Quick, easy and AMAZING!!

 

Happy Thursday!!  I just wanted to do a quick post and share a wonderful recipe I tried last night that was quick, easy and AMAZING!!   5 minute air fryer cheesy tortilla 

Last night we were having left over pasta and meatballs with a small salad so I went the Italian route with oregano, garlic and a bit of parmesan  with mozzarella.  I can see how this would be equally good with various cheeses and spices. So many options but I'm thinking Mexican next.

You can find the full recipe from the link below.  Thank you Pattie for all of the wonderful recipes you share!!  

https://pattietierney.blogspot.com/2025/09/5-minute-air-fryer-cheesy-tortilla.html

My Weekly W's

 

                                                                    This is so very true.  

What's top of my mind:  It's only 10am here and I've managed to accomplish quite a bit.  And that was even with Binx following me around every. single. step.  (He's napping now) I have beef tips cooking in the crock pot for dinner tonight.  I have a pumpkin pie in the oven.  I put in probably my last batch of cotton candy onions into the dehydrator.  I like to have a large jar around for soups, stews, roasts and different varieties of chili.  They are so delicious.  I straightened out the freezer and took a quick inventory.  I have green beans, blueberries, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, various berries and so much more ready for the fall/winter and I'm almost out of room.  I think the rest of the bell peppers are going to get dehydrated.

Where I've been:  Mon-Wed I was at work and home.  Thursday TBG and I went to a rare weekday lunch at El Rancherito Salem and Mount Vernon The food was delicious, and we were surprised when the waiter came and picked up our ticket saying it was paid for.  A couple we know were eating there also and left before we did. They were sweet and picked up our check too.  It was a reminder there are still good people in the world. Friday, I went to the farmer's market. I had on a t-shirt that says, 'weekend mode' and a Mennonite farmer friend asked what that means.  I told him it was a time to relax with no commitments to your employer. His wife laughed but he looked a bit confused because they have an entirely different life than most of us Englishers here in the US.

Were I'm going:  I'll be working M-F and we don't have any commitments or appointments so it will be time at home which I love. Next weekend is our Fall Festival downtown near the Commons.  I hope we have decent weather because I always enjoy walking around seeing friends, different vendors (supposedly 100 this year) and listening to the music.  TBG will have his students doing a demonstration which is always fun to watch.  I don't know if we'll stay for the parade because it is always SO long, but we may see some of it.

What I'm watching:  I was sorting through a number of books, paperwork, and various items to purge a few afternoons this week, so I watched a few movies while doing it.  On Netflix I watched The Wrong Paris (a sweet, feel-good movie), Unknown Number (this is unbelievable) Wedding Season (very funny) and on Syfy I watched Winchester a 2018 movie and I found it very interesting.  According to wiki -"Winchester (also known as Winchester: The House That Ghosts Built) is a 2018 supernatural horror film directed by Michael and Peter Spierig, and written by the Spierigs and Tom Vaughan. The film stars Helen Mirren as heiress Sarah Winchester, with Jason Clarke and Sarah Snook, and follows Winchester as she is haunted by spirits inside her San Jose mansion in 1906."  I now want to read more about Sarah Winchester. She seems to have been a very interesting woman.

Didn't read this week.😔

We did eat though:

BIG salad x2.  This one I added chicken.

Taco, rice bowls with a roll up.

Pasta and meatballs with a salad and garlic cheese biscuit.  ( I put one good size serving in the freezer for lunch one day next week. The leftover meatballs and sauce are going to be made into calzones for Sunday's dinner with a salad.)

Tonight, we're having beef tips, baked potato with all the toppings and garlic green beans. 

What is making me smile:  The plants my friend gave me in May have been planted in a brick flower bed at one corner of our yard.  It is probably an eight by five space.  According to her, they will take over the entire space in a year or two.  That is exactly what I'm hoping.  I'm taking steps and making plans to plant more and more native plants that attract bees and butterflies throughout the entire back yard.  This plant is a really good addition.  

                                            I hope everyone enjoys the weekend!!

My Week

Our taste of fall weather has turned back to summer weather with lows in high 60's and highs in the high 90's this week but that was expected.  At least the humidity is lower which makes a huge difference.  We really need rain in our area as we're in the extreme drought phase and it shows.  TBG hasn't had to mow in 3-4 weeks because the grass just isn't growing which he appreciates since there still is so much to do around the yard this time of year.

TBG ordered two large mums from the Church fundraiser, and they will be here this week.  I used to do a display in the front yard with a few hay bales, mums, pumpkins and fall decorations.  That can't happen anymore because of the huge deer population so they'll have to go in the back yard.  I miss having the front decorated but they always ruin it now.

I did stop by Kroger this week because they had really good sales on a lot of things we use regularly, and I had a lot of coupons too.  I spent 100.68 and saved 60.89.  The Jeep was close to empty which I don't usually let happen, but it was nice to get .40 off gas making it 2.79 a gallon to fill it up.  Yesterday I used a digital coupon for a Domino's pizza for lunch.  I paid 3.59 for the pizza and the garlic butter so that was a good price for lunch and leftovers.  Plus, it tasted better than it normally does.  

I finally had a chance to watch Are You There God, It's Me Margaret on Netflix.  It was a cute movie adaptation from the book.  I didn't read the book growing up, but I had heard of it. We also watched the latest episode of British Bakeoff.  

For snacks this week, I made blueberry muffins using the Jordan Marsh recipe.  They are so good, and I finally used up all of 2024 blueberries. Culinary Adventures with Lori: Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins

Meals this week...

Chicken, veggie rice bowls with cheese roll ups.

