Novel Books

I am an avid reader.  Unfortunately, I've purchased several books in my lifetime that have ended up in the trash can.  I am offended by books that have explicit language and graphic sexual content.  Maybe that doesn't affect you but it bothers me.

I was recently browsing books to purchase for my Kindle.  Even though they're less expensive than print books, I didn't want to waste money on a book I wouldn't finish.  I wanted a website that reviews books based on moral values.  I stumbled upon Novel Book Ratings and was thrilled that a site like this exists!  Sadly, most of the books I was searching had not yet been rated.  So I took it upon myself to start rating books as I read them.  I feel like I've made a small contribution to society.

I wrote an email to the site, thanking them for what they're doing.  I told them I would review their site on my blog to help spread the word.  If finding morally clean books is something that's important to you, please visit this site and offer your contribution.  Working together, we can help promote quality books with strong values.  Thanks!

Easy Dinners

Don't you just love those easy dinners that don't take much preparation?  I consider spaghetti to fit into that category, but not spaghetti and meatballs.  I love intense, homestyle cooking, but sometimes you need a quickie meal.

Here are a couple things I've made recently that fit into the Easy Dinner category.

Chili- I think this recipe is so good, you'd never think it was that easy.

• In a large pot, saute onion in butter.  (I use just a couple tablespoons of onion, but you can use more depending on your taste.)
• When the onion is golden brown, add one clove of pressed (or minced) garlic.
• Add 2 lbs. of crumbled ground beef.
• Brown well and drain all grease.
• Add one 28 oz. can of tomato sauce and one 28 oz. can of tomato puree.  (If you don't like your chili thick, add two cans of sauce and no puree.)

• Add 1/2 to a whole package of McCormick chili seasoning.  (I only use half a package so it's not too spicy for my kids.)
• Add approximately 2t sugar to cut the acidity.
• Add salt, if necessary.
• Here is where my chili gets unique.  I think some people would call it goulash instead of chili.  I add elbow macaroni.  I don't measure, I just kind of sprinkle it over the chili until it thinly covers the top.  No one in my family likes beans so we don't add any. 
• Cover and simmer until pasta is tender.  If you don't use macaroni, your chili is done any time.  I don't believe that you have to simmer chili for hours upon hours to make it good.  But it certainly doesn't hurt.  Just keep it low.

Chicken Club Sandwiches

• Our local grocery store offers ready-made rotisserie chickens for $4.99, any time.  You can't even buy a whole raw chicken for that price.  Monday, I bought a chicken in the morning during my regular grocery shopping time.  I refrigerated it until dinner time.  20 minutes before dinner, I popped it into the oven to heat it through.  While it was warming, I microwaved a few strips of bacon.  I sliced the chicken and layered it on good quality bakery bread.  I topped it with bacon, CoJack cheese slices, lettuce, tomato, and mayo.  It was a quick and easy supper that made cooking at 9:00 PM more bearable. 

Hopefully one or both of those recipes will give you some quick dinner ideas for when you're on a time crunch.  (Isn't that every day???)

Workation

Hubby is off work next week.  Slacking off and having fun is what we will not be doing.  We won't even be calling this week a Staycation.  Just the opposite, my friend, we are having a Workation. 

Hubby scheduled the week off so very long ago.  We knew we would have just returned from a big vacation so we planned this week to "get stuff done around the house."  Anything that's gone wrong in the house over the past few months has been pushed to the back burner.  "We'll get to it in October when we have a week off."

I love lists.  I love making them; I love organizing them.  But I hate doing the things on them.  This list includes annual/semi-annual things like changing furnace filters, water filters, and smoke detector batteries.  It includes things that aren't difficult but we've just been too lazy to do, like hanging pictures.  It also includes some more advanced projects that Hubby doesn't even know about yet. 

Sherwin-Williams
Gingery

I plan on painting our lower living room.  Right after we painted it last time, we had a home security system installed.  It created holes in various places.  We also changed from a TV mounted on the wall to one sitting on a base.  That means we have all kinds of craziness going on where the TV once hung.  I'm thinking about a caramel color, that's not too close to burnt orange.  I hope the room isn't too small for that dark of a color.  The room is currently a sage green color.

I wish I had a better eye for decor.  My house needs a serious makeover.  I love when you guys post pictures of things that are going on in your home.  I peek around in the background to see how you have your house decorated.  I've come to the conclusion that ya'll are much cutsier than I.  Maybe I'll take some snapshots around the house and ask your opinion.  Or better yet, I'll welcome any of you into my home to do some serious redecorating.  (Anyone feel like a road trip???)

Uh-oh...looks like our projects for next week just got a lot more intense!  I'll have to add it to the list.

I Did It! (Well, Sorta)

I survived the longest run of my life!  Here's how it went:

All week, rain and chilly temperatures were forecasted so I was pretty nervous.  Turns out, we had absolutely perfect running weather!  It was in the high 50s to start and got up somewhere in the mid-high 60s.  The sun even peeked its head through a bit.

I slept better this year than last year.  The last time I remember looking at the clock, it was almost 1:00 AM.  Last year, I think I went down to the couch around 3.

We woke up bright and early, tried to force down some breakfast, and met friends at 5:45.  We fought the traffic together and found parking spots within walking distance.  (Irritating:  they advertised free parking throughout the entire downtown area.  Two of our running buddies were charged $5 to park!  One had to leave because he had no wallet with him and the other said she only had $3.  They accepted it and let her park.  I think that's ridiculous!)

We found our first leg partner, who got there before we did.  We also ran into several other friends who were running the half (one who was fatter than me- ha ha).

It took a total of nine minutes for everyone to even begin.  Isn't that wild?  There were so many people, so much cheering, so many cow bells, and even people beating on pots and pans.

Next, Hubby and I walked to our relay point because we were both running the same leg.  Then we waited.  And waited.  We got to see the lead runners, who were keeping a 5-minute pace!  One was local, one was from Kenya.  I had to pee several times from all the hydration.  Don't ya just love porta pots?

Hubby's teammate arrived.  He took off and I knew I still had more waiting.  Finally, it was my turn.  I didn't see my partner, I just heard a moan and the word, "She!"  She crashed to the ground due to a blown out knee.  I grabbed my snap bracelet and took off.  I didn't feel ready, even after all the waiting.  I had only half-heartedly stretched.

Almost immediately, I had a huge downhill.  I know you're supposed to pace yourself but I briefly felt like a little kid again.  I ran down the hill as fast as my legs would go without tripping and falling foward.  Looking back on it, I'm actually shocked that I didn't fall flat on my face!

Let's skip ahead...mile 5 for me.  Yowzers, this is harder than I thought!  I hadn't stopped to walk yet, even through water stations.  Finally, I had to slow my pace.  I was beginning to feel sickish and didn't want to pass out.  Unfortunately, once I crashed, I never got my second wind.  The next few miles were sheer torture.  I missed the carb gel handoff and wished I had made a way to get some.  I ran, I jogged, I walked.  I prayed and asked God to get me through this.

Finally, my iPod (with Nike+) said I had one km to go!  I could do this!  I picked back up my pace and talked myself into running the rest of the way.  It counted down, "500 meters.  400 meters.  200 meters."  I was almost done!  Then finally, my iPod said, "Congratulations!  You have reached your 10K destination!"  What the heck?  If I've reached my destination, where in the world is my handoff partner?  I kept running until I saw The Hill.  Dear glory, there was no way I was making it up that thing running.  So I walked.  Again.  This was the fourth time.

I know my story is long so I'll get to the end.  I eventually reached the relay point, feeling closer to death than ever before in my life.  I handed off and sunk into the arms of my waiting husband.  My eyes actually filled up with tears as I embraced the intense exhaustion that consumed me.  I walked slowly, grabbed a bottle of water, then immediately boarded a bus.  Of course, every seat was taken so I had to stand for the 20 minute drive to the finish line.

So I did it.  I finished.  I wasn't able to run the entire leg but I made it through.  According to my iPod (whom I am quite ticked at) I ran 11.51 km in 1 hour, 12 minutes, and kept a pace of 10 min., 6 sec. per mile.  Not true.  I actually ran 10 km in 1 hour, 12 minutes.  If my math skills serve me well, that's almost 11 1/2 minutes per mile.  Weak, I know.  But it was all about finishing for me.  And I finished.

So next year, do I take on the longest relay leg or am I just kidding myself?  :)  Thanks for reading my long story.  I know it's probably boring for you but I am really glad to have it documented here.  Run on!

