggies and a pork loin tonight. Quick and easy!

Techie,

How do you make your cheeseburger mac and cheese dish?
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Techie,

You would make an excellent home economist! You would be a great asset to a test kitchen and could develop recipes for everyone to enjoy.

I find the creative process of cooking fun too. Sometimes, we hit the mark and other times the dish still needs tweaking.

Your soup sounds yummy! Glad that the boys are enjoying it. Do they cook as well? They have a good teacher to inspire them.
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Looks like I will be making tomato soup regularly for a few years. I started developing a low salt version because Campbell's had a day's worth of salt in one can: 46 oz no salt added tomato juice, 32 oz no salt added chicken broth, 16 oz heavy cream (or milk if thinner soup is okay or you can add flour as a thickener), a tbsp of onion powder, 4 tbsp butter and black pepper to taste. This is quick and easy to make while my family finds it better than Campbell's. This summer I am going to try some with fresh tomatoes but I think I will try cooking them like canned tomatoes; use boiling water to remove the skins, cook in their own juice and use the blender to make tomato juice. The various roasting methods stress removing the seeds but we have just used a blender on a quart of canned tomatoes for decades.

The boys like tomato soup and grilled cheese for their after school/practice mini meal and are now disappointed if the fridge doesn't have some leftover soup waiting for snacks. Currently it ranks only behind the homemade vegetable beef soup, double cheeseburger macaroni and spaghetti as favorite heat em up leftovers.
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golden: You're welcome.
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