Leftover turkey and trimmings???? What to do?

Have you ever wondered what to do with your turkey and trimmings leftovers after Thanksgiving or Christmas? I have a great solution! I guess I shouldn't say it is mine, I stole it from my mother-in-law one year when all of us got together and we had leftovers. What else is there to do, but make a casserole?
Now, for those of you very sectional eaters out there, you may be thinking "casserole, NO WAY!" I can understand. My hubby likes his foods separated and eats them one at a time. I hear your scoffs and reservations. However, I have to say-it is JUST wonderful. Here is the way I did it today:
I didn't have a lot of leftover dressing, so I started with the turkey on the bottom-enough to cover the whole bottom of your pan. I used a 9X13 pan, but you can use whatever size you want, depending on how many leftovers there are. After the turkey, I put dressing, then corn, a think layer of gravy, then mashed potatoes,then ended with gravy. I covered it with foil and put it in the freezer for a day when I didn't want to cook! You can do this casserole to whatever taste you like-whatever layers you like-although I always end with potatoes and gravy. Depending on how many leftovers you have-you can always give it to friends or your fav single friend who would probably really enjoy it.
Hope you try it!

Quick, Inexpensive Christmas Gifts...Cocoa Jars

3 cups powdered milk

1/3 cup sugar

½ cup cocoa powder

For peppermint hot cocoa, add in 1/3 cup crushed candy canes. For salted double chocolate cocoa add in ½ teaspoon sea salt and 1/3 cup chocolate morsels.

The recipe can easily be cut in half for smaller jars or doubled for larger jars.

Attach with directions: “Mix the ingredients in the jar together, then stir ¼ cup mix into 1 cup hot water or milk. Top with whipped cream.”

Then you just hope that your friends invite you over for hot cocoa.


****INFO BORROWED FROM: http://www.thenheathersaid.com/2010/11/23/handmade-christmas-kitchen-how-sweet-it-is/

Water Fights and Life Lessons

A couple of days ago, Simeon and I were 'washing' dishes in the kitchen. Simeon LOVES water and loves playing in it which helps me (Kim) with getting the dishes done. Anyway, during our 'washing' Simeon started flinging water (not unusual). I said in response to this "Simeon, this isn't the place for that." (Calmly of course)...

As I heard the words come out of my mouth, I thought to myself, "This sounds like an adult talking and scolding". What better place to fling water than in our house, in our kitchen? So, instead of doing the good adult thing and continuing the wash dishes, I proceeded to fling water back at Simeon. His face was priceless! He just looked at me with big eyes and then started laughing and flinging more water. After a few minutes, we were both soaked as well as the kitchen, but it was SO much fun and I wouldn't trade the sweet sounds of laughter for anything-not even a dry kitchen.

My life lesson for today:

Don't be too busy, or too 'adult-like' to take advantage of fun kid-like opportunities that your kids will remember.