My Plan Monday

Here we are, it's already Monday again!  I'm not sure what happened to last week, but it really flew by.  The best part of the week was making a quick trip to visit my good friend Jennifer and hand-deliver Mighty Max's quilt!  It was a short visit, but I am so grateful to have seen Jennifer and all of her beautiful children and to meet little Max.  What a miracle he is!

My plan for this week still isn't totally figured out.  ;-)  I spent all day yesterday doing laundry.  I mean ALL DAY!  I had really let things get behind and then being out of town for two days helped pile on to the mountains of clothes.  I actually did too much yesterday, because this morning I am really sore and still tired.  Sometimes I forget that I'm almost 7 months pregnant and carrying around this little guy.  The hardest thing that I did yesterday was to through all of my GG's baby clothes.  She's 3 now and we had 3 huge tubs of clothes in the basement full of her baby clothes.  I was hoping to find some neutral things in there, but EVERYTHING was PINK! lol  So, I need to start buying some clothes, bit by bit, for our little guy.  What made this hard, was that I boxed everything up to donate to charity.  Seeing all of her cute, little clothes and knowing that we weren't going to have any more children after Peanut is born was really hard. Well, unless God blesses us with another child, but in all honesty, I am just getting too old to have another one.  :-(   But, I just kept telling myself that all of these things would help someone and their little blessing and that before I knew it, I'd have drawers full of cute, blue, little boy clothes.

Our menu for this week is pretty simple, because we are recovering from our mini trip we took last week.  Plus, it's just getting to be too much for me to fix huge meals every day for dinner, so this week is an easy one.

This weeks menu:  

Monday - Cheese Ravioli with spaghetti sauce, whatever yummy veggie is on sale, French bread
Tuesday- Waffles, fruit salad
Wednesday- Taco Soup w/ sour cream and Fritos, Cornbread
Thursday- Grilled cheese, French fries, Pasta Salad
Friday- Payday- Carryout Pizza
Saturday- Still deciding on this one!  It's college football game day and our team plays at 6, so I'm trying to decide what fun snacks to make to eat while watching the game. :-)
Sunday- Three Packet Crock-pot roast, Loaded baked potatoes, Salad, Biscuit

Just for fun goodies:

Libby's Pumpkin Cranberry Bread from All Recipes
Spiced Pumpkin Fudge from All Recipes (I tried a recipe last week from my recipe file that I thought was what I had made before.  It DID NOT turn out. :-(  I had to throw it in the trash.  It turned into a grainy, pumpkin carmel.  So, I'm trying a different recipe this week and crossing my fingers!  I can't believe I didn't have the right recipe filed!)

Things to do:


There is only one thing that I'm putting on my to-do list for this week and that's because I need to get it done as quickly as I can.  I need to quilt and bind a baby quilt that I'm making for a friend who is due this month.   So, even though I have tons of things I'd like to work on at the same time, I'm not even going to write those down, because I don't want to tempt myself and get distracted from what's most important this week!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a good week ahead!  I am hoping to share some baby things that I have made these past few weeks with you all soon.  I have the pictures taken and ready to go, it's just finding the time to write out the post! :-)

Take care and God Bless!
di

Falling for Autumn - a digital scrapbook layout

It's been ages since I have done any scrapbooking.......ages.......so much was going on and I just couldn't get myself to be creative in the scrapbooking way at all.   I think that's another reason why I turned to sewing so much.   My brain was dying to be creative and needed something to do and since scrapbooking wasn't working, sewing did.

But, I sat down the other day for some reason and actually did a page!  It felt great and I kinda had to reteach myself how to play around with Adobe Photoshop Elements a bit.

This is my little Gracie outside playing in the leaves a few weeks ago.   Everything that I used for this page is from the Autumn Flea Market Kit by Shabby Miss Jenn Designs.

I'm hoping that this will help me get back into the swing of scrapbooking again....heaven knows that I have a bazillion photos that need to be scrapbooked!  Either traditionally on paper or digitally!

