A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

I'm so excited to announce my new adventure! This is for all of you who live in the OKC/surrounding area! Here's the scoop! I think meal time is one of the most important times of the day with your family; regardless of how big or small your family is! When at the table, with the TV off and phones down, you have some of the best conversations. But meal times are difficult! Schedules are full. Meal planning takes time. Whether it's coming in after a long day at work or after a packed schedule of practices; That's why I have "Meal Thyme." Each month, I'll have different meal kits, along with an optional dessert kit, that you can order. All you have to do is buy the meat, put it in the bag of seasoning, and throw it in the freezer. Then, when you're ready to cook, just thaw your meal and put it in the crock pot! Come home to a hot meal ready to eat! If you really want to "get fancy," you can add a veggie or side...

Recently, we were a host home for our girls' retreat at church. Let me translate what that means: I clean like a mad-woman for several days before, as if high school girls are even going to care about what the house looks like!  I spent days thinking through the "snack" menu and what to do for breakfast for them on Saturday, and through it all, the Mr. and my boy cherub leave the nest and are gone the entire time! So by "we," I mean me! But it was a GREAT time and I'd do it again!  The girls that were at my house were amazing! They commented on how good the house smelled . . .which I really have no idea what they were smelling! And they loved the pancake bar we did on Friday night and the were so appreciative of breakfast! They also drank a lot of coffee! Who knew!  I clearly didn't plan well in that area, but that's ok! Another mom was my co-host.  She was a trooper! On Friday night, she came over and helped me cook pancake...

A loooong time ago, a friend of mine had a football watch party. At the party, she served all kinds of tailgate-type food. One of the things she served, of course, was nachos. But they were so much tastier than just plain 'ol nachos. She had "jazzed up" the meat that she put on the nachos. The other day, I texted her to ask what her recipe was. Remember, it was a long time ago . . . but I kind of helped to jog her memory and she gave me, "it was probably   . . . " " . . .or it could have been . . ." But thinking back to what it looked like, I went with the first option of possibility. Here's my dilemma:  I typically like tacos, etc, but I don't typically prefer the taco meat. It is usually dry. It's seasoned fine, but to me, it's just kinda dry. Not so dry you have to choke it down or chase it with a big glass of water. But just sorta dry. So I took my friend's suggestion, tweeked it a bit for what...

My boy cherub has loved oatmeal cookies since the time he could say, "cick-koo." And as a little guy, I knew exactly what he was saying when he asked! Not much has changed as he's grown . . . and oatmeal cookie is still a great treat to him. This week, he has been asking for dessert. Well, he and the girl cherub both! But I haven't made anything. Not because I didn't want to. But we were in and out so much this week, and we were all going to be gone this weekend, that I didn't think it was necessary to bake this week. But here it is, Sunday afternoon, and the weather is perfect, and the house is quiet, so I decided to make the cherubs happy and bake! I'm not really certain that I've made an oatmeal cookie since we've been gluten free, which has been about 2 1/2 years, so it's about time I get a good recipe! This one, I do think, is a keeper. If you're not gluten free . . . but you've kept reading...

This past weekend was spent at the lake with the Mr.'s family. We had a great time of hanging out, laughing, and sitting by the fire. The 7 cousins played marathon air hockey . . .so much that my girl cherub's arm was sore! With 4 families represented, we decided that each family would take one dinner for each of the days we were together and be responsible to provide the food for everybody. Breakfast and lunch . . .each family brought what they wanted and just shared. But dinner was a little more organized. The Mr. and I had the Saturday night dinner. We had big shoes to fill because my brother in law and sister in law did a shrimp boil for everyone on Friday night. It was fantastic! So Saturday afternoon, we set about our dinner preparation. I did all of the prep work that could be done ahead of time at home so that cooking on Saturday night would be as easy as possible. We had the roasted potatoes that I posted a few weeks ago. http://karen-proverbs31...

I'm a self-proclaimed ranch dressing snob. I like ranch dressing, but I'm particular about it. So please do not offer the bottled ranch dressing to me. It's not my preference. Which is a nice way of saying I don't like it. It's nothing against bottled ranch dressing . . . it's that I just don't really like most bottled dressings. Confession time is over;  back to the ranch dressing. I like good ranch dressing. Ranch dressing with flavor. Ranch dressing with zip. Ranch dressing with depth. Ranch dressing that has "character" to it. That's why I like this ranch dressing. I think I ought to call it "green ranch dressing," because I mix it together in a blender, which does change the color of the dressing. But if you want to mix it by hand, then I think you'll not call your dressing "green ranch dressing." So, why do I mix it together in the blender, you ask? Because I like it really, real...

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...