Memorial Day Cook-Off 2012

We were able to keep our annual Memorial Day Cook-Off by having Bob and me travel to Bloomington over Memorial Day.  We celebrated Bob's birthday with a trip to Bub's Burgers.  Huge and yummy!

  We spent some time at the apartment playing with Huxley and catching up on each other's lives.  We also did a bit of shopping for Ashley's upcoming Ecuador trip.  We watched a lot of Missouri Softball, too!

On Monday we planned our cookout.  Ashley and I decided on making an Island Burger and Eric and Bob decided to make a Brandy Onion Burger.  We went shopping at the local Krogers and picked up what we needed.  We each formed our own patties and seasoned them and then Eric and Bob grilled them.

Ashley and I made the drinks and set the table.  We did a pinterest drink with the different layers of red, white and blue.  It even tasted good!

Island Burger Recipe

Form hamburger patties, salt and pepper, grill until desired doneness.
Carmelize a slice of pineapple in a skillet with some teriaki sauce until browned.
Open a Hawaiian roll, toast on grill.
Spread mayo on the bottom bun.
Spreak more teriyaki sauce on the top bun.
Put slices of cheddar on the hot hamburger.
Layer:  bottom bun, lettuce leaf, pineapple ring, hamburger, cheese teriyaki sauce, top bun.

Brandy Onion Recipe

Carmelize chopped onions in brandy and butter.  Cook until softened and glazed.
Form hamburger patties, salt and pepper, grill until desired doneness.
Open an onion bun, toast on the grill
Put slices of Havarti cheese on to melt.
Layer:  bottom bun, hamburger, onions, cheese, top bun

It was unanimous that the Island Burger was the perfect summer burger with the sweetness and coolness of the pineapple ring but we are all eager to try the Brandy Burger at a tailgate!

Blueberry Muffin

Our house is a shambles.  We are getting ready for our move to Saint Charles, and we have boxes, and crates, and bundles and stacks everywhere.  In the midst of this chaos, I wanted, needed to be domestic.  I looked in the fridge to see the possibilities and in the freezer I had a bag of frozen blueberries.

Bob, Tammi and Ben were off on a mission to Lowes, so I grabbed my favorite Pampered Chef measuring bowl and mixed up some batter using a couple of cups of Bisquick, 1 c sugar, 2 eggs, and 1/2 c of milk.  I mixed the ingredients together and added the frozen blueberries at the last minute.  I used my Pampered Chef scoop to put the batter in my battered muffin tin and baked them for 20 minutes at 400.  When I brought them out of the oven, I sprinkled them with Penzey's Vanilla Sugar.

I ate one piping hot from the oven with a little butter.  The rest I cooled and bagged for our breakfast in the morning.  My house might still be a mess, but I feel so much better now!

Month in Review-April 2012

April has been a very.... um... interesting month.   In many ways, I am happy to put it behind me!

 Of course, in review, I see so many fun things that happened, and keeping life focused on the positives is really important.  For example, look at the 13th.  I get to work with these ladies every day.   That is an awesome, happy thing.  As you can see by the 4th, 14th, 9th and 25th I love animals.  Any moment spent with an animal is a good thing!  On the 1st I spent the evening with women that have been my friends now for 16 years.  I can say that it was a great way to start the month!!

Onto May!  May all our days be bright!

Easter 2012

Easter was wonderful, but Ashley and Eric decided not to come to Missouri.  It It was hard to accept their decision, and I tried many times to change their collective mind, but in the end, they stayed in Indiana.

So our Easter was spent going to Marceline.  Mom got pasta from a shop in town, made a salad and I brought the stuff for Peeps S'mores and made a lemon dessert.  Both were inspired by pins on Pinterest!   

We put the S'mores in the oven, the chocolate softened and the peeps melted a bit and the combination was wonderful!

I made a simple two ingredient lemon bar by combining a can of lemon pie filling with a box of angel food cake mix.  Pour it into an ungreased 9 by 13 pan, bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.  Take it from the oven, cool it a bit and dust it with powdered sugar.  I served it with cool whip and lemon wafers.

We had a Easter Egg hunt with Kassie and Tristan.  Tammi hid the eggs and the kids found them.  Tammi can hide eggs!  Some of the eggs had chocolate, some candy, and some $5 and one had a McDonald's gift card!

Bob and I left for Wien after the Egg Hunt.  We met up with Gary and Joy.  Joy prepared a wonderful dinner of meatloaf, ham, hash brown casserole, corn, green bean casserole, rolls, with homemade chocolate pie for dessert!  Gary had the pleasure of cutting into the pie.  He made the filling.  The meringue was perfect!

All of us watched fabulous photos of Gary and Joy's trip to India.  My favorites were the Taj Mahal and the FOOD!  I could be quite happy with Indian food.

Bob and I made it home late but we certainly enjoyed our day.  Of course we spent the time driving home talking to Ashley and hearing about her Easter.  I think she had a great one, even if she wasn't home!

