Food for the Week

 

MONDAY

Recipe: Meatballs with Peppers and Pineapple

Prep Time: 20 Minutes  |  Cook Time: 20 Minutes  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 8

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Ingredients

• 1-¼ pound Ground Beef
• ½ whole Onion, Diced Very Finely
• 1 whole Egg
• ½ cups Panko Bread Crumbs (or Regular Breadcrumbs)
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
• ½ teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper, More To Taste
• ¼ cups All-purpose Flour
• Canola Oil, For Frying
• 2 whole Green Bell Peppers, Seeded And Diced Roughly
• 1-½ cup Fresh Pineapple Chunks
• 2 cups Beef Stock Or Broth
• 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
• ½ cups Sherry Or White Wine Vinegar
• ⅓ cups Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
• Salt To Taste
• Crushed Red Pepper, To Taste
• Extra Beef Stock If Needed

Preparation Instructions

Combine ground beef, diced onion, egg, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, and crushed red pepper. Mix with hands until combined. Roll meat mixture into small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Freeze on the pan for 15 minutes to firm.

Mix together beef stock, soy sauce, sherry (or vinegar), sugar, and cornstarch.

Heat canola oil over medium-high heat. Roll meatballs in flour, then fry in two batches until nice and brown, about two minutes per batch. Remove meatballs and set aside on a separate plate.

Pour off oil from pan and return pan to medium high heat. When pan is hot, throw in the chopped green peppers and cook for one minute. Add pineapple to pan and cook for one minute, stirring gently. Pour in stock/soy sauce mixture, then add meatballs. Stir gently to combine and allow to cook and bubble for a few minutes, or until sauce is thickened. Add salt and crushed red peppers to taste. (Hint: this dish is yummy if it’s a little spicy.)

Serve over cooked brown or white rice.

 

TUESDAY

Pork chops with red potatoes:

Marinate pork chops in some soy sauce about an hour before cooking. Heat skillet and throw in some EVOO (Rachel Ray term for extra virgin olive oil) with a little chunk of butter. salt and pepper each side of pork chop. Fry each side for 4 to 5 minutes with lid on. remove pork chops from skillet and add some water/soy sauce to the brown pan. use wire whisk to scrape off all brownness from pan. thicken with some cornstarch to desired texture. Pour over chops and serve.

My family loves when i make fried potatoes and i find them especially good when using the red. Chop into bite sizes and coat with EVOO some salt pepper and parmesan cheese. Maybe a little season salt depending on your mood. Put on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or until soft.

I will probably serve a salad with this meal.

 

WEDNESDAY

 

Chicken Enchiladas

 

I do not follow a recipe when i make this dish but it goes something like this...

mix together some cooked and chopped up chicken,a scoop of sour cream, a can of cream of chicken and some salt and pepper. fill your flour tortillas, roll them up and and place in a creased 9x13 pan. On the stove top prepare a white sauce..chunk of butter, a little flour to thicken, milk, cream cheese,white American cheese and some green chilies. pour over the flour tortillas and bake covered at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Ohhhhh so creamy!!! 

 

THURSDAY

 

Soup

 

yeah find your own recipe on this one...hahaha  If i decide anytime one hour before meal time I will let you know what it is.

Hey...at least i gave you the idea!  SOUP

 

Friday

 

Ham N cheese sticky buns

 

12 -18 dinner rolls

ham slices

cheese slices

layer into a 9x13 pan

On stove top cook:

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 T. mustard

2 T. Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp. onion flakes

cook for two minutes and pour over sandwiches. Bake at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes

 

SATURDAY

 

Pizza

 

It is always pizza at our house on Saturday night!

i use frozen bread dough. Pull out of freezer 8 hours before cooking time. roll out onto pizza pan. Let rise about 15 minutes. 3/4 cup sauce, your choice of cheese and then your toppings!!  ham/sausage/pineapples sprinkle with garlic salt or Italian seasoning to kick it up a notch

get creative, your family will love it!!

 

bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

TIP: if you are using stone wear as your pizza pan remove your pizza onto a cutting board only minutes after coming out of oven. It will prevent your crust from getting hard and dried out.

 

SUNDAY

 

LETS GO OUT FOR DINNER!!!!! 

Community Kindness

I love this place.  I have no groan in me when the need arises to visit here.

Let me give you some clues about one of the most favorite stops for me in my town.

I buy my stamps here. (ok that was a dead give away)

i pick up my parents mail here when they are out of town. (really you should have it by now)

I receive help from this place to send packages to my sister Lindy in India.

I take all my Christmas cards here to be mailed out.

In case you are dumb... I will give you one more clue.

I get my mail here and send my mail off here.

 

 

THE POST OFFICE

like every time i go here the same guy is behind the counter. He is ALWAYS smiling.He has this chuckle that he does with every costumer whether they are responding to him or not. He really knows what he is doing and even when he has a line of costumers he is not flustered but handles it with great speed. He speaks to everyone in the line, making conversation as he works. HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A MAN MULTI TASK???   If not please come to my town to order your next book of stamps.   (Which really I am bummed that they have no heart or some kind of Valentine stamps. They should have. I asked about it today and he smiled and said "NO, there is talk of them printing some this summer". and then he chuckles and adds "I work for the government")  I will go with you personally and together we will witness this great amazing Post Office Worker.

