HAPPY HOMEMAKER MONDAY, MENUS, RECIPE LINKS week 33 of 2024 ~ BLOG 366.232

Be sure to join Happy Homemaker Monday with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

WEEKEND RECAP

The Eagle’s Madam President dinner was a HUGE success! I have given up MANY of my day to day operational, maintenance and support duties because of the new board and their inability to follow rules and guidelines in the best interest of others, but I still support my sisters when and where I can with my cooking and baking. A friend asked me to bake her desserts for her fundraising dinner functions that occurred on National Lemon Meringue day and on the eve of our local Blackberry festival so I made her lemon blueberry scones, cherry lemon scones and blackberry pie bars. She made a fantastic dinner and had a dessert bar with one of the largest turnouts ever!

Hubby and I planned on being at the Show and Shine first thing Saturday morning because we were going to be under a red flag warning later in the day for dry lightning strikes. Well mother nature had other ideas! The coffee had just finished brewing when the power went out. Long story short a lightning strike took out a transformer transmission pole for several small towns. I took a shower by candlelight and then we still went to the Festival which fortunately was in an area unaffected by the power outage. Afterwards we went and had breakfast with a friend and the power was back on just as we got home. The serious rain began an hour or so later and the lightning storm continued throughout the evening.

I was able to get the tomatoes picked and garden cleaned up before the rain began and spent the day making my kitchen sink (clean out the veggie crisper) bolegnese sauce with the tomatoes I picked.

Sunday was planned to be almost as lazy. And then we changed our mind. 😀 It was our anniversary and the restaurants (there are only 2) that we had to choose from for a nice dinner out are now closed on Sundays so we decided to go out tonight instead and head to the coast yesterday which was a GREAT choice for us until it wasn’t LOL traffic to and from the coast was heavy so we changed our mind again and went back to the lazy Sunday idea and had a late breakfast/lunch at a local haunt that runs wonderful specials for the Blackberry festival.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

This week is going to be pretty nice with highs in the low 80’s and lows in the low 50’s. I really hope this means fall is right around the corner. It’s only 3 weeks to the ‘BER’ months and I am ready!!! Please no Indian Summer this year!

TO DO LIST, APPOINTMENTS & PROJECTS

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, PROJECTS & APPOINTMENTS
  • LAUNDRY & CLEANING Everything is actually up to date except for some vacuuming.
  • GROCERIES & ERRANDS I don’t need much and have a haircut appointment on Thursday so will pick up anything I need then.
  • PAPERWORK, PHONE CALLS, PROJECTS & TRAVELS I have a slew of paperwork to sort through.
  • RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING I’m really looking forward to the fall months and have planned several new recipes to try for fall. Some of the recipes are: CIDER GLAZED CHICKEN THIGHS, CIDER BRAISED BRISKET, PARMESAN ROASTED GREEN BEANS, PEPPERONCINI CHICKEN & RICE, STUFFED PEPPER SOUP, CHICKEN TAMALE PIE, ALMOND CHERRY POKE CAKE, SHEET PAN SCONE CAKE

DVR/TV TIME

WHAT’S ON THE DVR/TV
  • STREAMING I am just about done with the OLD MacGyver reruns and will then finish the OLD Matlock reruns. We’re still watching Stargate Atlantis of an evening and then the OLD Night Court comedy for late night.
  • CABLE I’m looking forward to the fall line up in a few weeks, but in the meantime have been getting caught up on the DVR cooking shows and spring back load of shows.

READING TIME

I’m reading Gill Paul’s The Collector’s Daughter: A Novel of the Discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb

FUNNIES

MENU PLANS

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – it will generally be hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀

8/19 MONDAY
8/20 TUESDAY
8/21 WEDNESDAY
8/22 THURSDAY
8/23 FRIDAY
8/24 SATURDAY
8/25 SUNDAY
DINNER
 OUT for our anniversary since everywhere we wanted to go last night was actually closed 🙁
 PORK CHOPS with PINEAPPLE RELISH, RICE & SALAD
CHERRY COLA BBQ CHICKEN and COLE SLAW
 SPINACH SALAD with WARM BACON VINAIGRETTE
 CORN/YOYO clean out refrigerator night or you’re on your own
LEMON CHICKEN, HONEY GLAZED SNAP PEAS and ROAST POTATOES
CHICKEN TAMALE PIE
DESSERT
 
 
BLACKBERRY PIE BARS
 

FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM THE CAMERA

This past weekend was our annual Blackberry festival – always a fun time with a show and shine classic car show, movie in the park (AMERICAN GRAFFITI), favorite craft and food vendors, a chili cook-off and lots of homemade blackberry goodies of every kind. Saturday did bring rain, thunderstorms, red flag warnings for lightning and a little bit of humid heat.

INSPIRATIONS

LIFE TIP

HOMEMAKING / COOKING TIP

RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

WEEKLY FEATURED PARTY LINKS

HAPPY HOMEMAKER MONDAY with MENUS & RECIPES week 31 of 2024 ~ BLOG 366.211

Be sure to join Happy Homemaker Monday with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

WEEKEND RECAP

We were supposed to go to a going away party on Saturday, but skipped it because it was moved to a smaller venue and with me still having stitched incisions (stitches come out on August 7th) and a recent COVID outbreak in our area I just thought it would be a prudent move.

