Tag: mom

Whitney Sutherland: Made for Mom {Foodie Friday)

By Whitney Sutherland of Running with Whit

 Whitney

 Gloria and Whitney Sutherland… when it comes to recipes, this apple didn’t fall far from the tree!

It is a fair to say that I learned how to cook and appreciate food from my awesome Mom! Growing up, I remember looking through her worn selection of recipes in the shoe box sized recipe box that she kept. The recipes within were on all different types of index cards. Some were written out in my mom’s handwriting, while others were just torn out magazine recipes taped to a card. Without fail, most of the cards in this box had a short note handwritten on the card and then the month/year that my mom had first prepared the recipe.

Even though there were 100’s of recipes within her recipe box, I still as a grown adult crave a few of my mom’s most signature dishes. As a kid, the most special meal of the year was always your birthday dinner because my mom would let you select your menu… mine usually was fajitas or meat loaf. For mom though, her extra special day and meal should be on Mother’s Day! It’s her chance to be pampered and spoiled! While you are spoiling  mom, why not do so with her with her favorite recipe! With my mom now living in Arizona it is a little hard to cook for her but just the same I’ll be preparing one of her signature and favorite recipes this weekend =Taco Salad with homemade French dressing.

My mom received this dressing recipe in the late 60’s before she and my father were married. Her future mother-in-law connected her with a woman  named Margaret Simpson who was living in California near where myNavy father was stationed . My mom went to visit my father and stayed with Mrs. Simpson. She still recalls that Mrs. Simpson introduced her to artichokes and avocados during that spring break trip. She also served her meals on fine china which began my mom’s love of china and a well set table. It’s true…my mom loves to have a beautifully set table for family meals and always includes a floral Ikebana arrangement!

This recipe can still be found in my mom’s recipe box. It is on a yellowed and stained index card in Mrs. Simpson’s handwriting. But much to my surprise this is one recipe that my mom forgot to write the date on! I hope you have a chance to spoil the mom’s in your life this weekend with some of their favorite recipes because sometimes the recipe is just so much better when it is made for you!

Trail Race - All Done

 

Whitney Sutherland blogs at Running with Whit  about the fun and adventure of an everyday athlete.  Whitney works full time playing with numbers and products and unwinds by training for races.  She loves triathlons and has completed two half ironman distance races.  She completes many races each year and initially discovered blogs while researching different races.  Whitney spends her free time with Sidney her runner dog and her family where she gets to be the cool aunt to three awesome kiddos. 

 

 

 ecipe Card

French Dressing
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Ingredients
  1. 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
  2. 1 cup sugar
  3. 1 teaspoon dry mustard
  4. 1 tablespoon. salt
  5. 1 teaspoon black pepper
  6. 1 teaspoon celery seed
  7. 1 can tomato soup
  8. 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  9. 1 cup salad oil
Instructions
  1. Mix ingredients together until emulsified.
Notes
  1. Definition: Emulsify means combining two liquids together which normally don't mix easily. The ingredients are usually oil or a fat like olive oil or egg yolks, and another liquid like water or broth. Acidic liquids like lemon juice help the process by changing the pH of the mixture. The liquids are combined very slowly, usually drop by drop, while beating vigorously, which suspends drops of liquid throughout each other. Bearnaise, hollandaise, and mayonnaise are examples of emulsified foods.
  2. Pronunciation: ee MULL sih fi • (verb)
  3. Also Known As: blend
  4. Source: http://busycooks.about.com/library/glossary/bldefemulsify.htm
Arkansas Women Bloggers https://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/

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Dear Mom {Love Story}

Dear Mom {Love Story}
Written by Sweety Darlin’.

Dear Mom,
I wanted to write you a letter to fill you in on all the things that have happened since January of 1996. First your granddaughter, Alia, has grown into a beautiful and intelligent young woman, but of course you knew she would be. I know the mother’s curse works because she is giving me fits about her grades. She just decided not to do homework the first 9 weeks of her freshman year, so we are dealing with that. You would love the punishment I gave her. I took away all her clothes, shoes and makeup, made her wear grey sweatpants and grey t-shirt for 9 weeks. The little snot is so beautiful she still had boys sniffing at her butt like dogs in a dog park.

You have another granddaughter, Browyn. She is 13 now, about to be 14. You would love her. She is my emotional and caring side, you know the one that cried everyday after school in the 5th grade. She is so affectionate and just wants everyone to get along and be happy. She went through this phase when she was in the first grade that she would ask people all the time, “when you die can I have (insert random object)” She wishes she had known you. I tell her all sorts of things about you, and I promise they are not all bad.

I tell the girls how you used to tell me if you kissed me on my elbow I would turn into a boy, and that to this day I can’t stand for people to get near my elbows. Alia blames you and I for the fact that she can’t stand people to touch her feet, because we both love baby feet.

