Sunday, March 17, 2013

Happy Flippin` St. Patrick's Day!

Seriously????  

This truck is actually black...
I seriously want to go and find a certain groundhog and send him to his final destination!!!!!  Where IS the beautiful weather we were promised????
The snow is gone now--because the cold rain and now the SLEET has melted it!  Grrrrrrr...

On the other hand--
A Little Irish Blessing
May those that love us, love us.
And those that don't love us,
May God turn their hearts.
And if He doesn't turn their hearts,
May He turn their ankles
So we will know them by their limping.
~Irish Blessing
Here's to my wee drop o` Irish blood!

Have a great day and enjoy the sunshine if you've got it--extra for me!  :)

Friday, March 15, 2013

Menu March 18-27, 2013

Hey everyone!  We finally got some sunshine here!

March came in like a lion for sure!  I hope it decides to go out like a lamb--like it is supposed to do!

March is playing with us--cold, snowy, sleety, yucky, overcast, windy--you name it and just when you think "darn!  Will winter never end????  Perhaps we should put groundhog on the menu!", you get a lovely sunny day that makes life worth living.

Then, winter comes back with a vengeance!

It's like dancing a tango.  Love--Hate!

Today is...LOVE!!!!  Sunshine, 70's.

Time to pop up out of my cave to enjoy the sunshine while it is still here before the sunshine bids adieu!

Recap of Last Week:

Monday
YUMMMMMM...4 thumbs up!  Note that the recipe called for 2 T minced garlic and 2 t garlic powder.  Seemed like a lot for the tastes of the family (my parents, gman and me), so I just used 1 T minced garlic and 1 t garlic powder.  I believe I could have just skipped the garlic powder and it would have been fine.  We did love it!  The potatoes were kind of heated in some water with greek seasoning and were quite tasty too.  Love my Greek Seasoning!

Tuesday
3 thumb down--bye bye Potato Pan Burger...funny--we have had this recipe for decades and made it a lot in the past and liked it but now our taste buds have evidently changed.

Wednesday
Ham Steak with Lima Beans & Potatoes
I changed this one to ham chunks with green beans and potatoes cooked together.  It's a fav of ours and just sounded good!  It was...

Thursday
Enjoyed this one too!  4 thumbs up!  Keeping!

Now for this week:

MONDAY
This is a great recipe that I found over at Farm Girl in the Suburbs and pinned it to my Pinterest Board immediately--and it got to stay!  :)  When we go to Olive Garden, Gman goes ape over the Pasta e Fagioli and this is excellent!  Note that when I made it, I used the red kidney beans and black beans because I didn't have any navy beans.  Still GREAT!!!!  So, pop on over to Farm Girl's blog and tell her I sent ya!  Thanks for sharing Farm Girl!

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY
Fridays are always Burger and Fries night.  We make up some burgers and get out the George Foreman grill and throw the fries into the oven and in about 20 min--yum!!!!  AND they are better for you than the ones at the restaurants.  However, during lent the Catholic churches around this area really have great fish frys--it's a big deal in these parts and we take advantage for the 5-6 weeks of lent.  So, Fish...

Have a great week everyone!



Sunday, March 10, 2013

Menu March 11-15, 2013

So, how did things go last week with the menu you ask?

Well--

While shopping for groceries, we hit Aldi and did you know that they have fresh meat?  I did not realize that until last week.  Not my first time in an Aldi by far, but the first time I noticed the meat!  Go Figure!

Anywho, I thought I would check it out.  I spotted those roast and veggie packs.  You know what I am talking about?  There is a vacuum sealed bag with potatoes, carrots, onions and celery.  There is also another vacuum sealed bag with a roast and a little packet of seasonings.  All of this is in the fresh meat section just waiting for us to pick it up and put it into the crock pot--for a price of course!

As I am noting the interesting packets, I note the price!  $3.99!!!!!  Yes--$3.99!!!!!

OHMYGOSH!

I think I heard angels singing...

I have seen those in Wal-Mart for about $10-$12.

I took 4.  Yes, the sell by date was Monday and this was Saturday night, but I decided to cook two for Monday night dinner and freeze two.  Yay!

And they were yummy!  We ate one that night and had the second cooked one for leftovers.  Yummmmmm...

