I ♥Love♥ Me Some ♥RHUBARB♥!

Rhubarb.... I ♥love♥ rhubarb

And have been wanting some for aaaaaagggggeesss

and had my youngest sister

(who I refer to as #3 - because she is one of three sisters that I have - and she's the  youngest)

remind me that our mom grows a patch of it next 

to the garage at the folks'.

So I called my mom and asked if I could stop down after work on Friday

and get some....

She said, yes!!!!!

I was soooooo happy to bring it home and clean it up and get most of it ready for the freezer.

I ended up with 3.5 quarts or about 14 cups of this 

wonderful fruit!

LOL... my mom told me that out of all of my siblings (I have a brother and three sisters), I'm the only one that seems to really like rhubarb.

Well, it is for SURE true that I really like me some

RHUBARB!!!

 I did end up freezing three quarts and will be using the remaining 2 cups to bake with today!

Friday was a sort of run, run, run kind of day. 

I did take a 1 1/2 hour nap mid-afternoon and that gave me energy enough to get thru the remainder of my day.

Stopped at my storage unit on the way back from the folks' and located a container of material, but it wasn't what I was looking for. 

This container had all Christmas type material and I was actually looking for material for the quilt project. 

Instead, I brought back a window fan for the living room window - you can tell the difference!!

Just not ready to put in the AC units just yet!!!

Soon.... but not now!

Slept very well last night after having two nights of not-so-good sleep.

And have accomplished a few needed tasks:

Two loads of laundry

Washing dishes

Cleaning the bathroom

Making lunch/supper

Refilling the sugar and flour containers in the pantry

Baking something with that 2 cups of ♥rhubarb♥ that I had left

Locating the fabric I have here and organizing it

Organizing all of my spools of thread for the sewing machine

As for lunch/supper:

I was hungry for green beans.

Why?

Don't have an answer to that one, just was!!

I had planned on making a ham and bean soup, but really wasn't in the mood for it.

Instead, because of wanting green beans, I made a dish in my slow cooker using a drained can of green beans, a drained can of sliced potatoes, a large can of Glory brand Southern Style Green Beans with Potatoes, and about 1/4 pound of cut up/diced cooked ham.

I also knew I wanted onions.... and tried something new:

I had about 1/2 cup of Mt Olive Simply Vidalia Pickled Onion Strips in the fridge with the pickle juice....

You guessed it!!!

In it went, too!! 

Ta da!

Onions!

Turned out very tasty, folks!!!

And since it's Saturday, and I have ♥RHUBARB♥.

I had to bake!!

On tap, Rhubarb Coffee Cake!!

It turned out delish!!!

And it smelled soooo good while it was baking!!

I did do two adaptations today:

I had no buttermilk on hand and used the same amount of plain yogurt in place of the buttermilk.

And then, as a special twist, I added about a cup or less of diced strawberries

to make this a Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake!

Oh,my..... talk about tasting good.... 

this hit the spot

and 

filled my craving for

♥rhubarb♥!

Here's the recipe:

RHUBARB COFFEE CAKE

 

Cream together:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup shortening (I like to use Crisco)

 

Add and beat well:

1 egg

 

Sift in:

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

While alternately  adding  with:

1 cup buttermilk (I've substituted w/ 1c of plain yogurt when I don't have any buttermilk)

 

Add:

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups cut up rhubarb

 

Pour into a 9 x 13 inch pan

 

Mixt together and top with:

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Best served warm

It's also good when it's cooled!

Grateful to God for His goodness

and because of that,

I am...

Blessed Beyond Measure!

Love and prayers, 

Sue

TUESDAY TIDBITS

When it rains, it might pour... or just drizzle. 

All I know for sure, this past weekend, it did some of both of those!

And has continued into today as well!!!

So it goes!

(Rumor has it that the sun will come out... tomorrow!!)

I finally got around to doing some mending on my sewing machine on Saturday morning, only to have it break down on me. 

My poor ol' Singer has been acting up for several months now, but on Saturday, it decided it was time to pop the bobbin part and die. 

The poor thing has given me over 20 years worth of use, so I really wasn't terribly surprised.

Time to get a new one...

 I  did some online research and came across a Brother machine for sewing and quilting both. 

However, it was at the top of my price range of what I wanted/could spend - $200 on walmart.com.

I opted instead to travel to a nearby Walmart to see what they had in stock.

They did have a Brother on sale for under $100.

I looked at it and then went to look at what else was on the shelves.

Imagine my happy, happy surprise to find the exact machine I'd been looking at online on the shelf... on clearance!!!!

