January 23 -- Menu Planning Monday

After two weeks of menu planning, I've discovered something.  I need flexibility on the weekends.  So this week, I'm only planning our weekday meals.  Afterall, I have no idea what we'll be doing this weekend . . . so far in my meal planning, I haven't followed the weekend menus anyway.


So here goes for this week:

 
Monday:

Chicken Fajitas  (Aztec flour tortillas & fajita seasoning mix on sale @ Tems)
Rice

Tuesday:

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings
Cornbread

(Grands biscuits on sale @ Tems)

(Picture & recipe from http://www.bubblecrumb.com/)



Wednesday:

Crockpot Chili
with all the Fixings ( corn chips, sour cream, cheese, diced onions)

Thursday:

Grilled Chicken Tenders in Garlic, Herb & Wine marinade
Noodles Alfredo (I like the wide noodles instead of fettucini)
Green Beans
Garlic Bread

Friday:

Pizza
Salad

I went to Weight Watchers this morning, and I had lost another pound!  Yea!

I've had some of my friends question me as to how I'm doing Weight Watchers and cooking all this food I'm planning every week. 

First of all . . . I don't eat everything  I cook.  For instance, I've cooked macaroni & cheese during the past 2 weeks, and I haven't eaten any of it.  I'm eating what I cook, but I'm weighing the meats and measuring the food carefully.  I've been tracking my points and staying within my daily points target trying hard not to go over into the weekly points allowance.  It's not always easy, but Dave has been very encouraging to me.

Hope you all have a great week!

Tina and the Ferrell boys

Valentine's Day -- Some Fun Ideas

I love to decorate for the holidays. . . . every holiday.  If I could have come up with something festive for MLK day, I would have decorated for it!  :D

With Valentine's Day just a few weeks away, I've been saving several items concerning Valentine's Day in my favorites folder.  That's the way I "pin" things I see.  I have yet to master the "pinning" technique for pinterest.com, so I've just continued saving recipes and crafty items in my favorites' folders like I always have.

Here are some of my favorites for Valentine's Day :

You know how much I love to cook and when I saw this Chocolate Cherry Whoopie Pie recipe, I just knew I was going to have to make them for Valentine's Day!

I'm not sure about using cherries in the filling . . . but who knows . . . maybe I'll even give the cherries a try too!

And then I found a similar whoopie pie recipe called Heartbreakers using a red velvet cake mix that I might try instead . . .


(picture & recipe from asmallsnippet.blogspot.com)

 She adapted her recipe from a whoopie pie recipe at www.bakerella.com/easy-and-easier-valentine-treats/ by making them heart-shaped instead of round.

Then at myblessedlife I found some heart-shaped rice krispie treats . . .


(picture & recipe at myblessedlife.net)

 Aaahhhh!  I'm getting in the Valentine's Day mood!   I also found a cute Valentine's Day Countdown Calendar! at gallamorewest.blogspot.com :



(picture from gallamorewest.blogspot.com)

 She has some great ideas for Valentine activities and treats for each of the 14 days leading up to Valentine's Day.  Sounds like something fun for the Ferrell boys and me!  She even made the chalkboard too!  I'm so inspired!  I loved her ideas for the Valentine's Day chex mix, the footprint cupid, cupcakes topped with heart brownies, the love shack houses made from graham crackers, and heart-shaped breakfast.   I probably won't do all of that, but I think the countdown calendar is definitely going to happen at the Ferrell homestead!

And lastly . . . a burlap Valentine's Wreath  I saw at my blessed life. net. . . Oh my!  I so want to make this!  But I'm a little intimidated about the amount of time she said it took to make the wreath . . .  1.5 hours!


(picture from myblessedlife.net)

 So I may have to make this "easy peasy" wreath I saw on 4tunate . net instead.



(picture from 4tunate.net)

It's made with a wire hanger and strips of fabric tied on . . .  I couldn't get the original website with the instructions for making this wreath to come up on my computer so I may just "wing it".
I'll let you know as I venture into making some of these Valentine's Day projects.

Menu Planning Update:

So we are midway though the week and the menu planning has worked out great this week!

I made the Lemon Chicken last night. 