So, Lasagna Soup was Tuesday and it was good!  4 thumbs up.
Wednesday was Becky's Chicken Thighs were okay.  3 thumbs up.  The scalloped potatoes were not good.  4 thumbs down.
Thursday was a busy day and we ended up with burger and fries night.  The George Foreman is great for those burgers!
Friday turned out to be Mexican Chowder and it is excellent!  4 thumbs up!  We skipped fish.

So, this week we will be trying the following:

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday
Ham Steak with Lima Beans & Potatoes

Thursday

Friday
Fish

I am happy to report that the drenching rains have gotten rid of most of the snow around here--except for some of the biggest mountains created by plowing parking lots.  Yay!

Have a great week!


Sunday, March 3, 2013

Menu March 4-8, 2013

I did my menus last year about this time and decided, what the heck, let's do it again!  Seems to help keep me on track.  I haven't tried these recipes yet, so you and I can try them together.  With that, let's begin...

Monday
Lasagna Soup with Italian Bread

1 lb extra lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
32 oz box chicken broth
2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes
15 oz can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups broken lasagna noodles
6 tablespoons parmesan cheese

In a large soup pot, cook ground beef and
onion until beef is browned; drain. Add broth,
diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, brown sugar,
Italian seasoning, garlic powder and salt. Bring
to a boil over medium heat, reduce heat, and
simmer 30 minutes. Add noodles; simmer until
tender. Top each serving with 1 tablespoon
cheese.




Tuesday
Becky's Chicken Thighs (Breasts) with Scalloped Potatoes and Corn on the Cob

⅓ cup orange marmalade
⅓ cup bbq sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 lbs chicken thighs, skin removed (I'm using boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Combine orange marmalade, bbq sauce, lemon
juice and Worcestershire sauce. Sprinkle
chicken with salt and pepper; place in a
sprayed 13 x 9 baking dish. Pour sauce over
chicken, and bake at 350 degrees for 45
minutes to 1 hour, basting occasionally, until
chicken is cooked through.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Scalloped Potatoes
4 c thinly sliced potatoes (I'm using Honeyville Dehydrated Potato Slices)
3 T Butter
3 T Flour
1 1/2 c Milk
1 tsp Salt
1 dash Cayenne Pepper
1 c grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/2 c Grated Cheese to sprinkle on top
Paprika
In a small sauce pan, melt butter and blend in flour.
Let sit for a minute.
Add all of cold milk stirring with a whisk.
Season with salt and cayenne.
Cook sauce on low until smooth and boiling, stirring occasionally with a whisk.
Reduce heat and stir in cheese.
Place a half of the sliced potatoes in a lightly greased one quart casserole dish.
Pour half of cheese sauce over potatoes.
Repeat with second layer of potatoes and cheese sauce.
Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
Top with some paprika for color.
Bake uncovered for about 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Wednesday
Mexican Chowder with Tortillas

½ cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
Cooked chicken left from Meal 3, shredded
1 package fajita seasoning
15 oz can whole kernel corn
15 oz can black beans
14.5 oz can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
4.5 oz can chopped green chilies
3 cups water
1 bag ready rice, Spanish style
10.75 oz can Cheddar cheese soup



In a large soup pot, sauté onion and garlic in oil
until tender. Add chicken and fajita seasoning;
mix well. Stir in corn, beans, tomatoes, chilies,
water and rice. Bring mixture to a boil; reduce
heat, cover and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in
cheese soup and heat through.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday
Cheddar Garlic Chicken with Red Potatoes & Green Beans with Almonds

⅓ cup butter
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons garlic powder
½ teaspoon seasoning salt
¾ cup breadcrumbs
½ cup finely shredded Cheddar
¼ cup Parmesan
½ teaspoon pepper
3 count package boneless chicken breasts
Cooking spray

In a bowl, combine melted butter, minced garlic,
1 teaspoon garlic powder, and salt. In another
bowl combine breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon garlic
powder, shredded cheddar, Parmesan and
pepper. Pound the chicken to tenderize and
flatten. Cut each piece of chicken in half,
lengthwise. Dip chicken in butter mixture then in
crumb mixture. Place in a baking dish sprayed
with non-stick spray. Bake at 350 degrees for
35 - 45 min. Placing chicken on a wire rack will
increase crispiness of crust!.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Friday
Fish Night
(though we are not Catholic, the local Catholic churches really make a fine fish dinner during the Lenten season.)
















Do you celebrate Lent?  If so, how?

PS, I really need to figure out how to put my recipes on their own pages so that I can just link to them if I decide to use them again.

