Mothering Many

Ok, here is the recipe so many of you asked for. It’s quite a bit different from the original, but we love it. It feeds 10, so you may need to cut back on some of the ingredients.

• 2 lb kielbasa, sliced about 1/2 inch thick
• one family sized can Cream of Mushroom soup
• one jar ragu cheese sauce
• cooked potatoes, either fresh or canned or frozen, half a pound to a pound
• one to two pounds frozen vegetables—green beans, broccoli, mixed– whatever you like

Mix it all together and bake at 350 for about an hour. Serve with salad and/or bread. Yeah, I know that’s pretty simple. I am all about the easy.

Remember I said that I had reached a new stage in my parenting journey? I’m a bit different from most parents, though. Because of the age range of my children, I still can’t look ahead and see a time when there are no little people here, and I’m thankful that the empty nest is still some time away. But that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t look to the future now and again.

Accordingly, I was over at uTango today. They have a utango rewards program for single, engaged and recently married people. Basically you earn rewards for shopping at participating merchants, and the payouts after 10, 20 or 30 years are pretty significant. Here’s the catch, though I think it’s a good one: once you are married, you have to stay married to earn the rewards! They are actually rewarding people for staying committed to their life partner!

Signup is easy, and free. And you earn rewards for buying stuff you need anyway, like computers or housewares. Here is an picture of the uTango life stage rewards plan chart, so you can see what I am talking about.

Now, you know I have been married for longer than three years, but I still think this is a great idea. I know that some of my readers are quite a bit younger than I am, and perhaps they make the cut-off. And this is something I will share with my oldest daughter.