A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

To try to explain the mach speed we are running right now would be futile! There is something everyday . . . and we're trying to cram in great activities before my boy cherub heads off to his first year of college. There's more about that later, but ultimately, it is such a fun time of life! Tonight, we are heading over to my mom's house to have dinner. To make it easier on her, I offered to bring a picnic supper, which would hopefully make it easier on me. I'm not too certain that I was successful with that part! However, when I asked the cherubs and the Mr. what they would like for dessert, it was clear they had forgotten that time was not readily available! You should have heard their suggestions! Needless to say, I made a mental note of what sounded good to them, and went out on my own! Since we are deep in the heat of summer, I opted for light and fruit. There are rare times that my family thinks fruit is a "dessert." Toni...

We really do love mango. I'm not certain what it is about this fruit that is so enticing. Maybe it's their beautiful color!  Seriously!  Look at the picture!  The yellow, green, red, and orange  . . . they're amazing! And they can sometimes be a little expensive. But not necessarily in the summer. That's when the mangos are the best! Yesterday, the girl cherub and I bought a box of mangos. Now, we like mango . . .but my boy cherub is the one who really digs mango! But he's not at home this summer. So with that in mind, I needed to come up with some things to make with our many mangos. One of the things I want to try is mango agua fresco. I think it would taste great! But until I figure out how to do that, I want to share with you the recipe for mango salsa that my girl cherub made. The Mr. and my boy cherub are gone, so we girls made fish tacos for dinner. Topped with mango salsa. She looked at different recipes and discovered t...

When my girl Cherub goes to a party and comes home wanting to cook; we may be in trouble! Honestly!  She comes home from being at a bunco party with my mom and tells me about two different appetizers she had that we just "have" to make! The next day, she gets herself into the pantry and starts looking for the necessary ingredients. Don't you know:  we have them! She sets off telling me what she thinks is in the corn and bean salsa. And we commence to making it. She tastes. We adjust. She tastes. She gives the thumbs up. When my mom arrives, and reveals that the bunco host is going to send the recipes from the game night, my girl cherub says, "We don't need it.  We've got it figured out. It's not that hard!" Well, I can say this about my girl cherub; her taster is pretty on point! That girl can detect flavors better than anybody I know! True story:  We were having one of our favorite crackers and this is our convers...

That can of fat free refried beans in the picture; It's my favorite brand. It's from Aldi's. There's no reimbursement or compensation for my opinion on this can of beans. Truly, Aldi doesn't even know I exist. But I know they exist! I am a fan of the store. I'm also a fan of these beans. Not that I would want to just "open and serve" this, but it's a good foundation for other tasty creations. With Cinco de Mayo today, I wanted to give you a quick bean dip. It's super easy and is great for dipping chips or rolling in tortillas for a super fast lunch. If you were having company, you could keep this warm in a small crock pot and have the toppings out and your friends could "build their own" nachos. Because I use this brand of refried beans, I don't add a bunch of seasoning. If you make this, and your canned refried beans aren't seasoned, then you may want to tinker with some flavoring . . . and ...

This is a first! I've never fixed eggplant. I've learned enough about it that I could talk about it . . . like it can be bitter, and that it is better if you draw out the moisture from the veggie before you cook it. To my knowledge, I've only eaten it one time, and that was last Fall. But while grocery shopping the other day, my boy cherub said he wanted to try eggplant. So we bought one. Just one. Since I didn't really know what to do with it, or how many eggplants would be needed, we started small. You know -- better safe than sorry! After contemplating the eggplant, I decided to start "safe." I thought an eggplant dip would be our jumping off point. So the other day, I gathered the little eggplant and other ingredients and started cooking. Now!  Don't you know, that later that afternoon, while folding laundry and watching Ina Garte...

While it may not feel like it outside, the calendar tells me that it is Fall. There are so many things about this season that I absolutely love! I like the falling leaves, and to watch the squirrels gather their food, and where we live, we have deer . . . so now I like to watch them too! I also love Fall food. One of my favorites are apples! I'm not really sure, but in the Fall, I love to nosh on apples. It's the strangest thing! Maybe it's because they are more crisp, or their color is more appealing. Whatever the reason, I'll go with it! Today, both of the cherubs were wanting an "after school snack." Looking at the apples on the counter, I offered apples and dip. Since I didn't have any dip, I made some! I took three things that my girl cherub really likes and I mixed them together. I just mixed; no measuring! If you like these ingredients, just mix yourself some dip and and enjoy an apple! Peanut Butter and Nut...

We honestly love pimento cheese. I've told you that before. But we are persnickety pimento cheese eaters. We are somewhat connoisseur and somewhat know-it-alls about this Southern delicacy. We do not like store bought pimento cheese. I know; that's what we have grown up on; Spent hours smearing the spread on white bread, so we can cut it into triangles and stack on a serving tray. Taken to church socials. And shared with our friends. I'm not against any of that . . .except the actual store-bought pimento cheese. I make pimento cheese a lot at our house. It's kind of our go-to sandwich. Partially it's because I don't buy deli meat and pimento cheese is easy. When we are low on peanut butter or out of grilled chicken, I usually have the stuff to whip up a batch of pimento cheese. Because I make so much of this yummy concoction, I sometimes play around with my recipe. Sometimes the Mr. and the Cherubs don't like that. The ch...

Poblano pepper; image taken from the internet Saturday morning cooking shows are not good for our family! Almost without fail, someone in our house sees a dish being made that seems so appealing. Then, we all want it. But we weren't really paying attention enough to know what was going on. We were only paying enough attention to know that it looked good! It happened again this past Saturday. We all saw something that looked amazing . . . but didn't know what it was called . . . or the name of the show . . . or the name of the chef . . . or really what all was put into the dish. But we knew enough to start; sort of! In the middle of cooking, my boy cherub did some internet research and found what we were looking for! Or should I say, what we were in the middle of making! This is SOOOOO  yummy! It's great stuffed into corn tortillas, or scooped up with corn chips, or tortillas filled with cooked chicken and rolled up tight, then ...

I added grilled tilapia to the menu this week. I have to admit: if it's not grilled salmon, I don't make a lot of fish stuff. I'm not really sure why. I think I'm afraid! I don't have too much experience cooking fish. So I don't really have a great technique. Also, I don't want my house to smell like fish . . . for days! I'll forgo eating healthy omega 3 stuff for not having a smelly fish house. Truth. With grilled tilapia on the menu, I decided we needed something with the fish. Like a salsa. I see it in the magazines all the time. After all, don't most of your dinners look like something out of a magazine? Yeah, mine either! Since my boy cherub was home, studying for final exams, he took a break and helped me. Together we created this little sauce to top our fish. Honestly, we didn't measure a single thing. We threw the ingredients into a blender and went with it. For you, I'm giving a real gues...