In the Kitchen - Macho Nachos

I have to start by thanking you all so much for your opinions and comments on my last post, I so appreciate my readers and I'm glad to know that you are all so welcoming of the changes.

I guess it's official, I'm going to start posting my recipes here and then just copying them to my food blog for safe keeping.  The comments on the food blog will be disabled, so I guess in a sense, you will be able to also use the blog as an online recipe folder for your own use :)

I've decided that my recipes will fall under the category of In the Kitchen and I will add them to my linkbar up above as I post them.

There are a few recipes I'm going to share today, so this will probably be the only time you'll see so many in a row, from today on I'll just post them as I make them.

Right, here's the first one, a good recipe for a quick meal and one that your husband and kids will surely enjoy.

Macho Nachos

Source:  I wash you dry

6-8 large handfuls of corn tortilla chips
1½ cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1½ cups pepper jack cheese, shredded
1 (15 oz) can of chili (your favorite brand works)
½ cup sliced black olives
½ cup sliced, pickled jalapeños
½ cup diced tomatoes
¾ cup sour cream
2 green onions, diced
salsa


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In an oven safe pan or baking sheet lay half of the chips, then top with half the can of chili, ½ of the cheddar cheese, and ½ of the pepper jack cheese. Repeat the layering; chips, chili, cheese.

Bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and gooey.

Quickly top with the black olives, jalapeños, diced tomato, sour cream, and green onions. Serve hot with a side of salsa. Enjoy!

Question about Food blog and recipes!

Friends, I have a question for you regarding my recipes and my food blog.

Essentially, I began my food blog as a way for me to keep recipes on file, to see what we were eating and to have a place to go back and revisit what we ate.  Obviously, I like sharing too and it's a great way to share those meals that we have loved with others.

Thing is, when I started my food blog in 2006, there weren't many around, but as the years have gone by, there have been more and more, seems that everyone has one, and it's a competition to see who can produce the best recipes, and the more giveaways, and get the ultimate pinterest pins etc.

I don't like that, I'm not interested in that kind of atmosphere and because I've never fallen into that like so many others, I have lost readers, and not just readers, but I really don't ever get a single comment on any recipe, if I do, it's very rarely.

So, this is what I was thinking of doing, and hence why I'm coming in to ask what you guys think. 

I will keep my Full Bellies blog up, but will disable all comments.  I will still post recipes on there, but will be posting them on this blog too, mainly posting here first and then a copy on the food blog.  I just feel that the recipes reach a far bigger audience here and a lot of times it seems that many of you miss out on what is being posted because you mainly read my main blog.

I don't want to overcrowd this blog, I certainly don't want to make it messy, but it's not like I share recipes every day either, so it wouldn't be a very big change in the posting habits here either.

I know that the final decision is mine, but I really would love your input, your thoughts, please?

{ A day in the life }

Good morning sweet friends, how has your week been going?

Mine has gone by so fast, I can hardly believe it's Thursday already.

I thought I would do a simple day in the life, I know some of you may find these posts boring, but I love recording my day in pictures, it's so much fun to go back and read and see what I was doing a few weeks, months and even years back.

♥♥♥ ♥♥♥  My mornings usually start with coffee, some breakfast and dishes, it's become a ritual of sorts.

♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ I really enjoy the Raisin Cinnamon Bread or the Pumpkin Spice Bread during the Fall months. 

♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ Made some laundry detergent, it's so expensive to buy at the store and I always find that the homemade cleans so much better.

♥♥♥ ♥♥♥  Homemade Buttermilk Bread, because we enjoy it so much and because I completely forgot to buy bread this grocery trip.  It's not a biggie, really, homemade is so much better anyway.

♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ Moved a few things around in preparation for Thanksgiving, going to have a full house again, and usually it would overwhelm me and freak me out, but we've gone so many years spending holidays alone, that it's a blessing to be surrounded by so much family.

♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ Have a review coming up for the Pink Zebra Sprinkles, and I'm so excited to share with those of you who have never heard of this product before.  They smell absolutely amazing and would make a wonderful Christmas gift.

♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ My days are filled with homemaking, homeschooling and just plain ol' living.

♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ As the day wound down, I got dinner all taken care of, the table cleared and Curt and Jasmine set up shop, spending some time together and playing a few games of Magic the Gathering.

♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ The father and teenager relationship is strife with heartache, difficulties, and a struggle of power.  It's perfectly normal when dealing with teenagers, so to see them spending some time together, bonding, laughing and not fighting, is something that we don't see very often.  I treasure every single second of it.

♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ They wanted me to join in and play some card games, and I did afterwards, but I thought they needed this time alone, and it also gave me time to get the kitchen cleaned up.

 ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ After the kitchen was put back in shape, I got the living room taken care of too.  These Fall nights are my favorite, the glow of the lamps, the cozy atmosphere, just makes me smile.

♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ Life is so busy all the time, and most days there really isn't anything exciting going on, but that is fine with me, I'm ok with slow, normal, predictable days. 

These are just but a few snippets of my day.

Add in laundry and dish washing, meal cooking, house cleaning and some moments with my children and husband and that pretty much sums up my life, something I would not change for anything in this world.

Water on the Moon - TLC Book Tour

Paperback: 244 pages
Publisher: She Writes Press (June 3, 2014)

Acclaimed Debut Novel, Winner of the 2015 Independent Publishers Book Award for Contemporary Fiction

When her husband comes out as gay and an airplane crash inexplicably destroys her home, the mother of teenage twin daughters must rethink everything she knows.

In her debut novel Water on the Moon, Jean P. Moore introduces readers to Lidia Raven, whose life begins taking seemingly endless wrong turns. Lidia and her girls miraculously survive the plane crash that destroys their home and are taken in by Lidia’s friend Polly, a neighbor with a robust collection of first-edition books who lives alone on a sprawling estate.

Struggling to cope with each of these life-changing events, Lidia discovers a connection between herself and Tina Calderara, the pilot who crashed into her home. In the months that follow, Lidia plunges into a mystery that upends every aspect of her life.

Rife with age-old dilemmas, this contemporary novel explores the relationships between mothers and daughters and the trials and triumphs of women’s friendships. As Lidia learns to reconcile her pain with her need to be true to herself and to accept that need in others, she discovers that while life has the power to unhinge her, it also has the power to open her to new ways of being in the world.

*********************************************

Connect with Jean

Website | Blog | Twitter

Jean P. Moore began her professional life as an English teacher, later becoming a telecommunications executive. She and her husband, Steve, and Sly, their black Lab, divide their time between Greenwich, Connecticut and the Berkshires in Massachusetts, where Jean teaches yoga in the summers.

Her work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, and literary journals such as upstreet, SN Review, Adanna, Distillery, Skirt, Long Island Woman, the Hartford Courant, Greenwich Time, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Water on the Moon was published in June of 2014 and won the 2015 Independent Publishers Book Award for Contemporary Fiction.

*********************************************

My Thoughts:

I have to be completely honest, and I just don't know that this story appealed to me.  It was well written, it was interesting but I always felt like something was missing, like I wasn't completely gelling with the characters or the story, or the plot, or something.  I can't quite put my finger on it.

Lidia's husband recently left her for another man, and just when she thinks that her life can't get any worse, a plane crashes into the home she shares with her twin teenage daughters. 

In the aftermath of what seems like never ending bad incidents in her life, Lidia finds the silver lining and learns to look at life in a different way.

I know it makes no sense for me to give you this short blurb because in all actuality it sounds like the makings of a phenomenal story, but while it was ok for me, it wasn't something that kept my attention.  It might be that it's just not the right story for me at this point in my life and I know that sometimes when we're having certain things happening around us it can influence the way we enjoy everything around us.  Maybe it's that, I don't know.

I do think the author did a brilliant job of pulling in all these characters and weaving a story of grief, heartache and overcoming obstacles.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me with a review copy.

