Friday, September 18, 2015

Food on Friday

We are two birthdays down, in our three birthdays in six days extravaganza.  We'll celebrate all three this weekend.

My cold threw off, well, pretty much everything this week; cleaning, laundry, cooking.  I did get some unexpected help with my Big To-Do list (aka purging, reorganizing the house) when hubby cleared everything out of the laundry room.  Every.  Thing.  

The dryer has been making this horrid screeching.  I knew he'd be itching to fix it when all the parts have arrived.  I had planned to methodically go through and get things sorted and cleared out today.  But, he got a wild hair, while I was gone, yesterday and plowed through it like a hurricane.  Luckily, he called to warn me what he'd done,because I had stuff everywhere - the machines were in the garage, there were bottles lining the back hall, all the games, clothes and, well, crap that was stacked on the dryer was dumped on my couches.  

But. . .he dealt with the room.  He picked up all the socks, gloves, poker chips and lint that seems to have collected behind the machines.  He scrubbed the floors.  He not only fixed the dryer, but scrubbed the machines down.  Now, I have a sparkling laundry room.  It's purged and organized.  I pass it and just pause and sigh.  And thank him, whether he's around or not.  I have just the shelves above the machines to purge - which is some cleaning stuff, games and my PartyLite collections, so it should be easy to deal with.  After doing my Monday cleaning today, I'm hoping to have enough time to just finish that space and cross it off my list.

As I said, being sick messed with my cooking for the week, though I had a menu, which will now move to next week.  Monday we ate out because I didn't have the energy.  Tuesday was by far the worst day, but I peeled myself up long enough to reheat leftovers.  Wednesday was birthday #1, so it was birthday boy's choice.  Thursday was my birthday and we headed out during the overhaul of the laundry room to satisfy a craving I've had for Chicken Fried Steak.  Tonight, we'll get back on track with our standing In-Law Dinner, so I need a dessert.

I do have two things from last week to share, so if you're looking for a good meal that's quick and allows you back to your creative pursuits, you're good.  You can find other recipes I've tried on the I Cooked That board.

  

I was looking for something I could toss together on a day when we headed up to fetch the Girle home.  This Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken fit the bill because I could cook it in the slow cooker while I was home in the morning and then keep it warm while we were gone.  All I needed to do was cook the rice when we got home.  It was easy and it was good.  My only change would be to substitute in chicken thighs, which hold up much better in the slow cooker.


I had blueberries on the brink and this Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake helped me use them up.  I don't keep buttermilk on hand, so when I need it I usually have more leftover than I can use up before it spoils.  However, buttermilk freezes great!  So, I use what I need, do my best to find recipes to use more, and then freeze quarter-cup measures.  I use a silicone muffin tin to freeze them and once frozen I pop them out and toss them in a zip bag.  This cake was really good.  That sprinkle of sugar on top, gave a light crunch to a very moist cake.

This weekend is supposed to be a cool and lovely.  I've got my cleaning today.  I'm hoping to brave the pit the basement has become before the party on Sunday.  Sunday's party.  And I think that's enough.  We'll see if I have the energy to finish what's on my list for just today.

Happy Friday,

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