Weekly Goals 2/19/2012

Time for new weekly goals and an update on the old ones.  Last week was not a very productive one as far as my goals are concerned, but hopefully this week will be better.  Here are this week's goals:

1.  Continue to work at memorizing Psalm 19:7-11.
2.  Read 1 chapter in Essential Virtues.
3.  Exercise 3-5 times.
4.  Plan and cook healthy meals.
5.  Keep up with FlyLady's "Kelly's Missions" for each day.
6.  Keep current with my crafting goals to make items for gifts/possible sale.
7.  Work ahead in Sunday School study.

And here's how last week went:
1.  I have Psalm 19:7-11 mostly memorized.  Verse 8 is still eluding me.
2.  Only got partway through a chapter in Essential Virtues.
3.  Exercised only once.
4.  I did plan and cook healthy meals.  DONE!
5.  I didn't quite keep up with Kelly's Missions for every day, but did accomplish a lot of cleaning in the bathroom and decluttering in the computer room.
6.  Didn't keep up at all with crafting goals.  There were several days when I did no crafting at all.
7.  I did work ahead on my next Sunday School study and plan to continue doing so this week.  DONE!

So I am definitely hoping for a more encouraging week this week!

Two more "breakfast for supper" recipes

(Hash Brown Casserole photo by Taste of Home)

Here are two more recipes I have made recently for supper.  The main course was Mushroom Oven Omelet.  I used Baby Bella mushrooms to make this, and used the kind that are pre-sliced as our local supermarket had them at a good price last week.  We enjoy this oven omelet a lot and it's a recipe I often go back to.

For a side dish, I made Hash Brown Casserole, which is another long-time favorite and I'm sure I have it posted elsewhere on the blog, but thought I would share the link anyway.  You can use either the southern-style (cubed) hash browns or the shredded type.  I think I prefer the shredded ones, but have used either kind.  For the two of us, I halved the recipe.  I usually use a homemade cream sauce (cream soup equivalent) instead of the condensed soup.  This hash brown recipe tastes quite a bit like the hash brown casserole served at Cracker Barrel restaurants.

I served an asparagus stir-fry medley alongside, just cooked in the microwave in a casserole dish, to add color and more nutrition to the meal.

Hope you enjoy these recipes if you try them!

Creamy Sausage Stew

(Photo by Taste of Home)

I found this recipe some years ago and we always enjoy it: Creamy Sausage Stew.  I usually use half the amount of sausage, cut in smaller pieces than specified, and I usually use light sausage.  I also use fat-free half and half instead of the heavy cream.  The dish still tastes very rich but it is a lot lower in fat.  Cornbread or any Italian or French bread would be a nice accompaniment.

This time I wanted to see if I could adapt the recipe to the slow cooker so I could take it to our church potluck lunch.  (We have lunch together every Sunday during the winter following Sunday School and morning service,  and then just have a 1:30 p.m. service after lunch.  It works out well and means we don't have to venture out again for an evening service in cold, sometimes inclement, weather.  And the fellowship is great!)  Anyway, I tried adapting the recipe and it worked out quite well.  I roasted the vegetables and sausage as directed, but I don't have a large roasting pan so used 2 13x9-inch pans and covered them with foil.  I roasted them for about an hour.  Then, I transferred them to the slow cooker and left them on Warm until I got to church.  They had cooled off quite a bit, so I turned the cooker to Low for the next  hour.  Then (after Sunday School) I stirred in the cream and cooked it on Low until we were ready to eat.  I then mixed in the cornstarch mixture, right in with the ingredients in the slow cooker.  There was plenty of heat to cook the cornstarch and slightly thicken the mixture.  It went over quite well, but I was not at all sorry to have some of the stew left to bring home.  We like this recipe a lot!

Valentine surprises

Happy Valentine's Day to all!  I hope that each of you has had a lovely day so far.  Mine was made brighter by a couple of little surprises and three little grandchildren.

Having the kids here was not a surprise; I knew they were coming while their mom went to see her eye doctor.  We had a fun morning making a Valentine craft

and reading books together, not to mention snacking on red grapes.  It was a surprise, though, when, as they left, Julia (5) turned back and said so sweetly, "Have a happy Valentine's Day, Grammy!"

Last evening my hubby surprised me with a lovely bouquet of yellow roses (my favorite)!  They are brightening up the kitchen island in my favorite strawberry pitcher.  He took these photos for me:

A close-up of  one rose

I arranged the roses in my favorite strawberry pitcher as it is just the right height -- has some yellow in the design too.