Happy Homemaker Monday - 11/09/2015

Happy Monday!!!

I swear it was Friday just 5 minutes ago, wasn't it?  Seriously, what is with the time rushing by, we don't even get a chance to breathe and it's another day, another month, and right around the corner, another year.

I'm getting a bit of a late start again this morning, I've been super lazy and have chosen to stay in bed catching up on some shows, a luxury I don't often indulge in so it's nice to do it once in a while.  But, the day is starting, the brightness is upon us and I really need to get on with things.  Let's see what this week has in store.

Feel free to use :)

The Weather:::
Sun just came up but it's quite dreary looking outside, cloudy and there's a definite nip in the air.  52 degrees at the moment and our high is only reaching 65, which seems to be the norm for the rest of the week, we've definitely said goodbye to summer.


Right now I am:::
In bed, in my pj's being lazy and trying to find the motivation to type up this post.  It's not that I don't love my HHM, but some days I find it hard to put into words what I'm thinking, or I start filling in the categories and realize that it sounds so utterly boring.  Nevertheless, it's my life, boring or not, right? 


Thinking:::
About so many things, my mind has been on overdrive lately and I just need it to stop and slow down a bit before I go insane.


On my reading pile:::
Books for review, speaking of which, I have one this afternoon that will be going live on the blog, so keep your eye out for that if you're interested in a book suggestion. 


On my tv:::
On my DVR list I have:
Haven (I still haven't watched a single episode this season and need to so I can clear up the list)
Lockup Raw
The Last Kingdom
Farmhouse Rules

On the menu for this week:::

Monday - Thai Peanut Beef with Basmati Rice
Tuesday - Grilled Tilapia, Salad, Parmesan Garlic Noodles
Wednesday - Salisbury Steak, Mashed Potatoes
Thursday -  Creamy Beef Noodle Bake
Friday - Monterey Chicken, Fries, salad
Saturday - Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana, Olive Garden's Bread Sticks
Sunday - Crockpot Beer Braised Chicken, Rice


On my to do list:::
Homemaking.......empty and reload dishwasher, clean up kitchen.  Vacuum both living rooms.  Make beds and change out linens.
Laundry.......fold two loads and put away
School


What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::
Corner to Corner blanket


Looking around the house:::
We got new curtains for the green living room, and I'm actually really liking them.  I think I need to pick up some more for the other window in the room.  I'll take some pics and show you in my Day in the Life Post I have planned for later today.


From the camera:::
I don't have a picture to share, and that has never really happened for me LOL

I do however have this beautiful photo of a foggy sunrise.

On my prayer list:::
My daughter, being a teenager is so hard and being the mother of a teenager is equally difficult.  As she goes through this struggle in her current relationship, I've taken the approach of being there for her but not pushing.  I will ask her how she is or how things are and 90% of the time she will reply with "I don't want to talk about it, please, thank you mom".  Much as that hurts because I know she's struggling, I just say Ok and leave her, and truth is, later in the day or the next day, she will come to me and talk about it or say something about it.  Seems to work, now I don't have all the answers to this mom/teenage daughter relationship figured out, but I figured I would pass this on and maybe it will help another teenage mom out there :)


Bible verse, Devotional:::

Grocery Haul and Menu Plan

I was supposed to get this up yesterday but then got busy around the house, and before I knew it, it was night time and we were sitting down to watch Doctor Who.

It was just one of those really busy days where I didn't get to sit down until the end of the day, which meant I didn't get a chance to even touch my laptop.

Anyway, let's move on with our grocery haul.  I'm hoping some of you are still enjoying me posting these, even if you aren't I think I'm going to keep doing it just as a record for myself, that way I can look back and see what I was buying or how much I was spending etc.

I went $5 over budget this week, but only because I had to buy Carpet Cleaning solution for my machine and that alone is $13.  Good grief, they're expensive, I need to start making my own.

Let me show you what I got.....



Coffee creamer, I've never tried the Frosted Sugar Cookie but it sounds good so we'll see.  2 dozen eggs, margarine for cooking, butter, cottage cheese, heavy cream, 2 gallons of milk.



