Saturday, March 27, 2010

A Great Easter Recipe!

I found this recipe in an old Telephone Pioneer cookbook, probably 20 or more years ago.  It's absolutely delicious, and so easy to make it's CRAZY!  I will always remember this recipe because I know it's 7 ingredients and they are all very basic.




Fluffy Pink Salad

  • One 8 or 12 ounce carton Cool Whip, thawed
  • One can sweetened condensed milk
  • One can cherry pie filling (or black sweet cherry or strawberry or blueberry)
  • One cup sour cream
  • One large can crushed pineapple, drained
  • One Teaspoon lemon juice
  • One cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, etc.)
Mix all ingredients well.  Keep stored in refrigerator.




And that is it! It's so easy, and makes a huge bowl that is great for family gatherings.  Oh, and you can make it a day or two in advance and the flavors are even better!

So tell me, how are you spending Easter weekend???  Blessings Folks, Becky


Tuesday, March 23, 2010

What I Know . . .



There's lots - TONS! - that I don't know.  But I do know one thing.




There is so much hurt and pain and anger and confusion in our world right now.




I could (but I won't) name at least 3-4 of my blogging friends who are in the midst of trials right now.




Pain and suffering, family issues, loved ones on the wrong path.  So much hurting.




And you know (if you've been reading my blog very long) that my family and I have plenty of problems of our own.



I don't have the answers.  I don't know how to stop the pain and confusion.  But I DO know one thing!




I know that 'my' God is good.  He is gracious and kind and He knows we are hurting.



And all we have to do is ASK.  A while back one of my favorite bloggers had this verse in one of her posts, and it really struck a chord with me that day . . .

Psalm 31:5 The Message:  I have put my life in your hands. You won't drop me, you'll NEVER let me down.




And He will never let us down.  These days, when things sometimes seem overwhelming, I'm trying, really trying to put myself in His care, and let Him carry me through.

 
 
 
And there's no better place to be.
 
Blessings foks!  Becky
 
 

Sunday, March 21, 2010

How I Spent the First Day of Spring!



So, you only thought it was spring, right?  :o)  This picture was taken yesterday afternoon on the Cherohala Skyway near the North Carolina and Tennessee Borders.  This is one of our favorite 'longer' day trips, and it was part of our day yesterday.  But let me start at the beginning . . .

We knew the weather was supposed to be glorious Saturday, so we planned ahead - me pickng up a few picnicking items and hubby working his few hours of Saturday time during the week.  We got up, loaded the car and headed out a little before 9 am - not hubby's hoped for 7:30, but he wasn't up by 7:30.  So there!

Anyway we stopped at Mickey D's and picked up coffee and breakfast, and headed north above Jasper and cut across to Hwy 411 north and kept on trucking.  Straight up to Chatsworth, Georgia where we found a Flea Market and stopped for a while.  I got a few treasures, but I'll tell you more about them in another post later.  Then we headed on north into Tennessee. 

Somewhere between Cleveland and Athens we saw a sign that pointed to the Cherokee National Forest and parks on the Hiawassee and Ocoee rivers.  We took the road which was paved for a way, then it became graveled.  There were potholes galore, but otherwise it wasn't a bad road.  There were people parked on both sides of the river fishing, other folks walking on the railroad tracks that ran parallel to the road and the river for a while, and people on horseback.  It wasn't crowded, but there were other people there.

But we kept on riding.  Eventually the railroad tracks and the river turned right and the road turned left, but we kept along.  Eventually we saw one campsite on the roadside, and then crossed a small stream and there were two more campsites.  We pulled up to #2 and since no one was there, had our picnic lunch in the fork of Spring Creek and a small stream.

It was wonderful, it was perfect, it was magical!  We even looked up one time and here came a young man riding his horse right up the middle of Spring Creek.  As he came ashore and went around us I asked him where the road we were on went he said it would end soon and if you took a right it would take you to where the big landslide was or if you went left it would take you to Tellico Plains  We are familiar with Tellico Plains, so that's how we went.  Here is a slide show of pics from the area where we had our lunch . . .



We hope to take out our old tent and go up there for a weekend some time this summer.  There is no water, no electricity and no 'facilities', so it will be interesting.  It's been many a year since I did that kind of camping!

Oh, and as we were getting into the car to head back up the gravel road I asked hubby what time it was.  He looked at his watch and said "one thirty two, why" and I said "Happy Spring!"  How special that we caught the beginning of spring right at that moment at such a special place.  And it just added another memory for us to remember years from now.

We headed up to Tellico Plains, TN and made our way onto the Cherohala Skyway - a parkway that rides the ridge across the Cherokee National Forest (TN) and Nantahala National Forest (NC) and is absolutely gorgeous!  The views are just magnificent!  We've been from both directions (NC to TN and TN to NC) but we really like the route from Tellico Plains best.  We were riding along and I started seeing something shining, glinting up in the mountains and I asked Wayne if it was snow and he said no, probably just some lingering ice on the rocks  Uh, wrong!

We stopped at this pullover . . .



so I could get a few pictures.  It was definitely cooler - of course down on the lower elevations it was 70-ish and up there it was probably upper 50's, but the wind was blowing cold off of that snow!


Have you ever wondered where the 'Blue Ridge' or the 'Great Smokies' got their names???  Well, wonder no longer!


The mountains have a gorgeous smokiness and blue color to them, and that is how those areas got their names!

Anyway, we finished up the Skyway in Robbinsville, NC and headed for Franklin, then on down to Hwy 441 into Georgia.  As we drove, it was getting into late afternoon and our usual topic is 'where do you want to stop for dinner'.  This night it was a no brainer!  The Dillard House in Dillard, Georgia!

If you've never been there, or heaven forbid never heard of it, the Dillard House serves wonderful southern country cooking 'family style' in their huge dining room.  When you sit down at the table there is usually already an assortment of 'extras' on your table.  Last night we had horseradish sauce (for the roast beef), barbecue sauce (for the smoked chicken), cabbage slaw, tomato, cucumber and onion salad, jelly, and pepper rellish (my favorite!).  Then they take your drink order, bring you a basket of breads (corn muffins, biscuits, cheese biscuits, rolls, etc.) and then here comes the food.  All served in serving bowls, and there is plenty!  We had smoked chicken, fried chicken, roast beef and country ham.  And a ton of veggies including a 'loaded baked potato' casserole, cabbage casserole, sweet potato souffle, creamed corn, baby carrots, green beans, and I don't know what else!  It was so good, and we topped it off with dessert - coconut cream pie for hubby and blackberry cobbler with ice cream for me - so good!

We pretty much moaned the rest of the way home!  And didn't get home until after 8:30 pm - a full day, and a wonderful day!  We talked and chatted and enjoyed talking about memories we've shared in the last 25 or so years.  A beautiful day, and a wonderful way to start this new spring season!  Blessings folks, Becky

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Becoming a Farmgirl!

Yesterday was a day I'd been waiting for a while.  About 6 weeks to be exact!  But let me start at the beginning. 

A year ago Feburary, when my Daddy was in the hospital for almost two weeks and we almost lost him, we were at the hospital pretty much 18 hours per.day.every.day.!  My aunt (Daddy's youngest sister) would come and stay with us for a while and visit Daddy.  And she almost always brought Mama and me 'a little something'.  Often times it was a magazine, because she knew we loved magazines, and because it was something that would help time to pass a little more quickly.  Well, one particular time she brought me a magazine I had never heard of - Mary Janes Farm.  It was all about organic gardening, cooking, canning and preserving, and crafts such as quilting, knitting, sewing, etc.  I loved it!  But as time went on, and Daddy got worse, the magazine got forgotten.  Fast forward about a year.

One day I was riding up a road not far from here, and I saw a little yellow house I'd seen hundreds of times before, but this time there was a new sign out front.  This was the sign . . .




Now, I knew a few things about Mary Jane Butters from reading the magazine.  Things like how Mary Jane got  her start in farming, and how she was teaching how to live a more organic lifestyle, and one that gets back to the basics of things like homekeeping, etc.  Community service is also a high priority!



What I didn't know was that there were now 'Farmgirl Chapters' all across the country!  Hmmmmmmm, maybe this was just the social and creative outlet I needed!  (And one good thing - the 'Henhouse' is almost exactly 5 miles from my house, so it is extremely easy to get to!)  But it took me riding by that house and that sign a good 3 months or so before I finally broke down and started checking into it. 

I started by going to Mary Janes Farm online, then clicking on the section that said 'Chat with other farmgirls online"  and just kept clicking.  I found a form where you can find chapters near you, found the Georgia Farmgirls, and then e-mailed the leader for info about the chapter.  We e-mailed back and forth a few times and I planned on attending the next meeting - that very next Saturday - and I was very excited!  But come Saturday morning we had 5 inches of snow and ice on top of that, and getting out of our short-but-steep driveway wouldn't have been very easy, so I stayed home.  And waited for 4 weeks for the next meeting.  Which was yesterday.


