…as the first day of Kindergarten is finally here!
Of course he has to show off the backpack:
School was GREAT!
Bubba jumped right in to his “homework”. (which really consisted of giving Mom some papers!)
Oh, and remember to always make your mini-man the night before:
Now what’s a mom to do with 3 ½ hours of free time everyday?
I cannot believe how time is flying by and that it is already time to post my Menu Plan. AJ just returned home yesterday and I did not spend a minute on menu plans, so I am behind. Now we are in the swing of fall soccer so back to quick things to get us out the door in time on practice nights (oh and this year Bubba is playing, too, so that is even more practices to schedule around!!)
Of course if you go visit I’m An Organizing Junkie for the list of bloggers who are also posting their plans you will see that over 200 are ahead of me!!
We are kind of in the middle of garden harvests, so not much to work with from there. If we are lucky we will have enough Green Beans for one meal. I am anxiously awaiting all those green tomatoes to turn red!
Here is my hastily planned menu for the week:
Monday
Herb Marinated Grilled chicken, rice, Green Beans
Tuesday
Strip steaks, Potatoes, spinach (for me) and hopefully fresh Green Beans for everyone else.
Wednesday
Soft Chicken Tacos, and cheese Quesadillas for Bubba
Thursday
Diner’s Choice (the boys choose)
Friday
Sandwiches and fruit or veggies from Thursdays trip to the Farmer’s Market.
Saturday
Yet another Baseball Celebration, I’m off the hook.
Sunday
Slow Cooker Adobo chicken, rice and assorted veggies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We are going Blueberry picking again, so I’m thinking we should be having some Blueberry Buckle for breakfast on the weekend.
Here is a recipe I have had for many years, given to me by a dear sweet woman, Mim, who I worked with at one of my first jobs.
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup Shortening
1 egg
¾ cup milk
2 cup fresh blueberries (or frozen)
2 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
crumb topping:
½ cup sugar
⅓ cup flour
½ tsp. cinnamom
¼ cup butter
Preheat oven to 375°, grease a 9″ round pan
Make crumb mixture by cutting dry ingredients into the butter with a pastry tool, or a couple knives, until it looks like fine bread crumbs; then set aside while making the batter.
For the batter mix together in a medium to large bowl the sugar, shortening and egg until well blended
Stir in milk and blueberries (tip: sprinkle a little flour over the blueberries and shake around before adding them so they will not sink in the batter)
Sift together in medium bowl the flour, baking powder and salt, then stir into above mixture.
Spread batter into your greased 9″ pan and sprinkle top with crumb mixture.
Bake at 375° for 45 min.
Cool until barely warm to the touch. Tastes even better if you can wait until the next day!
Every Thursday from 3-6:30 p.m. during the summer and early fall our town has a little Farmer’s Market.
We made it to the very first one way back in early June, and since it was too early for produce then we mostly had soaps, herbs, wine and baked goods to choose from.
Yesterday we decided to swing by again, since there were reports of some delicious fruits and veggies to be had.
I told Bubba I was looking for nice ripe tomatoes, since our garden at home is still full of green tomatoes. Bubba’s sole purpose for joining me was to get a Pumpkin Whoopie Pie from My Street Bakery.
Here’s our take for the day: a few ears of corn, orange cherry tomatoes, and of course a Pumpkin Whoopie Pie:
Wow this week really flew by and it is time again to post my Menu Plan.
Be sure to visit I’m An Organizing Junkie for a great list of bloggers who are also posting their weekly menus.
It is now the part of the summer that I must take note of what will be ready in the garden, so I can incorporate those veggies into our meals. Right now we are at the tail end of the peas, but still have some beans, and the zucchini is just becoming ready to pick.
Here is what’s on the menu for the week:
Monday
Creamy Zucchini with Linguine (I’m using the very first garlic from the garden!)
Tuesday
Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad and Garlic bread
Wednesday
Grilled Pork chops, rice, green beans from our garden
Thursday
Diner’s Choice (the boys choose)
Friday
Make your own pizza party. I think I will be having some fresh garlic on mine!
Saturday
Baseball cookout @ coaches house! (we only have to BYOB)
Sunday
Slow Cooker Honey Mustard Lime Chicken from Meal Planning 101.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think I will be sneaking in this delicious Zucchini Breakfast Casserole for either Saturday or Sunday’s breakfast.
The other day Bubba and I were in the kitchen whipping up some goodies. He was in a very helpful mood, so I asked him to go into the pantry to get me some Lipton dry soup mix that we needed for a dip.
I instruct him to go to the shelf where the cans of soup are and look for some blue boxes that say soup mix on them. I knew this was a pretty simple task, as they were quite visible and just barely below his eye level.
