Free Pretzel!

Did you guys get your free pretzel?

Jeff was on a quest for gloves, so we went out to the outlets... and scored a few good deals. And also enjoyed a warm, soft, cinnamon sugar pretzel. Mmmm. Thanks Auntie Anne's!

Back Into the Swing of Things...

I feel like I just posted a post like this lol We are back... the trip wasgoodand badaswould beexpected. Was so so wonderful to see my cousins again, though. So overwhelmed with so much to catch up on. Thankfully it's the weekend!

Since my meal planning week went off course last week, I decided to jump right back in it and make pizza! I used the dough recipe from My Litter of Six though I needed to use more than twice the flour. J and I made an Alfredo pizza with scallions, bacon and chicken. Delicious!!!

Mine isn't quite as round and pretty as Tiffany's is!LOL

In good news, we had our taxes done yesterday, and we are getting back a very nice chunk of money. Perfect to start doing the total money makeover with!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Fun Fact of the Day...

Rockford is home of the sock monkey!

These are life sized! :-0

 

 

Snow and life

Well Wednesday it snowed... we got about a foot. Ugh. The local roads are still dicey. So ready for winter to be done. No more cold or snow!!!!

Meal planning went okay - did make the Shepherd's Pie and it was easy and tasty. Of course I neglected to take a picture lol I put some in the freezer, that and leftover pulled pork. It feels good to have "real" food in the freezer!

This week did have some sad news,as my aunt lost her battle with cancer :( So our plans were changed, and we are now heading off to IL for a few days. It will be good to see my family, at least, but man... I'm gonna miss her. Who else will I talk books with? :(

You never know what life is gonna bring you...

Mc Linky Blog Hop - Valentine memory

The Blog Hop theme for this Monday is "VALENTINE MEMORY". Tell us about a memorable Valentine's Day... a special moment, a wonderful surprise, the most memorable Valentine's Day you can remember. Don't forget the pics if you have some of that special day.

This is where I turn red in embarrassment because I don't remember any! I haven't had very many Valentine's Days with a SO. And my memory... ugh. I can say that last year was pretty nice - J and I went to Disneyland! :D We arrived on Valentine's Day, and the lines to get ticket were really long. We needed to renew our APs. Really that is all I remember. We were there for a week, and it was one of the best vacations ever. But V-Day itself was a blur of a plane ride and crowded park!

EDIT.... I DID finally remember that while we were at Disneyland we did celebrate Valentine's day at Mimi's restaurant - where we had our first date! That was really sweet :)

Menu Plan Monday 2/8/10!

Trying desperately to get back on track!!

 

Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie 

Monday: Leftover pulled pork from Super bowl Sunday

Tuesday: Skillet Shepherds Pie 

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: homemade bbq or white chicken and bacon pizza. Dough recipe from My Litter of Six 

Friday: Dinner with the TTC girls at Graffiti 

Saturday: V-Day dinner out, unsure where

Sunday: V-Day dinner in ... any suggestions on what to make?

SUPER BOWL Day!

As I type this, the Who are sucking on my TV. General rule - the older you get the worse you sound, no matter how good you might have once been!! I am enjoying the commercials, though. There have been some cute ones!

It isjsut J and I today, so I made a smaller version of Relish!'s Super Bowl menu.

Of course, the best reason to watch is for an excuse to eat cheese, crackers and dip lol

 

We were going to have the tortilla rollups  as well as the slow cooker pulled pork sandwiches, but decided on only one main dish. I was soooooo nervous to make it. Of course I didn't have all of the ingredients so the sauce was just bottled BBQ sauce, an onion and a packet of Emeril's Essence that I had lying around. They turned out really good!! Even better with cheese.

 For dessert, I made a penut butter brownie recipe from All You magazine. Of course I messed that up too lol too much butter so they are greasy! And also very thick and crumbly. But tasty!!

pre-baking

And after baking, in football shapes and piped via a plastic bag. One day I will have  a real pastry bag set! I used the leftover icing on thr leftover brownies.

I hope that you all are having a great Super Bowl evening!

Superbowl and Giveaway Promotion

Now that Christmas, vacation and my crazy work schedule are over (My insane and horrible co-worker is GONE!!!) I am getting back to reality and BAKING. Tomorrow, in the midst of the coming snow storm, I'll be baking peanut butter football brownies. I'm looking really forward to it.

J isn't into sports at all, so we have low key Super Bowl plans. I only watch for the commercials.;) I am doing a modified version of Relish!'s SB menu. Slow cooker pulled pork (so nervous about making this) and tortilla roll ups. Was gonna make potato bites but... I forgot to buy potatoes! LOL We are also having some snacky, cheese and crackers and dip etc. I will take pics and blog about it!


Also, Lesley at Dragonflies 'n Daydreams is having a huge Valentine's Day giveaway. Lots of great stuff. Click on the pic to enter!

Sad Day, Bad Day but Great Dinner

Gotta look at the little things, right?

After a weekend of steadily getting worse, we decided the best thing to do was to put Torrie down. I am not a big animal person, but Torrie was such a sweet and loving fluffball. She was a very gentle and nice cat who loved her Mousie! RIP, there's a special spot in kitty heaven for you.

Last night, I dropped my laptop on the floor - AGAIN. I always trip over the cord. Well, this time the back cover popped open and in trying to get it back on, I screwed up the hard drive. It worked for a little this evening then boom... went to black and now it can't find Windows. A new laptop was NOT in the budget... and what good is paying off a credit card if  you just put stuff back on it? AURGH!!!!

If you know any laptop deals PLEASE let me know!!

Knowing it was going to be a bad day, I decided to make oven fries tonight. We were already going to BBQ chicken, and then Jeff kicked it up notch with bacon and cheese :) So I thought oven fries would be a good compliment to that. They are really easy to make but they take a long time to cook. I just started making them and wish I'd been making them all along lol Tonight I used my silpats to make them and it was SO MUCH BETTER!!! A little burning but NO sticking!!!! 

Here's the recipe: (picture to come later)

Take some russet potatoes and slice into fry shapes. I like mine thin. I use 5 or 6, that way we have leftovers.

Pour some oil into a deepish, flat bottom dish. Canola or olive oil are what I prefer. Enough that you think it'll coat the potatoes.
Add some spices - garlic powder, garlic salt or regular salt, paprika, Italian spices... whatever you prefer!

Add Parmesan cheese. We just use the kind in the green container. Add about twice as much as the rest of the spices - this is what coats the potatoes.

Mix up then add the potatoes some at a time.

Stir to coat, pick up with tongs and let some mixture drip off.

Put into jelly roll pans - heavily sprayed or with a Silpat.

Cook at 450 for about 45 mins or until brown and crispy and soft. Turn halfway through.

I love this recipe because it makes me feel like a "real cook" by not measuring!!

New Year!

Happy New Year!

We are getting off to a sad start here, as one of Jeff's cats is very sick. She is old and probably has kidney failure. :( So sad to see her going downhill. We are doing what we can for her but she probably won't last much longer.