Appetizers/Potluck/Desserts

SRSG Cheesy Sausage Balls

1 lb. Owens Regular Sausage
1 cup Jiffy or Bisquick Mix
lg handful colby-jack shredded cheese
lg handful sharp cheddar shredded cheese
2 stalks celery finely shredded
about 1/3 white onion chopped finely
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all ingredients together. Lightly grease large cookie sheet and lightly dust with flour (like when you back a cake...shake off excess). Form into balls and place in pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

What Do You Like Most About Your Spouse?

I'm thinking this will be a good idea to write down for the times when I'm a little irritated, I can just pull up this list and feel better.

1. genuinely good person
2. very honorable
3. very ethical
4. very hardworking
5. awesome sense of humor
6. he loves me unconditionally
7. he loves my dog
8. he loves to eat
9. has great taste in movies and tv shows
10. I don't have to revolve my life around sports on television
11. he puts both toilet seats down
12. he gets me gas
13. looks nice in slacks and a dress shirt
14. never runs around the house in his underwear
15. my daughter worships him...with good reason, he's a lot of fun
16. he's very sentimental
17. he believes in taking care of stuff
18. he's patient...especially when I'm moody
19. he's very helpful, especially when we have a lot of guests, he always cleans up and helps me serve everyone
20. he's my missing puzzle piece...my perfect fit...he completes me
21. he's very responsible
22. he plays the piano
23. I haven't come across anything that he just sucks at...he can play about any game
24. not afraid to show his feelings
25. he's creative
26. he likes music
27. I LOVE HIS LAUGH!
28. he gave me great in-laws....they are so calm, cool and collected. Stress-free!
29. he's trustworthy
30. my mother loves him
31. he's goofy like me and doesn't care that I'm goofy
32. even though he let me know early on that he's scared of spiders and snakes, he kills the spiders for me

What are your STAPLES?

What are some of the ingredients that you always cook with? In other words, what are the things that you run out of and automatically replace when you go to the store?


Some of the things I always have in my house are: Rotel Tomatoes, Hunts Diced Tomatoes, Stewed Tomatoes, Tomato Sauce, Tomato Paste, Cream of Mushroom Soup, Cream of Chicken Soup, Angel Hair Pasta, Wide Egg Noodles, Goya Beans-Traditional Refried and Black Refried, cheese (cream cheese, shredded sharp cheddar, shredded colby jack, 5 Italian Cheese Blend, Parmesan), red and white cooking wine, Allegro Original Marinade, jar of minced garlic in the fridge, Kosher Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Bay Leaves, Thyme, Ground Comino (cumin), potatoes, celery, bell peppers, onions, apples, bananas, Goya Garbanzo Beans, Progresso Artichoke Hearts, Southern Style Frozen Hash Browns, Frozen Chopped Broccoli, Corn, Ranch Style Beans, Ground Beef Chuck, Whole Chicken, Pork Chops and Chicken Breasts.

I'm So Proud

This was a big week for my daughter, particularly Thursday. She had her first dental experience and she did really well. She met Mr. Thirsty, that would be the instrument that sucks all of the saliva out of your mouth; she got to wear the sunglasses that Cinderella left behind at her last checkup while they shined the big bright light in her face; she learned all about sugar bugs and especially loved her new floss, Arial toothbrush and blue sparkly big girl toothpaste. They told her she was the best 4 year old they've ever had. She had a great time and wasn't one bit scared.

Afterwards, we went to McDonalds and this little boy got about 1/3 of the way thru the net tunnel that connects the slides and decided he was not going to be able to go any further...I think he must've looked down. His parents were trying to talk him thru it and another lady had her child go up there and try to get him down and I saw that they just weren't having any luck and the poor little guy was really scared. I told my daughter he was stuck and a little afraid, so she went up there and tried to talk him thru it. That didn't work so she gently grabbed his arm and pulled him thru. She's pretty persuasive....her cuteness must have an affect on more than just her daddy and me.

Later, we went to her doctor for her 4 year check up. She had her vision and her hearing checked, all good-yea, and they commented what a bright child she's always been. I'm so proud of my angel.

What's For Dinner? (Recipes)

Friday, May 8, 2009

I love to cook, but sometimes I just run out of ideas. I love new recipes, so I'll try and post some periodically and hopefully some of you will do the same.

SRSG Chicken Salad-Sorry, I don't know the measurements, I cook by sight and taste.

1.Boiled Chicken (whole, breasts, or
combo...whatever the mood calls for)
2. Mayonaise to taste (quite a bit...really moisten the chicken)
3. Mustard to taste (a little for color)
4. Honey (a little to sweeten the heat of the cayenne pepper)
5. Cayenne Pepper, Salt, Pepper, Lemon
Pepper, Celery Flakes or Celery Seeds-
all to taste
6. Red Seedless Grapes-cut in half
7. 1 Apple, cored and diced
8. Sliced Almonds or Pecans, or both
9. Celery
10. Bell pepper-green and orange, diced
11. Red Onion
12. Chives-real chives if possible, if not
green onion is fine

Mix all ingredients together and chill.

