Ziplock Omelets

With holidays just around the corner, many of you will be having out-of-town guests and you don't want to spend all of your time in the kitchen. Here is a really neat breakfast idea that a friend sent to me today by e-mail and I just had to share it with you.

Ziplock Omelets

Have your guests write their name on a Quart sized zip lock freezer bag with a permanent marker.

Crack 2 eggs (large or extra large into the bag (no more than 2) shake to combine them.

Put out a variety of ingredients: cheese, ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, hash browns, salsa, etc

Have each guest add prepared ingredients of their choice to their bag and shake. Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up.

Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for no less that 13 minutes and no more than 15 minutes.

You can cook 6-8 bags in a large pot at one time.

Open the bags (cut off the tops) and the omelet will roll out all folded nicely. Be prepared for everyone to be amazed!  

These can actually be prepared the night before, stuck into the refrigerator and then pulled out to cook in the morning.

Serve with fresh fruit or coffee cake, or my choice of homemade baking powder biscuits!

The 4th of July Birth of a Nation

Happy Birthday America!

Tomorrow everyone will be pulling out all the stops to have a big holiday celebration!

Many will load the family into the car for a day at the beach or perhaps a state park while others of us will stay at home and just have a family get-together with a bar-b-q in the back yard. Many cities will celebrate with parades during the day and at night the skies will be filled with the booms and flashes of fireworks displays.

I hope each and every one of us will also take time to really reflect back to the year of 1776 when this nation was officially born and our forefathers officially signed the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. Can you believe that this country has stood for 223 years as a symbol of freedom, democracy and equality for all of our citizens?

I can remember in school that we had to learn the Preamble of the Constitution and be able to recite it verbatim in front of the class in our American History Class. One of the students asked the teacher why it was so important that we know this and why was American history so important anyway, it was all about things in the past and all the people were dead! I will never forget her response to that student. She told him that it was important that you know your roots not only of your family but of your country. You need to know what trials and tribulations your forefathers went through in order for you to appreciate the freedoms that you now have in your life. You need to know the mistakes as well as the accomplishments of your nation so that you can learn from the mistakes and hopefully not repeat them in the future. Someday you will be the leaders of this country and it is my responsibility to teach you as much as possible to be good stewards of this land and your parents have the responsibility to teach you to be good stewards of your family name.

I guess that is one of the reasons why genealogy has taken on such a significant influence in my life. By learning about my ancestors, I also learn about their roles in the development of this country, their place in history so to speak. One day you too will become ancestors and your children hopefully will look back upon your lives and be able to say that we have been good stewards of our family and our country.

God bless each and every one of you…… may you have a safe holiday

Take time to reflect upon the past and march forward bravely into the future.

Happy Mother's Day

I just want to take a break from my normal postings here to honor all the Mothers!

Now of course I am including all the generations of mothers in your life for each of them have contributed to your makeup in one way or another without you even realizing it!

Thank you Mom for encouraging me to spread my wings and try new things, thank you Grandma B. for giving me the confidence that I could do whatever I set my mind to do.

Thank you Mom for teaching me how to sew and try any type of craft projects I could get my hands on, and Grandma B. for teaching me how to darn a pair of socks, mend a three corner tear in a shirt and sew on buttons.

I'm laughing as I write this, for you notice that no one taught me how to cook! Any wonder I would french fry eggs when I first got married? Cookbooks here we come!

Thank you Mom for teaching me phrases like "You can always catch more bees with honey than you can with vinegar" and "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all," and of course her famous one "A little dirt won't kill you!"

Thank you Grandma Lou for teaching me it is good to have a gentle, forgiving heart, that we all make mistakes in our lifetime.

I also need to honor my Aunt Dorothy for teaching me how to knit, Mamie for teaching me to crochet (this was my grief therapy) and my Great Aunt Irene for teaching me how to have patience. These three ladies were influential in my life and that is another blog story in itself!

I was not fortunate enough to have Great Grandmothers alive when I was growing up, so I have no idea if some of these things were passed down from a prior generation or not, but I can almost guarantee a few were!

To my daughters, I wish to say that I love you from the depths of my heart. I am so proud of the beautiful, strong, faithful, great mothers that you have become. I may not have always been the best mom but I did the best that I could and still try! You have blessed me with beautiful, loving grandchildren. I always thought the most wonderful thing in life was to be a Mom and then I became a Grandma! What a wonderful blessing and an entirely new depth and dimension of love!

So today, I wish to say to all you moms, no matter what generation you are, may you bless them with happy positive memories of you and Happy Mother's Day!