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Tuesday Taco Soup

Chocolate Castles2 Comments

I know it is still Monday, but what a great soup this would be to make tomorrow for your dinner. Finally made it to the store for groceries. Because of eating at home so much and trying to think of different meals, other than the weekly spaghetti, meatloaf, tacos, or friend chicken, I was really in the mood to think of some new things to make. As I stood there on the aisle with the hamburger meat, I began to think of taco soup. From there, I started thinking about sloppy joes, homemade nachos, baked pork ribs and homemade chicken noodle soup. As soon as I put away the groceries, I started the taco soup. We just finished dinner and both of us sat there and said how much we enjoyed it. All that to say, I thought I would share the recipe with you. Sometimes the recipes (that really aren’t a recipe but just items you throw in to cook together end up being really better than you hoped). Remember I was making this for 2 people but it still made enough for us to have for lunch tomorrow, even though we both ate 2 bowls tonight.

1/2 lb ground round

1/2 large onion

2 medium carrots, diced (or 1 large carrot)

1 large potato, peeled and diced

1/2 green bell pepper, rinsed and diced

2 celery ribs, finely diced

1/2 can (8.75 oz) whole kernel corn, drained

1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes with juice

1 small can (8 oz) of tomato sauce

1 can Ranch Style Beans, not drained (use juice and all)

2 cups water

1 teas garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste

1 teas Goya Adobo Seasoning

Brown the hamburger meat in a large cooking pot with the celery, onion and bell pepper. Sprinkle the Goya Adobo seasoning and garlic over the meat as it cooks.

Add the rest of ingredients and cover. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 2-3 hours, depending on how large or small you diced the carrots or potatoes. After 1 1/2 hours, I removed soup from the oven to check on it. I ended up adding about 1 more cup of water to the mixture and continued baking for another 1 1/2 hours.

Top with garnish, such as fried tortilla strips, fresh cilantro, sour cream and shredded cheese. I fried tortillas and sprinkle sharp Cheddar cheese on them. Placed in a preheated 450 degree oven until cheese melted and served them along side the soup. A great soup for a cold evening!

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Creamy Chicken Florentine Bake

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Another recipe I found when trying to consolidate magazines. Yes, I do use recipes sometimes that are not from Paula Deen, but I don’t think I have ever made any of her recipes that just didn’t “hit it out of the ballpark.” So once again, thank Paula for just a good comfort food recipe.

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 cup half & half

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

1/2 pound zeta pasta, cooked according to directions on package

2 cups fresh baby spinach

1 rotisserie chicken, meat shredded, skin and bones discarded

1 (14 oz) can quartered artichoke hearts, drained

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teas salt

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400. Spray a deep 13×9 (well, it just so happens that I have a deep 9×13 baking pan from Paula Deen bakeware that I use constantly) with cooking spray.

In a large saucepan, bring milk and half & half to a boil over medium heat; cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Stir in mozzarella until melted and sauce has thickened slightly. Stir in cooked pasta and spinach.

In a large bowl, stir together pasta mixture, chicken , artichokes, tomatoes, garlic and salt until well blended. (I will also add about 1/2 teas fresh ground pepper). Pour into prepared pan and cover with foil.

Bake until hot and hubby, about 20 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving with garlic bread and fresh salad.

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Chile Cheese Fries Casserole

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Maybe because it is cold outside, and maybe because Randy and I went to Snuffers a couple of weeks ago to pig out on their amazing fries that have melted cheddar all over them with bacon bits and green onion with Ranch Dressing to dip them in (as if they needed extra flavor?), this recipe caught my eye when I was going through a pile of magazines last night. But, At Mr. Please Get Rid of Some of The Magazines So We Don’t Have to Move Them, suggestion, I decided to go through them and cut out the recipes I wanted to keep and throw the rest away. That is so hard to do. I keep thinking, “what if my taste change and in 5 years, the recipe I’m throwing away today, might actually sound good to me and then I don’t have it anymore”. But I guess that is why Google was invented. Anyway, back to this recipe, it sounded like a dish that would be so fun to eat on a Friday night when you are sitting having dinner in the Living Room watching a movie. So here it is…see what you think. It is taken from Cooking with Paula Deen. Please do not tell her I threw out some of her magazines. I would hate to ruin my chances of one day meeting her and telling her that she is the best cook EVER!

