I sometimes assume that I know what the coming week has in store…Wrong! I’ve gotten used to planning around Kelton’s baseball games each Tuesday at 5:30, and nobody has had a Doctor appointment lately, so in a senior moment I merrily made my menu choices without checking the calendar. Oh boy, what a mistake. We had not one, but two, baseball games and one was at 7 PM. On top of that we had a dentist appointment, hair appointments, a Doctor appointment, AND a vet appointment. If any week would test The Sticky Menu Plan, this was it and I’m proud to say we made it thru.
The weekend was unremarkable and enjoyable (other than the fact that Bama didn’t play well at all). We enjoyed our “football food”. Michael kept his tradition of getting Terry’s Pizza on football Saturdays. In addition we had Spinach and Artichoke Spread and Pilaf Stuffed Mushrooms. It was really too much food, but the leftovers didn’t go to waste.

Sunday’s dinner started with a House Salad. I’d gotten a bit lax about making them lately, so getting back into the habit will be a good thing. We grilled a Crickhollow Pork Tenderloin and enjoyed that, as well.

On Monday Michael offered to take me out to eat after his dental appointment. Since the meal I had planned was still in the freezer, going out to eat had no impact on the week’s menu except for the fact that Monday was no longer Meatless. Hmmm, do you think that was the plot?  Michael does like his meat.
Tuesday is when we started paying the price for my not checking the calendar. Although we ate our salads before going to Kelton’s game, our Country Fried Steak with Gravy and mashed potatoes wasn’t served until after 9 PM. We eat later that most people, but that was ridiculous. If I had figured it out before 4:30, when I already had everything prepped and started, I could have changed to something simpler, but we enjoy that dish too much to waste it. I just had to cut the stove off and finish cooking when we got home.

Wednesday went off without a hitch and we had Two Chicken Pot Pies that I had stashed in the freezer.
By Thursday I had wised up. Not So Sloppy Joes and Slow-Cooked Baked Beans, also from the freezer, were waiting for us when we got home from Kelton’s baseball  game.

After a hectic week, Friday’s Tuna Salad Salads were just fine!
I’m looking forward to going to Carol and Randy’s this afternoon to meet their new grandson, Blake. They can’t help it if they are Auburn fans, so we’ll have to make sure we leave in time to see the Alabama game. I sure hope they play better this week. Roll Tide!
Be thankful for what life gives you.

The last two weeks have been rather uneventful, and that has been nice. We’ve had plenty to do, but my stickies have stayed stuck right where I put them. That almost never happens, and that’s why I came up with The Sticky Menu Plan in the first place. As crazy as life gets sometimes, I always have menu options, just by rearranging the stickies.
Here’s what’s been coming out of my kitchen.
One of my grocery stores offers a private label semi-boneless ham. I don’t know how they do it. Where is the rest of the bone? How ever that happens, we love those little hams! Michael likes the fact that these hams are much easier to carve, and I appreciate the fact that there is very little waste. I can use up all the ham in a reasonable period of time. When you are cooking for two it’s hard to use up a large ham, and as much as I love my freezers, I don’t think plain ham freezes well. Even Bella and Lizzie enjoy their ham and sweet potato Dog Treats that come from the very last of the scraps.

After our usual Baked Ham dinner, Michael’s first request is Savory Scalloped Potatoes and Ham. I’ve worked really hard to pare this recipe down to feed two, but it still makes 4 servings, so count on leftovers.
Lately, Tuesday evenings have been spent at Kelton’s baseball games. Leftover ham makes great sandwiches when pared with my Creamy Pimento Cheese. I think these sandwiches are a bit fresher tasting than the old stand by ham and cheese sandwiches. A new Ham and Noodle Casserole also found it’s was to our dinner plates.

The very last tidbits of ham went into Hash Brown Breakfast Cups.
Of course, nobody wants to eat nothing but ham all week, and we certainly didn’t. Michael loves pizza in just about any form. I think home made Veggie Pizzas are just a little healthier, and I cheat by using purchased pizza dough. As much as Michael loves pizza, I love my seafood. Friday night we had Bay Scallops in Garlic Cream Sauce over linguine with a side of oven roasted veggies.

All in all, it was a very satisfying and economical week. I even saved the bone for a future pot of soup or beans when the weather gets a little colder.
After all the ham was taken care of I still had the last of our garden tomatoes to deal with. Even though September in Alabama is very warm, ok, hot, I wanted to try to concoct some version of Tortellini Soup for Meatless Monday. The resulting recipe was very light, not really a winter soup at all.

