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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Hold on to your hat

There are some exciting things cooking around here. I can't wait to show you!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

On the Table Tuesday

Hey there! Hope your week is off to a fabuloso start! Yesterday was quite busy around our house. We had a doctor's appointment (poor Luke has broken out with a rash all over his body), an unexpected trip to the junior high for an outfit change, some logo planning work for Emma's Bayou Bash (coming March 1), and Luke sang at the school board meeting. Whew! In between, I made the crockpot chicken and dumplings (pronounced dumplins with no "g") I meant to make Sunday but didn't. The house smelled SO good yesterday. The dumplings looked ggggreat when we left and I turned the crockpot to warm. Note to self, crockpot dumplings don't last in the crockpot for a very long time (I made the homemade dumplings, so maybe that is the difference??) We decided to go to Carinos for dinner after Luke sang, and when we got home, there were no dumplings. They vanished! It was CRAZY! I had a bowl of the chicken and no-dumplings for lunch today, and they were good...tasted like dumplings, there just wasn't anything to chew except for the chicken and veggies. Anyway, now I know, and aren't you glad you do too? I'll be adding some chicken stock and more dumplings to the pot this evening so we can have it for dinner.

So, down to business. The menu for the week is...

Monday
Carinos, as in Johnny Carinos Italian Restaurant. Did you know they have 1/2 off family platters on Monday nights? The platter comes with 4 salads or soup and of course, bread. Pretty good deal! We had the grilled chicken and veggies with angel hair pasta. It was good!

Tuesday
Chicken and dumplings yummy!

Wednesday
Sausage with potatoes and carrots. It doesn't get any easier than this, folks! The recipe doesn't call for carrots, but it sounds good, so I'm adding them.

Thursday
Hotdogs for Halloween! (The healthier hotdogs that don't have all the nitrites and nitrates and other yucky stuff...like Applegate Farms or the new healthy Kroger brand.) Carleigh has dance on Thursday, so we'll try to get some trick or treating in after dance class. I heard through the grapevine that it's actually supposed to rain, so maybe we'll just stop by the store and get our favorite candy bar and go home and eat it. We'll see.

Friday
Leftovers

Saturday
Sarah's 5-Ingredient Stew I didn't end up making this from last week either. It was just Cora and me last weekend, so I didn't bother.

Sunday
Pumpkin spice pancakes and bacon. I love pumpkin in the fall. I made a big 'o batch of pumpkin pie oatmeal the other day (which my kids didn't appreciate) and I've been eating on it every morning with some walnuts and a little real maple syrup or my mama's fig preserves on top. mmm mmm! Makes me feel all warm inside. {sigh} It was super awesome eating the warm oatmeal last week when there was a little chill in the air. Today, it was only half as awesome, because it felt like a warm spring day out. Oh well, I'm thankful for the few pretty fall days we had. Hopefully we'll have some more.

Well, that's it for me. So, what's on your table this week? Pretty please share in the comments. :) Hope you have a beautiful day.

Monday, October 28, 2013

the truth

The truth is, I want to be thin...like reeeeeally badly. I want to be long and lean, not sickly thin like models who have starved themselves. I want to fit into all of my clothes without having to jump up and down or strike a new yoga pose. I want my pants to fit without the front pockets pooching out or back pockets hanging too low. I want that awful inner tube thing around my midsection to disappear and the flabby skin to firm up. The hard truth is...I am lazy, and I don't really want to bust my hiney working out every.single.day. I would like to be able to enjoy a slice of dessert without knowing the scale will not go in my favor the next morning. The harder truth is, I need to get over it, and get said backside into full blown get-this-weight-off-gear! I firmly (or jiggly..whatever) believe the extra weight I've been carrying around for a couple of years now is why my knees and hip hurt and why I'm so tired. I wish I could find the clip from the Oprah show from like a bazillion years ago. She was interviewing a couple, and the man said, "Oh baaaby, I'm SO tired!" It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen! Kelvin and I still laugh about that. But dude, I feel your pain! I've been working at working out more consistently since we returned from Labor Day weekend. The goal is to work out six days a week. The reality is, some weeks I've felt like poop and have only worked out two or three days. The scale has oh so slowly been creeping down, and up, and down, and up and down. I am staying the course though. Hopefully by the end of 2013, I will have lost 10 pounds. My goal is 28, so I have a ways to go.

So, how are you doing? What do you want reeeeeally badly?

