Please look for a new post later today.

Even though Michael and I are both retired (but still working!), we have held on to that weekend mentality. We tend to stay really productive during the week, but come the weekend it’s time to do just what we want. I think I like it that way.
This week I cleaned out and organized my chest freezer and some of the upright one. I was pretty proud of myself in that very little had to be thrown away. Chest freezers are notorious for hiding food in the bottom, never to be seen again. I have found a way around that problem. I organize food by groups in those rectangular reusable grocery store bags. The newer items are stored on the bottom, and the older on top. The reusable bag handles make it easy to shift things around and retrieve what I want. In the upright freezer I sort into plastic sweater boxes, no lids. One for beef, one for chicken, etc.. By organizing this way and keeping a freezer inventory I can usually tell what needs to be used and not wasted. I have a lot of tomatoes and blueberries to use!
Now for The Sticky Menu Plan…We started out Sunday with Two Part Chicken. I love that recipe! Just make sure you use the finishing sauce only at the end. It caramelizes quickly. I try to make Michael one dessert a week, so this week it was a Peach-Blueberry Upside-Down Cake, another way to use those blueberries.

I knew Monday would be a long day, so Meatless Monday slid to Tuesday. Monday we had Smoky Chicken Barbecue Sandwiches. Since we grilled extra chicken on Sunday, dinner was ready in about 15 minutes and that’s a record for me.  We ate in such a hurry I forgot to take any photos again.
For our meatless Tuesday I played with Potato Gnocchi. They turned out great! I guess I just got lucky, but this batch of gnocchi were soft little pillows with a melt in your mouth texture. I served them with some of my freezer stash, Roasted Vegetable Medley in Eggplant Marinara.

Whatever Wednesday was Forth of July Rib Burgers . The recipe for Rib Sauce that we use on our Smoked Ribs makes about a quart and it keeps well, so I almost always have some to use on these burgers. They have an authentic smoked rib flavor but are much healthier.
Thursday was more Freezer Food, this time Company Beef Stew in Mashed Potato Bowls. It’s a good recipe, one I’ve made several times, but for some reason it just didn’t hit the spot. Maybe it’s just to warm out for stew.

Fishy Friday was a Failure! Here in the Gulf Coast States, shrimp are abundant as are the recipes to prepare them. Lobster, not at all. One of our grocery stores advertised a special on lobster tails, and being a lobster lover but frugal by nature I thought Lobster Rolls sounded like fun. I guess I need to think again. Enough said.
To top it all off, Michael and I were sitting out back just before dinner when we heard something knocking around in the kitchen. Bella was just finishing off the last of my Parmesan crusted zucchini coins that were sitting on the counter. BAD DOG!!! Well, I guess things don’t always go as planned. Be thankful for what life gives you.

Here in Alabama it was a rain-out, but we’ve had a nice time anyway. The Sticky Menu Plan got a work out this week. Because of the weather my menu kept flipping back and forth.
Things started out pretty normally. Sunday we grilled Italian Meatloaf, and so as not to waste a grill full of charcoal on two little pieces of meatloaf I decided to try grilling the cauliflower. It worked out pretty well, so I think Grilled Cauliflower may be a keeper.

Since our new crop of blueberries will be coming in any day now, I need to clear last year’s bounty out of the freezer. I always use my Food Saver to package things for the freezer, so the blueberries are still delicious. I gave Emily some, along with some of last year’s tomato products in preparation, and the made a really good Blueberry Pie.

I knew Monday would be a long day and we’d be home late, so Sunday I also took the time to bake a Caramelized Onion and Zucchini Quiche.  All we had to do was warm it in the microwave when we got home.  The leftovers made their contribution later in the week.

Taco Tuesday was another quick and easy dinner. We had another round of Ham and Cheese Quesadillas along with Another Brown Rice Pilaf.

OK, now here’s where The Sticky Menu Plan got the work out…The last time baby back ribs were on sale I bought a rack with the Forth of July in mind. When Emily invited us to come over for the Forth to cook out and watch the fireworks at Dublin Park I swapped out stickies and planned to have the ribs on Wednesday instead. Then the weather forecast went south and it began to look like rain would cancel all the festivities, so I made another switch. The ribs moved back to Thursday, and as an alternative celebration Emily and the kids came over on Wednesday. Michael grilled a double batch of Krystal Style Sliders on the flat top. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with Krystals, they are about the same as White Castles if you know what those are.) We kept it simple with Slow-Cooked Baked Beans and corn on the cob from Brown Farms.

As predicted, the Forth was a real rain event. We got 2 inches of rain, but over Emily’s way they got much more. Luckily, Michael prepares our Smoked Ribs on our Big Green Egg, so once he sets the fire and gets the right temperature there is nothing to do but wait. The smoker takes care of itself and it doesn’t matter if it’s raining or not. Along with the ribs we had the other half of the cauliflower in a Brown Butter Cauliflower Mash and Chili Cheese Corn Muffins. There was one ear of corn left over from the day before, so I cut it off the cob and added it to the muffin batter…not bad.

Friday wasn’t anything to write home about. We just cleaned out the leftovers. I’m looking forward to dinner tonight, though. We are having the first of the summer’s BLTs with beautiful home grown tomatoes. It doesn’t get much better than that! Be thankful for what  life gives you.

I love a bargain! Last Friday I was looking through my coupons and discovered a $5.00 grocery store coupon that was expiring that day. I couldn’t let that go, so I rushed back to the store where pork loins were on sale. After the coupon I paid a little over $3.00 for a 4.5 pound pork loin. On Sunday the pork was converted to meals: New York Speidies, Paprika Pork, and a Mushroom and Pork Skillet Dinner. When I was done I had assembled 10 meals for two and only paid $3 for the protein. Not bad, if I do say so myself. Sunday’s Dinner was the Mushroom and Pork Skillet Dinner.

Meatless Monday I made a fresh summer recipe from the first tomatoes we harvested from the garden, Italian Tomato Pie. We ate it warm on Monday night and I munched on it cold for the rest of the week. It’s good both ways.

Since the tomatoes are beginning to come in I need to use up last year’s tomatoes and sauces I’ve stashed in the freezers. We had Spaghetti and Meatballs in Eggplant Marinara.

Sunday’s labor paid off on Wednesday when we enjoyed our New York Speidies. Speidies were a chilhood favorite when we lived in Binghamton along with our extended family. All you of Conklin descent take a look at this recipe. It’s as close as I’ve been able to come, although I prefer pork over lamb. On the side we enjoyed Slow-Cooked Baked Beans and Squash Casserole

Friday we enjoyed Shrimp in Alfredo Sauce. It’s a little on the rich side, but it’s delicious. I served it with risotto after we had finished our House Salad.

When I added the recipe for the Cream Filled Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting I accidentally left the sugar out of the cake portion. I hope no one tried to make them without sugar. Yuck! The recipe is corrected now.

This week has been a lot of fun! We started off on Sunday with Father’s Day. Emily had us over for dinner to celebrate. Her Pulled Pork was really good, but the highlight for me was Emily’s Potato Salad.
Meatless Monday was meatless only for me. Bella and Lizzie’s Fathers Day gift to Michael was his much loved chicken liver dinner. I really don’t care for chicken livers, not even the smell, so this dinner is a gift. I just lightly flour chicken livers and saute them in butter. The sides always have to be mashed potatoes and those baby peas that come in the silver can.
While I was at the little local grocery store where I buy the fresh chicken livers a really nice package of cubed steak jumped into the shopping cart, so Tuesday’s Dinner had to be Country Fried Steak with Gravy.

This really is NOT good for you, but it is a true comfort food here in the South. Of course, it had to be served with another round of mashed potatoes to hold all that gravy.
By Wednesday the guilt set in, so I pulled some Grilled Vegetable Lasagna out of the freezer.
Who knew Vegetables could taste so good? If I hadn’t been lazy, I might have warmed up a little extra Marinara sauce to go on top because I got busy and left the lasagna in the oven a little too long. (Oh well)
Thursday Michael had to have his Mexican fix and Friday was a seafood splurge. Crab legs were on sale, so we splurged and bought two pounds. Yum! To be just a little frugal I turned the leftover mashed potatoes from earlier in the week into Mashed Potato Cakes. Of course, in my rush to dig in before the crab cooled off I forgot to take any photos, so use your imagination!
On the subject of photos, my wonderful husband surprised me with a new camera! Right now I think the camera is smarter than I am, but this old dog can learn new tricks. Be thankful for what life gives you.

Let’s see if I can get back on track. It seems that my Simple Saturdays will now be an eating out day. Our grandson, Kelton, is playing coach-pitch baseball and he’s pretty good at it. To celebrate his successes he gets to choose where everyone goes to eat after the game. This week was the first and we were given short notice so Saturday’s sticky got moved to Sunday. I tried a new idea that I’d been mulling over in my head. For lack of a better name I called them Bacon Cheeseburger Rolls, but see what you think. I’m open to suggestions!

