Dinner in Five...

Step one: break your arm. Either one will do.
Step two: ask husband to "come here for just a sec...I need a little help" (batting eyelashes is optional at this point - with your arm broken it's practically unnecessary)

Ingredients:
6 lb. bone-in ham
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup real maple syrup
juice from two cans pineapple (or 2 cups pineapple juice)

Have husband place the ham, flat side down, in a large crockpot. Rub in the brown sugar, pour on syrup then juice. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Come home from 4 hours of church to an awesome aroma. Baste the ham once or twice after 4 hours. This was another great recipe from "a year of crockpotting" blog.

I just so happened to have the real maple syrup on hand (we are happy to use Mrs. Butterworth's imitation syrup on our waffles, but NOT on the Thanksgiving turkey - this syrup was left over from that meal). Very, very easy meal. It took about 5 minutes to put together and 5 hours to cook. The ham cut like butter. Nice. And from now on I can have Steve make ham.

TMI?

Too much information. That's how I often feel after going home from an inspirational lesson. I'm all fired up to:

• grow all my own produce


• do my genealogy - back to Adam, of course


• have a two years supply of everything my family will ever need


• have perfect children

You know what I'm talking about. It all sounds so great in theory...and then reality sets in. It's tough to grow all your own produce if you truly despise gardening - and can't afford a gardener. So what do you do?

Compromise.
Work around it.

I personally like to work in the yard two, maybe three times a year. Lucky for me my blueberries thrive on neglect (at least they do here in Washington). I don't have to prune them or water them. In July I just take a bowl and start harvesting. Rinse the little buggers off, pat dry and throw them in a freezer bag. That's manageable for me.

So what's my point? Figure out what you can do...then try and do just a little bit better. Baby steps. Baby steps.

Here's my "baby steps" goal for the week...I am going to try and make up 20 days worth of menus. It should be manageable for me - because I already have a list of about 15 dinner ideas on my fridge right now. I made that list right after I broke my wrist - I had 4 willing "helpers" who couldn't come up with a dinner plan to save themselves. Here's my list (keep in mind I was on painkillers...):

Cornflake chicken/mashed potatoes/gravy/corn
Pot roast/potatoes/gravy
Layered Mexican casserole
tortillas/cornbread
Pork ribs/pasta or rice/salad
Chili/chips/cheese/cornbread
Hamburgers/buns/chips
Calzone/salad or green beans
Spaghetti/breadsticks/salad
Chicken Fajitas
Tacos
Polish sausage/buns/chips
French dip/salad
Soup/rolls
French toast/waffles/German Pancakes
Panini/Grilled cheese/soup
6 can enchilada soup/cornbread

Take-Out
Pizza
Chinese

Breads
cinnamon rolls
coffee cake
garlic herb bread
pumpkin choc. chip bread


Desserts
pumpkin pie dessert
brownies
Guadalupe river dessert
cream puffs
cookies
jam bars
pumpkin pie
cheesecake
lemon bars

This was a list of things that the men/boys in my family are capable of cooking...Now I need to revise this list to include things that I cook.

What's on your menu?