Just a small glimpse of Mary Jane Butters' gardens!


And I went, and I loved it!  The leader was very sweet, and everyone was friendly.  There were about 10 to 12 people there, although there are usually more than that, I believe.  And the topic of the day was starting your garden.  The guest speaker didn't show, so we all just sat around and talked about our gardens, gardening experiences and tips and tricks we could share with each other.  It was a very open forum, too!  No one looked down their noses at you or anything - just a good open conversation.

I loved it, and I joined yesterday!  And I also volunteered for a 'job', and am now the creator and administrator of the Georgia Farmgirls Blog,  I was so excited that I came home and did it right away.  I'll share it with you when I get approval from the team leader to put it out there for the public. 

AND, they are having a craft show in May, and I have applied for a spot to sell my cards, pincushions, lavender sachets, etc.  My first ever craft show as a vendor!

If any of you live in North Georgia - particularly the Cumming, Gainesville, Canton, Dahlonega, Dawsonville, Alpharetta areas, you would be most welcome to come and visit one of our meetings!  You can contact me and I will give you the e-mail addy of our group leader so you can get more info and she will answer any questions you may have.

I am very excited and hopeful about this new venture.  When we got there we were handed a green shamrock out of craft foam and told to write down a wish.  It could be for our world, our community,  someone else, or even for ourselves.  My wish was for 'new friends', and I think that yesterday was the beginning of that wish coming true.

And friends, here is to all of your wishes - large and small - coming true!  Have a great week!  Becky

PS - if you are interested in receiving the Mary Janes Farm magazine, you can just click on the link and subscribe online. 

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Just Busy!

I'm sorry for not posting in a week!  And I have no excuse other than I've been busy, and it's nothing really worth talking about, but I will try to catch you up. 

To catch you up on the last post, the exercise plan is going.   How well I cannot say, but it's going!

Let's see, I told you about my trip to BJ's to stock up on household things.  And I am loving the new toy - the Cuisinart grill!  I've done boneless pork loin chops, sandwiches and grilled veggies on it.  My favorite so far is grilled asparagus!  I toss the spears in olive oil, then sprinkle them with fresh ground pepper and kosher salt - just a bit of that - and then I grill them until they are just looking a bit tender.  Then I put them in a warm oven just a couple of minutes, and they are tender but still have a bite to them, and they taste wonderful.  And let me say that I haven't always liked asparagus - it is definitely an acquired taste, but now it is one of my favorite veggies, and can be found on sale frequently. (and it's really, really good for you - shhhhhh!)



Hmmm, then on Friday of last week I worked in my studio/office getting things picked up and put away.  I now have a small table for etsy and ebay things which helps a lot.  They are no longer stacked on the floor under my work table.  I have been buying organizational stuff, like the cart above for my cardstock, and a bunch of these . . .





 . . . in 4 different sizes, and now have things in pretty good shape - except for my ribbon.  I still cannot get a handle on how to efficiently and effectively store the multitudinous ribbons I own!  Remember THIS post from early January?  Well, it's not working for me!  At All!  So I am now trying to come up with a better system, and it's making me crazy!  The problem is two-fold.  One, I just have so much of the stuff, and Two, is that there is no rhyme or reason as to how they came to me.  I have some that are on rolls, but they are in the minority.  Most of the satin ribbons that I have came from a vendor at a local antique market and they came in bundles.  Others came from craft stores where I bought just a couple of yards.  Still others came from Etsy sellers who neatly wound the ribbon around sweet tags.

I have tried the plastic with holes in it to hang the ribbon on - not working.  Also tried winding the ribbon on old fashioned wooden clothes pins - really not working.  And I tried winding the ribbon onto cardboard rectangles.  They worked best, I think, but I never cut the rectangles exactly the same size, so getting them organized was a problem.  I now have two of the bins like the ones above that are 7.5 quart size.  They are approximately 7" high X 7" wide X 10" long, and they are what I want to use for my ribbon.  No lace, no trims, just ribbon.

