empty freezer

I got cleaning the freezer above the refrigerator on Thursday. I manage to throw out a lot of old and freezer burned items. One outdated item also! Made me look at why I keep stuff for so long! Am I afraid to throw out because we might need it or might eat it again in the near future?? I need to be fearless and throw it out! What about you?? When is the last time you cleaned out that freezer or refrigerator?? I hate throwing out food, just makes me mad that I have wasted this food because I wasn't a good steward of what I bought! Well, back to using up leftovers for this week, hope you will too! Blessings!

Thursday

Today is my day off from work, so what have I done today, you ask???? Well, I made a fruit filled phyllo dough thingy! It's on the order of a strudel! I made apple pie filling this past fall and canned it, yummy! Because apple pie is like no.1 in my book for pie! So, as you can see from the photo, I ate a slice and I must say,"it's superb." Today is also our anniversary! 38 years and "they" said it would never last! I think the "they" were my parents and some friends! Well, ha, we showed them!! Blessings!

Kora

Today is Kora's birthday! She is 4 and she's a corker! I have told her that she is my belated birthday gift from Mommy and Daddy! We celebrated with her on Sunday since we were in the twin cities. We got her a bee necklace(she LOVES bees) and a Webkin hippo who is blue! Well, Happy Birthday, Kora! Mimi and Grandpa love you!!! Blessings!

The party continues!

I love celebrating my birthday, mostly the fact that it continues for a week!!! Saturday, I spent 4 hours with our daughter! We had fun, ate lunch at "The Chattering Squirrel" in Siren(this is in a mini mall)and there is a kitchen store there also! My favorite place to be!! I have always wanted to own a kitchen store and show people how to use all the gadgets!!! What fun that would be!!!!! YIPPEE!!!!!! Anyway, Erika and Trevor gave me money, of course I spent it right away on Julia Child's book "The Art Of Mastering French Cooking". I also bought a red coffee mug(I love mugs, but please don't buy me any I have way too many now)!!! Then I went and got a haircut(now I have a style), and then we went home!! It was over too fast, but that's the way it goes!! I will blog later on Sunday's fun! Blessings!

gift

I want to tell everyone, "I have the best friends", and I am including my family!! Gordon came through this year with the George Foreman grill, which I wanted(maybe not for my birthday, but hey he's practical)! I made Reuben's last night for supper and they were superb!!! Tomorrow we go to the Food and Wine Experience in the Twin cities for the store. I'm hoping to take photos, but probably can't! I get so many new ideas for demos and hope to see what's new in the food industry! Have a great weekend!

birthday

Well, get your calculator out to figure this out!! Anyway, tomorrow is the 19th anniversary of my 39th birthday! Figure it out, one clue it's not 102!!! I'm so excited about this birthday, ask my family and they will tell you that I get excited about every birthday!! Last year, my sweetheart forgot and was in the dog house for a few days, but it's hard to stay mad at him for long! So, my dear friend, Carol got me a chocolate pearl necklace that I wanted(Gordon was clueless, I'm telling you, it's terrible), so I have no clue what is in store for me tomorrow! Maybe that's a good thing. I'm hoping for apple pie for a treat and a red toaster! Yes, you heard right, I want a red toaster from Kitchenaid($130)! Well, wish me luck on that one! Blessings!

corn muffins

I really like corn muffins! I like corn muffins with peppers,whole kernel corn and maple syrup poured over them! I like corn muffins crumbled up in chili, or served warm with butter, or plain, but not without some sugar in the mix! My mother made Jiffy mix that has a little sugar in it, but down south, they serve corn muffin without sugar, which I can't hardly eat! I know, who knew that would be what I don't like! My grandparents(my mother's parents) lived with us for about 5 yrs. and mother made corn bread almost everyday for them! They loved warm corn bread, but ate it as a snack in a bowl with milk poured over it! Mother always used a iron skillet to make the cornbread! Great memories! Blessings!

Sunday

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you especially my faithful followers! We went and saw Avatar yesterday as our "date" for Valentine's! We enjoyed the photography, but I thought the actual movie was a little preachy for me! We all know that we need to take care of the earth and I don't need to be told for 2 1/2 hours about it! There I said it! But I truly enjoyed eating a bag of movie popcorn! Gordon, on the other hand, ate a small bag of Twizzlers! What did you do that was special?? My friend, Ruth, got a card and bottle of "Navy" from her honey! Here is a photo of Gordon's wood pile, it's slowly going down and then he will start all of over again to fill the shed! Blessings!

tuna fish

I really like tuna fish sandwiches! I really like tuna in olive oil, it's really good! It has a better texture and taste than tuna in water! Recipe is easy: one can of tuna, mayo to taste, seasoned salt about 1/2 teaspoon, 2 celery stalks-diced and 2 green onions- chopped finely! Mix together and refrigerate for 1 hour before making your sandwich, easy peasy!! Blessings!

hello

I didn't realize I have been MIA most of the week! Here it is Friday and it's the weekend, I haven't said anything since Tuesday! It's been a week at work, very long week at work! Last night we ate out in Rice Lake for a birthday gathering, I had Shrimp Diane and Gordon had ribs. This morning, my sweetheart says to me" gee you smell like you ate a ton of garlic". How romantic!!!! Shrimp Diane was very good, sauteed shrimp in garlic, butter sauce served over pasta! Gotta go to Bible study! Blessings!

