Whatever happened to February….

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We started out the month with two of my son’s getting chicken pox within three days of each other so we were someplace and were exposed.  Thankfully this particular son weathered it very well and was only mildly discomforted.  The other son only had about 20 on him, Praise the Lord….I did my best to make sure the other four would be infected but would have to wait another 15 days to find out.

Master J with the doughnut celebrated his 7th birthday.  As his breakfast request was doughnuts I went ahead and made homemade!

 

Dad enjoyed a doughnut or two as well before leaving for work that morning and you can see that Master T. enjoyed the chocolate ones!!

 

Looks as good as store bought I say!!  We had chocolate, old fashioned, and cinnamon/sugar!!

  

For dinner that evening it was to a restaurant in town and there was a nice peanut butter chocolate pie to be shared…..I am one of those that thinks peanut butter and chocolate only belong in a Reece’s cup and that’s it so I gladly watched them share it!!

 

Once home it was time for cake.  That’s a big deal around here, they start pulling out the cookbook with all the pictures at least a month or two in advance and start picking out all the ones they want me to make.  We settled on a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and the Oreo's in the shape of a number seven.  Upon finishing, the birthday boy decided he wanted maraschino cherries on the top as well with sprinkles so we added them on of course!!  I don’t recommend the intense blue frosting…it seems to get everywhere but on the cake!!!!

Master A, had his second front tooth come out on the top row and managed to win the race to lose a tooth with his sister!!

We invested in a new house servant!!!  This one is so sweet and quiet, just does the job and works like a charm.  The old one was rebellious and refused to wash the dishes after having run for a full cycle.  There is no sense having a dishwasher that you then have to wash all the dishes by hand!!!

Our neighbors down the road have small herd of goats and several of them gave birth several weeks ago.  I had my own names for these two…Cinnamon and Sugar….

My husband picked up the one so I could get a close up…I almost had my parents fooled for a second and said this was the new family pet!  Right, just what I need…A GOAT!!!!

As an update….I found out last weekend that this little cute one passed on :- (

Then it was round two for chicken pox with three more children and you can see that these two little guys suffered much worse than the first round.  My oldest son went through the sick feeling but never had a single spot on him!!! So we will see how he does throughout the rest of his life.

Then towards the end of the month, Master M up there in the blue pajamas had a birthday and turned three!  He wanted French Toast with Cinnamon and Sugar on top.

For lunch we all partook of grilled cheese sandwiches and picked him up a balloon while doing our grocery errands that morning.

I couldn’t resist this picture of my littlest man trying to reach up for the balloon just a 1/4 of an inch out of his grasp.

Master M enjoyed the afternoon playing with his new soccer ball out on the back deck, I was sneaking pictures of him through the screen door and caught him action kicking the ball.

We ended up the days meal with a rare treat of crinkle fries and nuggets.  I love that it doesn’t take much to make the children smile with joy!!

Another chocolate cake of course…I had one of those pressurized containers of icing in my cabinet which I attempted to write his name with…and then I remembered why I had stuck it up there, because it was too difficult to try and write with….sometimes a little would come out and then other times a huge blob!!

There was a baby shower at church and I found this cute tutorial on Pinterest to make these baby diaper wreathes so made one to bless the new mom with.  It was a nice change from the regular diaper cakes you see.

The image on the left is what I was trying to copy and what I ended up with at church was on the left.  I figure it was pretty decent considering the ceilings were like 15 feet or close to it!!!  The pin didn’t go to a website that was working so I don’t have direct link to the picture.

We closed out the month with a fabulous pizza recipe found on Pinterest that was Barbeque chicken and pineapple with caramelized onions.  The sauce was really good, I had never used molasses in a BBQ sauce before and it was well worth trying.  I will post the recipe next time I am on.

I pray everyone is well and God Bless,

Melissa

 

Wedding day finery….

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Just sharing a few pictures from our wedding day.  It is several months away, but I am just sharing from a blog post I read today.

