A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

I seriously love croutons. Homemade croutons. Oh, there are some pre-packaged croutons that I like . . . but give me homemade croutons and I'm happy. Truthfully, I was sad when my cherubs decided that they didn't like croutons and ranch dip for a snack anymore! That's when they were very little preschool cherubs! This weekend, I made more cinnamon grilled chicken. I knew the cherubs could take chicken sandwiches in their lunch and we could have the chicken on salad for dinner. That's when I decided we needed croutons too! Last week, I made bread and I took some of that and transformed it into croutons! I wouldn't suggest using regular sandwich white bread, but you can definitely use any "sturdy" bread and make your own salad croutons . . . or snacking croutons! Easy Croutons Leftover bread, cubed (you'll want a firm dense bread such as French bread or homemade bread) olive oil seasonings -- salt and pepper is a grea...

That's a mouthful! And I want another bite! I'm not even kidding! I loved this sandwich! Seriously loved it! Soooooooooo  easy! I utterly impressed myself when we made it! Right now, we have no idea what season it will be when we wake up! It's totally frustrating! I love winter, so I'm sad to see it go . . .but I'm tired of having one foot in Winter and one foot in Spring! Heck, we go to my boy cherub's baseball games and we don't know if we need sunscreen or a blanket! We, and by "we" I mean "he," played Saturday and afterwards we, and by "we" I mean "the Mr," was going to grill chicken. I decided we'd have chicken sandwiches because when I made this decision it was Spring outside. But when it came time to actually cook, we could have had soup because it was wintry. But I stuck with the Spring menu and made this delish sandwich! FYI:  I made 6 sandwiches -- I pound the chicken b...

We crave Mexican food. I honestly think we could eat it every day. Tex-Mex is good, but we also love authentic Mexican food. Simple, basic; delicious! We also love mock-Mexican food. You know -- Mexican-ish! The thoughts of Mexican, but not really! That's what we had the other night for dinner. I was making good use of the grilled chicken that was in the freezer and the green chilies we roasted and froze from the Summer. I was also making a "sort-of" Spanish rice to put with the chicken. My boy cherub whipped up some salsa to go with it; Which made me think we needed chips. Kind of like an appetizer! The cherubs are out of school for Spring Break and I like the idea of us all hanging around the kitchen, snacking and cooking together. We were out of corn chips! Uh-oh! What to do! It was cold outside and I was not going to the store just for chips! Then I remembered there were won ton wrappers in the refrigerator. I cut them, ...

If you've read the last post, you know we had sweet friends over for dessert recently. Because we were having a "make your own chocolate chip ice cream sundae bar," I needed wanted hot fudge sauce. Sure, I could have gone to my favorite ice cream dairy store (picture below) and picked up a jar of their delicious hot fudge sauce. But I didn't. I was feeling way to domesticated for such radical behavior! I have a great hot fudge sauce recipe. But I couldn't find it. This makes a woman like me crazy. Crazy, I tell you! I can tell you who we were with the last time I made it. I can remember where I found the recipe the last time I made it. So why, oh why, can't I find it now? I don't know. But I don't have time to panic. I only have time for hot fudge sauce. I searched and searched for a recipe that was similar to the one I wanted to make. The one I wanted to make does NOT have sweetened condensed milk in it. N...

Imaged used from the Internet We were having friends over for dessert. We hadn't done that in such a long time! It was fun! They were going to be in the area and made it easy for them to drop by and hang out for awhile. Since the cherubs are baking chocolate chip cookies for their March "Treat of the Month" club, I decided that for dessert we would have a chocolate chip sundae bar! Of the 9 who would be eating dessert, 5 of them were kids. "Make your own sundae" is always fun for kids . . . and Karen! Earlier in the day, I made a homemade hot fudge sauce, homemade caramel sauce, bought vanilla ice cream from my favorite dairy store, Braums, pulled out the sprinkles to dash on top, and got the chocolate chip cookies ready. At the very last minute, I thought that a marshmallow sauce would be fun to have too. I've never been one to live or die by marshmallow sauce, but it couldn't be all bad, huh? And it definitely couldn...

I don't know what I'd really call these? I made these by accident. Oh, I didn't make brownies by accident .  . . I knew full well what I was doing. Sort of! But what I wanted didn't work, so I scooped the messed up dough off the cookie sheet and started over. Let me start from the beginning. This was my week to feed the baseball team. In my dream, there would be plenty of time for the boys to sit and enjoy a feast that is brought to them. They'd chew with their mouths closed, say thank you and yes ma'am, and ask for seconds. They'd offer to clean up and ask if there is anything else they could do to help. REALITY!!! There's no time for any of that! Their lunch, dinner, heavy snack . . .whatever it's called has to be quick! They're throwing it down as they get dressed out and head to the field to take batting practice. It needs to be something easy, quick, and little-to-no cleanup for them OR me! After all, who n...

The Mr. and I were in Charleston a few weeks ago. He went for a meeting . . . I went to relax. It isn't often that the two of us get away without the cherubs. We took advantage of returning to a city that we love! When we were first married, we lived in Columbia, SC. Charleston was a little over an hour away and we were young, childless, and spunky! We would get in the car with our dear friends, Clay and Amy, and we'd spend the day in Charleston. Much hasn't changed in 20 years in the city of Charleston: The market is still the place to shop, the restaurants are still amazing, and the time walking the battery and enjoying the beautiful surrounds is still relaxing. We always loved getting pralines when we were in Charleston. There's something about that buttery, brown sugary, pecan treat that is purely the best! While we were on this trip, we walked by the store front every day that offered a free sample! If they were giving, we were g...

I bought frozen, yellow squash when I went to the store last. I'm really not sure why! It sounded good. Odd, huh? I put the squash in the freezer and waited for a reason to cook it. Truthfully, I waited until I found a recipe I wanted to make. Because honestly, I'm not sure that I'd want to eat cooked, frozen squash. I think it would be mushy. I'm not sure -- but I'm just guessing. After a beautiful Spring day on Saturday; one we spent running cherubs to their activities and a great j.v. baseball game, I decided that squash casserole would be great with our dinner of grilled pork loin. Out to the freezer I went to get that bag of frozen squash! My boy cherub especially liked this side dish! This is basically a recipe from Paula Deen, just altered a bit for my preference.  If you want her recipe, which uses fresh squash, then you can find that at Paula Deen.com Squash Casserole 1/2 tsp. salt and pepper (or to taste) 1/4cup sour...