Lots of Good Food for the Weekend

 Happy Monday, my friends!

I hope you had a great weekend. Apparently I cooked a lot, hence the pictures of food in this post 😋

I had to make this Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake that Billie Jo shared HERE.  It just looked so good and I couldn't stop thinking about how yummy it would be with a hot cup of coffee.

I prepped all the dry ingredients the night before, so in the morning all I had to do was work on the wet ingredients and add the two together. 

I almost made the mistake of not putting the crumble on top, but thankfully I remembered at the last minute. It wouldn't have tasted the same without all of that extra butter, brown sugar and cinnamon on the top layer, would it?

If you like cake and butter and chocolate chips and brown sugar...this needs to be on your menu for the week! We had a piece for breakfast and just might have had an extra piece after dinner. 😉

And speaking of dinner...

A big pot of beef stew was on the menu this weekend. I made it as normal - ground beef, veggies, potatoes, beef stock. But I also added some juice left over from the last time I made a roast. I had saved a bowl of juice from the roast, put it in the freezer for this very dish that I knew was coming up and added it along with all the other ingredients as it was simmering. It added a rich, beefy flavor to the stew and made it even more delicious. 

A little tip I do during the month is keeping a baggie full of veggies in the freezer that I save for my next pot of stew. Every time we eat corn or green beans or carrots and have some leftover, I will add them to my "stew" bag and use them in the stew. So this time I had about a half a gallon bag of already cut up veggies, so all I had to do was add some diced potatoes and a bit more corn and it was ready to go. Oh, I did add some diced tomatoes too. 

Something that would save even more time, would be to add ground beef, as you cook it for other meals, to the "stew" bag. By the time you've added the veggies and beef, you've basically got your stew ready for the stove or crockpot and will just need broth, tomatoes and seasoning (I use a stew packet from McCormicks). I think I'll try that next month!

When I wasn't cooking this weekend, I was at work for a few hours on Saturday morning. The library was busy with people wanting books, to use the computer, tax forms and making copies. I also learned how to issue new library cards to a few patrons. As I said before...it's so much to learn! 

After work, David and I picked up a sub sandwich from a place called Firehouse Subs. Apparently it was "D" day, which meant that if your name started with a "D", you got a free sandwich when you bought one. So we each got a meatball sandwich, which was very good and a nice treat. 

On Sunday we took some things to our kids, who are sick. Baby Eden and all the girls were coughing and Ted had a sore throat, so we stopped by Kroger and loaded them up with Vitamin C items. After that, David and I made a quick trip to Tractor Supply to find a bird feeder (or 2) for the back yard. That's something I've really been missing from our little cottage on the lake, is watching the squirrels and birds compete for all the bird seed. 

We filled the houses and hung them in a prime spot in the backyard and never saw one squirrel or bird for the rest of the day 😏 But I did look out the front door and see a squirrel drinking out of the bird bath, so that was fun 😂

Sunday afternoon we watched Hillbilly Elegy, the story of JD Vance. I'll be honest - I cried during the entire show! The show was so disturbing and to see this kid, who had everything against him, turn out to be the VP of the United States...touched my heart in so many ways. It doesn't matter what your politics are, any time someone can rise above the junk of their childhood, to succeed on their own merit, I applaud. 

David did watch the Super Bowl and I read a book in my chair and did other things around the house during that time. 

It was a good weekend with lots of needed down time. 

And here we are on Monday again!

I've already spent some time with the Lord this morning and am about to have another piece of coffee cake and start my day.

I hope your weekend was good and all that you wanted it to be.

Here's to a week full of blessings and God's presence in your life!

Until Next Time...

Blessings!