Favorite Things - Spring Trees 2

The flowers on the trees are in full bloom - love a beautiful, sunny spring afternoon!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Nearly Wordless Wednesday 3/30/11

Love the baby buds and little leaves on the cottonwood tree in our front yard!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Favorite Things - Fresh Bread

 Our St. Patrick's day Irish Soda Bread, with the first slice gobbled up straight from the oven:

Freshly-baked bread is for sure a favorite thing!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Favorite Things - Kids' Art

I love that kids in our school get to do REAL ART with a REAL ART TEACHER. Thanks to an incredible grant program, we have both visual and performing art specialists in our school, and our kids are exposed to some amazing activities and concepts.

For the past couple of weeks in art the class has been working on a really cool cactus painting. First, they drew the cactus using a series of oval shapes. Then they painted each shape with watercolors.  The next week they glued spikes onto the cactus, and then added ink to the outlines of the cactus. Finally, ink was used to create details on the cactus.

Paining the cactus with watercolors:

Gluing on spikes:

Drawing the outline and details with ink:

Finished art:

 Kids' art, and the great experiences they have creating it, is absolutely a favorite thing!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Menus 3/28/11 - 4/3/11

Monday, 3/28: Hobo Hash (from the freezer), steamed green beans or broccoli, green salad.

Tuesday, 3/29: Cheap eat out (Mr. Mamie has class); YOYO/CORN for GrandmaT.

Wednesday, 3/30: Chicken Enchilada Soup (from the freezer), cornbread, green salad.

Thursday, 3/31: Asian Chicken, Yellow Rice (a HUGE favorite here!), green salad.

Friday, 4/1: Basil Cheeseburgers OR Southwest Turkey Burgers OR Healthy Turkey Burgers (the patties are frozen in the freezer; everyone can choose their own), sweet potato fries done the oven (from the awesome giant bag of frozen sweet potato fries sold at Costco), various burger toppings.

The weekend is up in the air, as my birthday is on Saturday and our plans are not firm yet.

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Favorite Things - Great Kids' Books

I have an extensive classroom library, far more books than any one kid could read in a year. Alas, that doesn't stop me from always spotting MORE books that I think the kids would love.

This is but a small sample of my classroom library:

A couple of weeks ago I saw this cool pop-up book of inventions on a clearance table at Barnsie:

It was SO PERFECT becasue we had just had a theme about inventions/inventors in our reading series! I didn't immediately buy it though, 'cause the month's book budget had already been spent, and Mr. Mamie and I are really and truly are trying to stick to our budget allocations. Stoopid financial responsibility thing!

I showed the book to Mr. Mamie when we met up awhile later, and tried not to sound too bereft about not getting it... but I guess it didn't work, since he pulled out his wallet and said "Well, I have enough random cash in here, let's go buy it!" SO WE DID! To heck with budgeting and responsibility!

One of my favorite things as a teacher is seeing kids get ALL INTO books, and this awesome pop-up has been immensely popular with the whole class... I wish I could show you the expression this little cutie's face as he's pointing out something in the book - so excited and precious!

 

Great kids' books and great kids who love them are FAVORITE THINGS! And husbands who buy book for my classroom are my most favoritist of all!!!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Favorite Things - Cookie Scoop

HOW did I ever survive without a cookie scoop?! This thing is AWESOME! I picked mine up at The Walmartz about a year ago, and it's become one of my favorite kitchen implements.

Great for cookies, of course:

 

Also works for falafel:

 

And no doubt for many other things as well! 

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Nearly Wordless Wednesday 3/23/11

Essential: Dry-erase board on the fridge with my to-do list.

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Favortie Things - My "Sous Chef"

Niece loves to both cook AND eat! She's quite skilled in the kitchen, and can do many tasks independently and even more with a small amount assistance (Nephew, meanwhile,  needs explicit directions and supervision for heating up a can of soup).  Before she was in school full-time, she and GrandmaT made several batches of cookies every week.  We all miss those days! But during Spring Break she came over to help me make a huge batch of my favorite style of chocolate chip cookies (recipe coming soon!). We decided that instead of baking them all right away we'd freeze some "dough balls" could be pulled out of the freezer for fresh-baked cookies on a moment's notice.

Here's my favorite "sous chef" rolling up a ball of cookie dough:

And a few other memories of Niece cooking or eating, two of our favorite past-times!

