My Riverside Warrior

I can't believe that JJ is going to be playing under the Friday Night Lights beginning this year for Riverside High.  I am so proud of him and everything he has accomplished.  I pray that during these next four years he will make some wonderful memories just like his father and I did during our high school years. 

Good Luck JJ!  You make mom and dad proud everyday and we love you very much!  Let's Go Riverside!!

Off to the 2nd day of football practice

Finally got a half smile -- LOL!

Menu Planning Part Deux

I am very proud of myself!  I pulled off the first week of menu planning with just a couple small tweaks.  YES!!  I say a few small tweaks because I was suppose to have had my nieces this weekend.  I had planned kid friendly meals for Friday and Saturday nights for them.  So, when they decided to go with their parents, I changed those two days around with things we had on hand.  Plus, that gave me two days of menus I did not have to plan for this coming week or go to the grocery store for items!  YEA!!

Since this past week was such a success, I sat down this evening and planned for the upcoming week.  I plan on sitting down on tomorrow or Tuesday night and planning the following week as well.  That way I can shop for two weeks worth of groceries instead of one week.  Plus, added bonus in my opinion, I can plan around payday time -- woo hoo!! 

"So, what is for dinner this week?" might be the question you are asking.  Well, you have came to the right place.  Sunday nights (from this point forward) I plan on sharing my menus for the coming week.  That way if someone else is stuck for dinner ideas (like I am from time to time), they might get some inspiration here.

By the way, I am loving Pinterest right now for all the great recipes that can be found on there.  Plus, another added bonus, it helps me with "New Recipe Tuesdays".  LOL!!

Meals for July 30 - August 5, 2012

Monday - July 30th
Keilbasa with peppers and onions
Peas

Tuesday - July 31st
Spaghetti

Wednesday - August 1st
Johnny is scheduled to work the ballpark that night.  So, we will eat at the ballpark this night.  First night we will have ate out since last Saturday (July 21st).

Thursday - August 2nd
To Die for Crock Pot Roast (recipe found here on Food.com)

Friday - August 3rd
Split Pea and Bacon Soup (taken from the cookbook by Bob Warden titled 'Slow Food Fast'.  Find it here).  This recipe is made in my electric pressure cooker.

2 Tbs. butter or margarine
1 Tbs. minced garlic
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 lb. dried split peas
1 c. cooked bacon pieces (the precooked type)
3 tsp. chicken base
1 bay leaf

Add all ingredients to pressure cooker and fill with enough water to cover everything by 1 1/2 inches.  Stir well, until chicken base has dissolved.  Securely lock on the pressure cooker's lid, set the cooker to high and cook for 10 minutes.  Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes before performing a quick release to release the remaining pressure.  Safely remove lid and use slotted spoon to scoop out 1 c of the cooked split peas.  Blend the cup of split peas in blender or food processor until smooth, adding liquid to the soup if too thick.  Reintroduce blended peas to the cooking pot, mixing until well combined.  Serve immediately.  (We put shredded cheese to our soup when we serve it -- YUMMY!)

Saturday - August 4th
Chipotle Cheesesteak Pasta (recipe found in today's Sunday coupons section.  Can also find recipe here.)

Sunday - August 5th
Pork Chops in Mushroon Sauce (given to me by my sister)

4 boneless pork chops (1/2 in thick)
3 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 soup can of water
1 pkg sliced fresh portobello mushrooms
2 yellow peppers cut into strips
3 green onions - finely chopped
Cooked spaghetti (or pasta of your choice)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray 9X13 inch pan with non-stick spray.  Place pork chops in pan.  Place peppers, mushrooms and onions over pork chops and around the pan.  Mix soup and water and pour over pork chops.  Cover with foil and bake until pork chops are done, around 1 hour.  Serve over pasta.

Hope you enjoy the recipes!  Come back each Sunday for new ones!!

Things you find when you clean....

Today I was going to do the normal cleaning around the house.  However, that turned into a pretty much all day cleaning including tackling a large closet.  You know the type of closet I am talking about here.  The closet that is the catch all of everything and anything because you don't know where else to put the item.  However, I am happy to report that we are the proud owners of a very clean closet rid of a lot of junk.

Of course, when you are cleaning out something like this, you never know what you will find.  Take my son for example, he found a bunch of beads from a party he had went to several years ago.  Plus, he found an old tie and santa claus hat.  So, what does my son do with this 'treasure?'  Well, take a look at what JJ terms his 'college gear.'

