September

I'm so glad that it is September. It's hard to believe now how hot it was just a month ago (and how much I was complaining about it.) Before you know it it will be October, my absolute favorite month of the year. Before you know it the weather will be cool enough for sweaters. I know I've done a favorite things about fall before so I really didn't want to bore you with it again. But what else can I blog about?

13 Things I love about Fall

1. Fall color. The maples and oaks and redbuds turning their gorgeous colors of gold, brown & orange before falling to the ground and creating piles of leaves for the children to play in.

2. Boiled Peanuts bought from a roadside stand. I wish I knew where I could get some. I may have to settle for my own. If you're unfamiliar with this delicacy check out my mom's post on the subject.

3. Candy Corn. It may be mostly corn syrup but I love it! It is good that it is only available in the fall (or the good kind, anyway) because I definitely eat too much. The absolute best, of course is Brach's.

4. Cool morning & evening breezes. My morning walks are so much more pleasant now. And in the evenings you can sit outside while the children play and just soak it in.

5. My hot tub. Oh, yes. After months of disuse because it was just too darn hot, I'm looking forward to evenings soaking in bubbled bliss.

6. Fall Fashion. Oh how I love my sweaters and sweatshirts and jackets and boots and jeans.

7. College Football. I love to go to games although in I've only been to 4 in the last 12 years. The atmosphere and excitement is hard to explain to the uninitiated. Playing in the band at Auburn was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life and I miss it. I even love watching the games on T.V. And I love Auburn even if they are not having the best season so far.

8. Halloween. Not just the night of when all the kids come to your door begging for trips. But the whole Halloween experience. School carnivals and carved pumpkins, yard displays of mums and scarecrows,. I love to decorate the house with pumpkins and fall decorations and candles. I have these really cute pumpkin baskets and Halloween beanie babies.

9. Fall Break. This is only the fourth year of fall break for us. I wish we had this when I was younger. It is nice to have that week to look forward to.

10. October at the Beach. Fewer crowds on the beach and in the restaurants. The water is still warm but the sun is not scorching. The kids spend long hours playing in the sand and I spend long hours lounging and reading. (Hubby spends long hours inside the condo on the computer). We race go karts, play miniature golf, and play games at night (since we can't take our Tivo with us.)

11. Christmas shopping. Although I start this process in August I try to be finished by October (except for the unexpected). I like to have my presents wrapped before others start thinking about who's on their list. Of course, I miss the bargains, but I also miss the crowds and the last minute stress.

12. Harvest Festivals, Street Fairs, Pumpkin Patches. We have a wonderful pumpkin patch here complete with hay rides and activities for the children. In October we have the Madison Street Festival complete with a parade. Our school is having a harvest festival in late October.

13. Chili. Now, I confess that I have eaten this during the warm months but usually refrain from cooking it. I like my chili full of beans (unlike the Texas versions) served over corn chips and topped with cheddar cheese. It is a great meal to eat while watching a football game (or even a F1 race).

Weekend

We had a really good lazy weekend.

A friend of Rick's brought us a meal yesterday, Curry Chicken, A rice dish, & salad. The circumstances were a bit unusual but the food was very good. Hubby cooked fried okra to go with it.

Yesterday my daughter went to her first swim leson. We got a late start on this. My son took swim lessons when he was 4 & 5 at their daycare. By the time my daughter was old enough to start they stopped offering. With our busy lives we had not made time for swim lessons. I was fortunate to discover Sunday lessons being offered at the University Fitness Center. At 6 years old she is very confident in the shallow end but lacks the skill to swim in deep water.

This morning there was a nice breeze on my morning walk. Now I'm sitting here doing nothing instead of going on in to work.

Saturday

Hubby has taken the turnip truck to a car show today. I think perhaps he is becoming rather fond of it, which might make it difficult for him to part with it.

I've killed the ants with a lovely ant spray (odorless) from Lowe's. No more have come in since I sprayed so word must have gotten out.

Yesterday, I made a lovely chocolate chip mint ice cream in my ice cream attachment for my mixer.

