lots of shopping happened today. 
i spent $120 on valentine's day stuff for my passion parties giveaways!!!! 
it's 12:57 a.m. and i'm just digging into some cup of noodles. 
the rest of the family had hamburger helper earlier but i wasn't hungry.
kay - omg! 
your dd is too cute! i was hoping that my son would be a girl but no such luck this time. 
i have a step-daughter who's 9 but she's not very girly at all. i'll trade you!!!
knox - i'll be sure to save you some red lobser next time. 
i've never had a daquiri there but i've always been tempted to order their HUGE margaritas that come with those beads. but i can't handle too much alcohol and that would definitely be too much for me!
finnox - omg! that sounds like such a delicious dinner!!! can i come over? we had hamburger helper. 
but i guess its good for those days that you don't feel like cooking. 
I had a pretty great day! 
DH took me to BINGO tonight. (I know...I know... ) Didn't win anything. We only go like once or twice a year. But it's just fun to be alone for a while in a whole building full of casting extras straight out of "Deliverance!"
No--really. I had fun and so did he. Didn't spend too much cash, either. There's a great Mexican restaurant across the road there. They have the most amazing food!
I had tamale, beans and rice with a strawberry daiquiri. MMMmmMMMmm.
--Knox--
Ok ice and soon to be snow are pounding us. They say we will get around 3 inches of ice first switch to snow tomorrow. They are saying 3+ inches 
Oh well I get to power lounge Jammies ALL DAY
Yesterday I made roast in crockpot for french dips. I will use the left overs up proabaly tomorrow or the next day in a stew. Tonight DH and DD had chicken nuggets and tots. DH isn't to fond of chili. And that is what I am going to make myself and DS tonight so we can live on YUMMY chili for the next few days during our ice storm.
Knox yopur welcome for your new saying. My DH and I came up with it when DS was little. They use to lounge on the couch together watching NASCAR or movie in there jammies or shorts 
So we just came up with it. Had to put the power in there for the boys And it just kind of stuck for us. Now DH and DD power lounge in our bed and watch movies and fall asleep (NOW THAT IS TRUE POWER LOUNGING) oh and for DD being a book worm I highly doubt it. We have a bit of a reading problem. I may be wrong. But I think she is going to be a cheerleader or dancer. She totally loves it now. She is alittle on the prissy side But she is a very pretty girl. With her long blonde hair and big blue eyes. So she will be a tease to the boys. And for Bingo hey it is a cheap date right. I am all for that
Mxpark DH wants some red lobster also. So you better get 2 doggy bags. One for knox and one for DH and me And no trading aloud DH won't let me. No I wouldn't trade her either. But I can see all the boy problems coming my way
Sorry to not get to the rest of you guys. But got to make the chili Talk to you later
went to visit my grandma tonight. i had...
2 tamales
pepsi
handful of chocolate kisses from her candy jar
knox - we must be on the same mexican food page tonight. i've only played bingo once and i loved it! dh didn't enjoy it as much as i did though.
kay - boy problems. i think we are going to be swapping boy problem stories with our girls! stepdaughter's mom isn't a very moral woman. she's very promiscuous (sp?) and my stepdaughter lives with her mom so i know that rubs off on her. the thing that gets me is when she comes over wearing some extremely revealing clothing and singing lyrics to explicit rap songs. ugh! some people just shouldn't be parents!!!! but i won't go into that situation any further....
Hey yall. Wow it was mexican for you all last night. How funny was that? Has that ever happened here before?
Mom & I ate at PF Chang last night. Yall the service was TOP, I mean TOP notch!! She was so wonderful I gave her huge tip. I truely believe in great service great tip. Mom says, Monica that tip is TOO much. I gave here 50% of the bill tip. 
Anyway I had Changs spicy chicken. I was SOoo hot 
I could not eat it. My lips stung. I was not suppose to be that hot so they made me another one. Dang I love that PLACE! TOP notch classy place
KAY- I wish we would get snow like that here. I love snow. We have not had a good snow in about 5 years.
