Waffles and what?

So, I kept hearing about chicken and waffles and I tried them a couple months ago at a place that has the word 'waffle' in their name and I was very unimpressed.
But over the weekend, I was hanging out home alone with the Gilmore Girls ; )
(because my weekends are that exciting) and I decided to try making them myself.

I always buy breaded frozen chicken from Trader Joe's that my kids can make into sandwiches in a hurry and instead of baking some of the those, I fried a couple. (bad, I know!)
Then I used a mix to make waffles in my waffle maker and finally, I made a sauce that I found online which I spread on top of the it all!
It was pretty much Comfort Food Heaven, Y'All, which was totally the plan!  

Here is the sauce, which doesn't sound good but totally is!
 (this will feed way more than one person)

1 1/2 cups of mayo
1/3 cup maple syrup (the real stuff!)
3 T. Dijon mustard  (I had to substitute with spicy brown)

I wanted to be all food-bloggerish and post a picture but they just didn't look as good as they tasted.


~Becky

The best cookies!

These are my favorite cookies to make!

I made a batch for an event recently that I didn't end up actually attending, and well, we had monster cookies for days! They are gluten free and can totally pass for breakfast in a pinch because of all the oatmeal and peanut butter. -Or at least that is what I told myself on shopping day when breakfast items were running low. : )

~Becky

Because we love Mexican food around here

These fish tacos are an old family favorite! And they are even deeply loved by our son, who is now a Californian and can eat great Mexican food all day, every day.

I got this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens years ago and my copy is all crinkled and stained. So glad to find that it is here!

So, if you are tired of leftover "roast beast" give it a try! ; )

~Becky

Food and fun

I promise that this will be the only post where I sound like a vegan food blogger. : )
I'm just glad that the things we tried this week were pretty yummy.

The hunt for a really good black bean burger recipe is still aluding me.
The latest one I tried last night, made Nathan say "This tastes like a bean burrito on a bun, no offense." LOL None taken.
The zoodles (zuchini noodles) with avocado sauce were yummy, but try serving leftovers which look like a big glob of  GREEN to a guy a guy who is always nausous...
Not gonna happen! ; )

This meal was yummy and pretty.

And hooray for vegan white pizza! The sauce is coconut milk and garlic and it works! Amazingly enough!

The wheat grass has sprouted! I guess we should have some to juice in about two days. 

When Joy and I were researching it, she found a video of a woman explaining how to grow it and then taking a big drink of it while staring non-blinkingly at the camera. Then she said "It takes like...grass" and we died laughing everytime we watched it. 

Was that suppose to make us want to try it? She seemed to think so! 

It was a rough week for my hubby. Some days were ok and others were so rough that he could barely talk. He feels like the chemo funk is just now starting to wear off. And today was a good day!  

Andrew took care of him for a little while and Joy and I went out for a quick outing to a framers market and cupcake festival. Guess what happens when you get there late and it is hot out and the cupcake venders want to go home? Gourmet cupcakes come cheap! ; ) 

 But Italian ice sounded much better! 

  

~Becky

A list of loves

1. My favorite happy place of all is the beach, and last night we caught a sunset!

We apparently have no talent when it comes to taking sunset selfies though! ; )

2. I don't know where I heard about this website but I like it. It is a free service! First, you take a survey of the kinds of books you like and then Bookbub will send you a daily email letting you know what ebooks are free on Amazon that day. (or at the most -$2.99) I love books and I love FREE! : )


3. These cookies are healthy and YUMMY. My kids aren't convinced that their cookies need to be healthy ; )  but to my utter surprise, they loved these. They are gluten free too!

Peanut butter cookies:
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup of coconut sugar  (I'd never heard of such a thing but apparently it is made of the nectar of coconut flowers!)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
Bake at 350 for 10 min and eat!

4. Trader Joe's is another one of my happy places! I love it!!! And these are one of my favorite things there:

And every time that I go in there and don't buy them, I'm so proud of myself. LOL (its been ages!) What I always do buy are their flowers. Isn't this a whole lot of happy for $3.99?