Easy Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups 2% milk (I used skim)
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used 1/2 tsp)
1 teaspoon peppermint extract (I used 3/4 tsp)
3 drops green food coloring
(optional)
1 cup miniature semisweet (I used shavings from 1&1/2 Hershey bar)
chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS:
1.
In a large bowl, stir together the milk, cream, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and peppermint extract until the sugar has dissolved. Color to your liking with the green food coloring.
2.
Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. After about 10 minutes into the freezing, add the chocolate chips. After the ice cream has thickened, about 30 minutes later, spoon into a container, and freeze for 2 hours.

Barbecue

And just to get this off my chest because I've been perturbed by some commercials I've heard lately. In the South the term Barbecue refers to a way of slow-cooking meat (most often pork) which is consumed either by itself with fixins' or on buns as a sandwich. The act of inviting friends over and grilling food (of any sort) on a grill in the summer time is called a "cook-out", not a barbecue. If you said you were having a barbecue people might assume you were preparing the slow-cooked delight yourself with your smoker. And just to confuse any northerners out there we also have fish-frys. It's like a cook-out only we deep-fry fish in a cooker outdoors and serve it with hushpuppies and coleslaw (which are actually good with barbecue, too.) Please see this for a better example of how these terms are used elsewhere.

Rain and Frito Pie

Yesterday morning I decided to head to a nearby park to walk their loop. The kids went along to play on the playground. It had rained a little bit during the night and looked like it might rain again. I figured risking the rain was doing my part for the drought. Afterall, my getting wet is a small price to pay. Sure enough into my 4th trip around the park it started to rain. I finished the loop and we headed to the car. It rained several times throughout the day. It rained while my lawn man was mowing the yard (this was no deterrent to him, however.) I am very thankful to the rain. Today it is blue skies again but the temperature is not quite as harsh as the previous days.

Last night I fixed 'Frito Pie' for supper. I only recently discovered that my children enjoyed this dish which I had previously called Taco Salad and had not fixed for many months. After finishing his first helping my son went back for seconds. I know, I was pretty shocked myself. It is so nice to stumble on something the boy will eat and not complain about.

Employee Appreciaton Week

On Tuesday, I was feeling a little dejected by the gray t-shirt I received as part of our company's employee appreciation week. Of course, any free thing is appreciated right? Well, today I was surprised to receive a gift basket with food, candy, mug, key chain, etc and also an insulated cooler/lunch box. Now I am feeling really appreciated.

Food Questions Meme

I saw this first on Crazy Dust in My Coffee.



1. Can you cook? If yes, do you like to cook? I suppose I can cook as well as the next person and this is to say I know the basics and can follow most recipes. I wouldn't mind taking a cooking class because I do enjoy cooking and would like to learn more techniques so I could tackle more difficult recipes.



2. When does the whole family come together to eat? I work a lot of evenings and usually my husband feeds the kids before I get home. When I am off work, I usually cook the evening meal and we all eat together.



3. What do you have for breakfast? If I'm going to work I'll have a WW muffin in the car. At home, with more time, I prefer cereal. Our favorite cereals include: Frosted Flakes, Cheerios, Captain Crunch, Rainsin Bran Crunch & Corn Pops.



4. When, How & Where do you eat throughout the week? Usually for lunch even if I am not working I'll have a frozen entree.



5. How often do you eat out? We usually eat supper out once a week, and I tend to eat out for lunch once every other week.



6. How often do you order in or get take-out? Usually, at least twice a week.



7. Re: #5 & #6 - If money were no object, would you eat out more often? No, it seems we eat out enough as it is.



8. Are there any standards that make a regular appearance at your table? Spaghetti and Breakfast (as the evening meal) are pretty regulars.



9. Have you ever tried a recipe from a blog? Yes, I tried the Fish With Pistaccios from Thinking About.



10. Are there any quarrells because of food? Yes, lots. I read recently that you needed to introduce a new food 8-10 times to children before they would eat it. I see the problem is that I give up long before we reach 8 times. I am definitely paying for being a picky eater as a child.



11. Are you a vegetarian or could you imagine becoming one? No. I am definitely a meat-eater though not as much red meat as my husband prefers. I am really a big chicken eater. I could not imagine giving it up. Especially, because frankly, I don't like a lot of vegetables.



12. What would you like to try that you haven't dared? I would like to go to a Chinese Buffet and try a lot of different things. My husband has only in the last year introduced me to Thai food and I am afraid to order something if I'm not sure what it is.



