Blog Love

I love blogs! I'm not really sure how we did things before blog posts but my guess is that it involved the telephone and before that, letters and conversations with friends and family. Well, I think that we need to make sure that we continue using the telephone, letter and conversations with family and friends to share ideas and informations (blogs are not a substitute for real people) but I think that blogs are part of how we communicate in this new age of technology. That said, I'd like to introduce you to one of my favorite blogs:

This blog is great because Anna has tips for cleaning and organizing just about everything and anything you can imagine. When I have a cleaning question, her blog is the 1st place I go (well, her blog and calling my mother). If you've got a cleaning quandary, she's got the answer! 

The Return of Menu Monday

Well, it's Monday and this means a return of Menu Mondays! Yes, I know you are all anxious to see what I'm planning to cook up for dinner this week... then again, you probably aren't but I believe in sharing so I'm gonna share my menu for this week with you anyway! :)

Monday: Homemade spaghetti and meatballs (with homemade sauce, my FAVORITE part! Actually, I just love that my kitchen and the rest of our apartment smells like an Italian kitchen!)

Tuesday: Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff with egg noodles

Wednesday: Italian Beef Sandwiches with Nanny's Baked Italian Tomatoes (New tomato recipe from Hubby's grandmother and oh-my-gosh it's AMAZING!!!! I don't particularly eat tomatoes but I could eat these all the time! Super simple. Super yummy. Super fast and super cheap. That all makes it a keeper!)

Thursday: Slow Cooked Juicy Chicken with rice Pilaf and broccoli (roasted or sautéed) Note: I will make 2x as much as I need because I will be using 1/2 of it for my chicken quesadillas later in the week.

Friday: Lasagna with salad (and this is a store bought lasagna, folks. It's easier and really cost effective. And I had a coupon.)

Saturday: Chicken Quesadillas (using our second 1/2 of the juicy chicken) with salsa and black beans

Sunday: ????? Right now, I'm not sure what we will eat on Sunday night. To be honest, it might be macaroni and cheese.  Then again, it could be something else from earlier in the week.

Our schedule this week is really open to changing very quickly and it is possible that some of these meals won't actually get cooked or eaten this week. As usual, there is also a definite possibility/likelihood that meals will get switched around. I don't believe in having a schedule so ridged that you can't change things up if needed.

Hope this week's menu inspires you to cook up something yummy that makes you smile one of those big-I'm-so-content smiles :)

Happy cooking!

Link Party- Boost My Blog

Well, today I'm trying to link up to my first blog party! We will see how it turns out!

A rather full few days

My lack of blogging lately has been due to several things:
1. We are finally home from house sitting and I have been more tired than I was anticipating.
2. I haven't really had much to blog about. Well, not exactly. I have thought, 'Oh, I'll blog about this...' but then I forget about what it is.
3. Yesterday, I spent the day cleaning and cooking because last night we had some friends of mine over for dinner. That will be the "topic" of today's post :)

It was SOOOOOO good to spend time with Aaron and Jenn last night! We have all been friends since high school ( just to give you an idea of time: Jenn is a junior in college not, Aaron is a 2nd year law student and I'm a senior in college). The Hubby had met them at our wedding, if you can call that meeting someone since the whole day is kinda fuzzy, but didn't really know them. I think that all parties involved at last nights little dinner party.

Because I'm a foodie, you know that I have to share last night's menu with you! So here it is:
Main course~ Herb crusted pork tenderloin with roasted potatoes and onions
Dessert~ Peach and blueberry crumble with vanilla ice cream

Sorry, no pictures. I had an issue with my oven not cooking fast enough with the main course and then too fast with the dessert. Go figure. The other reason for no pictures is because there wasn't anything left. Well, there was a little bit of crumble left but I don't have a picture of it. Anyway, that's what we ate.

It was a great night with good food but even better conversation and friends!

Frozen Solid, part 2

Well, I roasted that chicken from yesterday. It is currently sitting on the counter cooling. I feel victorious after having finally cooked the evil frozen bird. Silly. Overly dramatic, I know.

I will show you the picture if you cross your heart and promise to 1. Not base your judgment of my chicken solely on the basis of my picture. I used the camera on my phone because I don't have my camera handy.

Ok, here it is...