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Stored

The other day was one of those days I want to store in my memory bank...take a mental snapshot. There was nothing monumental or earth-shattering. We were all home at the same time, hanging out in the same room. Luke and I were piled up on the couch reading, Carleigh was practicing the piano, Kelvin was doing something on the laptop, and I can't remember what Cora was doing. I took a moment to soak it all up...take it in. I'm sure if I took a little more time, I would see that there are many more moments just like this one I could enjoy. I'm tired of always being in such a hurry. What's the rush? I'm slowing down.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

What's on the Table Tuesday

It's Tuesday! Time to talk about what's on the table this week.

Monday
Frozen pizza (I know...not exactly the healthiest thing.)

Last night we barely had time to say dinner, much less eat it. I hardly had enough time to throw those babies in the oven. Luke had UIL practice after school. Carleigh had a choir concert last night. In between getting Luke and Carleigh's concert was supposed to be gymnastics, but Cora started feeling a little on the yucky side and was running a low grade temp, so we skipped it. Good thing, or we would not have eaten at all until we go home from the concert at 9 o' clock. It was cool seeing her on the stage.

There are eleventy million kids up there, and this is a terrible photo, but she's the pretty little thing with the ponytail. So proud!

We were sitting WAY in the back. I NEED a zoom lens in a real bad way.








Tuesday
Being Tuesday and all, we're supposed to do some sort of tacos, but I think I'll change it up a little a do Emeril's Tuna Melts instead. This is one of those awesome recipes you can add whatever you like really...eggs, onions, capers, celery...all of the above or none of the above is fine, and BAM! you have a good, quick dinner.

Wednesday
I'm making some Taco Soup. I love these kinds of soup...dump a can of this and a can of that, add a little of this and a little of that, and you have yourself a yummilicious dinner without much effort. I like to add tortilla chips to each bowl and top with cheese. mmmm, mmm goooood!

Thursday

Friday
Does anything say Fall quite like stew? I'm going to give Sarah's 5-Ingredient Stew a try. I LOVE stew...and my mama's roast...and good wine...and marshmallows. I digress.

Saturday
I might be on my own....like all.by.my.self. I'm thinking a pedicure sounds good. Who needs food when you can get your feet massaged? I might pick up a small California roll package at the grocery deli first, then hit the pedi chair. OOOH, I hope that works out like it just did in my mind!

Sunday
Chicken and Dumplins sound good, don't you think? I can't wait!

So, what's on your table?

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

On the Table Tuesday

Well, instead of Menu Monday, which is great and all, I'm going to do On the Table Tuesday, because, y'all, I just can't get it together on Monday! So, here's what's on our table this week...

Monday
Tomato Basil Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches--everybody is happy when I cook this. I just filled the house with the mouth-watering fragrance of the soup a few minutes ago heating up the leftovers for lunch. YUM-O!

Tuesday
It's supposed to be Taco Tuesday, but I'm changing it up a bit to make it Tostada Tuesday! Big change, I know. I'm making this awesome fish taco recipe and putting on top of a tostada shell. If the kids don't want it on the shell, they can eat the filling with a fork. Works for me.

Wednesday
It's Teriyaki Burger night at the Dunnams. We might have to scarf them down on the way to soccer and church, but that's ok. They're sooo good!  You should try them. Click over to Sasha's blog here. I just love her. Wish we lived closer so I could hug her neck. She's a doll.

Thursday
Chicken and pineapple quesadillas sound good to me! This blog is so cool! I love her motto...my stomach is full and my wallet is too. "That's the way, uh huh uh huh, I like it! uh huh uh huh!"

Friday
Steak and salad for my man and me...and possibly a friend from work?? We'll see how the schedule goes. The kids will be with Grammy and Papa having fun with the cousins. :) If you've never tried the Montreal Steak seasoning recipe, you need to. It's delicioso!

Saturday
Beef Bolognese I've never cooked this before. Hope it's good.

Sunday
We're doing brunch. Hopefully I can get by with feeding the family cereal before church, then I plan on making a variation of these yummy apple pancakes with cinnamon syrup and bacon...because bacon makes everything betta! Instead of pancakes, I'll probably do waffles, because I'm a waffle kinda girl.

So, what's on your table this week? Please share! Bon Appétit!

Monday, October 14, 2013

Days off

Don't you just love random days off? The kids had today off from school. It's 11:30, and we're all still in our pjs. I made breakfast (some yummy egg, bean, and cheese burritos,) and caught up on email.. love it when I clean out my inbox! Cora watched a few episodes of  My Big, Big Friend on Netflix, Luke played tennis, baseball, and bowling on the Wii, and Carleigh made a beautiful skirt for her doll from stuff she found in the craft cabinet. She's so talented!





