Treats

My 'nothing to talk about' days are, unfortunately, short-lived and infrequent. Sorry! ;-)

On Valentines:

Yesterday after naptime, the children and I bundled up and headed to surprise Papa at work. Monday's are his LONG day and so I thought it would be a good idea to take him some hot chili and rolls.

This job is much less conducive to my spontaneous visits, for sure. The place is just too massive to ever know where he is and there aren't many places for little children to go. I think that he appreciated our attempt anyway though. Perhaps they will be more frequent in the warmer weather. When we first had Corynn we lived just a driveway away from the farm that he worked on and I remember several times heading over there and eating a picnic together on the grass. That would be really nice to do again some day. I know the children would love it just as much as I would.

After we left, we headed to the small town a few minutes away for a Kleenex run. Now I am not the sort of person that goes to town for just one thing. I cram everything I need to do in ONE visit so I am away from home once a week. But when the last box of tissues was gone and all our hankies were soaking wet-let's just say desperate times call for desperate measures.

The heart above is what I drove home to find on the driveway, along with the 'eye' shape and a 'u'. Matt had returned home before me and had drawn me a little valentine in the snow. How thoughtful!

Speaking of Valentine's~I am working on some top-secret surprises around here lately. One of which is a special Valentine's treat for Corynn. I am nearly done with it so I will probably post about THAT tomorrow, with pictures of course. I am very excited about it-I know she will love it, and it won't have cost me a penny!

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On Food:

I am excited about dinner tonight. While Corynn ate her lunch, I looked through some cookbooks. Honestly, I love doing that. Could that be considered a hobby? If it could, it would be one for me! Funny thing is...I rarely follow a recipe to the tee. Oh well. I have grand plans for dinner tonight-which always happens when I peer into a cookbook.

On the menu: Shake and Bake Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese, Devilish Carrots, Onion Popovers and probably cottage cheese topped with Pinapple. Some of Corynn's brownies will top things off. Of course, everything here is homemade-not the boxed versions. It wouldn't be so grand if it were made from a box! hehehe If any of it is extra tasty I will post some recipes for it later.

Now lest you get the wrong impression: I don't make meals like this every night. Meals at our house DO usually include a veggie, fruit, and bread along with a meat-but that could mean...frozen carrots, applesauce, and a slice of sandwich bread! Huge meals like this are made usually once or twice a week...otherwise, the leftovers overrun my fridge and we end up throwing things out. So-no, I don't put on a lavish spread every night. Not even every OTHER night! :-)

Since I am on the subject of food though...

The other day I made a DELICIOUS Turkey casserole and some heavenly Angel rolls. (Thank you Becky for sharing the recipe with me last summer! They ARE delicious!) I should share the recipes, but HATE doing that without posting a picture...something I didn't get. What should I do?

Oh and I have to tell you about another interesting concoction I just recently made. I LOVE to make things using leftovers and naturally, some are more wonderful than others. Remember me asking about baked beans last week? That meal was...baked beans, kielbasa, salad, corn and carrots, some biscuits and fruit. I had leftovers of everything except the fruit and salad. I also had leftover pizza sauce and tomato sauce.

I decided to make some chili to warm up our freezing patooti's over here and so browned some ground beef and onions, diced the kielbasa, added the veggies, homemade baked beans, and sauces and then doctored in up with spices and WOW! What a treat! It was REALLY good! The chili had a mild sweetness to it and the corn only perked things up! We ate it along side the biscuits and it was really delicious! If ever you have leftover baked beans and corn-throw them in a chili! I don't know how canned beans would work, they have a different texture and flavor...but hey, you could try it! The added benefit to that meal was: my fridge was instantly cleaned out! Yippee!

Okay-enough about food. :-)

But before I end this...here is a story less about food and more about one very polite Little Miss.

We had just begun to eat dinner when Corynn said, "Mama. You are a good maker. I mean...cooker. And Papa-you are a good worker!" I thought that was very sweet. In her own way, she thanked us for the work that we both do for our family. She recognized it and then was thankful for it. Good girl. It is a pleasure to serve you, Little Miss.