While it may seem like roasting a chicken might be difficult, it really isn't. I used parts of two different recipes and a few ideas of my own. It really isn't difficult at all. I promise to post the recipe I used soon, but not tonight. Tonight, I want to bask in the glow of having roasted my first chicken... or work on my knitting project... or finish cleaning the kitchen... or read a book... or.... You get the idea. Now, go roast a chicken. It will complete your life :)

Frozen Solid

Well, tonight's dinner was going to be homemade roasted chicken and vegetables. Please note the past tense of the verb "was"... Why am I using a past tense verb? Because my chicken is still frozen. That's right- frozen S-O-L-I-D!!!!

I like to buy meat when it is on sale and then freeze it in individual meal size portions (ex: I take 1 package of chicken breasts and put 2 breasts in each freezer bag for our next meal that calls for chicken breasts. I take English roasts and cut in half and freeze each half individually, etc.). Well, you can't exactly cut a whole chicken in half so I froze the whole thing. I put the chicken in the fridge two days ago so that it could thaw. Not wanting for the chicken to spoil, I was planning on cooking it tonight but as I was removing it from the plastic wrapper and preparing to rinse it, I came to the startling realization that my bird was still frozen.

Now, what do you do when your bird is frozen? Call your mother! This was a food 9-1-1 and my mother, the Food Queen, would surely have a solution! And what was that solution? Cook the chicken tomorrow and eat something else tonight.  Ok, I already knew that but I was hoping that there was another solution. The worst part was that I had prepped all the vegetables that I was going to roast with the chicken, which means that I had to do something with them.

What then are we having for dinner tonight? Rotisserie chicken from Kroger with homemade roasted vegetables and rice. Basically the same thing but I didn't get to roast my chicken like I had planned. I will be roasting it tomorrow but I will be using it in something rather than just as roasted chicken.

Ezekiel

I started studying the book of Ezekiel today for my daily time with the Lord and all I can say is "WOW"! If you haven't read Ezekiel before (aka are like me and it just never really crossed your mind to read it) and are in need of a new book to study for your Bible time of just because you want a good read, then I HIGHLY recommend it!

Today, I read chapters 1 and 2 and was really struck with how current the message it. (Imagine that! God is current and His Word is timely!) I'm not going to give you a commentary or even tell you what it says because I want you to do that on your own (for help on discovering the Truth of Scripture for yourself, check out these guys! Or contact me and I will share with you the tools that have helped me not to read my Bible with a commentary close by.)

On that note, here are Ezekiel chapters 1 and 2

Ezekiel 1
1 Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. 2 (On thefifth of the month in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's exile, 3 the word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar ; and there the hand of the LORD came upon him.) 4 As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire. 5 Within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance : they had human form. 6 Each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight and their feet were like a calf's hoof , and they gleamed like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides were human hands. As for the faces and wings of the four of them, 9 their wings touched one another ; their faces did not turn when they moved, each went straight forward. 10 As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man ; all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above ; each had two touching another being, and two covering their bodies. 12 Andeach went straight forward ; wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go, without turning as they went. 13 In the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches darting back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire. 14 And the living beings ran to and fro like bolts of lightning.15 Now as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living beings, for each of the four of them. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like sparkling beryl, and all four of them had the same form, their appearance and workmanship being as if one wheel were within another. 17 Whenever they moved, they moved in any of their four directions without turning as they moved. 18 As for their rims they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes round about. 19 Whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. And whenever the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels rose also. 20 Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction . And the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beings was in thew heels. 21 Whenever those went, these went ; and whenever those stood still, these stood still. And whenever those rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.22 Now over the heads of the living beings there was something like an expanse, like the awesome gleam of crystal, spread out over their heads. 23 Under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward the other ; each one also had two wings covering its body on the one side and on the other. 24 I also heard the sound of their wings like the sound of abundant waters as they went, like the voice of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army camp ; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings. 25 And there came a voice from above the expanse that was over their heads ; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings. 26 Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance ; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was afigure with the appearance of a man. 27 Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire ; and there was a radiance around Him. 28 As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.


Ezekiel 2
1 Then He said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!" 2 As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet ; and I heard Him speaking to me. 3Then He said to me, "Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. 4 "I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' 5 "As for them, whether they listen or not-for they are a rebellious house -they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 "And you, son of man,neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions ; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house. 7 "But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious. 8 "Now you, son of man, listen to what I am speaking to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you." 9 Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scroll was in it. 10 When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe.