Hello again and it’s not an April Fools joke

hello everyone

it’s been a hard few months here with my husband’s physical pain issues.  

But he finally got a big treatment yesterday and we are both hopeful he has turned a page and we can get back to living a more normal life.  

I’ve started some seeds indoors and hope to plant them outside by the middle of April 

My husband had this little greenhouse stored away.  It was advertised to be used outdoors but it can’t hold up to Oklahoma wind. 

it works great in our breakfast room area.

Most of our tomato and pepper seeds are planted in recycled food containers.  

I planted zinnias in the egg shells.  They are a little tricky to crack off just the end- I held the egg over a bowl and tapped around the end with a sharp knife until the end came off.  

and the opening is so small,  it takes a little fiddling to get the potting soil in. 

But I think the shells look cute and are something that normally just gets thrown away.

For April,  I want to spend less than $200 for groceries.  It shouldn’t be too hard as I’m starting with a full pantry, a lot of freezer items and $50 in credit at Kroger.  

I plan on sharing here what a buy and what we eat.  

inside our pantry - kind of hard to photograph as it is a narrow pantry with a narrow door

We don’t have a big deep freezer but we have 2 refrigerators and both have more than decent freezer storage space.  

I wanted to cook up some meals today.  I cooked a whole chicken and some plain rice over the weekend and I wanted to use them both up. 

I also had a bag of stuffing mix.  

So I cooked a casserole with 1/2 a bag of the stuffing mix cooked by the bag directions,  I also added diced chicken to the dressing.  the “gravy” on top was a can of cream soup thinned with 1/2 cup milk.  I baked the casserole for about 25 minutes. 

this is the carrots and celery sauteeing for the dressing.  (You all may call this stuffing but where I live,  we call it dressing). 

with the rest of the chicken and the cold. leftover rice,  I cooked fried rice.  

first I cooked about a cup of onions and carrots in about 2 T oil until the carrots were tender.  

Then I added about 1/2 of the bag of shredded cabbage and cooked it until soft.  

Next I added about 2 cups total of thawed corn peas and carrots, about 2 cups of diced chicken and about 3 cups of cold leftover rice.  

Keep cooking and stirring until it’s all hot and add low sodium soy sauce and pepper to taste.  

I also made a small batch of mashed potatoes to have with the chicken casserole.  

and I baked a batch of blond brownies while the oven was on.  

Hello again 

and I hope to be back to blogging and back connecting with you all

Rhonda ❤️

new to do list Monday

good evening everyone 

It’s chilly here,  is it chilly where you are? 

I made a new to do list for this week.  This pen and paper method is just what works for me.  

I like that planner I bought but I know I won’t  keep using.  

does anyone want a very slightly used planner? Go back a few posts to see what it looks like.  It’s a full size printed paperback book, not spiral bound or purse size.   

 I can mail it to someone in the USA requests it 

Supper was easy 

chili from the freezer on baked potatoes 

It was warm and very tasty on a cold day 

Hope you all a pleasant Monday

❤️ Rhonda 

a short weekend trip

Hello again

We drove down to Shawnee Oklahoma to an event one of our sons was involved with. 

Bobby works full time and has a family but he’s also a competitive barbecue cook and has own line of seasonings.

  

very tasty Spare Ribs all perfect to turn in for judging.  

The cooking is all done outside in the parking lot.  They all have trailers or tents,  an assortment of cookers,  lots of lawn chairs and lots of friendship.  They cooks are competing against each other but they also seem to have deep friendships.  

There was an indoor banquet after this cooking event to give awards for the 2024 cooking season.  

This big arena was full of cooks and their friends and families.

Bobby did very well.  

Bobby’s awards from last night 

We stayed in a hotel because we didn’t want to be driving home late at night.  

that’s our room and our stuff already unpacked.  It was good room,  clean and quiet and not crowded 

The complementary breakfast was great!  I started with oatmeal and then had some tiny scones that were fresh and delicious.  My husband had little omelets, smoked sausage, and toast.  

This was the Hampton Inn in Shawnee.  

The first day we ate at a Cracker Barrel.  The food was Ok- nothing spectacular though.  

But if you want to shop,  there were so many cute things in the Cracker Barrel gift shop.  

I enjoyed looking but didn’t buy a thing.  I’m trying to have less stuff in our home,  not more.  

The weather was cool on Saturday when we were outdoor.

But today it’s bitter cold with high winds.  

We even have a dusting of snow.  

I plan on staying home until it warms up some.  

I don’t like being in cold wind.  

Supper was a homemade pizza.  

I made the dough in the bread machine but it could also be done by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook 

when I cook with an actual recipe,  I will try to include it but sometimes I just mix up ingredients that we have and sound good 

I made the 1 pound amount of dough for our 1 pizza 

sausage, mild jalapeño, onion, homemade sauce from the freezer and green olives on part for my husband 

This was a great supper on a cold evening.  

That’s the highlights of our weekend

Thank you for reading 

❤️ Rhonda