Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

 I tried something new last week and made meatloaf in the crockpot. I usually have a problem with meatloaf being greasy, so I used extra lean ground beef and it worked well.  It was nice to get this in the crockpot and not have to get everything done at the last minute.

Crockpot Meat Loaf

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1/2 teaspoon sage
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2/3 cup Italian bread crumbs
2 teaspoons dried, minced onion
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten

Sauce:
1 1/2 cups catsup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon mustard
2 teaspoons vinegar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Tear off  2 large strips of aluminum foil and place in bottom and up sides of crockpot; one strip going the length and one going the width of the crockpot.  You will use this later to remove the meat loaf.

Combine all sauce ingredients and whisk to combine. Set aside.

Mix all meat loaf ingredients together along with 2 tablespoons of the sauce mix. Shape into a loaf shape and place in crockpot.  Then brush 1/2 cup of the sauce over top. Cook on low for 5 1/2 hours.

When finished, lift meatloaf out of crockpot using foil strips and place on cookie sheet.  Brush remaining sauce over top and place under broiler for a few minutes until sticky and bubbly.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Jingles

How many of these do you remember?

I remember each one!  And yes, as I read them, they went through my head like a song.
 

Greetings from the sick house...

I don't have much to share with you because I have been stuck at home sick for most of last week with a virus that made me sicker than I've been for years.
It started Wednesday.  We were supposed to watch Cassie so Andrew and Heather could go out for their anniversary. I knew I wouldn't be able to do that and I sure didn't want to pass this bug on, so Bob went to their house to watch her.

Here's a picture Bob sent me saying, "Grandma, we wish you were here!"

I ended up calling in to work on Thursday and Friday. I never call in and haven't for 30 years, except when I had Covid.  I slept most of the day both days and then all night too.

Saturday, I started feeling better.  

My sweet sister knew I was feeling crummy and brought over a few individual pans of lasagna. It's so nice to just pop them in the oven and not have to work in the kitchen.

Now it's Sunday and I am feeling so much better. However, Bob started feeling crummy in the night. So we are both staying in and resting. I'm afraid he has a few days of this in front of him, I'm thankful to have the worst behind me!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

 Today's recipe is a slider recipe we had for supper last weekend. It's a version of bacon cheeseburgers and was fun and good!

Bacon Cheeseburger Sliders

1 package Kings Hawaiian Pretzel rolls
8 slices bacon, cooked until crispy and chopped
1 pound ground beef
1 diced onion
1/4 cup catsup
1 tablespoon mustard
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
Sliced american cheese
Crispy fried onions
Brown the ground beef with the diced onion and drain. Stir in the catsup, mustard and Worcestershire sauce.
Place the bottom of the buns into a 9x13 pan. Lay the sliced cheese over the buns, then spread the meat mix over top.
Sprinkle the chopped bacon over all, then sprinkle the fried onions over all.

Stir together:
1/2 cup mayonaisse
1/4 cup catsup
1 tablespoon pickle relish

Spread this sauce on top half of buns and place them on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Wordless Wednesday

(It's been warmer than usual, so the maple sap is running

 early, and then it snowed again!)

 

Matryoshka

My friend Karen, from Life is Good, recently shared a collection of Nesting Dolls, which are also known as Matryoshka from Russia.
It made me think that I should share mine which did come from Russia.
My sister Cheri and her husband Mark adopted a daughter from Russia and brought me and some other family members one.  Several years later, the doctor in the orphanage, who they had stayed in touch with, contacted them and told them their daughter had a full sister, a baby, who was now in the orphanage. He asked if they were interested in adopting again. So, they made another trip to Russia and brought another matroyska home for us, along with that baby!
Of course, they make me think of Arianna and Halle when I see them.
We have them displayed on a book shelf in our family room downstairs.  Cassie just loves to play with them when she comes over.

Here they are.

The smaller set is has 4 dolls in all and the biggest one is about 6 inches tall.

The bigger set has 5 dolls and the largest is about 12 inches tall.

Here's a close up of the biggest doll, so you can see the pretty details on it.

They are special keep sakes!

The Lake, Frozen!

 Several weeks ago I was in Grand Haven and stopped at the pier to see it in it's winter beauty.  I realized I never shared those pictures with you.  In the last few weeks it's been warmer and a lot of this ice has melted.

At the beach it's cold, with snow and fences covering the sand.

The rails on the pier are coated in ice!

There were some people who are braver than me who were out on the walkway.  An icy walk next to icy water doesn't look like a place I want to be.

The water was fairly calm on this day, but you can see how the ice on the light house from the waves hitting it on windy days.

Lake Michigan has a different beauty in the winter.

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

 Today's recipe is one I got from my daughter Laura.  It's pumpkin bars, and the bars are very tasty, but the frosting makes them over the top.  It makes a jelly roll pan so is perfect when you need something to share or feed a bunch.

Frosted Pumpkin Bars

2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups flour
1 small can pumpkin
4 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Beat ingredients until smooth. Pour into greased jelly roll pan and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Frosting:
1/2 cup salted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup hot milk
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Melt butter over low heat. Add brown sugar and bring to a boils, stirring frequently. Add the milk and remove from heat. Working quickly, whisk in powdered sugar and pour over the warm pumpkin bars. Use spatula to immediately spread frosting over bars. Let set for 30 minutes to set up.