This Little Piggie had Roast Beef

I have never really made a good pot roast.  My mom made roast and potatoes all the time when I was growing up.  It was always good, but not phenomenal.  The potatoes, on the other hand, were amazing when she cooked them with the roast.  I remember declaring roast beef potatoes as my favorite food when I was just a kid.
When I got married, juggling a husband, a job, and student teaching was strenuous.  We were pretty poor and eating out was not an option.  I remember how easy it was when my mom made a pot roast.  She put it in the pan and turned the heat on.  That was about it.  You could throw in potatoes and carrots too.  So I did that.  It was not good. 

I tried again many times throughout the years.  I used the stovetop, the oven, the crockpot.  I cooked it for many hours, I cooked it for just a couple hours.  I finally came to the realization that I must just not like roast beef.  Bummer too, because I love those potatoes!

Jenna from Jenna's Journey recently posted about how good her Mama's roasts are.  She included a picture that made me want to drool.  She had some unique directions that I had never tried before but it still sounded extremely easy.  So I bought a roast and baby carrots on my next shopping trip and decided to give it a try.  I changed a few things along the way so I wrote them down just in case I loved it enough to make again.  It was a success and I will definitely be making it again!

(I failed to get a picture before we began eating.  As there were no leftovers, I certainly couldn't take one after dinner.  So I stole a random roast beef picture from Google.)  Here's my "recipe":

• I heated just a bit of oil in a large skillet.  Jenna's recipe called for garlic powder, which I did not have.  So I browned a whole clove of garlic in the oil.  I decided to leave the whole clove in with the roast while it cooked and removed it later.
• I sprinkled the roast with pepper only and browned both sides in the garlic oil. 
• Then I added 1/4 C regular soy sauce, 1 C beef broth, and a large drinking glass of water. 
• I brought it to a boil, then covered and simmered it slowly.
• After 4 hours, I added peeled, quartered potatoes.
• About 2 hours later, I added a couple handfuls of baby carrots.  There was still plenty of liquid in the pan but I would have added more if necessary.
• I cooked the roast for 7 1/2 hours total.
• As the kids set the table, I made a roux of 2 T butter and 2 T flour.  I slowly added hot broth until the consistency was perfect for gravy.  (There was still quite a bit of liquid left in the pan.)

Hubby went wild.  Son #1 declared this to be his most favorite supper from now on.  Baby Girl picked a little and then asked for soup.  I poured some of the extra broth into a small bowl and she ate it.  I now have to change my opinion that I don't like roast beef.  Because this, my friends, was Da Bomb!  I will be adding it to our regular rotation!  Thanks, Jenna!!!  (Thank your Mama too!)

+ & -

+ I love that it's nice enough today that I can walk outside in my bare feet to pick the few remaining tomatoes from the garden.  (Thanks to Baby Girl for being the foot model for this picture.)

-  I have a cough deep in my chest that's making me nervous.  Let's hope it's just a passing phase and not something that's going to keep me down.

+ I finished another Shutterfly book yesterday! They have an all new "Custom Path" that gives you complete creative control over how your page looks! I love that since I am so meticulous about exactly how my page is set up. Right now, they are offering 20% off of photo books and free shipping on orders over $30. What a perfect time to make a scrapbook to showcase all your summer memories!

- I have an album that spans the entire year of 2010. It's been sitting in my Shutterfly account, unpublished, since last December. I had an awesome coupon that expired 12/31 and I didn't finish in time. So it's been sitting there ever since. That makes me sad.

+ Son #1 gets to take free French Horn lessons at school that are paid for by the Band Boosters!  He was hand-picked to play French Horn in addition to Tuba, which he's been playing for a year.  I get such great joy watching him play.

-  Because of the two horns he's playing and how busy summer was, he has seriously neglected the guitar.  We need to get back to guitar lessons before he forgets everything he learned.

+ I have really gotten good sleep at night lately.  I think it's because of the open window beside my bed.

-  I totally just jinxed myself by saying I've been sleeping well lately.

+ Oh my, the roast beef we had for dinner last night!  I think I'll make a whole other post about that!

-  No leftovers means a peanut butter sandwich for lunch today.

+ I have changed my mindset and now I feel like I am ready to run a 10K this weekend!  I looked at someone much fatter than me who is running the half marathon.  If she can run the half, I can run my leg!  Doesn't that sound like good reasoning to you??

- The weather forecast for the marathon says high of 64 with a 40% chance of thunderstorms.  I guess that's better than a high of 60 with rain all day that was predicted a couple days ago.  Rain, rain go away!

