Monday menus #34

 I've been wracking my brain lately for ideas on how to spend some quality free time.  What hobby or activity? What would be fun and creative?  I'm not the sort of person who is generally a lonely self-learner.  It's always easier to get started with a buddy.

Macrame is something I would like to learn, I decided.  So I purchased a set of two beginner kits and one will be mailed to a friend. It would be more fun, maybe a little easier, in person.  But it will also be fun for her to get in the mail and also for me to see how we do.  Long distance buddy crafts - I kind of like that.

Monday - kitchen closed 

Tuesday - Crockpot Chicken Drums, BBQ beans, brussels sprouts {visit mom}

Wednesday - Sloppy Joes, curly fries, watermelon {travel to Brenham}

Thursday - Tilapia, greens, seasoned wild rice {dentist appt., visit mom}

Friday - Shake and Bake Chicken Thighs, mashed potatoes, green beans {items to Austin Recycle, car maintenance}

Saturday and Sunday - Bubbie will cook for us one of these nights each week.  Its like having a personal chef!

Gina

California Coleslaw

I love coleslaw - like, love it.  I actually prefer it over potato salad, and I know that is not a very southern thing to own up to.  But I came across a recipe that was vinegar dressing based instead of mayo, and that sounds perfect to me with all of these 100 plus degree days. 

I tweaked the recipe I found:

California Coleslaw

1 small bag pre-shredded cabbage (the kind with both purple and green cabbage)

1/2 small purple onion, thinly sliced

1 red or green bell pepper, cut into thin strips (or, 1/2 of each color)

1 small carrot, grated

1/2 c. cider vinegar

3 T sugar

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. blk pepper

1/2 c. light olive oil

Place all the veggies in a big bowl. Whisk everything else and pour over the veggies; toss well.  Refrigerate several hours.

It made a smallish bowl of coleslaw, but it last me several days as the boys were pretty picky about it.  As for me, I love the sweet and sour crunch of it and it was fantastic alongside a pulled pork sammie!

Gina

Monday menus #33

A shrimp dinner from a couple weeks ago: 

Since Bubbie doesn't eat seafood, I cooked some jalapeno cheddar sausage for him, but I saved extra sausage for Scout and I to have with our shrimp over seasoned rice.  My version of surf and turf!

Monday - BBQ Beans/Sausage/Bell Pepper/Onion Skillet, maybe cornbread in my new toaster oven! {off, ortho appt. in the afternoon}

Tuesday - Pork Fried Rice, cantaloupe {well-woman check-up}

Wednesday - Buffalo Chicken Salads (romaine, grilled buffalo style chicken, tomato, purple onion, avocado, celery, shredded cheese) {on call}

Thursday - Shrimp Tacos (flour tortillas, shrimp, angel hair cabbage, crema)

Friday - Crockpot Lasagna, green beans 

Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed

Gina

5 thing Friday - moving day, charms, cactus, snacks, stress

The end of July was a BEAST.

Every time I turned around there was something hitting the fan.

Not that its unhappy, but Bubbie is back home for his last college class and hopefully after that he will be off living his life.  But OMG moving him out of the dorm/apartment was a mess.  I don't remember it being this disorganized and all around terrible moving The Girl, but then again, that was years ago.

James Avery is having another of those buy two charms, get a bracelet or chain free promotions, so I bought one charm for me, two charms for The Girl's birthday, and got her a charm necklace.  I added this sweet cross to my bracelet, plus the armadillo my sister got me and had the whole thing polished up.  My charm bracelet has become my "fidget" toy and I wear it often lately.

It turns out that the barrel cactus I got from Highlands is a hedgehog cactus.  I know pretty much nothing about growing cacti or succulents, but she seems happy on the deck in full sun.  I'm hoping to keep her alive - the tiny prickly pear I had in the kitchen window mysteriously withered and fell over.

At work, my boss and the charge nurse love to keep us fat and happy, as evidenced by the tiered tray of snacks positioned at the information board.  After I weighed myself last Saturday and had a Moment of Truth, I vowed never again to touch it.  Its easy just to pop a mini rice krispy treat in your mouth as you walk by.  I mean really, there are always snacks and food out at this new hospital.

Instead of that,  I am drinking more iced water and getting up to move around more often, as well as pack enough healthy food from home to keep me satisfied for 12 hours.  Often I find that I "eat" my feelings without paying much attention to what goes in my mouth.  I see co-workers doing the same so I know its not just me, feeling life's stresses.  Still, I am determined to get back on track with my general health!

Gina

Monday menus #32

 On the way home from seeing my mother, I stopped in Elgin for lunch at this well-known place.  Now I'm a fan of their sausage, I will say that.

But this chopped BBQ chicken sammie, altho delish looking, was so dry and so unwieldy that I eventually gave up and ate the filling with a fork, dunking the pieces in some not-great BBQ sauce, and tossing that dry bun.

