Market Garden Tour

Mom and I started the day out by visiting the local farmer's market & touring the adjacent gardens.

I enjoy looking at other gardens to get a little inspiration for my own. It's amazing what they have done right in the heart of the city.

Look at the beautiful grapes on the vines. I didn't find them this year, but next year I hope to plant some grapes on my property as well...especially Muscadines.

I adore chickens. The market sells fresh eggs so now you can see where some came from.

I'm not positive, but these look like Nubian goats. A friend of mine said that Nubian are great for milking but they are also great for being talkers. I can agree with him on that, as while we were out there all they did was talk to us! LOL

Strolling through the gardens is such a serene place to really get in touch with the beauty of the LORD and all HE is blessing us with.

Sunday Sundries

A few little 'pretties' to brighten the day.....

  Meyer Lemon & Raspeberry bath soaps. 

Not only are they beautifully packaged, they smell divine!

My Dad gave me this beautiful yellow tulip plant for 

my Valentine present. Isn't it just gorgeous!

Serene Sunday

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It's beautiful outside so take time to savor the moments that make you realize, this truly is the day that the LORD has made! As for me, I think I'll sit back with a glass of juice & just bask in the silence of the early morning.

Sunday Sundries

Psalm 118:24 "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

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Rise & Shine! Been up since 4:30am....ready to greet the day...so far the agenda includes going to Mass, making a pot of bacon bolognese and baking something (not sure what, but I'm in the mood to bake.) Have a great Sunday everyone.

Sunday Sundries

My God is more than enough
He can supply all my needs
He is my El Shaddai
He always looks out for me
Jehovah Jireh, He is my God
Jehovah Jireh, He is my God

So what does the first paragraph and the photo above have to do with each other? Everything! Today after morning service one of our dear members brought in tons of potatoes, carrots and onions for anyone in the Church to take home with them. "Sure, but at what price," you might be thinking to yourself. Absolutely free! What a blessing.

I had planned on going to the grocery store to pick up a few staples that we are out of and wouldn't you just know it...on my list were potatoes and onions. So not only did GOD bless us with what we needed, HE also went above and beyond and provided us with fresh carrots too! GOD is so good!

On the way home Hubby made the statement, "it sure didn't take long for that tithe to be put into action." He is so right. We purposed in our heart a long time ago that no matter what, we would always tithe and offer. After all, tithing really is a heart issue. Matthew 6:21 even tells us "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Our treasure is our salvation and relationship with our LORD and Savior. GOD is always faithful to provide above and beyond our needs and expectations in all areas of our life. Thank You FATHER for Your unchanging Word and never failing love for us. You truly are more than enough for me!

Sunday Sundries 5-31-09

Yesterday was grocery shopping morning. I found some great deals, one in particular was for flour. That made me happy. I really didn't want to buy the no name, store brand as I find that it just isn't always consistent in baking. However, with the rising cost of groceries I was tempted to buy the store brand for $7.99 instead of my regular brand at $9.49. I knew I had enough flour though at home to make up my rolls and bread that I needed but I would need to replenish it soon. So I continued my shopping and at the other end of the store I stopped to check out the "mark down" table. As I rounded the corner of the isle what did I see...a 25lb bag of flour. Not any flour, but the one I use. There was nothing wrong with it at all. No tears in the bag, it had not expired...there was nothing wrong with it. As I looked for the price tag it was marked $4.79! I grabbed that up right away. Again, I stress it is important to pray before you shop. This once again proves how the LORD will make ways for you.

I also was in need of more vinegar for my cleaning recipes, so I made sure to print out my .50 cents off coupon from Heinz before I left the house. With the beauty of double coupons I was able to save $1.00 off and it made the gallon size jug cheaper than the store brand's original price. I couldn't beat that.

On a side note...if you are a Kroger shopper, here's a tip I want to share with you. As I was checking out, no one scanned the items on the bottom of my basket. Normally they have the sacker come by with the had held scanner and do this so you don't have to unload those bulky items. Well, this particular time they missed it. I didn't think about it either until the cashier began to ring up my coupons and it dawned on me, so I reminded them that the 3 things on the bottom of the basket never got scanned. Well, because they have what's called the "Big K" policy which I didn't know about until now. If they forget to scan your bottom basket items, then you get a free 2 litter of Big K soda. Now it's now a big thing but hey anything free now days is a good thing. So I proudly toted out my 2 liter of big K. Isn't is neat how the LORD rewards you for being honest!

Our Youth group from Church held a garage sale Friday & Saturday to help raise funds for their summer convention, so of course I had to take a peek. Look what I found for $1.00...a water bath canner! I couldn't pass it up. With a little soap and water it will be just fine. Right now I have 2 of the larger, deep canners but this one is wide and shallow. So this one will be great for those 1/2 pint jars.

