Well, it is a new week and after a nice relaxing weekend, I pray that each of you reading this had a really good weekend. We went to a friends birthday party. Marc turned 65. We had a fabulous dinner at their house and it was so nice to just go and sit down and visit with friends . They were  from our old church and since we do not go downtown to that church anymore, it has been about 6 years since being around them. Isn’t it amazing how easy it is to just pick up the pieces and you feel like you have been friends who have shared the previous years together. We talked about that on Saturday night at the party. With brothers and sisters in Christ, you still share the same heart and spirit and conversation just seems to flow even though you had not seen each other in so long. We came away feeling ever so blessed that God has granted us the blessing of first of all, being His children, and 2nd that we are a part of Christian friends who love to get together, share our joys and sometimes, ask prayer for things that are going on in our lives. We are so blessed to be a part of the “family of God”. One of the recipes from Saturday night was just amazing. Will share it with you.

Well, it is just a fabulous Friday. The air is a little cooler, I had lunch with my hubby and have made a batch of yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Am looking forward to tonight when Randy and I will don our aprons and cook orange chicken over udon noodles! We have several friends who are in a season of life which is throwing them some health problems and was reminded of a little story from a few years back. Randy and I were at a meeting down by Austin and while he was in the meeting, the wives of the directors were having breakfast and talking about the different stages of being a women and the different ailments which went along with each of those particular decades. Each women there had had some type of surgery befitting her age, some in their early thirties had just had children, some in their 40’s had had either gallbladder surgery and those in their 50’s (which is where I was at the time) had had knee or hip replacement, back or neck surgery, etc. As we were sharing stories, one lady was complaining that she had had surgery that was just so painful and that the pain pills which the dr had given her was just not doing any good. I told her that she should ask the dr for some valium as it was such an awesome pain killer, and if taken correctly, even if it didn’t take the pain away, you simply didn’t care!. When she heard me she exclaimed, “Trudy, no one should take valium, they are just so very addictive!” At this point, I injected, “no they are not, I have been on them for years”. Well, everyone at the table just cracked up and it was then that I realized just what I had said. What they didn’t know is that I had taken them once a month for that wonderful time each month, when the rest of the world is crazy and mean and I was the only one that had any sense or feelings. That was what the dr’s in the 60’s prescribed and I had taken them with success each month until I didn’t have that “precious time of the month anymore”. So all this to say, sometimes, I do miss my blond hair, it always gave me something to blame my “choice of words”. Hoping your Friday is Fabulous!

Well, just got back from some errands and am once again reminded how good God has always been to us and has showed His faithfulness to us in so many different ways. Randy went for a physical this morning. We have been so blessed with good health thus far and give the glory to God for His provision. We are blessed with a precious new grandbaby, Caleb, now two weeks old. We live in a home which we know was given to us by God and pray that each day we give it back to Him in ways that glorify Him. Am preparing to serve lunch to some Bible teachers next week, here at the house and have been looking through my recipe boxes. I came across a favorite with ladies every time I serve it and thought I would share it today. Hot Onion Souffle. Do not let the title scare you off. It is so very easy and it taste amazing!…as Mikey used to say, “try it, you’ll like it.”

Today is one of my favorite days. Art day. It is just a day of meeting with friends at Hobby Lobby and painting and relaxing and just not thinking about anything but painting the latest picture. It is just a great day, finished off each Wednesday night with us going to El Fenix to meet friends for Mexican food.  Tonight we are taking Sevy, our 5 yr old grandson with us. I love showing him off. He is just Mr. Personality and a cheap date, He doesn’t eat anything but chips, so Randy loves that part. I have to brag on something. Yesterday, I was feeling a little hum……should I say “old” after going shopping with Jodi and seeing her try on cute little spaghetti strap sun dresses, knowing that those days were totally over for me. So I get home and decide to pep myself up by making pralines. While doing so, I am watching “King of Queens”. Carrie walks in to find Doug on the couch and he is playing out a beat on his belly with his hands and asks Carrie to guess what “song” he is giving the beat for. She replys, “Doug, you are keeping rhythm on your belly and I will not even try to guess what song you are “playing” when all of a sudden I yelled out loud, “I Love Rock n Roll” and then Doug yells out, “Carrie, can’t you tell I am “playing “I Love Rock n Roll?” I couldn’t believe my ears, I had guessed his belly music. I was just so proud of myself for actually remembering that song and then correctly guessing what it…ah, life felt so good again. Maybe I wasn’t as old as I was thinking. After all, I had carried around about 30 pounds (car seat and Caleb) that morning, getting it in and out of the car and then coming home, cleaning house and making pralines before making dinner. I need to do that more often, just attempt to look for the moments of “fun” and not take life so serious. I have to go, I want to practice “playing, “Mama Mia” on my belly for Randy!

Don’t forget to check out the new Apple Spice Cobbler under desserts today.

Well, did not get selected for jury duty so life is good. It was fun to watch people go up and give so many different and sometimes lame excuses why they could not serve. Am home and getting ready to make pralines to take to some friends tomorrow night who we eat Mexican food with almost every Wednesday night. Was thumbing through one of my cookbooks last night and came across a wonderful favorite recipe for chocoate fudge pie……will put it under “desserts”. Check it out, it is just delicious. If anyone wants the praline recipe, will be glad to put it on here also, it is just so easy and makes a bunch! Talk to you tomorrow….

Well, it was a great day, went to Fashion Market with two friends, Dianne and Cora and got great deals on two jackets and jewelry. So since I have been gone all day, I was wondering what I could whip up for dinner tonight.  Since we had chicken sour cream enchiladas for dinner, I had left over chicken and sauce so thought I would make that into a chicken green chile soup. So that is what I am doing! It is such a great soup and so easy…check it out,

2 cups chopped, cooked  chicken meat, 1/2 chopped onion, 2 cans of chicken broth, 1 small can of diced green chiles, 1 large carrot sliced thin, 1 cup of chopped celery, 1 boiling bag of rice, cooked.

Cook your rice and set aside. Combine all ingredients and cook over medium heat until onions, carrots and celery are done. Add the rice and cook for about an hour over low heat. Right before serving, add about 1/2 cup sour cream. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with corn bread or crackers…Had dinner ready in 30 min and purchases out to show hubby! He will be so proud of the money I saved and dinner on the table, is he spoiled or what?

Well, a lot has happened since beginning this project. We have a brand new grand baby boy, named Caleb, we have begun a new Bible Study series in Hebrews at our house on Sunday nights, and I am more inspired than ever, since watching the movie, Julia/Julie last night. So am determined to not allow distractions or lack of time to keep me from building this Site. In fact, we were so excited after watching the movie last night that we came home from church today  and cooked together . That just always makes the food taste better when you are cooking with someone you love.

We cooked bruschetta, with a little spin. We added bacon and it was delicious. Randy “fried” the bread in butter and garlic and it was the best garlic bread we have had.  In fact, this will be a new recipe which I will post to this site. So much more fun than going to Luby’s, which is our usual Sunday stopover. We are both so inspired to put a new “kick” into our “cooking together” program. First time today went very smooth! Tonight we have 18 people coming over for Mexican food. Love these Sunday night Studies, great food and great Bible Study!