I Should Have Tied My Hair Up

I finally got my tomatoes in the ground.  Actually not finally.  I know I am behind most people, but I really don't like to put my plants in the ground until after the 12th of June.  And I know it isn't the 12th yet but we are close.  Why the 12th, you ask?  June 12th is the average last freeze date for Pocatello.  And I don't really like running out a couple times a week at night and covering all my plants.  So I wait.  I usually start most of the vegetables from seed in the house, but this year that didn't really work out for me.  I will be buying plants when they go on sale, and the store just wants to get rid of them.

One of Lance's employees gives me tomato plants so I don't have to worry about those.  I accidently bought one too many tomato cages and so I headed off to the farmer's market today to pick up another tomato plant.  The kind man that gives me tomato plants sold me one more.  While I was there I picked up some strawberry plants and a basil plant.  Let's see if I can keep the basil alive this year.  The wind was so bad today, that's about all the farmer's market I could stand.  I really should have tied my hair up before I went.  I was hoping to get some blueberries from Oregon also, but I didn't see any.


After coming home and tying my hair, I planted the last tomato and the strawberries.  My plan was to get the basil in a pot, but it started hailing.  I had to laugh while being hailed on because my friends will post pictures of large hail.  I think this was the world's smallest hail.  While it continued to hail on my I looked for a pot to put the basil in.  I didn't have an appropriate pot, so I just brought it in.  I will probably just plant it with the tomatoes later.

You may not be able to see but I've ended up with 7 tomato plants and only one is cherry tomatoes.  Come this fall, I'm going to have a lot of tomatoes.  I have a couple of recipes that call for tomatoes and one that Lance and I love.  But I'm going to have to can a bunch and find a lot more recipes.  The recipe that Lance and I love is Baked Ziti.  I currently 2 halves of it in the freezer for when I don't feel like cooking.  But I'm sure we could stand some more.

Baked Ziti
1 lb dry ziti pasta (I actually use penne)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced (I use a garlic press)
1 lb ground beef
52 ounces pasta sauce
6 ozs provolone cheese, sliced
1 1/2 cups sour cream
6 ounce mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350. Boil pasta according to package directions for al dente.  Brown ground beef with onions and garlic. Add pasta sauce to meat.  After pasta and meat are done, you will begin layering in a 9 x 13 pan. Layer as follows:
1/2 of the pasta
provolone cheese
sour cream
1/2 of the meat sauce
the other 1/2 of the pasta
mozzarella
the other 1/2 of the meat sauce
parmesan cheese

 Bake for 30 minutes.
Allow to rest for 10 - 15 minutes and serve.

Another Month, Another Plan

I'm running behind this month and it's only the 3rd.  I did some catch up today, and hopefully I can be ahead of the game.  We had a BBQ this weekend and I spent most of the week planning for it.  We hosted about 16 people in our tiny yard all day Saturday.  I was up at 7:30 in the morning setting up and for those of you who know me well or even just a little know that I don't do mornings.  Lance was chosen by Crowdtap to host a McCormick Grill Mates party.  (see my other blog for details about Crowdtap and the party)  I tried two new recipes for the party.  I really liked both, but from the feedback I think the punch was a hit.  Click here for those recipes.

This morning I spent working in the coffee bar at church and finally was able to work on my meal plan for the month this afternoon.  I love the summer months because I grill a lot more and can eat lighter.  Yet I can still throw in a few hearty meals here and there.  So for this month our menu is as follows

June 4 - 8
Tacos (I needed something easy after a big weekend and being late in planning)
BBQ Chicken Salad - I just grill chicken, brush with bbq sauce, shred, and put in a salad.
BLT's
Skillet Lasagna 
Burgers

June 11-15
French Dip Sandwiches
Fresh Take Cheese & Breadcrumb Chicken - this is a Kraft product to bread chicken with.
Skillet Sausage & Rice
Chicken Pasta in Garlic Butter Sauce
Pizza

June 18 - 22
Chicken Fried Steak & Mashed Potatoes
Chicken BLT Taco Salad
Creamy Chicken Bacon Pockets
Tortellini & Alfredo Sauce - I'm just going to buy frozen or refrigerated
Burgers

June 25 - 29
Steak & Sweet Potatoes
Honey Lime Grilled Chicken
Grilled Pork Chops with Garlic Lime Sauce
Grilled Chicken Pesto Farfalle
Pizza

It's A Plan

3 months ago I began planning out a month's dinners.  At first I wasn't sure how it was going to work for me.  But I LOVED it.  It gave me such freedom.  I didn't have to try to figure out every night what I was cooking for that night.  Now I just need to make sure I get the meat out to thaw for each day, and I go shopping Monday morning for any items I need for the week.  I have also felt more freedom to try new recipes.  As we find recipes we really like we put them into the rotation.  Last month we discovered we love baked ziti.

