Menu Plan

Monday: Ham, Homemade Mac & Cheese,, Rolls (this is an experiment)
Tuesday: Leftovers (depending on how much ham is leftover, I might use it for something else)
Wednesday: Chicken Fettuccine
Thursday: Tacos
Friday: Leftovers

That being said, I guess I should go downstairs and get started on dinner! I bought a pre-cooked ham, so hopefully I can't mess that up too badly. Hopefully my husband won't have to work too too late. I guess if he does, it will give me time to come up with a plan B in case plan A doesn't work out.

Menu Plan

Monday: Dinner with our neighbor friend.
Tuesday: Looking at houses, so I'm not cooking.
Wednesday: Tacos, cheese dip, etc.
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Maybe Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo. We'll see.

Menu Plan

Monday - Chicken and Rice
Tuesday - Leftovers of various sorts
Wednesday - Out to eat. We're looking at houses in town tonight, so it'll be an opportunity to be in a place with actual restaurants!
Thursday - Poker night, so leftovers or sandwiches or something
Friday - Roast and Mashed Potatoes
Saturday - Party that involves a whole roasted pig. Not sure if I'll be able to make it! I'd rather that my food not look like an animal.
Sunday - Dinner/Movie with friends?

I finished up the closing of my house Monday, so now we're free to look for a "forever house". It will be nice to live closer to my Mister's work since he currently has a 45 minute commute each way and works long hours anyway. Plus, living in town will give me the option of working for a local company if that's what I decide to do. I really don't think I want to work full time anymore. We'll see. Working from home is wonderful, but I'm not sure it's worth all the crap I have to put up with in my current position. I've had too many livid days lately from dealing with nonsense.

In other news, I fired up my sewing machine for the first time since I moved last night. You know what's sad? When your sewing materials get separated into different boxes. I was excited to find my thread and bobbins only to realize later that I am missing my seam ripper. My seam ripper is heavily relied upon! So I ripped seams with a pin and scissors last night. :) One pair of pants mended, one more to go! Although, I couldn't get my bobbin to wind last night, so I hope something didn't get broken on the machine during the move.

Time to go grocery shopping...

Menu Plan

Monday - I took some manicotti I had pre-made and frozen, covered them with homemade alfredo sauce, and baked them. Also made a Red Lobster biscuit clone to go with them. So good.

Tuesday - Potluck! We have dribs and drabs of stuff that needs to be eaten up. *This just in! My sweet husband took some of the dribs and drabs to work with him today, so I'll be cooking after all...I think I'll make chicken tacos.*

Wednesday - Probably Hamburger Helper. I know, that's not really cooking, but we have some in the pantry and I've got hamburger meat, so might as well use it.

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Mexican chicken casserole. Nom Nom Nom.

Weekend - Combination of leftovers and maybe a crock pot meal. Depends on what we get up to.

His Love Language is Food

(Or at least that's what he told me the other day).

The end of last week went to hell in a handbasket. Work has been INSANE! If it weren't for living in the middle of nowhere and not wanting to commute, I would quit my job. I'm so over it.

Anyway, that being said, I moved one of the meals from last week to last night.

Monday: Herb crusted chicken (I made this and said, "I don't know what I'm going to make to go with it"...his answer was "Cheese!" So he melted cheese on his chicken and called it a side. I'm a horrible wife.)

Tuesday: Burgers and cheesy sour cream potatoes (I don't believe in potato salad, but I do believe in potatoes covered in fatness)

Wednesday: Who gives a crap! We're going to Puerto Rico tomorrow! Ole! We'll probably just pick something up.

Rest of the week: Fruity drinks with umbrellas. Happy honeymoon to me!

Menu Planning?

I kinda feel like I should be doing a weekly menu plan to stay organized with grocery shopping, etc. Going to the store here stresses me out. There's a small grocery store here in town, but it has very little variety, it's laid out very strangely, it's expensive (or more so than what I'm used to), and the lines are always long. To go shopping in the nearest biggish town, it takes me about an hour round trip travel time plus shopping time, and I have to go on my lunch hour.

So needless to say, I would like to make as few shopping trips as possible. :)

If anyone has menu planning tips, lay 'em on me. We eat something I've cooked nearly every night, but since it's just the two of us, we usually have enough for leftovers for at least one meal (whoo hoo!).

This is what I've come up with so far. We don't believe in eating veggies. Don't judge!