I got my new machine, not for $200, but for $124!!!

Brother SQ9285

It has a whole ton of different stitches (150+), different feet for different tasks, and even the ability to add lettering! 

And you can do quilting with it!! 

The pic doesn't show it, but it also came with an extended table for things like quilting.

I'm very happy with the purchase/investment!!

First project: sewing up the sides of a picture I embroidered years ago.

The end goal was to get into one of the frames I'd gotten at Dollar Tree a few weeks ago.

Happy with the result!!

I did do some baking and crockpotting on Sunday.

I'd  found a Mushroom Onion Boneless Pork Shoulder Roast at Giant Eagle on Saturday that was reduced, as well as some reduced pork spare ribs.

(I don't really like paying full price for meat - would rather save money by shopping the reduced meats!)

Into the crockpot they went, along with the inch of water that the roast directions called for.

I'd come across a recipe in a crockpot cookbook that gave me some ideas of what to add to this (Fix It and Forget It).

So.... I had a half a bottle of BBQ sauce in the fridge.

In it went!

Added some baby carrots that I cut in half and a drained can of mushroom pieces.

Next, I got creative.... I added pickle juice to the "empty" BBQ sauce bottle to get all the sauce out.

I added about a cup of Mt Olive Simply Vidalia Pickled Onion Strips to the mix (this is where I got the pickle juice from).

I let this all crock away for hours on low.

During the last 20-30 minutes, I turned it up to high and

added a bag of frozen egg noodles to the mix.

Supper was delicious and has given me several days of yummy leftovers!!

My baking was also successful! 

I'd come across a package of a half dozen glazed Persian cinnamon rolls at Walmart on Saturday that were.... you guessed it... reduced!

I knew what I wanted to make!!!

Gathered all the ingredients together.

Here's the recipe:

GLAZED DONUT BREAD PUDDING

Ingredients

• 6 Glazed Donuts
• 1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• ½ cup milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon butter
• Powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut each donut into 6 pieces.
3. Place donuts in to a 8"X8" buttered baking dish.
4. In a large bowl combine milks, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon. Whisk to combine.
5. Pour milk mixture over the donuts making sure the donuts are submerged.
6. Let the donuts sit in the milk mixture for 1 hour.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until the middle no longer jiggles.
8. Once cooled, sprinkle powdered sugar over the top.

What it looked like while the sitting in the milk mixture

End product after baking.... those are pecans on top!!

While I was at it, and had my eggs out, I tested them to see if they were still fresh or not. 

This is something I do whenever my eggs have gone past the "use by" date.

Rule of thumb: If it floats, throw it out!

If it sinks, you can still use it!

Yesterday, I completed the other three embroidery projects on the new sewing machine and got them into frames.

Today's projects involved revamping some old pillowcases I'd made years ago for two big cushions for my couch.

This time, my goal was to make new pillowcases for the new pillows I'd gotten for my bed.

Regular pillowcases have been a pain to get on the new pillows, so I wanted to make something bigger that would fit.

End result:

A second project for the material was to make a dust cover for the new machine that would also be big enough to cover the larger quilting table.

I'm looking forward to going through my other fabric and seeing what I can use for that Grammy quilt project I shared about in an earlier post.

Hope to make some progress on that project and share that with you in the near future.

Feeling Blessed Beyond Measure today...

Have a great week, everyone!!

Love and prayers,

Sue

BEAUTIFUL DAY IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD!!

Happy Tuesday, one and all!

Did some baking, creating, and running around today.

First up, the baking!!

 Gathered up the ingredients needed to make

Pineapple Angel Dump Cake

Here's the recipe:

PINEAPPLE ANGEL DUMP CAKE

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees 

 Spread over the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch pan:

2 1/2 cups fresh or thawed frozen sliced strawberries

Combine in a large bowl, beating for  1-2 minutes or until well blended:
1 - 20oz can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 - 16 oz box angel food cake mix

Spread batter evenly over strawberries.

Bake for 25 minutes.

When the cake comes out of the oven it will be all puffed up, and look like this:

As it starts to cool, it will start to deflate, but that's OK!! It's supposed do this!!!

End results of the baked cake

I also made up a simple fruit salad after taking a trip to the local Giant Eagle to pick up my scrips from the pharmacy. (I picked up some already prepped fruit in the deli section)

Very easy-peasy.

Cantaloupe

Honeydew Melon

Green grapes

Red grapes

Small can of crushed Pineapple

Watermelon (I added it after I took the pic!)

While I was out running around, I had grabbed my camera and took some pics of some things that caught my eye around my little neighborhood. 