13. Would you rather cook or bake? Well, baking has the advantage of getting it ready and then going off somewhere else while it bakes. But I can't say I prefer either. I like easy things, though. I do not like to spend hours in the kitchen.



14. What was the most terrible mess you've ever made in the kitchen? Hmm? That one is hard. I've certainly burned a lot of things over the years. I guess mostly when I bake cakes or use the electric mixer I tend to make the biggest messes.



15. What do your kids like to eat best? J - chicken fingers (but not homemade). B - just about any pasta dish (especially if creamy). What would they never touch? Oh, the list is endless.



16. What do you dislike the most? I absolutely hate celery. And chicken livers.

Snack

Do you like granola bars? I've got to tell you about this granola bar someone told me about. I don't want you to think I'm endorsing a product or anything. But I tried it and I really liked it, and I thought you would to.

FiberOne Chewy Bars (oats & chocolate) are only 2 points on Weight Watchers. They are much more filling than the Quaker granola Bars I usually eat. They're wonderful and contain 9g of dietary fiber. I'm not saying they will replace a meal. (Who would replace a meal with a bar anyway?) But as a snack to tie you over from lunch to supper they fit the bill. There are only 5 in a box, though, so you pay a bit more. But I think they are worth it.

No-Bake Banana Pudding

This is the recipe as it appears at allrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS
8 ounces sour cream
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups whole milk
1 (16 ounce) package vanilla wafer cookies
4 bananas, peeled and sliced
DIRECTIONS
In large bowl combine sour cream, whipped topping, pudding mix and milk. Stir well. In the bottom of a trifle bowl or other glass serving dish, put a layer of cookies, then a layer of pudding mixture, then a layer of bananas. Repeat until all ingredients are used. Refrigerate until serving.

I actually make this using the Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookies as a user suggested. I will also tell you that you should mix the milk and pudding first and then add cool whip and sour cream. I always use Skim Milk, light sour cream and lite cool whip because this is what I have and it works fine.

If you like bananas and creamy goodness, you will love this dessert. It is so easy! I usually make it the night before so the cookies will soften some. I bet it is good with pineapple but I haven't yet tried it.

Easter Sunday

We had a pleasant Easter Sunday. My Daddy was not feeling well on Friday and decided not to make the trip to Alabama. His presence was missed.

We had a good service Sunday at our home church, Whitesburg Baptist. After church, we had the usual ham/potato salad/baked bean dinner. I had created a treasure/Easter egg hunt for the kids. The Easter Bunny (or his nemesis Santa Claus) does not visit our house. Instead I prepared a bucket of goodies for the kids and hid it in the house. I made up some clues and hid them in plastic eggs. The kids had to find each egg until it led to their surprise. They were more excited by the hunt then the treasure at the end.

We woke up to a cold morning. The temperature had dipped below freezing Saturday night. Very unusual for April. Just last Sunday, the daytime temp had been in the 80's. We had to wear coats over our new Easter attire. The kids were not interested in going outside to hunt eggs. I think they got this out of their system a few weeks ago.

Sunday afternoon was restful. Nobody wanted to eat leftovers that evening. We ordered from China Dragon. We are starting to be regular customers. Everyone wanted some of the banan pudding I made, though.

This morning I am feeling unusually tired. Too much sugar? Maybe just having to go to work when the kids get another day off. I hope I have a good week.

George Forman

I recently bought a new George Forman Grill. I had one in the past but never used it. I wasn't really into cooking healthy food at the time. I thought that the GFG was all about reducing the fat in your diet. Two things have happened to change my mind. 1) A few years ago we screened in our back porch and the outdoor grill has since been moved to the garage where it is very inconvienent to use. 2) I have been dieting for several months, slowly introducing more and more healthy food into our diets. My mother had a GFG and she enjoyed it, especially cooking salmon. So after discussing it I went and bought the latest grill at Bed Bath & Beyond using one of the 20% coupons they send me every month. I never learned to use the outdoor grill and I have always hated the smell of frying beef so the first thing I cooked was hamburgers. They turned out nicely. I have also cooked salmon and porkchops and yesterday I grilled some fresh pineapple (it was heavenly). You can use it as a griddle and I am anxious to try out this feature. It comes with 5 grilling plates (which can be washed in the DW) and a recipe book. You can make a lot of non-healthy foods on it as well. And according to the manual you can bake chocolate chip cookies. That remains to be seen.