It got 3 out of 4 Ferrell thumbs up. 

Shane didn't want to eat chicken, and I don't think he would have liked the lemony taste of the chicken anyway.  It was pretty tangy with the lemon and Italian seasoning sprinkled on the chicken. 

Alex, surprisingly, did not like it.  He's usually the one child I can count on loving my new dishes. . . Zach liked the chicken  . . . dipped in ketchup. 

If I make it again, I will cut back on the amount of lemon I use.  Also, I only used 1/2 stick of real butter.  It was very good and if I had used a whole stick of butter I believe the dish would have been greasy.  Dave & I both liked the Lemon Chicken.  However it may be a dish for grown ups more so than children.

Last night I went ahead and fixed the Chicken Tortilla Soup up to the point of cooking it.  I put the crockpot crock in the refrigerator where it stayed until lunch time today and then I started the soup cooking on Low.

It is really good.  I loved it!  And it's Weight Watcher friendly . which makes it wonderful!   One cup of soup is 3 points!

There is a drawback to this meal . . . soup is not a favorite meal for my boys unless it's Alphabet soup . . .  so I stuck a frozen pizza in the oven as a standby for them.  Shane ate 4 pieces of pizza.  He loves pizza, spaghetti, and chicken nuggets.  I'll be glad when he gets a more mature palette and will try new foods.  Nowadays, he looks at the dishes I make and says "that's yucky."

Here's the Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe with my modifications. 

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

3 chicken breasts, cooked and diced ( I didn't use the 4 to 6 breasts recipe called for)
2 (14.5 oz) cans of petite diced tomatoes
1 (16 oz) can of mild enchilada sauce  (couldn't find 14 oz can)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can chopped green chilies
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 (14.5 oz) chicken broth (I added water to make it the 32 oz the recipe called for)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
salt & pepper to taste
2/3rd (16 oz) pkg frozen corn (Couldn't find a 10 oz bag)

Combine all ingredients in crockpot.  Stir.  Cover and cook on Low for 5 to 6 hours or on High for 2 to 3 hours.  It made almost 13 cups of soup for 3 points a cup.
I did not make the corn tortilla strips in the oven like the original recipe called for.  Instead, we ate the soup with tortilla chips, sour cream, and shredded cheese.

It was great!  Of the 3 Ferrells that tried the soup, this soup got

3 out of 3 Ferrell thumbs up!

I froze 5 cups of the soup for another day and saved some for tomorrow's lunch.

Tomorrow we're having Tacos and Mexican Rice.  I'm trying a new recipe for Mexican Rice so I'll let you know how it turns out.  My boys love the Mexican rice that you get in the restaurants so I hope it tastes like that.

I hope I've inspired you to try some of the recipes I've found or some of the Valentine's Day crafts I'm trying.

Have a great rest of the week now that we're over the Hump!

Tina and the Ferrell Boys!

Five Ferrell Thumbs Up on the Ribs!

So I put the Slow Cooker Dr. Pepper Ribs in the crockpot this morning around 9 o'clock.  I used the ribs I had purchased on sale yesterday at Tems.  (BTW, the ribs are on sale until Tuesday!)  They looked pretty good except they were all frozen together in a great big block!  The ribs were cut into portions of 3 or 4 ribs together . . . and all of these portions were frozen together and I couldn't get them to break apart! 

Dave suggested I take the box (closed of course) to the front concrete porch and throw the box down like a bag of ice to break the ribs apart.  Somewhat skeptical . . . I did as he suggested.  It worked!  It didn't break all the ribs apart, but it broke enough off and separated for me to use for tonight's meal.  Here's the ribs at the start of the cooking process.  They were still frozen.

I seasoned them and poured 1 cup of Dr. Pepper over the ribs and left them to cook on low all day (8 hours).  Here's what they looked like right before we took them up.

We took the ribs out and set them on a cookie sheet to pour the liquid out of the crockpot.    They were very fragile . . . the ribs kept breaking apart because they were so tender . . . and fall apart good. :)

The recipe said to brush BBQ sauce on the ribs and place them back in the crockpot for 1 hour to continue cooking.  (See the white crockpot . . . that's my "baked" potatoes cooking)

Instead of putting the ribs back in the crockpot . . . Dave wanted me to put them on the grill and finish cooking them there and since I was cooking the ribs for Dave  . . . I did as he wished.  :)

Here are the ribs right before I took them up.