2 packs of thin steak, 2 pounds of ground beef, bun length hotdogs, maple sausage and sage sausage, 2 packs of burritos (hubby and son like these for lunch), Freschetta Hawaiian Pizza.



3 packs of chicken tenders (they were only around $3.40, $3.47 each), Prosciutto Panino snack for hubby and I, Freschetta Pepperoni Pizza, Pizza Rolls, Hash Browns.



Blackcurrant and Pear sparkling juice, I have never tried these and they were on sale for $2.  2 cans of green tea, one for hubby and one for Jasmine, Orange Juice, spaghetti, linguine, mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, salt, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, non stick spray, ketchup, oil, honey maple pancake syrup.



Bread Flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, vanilla extract, 3 boxes of Krave cereal (my kids are obsessed with this cereal lately, they love it), Celestial Gingerbread Spice Tea (was on sale and it sounded so good), 2 packs of Cup Noodles for hubby to take to work, Mac and Cheese cups for the kids for lunches, breadsticks.



Spaghetti sauce, I'm not picky with the brands because I add in my own spices, and I always go for the cheapest.  The Del Monte brand are only 69c so I got meat flavored and garlic and onion.  2 cans of Beefaroni and 2 cans of ravioli for kid lunches (they love this stuff, I find it gross).  Tomato paste, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, diced green chiles, mushrooms, 2 cans of tuna, 3 cans of clam chowder (again for lunches, hubby likes these), chicken and stars soup, coconut milk, 2 caramel flavored sweetened condensed milk.



4 aero mint as a special treat for us, we love these.  Dog treats, 2 packs of Basmati rice, active dry yeast, trio noodle pack, 4 ramen noodles, onion and mushroom soup, 1 red pepper, 1 cantaloupe.



1 bag of apples, bunch of kale, 4 bags of chips.



Hawaiian punch for the kids.



Oxi clean, baking soda, borax and my favorite laundry booster at the moment, it smells amazing.  This was all to make my laundry detergent which I haven't been able to do since Idaho and I find laundry detergent so expensive, this is much cheaper.



Lemi-shine (our water is so hard and always leaves spots on the dishes), sponge, paper towels, method glass and surface cleaner mint (I figure with the mouse problem we are having this might help as well), carpet cleaner, carpet powder, ziploc bags, aluminum foil.



Also picked up some gloves, I always forget and it messes up my hands and nails.  You know I always like having my nails painted and the dish washing is not good for that.



2 air sprays, toilet paper, axe body wash for hubby, bar soaps, toothpaste.



Tub for my laundry detergent.  I had to leave my nice glass one behind and needed something to hold the homemade detergent in.

Total $255, so $5 over budget but there were a few extras in there.

Now for the menu this is what is on the plan for the next 2 weeks:

Sunday 8th - Thai Peanut Beef with Basmati rice
Monday 9th - Grilled Tilapia, Salad, Parmesan Garlic Noodles
Wednesday 11th - Salisbury Steak, mashed potatoes Thursday 12th - Creamy Beef Noodle Bake

Friday 13th - Monterey Chicken, Fries, Salad
Saturday 14th - Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana, Olive Garden's Bread Sticks
Sunday 15th - Crockpot Beer Braised Chicken, Rice

Monday 16th - Spaghetti Pizza Pie
Tuesday 17th -Chicken Curry with Rice
Wednesday 18th - Pasteis de Massa Tenra (meat pastries), Potato and Onion bake
Thursday 19th - Buttermilk Fried Chicken, Green Beans, Biscuits
Friday 20th - Maple Sausage Sauce, Homemade Fettucine Noodles
Saturday 21st - Chicken and Hashbrown Casserole
Sunday 22nd - Deep Dish Pizza

Sometimes I'm really good with sticking with the menu, other times I switch meals up here and there and then there are those weeks where we are so busy, that we end up grabbing something out of the house.