5. Hubby and I LOVED this movie! 

See it when it comes to DVD, if you are like me and love it when the underdogs win!

6. These glasses from Ross are the cutest and they came with the chalk! Now my kiddos can't tell me that forgot what glass is theirs and get a new one every hour! : )

7. This book by Jack Hayford is awesome. It is about the things Jesus said on the cross and how they can give us hope and inspiration in troubled times.

Have a great weekend!
~Becky

Food, fasting and a recipe!

Our church is praying and fasting for souls to be saved this Easter.
It is a day when so many visitors pop in for their once-or-twice-a-year visit to church and we are believing for God to touch their hearts through the powerful message of Jesus' death and resurrection and what that means for their lives.
Those in our church who want to, are doing the Daniel Fast.
Since Hubby needs as many calories as he can get in day, he is exempt but the kiddos and I are doing it, with a few exceptions here and there. -Sunday, we decided Daniel would totally eat veggie spring rolls from Panda Express with his rice but that probably is not the case. ; )
Today, I broke out the juicer but drinking veggies did not go over well with the kids. -Proud of them though, for giving up carbs, meat and sugar and pretty much everything else they like, to experience this spiritual discipline and pray for others!
Speaking of prayer, one of the men in our Sunday school reminded us that if we aren't praying during this time then we are just on a diet. Ouch! -Gotta step up my prayer game! : )

I heard someone say that anything that comes from the ground is OK to eat on a Daniel fast.
And so I rationalized that that made a wee bit of real maple syrup OK...
which might actually be in the same category as the spring rolls. LOL

But these little balls are YUMMY and filling. Also, sugar free, vegan and gluten-free, if you care about those things.  Whoo hoo!
Give them a try, unless maybe you are trying to eat just like Daniel. ; )

Peanut Butter Mocha Balls

1 cup of old fashioned oats
1/4 cup of flax meal
1 tsp espresso powder
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
2 T unsweetened coconut
1 pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
5 T peanut butter (or yummy with almond butter)
1/4 cup real maple syrup

In a large bowl combine all ingredients and stir. Put in fridge to chill for 30 minutes.Once chilled, spoon into tablespoon sized portions and roll into a ball. Can store in air tight container in fridge for up to one week but they won't last that long! : )

~Becky 

Last week

Our daughter is earning her community service hours for high school at our local museum of science this summer. She is a science camp counselor for second graders and they do the coolest experiments EVER, all day long. (not to mention throwing watermelons and cantaloupes off the roof) She called it 'heaven for a homeschooler.' One cute little boy has a crush on her! 

She would love to work there when she turns 18, so we are praying for this to turn into a paying job. 

We also spent the week getting my hubby's brother packed up to head back to CA as we ended another season of care-giving. Besides the small seizure he had when he first arrived, that caused him to fall and sprain his ankle in the bathroom, all went well this time. Thank the Lord!

I read this powerful, true story recently. And Wow! Amazing! Hard to put it down. 

We happened to be at the beach when I was at the part in the book where they were in a life raft for 47 days, surrounded by sharks. So, I started telling my hubby how he could fend off a shark if one were to come by. But he had another strategy -Get out of the water! ; ) 

It is a great read and is being made into a movie that will be out on Christmas Day. Can't wait! 

Here's big news! Be-still-my-heart, we found a Mexican restaurant that serves authentic ROLL TACOS! I couldn't believe I was eating them without having flown across the country first!!! And it was a buffet! As in, all the roll tacos and guacamole I could eat! (which turned out to be 4)  I was in heaven! And now I need to work out all week. LOL

I made these cookies last week, and they were incredible. (more reasons to work out!) My kids didn't think gluten-free cookies would taste very good, but they loved them. We aren't a gluten-free family (Hubby likes to say 'Give us this day, our daily gluten' -LOL)  but it seems that everyone else is these days, so I want to remember this recipe. They'd make a great gift in a cute package.

