Jean Maurie's Spaghetti Sauce

I love making home made spaghetti sauce and freezing it into containers to eat over the next few weeks.  Here is my recipe:

First I grate a large Vidalia or Sweet onion and smoosh in a big garlic clove.  I saute them in olive oil.

 

 Then I add ground beef

 and brown it.

For you vegetarians, chopped up walnuts makes a good substitute for the ground beef.  I made this recipe at a vegetarian gathering with the walnuts and got lots of compliments.   

I assemble my tomato sauces and seasonings
and add fresh ground pepper, garlic salt, Parmesan cheese and a couple spoons of sugar.

Here's what it looks like all put together.  I cook it in the crock pot for a few hours.  The house smells wonderful.  Makes us hungry.

Wish there was Facebook when I was a new mother

I was just reading my Granddaughter's Facebook page to wish her a happy wedding anniversary but I didn't get to do it yet because I was reading some of the things  people posted on her page.  Her mother in-law posted a cute swing where you put the baby in the swing and you got on a swing in front of him and the two of you swing together. 

Another post was a picture of a tray for a toddler.  Here is what was written about it. "Toddlers do not eat much. Try using an ice tray to satisfy their bird-like appetites and for a fun, unique presentation. Be sure to throw in plenty of healthy choices like berries, peas, corn, cheese, cucumber, etc."

There was a post on how to take out splinters and Vicks vapoRub to put on the bottoms of feet to stop coughs.

I see links for parents who's baby won't sleep much which I found interesting. People commented and it seemed they were supporting each other. How comforting.

When I was a new mother in 1959 it was so lonely, especially since I had post-partum depression "baby blues"  that came on the day after my son's birth. I found myself crying for no reason at all.   He was a very light sleeper and would wake up every hour and a half fussing.  Of course I didn't know what was normal and what wasn't.  I felt so responsible and terrified.  I was so scared that I couldn't hear my own intuition.

Most of us mothers didn't go to work back then but were stay-at-home mothers with no day care.  I don't know what I would have done without the support of my family.  My mother lived about 5 miles or so away so I'd go up there and let my younger sister and brother play with my son.  It gave me some time to unwind and feel less stressful.

  

If we'd had social media back then we could have connected with each other and not have felt so isolated.  I know, Facebook and Twitter can be addictive but there is a lot of good too.  Yes "they" say we should have more face to face interaction but if we are shy and don't have a lot of friends or we live in rural areas social media can help us feel more connected. There are groups online now for people with post-partum depression, groups to help mother's breast feed, groups for parents of babies who don't sleep a lot.  How wonderful and comforting that would have been for me.  I wouldn't have felt so alone and scared.