New Recipes and OOPS! What Was I Playing?

There's a couple of new recipes at Blogger's Recipes. Chicken Under a Brick and Strawberry Pie. Check 'em out!

If you've seen the post below you know at least one thing I did yesterday. While I was sitting in the salon chair the phone rang. It was Mrs. Janet. Now, normally if she calls and asks what my schedule is for the day, it's usually because she wants to do lunch. Not this time! She actually wanted to know if I'd play the piano for a funeral of a man in our church that had passed away this week.

My initial thought, after I started breathing again, was Why did I answer that phone call!? But then I realized that there was a grieving family and a piano player was needed. Considering the fact that I'm constantly telling Hannah the Lord may use her piano playing in the future for times such as this, and since I wasn't playing for anyone singing oh mercy I told Mrs. Janet I'd be there. So! While Missy was busy rolling my hair and we chatted about this and that and the other, I couldn't help but think of what I would play. I rushed home, dressed appropriately, and then sat down at my piano. Do you have any idea the last time I sat down at my piano? I flipped through the song book, although I don't know why. I only play in C and by ear. Reading music is a foreign language to me. SERIOUSLY. I thought about Mrs. Anna...OH! Mrs. Anna, where is she?? She plays lovely.

After gathering about ten songs to play I slipped on my shoes and headed for the church. All the while feeling nauseated at the thought of playing in front of all those poor people grieving for their husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncle, cousin, etc...you get the idea. I did not want to be a distraction to them during this time.

There was one point during my playing where I started looking around shouldn't have done that and ended up fusing two songs together...Tis So Sweet and In The Garden. How in the world that happened, I don't know. I just lost track, I guess. I stumbled through the keys trying to figure out which song I was originally playing. I still haven't figured that out, by the way. I ended with....something....and MOVED ON! It's already funny today, but yesterday...not so much. I don't know if anyone noticed or not. They didn't say if they did.

I moved from the piano to the front and closest pew for the service. Brother Boone was doing his best to comfort the family and offer words of encouragement But it was very difficult, I'm sure, under the circumstances. In the back of the church sat a young mother with her infant and toddler. The infant was crying...the toddler was talking and banging the pew...the mother was SHHHHHHHHHHHHing and whispering to them if you can call it that to SHUT UP! I didn't turn around, but I could see the faces of others and decided I'd be the one to help this mother with her children. So I got up, walked to the back of the church where I met Mrs. Dockery, who had the same idea I had. Together we took the baby to the nursery. I took her from her car seat and held her for a moment. She was so beautiful. She just wanted to be picked up and talked to. Then I handed her to Mrs. Dockery who was happy to love on her and rock her while I stepped back into the service. I stood in the back, so not to interrupt the service...again...and when Pastor Goodman said, "Let's pray" I took that as my cue to rush back to the piano.

All in all, it wasn't so bad. It's just funny how the Lord will put us in situations and we are totally clueless! But there's one thing I've learned from these situations.....

Just go with it!

Chili and Unexpected Invitations

I made chili the other night and used Bruce's Uncle Robert's recipe. It was so good. I fixed my pintos and then added meat, salsa, chili powder to taste, and topped it off with cheese and sour cream. It was really good. A little spicier than what I like, but that's because one of the jars of salsa I used was Hot and I didn't realize it. I've never used salsa in my chili and it gave it the perfect kick!


Justin went to bus ministry this morning with Jeremy but called from Jeremy's grandparent's home and said it had been cancelled because the bad weather was moving in. He had also found out that the youth activity tonight was cancelled because of the weather also and wanted to know if he and Jeremy could go get something to eat. They ate at a place called Bolton's Grill. One of those hometown grills where they overstuff everything in giant sizes. For teenage boys, that's the perfect place to go! They came here for a little while after they ate and wanted to go to Jeremy's brother's game. So they went to that and back to Jeremy's grandparent's home. Of course, everything was cancelled for no reason, considering the weather men were WAY wrong about a snow storm coming this direction. Nothin'! We got NOTHIN'! A little rain and that was it. The kids were really disappointed.

