What I didn't do this weekend

This was to have been the first weekend in months that Bill and I had to spend together doing what we wanted to do without having to go anywhere specific or do anything specific. Best laid plans you know…

He worked late on Friday. That did give me time to clean up the kitchen and check what I needed on my grocery list before he got home. I made dinner when he did get home and we watched movies.

Saturday we slept in (woo hoo!) and then went into town to get brunch, groceries, and go to the farmer’s market (not necessarily in that order). While eating brunch we got a call from some friends that had a loom they wanted to bring by. Coolness! So we told them we would be home in a couple of hours. We finished our brunch and errands and headed back to the homestead. It was 3:00 before they got there. We went out into the woods for awhile, Bill piddled around at the house and once they got there, we unloaded the loom and then talked for a while.

Then we headed back to the house for some awesome rubbed beef flank with potato hash and green beans from the farmer’s market. Yummy! Then we watched more movies. So far so good.

Sunday Bill woke up with a cold. He was coughing, and just couldn’t get warm. He didn’t have a fever but he had the symptoms of a great head cold! So, we watched more movies all day, Bill slept most of the day, and I snacked all day. Bummer! We were pretty pathetic but we did get plenty of rest! :)

Next weekend we will be helping some friends move into their new house. So can’t wait to see the place and the look of utter pride and pleasure on Amanda’s face. And the best part – they will be living in town closer to me now and they live not too far from Global Market! Woo Hoo!

Gyros

I am in love.   I have found a place in Webster Groves that carries Gyro meat.  Bill and I rambled through WG on Friday night and I remembered the last time I was a Trader Joe’s looking for said Gyro meat they told me I might find it at the Global Market in Webster Groves.  So when I saw said market I pulled in.  We went right about finding our prize and low and behold they have it!  I was ecstatic!

I spent another hour just looking around the place.  This place is amazing!  They have all kinds of foods from all over the world – I think I may have found a new favorite place to shop.  Although I won’t be able to get there often, I do plan on making a monthly trip now that I know where it is and what they have!

What's Cookin?

Again, with real life intruding on my best laid plans, some things are showing up again this week that really didn’t get done last week. Hopefully, I will get a weekend free to do what I want this week and not what everyone else wants. 

Tuesday: Chicken fingers with Red beans and Rice
Wednesday: Baked Ziti with Summer Squash
Thursday: 3 bean chili (leftovers)
Friday: Turkey Breast Scampi
Saturday: Spice Rubbed Flank Steak w/ Porter Sauce and Harvest vegetable Hash
Sunday: Tuna Casserole
Monday: Hamburger Helper with Extra veggies added in.

What's Cookin?

We had some changes last week so we are starting this week with the Chicken Tetrazzini that didn’t get made last night. Going to my sister’s this weekend to try to get my mom’s house ready for selling – I really just want to get that done and over with!

Tuesday: Chicken Tetrazzini
Wednesday: Italian Chicken Soup
Thursday: Tuna Casserole
Friday: Pork Chops with Roasted Butternut Squash and herbed couscous
Saturday: at my sisters but Monical's Pizza will be involved!
Sunday: Monical’s Pizza on the way home from my sister’s and probably leftovers
Monday: Chicken Tenders w/ Red and Beans and Rice.

As usual if you want a recipe – just let me know.

Breakfast of Champions!

I just received a text from my daughter with this picture:




This is Fall Break at school so she is home all week and sleeping in (noon – yeah, that’s definitely sleeping in!) This is a picture of her ‘Breakfast of Champions’ bagels with Cream Cheese, Apple Butter, Peanut Butter and Nutella – yummy!

I think I agree with her – it does look like a pretty good breakfast.

What's cookin?

This weekend is our Samhain celebration in the woods. We will be having potluck on Saturday night so other than what we are making, I have not a clue what will be for dinner. So, I’ll have to save up my extra points this week for the weekend! Last weekend worked out pretty well – unbeknownst to me, my sister-in-law was on Weight Watchers too so we helped each other out all weekend!

Tuesday: Broccoli and Sausage Casserole (WW Recipe)
Wednesday: Baked Ziti with Summer Squash (WW Recipe)
Thursday: Hamburgers and chips
Friday: Cauliflower and Cheese Soup with sandwiches
Saturday: Deep fried Turkey, chili, cranberry salad, potluck!
Sunday: Tuna Casserole
Monday: Skillet chicken Tetrazzini (Dierbergs Everybody Cooks magazine)

I should point out that if anyone wants a recipe, just let me know. Most of these are Weight Watchers so I can’t link to them but I can type it up and send it to you. :)

Apple Butter 101

My first Attempt at canning (correctly) Apple Butter last night turned out pretty well I have to admit. I have been making apple butter in the fall about every other year or when I could get a hold of enough good apples to make a batch. Usually it doesn't last long!

So I acquired apples on Sunday on our way home from Bill's family reunion in Arkansas, $8.50 for a half bushel. They looked pretty good and I dug down in the basket to make sure the good ones weren't just on the top.

Once I started peeling them on Sunday evening, I discovered that they were softer than I thought. My apple peeler was having a hard time holding on to the core, I ended up peeling a lot of them by hand which I don’t like doing. (That’s harder work!)



