Popular Musicians & Grocery Shopping?

There’s a really popular grocery store here called Central Market that not only carries foods from all over the world, but they also have live music out under a nice, large covered patio area on the weekends.  They have various singers and musicians perform from week to week.  You can hear them all over the parking lot and it’s kinda cool.  It’s popular to buy food from the store’s deli and then sit outside to eat and listen to the music. It’s fun to eat outside even when the musicians aren’t there.  Even though the parking lot is very big, it’s hard to find a parking space on the weekend because so many people enjoy listening to the music.  They make going grocery shopping fun!

P.S.  Update fall 2014.  I only ate there a couple of times and then my husband died suddenly and I’ve moved away so I don’t shop there anymore.  So many times, we’d think about how we should eat there but it was always “we’ll eat there later.”  I’ve learned to make the most of every opportunity because you may not have it again.  And remember that people are way more important than things you have on your to-do list.  You’ll still have your list, but you may not always have them.

Banana Pancake for One

The mashed banana in this recipe makes it sound so good!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 medium ripe banana, mashed
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • Syrup

Combine flour and baking powder.  Combine next three ingredients and stir into dry ingredients, just until moistened.  Cook on greased griddle.

 

Menu Plan Monday 8/12/13

I had a busy week this past week, worked at school a couple of days, ran errands, and did things it’s hard to find time to do during the school year.  I plan to be up at school at least two days this week, if not three.  A week from tomorrow is when teachers start their professional development week so I hope to get a lot done this week.  Soon, I’ll be saying bye bye to free time to get extra things done.  Some of them will have to wait until next summer.

Monday:  Chef salad with turkey

Tuesday: Chicken, zucchini, squash, onion, mushroom, & fresh okra stir-fry

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday:  Tilapia, veggies, salad

Friday: Pizza, salad

Zoo Sightings: Black Bear, Black Bear…

Black bear, black bear, what do you see? I see a human looking at me!
It was so cool when the bear came up close to us on our field trip in May. Even though I teach third and fourth graders, we were still quoting Black Bear.  The kids were so excited that the bear was coming close to them, and it made the Black Bear story come alive.  Their reactions were priceless.

If you have young children and some of their story books are about animals that can be found in the zoo, consider going to visit the zoo to look at those animals.  It will make the stories come alive.

This bear, by the way, can be seen at the Fort Worth Zoo.  Check it out sometime at Zoo or Tropical Forest?   It’s a pretty awesome zoo!

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Menu Plan Monday 8-5-13 & “Fast Food” My Way

Just put your favorite fresh veggies in a skillet with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. For protein, add Hormel Natural Choice (100 % natural) Smoked Deli Turkey (NO preservatives), each slice folded in half. So fast & easy! So fresh! So good! So healthy! (and easy clean-up)

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blog pics 2, 8-13 019Monday: “Fast Food” the healthy way

Tuesday: Fish, veggie salad

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Chef salad

Friday: Eat out

Summertime Backyards

Don’t you just love how green everything gets during certain times of the year, and how the flowers are so pretty. Container flower gardens and easy-to-grow flowering perennial plants are my kind of gardening, like Cannas and other types of lilies.  They’re so easy to grow.
I have a friend who definitely has a green thumb, and her backyard is gorgeous and looks like a park. For those people who have the time and energy, I think that’s great! What a nice place to relax and unwind. For me, my simple garden is nice to look at through the windows.

Notice the orange lilies in the background?  The original start of those came from my grandmother’s flower bed on the farm literally decades ago.  Different members of the family got a start of them when my grandparents sold the farm.  My mother planted hers in our backyard, and now that I’m grown and have a family, I have a start of them in my yard.

Are there any flowers in flower beds of parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles, or best friends that you really admire?  Ask if you can have a start of them if they are the type that bloom year after year.  Lilies and cannas transplant well and can be enjoyed for years to come.
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Menu Plan Monday 7/29/13 & Firefly Grill Review

menu plan monday, 3-10

Hope you’re enjoying the last few weeks of summer.   We’ve had a good summer with our son and daughter-i-l’s wedding, visiting relatives, and visiting some cool places such as a restaurant called the Firefly Grill in southern Illinois.

The Firefly Grill is named the 2nd Best Eco-Friendly Restaurant in the United States!  People from Chicago (where a lot of great restaurants are located) will drive over three hours to come eat here.  It’s really cool inside with pictures of their relatives in the back room.  If you go and sit in the back room, ask about the picture with the wedding dress.  Sigh! So sweet!

Their fresh corn chowder was awesome (the picture below does not do it justice), and the greens in the salad were so fresh. We were impressed! Here are a few pictures:


photo 13-7-16 firefly grill outside waiting area

 

photo 13-7-16 firefly grill entrance

 

photo 13-7-16 firefly grill bread

 

photo 13-7-16 firefly grill corn chowder

Wish I had some of their Fresh Corn Chowder, but since we don’t have a Firefly Grill here in Texas, I’ll just have to keep looking for a recipe that sounds close to theirs.

Here’s our menu for the week:

Monday:  Leftovers from Macaroni Grill (used an awesome coupon yesterday for Buy one Entree/Get One Free)

Tuesday: Chicken tenders, squash & onion stir-fry

Wednesday: Chicken, mashed potatoes, fried okra

Thursday:  Salmon, corn, green beans

Friday: Pizza & salad

Menu Plan Monday 7/22/13

MPM-Summer bannerHope everyone had a nice weekend. We had a nice, busy weekend ourselves going to help our son & new d-i-l by moving some of the bigger furniture from our son’s old place to their house.  My husband and our son did the moving while I stayed at their house and helped our d-i-l make chicken curry.  All I did was chop the onion and zucchini and she did the rest.  It was delicious!

Here’s our menu:

Monday:  Pan grilled salmon, black eyed peas with snaps, salad

Tuesday:  Catfish, potatoes, salad

Wednesday:  Leftovers

Thursday: Chef salad

Friday: Pizza (can you see a pattern here?)

Exercising

Exercise has gone on the back burner during the past few weeks, but I plan to get back into an exercise routine soon.  I don’t know if I need to get a yoga mat and do yoga stretches or maybe go to a gym.   My kind of exercising usually includes going for 30-40 minute walks, stretching, and doing some light exercising.  As you can tell, I don’t do the strenuous type of exercising.  Never have and probably never will.  I look at it within the framework that any little bit I do is better than nothing at all.

Menu Plan Monday 7/15/13

menu plan monday, 3-10

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. For some of us in North Texas, we’re enjoying a cool front that is unbelievable for Texas, but we’ll gladly take it. Temperatures in the 60’s on Sunday morning were awesome!

Menu for the week:

Monday:  Eat out

Tuesday:  Chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, fried okra

Wednesday: Chicken, squash, onion stir-fry

Thursday:  Leftovers

Friday: Digiorno Spicy Chicken Supreme Pizza & salad

Catching Up

We’ve been so busy this summer with getting ready for our son’s wedding and other things that I haven’t kept up with the news, and I have some catching up to do.  I couldn’t tell you what the headlines have been.  I’m not even sure how the economy is doing in our area.  I do see new houses being built so that’s a good sign.  But then I see several businesses closing down so that’s not good.  I don’t like seeing big empty buildings where grocery stores used to be.  Then it seems several of the little stores around them go out of business, too.  There are two different places where I see that happening, and it looks so deserted.

Right now, I’m recuperating from the stressful months at school doing state testing for three and a half months and then all the fun things of graduation and wedding.  Those last two are enjoyable things but still a different type of stress.   If you’re a teacher, then you probably understand what I’m talking about.