Last weekend, I posted a little survey to find out more about all of you on the other side of the screen.  I’m overwhelmed by your responses for several reasons.

First, so many of you filled out the survey – 547 of you, to be exact.  Wow!  I know this blog has lots of readers.  I can tell that from the traffic stats, but sometimes I have a hard time getting you to comment here.  You’re chattier over on Facebook

There were only 11 questions, but after reading your responses, I wished I’d asked more.  Let’s go through the results together, so you can see who we are as a group:

You can see from the chart above that we are mostly female around here.  No big surprise there! 

How old are you?

I wish I’d broken down the age categories a bit more, but you can see that we are mostly in our 30s and 40s, with some of this group blossoming into our 50s.  11% are over 55.  My mom is one precious reader in this group.  She told me she did the survey, but she has yet to leave a comment, even though she reads every day! (I know you’re reading this, Mom!)

Do you have kids under 18 living at home?

Again, I wish I had broken things down a bit more.  72% of us have kids under 18 living at home.  I’m sure some of you are like me and also have kid(s) over 18 and living at home

What’s your work situation?

I know there are many other work situations than these, but I was trying to keep it simple.  We’re split pretty evenly between full-time in the home and full-time out of the home, with a few variations in there.

How would you describe yourself as a cook?

I was so interested in learning the answer to this question.  I get all kinds of questions by email and in the comments and I can tell there are many skill levels of cooks out there.  This clears things up.  I wish I’d asked if you like to cook.  

Which is more important to you?

For 68% of us, saving money and saving time are equally important.  19% of us are more concerned about saving money than time.  Only 11% say saving time is more important, even if it costs more.  I’m guessing we all have a few days where saving time becomes the most important factor.

The interesting thing about this chart is it could be describing my own priorities.  Most of the time, saving money and time are equally important.  Sometimes though, saving money takes precedence.  Less often, I need to feed everyone so quickly, cost becomes secondary.  And 2% of the time, I can ignore money and time and cook what I want.

Do you regularly shop for organic food?

There’s lots of talk about organic foods, lately.  I was curious about your shopping habits. Only 21% of you regularly buy organic.

Do you regularly shop sales and use coupons?

Flip-flopped from the last answer, 75% regularly use coupons and shop sales.

Tell me about your menu planning:

Most of us make a menu and are flexible in using it.  27% decide what to cook as they get to each day.

I must confess – even though I publish a new Menu and Grocery List every Monday for a free download, I rarely plan my own menu.  I’m always creating new recipes, so I don’t usually use my own menu plans.  I think that may be the definition of insanity!  (During especially busy times, I do print and use my plans though, so I”m not a complete hypocrite.)

How often do you eat out each month?

Most of us only eat out once or twice a month.  27% eat out each week.  25% eat out more frequently.  6% of you are real Eat at Homers and never eat out.  That’s cool!

List your favorite cookbooks, recipe websites and blogs.

I started to tally up the results so I could give you definite percentages, but quickly got overwhelmed with the volume of answers.

I was happily surprised to see that Eat at Home was listed more than any other site.  I suppose that makes sense, since I’m surveying my own readers, but it still caught me off guard and made me happy too.

Other sites with lots of mentions were:

• Pioneer Woman and Tasty Kitchen
• All Recipes
• Taste of Home

Some of my favorite food blogs also had lots of mentions:

• $5 Dinners
• A Year of Slow Cooking
• Mommy’s Kitchen
• Real Mom Kitchen
• Southern Plate
• Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures
• Money Saving Mom
• Cooking During Stolen Moments
• Mennonite Girls Can Cook

And a few new-to-me sites:

• Tammy’s Recipes
• Hungry Girl – I’ve heard of her, but never really checked out the site
• Picky Palate – She had me at Peanut Butter and Jelly Skillet Monkey Bread!
• How Sweet It Is
• Gooseberry – I’d heard of it, but never checked it out.

Many others were listed, but these are the names I saw most often.

That’s us in a nutshell!  What do you think?  Are you surprised by any of the results?

The survey and the cool graphics are from Survey Gizmo, an awesome tool.

“What a beautiful new way to serve potato salad. And the luscious glaze you make with Hellman’s keeps it fresh and moist to the last slice. That’s real mayonnaise. Whole-egg Hellman’s.”

This post originally appeared 4/1/09.  I don’t usually re-publish posts, but I couldn’t resist this time.

I found this ad in an old recipe box that belonged to my Grandma. She was a great cook and I have no idea why she thought this should be cut out and saved.

What were the folks at Hellman’s thinking? They lost me at the word loaf. “Moist to the last slice”? Yuck! Who wants to eat a slice of potato salad? But you’ve got to love the radish and carrot flowers decorating the lusciously glazed sides of the loaf. So cheery, so Spring-like, so ’70s.

I hope you got a good laugh out of this.  Happy April Fool’s Day!

I have a young friend named Abby, who has started a business this summer making and selling homemade doggie treats.  I bought some from her and told her I would feature her recipe here on Eat at Home, but I don’t have a dog or any pets at all.  So, I let my daughter’s pet rock introduce the treats.  And I borrowed my neighbor’s cute little dogs to sample them.  Maybe you’ve got a dog you’d like to make treats for.  Or maybe you’ve got a child who would like to start a little business themselves. 

