Marilyn's Money is giving away makeup!

I am such a bad bloggy friend! I have been meaning to post this for days!

Marilyn, over at Marilyn's Money is giving away i.d. Mineral Veil to 2 lucky winners. You must go here NOW and enter as her giveaway ends tomorrow, August 1.

Go right now!

Cobbler update.

I was eating some of my delicious cobbler last night and realized that I should have clarified my recipe a little more.

The recipe I posted is for Hubby’s favorite kind of cobbler. It is very “doughy”, like a lot of restaurants in our area serve. If you like a less doughy cobbler, you can use more fruit (like Annie Jones did) or cut the batter.

Sometimes, when I want a more fruity cobbler, I will use the same amount of fruit, but will cut the batter recipe in half.

So, if you decide to make this easy cobbler, please modify to suit your tastes. I know you will, but just wanted to let you know about the “doughy” issue, so no one would be disappointed if they made this.

Silly, maybe, but I want everyone to love their food. :-)

My cobbler recipe

I just check back through old posts and found that I have not posted my cobbler recipe. Well, if I did, I could not find it. So I thought I would share. It is easy and delicious.

This is not really MY recipe. My sister gave it to me and she hates to cook. A recipe has to be super easy for her to want to make it. (She is a good cook, she just hates doing it. LOL!) I vary this recipe, depending on how much fruit I am using and how doughy I want it. The one above was made using the following:

Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:

• 3 cups sliced peaches. (you can use fresh, frozen or even canned)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 stick butter

Put the peaches in a baking dish. Mix flour, sugar and milk until blended. Melt butter and add to batter. Pour over fruit. Put in oven preheated to 350 and bake for one hour. (If the dough does not seem done enough, I just put it back in the oven until it is as done as I want.)

I have used less fruit and decrease the amount of batter and I have used less batter for the same amount of fruit. Just whatever I am in the mood for. Just be sure that you use equal parts of flour, sugar and milk.

My sister's recipe called for dotting the butter on the fruit before pouring the batter on, but my hairdresser told me that he just melts it and mixes it into the batter, so I decided to try that. It worked great.

So there is my super easy cobbler recipe and it works for most fruits. But it does not work with commercial pie filling. I tried that once and the batter did not sink under the fruit...just sat on top. It tasted good, but looked odd.

Pounds and pounds of peaches!

On Saturday, my girlfriend called to tell me that her mom was going to get peaches and if I wanted her to get some for me, I should call her. So, OF COURSE, I did!

There is a farm that raises peaches, about 3 hours from where we live, but they have little stands in different towns and there is one that is an hour from us. I say stands, but they actually have an indoor shop in an outlet mall. They used to just sell off the back of the truck. Well, they do still sell some from the truck....a semi truck! They sell bushels and bushels!

Anyway, my friend's mom and I decided we would split a bushel and she said she would call me when they got home the next day.

When she called, I went over to get my 1/4 bushel of peaches and she had 2 half bushels sitting on her counter. She had decided they were so good, she wanted a lot. LOL! So we each got 1/2 bushel. She said I didn't have to take the whole thing if I didn't want it, but I DID! The price was great too. I paid $30 for the 1/2 bushel. I don't know what anyone else pays, but I know there are a LOT of peaches in this box and there is no way I could have gotten this many peaches for this price at the grocery store.

Aren't they pretty?!
When I got home, I washed the ripest ones and started peeling and slicing. I bit into a slice and OH MY GOD! It was the best peach I have had in YEARS! Seriously, they are amazing! I spent all afternoon peeling peaches and put 3 gallon bags full in the freezer. I ate a LOT of them. (Had to test them, right?) And I made a cobbler. Isn't it pretty?!

And I still have about 1/3 of the box to do tonight. They had a touch of green on them yesterday, so I wanted to wait until they were riper.

Oh, and I simmered the skins from yesterday to get the juice out to make peach jelly. How frugal is that!?

It was a peachy day. Oh, and Hubby looked at the cobbler and said, "I bet everyone wishes they were us." LOL! He is so funny.

"All married couples fight."

Ummm.....no they don't.

There is a girl...well I guess she is a woman, since she is in her early 30s, I think...that has a very volatile marriage. She has told me how much she loves her husband and how they get along so perfectly. But she spends a lot of her day here at work fighting with him on the phone.....loudly. And the conversations generally end with her saying, "Fine. I don't want to talk to you anymore." Then she slams down the phone.

The whole office hears this.

Well, she spends a lot of time talking to a couple of the young men that sit close to me. Single young men. She is continually telling them that they need to get married. I don't know why she is so worried about their marital status. They don't seem to be.

