Free Tip Friday

Some of you may have utilized this tip yesterday as you made your way thru all the Thanksgiving dishes, but if not give it a try...

Keep a sink full of hot soapy water while you're in the kitchen preparing a meal. Wash up the dirty items as you go. This is especially handy when you are preparing a big meal or serving lots of guests. I have a dishwasher, but the pots, pans, serving dishes, plates, and glasses will not fit if we're having guests. So, I wash as I go. Then all you really have left to go in the dishwasher are the glasses, plates, and a few serving pieces.

Give it a try! I think you'll find it really is a time saver...after all it doesn't take but a minute to wash out a pan or mixing bowl when you're done with it. This way, when you're done with the meal you don't have countertops full of dried pots and pans.

Happy cooking and cleaning! :)

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Enjoy your day.

What's Cookin' Wednesday

This is a new recipe I discovered while searching for some kind of low-carb roll/biscuit that my newly-diagnosed diabetic husband could enjoy. Again, after a bit of tweaking, we have a winner! These things are awesome.

Drop Biscuits

1 cup self-rising flour

1/4 cup baking soda

1/4 cup low fat sour cream (I use fat free)

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary (I DO NOT add this)

2 teaspoons grated onion (I use about 3 tablespoons -or more- finely minced onion)

*I also usually add some garlic powder or freshly pressed garlic to taste.

Mix all ingredients together just till well blended. The dough will be very sticky. Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes until biscuits are golden brown. Do not overbake.

These biscuits have the consistency of Bisquick drop biscuits. They have 1g of fat and 8g of carbs per biscuit. They are so easy to throw together while you're in the kitchen getting the rest of dinner together. You could always leave out the onion and garlic and toss in a bit of low or no fat cheese and serve for breakfast. So many options...so much YUM!!! Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday

This week is Thanksgiving and another football tournament to go out of town to on Friday thru Sunday. In other words...not much planning for me to do! :)

One thing I decided to do is take the breakfast menu from last week and just repeat it weekly. I think there's enough variety in it that we won't get too bored with it. We'll see.

So here's what's for supper:

Monday: Cajun beef, green beans, stuffing

Tuesday: chef salad with ham, baked potatoes

Wednesday: Cajun beef leftovers, broccoli, buttered noodles

Thursday: TURKEY DAY at our house!!! Turkey, cornbread stuffing, onion casserole, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls

Friday thru Sunday: out of town for football tournament

***The Cajun beef is ANY cut of beef roast in a crock pot with a little water, chopped onion (optional), creole seasoning, cajun seasoning, and Greek seasoning. Cook in the crock pot till done, shred and return to crock pot, and serve on hoagie rolls (or your favorite roll/bread). Sorry I don't have exact measurements on the seasonings...my momma never cooked that way! :)

***I'm sure the onion casserole recipe will show up soon on What's Cookin' Wednesday. Stay tuned!

For more Menu Plan Monday lists and ideas, head over to http://orgjunkie.com/.

Free Tip Friday

I have just a simple tip to share to help out a bit in the kitchen.

Last year for my birthday a friend of mine gave me an oil bottle...but not for oil. You may all know this by now, but at the time I was in love with the new idea I'd heard...you put your dish detergent in the oil bottle! This was perfect for me since I never really washed a sink full of dirty dishes, but instead a pan or a few items that wouldn't fit in the dishwasher. The oil bottle will give you as little or as much detergent as you want. Plus, you can pick a bottle that will match your kitchen decor instead of having the normal detergent bottle taking up residence on your countertop.

Who knew??? :)

Thankful Thursday

Welcome to my first Thankful Thursday post.

I am so thankful for my church and pastor. We attend Cape First Church, which is pastored by Gary Brothers. Thank you, God, for this man!

We've attended Cape First since the spring of 2001. Jim and I have both grown soooo much in that time. This is the home where Jake was saved and baptized. These are the friends we are closer to than a lot of our family. This is what it's supposed to be!

Pastor Gary is a practical preacher. He doesn't just tell you what to and not to do, but he focuses on making sure you know HOW to make that happen. He's exactly the type of pastor our family needs.

This is where God has called us. This is where we're staying till God points us in a different direction. (but not anytime too soon please)

If you're ever in Cape Girardeau on a Sunday, please come to a service (9am, 11am, 5:01pm). Stop by the website for news, events, podcasts, and more. http://www.capefirst.org/

What's Cookin' Wednesday

My first What's Cookin' Wednesday post isn't some super-duper recipe that I've spent hours in the kitchen perfecting. However, it's a staple in our home...a breakfast loved by all three of us. Also, since Jim's diagnosis of diabetes in August it's a breakfast I've made weekly because with a couple simple tweaks it's an absolutely acceptable diabetic breakfast.Ok, so I don't usually make THAT many at one time! But I'm going to start. Hopefully, that will be enough for all of us for about three breakfasts through the week. I put the extras in the freezer so that a simple "zap" in the microwave makes them butter and syrup ready.