Lamb burgers with zucchini 'fries'

LO Beef and bean chili with garlic cheddar biscuits

Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans.

TBG saw where you can cook a whole chicken in a bundt pan covering the middle piece with foil and wanted me to try it.  I usually roast a chicken in my Dutch oven, but I tried it to make him happy.  This is not a great picture, but it did work well and tasted really good.  It evenly cooks all of the skin without turning or rotating which was nice.  I put a cooking sheet under the bundt pan just in case.  Nothing leaked at all, but I'd still do it the same just in case.

Fettuccini alfredo with left over chicken and a salad

Steak, loaded baked potato and salad

Tonight, I think we're having BIG salad with the remaining lo chicken.

Have you ever had the feeling someone was watching you?  I was cleaning the kitchen the other night and had that feeling.  TBG was gone so it felt a little earie until I turned to see it was Binx.  He was sitting on the garbage can staring at me.  Such a cute little goofball.

               I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend and making memories along the way.  

Things That Make Me Smile-Memory Lane

When I run across photos of things I remember from my younger days I usually save them.  Why I'm not sure so I decided to do a post with some of them to delete them off my computer.  It's funny the things you totally forgot about that were so very important to you back then.  Maybe that's why I'm not much of a consumer anymore and don't like a lot of 'stuff.' I grew up and realized it's all not really important.  But a lot of things were different back then and I did like my 'stuff.'

I had a few pairs of these but Candies shoes were my favorites.  And remember Dr. Scholl's sandals?  I had quite a few pairs of them in various colors.

                                               

                                                      Yes, I had these exact same socks.

                                    A lot of birthday cakes had these on them.  They tasted horrible.

                                   

                                     I did use these.  I remember the watermelon flavor well.

                              I remember all of this from our kitchen and my grandparents.

                                      I can't tell you how many hours I spent doing this.

                  This was my bedroom set from 7 years old until I moved out at 18.  When I was about 15                              I decided I no longer wanted a canopy so it became a four poster bed.  I loved it.

What are some of the things that you remember from your childhood/younger days that are no longer around? 

Easing in to Fall

 

The first full week of September was nice.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect.  Who doesn't like cool nights and warm days with no humidity?  I planted more lettuce and arugula and got rid of any weeds.  I didn't get many in the garden beds this year so that was nice.  The herbs are all still doing great, but the last basil planted will be it for this year.  I grew a LOT of basil, the pesto is made, and I have a large jar dehydrated so we're good there.  The Butterfly Milkweed seeds are in the refrigerator now, so I'll be able to plant them the first week of October before we get our first frost. We've only had one rain in a long time, and none is predicted for a couple of weeks so it looks like trimming is all TBG will have to do.  The grass isn't really growing now.

We watched Katrina-Come Hell or High Water on Netflix.  TBG told me he actually was in the army with Russell Honore and showed me his photo in his old army yearbook.  I didn't remember him telling me that before, but according to TBG he was a great guy back then too. We also watched the new episode of the Great British Baking Show and enjoyed it.  It seems like they have some really creative contestants.

Thanks for the compliments on the beef ribs we had Labor Day.  They were so flavorful. We enjoyed them with potato salad, deviled eggs and sliced tomatoes.  Meals the rest of the week were...

Bucatini pasta with veggies, chicken sausage and pesto sauce, garlic cheese biscuits.

LO beef rib sandwich, 'fries', deviled eggs.

BIG salad

Chili and cornbread

BLT and zucchini 'fries'. We only have a few more weeks to get enjoy these while the tomatoes and zucchini are still producing and I know I will miss them.  I cook the bacon and zucchini all on the same cooking sheet so it's an easy clean up meal too.

Since the days are rapidly getting shorter, I've started lighting a candle while I cook dinner again.  This apple cider donut candle is new favorite.

I noticed our neighbor two houses down had something go through their bin on trash night and strung stuff all over their yard.  I was pulling out when the garbage man came and he got out and picked almost all of it up and then got back in to dump the bin.  That really made me smile.  He very easily could have stayed in the truck and ignore it, but he cleaned it up.

I went in the office last Tuesday and there was a faint stench that has never been there before.  When the doctors came in one of them opened the refrigerator and told me it isn't working and that is when I knew where that smell was coming from since it poured out of the open door.  I asked why no one text me because I could have put in a ticket to have it removed or at least told them to get the bag of meat that someone put in the freezer out so that it wouldn't start rotting.  Well, they said they didn't want to bother me on my day off even though I got multiple texts from a couple of them on other things.  The refrigerator was replaced Friday afternoon, and I emailed the cafeteria to just stock it on Monday since there is also a doctor's lounge that is always fully stocked.  At 7:20 this morning I get a text with a picture of the refrigerator doors open, and the message said, "But it's empty."   I give two virtual slaps.  

I hope everyone has a fabulous week!!

Bone in beef ribs

For Labor Day we had a small BBQ and enjoyed potato salad, deviled eggs, and a few other sides but the beef ribs were the star.

Beef ribs are huge and they need to be cooked low and slow.  This is an extra large cooking sheet because they wouldn't fit on a standard size. 

I started by making a dry mix of cumin, smoked paprika, garlic and onion powder with black pepper and a bit of salt and covered them on both sides then let them rest for 30 minutes. After the charcoal grill fired up to a consistent 275 degrees I put the ribs on for 1 and a half hours.  Next came my favorite smokey BBQ sauce from Behrmann's which I brushed on liberally and let them cook another 30 minutes.  Then repeated again with BBQ sauce and another 30 minutes.

The total cook time was 2 and a half hours at 275 degrees and they turned out fabulous.