October 2004, sitting at a picnic table outside of Wombat and GolfDad's RV (or "house-car," as Nephew called it back then). This was a couple of months before they bought their house here in The Village. That's GrandpaE and Golf Dad in the background. Plenty of food on the table!

 March 2006, at my old townhouse. All the family was over for a spaghetti dinner. Niece preferred her noodles plain, though! She's on the couch with GrandmaT.

May 2009, on my front patio with a big ol' burger! That's Great Uncle J in the background; he and Great Aunt C were here from California for a visit.

 October 2009, eating "breakfast for dinner." Niece is our master scrambled egg chef!

Summer 2010 - Niece made and decorated a cake for one of her parents (I can't remember the occasion). Nice job!

Having a niece who likes to hang out in the kitchen with me is for sure a favorite thing!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Favorite Things - SMART Board

I've had a SMART Board for the last several years, and cannot imagine teaching without it! Being able to put together complex interactive lessons and units that integrate video, virtual manipulatives, images, worksheets, music, and more is essential to good teaching - at least, for me.

 

Effective technology in the classroom is a favorite thing!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Menus 3/21/11 - 3/27/11

Monday, 3/21: Moroccan Chicken Salad (minus the kalmata olives), served in Flatout brand multi-grain/flax wraps.  This is the last day of our Spring Break, boo hoo!  I'm looking forward to having leftovers of the chicken salad in my lunch when I go back on Tuesday.

Tuesday, 3/22: Mr. Mamie has class, so it'll be cheap eat out. My week to pick, but I haven't decided yet.

Wednesday, 3/23: Chicken spaghetti with feta (using whole wheat pasta and organic diced, canned tomatoes), French bread (from the freezer) with garlic butter, green salad.

Thursday, 3/24:  Literacy Carnival night at school for me.  Mr. Mamie and GrandmaT will be having ham and broccoli casserole from the freezer.

Friday, 3/25: Crunchy beef tacos (using taco meat from the freezer), slow cooker Mexican beans (from the freezer).

Saturday, 3/26: Spinach and Parmesan pasta, Italian cheese bread, green salad. **Meatless**

Sunday, 3/27: Southwest Turkey Burgers (from the freezer) served on homemade whole-wheat hamburger buns (from freezer), corn and black bean salad. I LOVE having the corn and black bean salad in my school lunch the next day!


~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Favorite Things - Baby Spinach

Love, love, love the giant container of organic baby spinach from Costco - great for salads, smoothies, pasta, pitas, and more!

Healthy, yummy greens are a favorite thing!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Receipe Review: Irish Potatoes

For a little background on how we ended up up NOT having corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's day, see this post.

I've had this recipe for Irish Potatoes from Stephanie O'Dea's "A Year of Slow Cooking" site for several months, and have even put them on the menu plan a few times. Somehow though, they kept getting bumped.  But they finally had their moment on St. Patrick's Day 2011!

These potatoes are dead simple to make, and can either be done in a CrockPot or on the stove top. I did the CrockPot method so that the potato wedges could cook all day while I did other stuff.  I used red potatoes cut in to wedges - not too small, as I didn't want them to turn into mush as they cooked. They were served with Porcupine Meatballs which seemed to work out just fine.  I added the butter, lemon juice, and seasonings after I had put the meatballs into the oven, which gave the potatoes about 30 minutes to soak up the tangy sauce.

YUM! We liked these - easy to make and tasty, two keys to becoming a "repeat recipe" around here!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Recipe: Big Batch Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

While I love my mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe, I also REALLY like this one.  Adding oatmeal to a cookie is almost always a good move, if you ask me! 

I got this recipe from my friend "Feather" in 1991 when a group of us lived in an awesome little apartment building on Adams Point near Lake Merritt in Oakland, CA. She called them "Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip Cookies" - who knows what their provenance is, but they are definitely GOOD!

This makes a HUGE amount of cookies - great for a crowd! Or, freeze small balls of cookie dough in order to bake fresh cookies without the fuss later.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups butter                
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups brown sugar                        
• 4 eggs                    
• 2 teaspoons vanilla        
• 4 cups flour (I always substitute 2 cups of whole wheat flour for two cups of the white flour)
• 5 cups oats (powdered in a blender)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 24 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (a 1/2 bag of toffee brickle chips is a fun substitute for about 6 ounces of the semi-sweet ships)
• An 8-ounce Hershey bar, chopped (I often substitute 8 ounces of milk chocolate chips)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream together the sugars and the butter in a LARGE bowl.  Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients EXCEPT the oats.
4. Blend the oats in a blender until they become powder. Add to the other dry ingredients.
5. Add the dry ingredients (including oats) to the wet ones one cup at a time.  Mix between additions.
6. Add the chocolate chips and the chopped Hershey bar to the cookie dough.
7. Drop on ungreased cookie sheets; bake 10 minutes.

