Just a BlinkProof Time Flies

Monday:

Chicken Enchiladas (recipe below)

Tuesday:

Pork roast, cooked carrots and peas, rolls

Wednesday:

Trucker Stew (recipe below) and Apple Crisp with vanilla ice cream (Wednesday is orchard day)

Thursday:

Salmon Cakes and green beans

Friday:

Make your pizza night (pre-done crust), pepperoni, basil, tomato, cheese

Saturday:

Leftover buffet or grilled cheese if leftovers are icky

Sunday:

Blueberry pancakes (Krustez box mix)  and sausages

Chicken Enchiladas

• 1 1/4 lb. ground chicken
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups grated Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
• 6-8″ tortillas or 10-12 depending on size you can find
• 2 cans/jars mild enchilada sauce (use medium or hot for spicier enchiladas)

Cooking Day: In skillet with small amount of cooking oil over medium heat, cook ground chicken and onion until chicken is cooked through. Drain grease (if any). Transfer to bowl and add sour cream, corn and 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce.

Using a 9×13 baking dish lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, coat bottom with 1/3 cup of mild enchilada sauce. In each tortilla, spoon 2 tbsp of chicken mixture and 1 tbsp of cheese and roll tortilla up, then placing in baking dish seam-side down so they don’t unroll. Once done, pour leftover enchilada sauce over top, making sure it is spread well. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Allow to cool (if not already) then wrap and freeze.

On Baking Day: Remove chicken enchiladas and defrost. Cover with tin foil, then bake for 20-30 minutes (or until fully cooked) in a preheated 350F oven. Remove foil and return to oven until cheese on top is melted.

Trucker Stew

• 1 lb. pork sausage, cooked and drained
• 1 lb. ground beef, cooked and drained
• 31 oz. can pork and beans
• 16 oz. light kidney beans (can)
• 16 oz. dark kidney beans (can)
• 14 oz. can lima beans, drained
• 14 oz. can waxed beans, drained
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 small package Taco Seasoning
• 1 small package  dry ranch dip seasoning
• 1 tbsp. spicy mustard

Cooking Day: Combine all ingredients and place in a freezer container. Freeze.

Serving Day: Thaw.  Place all ingredients in a slow cooker – cover – simmer on high 2-3 hours.

Posts

One of the perks of being an singleton: Storage Space.

In my family I was able to keep my must-haves year after year under one condition…I had to sort, purge and label toys, books, clothes and memory junk upon H.S. and College graduation and marriage.

My Sticker Book has made all the cuts.

Oh yes, I coveted, traded and obsessed over stickers. My favorite collections were by far the “puffies”. All you who were little in the 80′s are like,

“Yea, remember the fuzzy ones or the holograms? They were totally mint!”

My second favorite collection of stickers was and is the “smellys” – Stratch-n-Sniff. My “smellys” still smell. Ryan has poured over my smelly collection with caution to skip the western boot sticker. He frequents the chocolate cones and root beer mugs.

Mom, they smell like what they are!

He got me thinking about what I look like vs. what I smell like. Well at least my Godly aroma.

Bible, Book of Corinthians, Chapter 2, Verses 15-17

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life

And who is adequate for these things?

For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

Yeah for no rain! Our sale day weather was crisp yet balmy. The extended garage sale season was so delightful. We had a decent turn out of costumers despite it almost being October!

Dawn (Hostess) has a son named Jack. His first costume was a Jack-o-Lantern. Future costume ideas include a Jack-in-the-Box and a Jack (like the little metal toy).

Autumn has fully arrived so I will have to wait until next year for more g-sale shopping or hostessing. I have already placed priced items in storage for a May 2009 sale. I think it is a sickness. Or I guess you could call it a hobby or maybe necessity.

Notice the freshly cut hydrangea bloom on our hostess table. Our trip to the mall for rolling racks was diverted for a quick stop to the frontage road berm in front of Sport's Authority. Snip. Ahh! Nice.

Our little not-babies-anymore girls stopped by for a visit after nap-time. In order of appearance: Nora, Dawn, Jess (me) and Molly.

Dawn's Mom made us aprons for our price tickets and cash. They worked out so well! Thanks Mrs. Dawn's Mom. Dawn selected an apron that matched her lower level couch pillows. She looked marvelous indeed.

My apron was the first toile item I have ever owed. I felt oh so interior designer-ish wearing ottoman fabric!

Baby clothes at our garage sale:

• Stories of who wore what and when to help remember our child’s blurry days of babyhood.
• Taking clothes out of the pricing box because we were not ready to see that one go
• Pink rack, blue rack and sliver of green and yellow because Dawn did not know what she was having…she is one of those.

In the doings of the sale I found opportunities to silently pray for some of our customers. It seems that there always happens to be a hand full of people that appear to be needing love. I tend to let few items like a snow suit or an extra stuffed animal or book get tossed in without charge.

Just throw it in!

So many people have been generous to me via hand-me-downs that of course I can’t resist paying it forward. Let this be an encouragement to you to spread the love with second hand clothes. What have you been hanging on to in the attic for someday when your neighbor could use it today?

I am in the process of co-hosting a garage sale with a girlfriend. She is the garage hostess due to her prime location and her sweet garage interior. I am the co-hostess that brings a lot of junk and a few tables.

I am not going to give a how-to guide for garage sales. I will however tell you about my time and what joys or sorrows I learned along the way.

Making a great garage sale experience successful is beneficial. It just depends on how you define success.  Some are in it for the money, others for the glory. Me, I’m in it for the experience.

Sort, purge, group, price, display, sell, sort, fold, sell some more, de-tag, save some, donate some, box it, give it, done.

Somewhere in-between the “doings” of a sale I hope to find something special. Yes, I usually find something special to buy that the other hostess is selling but I mean something intangible.

Pricing until the wee hours of morning with a friend is bit like nothing else:

• Commiserating over sore butt bones from sitting way too long in a sea of memories (our kids’ clothes)
• Laughing over the silly items in the price box only because we are too giddy to do anything else
• Sharing of personal stories over tea on a much needed sorting break

Check back to hear more from my weekend experience with my garage sale.

P.S. Hostess’ Mom sewed canvas/fabric aprons for us to wear and sell. So cool!