This is a pic of the bush along the sidewalk, whose leaves turn a real pretty red and purple later on in the year. I have no idea what it is - just know that I like it when it turns colors!!

Came across a broken robin's egg on the ground at the far side of the bank parking lot. Somewhere there's a new robinette enjoying the day!!

What started my taking the outside pics today was this tree... Just had to see what it had to offer!! I wasn't disappointed!!! And look at that blue sky!!!!

It was a really beautiful day in the neighborhood, for sure!!!

One of the lower branches of that same tree

Made me happy!!!

Heard back from my obgyn office regarding the mammogram I had done yesterday and the good news is that everything looks "normal" and I'm good for another year!! YEA!!! That's GREAT news!!! 

That's about it for today. I'll probably be quiet for the next few days as I have two overnight shifts coming up. That always requires a change in sleeping patterns. And I tend to eat leftovers on those days, so not too much exciting going on. Work, eat, sleep - it's all good!!

Feeling 

Blessed Beyond Measure

for the gift of life...

Love and prayers,

Sue

Crazy, Crazy Weather - Make Up Your Mind!!!!

♪♫ "Into every life, a little rain must fall"....♪♫

That was Sunday....rainy day for the most part. Overcast. Cloudy skies. 

Chilly.

50's

Had to turn the heat on.

Not like today

The sun is out and it's been rather nice out there all day....gotta love it!!!

Warmer.

70's

(And when I took the pic from inside, it was nice and bright out there!)

Warm enough that I turned on my two window fans!

The rain on Sunday prompted me to make soup from the leftover BBQ beef that I'd made the day before (Saturday) and use up the leftover carrots and potatoes from the roast meal on Friday.

And the leftover broth.... couldn't forget the broth!!

So, I got out my trusty slow cooker.

Now, if you're wondering if there's a difference between a slow cooker and a crockpot - there is. There are definitely some similarities. Like they both can cook low and slow. And they do best if you leave that glass lid on while it cooks. 

I prefer most times to use my crockpot for bigger meals and longer times. Like things I would throw in before leaving for work and when I come home they are done. 

The slow cooker, on the other hand, at least with the one I have, you can brown meat in the pan which sits on a heating section. That heating section would also allow you to make things like grilled cheese (but I prefer to use my cast iron skillets for those!). And another difference is that you do have to keep a closer eye on the slow cooker.... turn it up too high and walk away, you may come back and have things overcooked!

I gathered all my ingredients:

Leftover BBQ beef

Leftover potatoes

Leftover carrots

Leftover broth

1/2 lb ground beef

1 can mixed vegetables, with liquid

1 can peas, with liquid

I browned the ground beef in the pan portion of the slow cooker on my stove, seasoning it with Weber Steak Steak Seasoning and Worcestershire Sauce.

Transported that to the heating unit of the slow cooker and set my dial to 3.

I then started to add my other ingredients. 

Now I will admit to having a weeeee bit of an accident when it came to the beef broth. I have to laugh because it was a dumb thing. The broth had gotten a layer of fat on top in the mason jar that I had put it in. When I went to dump it into the slow cooker, let's just say the fat wasn't budging at first and, when it did....I had a small mess because it didn't all land inside the slow cooker!! Nope!! A small mess on my counter!!

Despite all that, once the soup was on, I let it cook for several hours and had it for lunch!!

I had toasted homemade bread rolls on the side. I had sliced the rolls into thirds and topped with some I Can't Believe It's Not Butter... and dunked them in the soup. Yummm!!

(I also had this for lunch today!!!)

This morning was a little busy. 

Had an appointment at the x-ray department this morning for a mammogram, so I went and had that done. The tech, I have to give her two thumbs up for making me feel comfortable about all of it. It's not the first time to have "the girls" squashed, by no means. But anytime one has to have things done that you would rather send the body on without you...LOL... yes, if the tech is good at what they do, it makes what might be embarrassing much more tolerable. 

Now.... I can check that off my list of "things to do" for at least another year!!! YEA!!!

Had to call my primary care physician's office about some scrips that the pharmacy had send requests for refills for. I was supposed to have been able to pick them up on Friday, but that didn't happen. When I called the pharmacy on Saturday, they hadn't heard back from the PCP's office. 

So I called them before the mammo appointment to see if they had gotten the requests. They had. No explanation of why they didn't respond. When I called the pharmacy this afternoon, they had gotten the requests and were able to fill all but one. That one will be in tomorrow and I'm opting to pick it up tomorrow so I can get everything all at one time, in one trip.

Rather quiet day. 

I like quiet days, don't you?