1 lb ground chuck

2 (15.5 oz) cans chile beans

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chiles (mild or regular)

1 tables Worcestershire sauce

1 (2 lb) bag of crinkle-cut frozen fries

4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided

Garnish: diced green onion, pickled sliced jalapeños, and my suggestion, green onion and Ranch Dressing

In a large Dutch oven, cook the beef over medium heat until browned and crumbly. Drain well. Stir in the beans, tomatoes and Worcestershire. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 450. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with for. Spray foil with Pam. Spread the frozen fries onto prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Reduce oven to 400. Reserve 2 cups of the fries, but place the remaining fries in the bottom of a greased 13×9″ baking dish. Sprinkle 2 cups of the cheese over fries. Using a slotted spoon, spoon chile mixture over cheese. Now spread the rest of the fries over this and use remaining cheese to sprinkle over the fries.

Bake until hot and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Let stand for about 5-10 minutes and garnish as desired.

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Love Y’all

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Well, I did it again, Sunday, when closing the video of making roast for dinner, I signed off with “bye, love ya’ll” Randy looked at me and said, “love y’all?” I am in such a habit of always ending phone conversations with our kids and family (and yes, even friends) that it just comes out before I think. Randy reminded me after he shut off the video of the times past when, because of this habit, a repairman thought I was after him. As the man (who I had never met before) left the kitchen, headed for the front door, I thanked him and said, “love you”. When he turned around and looked at me, I started laughing and told him I was sorry. That I was just in the habit of saying that to our kids each time they left. Thank goodness, Randy was home to back up my story. Then there was the time when I was trying to get the City of Pasadena to start our water service when we had moved out there. Because Randy knows that I am patient enough to stay on the line when they put you on hold, he figures that it is best to let me do the phone calling for new service so he can just sit and drink his coffee. So at the end of the conversation, I had not only thanked the man for his help, but I ended with “thanks so much and I love you.” Before I could explain, the guy hung up the phone and Randy just looked at me and said, “you know, we have a chance here to begin a whole new life. A life that doesn’t include you telling every person you know that you love them and making them wonder if California doesn’t have another weird stalker moving in.” I gave Randy the evil eye and said, “what would Jesus do?”

A few years back when email was pretty new, I had my son come over and help me get an email address and show me how to customize a signature. It was so exciting. Because I had never emailed anyone before, I guess I thought what reason would I have to email anyone besides family, so I customized my signature with “hugs and kisses, Trudy”

Well some time passed and as with all new things, the email caught on and we, like all of you began to use it to correspond with friends and people who we learned also used email. One Sunday after church, Randy and I talked on the way home about how awesome the choir sounded that day and I told him that after lunch I was going to sit down and write an email to the choir director telling him what a blessing it was to have this beautiful choir lead us in worship. Forgetting about my customized signature, I sent off an email to him forgetting that it was signed with “hugs and kisses, Trudy” Of course I never received an email back. The poor guy was probably scared that there was a stalker in the congregation and that stalker happened to be a lady who had had his wife in her home for lunch more than once. As soon as I could, I changed my signature and wrote to his wife and explained the situation. I didn’t want her to think that I was after her husband and might slip something awful in her food, next time she came for lunch.

One of our family members who will remain anonymous, use to kid me all the time about me calling everyone honey. He told me I would make a great waitress in a southern restaurant. Bless His heart, I told him I loved him before hanging up on him. So maybe it is best for me to live in the South, instead of California or Arizona….love ya’ll!

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Sunday Southern Roast

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On Sunday, I posted a video of this wonderful roast that has been on our tables since the 70’s. Our families have loved it and everyone who has been in our home have told me that it is great. Because it makes such a thick rich gravy, you don’t have to worry about making a gravy or adding a packet of brown gravy. It makes it’s own. Give it a try and let me know what you think. It is easy and always turns out great.

1 chuck roast (I always use chuck roast as it has such a great flavor and it more moist than rump roasts)

1 can (10 1/2 oz) can cream of mushroom soup

1 can (10 1/2 oz) French Onion Soup

2-3 tables Kikoman Soy Sauce

2 teas dried parsley flakes

Garlic Powder and ground black pepper to taste

In a roasting pan or Dutch Oven, which has been sprayed with Pam, heat 2 teas olive oil and then add the roast to the heated oil. As you brown one side of the roast, sprinkle the pepper, garlic powder and half of the parsley flakes on the top side. After a few minutes, turn the roast over to brown the other side, adding the rest of the parsley, garlic and pepper. Before pouring the soups over the roast, sprinkle the Kikoman sauce over the roast then add both cans of soup to the pan, being sure the roast is covered with the mushroom soup and some of the French Onion soup. The French Onion soup will spill over to the sides of the roast. Depending on the size of the roast, add anywhere from 1/2 can to a whole can of water to the pan. In the small roast I made Sunday (was about 1 lb for the two of us), I used about 1/2 can of water. Do not add any salt to the roast as it has plenty from the soups and Soy Sauce.

