A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

There are so many good thoughts running through my mind. Pasta! Fresh pasta! Gluten free pasta! YES!!  Five years of being gluten free and having marginal pasta, this was a win! Thank you, Aldi! While shopping at Aldi, I found a FRESH, GLUTEN FREE pasta! Can you even believe it? Me either! I almost didn't care what it tasted like, I was just thrilled to be able to buy fresh pasta. OK -- so I did care what it tasted like.  I kind of over-exaggerated that point. The day Mr. and I were shopping, and I spied this -- I grabbed a few and texted my friend, Sheila. Sheila is a great hostess.  It was during a soirees that my girl cherub had Ms. Sheila's Alfredo sauce. That was several years ago, but I remember my girl cherub raving about it. As you know, I do not really care for pasta. I mean, it's ok. But the Mr. and two cherubs -- they L.O.V.E pasta. The kind of love that never gets tired of having pasta as a meal option. But as for ...

Honestly, the Mr. and two cherubs never tire of pasta. They love it. I, on the other hand, am not so crazy about pasta. It's not a "love-hate" relationship, I would describe more of a "take or leave" relationship. If we are at an Italian restaurant, I search for something that sounds good, and it's never a surprise if I don't order a pasta dish. But let me camp there for a minute . . . pasta is so cheap to serve, but restaurants charge a fortune for it! It drives me c.R.a.Z.y!  Seriously! That really may be the root of why I don't go nuts over spaghetti! That, and it's served as "the cheap food" when you're trying to feed a crowd. Pasta -- my family loves it! Monday night, I'm staring at everything in the fridge and thinking, "what to have for dinner?" Then I remembered the homemade pesto sauce I have stored in the freezer. And the pasta noodles I just purchased. I knew my girl che...

Smoking meat is one of those things I really want to learn to do. Correction:  smoking meat is really one of those things I really want the MR. to learn to do! He has smoked meat a several times. But truthfully, there is an art to doing it well. Some people call that "a knack!" The problem is that the Mr. doesn't want to learn how to do this "art," as much as I want him to learn! Oh, the problems we have! But!  My smoking meat dilemma was cured a few weeks ago when a friend of ours offered to smoke some meat for us. He's really good at what he does! He's even won a "smoking competition." Now!  Before you go making wise cracks about that statement . . .I already know what you might say. Honestly, though . . . there's a lot to being able to smoke meat well. And well he did! After the meat was smoked, the Mr. and I put it into the freezer so that we'd have it when we wanted it. This week, with the crazy schedule...

A long time ago, there was a company that sold seasonings and mixes that made meal prep tasty and easy. They had a recipe for an easy spaghetti casserole. It's been years since I had made it and this week, I thought I would re-invent it and change it just a bit. Spaghetti pie is really a single-layer lasagna. It might be a little bit easier to assemble and your family might be interested in the novelty of spaghetti pie! My Mr. and cherubs really do love pasta. Whenever I make pasta anything, they love it! For my family, it would be really hard to have a pasta dish that would be dud for them. It's been so long since we've had this that both the cherubs thought it was a new recipe! My boy cherub liked it because he likes "pink sauce" for his spaghetti. "Pink Sauce" is a combination of Alfredo and marinara sauces on the noodles. They way I made this spaghetti pie, it was a bit like having "pink sauce...

I'm being very creative with our  meals these days. That translates to this:  " Wow !  I really need to go to the grocery store!" Honestly, who enjoys that job? Going to the grocery store? I really don't. I've been in this position before; where I really need to go, but it's gotten so bad, and we need so much stuff, that I don't really want to go. So I'm challenging myself:  how creative can I be with what we have! This won! On Sunday, driving home from church, I came up with this lunch special! Because this is based on what you have, or don't have, the amounts and ingredients are only suggestions! Pasta and Spinach Salad 8 oz pasta, cooked grape tomatoes olive oil salt and pepper onions, sliced butter balsamic vinegar sugar grilled chicken Parmesan cheese, fresh grated balsamic vinaigrette dressing Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a small cookie sheet with foil. Toss grape tomatoes with olive oil and ...

