What is for dinner this week?

I haven't postedplanned my menu for a couple of weeks now and I realized how it definitely does make a difference. So here goes the plan. (I have a freezer full of wonderful delicious right from the farm beef, so I feel really guilty about not having a plan!)

Monday
hamburgers on the grill
homemade french fries and/or Baked beans
(I have been making my own hamburger buns too~ Yes, be impressed! The store ones are pretty bad and expensive when you think about it! I just make a butter roll recipe in my breadmaker on the dough setting, take out the dough and make the balls a little bit bigger, rise, bake and then slice them- even hubby and baby boy like them!)

Tuesday
Liver (for hubby NOT ME!)
Spinach Pasta (for me and baby boy)


Wednesday
Chicken Breast on the grill
Baked potatoes
Broccoli


Thursday
Spaghetti


Friday
Pizza



Saturday
Lasagna (hubby's birthday!)

Sunday
Pork Roast
mashed
green beans

Have a blessed week nourishing your families! Go over to Organizing Junkie to find a ton of menus.

Love,

Memorial Day Tablescape!

It is so very hard to change up Tablescapes sometimes! But I have found that with my new fav Ironstone- I don't have to change the plates if I don't want to- they go with everything! A couple of weeks ago, I did a Mother's Day table with my Mother's Day roses and of course the roses died, but the Tablescape didn't! Ha-ha! So I kept many items from my Mother's Day table and just changed a few little things here and there. Same plates, same candlesticks, but switched a few things for the candles- changed the silver and the napkin rings and the chargers! Presto, change-o- Memorial Day table for my hubby (he was in the Army!).

The candles remind me of fireworks! (I guess this table would work for the 4th of July too!)

How do you like my centerpiece? Hubby's army boot! And flowers from the Tree.


I did buy a few things for the red, white and blue effect at the Tree, but other than that, I just used what I had.
Plates- on going collection from thrift stores (mostly found by my sister, Tammy) everything else is from the thrift store too, really- either found by me or my eagle eye sister! My hubby got a kick out of me using his boot. (Am I getting desperate or what?) Anyway, I love the table and I hope you do too- be sure and join in the fun over at Between Naps on the Porch for more Tablescaping delights!

Food, food and more food!! Again?

I guess I have used this title before- that is why I added the again to it. Anyway, yesterday, my hubby and I went and picked up our 1/4 grass fed cow. It is a lot of food, people! I still had a little left from our last 1/4, so we are good to go for another 6-8 months filling in with chicken, some fish and a very occasional meal out. It was 170 pounds hanging weight which I estimate to be about 140 pounds all nicely wrapped up, which worked out to be about $4.20 a pound or so- which is great for this type of meat. You can't get organic hamburger at Costco that cheap let alone steaks, roasts, brisket, cube steak, soup bones, dog bones and all kinds of bones! This meat is right off the farm and I am thrilled we were able to get it. One of my dreams is to eat healthily (is that a word) and make everything from scratch like several of my friends do, (and weigh about 50 pounds less!) but I tend to be a little overwhelmed/lazy sometimes about it. I feel like I do well to eat this good meat and organic food whenever possible, but at heart I am a junk food junkie and those scrumptious chocolate covered doughnuts call me by name. This week at least, I am trying not to heed their call! I am really trying to limit my sugar intake- that nasty (yummy) stuff is in everything. I even want to drop my blessed sweet tea!- I started on the sweet tea to 1) get away from soda (which I haven't touched in 5 years!) and 2) to get off artificial sweetener- so it is a toss up! I love, love, love my sweet tea- but I gotta kiss it good-bye. Thankfully, I love water too.
Oh, and yesterday, I also made my own yogurt- I read in blogworld that you can make it in the crock-pot who knew? So, I had a gallon of milk getting ready to go past the date, so I decided to try it. Put it in my crock pot on low for 2-1/2 hours, turned it off, let it sit for 3 more hours, then added 1/2 cup of plain yogurt (for starter) wrapped it a heavy towel and let it set for 8 hours and then I put it in the fridge and this morning- stirred in a little honey and talk about yum (and Activia-ish if you get my drift ;~)).

