Lauries Kitchen

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Doom on you!

Sitting here watching Ice Age with Coy and JoGail and heard one of my all time favorite movie lines....said by the dodo birds....."if you weren't smart anough to plan ahead then doom on you!" Reminded me to try and do a menu plan for this week. This is the last week of school for the girls. Things have been really wild around here lately.  I am not going to do a menu plan for this week. Most nights we will settle with cold cereal and enjoy it since it's so hot here. Coy saw a bank sign that said it's 104 degrees today!  Coy is set to leave for Austin for a NCLB meeting on Tuesday and return Friday. Then we might have a soccer tournament this weekend, plus a big day Sunday at church.

Speaking of church, i just want to say how much I love our church-the people not necessarily  the building. I have always heard that when you are hurting you should draw your strength from your church family. That is definately happening for me right now. It's amazing how a prayer with a prayer warrior can calm me and let me rest. Just knowing others are praying has been comforting to Coy and I.  I realize not everyone may feel that way about my church or any church for that matter. But for us it is a source of strength, as I imagine God intended it to be. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

~Laurie

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Hershey Bar Brownie Cake

Wonderfully moist cake from cooks. com . The family enjoyed but the ladies at work REALLY enjoyed it! I need to make one to send to Coy's office.....maybe next week!

HERSHEY BAR BROWNIE CAKE




1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. can Hershey syrup
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder

6 Hershey bars (thin bars)



Beat butter, then add the rest of the ingredients, except Hershey bars, and pour into greased 13x9 inch pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.



On hot cake, place Hershey bars on top as needed. Spread the melted candy bars when cooler.



Tastes good just by itself or served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (hardens candy) or a dollop of real whipped cream.



This recipe is super easy and very moist.  Linked to http://www.mommyskitchen.net/

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Two new recipes!!!!

I am posting two new recipes to fix for out Bosses' luncheon tomorrow. One I had at my baby sister's graduation party.....green bean bundles...and let me tell you they are good and NOT on my diet! (Way too much salt)

Speaking of my diet, it hasn't been going to well lately...I think it's the antibiotic for my sinuses that are throwing it off. And the bad part i sthat I don't think it's working! Headaches are becoming a part of my life again and I do not like it. Please keep me in your prayers so that we know what the next course of treatment should be. I am supposed to go back to the dr for a CT scan on July 1 but I doubt seriously if I will make it that long unless something starts changing. Specifically it's my left sinus right under my eye. That's the same place I got hit with a softball while teachign in Evant. I have always wondered if that has something to do with it. On to my recipes!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-Green-Bean-Bundles/Detail.aspx


This one is straight from all recipes......

Green Bean Bundles
Ingredients


3 (14.5 ounce) cans whole green beans, drained

1 pound bacon, cut in half

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon garlic salt

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

2.Wrap 7 green beans with bacon and place in prepared dish. Repeat, using all the green beans and bacon.

3.Combine butter with brown sugar. Pour over green bean bundles and sprinkle with garlic salt.

4.Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
 
Basically these are long green beans wrapped in bacon and topped with butter, brown sugar and some garlic. The butter and brown sugar caremelize making it awesome! I am going to cook them today and then just reheat them tomorrow. They can be eaten with just your hands, too !

The next recipe is one I have not tried.....but I am going to! I'm planning on taking it tomorrow as welll..No it's not on my diet, either!!! 

Easy Fruit Salad
Drain two cans fruit cocktail and mix with a small box french vanilla pudding mix. Chill before serving

I am beginning to think of what I need to teach the girls this summer. How to do their own laundry is definately on the list. I am thinking I mam going to write the steps down and post it by the washing machine. Grace may also learn to mop while Joail is vacumming. JoGail already vacumms so it'll just be working with Grace. I love being off and having time to walk with my friends and kind of get caught up around the house. The girls are great about helping, too. I am so blessed!

Friday, May 21, 2010

My girls.....and my menu plan for next week


Here's my latest picture of the two! Grace look so tough!! HAHA  Her hair looks a little shaggy, too...   JoGail is just the cutest thing I have ever seen! Each is so beautiful yet so different. Amazing how God works all that out!

Well we go from one of the busiest weeks last week to one of the slowest this coming week! I think I get to cook a meal most nights this week! I had a hard time coming up with a menu for this coming week, but I think I have one that will work.

Monday night     shrimp
Tuesday night     chicken with stuffing
Wednesday        stromboli
Thursday            fish
Friday                spaghetti

Off to a soccer tournament tomorrow and hopefully Sunday! Go Lady Destroyers.....

Sunday, May 16, 2010

WOW!!!! What a weekend! I had a wonderful time visitng my baby sister and watching her graduate! We had a chance to catch up in person and go shopping! It was a wonderful experience.