We have been back from vacation for a week now. I need to go to the grocery store. We had empty cabinets before vacation; that's because we had been in NYC for 12 days! When we returned from NYC, I didn't go to the store because we were leaving for vacation in just 10 days! Why go buy stuff, right? I'm not even making this up! I haven't been to the store since July 2. We've been living on weird stuff out of the freezer! It's allowed me to be creative! I think that's good! But now, the grocery list is SO extensive, that I don't want to go to the store! I'm going to have to push that mess up and down the aisles, lug it onto the conveyor belt to check out, lug it back into the basket, to lug it into the back of my car, to lug it into the house, then to put it all up. . . only to later stand in front of the refrigerator that afternoon and wonder, "what's for dinner?" No!  That doesn't sound fu...

I hate it when I have a recipe idea . . . and so do other people! Like the very same recipe I'm thinking of; they've already thought of! You know what that tells me? That tells me I'm pretty smart! If I can think of something that somebody else has already thought of, then my thinking is pretty creative! Don't you agree? Back to my real reason for a recipe! I love BBQ Chicken pizza. My cherubs -- not so much. But that's OK; they don't have to eat every day, do they? The other night, I made BBQ chicken and I withheld some chicken from my family so that I could try to come up with a dish that sounded very tasty to me in my mind: BBQ Chicken Pasta. But when I started thinking, I realized other's had thought too! But I love BBQ Chicken Pizza; so I want to love BBQ Chicken Pasta too! Here's what I created. Kind of! I took what other creative people before me had done and tweaked it a bit to fit my interested and ingredien...

It's dance recital time at our house. This means nights of long practices and the Mr. and the boy cherub at home wondering what's going on. Sometimes, the Mr. has to work and the boy cherub has baseball, so I get to pull double duty. I try to have some sort of dinner for the 3 of us and I pack the girl cherub a snack-y dinner to have at rehearsal. Tonight, though, I had a plan, but the plan got changed. I told the Mr. what I sort of had in mind, but told he and the boy cherub to do whatever they wanted. They came home and cooked! They searched the internet for ingredients we had on hand and found a one-dish-wonder that they could handle! All I can say is:  "I love having roasted chicken in the refrigerator!"  It sure makes dinner easier! Here's what the Mr. had to say, "You know, we didn't have any of the cream or half and half; so I just used milk.  I don't think I used enough cheese, and the only basil we had was the litt...

I had a great afternoon of having ladies over for lunch. I called it "Lunch and Laughter!" My goal was to relax just a smidge before the cherubs got out of school for the Summer! Goal accomplished! I made it super easy by serving Cathedral Chicken Salad  (recipe link here:  http://karen-proverbs31.blogspot.com/2012/01/cathedral-chicken-salad.html ) My favorite Spinach Salad (recipe link here:  http://karen-proverbs31.blogspot.com/2011/03/another-salad-dressing.html ) Deli Pasta Salad Creamy Limeade Cake (recipe link here:  http://karen-proverbs31.blogspot.com/2012/09/creamy-limade-pound-cake.html ) I really liked this pasta salad.  It was a new recipe that I tried. I am all the time trying pasta salad recipes. I want to make good pasta salad. But I honestly don't have the knack! Seriously! It can't be hard, but for me . . . it is! But, I finally think I've succeeded! You try it and see what you think! Deli Pasta Salad 1 ...

Remember the salmon from the other night that the Mr. and Cherubs grilled? I've been saving a bit of it. Actually, about 1/2 of it. I knew this week would be a bit crazy and having a quick meal would be helpful. Tonight was the night for a quick meal. I used the left-over grilled salmon and wanted to put pasta with it because that would be easy. But for it to be really easy, I needed an easy sauce. I quick decided that lemon would be the base of my sauce because lemon and salmon just go together. Well, lemon wasn't really the "base;"  butter was the base -- but lemon would be the taste! Here's the simple sauce. This would be great with the pasta and grilled asparagus for a meatless dish, I do believe! Pasta with Lemon Sauce Linguine (or pasta of your choice) 1/4 cup butter (this was the only thing I measured; everything else was just thrown in) 1 TBSP chopped garlic (read note above) lemon juice to taste (about 2 TBSP or so . . .read...

