First Day of Spring

 

Today is officially the first day of Spring, or so they say. 

We still have the rest of March to go through. 

We shall see.  I sure am ready for it.

 

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

 

 

Did you remember to wear green today?

 

For dinner, I am fixing Reuben Sandwiches. 

I had thought of doing the traditional corn beef brisket, cabbage and potatoes. 

However, the Reuben Sandwiches sounded good. 

 

I was in the store today buying the ingredients and the lady in the checkout line didn't know what
a Reuben was. 

So for any of you who do not know, it is corn beef (I like to have it sliced really thin), sour kraut, Swiss cheese,

thousand island dressing, and rye bread. 

Put it all together and grill it.  Yum!

 

 

Then for a green dessert, I am making a pistachio pudding pie in a graham cracker crust topped with cool whip.

Ok, so not the best picture.  It had not fully set. 
However it was yummy and refreshing.

 

Today is also my oldest niece's birthday. 

 

Happy Birthday Katie!!

 

You are making your Auntie old!

Hope you have a wonderful birthday.  We love you!

 

 

Spring??

 

Where is Spring?

 

I know we technically have almost a week before Spring officially begins.

However it teased us the beginning of this week.

 

We had two beautiful days and it was just wonderful!

I guess you could say it gave us hope after the long, long, bitterly cold, snowy winter.

It was just a teaser though.

 

Wednesday night, the North Wind blew in hard and strong bringing with it the cold temperatures.

How windy was it, you ask?

 

Well, the cover on Ray's grill (which sits on the deck on the back of the house) was ripped off and blown all the way around to the front of the house. 

 

I could not believe it.  This is not just a little cheap flimsy cover.  This is a custom fit, heavy duty cover and

it was at the back of the house!

 

The wind was still blowing this morning when Ray left for work.  It just wasn't blowing as hard, thankfully.

 

In other news,

Ray hit a deer on his way to work this morning. 

Thankfully he is ok, however the vehicle will need some work.

 

Creamy Tomato Pasta

Tonight I wanted something a little different and definitely simple.  I knew that I was going to do pasta but didn't want spaghetti again.  I wanted something creamy.

So, I made Creamy Tomato Pasta.

 

A couple notes, I added a little fresh spinach

when the sauce was almost done.

I used Fettuccine but any pasta would work.

 

Check under recipes for the details.

Grilling

Well, Ray could not take it anymore. 

He had to fire up the grill.

So, standing on ice and snow,

he grilled some hamburgers and chicken. 

The smell was divine!! 

The taste fantastic!!

 

 

Now I don't have to cook for a while. 

We can just enjoy the wonderful Hickory smoked,

grilled food that reminds us of summer.  

Even if they are calling for another snow storm.

Maryland Crab Soup

Ray loves Maryland Crab Soup. 

I personally prefer the Crab Bisque but will eat the other.

The grocery store was having a seafood sale so

I decided to make a pot of it for dinner.

 

 

Ok, not the best picture, but look at all of that crab! 

Yum!!

So, it is pretty simple. 

 

Saute some diced onion in a pot.  Add a bag of frozen mixed veggies, a couple chicken boillion cubes, half a bottle of tomato juice, some water, a few potatoes (peeled and diced) and crab meat.  Then come the seasonings:  garlic powder, onion powder, I was out of oregano so I used Italian seasoning, and lots of Old Bay seasoning.  Of course you need a little sugar to cut the acidity from the tomato.  Adjust the seasoning to your personal taste.

 

Bring to a boil, then reduce and

simmer until all veggies are done.

 

Enjoy!

Oatmeal

Ray has been eating oatmeal a lot lately for breakfast.  When I was younger I could not stand the thought or looks of oatmeal.  However I will eat it every once in a while now.

Since Ray has been wanting it for breakfast and since we get up between 4-4:30 in the morning, I had been buying boxes of the individual instant packets of oatmeal.

Then one morning, after Ray had left for work and I finally had my eyes completely open, I decided to have a bowl of oatmeal.  Don't you just hate that they put a packet, no two packets, of original flavor in the box...they should call it no flavor.

So anyways I decided to doctor it up.  I added some cinnamon and brown sugar.  Then after I had it mixed up, I put a cut up banana on top.  I really enjoyed it!  In fact I had that for a couple mornings in a row.  This got me to thinking.  Instead of buying boxes of the individual packets why not buy a can of oatmeal.

And that's what I did. 

I brought my can of oatmeal home,

dumped it into a container,

then added brown sugar and cinnamon. 

Buying the can was a lot cheaper and it gave way more servings. 

Plus by having the cinnamon and sugar already mixed in,

it is like opening up a packet. 

Then you can always add fruit to it for variety.

I keep a scoop in my container so all I have to do is grab a bowl and some hot water. 

That's a good thing since my eyes are only partially open

at that hour in the morning.