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.  

🏠❤️🏡