I cooked them on the grill at about 300 degrees for a few minutes on each side.  I had to use a spatula and tongs to turn them over because they were wanting to fall apart!

Dave loved them!  In fact, everyone loved them!  We give this recipe:
            5 thumbs up from the Ferrell boys and me!

Last night's menu is also worth sharing.  We had grilled boneless pork chops, brown rice, and green bean "bundles".

Shane helped me in the kitchen when I was making this meal.  He's a big "helper".

I used the Mesquite marinade on the pork chops.  I got one of the great guys in the meat department at Tems to cut me some boneless pork chops about 3/4 to 1 inch thick.  I think pork chops do better on the grill when they're a little thicker.  I let them marinate for about an hour in the refrigerator while I cooked the rice and green beans.

The brown rice recipe I use is in the BankFirst cookbook, Angela's Angels, in the side dish section.  It's Kay Outz's recipe and uses these ingredients:

You mix 1 cup of rice, the two soups, 1 tbsp of butter, and 1/4 cup of water together in a casserole dish.  Put a lid on the dish and cook it at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Mix and fluff the rice before serving.

My boys don't like the little brown onions from the french onion soup in the rice . . . they pick them out!  Next time I make it, I'm going to blend the onions up so they won't see them!

The green bean "bundles" are my lazy way to make them.  Here's the ingredients:

You pour the 2 cans of green beans and juice into a casserole dish.  Lay the bacon across the top of the green beans and sprinkle with garlic powder and pepper.  I cut the bacon in half.

Bake at 350 degrees uncovered for 1 hour.  I always make these green beans and the brown rice together since they both cook for an hour.  Sometimes I'm not lazy and I actually make the bean bundles, but this lazy way is really good too.  The bacon cooks and crisps on top and adds great flavor to the beans!

Right before the rice and beans were ready, I put the pork chops on the grill.  I cooked them at 300 degrees on the grill for several minutes on each side.  I turned them over 2 or 3 times and let them cook at least twice on each side of the pork chop.  I like to cook slowly on the grill so as not to burn the food.

The pork chops were really good.  The mesquite flavor made them so yummy!  The fat on the outside of the pork chops burned a little (see the black) but the pork chops weren't burnt.  I went to check on them one time and opened the grill and . . . the fat on one of the pork chops was on fire!  Freaked me out a little. :D

But of course, while I'm grilling, I have a little "helper" in the kitchen which can be distracting . . .

"Look Mom . . . I'm in a box!"

It's a wonder I didn't burn all the pork chops!  "Look Mom . . . I'm running fast in the box!"

I am working on a little project I saw on pinterest.com, but I haven't finished it yet.  When I get finished I'll be posting it to show you.  I'm making it from some of the wood from the torn up piano . . . which by the way . . . is still on the front porch!

Don't stress about the piano . . . we were told by professional piano tuners to chunk it.  Dave has been dismantling it since before Christmas . . . I hope it's gone by Easter !  Here are the pieces I'm trying to repurpose through my crafting projects. 

Dave thinks I'm nuts.  LOL!  :D 

Well, I've got to go.  We've got school tomorrow and have to get up early after an easy . . . lazy . . . day at Ferrell Farm!

Oh, btw, I went to Weight Watchers this morning, and I have lost 4 more pounds!  Yea Me!  That makes 10 pounds total since I started at the first of the year.

 So long . . . and sweet dreams from
                                            the Ferrell boys and me!

Sunday Night Blogging & Next Week's Menu

It's quiet at Ferrell Farm this Sunday night. . . the Ferrell boys have been banned to their respective bedrooms -- don't ask!  Hopefully they will be asleep when I go check on them in a minute.

Dave is asleep next to me . . . he has a very bad cold/cough going on.  I have him "drugged" up on some Nyquil so hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow.