Last night I sat with a pile of ribbon on my work table and just racked my brain (or what is left of it) and came up with what I hope is a solution.  I found a tag on one of my Cricut cartridges (tagleft @ 2.5" on Plantin SchoolBook) that fits very well in this bin.  I can put dividers in the bins, one right down the middle of each, and stand the tags up in two rows.  The tags will be cut from chipoard.  There are two cool things about this solution.  One is that I can wind the ribbon around and tuck the top end into the hole in the tag to hold it secure.  The other is that I can write on the chipboard the size, color and type of ribbon so that when I run out, I can take it to the store (or the computer if I'm buying online) and have it right there in my hand.  For ribbons that I have larger quantities of, I will cut off 3 yards or so and put it on the tag, and the rest will go into a large plastic drawer to store.  I will write that on the tag, too!  "More of this ribbon in drawer".

Overall I think this should work well, although it will be a lot of work.  But I can take a bag of tags, ribbon and a pen and work on them at night when watching TV, when we are out riding, or at nighttime when we are camping.  It will take a while, but if this storage system works, it will be worth while.  As info, I am now bidding on some chipboard on ebay that will be used to make the tags.

Boy, that was longer than I had intended, but somehow getting it written down helps the thinking process!

Saturday I stayed home all day and played most of the day, then made us a great dinner!  Hubby went to our local meat market (more about that below) and got two black angus ribeye steaks.  I marinated them briefly in olive oil, balsamic vinegar (just a touch), salt and pepper, then put them on a very hot grill.  I also baked potatoes and grilled zucchini and asparagus on the Cuisinart grill.while the steaks were cooking outside on the big grill.  We had a glass of wine and a great baguette with Danish butter, too.  Those were the best steaks I have ever cooked, and they were just perfect! 

I have learned a couple of things about cooking steaks on the grill, and they involve the use of two tools.   A good timer, and a good digital instant read thermometer.  I put them on and set the timer for 4 minutes.  When the 4 minutes are up I turn them, and change their position on the grill.  The one on back comes to front and vice versa.  Then I check the temperature.  We like our steaks about half way between medium and medium well, which is @ 165 degrees, but when the steaks get to 155 degrees or just above, take them off the grill - they will finish cooking on their own just fine.

Sunday we went riding again.  It was a lovely day, so we headed up to Franklin, NC and the road over Wayah Bald.  This is one of our favorite routes, and this trip was special, because the higher we got, the more snow there was still on the ground.  Now we had @ 2.5 - 3" of snow last Tuesday, but it is long gone, so we weren't really expecting this!  But the roads were clear and the scenery just beautiful!  HERE are a few pics (courtesy of Webshots) that you can see for yourself.  On the way home we stopped in Gainesville for dinner.  Remember I said that a little bit later!

Monday was Mama day.  Her sister who usually takes her on errands is visiting her son in Florida for a few weeks, and my worthless brother hadn't called her or answered her call in over a week, and she needed some things.  We went to 5 stores and it took 7 hours.  I was exhausted!  Enough said.

Yesterday (Tuesday)  I had to drive back to Gainesville (30 - 35 min each way) to the restaurant to pick up hubby's debit card, which he left in the little folder after he paid for our dinner.  So, while in Gainesville I stopped at Office Pros and looked for ribbon solutions, and didn't find any there.  Then I went to the feed store and bought 50 pounds of safflower seed (the birds are getting expensive!) and then went to Fergusons to order the meats for our freezer.  (see THIS post from last year)  I got the # 2 with a couple of changes, and bought a whole ribeye.  The steaks that hubby bought on Saturday were $11.99/lb, and it was almost $25 for two steaks (and they were way too thick!).  If you buy a whole ribeye they cut it to order and wrap it for the freezer for free, and they are just $7.99/lb.  I got 17 steaks for just under $100, and they will last us for more than a year, most likely.  It just makes sense!

While there, I bought something I haven't gotten in several years.  They sell the BEST cheesecakes, in their freezer section.  They are honestly just like the ones you get at the better restaurants.  Anyway, they now have the smaller sized cakes @ 6-7 inches aross for $2.99 or 2/$5!!!  I bought two and put them in the freezer.  They are great to pull out when you have company for dinner!

Please note:  I have learned a few things since our stocking up experiment from last year.  One, 50# of ground chuck was too much.  We are still eating on that, and so this year I an only getting 20#.  Two, the chicken breasts (80#) was too much!  The chicken doesn't keep that well, and we are still eating on it, too.  From now on I will go from time to time and buy 20# when we need it.  That one just didn't work for us.  And third, for the meats from Fergusons, there is no need to unwrap their hard work and re-pack the meats in food saver bags.  They do a great job, and I haven't had a single thing with freezer burn. 