I'm trying to really cut down on that and focus on eating what is already planned, as we get back on track after these uncertain months of the move, it's imperative that I get back to a good routine and schedule.

Once again, I hope this post helps or inspires someone out there, please do let me know if you enjoy these and if you have any suggestions, advice, comments you can leave them below :)

Week in Review!!!

Good morning everyone, hope you're all having a wonderful start to your Friday.

I am starting mine in a very quiet relaxing way, I guess.  I slept in a little this morning, I don't know what is going on but I just feel like I don't get enough sleep and am never caught up on it, no matter how early I try to get to bed the night before.

All I can say is, thank God it's Friday because no alarms going off tomorrow morning.  Yay!!!

I've been an awful blogger this week, it's just been a bit of a weird one for me, not really busy but also busy, does that make any sense whatsoever?  No?  I didn't think it would, it doesn't make sense for me.

Regardless, I thought I would come in this morning and have a good ol' chat with you all, see what you're up to, and tell you a little of what I've been doing, which really is nothing interesting, and may sound absolutely boring to most.

I've filled my week with housework, laundry, homeschooling and basic life living.  Yep, just every day living and surviving whatever comes our way.

I managed to make some appointments, and I also spent numerous hours on the phone with Tricare, military medical insurance, sorting through some issues we've been having.

To say that dealing with them is an annoyance would be a total understatement, it's so frustrating and then you get the run around and stuck on the phone waiting forever, and transferred from here to there.

After Curt retired we decided to stay with Tricare Prime.  Now keep in mind he retired 2 years ago, but since moving from Idaho to Texas we have had nothing but issues with payment, and late payments that we didn't know were there, money not being taken out of the account, not being able to be seen on base etc.

We've always had their monthly premiums coming straight out of my husband's retirement, then back in August they stopped, and truthfully, with everything going on with the move I didn't realize that it had happened, so we were removed from the Insurance.  When I tried to make my doctors appointment in September, I hit a wall, so had to call Tricare back in the west region (Idaho) to find out what was happening, pay them for the month they didn't take out, and get transferred to the South region (Texas) so that I could be seen at this base hospital.

When I went to make an appointment for Jasmine yesterday, again, another wall, apparently they hadn't taken the money out for September and October so removed us from the insurance again.  I sat on the phone for almost an hour and a half yesterday dealing with this, paying outstanding fees, making sure they PUT us back on automatic payments like I requested back in August, and trying to get us back on Tricare Prime so that I can make the appointment for Jasmine, and I have my Annual Women's appointment on Tuesday so need to be sure we are ok for that.

*WHEW*

Anyway, I have to call later today to make sure that we have been placed back on Tricare Prime.

Moving on, we had a crazy thunderstorm come in yesterday, bringing hail and strong winds and some of the strongest rain I've seen in a while.  It almost looked like snow at one point.  I put a video up on Instagram, let me see if I can share it here too for you just so you get an idea.

Hope that works.

After the crazy storm, the skies immediately opened up and left us with some of the prettiest clouds I've ever seen. Isn't it amazing that if you just look up to the sky you will be shown beauty like you've never seen before? When I'm having an especially bad day, I go outside, I don't know but being in the house seems to exacerbate my problems, like I'm in this bubble where all my worries and stress and problems are contained and it's overwhelming and suffocating. I usually step right outside, and walk around the yard a bit, the fresh air, nature, the birds flying above, everything, it just seems to life the load off me and make me breathe and forget. Try it sometime, it really does help.

We are now well into Fall season and the gorgeous trees in my yard are just beautiful.  Everything is turning yellow and orange and red, it's no wonder Fall is one of my favorite seasons.

Speaking of pretty things, I got a book in the mail for review.  I love books and I love receiving books but when they are cookbooks it makes me even more excited and this one is......oh goodness, let me show you.

I'll be reviewing it in a few weeks and I honestly can not wait.  Such a gorgeous cover, it puts me right in the mood for Christmas.

