Category Archives: Recipes

Spastic Sunday….

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Sunday.  A day of rest.  After our “shopping Saturday melee” you’d think I’d really take advantage of that….and the day started out innocently enough:  Mass and donuts and then home for a “Teamwork” chores activity and by Noon, the house was clean, laundry was going, it was raining (again–thankfully!) and we were one kid down for a sleepover.  Then I don’t know what happened.

I had to take our youngest to get shoes (shoes and supplies are essentially all that’s left on the school shopping list) for her and her sister, who told us what she wanted…we ran a couple of other errands (buttons to bling up her backpack and a new pillow for my awful, aching neck), somehow managed to drop her off at her friends (now down two kids to friends) and made it home.

Love this cookbook!!

Sitting for a few minutes I remembered I really wanted to cook a few meals ahead and freeze because we have an insane couple of weeks with practices nightly until 7:30 and it’s so much nicer if dinner is READY when we get home.  So I began.  Sometimes when I do stuff like this, it is utter chaos….controlled, mind you….but there is nothing anyone can do to help me because it would take WAY too long to explain the stream of consciousness going on in my head and here’s the breakdown that took place in the two hour period:

(It’s kind of like “If you give a mouse a cookie“….I am the mouse.)

  • I fried up some bacon because bacon=yummy dinner to my kids
  • I chopped and caramelized onions in the bacon drippings because kids don’t mind onions if they taste like bacon
  • I browned some ground beef added the onions and split it up for two dinners
  • I made some coffee and sweetened condensed milk ice cubes for my weekend iced coffees
  • I hardboiled a dozen eggs because we had a ton in the fridge
  • I had leftover SCMilk so I made a killer chocolate cake
  • I made two shrimp quiches and had leftover cream so…..
  • I made homemade whipped cream for the cake
  • I finished dinner for that night which was SOOOOO easy and so delicious that my 9-year-old daughter’s friend said, “Let me know the next time you have this and I’ll drive myself over here!”  Here’s that recipe:

Spray a 13X9 pan and place chicken breasts in pan

Pour a jar of Alfredo sauce over chicken

Sprinkle bacon crumbs over sauce

Grate Havarti cheese and sprinkle over bacon

Bake @ 375 for 20-30 minute (until chicken is done)….enjoy!

I ran out of steam and then had a mountain of a mess to clean up, but I am hoping that it helps our hellish evenings go a little smoother knowing that dinner is ready when we get home.  How do YOU prepare for your crazy nights without Driving Through and killing your budget???

Now it didn’t go as planned on Monday….but that’s another post!  Have a blessed day!

Sweet nectar…

Sneaking it in…

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Turkey was on sale this week at our grocery store.  A whole turkey.  Like Thanksgiving.  So turkey was on the menu this week.  Mostly because I figured it would be great leftovers.  Hubby was home so he put it in the oven.  Once it was almost finished cooking I got started on the sides.  I had decided on mashed potatoes and green beans.  I had 3 potatoes.  Hmmmm.  BUT.  I had a whole head of cauliflower also.

And so, I boiled up those 3 potatoes and that head of cauliflower.  Added in some butter, 1/2 a block of cream cheese and some skim milk.  Topped it off with a 1/3 of a block of cheddar cheese and Voila!  Rave reviews.  Not completely healthy, but not ONE person complained.  Not one.  OK…OK….not COMPLETELY healthy but absolutely healthier than straight up mashed potatoes fully loaded.  There has to be balance.  Moderation, folks!

I also spied a can of sweet potatoes.  So I topped it off with a little brown sugar, marshmallows and graham crackers and next thing you know……

Thanksgiving in July!!!

No complaints.

Not much in leftovers either.

Ah well.  At least my family was happy.  And full.  And fed (mostly) healthy.

Put a Fork in me….it’s Friday!!

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Finally Friday…WHEW, because I think I am done with this week!!

Join me @ Conversion Diary and see what everyone else is up to….all the cool kids are doing it ;-)….and apparently Jennifer and I have similar dinner plans for the evening (we have friends visiting also!)….except our store was OUT of brisket…..URGH!!!  Wish me luck on the London Broil…..

  1. Mid-week I started feeling a little sluggish…blah, summer colds.  No boot camp for me this week, just no energy, but I’m packing my gym bag and hitting it at lunch time and going to class Saturday morning.  There.  I said it.  Now I have to do it!!
  2. I finished pulling my 222 blog posts off of iWeb and moved them over to WordPress.  Since my hard drive crashed I didn’t have the luxury of pulling them over later before iWeb goes away “poof” June 30….I know, I’ve been whining about it all week, I’m done.
  3. Started a novena this week for my dear friend’s daughter who leaves for Boston for radiation therapy on a very rare cancer in her head.  She’s young, vivacious and has an incredibly strong faith.  If you could offer up L in your prayers, her husband, her parents and her doctor and his team, I know they’d appreciate it!
  4. Speaking of prayers, we’ve added the Bishops fortnight for freedom prayer to after dinner.  After yesterday’s ruling, it’s even more important.  It’s not over yet!!!  There’s so much left to do!
  5. Adoration was my lunch break yesterday.  I had to process the ruling and gain some perspective.  I left with peace and renewed spirit.  God IS in control and this time on earth is temporary.  I wanted to stay in that awesome peaceful Adoration bubble, but I had to go back to work….<sigh>
  6. Littlest wanted to make a dessert for the fam last night so we whipped up a pumpkin pie.  Not too bad.  Crushed up some graham crackers and butter for the crust.  1 can of pumpkin.  1 can of sweetened condensed milk.  2 eggs.  cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger.  Bake @ 425 for 15 minutes and then @ 350 for 40 minutes.  Serve with some ice cream (we were out of cool whip) and voila!  She was so proud.
  7. Took the girls and 2 friends to see Brave for our youngest’s birthday.  I mean she DOES have red hair….we had to go see it!!  Super cute movie although the bear was a little intense.  Big sister was worried little sister was going to have nightmares.  Fortunately, they wrapped it up well after the “scary” part (yes, I jumped in my seat!) and we all slept well.

Well, I am the “early girl” today and should try to be on time….finish the week strong!  Blessings and happy weekend!!