Then it was off to get my baking done. I made 2 loaves of white-wheat bread and a batch of dinner rolls. Boy does this certainly make the kitchen smell great!

Speaking of wonderful aromas from the kitchen...Hubby baked a turkey and smoked a ham on the pit outside for a luncheon that our Church is having today to honor our graduates. The Church is also honoring our wonderful Youth Pastor and family, who have been called by the LORD to take on position as Senior Pastor in another AG Church up the country. We will certainly miss them, but we pray a special blessing over them. They are truly lovely people that I am certain we all will miss.

Sunday Sundries 5-24-09

What's that old adage..."when life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Yesterday we went to the local vegetable farm to pick up a few things that we needed and they had some beautiful juice oranges on sale. So of course I had to pick a batch of them up. So in my case, "when the LORD puts oranges on sale for you, make orange juice!" Boy did it taste great this morning with our breakfast. Fresh is definitely the best.



After a relaxing but full day yesterday, I really wasn't in the mood to cook. So here's a quick little something that I made to satisfy our hungry family. It's a one pot meal that can easily be served up two ways.

Italian Sausage & Onions
1 lb. Italian sausage
1/2 an onion, sliced
1/2 Tblsp. olive oil

Slice a pound of Italian sausage into rounds & place into a medium size skillet. Heat until browned.

Once sausage has browned, drain grease. Add 1/2 Tblsp. olive oil to skillet. Return meat to pan and add onions. Saute until onions are golden. (feel free to season with salt & pepper at this point if you like.)

Serve meat and onions as a sandwich or with left over pasta noodles. Garnish with fresh sliced tomatoes.


Click HERE for printable recipe

Today was one of those "Crockin' Kind Of Days." Last night was a long one, I didn't get to bed until after midnight, so instead of trying to figure out what to make for Sunday lunch or spend money on going out to eat, I pulled out my trusty friend "Ivy" (yes, I named my crock pot...and yes her name came from the leaves on the design *grin*) and let her go to work for me while we were at service.

I already had some precooked ground beef, so I threw that in the pot, added in tomatoes and spices and voila! Spaghetti sauce was born. After we got home from Church, all I had to do was boil water to make my spaghetti noodles. Quick, easy and oh so tasty.

Hubby, son and my Dad have all taken off for a few hours to have some "guy time" down at the rifle range. So with the house to myself (except for our well privileged cats & dogs that is) I am going to catch up on some quiet reading time.

Sunday Sundries 5-10-09

I trust everyone had a blessed Mother's Day. The day for us was a very peaceful one. The morning service at our Church was a lovely one. "Mother of the Year" was awarded to one of the sweetest ladies in our congregation. I was so happy for her. Praise & worship was awesome and the Word Pastor delivered was so timely. Each lady there was given 2 beautiful roses & a gift bag of sweet treats. That was so nice of them to do.

I have to share this little story with you. As I mentioned before, Sandra Lee has a new Food Network show on money saving meals & tips. Well today was the day it was to air. I was so excited and thought surely we would be home in time for me to catch at least half of it at least, as as it begins at 12 noon & service usually lets out not long after that & we super close to our Church so the drive home is next to nill. Lo and behold, I checked the t.v. guide this morning and sure enough it was airing today, but not at noon it was 11am! I had the time wrong. I wasn't thinking that we are not ET/PT. UUGGHH!! Oh was I disappointed. I admit I did a slight bit of murmuring about it and then got ready for Church.

Fast forwarding here...service is over and we are heading out of the sanctuary. One of our members gently pulls us to the side and says, "hey, I have something for you." He and his wife have laying chickens at home. He had brought us a dozen fresh yard eggs! WOW! How awesome and nice was that!?! Look at the size and color of that yolk! You don't get that in the grocery store! What a blessing!!

Lunch time was upon us but we weren't in the mood for a heavy lunch, so I went out to the garden and picked some lettuce, our first ripe Roma tomato, some jalapenos and a mixture of herbs. I had some grilled chicken thawed out that was left over and frozen, so we re-heated it and threw in a can of drained & rinsed black beans. Hubby made a quick batch of homemade dressing and Voila! Our garden fresh salad was birthed. This was a fun, tasty and quick lunch that cost us nothing! Now that's a money saving meal.



Here I was murmuring this morning about not being able to see this new Sandra Lee show, that was going to talk about money saving ideas and such. What does the LORD do??? HE gives me my own personal money saving day through the blessing of HIS awesome Word, fresh yard eggs, beautiful roses & sweet treats, and a bounty from the garden. I just had to laugh for a moment and thank HIM once again for showing me HIS never failing grace and love.

With the extra herbs (sage, basil, stevia, rosemary, cilantro) that I picked today and had in the icebox from Friday night's dinner, I decided to put them in the dehydrator to replenish my spice jars. There again GOD provided me yet another money saver. We certainly do serve a good GOD!