Have a great week!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

It's Just A Number...And Mine Is Unlisted!!!!

One of the ladies in the "39 year old row" at church said that about her 90th birthday and I thought it was just great!

On November 18th, our son and his lady were in the area for her family's Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner which was held on Sat the 17th.





They waited to return to Kansas so that we could have lunch together to celebrate the anniversary of my 29th birthday.  Not gonna tell you how many times I have celebrated my 29th birthday, but it has been a few!  :)


We all met up in Columbia, MO at Red Lobster--Gman Jr, His Lady T, my mom and dad, Gman and myself.  Our son is 30, but when he turned the same 29 years old as me, I gave him permission to stay 29 also.    It just gets weird when your son is older than his mother!

We stayed an extra long time chatting since Gman Jr and his Lady T were headed back to KS right after lunch.  It was the perfect birthday lunch and present!


When we got up to leave, my mom fell over backwards on the floor.  This was unusual for her since when she falls, it tends to be forward.  


Mom said that when she got up, it felt as if her legs and feet had gone to sleep and just didn't hold her.  When she was again standing, she held onto the table for a bit until she felt her legs and feet would hold her and then we laughed it off and left to say goodbye to our son and his lady and to head back to our home.


A wonderful birthday with family!  And a surprise visit from our son!  What could be better!  The perfect gift!


The next morning, I received a call from my father that he was getting his breakfast when my mom began to scream in the bedroom.  Upon entering the bedroom, dad couldn't understand anything that my mom was yelling.  She squirmed off of the bed backwards where she slid off onto the floor when her legs wouldn't hold her up and she could not move.


Dad called the paramedics.


And then me.


Perfect!  Just as he should have done!


They took her to the hospital where it was determined she had a stroke.


After testing, it was determined that it was a massive bleed in her head--and thus a massive stroke.


Later testing showed that she has had a small hole in her heart--probably since birth--which wouldn't have ever caused a problem healthwise.  


However, in this case, she had a small blood clot that found it's way into her heart and through that little hole and up into her brain causing the bleed/stroke.  The doctor said that was the only way that the clot could have gotten into her brain.  A very slim chance happening.


The doctor said that my mother, who was just sleeping and couldn't move her right leg, arm or speak may never get better.  The next 24 hours would determine what her body decided to do with the tissue surrounding the damaged area in her brain.  Would the surrounding tissue die or begin to regenerate?


Well, mom is a tough lady!  


She began to get better the next day and while she could only say yes or no, the tissue appeared to have decided to regenerate--or at least try.  Many prayers of many people around the country--both friends and family--were doing their work.  


God was answering that she would begin to heal!


Day by day mom was getting better.  First she could put a couple of words together and then she could move her foot and stand.  Her hand still didn't work but things were happening.


Mom was transferred to the rehabilitation hospital on Thanksgiving day where they would be working with her to strengthen and encourage the healing that had begun.  


Gman, dad and I ate our Thanksgiving dinner at Ponderosa which was located next to the hospital and was having a Thanksgiving buffet for lunch.  It was a good lunch and then off to the hospital to await the ambulance's arrival with mom.


The people at the rehab hospital were wonderful and well prepared to receive her.   They were upbeat and really set the tone for recovery!  Wonderful!  


I can definitely recommend DePaul Rehabilitation Hospital in St. Louis, MO.


We celebrated mom's birthday at the Rehab hospital a few days later with a sugar free cake, a divine chocolate cake and a fruit tray.  Gman, dad and I got there with the food and a bouquet of flowers and later, my brother Tom and his wife Nina and their daughter Heather and her hubby Matt came over to celebrate mom's birthday, too.


Mom finally was able to return home on Dec 12th.  She was able to walk with a walker around the house and she is talking in sentences--sometimes slowly, but talking and able to converse.  Her hand is working better all of the time, though still will take some time to strengthen.


All in all, she is a miracle from that day on Nov 19th when we were told that she may not even survive and if she did, may be vegetative for her remaining days--to walking through the house with her walker and talking with us!  


Our Thanksgiving miracle!


So, just in case you were wondering where in the heck I have been hiding--now you know!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Emergency 72 Hour Kit To The Rescue!

First, let me say that this doesn't have to do with Sandy, but I do want to say to everyone affected by Sandy that our thoughts and prayers are with you guys.  

I also want to encourage everyone to donate to the people who are in need due to the storms.  Gman and I have many friends and aquaintances in the Hudson Valley and NYC and want to help.  