Place lid on baking pan and Place roast in a preheated 325 oven. Check the roast after about 1 1/2 hours to be sure you don’t need to add water. I added about another 1/2 can when I added 6 carrots to the roast after baking it for 1 1/2 hours. Then continued roasting it for another 2 hours. Depending on how large your roast is, will depend upon roasting time. The soups along with the Kikoman sauce make a wonderful thick gravy that you will love poured over mashed potatoes.

Daily Thoughts

Once Upon A Time

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Since it’s the Magical Season where we are suppose to be cheerful and joyous, Randy is being saved from being a victim on a 48 Hours episode!

The story begins like this….

Once Upon a Time there was a husband named Randy. Because his wife Trudy had been having some hip and leg pain, and the pain was worse at night when she slept (or tried to sleep but could not because her leg hurt so badly) he shared that maybe it was time for them to buy a new mattress! Well, Princess Bakesalot spoke up and said “what if we buy a new mattress and find out that the pain is still bad and we spent all that money for nothing, when I could have had a brand new sparkly newcrown”. Mr. I Have a Great Idea says ,

” I know, let’s switch out our king mattress for the newer more firm Queen mattress that is in the guest room before we go buy a new one! That way we can see if having a better mattress will help you before we waste money on a new one!”

Well, Princess Bakesalot agreed that indeed they should try it. After all. how hard could it be? So working together they decided to drag the queen mattress from the guest room to the master bedroom and would just put the queen mattress on top of the king mattress so they wouldn’t have drag the king mattress to the other room. Since all the elves were off on holiday from being so tired from Christmas, the couple decided that they still had it in them to make this change! As they discovered, the queen mattress did not have any handles on the sides to help hold or guide it! Mr IHAGI told the Princess if she could just walk backwards holding onto the end to guide it, he would be at the other end to push! All was well until they tried to hoist it over the footboard and knocked over a lamp and desk accessories! As the mattress finally cleared the footboard, the Princess fell backwards onto the floor with the mattress on top of her! She proudly picked herself up and declared that she was fine and they proceeded down the hallway. Upon arriving in the master bedroom, once again trying to hoist it now over the king footboard, they discovered that there was no way on Gods Green Earth that either of them would be able to climb into bed without the use of a 8′ ladder or a cannon to shoot them onto it! So at this point they felt that they now needed to lean the queen mattress over to the wall and remove the king mattress so they could put the queen mattress on the box springs! At least with a good running, start they might be able to get up on this “higher than they were use to” mattress! the king mattress had handles that allowed them to grab onto to hustle it over the footboard since there was not enough room to move it to the side! After as much breath that it took to”huff and puff to blow your house down” the king mattress was now off the box springs and covered the doorway to the bathroom! But alas, the couple decided that at this point it was easier to walk down the hall to the guest bathroom than to try to move the king size mattress! This is how it will stay until we move in 3 weeks! Neither Mr IHAGI or Princess Bakesalot have the energy to change it again!

The moral of the story is this….

Go to a mattress store that allows you To buy mattress with a 30 day return policy and be sure to have lots of ice to put on your hip, your leg and your foot if you attempt this terrible ordeal!

Am hoping the sweeping goes down enough in my foot that will allow me to walk to the bedroom tonight to try out the new mattress!

Also, if you’re wondering why Mr IHAGI and Princess Bakesalot did not just sleep in the guest bedroom the answer is very simple. The Princess is afraid of lizards and a month ago a lizard was spotted in that bedroom which was never found! The End!

Daily Thoughts · Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

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This year is so different but as I sit here without being with kids and and family I can’t help but think of some of the gifts that I am treasuring this year. We went to Christmas Eve service last night! Did we wish we had family around us? Of course but, we are so blessed to be able to belong to a church that is open and has such new music! That is another gift! Ears for hearing the Carols of the season and eyes to see the gorgeous lights that sparkle in trees and outline houses and bushes! Yes we are missing being with family this year! But Joy comes in the Morning and “this too shall pass!” Rejoice in the God of our salvation and give thanks for the things that are given to us by our Creator! And of course, our greatest gift of All…Christ the King of Kings, who because of his birth, we have salvation!