I've planned next week's menu so I thought I'd share that with everyone.  I was surprised at how many people liked me posting my menu and recipes, but apparently everyone has trouble coming up with something fresh and new to eat every week.  I appreciate everyone's encouraging comments in person and otherwise (My momma passed on some people's comments . . that's the otherwise )

So here we go:

Monday:

Slow Cooker Dr. Pepper Ribs
Crockpot Baked Potatoes :)  ----->
Mac & Cheese
Left-over green beans




Tuesday:

Easy Lemon Chicken  
Rice
English peas
Garlic bread

(picture & recipe from thequeenbeeshive.com )




Wednesday:

Chicken Tortilla Soup   

Toppings:  cheese, sour cream
tortilla chips


(picture & recipe from thelarsonlingo.blogspot.com )



Thursday:

Tacos  (The taco kits were on sale this week at Tems)
Mexican rice

Friday:

Take-out Mike's pizza  (cause I hate to cook on Fridays)
Salad

Saturday:

Lunch:  Alphabet soup & grilled cheese  (My boys love this!)

Supper:
From the freezer:  PW Chicken spaghetti (we didn't eat it this past Sat. like planned)
Salad
Garlic bread

Sunday:

Lunch:  Roast/gravy/carrots/rice/rolls  [Dave is off this Sunday :)]

Supper:
Left-overs :)


This week I'm trying a few new recipes (Poor Dave!), but I think they sound pretty good!  Maybe they'll be keepers!

When I planned my menu for this week, I used the Tems sales paper in deciding what to have . . . the ribs were on sale for this weekend only.   They had 10lb. box of baby back ribs for .98 cents a pound.  I was a little concerned about buying a box of ribs I couldn't see . . . so I called Robert Stevens, the meat man at Tems, on my cell phone . . . I coincidentally have his cell phone number . . . and asked him about it.  He said they were really good ribs with a lot of meat on 'em at a great price . . . so get 'em!  So I did!  If you can't trust your butcher . . . who can you trust?

I planned on getting the skinless, boneless chicken breasts that were on sale . . . but they were frozen with hairy ice crystals all over them and I didn't like the way they looked. . .  So I opted for the chicken breast and chicken tenders that weren't frozen and also not on sale. 

The taco kits and the garlic bread were also on sale.  I love my Tems!  They also had some California clementines.  They were not the Cutie namebrand, but I'm still gonna give them a try!

We've had an easy weekend.  I've been cleaning around the house and washing clothes.  My house is not anywhere as clean as I want it, but I took several breaks to play with my boys.

Zach got  uno attack! for Christmas and we played it some this weekend.  The boys love it!  Tomorrow, we're going to play the dominoes that Alex got.  Fun.

I cleaned out three drawers from the boys' wardrobe . . . one drawer had pajamas that used to be Zach and Alex's when they were Shane's age!  Spiderman, Hulk, Cars, Buzz Lightyear, Thomas the Train, and even more Spiderman pajamas all for Shane!  He was so excited.  He immediately had to put on the Cars pjs.

Friday afternoon Alex spotted an Eagle flying over the catfish ponds near our house.  We saw eagles at Dollywood this summer.  The Dollywood Eagle Mountain Sanctuary is a 30,000-square-foot aviary that houses the country's largest presentation of non-releasable bald eagles.  Read about Dollywood's Eagle Foundation HERE.

They also have a live bird show with all kinds of birds like hawks, bald eagles, golden eagles and other birds (whose names I can't remember). 

The boys loved it  . . . especially Alex.   See how excited he is pointing to the eagles.  He's my little nature boy. . . 

When he said he could see a big bird and he thought it was an eagle, I doubted him.  I told him it probably wasn't an eagle and remember, eagles have white heads.  He said it has a white head.  I pulled over and looked up and sure enough it was an eagle.  Actually two eagles flying around and swooping.  It was so cool.  It made Alex's day. :)

Shane has spent the entire weekend watching Despicable Me over and over.  I had recorded it for the boys a while ago, and it has become Shane's favorite movie.  He'll ask me to please put on "da-pickle-me" movie.  It took me a while to understand what he meant, but now I've heard it so much I know what he's talking about.