When our small town in Kansas was flooded on Halloween night in 1999 and 900 families lost their homes, a group by the name of  International Disaster Emergency Service (IDES) came to the community after FEMA and the Red Cross and other organizations had left.  IDES helped people of the community during the rebuilding phase to replace much needed appliances, vacuums and other essentials that seem to fall through the cracks for completing the long process to putting down roots in their own homes once again.  Please consider what you can help with.  If IDES receives more than is needed for this disaster, they will use it for the next one.  However you decide to help--thank you!

Now, back to my story...

G-man and I headed out to Kansas to visit family, friends and to see our doctors at the end of October.  We had several paperwork items and had to make Rocky and Tank legal.  In case you missed the info about Rocky, you can meet him here...

After purchasing Rocky, we had to have something to pull him, so we purchased Tank--a 2008 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 with a Hemi.  We needed the horsepower and wheel base when we went from Little Blue at 3,800 lb gross weight to Rocky at 7,800 lb gross weight.  I have to admit that I really like the Hemi--perhaps not so much at the gas pump, but in the power department.  :)

You know, I forgot to take a picture of the two together!  How bad am I?????

As with most of our adventures, our maiden voyage was not without it's interesting times.

We were supposed to meet my niece and her 2 year old son in KC.  They live in the southwest and just happened to be visiting relatives in KC.  We were going to meet for lunch.  

But, Gman was working until 11:00 so we couldn't get there in time.

Then, we decided that no problem, we would meet them for afternoon snack.  Somewhere between 2:00 and 3:00.

Until we were flagged over by a car.  One of the tires had gone flat on the camper.  So, we called AAA (thankful that I decided to spring for the RV/Camper coverage this year!) and then limped slowly to the exit that was just about 1 mile ahead.  We thought we would find a gas station where we could pull over and have plenty of room for the AAA truck to work.  

Nope...

The exit contained, uh, NOTHING!  A defunct old time gas station and what appeared to be a livestock sale barn--chained and padlocked.  So, we sat on the exit ramp and waited.

My phone rang and the tow driver asked where we were located.  I told him and he had driven past and was turning around.

My phone rang again.  Tow driver again.  Where are you?  I told him.

WHICH highway are you on?  I told him...

We went through several things only to discover that he was in Kansas and I was in Missouri!  He was on the western side of Kansas---6 hours away.  

Okay.

So, eventually, after about 3 hours, a local truck arrived and changed the tire to the spare--the spare was only 30 lbs of pressure--should have been 50 lbs--who really thinks to check the spare????  Okay--maybe you, but not me.  I will now...

Anywho, he aired up the spare and we were off to meet my niece.  We finally connected at 6:00.  It was so good to see her and her son!

Then, on we went to Wichita, arriving at USI Campground about 11:00 p.m.  We drove in, didn't worry about being level, plugged in the electricity, opened the slideouts and dropped into bed.  Ahhhhhh....

Lovely!

Then we realized that the dogs had not been fed all day.  Poor guys! 

And then I realized that I forgot to pack the dog food!  The dogs had NO FOOD!!!!!  

And the store that I buy their food at was closed...

Then, I remembered that I always carry 72 hours kits in the vehicles for the Vehicle, People and Pets.

I headed out to the truck and got one of the vacuum sealed bags of food (enough for one day) from the dog's 72 hour kit and had happy dogs.  

I just take enough food for 1 day for the dogs and put it in a Foodsaver bag, vacuum seal it, label it with names and date and throw it in the kit for the dogs.  I usually do about 2 days worth out of each bag of food when I purchase it.  That way I build up a stash without breaking the bank all at once.  


I made a note to add a few vacuum sealed bags of food to the camper stash for the dogs too.   Just in case... 

Saved by the 72 hour kit!  They're not just for natural disasters!

Do you have YOUR kit?  With winter arriving shortly, please get one put together for your vehicle--just in case!

Need a list?  You can find them all over blogland.  A good place to begin would be the Red Cross which includes lists for home, work, car, pets and people with special needs.  Then, add items as you think of them to personalize the kits to your needs.  You can buy a kit or just start putting one together.

I found that Misty Marsh's blog is really good if you would like to follow her in a week by week plan to put a kit together.  Week 1 starts here...  She is on Week #3 right now, so just jump in and join along.  It's easy and fast to get your items together.  She has the week by week kit project going and then starts over when it is complete so that you can be sure that you have included everything that you need if you missed something.