Happy Valentines Day!

 Happy Valentines day to all of you and Happy Birthday to our daughter Heather!

An afternoon with Cassie

Last Saturday, Cassie came over for the afternoon and we had such fun!

When she came she brought one of her stuffed animals for me.  Heather had told her I had a crazy day at work and she said "Grandma needs a stuffy to cuddle".  She was very excited to give it to me and now it's on my desk at work.  :)

We started by getting out our old Marbleworks toys.  It's such a classic and was played with by our kids, then Alaina and Ruby, and now Cassie.

It was quite nice out so we went for a walk down the street to see the pony and horses.

They came right up to see us.  However, the little pony immediately turned around and did her business right in front of us!

Cassie was not impressed...  and when we took her home, she immediately told her parents about that whole situation!

I love seeing her walking with Bob.

When we got home, we made groundhog cookies to celebrate groundhog day - even though groundhog day was done! I made chocolate cookies, and then we decorated them with mini vanilla wafers, eyes, chocolate sprinkles for some hair, sunflower seeds for teeth and pieces of gummy worms for the nose.
You can see that it takes a little extra effort to get things placed correctly!

You also have to taste things to make sure they're ok!

She was proud of her finished cookies!

Here's a few of the finished cookies.

After that, we went downstairs to play in the playhouse.  She told us we were the customers and asked "May I take your order?"  So cute!

She had Bob wearing the chef hat and helping her work.

Ringing up our bill.

Soon it was time to pack up and go out for supper.  We did that, and stopped at a store she likes to go to.  It's a farm store and sometimes they have baby chicks but not right now.  After that, we headed to Heather and Andrew's house to bring her home.  What a fun afternoon!

Exciting News!

A few weeks ago, Andrew, Heather and Cassie stopped over on a Saturday morning.  After they were here for a few minutes, Heather told Cassie to show us her new shirt.

(It's so hard to get a picture of her, and this is the best I could do!)
Anyway - do you see what her shirt says?  
We are so excited and thankful!  They have been praying for another baby for some time and this is a huge blessing!
Heather has type 1 diabetes, so she has added difficulties with pregnancy and will be seeing a high-risk obstetrician every month.
I would really appreciate your prayers for her and the baby in the months ahead.  

This is the announcement photo they put on facebook.  The baby is due in early September, but will most likely be early because of the diabetes.

We're so happy and excited!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

Bob's work had a Christmas party a few weeks ago. They always have it in January to avoid all the busyness in December.  They had it at the store and we all brought something to pass for the dinner. We were slow in signing up for food, and when Bob went to sign up, all that was left was rolls.
I didn't feel right bringing just a bag of store rolls to the party, so I did some recipe hunting. I found this recipe which was so easy to make, and turned out great! I went home with an empty pan and several requests for the recipe.
Here it is - easy to make and very good!  I doubled it to make a 9x13 pan.

Easy Cheesy Garlic Monkey Bread

1 stick butter, melted
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons chopped parsley
1 can biscuit dough, 16 ounces
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, optional
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, finely shredded
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, finely shredded
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Stir together melted butter, garlic powder and chopped parsley in a small bowl.  Pour 1/4 cup of butter mix into a large bowl.
Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces and toss in butter mix in bowl.  Stir in seasoning, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, keeping just a little cheese aside for topping.
Brush some of the remaining butter mix over bottom and sides of 9x9 pan.
Place the biscuit and cheese mix into the pan. Sprinkle remaining cheddar and mozzarella cheese over top.  Then sprinkle parmesan cheese over all and top with remaining garlic butter mix.
Bake for about 25 minutes until golden brown.
Allow to rest about 10 minutes before serving.

Wordless Wednesday

 

A Day in my Life - February

 We've made it to February! Here's my usual post with how I spent the first day of the month.

February 1 was my day off and because I knew I could sleep late, I was up until 2am.  I was finishing another photo book; one of our families year.  I find when working on these things it's best to just keep working, and late at night when there are no interruptions is the best time to get a lot done.  I finished it at 2 and then went to bed.

I got up at 9 and started some laundry.

After that I cleaned the bathrooms.

Bob was out in his woodshop and I went out to see what he was up too.  Here's how the backyard is looking. The temps have been over freezing for the last week and our snow is nearly gone.

The hydrangea blooms from last summer are hanging on.

Here's Bob in his shop.  He's working on a new bench to put in the flower gardens this Spring.

I needed to run some errands and made my way to Costco.  That's never a quick stop. (never cheap either!)

I made a quick stop at the local grocery store for some things I couldn't get at Costco.

When I got home, I tried a tip I'd seen on taking meat off a rotisserie chicken. You were supposed to put it in a zip lock bag, roll it around and easily pick the meat off the bones.  It didn't work...  I did it the old way.

This is my pantry and it was looking quite a mess and it was hard to tell what I had in there.
I sorted it all out, rearranged everything and put it back.

Lots better!  I updated my inventory sheet on the door too.

Then I worked on my Bible study, a new one I'm just starting... and then made supper.

We had One Pan Sausage and Veggies for supper; quick, easy and always tasty!

After cleaning up supper, I lit some candles and we relaxed for the evening. I went to bed around 10, staying up so late the night before caught up with me!
Yes, it was another good day!