+ Baby Girl has been eating better lately, BUT

- ...she wants to eat all day long.  Unlike normal people, she doesn't have a breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  She snacks throughout the day.  That's a really bad habit to start!  This morning, she had "breptist" with her sister before school.  After we got home, she asked for a "stawbrerry."  It's healthy, so I obliged.  Then she asked for "breptist" again.  "You already had breakfast," I replied.  She threw a bit of a fit.  Then she remembered that she hadn't finished all the cereal in her bowl so she ate the rest.  Then she asked for crackers.  "No, not until lunch time," I said.  Again, a bitty fitty.  What do you do when you have a kid that rarely eats, but when she does, she's doing it wrong?!?

Cheesy Bread

I am about to share with you a gem of a recipe!  It is incredibly easy to make and tastes absolutely wonderful.  The ingredients are bread, cheese, and butter.  Who could not like something made with bread, cheese, and butter???  However, it does lack a spectacular name.  I guess you could call it Cheesy Bites or something equally cutsie, but Cheesy Bread does the trick for me.  It's a lot of fun to serve at a football party or even a baby shower.  It's best hot but is even tasty room temperature.

Start with one loaf of frozen Rhodes bread dough (or whatever brand your supermarket carries).  You can take it straight from the freezer, set it on a greased plate, and cover with greased plastic wrap.  Let it sit there for many hours and you have a perfect, risen loaf of dough to work with.  Or you can take the shortcut method, which suits me much better.  Place your frozen loaf on a greased plate and pop it in the microwave for a minute.  Cover it and let it rise for only a couple hours instead of many hours.  For this recipe, the bread doesn't even have to be completely risen.  You can see how it looked when I started to prepare my bread.

Next, set up a little assembly line.  You will need 1/2 stick to 3/4 stick melted butter and 1C+ shredded Cheddar (or Cheddar Jack) cheese.

Tear off a small piece of dough, about the size of a cherry tomato.  Dip it into the butter and press the buttered part into the cheese.  The cheese will stick to the butter.  Wrap the dough around the cheese, keeping the majority of the cheese inside.  Tuck the edges on the bottom, which leaves you with a pretty nice, smooth top.  Place the dough balls into a greased baking dish.  If your dough was mostly risen, you can place the balls of dough right next to one another.  If the rising process wasn't complete, the dough balls can touch, but don't crowd them.  When you're finished, dump the remaining butter on top of the bread, spread it around, and top with the remaining cheese.

At this point, you can cover the bread and put it into the refrigerator for several hours.  If you will be baking soon, let it sit on the counter and continue rising.  I put mine straight into the oven and baked it.  (I was in quite a hurry.)  I normally make this recipe in an 8x8" (or 9x13" for 2 loaves) glass baking dish.  However, I was taking this to an event so I used a disposable pan.

Bake at 350 until it's done.  (The more the dough rises, the shorter the cooking time.)  You want to make sure the top is browned so it's not doughy inside.

Enjoy!  It's also served good with marinara sauce. 

I am Not a Germaphobe

Have you ever seen that episode of Seinfeld where David Puddy is a Germaphobe?  I find it to be hilarious but I don't think I fit into that category.  Maybe I'm wrong.

There have been several events lately that have made me wonder, Am I actually a Germaphobe?  I wash my hands before I eat.  If I'm in a place where that's not possible, I use Purell.  I wash my hands after I blow my nose, sneeze, or use the restroom. When I cook, I'm even more compulsive.  I wash my hands before I start cooking, after answering the phone, after looking up something on the computer, or after assisting the kids with something.  If people are going to be eating my cooking, I want to make sure they don't get any of my germs.  Does that make me a Germaphobe?

Many years ago, I was in the restroom at a store nursing my baby.  I exited the stall at the same time as another woman.  She noticed that I had my hands full and jumped to politely open the door for me.  "No, that's OK," I said.  "I'm going to wash my hands."  She smiled sweetly, opened the door, and left.  I was totally grossed out and have never forgotten that incident.

On occasion, I find myself in a handicapped restroom stall that has its own sink.  When I use the sink, I'm always worried that someone in the restroom will think I didn't wash my hands.  So if I have Baby Girl with me, I will say to her (for everyone else's benefit), "We already washed our hands in the stall.  We don't have to do it again."  I just want to make sure they all know.

I was with a friend in a restroom recently.  After using the bathroom, she turned on the water, quickly rinsed off her hands, and left.  That's better, I guess, but it still bothered me that she didn't use soap.

So you tell me.  Am I the odd one?  Am I a Germaphobe?  It seems to me like I am no longer the norm because I wash my hands often.