I was sharing with a close friend that I had started doing this, and she loved the idea.  But she doesn't really have the time to sit down and plan out a month.  So the next month, I sent her the menu and all the recipes to go with the meals.  She was excited that her month was planned out.  Because her girls don't like everything that Lance and I do, I'm sure she switched up some of the recipes, but she was for the most part planned out for the month.

After reading another friend's blog, I realized I could share my meal planning with all of you.  You may not want  to have all the meals we will be having, but it may give you some ideas to help with your planning.

Before I give you our plan for the last two weeks of May, I want to share with you how I plan the month.  It may also help you plan.  When I began planning, it seemed big and overwhelming, but I realized if I had a plan of attack it would help.  So I decided we would have a beef dish on Mondays, a chicken dish on Tuesdays, fish or pork on Wednesdays, whatever on Thursdays, and pizza or burgers on Fridays.  Saturdays & Sundays are wing it days. For sides, I buy what is on sale that week and split them among the days.  This helps us eat what is in season because the sales usually follow what is in season.

Now for our menu:
May 21 - 25
Monday: Cowboy Casserole (see below for recipe)
Tuesday: Easy Garlic Chicken
Wednesday: Breakfast for Dinner
Thursday: Steak & Potato
Friday: Burgers

May 28 - June 1
Monday:  Steak Quesadillas
Tuesday: Rotisserie Chicken
Wednesday: BLT's
Thursday: Spaghetti & Caesar Salad
Friday: Pizza


Cowboy Casserole
Brown:  1-1 1/2 lbs. ground beef with 1/2 diced onion and optional 1/4 lb. bacon cut up.  While that is browning in a skillet, get a crock pot and add: one can each of Lima beans, butter beans, pork n beans and jalapeno pinto beans (drain all juices except pinto beans). Then add: 1/2 cup each of brown sugar, ketchup, BBQ sauce, 2 TBSP. vinegar, 1 tsp. garlic salt and some salt and pepper.  Drain the meat and add to crock pot.  Stir all together well.  You can serve immediately, or wait a few hours for flavors to meld together.  Serve with cornbread.  Add jalapenos if you like, too.  This can be ready in about 15-20 minutes.  Very hearty meal-sticks to ribs.   (I can't always find the beans that are listed so I find something similar.)

Bacon & Being Married

After a long hiatus I am back blogging, but it will be rather sporadic.  And I may include stories that are more recent.

In the last year, I got married.  Life is sure full of surprises.  For my husband, Lance, and I, we both had decided we were done dating and happy with being single.  Our friends, on the other hand, were not there with us.  They wanted us to be as happy as they are.  There are so many rabbit trails I can take with that, but I'll stick to the story.  A mutual friend of ours invited us for dinner.  Lance says he knew he would marry me when we met.  I wasn't so sure.  It took me a couple months to know I could marry him.  We got married in April and celebrated with our friends & family in May.

It's hard to believe it has almost been a year that we've been married.  I've always heard the first year is the hardest.  If that's the case, this is going to be so easy.  I'm sure we will have trials and difficulties from time to time, but if how we handled the first year is any indication, we will get through them.

I learned to cook long before I got married.  I have my staple recipes I like to use, but that's not enough for dinner every night.  So I've been trying out new recipes.  But if you know me, I can't leave a recipe alone.  I adjust and make it mine.  Some things Lance has liked and some have been terrible.  My recipe book is bulging at the seams with the new recipes.  Some day soon, I'm going to get organized with them and be able to plan out a month of meals at a time.  But until then, I'll share them with you.

Lance is a bacon lover.  One of the first things my friend Kelly learned about Lance is that he loves bacon.  So I try to find recipes with bacon.  I think his favorite so far is the

Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf


1 lb ground beef
1 lb bacon
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup mayo
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 + 2 Tbsp ketchup
1 small can french-fried onions

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spray loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.  In a bowl, mix first 9 ingredients plus 1/4 cup ketchup.  (I use my hands)  Place mixture in loaf pan.  Spread 2 Tbsp ketchup over the top.   Bake for 40 minutes.  Remove from oven & spread onions over the top.  Bake for 10 -15 minutes longer.  Internal temp should be 160 F.

He Knew How To Flush Your Radiator

Going to a Christian school, we didn't celebrate Halloween, but we did celebrate All Saints Day.  Or at least we did one year.  It must have been 5th grade.  The building we had school in had an unfinished part of the basement.  Our teacher took us down there to teach us about All Saints Day.  I don't remember the significance of being in the dirt and dark, but we sat down there for her to tell us about the holiday.

