Our first graduate - 2008

Firstborn 2008

He's an introverted kind of kid, so I do think he was glad that high school was over.  And graduation was as much a celebration for all of us as it was for him. 

We are so proud of you, Spencer!

Gina

Meatball love

I love meatballs.  How great is it to just throw them in your crock pot with sauce? A jar of chili sauce and a jar of grape jelly make delish BBQ sauce for them.  A can of mushroom soup, some sliced mushrooms, and a little chicken broth make a nice sauce to simmer them, then spoon over mashed potatoes.  And marinara over them makes an easy sauce for pasta.

Mom's Meatballs
2 lbs. lean ground beef
4 slices bread
3 gloves minced garlic
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
1/4 c. parmesan cheese
1/2 c. minced fresh onion
4 large eggs
1 1/2 t. salt
fresh ground black pepper
1/2 c. dry breadcrumbs

Pre-heat the oven to 325 and grease a piece of foil on a cookie sheet. Cover the bread slices with a little water and set aside.  Mix all else in the order listed, except dry bread crumbs. Squeeze the water from the bread and crumble it in.  Add the dry crumbs last and mix it all well.  Shape into meatballs and bake 25-30 minutes. Cool and refrigerate or freeze.

This made enough for 2 meals - tonight it's tomato basil sauce over spaghetti.
The rest I froze for another meal.

I like the fresh parsley and parmesan in them - they smell wonderful.  And baking them was a thousand times easier than doing them on the stove top which makes a big mess. While they cooked, I cleaned up the  kitchen.  And now the house smells so good.

Check it out!

I added them to my crock with the sauce, then cooked the pasta and stirred it in.
  It's easier to serve that way, I think. Time to dig in!

Gina

Shared with:

His achin' head

Bubbie gets headaches, and when he does, he usually toughs them out until they throw him down.  Then he finds his favorite place to crawl into (mom and dad's bed), rolling up in a blanket or sheet, and staring at the wall until he either falls asleep, or the Motrin I gave him works it's magic.

I really feel for him, migraines are a real pain.  It takes a whopper of a headache to slow him down, so you know he's having a rough go of it.  If I could, I'd bear it for him.  But all I can do is comfort him and hope he feels better soon.

Gina

Dinner, 2 nights

Have I ever mentioned before that I love my crock pots?  bought one of those small (about $4) HEB pre-seasoned pork tenderloins to cook in the small one and went on about my day.  When it cooled I chopped it and this is what I made for dinner:

Jamaican Red beans and Rice! With mango pico de gallo!
Make your red beans and rice, adding in one undrained can of petite diced tomatoes and juice and the chopped pork roast.  Top with pico de gallo and serve - leave out the mango if you don't like it.

And since I hate to waste even the smallest bit of cilantro I put together :

Boneless Pork Ribs with onions and cilantro.  

I sliced onions and cilantro and added to the greased crock with a few tablespoons butter.

Seasoned the ribs with Lowry's, plopped them onto the onions and seasoned the back.  Peppered them. Then added some of this sprinkled over the top:

It's sweet-hot, basically. 

I served it with potato salad and BBQ beans (another crockpot dish!)

Gina

Pantry improvement

Summer is a time when I look around and notice things to be done and

actually have the time to do them!

A couple of weeks ago I undertook the project of re-papering my pantry, cleaning it out as I went, and re-painting it to make it spiffy.  I couldn't find the original green and white checked shelf paper - so I went with red and white.  Red is OK with me.

I like to use baskets to help corral small things like ramen noodle packages and snacks. 

I have one for baking things, too - small containers of baking soda, vanilla, etc.

  I have used these large re-purposed pickle jars for years to hold flour and sugar. 
Can you imaging what happens if someone drops this on my tile floor? 

I have some old yellow Tupperware canisters  - but you can't see what's in them - so I don't use them. 

It was time to update my pantry storage:

My solution was these nifty Rubbermaid storage containers - unbreakable and stackable.  I printed my own labels and slapped them on with clear packaging tape.  The good thing about that tape is that it can be peeled off and replaced with another label, no problem.  And the red matched the shelf liner - WA-LA!

I really like the new containers and how easy it will be to get to my baking goods without having a huge disaster like dropping a large glass container.  Let's face it - I will probably never own a Cricut. Nifty as they are, I have to make myself happy printing labels and using clear tape to plaster them onto things. 

I'll probably buy one more container as I need it for rice. Then I will give my glass jars to my mom, along with the old Tupperware. Why didn't I do this sooner?

BBQ Chicken Salad

Every now and again, I stumble upon an idea for  a summer dinner that works beautifully.  It has to have these things:  a veggie, a protein, a yummy sauce, and make enough for six people.  If it's easy to fix, that's a bonus!  My new favorite: BBQ Chicken Salad.  So easy, and everyone loved it:

I bought pre-seasoned chicken quarters and threw them into the oven while we went to the pool.  When they had cooled, I shredded them and added 1 bag salad, 1/4 of a sliced red onion, a chopped avocado, some tiny red tomatoes, and some grated cheddar cheese.  As an afterthought, I added a can of black beans, rinsed and drained.