Our son gave his first 'real sermon' this weekend up in Big Bear over the weekend, so we've been praying for him and we can't wait to hear how it went. 

That's all that we are up to. Hope you are enjoying your summer.

~Becky

Books, graduations and a birthday

We had a very nice Easter. I was so happy that Nathan was able to go to San Diego and spend it with my parents!

 I made this odd but yummy dessert because a traditional Easter dinner seems to include some form of Jello. ; )  After our Easter feast, we rested and watched old religious movies they air on TV at Easter-time. But since we were serving in some areas at church that morning and had to be there at 7:15 AM I was all good with being a couch potato. : )
 Have you ever seen the 1955 movie called A Man Called Peter? It is the story of Peter Marshall's life. Since I recently read the book, (by the same title)  I was so excited to see the movie. It is a really sweet story of how God took him from being an Irish immigrant to being the chaplain to the US Senate.

I am reading Ravi Zacharius' autobiography called Walking from East to West: God in the Shadows. It is awesome! Such a powerful testimony of the way 'God wove all the threads of his life together into the beautiful tapestry' of his life. A really remarkable life. I highly recommend it. He used to be on the radio at the same time as we were driving to church on Sundays, so we listened to him a lot when our kids were young and now Nathan has been able to go and hear him speak twice since he's moved. If you question the existence of God, try reading any of his books.

We are celebrating Andrew's 15th birthday this weekend! His birthday dinner menu has an unhealthy Southern theme to it. He's asked for fried chicken, biscuits with sausage gravy, mashed potatoes, BACON, and coleslaw. It is a fusion of all the things this picky eater likes! (I will be buying the fried chicken though, because I've never become southern enough to try making my own) : )

Next week, Zac will be graduating with his AA in business, which he says is no big deal. (but being in Phi Theta Kappa for his grades is!) Next stop USF! His girlfriend is graduating from cosmetology school and both their ceremonies are on the same day and at about the same time. -Such a crazy coincidence! They won't be able to attend each other's graduations, so I'm going to throw a little brunch here afterward for both of our families to do a little celebrating. And Pinterest is helping me out with some cute brunch recipe ideas!

Hope you have a blessed weekend!
~Becky

All things starting with 'F' and the best cookies ever

I think a by-product of serving in various youth ministries for so long, is that when I think of an 'event' I have to give it a catchy name. : ) Or maybe 'corny' is a better description.

My latest kick is "Fajita Fridays!"

 It is a family night and our kids are welcome to invite friends to dinner and I make lots and lots of fatijas and we play Farkle and then build a fire. 

See all those "F's?" : ) 

Aren't they fabulous?! 

This past Friday, was Fajita Friday! 

Joy and her friend made these Reeses stuffed cookies, thanks to Pinterest. 

I've decided they need a new name that starts with and 'F' because I want them to ALWAYS be apart of Fajita Fridays. They are the best cookies ever!!!!!!! 

Peanut butter cookies stuffed with Reeses! Yes, please!

 

Then the girls watched Frozen (hey, another 'F') and built a fire in the fire pit. In the meantime, Andrew came home from a worship band practice with 3 of his musician friends and they jammed, played video games and built another fire. 

We had 4 teens sleep over. I made the big mistake of referring to this night as a 'slumber party' and my boys teased me f-o-r-e-v-e-r and I never found out what I should call it. A sleep over? 

In the morning, I made chocolate chip pancakes for all. Then Joy and her friend went to a girl's conference put on by A Passion for Jesus, which they really enjoyed. In the meantime, Hubby, who loves an excuse to go to the music store, took the 4 musicians to Guitar Center, which made their day. Later that day, Hubby and Andrew picked up his brother from the airport and we started our latest adventure in care-giving. 

Sunday, Hubby taught Sunday School and we went to the service and then came home completely exhausted. We didn't make it back to the evening service. We had a waffle night at home and got back into the care-giving groove of things. And went to bed early! 

