Flying Wild Alaska, our weekend, and simplifying meals

Flying Wild Alaska..... have y'all seen it? I LOVE this show. It is the one show I actually record and watch now every week. It follows a family run airline in bush Alaska. Now we live in the bush since we are off the road system... but we live in a town with 3500 full time residents, and 6 fish processors. While it is the bush, and is a very different way of life, it is nothing like the isolated bush communities the show features. It really is amazing to see the way of life. If you haven't watched it, you definitely have to tune in one night. Comes on on Fridays.

Anyway, this weekend was good. We got more snow, more then we have gotten so far this winter, and we spent today outside for several hours. We built a snow fort, went sledding, played hide and seek....lots of fun. Then tonight we went to a birthday party for a 7 year old son of one of DH's employees. It was a HUGE party. They are Filipino and even had a whole roasted pig. The food was incredible. There were 2 pinatas for the kids, and goody bags, and dolls for the girls, and balls for the boys as party favors. A had a great time, and crashed soon after we came home.

I was busy baking Friday. A and I made biscuits, and then instead of baking them, I flashed froze them and now have them all in the freezer in packages ready to take out and bake for meals. I also mixed up the dry ingredients for my cornbread so that when I want to make cornbread all I have to do now is add the wet ingredients. I have really been working on simplicity since our move, and while I crave even more, I am trying to cook from scratch and buy as little processed food as I can. This of course takes more time in the kitchen, so I figure if I prep these mixes I will have the convenience in the evening of not having to measure all my ingredients out. I would love to grow a garden this summer, and I found out last week that potatoes grow really well here. Now I am on a hunt to find out what other foods grow well here. I read that root vegetables do well in colder weather, and broccoli does well in colder weather, since we only hit 50's in the summer, or summers would be considered colder I guess. So any advise would be truly appreciated.

On another note, We seriously need to cute down on our use of paper towels in this house. It is a waste of resources and of money, so I was blessed by a friend with tons of cotton yarn, perfect for dish clothes, and I have gotten busy. This weekend I finished one and am halfway done with a second dish cloth. I am even considering making some napkins and switching to cloth for that as well.

Last note for tonight.... I came home to a surprise message on my answering machine for the local school principal. I had talked to her several weeks ago about possibly having A tested while the testers were in town this month, but was told that she would have to check as A is not in the school system, I never heard back and assumed it was a no go, which was fine. But tonight I had a message saying she wanted to follow up and schedule a time for testing. I am calling her in the morning.

That's it for tonight. I am off to bed. Night all. Pics to come this week.

Comments

Karin said…
I have been baking everything I can from scratch!! It does take more time but I find it to be very rewarding!! Pizza dough is my favorite thing to make! Where do you get your recipes from? I've been using the Betty Crocker cookbook.