Hurray for Friday

Once again -- I'm so thankful for Friday and Sabbath.  I wish I could go to sleep about 8:30 and not wake up until noon tomorrow :-)

Seems like the days I'm the most tired are the days I need to get the most done.  Maybe because I keep pushing and pushing because I know if I slow down, I'll just quit.  H was up several hours during the night, which  means mommy was up as well.  And then it was cleaning house, straightening her room, which took as long as the rest of the house!! Then I decided to make bread, so am now waiting for it to bake and then off to the grocery store....

Like I said -- bring on the Sabbath!!  Plus it's a Sabbath with homemade cinnamon bread -- can't get much better than that.

UGH .... for sunshine!!

People think I'm crazy when I say I don't like the sun and it makes me sick, but today is even more proof!! 

The girls and I went down to my parents this long weekend.  Well technically we went on Sunday and came back on Tuesday.  The girls didn't have school on Monday or Tuesday so we took advantage of it and all went to a water park in Greensboro.  We had a blast -- spent the whole time riding one ride -- but the downside of it is not I'm paying for it.

I don't have a sunburn or anything to show for it, just exhaustion.  It's almost like I have the beginnings of a flu and the only thing I can attribute it to is the sunshine.  Happens every time.  Oh well, the girls had a great day and it was worth it.

The upside of it -- I've spent the day creating!!  In October I'm partnering with a local business to support breast cancer research so I'm busy making watches galore to get them ready!!  Here's a couple of pictures of what I've done recently.

 

Menu Plan in Action

I finally have this up and running and thought I'd share!!  It turned out pretty good, although I don't think I'd print double ideas again.  It just makes too many magnets to find storage space for.  There are a couple that I would do twice, the ones that I know we eat often -- Hannah's cheesy rice being one!!  That child would eat cheesy rice everyday if I would let her :-)

After I came up with the list, I put it on a Word table and then printed it out on magnets sheets.  I have never done that before and when I went to get the magnet sheets, I got the thinner ones that say you can print pictures on them -- I think next time, I'll get the normal thicker sheets.  Anyway, learned a little bit, mainly, leave the paper on the bottom as you run it through the printer and help it along a little bit so it uses the whole sheet.  The first sheet I did I could only use part of it because it printed weird.  Oh well, lessons learned.

Once they were printed, I used highlighters and colored the categories I had decided on.  Then cut them out.  It took a little bit of time, but I was in a church board meeting, so had time to spare!!

Found some pretty paper tape at Target, it even matched my kitchen!!  Had to experiment a couple of times to get the dimensions right, but that wasn't too hard, just ended up cutting one of the tapes in half. 

All in all, this turned out to be a super easy and mostly inexpensive project.  I think it cost less then $15, and I have lots of tape left over and a bunch of highlighters!!

So here's the finished result!!

 

 



Bring on the Beads!!

So after a few crazy hectic weeks, I was able to carve out some time to create last night and this morning.  Seems like the times I need to de-stress are the times I can't don't have the time or the energy to do what needs to be done.

So, anyway, I was able to pull out the beads last night and have several wonderful creations to show for it.  Thought you might like to see as well.  Hope they give you a little smile as well.

These are the first of some team watches.  I've done a few before that were orange and blue and had Florida Gator charms on them.  I'm now just waiting for the charms to come in the mail -- looking forward to a Tennessee Vol's one and a Boston Red Sox --  who knows what else will turn up??

This one is one that I did much earlier this spring, it popped and so the lady asked me if I could restring it.  Amazingly she had all the beads, I did restring it and added another pink square foil bead, so hopefully it won't be under as much stress and won't pop again.

Turquoise was the order of the day for this watch -- with a modern twist.  I love these silver curvy spacer bars.

Saved the best for last!!  I saw the solid bars and fell in love with the colors.  Had no idea what I was going to do until I brought it home and realized that not only did I have beads in all the matching colors, I also had an antique gold face.  I love the way it came together and it's really comfortable to wear.  The solid pieces are on the back of the wrist so there's no gouging or anything -- I've worn it for two days now and I love it!!  This one is sized small to fit my wrist perfectly.  Maybe I'll just keep it!!!

 

Grandma's Cooking

Happy Sabbath -- I don't know how people that don't honor some day survive.  This chic lives for sundown every Friday evening. It gives me a wonderful chance to stop - and most importantly NOT feel guilty about it -- EVER!!  So glad I have a wonderful heavenly Father who looks after me, especially since I tend to ignore myself until my body forces me to stop.

On another, totally unrelated note, I went to do my normal Friday afternoon grocery shopping and ended up taking a trip down nostalgia lane!!  I was by myself, the girls didn't want to go, so I took the time to peruse the shelves more than normal.  Sometimes you can find a new product or flavor, or just something you don't ordinarily use and since this week my focus has been on menu planning and wanting to add new food -- I took the extra time.

To my surprise I saw this wonderful can!!!

