Whitten Family Blog

chocolate covered ants or cocoa powder, you make the call

2011-12-01T13:47:00.000-08:00

well folks, Thanksgiving is over, and other than a few oven burns and an unusually paranoid daughter, i think it went well.
We had my wife's side of the family over for the day, along with a few visitors all the way from Las Vegas. Working from home as i do, i told my wife i would fix a nice dinner in-between writing. How hard could it be? in my mind, all i had to do was get up after every page and baste a turkey or take a pie out of the oven, then go back to writing. boy was i in for a surprise. i now have a great respect for my mother, feeding dozens of family every holiday while i was growing up.
I actually started making test food on Monday, talking my step-daughter Brooke into stopping in to be my guinea pig. I would be testing a new pumpkin pie recipe, trying out a home-made hot cocoa mix, and i would attempt to make a lemon pie. as it turned out, i burnt the crust on the pumpkin pie, and the mirengue kind of melted in the lemon pie, but she courageously tried both pies, drinking a full glass of milk after each bite. by the time i got to the home-made hot cocoa, i was a bit frazzled, and Brooke was a bit nervous. as i mixed the cocoa powder into the hot cinamin milk, i noticed a few specs of what looked like cocoa without my glasses on, so i mixed it up a little better, threw a few marshmallows in the top and causiously handed the mug to her.
She took a few sips, slurping up a few speckled marshmallows in the process. i watched her swallow and turn to me with a puzzled look on her face. the conversation that ensued is not appropriate, but you can probably guess her words just after the little antennas slid down her tongue. apparently, the speckles were actually little bitty shriveled up cocoa covered ants that got into my ten year old can of cocoa and died. i tried to pass the the mix off as asian quisine, but it did not work.
anyway, by turkey day, Brooke was very careful about what she ate, and i will be amazed if she ever asks me to make her any hot cocoa again.
My first ever Thanksgiving day dinner was a success, though, with the television and phones off, and much great conversation between family. We truly enjoyed our "gotaminute" moment on that day!

chicken nuggets ala Bob

2011-11-08T09:13:00.000-08:00

today i am going to share a secret recipe i created last year when i had to feed my 6 foot four, 300 pound brother-in-law. all i had in the fridge were chicken breasts and biscuits. this recipe is for parties or snacktime, and it makes 10 bite-sized morcels, so double it up if there are more than three of you.

ingredients

1 can regular sized biscuit
2 boneless chicken breasts
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
one quarter cup of parmeson cheese
one quarter cup melted butter

in a frying pan on the stove, heat up a bit of olive oil with a pinch of salt and pepper and 2 smashed garlic cloves. cut chicken breasts into 10- one inch square pieces, and cook them in the frying pan with the garlic and oil until the chicken browns. let chicken cool a bit. preheat oven to 375 degrees. Take out biscuits and wrap one piece cf biscuit around one piece of cooled chicken. place each piece on baking sheet, brush each piece with melted butter, then sprinkle the tops with parmeson cheese. Bake until pieces are golden brown.

set out bowls of whatever dip you might like, and try different dips. i like ranch or western dressing with mine.
let me know how it went if you try it.