 


In a minute (or thirty,) I'm going to get my hiney off the comfy couch, figure out something to feed my kids (or maybe I'll surprise them and take them to Chick fil a,) and head to Target for the essentials. You know...toilet paper, paper towels, soap, shampoo/conditioner, and snacks.

When we get home, I HAVE to fold laundry. There is an enormous pile of towels from the kids' bathroom that I washed the other day, and simply haven't slowed down enough to fold them. I could've done it last night during family movie night, but then I would have missed snuggling with the kids on the couch. I refuse to wash anymore laundry until the mountain is folded and put away. We've been doing really well with the laundry thing lately. I'm not sure where all of these towels came from!?


ugh!


Have a happy Monday!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

What's for dinner?

I totally planned on posting our menu for the week on Monday, but I ran out of steam time. Here it is, a couple of days late and a dollar short...story of my life.

Monday
Chicken Fried Rice
I chopped up the rest of the rotisserie chicken from last week's chicken tacos, made a big batch of rice, tossed it in the wok with a little sesame oil, stir fried some egg, threw in some green peas, and voilà dinner was served. Love those kinds of dinners. I HATE throwing out food. So glad to use every bit of that chicken. :)

Tuesday
Taco Tuesday Baby!
We had Cilantro and Lime Fish Tacos. Is there anything yummier?! If you don't like an ingredient or can't find it in your favorite store, use something else. For instance, I couldn't find (or didn't want to take the time to look for and certainly didn't have time to make) the tomatillo pico de gallo, so the regular pico in the produce section worked like a charm! I absolutely LOVE the cilantro lime crema. Don't skip that. It is soooo good. I have somewhat of a dairy intolerance, especially to cream cheese and sour cream, so I buy the Tofutti brand, non-dairy versions which I find in the refrigerated natural foods section. I'm sure a professional chef could tell the difference, but none of my brood can. I should have made a double batch of the fish tacos. We always devour them.

Wednesday
Naomi's Roast
My family loves to hunt. I've surely posted these pics before...










Cora is chomping at the bit to go hunting. She keeps saying when she's five she gets to go. We'll see...being still and not talking are not her strong suits. ;)

Anyway, back to Naomi's Roast. Naomi is a friend of mine whose family also enjoys hunting. Her son was telling Carleigh all about how wonderful his mama's roast was, and she came home relaying the info and telling me to get her recipe. So, I did. I've never had good luck with cooking a deer roast. I hope mine turns out as good as hers. It's in the crockpot now. The whole house smells deeeelicious!

Here is how she does it...

Sprinkle roast all over with flour and then brown the outside in butter or olive oil. Put celery,carrots, potatoes, and onion in the crock pot. Put the browned roast in the crock pot with the veggies. Add a can of cream of celery soup (or make your own..here is an easy recipe) and a package of dry French onion dip. Add salt, pepper, a little oregano, and rosemary. Let it cook ALL day the longer the better!!


Thursday
I made this one time for Kelvin and the kiddos when I went to play Bunco because I was Woman of the Year that day. When I got home, the entire crockpot was empty...licked clean! Kelvin said he might have had seconds or thirds. I would say it was a hit. I've made it several times since. The weather here has been pretty rainy, so I'm thinking it will make a good rainy day meal tomorrow.

Friday
YOYO
Whatever is in the fridge is fair game...sandwich, quesadilla, leftovers. Or maybe just popcorn and a movie. Sounds good to me.

Saturday
Chili Dogs
I'm hoping the weather clears up and cools off a little bit and we can make a fire in the firepit and roast some weinies and maybe a marshmallow or two. That's my favorite.

Sunday
I should have been born in the Carolinas as much as I love this stuff. We had it the first time at a restaurant in North Carolina, and I had to find a recipe so I could make it at home. The recipe I found is pretty long but not too complicated. I found a new recipe on Edie's October Menu post that I'm going to give a try this time. I'll probably add some mushrooms because I have them, and mushrooms make things better...kinda like bacon. I'm sure it will be good. Anything with shrimp and cheesy grit goodness has to be yummilicious!

Well, that's it this week. What for dinner at your house? One of these days, I'll figure out how to do the Linky thing, and we can all share our menus here. I'll put it on the list. Have a great week! Do you know what day it is? HUMP Daaay!





I still grin every time I watch this. 
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