KNOX. there is NOTHING wrong w/ you & DH getting & to go bingo. I did bingo years ago as a teenager when we would vacation in Panama City Fla. I loved it.
MX park. Dang you all are making me crave mexican now. I have never treid tamalies. What are they like?
wow, you are all keeping busy at bingo, power lounging and going out to eat. My kids had plain chicken, green beans, soft rolls and rice. I only ate the green beans though.
Evenin', Y'all!
I "power lounged" today too, y'all! Back to work on Tuesday---so I'd better get it in while I can!!
MONICA: I'm going to have to try the PFChang's here. I keep reading that it's a great place. I leave servers good tips too. I used to be a server (long time ago) and I'll never forget what it felt like to do my best and people would still leave like a dollar or whatever. GAH! So yeah--I believe in good tips.
MKOLMAR: Good supper there. Why only the green beans, girl?
MXPARK: I wish I knew someone who could teach me to make tamales! We'd practically live on 'em in the winter, I'm tellin' ya!
KAY: Hopefully you'll all be ok in ANOTHER round of dagoned snow. GAH! Guess you're gettin' tired of the stuff by now. Be safe and warm. And chili's a GOOD thing. Don't let him convince you to change on that! LOL
Tonight was:
Hamburger steaks with minced garlic
Broccoli
French fries
--Knox--
Glad to hear everyone is getting rested after Christmas! We're finally getting healthy over here, which makes for a good new year to come. Don't want to start it sick!
Since my fiance is leaving tonight, we've had dinner with his family almost all week. Eveything from lasgna to pizza to Taco Bell, they've done nothing but feed us! Tonigt it will be just the two of us, so we're having steak with mushrooms.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, all.
Going out tonight - King's Fish House - with friends for NYEve.
knox- what is corn pudding/scalloped corn? Sounds good.
i don't even remember what i had for dinner on saturday. last night of course was new year's eve and we went to my aunt's house because my uncle was in town. there was soooooooo much food!!! i had...
more tamales.
and posole.
and brownies. (not mine i know, i cheated on myself but i didn't bake anything and i couldn't resist!!!)
and atole.
yum but oh so many calories. oh well - you only live once right? besides that i started my diet today. mine and dh's anniversary is in three weeks and he's taking me to NYC for a week!!!! i'm sooooo excited! i've never been on an airplane before!!! anyway - i've given myself that time o lose 20 pounds. i'm meeting with my personal trainer today for the first time so yay for that too!
monica - oooh....i love love love p.f. chang's!!!! they just opened one up here in town a few months ago and i've ate there twice and i loved it both times! if you didn't have dessert this time then you have to next time...the banana spring rolls are the most delicious things i've ever had!!! tamales are like....umm, well. i don't really know what to compare them to. lol. its usually spicy shredded pork inside a corn meal dough but the dough cooks into like a bread i guess. that's the best i can dewscribe it as. my great grandma makes the absolute best tamales ever!
knox - do you have a kitchenaid stand mixer? if so then tamales are such a breeze to make w/ that!!!! i'll hunt down my greatgrandma's recipe and post on here within a few days. except i have to warn you that they extremely fattening and she uses pork meat and lard. it sounds nasty but they're are seriously heavenly!
HAPPY NEW YEAR'S LADIES!!!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR, Y'ALL! 
Tonight:
Black eyed peas w/ ham hock
Corn bread
Tea w/ lemons/limes
Watergate 4 layer dessert.
YUMMM...
MXPARK: I would LOVE to have your recipe! Thanks!
--Knox--
joanmary - scalloped corn/corn pudding is basically cream corn with eggs and cracker crumbs mixed up and baked. Gramma's recipe has 3 cans creamed corn, one can (drained) kernel corn, 3 eggs, "splash" of milk, 1 1/2 sleeves of saltines crushed, and salt and pepper. Mix, bake at 425 till firm (about an hour). There are many variations, but this is what we use.