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Receipe Review: Porcupine Meatballs

I'm not really a fan of either corned beef or cabbage, so *that* wasn't happening  at our house on St. Patrick's Day! BTW, Mr. Mamie claims never to have heard of corned beef and cabbage as a "traditional St. Patrick's Day meal." What's up with that? And yes I know, probably no one in Ireland eats corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day, but here in the U.S of A. it seems to be "traditional,"  at least according to the recipes that abound on morning news shows and in the blogosphere.

Yeah, so, what to fix on March 17th? When I was making the menu plan last weekend I took great delight in the fact that the coming week was Spring Break, which would allow me some extra time to cook new and/or more time-consuming recipes.  I had been wanting to make these Porcupine Meatballs from Kate at Cooking During Stolen Moments FOH-EH-VAH and this week seemed like the perfect opportunity.

This morning I cooked up a vast batch of rice using Lundberg organic brown short-grain rice (purchased in bulk from Costco). By vast I mean 6 cups DRY, which yielded almost 12 cups cooked. The rice was also being used to make some freezer burritos, which I will be posting about later.  I cooked the rice in beef broth, which gives it a richer flavor.

After letting the rice cool down, I measured six cups into a big plastic bowl and added two cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese. The recipe alone sounded good enough that I went ahead and planned to make it double-sized so that there'd be plenty for the freezer! Next came a pound of ground beef and the seasonings. I had some doubts about the rice-to-meat ratio, but with the cheese added in it came together perfectly. Just the aroma of the mixture was making my mouth water!

With the amounts of raw ingredients I got right around 52 meatballs. I put 30 on a tray to flash-freeze, which will  be transferred to a Ziploc bag for baking later (should be two meals for three of us, or one meal if the kids are here too).  The remaining meatballs went on another tray and into the fridge until time to bake them for dinner. It was GREAT to have the main dish all prepped early in the day!

I baked the refrigerated meatballs for 35 minutes and the meat seemed to be done. They smelled delicious while cooking, and held their shape perfectly (I think refrigerating helped this aspect). They wanted to stick a little to the foil-lined cookie sheet, so I need to make sure to grease it really well next time.

Mr. Mamie, GrandmaT, and I all LOVED these meatballs, and I am sure that the kids would too.  They had a savory taste and nice texture, and I like that there's so much healthy brown rice in them. Definitely a HIT and a KEEPER!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Favorite Things - Sunsets

I love the sky here, and we get beautiful sunrises and sunsets both.  These two photos were taken last weekend as we came home from picking up a couple of wood-fired pizzas from the "Pizza Wagon" that sets up shop in a parking lot in The Village.

 Driving on the highway, west-bound.

 

Taken from our front yard. The roofline of one house is visible to the right; the rest of the "edges" are the uplifts and mountains to the northwest.

Nature's beauty is for sure a favorite thing!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Favorite Things - Iced Green Tea

A few years ago my friend PhotoK introduced me to the fabulousness of this:

"Shaken" iced green tea from St*rbux. They make it with Tazo brand Zen tea and some other stuff.  Apparently if you order it without modifications it's very sweet, but I prefer "no syrup" (I grew up drinking plain, unsweetened iced tea, and cannot stand Sn*pple or any of that other glopped-up sweet stuff). LOVE the tea from St*rbux, but it IS $2.00+ for a "venti," and I have to drive to the BigTown to get it. It's at Barnsie too, so I almost always have one during my weekly Barnsie time (except, they don't have it in the winter, so I get hot tea or coffee). But, being that it's far away and not totally frugal, an alternative had to be found.

PhotoK discovered that by combining these

a very delicious version of the St*rbux concoction could be created. Awesome! PhotoK always makes it taste soooooo delicious - she has the proportions and steeping time down. But you need both to have the "perfection," and while the Zen tea bags are available from a number of locations, the Refresh is only sold locally at St*rbux. Not so convenient.

Then, at Tar-jay, I discovered this:

Giant sachets that easily make a full half-gallon at a time! Sooooooo convenient! Sooooooo yummy! Soooooooo awesome! 

