This was another one of those holidays that I managed pull out of a hat and I always amaze myself when I am blessed enough to pull it off with style. I guess all those years with small kids and small budgets paid off again.
This year I came into the Easter weekend with high hopes and big dreams, “I am a Network Marketer and I will be successful at it”, is my running dialogue with myself these days. The reality of it is that we had too much month left at the end of the money and I hadn’t even gotten my son an Easter Basket. I had been reading the book "The Attractor Factor" by Joe Vitale he also wrote many E-books, his first one being Hypnotic Writing". Anyway this book is all about bringing the things you want to you through attraction and positive thoughts and feelings. So all week I had been putting out into the universe what I needed and really just forgot that come Sunday it would be Easter.
Friday before Easter it hit me and I knew I was going to need food, yes food is always good on Holidays, so we set out to the food bank. I was counting on them to have what I needed to make an Easter feast. I was right, as it turned out we were lucky enough to be one of the 17 families that got a whole turkey. Great a 12lbs turkey was plenty big to feed us, but when I got to the veggie table I was told I could have 3 potatoes, really 3? I clearly had a lil sticky on my badge that said I had to feed 6 people and I can only have 3 potatoes? OK that’s fine I will work with it, I grabbed a hand full of radishes some root looking thingy and some apples. We managed to snagged a whole cake, some Easter Cookies and a couple of books for my ten year old. We hopped back in the car, headed straight over to Aarons school to pick him up in a nick of time and prayed we would have enough gas to get back to Mama Mo (mama mo is our 27ft class A motor home that we live in).
Sunday morning came early and I remembered I had seen a sign up at the college saying they were having an Easter egg hunt and free food, "Sweet" I can get my neighbor Tammy to take us up there and Aaron can at least hunt for eggs. Tammy was happy with that idea, so with her son and my son we were off to the hunt. Or so we thought, when we get there it seemed awfully empty, then Tammy's son said "hey the sign said April 23rd and its April 24th. At this point I was glad I was in the company of people with a laugh out loud attitude, cause laughter was the only thing at that moment I needed.
OK so at this point I could have just sat down and cried and gave up on creating a great day but I didn’t. With the help of my wife and her infinite I came home and proceeded to TIISG. What’s that you ask? "Turn it into something good!" We came home and my son and I took our puppy out for a walk. We live along a nice creek with an even nicer walking trail and it was a little chilly but a great way to connect with my son and get some exercise at the same time. The puppy had a blast and so did we.
No onto the holiday dinner, all I knew was I had a turkey, now keep in mind that the oven in a 27 foot RV is not very big but I have a huge BBQ. So I googled "how to BBQ a turkey with coal", simple enough I found a nice 6 minute video on YouTube that showed me exactly what to do, perfect! So my older son and I pulled out the grill and arranged the coals how the video showed and tried to light the coals. Well this did not work out so well, the coals had sat out in the weather for a few weeks and would not light. Really? How am I supposed to cook a 12lbs turkey with no heat? Urgh! Don’t panic seek solutions, OK so I send my daughters friend to the store for charcoal fluid. When she returns we get the coals lit and set the turkey in it. Now onto the sides, well I combined a box of pistachio pudding with a box of vanilla pudding, threw in a can of mandarin oranges and whala Easter pudding. Next I had to figure out how to make a dressing with no bread crumbs, so I set out a loaf of wheat French bread to dry out in the sun. I then cut up the 3 red potatoes, the radishes, a can of water chestnuts, some green onions I had in the fridge and a lil bit of that root thingy. Oh and two apples! I mixed some water and Italian seasonings together but I didn’t have any broth from the turkey to work with yet so I pulled out a can of cream of chicken soup and used it for base. I mixed the dry bread bits with all the cut up ingredients and added some margarine and the broth base I had made, covered it with foil, put in the oven and prayed it would taste good. I also chopped up some broccoli I had and added it to a can of broccoli soup to give it a fresher taste. Now to check on the turkey, by now it was raining so I braved the wet and went to check on the bird.
Now keep in mind I have had no luck today but my TIISG attitude was pushing me along with a positive outlook and I accepted my mission of the day with a smile at every turn. I kissed my wife and told her I loved her, I laughed with my kids and watched a few movies with them. The day was more about what we had to share as a family and not about how big was the Easter basket and what cool toys I bought for them. It was simply about being a family.
Back to the turkey, well the coals just didn’t have enough heat to cook it so I had to switch plans again. It was cooked enough to where I could cut through the breast plate and spit it in halves, this way I could fit it in the oven. By 7:30pm 4 hours after I had planned to eat it was finally ready. I was able to serve a half way decent dressing, a great tasting turkey with broccoli soup and green beans and a very tasty pudding. Not exactly a planned feast but a feast none-the-less!
Lesson of the day was, never let circumstance beat you and TIISG, (thank you to Joe Vitale and his book "The Attractor Factor"). This Easter I had plenty to be grateful for and I can only hope I remember this at every turn in my life!
Thanks for reading, I hope you gained some enlightenment if not at least gain some knowledge of cooking with little or nothing.
MamaJo