And today it is raining.  And it's going to be raining tomorrow and Friday, too.   I will go pick up my freezer meat on Friday, and our 'meat' freezer will be stocked for another year plus.  On Saturday I go to my first meeting of the local "Mary Jane's Farmgirl" group called the Georgia Farmgirls!  They have a cute little house (the henhouse)  just 5 miles from here where they hold their meetings monthly.  I am very excited about this meeting and the opportunity to make new friends, and will let you know how it turns out!

So that is what is going on in my world.  Nothing truly exciting (except the upcoming meeting) but just taking day by day!    But sometimes day by day is a good thing!   Take care, friends!  Becky

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Another New Day . . .

Let's get real!  I am 57, very nearly 58 years old.  I am probably a good 15 to 20 pounds overweight.  My eating habits are atrocious.  And I'm in horrible physical shape.  Horrible!  And it's nobody's fault but my own.  And I'm trying to change at least some of those things.  The age thing, I can do nothing about!  The rest, I'm working on.  This is a story about how orange juice is going to help me change things around here!

I think I've told you before that we drink a fair amount of orange juice around here.  Hubby also drinks a good bit of grapefruit juice.  And our favorite brand of OJ is this . . .



Tropicana Pure Premium.  Now, it's not the only brand we buy because I usually shop sales and if another brand, or even store brands are a considerably better deal, I'll go with them.  But this, hands down, is our favorite.  Recently Tropicana started a new program called "Juicy Rewards" where you go online, set up a very simple account, and each time you buy their juice, you enter the code inside the cap.  When you collect enough points you can use those points to do things like visit museums, theme parks, donate your points to save the rainforest, or buy things, all at discounted prices.  Oh, and if you buy your OJ at Kroger or affiliated stores, you get double points!

So, after I joined and started saving points, I started looking for things that interested me.  The first thing I found was this . . .

I had been wanting this since we got the Wii at Christmas time, but after the holidays the budget was tight, so I had to wait.  Using the Tropicana points I got $10 off the regular price, plus free shipping.  Cool!  So I ordered it last week.

And it came yesterday.

And I used it this morning.

And I used the lowest exercise level.

And I thought I was going to die! 

They start you out walking for about 30 seconds, and then running for about 10 minutes.  Or at least that's what it felt like, but it was actually about a minute and a half.  Once again, I thought I was going to die, and was ready to give up already.

But I didn't!  I sat down for a few, drank some water, tried to get my breathing under control, and started back again.  We did squats, boxing, bicep curls with an elastic band, rowing thingys, also with the elastic band, inline skating, lunges and then ran and walked again.  And I made it!!!!  The running the 2nd time was even a bit easier the 2nd time!

So for me, today is a new day - the first of my 30 day challenge.  And I'm going to really, really try to do this every day!  Well, at least every week day, because weekends are very different around here.  But 5 days a week is good!  Better than no days a week, right???  And we go to Florida for a week of camping in April, so I hope to be in better shape (health wise - even at my best I've never had a bikini body!) so I can walk more and maybe canoe and trikke more.

I'll keep you posted!  Blessings, Becky

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

So much for an early spring . . .

So, most years, those of us who are blessed to live in northern Georgia consider ourselves lucky if we have one measurable snow per year.  This year has been an exception to the rule!  We are now in the middle of our fourth (yes, that's 4th) measurable snow of this season.  If my memory serves (and it may not - just so you know) we've had between 9 and 12 inches total snow this year.  And to be honest, it's still winter here folks!!!

And yes, I am ready for spring, but not nearly as ready as these guys . . .


A pair of house finches - Mrs. on the left and Mr. on the right


A recent addition to the flock - a 'yellow rumped warbler'.  Do you see the yellow on his 'rump'???


Mrs. (l) and Mr. (r) Cardinal.  I love how she's looking at me!  Like "what you doin?"


And yes,  this is 'Woody' the lone wood thrush.  He/she is still here, overseeing things on the deck.  Somehow his presence is comforting, although I still haven't figured out why he's here all alone and out of season!


And here is Ethel, and best I can figure after perusing my Birds of Georgia book, she is a female (of course) red wing blackbird!  I've never seen one at the feeder, and it was obvious she wasn't sure how it worked, but she got the hang of it eventually and had a nice meal.