Since it's just the kids and I, we're on kid food this month. Turkey sandwiches and cheese curds tonight.
Knox - Is your blackeyed peas and ham hock anything like bean soup? (soaked northern beans, ham hock, boiled together for a few hours) Man I love that stuff! Corn bread and syrup and pepper are a must for my bowl. Must make that soon, yum!
JOANMARY (and Z!)--My "corn pudding" recipe is this: 1 can drained kernel corn, 1 can creamed corn, 1 jiffy cornbread mix, 1 cup sour cream, 1 stick butter, 2 eggs. Melt butter, drain kernel corn, mix everything up and pour into a PAM sprayed casserole. Bake at 350 for 1 hour until golden brown and knife comes out clean.
ZMAMA--Yes! That's exactly the way I make the black-eyed peas/ham hocks. I actually boil the hocks for like 1 1/2 hours before I add the dried peas, though. That way--it's all ham-hock-ey and full of flavor---and done at the same time! Now, I've never had the syrup on the cornbread...but hey! It's worth a try.
--Knox--
Tonight I made pepperoni bread and pizza sauce to dip it in. It turned out great!
Knox...I LOVE blackeyed peas. My oldest son as been asking me to make ham and beans. I have to have the corn bread also. Some find it weird but I put vinegar and chopped onions on mine (that's how my mama did it.)
And I make my corn pudding the exact same way. It is one of my favorites.
Zmama...do you make your own cheese curds or can you buy then ready made? I've only had them once and that was out. Happy New Year to all
Ohara - We're in Wis, where every gas station sells "squeaky cheese" (fresh cheese curds). You can batter and fry these, but we eat them plain.
Bean soup - I've heard of it with vinegar and onion, it's supposed to be good and vinegar cuts the "after effects" of beans. Grampa eats his by putting cornbread in, bean soup, maple syrup, then coating the top with pepper. Gramma eats hers with just salt and pepper. It was such a cheap meal during the Depression for them that it became a staple.
Happy New Year everyone! I've been gone for a little over a week. We go to Dh's families and stay for a week at Christmas time. We had a great time and there is no way I can remember what all we ate. We just got back and now the kids get to really open their gifts. At the inlaws they open them but don't get to play much with them. Now that we are back home they can play with all the gifts.
Kay-I think I have a little girl that will end up just like yours. Jazmyne is only 2 1/2. There was an outfit at Walmart she just had to have. I told her if she didn't get it for Christmas she could buy it after with her Christmas money. Also this morning she threw a fit because she didn't think I was going to fix her hair the way she wanted it. My mom in law thought it was hilarious. And then said she never knew a small child could be so particular like that. She definitely will be a girly girl. My 4 yr old son likes to shop which is weird for kids also....lol. Oh well we love them anyway.
Thanks, Zmama and Knox, for the corn pudding/scalloped corn recipes. Both sound great.
Been sick since NYE (missed my Kings Fish House dinner) so not even thinking about what's for dinner!
Joanmary...so sorry to hear that your sick. I hope you feel better soon.
Butterflyjuju....Welcome back.
Tonight I made Italian vegetable soup... yummy and good for you.
Hey Y'all!
Well, back to the daily grind today. Up at 4:30 a.m. Home at 2:00.
Cleaned the house and took a nap. Not much else to report.
Tonight:
Chicken wings--don't have any oil for frying, or soy sauce for flavoring. So I guess I'm going to use honey and lemon juice and seasonings. I'll probably bake 'em and then brush 'em up with some of that.
Guess it's:
Chicken wings
Yellow saffron rice
Green beans
Leftover 4 layer dessert
--Knox--
Hey Yall.
I had Spagetti & garlic bread for din-din tonight.
Knox. At least you got to take a nap. I get so tired during the days
Joanmary. I hope you feel better SOON.
SO.....
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!
for supper i called mom & we ended up combining & we ate at her place
pork crops
fried chicken (deli--but yummy)
cream corn
rice & black eyes (leftovers)
mac & cheese
bread
salad
We had Pizza Hut buffet. Kids eat free on Tuesdays. They let us eat free too. It cost us $10 for two adult buffets and drinks, two child buffets and drinks, and one sandwich. Yeah they messed up on our ticket. I asked if it looked okay to the manager and he said yep and only charged us the $10. We were definitely happy about it.
Zmama--I love squeaky cheese. I only get it when we go to Idaho to visit family and then only if we stop at the cheese factory.
Pizza - YUM! We get it maybe once a month, always bake at home. I miss Pizza Hut! We have one pizza place here, might have to have some...
We had chicken noodle soup tonight. Dd's tummy's not feeling good, so keeping it simple for that. Probably chicken Raman for lunch tomorrow, she likes that when feeling icky.
Real quick stop at the table. I am without internet I was without power for 3 days So I found a computer to check my mail. But I will be without computer for about 3 or 4 more days. We had huge devastion here It will be weeks before some people get power and water. Keep us in your thoughts. Kay
omg Kay, I hope you and your family are ok. I'll be praying for you.
welcome back butterfly!
Joanmary, hope you feel better soon.
I love corn pudding! but my family calls it corn casserole and then we top it with cheese and bake a few minutes till it's really melty.
I love beans with ham chunks too! (but most of my family is from the south so collard greens and corn bread are a usual when I'm over with my parents and my dad is cookin')
Tonight was homemade lasagna, steamed carrots, green beans and garlic bread. (basically leftovers from yesterday )
GOOD GRANNY, Hooten Nanny!! KAY!!! I am thinking about y'all up there in that dang'd old snow storm. Prayin' that y'all will be safe and warm and that you'll be back to the table SOON!
ZMAMA: Hope your lil' girl feels 100% soon. It's hard on everyone to have sick ones in the house. Especially children! Blessings to y'all.
JUJU: I like to take the kids to the pizza buffet---but DH won't hardly eat pizza unless it's Papa John's or this lil' place over the hill. A "mom & pop" type pizza place (always the best they are!). Your dinner sounds yuummm-o! And for the price---too bad it's not like that every day!
DALTONAM: Now that's what I call EATIN', Girl! I just loved it when Mom was living over here close. We used to eat like that sometimes, too. MMMmmm...
MONICA: I need to make some spaghetti! I'm thinking that's what's for dinner tomorrow night!
I'm still not used to full-time again, yet. This evening, we had to go shopping for a mattress. Remember that my soft-sides waterbed sprung a leak? Yeah. Well--it's getting so bad now that DH's side of the bed is kind of damp. Soooo...it's not like we can procrastinate on it any longer. We went to a warehouse-type place tonight and found a really firm pillow-top mattress (king sized) for $600. Cash & carry with a 15 year warranty. Guess we'll go with that one, for the price. It just KILLS me at how much a dang'd old mattress costs. They shouldn't be thousands (literally) of dollars for something to sleep on!!!
Anyway, DH (aka the "Old Man) (he calls me the "Old Lady") took us out for Chinese food! Sooo good on a cold night. We just sat there and ate our appetizers and drank tea.
I had: shrimp w/broccoli and a chicken wing and a crab ragoon
DH had: roast pork w/vegetables and a satay skewer and egg rolls
DS had: honey chicken w/rice noodles (fried) and coconut shrimp
They had Cokes & I had tea. Lovely it was!
--Knox--
Kay - Good luck and thoughts coming your way!
Knox - she's still under, but not whiny, just cuddly. The "good" kind of sick, if there is one. I'm thinking tomorrow she'll be okay again, wanted peanut butter sandwiches tonight.
M - lasagna sounds really good right now! But I'm weird, prefer it without a ton of cheese. Put the cheese on garlic bread, tho, and I'm in heaven!
butterfly - homemade or fast food?
