The Recipe Box

I love the small jars of roasted red peppers that you can buy in the grocery stores. The taste is delicious and the washed out tiny jars are adorable for all different sorts of storage: paper clips, safety pins, buttons, etc. Here is a recipe that I'm going to try soon:

CHEESY ROASTED RED PEPPER DIP

7 oz jar roasted red peppers
4 c grated Monteray Jack or Mozzarella cheese
8 oz cream cheese, room temp
3/4 c mayo
2 T minced onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1 T Dijon mustard

Oven: 350 Remove peppers from jar and blot excess water with paper towels. Dice
up the peppers. Mix together all ingredients and bake til bubbly & golden.

WHAT IS A DOG????

Dogs lie around all day, sprawled on the most comfortable piece of furniture in the house. They can hear a package of food being opened half a block away but don't hear you when you're in the same room. They can look dumb and lovable at the same time. They growl when they are not happy. When you want to play, they want to play. When you want to be left alone, they want to play. They will love you forever if you rub their tummies. They leave their toys everywhere. CONCLUSION: They're tiny men in little fur coats!!!!

The Recipe Box

ITALIAN MACARONI & CHEESE

1/2 stick butter
1/2 c milk
8 slices Kraft sandwich cheese
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t garlic powder
1 chicken bouillon cube or 1 t granules
1 heaping cup elbow (or small pasta) macaroni

Cook and drain pasta. On medium heat in saucepan, melt butter. Add milk and spices. Put slices of cheese one at a time into sauce and stir til melted. Cut off heat. Pour over pasta. Yum!

Losing it!!!!!!!

I started my low carb diet on April 22, 2009. Each Fri. morning I pop in at my Dr.'s office and weigh in. Yes, EACH Friday. That has helped me keep on track and be accountable to someone. It's been an extremely trying journey. I'm still on the diet and have been very faithful to what I know I can and cannot eat. I don't COUNT CALORIES, watch FAT CONTENT, or drink DIET SODAS of any sort. I do COUNT CARBS, READ ALL LABELS, eat only when I'm very HUNGRY, STOP EATING when I don't have that starved feeling anymore, CHEW each bite a million times, EAT very, very slowly, and DRINK 100 oz of water daily. Drinking the water is hard for me, so I drink the H20 Fruit bottled water that I buy at Aldi's. There are zero carbs in each bottle. I do drink several cups of coffee each day and use HEAVY CREAM or WHIPPING CREAM in my coffee. No sugar in my coffee. As of today, I've lost a total of 94 POUNDS OF LARD. I want to lose 30-40 MORE. RESULTS SO FAR: It's so easy to walk up stairs, bend over without hanging onto something and groaning, move swiftly, do all household chores, walk, and get in and out of my car. I went from size 24 to a size 14. I love planning what I'm going to wear each day and what shoes, purse and accessories I'll be wearing for the day. I have cute clothes and I'm beggining to feel confidant and good about myself. My supporters are: HUBBY AND DAUGHTER, Kandace. I cook and bake regularly anything I want....but I don't eat the wrong things....only what's LEGAL. Three weeks ago I started POWER WALKING with the hubby and doing arm exercises each day....my GOAL is to be where I want to be in ONE YEAR...that would be April, 2010. Are any of you losing weight or need to be? Comment me if you are....I'm sure I'm not the only one who is seriously dieting.....chat with you later

Dinner & A Movie

I'm patiently waiting the arrival of my netflix movie titled: "Come Back, Little Sheba." Have you ever seen this 1952 movie? It stars a handsome Burt Lancaster (died in 1994, age 80) and Shirley Booth (died in 1992, age 94). It's such a interesting movie, and I just love the old movies be it black/white or colored. My dinner will be chef salad: Romaine lettuce topped with thinly sliced red onion, wedges of juicy tomato, sliced hard boiled egg, sliced steamed boneless/skinless chicken breast, generous amount of parmesean cheese...all topped with Ken's dressing. I'll probably also slice a hunk of cheddar cheese to eat along with it. No crackers, crutons or anything like that...I'm still low-carbing. I'll definitely be getting this movie in today's mail and will start my 'dinner and a movie' night, oh, around 7pm. Can't wait! Hubby will be at work, so the big screen is all MINE!!!

Back In My Kitchen!!!!!