Back to my regular life.....kids, work and watching what I eat! It is finally nice to talk about it! I made it to the halfwya point of my goal.....wow!!!!No I didn't stay on the diet this past weekend, but figured if I was half way to goal I needed a splurge! Here's our schedule this week.....It's a busy, busy one!

Monday Top Ten Banquet (always a favorite)
Tuesday Coy-board meeitng, Grace-soccer practice
Wednesday -church AWANAS awards
Thursday Grace awards ceremony
Friday NOTHING
Saturday Grace-soccer tournament and Coy sports banquet

Not alot of chacnes fro me to cook this week.....summer's coming though and I get to cook lots then!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

I am so excited!!!!!

My big secret will be revealed this weekend!!!  I can't wait....all I can say is it may not be a BIG deal to alot of people but it is very important to me. This is osmething I have worked very hard for, cried for and prayed for.

I am so excited to get to go see my parents and my baby sister this coming weekend. Yes, I will miss the 3 on 3 soccer tournament. But it will so be worth it. Coy is on his own with JoGail at that tournament in Mabank this weekend. Great bonding time for them! I'm sure I wll text him  like crazy, though! He had enough girls from his team want to play so he is coaching 2 teams. I'm thinking he will be too busy to really miss me. But I will miss him and JoGail and Grace!

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Two new recipes!!!!

Oh I am in heaven this Mother's Day!!!!!  I got to try two new recipes and both worked out! One is a honey lime chicken recipe and the other is a zuchinni recipe! Have I told you how much I love them both????

Honey Lime chicken

1 small package chicken tenders
1/2 cup or more to taste lime juice
1/4 cup honey

Score chicken and marinate overnight. Then place in cast iron skillet and bake at 350 til done. I poured the extra marinade in the pan and bake dthe chicken in all of it and I think it made the fidderence because the chicken was really moist. You could also grill the chicken and even add soy or teriyaki sauce to the marinade. I can't wait to make some chicken salad with this! I think it would make awesome K bobs, too. I will definately make this again!


Broiled Zuchinni Rounds

Slice a zuchinni into rounds. Place on a baking sheet. Spray with spray butter....I used I can't beleive it's not butter... and season. Broil for about 5 minutes. You can also put paremesan cheese on top before you broil. I think these would be awesome dipped in leftover spaghetti or marina sauce !

As I said in my earlier post I have a busy busy week! My secret will be out of the bag soon, people!!!! I can't wait! No we are not expecting.

Menu Plan Sunday

Its' going to be another busy week!! I guess I forgot how busy everything can get around here this time of year! I usually call it Banquet Season since there is som any that Coy and I are invited to for school activities. We thoroughly enjoy them. Seeing the kids and teacher get honored is amazing and very uplifting for us. Reminds us of why we are in the education field!

Soccer is over for JoGail as far as the regular season goes. They went undefeated! She is so proud and should be. Her improvement has been alot espeically this season. She has a 3 on 3 tounament this coming weekend. Then she is through until next fall. Grace still has a couple of games and 2 tournaments. One is in Tyler and the other is in Garland.

On the the menu plan....

Sunday....Happy Mother's Day !!!  Pancakes by Coy

Monday ....FFA Awards/Fish

Tuesday....Shepherd's Pie

Wednesday...Church!

Thursday......NHS Banquet & I leave to go to my sister's

Friday.....On their own!

Saturday...on their own!

Monday, May 03, 2010

Menu Plan Monday

Forgot to post my menu for this week!

Monday           Shrimp and cocktail sauce
Tuesday          Hodpdge....Soccer Sisters game and Middle School Band Concert
Wedensday    Church
Thursday        Sandwiches for the girls, EISD Employee Banquet me and my Coy
Friday            Shepherd's Pie....didn't get to it last week
Saturday         Sandwiches...soccer game and cooking Mother's Day Steaks !

What a day!

  Today has been wodnerful!   I finally hit "30" and I was rewarded by receiving a necklace in the mail I had won awhile back.(Way before Ihit 30!) God works in wonderful, ways, doesn't he???  This weekend was absolutely fabulous. JoGail sang in front of the church for the first time and Grace particpated in the youth's drama production. The drama production was wonderful and powerful. It was Incredible Enounters with Christ. It has realy challenged me to get out of my bubble and quit worrying about how people might hurt me and get onto helping others. Yes, I know it will be hard. With God's help, I can do it for 20 more school days, though! I have got to return to looking for ways to help others. Sounds easier than it will probably be, but sooo worth it.