Now to most you this is gross or not such a big deal.  For me.....it brought tears to my eyes and a sudden smile.  You see when I was a kid, this was a treat that only came from Grandma's house, although back then, I think you could find it in just tomato sauce.  Anyway, immediately, in my head, I saw her little black saucepan with contents of this can clumped in the middle until it heated enough to not be so congealed.  And of course you couldn't have that saucepan without the wood stirrer -- it wasn't a spoon, I guess you could call it a spatula ...
It looked kind of like this, but a little fatter and not so "spoon" shaped.  I got lucky enough to inherit it when she died.
I don't know that the majority of my cousins would remember this "delicacy."  For them it was Grandma's noodles (mac & cheese) or an eggy (that's another story) and I have those memories as well, but this is one that is only tied to my Grandma.

Chana Masala (Chickpea Curry)

Okay, this is going to be super quick because I'm super tired -- but wanted to get this posted while I was still thinking about it.  Just a disclaimer -- I don't know how authentic this is -- I sort of made up my own recipe based on what I like.  The recipe on the back of the box uses dried garbonzo beans and I had canned on hand, so this is what I came up with.  This recipe serves two -- my girls won't eat this one, not because it's spicy, but because they think they don't like chickpeas.  (Don't tell them that's what their favorite falafels are made of!!)

Chana Masala -- Chickpea Curry

3 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp oil
1 small onion or half medium, diced
1 clove of garlic (if you wish)
2 tsp chana masala mix -- shan brand
1 can of chickpeas, drained
splash of milk or cream, maybe 1/4 cup

In a frying pan, melt butter with oil and add onion and garlic.  Fry for 5 minutes or so and then add the chana masala, let it cook a couple more minutes and then dump in the drained chickpeas.  I also like to add a cup or so of water and let the chickpeas cook for 15-20 minutes, adding more water as necessary.  This just lets them soften a bit more.  The mixture will reduce down and get kind of caramelized on the pan.  Just before serving add the cream, let it heat through and then serve. 

This is a mild curry, with a bit of warmth and sweetness.  The main spices are cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger and cardamom, with cumin and red chili.  

Very quick and simple, yet tasty!!

Sweet N Sour Tofu Patties

Okay -- so here's one more really quick -- just a disclaimer - this is not a healthy food!!  Just because it has tofu in it, doesn't mean anything :-)  Nor do you need to turn up your nose because it is tofu.  My brother (a self-sworn tofu, veggie meat, anything not meat HATER) liked loved these..... before he found out they had tofu in them!!



This is not the finished product -- nor is it my picture -- one I found, but the patties look very similar to this before they are sauced.  Any my girls like to eat them plain without the sauce, so I usually leave a few just like this and serve for the girls.  We do eat it over rice.

Tofu Patties

1 lb block of firm or extra firm tofu, drained
18 ritz crackers, any variety will work, smooshed up a bit
3 eggs
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp. chicken season, your favorite vegetarian if you wish
2 tsp. beef seasoning, go veggie if you wish
pinch of salt

Sweet N Sour Sauce
2 Tbsp butter
2 cups of pineapple or passion fruit or orange pineapple apple juice
2 Tbsp ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
3 Tbsp vinegar (you can use lemon juice if you prefer)
1 can of pineapple tidbits - I drain the juice and use as part of the above 2 cups.
1 small can of sliced water chestnuts
diced red and green peppers - I probably use half of each

For the patties --
In a small frying pan, saute the onions.  (You don't have to do this, but I hate raw onions and they never seem to cook in casseroles enough to suit me, so I always saute them before I add to any recipe)
In a medium bowl, combine the tofu - use your hands to chunk it up a little, the ritz crackers, I smoosh them in the sleeve before I add them, and all the rest of the pattie ingredients, (eggs, onions, and seasonings)  Mix this pretty well, you don't want huge chunks of tofu or crackers.

Fry this mixture into patties -- size depends on you.  If I'm making for potluck, I go fairly small, a heaping tablespoon.  If I'm at home, a little more, just make sure you smoosh it down so the patties are fairly thin.

Once they are fried, you can serve them as is with the sauce on the side or you can put them layered in a 9x13 pan.

For the sauce -- Dump everything except the cornstarch and last 3 ingredients in a pan, while the mixture is heating and the butter melting, mix the cornstarch with a little water to make a slurry and then dump that into the pan as well -- you don't want the mixture to be hot, just a little warm when you add the cornstarch.  Mix well and continue to stir as it comes to a boil over medium heat.  Cook until it gets rid of the milky cornstarch color and doesn't taste like cornstarch.  You can then add the drained can of pineapple, water chestnuts and diced peppers (raw).  Once this is all mixed you can pour over the patties.

This is a great time to put it in the frig covered with foil and have it ready for a Sabbath lunch.  Or just decide to make it Friday night's supper, because it looks and smells so good.  Put it in the oven and bake for about an hour (sometimes if it's warm when it goes in the oven, it only takes 45 minutes) until it's hot and bubbly.

We like to eat it over rice with chinese noodles and if my family is super lucky, we have eggrolls!