Take care and God Bless!
di

My Plan Monday.....

I hope that you all had a wonderful Halloween yesterday!  I can't believe that today is November 1st!!!  Wow, what happened to this year?  I know that for me, it has been a very hard year and it seems like it was full of more downs that ups.  I'll just say that it is really hard to deal out 'tough love' to a child, but sometimes it just has to be done.  It took me quite awhile, but I finally accepted the fact that I wasn't a bad mom for having to put my foot down and be strong for myself and the rest of my family and let my 19 year old daughter move on, make her own choices and mistakes and deal with them.   Needless to say, it has been quite a year.  Add into that being pregnant and wow...... I'm surprised that I'm still sane. lol

I don't have a meal plan for this week, because we are going to be visiting a good friend of mine and deliver a very special quilt that I made, so we're pretty much going to be living out of what's in the fridge.  I probably won't be doing any baking either, but that's probably a good thing.  I've been on a huge baking kick and it will do our waistlines a favor to go a week without having tempting goodies sitting out on the counter all week.

I must tell you that I made the Toasted Pumpkin Seed recipe from Simply Recipes and it is AWESOME!   I had three, very large pumpkins worth of seeds and even though the seeds were larger, they turned out great.  This recipe boils the seeds in salted water for 10 minutes before toasting them and it made all of the difference in the world.   My seeds were perfect, crunchy and absolutely delicious!   So, be sure to give this recipe a try or save it in your files for next Halloween's pumpkin. :-)

I also made the Peter Peter Pumpkin Bars and they were delicious!   I substituted butter for the shortening and that's the only change I made.  Oh, besides putting candy corn on top instead of those candy pumpkins.  lol  It has an orange frosting on it and it was really yummy and a refreshing change from the typical cream cheese frosting.  This one will be going into my "Tried and True" recipe file as well.

My husband finished up my daughter's Kingdom Hearts coat, so I finally get my sewing machine back!  I sure have missed it.  Time to finish up a baby snuggler for Peanut and quilt a baby quilt that needs to be finished this month.  My to-sew list is getting very long and I really need to write it down here, because right now most of it is in my head and that's not good!

Wishing you all a wonderful Monday!
God Bless,
di

Quilter's Blog Festival - Mighty Max's Quilt

I am really excited to have a very special quilt to share with you all for the Quilter's Blog Festival that's being hosted by Amy's Creative Side.   Well, I'm just really excited that I finally started quilting and that there are so many wonderful bloggers out there who are so talented and generous with sharing their tips and tutorials that help self-taught quilters, like myself.  :-)

The quilt that I am sharing with you was made for a very, very special little guy, who's mommy is a friend of mine from high school who I was lucky enough to reconnect with over a year ago.  And by little, I do mean little!  Max was 2 pounds 1 ounce when he was born almost six month premature.  This fact in itself just astounds me, because I am six months pregnant right now and I can't imagine having my own little guy enter the world this early.  But Little Max did and he had a very long and hard first 100 days.   He had several surgeries and many close calls and it wasn't long before friends and family started calling him, "Mighty Max".  A name that describes him perfectly!   

When Max was in the hospital and going through all of her terrible ups and downs, I started feeling my nesting phase hit and for some reason,  I decided that I wanted to start quilting.  I think part of it was just the idea of making something snuggly and comforting for others and my own family.   I have made a few very simple baby quilts many years ago, but that's it.  And by simple, I mean that the quilt was one gigantic Ohio Star made from one huge triangle template.  I never quilted them, I just tied them, but they were great baby gifts and fun to sew.  But, I hadn't quilted since then and I'd say it had been at least 12 years or longer since I had made one last.   

