all right what type of things would you fix if you're having company come over
well i have a really great one that i make in the summertime because it's cool and it's uh it's just really pretty easy it's pretty much dumping things in and stirring and i like that
uh-huh
uh the only thing you have to do is cook the rice that goes in in it and then i you're supposed to do chicken but i just use those little cans of chicken
uh-huh
and it makes it so much easier and so you dump the rice you dump the chicken and then you put in fruit like pineapple and mandarin oranges and grape now grapes are the ones that you have to pull all that off but i get my kids to do that so i i don't have to do that
oh
and um and it really and you mix it all up with yeah there's a little dressing that goes in it that you have to stir up but it's so simple and it tastes really good because it's cool in the summertime uh-huh
oh yeah you serve it cold oh yeah that sounds good
yeah it has to sit in the fridge over night but but it's really good
hum
and i like that one
yeah usually when we entertain we do something really simple because i like to visit with my company and not be scurrying around in the kitchen so a lot of times we'll barbecue like that for Memorial Day we had some friends over and we
yeah
exactly
just bought a brisket and marinated it overnight in one of those like Adolph's Meat Marinate and put it on the smoker and
uh-huh
oh that sounds good
cooked it and that it was real good you can buy a fairly cheap piece of meat that way and then people think they're eating steak or something
yeah yeah
and these days that helps doesn't it yeah
yeah yeah it really does
i know what you mean
i don't usually i just pass on any recipe that's got more than five or six steps to it because i just know i'll never take the time to do it
now spaghetti's such an easy one um i do that a lot
uh-huh
i do spaghetti a lot
yeah it seems like most people like spaghetti
yeah i don't like to do that if if it's hot real hot though
yeah
because um
i don't know i have a real thing about being hot in the in the summertime i guess
uh-huh well i think when you heat your kitchen up it really makes a big difference
yeah
in your whole house
yeah i think that's right and um
we don't entertain that often but when we do i'm like you i like it to be fast and easy and something so that we can talk and not
uh-huh
yeah
and not have to worry about being in the kitchen all the time
most we don't entertain like people from work or stuff even often usually friends from church and stuff and it's usually kind of like
yeah
you want to come over and they say well what can we bring and so it's real easy because you just make one or two things and everybody else brings something
yeah
that's exactly like us from our church we just do it yeah
oh yeah yeah it's a lot more relaxing i don't know if i could take the pressure of having to make you know put on this really fancy dinner for someone
oh
well you see all that on TV and i could never be that person
huh-uh
it just uh i'm just not well i'm so i'm pretty laid back
yeah
and uh and so i don't i know a lady in a my church and uh she
like does her own bread and does her own stuff and so when she um does food she really goes all out and i don't know how she can do it and be calm
yeah yeah do you work
i guess no i don't
do you stay home with kids
uh-hum yeah
yeah i i've been working we're going to have a baby this summer and i'm not going to work anymore yeah so hopefully i think i'll enjoy cooking more when i don't have to work all day i don't like to come home and
oh how exciting
stand in the kitchen and spend an hour fixing something and then have to clean it up and by then it's eight thirty or nine o'clock at night so
yeah well i usually start about six and an and cook and and then eat at seven i mean cook cook at five and eat at six rather
uh-huh
eat at six yeah
yeah and uh my family and i we're a sit down together family
oh that's good
uh yeah i don't like the run in and out part and
yeah
i like to be able to sit down after school and have them talk with me and and my husband about what's happened and
yeah that's neat
i think i that was ingrained in me during my family time at home and uh
uh-huh
you know we could learn to talk about things and i think that's good
yeah that really is it keeps the family in touch with what's going on with each other
yeah i think
right now we eat in front of the TV but since it's just the two of us it's
yeah yeah
well that happens to us sometimes too uh
yeah
sometimes if something uh is on that they want to watch i leave it on but we eat in the kitchen and their heads are always poking past the door
uh-huh see what's happening
yeah anyway food is is uh a real lifestyle kind of thing and i some people don't like to do this but i like to cook uh cook with my kids
oh uh-huh
and if they're going to have other kids over then then they help and we make real simple things you know those oh i don't i don't know if you've ever made them maybe not since you don't have kids yet but those JELL-O
uh gelatin things you can pick up with your fingers i can't think of what they call it
oh i've seen those in the magazines
yeah they're so simple
uh-huh
and the kids love to do that uh finger food is is a biggie with them and
yeah
and like now one thing i wish i could find a a better way to do are celery sticks and carrot sticks because they love to do that and it's just really hard and if they have to work with a knife i don't like that so
yeah
that's uh they like to eat it but it's a hard one to have to to prepare
yeah i'll bet
but they like that with the the cool ranch dressing that goes along with that so yeah
oh yeah yeah we like that
that's good that that's a good way to get kids to eat vegetables too
yeah my son's getting to be a a real good cook so uh
oh neat
sometimes he fixes me breakfast
oh wow that's great
yeah i like it i like it a lot
how old he
he's eleven
eleven wow that's good
uh-huh
yeah so he's
do you cook breakfast like you cook a breakfast every morning or
uh not every morning uh
mostly during the summer it's hit and miss and we usually have like uh cold cereal or something like that um during the summer during
yeah
yeah
wintertime when they're in school um then i try to vary it so that we only eat that like a twice a twice a week or something and then have like when it's really cold
i even cook oatmeal because i like oatmeal and the look they like it all right and um
uh-huh
yeah
then sometimes we do something it has to be fast because they're on their way to school we do like Eggo waffles and stuff like that but
oh uh-huh yeah
yeah
so i try to uh and sometimes we do eggs if i get up
early enough to do that i used to do them in the microwave but they don't like that
oh do they get rubbery or
uh um
i've never tried it
it depends it depends if you let them cook too long
uh-huh
then they'll turn a little bit gray you can tell if they've gone to long because they'll turn a little bit gray and they will be a little harder and i don't like that
yeah
so you have to just let it cook a little bit less than what it says in if you have a microwave book but uh you cook it a little bit less and then let it sit with a
like a plate over the top and let it steam and then and then stir it up
oh
uh-huh
huh
yeah an and that turns out okay and it's funny because if i turn them out on to a dish i on to like a plate for them to take what they want
yeah
uh-huh
they don't know i've ever done it in a microwave
it's really funny it's very deceiving you know because if they see it with their eyes they go uh i don't like want that
yeah
you know and yet if they don't ever see it then then it's like oh this tastes okay you know so anyway
yeah
we had my grandmother used to do that to us with things like squash everybody would say we don't like squash we won't eat squash so she would make these fancy casseroles and hide it in there you know and then we'd go oh this is really good
yeah