Definitely my "go-to" cold drink, and absolutely a FAVORITE THING!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

ABCs of Me

Yet another silly meme.  Kinda fun though. Can't remember where I picked this up.

The ABCs of me:



A- Age: 41, 42 is coming in a couple of weeks!



B-Bed size: California King. Nothing else will suffice!



C-Chore you hate: Emptying the dishwasher. Good thing I rarely have to do it!



D-Dogs: Laprador (age 13, adopted from the Berkeley, CA dog pound in December 1997) and BeagleDog, a purebred Beagle I acquired from my brother’s neighbor a few years ago.



E-Essential to start your day: Crystal Light Sunrise Grapefruit – I take statin drugs and can’t have real grapefruit. Also, hot tea on most days (various flavors from Republic of Tea, Tazo, and Celestial Seasonings).



F-Favorite color: PURPLE! Who didn’t already know that about me???



G-Gold or silver: Silver. I do have set each of diamond studs and opals set in gold that I inherited from my grandmother and mother that I occasionally wear.

H-Height: 5”6 with a 30” inseam – short legs.



I-Instruments you play: Kazoo. Not really.



J-Job title: First Grade Teacher.



K-kids: 19, in my classroom! Plus Niece and Nephew, who are “mine” when their parents have had enough of them. And of course, The Little Mermaid – I was her nanny for a gazillion years (starting at age 3, and now she’s a junior in college!).



L-Live: Intermountain West.



M-My mom's name: Squatty Wombat… at least, if you asked me or Igor.



N- Nicknames: Mamie, Teeeeeeeeacher, and recently "Badger." Of course, I've been calling Mr. Mamie "Hedgehog," so....


O-Overnight hospital stay: None of my own; plenty with my mom in her last months. Ugh.

P-Pet peeve: Tardiness.



Q-Quote from a movie: “I’ll bite your leg off!”



R-Right/lefty: Is this a anatomical question or a political inquiry?



S- Siblings:  Younger brother, younger stepsister. Both awesome human beings!

T-Time you wake up: 6:00 a.m. on school days.



U-Underwear: Usually coordinated with other parts of the day’s ensemble.



V-Veggies you dislike: The tree part of the broccoli – terrible texture!



W-What makes you run late:  Getting distracted.

X-X-rays you've had: Teeth (oodles of orthodontia in my youth), feet (bone spurs).



Y-Yummy food you make:  Many things!

Z-Zoo animal: Penguins, rhinos, elephants.

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Menus 3/13/11 - 3/19/11 and some ramblings

It's Spring Break here! The weather's supposed to be in the 70s all week, which is a true delight. We've already been to Zion once and will surely be back again. We're also going to help GolfDad out with replacing some sprinklers, as well as work on our own yard/garage. I'm getting my hair done and am going to go even shorter than I did six weeks ago. I do have one day planned for going onto the classroom - Monday, to get it over and done with - but at least some others from my team are coming in also, and we're going to go out to lunch (Woot! THAT never occurs on regular school days!). Toward the end of the week we might head up to Bryce Canyon, though it depends on how cold it still is there - I want to enjoy some SPRING!

So, I did plan for dinners, but things could change - I LOVE being on break!

Sunday, 3/13:  Healthy turkey burgers with feta cheese mixed in prior to grilling (topped with with a store brand of creamy cucumber salad dressing, lettuce, and tomatoes), slow cooker baked beans (from the freezer).

Monday, 3/14: Mom's tuna casserole (got bumped from last week), steamed broccoli, green salad.

Tuesday, 3/15: Cheap eat out - Mr. Mamie has a class and I am getting my hair done. It's his week to pick, so I am guessing it'll be Pollo Loco.

Wednesday, 3/16: Near East brand falafel, served in whole-wheat pita bread with yogurt-cucumber sauce and diced tomatoes and other garnishes. **Meatless**

Thursday, 3/17: Porcupine meatballs (making extra for the freezer), Irish potatoes, steamed green beans, Irish soda bread. Maybe the meatballs don't really "go" with the other vaguely St. Patrick's Day menu items, but they sounded appealing this week when I have the extra time to make them.  It's my menu, I can make it weird if I want!

Friday, 3/18: Chicken Gyros (chicken cooked on the grill) served in whole-wheat pitas with tzatziki sauce.

Saturday, 3/19: Basil cheeseburgers on the grill and served on homemade whole-wheat hamburger buns, baked sweet potato fries, burger garnishes.

Sunday, 3/20: Cheese Enchiladas with Tex-Mex Chili Gravy,  Mom's Arroz Mexicano (made with organic brown rice), lettuce/tomato topping for enchiladas.

Monday, 3/21: Moroccan Chicken Salad (minus the kalmata olives), served in Flatout brand multi-grain/flax wraps.  I included Monday the 21st on this menu plan as it is the last day of our Spring Break.  I'm looking forward to having leftovers of the chicken salad in my lunch when I go back on Tuesday!

I haven't made bread lately, as we recently got several loaves of Rudi's organic whole wheat bread from the clearance shelf at Natural Grocer's. It's nice to have bread in the freezer and free up time to make some other stuff.  We've been having smoothies for breakfast lately, something we crave when the weather warms up. I've also been enjoying Lazy Granola with yogurt as a quick breakfast, and need to make a new batch. I want to make several batches of cookie dough and freeze the (unbaked) dough balls to bake later.  I also hope to make at least a couple batches of muffins for the freezer, especially these peanut butter ones that the Igor family has been making and gobbling up lately.

For "freezer meals" I made TONS of turkey burger patties tonight (Healthy Turkey Burgers as well as Southwest-Style Turkey Burgers with green chilies added in) and will also make plenty extra of the Basil Cheeseburger patties.  I plan to double the recipes for both Mom's tuna casserole and  Porcupine meatballs. I'm going to make a big batch of taco meat sometime this week and freeze it in meal-sized potions. In addition to things already stashed in the freezer we'll have a nice little stockpile to help get us through some busy weeks coming up after Spring Break (lots of school events and other activities)!


~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Receipe: Smoothies, Mamie Style

Here's my smoothie "recipe," such as it is. The amounts are somewhat approximate, as I don't really measure, I just eyeball it. Just put everything into the blender in the order listed and let 'er rip!

• About 3/4 cup orange juice OR grape juice OR pomegranate juice (can substitute 1/4 cup frozen OJ concentrate).
• 2 - 3 cups frozen berries - strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, marionberries, blackberries, etc. in any combination. Frozen berries are awesome 'cause they make the smoothie nice and frosty! I use both the organic mix usually available from Costco's frozen section or berries that I have frozen myself - usually strawberries and blueberries bought by the case when our Bountiful Basket co-op has them available.
• 1/2 - 1 cup fresh spinach leaves - often I use the ones that have gotten too limp to be salad-worthy. Trust me, you do NOT taste or see the spinach in the smoothie, but it adds great nutrition!
• 3/4 cup yogurt -we use Stoneyfield Farm organic, either low or non-fat plain OR French Vanilla (which we often have around to eat with Lazy Granola).
• 1 banana, broken up. Use two bananas if they are small.

Bonus ingredients:

• Acai powder - I love Garden Greens brand - I don't necessarily buy into all the acai berry hype, but it adds a nice "tang" of flavor to the smoothie.
• Protein powder - you can put in whatever protein powder supplement you use/like. I used to put in soy protein powder, but stopped to accommodate Nephew's soy allergy as well as my belief that there IS such a thing as TOO MUCH soy in one's diet.

 NOM NOM NOM! Smoothies are a great way to start the day!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Zion Backcountry 3/5/11

Mr. Mamie and I went to Zion yesterday for some relaxation. We needed to buy our new annual pass, as ours expired at the end of February, and Mr. Mamie wanted to get that done before the budgeted money got reallocated to something else.

We picked up some sandwiches from the deli at the Village Market and headed out.  It was warm-ish, mostly sunny, with a spread of thin clouds that kept the sky from being super-blue.  We messed around for a bit at the Visitors' Center, and checked at the ranger desk to see if the Riverside Walk was still closed 3/4 of the way toward the Narrows. The ranger said it was, and that it was still pretty icy up there.  Since I was wearing my new red Keens, not hiking boots (and certainly not YaxTrax), and we had inadvertently left our climbing poles at home, we decided to avoid anything too icy/snowy/muddy. We wandered up to the lodge and at our lunch in the sun, enjoying the day. At that point Mr. Mamie decided he wasn't up to much, as his right knee was bothering him again.

We headed out of the lower canyon and back through Springdale, and then decided to take the Kolob Terrace road up toward the reservoir. There was still quite a lot of snow up there, and the road was closed before the reservoir. We poked around a little at the Left Fork trailhead of the Subway and fantasized about hiking it this summer.  Not a lot of hiking to be done, but a beautiful drive and a relaxing day!