mom's recipe for keeping our family close

2011-11-07T03:54:00.000-08:00

let me take you back, for a moment, to the days when families ate together every night. when i was a child, virtually every Saturday morning started the same way. there were eight of us in that big old house on 15th avenue in Fulton. Mom and dad slept on the main floor, and dad fixed the upstairs into three bedrooms. My brother and i slept in the attic, remodeled to look like two mirrored images of a room, split right down the middle, each of us with our own space.
I would wake up to the smell of sausage frying, and i knew it was Saturday. I would usually be the first one up. Dad would be shaving and putting on "Old Spice", and mom would be mixing a bit of flour and a half gallon of milk in with the sausage to make the best gravy in the world. the smell of Mom's home-made buscuits were the alarm clock for the rest of the clan.
By 8am, we would all be sitting at the table, talking over the week and what we would do on that day. Dad was very busy during the week, but on Saturday he was ours. During the summer, it was off to the river, all of us piling into the boat, mom with her picnic basket full of fried chicken and potato salad. and in the winter, once a month i would get dad all to myself. on those days, after breakfast i would make a few peanut butter sandwiches out of the leftover buscuits, and mom would hand us a thermos of hot coffee and dad would take me hunting. our old beagle, Gypsey would sit in the front floorboard as we road hunted, slobbering all over my boots as she begged for a bite of my sandwich. I remember, dad would be different on Saturdays, nicer, more attentive, more focused on us kids. he knew this was our day to be with him, and he would change just a bit for us.
Thinking back on those days, i am inspired. i am inspired to be a better father, to give my kids more of me, more of what brings us together as a family. Now pop is gone, but mother is still making those buscuits and gravy every time she can gather us all together on saturday mornings. she knows the importance of gathering as a family now and then.
i have been shown the way to keep my own family close. mom and dad showed me how to do that. And it all started with sitting down to breakfast together on Saturdays.

what happens when you combine beef kidney with prunes and yogurt???

2011-10-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

Well, here we go again folks, another year of blogging for Gotaminute, and i am excited. I believe our efforts just in my family alone paid off in numbers last year. This year we have four of us around the table, sometimes five when my step-daughter and college girl Brooke comes home to roost. my wife and i have an 11 year old son together, and i have 22 year old son who is living upstairs for a while. he has turned into our source of grocery money, as his rent goes straight to Aldi's food store. eating a big dinner at home five nights a week can get expensive, unless you are a penny pincher like me. I never bring a list to Aldi's, no...i buy what is on sale. last wednesday we had planked salmon on the grill with creamed corn and a spinach salad, with brownies for desert. sounds good, doesn't it? Everything in that meal for four people was less than 10 bucks, making it $2.50 per plate. I even used the cedar board scraps from our bathroom remodel for the planks.
My family, bless their heart, went through some tough times while i figured out what food went well with other food, though. one night i combined boiled beef kidneys with canned pork and beans, finishing with a prune and raisin yogurt desert, and within one hour you had to take a number to get in the bathroom, not to mention the ugly scene we created for my wife on laundry day....on the plus side, that whole meal only cost 23 cents per serving....
to be serious for a moment, i will tell you that we absolutely need to sit down with our families a few nights a week if we want to keep those family values and morals that we were taught while we sat around the dinner table growing up. This IS where we connect with our kids, my friends. If someone told you they had a secret way to find out what their kids were up to each and every day while at school or hanging with their friends..if they told you they had a way to get your kids to tell you how their day went, what they are thinking each day...wouldn't it be worth almost anything to know? well, folks, it's really not a secret. Simply stated, the key to knowing how your child is doing day to day is to sit down at a table with them, shut off the tv and radio, set a plate of food in front of them and listen...easy as that. Give it a try, folks, give it a few nights a week for a couple of months and see what i am saying. Let me know how it goes.,

another stolen recipe, posted for all to see. Christine's Spaghetti Pie

2011-03-02T10:46:00.000-08:00

When i started stealing mom's recipes and posting them on this blog, my wife quickly hid any of her "special" recipes, knowing i would get to her soon after i was finished with mom. Well, it took me a month, but i finally found where my wife hid her recipe for her famous "Spaghetti Pie".
She hid it in the one place she didn't think i would ever look, the laundry room under the ironing board. Little does she know, i use that ironing board to fillet my catfish on, when she is not home.
Anyway, she never reads any of my stuff anymore, so i'm sure she will never notice this post. This recipe is in the top five on my "favorite food" list. Oh, and if you should happen to read this, thank you dear, for providing the recipe.

