EASY SUNDAY DINNERS

I've always tried to make Sunday dinner easy at our house. With busy church schedules and a desire to eliminate as much kitchen work and mess as possible, I've found a few tried and true ideas that I tend to go back to often. So if you're looking for a quick and eay Sunday supper, try one of these:

Stouffer's frozen Vegetable Lasagna, green salad, Rhode's rolls.

PASTA SALAD
OUR FAMILY'S FAVORITE PASTA SALAD with a loaf of sliced Italian bread and butter. I make the pasta salad up on Saturday.

CROCK POT TACOS - just cook up the taco meat, add seasoning mix and water, and put in the crock pot on low. It will be well seasoned, hot and tasty when you come in from church. Chop / grate the toppings on Saturday so it's ready to serve.

PERDUE OVEN READY ROASTER with Potato Pearls, pan gravy, frozen nuke-in-bag baby peas. - This is a new addition to my Sunday-dinner repertoire. I bought one last week to see what it was like, and we all loved how it tasted! Best of all, it was a snap to cook and clean up, and there was enough meat for two dinners (we had chicken quesadillas the following night.)
Here is what it looks like (before and after) -

TUNA SALAD SANDWICHES AND TOMATO SOUP. Make up the tuna salad on Sat and simply heat up some soup to go with it. It never hurts to have a pan of brownies for dessert. :-)

CROCK POT PULLED PORK SANDWICHES I use McCormick pulled pork seasoning mix, a 3 lb. pork loin and a crock pot, to make delicious pulled pork sandwiches for Sunday dinner. Serve with deli cole slaw and potato chips, or make a macaroni salad on Sat. evening so you have it ready for a quick after-church dinner. All you have to do is pull the pork - the rest is ready to go.

Watching LOST

My son Jonathan has suddenly discovered LOST. So we are watching it together on my laptop, to catch up on five seasons. He is fascinated with all the plots and sub-plots and the characters work to stay alive on THE ISLAND, and try to find a way to get back home. Maybe it's the plane at the beginning; Jonathan really loves airplanes. Or all the running through the jungle scenes. Whatever it is, he's into it and I'm enjoying seeing it for a second time. :-)

Cooking With Kids

Okay, so today I made a squidoo lens about cooking with kids. I've sure done a lot of that over the years. Luckily for me, my guys like to cook. Well, most of them do. Adam is a great baker. He makes fantastic breads and desserts. When they were little, I tried to let them 'help' me in the kitchen whenever I could. Maybe that sparked an interest, or maybe hunger led them to learn how to cook so they would have something tasty to eat. Either way, it's nice to know they can fend for themselves now, although they do seem to enjoy a home-cooked meal when they come to visit. And I've had some awesome Mother's Day breakfasts over the years, cooked mostly by the kids!
Here is my new squidoo lens:Kids Love To Cook

I Love Mondays

Most people would think I'm crazy, but I absolutely love Mondays. After a break on Sunday, I'm always ready to get back to work and Monday is usually my most productive day of the week. I get up early and feel the creative juices flowing. There is definitely something to be said for resting from one's labors.
Yesterday was our oldest son Adam's birthday. Hard to believe he is 28 yrs. old now. Where has all the time gone? I feel bad about not being there for his birthday party, but at least Annette and Jared & family and Aunt Suzanne & family were able to help him celebrate. Being 2,000 miles away is tough sometimes...
Here is a photo of Adam from right around his 1st birthday:

Welcome To My Blog

Welcome! I've been writing business blogs for a couple of years, but never ventured into having my own personal blog before. Not sure why... but I'm going to give it a try now and see how it goes.
In this blog you can keep up with the happenings of the PA branch of our family! Although dwindling in number, we're still holding down the fort and are always here for any family members that decide to make a trip East.
It's been a busy summer so far. Scout camp, high school graduation, a trip to Williamsburg, and lots of visitors. One nice thing has been having Nathan home while he worked on his internship with the Township office.
Last week, this article was published in the Church News abt our son Jonathan:
Autistic twin is service missionary
So that was very cool for him to be featured like that.
Here is a photo from Annette's graduation: