Christmas Notebook

menu plan monday ~ july 8, 2013

July 6, 2013 – 7:31 pm

Summer is here and the daylilies are in full swing.

It’s great to go through the garden and smell the wonderful fragrance. Did you know daylily flowers are edible? The petals taste like sweet lettuce. You may see us nibbling on the flowers as you drive by. Sprinkled among the daylilies are the ‘Becky’ daisies. This is a great plant, with sturdy stems that never droop or fall over.

This daylily is ‘Ed Brown.’ So pretty, with its ruffled edge and yellow-green throat.

We had a plant sale this afternoon and raised some money for the mission fund at church. These little guys napped on the porch by my table while their parents shopped the yard for daylilies. Aren’t they sweet?

I’m getting a head start on the menu for a change. Here’s what we’re planning for next week.

Monday
Tacoritos
Tortilla Chips
Avocado Sour Cream

Tuesday
Tortellini with Mushrooms
Green Salad
Peas

Wednesday
Crock Pot Brown Sugar Chicken
Rice
Steamed Green Beans
Garden Salad

Thursday
Hamburgers
Homemade Buns
Grapes

Friday
Fridge Food

Saturday
Homemade Pizza

Sunday
Spaghetti
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Rosemary Bread
Garden Salad

You can find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in menu | Comments (1)

menu plan monday ~ june 17, 2013

June 18, 2013 – 10:25 pm

I’m at a disadvantage this week, computer-wise. Mine crashed. Boohoo! So I am using an old one we have while waiting for the repair service to fix mine. I don’t have access to some of the things I need, so bear with me. It’s been a frustrating few days. Hopefully, it will be fixed on Thursday. Another complaint…the audio doesn’t work on this computer, so I can’t watch Netflix while doing my work. Just sayin’…

Anyhoo. The daylilies are beginning to bloom. Last year’s bloom was several weeks early. This year seems to be running a little late. I’ve done a few averages of FFO (first flower out) dates and 2010 seems to be our most “normal?” / “average?” year. We’re running about 7-10 days behind the 2010 dates.

‘South Seas’

‘Carpenter Shavings’

‘Siloam Plum Tree’

‘Window Dressing’

The menu for the week is as follows:

Monday
Father’s Day Leftovers

Tuesday
Chicken and Rice

Wednesday
Hamburgers
Homemade Buns
Red Grapes

Thursday
Beef and Broccoli
Rice

Friday
Homemade Pizza

Saturday
Fridge Food

Sunday
Roast Pork
Mashed Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Green Salad

You can find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in menu, our garden | Comments (0)

menu plan monday ~ june 10, 2013

June 12, 2013 – 10:11 pm

This morning we enjoyed a visit from a group of ladies from a St. Louis garden club. DH’s cousin is a member and she brought them along for a garden tour. Sadly, the daylilies are running late this year, so there wasn’t a lot to show them in the way of bloom. But they enjoyed the hostas and walking the yard. I had a chance to visit with them when they came in for a respite from the heat and some iced tea and lemonade. We forgot to get a picture of the group in the garden. We hope they will come back next year when the daylilies are blooming, and maybe we can get a picture then! They were very gracious and we really enjoyed their visit.

The girls came by for a little visit this afternoon. Always fun!

Here’s the menu for the week. It’s going up a little late, but I’ve been either too busy or too tired to take time to post it.

Monday
Fridge Food

Tuesday
Take Out

Wednesday
Homemade Pizza

Thursday
Braised Pork Chops
Baby Baked Potatoes
Garden Salad
Stir Fried Sugar Snap Peas

Friday
Baked Ravioli
Garlic Bread
Garden Salad

Saturday
Chicken Salad Sandwiches on Homemade Buns
Carrot and Celery Sticks
Fruit Salad

Sunday ~ Father’s Day
Grilled Pork Steaks
Grilled Marinated Chicken
Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Carrots, and Fennel with Rosemary
Green Beans with Mushroom Sauce
Garden Salad
Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
Blackberry Cobbler

You can find more recipes and menu ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in menu | Comments (2)

menu plan monday ~ june 3, 2013

June 4, 2013 – 5:34 pm

After a lot of rain last week (5″ in 48 hours, plus more during the week), we are having a nicer week this time around. Temps are lower, A/C is off, windows are open. All good!

Last Wednesday, the grands were over. They helped Pa make brownies. Always fun! He happened to flip a bit of dough onto Rose Red’s show, much to her consternation. But they all agreed the brownies were delicious.

When Pa asked if they wanted sharp cheddar cheese for a snack, Rose Red asked if the corners were sharp. Thankfully, not.

Today, I made blueberry muffins…more like blueberry cupcakes. They’ll be a nice snack later in the evening or with a cup of coffee for breakfast.

I used the recipe from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen blog. Made mine with light sour cream instead of yogurt, baked them at 350 for 23 minutes. I skipped the sugar syrup step and poured the lemon glaze on while the muffins were still warm.

Here’s the menu for this week. Salmon and shrimp early on, as DD brought it home from the city when she came by over the weekend. Need to use it first.