You could use a rotisserie chicken, too.  

I mixed 1/4 cup honey BBQ sauce with 1 C. ranch dressing
and let everyone drizzle on their own salad.

This was enough for two adults and two hungry kids....It was gone moments after I took this picture.  And it was de-lish-us.

Gina

Shared with:

Summer thrifting with the boys

One of my favorite things to do is take the boys thrifting and "bopping around" as Scout calls it.  We visit St. Vincent de Paul, Thrift town, Thrift Land, Goodwill, and sometimes the shops on Burnet Rd. though Bubbie likes to say they have a lot of  "old lady stuff". 

   This week we scored these items:

4 VHS movies, a scary novel, a nice sized canning jar, a coffee mug, a terra cotta pot, and an ecru lace-edged table cloth.  Total spent: $6.47. 

 Not a huge haul for two hours of shopping, but it was fun, and we discovered another cute little restaurant to eat lunch at - Tacquerias Arandas.   Al Carbon tostadas, and beef quesadillas.  No soda, boys.  I'm weaning you off Dr. Pepper.

They've gotten used to me taking photos everywhere we go - they can get used to iced water, too!

Gina

New Bloggy Friend!

Becca at The Texas Darlings is sponsoring  the second annual Bloggy Friend Flip Flop Exchange and I was so excited to receive my package today from Hallie at Our Broken Road.  I have been visiting her blog every so often to get to know her and she has such cute taste in flip flops.  Look what I got:

Love the koozy for  keeping my Coke Zero cold at the pool while I lounge in my stylin' pink flip flops, then later, showering with this yummy smelling soap.  So fun!

Perhaps a pedi would be in order?  Thanks for hosting this, Becca!  It was so fun to get a little Christmas in June.  And Hallie, it's so great to get to know you!

Gina

Lick it or Bite it or Both

Cupcakes are the new trendy food, apparently.  The boys and I visited a new Austin place with the name above; no kidding.  

But the boys enjoyed the cupcakes, and we got a $15 deal for $7 which seemed great for what we got:

My coconut cupcake actually had what I hope was edible glitter on it.  

It was coconutty and delish.

The interior of the store is aqua and brown so the frosting coordinates with that.  The boys each chose a "Mimosa".

But for $15 a box the happy Hour deal of 10% off, and the "bring the box back for $1 off", they are still too rich for my blood at $12.50 for a half dozen.

Gina

The Strength of a Man

Rustown Art

The strength of a man isn't seen in the width of his shoulders;

it's in the width of his arms that encircle you.

*****

The strength of a man isn't in the deep tone of his voice;

It's in the gentle words he whispers.

*****

The strength of a man isn't how many buddies he has;

It's how good a buddy he is with his children.

*****

The strength of a man isn't how respected he is at work;

It's how respected he is at home.

*****

The strength of a man isn't in how hard he hits; 

It's in how tender he touches.

*****

The strength of a man isn't in the hair on his chest;

It's in his heart that lies in his chest.

*****

The strength of a man isn't in the weight he can lift;

it's in the burdens he can carry.

Rustown Art

Happy Father's Day, Hubby!

2010

Gina

Jammin'

We're definitely a jam-eating family.  My kids will eat it on just about anything.  And they love homemade.  Last week HEB had a $2 off coupon for Ball canning jars, pint size, but they were out by the time I noticed.  That's ok; I save the jars my mother sends home with me - she's a big jam and jelly maker.  Today I  took advantage of $1.67 strawberries and half a bag of blueberries I had in the freezer. 

I pulled out my odd assortment of jelly jars and set to work.  I start off by boiling a big pot of water with the lids in for 5 minutes, then dump the water into my clean jars while I use the pot to make the jam.  I mash up the fruit and pectin while I'm waiting for it to come to a boil.

I dump in the sugar and let it come to a boil then continue boiling and stirring for 1 minute - I just basically follow the directions on the pectin box to get the right sugar to fruit  ratio - very important if you want your jam to set.

I use the inversion method to seal - I quickly pour the hot jam into the hot drained jars, clean the threads, put the caps on, screw lids tight, then turn upside down for 5 minutes while I clean up.  Then I set them right side up and listen for the POP! 

  If the others don't, I will simply store them in the fridge - they won't live there long, believe me!

Gina

Memo boards for the kids

Mondays are usually my day to play catch up, but since the boys are all camping and I had to have things caught up by Saturday morning, I had time on my hands to make more French memo boards.

The one above is for Bubbie - with a touch of red.

One for Scout with two shades of blue.

This one is for my niece - her room is being painted lilac. And she has already told me she loves black. 

These buttons are carved from shell and have been dyed lilac. Aren't they pretty?

I think I need to add some special buttons to the ones I made the boys, too.  The more buttons at the cross marks, the better to hold small photos, etc.  

Gina