I keep a 24 hour kit in my purse.  You could begin with something similar to that and work up from there. 

At the very least add some blankets, sand or kitty litter, shovel, power bars and snacks and bottles of water along with some first aid items to the car in case you skid off the road and need to wait for help.  Anything is better than nothing!

Take care!

Have you used your 72 hour kit?



Sunday, September 23, 2012

Meet Rocky...

We have been contemplating an addition to our family and yesterday as we were out and about, we decided to just "take a look".  

Yep...

Just-Take-A-Look...

HAH!  HAH!

We drove off of the highway to Loveall's RV near Columbia, MO (where we purchased Little Blue a couple of years ago--okay about a year and a half ago) just to look and see what was out there--not planning to get anything for a year or two, but wanting to look and plan.

That's what I thought anyway...

We saw a few nice units.  Looked at new ones, used ones, old ones, more recent ones.

And Then...

Rocky caught our eye!

For all of you who don't know me, I name everything.
My vehicles,
My pets,
My computers,
My campers.
So, this is Rocky...
Rocky is a 2008 Rockwood Signature Ultralite about 30 ft long with TWO slides!  Yay!  One is a superslide.

Would you like a little tour?  These are from the dealer website, so not my photos, btw.

Walk in the main door on the right in the picture above and you enter the coach with the breakfast bar and stools to your left.  Stop, pull up a stool and talk to the cook--or have a snack!  It's hard to see, but there are 4 drawers there at the end of the bar and cabinets above the bar!  Mama LIKES storage for SURE!  The sink has the cover on it in the picture, but it is a double sink in brushed nickel.  You can see the stove and oven in front of the window there and above them is the microwave.  I know--hard to see...sorry!

To the right as you come in the door is the conversation area with two swivel rockers if you prefer comfort after the chat at the kitchen breakfast bar.  Nice storage above too...And see the speakers for the surround sound there?

In the SuperSlide is the loveseat (pulls out into a bed) 



and the dinette (here you can see it made up into a bed) along with the entertainment center.

Across from the dinette and loveseat is the kitchen--You saw the kitchen sink and stove area in the picture with the breakfast bar...Isn't that fridge pretty with the wooden panels?  And closest to you is the pantry with the little round knob there.  I was amazed at the storage...

On the other side of the Entertainment Center wall is the bathroom.  Look!  It has a potty!  Imagine that!  And a corner shower...and a linen cabinet above the loo...

And how about this?  A DOUBLE sink!  With two medicine cabinets, under sink cabinets and a row of drawers for all of the wonderful junk that we gals need to carry to make us look, uh, beautiful--yeah--that's it!  Beautiful!  ;-)  Or to store plenty of TP so as not to run out..

 You can't see this in the pix, but there are real doors on either side of the bathroom.  You know, the kind with a knob and everything!  There is one to the bedroom and one to the coach area.  Makes it nice if there are ever visitors traveling with us (or when Gman gets all nocturnal and goes out to the living room to watch TV in the middle of the night).

And here is the bed.  It is in a slide out as well, so it gives more room to move around in the room (and dare I say, room for our 160 lb Tank the pony dog to sleep on the floor in the same room).  There is a cabinet above the bed for stuff.  I like to use those cabinets for my books (kindle), glasses and the remote control and perhaps a snack or bottle of water...    You know--the important stuff!  You can see the baby flat screen layng on the bed there.  That gray square thing.  It is tiny, but then the room isn't exactly enormous.  We do have a 19 inch tv that we will probably put in there (we used it in Little Blue).

The TV sits here--on the dresser.  You can't really tell in this picture, but there are three doors in the dresser for hanging clothes and 2 nice big drawers under the doors for storage.  Also, under the TV is 3 drawers and there are two more large drawers at the end of the bed.  You can also lift the mattress on the bed and store goodies under the mattress.  I am in storage nirvana here folks!  I have had houses that didn't have this much storage!  You can also see the second exit door next to the dresser.  Nice if there is ever an emergency!

 So, Rocky just called to us.  He is a good fit for our needs.  We are trading Little Blue for the bigger Rocky.  Little Blue has been great and we have enjoyed our time with him, but it is time for something a bit bigger to keep the Mother Ship company.

I can't wait to take Rocky on the shake down trip in October!  

There is a lot to do between now and then, but I can't wait!  What fun!  I'll let you know how it goes!   :)