10for10for10: Day 49, we pull out the stops for a celebration with Jane and Ray and with Mercy and Charity back, we have the whole 10for10for10 crew, along with Emily's friend Elyse

Jane and Ray couldn't stay for Easter, and they have a long drive home, so our big holiday dinner was today at 2pm. We served thirteen people.

Prior to that, we breakfasted and brunched on orange rolls and cinnamon rolls with coffee or tea. The rolls provided a relaxed, yet special morning meal. The aroma of coffee added to the atmosphere. There were so many sweet rolls that we had enough to share when Neil stopped by, when Carrie came, and when my friend Tammy dropped off Elyse to decorate eggs with us. I am so glad I baked those rolls yesterday!

At 11am we decorated eggs, a family tradition, which our friends shared with us.

What is this thing? It is an egg being colored. Those smiling girls are actually newspaper advertisements spread out on our table to protect it from the dyes. Why, you might ask, would anyone color an egg brown, when we have a fridge full of eggs which the chickens have already made brown?

We were a whirlwind on Saturday-----

We put rice on to boil, took a trip to the store for flowers, peeled and boiled potatoes, baked a salmon, heated up green beans, and prepared a beautiful table all between noon and 2pm, when we ate. I'm quite amazed when I look back at the time frame.

The salmon was wild caught, no color added, and only cost 1.99 per pound. How great is that?

Mercy stirs the gravy for me.

Trudy sets out the green beans.

We set a proper table.

with beautiful additions

Elyse is having fun.

There is is, a USA wild-caught salmon about to grace our table

Everybody is holding hands for the prayer

Toasting with martinelli's makes dinner fun.

Homecooked mashed potatoes, with gravy...delicious and inexpensive.

We usually serve rice with salmon. Brown rice today.

Yummy jam I made last summer of blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries I traded for at the farmers' market. Look at those hands! They are dyed from the egg decoration. They have been scrubbed, I want you to know.

Here are a couple of sample plates from the feast. We had lots of leftovers to snack on in the evening. For me, that adds up to cooking only once.

Spring flowers cheer me.

     breakfast menu: cinnamon and orange rolls, coffee and tea
Cost: $3.67
1 batch cinnamon rolls (about 30 small rolls): 1.21
1 batch orange rolls (about 30 rolls): 1.46
milk for tea: 1.00

   Celebration dinner menu: salmon, brown rice, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, dinner rolls with jam and butter, strawberries and oranges, sparkling cider and cranberry
Cost: $18.17
salmon: 7.29
1/2 cube butter: .13
garlic and onion powder: .10
salt: .01
24 dinner rolls, whole wheat: .78
5 cups brown rice: 1.15
potatoes, 6.8 lb: .68
green beans, 3 cans: 1.00
1 cube butter for rolls: .25
strawberries: 1.50
2 oranges for slices: .60
3 gravy mixes: 1.19
organic chicken broth, for gravy, marked down: .30
1 cup flour to thicken gravy: .10
6 oz jam: .50
sparkling cider: 1.25
sparkling cran/apple: 1.67

supper menu: leftover dinner rolls, leftover rice, leftover gravy, apple pie made by Emily, with whipped cream
Cost: $2.56
pie (apples are free): .89
whipped cream: 1.67

Today's total price tag: $24.40 This fed 13 people, plus several more stop-in friends throughout the day. I'm borrowing from my slush fund, but it was totally the right time to do that...isn't that what slush funds are for?

Emily and Elyse wanted to do a project in the afternoon, so we made pies after the dishes were done. We made three big pies, one for tonight, one for tomorrow, and one for Elyse's family.