Because we have to monitor carbs intake for Jim, I searched my local WallyWorld's grocery shelves for the best bang for our buck. I found that the generic (Great Value) brand only has 9 carbs per 4" pancake. I use the "fluffy" version because it has fewer carbs than the "buttermilk" version. We also switched to sugar-free syrup and use the generic brand of that, too. We like it just as well as the full-sugar version. Finding out there was pretty much no difference in taste between the two syrups was a great surprise!

Jim LOVES pancakes, so being able to eat them makes being a diabetic not such a pain in the rump!

That's what's cookin'!

Menu Plan Monday

Here goes my first attempt at Menu Plan Monday...at least my first PUBLISHED attempt. I am a firm believer in planning your meals. For me it just helps keep us from eating out more than planned, keeps us from eating more junk, and keeps me more sane! :)

For more Menu Plan Monday info, head on over to http://orgjunkie.com/ and read away.

Sunday (yesterday):

breakfast - pancakes

lunch - leftovers

supper - tacos

Monday:

bfast - english muffin sandwiches

supper - sloppy joes, broccoli, hominy

Tuesday:

bfast - french toast

supper - baked chicken breasts, stuffed shells, green beans

Wednesday:

bfast - eggs, toast, gravy

supper - pizza from Domino's (we purchased a discount card from our school's band boosters that allows us to buy one large and get a second large free --> so we get two larges for less than $15!)

Thursday:

bfast - pancakes

supper - leftovers

Friday through Sunday:

out of town for football tournament

Watch out for my What's Cookin Wednesday and maybe I'll have a picture of something yummy I've made!

My Beloved

I've been "tagged" for the first time. So here goes...

1. What's his name?

Gary James Monteith Jr., but he goes by Jim.

2. How long have you guys been married?

We will celebrate our 15th anniversary this New Year's Day. We start each year off right. And, neither of us can ever forget our anniversary! :)

3. How long did you date?

Ok, here's the good part...He helped some old friends of his move. As payback he told them they could introduce him to a good Christian girl. His old friends had gone to church with my folks for years. The wife of the couple said I was the first person she thought of. She called to ask if it was ok to give him my number. I said it was fine...I'm thinking "free meal"! We talked on the phone every night for a week. I mean four or five. hours. a. night! We finally had our first date. Two. I repeat TWO weeks later he was slipping that beautiful ring on my finger and asking me to spend the rest of my life with him.

4. How old is he?

Quickly approaching 45...like in about 25 days!

5. Who is taller?

He wins this one hands down. He is 6'7", and I'm only 5'7".

6. Who can sing the best?

Again, him hands down. I have to really try hard to make it sound good, but the beautiful notes and harmonies just flow out of his mouth.

7. Who is smarter?

Him again. I had to quit helping Jake with his math homework when he was in about 4th grade. Now, I got great grades in school...I just swear they've changed the math! Jim will tell you that I've got him beat, though, especially in the arena of the kitchen or household things.

8. Who does the laundry?

Finally one I win! :) Jim absolutely CAN and will do it, but I have this slight control thing. Need I say more?

9. Who pays the bills?

I do. Even when Jim quit full time work to go back to college full time, I've always paid the bills. I guess I look at it as one less thing he needs to stress over.

10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?

If you're looking at the bed, I always sleep on the right. It used to be the other way around, until I was BIG pregnant with Jake. Not really sure anymore what caused the switch...possibly for me to be closer to the bathroom, or so I could sleep a specific way. Jake's now 12 1/2 and we've never gone back to the other way.

11. Who mows the lawn?

Now it's usually Jake with some help from Jim. Before Jake was able, it was always Jim.

12. Who cooks dinner?

I do. However, Jim's the "grill master". Let's just say that I cook inside and he cooks outside. :) Except for the mornings he makes us awesome omelets!

13. Who is the first to admit they're wrong?

Hmm...I guess I'd say we're even on that. We don't argue much.

14. Who kissed who first?

This one was mutual! :)

15. Who wears the pants?

Jim. I am soooo thankful to be married to a man who is not afraid to step up and be the spiritual leader of our home. He is an awesome man of God, and I pray Jake absorbs every little piece of that...I know we're doing all we can to make sure that happens.

So there you have it...all about my beloved. Consider yourself tagged!

M.I.A.

Ok. To say that I haven't posted in a while would totally be an understatement. My reason for this absence? Life. And a little bit of a lack of creativity. In short - I guess I just didn't want to take the time to figure out what to write. My apologies to my great throng of readers...all two of you. :)

So today while I've been sitting at home with the rain outside I have surfed the net and drooled over lots of really neat blogs. After doing this for a while, I've decided that I'm going to attempt to change the format of my blog a bit. My plan is to roll out some specific topics for certain days of the week. I'll begin Mondays with :

Menu Plan Monday

I'll also try: What's Cookin' Wednesday (will hopefully include a photo of a great dish along with the recipe); Thankful Thursday (my thankful thoughts for the week); and Free Tip Friday (some great tip I've learned in life - could be domestic, relational, spiritual, etc.).

My hope is that knowing where I'm supposed to go on certain days will keep me motivated to make the post. I'm not going to guarantee anything here, folks, but will promise to do my best. I am excited to try the new format and will probably change my background and photo also at some point.

And we're off...