Sad part about this get-up is I am sure a college student somewhere would love to wear this outfit -- LOL!!

Another thing found was a pair of old pants belonging to Johnny.  I just had to have him put them on and take a picture.  It is mind blowing!!

OH MY GOODNESS is all I can say about this picture!  Hard to believe a little under a year ago, Johnny would have been wearing those pants.  Simply amazing!!

I found something of mine also while cleaning said closet.  Check out Skinny Is A Six Letter Word to see my wonderful treasure!

Have a great evening everyone!



Ten Months And Counting

Where has ten months went too already?  I can't believe that ten months ago today Johnny had his surgery.  It does not seem possible.  In only two months, it will have been a year!!  I swear to you, I think time is just getting faster and faster. 

What a big difference ten months has meant around this house.  Johnny has now lost 193 lbs!  Yes, you read that right - 193 lbs!!  He now weighs less than when I meet him 15 years ago (WOW - hard to believe it has been 15 years since I meet my wonderful husband but that is for another day).  He is in a size that he has not wore in a very long time.  He can now shop for clothes at department stores instead of having to go to speciality stores.  He can actually take little cat naps now (without his C-PAP) and he does not snore nor do I hear him stop breathing (he had REALLY bad sleep apena and I mean BAD).

I am so proud of him!!  He looks amazing (though I have always thought he looked amazing).  He feels so much better.  He has so much more energy.  He has more will power and strength than I could ever imagine.  So, I say WAY TO GO JOHNNY!!  I LOVE YOU!!

Pictures before surgery - September 27, 2011

Pictures 10 months after surgery - July 26, 2012

DOESN'T HE LOOK AMAZING!!!

LOVE YOU HONEY!!

New Recipe Tuesday!

Well, between a lot of different things yesterday, I did not get the chance to post the new recipe for yesterday.  So, to make it up to all of you (LOL), I am going to share TWO new recipes this morning.  The first one we tried on Saturday and the second once was tried last night (hence the name new recipe Tuesday). 

Both of these recipes come from one of my favorite cookbooks!  It is my Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook by Phyllis Pellman Good.  You can find out how to get your copy here!  It has 1400 slow cooker recipes!!  I love this series of cookbooks.  She even has a blog, which can be found here.  I even have the Christmas Fix-It and Forget-It (click here to see this one).  But enough about that for now!  Let's talk recipes!

Saturday's recipe was Creamy Sausage and Potatoes.  Oh My Goodness, it was so good!  You will need:

A 4-QT crockpot

This is my 6-qt but it has interchangable bowls --- LOVE IT!!

3 lbs. small potatoes, peeled and quarted

I used the variation of small red potatoes because honestly

I did not want to peel potatoes!

1 lb. smoked sausage, cut into 1/4-in slices

8-oz pkg. cream cheese, softened

10 3/4 oz can cream of celery soup

1 envelope dry ranch salad dressing mix

Place potatoes in slow cooker.  Add sausage.  In a bowl, beat together cream cheese, soup, and salad dressing mix until smooth.  (NOTE - first make sure your cream cheese is really good and soft.  Second - use a hand mixer instead of whisk to mix this together)  Pour mixture over potatoes and sausage.  Cover and cook on Low 6-8 hrs, or until the potatoes are tender, sitrring half-way through cooking time if you're home.  Stir again before serving.  And you will end up with this:



Now for the recipe for New Recipe Tuesday!  Yesterday, I broke out the old faithful crockpot again.  The recipe for yesterday was Tastes-Like-Turkey.  Now, I have to say this one surprised me.  It was very good especially since it has NO TURKEY what so ever in the recipe!  Okay, raise your hand if you just said, "What?!"  Read on my faithful friends!! (Sorry, forgot to take pics of this one.)

You will need:

A 4 or 5 QT crockpot

2 lbs hamburger, browned

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 103/4 oz cans cream of chicken soup

10 3/4 oz can cream of celery soup

4 scant cups milk (click here if you are like I was

and have no idea what this mean)

1 large pkg. bread stuffing or large loaf of bread, torn in pieces

Combine all ingredient in large buttered slow cooker (I used my 6-qt because

I thought my 4-qt looked to small).

Cover.  Cook on High 3 hours, or on Low 6-8 hours.



AND GUESS WHAT?!?!  It really did taste like TURKEY!!  It was very good and I will be making it again.