Tuesday was Mexican Sour Cream Chicken and Rice. I thought it turned out well. It was very moist but not runny. Michael thought it had too much cilantro for his taste, but he had a couple of servings anyway.
We took advantage of the nice weather and our relaxed schedule this week to do some grilling; Grilled Italian Sausage and Peppers one night and Grilled Ahi Tuna Steaks another.

Fall Saturdays are football days around here, so I’ll have to come up with more “football food”. Last week’s Alabama football game was a real nail biter, but they won. This week will hopefully bring another win. Be thankful for what life gives you. ROLL TIDE!

“I can do anything I want, but I can’t do everything I want” Gretchen Rubin

As this week’s thought goes, I tend to bite off more than I can chew. It seems that when I can’t get everything done, I don’t get Anything done. Something has to suffer, and it’s usually the things I think of as a reward, like this blog. BUT I have been cooking, so here goes!

Aaron, Jen, & Xander came up to watch the first Bama game with Grandpa, so I made “football food”. We had a whole bunch of junk, but it was fun. I made some shrimp spread (protein), Creamy Pimento Cheese (dairy), Spinach Squares (veggies), and Mini Egg Rolls (just fun).

My favorite center cut pork chops went on sale, so we enjoyed Quick Brined Pork Chops later in the week.
I tend to lean toward one dish/pot dinners. Less work? sometimes. Less clean-up? usually. I came up with this recipe for Kielbasa, Cabbage, and Rice Skillet. thinking it might be a play on stuffed cabbage. While I liked it myself, Michael wasn’t sold. I guess the next time we want kielbasa and cabbage I’ll have to go back to our old Dutch oven version.

That Friday’s Saucy Shrimp with Whole Corn Grits went over much better.  Of course, not  everything can be one dish. We also enjoyed Italian Meatloaf With Tangy Sauce and grilled the leftovers.
Later in the week it was Salisbury Steak with Onion and Mushroom Gravy. For Michael, Mashed Potatoes are a requirement if there is gravy on the menu.
Oh, I almost forgot, while Aaron, Jen, and Xander were here “Xander” requested Homemade Banana Pudding. Now, Xander isn’t yet talking to make any requests, but they all enjoyed the pudding! Be thankful for what life gives you.

Have you ever heard that saying before?

I don’t really know what that old adage has to do with my blog, but I’m kind of tired of folks thinking we have an ATM machine on the back porch. Michael has worked hard all his life, and I try to be as frugal as possible. Get your own life~!!!!

Speaking of frugal, Meatless Monday contributes to that. We love Red beans and Rice. The recipe makes more than one meal, so there are built in left-overs! Less work for me.

We smoked Ribs for Labor Day and they were GREAT! The meat just fell off the bones. I think the secret is to wrap them in foil for a couple of hours after they have absorbed the smoke.

Jen wants us to smoke a pork butt for Xander’s first birthday party. That’s easy enough to do, but Jen will have to plan and cook the rest of the menu.  Maybe Joyce will do his birthday cake.

Find me a pony, please.

I don’t think bloggers get sick days, but if you follow The Sticky Menu Plan you may have noticed there was no new post last Saturday. This week I’ll try to make up by posting the highlights of the last two weeks. They are not in any particular calendar order this time because all the stickies got moved around so much. Once again my plan worked though!
Whoops…it’s 9:30 pm Friday night and we just finished dinner. Here’s why.

Lizzie’s becoming quite the plumbing helper, but there’s no time to update my recipes tonight. I’ll be back soon, I promise.

I’ve put myself on restriction…From the grocery store, that is. After spending an entire morning preparing various food items for freezer storage and updating my freezer inventory I realized that we have much too much food in this house! If we had a power outage I could probably throw a party for the whole neighborhood and still have food leftover. It’s ridiculous. So, I am not allowing myself to purchase anything but dairy products and perishable produce. We’ll see how long I can hold out. I ran into Publix for some buttermilk and had to restrain myself from the seduction of some beautiful crab clusters. I’ve decided I’m an addict.
Sunday’s main meal was Broccoli and Mushroom Stuffed Shells. Some were meatless and some had shredded chicken as well. Guess where most of them went. Yep, in the freezer!

The blueberry harvest is nearly over, but since they are still coming and there are already too many in the freezer, the latest batch found it’s way into a Blueberry Roll.
Michael had his Mexican fix on Monday, so once again our meatless meal slid to Tuesday. Out of the freezer came the last batch of Grilled Vegetable Lasagna.

Wednesday we baked some Sour Cream Chicken. The size of chicken breasts these days has really gotten out of hand.  We split this one. If you decide to split your chicken breasts, I suggest you cut them after cooking so the juices don’t escape.Thursday was more freezer food, Paprika Pork. When given the choice between brown rice or Potato Gnocchi to go with the pork, Michael chose the gnocchi. While I can make good fresh gnocchi, I am going to have to find a way to make smaller batches and stay away from the freezer. I just can’t manage to get the frozen ones to cook right.
As I’m writing this post I’m waiting for Michael to get back with a plumbing part. (That’s another story!) I have no water right now, so dinner will be late. I’m going to try Prosciutto Wrapped Sea Scallops. We’ll see if they turn out the way I’ve intended. If not, I’ll try again. They sound good, anyway. Vegetable risotto might be nice on the side.
Of course, we need water first.
They worked!
Oh, I almost forgot…still more blueberries, but I’m not complaining. This morning we made
Sour Cream Pancakes-Blueberries Optional with honey butter and blueberry preserves.

I’m grateful for a husband who can fix things. Be thankful for what life gives you.

But a busy week for me!
Thank goodness for The Sticky Menu Plan. It functioned just as designed, and we ate well, but there wasn’t much new. I relied on a lot of old standbys, planned leftovers, and freezer food.
Sunday was the only laid back day for the week, and Michael pampered me by grilling a ribeye steak. It turned out perfectly! I’ll have to get him to share his method the next time he grills one. This photo isn’t much, but maybe it will get your mouth watering.

Monday wasn’t Meatless this week. My Aunt Carol and her husband, “Uncle” Jerry stopped by on their extended road trip from California. I had planned to have BLT’s for lunch, but typical Carol, they were a little late getting here. (Ask me about the time she was a “little” late picking me up at a train station when I was traveling alone at age 10. I wasn’t worried, I knew my Aunt would come eventually, but the train station folks sure were!) Anyway, the BLTs were scrapped in favor of some snacks, more of Michael’s Queso Dip, Slice and Bake Cheese Crackers, and prosciutto wrapped melon. The bacon slid to Tuesday morning’s big breakfast. Dinner was some of those fore mentioned standbys; Two Part Chicken,
with Slow-Cooked Baked Beans, and a new side dish, Creamed Cauliflower with Cheddar. The jury is still out on the cauliflower. In my haste, I left off the crumb topping and that was a mistake. I’ll have to try again sometime.
We did have the bacon on Tuesday morning before Carol and Jerry left. You can’t let perfectly good bacon go to waste, can you? As a side dish to the bacon we had our “Big Breakfast”, a combination that shows up here as regularly as spend the night company. It’s sausage and biscuits with gravy, scrambled eggs, and sometimes hash brown casserole. I guess I’ll have to get all those recipes in the computer to post soon. Tuesday evening we took it easy with grilled cheese sandwiches made with onions and pepper jack cheese along side Fresh Tomato Soup. Simple but good.

Wednesday was a full day to say the least! We finally made it to the Farmer’s market and came home with pounds of yellow summer squash and a lot of Peaches and Cream variety corn. Hours later I squirreled away double batches of Summer Squash Casserole and Freezer Corn. I wish I hadn’t doubled the squash recipe, as the squash broke down too much with all the stirring in, and so the texture is too mushy. I can fix it by adding a little fresh squash each time I thaw a batch, but that’s an extra step. Oh well, lesson learned. Wednesday night was leftovers from Monday. I did recycle the chicken into Smoky Chicken Barbecue Sandwiches.
Thursday we decided try something new. Michael had seen a burger with mushrooms in it on TV somewhere and they sounded good, so we gave Mushroom Burgers a whirl. The burgers turned out pretty well, better than my photo of the finished product.

Friday was nothing exciting, just Tuna Salad Salads. Michael picked the last of the blueberries for this year, 84 cups in the freezer plus what I’ve cooked with, so in the blueberrie’s honor I had to come up with one more blueberry recipe.
Here it is; Blueberry Pecan Coffee Cake!

It’s been a busy week, but my freezers are filling up nicely for the winter. Isn’t it a good thing that we no longer have to grow and preserve everything we eat all year? Be thankful for what life gives you.

And it was! It wasn’t ALL smooth sailing, but then life would be pretty boring if that was the case, but chalk it up to a good week.
Oh, and welcome Harrison BLAKE !!! Our friends Carol and Randy’s first grandchild.
We were pleased to have Aaron, Jen, and Xander (our son & his family) show up for the weekend. We stayed on the move, so there was a lot of snacking and mini-meals. Michael made his Queso Dip, which is always a hit, and quite over shadowed my Roasted Eggplant and Garbanzo Spread. Shoot, cheese trumps eggplant any day.

I made a batch of Egg Salad Spread as a foil for more of our homegrown tomatoes in sandwiches. Tomatoes were also the base of a really good Fresh Tomato Soup. I froze part of the soup for our Simple Saturday dinner. I think I’ll dress up some grilled cheese sandwiches to go with that soup.

After Aaron, a quasi vegetarian, left on Sunday I was ready to revert to my carnivore ways. Pork Chops Smothered in Mushroom Gravy may not have been the most healthful choice, but it sure tasted good, especially when paired with Mashed Potatoes For Two, which are also on my list of dishes to be enjoyed only occasionally.  Since Meatless Monday happened to be Freezer Food, Whole Grain Stuffed Poblanos, I had time to bake a batch of White Wheat Refrigerator Rolls. This time I didn’t burn them!

Tuesday’s international entree was a big hit! My Baked Ravioli was excellent, even if I do say so myself. The portions were generous enough that I froze half for the future and we had leftovers on Thursday. I also made my new Peaches and Cream Cake. It didn’t turn out the way I had pictured it, but we haven’t minded eating it all up. Looks aren’t everything.

Whatever Wednesday we enjoyed Two Chicken Pot Pie. When I looked at the nutritional stats for the Thyme Pastry for Pot Pies I realized we probably enjoyed them too much.

Friday I realized why I tell folks I can’t multi-task and why it’s true. When I make up mixes for my White Wheat Biscuits I make up several batches in assembly line style. I thought that while I was at it I would whip together a batch of my High Fiber Cranberry Orange Muffins. Let’s just say they have turned out better in the past. If you want the gory details of what went wrong, just read the introduction to the recipe. In an effort to save them, I mixed together a stick of softened butter and a little honey to make honey butter. We’ll pretend that worked.

I’m writing this post on Friday night, scheduled for tomorrow morning. Tonight we are having Spicy Tuna Steaks on the grill. If I can remember, I’ll update this post with a photo. If not, I’m having a great weekend! Be thankful for what life gives you.

That was another one of my Grandmother’s sayings.
The Chicken Salad was OK.

Next week will be better! Be thankful for what life gives you.

That’s something I can remember my Grandmother saying, and it seems to apply this week. While I got a lot accomplished, I was too far behind to post on time this morning. Please excuse me.
This is one of my favorite times of the year because of the abundance of fresh produce with which to stock my freezer. It is a LOT of work and rather time consuming, but I look forward to it just like Beach Week or the Christmas Holidays. This year’s weather has increased the bounty. I should have started weighing the tomatoes as Michael harvested them. I think we’ve gotten more this year than any year in recent memory and they are still growing like crazy. The same for the blueberries. I’ve been trying hard to use up last year’s crop, as you can tell by all the blueberry recipes. I hope I can find some good local squash next week, and maybe corn and green beans, but I’ll have to see. I usually bite off more than I can chew.
Last week’s menu went pretty much according to plan. I knew we were going to be gone quite a bit, so dinners were mostly quick and out of the freezer.
Sunday we did enjoy grilling. Michael grilled Quick Brined Pork Chops, Grilled with Rib Rub, but we substituted a tenderloin for the chops. Brown Rice and Lentil Pilaf was on the side.

Meatless Monday I wanted to play some more with the Potato Gnocchi that I had frozen the week before. Lesson learned: believe the recipe when it instructs you to add the frozen gnocchi to the boiling water very few at a time or they will fall apart. I found it most effective to only add one at a time until there were several in the pot and fish each one out as it rose to the surface, then add another. This method didn’t really take any longer once I got started. The gnocchi were served in Summer Veggies with Gnocchi.

Six cups of last year’s blueberries were turned into blueberry preserves. I just followed the recipe on the SureJel package and it turned out well. Some of those preserves then went into a new recipe, Double Blueberry Lemon Bars. Those didn’t last long!
Tuesday I pulled some Taco Seasoned Beef out of the freezer and we had Taco Salad Our Way. I also made a batch of my Guacamole for Two intending to use it as a topping, but after I took a picture of it, the Guacamole disappeared. Hmmm?

We were gone all day on Wednesday, so after a House Salad we had Not So Sloppy Joes, again out of my freezer stash. That freezer sure comes in handy sometimes!

Thursday we enjoyed dinner out, and then it was the dreaded Fishy Friday! I love almost any kind of seafood, but Michael is more selective. He doesn’t want anything that smells or tastes “fishy”, so he’s a challenge. Since last week’s attempt at lobster rolls was such a failure, I had to come up with a bribe to get him to let me try again. I combined two of his favorites, Lemon Meringue Pie and Blueberry Pie. Thus, the Blueberry Lemon Meringue Pie. The pie was really tasty, but I think I’ll leave lobster rolls to you in New England! Be thankful for what life gives you.