And that sums up our fun weekend! 

~Becky

Please pass the egg rolls

 I have to tell you about my egg roll success! 

 I live with a bunch of Chinese food connoisseurs. (CFC for short) : )

And much to their surprise, I decided to try making homemade egg rolls the other day! -I didn't know those egg roll wrappers existed in the produce section until my neighbor told me about them and explained how easy they are to make. She was right!

They were really fun to make, but I wasn't sure what my CFCs would think of them. 

To my utter amazement, 

they all said they were the best egg rolls they had ever had!!!

I was shocked!!! 

-Let me tell you, it isn't every day that every single person likes what I made for dinner! -Unless I just grill burgers. Speaking of which, I got a George Foreman grill for Christmas and I told my hubby that I may never light another grill again! The burgers were so juicy unlike the hockey pucks I occasionally accidentally make. : )

Egg Rolls

4 cups of shredded cooked chicken

1 bag of thinly sliced cabbage 

1/2 bag of shredded carrots 

(bean sprouts optional)

Take all of these and put them in a mixture of 1/2 c. of soy sauce and 1/4 cup of light brown sugar along with two tsp of garlic salt. (if you have ginger, add that. I didn't) and stir. 

Then take your egg roll wrappers and go to town! I used a beat egg as the 'glue' to help seal the egg rolls after folding. 

Those wrappers the best! They never tore no matter how I tugged, tucked or refolded them! 

I fried mine because I was fixing them for the CFCs of my world : ) but if they were for just Hubby and I, I totally would have tried spraying them with cooking spray and baking them. 

We bought a pre-made sweet and sour sauce for dipping and used some of our left over packets of various sauces from the many trips the CFCs have made to Panda Express. : )

Serve with stir fry veggies and enjoy!

~I must have made zitti a little too often recently, because a certain somebody asked if me if egg rolls could 'be the new zitti.' LOL

~Becky

One big weekend

I've decided that a sign of a fun weekend,
is a messy-Monday-morning house... and that is what we had!

Friday night, Joy baked for a ladies event and she recruited me to bake a couple hundred of these German chocolate cookies. We were baking and serving for 6 fun hours with some sweet ladies!
She made a huge amount of these cookie dough pretzel bites. Yum! She also took lil smokies and wrapped them in bacon and sprinkled them in brown sugar and cooked them. They were yummy, but what isn't yummy when wrapped in bacon?
The woman in charge of the food made a pumpkin bread pudding. Y'all, that bread pudding was to die for. I don't know the measurements and it probably doesn't matter because she was cooking for 200,
but here's what she did:
She cut Hawaiian Rolls into cubes, then she mixed up a can of pumpkin, half and half and melted pumpkin ice cream and poured it over the bread and baked it for 45 minutes. But wait, there's more: when they came out of the oven, she put a mixture of butterscotch topping and rum flavoring and drizzled it over the top. YUMMMM!!!! I may have to add this to our Thanksgiving menu!
All these goodies were for a fun event called the Swapportunity, an event where ladies from our church brought their gently used clothes, jewelry and shoes to swap with each other... The organization team sorted all the items while the ladies ate. They were given numbers and then told when they could go to the various rooms to 'shop'. Such a fun idea.

Saturday, my hubby sweetly worked on the Honey Do list that he had me make.
 This will also be remembered as the day that my hubby found out I ruined the whole house. LOL
 Otherwise know as the day he found out that I painted our hallway cupboards with watered down paint!!! -How does that happen??? Painters can't live with bad paint jobs, I found out. He was so cute saying "I can't believe this happened in MY house!" So, we each had a power sander and we went at those hallway cupboards for a good hour while paint flakes flew everywhere... Ugh!!! Boy, was I ever sorry for my sorry paint job! I think I ought to leave all future painting to him. : )

After the paint agony, it was time for a date night! We had a Groupon for a BBQ place on the water. It turned out to be a really cool outdoor restaurant on a lake. (which I would never want to go to in the summer in FL, amen!) But the weather was cool, the view was beautiful and the food was really good.
And then the sun went down and the mosquitoes decided that I was dinner..