Well, anyway, that's our weekend at the farm.  We're all off work and school tomorrow for MLK holiday.  I'm going to my WW meeting in the morning, but after that, I plan to spend the day with the boys . . . playing cards or board games or maybe even laser tag!  I hope Dave feels better and can play with us too!

Hope your weekend has been exactly what you hoped it would be! 

It certainly has been for the Ferrell boys and me!

Update: Menu Planning at the Farm

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I have undertaken to plan our menus for the week as a way to make life easier and hopefully cheaper.

This week is almost over, and I thought I would share my progress. 

I've already reported Monday night's meal in my previous post, so I'll begin with Tuesday.

First, I must confess that I have been suffering with sinus and ear issues since November.  I should have gone to the doctor . . . I would have a couple of days where I felt fine, and then I would be struck down with a terrible headache that would last for 3 days.  It's just . . . I hate going to the doctor. 

I woke up Tuesday morning with my ears bothering me terribly. . . pressure. . . dizziness . . . So sweet Dave insisted on taking me to the doctor.  I'm glad he did.

I feel so much better now.

But Tuesday night, we altered our menu plans.  After being at the doctor's office and with me feeling so bad, Dave and I decided to have the planned menu for Friday night on Tuesday night instead. . . Mike's take-out pizza! 

After that . . . I re-arranged all the other night's meals.  Here's how it went:

Tuesday:     Take-out pizza   (It was sooooo good!)

Wednesday:  Crockpot roast/gravy/rice/carrots/rolls  (Soooo good!)

Thursday:     Spaghetti and meatballs/garlic bread   (Good or not -- It was a toss up)

I mix up the Pioneer Woman's (PW's) meatballs on Monday night.  I wanted to get the meatballs made ahead of time and frozen before the meat went out of date.  Here they are after they had been in the freezer overnight. 

I rolled them in flour before freezing them because I had seen another recipe for meatballs where they floured them before freezing them.   Not sure about doing that again.

On Tuesday morning after they had been frozen overnight, I divided them into two freezer bags to keep in the freezer until I was ready for them.

On Thursday night, when I got them out to cook, each frozen meatball was still loose in the bag.  Pretty cool.  I didn't have to thaw out the whole bag, but just get out the number of meatballs I wanted.

I browned them a little without cooking them all the way through. (This is according to PW's recipe)

At this point in PW's recipe, you put the meatballs in a dish and pour the tangy BBQ sauce over the meatballs and put them in the oven to cook for 45 minutes.  Here is where I changed it up a little.

I poured Prego spaghetti sauce over the meatballs along with a little water instead of the BBQ sauce. 

I then cooked them in the oven for 45 minutes.   Now in PW's cookbook, she says these meatballs are more of the meatloaf-comfort-food kind of meatballs and not the kind of meatballs you have in spaghetti.

I should have listened to her.  She is afterall . . .  the Pioneer Woman!

Here's my spaghetti sauce and meatballs after cooking in the oven . . . we had eaten some of it at this point:

Here's what the Ferrell boys had to say about the spaghetti and meatballs supper:

Dave and Zach would only eat the sauce and pasta.  They wouldn't even try one of the meatballs.   

Alex and Shane loved the meatballs!  Shane actually ate 2 whole meatballs!

As for me . . .  I didn't like them too much in the spaghetti sauce.  I can't explain why . . . I just don't think I'll be cooking them for spaghetti ever again.   However . . .

The meatballs were delicious when I made them in the BBQ sauce.  The whole family loved them.  You can read about that HERE.  So I know I'll be making them again . . . afterall I have a whole other bag of meatballs in the freezer!  I'll just be making them with PW's BBQ sauce recipe.

I still can't get over Shane eating 2 whole meatballs!  He came in my bedroom with a spaghetti sauce beard!  I tried to get a cute picture but this is all I could get:

He didn't want his picture taken with spaghetti sauce on his face!  He's hollering "NO!" in this picture:

And then he just wouldn't have anything to do with me!

So funny!  And cute!  He's going through a phase where he wants to carry a lunchbox to daycare just like his big brothers.  I have to put a drink and snacks in a lunchbox for him even though he gets snacks and meals at daycare!