Tonight: Roast Beef, Real Mashed Potatoes, Homemade Gravy, Rolls. (and I must say that the roast is smelling wonderful!)

Tomorrow: Leftovers...we should have quite a bit left.

Wednesday: Manicotti with homemade meat sauce and garlic toast. So proud of my Mr. for putting the extra sauce in the freezer when I made it a couple of weeks ago. He's a smart one. I'm really awful at remembering to freeze stuff.

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Breaded Garlic/Herb baked chicken...probably with some kind of pasta or rice.

Saturday: leftovers

Sunday: leftovers/restaurant food/whatever.

That being said...with this menu, I don't have to go to the store until Wednesday...and let's hope they have a Rug Doctor for rent because little Shorty McShortypants has peed somewhere in this living room and I can't find it. It's driving me crazy,so I'll just shampoo the whole carpet. It's a good thing she's so cute!

Best Pandora Station Ever

Because I'm a generous type, I'm sharing my favorite Pandora station. If you're easily offended, be aware that Pandora doesn't pick the radio edited versions of songs.

Best Station Ever

Dr. Dre?
Snoop Dogg?
Janet Jackson?
Salt n Pepa?
TLC?
Envogue?

Yes, please! Reminds me of my youth....so, so long ago.

Also, it's apparently Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day (according to some FB status updates I've seen). I'm a big fan of the bubble wrap. I'm thinking of celebrating by wrapping myself in bubble wrap and having a team of people roll me down the stairs. I mean, I'm only on the 4th floor. I'm sure the bubble wrap would hold up nicely. Also, I have accidental death and dismemberment coverage, so it's all good.

You know what today needs to be? Jennifer Appreciation Day. You can all celebrate JAD by baking me cookies. I really don't ask for much. No high-maintenance-ness here. Don't put any coconut in them. In fact, don't put any nuts in them either. Other than that, I give you creative license to make whatever you want.
Aaaaaaaaaaand....GO!

NaNoBloMoNo

Good luck to everyone participating in NaNoBloMo. As my title suggests, I will not be participating. I know my limits. :) Plus, it's already the 2nd, so I have already failed.

In gaming news, I am trying my hand at Assassin's Creed. A friend let me borrow it and I'm still trying to get the hang of it. I tend to focus on one game at a time, so I get very used to the controls for a certain game and then when I switch games, I do all kinds of crazy things like throw grenades when I'm trying to melee and stuff like that.

Scentsy continues to be lots of fun. I'm doing two fundraisers right now, so we'll see how they go. Apparently, I don't ease into anything.

Remember when Sonic had peanut butter milkshakes? Yarnell's Pig Trail Ice Cream reminds me of them.

Maya continues to be a little ray of sunshine. She was a big hit with the kids who came trick or treating. She wore her pink skull and crossbones sweater and stepped out onto the porch to smell everyone. She got lots of oohs and ahs.

Mercy continues to be sweet and adorable, as always.

Butter continues to be Butter. Bless her heart. :)

Enough randomness for one day! Have a happy November!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Since I last posted...

I enjoyed a weekend in Memphis with my sisters (Memphis in May, which should be renamed Memphis in Mud).



My sister has already bought rain boots for us to wear next year. We hear that the Beale Street Music Festival is commonly muddy.

Had a near-death experience at the Snoop Dogg show, but we survived!

Hmm...what else? I harvested the first of my basil last night. I had no idea that I wasn't supposed to let it flower, so it may not be any good. I will know better next time. I made a batch of pesto last night and hope to use it in some kind of chicken recipe. I'm not too sure about the pine nuts though. I had a hard time blending those into the sauce without leaving chunks. I'm not sure I'll like the texture. Maybe next time I will toast the nuts before I blend them.

I'm thinking of growing my own tomatoes next year. I don't eat tomatoes straight off the vine, but I do like soups and sauces made with fresh tomatoes. I have no idea what the difference is between the various varities. If you know what different varieties are good for, let me know. I'll have to grow them in a pot, so I don't know if that makes a difference either. I think I would like to grow a heirloom variety just because they seem more "pure" or something. (You can blame this on Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which I am liking *very* much.)

I'm new to this "growing stuff" business. :) Your advice is welcome and necessary.

It's Alive! It's Alive!

I started my attempt at Refrigerator Bread today. I have never made anything that requires the use of dry active yeast, so I think I might have needed remedial cooking lessons before I started.