These photos were all taken with the iPhone camera (not my DSLR), so they're not the greatest. You can still see the beauty of the Zion Backcountry, though! I am so lucky that all this is practically right outside my front door.

  So much for getting to the Kolob Reservoir...

My feet, in the new red Keens, propped up at the end of the day!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Menus 3/6/11 - 3/12/11

Sunday, 3/6: Chicken Jambalaya, French bread with soft butter spread, green salad. We got a giant loaf of fresh-baked French bread for free (along with a dozen eggs and 8 ounces of sharp cheddar) at the Village Market for FREE when we purchased $15 worth of produce. I think it's their attempt to compete with the Bountiful Basket scene. Since we happened to not order from Bountiful Basket this week, and did need some produce, it worked out great for us!

Monday, 3/7: Taco salad - Mr. Mamie saw the giant, fried shells in the Village Market yesterday and just couldn't resist. We'll make them with ground beef cooked up as taco meat, Slow-cooker Mexican Beans (from the freezer), lettuce, tomato, cheese, green onions, and Cafe Rio-style creamy tomatillo dressing.

 Tuesday, 3/8: Mr. Mamie has a class on Tuesdays, so we usually eat out (something inexpensive, like In n' Out or Pollo Loco). I am SUPER excited to try a new place in the Big Town called Mad Pita Express - it's getting great reviews and my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Wednesday, 3/9: My Mom's Tuna Casserole, steamed broccoli, green salad.

Thursday, 3/10: Golf Dad's Meatloaf (from the freezer), mashed potatoes (from the freezer), steamed green beans, green salad.

Friday, 3/11: Creamy Mexican Chicken Soup (chicken already cooked and in the freezer), cornbread, green salad.

Saturday, 3/12: Planning on homemade pizza. This is the first day of my much-anticipated 10 day Spring Break, so I'm keeping things flexible!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Recipe: Golf Dad's Meatloaf

Food from my childhood! I have to make this at least once a year. I made it a couple of weeks ago, and with only three of us here for dinner, it was enough for that night's meal, everyone's lunch the next day, AND a another dinner-for-three-sized slab to go into the freezer.

Golf Dad’s Meatloaf

• 3 lbs. ground beef (can be a combination of beef, turkey, or pork)
• 1 cup celery, finely chopped
• 1 cup onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup bell pepper, finely chopped
• 4-6 slices bread, crumbed (turns out oatmeal works too, which what I used the last time I made this)
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoons salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray 9”x13” pan with non-stick coating.
3. Mix together all ingredients (smoosh it with your with hands).
4. Put meat mixture in baking pan, spread out.
5. Bake 1 hour and 20 minutes.
6. MY ADDITION: Add a glaze of 1/2 cup ketchup + 2 TBL brown sugar + 2 tsp ground mustard and bake an additional 10 minutes.
7. Drain off any liquid before serving.

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Recipe: Chicken Jambalaya

I got this recipe from a cookbook I used to have called The Monday to Friday Cookbook (the copy I had was even older than the one pictured in this Amazon link!). I have made a couple of slight modifications, but this is pretty much the exact recipe.  I've made this for many potlucks (you can keep it warm in a CrockPot) and it has always been well-received.

Chicken Jambalaya

• 1 large or 2 small onions, finely chopped
• 2 ribs celery, finely chopped
• 2 small red bell peppers, chopped
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (this amount makes dish HOT – can lessen amount)
• 1 bay leaf
• 14 1/2 ounces stewed or diced tomatoes tomatoes
• 1 cup long grain white rice (or brown rice, or cracked wheat)
• 1/4 cup dry white wine or other liquid, such as chicken broth
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken or turkey breasts (I usually pre-cook these)
• 2 scallions (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sauté onion, peppers, and celery in oil for one minute.  Cover and simmer on low heat until tender, about 8 – 10 minutes.
3. Add thyme, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, bay leaf, tomatoes, rice, and wine to sautéed items.  Bring to simmer and season to taste.  Transfer to casserole and bake for 20 minutes, 30 minutes if using brown rice.
4. While above is baking, cut chicken into 1/2-inch cubes and thinly slice scallions (if using). 
5. Stir chicken into casserole and bake covered until poultry is heated through, 10 – 20 minutes. You may need to cook slightly longer of using brown rice.
6. To serve, discard bay leaf and sprinkle casserole with scallions.  Serve right away or let stand covered up to 45 minutes.

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)