Sunday, we had a guest speaker. John Bevere, who comes to our church once a year! He spoke from this book, which was awesomely insightful. That night, the whole service was praise and worship and it was so powerful and wonderful!

Monday morning I went back to church, to celebrate a life well lived! One of the men of our church died of cancer. He was a dear brother with a powerful testimony of a redeemed life! He genuinely cared for everyone he came in contact with and you could feel it. He will be missed by people of all ages. He taught a Wednesday night class for junior high boys, and I sat in front of two of them at the funeral, who were silently crying their eyes out. There really wasn't a dry eye in the house, even though we know he's with Jesus now. He will always be remembered for his BIG smile and the tray of impanadas he made and brought to every VBS to bless all the workers. : )

~Becky

Best steaks ever!

On Saturday, my hubby gave our-favorite-groom a little bachelor party, while we girls, attended the bridal shower.

He wanted to grill steaks, so I suggested he try something from the Pioneer Woman because everything she makes is amazing! -And I don't think a cattle rancher would steer you wrong when it comes to steak! ; )

He gave her Ribeye Steaks with Onion-Bleu Cheese Sauce a try.

And it was amazing!!!!!!!!!
That SAUCE! -Words don't do it justice. I want to bottle it up and pour it on everything I eat!
It is soooo good! We've decided we have to make it again on Christmas Eve! Can't wait!!!!

~Becky

There was football and food

So, apparently a little celebration is in order when NFL season starts up again.

Joy and I made Big Mama's Mississippi Sin Dip. It rocked! : )
We used a sourdough loaf since I couldn't find French bread. It was great served with Fritos scoops. Being a fan of all things that resemble (but not close enough) roll tacos, I had to try the new Delimex apple filled cinnamon taquitos and they were yummy too. My cute hubby teased me about the bowl of carrot sticks I had sitting out which I later found put back in the fridge. So much for my 'healthy' illusion! ; )

One of the boys thanked me for doing so much for an event that I care so little about. LOL

I got a kick out of this status on Facebook:  

"Wives all over America are now saying goodnight to their

 man with the TV Glow still going on." 

Until it becomes too painful, we root for the Bucs. ; ) 

-Actually, I read books and listen to my guys cheer and scream from the other room.

Happy football season! 

~Becky

School and a holiday

Loving our new school year, but really looking forward to the holiday! Hooray!
Every year before school starts, I look for new recipes for breakfast. (eventually that all wears off and they get instant oatmeal -lol)
Here is the breakfast they liked best so far:
Cooked sausage links, rolled inside of croissant roll dough with cheese and then baked.
Speaking of food -Honey roasted sunflower seeds, where have you been all my life?! They are amazing!

Both of our kids are enjoying running on the treadmill for PE. One has a crazy new app that motivates them with a story that has zombies chasing them while they run. The more/faster they run the better and the more of the story they get to hear. Too funny! -I'm opting to work out minus the zombies, thanks!

Last week, my daughter and I had the chance to represent our favorite curriculum at another convention.(Yay!) Having a homeschooling convention after all the public, private and homeschoolers have already started school, may not have been the best idea. It was held at a nice hotel on the beach, and I'm pretty sure if it was still summer, lots of HS moms would have said to their husbands, "Honey, I really need to go to this conference and get psyched for the new school year" because what mom would not enjoy a weekend at the beach with her other homeschooling girlfriends? Awesome!
All that to say, it was a LONG day that we spent wishing we had more people to talk to.
When it ended, we loaded up the van and then headed to our favorite beach, which happened to be just down the street. Because you can't drive that far and be down the street from your favorite beach, especially after this day, and not go!  (because that was quite a day!)
The water was a glorious sea green and warm and we swam and enjoyed ourselves for a solid 30 minutes until the black clouds of summer rolled in and rained on our dinner picnic. Oh well.
Since then, the beach has been calling my name and I plan on answering this weekend at the soonest possible moment. : )