I don’t have an ingredients picture for you this time, but it’s a very simple recipe.  Abby found it in a copy of American Girl Magazine.

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups water

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1/3 cup peanut butter

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl.  Pour into cupcake pans and bake for 10-15 minutes.  Cool them in the pan for a few minutes before removing.  Store in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Here are some pictures of Molly and Daisy enjoying their treats:

Nose-licking good!

Look at that puppy smile!

Now I want to know if you have a dog.  Does your dog eat people food?  Do you ever cook for your dog?  Just so you know, I’ve never cooked for the pet rock but we did have a cat a long time ago who really liked Calico Bean Soup.  RIP,  Harley Davidson.  You were a good cat.

This award was given to me by Ryan Ashley Scott at Optimistic Cynicism. Thank you! I was also given this award over on my other blog, so I’m splitting things up a bit and sharing 5 things about myself on each blog. I’m also passing the award onto 3 other bloggers on both of my blogs.

So, here are five honest things about me:

1. When I got married, I was able to make baked beans from a can, macaroni and cheese from a box and brownies from a mix. Not wanting to live forever on these foods, I started reading the cookbooks I got as wedding presents and experimenting in the kitchen. It took several years before I really learned to cook.

2 One of my early experiments was microwave meatloaf. Unless you need material to build a house with, do not make this!

3. I once melted a very large Tupperware bowl in my oven. I was trying to get bread dough to rise in a warm oven, but I forgot to turn off the oven. Melted dripping plastic is most easily cleaned out of an oven if you let it cool first. Live and learn – it’s the way I do it most often.

4. A great way to get your husband to take you out for dinner is to go ahead and put the casserole in the oven, but forget to turn the oven on. Hungry hubby won’t want to wait another hour for it to bake and will take you to the Mexican restaurant for fajitas. As a bonus, dinner for the next night is all ready and waiting in the fridge.

5. Our first apartment had a smoke detector very near the kitchen. Well, everything was near the kitchen. I’m not sure that the entire place was even 400 square feet. We had people over for dinner often (I was learning to cook, remember?) and it was not an uncommon occurence for me to set off the smoke detector as they were coming in. Embarrassing, but since most college students will take any free meal, I never ran any of them off this way.

I am passing this award on to:

Mommy of M’s

Yaya

Of Food and Fat

Noah’s Mommy and Lori at A Double Shot of Espresso both nominated me for the Lemonade Stand award for Good Attitude and Gratitude. Thanks to both of you!

Now here are my nominees:

1. Amanda at Moving Forward

2. Aileigh at Inside Aileigh’s Heart

3. Amy at Amy’s Blend

4. Lorie at Be Different, Act Normal

5. Reynie at God, Do you Hear this Southern Girl Rambling?

6. Cara at Mideastmom

7. Karen at Hopelessly Ordinary

8. Kelly at Love Lasts a Lifetime

9. Karen at Clio

10. Amy at Mama on the Move

Now it’s time for you all to pass on the love and nominate 10 more blogs for this award!

Melissa at My Little World gave me this blog award! Thanks, Melissa!

Here are 7 blogs that I nominate for the One Lovely Blog Award:

Julie at The Sporadic Cook
Bev at Make Wise Decisions
Good Stuff Maynard
Tina at Mommy’s Kitchen
Ellen at Thrifty and Chic Mom
Mandy at Gourmet Mom on the Go
Mrs. B at Heat to 350

These awardees just need to follow these simple rules to recieve this award and pass it on:

Add the logo to your blog
Link to the person from whom you’ve received the award
Nominate seven blogs of your choice
Leave a message on the nominees’ blogs

Since this is a recipe blog I thought I’d gift you with a traditional family recipe.

Favorite Quick Supper
Measure 3 cups flour into large bowl. Answer telephone. Take large bowl off small son’s head. Sweep up flour.

Measure 3 cups flour into large bowl. Measure 1/4 cup shortening. Answer door bell. Wash shortening mixture from son’s hands and face.

Add 1/4 cup shortening to flour. Mix well. Rock crying baby for 10 minutes. Answer telephone. Put son in tub and scrub well. Scrape flour and shortening mixture from floor. Add enough tears to relieve tension.

Open 1 can of beans and serve with remaining strength.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season with lots of family dinners, no matter how you get dinner on the table!

Thanks, Mamarazzi!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 cup sugar
1/3 – 1/2 cup olive oil
essential oil

The amount of oil you use depends on how oily you like it. Obvious, I know. You can use the cheapest olive oil you can find. I used peppermint essential oil. I also keep lavendar and orange on hand. There are lots of yummy scents to choose from though. Again, the amount is just personal preference. You really don’t need the essential oil at all, but it does make it nice.

Mix it all up in a glass bowl. You don’t want to use plastic because the scent would be absorbed by the container.

This makes a great gift. Just put it in a small plastic container (you wouldn’t want to use glass in the shower) I like to use those Ziploc bowls, but this time I was just making it for myself and didn’t have a nice container so I used an old yogurt container. Recycling at it’s best.

Smooth it onto your skin while you’re in the shower, working it into your elbows, knees, feet and other rough places. Rinse off in the warm water and you’ll be smooth as silk.