And on top of that . . . when he gets home in the afternoon, I have to put his afternoon snack in his lunchbox so he can eat out of it instead of his plate. . . .  And tonight, he wouldn't eat his chicken until I put it in a ziplock bag and in his lunchbox!  Talk about high-maintenance!  But at least he's eating. 

So far the planning ahead each day's menu for the week has been great! 

• I had all the food I needed for each night's supper. 
• Also, I knew what I was going to cook each night so I didn't waste time trying to come up with a dinner plan. 
• And surprisingly, I didn't have to go to Tems any during the week!  And I'm one of those people who goes to Tems almost every day!

I learned some stuff this week too . . . . and I'm going to apply it to next week's menu.   

Hope you are learning something from my efforts.  It's been fun.  I like to cook and luckily, Dave is a pretty good sport at trying my cooking experiments!

Hope you have a great weekend!  Spend some time doing something fun with your family or friends . . . or just hole up in your house and watch movies all weekend!  Just make plans to do something!  Don't let the weekend slip by you with nothing to show for it!

As for me and the Ferrell boys . . . I have some craft/diy projects planned . . .

That is if we aren't sick.  As I'm writing this post, my sweet Zach is laying in the bed next to me feeling like he needs to throw up!  He's asleep so I'm hoping it passes and he feels better in the morning!

Sweet dreams from the Ferrell boys and me!

My Crockpot Cooking Discovery . . .

So I started my week with a plan for dinner each night of this week.  For tonight's meal we had Crockpot BBQ chicken, baked potatoes, mac & cheese, and a salad.

Ok, first off, I didn't fix a salad.  I just didn't feel like it, and Dave didn't want one.

But otherwise, this meal was a success!

Last night, before I went to bed, I made the BBQ sauce:

I followed the directions in the RECIPE except I used 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of vinegar.  Some of the comments in the recipe said the BBQ sauce was runny so I added more brown sugar hoping that would thicken it up.  It did.  Mine wasn't runny at all.  I also used fresh chicken breasts and not frozen ones.  Some comments suggested that frozen chicken made the sauce runny.

I put the chicken and BBQ sauce in the crockpot's crock  :)  and in the refrigerator.

I washed the potatoes last night too.  I let them sit out and dry overnight.

During lunch today, I started the chicken crockpot cooking on high.  It needed to be ready by 4:30 for Dave's "lunch" tonight.  The chicken is in the wide oval crockpot. 

Guess what's in the tall crockpot . . .  Baked Potatoes!

Do you still call them "baked" potatoes if they're cooked in a crockpot?

In my internet surfing this weekend I found an awesome food blog called A Year of Slow Cooking.  In 2008, Stephanie O'dea made a New Year's resolution to use her slow cooker every day during the year 2008.  She recorded her journey -- recipes, successes, discoveries, and failures -- in her food blog.  She has some awesome knowledge about crockpots because of this year-long resolution to herself.

One of her discoveries . . . you can cook baking potatoes in the crockpot!

You may already know this fact, but I didn't know it at all!  I tried it today. 

I followed her directions.  <------ There's the link.

It was very easy.  I pricked the dry (after washing) potatoes with a fork and wrapped them in tin foil.  Put them in the crockpot on high (since I was starting at 12:30).  By 4:30, when I was packing sweet Dave's "lunch", the potatoes were squishy (or soft) like they're supposed to be when they're done.  You can cook them on low all day too.  Stephanie O'dea suggested this would be a great way to cook the potatoes when having a potato bar for supper or a party.  Cool.

Anyway.  Here is the baked potato fresh out of the crockpot:

It was really good.  You know  . . .  Good . . . like at the steak house - I didn't have to cook it -- Good!  The potato really tasted like the potatoes you eat when you go out to eat . . . not at all like the ones I cook in the oven or microwave.  That little beauty was 3 points.  6 points after I added the low-fat margarine and sour cream.  So worth it!

The chicken turned out pretty good too.  My chicken:

The sauce was very good with it.

The boys liked the chicken.  Zach doesn't like potatoes (weird) so I made mac & cheese for him.  Easy dinner.