PBJ's per dd's request, made by ds. When do you draw the line between letting them "cook" and having real food?????? Then again, how do you say no when kids offer to cook? Gee, I want my kitchen back!
Ok Good things are coming alittle at a time. I have power for limited times. So here is an UPDATE. We lost cable on fri. due to a big branch falling on our lines. Power and phone were still up kind of. Sat lost power for good. We lost alot of transformers and substations in our area. So spent the night on our hide a bed in our living room with DD. A Big branch was threating our roof over our bedroom So we had no heat or power. Next day we went to my Nephews house acroos town they had power Stayed there for 2 days got power back. But not my cable for Tv or computer. So I called cable and asked if we could try to slice it back for temporay fix and they said ya. So here I am. We are having rolling black outs. We had at least 3 inches of ice. We didn't really get the snow. I am so thankful right now. We are suppose to get more bad stuff on Fri. We are praying it goes north. Our power company is a pretty big one and sells to about 3 smaller one around here. Ours had at least 15,000 without power plus the ones the sell to which was another 5 or 6,000. We had only one line trying to support our town. They are progressing but the ice has been a wicked thing.
Ok what did we eat. Good ??
Sat. New years I spent with 20 year olds I made stew and BBQ wienes. They went fast.
Sun. I put a chicken in crockpot with BBQ sauce for some sandwiches.
Mon. Got to come home. Had some marinated pork sirlion and baked potatoes and baked beans.
Today we had a rolling blackout. So DH had bologna and cheese sandwich. DD went to my sisters and I had my nephew. So DS and nephew had leftover BBQ chicken sandwiches when power came up and we could use the microwave. Me I have no idea what I want to eat
Last night I was so board. NO CC So I made chocolate no bake cookies. My family wanted some sweets.
During the ice storm DD and I played her princess monopoly by candle light. She still cheated LOL I will catch up with everyone soon. It looks like there have been some good eats. Now I want Pizza. I think I have some in the freezer outside. But I want Pizza Hut But I am thankful to have power. So I will not cry to loud.
Oh I have to add this last little funny thing. My Dh was off for the holidays and bored so he helped DD clean here room. It was a disaster by the way. And said if it ever gets clean HELL WILL FREEZE OVER. Guess what he got his wish He said he will never say that again
Last night I made Chicken Tetrazini for the first time, it was pretty good (this is my variation on the original recipe)
3 tablespoons butter
1 shallot minced
2 Tablespoons Flour
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup of white wine or white vermouth
1/2 cup of half and half
1/2 tsp italian seasoning or dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (pre-cooked) cubed
1 pound egg noodles, cooked al dente
2 Tablespoons Shredded Italian cheese blend, or grated parmesean cheese
1 Tablespoon seasoned bread crumbs
1-2 Tablespoons cubed butter
1. Fill large stockpot with water up to 2" away from the top. Bring water to boil. Place chicken breast into water and cook for 20-25 minutes. Remove chicken breasts, leaving water in pot. Bring water back up to boil and cook egg noodles in pot according to directions on package. While noodles are cooking, cut up cooked chicken breasts and set aside. Once noodles are done, drain, rinse with cold water and set aside.
2. Place butter and minced shallots into large saucepan over medium heat and cook until shallots are lightly browned. Whisk in flour and cook for 2 minutes. Add in chicken stock, wine/vermouth, and half-and-half. Bring up to a slight boil and cook sauce until it starts to thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in the italian seasoning/thyme and chicken.
3. Mix together cooked noodles and chicken/Sauce mixture together in large bowl and then place into 4 quart casserole dish (that has been greased or sprayed with pam). Sprinkle cheese and breadcrumbs onto top of mixture. Dot cubed butter over top of tetrazini.
4. Bake in 350'F pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes (or until top is brown and you can hear it bubble). Remove from oven and serve.
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