The potato salad was "ok".  Next time I will stick to the sausage!

Monday - kitchen closed  - cereal

Tuesday - Pork Chops, green beans and new potatoes {catch up day}

Wednesday - Dr. Martin's Mix {on call}

Thursday - Taco Salads (taco meat, romaine, tomato, avocado, purple onion) with Ranch dressing {will go see my mom*}

Friday - Tilapia, mac and cheese, yellow squash

Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed, cereal and milk!

Gina

*a story for another blog...

Little project: china cabinet

Wherein a mid-century modern china cabinet that used to belong to Mark's mother, becomes a set of decor shelves just for fun.

The things in the upper part of the china cabinet do not get used. Mostly because china is impractical!  And I don't think my peeps will ever be interested.

This china was purchased by my late MIL when she married her second husband, so it had no real sentiment to me.  And I will eventually donate it, but for rightthisminute I will place it in a safe spot*.

Anyway!

I unloaded the whole thing out onto the dining table.

Did I already say we never used these?  We never have.

Pretty, but so impractical.  And really not my style.

I vacuumed out the entire thing, hit it with some Endust, then pulled all of my Fall thingies out of their storage box. (in future, I am hoping to use this as a place to just decorate for the seasons)

I only placed items in here that I love.

They spark joy!

My childhood bible, the Book of Common prayer we took with us to pre-marriage counseling and beyond, handmade crochet thingies, a photo of Mark and I at Christmas, the flutes we toasted with at our wedding, my MIL's ironstone cookie jar, owl snack plates that were a birthday gift from a good friend, wine corks from happy times in a glass dish that also belonged to MIL, a crochet pumpkin from The Girl, and a few pieces of that china (because why not).

Is it to early to decorate for Fall?  Oh. Well.

I left the glass doors off - they were impossible to clean.

I think I will put fresh batteries in those fake candles, too.

And of course, I had to tweak it...again.

I love it!

The two lower drawers have placemats, coasters, real candles for the next Icepocolypse power outage.

I went through all of the linens and assorted S&P shakers, and did a bit of purging before I stowed it neatly away.  And who knows?  Maybe now that the china is out of the cabinet, I could use it for special family meals!  We'll see.

Gina

*baby steps.  It still feels sometimes like I am being disrespectful (?) with all of these things lovingly cared for by my MIL and later, Mark and I.  But they are just "things" and do not, for the most part, hold any sentimentality for me.  After a while, they became part of the landscape of my home with no real connection to my past.  Something to think on!

Monday menus #31

I keep having to toss Scout's blackened bananas - he has the best of intentions to make banana bread, but then he doesn't, and goes to buy more bananas! 

So I took a couple of them to make muffins as I don't really want him to have the oven on for the hour it takes to make banana bread anyway!

This is a simple recipe using mayo instead of eggs and oil.  I always add mini chocolate chips to mine, then split them and melt a little butter on them while still warm.  They are so moist and not too sweet. YUM.  I used to make them a lot when my kids were little.

{scroll down for the recipe}

Monday - kitchen closed

Tuesday - Crockpot Pulled Pork on buns, pickles and onions, whatever chips I have, cantaloupe

Wednesday - Meatballs and Ziti, salad (romaine, tomato, bell pepper) {on call}

Thursday - Chicken Quesadillas, broccoli salad

Friday - BBQ Lime Shrimp, rice, zucchini {payday}

Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed (but I'm going to get a foccacia pizza and some HEB deli soup to split for both nights' meals)

Banana Muffins

2 mashed bananas

3/4 cup mayo (not salad dressing)

1/4 c. sugar

1/2 t. salt

3/4 cup milk

1 t. vanilla

2 c. flour

1 t. baking soda

2 t. baking powder

mini chocolate chips or chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 375 and grease a 12 muffin tin. Mix the wet ingredients well.  Mix dry ingredients; add to wet.  Stir gently until just combined.  Stir in nuts or chips.  Scoop into muffin pan.  Bake for 19 minutes.

Gina

5 Ingredient Chicken Drums

 I don't remember where I got this recipe from, but its such a good one.  So easy to throw in the crockpot first thing in the morning and so good with mashed 

potatoes or rice.

5 Ingredient Chicken Drums

3 lbs. chicken drums (you can remove the skin if you want)

Montreal Chicken Seasoning

1 c. jam or preserves

1/2 c. ketchup

1/3 c. soy sauce

2 t. minced garlic

Place Chicken drums in the crock and sprinkle the seasoning all over them.  Mix the remaining ingredients together and pour over the drums.  Cook on low 6-8 hours.

This particular time I served it with kale salad also.  I trimmed and chopped some kale, then made a dressing with lemon juice, olive oil, S&P, and a teaspoon or so of sugar.  I massaged the dressing into the kale and added chopped apples, craisins, and almonds.  Then chilled it for several hours.

Perfect summer supper!

Gina