Funny, as I write this at dinnertime, with a freezer full of food, I was contemplating ordering a pizza! But, then I remembered I had taken out some leftover taco meat to make room for the beef, so even though I don't usually eat meat on Fridays, I thought it made more sense than spending money- Yeah me! Cooking ahead definitely comes in handy!

Here are a couple shots of my freezer- (I do believe, no, I am positive these are the first pictures I have ever ever taken of my freezer!) Isn't it glorious?!

Have a great weekend!

Love,

Mothers Day Roses Inspiration Tablescape and a Blue hour try!

My sweet hubby got me roses for Mothers Day, which is usually against my rule- (don't buy flowers on Mothers Day or Valentines Day) but I gladly accepted them anyway! (Usually he says, "but you're not MY Mother!")I figured I would get a couple more days out of my roses, so here is my table to go along with my roses! I used my trusty Ironstone (surprise, surprise!) and my gold silverware and I had a slew of red candles (I am borderline hoarding the candles, people!) throw in red napkins and voila! another favorite!

Be sure and visit Between Naps on the Porch for some more tablescaping (and blue hour) fun!

Here are a few pics of my blue hour try-

The first two were taken across the street from my house outside with no flash. The 3rd one is the parking lot at Publix. The pictures were a lot bluer than I thought they would be. I really thought this blue hour was fascinating. (I like learning something new every day!)

With just a few little changes, I have a new Tablescape this week!

As I always say- "this week's Tablescape is my favorite"- I really like many of my tables so much that I keep them up for a couple of weeks. Last week's was no exception- I really liked it! BUT- I wanted to share a few new things that my sister Tammy found for me. Like I have said before- I just started collecting the Ironstone (Snowwhite mostly) and without her Eagle-Eye (and love for thrift store shopping which is worse better than my thrift store obsession) I certainly wouldn't have much of a collection. She found my new sugar and creamer, 2 platters, 3 square dessert plates, that I wanted to add to this Tablescape. She also gave me some flower napkin rings that I added. Just below is this week's Tablescape- the last picture is last week's rendition- so you can see that this week's is a "new" Tablescape! Be sure and join everyone at Between Naps on the Porch for more Tablescaping fun! Thanks, Susan for hosting us every week. I so enjoy it!

It is not a Nana's tablescape without candles!

I LOVE the sugar and creamer!! So Awesome!

Here is the "new" setting with the super cute dessert plate under the bowl.

I switched out the crystal candlestick for the hurricane lamps (found them for $3 each at Michaels).

The flowers are just some silk ones from the dollar store that I put in a pitcher- they look pretty good!

I just placed the napkin rings inside the glass with the napkins- it works!

My sister found these beautiful large platters too-(I was so glad- she had found a platter before that ended up slipping onto the floor and breaking into a zillion pieces). Bill from Affordable Accoutrements , who got me started on this collection (loved a table he had done), says it is better to risk breaking a piece here and there than to not use it and have a perfect set when we die! I think that is a good word! Why are we saving stuff? Why do we have "good China"- what the heck- get it out and use it!

Here is last week's table- as you can see- a few changes makes a whole new table!


Have a great week and please drop me a line so I can visit you too!!

Love,

Menu Plan Monday!

I started participating in Menu Monday a few weeks ago with Organizing Junkie mainly for my own organization! It really helps to have a plan even if you may not stick to it.

Monday
We had a gift card from Christmas so out we went!

Tuesday
Chicken Piccata
Rice
Sauteed Green Beans (whole frozen or fresh green beans- tossed in olive oil, garlic, minced onions and a little Braggs amino acid or soy sauce)

Wednesday
Lentils and Rice (Last week was my first time making Lentils, and they were a huge hit- my son insists I make them once a week! What a super way to help out your food budget!)


Thursday
Hamburgers
Homemade Fries
Corn on the Cob


Friday
Shrimp
Baked potatoes
Broccoli

Saturday
going to daughter's house for a little graduation party! Lasagna?

Sunday
Roast (Sunday is such a roast day!) not sure which type yet, Pork Tenderloin or Beef Shoulder
Potaoes
Carrots
Rolls (homemade- dough in the breadmaker- rolled out, risen and baked)
Of Course if there are Mothers Day plans- all of this could be Monday's dinner!)

Have a Blessed Week nourishing your family!

Love,

Great Giveaway!

Check out this great giveaway at Bramasole-to yearn for the sun