I've been out of my kitchen for four long days, and I'm home now and ready to get cooking and baking again. I love to cook....my hubby loves to eat! Do we make a good pair?! Today, Monday, I first brewed a full pot of coffee then pawed through my recipe box that I started when I was a junior in high school. I'm in my 50's now, so, the recipe box is my most treasured item and dearest friend....while sipping the first cup, I decided to start my cooking frenzy by whipping up a double batch of homemade brownies. One batch with pecans and one without...there're some picky family members that prefer brownies...plain old brownies....plain, plain, plain....anyways.....I then decided to not bake them in my normal 9x13 pan, but to bake them in my tiny muffin pan and call them "brownie bites." It took hours to bake, take them out, re-spray with Pam, bake, take them out,.....etc, etc, etc....but the house started to smell so divine and encouraged me to keep going.....I began this all around 2 am....am I crazy? Don't ask my daughter, please!!!!!

Then I decided to make a full-blown homemade Italian lunch with homemade spaghetti sauce I had made the day before....picture this now: sauce simmering on the back burner, eggplant crisping in olive oil on the front burner, homemade alfredo sauce starting to happen on the other front burner, swiveling around to the long countertop to start slicing a loaf of french bread to slice, butter and sprinkle with garlic powder and just a tad of oregano, keeping an eye on the huge pot on the other back burner getting ready to boil so I can add salt and olive oil before dropping in a pound of fetticcini....can you almost smell all that goodness? I'm half Italian, so you know I just HAVE to whip up Italian meals once in a while.....lots of work, tons of mess....but, boy oh boy....the look on hubby's face and the sauce all over him make it so worth the effort!!!!! My daughter makes homemade spaghetti sauce also at her home...hopefully she'll teach her son and future children how to skillfully and lovingly make it....so good and mighty delicious. I don't always add wine in it, but, this time I made a run to the liquor store and bought a good quality (and expensive) bottle of Chianti and added 1/4 cup about 20 mins before I turned off the burner. The Chianti just kicked it up a notch and my hubby loved it!!!!!!

My daughter came over this evening and ate a "sample plate" of all the goodness I had been cooking today....she loved it all....she and I have a love for cooking, shopping in markets, using coupons, trying new recipes, and sharing our homemade goodies with each other....I love having her live so close to me. She's a registered nurse, a new nursing mother, keeps a darling clean and decorated home, and keeps herself fit, trim, and adorable....do I love her!!!! You bet! Chat with you later....she just came by for a visit...and that I am going to do with my sweet girl! Chat later

HOME SWEETEST HOME!

My daughter, Kandace, her 3 mo. baby, Bradley & I flew from Oklahoma to Ohio to visit my folks whom I haven't seen in 4 yrs. and my youngest sister, Diane, and her family whom I haven't seen in 5 long yrs. Oh, oh, oh, we had a marvelous time!!!!! We left our husbands here in Oklahoma to fend for themselves for 4 days and 3 nights. Boy, were they glad to have us back home! We were so delighted also. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit in Ohio....but....there truly is no place like your home. It's good to be back in our ruts and rituals.....and in our OWN bed!!!!! I haven't flown in around 20 yrs. Security is so disgustingly tight at the airports. We had lay overs in Chicago which was interesting. O'Hare Airport is awesome!

Oh, people from all walks of life! We 'overheard' so many different languages, and it was fun whispering to each other and trying to guess what language was being spoken. And no, we didn't lose our luggage!!!!! I always fear that...do you?

OK...you're probably wondering when oh when am I going to post adorable pics like you all do...well, I'm learning all this and a huge thanks to my daughter for her patience in working slowly with me to get the hang of this blogging stuff. I enjoy, enjoy, enjoy all the blogs I read, and I've so badly wanted to have a blog too and post interesting pics, recipes, my life, great finds I get at garage sales, etc, etc, etc. Well, that is soon coming!!!!!! Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE your blogs and pics! I'd rather read them then watch T.V......have a lovely week you all.

By the way, our temp. is so lovely.....cool, in the 50's and 60's, with rain in the forecast for the entire week! Love it!!!!!!!! I'm a cool weather gal!!!!! Wanna see pics of my sweet pups?

Guess what kind of dogs I have.....can you guess? Do I like large, medium, or small dogs? How many do I have? Are they inside or outside dogs? Do we have any other pets? How do I like to decorate? Am I simple, complex, or don't care? You'll soon know more and more about me just like you have shared intimate, interesting and neat details about your homes, likes, marriages, families, and life.....this is so fun for me.....chat with you later.....