Stale Bread?

Does your bread ever go stale, sitting on your counter too long? I would not think that with a family of 7 it would ever be possible for my bread to go stale. Boy was I wrong!

Luckily for me, I found a recipe for SOP SOUP in a stack of brochures that one of the companies sent me as promotional products. It was great! I was so impressed that I just could not wait to share it with everyone!

Sop Soup

2 Cups Stale Bread, cubed
2 T. Olive oil, divided
1/4 t. Sea Salt
1/8 t. Ground Pepper
1/4 t. Paprika
1 t. Garlic Granules
2 t. Basil
2 t. Oregano
1 Lg. Onion, sliced
5 Cups Water
5 T. Chicken flavored Broth Powder
1/2 Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese

Combine bread cubes and 1 T. olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic, basil and oregano. Saute until lightly browned. Set aside.

Heat 1 T. olive oil in a saucepan. Saute onion slices until lightly browned. Combine chicken flavored broth powder and water in a bowl and add to onions. Warm over medium heat, stirring until powder is dissolved and soup is hot. Add the bread cubes and gently heat for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese just before serving.

Serves 4.

Hints:
You can also crisp the bread in the oven as opposed to sauteing it.
Try different types of cheeses, I really enjoyed it with Cheddar.
Saute Celery and Carrots with the Onions.

Car Problems

Sorry I have been MIA lately. My best friends car has broken down and so it is now parked in my front yard so my husband can fix it. This requires things like repairing car lifts, buying extension cords for his air compressor and at least 3 broken tools so far! So I have had the job of running to have the lift repaired, replacing tools and picking up the extension cords. Not to mention that she is driving my van at the moment, which leaves me driving the truck. Not my idea of fun. But it all has taken up so much of my time that I have not had much of a chance to play in the kitchen. However, I do have some new and VERY exciting recipes coming up this next week! Just you wait and see!

Long Term Food Storage

Make this year's New Year's Resolution to get your food storage together. Our wonderful Prophet's have been advising us for nearly thirty years to get our food storage together, not only to get us through the second coming but to get us through any hard times we encounter. This downturn in our economy would definitely be considered hard times for many of us. Jobs are being lost and there are not as many employers hiring. Families are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet and food, although a priority, is getting more and more difficult to come by.

For those of you already in this situation, can you imagine how much less stressful your struggles could be if you did not have to worry about how you were going to put food on the table? And for those of you with a family, can you imagine the extreme stress of not knowing how you are going to be able to feed your family, let alone pay the rent!

We just did that recently. My husband lost his job and we spent a quite a bit of time trying to live off my income alone. And honestly, I work for play money, my income does not come near being able to pay the bills. I could barely manage the mortgage! Fortunately, we had plenty of close family and friends that were able to carry us through these rough times, to whom I owe my deepest love and appreciation for all the kindness and love they showed my family.

However, it did make me think. What would I have done if I had not had my family to lean on? How would I have fed my family? How would I have paid the bills? The Church was a great help, but they can only do so much and what happens when no one has food and there is no one to help? I need to be able to take care of my own family. I can not always rely on the love and kindness of others.

So I started my long term food storage. I started small, just as soon as we got back on our feet. I purchased a bucket of wheat and an electric wheat grinder. I started by learning how to make bread out of fresh ground wheat. (It was actually much easier than it sounds.) Then I picked up a couple buckets of rice and a bucket of soup mix. I am slowly gathering things as I can and as money permits. I have a list and I keep track of what I have and what I still need. I have tried to make sure that I am only storing things that I can use and I make sure that I am using them so I know that next time I find myself in this situation, I can use what I have stored.

I would hate to find that I need it but have no idea what to do with it. So in my case, I store less shortening and more vegetable oil, because I don't use shortening much at all. And I decided to store almost double the recommended amounts of peanut butter and oatmeal because we eat a lot of both of those. And although it is not in the recommended list, I store Cocoa powder, because I just could not live without chocolate!

When all is said and done, I will most likely have spent in excess of $5000, which is a HUGE amount of money for me to just fork over. However, little bit, by little bit has not been that bad and I am already seeing the benefits. My food storage is growing as well as my peace of mind. I can take care of my own family!

Weight Loss

I am really getting hooked on this natural/herbal remedies and with so much hype going into the newest, biggest, best diet pills, I thought this was worth throwing out there.
There are a few really good natural weight loss stimulants.

The first of which is Kelp and Seaweed. They are both high in iodine which can help to boost your metabolism by naturally helping your thyroid.

Ginseng is a natural energy booster and can help to boost your metabolism.

We hear all the time how good Green Tea is for weight loss. This is because of the caffeine content that could have an affect on boosting your metabolism and the antioxidants can't hurt either.

And last but not least is Cayenne or Chili Powders. Capsaicin is the active ingredient in Chili Powder, which is said to boost metabolism, help your body burn fat and boost your digestion.

So before you try a weight loss drug, try the natural way and see what happens.

Make Your Home Awe Inspiring! Make it Yours!

It was a dark and gloomy night. As I sat in my sitting room listening to the rain on the shutters, I looked around. The curtains, tattered and torn, hung over the shabby couch. Lackluster furniture filled the room, illuminated by a single, dim bulb from the fixture in the center of the room.....

Although it sounds like the beginning to a great mystery, it is actually a page from my book of life. My furniture is decades old and has survived not only the family that had it prior to it being handed down to my family, but also my family of five active children. The couch is worn and shabby, the curtains tattered and torn. The lighting less than adequate and the carpets stained and worn. It was the room I least enjoyed spending time in.

But at that moment, looking around my house, I decided it was time for a change. Then I found it! The best redecorating website I have ever had the opportunity to experience! Just from their home page you know it's going to be good.

On the left hand side of the page there are articles you can choose to help you make the best decisions for your home. There are articles on everything from Green Design, designing your home in an earth friendly manner to ceiling domes to molding and everything in between. They have articles on things you would have never thought of before! It's not only a one stop shop for decorating your home, but a wealth of information at your fingertips!

Then moving into their vast array of product offerings, they have everything from wood carved crown molding, door handles and columns to furniture of all sorts. They are the one great source for architectural products, carved wood, hand crafted and hand painted home furnishings and beautiful home lighting. They have an oriental table that is beautifully hand crafted and painted to give your home that "one of a kind" look. Or columns, artfully sculpted to add dignity and class to your living area. The stair brackets they offer are something you never knew you needed, until you see them. It is just amazing to me how something so simple can make such an amazing difference in the look and feel of your home! They offer things that are usually far out of most people's budgets, but amazingly affordable through their site. It gives ordinary people the opportunity to have the mansion they have always dreamed of, complete with ceiling domes intricately carved and hand created wooden columns to add awe and inspire all who enter. Imagine your home with the decorative hardware and ornate woodwork normally found only in the homes of the rich and famous. Imagine being able to walk someone through your home and have them gasp at the articulate design and singular beauty of your home.

That is my dream. Ornate, intricate and handcrafted woodwork throughout my home. Singularly beautiful accent furniture and bright, inviting lighting fixtures to shed their beauty and warm my home. Pieces of furniture, table and lamps and decorative accents, moldings, corbels and columns to inspire awe in all that enter and create a feeling of warmth and turn of the century beauty in the one place that I spend more time than anywhere else, My Home.