We also plan to break out the deep fryer that one of our boys bought us for Christmas a couple of years ago. After the first try, we realized that we needed to buy a GALLON of oil to pull off frying anything and well, you feel a little weird buying a whole gallon of oil and knowing that you are going to soak your food in it. ; ) But we plan to get over that and give it another go. We are going to try wings this time. (which are not my thing, because why go to that much work for so little meat? -but the males in the house don't share my viewpoint) It should be an artery-clogging good time! Hope yours is too! ; ) (good time, that is)

~Becky

All the "lasts" of last week

It was our last week of summer
 AND...
-our last week with Nate before he moved
-our last week with our best friends before they moved too
-the boys' last Wednesday night playing together in the youth worship band
-our last 'family night'
-we had 'last sleepovers' and then there was a 'very last sleepover.' ; )

There were lots of 'lasts' and also lots of food and fun.
I tried making the 'Better than Brad Pitt Cake' (lol) and it did not disappoint.
Another night, the kids cored apples and put cinnamon and sugar in the middle then wrapped them in pie dough and cooked them! They were like having your own apple pie, with ice-cream of course.

For one of the sleepovers, the kids tried making this "Chocolate Suicide"

which had cookie dough on the bottom, Oreos, then brownie batter baked on top. Oh my! (the Brad Pitt cake was better)

There was lots of praying, lots packing and driving, driving, driving....
Finally, there were lots and lots of tears! : (

But it is a new day, so on to some firsts...
Like, Andrew's first day of high school! whoo-hoo! And my first day with only two students left in our home-school! (whose got it easy this year? This girl!)
and on to all the other things that God has in store for us in this new season of our lives! : )

~Becky

Amazing brownies

Our oldest was invited to a Bible study that some of the other employees at work are starting
(how awesome is that?!)
and then it turned into a potluck and they asked him to bring dessert. He could always buy something but he wanted to make it. I suggested he make the brownies he made when he was 5 that won a cooking contest at the library! (it was all soooo very cute!) But he said 'no' -probably to avoid any chance of that story coming out. ; )
Joy suggested he make cheesecake brownies and I suggested he check Pinterest, (which he'd never done before) where he found about a million choices. : ) Gotta love Pinterest!

And voila! The perfect dessert for people who work here:

was found! -Espresso-cheesecake brownies!!!! : )

But then the Bible study had to be cancelled
and shucks, darn, WE became the recipients of the this awesomeness! Whoo-hoo!

Here is the recipe! (no edible cigars with ours though, but I'm sure you can guess where the espresso balls can be purchased should you want to put them on top) : )

Best thing I've put in my mouth in a long while!
(and I don't even like coffee!)

~Becky

Recent yumminess

When my best friend and I gave our two seniors a graduation party, her sister-in-law made a great bow tie pasta salad. Yesterday I tried to make it and didn't quite have all the ingredients she mentioned. So, I got creative and added a couple more ingredients that sounded good and it turned out REALLY well. My picky boy liked it and we had some unexpected company for dinner and they LOVED it.
(or they lied really well) : )

Yummy Bow Tie Pasta  (how is that for a title?)

Cook your pasta according to directions and drain. In a bowl, mix the pasta with:
 one jar of cut up roasted red peppers
One packet of dry Ranch dressing mix
 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/2 of mayonnaise
1/4 cup of cream cheese
Cut up and cook some kielbasa sausage in olive oil and then add to the pasta. STIR.
Done!

Then make the Pioneer Woman's corn casserole to go with it. It is so summery and colorful because it has red peppers and jalapenos in it. And while you are shucking the corn your husband can make all kinds of corny jokes or at least, that is what mine did. : )

We had some more birthdays in our girls' Bible class and to celebrate, Joy and I tried an Oreo Cupcake recipe! You put an open Oreo in the bottom of each cupcake holder before you add the batter! You also put crushed Oreos in the batter and on top.