I don't recall what she told us about the holiday.  What I do know is that I've learned a few things over the years about Day of the Dead.  Day of the Dead is actually 2 or 3 days depending on who you ask.  I'm gonna stick with 2 days for now.  November 1 & 2.  November 1st being All Saints Day and November 2nd All Souls Day.  Both days are meant to remember people we loved and have passed on.  Memorials are set up to remember those people and food is offered.  Some of the things they do seems a bit creepy, but I think the idea of the holiday is a good one.  To remember and honor people we love who have passed away.

Today I spent the day with friends I've had for a long long time.  And while my mind was not on All Saints Day all, I was brought back to remembering my dad.  And what an honor it was to him for a friend to say that she and her husband respected my dad and always appreciated his wisdom.  My dad was a quiet man, but he was wise.  My dad was the person I called when I had a question.  He knew where to find just about anything in the Bible.  He knew how to flush your radiator.  It was rare for him to not know the answer to one of my questions.

He was also a man with great faith.  We moved to Idaho to start a church.  That is not a high paying job.  Well monetarily speaking.  My dad always believe that God would provide for us.  And He always did.  We didn't live a life of luxury, but we had what we needed.  My dad also always trusted that God would guide him in leading a church.  Even though that's not something that's as easily measured, I think He did.

Not only was my dad wise, he was also funny and loved sports.  He was a meat and potatoes kind of guy.  I once made dinner that had no meat.  He acted like I was crazy.  I always made sure to serve some kind of meat after that.  Since the days of making dinner for my family, I have gone through phases of what I like to eat.  Actually, I have gone through phases my whole life.  I didn't eat much meat for a while.  Now I eat some but not a ton.  And because of that, I don't have a lot of recipes with meat in it.  I can cook a mean ribeye or burger.  But those don't really call for recipes.  So I had to dig deep for this recipe.

Easy Oven Lasagna
1 lb ground beef
2 - 15oz cans marinara sauce
1 - 10oz pkg lasagna noodles
1 cup ricotta or small curd cottage cheese
12 oz mozzarella cheese, sliced or grated
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup water
1 tsp salt

Brown ground beef, drain.  Add water, marinara sauce and salt, bring to a boil.  In 2 t. baking dish, layer hot cause, uncooked lasagna, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses.  Repeat layers, ending with sauce.  5 layers with 6 noodles each later.  Garnish with mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.  Cover tightly with foil.  Bake at 375 for 1 hour.  Let stand 5 -10 minutes before cutting into squares.  Serves 8.  Decrease temperature 25 degrees last 1/2 hour in black pan.

Go Put Some Clothes On

The weather has turned cold this week.  Some people aren't happy about it at all but I enjoy dressing warm and the cold crisp air.  I love baking and making soups. So I am loving the change of weather.

Although I like the cold weather, I don't like being cold.  I like to turn up the heat, snuggle under blankets, and wear sweatshirts.  When I was a kid, we didn't have a lot of money.  My parents moved to Idaho to start a church when I was 4.  Starting a church isn't a money making venture.  It is full of rewards, but money isn't one of them.  To save money, we kept our thermostat a little lower than I liked it.  I often would complain that I was cold and my dad would say "go put some clothes on."  I would tell him I have clothes on and he would tell me to put more on.  At one point, we got a space heater.  My favorite spot in the house was in front of that space heater.  The dog also liked it.  I could get my "flamigo legs," as my mom called them, warm.

As a junior higher, fluffy skirts were in style or at least we thought they were.  My mom made me several skirts.  I loved them.  I wore them often even if my legs froze off.  My love for being "stylish" and my love for being warm brought me to standing in front of the space heater.  I'm surprised I haven't come across a picture of me standing in front to of the heater because I was there a lot.

One Sunday morning, I put on my favorite skirt getting ready for church.  While I waited for everyone else to get ready, I stood in front of the space heater.  After a few minutes, I smelled something funny.  My dad says to me, "I think it's your skirt.  You are too close."  I move away to find part of my skirt had melted.  Boy was I upset.  I wore it anyway to church.  You couldn't really tell.  I was more careful after that about standing too close to the heater.

Since then I have found other ways to warm up.  Now I bake something or eat hot soup.  I am trying out a new soup recipe today and will share it later if it turns out well.  But until then  I will share with you a super easy soup recipe.  It has several different names but I call it Hamburger Vegetable Soup.

Hamburger Vegetable Soup
1 lb browned ground beef
1 can corn
1 can green beans
1 can ranch style beans
2 cans Italian style diced tomatoes
2 cups water
1 pkg ranch dressing mix

Combine all ingredients in a large pot.  Do not drain water off the cans.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.