I knew that I just had to make a quilt for Max.  I found this great tutorial for The Road Trip Quilt at Click. Cluck. Sew.   I went to JoAnn's and found this super cute fabric with the zoo animals on it and that lion reminded me of sweet, little Might Max.   This is a great quilt for a beginner, because there aren't any seams to match up!  And, it came together really quickly.   If I ever make it again, I will make it longer, but this will be a great size to wrap Max up in this winter.  

This is the first quilt that I did any real machine quitting on, too.   I went out and bought a walking foot, because I was working on another quilt for a benefit and was going to machine quilt on it.   I guess the benefit quilt was my FIRST quilt to machine quilt on, but I only went around the strips and didn't do any more than that, because I was afraid to mess it up. lol    I was actually working on both of those quilts at the same time, because I needed to finish the benefit quilt before October and I worked on Max's quilt here and there at the same time.   I decided to quilt it like the quilt in the tutorial was done and I'm glad that I did, because it was a good learning experience and just plain practice in sewing straight lines.

  

For the back, I used some snuggly, polka dot flannel.  :-)

I really wanted the label to be special, so I sat down and drew a larger version of the lion from one of the zoo print fabrics.   I embroidered it with some DMC floss and then wrote the rest of the label with a permanent marker.

So, as you can see, this is a very special quilt!  It's for a totally amazing little man, who I'm happy to say that after almost 120 days in the hospital, he has been home now for almost two months now and he's doing fantastic!  He weighs over 10 pounds and is a happy and adorable guy!   And, I really learned A LOT while sewing this quilt.   Besides learning how to really make, sew and quilt a quilt, I learned something else......I am here by and officially addicted to fabric and quilting.  lol  I have another baby quilt sitting by patiently waiting to be quilted and I can't wait to get started on it.   And, a Christmas quilt for my table....and a lap quilt for the living room.....lol  My husband has actually been hogging my sewing machine all week!   He's sewing a Matrix coat for my daughter for an Anime Convention.  She's a huge Kingdom Hearts fan (it's a video game. lol) and some of the characters wear coats that resemble those long coats from The Matrix.   That was a little much for me to tackle, but my husband has tailor blood running through his veins and he's a natural when it comes to sewing.  Yes, I'm jealous! lol    And, yes, there is a long list of other projects that I want to sew, mainly things for my own little man, who is due to arrive the first of February.   :-)

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I've linked up to The Blogger's Quilt Festival, Tidy Mom and Fun to Craft and The Airing of the Quilts.   I can't wait to sit down and look at everyone's quilts and projects that they are sharing.   Please know that I am so grateful for everyone's sharing of their quilts, tips, hints, ideas, you name it!   It is what really got me wanting to quilt, has helped me learn to quilt and is what's keeping me inspired to learn more and make more!

God Bless,

di

p.s. Oh, I forgot to tell you.......if by some twist you actually know who Might Max is (the world is smaller than we think sometimes and the internet world connects us all together!) please don't share this with Max's mom.   We are taking a little road trip soon so that we can hand-deliever this quilt to Max and I sure want to keep it a surprise!   I'm pretty sure, well hoping, that she doesn't read my blog......but I really wanted to share this quilt with you all for the Quilter's Blog Festival, because it is so special! :-)

Family Favorite Recipes- Breakfast for Dinner - Biscuits and Gravy

We had our first cold and rainy evening a couple of days ago and I was so glad that biscuits and gravy was on the menu that night.  This is one of those total comfort meals for us and a lot of times if the following conversation comes up in our house, this is what we make.