Also for your information, when I made my menu for the week, I used a menu planner/grocery list sheet I found at one of the websites.

It was very handy.  The grocery list is right beside the menu so it makes it easy to plan your trip to the grocery store.  You can get this same planner HERE.  I also found another version of the same kind of planner HERE.

In other news . . . I went to weight watchers this morning and after a week of counting points, drinking water, and no exercise . . . I had lost 6.8 pounds!  Ta Da!  

Actually, I believe that 4 pounds of that loss can be attributed to me giving up the sweet tea for a week.  I seriously lived off of sweet tea.  Really good . . . really sweet TEA.

I worried that I wouldn't be able to do it "cold-turkey", but I found something that has really helped me.  It is one of my new favorite things:

My sister turned me on to this little treat.   It's MiO, a liquid water enhancer.  When you squirt a little in your bottled water . . . it makes it taste so much better than plain water.  And since it's liquid, it mixes instantly.  The bottle is small and fits easily in my purse.  One little bottle lasted me a whole week  . . . three water bottles a day for a whole week.   That's a lot of squirts!  And guess what?  Gary got some in for me at Tems.  And it comes in a sweet tea flavor!  Don't you just love that! 

Another one of my other favorite things since I started this diet is the "cutie" clementine. . .  not Shane's hand . . . it's cute but I'm talking about the little oranges:

They are soooooo good!  Sweet . . . no seeds . . . easy to peel . . . goodness!  Even Dave loves them!  I have only eaten the trademarked "cuties" so I don't know if regular clementines are easy to peel, seedless, and as sweet.  The "cuties" are a hybrid mandarin/clementine that was bred to be easy to peel, seedless, and sweet.  They are expensive (to me) . . . but I think they are worth it.  At least while I'm dieting!  A little perk!

Also, one of my favorite things are these wonderful marinade seasoning packets by McCormick, Grill Mates:

 I use them a lot when I grill.  In fact, I'm using the garlic, herb, and wine packet and the mesquite packet this week.  I've been using them for a few months now . . . after Beth Scoggins told me how wonderful they are.  They really add great flavor to chicken.  I am going to try the mesquite on boneless pork chops this weekend.  They have them at Tems in the seasoning pack aisle.  They are definitely worth trying.

Okay.  My food tirade is over.

Let me tell you what happened last night at the farm! 

When I went out to feed our cats -- black cat and yellow cat -- I saw this animal standing a few feet from the patio looking at me . . . just standing there . . . looking at me . . .

I couldn't tell what it was.  I thought it was a fox.  Then it moved!  That's when I realized it was a bobcat! 

Or either a very big cat!  When it moved . . . it sat up on it's honches(sp?) just like a big cat . . .

I eased back into the house and freaked out!  Dave was at work.  He's always at work when snakes, giant lizards, and bobcats show up around the patio!

I was debating on whether to get the gun or not . . . then decided to watch it instead.

It hung around in the backyard for a while. . .stood out by a tree. . . 

I brought the cat's food back inside and have decided to only feed them in the day time.  Poor kitties!

And the worst part of this is . . . I couldn't find black cat!  only yellow cat was on the patio where they stay.  :(

Here's a picture of the animal/ bobcat/ ?

I tried to lighten it up . . .

So all day I've been thinking about the possible bobcat encounter I had last night and about my poor missing black cat. 

The good news is . . . when I got home from work today . . . black cat was on the patio!  He didn't get eaten!  I was so glad . . and I don't even like cats.

So now, tonight, Dave has texted me -- after showing my pictures at work -- and he says it was a coyote!

Is that any better!?!  If I see it tonight . . . I think it might meet it's maker  . . . if you know what I mean . . .  I practiced shooting this afternoon with Dave . . . so I'm ready. . . I think . . . 

If I get it . . . we'll know whether it's a bobcat or a coyote! 

Why don't you look at the picture and tell me what you think it is?  I have no idea since I haven't seen either one in person before!  Do coyotes move like a cat?

That wraps up the past couple of days at Ferrell Farm.  The boys have been quiet tonight . . .

almost too quiet . . .

I've got to go check on them.   See you later!

Tina and the Ferrell boys