All the 'lids' went on top for decoration.  

Not only were they yummy, we also found out they are sturdy, because I took a sharp turn in the car and they turned upside down and still looked nice afterwards. ugh! Thanks for sharing Julie!
~Becky

What a week

It was an emotional week due to the things that happened on Monday in Boston and on Wednesday in West, TX. So very sad.

Thursday night my BFF and I went to a Bless Israel fundraising event. We were blessed to hear Jonathan Cahn speak. She'd watched his speech at the inaugural prayer breakfast and I'd read his book, The Harbinger so we were pretty excited. He didn't end up speaking about his book or even about America. Because of the 65th anniversary of Israel as a nation, he spoke about the history, the prophecies and the miracles that brought it about. Fascinating but late night.

Friday we were riveted to the news between school subjects concerning the manhunt in Boston and praying that there wouldn't be anymore loss of life.

I think by Saturday we were all just plain worn out! We headed out early that morning for Joy's softball game and actually froze! Kind of a gloomy day. Very strange for FL in the spring. Great game though until my frozen self had to wait out the rest of the last inning in the car.
Since it was so cold and cloudy and my hubby needed to rest his very sore back, we cuddled up on the couch and watched some watched some of this

and had a pretty lazy day unless you count sampling some cupcakes, as being productive. ; )

Joy, 'the queen of cupcakes' has been busy! Last weekend she made Nathan chocolate cupcakes from scratch with Butterfinger icing, to celebrate his first job. Saturday she made these sundae cupcakes for Zac's girlfriend who just got her first job.

They were filled with ganache and were the best ones I've ever tasted! Living with her keeps me working out! LOL  This week she will get to learn how to make things from gum paste at the bakery! Too fun!

My BFF went to the ER last night and needs to have some tests done. : (
Joy and I headed to the hospital to be with her and bring her some Starbucks early this morning. (prayers appreciated on her behalf!) She's in a beautiful brand new 'faith based' hospital and it seemed like it was also a half empty one. If you have to be in the hospital, this was surely the best scenario I've ever seen. There are signs about Christ on the walls and pictures of the 6 days of creation and she had a nurse who mentioned that God will heal her. Amen!
Thanks to the fact that we can stream our church's services LIVE on UStream, we were in the hospital watching/having church while Hubby and Andrew were watching it at home (he'd thrown up several times last night) and our oldest boys were, of course, actually there. It was almost as good as all of us being there together. -Loved that we were all talking about the message when we saw each other again! There's nothing like the Word of God to put life into perspective.

Hope all is well in your world and that we all hold our loved ones more dear, after this week!
~Becky
(Edited to note: Tests showed my BFF to be in excellent health and all is well now PTL!)

If you aren't from California and you don't know what you are missing

then make these yummy taquitos. They aren't similar they are very GOOD and they make me feel better about being so far away from the best Mexican food there is!!! Not to mention, my family loves them and the kids want to eat them "every Tuesday!" (hooray, one less meal to plan!) They are that good!

Thanks Six Sisters' Stuff!

~Becky

This meal was a big hit

and soooo easy!
I can't say that I've ever cooked with Dr. Pepper before, but it won't be the last time. This spicy pulled pork  from the Pioneer Woman was so good. -But then everything she makes is and my family loves her!
I made the cilantro slaw to put on top.

Then I got to thinking that I should have a soda themed dinner sometime! (sorry, but I just can't say 'pop' no matter how long I've lived in the South) ; )
 I can make this Dr. Pepper pulled pork and my BFF and her fam can come and bring her apple dumplings made with Mountain Dew! Cute huh?

My brother-in-law is on his way to the airport and I'm happy to say that putting our house back didn't take 7 hours after all. Just a solid 4.
Stay-cation and spring break start Monday!

~~Becky