We had decided that since everything was cancelled we would settle in for pizza and a DVD with Hannah and Harrison. But just as we were going to do that, Pam called and wanted to know if we would like to come for Tex-Mex. Well, duh! Who doesn't like tex-mex? Needless to say, we were not the only ones there. I was glad to see that Pam got her new furniture. It was so pretty and nice. A compromise between she and Joel, you might say. Being a man, he wanted several recliners all the way around and being a woman, she wanted regular house furniture that was comfy and traditional for entertaining. LOL The compromise is that out of this comfy traditional furniture, they have five recliners. There's something to be said for compromise!


The kids gathered around the table for their supper. left to right is Nicole, Hannah, and Cheyenne.


Cheyenne

This is Abigale. She was lovin' her chips and cheese sauce! So much that she not only ate it, but decided to wash her hair with it.

Naomi is just too cute not to photograph. Look at her eyes!

While the guys played a video game, us girls gathered for a game of marbles.

I WON!!!the first game. Then we teamed up. Tammy and Amy won the second game and me and Pam won the third game.

I've always loved the little pudgy fingers of a baby. Always searching for something to find and play with. Always touching and feeling new things.

I washed my hands this morning

so clean and pearly white

I lift them up to Jesus

to work for Him 'til night.

Cookie Icing

If you're like me, you want a nice sugar cookie icing other than just Betty Crocker in a can. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I've used it myself. But I'm forever looking for an icing that's more festive and pretty. So I found one today for Poured Cookie Icing that dries fast and shiny. If you're going to do sugar cookies in the next day or so and want to try this very easy icing, I posted it on my Blogger's Recipes.

I cleaned mom's house today while she was quarantined to her room. Yes, quarantined. She had an upset stomach at work yesterday and became very sick with this stomach flu everyone is sharing over the Christmas holiday. Bless her heart, she couldn't even stand up. My advice to her is a large dose of milk of magnesia, as often as needed and allowed by the dose chart. This does not stop the virus, but I have found that it helps to take the edge off.

Bruce is off for four days for Christmas. He brought home pizza tonight and we're getting ready to watch Frosty the Snowman with the kids. I'm looking forward to having my sweetheart home for a few days. He's so much fun to be around.

We had play practice last night. It was our last practice so I hope everything goes all right Sunday night. Every year I worry about the play and then it turns out being sweet. I mean, parents really only want to see their child up there waving at them, right? If you're in the area, come on by and see it. "Precious Memories," December 23, 6:00PM. We'd love to have you there.

Mr. and Mrs. Adam Whitesides

Justin, Hannah and I rose up bright and early this morning to go to mom and dad's. Mom hired this woman to help put up the Christmas tree, clean ceiling fans and fixtures, clean out her pantry, etc.

When I got there, daddy was still in bed. He has not gotten any better since his surgery. He is very sick, still vomiting frequently. They also believe he may have had a stroke that has affected his hearing and sight. He was up all night and mom thought we may have to take him back to the hospital this morning. Fortunately, we didn't need to do that. But I went into his room where he was just waking up from a few minutes of sleep. I sat down on the floor next to him in the dark, shut the door, and we just talked about lots of different things. It was a blessing having that little bit of time with him today.

Tonight we were able to be in attendance at Bruce's cousin's wedding. Adam married Jessica. What a handsome groom he was! And the beautiful bride was glowing from head to toe. I don't believe her smile faded the entire wedding and reception. As a matter of fact, I believe it continued to grow.

I think this was one of the prettiest weddings I've ever been to. Not to mention one of the sweetest.

I do have a few pictures, but haven't had time to download them due to the fact that my Amish Bread starter was ready to bake today.

I didn't have time to bake it today and ended up doing it tonight when we returned home from the wedding. I won't be home at all tomorrow until after the evening service, so unless I wake up very early tomorrow morn (HA) I won't have pictures up until, possibly Monday.

After morning service, we'll be having lunch at the Corriveau's home. We'll also be having Christmas play practice tomorrow. And every Sunday between now and the last Sunday before Christmas. Which I believe is the 23rd.