Changing gears, here. I hav ebeen thinking about how my grandmothers help teach me to cook. I don't think this iw really writen down anywhere, because I have never really thought about it. Maw Maw Collins (mom's mom) was theone who taught me the difference between a teaspoon and tablespoon. A  table spoon is as big as table and a teaspoon is something as small as a teacup. (Another thing she taught me was that when she sent a sympathy card she would always include a book of stamps.) I wish I had learned to make her roast gravy. I have never tasted anyone's  quite like hers. It was so good over rice. MawMaw Cole (Dad's mom) taught me how to make green beans, pancakes and all kinds of stuff! She has tried to teach us how to make her famous sweet tea.  I think the secret is in the jug...she totes it and sends it to people in either a washed milk jug or washed out gallon vinegar jug. It usually has my PawPaw's name O.W. Cole on it somehwere.  She is also famous for her chocolate cake. She makes that in a roasting pan. Yep, a roasting pan. Always has. I think the story is something like that's all she had the first couple of times she made it and it just got to where she always made it in THAT pan! I think probably the most improtant thing she has modeled for me was to enjoy cooking. I have never heard her complain about cooking. She always put the radio on (even if the tv is on) and dances while she cooks-especially in the mornings. She doesn't cook near as much as she used to but you can still see her moving around her kitchen to the music on most mornings when you visit.

OK, enough reminiscing and on to a recipe!

Cake Mix Cookies

1 box cake mix, any flavor
2 eggs
1/2 c oil

Mix together and drop like drop cookies on a cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven (350) for about 7-6 mintes. When I make lemon I love to put cream cheese icing on them!


This next recipe is one I make when the funds are low. Since Coy and I pracitcally get paid on teh day each month, we have to make the funds stretch sometimes. I can usually still make this even if we are stretching!

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350. Bake for 8-9 minutes.



~Laurie

Saturday, May 01, 2010

Thinking back....

I have been thinking alot lately about my parents. They are truly special people and I believe have done an awesome job raising their kids. They met one summer out at a Baptist camp called Glorieta. I have always thought it was funny that they had to travel to states away (they were in Louisiana then) to find each other when they both participated at the BSU on their college campus and only lived 30 minutes from each other. Currently they are full time volunteers at Glorieta. They are helping keep the campgrounds up and running so that others can enjoy what they have. From teh time I can remember other people have always been apart of out family. In Dawson, TX our family of seven picked up Mrs. Nelson (lived across the street, the Pitts, Larry Blackerby, the Etters and anyone else who happended along that needed some friendship or good food. I can remember hoping someone would come to eat beacuse that meant I knew it was going to be good! After moving to Groesbeck TX the summer before I started 7 th grade, it was harder (town was bigger) but the traditions continued...Ms. Mondell, Tommy Kasner, the Furlows.....It was fun and always an adventure. By then I was in Jr High/High school was busy with activities. I remember girls from teh basketball team always wanting to come overr because they knew my mom would have cooked. I remember mom and dad suggesting we invite a particuliarly difficult teacher over. Man I did not like him. But we did  it and kind of adopted him as a 'secret' project.....little did I know how that little secret project would turn out! Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself....one of the neat ideas my dad and mom have had is to write a book the past two Christmases that have stories and recipes in them. It' s not big and uses pretty simple vocabulary...I have read them over and over. There are food stains in each one....I just love those books.....they have my parents all in them. They survived a house fire some years back ( I think about 12-14 years ago) and mom lost alot of recipes in the fire. She has worked hard to remember and recreate as many as she could to include in the book. Don't go looking for healthy recipes, either. You won't find them in their books. I have decided to post a few of her recipes here. I do not know the true source of manyof these recipes, so I apologize if I do not give credit. Most are just recipes I grew up with, called what we called them. Remember, my mom had five kids to feed, too. This first one is a definate family memory maker. I think most of us actually loved it growing up.....now, not so much. The boys still love it, though. For some reason she always served it with corn.

Mrs. Denny's

1 pound hamburger
chopped onion to taste
2 TBS BBQ sauce
1 can pinto beans (DO not drain)

Brown onion and hamburger meat over medium heat. Add BBQ sauce and undrained beans. (You can add worc. sauce if you want and spice it up however). Cook until mixture is not soupy.

I am not certain of the origin of this recipe. My parents started making this after we had all grown up and moved out! It's great to take to church or work, though.

Cobbler Ole

1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1 /2 cups water
2 cup sugar

1 dozen FLOUR tortillas
1 large can cherry pie filling

Melt butter, water and sugar together until it boils in a small saucepan. Spray a 10x13 pan with pam. Fill each tortillas with pie filling and roll up like you would an enhiclada and place it seam side downin the pan. After filling and rolling all 12, pour butter mixture over top. Set aside fro 45 minutes or overnight in the fridge. Let come to room temperature and bake for 30-35 minutes. Really good over ice cream!


I saw a qupte the other day that stuck with me.....the struggle will stop when the gratitude starts.....hummmm........still 10/5.14 !!!  I hope to feature recipes from my siblings and Coy's family in the near future....so email me if you have a request or have one for me to post!!!



Laurie