"What sounds good for dinner?"
"Oh, I don't know. What sounds good to you?"
"Uh......hum....."
(several minutes of silence as we stand and stare at each other)
"How about biscuits and gravy?"
"YES!"

lol

Needless to say, this is something that I have made A LOT in our 17 years of marriage and I've actually been making a different version of this since I was a kid.....I'll share that with you, too. ;-)  The gravy is made with a basic white sauce recipe.   This is what my mom taught me ages ago and I've never looked in a real cookbook so see if they are the same.   You can double, triple, quadruple this gravy recipe to make as much as you need.  When I made this for my self, I used a single recipe.  Now, when I was feeding 2 adults and 3 teenagers, I quadrupled the batch.   It's super easy to do and I've never had a problem making a big batch of gravy.   The other thing that I have to do different now is with the sausage.  I do not eat chicken, red meat or pork and fish every now and then.  My husband and son love meat. lol  So, my husband cooks up some real sausage and I cook up some Morningstar Farms veggie sausage links for me and my daughter.   I use the links, because me and my daughter always snack on a couple while the gravy is cooking, but they also make 'sausage crumbles' that work great, too.  Then, at the table, you put whatever sausage you want on your biscuits and top with the gravy.  I used to mix the vegetarian sausage into the gravy while still on the stovetop, but now that my husband has been fixing it with real sausage, we have to assemble at the table. :-)   The SOS version is after the biscuits and gravy recipe.

Biscuits and Gravy:

basic white gravy recipe for one, hearty serving (double, triple, etc....to make as much as you need)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk

sausage of your choice, cooked and crumbled
baked biscuits - homemade or store-bought (I uses store-bought, because biscuits are just one thing I can't make!  :-(  Unless they are drop biscuits. lol)

In a saucepan, melt the butter.  Whisk in the flour and cook for one minute.  Whisk in the milk and cook over medium heat until the gravy comes to a boil and thickens.  Reduce heat to low and let sit until you're ready.   If you are using just one kind of sausage, you can add the cooked sausage to the gravy as it simmers on the stove.  Use as much as you like!  :-)  Sorry, no exact measurements again.

Split your biscuits on your plate and top with some sausage and gravy.  Add salt and pepper to taste..  As you can see from the picture above, I like a lot of pepper. lol   Since I have a wide-range of eaters and tastes, I let them put their salt/pepper on their own and I don't put it in the gravy before it's served.

SOS version: (a.k.a. S**t on a Shingle - sorry, my dad was a Navy cook and this is what they called it!)

Make the gravy as above, but while it is thickening, cut up pieces of dried beef and stir into the gravy.   The gravy softens up the dried beef and adds a good amount of salt, too.  Serve on toast.

Now, I haven't had red meat in almost 17 years and I must tell you, if there is anything that I miss and might even possibly consider ever eating that had meat in it, this is it. lol  I used to make this for breakfast almost every morning when I was in high school.  Nothing makes me think of home more than SOS!

I hope you're all having a good day.....it is cold here and even at 11 a.m. it's still in the 30's!  Burr....

God Bless,
di

Family Favorite Recipes - Quesadillas

I should call these "Game Day 'Dillas" because we almost always make these on Monday for Monday Night Football, Saturday for Saturday's college football games, or Sunday for Sunday Night Football.  Yep.  We're football junkies. lol   This is one of those recipes that just kind of came together and is something that we've been making for years.  You can make these any way that you want to really, just cheese and beans or chicken, or fully loaded like I like mine!  The amount of ingredients really depends on how many people you're feeding and who likes what, so if you have a lot of tomato eaters, you will need more, if no one likes tomatoes but you, then you won't need as much. :-)  So, no amounts are given here....

Quesadillas-

burrito-sized flour tortillas

butter

for the inside:

cooked chicken breast - sliced into thin strips

black beans - drained and rinsed

chopped onions, green bell pepper, garlic and mushrooms that have been sautéed until soft

chopped tomatoes

chopped green onion

sliced black olives

shredded Colby/Jack cheese

condiments on the side:

salsa

sour cream

guacamole

We use a griddle to cook our quesadillas on, but if you don't have one, a large skillet should do the job.