Monthly dinner Menu… February

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Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
FEBRUARY		Assorted Appetizers for Sunday evening. on Feb. 2nd….			1--Beef Flamade--stew meat--Missions Conference this might change Joshua’s Bday!!!	2-Fellowship dinner at church Korean Beef http://elizabethbryant.blogspot.com/2010/05/korean-beef.html
3-Fellowship lunch @ church	4-Crock pot swiss chicken casserole	5-Lasagna	6-Bf Stroganoff	7-Cheese Potato smoked sausage casserole http://www.food.com/recipe/joleans-cheese-potato-smoked-sausage-casserole-126623	8-Crab Cakes	9-Shepherds pie
10-Tortellini tomato soup	11-Enchiladas	12-Smothered Chk casserole http://www.heatherlikesfood.com/smothered-chicken-casserole/	13-Tacos	14-Mongolian Beef--flank steak Orient Express	15-BBQ Pork Pork Butt Shoulder	16-Chk Parmesan
17-Wet Burritos	18-Italian Chicken	19-Low Country boil--Kielbasa	20-Ranch sauce chicken tacos	21-Spinach stuffed chicken breasts—this might change….. Matthew’s Bday!!!	22-Chicken Manhattan	23-Salmon something
24-Chicken Caesar wraps	25-Meatball sub casserole	26-Lemon Chicken	27-cheesy Hamburger broccoli casserole	28-Stk and Ale pie--Round Steak

 

Well here is the proposed menu for February.  I made a trip to Sam’s Club the other day.  I am trying this idea of buying all my protein/meat for the month at one time.  The idea is that I will get the meat for a less expensive amount. With the meat off of the weekly budget that frees up my money to buy more fruits and vegetables and other items to fill in the dinners. I took a couple pictures to show what I ended up with. 

This was my goal stew-1, Chicken-9 hamb.—8, crab/sal-2, sausage-3,  cube stk-1,flank stk—2, tortellini-1, Pork—1, church-1

I was able to purchase all of the chicken 5 bags, all of the hamburger two “tubes/rolls”, the sausage, pork tenderloin and pork shoulder and stew meat as well as Cod for a meal this past Friday.  Later in the month, I will need to get the salmon as well as cube steak and flank steak.

  

I was able to use my Seal A Meal and divide each roll of meat into 4-2 lb sections, split the Jimmy Dean Sausage into two sections as well as the Stew meat.

The purchase of all the meat as well as a case of soda and a case of water came to $204 and some change.  Due to the size I am able to buy in at Sam’s the pork tenderloin will be enough for 4 meals even though I do not have it on my menu this month, I am planning ahead.  The pork Shoulder will be enough for six meals once it is cooked.  The stew meat was 3 lbs. and that will work out for two meals for our family.

 

I just realized I forgot to get the picture of the Pork shoulder, but I can do that later.  I have the comparison shot of what the size and price of the one I bought at the local grocer. The chicken I am counting on 2 meals per a bag, sometimes there are 10 pieces or 11 pieces so this works out great. The chicken at Sam’s was 10.99 for a 10 pound bag.

Well there you have it, we’ll see how we stay on track for our meals this month.  January had lots of missed days due to being sick where we just ate sandwiches or macaroni and cheese.  Take care everyone and God Bless.

Something besides a recipe….

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I am just waiting for Winter to be over this year.  Normally I don’t mind the change of season’s and the cooler temperatures that come with them.  This year, there has just been too many health issues and sickness.

It just seems like we get well for two days and then back to being sick again.  Last week my daughter and husband were sick to their stomachs on Monday and this week my son has the chicken pox.  My oldest son woke up today not feeling well and then sick to his stomach, I am hoping his bought with the chicken pox will not take too long to come to fruition.  The one son, who was the first victim, is having a hard time with the itching today but we are managing with Calamine and liquid Benadryl.

This week is our Missions Conference at church and I hate to miss it.  I missed our Baptist History week a few months back due to sickness and now we are sick again.  Thankfully, we can watch on the internet and still here the Word of God, it is just not the same as being there in person.  I am to bring several of the side dishes for the Lunch meal on Sunday, but I think we will end up having to stay home from service that day and just I will bring the food up.

School is taking a back page these last few days, I just feel like we are having a hard time this Winter period with trying to stay on schedule. I finally felt the timing was right to share with my daughter about Women’s health, she is 10 and will be 11 in April.  We have been using three resources so far.  The main curriculum I have used has been from Blessing God’s Way called Maidens by His Design.  I have really enjoyed the fact that it celebrates what God has created in us as Women. The curriculum gives us scriptures to focus on and shows us how to focus on the Lord each day of the month, how to not have a spirit of fear.  It basically takes a biblical approach and turns you to the Lord as opposed to a worldly view which would tend to point one towards thinking it is a curse and something to be negative about.