The instructions say to dissolve the yeast in warm water until it foams. I heated the water to the correct temperature and dumped the packets of yeast in and started to stir. In retrospect, I should have probably stirred it in more slowly so it wouldn't be so clumpy, but oh well. Then I waited. I saw a couple of big bubbles, but nothing foamy. And I waited some more. And started to mumble some things like, "I hate everything!" and "This is why people BUY bread!" Then I turned to the internets. I saw some advice that said that yeast won't act right if you don't give it some sugar to eat. By this time, my yeast-water had cooled down, so I added a little more warm water to try to revive it and stirred it again--finding that some of it still hadn't dissolved...and added just a sprinkle of sugar.

I left the room to consult the internets again. When I came back into the kitchen, my yeast was foamy and had puffed up in the bowl. The angels sang the hallelujah chorus. Or maybe it was just me.

Anyway, I carried on with the rest of the process and am now at the point where I have to leave the dough in the fridge to rise for 45 minutes so that I can punch it down. Here's a picture of the dough after I finished kneading it. If this bread turns out well, I will feel so accomplished. It smells like dough. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

The Recipe to Attempt File

I saw this over at Frugal Upstate and thought it might be fun to try to make it. Wouldn't the braided bread look impressive on a Thanksgiving table?

Refrigerator Bread

If you've never checked out Frugal Upstate, take a look. She has lots of tips on how to stretch a dollar, and lots of frugal recipes.

If you have any good bread recipes that don't require the use of a bread machine, bring them on! Simple is better. I'm lazy.

Bonus!

Sometimes there are hidden advantages to working in a cubicle environment. I overhear interesting conversations.

Person 1: What did you get from downstairs? (our food kiosk)
Person 2: Turtleini
Person 1: Oh, what's that?
Person 2: It's like lasagne.

...

5 minutes later.

Person 2: That's not how you say it. How do you say it? Tootleini?
Person 1: I don't know. I've never had it.

________________

As an aside, I would not be surprised if they were selling some form of cooked turtle downstairs. The food is sometimes questionable.

I Enjoy Blueberry Scones, and Other Useless Information

It's been awhile since I've actually BLOG blogged, so I figured I'd hop back in the blogging saddle for a minute with just some random things that have been on my mind lately.

1. College friends - Brandi's dad is apparently in really bad shape. I don't know any details, but she's been posting a few one sentence updates on Myspace and I know that he's been on (or is still on) a ventilator. I know she's really close to her dad, so I just wanted to let you know so you can pray for her dad and the rest of her family.

2. My folks are in Colorado and my sister called me yesterday and said my dad is really sick. I'm HOPING it's just some sort of 24 hour virus or something, but my sister said he sounded so bad when she talked to him yesterday and it really scared her. They're supposed to be heading back home today (by car), so please pray that he's feeling well enough for a seemingly eternal car ride across the country. I'm going to call them today and check in. *update* I talked to my dad and he said he's feeling normal today. Yay!

3. I've registered for the Race for the Cure. If you'd like to help sponsor me (the money goes toward raising money for mammograms for uninsured women), leave me your e-mail address in a comment and I'll send you a link to my Komen fundraising page. I don't want to post it here because there's just a little too much info on it. But I'll gladly share it privately. My goal is $150 and at last count I had raised $65. $150 pays for a mammogram for one woman, I believe. The fundraising website even accepts small donations of $5, so little donations are welcome.

4. I like blueberry scones.

5. The local library's book sale is Friday night. I'm beside myself.

6. Speaking of books, this week is Banned Books Week. Celebrate your freedom to read by reading something edgy. Or by reading anything for that matter! I'm hosting a Banned Books Bookbox at Bookcrossing, so I'm working my way through some books that are/have been frequently banned so I can put them in the box. Right now I'm reading Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume. Up next is A Separate Peace by John Knowles.

7. Tonight is the VP debate. I have a feeling it's going to be hilarious. I would really love it if Tina Fey would debate in place of Palin, but I don't think it's going to happen.

Help Find a Cure for Food Allergies

I have the pleasure of knowing the cutest little three year old boy who happens to have a food allergy. His mom is going to be participating in a fund-raising walk to raise money for a cure.

You can visit the link below to read this family's story and make a donation to Josh's team.

Josh's Team Home Page

Help Josh reach his goal! He's at 12% right now.

Rumbly Rambling

Occasionally, I unwittingly go down the frozen foods aisle at Wal-Mart. There are many pitfalls in the frozen food aisle. Especially if you're making the trek on an empty stomach.