Have a great day everyone!!!

Me and My Menu

I am going to try something new this week at the Johnson household.  I sat down yesterday morning and planned the menu for dinners for the next week.  Now, I know that might sound simple.  Let me tell ya, it is definitely not an easy task.  Complications especially arise when I have to plan around having two more tiny individuals here this weekend and a son that come home asking for certain foods.  However, I think that I have done a pretty good job.

You might be asking yourself "How does one begin planning a week's worth of menus, Sissy?"  Well, my first step was finding an easy to use menu planning guide.  This is why I LOVE Google!  You can find anything on Google including pages to print out so you can menu plan.  I found this menu planning page, through my search, that works very well with my family.  Now, it has a section for breakfast and lunch; however, I am not using that section.  I am actually writing what might be occurring that day in this area.  That way I can plan my meals accordingly.  I also like this page because it has grocery list section.  No extra lists to make is a wonderful time saver in my opinion!

My second step was to go scouring my pantry and see what I had on hand.  In my opinion, this lets me know what I have and I don't have to make several trips back and forth to see if I have the ingredient.  Third step was going to my cookbook collection.  As you read in a previous post, I love my cookbooks (check out Cookbooks...My Addiction!! under my July blog archive)!  Therefore, I have great resources already at my finger tips. 

The fourth step was sitting down and just planning.  For my first time out, I don't think I did too bad.  I had to go back and re-work it three times (especially after JJ came home with his special request).  However, it was quite painless.  My final step was then going through my coupons to see if I had any coupons for ingredients on my grocery list.  Now, I have read in numerous articles/books, that avid couponers will plan their meals mainly around their coupons.  Don't get me wrong, I love coupons and couponing.  However, with our busy schedule, that would be quite impossible.  So, I am doing it backwards -- LOL!!

I did purchase this neat eight pocket ringed binder.



I love the fact I can plan up to eight weeks.  I also like I have a pocket for the menu page and a seperate smaller pocket for my coupons.  That way, everything is together!!

I am planning on sharing my weekly menus, on my blog, in the near future.  I thought this would a great way to share menu ideas especially with busy mom like myself.

Have a great evening everyone!

I Don't Like Storms

There I said it!  I will admit that I am the biggest chicken you have EVER seen when it comes to storms.  Just hearing that there is eminent weather and I want to go hide somewhere.  So you can probably guess my reaction to all the CRAZY weather we have been having lately in this state.



First, let us not all forget about the Tornado WARNING we were under back on March 2, 2012 (see story here).  You can only imagine how I was feeling that night.  Besides the fact I was here all alone, I was worried about Johnny (who was on his way to Ohio during all of this) and JJ (who was safe with this Papaw John but I was still worried).  Thankfully, my mother pretty much stayed on the phone with me the entire time.  That helped a lot and I appreciate Mom for doing that for me.

Second, lest we forget about the DERECHO that hit this state on June 29, 2012 (see all about those nasty buggars here).  That is something I NEVER, EVER want to experience again!  If that is what hurricane force winds are suppose to be like, you can forget about my family or I ever moving to the beach.  That was probably the most terrifying thing I have seen.  The worst part I think was the fact that we DROVE through that storm.  Trees and road signs coming at us.  When my husband, who is a Paramedic, is white knuckled, clenching the steering wheel, you know it is bad!!  I have to give credit to my hubby though, he got us home and safe in one piece even after we hit a road sign!!



The gust front "arcus" cloud on the leading edge of a derecho-producing storm system. The photo was taken on the evening of July 10, 2008 in Hampshire, Illinois as the storm neared the Chicago metropolitan area. The derecho had formed around noon in southern Minnesota. (Courtesy of Brittney Misialek)

Taking from here.

Finally, now all these AWFUL hot, humid days with all these other storms popping up (I take you back to Sunday, July 8th here).  I am about ready to make Mother Nature a really stiff drink and tell her to get over herself. 

Now, I know I can not control the weather in the lest.  I know that is left up to our Creator!  However, I would like to have just a few days of no storm threats or the aftermath that comes from these storms (ie. the reason I am home right now instead of work - no power again due to the storms yesterday).  And quite honestly, do I think this is a wake up call from God telling us to get our acts together?  ABSOLUTELY!!!

Here is to some sunny, not so hot days in our future!!



Here is to....

