Weekly Menu

This past week was simple - just Darryl and I and then a few meals from church.  Now it's time to get back into reality and real life cooking all while trying to keep the grocery bill as very low as possible!  I don't have a food prep photo this week because other than chopping up lettuce for salad I didn't do much.  The ladies from church supplied us with tons of fruit with their meals so the fridge was overflowing with fruit meaning that I didn't have to buy any this week.  I keep thinking my garden will produce some stuff but so far I've only picked a few cherry tomatoes.  Both the cucumber and zucchini vines have TONS of flowers but no vegetables yet.

So the plan for this coming week:

Friday  - Brats and Hotdogs with fries and fruit

Saturday - Beefy Noodle Bake, Salad and Rolls - This is a recipe a friend made for us before Darryl's surgery and I loved it.  I'm hoping it is as good when I make it!!

Sunday - My parents are coming over for the day so I have lunch planned :-)  (I'm keeping my mom in suspense.)

Monday - Orange Ginger Pork Loin with Rice, Green Beans and Rolls

Tuesday - Tacos, Beans and Chips and Salsa

Wednesday - Breakfast!!!  Amish Breakfast Casserole, Muffins, and Fruit

Thursday - Chicken Alfredo Pizza (for the big people) and the kids favorite frozen pizzas (for the little people) with salad.

This weeks meals are freezer/pantry based with the exception of Thursday.  (Meaning, I don't have any of the stuff on hand to make that Pizza).

A Visit

Recently, my brother Kel, sister-in-law Deb and niece Marisa visited us.  They came in on a Saturday and stayed the night, attended church with us and then stayed through lunch before heading home.  My boys love Kel because, well, Kel loves them, talks to them and plays with them too!

One of the funniest things of the whole visit was when one of the boys looked at him and said, "Where is all of your hair?" hahahaha

 The boys have LOVED having Darryl home as he is recovery (and I have too!!)  Nate enjoys "things" so doing puzzles with his dad is a favorite activity.

 Nate and Josh took over Darryl's couch (since he has to lay down alot still) and turned it into a fancy bed with all kinds of pillows and animals.

Things My Kids Say

* It's the time of year where we get about 4 flies in the house no matter how many we kill on a daily basis.  It was super cute when Nate walked in the kitchen and asked for the "Flyswapper."  :-) hahaha

* The boys and I were heading to the grocery store so I fixed their hair.  Josh looked at himself in the mirror and said, "Wow, I look Fandsome"  I had to leave the room so I could laugh but no, I did not correct him.  I LOVE hearing kids say things wrong - eventually they will learn to pronounce everything correctly but for now, we just enjoy their creativity.

* The boys were out in the pool one day when I heard, "Abra Ca-Pocus"  I think they have their magic and witchcraft sayings mixed up HA! 

Coming Home

The boys, after being gone for two weeks, finally came home on Monday, July 7th.  Wow, two weeks a long time but I was sure glad that they had so much fun at my parents with VBS, swimming in the neighbors pool, and taking rides on their big wheels.  I think they were a little excited to get home though and got right into playing with their stuff and, of course, swimming.  They also have enjoyed having their dad home every day all day. 

 Darryl has to spend quite a bit of time laying down so he and the boys love playing games on the Ipad.  They love passing different levels and yes, all get extremely excited about it!

The boys are also so helpful - they will get Darryl's back brace and walker for him, often without even being asked. 

 Darryl also is supposed to walk as much as possible so he and the boys take 3-4 walks a day.  The boys love it because they get to ride their bikes around the neighborhood (super fast!) which, considering they aren't allowed to leave the driveway normally, that is a huge deal. 

We took this walk one night after baths so they just looked too cute in their PJ's and Mohawk bike helmet zipping down the road.  For the record, I do tend to do at least one walk with them but, honestly, the other walks, I really enjoy the 10 minutes of solitude :-)

Food Friday - Gooey Raspberry Coffee Cake

Gooey Raspberry Coffee Cake
adapted from I wash . . . You dry

When the kids were gone I wanted to make something good for dessert.  I love raspberries and came across this recipe for a Raspberry coffee cake.   It was so good!  The white chocolate is a perfect combo paired with the Raspberries.  I will say that the fresh raspberries kinda disappeared into the cake as it cooked and I could have easily put in some more.  It is best eaten once it is completly cooled (I tried it while it was still too hot and, well, it was HOT)  My husband said it tasted more like the juice from maraschino cherries than raspberries but I didn't think so :-)  

Crust:
• 1 box yellow cake mix (just the mix)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
Filling:
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
Topping:
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cold (cut into small pieces)
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Crust:
2. In a large bowl combine the cake mix, egg and melted butter with a sturdy wooden spoon until it becomes a soft dough. Use half of the dough for the crust, and press it into the bottom of the baking pan.
Filling:
3. Spread the raspberries and white chocolate chips evenly over the crust. Drizzle with the sweetened condensed milk.
4. Use the remaining half of the crust to cover the raspberry filling, as best you can. (separate the dough into small disk shapes and lay on top of the raspberries)
Topping:
5. In a bowl combine the ingredients for the topping. Use your hands to squish the topping together, until it becomes a crumbly, coarse mixture. Sprinkle on top of the cake bars.
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the center is only slightly jiggly. Let cool completely before lifting the cake bars out of the pan. Cut into squares. The bars should still have a gooey texture to them. Enjoy!

 

Weekly Menu

Food Prep was a HUGE success this week.  It helped that we were expecting company on Sunday so I prepped for for a nice lunch on Sunday after shopping on Saturday.

The photo shows a pan of baked beans ready to go in the oven on Sunday morning, Watermelon, grapes, the makings of "Ken's Fruit Salad" and Asian Coleslaw.  Plus chopped lettuce for salad during the week and, not included in this photo is a pork loin simmering on the stove for Root Beer Pulled Pork for Sunday as well.

My kids are going to my in-laws for a short week so that means "the cooking gets easy around here." 

Friday - The kids leave during the afternoon for my mother-in-laws house.  Darryl has to go to the hospital and get x-rays of his back so we'll do that and then stop somewhere for dinner.

Saturday - I'm going to try my hand at fish tacos again.  I've tried them a few times and have yet to find a good recipe - it's a meal we love to get at a restaurant so I'd like to recreate it at home!

Sunday -This is up in the air as of right now.  We are planning to go to the church my brother will be speaking at on Sunday evening so I'm thinking hamburgers for lunch with corn on the cob.  But, it's possible he will be speaking in the morning and, if that happens, we'll grab something after church for lunch. 

Monday - Darryl has a late afternoon doctor appointment so we'll grab dinner out after that is done.

Tuesday - We are expecting dinner to be delivered from someone at church.

Wednesday - We are going to my in-laws to pick up the boys and will have dinner with them as well.

Thursday - This is our last meal from church.  We've really been blessed by the meals from the church and friends over the past few weeks that's for sure!

Based on that list above I hardly need to go grocery shopping. Ok, I still do because we still need bread, milk and Pepsi :-)

Surgery

I'm trying to catch up on some events that took place over the past few months.  One of these days, I want to print my blog by the year so these posts are a great way to keep a timeline! 

As you all know, my husband had back surgery on June 25th so here are a few photos.

 This was the big "D" before surgery.  He was all wrapped in warm blankets while we waiting for the surgeon.  The day was long, that's for sure.  He was scheduled for surgery at 8:30 and they took him back at about 8:45.  We were told it would take about about 2 hours but, at about the 1 1/2 hour mark the nurse came out to tell me all was going well.  I waited and waited and then at the 3 1/2 hour mark, the nurse came out again and said it was taking a lot longer than expected but all was going fine.  Finally, about 45 minutes later they told me he was in recovery and it would be about an hour.  Well, two hours later, the nurse came out and said he was out cold thanks to pain meds so until he woke up I could "relax" in the waiting room.  Well, to keep an even longer story short, I did get back to see him and was told he would be sent to a room within the hour . . .ready, TWO hours later we were still waiting for a room!!!  He was finally taken to his room at about 6:30 that evening.  Considering the fact that we expected to be in a room by noon that day, well that was just crazy.  Once Darryl was settled in, I went to our favorite Mexican place and picked up some dinner so it made the long day a little better!

 We had a beautiful view out the window of his room - there were storms rolling in - it was pretty cool to watch.

We finally got him sitting up for a bit but he was pretty sick for a few days and in some severe pain which caused our hospital stay to be longer than planned - the doctor had hoped to get us out on Friday but we stayed until Sunday as it took that long to get his pain under control.