Christine's Spaghetti Pie from Mary Metzger

16oz spaghetti
1 stick oleo
3 beaten eggs
1 cup grated parmasan cheese
16oz small curd cottage cheese
2 pounds ground beef
1 pound pork
3/4cup chopped onion
1 large jar spaghetti sauce
1 1/2cups mushrooms
2 cups shredded mozzerella cheese
1 tsp oregeno

Cook spaghetti and drain. Stir in oleo, then beaten eggs and parmasan cheese. Form spaghetti into a crust in a greased 9x13 glass pan. My wife uses three glass pie pans. Spread cottage cheese evenly over spaghetti crust. Cook ground beef, pork, mushrooms and onions until meat is brown. Christine chops down the meat constantly while she cooks it, turning it into very small, almost crunchy pieces. Drain any excess grease, stir in sauce and heat until steaming. put mixture on top of cottage cheese. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Add cheese and bake until cheese is golden brown.

Has "Got a Minute, Eat With Me" changed our lives? You be the judge.

2011-02-22T14:49:00.000-08:00

For the last two months i have been documenting our family's evening activities, and below are just a few of the entries. Has "Got a Minute, Eat With Me" changed our lives? You be the judge.

Wednesday November 24, 2010
on this, the third day of this new family experiment, I must say i am noticing subtle changes already. My oldest son's nervous tic is now almost undetectable, as he figures out that this experiment is not some giant government plot to eliminate electronic devices entirely from our daily lives, my wife has been coming home a bit earlier these days, i suspect in order to head off the terrible havoc i have already wreaked on her kitchen and it's utensils through an attempt to make our "sit down" dinners, and my youngest son responds on only the second or third attempt to speak to him.

Tuesday December 12, 2010
today i saw success with my own eyes, as it took a full 2 and a half minutes for the children to turn on their phones, computers and TVs after dinner.

Friday January 7, 2011
a true day of firsts. the first time ever my oldest son volunteered to help with the dishes. the first time ever my wife told me i was correct. The first time ever my youngest son ate everything i cooked.

Monday February 14, 2011
one year ago today, if i had asked my children to "Give mom and dad a little time alone" for Valentine's day, they would have disappeared faster than the speed of light. Tonight they seem to be offended, asking me "Could we just sit down for a short dinner together first?"
Go figure.

you might be my kinfolk...take the test

2011-02-15T12:14:00.000-08:00

This whole "Got a Minute" thing has me so wound up about getting closer to family, i thought to myself, "Self, i wonder if there are any of my kinfolk around that i have never met?" One thing is for sure, we are a peculiar bunch, the Whittens, and there are surely one or two tell tale signs you might be my kinfolk. Below is a short "check off" list, and if you think you might be related to me, just go through this small list. if you answer yes to 2 or more, we just might be kin folk after all.

1. If you have eaten chinese food while traveling with your family in your car, you might be my kinfolk.
2. If you've ever had the "Heimlick Manuever" performed on you while eating dinner after realizing the 350 pound biker at the table is your daughter's new boyfriend, you might be related to me.
3. If you have ever spit milk out of your nose as your son casually told you that he plans on living in a cardboard box under a bridge when he grows up, you might be kinfolk.
4. If you have ever accepted a "Student of the Month" award for your kid because she was temporarily "expelled" from same said school, you might be kinfolk.
5. If you've ever had two or more children supended from school on the same day for seperate incidents, you probably are my kinfolk.
6. If you have ever dug a 2 inch nerf ball out of your 4 year old son's nose after he did a "Magic Trick" at the dinner table, you might be a relative of mine.
7. If you've ever watched your old hound dog swallow a whole ear of buttered sweet corn that he stole off your plate while you were saying Grace, you are surely a realtive.
I could go on, but i'm sure by now you know if you are my kinfolk or not.

As "Got a Minute" winds down, I can tell you it has changed my family, and in many ways it has made us closer. I believe it is now easier for my children to bring more sensative issues up, and the dinner table has proven to be a great venue for these voices i probably would have otherwise never heard.

my family and my Uncle Butch

2011-02-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

My uncle Butch Passed almost a year ago, and he is now consantly again in my thoughts at any given moment. i thought i would share with you all what i felt on that day. This is what family is about. This is what we are trying deperately to preserve. i know it is long, but it is from my heart, and worth reading.

My first memories of Uncle Butch were as he came home from Viet Nam. I was 11 years old, and Butch looked so much like a soldier all lean and mean, stepping out of a government vehicle driven by another soldier in charge of getting him away from the war and back to his family up on Paint Rock Mountain where he grew up. I was almost scared to go up to him, with his Marine hair and his loud baritone voice. Within minutes he was calling me Bobby and I was hanging on every word he spoke. That bond only grew stronger over the years.

The next memories of Butch were in Grandma Marie’s driveway, him and Uncle Virgil playing music for us until the wee hours, old country ballads that still haunt my memories. From that moment I wanted to be a singer, I wanted to pick a guitar like him, and from then on music would be mixed with everything I did. Memories of Butch and Aunt Ellen singing old Johnny Cash songs together are still vivid, reminding me of what binds and ties our family together.

Uncle Butch went from the tragedies of war to a music career, playing in a band in and around Paris, Arkansas, playing rodeos in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Soon he got a weekly gig on the radio, and everyone knew him as “Cowboy Buddy”, the man with a golden voice and a personality that just wouldn’t quit. Everyone knew him, and I was so proud to be his nephew.

And as I drove to mother’s house to give her the terrible news about her brother, I drew from his strength, and he was just over my shoulder as I told mom. And his songs ran through my mind over and over. Songs like “The Old Rugged Cross” a song I last heard him sing to my Grandpa Aub as he laid in a casket awaiting the final trip to Paint Rock cemetery. Songs like “I Overlooked an Orchid While Searching For a Rose”, a song My Grandpa Vaughn sang to Grandma Marie when Butch was a child.

And I watched from the front row as hundreds of his friends said goodbye to him for the last time. And I cried silent tears as we carried him to the hearst and took the slow ride back to the cemetery up on Paint Rock Mountain.

And I was so proud of Butch as the trumpet played and his fellow marines folded his flag and presented it on bended knee to my cousin Jack, his son. I will never forget how slow the salute came to the marine’s brim. I will never forget the words from Brother Carter’s mouth as he told of a man he knew very well.

Too many times we have made this trip. Too many times I have walked through those gates. I’m tired of watching mother cry, and I hope not to ever see that again.

Still, through all the sadness that cemetery hill has brought upon my family, still it draws me to it like a magnet every time I get close, for this is my Grandma’s resting place, and it holds within its gates my heritage, my roots, my family.

Too late are my words to thank Butch for what he has done. He lived life to the fullest, and we all grew up wanting that energy he had, that musical talent and that way he had with people. Through him we know that music is intertwined in everything we do, calming us in times of tragedy and lifting our spirits when we are feeling low. Through him we know how to love with all our hearts. Because of him, we all have a bond that will only get stronger with the years.

Butch is in Heaven now, but he will remain with us forever in our music. I would imagine he is at this time leaning against the pearly gates with a gold inlaid Martin Guitar, playing another song for the angels as they Ask him “Just one more song, please?”

Rest in peace Uncle Butch. Soon we will all be together again forever, playing the music you taught us.

Mom's famous chili, her internet is down so she will never know.

2011-02-06T08:34:00.000-08:00

after being confined to our home for two days straight, the wife, the kids, the dogs and the cat, i have been contemplating moving South. Just kidding, i think we live in the most perfect part of the World, with a taste of all four seasons, a river near by and some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere.
That being said, last week was kind of crappy. One of the meals we cooked up while we were confined to our home was Mom's famous chili. Her chili will bring in kinfolk from hundreds of miles. Just the mention of that chili sends me salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs after the bell has rung.
The last time i gave away one of her recipes, she kind of snapped on me, but, not to worry, her internet is down and she will never read this blog.
i hope.

Grace's chili

Brown together:
3 pounds ground beef
3 large onions, cut in half, then into thick slices
3 cloves garlic, minced

add:
3 packages chili seasoning any brand to taste
2 Tspns chili powder
pinch salt and pepper
2 cans sliced tomatoes undrained
1 can chili beans undrained
1 can pinto beans drained (reserve juice)
add to taste at end

Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, over low heat for an hour or two. stir occasionally. Add bean juice as needed, but it should be thick. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with bowls of chopped onions and grated cheddar cheese, along with crackers and big hunks of cornbread baked in a buttered iron skillet.

This in one of my favorite recipesMom says it is a passage into winter each year, and also it says "i love you" to her children. it brings me back to a time when all six kids and two parents ate together every night, talking over the day and planning our weekends together.
I do miss those days.

Where did the kitchen go??

2011-01-28T09:53:00.000-08:00

Well folks, my computer is back from the dead, so first order is to update the blog. I am just finishing up a week away from work, a much needed break from the rat race we call the Clinton Herald. While on Vacation, i decided to try my hand at installing granite countertops in the kitchen at home, something i will never try again. That stuff really is heavy. After two days of securing, transporting, cutting and carrying this rock,i have no feeling in my fingers, but i sure do have feeling in my back.
With everything torn up in the kitchen, we have been eating on the fly, ordering in, or going out for dinner, and it has been difficult keeping the "Got a Minute" promise, but we are still on track. Wednesday was our wedding anniversary, so in between ripping the old countertop out and sweeping up dirt, we managed to get some chinese food and sit down in the dining room for supper. Our oldest son has come back to the roost of late, so the conversation is a little more lively, what with the siblings arguing and all.
i do believe, through the "Got a MInute" campaign, we have slowly become closer to our children. I can also see the cahnges in them. they have come to enjoy our sit down dinners, and i think they look forward to them now. These are the things we need to be doing if we want to keep our kids out of trouble.

what does purple hair and a vibrating chair have to do with family dinners? read on.

2011-01-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

We took a trip into the big city last weekend. My wife found a bluegrass concert in Evanston, il. on saturday night. we kind of decided to call that our Christmas present to each other, and i booked a room back in December, reserved the tickets, and we were all set. driving into Chicago with me can be exhausting at times. you see, i know how to keep up with the city folk, it's in my blood. When the road opens up to 3 lanes, i immediately become more aware of my surroundings. When i see 4 lanes wide in front of me, i start seeing spaces in traffic that a normal person doesn't see. i make moves that require me to know within one inch of where my back bumper is. No, people don't yell at me, they just look at me like "I can't believe you just did that." then they always look away and avoid eye contact. They can't tell whether i am crazy or just being dumb. My wife, on the other hand, can tell you i am just turning into a 17 year old boy again, something that happens every time we go on a trip.
Meals can be more difficult when the family is on the road. We ate at the Dekalb Oasis on the way out, but it was not without distractions. From the guy with the purple hair and nose ring who took our order, to the elderly woman who kept putting dollar bills in the Vibrating Chair, there was plenty to watch. i don't think we broke the "Got a Minute" rules, though. We didn't watch a TV and we did eat together.
We had a nice sit down dinner after the show at IHOP, a great place if you are ordering pancakes. Not such a good place to order steak and mashed potatoes. Just sayin...
We did have a great time, and i knew it was a success when i heard my 10 year old on the phone with his buddy. "It was awesome!" was all i had to hear to know.

you never get too old for your mother to set you straight

2011-01-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

You never get too old for your mother to holler at you, i guess.  Mom chewed me out good this weekend for telling people i was underfed on myu blog. Anyone who knows me now would never believe it. Well, just to get mom back a little, below you will find another one of her "secret" recipes. i'm not worried, mostly because after my last post, she probably won't read me any more.
Let me tell you a little more about my mother. She raised six children. That should be enough to impress. She didn't just bring us up. She brought us up to dream big and anything could be within reach.  Mom taught us about good manners and to be respectful of others. She taught us to be different, to stand out in a crowd, and she showed us how to care about others.
Mom also started her writing career while raising us. As i turned 17, mom became a single mother, with still three children under me at home, living on a shoestring budget. Yes, mom is tough and very resourceful when it comes to her children, but i haven't told you the best part.
  Mom did much of her work from the kitchen and dining room. She was our therapist, our mentor, our parent and our friend, depending on what we needed. She was always cooking or writing, and when i sat down, she would listen to me. That may sound small, listening, but it can be very difficult focusing on only one child when there are five other children pulling her in other directions. Many a time i can remember her solving my problems from across the dinner table.
The dinner table was mom's desk, and the kitchen was her office. That may be what is disappearing from families these days, and i guess that's why i am passionate about this subject. we just don't spend enough time with each other, my family and me. that needs to change, and we are starting at the dinner table, because that's how mom did it.

Grace's Cheesy Potatoes

32 oz package frosen hash browns, thawed
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 tablespoons fresh or dried minced onions
1 tspn salt
1 tspn pepper
2 cubes melted butter, divided
2 cups crushed potato chips

mix all ingredients together except potato chips and 1 cube of the butter. Spread in a 9" x 13" baking pan or 2 square pans. Mix potato chips and the other cube of melted butter and spread on top of the potatoes. One can of pringles works great and sometimes i use the sour cream and onion flavor. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or so until the casserole is turning light golden brown. this recipe serves 8-10 people.

can someone come get these scotch-a-roos away from me???

2010-12-29T16:01:00.000-08:00

i think i am going to explode. my eyes, mouth, fork and spoon were bigger than my stomach at our annual family Christmas dinner last week. "were" is the operative word here, as i believe my stomach just caught up to all of them. i come from a big family, and we didn't have alot to eat when we were young. don't get me wrong, we got enough to eat...just enough, but until i was the second oldest and toughest in the house, i never got seconds.
so, when we get together now, i believe we overcompensate for that on holidays. each sibling brings at least two or three dishes to pass, usually something they were denied as a child\. i'm not blaming my parents, that's just the way it was. i gained 33 pounds in boot camp in 13 weeks. midnight chow was my friend.
getting together for the holidays gives me a fix. i need to see everyone eating and talking and laughing together, older ones at the big table, younger ones at the card tables circling around. that is one thing i will never tire of. it is what we are made of. we are a family, through and through. you mess with one of us, it won't be long before you have a dozen of us breathing down your neck. i try try to instill this in my children every chance i get, this unbridled loyalty. it comes from the heart, and it always feels right.
i truly believe it all started with the eight of us sitting down to eat together each and every night as we grew up.
don't you think it's time to get back to the table?

splitting a pound of bacon brings a father and son closer

2010-12-19T17:13:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday night, and it appears as though i have survived the weekend. my youngest son spent the weekend sledding down our hill with his buddys, and they came in the garage now and then to warm up their hands and feet. they chattered back and forth, giggling and smiling, knowing full well i couldn't understand them with their 11 year old slang, the only phrase i recognized was an occasional "I know, right?"
we also fit in some last minute shopping for my wife. her birthday is today. i wanted to fix a big meal for her on Saturday, but we just lost track of time. we did sit down together, and it was then i realized i am not even close to being ready for Christmas.
this morning i got up early, let the dog out, put on a pot of coffee, fed the animals and started a good old fashioned breakfast. Eggs and bacon, with toast and juice. my wife ordered oatmeal and dry toast with her coffee, as she doesn't care for bacon and eggs. this left my son and i to polish off a whole pound of bacon, and we were up to the task for sure.
it seems a bit quieter having a sit down breakfast as opposed to dinner, but it was nice. at 8 am, we hadn't had a chance to get on each other's nerves yet.
in church, my nieces sang and played Christmas songs, making me proud to be a part of a big family that enjoys time spent together. that is, in my opinion, what it's all about, and it is also why i am an advocate for "Got a minute". they are promoting these values, and i believe in their cause.

growing up in a big family

2010-12-16T12:11:00.000-08:00

i grew up in a family of eight, and eating dinner together was a daily thing back in the 70's. With a momma like mine, dinner was something we all looked forward to. That woman could cook! Her fried chicken was to die for, and on the holidays she would make turkey noodles that were so good, just looking at the pot would gain me two pounds. i just couldn't get enough noodles. she would start out the night before, rolling out the dough, slicing it into quarter inch strips, then hanging them all over the kitchen on coat hangers to dry. when she got done cooking, there was a huge 6 quart pot full, and when we got done eating, there was nothing left, i mean nothing. It wasn't easy feeding all of us. Saturday mornings we would wake to the smell of buscuits and sausage gravy, my dad's favorite food. i can still smell those buscuits baking.
Now days, at 74 years old, momma is still working full time as the food editor at Sauk Valley Newspapers in Sterling. Every other tuesday, a crew comes to her house, films her cooking, taking pictures and video for the paper.
I am going to put a few of her recipes on the recipe link so you all can enjoy. Mom's recipes are always simple, and they use ingredients that a cook might have already in their pantry.

turning "Hop and Shop" chicken into a tradition

2010-12-13T17:10:00.000-08:00

This week my youngest son learned how to set a table for dinner, and i learned that my youngst son is very creative at getting out of school homework. i would call it a success on both fronts. sometimes, when you let a child speak, just let him talk, you find out more than if you had asked questions. So, at dinner, i have let him talk, and boy can he talk.
Our dinners haven't always been conventional these days, but we have managed to sit down a few times each week to dinner. it might be "Hop and Shop" chicken on tuesday night, and chili from a can on thursday, but i have thrown in a piece of fruit and a salad her and there. The one thing everyone at the table likes is a nice salad. i have to pick the tomatoes and cucumbers out of my youngest son's salad, but it's worth it. "Pick your battles" my dad used to say.
Anyway, i have received a wonderful payback already from the "Got a minute" program. i have been given the gift of a son's rambling thoughts on a daily basis. Maybe it doesn't seem like much to some, but to me it is an awesome gift.

where did those three pounds come from????

2010-12-08T11:02:00.000-08:00

well, it's Wednesday on the third week of sit down dinners with the family. i have found a flaw in this new system. Somehow, i have gained three pounds in two weeks. It could be the fact that i am the household cook, and i have included potatoes and sweet corn with almost every meal. the main dish, more times than not, is deep or skillet fried.
On the plus side, i have found out more about my ten year old so0n's life than i ever knew before. he has opened up to me, out of pure boredom i suppose. i think he is getting tired of me asking questions, also.
So tonight we eat healthy. Tonight we will have a salad, baked chicken, and sliced tomatoes in vinagarette. and i will try to stay away from the Captain Krunch for dessert.

leftover turkey recipe

2010-12-01T12:53:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all, i had dinner duty last night, and we had a ton of turkey left over, so i looked in my mother's recipes, combined two recipes and it turned out great. here it is, try it out!

ingredients

2 small cans cream of chicken soup
3 cups left over turkey, cut in small pieces
1/3 stick of butter
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 deep pie crust in pan
one package corn bread mix
1 egg
1/3 cup milk

pre-heat oven to 350
in frying pan, bring turkey, butter, soup and garlic to a boil then take off heat.
in a bowl, mix corn bread, milk and egg.
pour soup/turkey mix into pie crust
pour half the cornbread mix on top of pie mix
put the other half of cornbread mix in muffin pan
put pie on a flat pan(in case of boil-over) and put in oven for 30 minutes
or until crust is deep brown
put the corn muffins in for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

simple, easy. and you get rid of some leftovers....

what a week!