It is written by Ellen Stimson who has a bestselling memoir called Mud Season.  It's filled with stories and family recipes and photographs.  I didn't start reading it yet, just opened it and flipped through some pages and was mesmerized by the beautiful photos, the yummy sounding food and the stories.

Vermont!!!!!  Enough said!!!!

I'll be reviewing it over on the food blog and here on this one because I think it would make a really good gift for a cookbook lover, so be on the look out for that.

Right, now I have got to get started on my menu planning, I need to get groceries tomorrow and I also need to start on my Thanksgiving menu.  We are having family over, quite a few actually, I think as of now 10 plus us 4.  I'm excited folks, we spent most of our military lives away from family and spent all the holidays alone, and then the past two years we got spoiled with having my brother and his family with us, and to think that we would go back now to celebrating alone was kind of sad, so we are so happy and blessed to be near family and be able to have a big get together.

Lots of planning is going into this, I have tons of ideas and been scouring Pinterest, I just want to make this Thanksgiving one of the best ever.

So, yeah, I better get off here and start getting things taken care of, we don't have much time actually, goodness this year has flown by.

Hope you all have the best Friday ever, I will be back tomorrow with another Grocery Haul and Menu Plan and such.  I might just start doing Menu Plan Sunday every week, I know there's a Menu Plan Monday in the blog world, I was around when it first took off with Laura from An Organizing Junkie, but since then it grew so much that I stopped participating, there were just too many people and hundreds of links and it became quite overwhelming, so I think I'll start doing it on Sunday for myself and if any of my blog readers want to join in, that's fine too.

Ok I'm really gone now LOL  See you all tomorrow :)

Happy Homemaker Monday - 11/02/2015

Good morning ladies, how was your weekend?  We had an ok one, nothing special going on, though yesterday hubby and I managed to clean and organize the garage, which was no small feat, my word.

I don't have anything planned for this week, just hoping for a quiet uneventful few days, I could honestly use the break from the stress.

Feel free to use :)

The Weather:::
Had really bad storms last week, ended up with some flooding, though south of us got the brunt of it and quite a few serious floods.  Don't think we have any rain on the agenda for this week, but it's cold people, and I woke up to foggy skies and dew covered grass.  Guess we kinda skipped over Fall and are headed straight for a cold winter.


Right now I am:::
In the living room sitting with Lola while I type up this post.  I know it's quite late but I didn't get good sleep last night and it's that time of the month, so I'm cramping and not feeling too good, tired and then throw in really dark skies, cold morning and after I got up to make hubby coffee and see him to work at 5:30, I crawled back into bed with Lola and fell back asleep.  I sorely needed it. 


Thinking:::
About Thanksgiving, still need to figure out who is coming so I can plan accordingly.
Thinking about my daughter and her broken heart and how hard this is for me too, I just want to take the pain from her and I can't and it's just the worst feeling in the world.


On my reading pile:::
Lots of books, just haven't had the chance to read last week so I'm hoping to do that this week.


On my tv:::
On my DVR list I have:
Haven
Lockup Raw
The Last Kingdom


On the menu for this week:::

Monday - BBQ Ribs, Fries, Homemade Mac and Cheese
Tuesday - One Pot Garlic Ranch Chicken, Mash, Green Beans
Wednesday - Steaks with Pepper Sauce, Rice, Salad
Thursday -  Salisbury Steak, Veggies
Friday - Fish and Chips
Saturday - Thai Peanut Beef, Rice
Sunday -*Grocery Shopping*


On my to do list:::
Homemaking
Laundry
School


What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::
Still need to get on with the painting of the furniture but ran out of black paint and patience.  I'm working on a new corner to corner blanket and loving it so far.


Looking around the house:::
I have to do some tidying up, as always after the weekend.  Need to vacuum too.  It's kinda of bright right now, after the dark skies and fog this morning that lasted until about 8:30am, the sun has now come out full force and everything seems to be radiating in light.


From the camera:::

On my prayer list:::
My daughter, she is hurting and I'm hurting for her and I know she will be fine, but for this moment it's painful to see her like this.


Bible verse, Devotional:::