Feb 14th

Valentine's Day is coming up quickly! What to do, what to do for sweetheart of yours! No, I can't help, I'm on my own downhill spiral with that one! I'm stumped this year about the day, it should be easy, but somehow it's not! Any clues or help will be appreciated!!! One of the minor problems with Valentine's Day is that my birthday is 5 days later and that in itself can lead to problems! Then to top that off, our anniversary is 6 days later! February is a BIG month for us!! We also have 2 granddaughter's that have birthdays this month! Our beef bourgignion was wonderful the other night! Also we enjoyed the homemade pizza on Saturday night and now tonight it is lasagna! Blessings!

Beef bourgongion

Well, the day started off so nice,then after I got home from church realized if I was going to make this beef dish I had better start!After reading the recipe again for the 5th time, I realized I am not going to follow it to the T, that's not me! So, I combined a few steps and here we go!! I got the oven preheated to 450, I cut up the beef(chuck steak) into cubes and cut up the 4 strips of bacon. I started the bacon off in the cast iron pot, added 1 tablespoon of olive oil after the bacon got brown and added the cubed beef. I browned the meat and added 2 carrots cut up, plus 1 onion cut up. I let that brown for 5 minutes and added 2 tablespoons of flour on top and stirred that around in the pan, I then added 2 cups of beef broth and 1/2c of red wine, some salt and pepper. I put the lid on the pan and into the oven, I check it out after 30 minutes and added 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, 1 teaspoon of sage and 1 clove of garlic. Put this back into the oven and turn down the heat to 350 for 2 hours, at that time add 1 container of cut up mushroom and 1 bag of frozen pearl onions. Back into the oven for 2 more hours. It's good and Gordon gave it 2 thumbs up, said it tasted like a great beef stew! It's a lot of work, but done! Blessings!

weekend

Today is the day that I have decided to make a bunch of meals ahead for the coming week! Homemade pizza for supper, lasagna, and beef bourguignon. Gordon thought since we watched Julie/Julia that Beef Bourguignon sounds interesting! I will attempt to take pictures as I make the beef dish, but I don't promise perfection! Blessings!

pizza

Today is a cooking day for me! I'm planning on making "Beef Bourgnion" from the Julie/Julia movie, homemade pizza and lasagna, then we will be ready for the next week for meals! I promise I will take pictures and post them for you! Have a great Saturday! Blessings!

quote

I made this mushroom toast to go with our soup tonight and want to share the recipe! I bought a container of mushrooms, wiped them off and cut them up. In a average size skillet, I put 2 teaspoons of olive oil in the pan and then the mushrooms! I let them go for 5 minutes before I salted them! In another pan, I put 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil, let the butter melt then place in your sliced bread to fry the bread up. Marry the two together and eat with enjoyment! So here is a quote taken from the NIV Bible," For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment." Luke 1:37 What wonderful words ever spoken! Blessings!

Julie/Julia

I wrote about seeing this movie last fall, but today Gordon brought it home for me, so sweet! He forgot I saw it and I asked him to watch it with me, so he did! He liked it! Watching the movie makes me happy, sad, wanting to expand my cooking skills and diet! In 1994, my friend Gloria(who is not a follower) and I went to Aspen Food and Wine classic for the weekend(back when we had money). We met Julia, stood in line for 2 hours for her to autograph Kurt's cookbooks(my son) and had a class with her! She was so entertaining, I wish I had taped her teaching us to make lobster quiche. Of course, because of the altitude at Aspen, the lobster never cooked! What an absolute hoot!! She said "you'll do a better job than I did." These are happy memories for me, I still have my 3 day pass somewhere and the knife I bought! We also met and chatted with Patricia Wells(you need to google her)! She sat with us on a park bench like we were old friends, of course, she is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, so we were like family! Have a great evening! Blessings!

friends

I have to tell all of you that I have the best friends!!! Yeah for me!!! I had one friend call and ask me if I need anything, another emailed me about bringing soup, then another dropped off supper for us! Soup, rolls, and snacks, thanks Lori! Just an update on this cough thing is now officially pneumonia! I saw the Dr. this morning! I know now that I am on the mend!! Tonight I was fixing us pork fried rice, but then came the soup! Think we will save the soup for tomorrow and eat the rice dish! My fried rice recipe: 2 cups of cooked brown rice( my choice), 4 stalks of green onions chopped, and 2 carrots(cooked)cut up and leftover pork roast cut up finely! Add 2 tablespoons of oil to fry pan, add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, add carrots, rice and pork, stir fry for a few minutes and make a well in the middle of the pan, have 1 egg beaten and ready to put in the well(center of pan) and this quickly fried, add green onions and stir for 1 minute more, turn off heat and serve!Blessings!