You might see a package of hush puppies and think, "OH! I HAVE been craving hushpuppies!" and drop them in your cart only to realize later that you have a fear of deep frying things and as a result, have never taken the Fry Daddy you received as a graduation present out of its box and are therefore not likely to fry the hushpuppies.

(That was one heck of a run on sentence, no?)

You might also be tempted to buy a box of Hot Pockets. I am convinced that nobody ever buys Hot Pockets because they have a genuine love for them. It's just that the commercials make them look SO good and one is left to ponder if they really HAVE been able to contain a Mexican flavor fiesta within a pocket of carbs (they HAVEN'T). I know, I've been there. You think, "Ooh, Chicken Fajita flavored Hot Pockets! That flavor might actually be good!" Then you take them home, take one bite, and realize it was only false advertising. Before you know it, you and your dogs are experiencing gastrointestinal woes (because you feed your dog your leftovers, you know you do) and you realize you should have listened to Jim Gaffigan and left the Hot Pockets at the store.

Anyway, I avoided both of those pitfalls today, but I did buy a Totino's pizza. No frozen pizza is really "high class", but I'm pretty sure that Totino's is the white trashiest of them all. You know what? That's OK. I like Totino's pizzas best because I don't really enjoy the tomato taste of most pizza sauces. Totino's sauce doesn't taste like tomatoes at all, which might be cause for alarm, but I refuse to read the box and find out what the sauce is REALLY made of.

Growing Basil

I was at Wal-Mart the other day and they had herb plants set up in the entryway. I noted that they had basil plants ($3), and went along my merry way.

I love fresh basil. Once you cook with it, it's hard to go back to the dried kind. So when I got finished shopping, I looked in the produce section at the basil there. They were out (they always are), but a little smidge of basil in a plastic container (with a very short shelf life) is about the same price as an entire basil plant!

So I picked up a plant. I'm going to put it in a container on my patio and hope it doesn't become infested with black widows. That would be less than appetizing.

I'm making chicken parmesan tonight. I'm going to use some of the fresh basil for that before I send the plant outside...just to be safe.

News You Can't Use

Yesterday I learned where my middle name came from. Well, kind of. I mean, I was named after my aunt. But yesterday she told me that the name came from a book her dad read. A main character's name was Alayne and he liked it, so he picked it for her (and indirectly, me). She said she tried to read the book and she didn't like it. How sad. I just thought it was funny that I was indirectly named after a book character. The book is called The White Oaks of Jalna. Has anyone read it?
___________________

I would like to give a shout out to Mr. QuakerOats who has finally realized that you can put oatmeal into a cookie and call it a breakfast food. This is a principle I've adhered to for at least 29 years.

___________________

I made Greek Fried Chicken last night for the first time. It was really easy and good!

Here is an approximate recipe (I didn't measure anything).

4 thinly sliced chicken breasts
olive oil
Cavendar's Greek Seasoning
Lemon juice
Cinnamon (I know!)

Put the chicken in a bowl with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, and some lemon juice (I put maybe a tablespoon or so and that was almost more than plenty).

Sprinkle a lot of Cavendar's into the bowl and mix it all around. I also added just a smidge of cinnamon (I stole that from a different recipe, but I was scared, so I didn't add much) You can poke holes in the chicken to make it soak up the marinade more efficiently. Stick it in the fridge for a few minutes while you do something else.

Pour enough olive oil in a skillet so that the bottom is entirely covered and heat it on medium heat. When the oil is hot, put the chicken in and cover it. Flip the chicken fairly regularly and in about 20 minutes it's done. At the end, just turn the heat up a little and brown the outside of the chicken.

I think it would also work well as a grilling or baking marinade for those of you who are health fanatics-- which brings me to my next topic...
_____________________

New drinking game:

Every time someone on The Biggest Loser cries, take a shot. You'd be wasted just watching the promos. It's ridiculous. I have to eat Mini-Eggs while watching it just to make it through. (Kevin's a fan of the show, FYI.) There's less crying in a Lifetime Original Movie, and that's the truth!

A Letter of Angsty Apology

Dear Mr. Cadbury,

I was wrong. I thought I could break up with you this Easter, and I tried. Oh how I tried. But in the end, I could not face the prospect of going without your most excellent mini-eggs for a whole year. Without you, I am thinner nothing.

