Old Mother Hubbard Went to Her Cupboard

drawing  by Stan Simpson

In grocery stores and food markets, 2010 will bring a new consumer reality—or, rather, a continuance of the new reality that began with the economic downturn of late 2008.

More people will continue to cut down on meals at restaurants and opt to cook at home, where more homemakers will evolve from "food assemblers" to actual cooks.

Consumers will display less brand loyalty and be more willing to switch back and forth based on sale prices.

And more of us will discover and patronize the burgeoning "big box" grocery store formats like Save-A-Lot, Grocery Outlet, and ALDI   source

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Free-for-the-Picking Green Salad 9

See the bundle of collard greens freshly washed and in a strainer: well, the person who eats these greens, raw or cooked, will receive a walloping clear-off-the-chart charge of nutrients Vitamin-K, Vitamin-A, Vitamin-C, and manganese.

Those are only the nutrients that are so readily available in collard greens that the nutrients will actually feel like they 'kick in' and you are good to go. Look at some of the other nutrients in the chart.

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Organizing Small Kitchens

Last summer we moved from a large house to a very small house and I had to get beyond creative to create spaces for things.  I felt so pleased with myself when I hung a white two-shelf rack on the front of my cabinet door.  How original I thought.

But today when I went to write about organizing a small kitchen I googled 'spice rack' and this photo came up.  It looks like I took a photo of my spice rack, but I didn't.  Someone else had already done this idea.

Nevertheless, in a small kitchen space is always at a premium and organization is not optional; convenience is also important.  So I hung a white rack like the one in the photo on the outside of a cabinet door close to my stove.  This placement has already saved me hours of work and frustration that I would have had to go through if I'd squeezed my spices and herbs inside the cabinet.

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For My Valentine, i.e. you

This little valentine card is an antique found in an abandoned house about to be torn down years ago. I scanned this valentine and dozens more and date them around 1914.

I chose 1914 a the valentine year because of the style of the bloomer outfits for boys and girls looks like it is from that period;  and because some of the other valentine cards depict children dressed in World War I uniforms.

Checking Amazon to see if they sold old fashioned valentine cards, I found several but the one on the left most closely matching all the cards I have.

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Twitter Pie Recipe for Your Tweetys

Why do you need to know how to make Twitter Pie?  My reason is simple.  This recipe is quick and easy and allows me more time to twitter around, lots of tweets of interest come through at supper time.  So here's your recipe for more time to tweet tonight.

Twitter Pie Recipe

• Fry a couple pounds of ground chuck with an onion diced up in it.
• Put the fried ground chuck and onion mix in a casserole dish (big)
• Add a layer of carrots, a layer of frozen peas, a layer of quartered potatoes
• Wisk or mix together a can of chicken, mushroom, or celery soup and a can of water
• Pour the uncooked soup over the mixture in the casserole dish
• Option: top with Velveeta cheese
• Bake at 325 degrees until potatoes are soft

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You can prepare this great supper at any time during the day and when supper time comes, bake it in the oven while you continue to tweet your heart out.

Early Colonial Kitchen Charm

The woman who cooks in this kitchen wouldn't even notice if a storm took out the power to her home.  This woman is independent of everything except her own power.

I look at this kitchen and after being without power many times back here in the Ozarks (i.e., ice storms, high winds, tornadoes), I would feel safe if this was my kitchen.

If high winds were blowing and snow and ice covered the world outside, the family that lives in a place like this would be warm and cozy. That is beginning to mean a lot to families these days.

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