See, our Christmas tree came with a complimentary praying mantis nest stuck in the branches. I told my son to take it outside, and instead he put it in his room and never told us. His room is a disaster. He put it on top of his dresser, which is even worse. Well, it fell off and into his top drawer where his undies and socks and pajamas all are! So, last night he came running downstairs and asking me for a plastic container.
"Don't ask any questions. Just hurry!"
Red flags! Alarms! Bells and whistles!
You see, each nest on average contains 100-200 babies!!! They can have as many as 400. By the time he found them, they were EVERYWHERE! Down the dresser, into his drawers, all over his clothes, behind the dresser, under the dresser, in with his matchboxes, on the walls, in the carpet.
Itch. Itch. Itch.
These are just a few of them. I don't think we will ever find them all, although I am sure we got more than 100. They are a little more than 1/4" long and very skinny.
He will most definitely be cleaning his room. Thoroughly!
I used baby carrots because they were buy one get one free and what I had on hand. Although more of a pain to chop, they will be eaten more easily by the kids than big slices of carrot.
When I boil a large ham, there is usually an excess of meat, so I cut it up and freeze it in smaller quantities to use in recipes later. This is a great idea if you can get a big ham on sale around holidays, like Easter. If you don’t have the freezer space for a big ham- cook it right away and make a big pot of ham pot pie or ham and green beans (typical PA Dutch foods), freezing the rest of them ham for later. You can get several meals out of it this way.
Potatoes are a big food staple in this house. We grow a lot but we need a better way to store them…
Remember to soak your beans the night before! Dry beans are really cheap and they take up less space in your cupboard than canned ones.
Instead of canned chicken broth, boil some chicken and save the broth. The chicken was used in zucchini casserole, but other than casseroles, I sometimes use the meat in chicken wraps for lunches, too. I boil the broth down to condense it sometimes, then freeze it in old margarine or sour cream containers. Another great way to take advantage of a good sale on chicken, or better yet, get your meat directly through the farmer- you will cut out the middle man and save! If you want it to be lower in fat, you can let it cool and then skim the fat off of the top.
It was pretty good. Next time, however, I might try to use ham soup base instead of chicken broth. I am used to my regular ham bean soup with that good, smoky flavor. Bacon would really make this, too. :)