But you are a fickle mistress mister! When I came crawling back to you the night before Easter, you shunned me. It was spiteful of you to make me have an emotional breakdown in Target. Really, it was. You knew only the family size bag would do, but instead, you had to rub it in my face that I tried to break up with you. You meted out your candies in snack size offerings. Two for $5?! Why did you make me pay so dearly? Do you know how many snack size packages it takes to equal a family size bag? I don't either! But I have a feeling that I spent $10 on less than a family size portion. Who says you can't put a price on love?

I was kidding myself thinking I could leave you. I can't. I won't. Please take me back.

Yours forever,
Me

More Questionable Food Service

I've blogged before about some of the craziness at the food service kiosk in my office building. If you haven't read about it before, please start there.

Anyway, today I decided to stop down there to see if they had anything non-disgusting and was fairly unimpressed until I saw the soup.

Me: What kind of soup is that?
Food Service Lady (FSL): Um. (puzzled look on face) Let me think...Creamy tomato. With tocatta.
Me: (mentally trying to process the word "tocatta") Um...
FSL: Would you like to taste some?
Me: Why, yes, I would!

It was good. It tasted somewhat like the creamy tomato basil soup that I sometimes make. I purchased some. Then I came upstairs to my desk and promptly opened up dictionary.com to try to ascertain the definion of "tocatta". Nothing.

Then I was talking to Hayden and asking her if she had ever heard of tocatta.

Her: No.
Me: Oh, the lady at the kiosk said this soup has tocatta in it and I don't know what that means.
Her: They put some pretty interesting things in their soup. Last week they had a soup with fish in it.
Me: OH GOOD LORD! YOU DON'T THINK TOCATTA IS FISH, DO YOU?

Anyway, eventually I ran across some RICOTTA cheese in the soup and had a breakthrough. The FSL meant Ricotta, not tocatta.

I'm so relieved. I hate fish.

13 Things I Love (TT #34)

Since we're entering into the season of the commercialization of love, I thought I'd share 13 things that I love.

1. Special K 90 Calorie Snack Bars! These are great. I've tried the chocolate and vanilla flavors and they're both really good.

2. My seam ripper. I've love it more and more every time I try a sewing experiment.

3. My 64 oz. insulated water jug--for those of us who are too lazy to get refills.

4. Etsy. I'm totally addicted.

5. Confetti Kisses. Weird, but good, but still weird. Not as good as Hugs, but lots better than the raspberry ones (yuck!). Although, I'm fairly sure that if I were ever to try the caramel filled ones, I would continue eating them until my stomach exploded. I've become a bit of a kiss connoisseur lately. At the women's events at church there are always various kisses on the table. It's always fun to see all of the different kinds available (and eat all of the good ones before the rest of the group gets there). Just kidding. A little.

6. My new hair color. It's kind of coppery, but subtle. Actually, I liked the color better when it was first done. It has faded a little. When I told my mom I was a red head, her response was, "WHY?" Thanks, mom!

7. Scrapbook paper. I know, I know! I don't even scrapbook. But I have been experimenting with altering composition books using scrapbook paper and recycled (damaged) children's book pages. Keep an eye on my Etsy store. When I finally finish one, I'll post it. I just need to make another run to Hobby Lobby before I finish it, and quite frankly, I don't *like* Hobby Lobby. Sucks to be me.

8. Yards free of campaign signs. Seriously. Take the signs down already. The election isn't until November and besides that, who actually bases who they're going to vote for on signs they see as they're driving down the road?

9. Funny Youtube videos. Oh look! Here's one now!


10. Matthew West's You are Everything. I think it's a combination of the piano music (have I mentioned that I'm a sucker for piano music?) and the words.

I'm the one with big mistakes
Big regrets and bigger breaks
Than I ever care to confess
Oh but, You're the one who looks at me
And sees what I was meant to be
More than just a beautiful mess

11. Toilet paper. Aren't you glad we don't have to use leaves? I know that my obsession with toilet paper is a little out there and that not everyone carries an emergency four pack in the trunk of his or her car, but I'll guarantee you that when you run out one day, you'll wish you had an emergency four pack stashed away. Mark my words!

12. I love being a chick. There is no social stigma attached to using toilet paper when you tinkle if you're a girl. Plus, the more I learn about the inner workings of the male mind, the more alarmed I become.

13. Bloglines. It's so nice to be able to read all of my favorite blogs from a central location.

To visit the Thursday Thirteen site, go here.

Other Thursday Thirteen participants: