Food Stamp Challenge

http://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/

Katy over at The Non-Consumer Advocate is going to try to feed her family in June for the same amount of money she would get if she were on food stamps in Washington state.  It comes out to $101 per person.  Mrs. Roy is going to work on this with her.  Stay tuned for updates throughout the month.  I've got a feeling $202 is going to go pretty quickly.

If you want to try this out for yourself, just start on June 1 and do your best not to spend more than $101 per person on groceries.  You are allowed to use what you have on hand. 

Broadway, Here I Come - Not!

Mrs. Roy was asked to help out with the Kids Choir at church a couple of months ago so I said sure.  Little did I know I would be the only adult actually in the performance or that I would have a LOT of lines to learn.  Mr. Roy says I shouldn't volunteer for everything that comes down the pike.  I don't think there's much danger of Mrs. Roy following that advice.

Regardless, the performance was Sunday morning and I had a blast!  I stumbled over my opening line but after that I just relaxed and had a good time.  It helped, of course, that the program is all about the kids and totally not about me.  My plan was to rely heavily on the cute factor of the smaller kids - and I'm pretty sure it worked. 

Now I have the problem of having all these great lines running through my head and nowhere to use them.  "Greetings, students.  And welcome to the last day of final exams at Alleluia Aquatic Academy."  "Sub to shore, do you read?"  "It's been a whale of day, students.  Let's chart a course for home."  See what I mean?   It's going to be hard trying to work that stuff into a normal conversation. 

And then there's the matter of the Captain's hat.  Seems Mr. Roy told a couple of sweet little ladies sitting around him that he was going to have me wear the hat for him later and I've got a feeling the teasing isn't going to let up too soon.  Leave it to Mr. Roy to misbehave in church!

So, my acting debut was great fun and I'll do it again if I get the chance.  But don't sign me up any time soon; I've got to recover from this one first!

Have some fun!  Mrs. Roy

Swagbucks

 Mrs. Roy loves Swagbucks.  It's a search engine that has a toolbar, etc. and you earn Swagbucks each time you search.  I've been using it about six months now and I've earned several Amazon.com $5 giftcards.  It's easy and free and it really works. You'll thank me later.

Mrs. Roy's Famous Oatmeal Cookies

When Mrs. Roy was a little girl, Mom would make oatmeal cookies and I would burn my fingers trying to get them off the hot pan before they had cooled enough.  When my own children were young, they would stand in the kitchen and wait for the cookies to come out of the oven and I always had to make a double batch so we would have some for later.  Even Mr. Roy has been known to hover when oatmeal cookies are in the oven.  Friends of my children would request them.  I recently took a bag to my grown son and his friends promptly lost their manners.  These cookies are really that good.

I think Mom got the recipe off the back of an oatmeal box somewhere along the way.  All I know is I've never fed these cookies to anyone that they didn't love them.  They are easy to make, cheap and you will usually have the ingredients on hand to whip up a batch whenever the mood hits.

These aren't fancy gourmet oatmeal cookies.  They don't have any raisins or wheatgerm or any secret healthy ingredients.  In fact, the first ingredient is butter-flavored Crisco.  That's right; people are surprised to find these cookies are made from Crisco instead of butter. 

Mrs. Roy will again stress that these cookies are NOT diet food or health food, even if they are made of oatmeal.  So enjoy but Mrs. Roy hereby disclaims any liability for any extra pounds associated with following this recipe. 

Mrs. Roy's Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup butter-flavored Crisco

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups oatmeal, uncooked

1 cup self-rising flour

Preheat oven to 350.  

Beat together the Crisco, sugars, egg, water and vanilla until creamy.  Add the oatmeal and flour and mix well.  

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough onto a cookie sheet or baking stone.  I have a scoop that is a little larger than a teaspoon; I usually flatten the cookie dough a little with my hands before putting them in the oven. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the top and edges start to brown.  Do not overcook!

Let them cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before moving them to a cooling rack; they will want to tear apart while they are warm but will firm up as they cool.  However, a warm oatmeal cookie (or 2 or 3) with a big glass of milk is worth a little mess of broken cookies!

Makes three dozen.