Jan 28- Feb 1 Menu

As I am sitting here enjoying my glass of wine (what the heck my last one out of the bottle) and warm cornbread out of the cast iron skillet I haven't posted a blog in awhile.

So this week I am trying to be healthier and have been snacking on trail mix and greek yogurts. I asked Scott to think of some meals while I was working and he did, he picked some good ones. This week Harris Teeter had BOGO shredded cheese in bags so I grabbed the Light/ Reduced fat ones, yogurts, nuts and our favorite breads Honey Sunflower Wheat and Rosemary Olive oil.
So we have:

• Chicken Bacon Ranch Mac n Cheese (a lighter recipe) We added some Ranch Powder when cooking the chicken and used Dill Weed not fresh, so yummy eating this still and it's Thursday

          oneordinaryday.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/chicken-ranch-mac-cheese/

• Goat Cheese, Spinach, Carmelized onions and tomatoes Quesadillas or as Scott puts it Casadela we added chicken one night to these but they were good with out too.
• Brunswick Stew this time we are adding beef brisket to it not just the chicken. We need to get my Papa G's recipe for this but in the meantime the one I found is close.
• Home made Meatballs going to have them 2 ways one with Heinz 57 Chili sauce & grape jelly, the other with pasta and sauce.  They freeze great and I just mix stuff into them and try different things in them
• Chicken salad this is my aunts recipe and is so yummy it has toasted almonds and red grapes, sometimes I add other nuts as well and craisins.

Trail Mix:
This time we got Granola mixture of fruit and nuts, and the peanuts were on sale at Harris Teeter so we got two different kinds, plus had some left over stuff from making this awhile ago.

-Granola your choice

-peanuts  honey roasted and lightly salted

-yogurt raisins or regular raisins whatever I have

-sunflower seeds

-pumpkin seeds

-M &M's or chocolate chips I have used a mix of white and milk, whatever you have or you can omit

- nut mix 

-banana chips

- apple chips or apple chews  

I just put a little bit of each in a bowl and mix then put it into sandwich baggies for us to take to work (plus this way I can add a note of encouragement or love note on the baggie with sharpie)

I have decorated for Valentine's Day re did the wreath, hung up the flag and other little things tonight. I am cooking the brisket in the crock pot for the Brunswick stew and made cornbread, so I am going to enjoy the rest of my last glass of wine for the evening. Plus I need to pick out something to bring to the Superbowl get together thinking I may do something sweet since I can just have a little bit and not have the entire thing in my house. Hopefully will add to this post later. Enjoy.

I got lazy and didn't take any pics of the food so far maybe meatballs...but I did manage to take some of the Brunswick Stew and cornbread muffins we are having again tonight for dinner. Here it is....
I added some things to it after the recipe that added to the flavor and I must say this is pretty darn good.

Quick Meal with a twist on leftovers with Wonton Wrappers

Well we needed a quick dinner so I looked through my pins and saw something that sounded good and looked quick. It was taco cups made with wonton wrappers.  So off to the store to get meat since all mine was frozen, grab some cheese and some odds and ends.  I heated up the meat and added taco seasoning but then I thought we have extra sauce from spaghetti earlier  in the week why not put that into some cups so its mini lasagnas and tacos. We used two wrappers that over lapped opposite ways since my cupcake tins are slightly bigger then filled them with the cooked meat and sauce.  We added mexi corn and shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese, filled the other with sauce and topped with grated parmesan cheese. We baked for 8 mins at 350 but we wanted them a tad crisper so we cooked them longer if using taco meat you need to cook longer since the juice from the meat will make the bottom soggier. You can then top them with your favorite toppings:
Tacos- shredded red cabbage, shredded lettuce, onions or can add those to the meat while cooking, olives, sour cream, taco sauce, salsa, rotel like I said whatever you choose.
Lasgana- you can add mini pepperonis to make it like a pizza

I also make sauces for the taco cups that we use on tacos regular or fish and on salads. They are easy and store for awhile and are good on a variety of things. My inspiration for the taco sauce is the yummy sauce at Salsaritas. The hubby also wanted the sauce for tonight dinner Chili.
Taco Sauce:
some Light Mayo
some Reduced Fat Sour Cream
Taco Seasoning sprinkle a little in not a whole package just maybe teaspoon- i eyeball and just mix
*sometimes add Taco Sauce
You will use more Sour Cream than Mayo maybe 2 heaping spoonfuls of Sour Cream to 1 of Mayo
Mix all the ingredients together it should look creamy with hints of the taco seasoning it will be a pinkish color. I cook to taste so if you don't like things to strong use less seasoning.
You can always add some hot sauce as well.
Lime Sour Cream:
Light Sour Cream
Zest of one lime
Juice from the Lime
This is so delicious I like it very limey, you just let the flavors combine more in the fridge.
I must say the taco cups were my favorite and they are so quick and easy:)