Hubby did take me out to lunch though at a favorite haunt where I tried a new menu item. I LOVED half of it (the salad), but have ruled out the other half (the burger) from ever ordering it again 😂 There was a several hour power outage at home while we gone when a turkey vulture somehow blew a transformer and put 3,500 people out of service. 

Yesterday we did go visit a few friends for a bit, but other than those 2 outings, it’s been super boring being at home, but unable to do much.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

Today is going to be beautiful (81°) and then we jump back up toward triple digits (mid-high 90’s) and higher humidity for the next 9 days! At least the nights are getting down in temperature (high 50’s) making the days more tolerable. Glad I’m spending so much time indoors. The smoke has been pretty bad from a fire or two in the area.

Monday 🌞 81/56
Tuesday 🌞 86/58
Wednesday 🌞 95/63
Thursday 🌞 98/62
Friday 🌞 94/61

Saturday & Sunday 🌞 94/60

ON MY MIND

Can you believe August begins this week? It literally feels like this year is flying by!

I’m dealing with a level of inactivity I haven’t had to deal with in several years and it’s driving me stir crazy! I have only been out of commission for less than a week, but during that time the things that have happened at the Eagles has confirmed my decision to back off and find other avenues of volunteering. The first thing that happened was that out of desperation they actually contacted me 2 days after surgery to ask me to work the kitchen as a “short order cook” Saturday night even knowing I’m out of commission until the end of August! Not sure what they thought no lifting or bending means.

The stitches come out on August 7th and I will be readily working my way into a new daily routines sans Eagle’s duties though! See THOUGHT FOR THE DAY above!!

TO DO LIST, APPOINTMENTS & PROJECTS

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, PROJECTS & APPOINTMENTS
  • LAUNDRY & CLEANING Hubby has been really good about staying up on the laundry and getting me everything I need as well as doing enough to keep me from feeling like I need to do cleaning things.
  • GROCERIES & ERRANDS Hubby is going to take me grocery shopping this morning and to COSTCO. I’m going to start doing the cooking again this evening so need a few things. I did enjoy hubby’s scrambled eggs, pizza and Kraft mac and cheese with hot dogs, but am looking forward to getting back to some scratch cooking.
  • PAPERWORK, PHONE CALLS, PROJECTS & TRAVELS Probably not much this week, but I am still sorting through and organizing some papers and files.
  • RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING Have been limiting my screen time as it is so hard on my eyes, but have found that has helped me have more time with paper books and recipes so have the August menu researched and planned.

DVR/TV TIME

WHAT’S ON THE DVR/TV
  • Being down this week has given me A LOT of time to catch up on movies and shows. We FINALLY saw The BEEKEEPER with Jason Statham which was quite violent, but I loved the basic story plot. We also saw a couple of cute Disney movies and are halfway through the 3rd season of SWEET TOOTH. We also watched GHOSTBUSTERS-FROZEN EMPIRE and I found an interesting British show called BONEKICKERS about archaeologists who explore and test our knowledge of history with their discoveries. I’m almost done with the OLD MACGYVER series. I also found a new cooking show that begins August 9th about BLUE RIBBON BAKING that I’m looking forward to.
  • CABLE I’m also caught up on the FOOD TRUCK RACE and the BBQ BRAWL as well as MARY MAKES IT EASY.

READING TIME

I just finished Fannie Flagg’s I STILL DREAM ABOUT YOU and began Heather Webber’s A CERTAIN KIND OF STARLIGHT. She’s one of my favorite authors. I did start listening to Philippa Nefri Clark’s THE COTTAGE AT WHISPER LAKE the first few days after surgery, but it keeps putting me to sleep when I close my eyes, so that’s not working.

FUNNIES

MENU PLANS

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – it will generally be hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀

I get to start cooking again today and resuming MOST normal activity so I wanted a fun menu. The first 3 recipes of the week are adapted from Mary Berg and have become favorites. The BBQ Chicken Legs are made with my ALOHA BBQ sauce, the DIANA Burgers are based on the cheeseburgers my friend makes us at her Bar & Grill and the Spicy Chicken Skewers are also adapted from the internet for summer recipes.

7/29 MONDAY
7/30 TUESDAY
7/31 WEDNESDAY
8/1 THURSDAY
8/2 FRIDAY
8/3 SATURDAY
8/4 SUNDAY
DINNER
 STUFFED BANANA PEPPERS and SALAD
 BRAISED LEMON CHICKEN THIGHS with ONIONS and POTATOES, CARROTS & LEEKS
 CHICKEN and SNAP PEA PASTA with CREAMY GARLIC BASIL SAUCE
 BBQ CHICKEN LEGS and MACARONI SALAD
 CORN/YOYO clean out refrigerator night or you’re on your own
DIANA BURGERS and MASHED POTATO SALAD
SPICY CHICKEN SKEWERS and CUCUMBER SALAD
DESSERT
 
 
COCONUT CRANBERRY MACAROONS
 

FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM THE CAMERA

I didn’t get out to take many pictures this past week, but did get out into the backyard yesterday and am amazed at how well my tomatoes, cucumbers and butternut squash are doing. I’ll be making some tomato sauce today for my dinner of stuffed banana peppers.

INSPIRATIONS

LIFE TIP

HOMEMAKING / COOKING TIP

RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

WEEKLY FEATURED PARTY LINKS