Zizzie Happenings

This past weekend I picked up a few items to eat this week but for the most part I am still using pantry and freezer food. Breakfast Granola & Yogurt Cheerios & Milk Fruit Grapes Peaches Tangerines Cantaloupe Mango Bananas Lunch or Dinner Tuna Wrap Fried Rice Chef Salad Lasagna Meatloaf Leftovers, Leftovers, Leftovers Veggies Green Beans Corn Broccoli

The windows in our house are the perfect height for Betsy to keep an eye on the chickens. Actually, she is probably looking for squirrels. She has gotten really good at finding them as soon as we let her out the door. She runs fast and gets real close to catching the squirrels... one day she just might! This was one of my inside projects this week...getting all my winter clothes packed up and moved to the basement. The bag on top has clothes that don't fit anymore, so they will be given away. Braden came over this week to teach Mike how to clip the chicken's wings. Mike and I put up extra fencing attached to the chicken run to allow the chickens to do more free ranging. Here are the chickens enjoying their new found freedom. The month of May is full of birthdays in my family, so I have been trying to focus on making cards in my spare time. Of course with Mother's day coming up I didn't want to wait to the last minute for those cards either. Take the time to check...

I am really thankful I am participating in the Restoring Order challenge . I feel like it keeps me accountable to get some things done around the house. When things are organized it feels so much homier. This week I decided to go through my closet and pull out the winter clothes. I laid everything on my bed in different piles. I had a pile of summer clothes(that came out of the storage containers) that I needed to hang up, a pile of winter clothes to put in the containers, and a pile of give away clothes that no longer fit me. The piles may not be very noticeable on the bed but there was a method to my madness, I promise. All my winter clothes got folded up and put in storage containers. I was actually surprised that all the clothes fit in the 2 containers that I had designated from last year. The reason I am so surprised is because Kathy (my wonderful sister) is always buying me clothes, so I really thought I would have a problem fitting it all in. I think one thing that helped is I ...

I took a break from Menu Plan Monday but thought it would be good to get back in the swing of things. I am still trying to eat healthier and still continue to use the stock of food we currently have. Breakfast Granola & Yogurt Brown Sugar Pancakes Pumpkin Waffles Fall Comfort Muffins Fruit Grapes Peaches tangerines Lunch or Dinner Spaghetti with Blue Cheese Meatballs Spinach Rice Casserole Chicken Salad Wrap Tuna Wrap Taco Salad Black Beans and Rice Burrito Leftovers, Leftovers, Leftovers

We got some new chickens this week. Some friends of ours gave them to us. Six new chickens, now we have a total of 20 chickens... to be more specific, 19 hens and 1rooster. In the next few weeks we will be adding some more space for the chickens to be able to venture out further and get some more bugs, eat grass and enjoy life. I completed my first ever challenge from Split Coast Stampers and here is the result. It was a sketch challenge and I really had alot of fun doing it. My outside task for this week was to get branches from the back yard and move them to the front. Here is the pile so far. I got one area completely cleaned out, but there is always more to do. Friday night some men from our church came over and helped Mike cut up 2 trees in our back yard. They brought it all up front to Mike's splitting area. Now Mike has enough wood to keep him busy for some time. Praise the Lord we'll be well stocked on firewood for the next few years. I made 2 cards this week...

I really love to read Monica's blog The Homespun Heart ; she has such a desire to honor God in all she does. She and her friend Rebecca at That's What It's All About have challenged me to restore order in my home and life. For the first project I decided to tackle food. It was time to clean out the fridge, freezer and canned goods. It's not that things were a huge mess, for me it was more of an issue of knowing what I had on hand. I like buying items on sale and stocking up but I wouldn't be a wise steward of my money if I had to continually throw away food because it went bad or was out of date. I tackled my basement shelf first. I had some garbanzo bean cans and other items that were collecting alot of dust. I decided to reorganize the shelf according to expiration date of the item. This way I know what items I need to use first; I can then go find a recipe to use these specific items. Somehow I missed taking a before picture of my shelf but this is the after pic...

Crystal from Money Saving Mom had a baking day yesterday and all the goodies she baked looked so good I just had to try some. So I dedicated my day to baking the following delicious items. Whole Wheat French Bread Rolls and Quick and Easy Banana Bread Super Power Muffins Fall Comfort Muffins Double Chocolate Walnut Bread and Lemon Poppyseed Loaf (both from a Betty Crocker mix)

I had some bananas in my freezer so I decided to make a loaf of banana bread. I used the recipe on the Biblical Womanhood blog . Quick and Easy Banana Bread 2 cups whole wheat flour 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup oil 1 cup sugar 2 eggs, beaten 4 ripe bananas, mashed 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 3 Tbsp milk Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir flour, soda, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside. Combine oil and sugar in a large bowl. Beat in eggs, banana, vanilla, and milk. Add flour mixture and blend just until moistened. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean - about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes and transfer to wire rack. Wrap with plastic wrap and/or foil and refrigerate or freeze.