I am sewing again, and trying to make a business of it, oh and I am calling it Sweety Darlin’. Dad thought it was a perfect name. I wish you were here to help me, you would have so much fun with how the Internet has created a unique venue for the random business person.

Remember when I was about 10 and you told me not to go into computers since they weren’t going anywhere and I needed to become an engineer. God I love telling that story to every A&M grad engineer I know, they die laughing. Hey I met Dr. Blacklock! He taught me too! It was so strange on the first day of his statics class he calls me up to the front and asks me if I was any relation to Darcia Norwood. I think my face went white when I said yes. I am thinking of getting my graduate degree and teaching college.

I promised I would get my bachelors and I did, not in engineering and not from A&M, but in construction from UALR. Close I swear LOL! Oh you may not know what LOL means!  See there is this new way to use cellular phones that allows you to send brief written comments and it has created a whole new genre of English called text speak, and LOL means laugh out loud. That way lazy people don’t have to actually use the language they have been taught.

I fussed at the girls the other day about their penmanship, after reading an article that college professors are appalled at the poor penmanship and writing skills of high school students directly related to texting and using computers. So our technology is making us dumber! I try really hard to teach the girls all the useless things you taught me, and I think some of it is getting through, but I won’t know till they are older.

I miss you mommy. I want you to see all the things your granddaughters do and what they are becoming. I want to share it with you. I am sorry for all the horrible things I said as a teenager, all the things I didn’t know were so horrible. I am sorry that I thought you would live forever. You are my mommy and I love you even though you are gone. I spent hundreds every year giving for breast cancer research and have been genetically tested for the gene and I don’t have it, but I still get my boob smooshin on your birthday every year.

Love your only daughter, I promise to write more.
Felicia

You can call me Sweety Darlin’.  I am a 29 year old mother of two teenagers, don’t argue!  I love to sew and design and make things.  If it goes through a sewing machine I am game!  My kids are amazing when they are sleeping, and pretty decent the rest of the time.

 

 

Links to me
www.sweetydarlin.etsy.com
www.facebook.com/sweetydarlindesigns
www.twitter.com/sweety_darlin
www.sweetydarlin.blogspot.com
Sweetie Darlin on Pinterest

New Year, New Phase of Life: The Return to Work {New Year, New You}

New Year, New Phase of Life: The Return to Work {New Year, New You}
Written by Stephanie McCratic of Evolved Mommy

At the beginning of 2011 I started to feel like I needed to be doing something professionally. My year-and-a-half old daughter had a calendar packed with play dates; I had started a new mommy group with scheduled speakers, childcare, crafts and bonding activities; but I needed something more.

Freelance writing seemed like a natural transition. My blog had been gaining readership steadily over the past couple years, and I had done some freelance magazine writing and public relations work years ago.

A friend had also talked me into starting a jewelry home show business. The money was good and it forced me to get out of the house and socialize with people whom I’d never met. It’s not anything that I’m terribly proud of, but it taught me some good lessons.

After a whirlwind and dizzying year I now find myself gainfully employed as a social media strategist for a local marketing firm. And, no kidding, some of the biggest national clients I’ve landed have come to me directly because of my home show business.

The beauty of the situation is that my schedule is a flexible 30 hours per week. I started at 20 hours per week, which was a nice way to transition back to an office /day job setting. Now at the current 30 hour schedule I still get one weekday off with my toddler-turning-preschooler. If I were working 40 hours per week I would only see her for the 2-3 hours between when she gets home and when she goes to bed each night.

This arrangement is fantastic for our family, and it isn’t an option with every job. Although, I think it should be more common than it is.

How is my day different today than it was last year at this time:

Then                                                Now

stretchy clothes                            Heels
10 am play dates                           7 am professional development groups
Nap strikes                                       anxious clients and lost emails
Quality time with baby               Stimulating adult conversation

 

Returning to work isn’t for everyone at this stage, in just the same way that staying home isn’t for everyone.

Life has changed drastically in the last two month:

–          My body weight has increase, I’m assuming from stress eating or maybe business lunches or possibly even just winter.
–          My schedule is still a little wonky.
–          My husband and I haven’t yet figured out who takes our daughter to childcare and picks her up on what days.
–          The people I see regularly are changing (and this is the hardest part). I rarely see my mommy friends these days.

Hopefully, the dust will settle soon and the mental, emotional and financial rewards will be more obviously apparent.

No matter what, though, I still want a nap at 2:00 p.m.

 

Stephanie McCratic is the author of EvolvedMommy.com, where she writes about technology, trends and (mostly) non-sense for the modern mom. She has recently returned to work after two years as a stay-at-home mom. Her official title is Community Shepherd, but that’s just fancy, marketing speak for social media strategist at The Belford Group in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she tweets and blogs professionally.