changing , re-arranging

Hmmm....seems like a time of change around here . I am trying to do better in many areas ...and suceeding to varying degrees !
We re-arranged the furniture , changes some curtains & rods out .
The weather has made a drastic change (for the better) . The a/c is off !
I got a major hair-cut .
DD is officially "in a relationship" .
DH is back to traveling after a little more than a month at home .
And I started a couple of new bible studies .

Did I mention change is usually not my fort'e ?!?

So ...I skipped menu - planning this week . And I am wishing I had just went ahead and done it . So I hope to be back on track next MPM .

SIGH ! I think I will de-stress and go make some jelly ! (LOL) yeah , I know :WEIRD !

Week end ?!

Oh my ! Where did the week go ?? I have been busy doing some canning , changing my furniture around and truthfully , just having on LAZY day this week . I have been trying to do the FlyLady thing . I must admit that it is looking a little better . Next week begings something called a "super-fling" Hummm....I am a little apprehensive . But as is one of her mottoes .....anyone can do anything for 15 mins . So I will try , 15 mins at a time !
We met with friends last night and had prayer with some really good , rousing discussion of scripture and events . There is SO much to pray about ! This must be the times like God was talking about in "Weary not"
Just wanted to pop in on my cyber friends ! I'll be back for MPM . And I have some pics to post too . :-) Ya'll get to meet a couple other of the fur kids !

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Here’s an easy substitute for sweetened condensed milk that’s much less processed than the commercial variety. This can be used in recipes that call for one can of sweetened condensed milk:
Ingredients:
1 cup dry milk powder
1/3 cup hot water
1/3 cup sugar
3 T. butter (melted)
Directions:Combine all ingredients in a blender, layering wet and dry ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Found on www.hobbyfarms.com
One of my new favorite sites !

Today I am making Muscadine JAM and probably doing something with more of the pears ...not sure what yet ! Any ideas out there ?

Menu Plan Monday

This week it is just the Children and I . But I am trying to not have it be SO different . I am really bad about totally slacking on cooking if DH is away . My intension is to do well this week , lol , we'll see huh? Gas prices are OUTRAGEOUS here because of the storm "Ike" , personally I think it is mostly hype . Thursday I filled up for $3.44 (with card discount at Ingles) and Friday is shot to $3.99 and is now $4.19 ....some places are even quite a bit higher than that . SO ... I am going to try to live mostly out of the pantry and freezer this week . I may need to stop at the store for fruit and salad . And I will incorperate it into taking DD to work so as not to waste a trip out .

Monday - Flank steak in the crock-pot similar to a roast with veggies (potatoes , carrots,celery,onion and maybe a handful of frozen green beans)

Tuesday - Breakfast for dinner french toast casserole and fried spam or bologna

(prayer meeting at church , so we will be eating late)

Wednesday - Smoked sausage , mac & cheese and garden fresh crowder peas

Thursday - Roast Beef sandwiches (made on bread machine bread) , and carrot and celery sticks and canned pineapple

Friday - Steaks , loaded mashed potatoes , limas and honey-oat bread from the bread machine

Saturday - lentil soup and grilled cheese

Sunday - Crock=pot Chicken & Rice with Ceaser salad

Lentil Soup

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method-------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 cup Red lentils

1 cup Brown lentils

6 cups Water

3 No MSG boullion

1/2 small Onion -- diced

1 Carrot -- diced 1

Rib celery -- diced

1/8 teaspoon Celery seed

3 tablespoons Instant Potatoe flakes*

1 large Potato -- diced

2 tablespoons Olive oil

2 Bay leaves

2 teaspoons Red wine vinegar (Optional)

mix all ingredients except the vinegar in a soup pot and cook until the lentils are very soft, about one hour. Stir in vinegar at the end, and serve. NOTE: Brought soup to boil, turned down and simmered uncovered 45 min. *If thinner soup is desired, omit potato flakes, or use lesser amount.

Used 3 quart sauce pan.

Ummmm....one of the few meatless things my DH likes

week-end up-date

Well , the week-end went by way too fast ! But isn't that always the way that seems to work out ?! Saturday we went and put up a Christmas display at church trying to set up for taking some family pictures . Yes , I know it is only Sept. ! But this is the best time and gives people plenty of time to get the pics printed and on cards or what-ever they want .
Sat. evening we went to a small group meeting over in Dacula Park . It was fun ! Mostly kids ...but it's all Gods anyway . There were even some skaters that sat on the fringes for a while . And every one handled them being there well . Some people did not seem serious about wanting to be there but that is pretty much going to be in any function . And , of course , I try not to judge too . SIGH ...but it is hard ...I just have to remind myself only God know the motives of the heart .
Sunday our church had a special guest named Murray , who is a Messianic Jew . It was SO good . Very informative and right on time since we had just recently gone to Beth Hallel to see Paul Wilbur . By-the-way...if the opportunity ever presents it's self for you to see Paul Wilbur GO ! He is phenomenal in person !
And Sunday after church we came home and Rick discovered a leak in one of the pipes for the Hot Water Heater . SO ~ we had to make an un-planned trip to Home Depot and he spent quite alot of time working on that . SO we did not go anywhere in the evening , as then he needed to pack .

And then next thing I knew it was MONDAY ! UGH ! :-)

The pita making went well . I want to use some of the left-overs to make some cinnamon-sugar chips . These were easy & worth it ~I used the bread machine to do the mixing . :-) And if you Really wanted to cheat , you can get the bagged salad mix in ceasar (comes with dressing!) and just add your own cooked chicken . Next time I will do Greek . With spinach salad , feta ,seeds of change greek feta dressing and I will cook the chicken in Greek spice mix . Ummm....