The Happy Housewife had a guest post from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures this week. She shared a recipe for some whole wheat rolls. I was very excited to try this recipe. Whole Wheat French Bread Rolls 1 1/2 cups warm water 1 Tbsp active dry yeast 2 Tbsp sugar 2 Tbsp oil 1 tsp salt 2 cups freshly milled soft white wheat 2 cups freshly milled hard red wheat In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 2 cups flour. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Deflate the dough, and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces, and ...

Frugal Girls shared a muffin recipe with Money Saving Mom and I tried it out. Talk about delicious! Super Power Muffins 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup peanut butter 1 banana, mashed 1/2 cup apple sauce 1 egg 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 cup chocolate chips Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients well and set aside. Blend everything else and then sift in dry ingredients. Spray muffin tray. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

The Finer Things in Life blog shared this delicious muffin recipe. Here is my version, tweaked slightly. Fall Comfort Muffins 1 cup melted butter 1 cup sugar 1 cup honey 4 eggs 1/3 cup water 1 cup mashed banana 1 cup apple sauce 1 tsp salt 2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp all spice 1 Tbsp cinnamon 2 cups freshly milled hard red wheat flour 2 cups freshly milled soft white wheat flour 1 cup chocolate chips Blend sugar and butter. Add honey, eggs and water. Mix well. Add banana and apple sauce. Mix well. Stir dry ingredients together, add to wet batter just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes 3 dozen muffins.

Chapter 2 ~ A Merry Heart Proverbs 17:22 A Merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones A merry heart is the foundation of health and happiness. And the day you have a merry heart will be the first day of rebuilding your marriage into the heavenly gift it was meant to be. Love is like a flower: you can't expect it to grow without sunshine. Has your husband seen your sunshine lately? Proverbs 15:13 A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance... Do you have an attitude of contentment? Remind him that you miss him when he is at work... remind him that you love him no matter what... remind him that you appreciate him. Women spend billions of dollars every year to make themselves more attractive, but the most effective beauty aid is free - a joyful smile No man has ever crawled out from under his wife's criticism to be a better man - no matter how justified her condemnation Never demand that a man love you and cherish you because he ought to. Earn ...

The last day of our trip when we were finally at my brothers house in SC, we were all ready for some rest and relaxation. Kathy put chocolate masks on us and we watched a movie. Michael is always willing to participate :-) While on our trip, Kathy introduced us to these delicious wraps that have 13 grams of fiber. For those of you who follow Weight Watchers points these wraps are huge and they are only 1 point. Since I have been home, I have used them at breakfast, lunch and dinner. My breakfast one day this week... peanut butter and jelly all wrapped up. It was delicious and very filling. The weather this week was very strange. We had snow on Tuesday, beautiful days of sunshine and warm weather on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday was full of thunder, lightning, rain and wind. Thursday as I took Betsy for a walk I enjoyed the smell of fresh cut grass. I love that smell. It's so refreshing to me. Friday was the end of my giveaway. This is what my winner Rebecca received....

I only had 5 people comment on my blogoversary giveaway. Mike picked #4 as the lucky winner. So Miss Rebecca aka Anonymous you are my winner. I will have the surprise bag of goodies for you when I see you next. As a celebration of my blogoversary I changed the background and colors of my blog. I am not sure I totally like it but I will try it for a few weeks. Congrats Rebecca!

I try to show Mike how much I love him and not just on special occasions like Valentine's day. I enjoy coming up with things throughout the year. While I was traveling this past week I decided to mail Mike some cards. Here is one of the cards I made him and this is what I wrote: Because I want to tell you just how dear you are to me, Because my every thought of you is as loving as can be... Because my heart is filled with things that words alone can't say, This comes especially for you with all my love today. The saying is not my original, I read it somewhere and thought it was perfect for this card. So what have you done lately to show your love to your husband? I would love to hear from you! PS - There are still a few days left to enter my giveaway .

I was looking through a magazine I got in the mail while I was out of town and I found a recipe that sounded good. I had all the ingredients in stock so I decided to make it for lunch today. Mike loved it, so I am blogging the recipe to add it to my list. Chicken Stuffing Bake 1 pkg. (6oz) stuffing mix 1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces 1 can (10 3/4) condensed cream of chicken soup 1/3 cup sour cream 1 bag (16 oz) broccoli, thawed, drained Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare stuffing mix as directed on package; set aside. Mix chicken, soup, sour cream and broccoli in a 13X9 baking dish; top with the stuffing. Bake 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Makes 6 servings.

On our way up to PA we stopped for some coffee but we couldn't find a Starbucks in these little towns in SC so we decided to try the specialty coffees at McDonalds. Lets just say I wont be trying them again. They tasted horrible. It took four workers to even figure out how to use the machine to make our drinks. Since Kathy rented the car we took to PA, she was the only one authorized to drive. Although we had lots of laughs in the car, we all got tired of being in the car. After many hours on the road we stopped at a hotel to rest for the night. The next morning we woke up ready to hit the road for the last part of our ride up to PA. Here we are waiting for our breakfast. We were following the directions from Kathy's GPS to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house in PA and for some reason the Garmin took us right down Washington DC. It was great seeing everything but the traffic was horrible and it added alot of time on our trip. We were so ready to get out of the car and be do...