Another new player this Power season.  We just found out today that Clario has been moved to the Spikes (short season Single A of the Pirates organization).  So, that means we will be getting our fifth or sixth player of the year.  I know Robin (our wonderful leader of the host family group) is getting tired of me asking, "So, who is our new player?"

Please don't get me wrong, I love being a host parent.  Like I have said before, it is one of the BEST experiences for me and my family.  I would not have my second son Trent without being a host parent!  However, it gets a little hard getting to know these guys and then they are gone.  Just like last year when Trent was moved so suddenly and I did not get a chance to say goodbye, it literally broke my heart!  And same thing this time, I did not get a chance to say goodbye to Clario either and I am sad about that.  Though there was a language barrier, he was a very sweet kid and it was a pleasure to get to know him.

Here is too all my players this season, we wish you nothing but the best of luck in all your endeavors!  And Trent, if you are reading this - we love and miss ya!!

Have a good night everyone!!

 

 

Cookbooks....My Addiction!!

I guess if you are going to have an addiction, this one is not a terrible bad one to have.  I guess I have been collecting cookbooks for several years now.  Honestly, I LOVE getting new cookbooks as gifts and such.  It just makes me happy. 

I once told a friend of mine that I collected cookbooks.  She looked right at me and stated "Well, that explains your addiction to food.  You are a foodie."  My feelings were hurt at first but then I thought "you know what, I don't care!"  Honestly, I thought she was a little off her rocker.  Oh well, we can't make everyone happy can we?!?!  I don't think I am addicted to food.  I think I just like reading cookbooks!

Now, I know you are probably asking yourself, "How many cookbooks could she possible have?"  Well, here is the pics to show ya!

Now, by all means I don't have a huge amount YET!!  However, I am working on it!  The two Alton Brown cookbooks are the top were special gifts from my hubby!  I would love to have all the Alton Brown cookbooks.  Not necessarily to ever cook anything out of them, but they are actually very good reads!  A lot interesting information!!

And of course, I have my "cookbook bible" as I have termed it.

This book contains mainly recipes that have been tried.  But most importantly, it contains recipes from my grandmother and mother!  Actually, I am planning on sitting down with mom very soon and writing down some more of them.  What I love about some of the cards in this book is that they are in my mom's and grandmother's handwriting!  It makes me smile when I see them!

So, there is my addiction!  And this explains a little about "New Recipe Tuesday" also -- LOL!!

Have a great day everyone!!

New Recipe Tuesday

Okay, I am going to start a new thing here.  Every Tuesday night will be new recipe night at the Johnson household.  I get SO TIRED of feeling like I am cooking the same thing over and over!!  I am tired of being in a rut.  So, that is why there is now New Recipe Tuesday!

Tonight's recipe came from my "favorite" place on the internet!  If you guessed Pinterest, you get a gold star!  I have actually made several recipes from Pinterest with pretty much good results.  Tonight's selection, Roasted Shrimp and Broccoli, was pretty good if I do say so myself.  It went together whether quickly and was ready in 20 minutes.  No bad for a busy night recipe.

Check out the recipe here.  This guy has some really great looking other recipes that I might try in the future. 

To get your mouth watering, here are some pics to tempt ya!

Shrimp mix ready to be added to the broccoli

Broccoli after it has cooked 10 minutes

Shrimp and broccoli after cooking another 10 minutes

The smell was AMAZING!!

My yummy bowl of goodness.  It suggested using rice

as a base.  Since I had no rice, I used mini egg noodles

sprinkled with just a little parm cheese.  VERY TASTY!!







UGH!!!

That is exactly how I am feeling right now!!  I have been trying to create a new template for my blog for the past hour and I still had to settle for one that "they offer."  I really wish I could take a class on how to create the "perfect" blog or at least make a blog more user friendly. 

If any of my wonderful friends out there are blogging, could you please send some tips my way!  Nudge, nudge Bethany, I am hinting to you -- LOL!!

BTW, get ready to see something completely different from me.  NO - I am not changing this blog again!  This blog is perfect for my "crazy family life" and I love to share with all of you.  This something different will be rolled out soon.  So, keep a look out on the side of this blog for the new item soon!

Hope everyone is doing well!  I pray that everyone survived the storms and power outages okay!  Love to you all!!

I am still here

WOW!!  What a couple weeks it has been!  However, I am still here but it appears all the blogs I followed have disappeared since the last time I checked in.  Very weird!!  So, I am off to add my favorite blogs back.  More tomorrow!