  Yesterday I received a lovely valentine from a dear blog friend who is far away in California.  Patty, thank you so much!  What a special surprise!

But the most surprising surprise of all was waiting at my mailbox today.  I got a free book from Taste of Home for having a recipe published in Simple & Delicious this past year.

(Photo by Taste of Home)

 I am going to have fun cooking from this.  What a wonderful day full of nice surprises!

Weekly Goals 2/12/2012

Okay, a quick check-in to post my goals for this week and to report on how I did with last week's goals.  I did better than the previous week, so I'm encouraged.  First of all, the goals for this week:

1.  Memorize Psalm 19:7-11.
2.  Read another chapter in Essential Virtues.
3.  Exercise 3 to 5 times.
4.  Plan and cook healthy meals.
5.  Do the FlyLady "Kelly's Missions" for each day.
6.  Work ahead in Sunday School study.
7.  Work on my weekly crafting goals to accomplish a mix of old and new projects.

As for how I did with last week's goals:

1.  I had planned to memorize 4 verses but only managed one.  Didn't get around to working on it until the end of the week, which didn't help!
2.  Read one chapter in Essential Virtues.  DONE!
3.  Exercise 3 to 5 times.  I managed 3 times, so, DONE!
4.  Plan and cook healthy meals.  DONE!
5.  Declutter 1  hour in computer room; only managed a few minutes.
6.  Craft 8 small items for gifts and/or possible sale.  DONE!
7.  Work ahead on study for Sunday School lesson.  DONE!

Accomplishing 5 out of my 7 goals was a great encouragement.  With my Scripture memory goal (#1), I just need to get started earlier in the week.  And I decided to adjust my homemaking goal (#5) to something more specific which would also work toward my goal of decluttering the entire  house.  The missions for this week are for bathrooms as well as the home office, so I will be decluttering in the computer room as I go.  I've found in the past that just keeping up with Kelly's missions makes a huge difference in my house.  So there you have it.  We'll see how well I do!

A tasty fish recipe

(Photo by Taste of Home)

We got a wonderful buy on some frozen haddock fillets last week and I turned to one of my very favorite fish recipes, Fish Fillets with Spinach (or Broccoli).  I've been making this recipe for years and it is very quick and easy.  Basically, you cook frozen chopped spinach or broccoli, place in the bottom of a baking dish, sprinkle with lemon juice, then put uncooked fish fillets on top, sprinkle with salt, and cover with a cheese sauce, and bake 20 to 30 minutes until the fish is done.  You can sprinkle some grated parmesan on in the last 5 minutes if you like.  Here is the link to the recipe:  Cheesy Fish Fillets with Spinach.  I made this with broccoli one day when I was out of chopped spinach.  Some of our family members like the recipe even better with the broccoli than with the original spinach.

I usually serve this with mashed potatoes, which go so well with the cheesy sauce, and with a colorful vegetable like carrots or squash.  Hope your family enjoys this if you try it!

We have a lot of fish fillets to use.  Any tried and true recipes to share?

Breakfast for supper

(Photo by Taste of Home)

We always enjoy having breakfast foods at supper time, and I often plan one meal like this per week.  On Tuesday night, we enjoyed a couple of old favorite recipes.  I actually would not be likely to make these omelets at breakfast time, as they involve too much fussing to do early in the morning.  They are easy enough, but they involve several dishes and several different steps.

Here is the omelet recipe:  Layered Omelets with Cheese Sauce.  These omelets are baked in the oven in pie pans.  To serve them, you cut them in wedges (2 per serving) and layer them on the plate with cheese sauce between the layers and on top. 

Any sort of potato dish would go well with these, but I chose an old favorite, Oven Potato Wedges.  I most often serve these with hot dogs and beans, burgers, etc.  but they are good with breakfast foods too.  I chose them this time because they bake for an hour in the oven unattended, so I could do other things while they cooked.  Always a plus in my book!  I enjoy cooking, but I almost always have something else I'd like to do with any extra time.

Any vegetable would go well with this menu.  I love frozen veggies, especially the asparagus stir-fry blend and other blends of unsauced vegetables.  But I had been given some baby bok choy, so I stir-fried that to go along with our omelets this time.  What a yummy meal!  Maybe your family would like to try these recipes, too.