Late Post :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have no idea what I was thinking.  I made enough food for an army!  And none of us are that crazy about leftovers :-(  Fortunately, Adam really liked the stuffing that mom made (it was a new recipe using loose sausage) and he loves green bean casserole, so actually offered to take most of those back to school with him tomorrow.  I, however, have about 8 lbs of turkey left to do something with.  And I really don't like leftover turkey...LOL!  I have ingredients to make turkey potpie, but sheesh, how much turkey potpie does one need!?!?

You'll notice there was someone missing in the above picture (besides me, who was taking the picture).  Miss Alyssa had Thanksgiving dinner with Jesse.  She texted me this picture after supper.  I questioned her on it; said she forgot to send me a pic of her plate full, thus this instead ;-)

This was the exciting news of the week!  After me complaining for years that Adam was driving junk cars that constantly broke down, Kurt finally decided to look at a car for himself with the intention of passing his Audi down to Adam.  This whole process moved quite quickly in Kurt time; I think he started looking less than a week ago.  This is quite unusual; he's been 'looking' for a truck for the last 6-8 months.  I wasn't convinced when he found this Mini Cooper that anything would ever come of it....but, lo and behold, as of this AM he's now the owner of this cute little buggie.  It's a 2003, but only had ~67,000 miles on it and the price was right (believe me, if the price hadn't been right, he'd never have bought it!)

It's so tiny, though!!  Kurt said with the seat back, Adam can actually drive it and supposedly it's even more comfortable for him than driving the Scirocco.

Now I can rest easier knowing that Adam is driving a more reliable car :-)

It Was A Doctor Who Kinda' Day

Today was the 50th anniversary of the British television show Doctor Who. There are people who are totally hooked on this show (not me!)...I think their official title are Whovians.  Well, I was in the midst of three of them today :)

Whovian #1-Sheri (on left):

Whovians #2 & 3-Jesse & Alyssa:

There was a 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who on this afternoon at 2:50 pm and then repeated again at 7 pm.  They watched both!  AND we had a Whovian supper!

Upper left is a mango/cucumber salsa.  Upper right is Honey Mustard Mock Custard and those are fish sticks on the bottom.  Why this combination you ask?!?!?

To be able to make/eat FISH CUSTARD TACOS!!

And for dessert we had GOOEY BROWNIE FAUX FISH FINGERS WITH CUSTARD :-)

Now, I will tell you this won't be a regular in my meal planning book, but for one meal it was OK :)  These recipes came from Alyssa's Doctor Who cookbook (see, I told you she's a Whovian...who else would have a Doctor Who cookbook?!!?!?)

**Oh, and BTW, meet Jesse, Alyssa's boyfriend ;-)**

Pulled Pork

Tried this yesterday.  I shredded the roast once it was cooked and put it back in the sauce and simmered it for about 15 minutes.  The sauce was not very strong, but when we put it on rolls, we added BBQ sauce and it was pretty tasty. I made fried rice to go along with it and had coleslaw as a side.  I have enough left over for at least one, if not two, meals.  I'd probably make this again.  

Last Penn State Game

Today was the last home game of the season and Adam's there :-)

There's too many lasts this year :(

Thanks :-)

Another patient has given me a token of her appreciation for all I've done for her.  She knows I'm a huge Penn State fan and felt the angel was appropriate ;-)

I love my patients.  My job is so gratifying and rewarding; I love helping them and serving as the liaison between them and the physicians.  

New Pot Roast Recipe

A friend from work found this yummy pot roast recipe on Pinterest.  It's way easy!!  And quite tasty, too!

1 packet McCormick Slow Cooker Savory Pot Roast seasoning mix

1 packet McCormick Au Jus gravy mix

1 cup water

12 oz can Coke

chuck roast

carrots

potatoes

Place roast in crock pot.  Mix savory pot roast seasoning mix with one cup of water.  Pour over roast.  Add coke.  Cook on high x 4 hours or low x 8 hours.  (I cooked mine on high x 7 hours and it turned out just dandy!)