But in the course of one of her conversations, she said, "All married couples fight." Then she glanced at me and said, "Right?"

I said, "No. My husband and I don't fight." She was totally SHOCKED. She said that of course we did. ALL couples do. I said that no we didn't and that I knew a lot of married couples that don't.

It is just bizarre to me that because she and her husband fight all the time that she figures that everyone must. And she has since told me that Hubby and I are weird since we don't fight.

I told her that I guess a lot of people I know are weird.

Oh, yeah, and she doesn't seem to do much work either. LOL!

Do you have a Big Lots?

I love Big Lots! We find great deals on lots of things! If you have one near you, go here and sign up for the Buzz Club. They will email you the weekly ads, but best of all, periodically you receive 20% off coupons and invitations to "Friends and Family" days, where you get 20% off your entire order of already great priced items!

I received in invitation for the Friends and Family day, today, from 5-9pm, and all you have to do is scan your card to get 20% off your entire order. (If you sign up on line, you give your phone number and pick up a card when you check out and have it scanned right then.) Or, I can print a 20% off coupon for all day tomorrow. (I THINK if you sign up today you can get it.)

Big Lots is my best source for cannning jars for $7/case for all sizes. With the 20% off, I will only pay $5.60/case! I will be stocking up tomorrow for my jam-making in the Fall.

Big Lots carries lots of brand name stuff and it is the first place we head to shop for toys for the grandbabies for Christmas. Yeah!

We have even bought furniture there. Our best purchase: our queen sized sleigh bed for $300 that we got for only $240 with a 20% off coupon! We later saw the same bed at a furniture store for $1000!!

(I was not asked to post this and get nothing for doing it. Just wanted to share a great store with my friends.)

"Who moved the seat in my car???"

(This is not the interior of my car, but one like it.)

This is the question I called to ask Hubby within 5 minutes of getting in my car to head to work this morning. He went camping this week and took my car, a Honda CRV, because it works better to carry all his camping stuff. (Though, he has fit it all in his Accord in the past.)

He got back yesterday, so I got to have my car back. My sweet baby...I love you. Errrr.... ummmm... yes...I'm talking about Hubby.

I get in this morning and the passenger seat is totally not the way it usually is. The arm rest was down...I never put it down. The head rest was raised....I never raise it. And the seat was leaned back...I ride with my seat almost straight up. And the last time Hubby and I went together anywhere in my car, I was in the passenger seat.

So I called Hubby, from the car....."Who was in my car with you?" His response, a calm "Noone. Why?"

So I told him about the passenger seat. He said he put the arm down to rest his arm on. Well, his arms ARE longer than mine. And that he put up the head rest and leaned back the seat so that it would match the driver seat. LOL! Match the driver seat!

I told him he was crazy and never do that again, since I would probably assume he was having an affair.

"Frances, you cannot possible think that." he said a little less calmly.

"No, I don't. Just don't mess up my seats."

It was really funny! And no, I did not think my husband was having an affair. I just could not figure why he kept changing the passenger seat.

He is just anal enough to want them to match when he is driving.

What you have all been waiting for....

A new post from me! Ha Ha! I know you haven't been, but in case you are wondering why I have not been posting much, well, I guess the answer is that I have been boring lately. Oh, I haven't been bored. I never am. I just have been busy with mundane, every day stuff and none of it was interesting enough to share. LOL!

But this weekend, I was a little more interesting. Hubby and I had watched "It's Complicated" a while back...cute movie....and Meryl Streep character made chocolate croissants. She was a baker/chef, so of course made them from scratch. So, I have been thinking about those things for a couple of weeks and this weekend, I decided to make some. Not from scratch.

So, I took a tube of store brand crescent rolls, $1.36 and put a layer of chocolate chips (free because I always have them in the pantry.) over the dough, rolled them up, then baked according to the directions on the tube.

Voila! Simple Chocolate Croissants.

They were delicious! I loved them! Hubby said they were delicious but too sweet. After I regained consciousness, I asked him where my husband was, since MY husband has never said anything was too sweet. He just laughed.

I can't make them any more, since I would have to eat them all myself.

I am thinking about trying them with cinnamon, sugar and a little butter instead of chocolate.

Then for dinner, I decided that I would try to create the amazing pasta sauce I told you about here . I made a valiant attempt, and though I don't know if it tasted exactly like what we had a few weeks ago, I can tell you that Hubby and I both thought it was DELICIOUS!

Okay, so it does not look that beautiful. But it was delicious. Here is what I did. (Note: I had everything but the artichokes in my pantry and freezer. So, I only spent $2.79 to make this dish.)

Ingredients:

2 frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can quartered artichoke hearts (they were the cheapest)
1 small can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 cup of frozen chopped spinach, drained
1 jar Ragu Alfredo Sauce
1/4 cup milk (fat free is what we had)

Instructions:
Thaw 2 frozen chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces and cook until done. Remove from pan and drain on paper towel.

Coat that pan with olive oil and toss in frozen spinach. I did not even thaw it first. It thawed out pretty quickly in the pan. Then add mushrooms and artichokes. I sauted all this together until it was good and hot, then added the jar of alfredo sauce. After emptying the jar, I poured in the 1/4 cup milk into the jar, and shook it up to get the remaining sauce out of the jar pouring that in the pan.

I let the sauce simmer while I cooked some spaghetti noodles and warmed some french bread. Then served the sauce over the pasta. It looks much better after you mix it into the pasta, but we were gobbling it up by then, so no pics.

Enjoy!

Here it comes again!

Last Thursday and Friday, I was off work, so it did not matter that we had tons of rain and flooding from Hurricane Alex.

But I am at work today and tomorrow and a tropical depression just hit around the Texas/Mexico border. Here is what our rain chance looks like:

Heres a hint: I do not live in far west Texas and I do not live near the Louisiana state line.

I'm gonna get wet.

Go See Annie Jones!

And check out her giveaway at Real Life Living. She is giving away a $60 giftcard to CSN Stores.

Good luck!

So this is what retirement will feel like....

This is day 5 of my 5 day weekend and I am loving the time off! My company is closed today in observance of the 4th of July, so I took Thursday and Friday off, to have a nice long weekend. I am SO glad I did! I have had the most relaxing time!

Hubby and I have watched movies, hung out and just enjoyed the extra time. We had some really bad weather on Thursday, Friday and Saturday....thank you Hurricane Alex...but that did not dampen our spirits.

We went to see Toy Story 3 and went to dinner on Friday, despite flooding all over the city. LOL! Toy Story was a really cute movie and I even got a little choked up at the end. Not many movies do that to me. Then we went to eat at a little Italian place that we love. We don't go very often and don't even know why, except that we used to have a hard time finding it. LOL! I got an amazing dish, that I plan to try to recreate. It was seafood stuffed Tilapia covered in angel hair pasta mixed with spinache, artichokes and tomatoes in a light Alfredo sauce. I picked out the tomatoes, as I don't eat them. I had ordered the dish without and when it came with them, the waiter offered to have it remade, but I asked if they would throw away what was in front of me and he said yes. I cannot bear the idea of throwing away perfectly good food, so said I would just pick them out. LOL! The tomatoes weren't wasted, as Hubby just added them to his dish. It really was absolutely incredible and my leftovers made an excellent lunch the next day.

Saturday, more rain was forecast, so I decided to run to the grocery store in the morning before the rain. I was unsuccessful. LOL! It rained a little when I got to the store, but stopped, so I went in and did my shopping. I spent $76, but saved $57 and got a cartload. I was pretty pleased with my savings. Just as I was starting to rebag at the car....baggers never bag my groceries the way I want them done, so I just redo as I am loading them into the car....it started POURING rain. So, I just flung them in the car and jumped in to head home.

The rain slacked off when I got home so I made it inside with what had to come in without getting drenched. The rest of the day was spent relaxing with Hubby.

Yesterday, July 4th, I made a double batch of chocolate chip, with Walnuts and pecans, cookies. We were going to MIL's to watch her little town's fireworks display and making cookies to take has become a tradition. LOL! In the evening, we headed to her house and had pizza for dinner, then headed to watch fireworks. We go to Hubby's old elementary school and sit out in lawn chairs to watch. It was really nice out, though the ground was a little soggy.

Today, we have no plans but to relax.

I love the glimpse of my future retirement!

Enjoying time off.

I took off yesterday and today to have a 5 day weekend, since my company is closed on Monday. Yesterday was SO relaxing! I just hung out with Hubby in the morning, went and got a haircut in the afternoon and we watched a movie in the evening. I also spent time sorting through my coupons and making shopping lists for CVS, Wags and Kroger. 'And I finally put up all the kid stuff we had out from last weekend with the grandkids. I can't wait to retire and spend every day not at work!

Today it is pouring rain again, so I have just been hanging out. Hubby just left for a doctor's appt and when he gets back, we will be heading out to see Toy Story, despite the rain. We may go out to eat, but have not decided on that yet.

Tomorrow will be my usual Saturday doings....deal shopping. Then who knows what else we will find to do.

Hope you are all having a wonderful Friday! I know I am!