New Year's Eve day was nice and quite. I decided that I was going to cook a big dinner in the garage no matter what. Every one had been working hard and they needed something special plus they needed a break from the one pot meals they had been eating all week. I also wanted to celebrate the fact that we had all made it into the new year and were alive and healthy.
After much arguing with the rest of the family they finally realized I was not backing down. I agreed that I would cook breakfast on the heater in the house and the guys would get the garage as warm as they could before I went out to cook the dinner. I had my dinner menu all planned out. There would be a pot of black eyed peas ( a New Year's tradition in our family) with some of the smoked ham I had canned. Oh that ham is delish. Cornbread with lots of butter, fried potatoes ( it had been a long time since we had any of those) baked beans, the last two packages of pork steak I had in the refrigerator freezer and for dessert I would make chocolate and vanilla pudding parfaits.
I was the first one up on New Year's morning. I went about the morning routine of making hot water and coffee then decided on what I would make for breakfast. We had no had pancakes in a long time so I decided to make them. I had never cooked them before on a rocket heater but I thought I could figure it out enough to make some decent pancakes. I wanted to make these pancakes special so I decided to add a jar of the smoke ham cubes I had canned. We have not had a lot of fruit lately so I decided to get two quarts of them out to and served them along side the pancakes.
After everyone was up I made a huge batch of pancake batter and added a drained quart of ham to the batter. I saved the liquid from the ham to use to cook the beans. I didn't want to waste all that wonderful ham broth that was in the jar. I had a nice cast iron grilled that I placed on the heater, sprayed the grill with some cooking spray and when it was hot enough I pour enough batter to make two small pancakes. I wanted to check out how it was going work first before trying more. The grill was to hot and the first pancakes burned before they were done enough to flip. I went and got 4 clean empty tuna cans and used them to raise the grill off the heater, let it cool a bit then tried again. This time it work well. The pancakes were a little dark but not burned when I flipped them. I continued making pancakes till I used up all the batter. Tammy had went in to the storage room and pulled out the pancake syrup. We sat down to a meal of ham pancakes, peaches, coffee, tea and milk. Everyone enjoyed the pancakes since it had been so long since we had pancakes.
When everything was cleaned up from breakfast I got out some blacked eyed peas, sorted through the dry beans and rinsed them. I put them in the pot along with the broth leftover from the ham that morning and another quart of ham. I added enough water to bring the liquid level up to where it needed to be and set the pot of beans on the heater. My sil would watch it when I went out to cook the rest of the meal.
To make everyone happy we prepped the food in the house and had it in pots and pans ready to cook. While we were prepping the guys got the rocket heater, the propane heater and the grill going to warm up the garage and have the grill and rocket oven hot. Then guys helped us carry the pans out to the garage. The cornbread went into the rocket stove along with two loaves of bread ( I had made the bread dough after I had put the beans on the heater). The pork steak went on the grill and the potatoes where on the rocket stove. I had cheated on the baked beans and used cans of store bought baked beans which were heated on the side burner of the grill. I cooked the chocolate pudding on the rocket stove while Nikki cooked the vanilla then we took turns layering the pudding in my parfait glasses and let them cool.
We had all the food just about done when we heard the first shots. Then we heard my sil yell out the back door that some one was trying to break in. The guys hurried and turned off the grill and propane heater and turned the gas off while us women took the food off the fire then we all ran as fast as we could to the house. Mike stopped long enough to put the padlock on the door. He made it inside the house just as the first guy came around the back of the house. Steven, Mike and Jen ran upstairs and used the drill to take the screws out of two of the windows and opened them to be able to fire their guns. JR took postion in the kitchen to fire out kitchen window. I ran into the room Tammy and JR slept in and Tammy & Nikki ran into the room Dave and his wife slept in. John and Dave had the dining room and living room. My sil had all the kids gathered in the hall way. She had the two oldest ones lay under the bed while she laid on the floor trying to protect the baby with her body.
After much arguing with the rest of the family they finally realized I was not backing down. I agreed that I would cook breakfast on the heater in the house and the guys would get the garage as warm as they could before I went out to cook the dinner. I had my dinner menu all planned out. There would be a pot of black eyed peas ( a New Year's tradition in our family) with some of the smoked ham I had canned. Oh that ham is delish. Cornbread with lots of butter, fried potatoes ( it had been a long time since we had any of those) baked beans, the last two packages of pork steak I had in the refrigerator freezer and for dessert I would make chocolate and vanilla pudding parfaits.
I was the first one up on New Year's morning. I went about the morning routine of making hot water and coffee then decided on what I would make for breakfast. We had no had pancakes in a long time so I decided to make them. I had never cooked them before on a rocket heater but I thought I could figure it out enough to make some decent pancakes. I wanted to make these pancakes special so I decided to add a jar of the smoke ham cubes I had canned. We have not had a lot of fruit lately so I decided to get two quarts of them out to and served them along side the pancakes.
After everyone was up I made a huge batch of pancake batter and added a drained quart of ham to the batter. I saved the liquid from the ham to use to cook the beans. I didn't want to waste all that wonderful ham broth that was in the jar. I had a nice cast iron grilled that I placed on the heater, sprayed the grill with some cooking spray and when it was hot enough I pour enough batter to make two small pancakes. I wanted to check out how it was going work first before trying more. The grill was to hot and the first pancakes burned before they were done enough to flip. I went and got 4 clean empty tuna cans and used them to raise the grill off the heater, let it cool a bit then tried again. This time it work well. The pancakes were a little dark but not burned when I flipped them. I continued making pancakes till I used up all the batter. Tammy had went in to the storage room and pulled out the pancake syrup. We sat down to a meal of ham pancakes, peaches, coffee, tea and milk. Everyone enjoyed the pancakes since it had been so long since we had pancakes.
When everything was cleaned up from breakfast I got out some blacked eyed peas, sorted through the dry beans and rinsed them. I put them in the pot along with the broth leftover from the ham that morning and another quart of ham. I added enough water to bring the liquid level up to where it needed to be and set the pot of beans on the heater. My sil would watch it when I went out to cook the rest of the meal.
To make everyone happy we prepped the food in the house and had it in pots and pans ready to cook. While we were prepping the guys got the rocket heater, the propane heater and the grill going to warm up the garage and have the grill and rocket oven hot. Then guys helped us carry the pans out to the garage. The cornbread went into the rocket stove along with two loaves of bread ( I had made the bread dough after I had put the beans on the heater). The pork steak went on the grill and the potatoes where on the rocket stove. I had cheated on the baked beans and used cans of store bought baked beans which were heated on the side burner of the grill. I cooked the chocolate pudding on the rocket stove while Nikki cooked the vanilla then we took turns layering the pudding in my parfait glasses and let them cool.
We had all the food just about done when we heard the first shots. Then we heard my sil yell out the back door that some one was trying to break in. The guys hurried and turned off the grill and propane heater and turned the gas off while us women took the food off the fire then we all ran as fast as we could to the house. Mike stopped long enough to put the padlock on the door. He made it inside the house just as the first guy came around the back of the house. Steven, Mike and Jen ran upstairs and used the drill to take the screws out of two of the windows and opened them to be able to fire their guns. JR took postion in the kitchen to fire out kitchen window. I ran into the room Tammy and JR slept in and Tammy & Nikki ran into the room Dave and his wife slept in. John and Dave had the dining room and living room. My sil had all the kids gathered in the hall way. She had the two oldest ones lay under the bed while she laid on the floor trying to protect the baby with her body.