Works for me Wednesday

Ok ...so I am trying to think of what works for me . Well what works for me and might benefit someone else anyway . I think I have to go with my *new* bread machine . We had a field trip to the Atlanta History center yesterday . So I put Speg. & pre-cooked meatballs in the crock-pot . Put Italian Herb and Cheese bread ingredients in the bread machine and set it to be done at 6:30 pm . Well except for the glitch of forgetting to push start it went great ! My DH was home before me , caught the boo-boo and correctly re-set everything and everything continued smoothly .
And I felt pretty accomplished !
Here's the recipe I based the bread off of . Ummmm....

Italian Herb and cheese bread
1 1/4 cups tepid water
3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup shredded pepperjack cheese (I used real Asiago, 'cuz that's what I had)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
2 tablespoons powdered cheese (found in mac and cheese dinners)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order suggested by the machine's manufacturer. Select White Bread or Basic cycle. Start.
This recipe yields a 1 1/2 pound loaf.

My first MPM

My very first posted menu !~Yeah

Sunday - Chinese after church

Monday-Red Beans and rice w/smoked sausage (I start with the Mahatma bag and add 1 can lt.red kidney beans and an extra cup of brown rice . Cook it all up in my Favorite CIS(cast iron skillet)I will also make a wonderful fruit salad to go along with it (recipe to follow)

Tuesday-Hamburgers , pasta salad , pinto beans with banana pudding for dessert( I made a huge one for a Labor Day cook-out and my dh hardly got any, so now he gets his own!)

Wednesday-(church night) Pasties with big glasses of cold RAW milk

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1627,153169-230201,00.html here's the pasty recipe (I omit rutabagas)

Thursday-Chicken Ceaser Pitas served with Corn on the Cob . I will be trying Pitas from scratch for the first time . If they are as wonderful as I hope I will post the recipe later in the week!

Friday-Steaks with Baked Potatoes and garlic cheese bread (from the bread machine)

Saturday-Grilled cheese and homemade chicken or lentil soup (using honey wheat bread I made Sunday)

Fruit Salad

combine any friut you have on hand : we like diced apples,grape halves,mandrine oranges,sliced bananas,peaches,strawberries etc...

Make a sauce using 1/2 cup sour cream

and 2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar (more or less to taste)

mix sauce up well , spoon onto servings of fruit salad

Works great as a dip for strawberries and pineapple and looks lovely layered in fancy glasses with small cut fruits !

Have a great week ! May the Lord Bless and Keep you and make His face shine upon you !

It's Saturday and I have had all afternoon to myself ! :-) Of course I was running errands most of the time but that's OK . I got to stop at a couple of yard sales and treated my-self to lunch at ABC . I had the waldrof chicken salad sandwich and fruit salad . Light and yummy . Then I got a chocoate crossiant to go ...ummmm...not so light . If anyone knows the calorie content on these things , please , DO NOT TELL ME !~
Kuduzs still in bloom ! It smells faintly like childrens Dimetapp . Fakey grape-ish .
DH and DD have been taking the "Omega Course" at IHOP all day . They should hit the door like a hurricane any minit now ...so I better get off of here . I'll go inventory so I can make my Menu Plan . :-)
Ya'll have a great week-end !
Lora
PS No post on Sunday (for the most part)

TGIF

Yesterday was rough . The young Prince was sick . Fever and everything sick !~Thankfully that doesn't happen very often . So it was a bit of a down day . And not much got done ...except school ! It is a joke in our house that there are NO sick days here . When the Tylenol is working you can read you Lit. Book , right ?!
Happy to report that today has been better . The young Prince has recovered from the mystery bug quite nicely . And I did get a bit done .
The dad man and the #1 daughter have a class in the morning , the Prince will be at his Grams and I will be A-L-O-N-E !! I do have errands to run (like Sams) but I will do something for just me too . Hummm....ABC is calling ....LOL > I definately need to find some something nice for me's that don't go to my hips ~

Puppy power !

AbbyJean is in heat . That means we have had quite a few male doggy visitors this week . A big yellow Lab showed up yesterday . He was SO not her type . She tips the scale at about 14lbs ! She is the black dog in the pic under the about me spot there in the side-bar . I will post more pics of her and the other critters when I have time and actually figure out what I am doing !~This is a different world to me !

Any way ... I realized AbbyJean can't go to the groomer until she is out of heat . Which is a bummer , 'cuz she needs her nails cut pretty bad - - - and I am not going to do it . She knows what a push-over I am ! If she hollers one good time i break out in a cold sweat and I am done ! So it is useless !

Anyone tried the file thing-y they are showing on TV now ? I'd love to see one or talk to someone who has one !

MPM

Next week I will be trying to do MPM ....Menu Plan Monday . For today I just wanted to say that last night we had one of our family favorite . Home-made Pizza ! I started with a good crust , pre-baked it . Then topped with Alfredo sauce , cooked & diced chicken , real bacon bits , chopped fresh spinach , and several handfuls of Mozz. Cheese . Just bake until the chesse is bubbly ~UMMM. I made 2 so we could have planned-overs . That's what we call when you make enough on pourpose to have "left-overs" . LOL
Next time I will try to get a picture of it . It was church night so we were in a hurry . Speaking of church , I wonder what ever we shall do on Wed now that the home group we were going to stopped meeting until January ! UGH !
Today I am going to try to get several loads of laundry done . And I have a new Craigslist find to go pick up ! I think I am addicted to Craigslist . Does anyone else have this problem ?

Apples

It's glorious apple season here in GA ! I have got the privilege of picking from a few different trees around here . I have been busy making juice and canning cobbler filling for later use . I just completed 7 quarts and 2 pint jars last night . Every jar sealed ! Yeah ! I can hardly wait for the first good cold snap so I can bake ! I also hope to put a batch in my new dehydrators :-) !