Hubby makes Homemade Pasta, Bread & Sauce

This weekend has been busy it is my last full weekend off for a bit due to a promotion at work for me. I got to spend time with some of my favorite kiddos this weekend. Friday night we babysat for my best friend and I basically had 3 kids (hubby included) so we pilled up and watched cartoons and a movie since it was late in the evening. The three giggle boxes kept me entertained. Saturday was finishing up project day & got some errands taken care of, since I cleaned on Friday. Saturday night we spent the night with my sister and brother in law and my 3 nieces, I got my baby fever fix in. So it was good company and good wine while the boys watched hockey. So Sunday morning when we got home it was time to catch up on sleep for me. I haven't been to the grocery store so when asked what we were doing for dinner  and the hubby said he was going to the store I said spaghetti. I decided to pull turkey and hamburger out of the freezer and grab some sauce from the store to add to our semi-homemade sauce. So the hubby decided to make homemade pasta with that and he has gotten so good at it, so much better than box pasta. Here are some photos of the process that I caught when I woke up from my nap. He also made homemade bread to have garlic bread with dinner.

 the finished meal

            the sauce    

the yummy bread

Russian Tea Recipe

A warm drink for those chilly days that has a hints of citrus and spices, it can warm up or make you feel better when you have a cold. This is recipe I got from my aunt and I always add a little bit of this and you really can't make a bad cup. Last night I decided to try using fresh spices and let just say it was SOO much better and I accidentally added fresh grated nutmeg well lets just say it just added to the flavor. It is a great substitute for coffee so I am not constantly having to pop a k-cup in the Keurig or I put spoonfuls in the bottom of a travel mug or Tervis and just add water and microwave it at work during the day.
* Also makes a great little gift for someone, use a mason jar or glass container and you see the swirls of color in the mixture and tie with a little ribbon.

RECIPE:

• 1 cup of sugar - you can use Splenda or another substitute or a mix of both ( I have tried both ways typically I use a mix more Splenda than sugar)
• 1 cup Instant Tea Plain ( I use Lipton also can use decaf or caffeinated)
• 1 cup Tang
• 1/4 cup Country Time Lemonade (recipe calls for 1 packet of Wylers Lemonade but I can't find that anywhere)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together in a big bowl, stir well and store in a airtight container ( I use empty Tang/Country time ones). Use about 4-6 big spoonfuls of the mix per coffee cup of water, depends on how strong you want.  If you are using fresh spices- cinnamon sticks, nutmeg you will need a microplane for grating. You do not have to use fresh spices I have been using the store bought ground ones for years and they taste great too. We just now have access to great kitchen gadgets so I am taking advantage of them.  Enjoy.

Can also add the following:

Red Hots 

Nutmeg

Allspice

                                          

Fabric Tufted Headboard

I am so excited about this project I have been looking for a bed for us for over two years and we decided on one with drawers. Then we decided to upgrade our queen we got a king mattress a few weeks ago on sale.   I found a bed with a fabric headboard that I really liked at Ikea so why not save some money and not get the big wood king set with built in drawers. (Maybe in the future) Then the hubby said he could make that no problem and cover our box spring with the matching fabric it is a linen with tufts. We will just have cute baskets for storage under the bed instead. We have been researching this and looking for styles and fabrics we both agree on....yeah that is easier than picking out new bedding any day!! The hubby showed me one a few weeks ago that was slightly curved and had side panels so add to my choices.... and well it took me a while to choose what I could live with and wanted plus what would be easier to build. I will say we learned an important lesson today and that was follow her suggestions of using cardboard to trace out your design first not tracing paper.  I am not the greatest at drawing straight curved lines free handed, I am crafty not artistic.  You need to measure and make sure it is even!! After several tries and corrections we got it  cut, rounded out and sanded. Thank goodness it was nice outside and the neighbors weren't outside. Like I said it has been a long process.

Here is the blog we used to get the basic headboard we wanted:

http://jennasuedesign.blogspot.com/2012/03/diy-upholstered-tufted-headboard.html

You need a jigsaw and orbital sander for this process if you want it rounded.

Now to decide if we want to add the side or not,

trim down the sides and decide on a height.

Headboard we are thinking of doing: without the rivets

Wayfair: Skyline Furniture Tufted Upholstered Headboard

Since the headboard is thin we are using side braces to help pad the headboard making it thicker & softer.  We will wrap the batting & padding around the braces and pad it up until the middle of the board and braces are even. Then we will wrap around entire thing with batting to prepare for tufts and fabric making sure it is even.

2/9 Progress
Well we have the holes drilled for buttons/ tufts the bating and foam are on the headboard now it just needs to be covered in fabric. Here are some photos the hubby took of his progress he did this past weekend while I was at work. He drilled the holes before covering it with the foam mattress pad for a queen instead of batting or foam. This way it will hopefully be more padded this way and look fuller. You attach the buttons/tufts after you put on the foam and cover those with fabric then attach. So now all we have to do is get fabric we have everything else. Then we will cover the headboard then the box spring as well. Plus we will make the choice to add the side wings or not.

3/10
My loving hubby finished the board will I was so sick and sacked out thanks to meds. I woke up to find that he had done most of it and just needed my help pushing the buttons and making sure they made a tuft. You have to make sure that you push the buttons tight to the headboard when you are securing the fishing line to the board, we re did a few. We chose a simple design and I thought it would make more of a diamond shape in the middle of the headboard but it didn't so we are going to add more buttons.  I LOVE my new headboard I will post a picture of the final once we add some more buttons this Sunday.  You will need cover buttons, large thick needle and fishing wire is what we used. I want to thank my hubby who did this while I was so sick and thought enough to take pictures of it for the blog. We got the linen fabric and large needle from Mary Jo's in Gastonia. The cover buttons we found a better deal on them at Walmart than anywhere else.