Well, my husband ate an entire loaf of my Amish Bread. OK, that sounds bad. Truth is, it was one of those little mini loafs. But he still ate the whole thing. Apparently, he liked it. This is Bruce's favorite time of year. You know, when all the baking starts. He's my official taste tester. :)

New

I have several new recipes posted. A couple of them will be good for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. So check 'em out!
Blogger's Recipes

New Recipe

I posted a recipe for Chicken Pumpkin Corn Chowder at Blogger's Recipes if you think you might like that. I don't think it's something I would fix, but I might would taste it. If you like that kind of soup, knock yourself out and let me know how you liked it. I'm not big on corn chowder, so.....

Justin has finished his school work, but has thirty minutes of music left to do today. I'm going to try and video tape him on the banjo later. If you'll recall, our neighbor gave him a banjo for Christmas last year. He has barely picked it up since, but recently, he's been pluckin' it and told Brother Daniel he would play for the bus kids this week. He played the harmonicas for them last week and Justin said they seemed to enjoy it. So he's excited about Saturday morning.

Harrison has completed his school work for today and is munching on a bowl of chips while he does his chores. Right now he's cleaning the front door. His next chore will be to sweep up the chips that have fallen on the floor while he cleaned the door. lol

Hannah is taking a Science test. She likes Science and does pretty good in it. She has an experiment she's planning on doing next week with celery and dye. Not much to tell about her today. She's keeping quiet.

Harrison said something yesterday that cracked us up....Justin was studying his grammar (outloud) and said to himself, "What is the key to effective writing?" To which Harrison threw up his hands and with a duh shake of his head replied, "A pencil." Good answer, Harrison!

They all seem to be holding steady in their school work. Praise the Lord....no worries....yet!

What's On The Menu?

Most people think that if you homeschool you still have time to whip up a fabulous six-course meal for supper. All I have to say to that is Hehehehehahhahahahahehehehehe HA!

I'm all for easy meals during the week, ESPECIALLY on Wednesdays since we have to be at the church at 6:00 so Hannah and Justin can make it to orchestra practice.

So today, our meal is coming from every homeschooler's favorite kitchen help, the crockpot. We're having meatball subs with motzerella slices and salad from a bag.

Nothing tastes better than my mother's homemade meatballs!! But since I don't have time during the day to do that, I use the bag of frozen meatballs from Wal Mart.

Just drop them in the crockpot with your favorite vegetable juice poured over top and let them stew for a couple of hours. Viola! They're done.

Slap 'em on a sub roll with motzerella slices or your favorite cheeses and there you have it. Delicious meatball subs the whole family will enjoy.

And by the way, this one recipe works for larger families too. Our family of five will eat on this for two meals and Bruce will get a couple of lunches out of it.

For smaller families, it freezes well. Freeze your family portions in freezer bags for when you're ready to pull them out in a hurry or just because you want them for supper.

AND!!! This is a great HIT meal. (Homemaker In Training.) It's fast and easy and they'll feel they've made a contribution to the family.

So whether you're a homeschooler or a mom that works outside the home, what is your favorite easy meal?

Recipe

Click here for Amish Bread Starter Recipe and the recipe for Amish Cinnamon Bread. I love making this at Christmas.

Kool-Aid Pie

There's another new recipe at Blogger's Recipe if you'd like to check it out. My Aunt sent it to me and it looks like it would be easy to make and a great pie for kids, or anyone, to enjoy during the summer

Kool-Aid Pie

Getting Back To Normal Routine

This is the last day of my medication. I am so glad. Actually, this morning I took the last of the pills that make me loopy and tired. I'll take my last dose of antibiotic tonight. I really don't like feeling exhausted and loopy all the time.

Bruce is pulling overtime this week so I'm not seeing much of him. He's just a regular Baldorella. For those of you who don't get that.....He works for Baldor.....instead of Cinderella....he's Baldorella. Get it? Never mind. I told you I was loopy.

Daddy just picked up the little ones for a gas run. He picks one of my kids up every Thursday and drives down to a South Carolina gas station for gas, oatmeal cakes, and usually a coke slushie. Since Justin is at camp, he decided to take both Hannah and Harrison. They don't even say goodbye. They hear the beep from Paw Paw's truck and hit the door. Oh sure, they wave a hand of goodbye over their shoulder, but you'd think an I love you mom....see ya later would be in the mix somewhere. It's really difficult for a parent to compete with a grandparent. Let's not even get started on THAT subject!!