But I Finally got most of them in the crock pot and ready to season. Brown sugar, cinnamon, and a dash of all spice and away we go. I am out of cloves I found but I’ve done it without the cloves before and it turns out pretty good. They go into the Crock Pot on low over night or about 12 hours.



Yesterday I took the lid off the pot and let them cook down a bit since they were pretty wet. Then I realized I didn’t have any lids for my canning jars. So a trip to several stores looking for lids and I finally was ready to can.

I washed the jars and lids in the dishwasher and kept them in there until ready to fill. You want the jars warm so that when you immerse them into the simmering water they don’t break. I found that I only had enough to fill 2 pint jars, one jelly jar (going right into the fridge for our use right away) and had a smidge left that I put in Tupperware for use right away.



I filled my jars, set them in the basket and dunked them in making sure that the water was covering the jars. Bring them to a boil for 15 minutes and then turn the heat off and let them set for 5 before taking them out of the water and setting them on the counter or table to stand for 12 hours (overnight in my case). I warned the kids that if they heard a popping sound over night it was just the jars sealing and it was ok. About 5:30 this morning I heard the distinctive POP! I checked them by pressing on the top of the lid – no give so they sealed perfectly! They are ready to put in the cupboard for storage for use this winter.



Meanwhile, I have another batch of apple butter in the crock pot now – I made the mistake of posting on Facebook that I was canning Apple Butter and have already gotten 3 requests!

My mid-morning walk

This is the path that I walk on morning and afternoon at work. Today I decided to take some pictures:

Hurrah for yummy homemade Indian food!

I made some Chicken Tikka Masala last Friday and put the leftovers in the freezer for lunch this week. Today I am eating said leftovers with some Garlic Naan that I bought at Trader Joe’s. Someone on the other side of the building was having a food day today and has had crock pots going all morning with yummy smelling stuff. Not sure what they are eating but it almost drove me mad! So glad I have my yummy lunch to eat now.

Today was twice this week that I had to run home at lunchtime to get something. Yesterday I forgot my cell phone and I CANT live the day without it. Well, I suppose I could be I know that Bill and the kids would wonder what happened to me if I didn’t answer text and calls all day! Today, Aubri texted me this morning – her Nook had died (batteries this time not the death that we had a few weeks ago) and she wanted me to bring her a book at lunch. She needed it for English this afternoon. So I’m sitting at my desk eating my yummies.

I have some Venison Steak in the crock pot at home for dinner tonight. It smelled really good when I went home a bit ago. I stirred and checked on it and all is good. All I have to do is make up some potatoes and carrots to go with and I have dinner ready when I get home. Life is good. ;)

I just saw one of these....

Just off the sidewalk behind the building. He was sitting in a tree about 12 -15 feet away from me and talking to me. I stopped to say hi and tell him how pretty he was and he flew away before I could get a picture. I'm pretty sure this is one of the youths that has been in the trees out on the walking trail all summer. Beautiful birds!

I wonder what he was trying to tell me?

Pear/Apple

I tried something new at the produce market in St. Charles this week, a pear apple. It was very interesting. It was crunchy like an apple but tasted somewhat like a pear. It wasn't that grainy chunchy that pears are when they aren't ripe yet though - it was applelike in texture. It was very odd.

Reminded me of when I tried brocaflower - it was just a bit weird!

What's Cookin?

Since we are going to Bill’s family reunion Friday through Sunday I don’t know what is on the menu. Everyone brings something for one meal – we are bringing Strawberry shortcake(is a family favorite), cranberry salad (another family favorite) and Chicken Salad and Pitas for one lunch. I don’t know what days are what (very hard to plan this way) so I’m guessing I’ll wing it!

Tuesday: Tilapia w/Green beans and mashed potatoes
Wednesday: Easy Crock Pot Venison Steak (cooks.com)
Thursday: Chicken and vegetables with Rice
Friday: Bills family reunion
Saturday: Bills family reunion
Sunday: leftovers
Monday: Blackened Salmon w/wild rice and veggies.

Homecoming Weekend

This past weekend was Homecoming at Francis Howell Central High School. Aubri went with her friends since she and her boyfriend ‘broke up’ a few weeks ago. Erik came home from college to take his girlfriend, who is a senior, to Homecoming. Here are some pics:



That's Aubri on the left.


All the girls that went together to Homecoming.


At the dance - she's on the right.


Erik and Meghan


Corsage time

They all looked so nice.

And here are some pictures of Erik and Meghan from a couple of weeks ago at a Cardinal game:



Go Cards!

Erik has Edmonds on the back of his shirt and Meghan has Molina on the back of hers – now I see why he likes her. ;)

In other news, my brakes went out over the weekend. Bill came up and checked them out.

The bad news – it’s the ABS sensor on the axle and you can’t replace just the sensor it is part of the entire axle assembly.

The good news, he used some JB weld and so far, so good, it’s holding. I’m hoping it can hold out at least till the end of the month when he would have time to replace it if it goes out again.

Upcoming weekend news: Bill’s family reunion is this weekend in Arkansas. I look forward to this every year so I’m excited that it’s this weekend. We will be leaving on Friday and back on Sunday then next weekend is Samhain at Brittony Woods! October is going by so fast!