From our hearts to yours, Merry Christmas! Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born! He is the True Light of the world!

Luke 2

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Rockwell Or Griswalds

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Remembering a Christmas just a short 5 years ago makes me sad that because of Covid this year, plans had to be cancelled to go out to Phoenix for Christmas, oh but all the sweet memories of a Christmas Past:

It was the year 2015

Oh I could just imagine the sights and sounds we would get to have all around us. About a week ago, I began making cookie dough to put in the freezer so that all I had to do was unthaw and bake when the kids would arrive from Phoenix! I made sure that I knew how to find the Christmas music stations on the TV so the house would be filled with “Ring The Bells, Joy to the World and Silent Night while we snacked on homemade cookies, made just for the precious angels that would be running in and out all week. Making sure to have just everyone’s favorite cookie made, I had my checklist all checked twice and made sure that everyone’s favorite was made and on the platter the minute they walked in the house. Isn’t it amazing how we conjure up what we feel like would be the perfect way to begin Christmas. Visions of a pretty platter of peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip and sugar cookies sitting out, while listening to It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas playing in the background. The little ones would bring us the book,  Twas The Night Before Christmas while wiping sleepies from their eyes the first morning there. We would have the fireplace going with Frosty The Snowman movie on the TV while they cuddled on our laps. IS THERE A FAMILY THAT GETS TO ACTUALLY PLAY THIS SCENE OUT? If there is, please send me to them so I can see what that is really like!

So far, the visit went like this:

From Christmas Past:

The 14 old walks in from being in the car for 2 days, gives us a hug, disappears to go and work on his hair for 30 minutes then goes to his cousins house. Haven’t seen or heard from him since. But we still have the 6 and 2 yr old, right?

Well, after having the 6 year old in our bedroom on a makeshift bed, he awoke in the morning asking every 10 minutes, “can I open a present”! Literally, when we finally had to tell him that every time he ask that, we would take one of the presents out from under the tree and give it to someone else. So he rephrased the question to, “can I NOT open a present” telling us that he wasn’t asking “can I open a present now”, so it didin’t count so we couldn’t take any of his presents away since he wasn’t asking that question. After we got that settled and thought, “ok, we won that battle” he begins to stomp around the house singing,  “What do you do with a drunken sailor, what do you do with a drunken sailor, what do you do with a drunken sailor, so early in the morning?”

I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know what I would like to do with a little 6 year old that sings that song over and over 15 times.

Maybe if I offer them some homemade goodies, they will be more in the Christmas spirit. So I bring out all the homemade cookies, that are sure to put a sparkle in their eye. They look at them and say, “Nana, do you have any of those Little Debbie Christmas trees you gave us last year when you came to visit us?” What? They are choosing Little Debbie over Nana?

Everyone left to go do last minute errands for a couple of hours! even Frosty left (probably is sitting in the car at a park someplace to get some peace and quiet) so I am sitting here, listening to Christmas Bells Are Ringing. At least I can have visions in my head of what some magical family out there is experiencing with family. And I wonder why our kids gave us a CD of Christmas Vacation with Clark Griswald. Maybe because our family much more resembles that family that the families inside the pages of Southern Living.

Do we really think it was an accident that Grandma stepped in front of the reindeer? Hum….maybe she just couldn’t take listening to “what do you do with a drunken sailor” one more time!

Merry Christmas to one and all! May you and your family make some precious memories in spite of this year of being separated because of Covid this year as you celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord! Because of Him, we can have life eternal, peace on Earth and Joy….we give Him thanks for the laughter and joy that fills our home in spite of current circumstances! Frosty just puts his earplugs in and shakes his head, as I walk around singing “what do you do with a drunken sailor!”

I bet even Norman Rockwell would have loved that Strange Carol had his grandchild been singing it!