Justin will be home tomorrow. I haven't heard from him so I'm assuming everything is all right. I do pray he'll hear something in the preaching that will speak to his heart.
My bread machine is working away on a 2 lb. loaf, there's a chicken in the crock pot, potatoes are ready to be peeled for mashed taters, and my blue lake beans are simmering on the stove with a tablespoon of bacon greese I used for seasoning. Who puts bacon greese in their green beans. Come on...it's a southern thing. Bacon greese seasons everything. A true southern cook will have a little cup or some container which holds the drippings from everytime they cook bacon. My container is one of those ceramic coffee mugs that has a matching ceramic lid.

I'm going to try a new recip this week that I found in my Taste of Home Quick Cooking Cook Book from 2003. Which happens to be my favorite cook book, by the way. Click HERE to see that recipe for Smothered Chicken. If you like mushrooms, cheese, and bacon, this is the chicken for you!

Now I must go and do some things around the house that have been neglected or at least needs a mother's touch. Have a great evening!

Thanks For Asking

I'm feeling better. Thank you to those who have asked about me here on the blog or sent emails. I appreciate your prayers.

I'm almost through taking my medication, which is going to be wonderful when I swallow that last pill. I really dread taking it every morning because I feel so exhausted, sometimes dizzy, and most definitely icky during the day. But just a few more days and I'll be done with that! :) I still hear things muffled at times. I think that's more annoying than the feeling tired. I can lay down when I'm tired. I can't seem to do anything about the muffling. I thought about candlewicking. I haven't done that in a while. And I do love to candlewick my ears. Has anyone else done that? If not, you should. It's a neat experience.

I have a couple of sewing projects I'd like to work on. Bruce bought cloth for me this weekend so I hope to get started on some new curtains for my kitchen window. I'll have pictures of those when I'm done. It shouldn't take too long. I have a very simple pattern in my head for them. He told me today that after I finished the kitchen windows, he'd really like me to make some new ones for the living room. Apparently he really dislikes the ones we have now and have had hanging there for several years. He never said a word. So! I guess I'll be keeping an eye out for cloth for THAT project. :)

I'm on my way out in just a little bit to pick up some potatoe chips, lettuce, and tomato. I'm going to grill out burgers for supper tonight. You can't have burgers without lettuce and maters! What was I thinking when I planned that menu??

Speaking of burgers....when you prepare your meat for grilling burgers, what recipe or spices do you like to use?

Wordless Wednesday....HA!

Y'all this wordless Wednesday thing is hard for me. I have too much stuff running through my head. Since it's almost midnight, I'm going to post this question that I've wanted to post all day. LOL

Yesterday my dad asked how I fixed my egg salad. He had actually asked several people and got different answers from everyone. Basically, I fix it just like my deviled eggs.....only mushy. :) I grate my eggs through the food processor, add salt and pepper to taste along with mayo until it's nice and creamy. Bingo, Bango.......DEVILED EGG SALAD!

So that got me wondering. How do YOU fix your deviled egg salad?

New Recipes

Two new Recipes...Click here.

Sausage Roll

Remember when I said that my friend Meghan made a Sausage Roll for our Sunday school class this week? Well, I posted the recipe for it here. There is also several new recipes in case you haven't been there in a while.

New Recipes

I got my KRAFT food & family magazine in the mail Tuesday. I was looking through it yesterday and there are some really great recipes in this issue. If you don't already receive this FREE magazine, click here to sign up for it today. Or you can go to KRAFT's website and check out their online magazine.

My Aunt Janice sent me several recipes last night and I have posted them at Blogger's Recipes if you'd like to see them.

Thank you, Auntie!

Sunday

First of all, I've posted a couple of new recipes at Blogger's Recipes if any of you are interested in those.

Yesterday we decided to rearrange the living room for our Christmas tree. We ended up giving our recliner to my brother John. Getting rid of just that one piece of furniture and moving the couch to a wall really opened up the room and I like it a lot. We also took my brother a china hutch that belonged to my mother first, then me, and now him. I had the three drawers and two cabinets full and then of course I had my china in the top. After cleaning all those out I had to find a place for two sets of china and school supplies which meant cleaning out the kitchen cabinets to make room for two more sets of dishes. LOL I finally gave in around 10:30 and went to bed. I set my clock for 6:00 so I could get up and finish doing some things before the kids got up, but when I turned on the kitchen light it was spotless. I couldn't believe it. Bruce had finished cleaning it up for me. I thought that was so sweet of him.

