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Easy Strawberry Cheesecake Pie
I have been making these cheesecake pies for a long time. I don’t really remember where the recipe came from, but as you know by now, I don’t usually follow a recipe exactly. The original recipe didn’t call for any extras and the regular is okay, but I like to add in extra textures and flavors to change it up. I have made several different versions over the years, Oreo with an Oreo crust is my son’s favorite, but the strawberry is mine and my daughter’s favorite. A few other versions I have made include pineapple, lemon, Butterfinger in a chocolate crust, and chocolate chip in a chocolate crust. I…
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Meal Planning – My Way
I have said it before. I am not good about meal planning. Our life is crazy most of the time. I rarely know if we are going to be home for supper or at least how many are going to be home. I have tried to plan out meals, but it usually doesn’t work out. I like to have easy meals that I can throw together quickly, that is just what works for our family, but I still like to cook fairly wholesome meals out of real food when possible. I have a few tricks that help me with this. I buy ground meat in the larger amounts and prepare…
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Beef and Bean Enchiladas
I saw post about chicken enchiladas last week, it looked good but I didn’t have any chicken. I did have some taco meat frozen though, so I looked for a beef enchilada recipe. I changed it of course to fit our preferences and it was divine. I usually don’t really like enchiladas, but these were good, really good. I used the homemade red enchilada sauce that one of the recipes used. It was easy to make and I had everything in the house to make it. I followed the directions pretty closely except I only used 3 tbls of the chili powder because my husband is a wimp with spicy…
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2 Ways to Dye Deviled Eggs
My dad is from a large family. Several times a year we get together to celebrate holidays or other events. Easter is one of those occasions. Since my grandparents passed away, we have gathered in lots of different places. For several years we had Easter in a room at the community center, but now we have it at one of my aunt’s church. One of the items that my family likes me to bring is deviled eggs. Last year, for fun, my daughter and I dyed the eggs for our deviled eggs. They turned out pretty cute and were easy to dye. This year we decided to try something new. …
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Simple Tuna Salad
We were trying to decide what to have for lunch on Saturday, my daughter was in the kitchen and came in the living room with the package of tuna. She asked if we could make tuna fish sandwiches. I looked at my husband and he agreed. I know it is supposed to be called tuna salad, but growing up we called it tuna fish and that is what I still tend to say, so of course that is what my kids say as well. LOL It is hard to break old habits, but I will try to use the correct terminology here. I never liked the cans of tuna and trying…
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Quick and Easy Tamale Casserole
I like quick and easy recipes because I am not good about meal planning and if I make a plan, we will end up having to go somewhere instead or I get caught up working and don’t have time to do what I had planned. I came up with this recipe one night when I needed something to take to a church potluck that I forgot about. I looked through my cabinets for ideas and decided to try making a tamale casserole. I use canned tamales which of course aren’t as good as the real homemade ones, but work in a pinch. My family love this and it is an…
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Spring Break Without the Crowds
Last year for Spring Break we decided at the last minute to return to a resort we had stayed at a few years ago over Thanksgiving. We spent a fun and relaxing week there. It is just outside Crossville, TN. It is a tourist area centered around lakes and golf courses. Of course, summer is the high tourist time so not everything was available during our visit, but we found plenty to keep us busy. At least as busy as we wanted to be. We tend to enjoy low-key vacations where we can just hang out and spend time together. Our resort had an indoor swimming pool which is always…
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Sweet Rice
I don’t know if this is true or not, but I remember having sweet rice every Sunday morning growing up. This is the only kind of rice my mom cooked. It was good, but by the time I left home, I never wanted rice for breakfast. We spent a lot of time with my parents when we were first married and the boys were young, so we still had rice quite often. As the boys got older and more involved in sports and other things, we spent less whole weekends with them. We still eat Sunday lunch there most weeks unless something else is going on or someone is sick. …
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Clean and Organize a Little at a Time
Since I have been home for the last month, I have spent a lot of time cleaning and organizing the kitchen. Usually it just starts with something simple like cleaning the sink which morphs into cleaning the drain rack. Then I notice the cabinet under it needs cleaning, then I moved the toaster, then the microwave, etc… I did a deep clean on that area and then rearranged the way they were on the cabinet. I love it, angling the microwave made it easier to use and it looks so much better. I never would have thought of it if I hadn’t moved everything around to clean. This post contains…
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Sick of All the Sicknesses
I am so tired of everyone being sick. We usually don’t get sick often. I go to my annual visit like I am supposed to and get my mammogram just because I am supposed to, but I rarely get sick. I don’t go to the doctor unless I just have to. I got the chicken pox when I was 40, so I had to go to the doctor to get diagnosed for work. It had been 4 years since I had been to my general practice doctor at that time. I don’t think I have been back to him since then for me. I have taken my kids in a…
Organizing, Crafts, Cooking, Saving Money, and Traveling