One of the other resources I have used briefly has been a book by Dannah Gresh Six Ways to Keep the Little in Your Girl there are some good points in there about modesty and there are some ideas presented about how to keep an open dialog with your girls so that they feel comfortable asking you questions.

I have used both of these in conjunction with a great resource from Queens Homeschool The Standard of Purity.  I had started this study in 2010 and with the study on health opted to finish it up and it has lead to some wonderful conversations about what God’s standards are for Purity and Beauty as compared to the worlds standards.  We have been able to talk about whether or not we need to wear make-up.  How much make up to wear if needed.   We have been able to talk more importantly about our inner beauty and how that radiates out from within.

If anyone is looking for some great resources for either boys or girls on how to navigate through these conversations Queens Homeschool has some wonderful biblical resources that can help any one out.

I am getting ready to post our Monthly menu for February in the next day or so as well! I pray you all have a blessed week, make it through the cold and any storms coming across your path.

Toasty Cheese Bake recipe card #6 Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library

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Have you ever had one of those recipes you just loved growing up as a child and still like to eat as an adult?  For me, the Toasty Cheese Bake was the one.  This recipe came from the fabulous 70’s and is due with great thanks to Betty Crocker.

You see in the 70’s BC came up with this great marketing plan to reach house wives by selling these ultra attractive boxes with recipe card collections…yes I am being slightly facetious here.  I have read comments on the internet about the slightly unappealing green color of some…we lucked out and ended up with the Harvest Gold Box.  You could subscribe to the recipe cards and each month you would get one new set in the mail.

The above card pictured is one the recipes that was fantastic…about 10 years ago, pregnant with my second child, I was visiting my parents in ID and I mentioned I wanted to write down the recipe.  Yes, my mom STILL has her box!!!   We dug the box out, I sat there reminiscing over old recipes and found the one I wanted….did I mention I was pregnant at the time….so we get talking about recipes, things get moved around on the table, cook books are out, etc….and the RECIPE DISAPPEARED!!! 

I kid you not, we looked high and low and have NEVER been able to find the recipe….anyone else have things like this happen when they were pregnant?????  We have thought many times about trying to find the recipe and to no avail.

Well recently about a month ago, I came across a blog post somewhere that got me thinking about those recipe cards once again and the lost recipe.  I started doing a search to find some Forums that might be able to help those who lost cards and would they be able to post the recipe, etc.  The same night I came across a blog that only had pictures of the cards and her running commentary about each one and how cruddy she thought the food was and would never serve to her children, blah, blah, blah……I spent over an hour going through pages of her blog and was ready to give up.  I pushed the refresh button one more time and I gasped out loud…it was like seeing a golden egg or something….so much time searching and there was the picture of what I had been missing all these years.  I sent a text to my mom asking her if the name of the recipe was Toasty Cheese Bake and she said she would check the index and sure enough it was!!!

The problem was it was just the picture!! And now for the silly part, why had I not tried to Google the NAME of the recipe years ago!!!!  I know, as savvy as I am at times with the computer, sometimes my mind just doesn’t think straight…I know, it is Peri-Menopause all over the place!!!

So I did a Google search and FOUND the recipe card and the picture!!!!!  I was so ecstatic.  So here I present to you a simple, humble recipe for ground beef.  It is just another economical recipe that uses ground beef and doesn’t end up as taco’s on your plate, or shepherds pie, etc.

With the size of our family I have modified it from the original.  I use 12 slices of bread and would triple the egg and milk mixture.  The first time I made it after finding the recipe I followed the directions and thought it a little on the dry side but still good. So to make it a little moister I increased the milk and egg.

I also needed to add extra amounts of cheese…for this to be cheeeeezy, you really need to have lots and lots of cheese, covering the meat mixture sometimes looks adequate but you need to load it on top to get that stringy cheese look when you pull it out of the pan.  The other possible change I might make the next time I make it would be to add in Velveeta cheese, maybe on the bottom layer? I am not sure as of yet but it is something I want to check out and see.

Enjoy~~