March in Review

I love doing 365!  This month I look back and am grateful that my colonoscopy was clean!  So much to be grateful for!

Dinner Train

 Bob and I went on the Columbia Star Dinner Train last night.  The company was offering a St. Patrick's Day deal for $50 for all the green beer, cabbage and corned beef you could consume.  We love St. Patrick's Day but do not like the crowds at the bars.   This seemed to be a great alternative.

We had a terrible time finding the place, due to poor directions on the website but again, our lovely GPS came to the rescue.  When we arrived, people were standing outside, near a blue train that had six cars.  We were given tickets by Security, along with a shamrock necklace, and waited to board.

Boarding was uneventful.  We stood in line and climbed up the steps and went into the car.  Bob thought there should have been a Porter waiting for us.  We passed the food buffet and sat down at a table.  A cheerful waiter came and gave us green beer right away.  Since I am not a beer drinker, I asked the waiter what he recommended.  He suggested I try an Irish Car Bomb.  He said it tasted like chocolate milk so I said, Sure!

What I got was a 1/2 glass of Guinness beer, with a side shot of Jamison whiskey and Bailey's Irish Cream.  The shot is dropped into the beer, which then foams up.  The second it starts foaming, you must gulp it down or it curdles.  I slightly remember the chocolate taste.  The drink goes down smooth, and I don't like beer!

We started going down the tracks at a very slow pace.  Dinner was served quickly and the food was very good.  We had roasted potatoes, corned beef, boiled cabbage and soda bread.  We could eat as much as we wanted and the food was replenished often.  Bob and I enjoyed the scenic Missouri countryside until the sun set.  Then we simply enjoyed each others company. 

Along the way we saw a lot of folks sitting on their porches.  When the train approached, people would stand up and wave to the train.  We thought this was unusual until we saw cars of kids waiting to wave at the folks on the dinner train.  Seems like this is a Saturday night thing to do along the train tracks!

Even though we thought we'd get away from the drunken crowd, not-so-much.  However, the drunks were 60 and 70 year olds, so it was kind of funny.

Over all we had a great trip and are making plans to do it again.  We think the murder mysteries and the fancier dinners will be more fun.  Plus, we'd like to go with friends!  Any takers?

Related articles

• Irish Car Bomb Brownies (afreckleintime.wordpress.com)

February 2012

I absolutely love doing 365.com!  I get to see a little piece of Ashley, Eric and Bob's day.  Since we are apart more that we are together, this is very important to me.  I can also look back and remember those moments that would ordinarily be lost. Today I am relishing on February 24, when one of my students gave me a picture she had drawn.  It says, I am retty to lurn.  I always tell kids that I need them to come to school ready to learn.  It is so awesome to know that someone hears you!

Presenting:  February in Pictures!!

2/29/201

It's Leap Year!

I don't why I made this particular connection, but those who know me are just laughing and shaking their heads saying, what's new?  but anyway, I am thinking about this quote from the movie Footloose:

Ren: [addressing the town council, reading from his notes in the Bible] "From the oldest of times, people danced for a number of reasons. They danced in prayer... or so that their crops would be plentiful... or so their hunt would be good. And they danced to stay physically fit... and show their community spirit. And they danced to celebrate." And that is the dancing we're talking about. Aren't we told in Psalm 149 "Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Let them praise His name in the dance"? And it was King David - King David, who we read about in Samuel - and what did David do? What did David do?
[paging frantically through Bible]
Ren: What *did* David do?
[audience laughs]
Ren: "David danced before the Lord with all his might... leaping and dancing before the Lord."
[smacks table in front of Reverend Moore]
Ren: *Leaping* and *dancing*.
[stands up straight]
Ren: Ecclesiastes assures us... that there is a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to laugh... and a time to weep. A time to mourn... and there is a time to dance. And there was a time for this law, but not anymore. See, this is our time to dance. It is our way of celebrating life. It's the way it was in the beginning. It's the way it's always been. It's the way it should be now. 

What leaps will you be making this year?  Are you leaping and dancing before the Lord?

Related articles

• Leap Year: this day in the history of Feb. 29 (csmonitor.com)
• Happy Leap Day - only 1,460 days till the next... (myoldtowneorange.com)

3-2-1 Cake

I saw this on Pinterest and just couldn't believe this could be true.  So, I got up off my chair, and did it.  It was so good!

All you have to do is to mix an ANGEL food cake mix (must be angel food) and a cake mix of your choice of flavors (I had a yellow mix) and dump them into a large ziplock together and blend the two mixes well.    Here's where the 3-2-1 comes in.  In a large mug,

Put 3 tablespoons of the blended cake mix into the mug.
Stir in 2 tablespoons of water into the mix.
Microwave for 1 minute.

Too eager to try it to take a picture before...

Remove from the microwave.  I sprinkled a small amount of chocolate chips on top and spread them around when they were soft.  This was so yummy!  Fresh cake in a minute.  Wait, is this a good thing?  

A Month in Pictures

January 2012

 A great start to 2012.  Taking care of myself, my family and my school.  I am one lucky gal!