Monday
Baked Salmon with honey-mustard glaze
Garden Salad
Steamed Sugar Snap Peas

Tuesday
Spicy/Herbal BBQ Shrimp
Homemade Rolls
Garden Salad
Stir-Fry Zucchini

Wednesday
Grilled Pork Chops and Marinated Chicken
Garden Salad
Roasted Veggies

Thursday
Tacoritos
Tortilla Chips
Green Salad
Creamed Corn Cornbread

Friday
Spaghetti and Homemade Sauce
Steamed Edamame
Garlic Bread
Corn on the Cob

Saturday
Homemade Pizza

Sunday ~ Church Picnic at our house / Eveyone brings dishes to share.
Sausage/Potato Crock Pot Scroll down the page for the crock pot directions.
Homemade Rolls
Cookie Sheet Peach Pie
Steamed Green Beans

You will find more menus and ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in menu | Comments (5)

Sunday bouquet

May 26, 2013 – 1:00 pm

The peonies are in full bloom, a bit later this spring than usual.

They smell heavenly. I hope you have peonies in your garden.

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in our garden | Comments (1)

menu plan monday ~ may 20, 2013

May 21, 2013 – 10:42 pm

The iris and peonies look beautiful right now. Here’s the bouquet from Sunday. Love this combination of colors and flowers.

My menu is late, but I’m squeaking in. I do better during the entire week if I have a menu in place. Even if we shuffle it or change plans all together. At least we have a plan and I am prepared for those meals. Takes a lot of stress off my day.

Monday
Homemade Pizza

Tuesday
Fridge Food

Wednesday
Pork Chops
Baked Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Green Salad

Thursday
Spaghetti with Homemade Sauce and Meatballs
Homemade Rolls
Steamed Sugar Snap Peas
Garden Salad

Friday ~ my birthday!
Grilled Pork Steaks and Chicken
Roasted Potatoes and Carrots
Creamy Mushroom Bake
Corn Casserole
Green Beans
Garden Salad

Saturday
Fridge Food

Sunday
Pork Roast
Mashed Potatoes
Steamed Green Beans
Crock Pot Apples
Garden Salad

You will find more menus and ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in menu | Comments (4)

happy 80th, Dad!

May 19, 2013 – 10:08 pm

This afternoon our family celebrated my Dad’s 80th birthday. It was fun to be together and to honor our Dad. The next-to-the-newest family member freely shared smiles with everyone.

The cake was half carrot cake and half chocolate cake. Carrot cake was Dad’s request.

Once they started putting candles on the cake, they decided to go all the way to 80.

Lighting all those candles was the next step.

Some of the great-grands were happy to help Great-grandpa blow out his candles.

Surprisingly, we didn’t set off the smoke detectors.

Cake was enjoyed by all.

We gave Dad a DNA kit for his birthday. One of those kits where you send in a swab and get back an analysis of your family heritage. We are hoping the results will be useful in our genealogy research. Dad was surprised and is looking forward to getting the results back.

Happy birthday, Dad! It was great to see you today. Thanks for all you do for our family!

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in family | Comments (1)

happy birthday!

May 19, 2013 – 11:05 am

Yesterday was our younger son’s birthday and also my Dad’s 80th birthday.

Happy birthday to you both! With love from me.

~~Rhonda / ~~Mom

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in family | Comments (0)

irises and peonies and hostas, oh my!

May 18, 2013 – 9:58 pm

I haven’t been able to get out much this spring, but managed to today. The irises and peonies are beautiful right now. And the hostas…well, some survived last summer’s drought and are looking great…some didn’t make it. We need to do an inventory to figure out how much and what we lost.

I really love dark irises. This is a beautiful dark purple called ‘Edge of Night.’ We have another called ‘Before the Storm’ that is even darker, almost black.

The iris ‘Brown Lasso’ has always been short in our garden. Until this year. It shot way up.

‘Alabaster Unicorn’ is unusual in that it has horned beards. They come to a point instead of being rounded and fluffy like other bearded irises.

A pretty orange one is ‘Feminine Fire.’

This clump was particularly pretty today. It’s called ‘Congratulations.’

Along the front of the yard, peonies and irises mix. These beds will be full of daylily blooms soon.

In the back yard, the peonies mix with pink columbine for a pretty show.

The hostas look lush right now. This one is ‘Journey’s End.’

‘June’ is a popular hosta. Mid-sized to small, it has a beautiful pattern of blue-green and gold.

‘Blue Cadet,’ with columbine, grows near the back door.

‘Thunderbolt’ is a rugged hosta that should attain a clump size about twice what it is now.

‘Squash Casserole,’ shown here under a Japanese maple, is one of my favorites. It is a vigorous grower in our garden and holds its pretty gold color all summer.

The hosta ‘Fried Bananas’ is another nice gold one. Here it shares a redbud tree with a clump of Sweet William.

If you’re local, drive through or stop by, and enjoy the irises and peonies. They will be done blooming and the garden will move on to daylily season before we know it.

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in our garden | Comments (1)

a car for dd

May 14, 2013 – 4:24 pm

Well, the time has come…our youngest daughter is taking driver’s ed and has her driver’s permit. She’s been practicing driving with her Dad and her sisters. How time flies…

We didn’t really plan to get a car for her right away, but a great deal came up and we took advantage of it. The car was owned by one person who must have just driven it around town for the past 19 years. It’s in great shape and has only 31,000 miles on it. It will be a great car for DD to use around town. All that shopping she’ll be doing for me, you know…

She was very surprised!

And she loves the color.

I am so not ready for her to be driving around town on her own! But that time will be on us before we know it.

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in family | Comments (1)

Christmas Notebook

menu plan monday ~ july 8, 2013

menu plan monday ~ june 17, 2013

menu plan monday ~ june 10, 2013

menu plan monday ~ june 3, 2013

Sunday bouquet

menu plan monday ~ may 20, 2013

happy 80th, Dad!

happy birthday!

irises and peonies and hostas, oh my!

a car for dd

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