Picture Day

I am facing a dilemma and I need your input. 

This week is Picture Day at school.  I always loved Picture Day when I was a kid.  Mama always curled my hair and I wore my most favorite shirt.  All the students looked nice and they were better behaved than usual. 

When I married my husband, my Mother-in-law gave me a 5x7 of every school picture from Kindergarten to somewhere in middle school.  Actually, now that I think about it, he probably stopped getting school pictures taken about the time that his dad died.

So, school pictures have always been valuable to me.  I can already envision the posterboard at my kids' graduation that showcases their school pictures from every year.

Here's my problem:  they're expensive!!  The smallest package I can order is $15.00.  That might not sound bad to you but multiply that by 3 kids.  For $45, I would get one 5x7 (of each kid), two 3x5s, and 21 of those itty-bitty pictures that kids like to trade around.  The worst part is, the pictures are never good.  Last year, they gave my daughter a blue background and both boys gray backgrounds.  One kid always has their eyes half closed and another kid always does a fake smile.

While we were in San Francisco, I got awesome individual shots of each one of my kids.  We were on a pier by the Bay Bridge and the lighting was beautiful.  It was a bit foggy and it made for great shots.  So, everyone has a great individual picture right now that shows their character.

Here's where you weigh in.  Do I keep up the tradition and pay to have the classic school pictures taken or do I spend a couple bucks to get their nice, personal photos printed?

Salsa, Baby!

Oh yes, I did make salsa on Friday!  The verdict:  scrumdidaliumptious!

I started with 16 lbs. of tomatoes (yeah, that's a lot) and I grew every one of them in my garden.  They were a mixture of Best Boy and Brandywine.  The Best Boy tomatoes are my favorite for sandwiches and just eating by themselves but they had A LOT of water in them.  The Brandywine seemed to be better salsa making tomatoes.

I used this website, which had very detailed, step-by-step instructions.  I read them through several times and decided, I can do this!

So I chopped.  I chopped for a very long time- tomatoes, onions (I bawled my eyes out), peppers, and garlic.  I'm a pretty big wimp when it comes to spiciness so I worried that this recipe would be too hot for me.  I cut the amount of onions in half and reduced the peppers from 6 to 2. 

Quick tangent about the peppers:  my Grandma is the one who planted all the peppers in my garden.  I don't eat them.  She knew she had habañero plants and she called the others"chipotle peppers."  She got them free from a garden center and said they were very mild.  So one day, I got brave and decided to try a mild chipotle pepper.  If I am growing them, I should at least taste them.  Right?  Yowzers- it was NOT mild!  I immediately spit my bite into the sink and drank a glass of milk.  Still on fire.  I moved on to a piece of bread.  Still burning.  I drank a glassful of cold water.  No relief.  For a good half hour, my mouth and lips burned.  When I told Grandma, she laughed and said she must have been wrong.  So that is the main reason I only used two peppers.

Still following the directions, I simmered all the ingredients, tasting from time to time.  The salsa wasn't spicy at all so I added another pepper.  Still not too hot, I added 3 shakes of the chili powder bottle.  That gave it a nice flavor and a bit of heat.  I still wanted to keep it mild so I stopped there.  When my jars finished sanitising in the dishwasher, I pulled them out and got ready to start canning.  It was then that I realized, I don't know what the heck I'm doing!  I know absolutely nothing about canning.  So I decided I'd better look it up.  The same site had detailed directions about the canning process.  That whole deal was just as intense as actually preparing the salsa!  This is when I began wondering if I was in over my head.

I followed the directions closely and filled my jars.  I boiled them for the proper amount of time and set them on a cooling rack to seal.  I made 7 1/2 pints.  The next morning, I tested each jar and they all seemed to seal properly.  I opened one right away and the salsa still tasted delicious.  So now I get to enjoy tasty, fresh salsa all year long!

I still have 2 quarts of chopped tomatoes leftover.  (The 15 lb. conversion didn't exactly measure out after the tomatoes were chopped.)  So I bought a Ball seasoning packet and I'm going to try it that way too.  Who knows, taking the easy road might even be easier!

This has been a year of trying new things so I'm quite proud of myself!  If you want to taste my homemade salsa, swing on by and sit a spell! 

I will leave you with one tip.  After you've been dicing hot peppers, DO NOT touch your eye later on in the day...even if you've washed them more than once.  Just take my word for it.