I hear a little tiny noise, so I think okay he has it. Well he does not come right out, I wonder why but wait another second or two.
Then he says to me “Mommy are you a slow cook?”.
Perplexed, I respond “why do you ask?”.
As he walks towards me with the box of soup mix he replies, “this box says it is for Slow Cookers, so I want to see if you are a slow cook because if you are not then you can’t use this”.
Ahhh the joys of an emerging reader.
You know when you are craving just that certain something, you have a recipe idea in your mind and nothing else will do? Well I found myself in just that type of predicament, and rather than thumb through pages and pages of cookbooks I decided to give my Swagbucks search engine a try…and voila…I found Frantic Home Cook and a must-try recipe for Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies.
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup butter softened
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup sifted powdered sugar
½ cup peanut butter
Preheat oven to 350° F.
In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda. In another mixing bowl, beat together butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and the ¼ cup peanut butter with an electric mixer until combined. TO that add the egg, milk, and vanilla and beat well. Stir in as much of the dry ingredients as you can with mixer. You may then need to stir in the remaining dry ingredients by hand with a wooden spoon. (but if you are using a heavy duty Kitchen-Aid mixer like I did, then you won’t have to do it by hand)
Form the chocolate dough into 32 balls approximately 1 ¼ inches in diameter.
For the peanut butter filling combine powdered sugar and the remaining ½ cup peanut butter in a medium mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Shape mixture into 32 (¾ inch) balls. On a work surface, slightly flatten a chocolate dough ball and top with a peanut butter ball. Wrap the chocolate dough up and over the peanut butter filling, completely covering the filling. Roll dough into a ball. Repeat with the remaining chocolate dough and peanut butter filling balls.
Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake them for 8-10 minutes or until they’re just set and surface is slightly cracked. They will still be slightly soft, so do not over-bake them. Let stand for 1 minute, then transfer to wire rack to cool. Then hide them, or there will be none left for you!
If you have some patience, drizzle them with some melted chocolate. I could not wait that long, so mine were all devoured, unadorned.
Enjoy!
Here goes week 2 of recording my Menu Plan. Last week I finally joined I’m An Organizing Junkie and the group of other bloggers who have been regularly posting their weekly menus.
I’ve been putting my menu in Google calendar as a visual reminder.
This week is supposed to be hot, so I am shooting for some lighter meals, or those that will not have me slaving over a hot stove for too long! Plus we are getting more veggies from the garden, so there are lots of peas and green beans to use up this week.
Here is what’s up for the week:
Monday
Pasta with Scallops & Sweet Peas (from the garden)
Tuesday
Sandwiches (needed a quick meal)
Wednesday
Shrimp & Black Bean Quesadillas *see recipe variation below
Thursday
Diner’s Choice ( the boys choose since Mr B&W is not home for dinner)
Friday
Pasta with Tuna, Tomatoes and Zucchini (finally have some ready in the garden)
It is a variation on this recipe.
Saturday
Grilled Pork chops, rice, Green Beans from our garden
Sunday
Leftovers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shrimp & Black Bean Enchiladas (or Quesadillas)
adapted from The Mayo Clinic/Williams Sonoma Cookbook
1 can ro-tel, (or about 1-1½ cup red or green salsa)
¼ c frozen corn, thawed
¼ C black beans (I use a little more, like 1/3)
a little lemon zest (or lime, but lemon adds a diff. flavor)
I also like to add ½ can chopped green chiles, too.
mix all together, set aside about ¼ of it for topping
To the rest add ½-¾ lb cooked shrimp & mix well
Roll mixture in tortillas, set in baking pan (sprayed with oil or cooking spray)
top with Grated Mexican cheese blend, cover with foil
Bake 350 for about 20 min, remove foil, cook 5 more min
Top with remaining mixture.
Variation for Quesadillas:
Cover ½ a tortilla with several spoonfuls of the mix (including the shrimp), top with a handful of grated cheese, fold in half, and brown on each side in a skillet. (I like to make them on my George Forman grill because it is so fast)
I kept busy this week by shopping…yeah I know, that’s rough!
A great deal was going on at my grocery store, so I made multiple trips to maximize my savings. Go check out my post about it on Frugal GAB: Savvy Shopping: What can $1.20 get you?
Oh I did manage to get in a little shopping at CVS, and Target, too. After all, the boys need some BTS things, and there’s a great Summer Movie Staycation promo from Sony where you can get a coupon for $2 off select movies ($3 off Blu-ray)…I got Ghostbusters for $3!
Are you a savvy shopper? Got any good tips for the week?