The kids had to be at the church at 4:30 today to practice their Youth Choir play. Daddy called and said that he wanted to take them so that I could get a Sunday afternoon nap because he knew I had such a long weekend. Wasn't that sweet?

I have been blessed with two wonderful men in my life. Wouldn't you agree? :)

We had two good services today. The Lord really does know what you need when you need it. I'm thankful for a Pastor that obeys the Lord and preaches what the Lord would have him to preach.

New Recipe

I posted a new recipe for Creamy Dreamy Orange Smoothie on Blogger's Recipes. There have been a number of you who have posted that you have gotten snow already this year, so I doubt this recipe would interest you. However, you can always file it away for next summer!

WOOHOOOOOO!!!

Two things....one is that Chyrll posted a recipe for Fruit Cake on her blog, Chyrll's Corner and I snagged it and have placed it at Blogger's Recipes. So if you like fruit cake and make them at Christmas, you might want to check this out. To be honest, I don't eat fruit cake, but she posted pictures of her's and it looked good. If I were there, I would have tried it.

The big WOOHOOOOOO is that since we had a problem figuring out some Algebra last week, Justin got a little behind in his lessons. Thanks to my brother ((((((((JOHN))))))))) Justin did two lessons with a total of sixty problems and missed only five. When I had him look over the ones he missed he corrected each of them with no help because they were simple mistakes. I was so happy! We both were. Thanks, John~~~~I owe you big. How bout lunch next week??

Recipe??

I made homemade bbq sauce last night. It was so very good. I was thrilled to have it come out the way it did, because.................I messed up! Now, I suppose y'all have figured out that I'm not exactly Martha Stewart in the kitchen. I do love to cook and try new things. But I usually have to make it a couple of times before it's RIGHT! So, last night was no surprise to me that I was going by two different recipes and didn't even realize it.

Our church cookbook has some good recipes in it and at least two of them are for BBQ sauce. They just happen to be side-by-side at the bottom of pages 88 and 89. So I would add vegetable oil from one recipe and vinegar from another. Lemon juice from one and.....you get the picture. The recipes don't differ too much by ingredients, but the measurements were certainly different! Anyway, by the time it was cooking on the stove, the aroma was making my entire household drift from their quiet places to the kitchen as their curiosity peaked as to what we were having for supper. "BBQ.........oops! I forgot to take my meat from the freezer"........AGAIN! No worries, I had time to nook 'em in the microwave. On the menu? BBQ ribs, green beans, and mashed potatoes. Dinner could have been a "Lucy" moment, but instead, turned into a scientifc moment.

Both of these recipes you will find at my Blogger's Recipes blog. Feel free to use either of them for your next BBQ meal.......or use them both to make your own sauce.

Fried Green Tomatoes...Mighty Good Fixins!

Living in the south is the closest place to Heaven on earth. Just one reason for that is because we have some of the best cookin the world. When we have a main dish there's always a variety of "fixins" to go with it. Tonight while eating supper with my Mother-in-law and Bruce's Aunt Sue and Aunt Dessie, we started talking about fried green tomatoes and I wondered if there was a recipe on the Internet for it. Guess what? There was! Now that everyone is blogging about their vegetables and such, it's obvious that this would be the best time to try out this recipe. If you're not a southerner, you'll wanna be after you taste these mighty good fixins!

Ingredients

-4 green tomatoes, thickly sliced

-1/2 cup all purpose flour

-1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

-1 egg

-1/3 cup milk

-salt and pepper, to taste

-Oil, for frying

Directions

-Preheat oven to 200 degrees

-Mix flour, corn meal, salt and pepper in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat egg and milk until combined.

-Over medium heat, add enough oil to cover bottom of frying pan by about 1/4" deep. Dip sliced tomato into egg mixture covering both sides.

-Place prepared tomato into preheated frying pan. Cook each side of the tomato until golden brown and crusty. Keep fried tomatoes in preheated oven until ready to serve.