Great on croissants!

What's For Dinner? (Recipes, Part 2)

SRSG Crunchy Tuna Casserole

6 oz elbow macaroni, cooked
3 Tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk

Add ingredients to 9x13 glass casserole dish and set aside.

1 6oz can Tuna (in water), drained
1 can mild rotels in juice
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 small white onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 cup frozen, cut green beans (original recipe called for peas, can use either)
4 slices American Cheese, torn (original recipe called for 8oz Sharp Cheddar)
about 4 oz Sharp Shredded Cheddar (whatever variation of cheddar you like)
about 1/2 a jar of Hormel Bacon Bits

Mix above ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Season with garlic powder, lemon pepper, celery flakes, dill weed, salt and black pepper. Add to macaroni and mix well. Cover top with loosely crushed potato chips (I use Wavy Lays).

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

My Dog The Nanny

My dog is just beside himself everyday until my daughter gets up. He paces the floor crying and she's started sleeping a little later, so I've started opening her bedroom door and sending him in to wake her up. It's hilarious because I just hear her door shut....so she gets up and kicks him out of her room and goes back to bed. Uh oh, she's already behaving like a teenager and she just turned 4.

Sunday Reflections

Today was Mothers' Day and it was wonderful, except for the fact that my poor husband has been at work since 5:00 am and will not get home until 1:00 am tomorrow. He's the General Manager of a restaurant and if you know anything about the restaurant business, Mothers' Day is the day from hell! I guess he had anxiety about it and went ahead and got up after a sleepless night and went on to work since he was dreaming about it anyway. After such a long day, I just finally spoke to him for the first time today at 10:34pm. So the poor guy, he's there before anyone else and still has to close the restaurant and then do inventory and be back at 8:00 am tomorrow after a butt kicking of a day yesterday and today. I don't know how he does it and I really hope he knows how much we love him and appreciate what he does for our family. I watched a movie called "Fireproof" on Saturday and the message was very powerful. I would recommend it to anyone who's married or in love. I'm hoping that it opened my eyes not to take my husband for granted.

Other than that, the day started out with my daughter wanting to go to my church service instead of her class. I figured since it was Mothers' Day, maybe we could spend that special time together. She loved the music, but did complain it was a little too loud....I told her that's one of the things Mommy loves about this church...I've always liked my music loud, probably why I'm a little hard of hearing, but when the band is playing, I feel like I can just sing and no one can hear me. She did pretty good for the most part, but did tell me afterwards that her class is better. Yea, because I really need this time for me.

The general message at church today was that the Devil wants our children from the time they are born and mothers who are christ followers have a strong adversary who will fight to take their children down the wrong path, unfairly, but to never give up and to always pray. It was much more meaningful when the pastor said it, but this was the jist. The pastor also read a letter to a daughter-in-law from a woman who had prayed for her ever since her son was born. I mean literally prayed that whomever her son would fall in love with one day was being guided down the right path by her parents. Now that's planning ahead, that was very touching to me. It makes since though, I think I'm gonna try adding my daughter's future husband to my prayer list. I would like her to marry a man from a good, loving family, so why not.

After church, my daughter wanted to go to McDonalds, so we did under the condition that she would come with me without an argument when I told her it was time to go. She actually walked out of McDonalds with me without kicking and screaming....Happy Mothers' Day to me! That never happens, even if I've let her play for 3 hours. Then we went shopping to get my mom a present and a card and then we picked her up later and joined my sisters and my nephew at Mi Cocina. It was a wonderful evening and my nephew, who is 20 now, wanted to pick up the check for all of us. We were all very proud of him.

What does your child want to be when she/he grows up?

My mother asked my daughter last week, when she was still 3 years old, what she wanted to be when she grows up. She replied: "Tinkerbell".

Oh how they grow up so quickly, because now that she's 4 years old, this week, she was watching Grey's Anatomy with me and she just loves all of the gory hospital stuff; so now she wants to be a doctor when she grows up.

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

Yeah, so I quit my job the other day, and I was upset about it so I'm trying to explain to my child on the way home from school why I looked so bad, ie...puffy eyes from crying, etc...and told her that I just didn't know what to tell her Daddy and she says "I don't think you're posta (supposed to) tell me this stuff eder" (either). I cracked up.

Seriously, What the Heck do I Feed My Picky Toddler?