Meatless Monday was really yummy! I made Whole Grain Stuffed Poblanos. They are so meaty tasting and filling, but really low-cal (212.57 calories each) and full of fiber (5g). The recipe makes six, so four went into the freezer for later. I forgot to take a picture before we ate, so this photo is actually one that was frozen and ready to be packaged.
Tour the World Tuesday brought Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry, an old stand-by. It’s fast to make once you have all the ingredients prepped, so I try to chop and slice earlier in the day and then I’m ready to go. We usually do make brown rice and that takes a 30 minute lead.

We have just returned from our wonderful annual vacation to St. George Island FL, thus the lack of recent posts. I’m looking forward to getting started on this blog again. On the down side, I’ve lost my camera. I’ve gone crazy trying to find it, but for the time being photos from my cell phone will have to do.
It always takes me a while to get back into the swing of things after vacation, so this week’s menus have been really mixed up. Thank goodness for my menu plan. If not for that, I wouldn’t have a clue.
We always stop for Chilton County peaches on the way back home, so several peach recipes have come into play. Some are just peach versions of the strawberry recipes I recently posted, but I also made a fresh Peach Pie. To tell the truth, the peaches were very juicy but didn’t cut well so the pie was on the runny side. It still tasted great but I wouldn’t want to serve it to company.
Our sugar snap peas went into full production while we were gone, so my friend Lisa helped with the harvest. I’ve frozen quite a few but they’re always best fresh. They were a tasty addition to my Ranch Broccoli and Tortellini Salad. I used more than the recipe called for in last night’s Szechuan Chicken Stir-Fry and used more again in Chicken with Creamy Mushrooms and Snap Peas.
I’ll get these few recipes into this blog and then work on next week’s plan, hopefully with pictures. Be thankful for what life gives you.

Last night I finally got my scallops! I even got creative and devised a new recipe that I’d like to share. I call it Crusted Sea Scallops with Pasta and Peppers Alfredo. If you don’t care for scallops I bet it would work well with chicken.

Since I was only cooking for the two of us, I used half the scallops and half the pasta. As a result there was a little too much sauce. I could have just served the sauce over that pasta instead of combining them, but oh well! Michael loves sauces.

OK, the new main computer is up and running, but now I’m on the low end of the tech learning curve again. That’s alright, it makes me happy to learn new things.
Last Sunday we went to Emily’s for dinner, hot dogs and hamburgers. I took some Roasted Garlic Potato Salad and the latest version of my Layered Fresh Strawberry Pie. While we don’t always have dessert, we had two that day! Emily likes to play in the kitchen, too (when she has time). She’s been working on a chocolate cake with a chocolate peanut butter glaze. It was really good, so when she’s happy with her recipe we’ll post it here.
The rest of the week was confused by the computer crash. Monday’s Broccoli and Mushroom Quiche was predictably good. We had the leftovers on our long day, Thursday, along with the usual House Salad with My Buttermilk Dressing. Tuesday’s Beef Fajitas were not so good. I tried to take a shortcut and use pre-cooked steak strips. I won’t do that again! The peppers and onions that were prepped by the recipe were fine, but the meat had an off taste. We did have a good batch of Guacamole to go with them. I need to make Wednesday’s Meatball Stroganoff again this week. It’s always good, but I forgot to take any pictures. While the Meatballs were thawing and I had some nice big mushroom caps I came up with a new dish, Meatball Stuffed Mushrooms. At first, Michael turned up his nose at the idea, but they didn’t stay on his plate for long! I didn’t remember to take those pictures either, so let’s try again.
I rather enjoy the fact that the computer crash put me a week behind. I have learned that when I try to make a recipe exactly as I have written it, there are more often than not changes that need to be made. Some time in the near future I am going to make “This Week’s Plan” retroactive. That way, if you choose to access a recipe it will be the most current version. I’ll also have more photos.
I think the theme for this week will be “use it up”. Every so often I look in my refrigerator and freezers and realize that I have way too much! Quilters collect fabric and I collect food. That seems to happen when one is cooking for only two. I started with Roasted Red Pepper and White Bean Dip. All the ingredients were taking up real estate in the refrigerator or pantry. I’m even going to find a way to use what we don’t snack on tonight as a sauce for some sort of Mediterranean Pasta. That should be interesting.
Be thankful for what life gives you.