Letter From Summer Camp

Dear Family,

Bacon here from Summer Camp.  Another day down and another day closer to coming back home to the Hotel Thompson.  Yesterday for our activity we went swimming in the lake.  Things were going good.  The cute little ‘strawberries’ (girls) got a thrill – snorts. Scott taped a fin on his back and swam over to their side.  I’ve never seen strawberries move that fast out of the water in my entire life.  Some of them were faster than the girls in those b-rated movies on SyFy.  It was really hilarious.  But Wolf caught Scott and he got into trouble.  I have to admit mom, I had *nothing* to do with that.  Really I didn’t – pig honor.

Last night, we got to watch a movie outside near the camp fire.  Now that’s what I’m talking about.  It was so much fun!  It was Race for Your Life Charlie Brown.  I got my first roasted marshmallow.  So delicious.  Of course, it was so hot it almost burned my lips but I couldn’t just stop at one.  And trust me.  No one noticed towards the end of the movie when I got the rest of the bag of marshmallows.  Nope not at all.  You see they were too busy taking care of the fire.  Oh don’t worry. It wasn’t that big.  A boy in cabin 3 threw some fireworks in the bonfire.  One went off into the brush and cause a small fire.  It only took two fire extinguishers to get it out.  No worries.  Talk to you later.

 

Shopping Around the World

My friends – thank YOU so very much for everyone’s wonderful responses to my and Fozzie’s Shopping Around the World blog posts.  We are having so much fun seeing the different prices from around the world AND looking at some intriguing recipes and dinner suggestions.  They are so totally awesome!  Let’s keep up the great work – remember to link back to my blog here so we can keep up with who is playing and keep up with all of the recipes.

This month we focused on FIVE items of your choice in a meal.  It was a “Go for what you know” kind of meal.

 Mom’s “Go to meal” is something easy that she puts in the crock pot all day long to simmer – Spicy Cabbage Soup.  And we all love it – yep we have tasted it.  It’s that good.  It’s an easy meal, has a little spice to it and is great for a cold wet day.  We hope that you enjoy it too when you fix it 🙂

2 cans of mixed vegetables, $2.38

1 package of sirloin, about a pound.  On this date it was cheaper to buy it as a small piece of sirloin instead of it already being cubed.  It was $7.43 for the pound.

1 head of cabbage, $1.28 for the head.

2 boxes of beef broth, $4.98

Seasoning in the form of pepper, salt and pepper flakes.

Directions:  Plug in your crock pot and put on low in the early morning before leaving for work.  Pour in the two boxes of beef broth.  We get the low sodium kind.  Chop up the entire head of cabbage and put in the crock pot. Stir the cabbage in to make sure the broth is covering it.  In the meantime, cut up your sirloin into small cubes.  You can buy the sirloin that is already cut up – whatever you prefer.  This date it was cheaper to buy it whole.  Salt and pepper the beef and throw it in the crock pot with a quick stir.  Then add in your canned vegetables, black pepper to taste and pepper flakes to taste.  Remember, pepper flakes are spicy.  Less is best if you are not sure what kind of spice you want.  You can always add more in when you serve the individual bowls.  Mom likes to serve it with cornbread or a crusty type bread for dipping.  Goes great on cold rainy days or cold winter nights.