The influx of birds to our feeders convinces me that since we've had so much very cold and snowy weather, they are just plain hungry.  Another indication of that is our almost empty safflower seed bag!  In just under two months, we have feed them about fifty pounds of seeds!!!  I have two large, and two medium feeders for the safflower seed, two suet cake feeders, and two thistle feeders for the goldfinches.

Here's a list of all the birds I've seen so far today:
  • goldfinches
  • house finches (lots and lots of these guys!)
  • titmice
  • white breasted nuthatches
  • brown headed nuthatches
  • red bellied woodpeckers
  • downy woodpeckers
  • Carolina chickadees
  • Carolina wrens
  • cardinals
  • song sparrows
  • white throated sparrows
  • Woody the lone wood thrush
  • Ethel the lone female red winged black bird
  • yellow rumped warbler
  • dark eyed juncos
  • eastern towhees
  • doves
And yes, best I can count that is 18 different varieties of birds either eating from our feeder or the seed I throw on the ground for the ground feeders.  Amazing!  And so much fun to watch!  Anyway, it is still snowing pretty steadily, and tonight it's supposed to get down to the upper 20's, so whatever is here will still be here in the morning in the form of ice.  Fun.

So, as I head to the kitchen to check out my pizza dough, I'll leave you with a few pictures from our yard.  I hope you, wherever you are, are having a sunny and warm day!  Blessings, Becky









Monday, March 1, 2010

Deal of the Day!!!

Happy Monday!  Today I ran some errands, the main one being a trip to our local BJ's Wholesale Club to stock up on some things.  I hate running out of things like detergent (dish or laundry), fabric softener, TP (H*A*T*E running out of that!) and I like to go two to three times a year and buy up a bunch so that I:
  1. Don't run out, and
  2. Don't have to 'run out' every little while and get the more expensive smaller containers.  It's just not worth it!
So today I ran to BJ's and just stacked up one of their 'flat' carts as high as I could.  I had a list, and I had coupons, and I was ready.  One thing I wasn't ready for was the 'Deal of the Day'!

Let me go back a ways, well, a few years actually!  We used to have a really cool electric 'contact' grill that I used a LOT!  I loved it, but I sent the manufacturer a letter telling them what I would like to see in the 'next' model.  That included removeable plates so you could grill on it, or use it like a griddle.  Anyway, even though it was well used, when we moved to our current home about 6 1/2 years ago I brought the grill along.  Sadly, some of the more important parts didn't make the trip, or got lost along the way.  I've wanted another one, but just never made it a priority.  But recently I'd told hubby that I wanted to get a new contact grill if I could find a good price on one  (I was thinking a $35-40 model).

So today I was be-bopping along in BJ's and I glanced over to one side and I saw this . . .



It's a Cuisinart Gourmet Griddler (GRID 8SA), and it was regular price $89.90 and on sale for $69.90.  I called hubby and asked what he thought and he said "Go for it!".  So I did.  And when I got home I looked it up on the internet to see what 'suggested retail price' was, and I was shocked (and so happy!).  I found the BJ's website where they had it regular price for $99.99, several places that had it listed for $129.95 and then the Crate and Barrell, who had it on sale for $99.95 but regular (suggested retail) price was - get this - $185.00!!!  Can you believe it???  I mean that is one wide range of prices for the exact same product, but any way  you look at it, I got a deal!

And I love it!  It grills or makes panini (grilled) sandwiches on the 'grill' plates, which remove, and you can replace with the griddle plates.  The top also folds back so you can use it open and flat like a regular griddle.  A cool thing is it's small and portable enough that we can throw it in the camper and take it with us when we go camping.

I used it tonight for panini's.  Hubby had 5 grain Italian bread, black forest ham and American cheese.  I had Italian sandwich bread drizzled with olive oil, black forest ham, provolone and mozzerella cheese.  It was so good!  I can really tell we'll be using this a lot, and the fact I got a great deal on it just makes everything taste a bit sweeter!

So, what really good deal have you found lately???   Have a great week, Blessings, Becky


PS - Update on the green bags.  This afternoon I found a pound box of fresh strawberries in the back of the fridge that I had thrown in one of the bags and hidden from  hubby, and obviously myself too!  I didn't 'not want' him to eat them, I just didn't want him to eat them all at one time, standing in the door of the refrigerator, throwing the stems at the trash can and missing.  Yeah, he does that!   Anyway, they had been in there at least two weeks, and I just ate a big bowl of them and they were just wonderful!  Who knew?  Strawberries keeping in the fridge for 2 weeks with only a minimum amount of spoiling.  I love it!  B.