Here's the list of foods she'll eat: Totino's Pizza (cheese, hamburger or canadian bacon), bean only burritos, chicken nuggets, chicken sticks (dipped in mild Pace picante sauce), turkey bacon, pork bacon, sizzlers, cocktail smokies, Oscar Meyer Naturally Smoked Ham, Oscar Meyer Natural Turkey Breast, american cheese melted with mild pace picante sauce, Goya-Refried Black Beans, Ranch Style Beans, cinnamon toast, peanut butter and jelly-sometimes, apples, Delmonte Mandarin Oranges with no sugar added, occasionally a banana, Welch's Fruit Snacks, sometimes yogurt, cashews, pistachios, almonds, peanuts, popcorn-basically any chokable items, all chips, all candy although she prefers sour over chocolate, cheezits, crackers, pretzels, avocados mashed with a little salt, pickles, poptarts (sometimes the Fiberone brand-yea), toaster streudel-anything sweet or considered junk food. Once in a blue moon she'll have a little broccoli in this potato mixture that I crave on a regular basis. She'll only eat mash potatoes if I make my truly yummy ones with cream cheese. She almost cried with joy one time when I finally got her to try a pork chop, but she won't try it again. Luckily, she's never tried a soft drink because I held out on letting her try chocolate until she was 17 months, she had 2 pieces of Halloween candy and never ate another vegetable; so I'm afraid she'll never drink water again if she tries soft drinks. Actually, typing this all out looks better than I thought.

She's too smart for the recipes from the Jessica Seinfeld book. I always swore I wouldn't marry a picky man, but I'll be darned if I didn't get the pickiest child on the planet. She doesn't even like the normal stuff kids like.

We do have 2 cups of "hot chocolate" every day, one in the morning and one at night. It's ovaltine and milk and Lord help me for letting her start making it. It takes anywhere from 10-20 minutes to complete the process of letting her go thru the steps....opening the microwave, closing the microwave, setting the timer, hitting the start button, hitting the off button, opening the microwave, closing the microwave, getting the Ovaltine out of the pantry, and setting her up on the island to put 5 tsp in her warm milk. Then I have to transfer to another cup, and hold her fingers as she stands up to jump down from the island...which scares the hell out of my poor husband (actually this whole process scares the hell out of him because he always manages to miss a step and all hell breaks loose...poor him), and then I proceed to let her beat me to the table and then she has to beat me to her room to get a wipey and then she has to beat me back to the table. Shoot me now....what was I thinking?

American Idol

I absolutely loved Adam and Allison this week and just cannot believe Allison went home. Adam Lambert has been my favorite to win from his audition. Early favorites were Danny and Anoop, but lately, I've grown to really appreciate Allison and Chris. I wish Danny had gone home. Atleast at this phase, they'll all get a record deal, but my goodness, I thought she did absolutely fantastic singing Janis Joplin!

I'm still in shock that Slash was on American Idol and that they let Adam perform Led Zeppelin. This episode was way too cool.

Anybody have any good skin tips?

What's your skin type and what works best for you?

My biggest problem is that I think I will still get zits when I'm 80. Seriously, what kills the zit? I've been battling this for 20 years and now I have to combat zits and wrinkles...go figure. I'll find things that seem to work for a while and then all of a sudden, it's like I become immune to that treatment. During my PMDD, yes PMDD, not just PMS, I could give the Crisco Company a run for their money with the amount of oil I produce. I know I told all of the people trying to lose weight that getting their metabolism under control was the key and not to starve themselves, so I try to think of my skin in the same way and no longer starve it of moisture even though it's really oily.

Sometimes the simplest things help the most(not that I haven't tried all of the expensive remedies either because I've even had my skin removed thru dermabrasion-not microdermabrasion- followed a month after that recovery with acid on my face for 2 hours by the doctor)....for example, I read that washing your face with Head and Shoulders helps because of the zinc; taking acidophilus can help with the over production of Albican yeast from eating too much sugar; adding a dab of jojoba oil to the palm of your hand along with your favorite face wash, can help balance out your own natural oil production; I seem to have an irritation to salicylic acid and find that benzoyl peroxide helps more; always moisturize; using hydrogen peroxide as a toner can dry up anything, but beware getting it too close under your eyes or you will wrinkle; a nice exfoliator is making a paste baking soda and water; olive oil can really open your pores before cleansing. Here's just a few of the things I've found. Let me know if any of these work for you or if you know of something else that I haven't listed.

Favorite Weight Loss Tip

Mix about 12oz of water with 2 Tblsp of Apple Cider Vinegar and drink while you're getting ready in the morning. This helps block fat. It's also good for you.

My Biggest Pet Peave!

Hello Ladies,

This is for all of you who refuse to sit down on the public toilet seat....if everyone would just sit over the hole, no one would have to sit in someone else's pee! That is the worst feeling on the planet.

I love the businesses who actually have the seat covers....anyone else love those? It makes me feel like they really care.