It just got me thinking today after I left there how much I enjoy going in there. Why?

Is it because it is a man working here and I am attracted.

No.

It is not that it is a CLEAN place and smells good. No this is never the case in this place.

It is because of the atmosphere.

I am convinced that when one begins to smile,be positive, polite to others and KIND it creates a homey and inviting atmosphere.

I got to thinking what if everyplace in our town was this way!!! WOW

or on a more personal note what if I would be more this way?? 

Community Kindness

I can be a part of it.

EVERY where i go...EVERY clerk I see...EVERY shopper i pass...shed some

KINDESS

As much as we all want to go out in the public and be or do this Kindness thing to others. It is not half as effective unless we have attained it in the private of our homes. sigh, I know right?  Nobody feels like working hard at something behind closed doors. Who will notice? It seems in vain.

But do not be fooled!

see doing these things is not so much for others as it is for yourself. It is in the private of your life where the REAL you lies.So when you begin to exercise kindness,pure thoughts towards others, you name it... it will automatically flow out into your public.  One of the ways you can have an overflow,something coming from inside you into others,is when you are full,fat,experienced,and trained in it yourself.

 

Today I read:

Kindness is language the dumb can speak and the deaf can hear and understand. - Christian Nestell Bovee

Notes of Love

  I walk into my room to throw something on the bed and something catches my eye. You might say how did you notice something unusual on such a FULL nightstand?  Well, don't judge. Everything on this table is important, you know the things you need to grab in the dark or want to grab when cozyed up in bed reading.

 

Like: 

chap stick

tissues

books/LOTS OF BOOKS

hair clips - not so much because you need to grab one but you have started a collection at your bed side from taking them out before it gets dark.

a pen - I AM A MOM. YES, I MULTI TASK. Yet I need the help of a list now and then.

a picture frame - let me just say that this one is no ordinary one. First... I LOVE the color and about 2 years ago i put this photo in it. Last summer my husband climbs out of bed (in the dark) and his foot hits the frame.It crashes to the floor and brakes the glass into tons of little pieces. I could hear it go...and my heart SANK! 

Not my beautiful frame! EEEKKKKKKKK  aahhhhhh   Did you have to be so clumsy!!! why didn't you turn a light on?????????  (like who is going to turn the lights on to get up and use the restroom or whatever)  That's us WOMEN far too often.

take it out on someone. If your mad then make someone else miserable too.

THAT IS SO LAME to live like that. But we all do it. some more then others. But we all do it.

LET'S CHANGE THAT!  or at least work on it.

Habits don't just happen they are formed over time.

Let's get to work and form some good ones. I guarantee that not only will you feel much better but those who live with you will too!!

 

so then next I sulk under the covers thinking...how like our relationship right now...the picture might as well be in pieces.  Comon' we all have our different seasons of difficulty in our marriages. They are what refine us. And when you allow them to they better it by a thousand times over. But, you gotta let it.

Next morning i go to clean the mess and am SURPRISED to see that not one piece of glass is out of the frame. It is just broken into many pieces.

I set the frame back up.

I sit and take a long look at it.

I cry

I know that we were meant for each other. and yes, maybe our profile pic looks a bit chattered but we are still together. Not just "together" but TRULY/MADLY/DEEPLY together.

I sigh

i kinda like the frame like this

Elvin chuckled that night when he saw it back in it's usual place and said " I kinda like it like that"

So, this frame is no usual frame. It is VERY SPECIAL TO ME JUST LIKE IT IS.

 

last BUT NOT LEAST...

 CHOCOLATE /make it special dark please!

 

and NO i did NOT rearrange everything just before picture taking.This is the real night stand of Kathy Fisher. Definitely could use some improvements. I was not aware of all this stuff until I am writing about it. But then, who plans on writing about their nightstand? anyway?

Ok back to the point.

Just look at this note placed neatly on my nightstand!!!!

I get these every now and then and when i do, I dive for the pillow

 

 

 

LORD, how does one breathe with love like this at your finger tips?

BE MINE...really?

YES YES I will be yours forever!! I didn't even know she knows to use these terms for Valentines??

 

Now, before you leave this post thinking that life is just adorable here, let me inform you that this same girl will sometimes voice some very radical ugly things at me.

She is a child. I am a Mom. nice and ugly words are spoken. I just prefer to tell the nice ones. smile.smile.

 

 

And what with this duck sitting on my kitchen counter all day??

 

Can someone explain please?  yeah yeah....don't look at me all superstitious out of the corner of your red eye. Just get off my counter!!!         

Am I talking to a duck??

This is ridiculous.

I have things to do.

Summer Soon Please.

 

 

Let SUMMER come soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York City

Last night i worked late. I clean a local business office twice a week. I enjoy this time of week for a couple different reasons.

1.It gets me out of the house alone.

2.It is quite and I have many good thinking moments.

3. It brings some extra money to the house.

Notice that money was last on the list.Rightfully so,I believe far too often our main agenda is MORE MONEY. I do not want money as my master. Although we need it to live it is more important to learn how to live then to make a living.

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This past week end I took my husband on a trip. I PLANNED IT ALL BY MY OWN. WOW ME!  I have always thought it would be sooo romantic to walk under all the GLITZ and GLAM of the New York City lights at night. And so it was planned. No one knew, well i did tell some and i did tell Valorie. I felt it would be a great connecting thing...(we have a secret) and she did very well at keeping it.

One night at dinner he said, "So how much did you spend on my birthday present? Did you have to order it? When is it coming?" Valorie went nuts...saying, "WE ARE NOT GOING TO TELL"

"Oh, so you know what it is?"

"just stop, I am not saying anything"

"I am going to look on the credit card to see what Mommy ordered."

With fingers pointing and now standing up from her dinner place she is almost crying going nuts, "you better not look at the credit card."

"But I may it is my credit card"  Does he have to tease her?

"Daddy you need to pinky swear with me that you will NOT look at the credit card."  since when did pinky swearing make everything OK and since when have we been pinky swearing in our house anyway? But this is great, i am chuckling cause she does very well with winning his heart. "She has him wrapped around her finger"  pound not intended. Hahah

so they pinky swear, yup right over the kitchen table. As far as I know he never did look at the card. Such power a little one can hold.  Mmmmmmm... I need to get me some of that.

My plan was to break the news just hours away from departure on Friday morning. I had to break it to him two days before because of some appointments he had. It all worked out good! We dropped the kids off at family for the week end and we were off to the BIG city! But how disappointing, I forgot my camera! life without pictures is a bit dull

Sunday night sitting at our kitchen table eating yummy chicken alfredo (which i cooked from scratch for just the two of us) I asked him,"Which would you rather be GLITZ or GLAM?"

"Glitz" he replied

I chuckled and we proceeded eating in silence. The kids returned at 10:00 and life is now back to normal, well at least normal for us.

My Goal

 

I have felt a bit detached from the outside world this past week so to blog would feel good.

Most every winter i find something to paint.

This year it is my bedroom, and like usual I start one day with great passion and anticipation and with a goal in mind that goes something like this...

 

Monday - tear down

Tuesday - paint ceiling

  Wednesday-paint trim

Thursady-paint walls

Friday-clean up and redecorate

Saturday- sit in room all day and enjoy my finished work.

 

I HAVE YET TO COMPLETE THAT DESIRED GOAL.

 

In case you forgot i have three children that i tend to. I do not send them them away each day so i can complete my task (although I secretly wish to)

My tear down day was last Monday and I am stuck at Wednesday, yet a week has passed by?  Everything from our walk-in closet is lying around the bedroom floor. I am going through everything and doing a remake over in the closet. Last night while getting up to answer the phone at 3:30 in the morning I tripped my little toe so hard an a basket full of shoes beside the bed. I did not swear. I did not so much as even make a sound.

MANY THOUGHTS WENT THROUGH MY HEAD!

Like:

this is enough!!!!!

WILL I EVER GET THIS PROJECT COMPLETED??

MAYBE I SHOULD CALL IN SOME HELP?

NO

I like to paint and i want to have the enjoyment of doing it.

THEN WHAT IS TAKING ME SO LOOOONNNNNGGGGGGG????

Oh yes...

there is dinner to cook, drawing the third bath in one day for Sarah since she is fighting a flu bug...two things to know about my little girl:

1.  I will bath many times a day when not feeling good.

2. I will spit up weather it is a stomach bug or not just because it is what you do when you don't feel good.

 

There is laundry to do  (Honey, just thought i would let you know that i got the last pair of shorts in my drawer this morning.)  You work together well when your hubby has learned to remind you to do laundry before it is too late!! 

and so I realized that maybe the goal I had was stuck in my head and causing the frustration with the unfinished task. So i sank back into bed with a sigh of relief telling my room that IT WILL GET COMPLETTED. just not within a weeks time.

and I will make myself to be OK with that!

At least this winter.

 

In case you are wondering why the phone ring at that time in the night?  My sister Lindy who lives in India is 10 hours ahead of us. My husband has made it very clear to her that unless it is an emergency no calls after midnight...haha  So I freak when i hear it ring at that time!

Well little Manju discovered how to press the button to call the last person dialed. And it just so happened to be me!!!  hahaha Thank-God all is well! Do pray for Lindy this week as she is fighting a nasty cold.

 

Today I read: Loyalty makes a person attractive

FRIENDS

 

 

CHADWIN & LILY

 

I will pull you across the ice,

I will play with you and laugh,

i will argue and sometimes even fight with you.

You are one whom I will remember when I grow up and look back into my childhood days.

I will smile.

FRIENDS that is what we are.