Melt some butter on the griddle and place on flour tortilla on the melted butter.  Sprinkle on some of the shredded cheese.  Now add whatever ingredients you want in the inside.  Then top with another good sprinkle of cheese.   Top with another flour tortilla.  Cook until it is lightly browned on one side and then push the quesadilla as far to the side of the griddle that you can and melt some more butter in the open space on the griddle.  Then, with a large spatula (I use our big, wooden pizza spatula) turn the quesadilla.  If you are cooking these in a skillet, I would remove the quesadilla onto a plate or cutting board, melt the butter in the skillet and then return the quesadilla to the skillet, laying it on the uncooked side.   Cook a few more minutes until lightly brown.  Transfer to a cutting board and let it sit for a couple of minutes, then slice with a large knife, like a Chef's knife, or cut with a pizza roller knife (which works really well actually!)   Put on your plate and pile on some of your favorite condiments and enjoy!

This is one of those recipes that I haven't written down ever, so I'm trying to remember how to make them as I type this out.  So, if you have any questions, please ask!  They are really easy and oh-so good! I just had some leftovers..... ;-)

God Bless,

di

Meal Plan uh... Tuesday - Oct. 25th-31st

Last night the winds and rain hit and our pretty trees in our front yard went from being full of orange/yellow leaves to being totally bare.  Today it really feels like October!  It is cold, cloudy and very windy.  I hope it decided to warm up a bit by Sunday, because it's no fun to go Trick-or-Treating covered from heat to toe in winter weather gear!

This seems to be my life lately......a day late and a dollar short...lol   So, here's my Tuesday version of Meal Plan Monday.  I feel like changing this to a weekly My Life Plan List or something like that.  I'm trying to think of a catchy name, but it's just not coming to me!   I would really like to plan and share several things that I'd like to do each week, not just what to we're going to eat for dinner.  I'm talking about sewing projects to work on, crafts to make, and yummy things to cook, just for fun, etc.

We had a couple of days where we didn't make what we planned, because of my just feeling too tired to do serious cooking, so there are a couple of repeats we had planned for last week but are now having this week.  ;-)

Menus for October 25th-31st:

Monday:  Quesadillas w/ homemade guacamole and chips
Tuesday: Biscuits & Sausage Gravy, fruit salad
Wednesday:  Salmon Rice Patties w/ Green Sauce, sautéed new potatoes, salad
Thursday:  Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole (w/ fresh broccoli instead of frozen veggies), sweet potato fries, salad
Friday:  carry-out pizza!  -we've planned to carve our pumpkins this night
Saturday:  Veggie stir fry w/ fried rice
Sunday:  waiting for the sales add to see what meat is on sale that weekend.....hoping for a roast :-)

Just for Fun Goodies:
The first two are new recipes I'm trying:

-Roasted Pumpkin Seeds from Simply Recipes
-Peter Peter Pumpkin Bars from Taste of Home
-Spiced Pumpkin Fudge - I was pretty iffy on this last year because it just didn't sound good for some reason, but kept hearing tons of oooh's and ahhh's about it, so I finally tried making some.  Oh wow!  It is so good!  I can't wait to make some this week!

Pretty Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns from Taste of Home - I made these this past Friday and they are so yummy!  This recipe makes A LOT!  I cooked one pan of buns on Friday and put the other pan of uncooked buns in the fridge covered w/ plastic wrap.  Then, on Sunday, I sat the pan out for awhile and then cooked them up and they were still super yummy.

Things to do:
-Start pinning together my quilt sandwich for this quilt and hopefully start quilting it this week
-Buy two plastic, 12"x12" boxes to store quilt work-in-progress in - I got the idea from the Sew Scraps Along at Pleasant Home
-Start cutting my charm packs for this quilt that I'm making to put on our dinner table during Christmas
-Sew the Velcro onto Mr. Peanuts snuggler (You can find the free pattern here.  I went ahead and bought the book!)

I hope you are all having a great beginning to a new week.  I can't believe that it's almost November!!!!! Wow, before I know it, I'll be trying to plan what to have for Thanksgiving!  And then Christmas!!!

Take care and I'd love to hear what you have planned for this week. :-)
God Bless,
di