2 great recipes, Quillows and me whining

 

My daughter tried a new recipe this week for Paula Deen Cheeseburger Meatloaf 

It was a big hit with her family as you can see from the texts between her and her husband.  

The changes she made to the recipe were omitting the bell pepper, using gluten free products and “not measuring”. 

We had 5 grandchildren and my parents here for 1 meal this week.  My husband smoked a spiral ham and I made this macaroni and cheese 

9 of us were eating and we all thought this was macaroni and cheese was especially good.  My changes- I used 3 cups of medium size shells instead of 2 cups of macaroni pasta.  I made it ahead but didn’t bake it.  I put it in a casserole dish and at serving time, I heated it, covered, in the microwave until bubbly.  

I plan to keep this recipe and make it again, especially when we have guests or a big family meal.

I didn’t get much at all done last week as that cold or flu from the previous week was still keeping me down.  

I did get 3 pair of dress pants hemmed for a son and I turned 5 fleece blankets into Quillows.  

We all like using these soft fleece blankets and I have a bunch of them.  But they take up a lot of room and never seem to look neatly stacked. 

In my crazy fabric stash, I have quite a few printed fabric panels.  So I picked out some that would coordinate with our blankets.  

I sewed up double sided pockets and then sewed a pocket at the center bottom of each blanket. 

Then the blankets get folded and tucked into the pocket.  

I’m really happy with them.  I think the prints add some fun to the toy room and I am thrilled with how neat the pillows look, rather than a pile of haphazardly folded blankets.  

If you need more info on quillows, look on Pinterest as there are some really good tutorials there.  

My cold really is better and my coughing is 99% gone. 

But this coming week won’t be very productive either as I’m getting my wisdom teeth extracted.  

So,  I’ll do what I feel up too but I think I’ll mostly be laying around using ice packs and eating soup, jello and ice cream.  

Have a good week everyone ❤️

To do list, today’s lunch, and my husband’s orchids

Good Monday to everyone. 

Last week was pretty much a bust for me as I was sick with a cold all week.  It came on when I went to bed Sunday night and now, a week later, I think I’m finally pretty much well except for these coughing spells.  Thankfully, the coughing is less and farther apart now and I’m starting to feel pretty good again.  

I hope all of you are avoiding these winter bugs.  They are no fun. 

Below is a list of what I hope to get done this week.

For the meal plan, I added more things than we would eat in a week but this gives me options as I cook and pick from what suits our moods and if we have any company.  

Here’s a photo as I started our biggest meal today.  

I made chicken fajitas, Mexican rice and pinto beans. 

The beans were home cooked and frozen previously and the bell peppers were from our backyard garden and frozen back in the summer.  



I set out the cooked food, buffet style, and my husband and I each fixed our plate to suit us.  


My plate 😋 it was yummy! 


I purposely cooked more than we needed for one meal.  

The leftovers went into vintage Pyrex and are stored in the fridge.  We will reheat as we like for lunch or supper this week.  




My husband bought that blue orchid just before Christmas and we both really like.  

And he’s since bought 4 more.  He’s been reading up, watching YouTube, talking to the Lowe’s garden staff to learn about caring for them.  

They like sunlight and they don’t like cold drafts so sometimes they hang out in the living room and sometimes in the breakfast nook.  

Orchids last so much longer than cut flowers too.  

That’s what’s going on here.  I’m hoping this week will be much more productive than last week.  

🏠❤️🏡

First grocery shop in January

We ventured to Aldi this morning as we had 1 egg and no bread left, and no fresh fruit except grapefruit. 

So, in keeping with my plan of a pantry clean out,  below is what I bought.  

 I spent $17.

The only thing I bought that wasn’t on my list was the dinner napkins that were on clearance for .99

I might of bought 6 packs if I wasn’t on this plan.  We use cloth napkins except when company is here,  so 100 napkins will last a long time anyway.  

Aldi still had quite a bit of Christmas clearance but the napkins were all I even thought about buying.  

I hadn’t checked the grocery ad so I was happy to see grapes, oranges and apples were all on special this week.  

It’s still close to first of our pay cycle but putting together meals has been easy so far.  

I’m hoping it stays that way but time will tell.  

From the comments on my post 2 days ago,  lots of us are doing a pantry use it up this month.  

‘‘Tis the season for pantry challenges,  I see.  

The more, the merrier! 

Sewing for kids and crafting with kids

When our grands spend the night here,  they prefer to sleep in the living room.  

I finally got around to sewing up a couple of pillow beds for them.  

I used this tutorial 

cozy pillow bed  and it is clear and easy to follow.  

I used 2 flat twin size sheets that were in my sewing supplies- that made it go even faster as I used the finished sheet edges and didn’t have many raw edges to finish.  These 2 grands really like them! 

I had 7 older pillows and my daughter passed on 5 more pillows.  I plan on making a 3rd pillow bed, and will use a sheet for it too.  

If I was buying new pillows,  I would be sure to buy washable pillows- because kids are kids.   I’ve had pretty good success machine washing and drying regular pillows too.  

The sheet on the right is a vintage Holly Hobby one that I found at a thrift store years ago.  I think it’s so sweet. 

It feels good to do an easy and useful project without spending money or going to the store.  

Elizabeth got this lava lamp lip gloss kit for Christmas and we made them this afternoon. 

The kit had everything included except paper towels to clean up drips.  The instructions were clear and not complicated.  

The kids had fun making them but they don’t exactly look as great as the ones on the box.  

The lip gloss is liquid as it’s just mineral oil with a little flavoring and coloring added to it.  

It was a fun time but I don’t recommend this craft.  

Welcome 2019 and starting a pantry clean out

Happy new year to everyone 

We’ve had a fairly typical January 1st.  We eat black eyed peas and cabbage, always, as it’s a Southern tradition we just like. 

The little statue is a thrift store find, maybe 10 years ago.  I liked him when I bought him and I especially like him now as he looks so much like one of our grandsons.

In December,  I realized I have just been buying more groceries than we really need.  So, I bought a lot fewer groceries last month and we still have so much on hand.

So, my plan is to buy nothing in January except fresh things like eggs and produce.  And if we run out of a staple that’s essential,  I may buy it if needed.  My hope is to spend less than $100 this pay period.  

(Our pay periods don’t run exactly by a calendar month  but start around the 25th or so of each month.



Bottom of pantry

Top of pantry

The freezer section of our refrigerator 

2 photos inside the Upright  freezer

And I think there is a turkey in the freezer in the little fridge in my husband’s workshop.

We have more than enough meat on hand, plenty of baking supplies, frozen vegetables, juice, nuts. 

The pantry is full of canned goods, condiments, more baking supplies and dry goods.  

I’m not trying to go minimalist but many of our foodstuffs are going unused and I’m not wanting to buy new things and let current food go bad. 

As January goes on,  I’ll share some the dishes I’m cooking.  

I’ve seen several other pantry type challenges online.  I’m not linking up to them but may I peek in on a few of them for inspiration.  

Are any of you doing pantry challenges right now?