Supper tonight is/was a pepperoni cheese roll that I'd gotten at Giant Eagle in the deli section on Friday. 

I popped this into my toaster oven for about 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees or until the crust was crispy. I was going to use Ranch Dressing as a dipping sauce, but this was good without it. I have leftovers from this, so maybe the Ranch dressing will still be used.

Variety is the spice of life!!

I'm off to put away my leftovers and to wash my dirty dishes. And maybe do a load of laundry.

Today, I'm grateful that God continues to watch over me...

and I know that

I am

Blessed Beyond Measure!

Love and prayers,

Sue

Creativity on a Saturday

I had an idea of what to do with yesterday's leftovers from the Crockpot Roast meal. I put the meat in one container, the veggies in another, and the broth into a glass Mason jar. 

When I got up this morning, this is what the plan was:

BBQ Beef on Onion Rolls

I used what I refer to as my "baby" Crockpot (I want you to imagine you hear me singing ♪♫ Baby Crock the Pot, Pot, Pot ♪♫ - to the tune of "Baby Shark" - it truly does happen when I use this particular Crockpot!!! It happened again this morning!!)

Into the pot went the shredded remainder of the roast along with about 2/3 of the bottle of BBQ sauce. That's it. Ta da!! Done!!! 

I let it cook for several hours and did some laundry, left the house and did some shopping, and dropped off a jar of my favorite pickled onion strips to a friend at work.

Mt. Olive Simply Vidalia Pickled Vidalia Onion Strips

I love these and use them in a lot of things!!!

And I give jars to friends and family, that's how much I like them!!! I share the love!!

I discovered these a few months back when I went looking for sweet pickle relish at my local Giant Eagle and saw these on the shelf and just had to try them. I fell in love with them and am known to buy them a case (6 jars in a case) at a time from my local store. There are two Giant Eagles in our area that carry them, so they can be a little hard to find. And when there's not on the shelf at the store, it makes me smile because I know that means somebody else somewhere is enjoying them, too!!

Anyways, when I got home, the beef was ready for lunch - and so was I !!

Lunch sort of ended up having a kind of "onion" theme:

BBQ Beef on *Onion* Rolls

topped with Provolone cheese and those pickled *Onion* strips

with

*Onion* Rings

and 

my special dipping sauce on the side

About the "special" dipping sauce -

It's very easy and very simple to make:

 Ketchup and Miracle Whip whisked together

in that little dish.

You can choose whatever amounts of each you like. Me, I go for a certain color!!

The BBQ will most likely end up in another dish tomorrow.... stay tuned for that!!

The last picture of the day is this one:

This - this is what I refer to as my "Grammy Blanket" 

because many, many, however many, moons ago, 

my Grandma Wilson made me this quilt. 

It has seen years and years of use and wear

and is now in disarray. 

(Simply put: falling apart!)

So, for a project, I'm going to attempt to use what she made 

as a pattern and build upon that and create 

a "new" quilt. 

I have no idea how long this will take - it could take years, but it will be done with the memories of childhood spent at my grandparents. I was blessed to have them live about two miles (or less) away from where I grew up. 

And I will not only think of my grandparents and others on my dad's side of the family, I will also be remembering those on my mom's side, the Routleys, who hailed from Michigan. They were both big families.... and I have lots of memories!!!

I've already taken the backing and the inside fill out of this. There was no saving it so it has met the dumpster already. I've gotten the material for the backing, and I know what I'm using for the middle layer.  I've also removed all of the tied knots that connected the three layers.

Funny how those knots and the sewing around the edges were the things that touched me the most. I think it was because I know that her hands made them and it was like her being here again. This wasn't a commercial product - it was something she touched and created  - 

and gave

to me.

Me.

Very humbling

Very loved

Thank you, again, Grandma!!

The most current task I have with this is to remove all of the lint on the back that gathered in the folds over the years. I bought lint brushes earlier this week to do this, so am looking forward to getting that done this weekend.

After that, it will be removing some of the thinner pieces and contemplating what I want to use to fill in the "blanks" (the places where the pieces that are too old are). LOL, now, that part may take me a while to do!!! Time will tell!!! I have ideas!!!

I know that I do want to hand-stitch the hem around the outside like she did. I want to tie/knot it thru the three layers, just like she did. But that doesn't come until close the end of the project.

That way, I can honor her in using her methods on it.

Who knows? 

Maybe I will pass this on one day to a future generation of my family tree and they can remember me with fond memories as well!

You just never know!!!

For today, I know this:

I am 

Blessed Beyond Measure!!

Love and prayers, 

Sue