Daily Thoughts

Not That God

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A few years ago, a sweet friend, Janet, gave me a book which was written by her son– in- law, Ryan Smith. The name of the book was Not That God. This morning I again woke up around 4 am and could not go back to sleep so found myself once again up drinking a cup of hot tea . I began to read Not That God. It made me realize that my perception of God is quite often a result of how What I think it should be. In my desire to love God and trust Him I seem to fall into the thinking that if I am good enough, pray more and spend time in His Word, I will have a blessed life. (talk about “earning” your salvation) I was raised to fear God with a Holy type of fear. Not to be afraid of Him but to have a Holy respect which would make me realize that He is the Holy One! That He should be honored above all else and to obey His Word in complete trust. As I have grown in years and hopefully in my faith, it seems that I am doing just what I read. That my expectations of who I think God should be is a little off. At times, I think we all feel that if we walk according to His will and simply obey what we know we are suppose to be doing, that it will “get us something”! We begin to treat God like a genie. We obey, He grants our wishes! But as I continued to read, I realized that God is much more interested in our character than our comforts. He allows things to fall on us in order that our love, dependency, and faith in Him will grow. Those valleys that He brings us through are allowed so that we will grow our faith and begin to see that these times of sorrow, sickness or stress can be times of opportunity for us to reach out more to our Heavenly Father. We have a way of keeping God in our own little box of what we feel He should be and expect Him to do. We make our decisions and then expect Him to bless them. We pray and give Him our desires and our requests and then expect Him to answer in the way that we feel is best. So when He doesn’t answer in the way we feel He should, we become angry and wonder ‘where God is”? Not That God is a book that challenges us to rethink what we have always felt about God.

In this Christmas season, it is a great time to begin a new approach to how I really feel about God and His great love for all of us! We always hear that “He is the reason for the season” but as we heard in church last week, “we are the reason for the season” Jesus came to earth as a baby to save us from our sin. God was the first gift giver. We have Christmas because He came as a baby that we might have life eternal. He gave His Son willingly for us. He did it out of a great love for us. After His giving of His most precious Son, how can we not love Him enough to trust Him for the circumstances, the trials or valleys, which He allows to come into our lives? This season, may my heart be open to accepting that “His ways are not my ways, nor His thoughts, my thoughts”. That I will always remember that God is love, but maybe I need to learn to redefine ‘love” in order to understand a little more of what God is trying to do in my life.

*Not That God, written by Ryan Smith

Daily Thoughts

Fiction to Fact Christmas Letter

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Merry Christmas Perfect Family Letter

I was in such a hurry when I ordered the yearly Christmas cards, I didn’t realize until I got them back that I had not even put our names on them or wrote any type of greeting. So you are being gifted with a Christmas letter from Frosty and Noel. On the Card i had designed, I realized that I had made the bigger pic of us ,and the smaller pic of Baby Jesus and I felt awful. IT should have been the other way around. Shows just how busy we become when trying to get everything on our list checked off. My mind had been on so many things that day that I simply didn’t pay enough attention to what I was doing. You are probably not like me. But that is how I roll. I act and then think. Well, now for the perfect Christmas letter saying we have a perfect little family. We have perfect gorgeous kids and grandkids who excel at everything they try. Our kids are all rich and in perfect health. They call us every day to check on us and allow us to just go on and on about our lives and then bring us amazing dinners, (since we can’t get close to them, they just throw the dinner in our car and run), but we are usually wanting to get home so Frosty can give me my nightly foot massage as I drink the hot cocoa he has so lovingly prepared for me with the box of chocolates he brings home once a week for my enjoyment.

Could life get any better? Now for the real story!

The reality of 2020. We began like most of you last December 31st, looking forward to a year of knowing that this year would be our best yet. We had friends over for a NYE gathering (I won’t call it party because we are old and we gather, we don’t party). Our somewhat, older than we are friends, decided that they had better start home by 9 p.m. if they wanted to get home before falling asleep. We decided that very night, that we were not going to be like the rest of the oldies. We would make this the year that we would find younger, more hip friends who could at least stay awake until 10. We were not going to let old age hinder our lives. I will be back after I finish watching The Wheel and finish taking all my meds before I fall asleep on the couch.

Ok, let’s finish!Yes, we do have great kids and so far, no one is in jail, everyone is employed (although some of the jobs, we don’t ask about, we don’t think we really want to know what they do) and 2 1/2 of them are married. So we feel pretty blessed. All of the grandkids still speak to us and we have finally been taken off about 25 robo call lists. Our cabinets have 25 rolls of toilet paper and a pantry full of flour and paper towels. Our goal this week before Christmas is to splurge on Hand sanitizer and possibly a new face mask for each other as gifts. So now you know the rest of the story. We truly are so grateful for your friendship and we hope that unlike me when I designed the cards, Jesus will be the “big picture” in your lives! Merry Christmas from our hearts to yours!