2010-11-27T13:37:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it through the first week, managing to sit down to dinner, all together, no television, no laptop, just me and the family, face to face.
The first night was Monday, i was still fresh from the weekend, so i really did it up right. a full course meal with beans and corn and desert. It took me half the afternoon to find and clean the dining room table. On the plus side, i found twelve dollars in change, my work keys and the hampster we lost last fall. At my house we have a disorder, Flat Surface Syndrome, or FSS, as we call it. Every flat surface in the house has turned into a pile of books, school papers or newspapers. i even tried building more flat surfaces, but we seem to find more stuff that absolutely has to sit out in the open.
Anyway, as i sat down at the table i expected two things. First, speed eating, and second, awkward silence. To my surprise, we didn't get much of either. As we ate, we took turns telling the best and worse part of our day. That sparked other conversations until soon we had spent 45 minutes together. I guess that is the point, huh?
Two of the dinners this week were with others, as we had a big gathering at my niece's home in Albany. We sat together, and afterwards we played a little music, then something strange happened. I got up, went into the kitchen, and started cleaning up. Before long there was another, then soon all the men were washing dishes, wiping tables and putting food away, while the women sat watching football. It was like something straight out of "Twighlight Zone", where the roles of nature are somehow reversed.
Well, it's now Saturday evening, and i just got up from a big meal of turkey and ham with all the fixins', and i'm starting to get used to this eat with me thing.
Below you will find a few recipes i used this week, simple and quick. Try them out, i'm sure they will be at hit at the table.

Sisters Tuna Casserole With A Twist

Ingredients
Two small cans of tuna
1 cube of unsalted butter
I can cream of mushroom soup
4 half inch slices Velveeta cheese
1 small bag baked potato chips
One 12oz bag of Amish egg noodles
1 table spoon of salad dressing
¾ cup milk
2 chicken bouillons
Garlic salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 350*. Boil egg noodles in water with chicken bouillons for half the recommended time on the bag. Strain the noodles but don’t rinse them. Put them back in the pan with the butter, milk, salad dressing, cheese, cream of mushroom soup, tuna and salt and pepper to taste. Put into baking dish and spread contents of crushed potato chips on top. Cook for 30 minutes or until brown on top.

Tater Tot Casserole

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 ½ pounds of hamburger
1 bag Tater Tots
8 oz mozzarella shredded cheese
Garlic salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 350*. Fry hamburger in a big frying pan on high, stirring constantly until it is crispy and crumbly, being careful not to burn. Turn heat to medium, salt and pepper to taste and pour in soup, stirring constantly until mixed. Line up Tater Tots in the bottom of a medium size baking dish. Spread half the mozzarella cheese over the Tater Tots. Pour in the hamburger mix and pat down into dish. Line Tater Tots up across the top over the hamburger mix, then spread the rest of the Mozzarella cheese across the Tater Tots. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

The first day of our family dinners.

2010-11-22T09:38:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow dinner eaters. Today we start the "Got a Minute, Eat With me" campaigne, and i am in charge of dinner preparation. There will be three of us eating tonight, unless one of the kids I already threw out of the house gets hungry and stops by. We have three children in their5 20's and "on their own", and one ten year old still under our roof. He happens to be a finicky eater, so this will be my opportunity to say to him "You can't leave the table until you eat your brussel sprouts." just as my father used to say, although I may change it to "You can't have your laptop until you eat your brussel sprouts."
Seriously, I believe this is going to make a big difference for many families. We get so busy, we forget to ask the little questions that keep us all close, like "How was school today?" and "What do you want to do this weekend?".
I will be blogging tonight or in the morning on how the first night went, so keep checking in, will you?

The Whitten Family Blog

2010-09-30T08:04:00.000-07:00

Bob Whitten from the Clinton Herald and his family have taken the “Got a Minute? Eat with Me” pledge. He will be blogging weekly about his family’s experiences throughout the duration of the campaign.

The blog will begin the week of Thanksgiving and will end March 1st, 2011.

Check back regularly to read his blog and make comments.