Christmas lights ....

I used to only put candles in the window and

a wreath on the front and back door

that was all I ever did on the outside even though

Johnny would want to cover the house in lights

Anything else was a bit tacky to me

Then slowly, I let Johnny put some lights in a tree or two

Then one day things changed ... our children gave us grandchildren!

And the "Clarke Griswold" that has been in Johnny begging

to come out was finally unleashed!!

He has icicles hanging from the shed and the garage

he has lined the deck in multi-colored icicles that the colors

change through a constant cycle

The fence is lined with white LED lights

all of the bushes in the front have blue and white lights, LED

there are 2 little trees on each side of the front door with

white lights and then 3 little live spruces with mini lights

and then, to top it all off, a spot light shining on the front door

that is draped in greenery!

whew......

I tried to take some pictures tonight, they didn't come out very

good. I'll try another night but here ya go........

And I know it's early to put everything up but that's what we like

It takes us a little more than a week to do the inside and outside

I used to wait until Thanksgiving weekend and then ended up

spending the entire holiday weekend working on the decorations.

When I would have rather been spending time with

family and shopping.

and here's my other thought.....to me, November and December is

the holidays. And it's my favorite time of the year so I want to enjoy it as long as possible. Because once Christmas is over, I'm ready to clean up

and be ready to start the New Year in a clean house!! haha......

and the look on my grandchildren's face is totally worth

all of the work......they love it.

later.....



Thursday's dinner ....

PIZZA!!

 

I have not had pizza in what feels like forever.

I know I have not had it since I started eating clean July 10th.

 

So I was very excited for dinner tonight

The recipe is called Bacon Chicken pizza

the chicken, bacon and tomato sauce were all cooked

on Sunday. The pizza crust should have been cooked

Sunday night but I cheated on that one. I have been unable to find

coconut flour and arrowroot starch at a good price so I wasn't

prepared to make the crust. I just had the store brand crust for

tonight's dinner.

 

Like I said, the tomato sauce was cooked on Sunday and let

me say, it is wonderful. All recipes are from the

"Make Ahead Paleo" cookbook.

 

Red Sauce

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley (I used the flat left parsley)
• 1 28 oz can tomato sauce
• 2 - 6 oz cans tomato paste
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp basil
• pinch of rosemary
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• freshly ground pepper to taste

`In a large pot over medium heat, heat the olive oil.

Add the onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes

Stir in the garlic and parsely

Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, tomatoes, oregano, basil, rosemary, sea salt and pepper. Stir well to combine.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer the sauce, covered, for 30 minutes.

 

On our pizza's we put the other half of the chicken I cooked on Sunday, chopped bacon, onions, black olives and mushrooms. And believe it or not, no cheese!!

I thought for sure Johnny would want cheese on his but no, he opted out

and loved it. So much so that he is taking the leftovers to work

for his lunch tomorrow.

 

 

Another fast and successful dinner!!

 

tomorrow night should be the rest of the pulled pork but Jake

is coming in to town and him and Johnny are doing their "usual" and

going out for Mexican. So it's a good thing I decided to freeze the rest of the

pork. We'll have that another night.

 

I've sure enjoyed making dinner this week and having so many things

already cooked. Made it so much easier. I'll be doing this again but will want to find some other recipes to try.

 

later.....

 





Wednesday's dinner ....

Another yummy dinner from the cookbook

"Make Ahead Paleo"

 

Steak Cobb Salad with Mango Dressing

 

The steak was cooked on Sunday and I sliced it up thin and

put in an airtight container. The bacon and the hard boiled eggs were also

cooked on Sunday. I left the eggs whole until time to put on the salad but I did

chop up the bacon on Sunday.

So all I had to cut up tonight was the avocados and tomatoes.

Came home from Jazzercise at 7:00 and by 7:20 dinner was ready!

I'm loving this....

 

I used the other half of the mango salsa from last night to make the dressing.

 

here's the recipe.....

 

• half of the mango salsa
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup water

add all to the food processor and puree. If you prefer a thinner dressing, add more water and process again.

 

The salad......

I filled both of our plates with a layer of lettuce

then I added everything in lines......

first steak, then eggs, bacon, tomatoes and last, avocados

 

 

I loved this and was very full afterward. I was worried whether Johnny would like it but he also loved it. And he's usually not a fan of cold steak but

with the mango dressing, he really enjoyed it.

 

Tomorrow night is PIZZA!!!

 

later.....



Charlottesville ....

Last Sunday we rode up to Charlottesville to spend the

day with our son Jake

it's only an hour away and just so beautiful

 

I just love as we're riding down the road and I get the first

glimpse of the mountains!

 

Jake loves when we come hang out with him

 

 

the look on Declan's face below is so funny....he's a little

puzzled over something, haha

 

I do love this one below of Declan looking up at Jake

before he played on Jake's drum....it's as if he's saying

"are you sure it's ok"

 

we were taking pictures and all of a sudden, Declan started

tinkling everywhere.....it was so funny because we weren't sure

how it was running out of his diaper!

 

which then meant a diaper change in the

back seat of the car

 

We had lunch at Wild Wolfe Brewery and watched

a little football while there ... such fun!

I could ride around in the mountains of Virginia all day

so beautiful.......

 

I sure love visiting Jake up in Charlottesville

 

later....