Wednesday, April 29, 2009

This week's Thrifty Menu

Well what left of this week anyway!

Tonight we are having baked beans with rice, honey carrots and corn bread. Its a great mid week meal. I have the beans in the slow cooker and I don't have to do much of anything but make the carrots and corn bread this evening and that's an easy task!

Thursday-
Salmon patties, coleslaw, mac and cheese

Friday- Taco soup (or Fish if hubby catches anything:-)

Saturday- Roast Chicken with buttery peas and rice, mashed potatoes

What do you eat when your trying to save a little money? I would love some new recipes to try!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Madi's Party pictures

We all had a grand time at Madi's Party. We had some late arriving guests though...Grandma Joyce and Aunt Sherry with Jayden and Jordan came about 3 hours late! They thought the party started at 2 instead of 11:30 like it did. But that's okay we ended up and took them to see the neighbors animals and look at (and touch) the lake, I think we had a better time doing that then we did at the actual birthday party!
Oh and I know Iv used this song in other slide shows..but its just perfect!
You can click on it and go to youtube to watch it also, maybe better quality too.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Happy Birthday Madilyn!


I can't believe my baby is already 2!



My beautiful baby is growing up.
She is one of the kindest little girls Iv ever known. Always wants to share. Loves to cuddle. Says please and thank you all the time. Enjoys some quality time in the rocking chair still. She loves her Daddy and its so obvious! But knows where to go when she has a boo boo!
Her vocabulary is wonderful! She repeats most things we say, (and sometimes that's bad) and you can actually understand her, unlike alot of toddler talk.
I could barely understand the things Cheyenne was saying at this age.
I can't wait to watch her grow into a 3 year old. But maybe not right away. I think Id like to keep her how she is for awhile.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Cookin'

I love food, I do. If I could marry it I would.
I love everything about food, its a whole experience. Its not just about nourishing my body, its about the taste, smell, look and creating the food.
Over the years my cooking has evolved to fit the lifestyle I live. When I lived in the city I cooked lots of things that were interesting, I tried new recipes quit frequently, never worrying about it. If it didn't turn out yummy, well there were about dozen places to grab a bite just down the road.
But now I live in the country and Iv found myself trying to perfect those tried and true favorites in my cook books. One genre of food that Iv always loved but never really was good at cookin' was southern style (or really any food that my Texan husband wants to eat) foods.
Fried Chicken
Chicken Fried Steak/country fried steak
grits
black eyed peas
chicken and dumplings
chili
catfish
biscuits and gravy
fried green tomatoes
collard greens
sweet tea
and many more that I can't think of right now. But there are a few on this list that Iv figured out and a few that still have me stumped.
I got a recipe for chicken and dumplings from Russ' grandma and its pretty darn good! And although its been a few summers ago I perfected fried green tomatoes when we had a ton of tomato plants in our garden.
Recently Russ purchased a huge bag of Aunt Jamima grits from the grocery store...my thought..."what the heck do I do with these?"
Well so far Iv only made hot cereal, but Iv got a few recipes Im going to try.
One southern food staple that really just never comes out well for me is chicken friend steak. Iv got the gravy down, (as well as biscuits and gravy) but the actual steak always comes out less then satisfying for me. Although Russ eats it anyway and is happy for it!

So this summer my goal is to perfect the chicken fried steak!
Also Im making sun tea today:-) Baby steps:-)

Mmm sweet tea, one of my favorites, but frankly when I first moved to Texas the sweetness of the tea about made me gag! Now I can handle it, but sometimes I still have to ask for half sweet/ half unsweet tea at certain restaurants.

Speaking of sun tea, its a beautiful sunny Monday here. Lots of blue sky. My favorite thing about Texas is all the blue skies we have. Because remember I am a Seattle girl. Blue skies are a treat!

Friday, April 17, 2009

I know it's been a long time...

We have been ridiculously busy 'round these parts!

Lets see what have we been up to?

Well the biggest thing is we've moved! Yup again. But this time it was more of a lifestyle choice then just another house. We've moved on to 38 acres in the country right across from a lake! It so pretty out here.
We are lovin it for sure. The girls are still adjusting but are doing well. We have to get back into a schedule for homeschooling and daily work. Its been difficult to do those things while we move. So I put Cheyenne's schoolwork on hold for the last 2 weeks or so. Its nice to home school when a thing like moving is going on. I don't have to worry about sending her to a new school or that sort of thing.
We are having Madi's birthday party next Saturday and Im excited for that. So far I think we are going to have either pizza or chili dogs for lunch and then have ranch dip and queso with chips for a side along with fruit kabobs or fruit fondue with a yogurt dip, and some fresh veggies to dip instead of chips too. Im also going to do popcorn in cute little paper bags. Im making the cake myself, its going to be a castle cake, pretty simple from what Iv seen. We will see.
In other news we adopted a dog from the humane society who is not working out like we all hoped. Its not that he has issues its that the girls are allergic to him! Yeah, it sucks! Im not sure if they will be allergic to any dog we bring home or if its just his breed, a German Shepperd dog. He sheds so much! I would love to keep him, but making him an outdoor dog would be the only option and from what Iv read these type of dogs don't do well as outdoor dogs. They need to be with their families, their pack.
So we are probably going to take him back to the dismay of my husband. He really really wants to keep him and I hate disappointing my sweetie, but this is how it is.
Ill leave you with a few pictures of the new place and of the girls. Ill be posting more often now that things are settling down.


The view from my front porch


I know terrible picture, but those are wild deer who come to graze in our pasture.


And finally my girls- what a mess they were here! LOL

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