Hello, June!!!

Hello, June!!!!

Been a couple of weeks and I haven't posted anything, so I think today would be a good day to get caught up!!

Yesterday was a relatively laid-back day for me.

Went to bed late and got up late, but was happy that my lunch (also late) was ready to go.

I did toss together a very delightful dish of fruit:

Peaches, red grapes, green grapes, cherries, pineapple, and strawberries

Main dish was a Ham and Bean Soup done in the crockpot:

I added quartered baby red potatoes to use up the potatoes before they went either to seed or just went bad, period. 

Turned out rather tasty!!!

I used 2 ham hocks and several ham neck bones to get the "ham" meat for the soup.

I find that using ham hocks and neck bones adds a lot of flavor to my ham and bean soup, so I use them a lot.

And seeing as I didn't have any ham to add to the soup, I was happy to have the meat off those bones yesterday!!!

Have been cleaning out the fridge and freezer in preparation for some rhubarb I'll be harvesting next weekend.

I had friends offer me the rhubarb they have at their second home nearby and I gladly took them up on the offer. 

The rhubarb should be ready for picking next weekend!! 

YEA!!!

I did do some grocery shopping on Friday after work and was a little excited about the 6 for $19.99 sale that Giant Eagle was having in the meat section.

Normally, the promo is a 5 for $19.99, so I wanted to take advantage of what they had to offer!!

I got 2 pkgs of the Sugardale Bacon, 3  (1 lb) pkgs of ground beef, and a package of beef stir fry (3/4 lb). 

Two of the packages of ground beef were divided into 1/2 lb packages, flattened and put in the freezer (I usually only use 1/2 lb at a time and it thaws much faster flattening it out, not to mention taking up less space!).

The other pound of ground beef (the one you see in the picture) was cooked up today:

This was divided and will be used three different ways:

 1. Beef Teriyaki Noodles (today's lunch)

And then for 2 other meals:

Pork and Beans with Beef

and

Red Beans and Rice with Beef

Easy Peasy!!!

As for my baking, I did bake last weekend:

Brownies - with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, dried cherries, and walnuts

Today, I attempted a *NEW* recipe:

Old Fashioned ♥RHUBARB♥ Pudding Cake

Can I just say "Deliciousness!!!"

I wasn't really sure about the recipe because it said to pour hot water over it before you baked and I wasn't sure about how that would work!

But it did!!!!

Here's the recipe!!

OLD FASHIONED RHUBARB PUDDING CAKE

Cover the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch square pan with:

2 cups chopped rhubarb

Mix together in a bowl:

3/4 cup sugar

3 Tbsp butter, softened

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 cup sifted flour

*** Add a little more milk if it is too thick to pour (that's what I had to do)

Pour over fruit.

Mix together and sprinkle over mixture in the pan:

1 cup sugar

1 Tbsp cornstarch

Pour over the top of everything:

2/3 cup boiling water

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

I was very happy with how it turned out and the recipe will now be going into my recipe binder book!!!!! 

It's a definite keeper!

I was also working on some other "little" projects today and will share those in my next blog post!!!

In the meantime, I pray that you are

BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE!

Love and prayers,

Sue