image from kidscook If it weren't for church cookbooks, my family might starve! Some of my church cookbooks are new . . .and some are old. Real old. Like when they called butter "oleo." That's old! This recipe is from a fairly new cookbook. It is from a church that my husband and I served in Oklahoma. There are some great cooks in that church! I remember Vera. She made candy at Christmas. And she'd give me the biggest batch of Martha Washington candy that you'd have ever seen! Then there was Bulah; she made buttermilk pies. And there was Doris.  She, and her husband, Garth, were the first to bring dinner to our family when we first arrived on staff.  She brought enchiladas;  really good enchiladas! Back to the recipe; sometimes you just know that the recipe in the church cookbook is going to be good! That's why I tried this recipe! Deluxe Chicken Casserole 1 cup chopped celery 2 tsp. chopped onion (I added WAY more...

I'm working full-time now.  But it's not full-time forever; it's full-time for now! I have a long-term sub job while the teacher has her first baby. It's a great class of 4th grade kids!  Last week was our first full-week together. I think it went well!  But I have really big shoes to fill!  Even though I'm enjoying this new experience, I still adore my responsibilities at home and I don't want things to change. But I'm learning how to balance it all without losing my own "balance!" One of the quick dinners I created last week came out of the need for a one-skillet, easy cleanup kind of meal! I had a thought of what I wanted, so I began my search on the internet. You know my saying:  "If I can think of something "new," then I know it's already out there!  There is absolutely NO WAY that I'm smart enough to come up with something entirely unthought of!" Sure enough, there were several recipes, but ...

My friend, Kim, is a great cook. Matter of fact, when we have dinner together, my boy cherub wants her to make biscuits. It doesn't matter what we're having, he wants to know if she can do the biscuits. I've tried to make her biscuits -- and honestly, they don't taste the same. But close. But not the same. I keep trying! This pasta dish is one of Kim's "go to" dinners at her house. She has a house of boys and this is a crowd pleaser! What I like about this is it's easy and tasty! Two very important things! It also reheats beautifully! So for lunch the next day, people will be drooling over your impressive left-over dinner.  . . .and you can keep it a secret that it's easy! Kim's Spicy Chicken Pasta Noodles (I prefer linguine because it holds sauce well) chicken (left-over grilled chicken, rotisserie chicken, roasted or baked chicken) onions, chopped bell peppers, if you want them, chopped mushrooms, if that ...

Image used from the Internet . . . but it looks pretty close to what my salad looks like! I met Melba about 15  years ago. We ended up teaching 3rd grade Sunday School together, with another friend of ours, Judy. We three taught together nearly 10 years! There is nobody like Melba! She's a mover and a shaker and if you need something done -- just ask Melba! She'll grab the bull by the horns and do her job . . .and maybe your job too! Melba is also a good cook! One day she told me about this pasta salad. You're not going to believe it when you read the ingredients. But I'm telling you -- any time that I serve it, I'm always asked for the recipe. I don't know what it is about this salad, but it's a hit! It's called Rainbow Pasta Salad. But really, I ought to call it "Melba's Pasta Salad!" Rainbow Pasta Salad 1 bag Rainbow Pasta, cooked according to directions 2 carrots, cleaned and shredded or chopped 1 re...

The rice that has been browned We've been eating this dish since before we were married! I remember the first time I made this for the Mr. I must say, he was rather impressed. It's true. I wouldn't lie about that! However, I haven't made this in a very long time. I have actually forgotten about the recipe. But I'm taking dinner to a friend who is recovering from surgery and it hit me! Chicken and Rice! This recipe is from my friend. We tease her about it! Because any time we go to her house for dinner; this is what she serves. As in A.N.Y. time! For Y.E.A.R.S now, this is what we eat! I'll call it her "signature dish!"  Actually, Auntie Ronda is a fantastic cook -- so with that in mind, if you haven't ever tried this, give it a whirl! Truth be known, it's an old recipe -- but it's a good one to keep on stand-by . . . just like Auntie Ronda does! Rice Consomme with Chicken 1/2 cup butter 1/3 cup ...