You can add peeled potatoes at the start of cooking and throw in a small bag of carrots with a few hours left.

Right before serving, take out the potatoes and carrots and add the Au Jus packet and mix well. That sort of thickens the juice, which means you don't even have to make gravy!

It's so easy and so yummy!

DCF

This is what Adam did this past weekend:

He was at the DiscipleMakers Fall Conference.  There were close to 400 students from multiple colleges.  This was just the Penn State contingent :-)

(He's the tall one in the pic!)

Yum!

Well, this is a keeper for sure!!  I saw this slow cooker sauce in the coupon circular this weekend and found it at the grocery store (of course, I hadn't cut the coupon out...LOL!!).  They have about 4 different flavors for different meats, this was the only one that I thought we might like. I decided to add a can of mushrooms, but other than that, all I did this morning before I left for work was put the roast in the crock pot (not browned), added the mushrooms, 4 potatoes (I peeled them last night and soaked them in water) and the packet of sauce.  Tonight I made salads and peas and voila!  We really enjoyed it!  And it was SO easy!!  It had a great flavor, the mushrooms were delicious and the meat just fell apart.

Now, where'd these come from!??!

This is Samson's absolute favorite way to be held!  He loves his paws hanging down, whether he's in our arms or sitting on the sofa....or sink....or kitchen table.... ;-)

So Sweet!

I had a patient bring these for me today :-) He and his wife are moving South and he stopped by to say goodbye and thank me for everything I've done for him over the years.

Most of us teared up when I read the card aloud: I am leaving the area but will think of you. You have set the bar high for caring, compassion and the love of giving. You can't be replaced.....

This couldn't have happened on a better day.  There's a lot of change going on in our office right now, and for many of us, sadness...and a few other emotions that I won't get into right now.  Today was a particularly rough day; this was a bright spot in the middle of a bad day.

One of Our Favorites! And So Easy, Too :-)

This is so quick, easy.....and yummy on top of it! For three of us, I buy four boxes of frozen veggies (as below) and fry up one pound of ground turkey (or beef). I microwave all four boxes of veggies at the same time for 12 minutes while the turkey is browning. I add either Season All or Nature's Seasoning to the meat, too. Then just throw it all together and stir! Voila! Done!!  I make a tossed salad to go with it.

If you don't want leftovers, then one box per person is sufficient.  I like having leftovers for lunch the next day at work :-)

The 'icing on the cake' is adding french fried onions on top when serving!

Delicious!!

Vacation: Part One

This was our last (tear) fall trip to State College with a student enrolled at Penn State :-(  It was pretty laid back.  We met Adam at the Chick-Fil-A in State College when we got there; he and a friend were 'babysitting' Rosie, an adorable little girl who was actually celebrating her first birthday that day!  Adam and Gene were giving their parents a few hours alone as their present to Rosie ;-)

Adam had something he needed to do for about an hour after that, so we went to the hotel and checked in, then he met us there.  After we got something for dinner, we went back to the hotel for the kids to get a swim in.

Saturday brought us making a quick stop at Family Clothesline for us to pick up some Penn State attire for pictures :-)

We can't go to Happy Valley without making a stop at Matt and Karlyn's to say hello!  Here's Tate, Gabe and Lydia with Alyssa and Adam.

On the recommendation of Adam's boss, we took a ride to Millheim, PA to have lunch at Elk Creek Cafe & Aleworks.  Adam had the sampler, as you can see.  We all took little tastes.  I personally would have been happy if they would have served Coors Light.  LOL.  The food was good, however!

After lunch, we headed to two wineries, Mt. Nittany Winery and Happy Valley Winery :-)

Can't leave without ice cream from the Creamery!

We rounded the day out by going back to Adam's apartment and ordering wings from Wings Over before heading home.

All in all, a great visit!