This is the only picture I could find that resembled my friend's pasta dish.  This is not my picture -- I found it on the internet. Not long ago, I was invited into the secret club of pokeno . This is a girl's night out club. Need I say more? When I say "invited in" I only mean as a guest -- subbing for a night -- not the "invited in to stay" kind of gig! It's all "oh, we'll have a great time, dinner and playing . . .bring a gift for the game." Sounds fun, right? It's cut throat! During dinner, it's all "We're so glad you're here . . .and lots of laughing." Then the game starts and the cut-throat playing begins! First you win prizes . . .then they can get taken away from you. Those girls don't care if you're new . . .they want the prize! There's a great possibility you'll go home empty handed! It's hard for me to even talk about the night . . .but what I can talk a...

Not my picture; not my pasta. Image used from the internet. My family loves pasta. As in, they would not complain if I served pasta every night of the week. I would complain. They would not. My girl loves Alfredo sauce. Matter of fact, a real "treat" to her is when I let her get a lean cuisine meal for dinner!  She always gets the chicken Alfredo! Now, my boys, they are a classic red sauce.  I'll post that recipe later -- but today is for a quick Alfredo sauce. I made this when we were having friends over for dinner. It was such a hit.  It's great because these are normal ingredients and you are not having to start with a basic white sauce.  This recipe is basically melting cheese together! And even I liked it!  You want to know what I liked about this sauce -- it was thick.  Thick! Not a thin little white sauce that you're kind of scraping the plate with your noodles. This is a substantial, stick to the noodles, kind of s...

image from the internet Yesterday we had lunch with some friends at their house. It was a great time and fantastic food! My friend served some delish Mexican food and I begged her for the recipes! She shared with me. I share with you. You'll be happy! Today, I give you the Green Chili Rice recipe. You can't go wrong with this stuff! Hurry up and make it, you'll be happy you did! Green Chili Rice Casserole 4 cups of cooked white rice, instant rice is great 2 (4oz.) cans diced green chilies 3/4 pound Monterey Jack cheese, (1 1/2 bags if using pre-shredded) 2 cups sour cream 1/2-3/4 tsp. seasoning salt to taste (I use Lawry's) chives and cheese to top Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl.  Pour into a 9X13 greased baking dish.  Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes or until thoroughly hot.

Image used from the Internet, "My Recipes" First, what IS "tetrazzini?" I made lunch the other day for some ladies and this new-to-me recipe got lots of "oohs and ahhs."  I love trying new recipes out on unsuspecting people.  Here's my theory to that method of madness: What I'm cooking for them is already "new" to them, therefore, I ought to try out something new to me too!  It's a great way to see if something is really worth doing again!  Because if you're family is like mine, they'll eat practically anything and so when they say it's "good" that might just be debatable!  This is a Southern Living recipe, but it's an easy one!  You're going to love it! But before you see the ingredients, I'll answer the question of, "What is tetrazzini?"  Looking at the always available, ...

Image from the internet Not one of my favorite things to eat. Not this recipe . . .but Spanish rice, in general. I've never been a fan. Until I made this. This is what the Mr. grew up on, I'm guessing.  You know, I've never asked him if he ate this as a kid, but his mom is the one who gave me the recipe. Maybe she just liked they way it sounded . . . No, I'm sticking with the thought that it was a family favorite! Again, like most things I make, it's easy! You can serve it along side your Mexican food, or add ground beef to it and have a one-pot meal, if you're into those sorts of things! Spanish Rice 1 cup uncooked rice (instant or long-cook*) 1/4 cup butter 1 onion, chopped 1/2 green pepper, chopped 1 can stewed tomatoes, with the juice 1 tsp. salt dash of pepper 1 cup water Melt butter in a sauce pan, add the onion, green pepper and rice.  Stir over high heat until the rice is lightly browned.  Add the tomatoes, water, sal...