Italian Smoked Sausage Salad

1 lb Hillshire Farm smoked sausage
16 oz spaghetti noodles, cooked and drained
2 cups broccoli, steamed until tender
Italian dressing

Slice the sausage, then quarter each piece so it is bite size pieces.
Place sausage on a cookie sheet and bake or broil to heat and cook through. It is good when it browns a little.
I pour the noodles in a large bowl. Add the sausage and broccoli and toss. I then pour about 1 cup of dressing over it all, adding more if needed to coat everything. Toss to coat all ingredients.

It is even better when this sits in the refrigerator overnight to marinade. It is good both hot and cold. This is so quick and easy for a last minute meal to put together. Slap your husband's hand when he tries to pick out the pieces of sausage.

Roasted Banana Bars

Recipe from Cooking Light magazine.

Bars

2 cups ripe bananas-about 3

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

2-1/4 cups cake flour (I used white flour)

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup butter, softened

1-1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

Icing

1/4 cup butter

2 cups confecteners sugar

3 oz cream cheese, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.Combine bananas, 1 Tbsp butter and brown sugar in oven proof dish. Bake for 35 minutes, stirring after 17 minutes. Cool slightly.

3. Combine flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.

4. In a seperate bowl combine banana, buttermilk, and vanilla.

5. In a large bowl combine butter and sugar. Blend well. Add 2 eggs and mix well.

6. Add flour mixture and banana mixture into butter mixture, alternating the flour and banana mixtures until incorporated. Pour into greased large casserole dish. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

7. Mix creamcheese with powdered sugar and vanilla. Spread on top of cooled banana bars. Sprinkle on chopped pecans.

8. Yeilds 2 dozen bars.

These were very good. Very similar to an iced banana bread.

Menu Plan Monday 9/21/09

Monday

- King Ranch Chicken Casserole

Tuesday

Banana Muffins

Grilled Cheese and leftover chicken noodle soup

Smoked Sausage, pasta, with broccoli and italian dressing

Wednesday

Egg sandwich

Chicken salad sandwiches/PB&J sandwich, chips, carrots

Chicken cordon blue, green beans, macaroni and cheese

Thursday

Hash brown casserole with onion, egg, ham

black bean soup

spaghetti, salad

Friday

biscuits with sausage

tuna salad sandwich, carrots

crock pot chicken, rice, corn on the cob, broccoli

Sat

bagel with cream cheese

leftovers or sandwiches

bean soup, Moroccan bread

Sunday

cereal

bean burrito, carrots

Asian noodle chicken with peanut butter sauce

Banana Bars

Peanut Butter cookies

Cupcakes

Donuts made from canned biscuits

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

1 whole chicken, cooked and cut up

10 corn tortillas

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup chicken broth

1 can Rotel tomatoes

taco seasoning

8 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put a layer of chicken in bottom of casserole pan.

Put a layer of tortillas. I tear them to fit all the spaces.

Put another layer of chicken.

Mix soups, Rotel tomatoes and broth together in a bowl. I just sprinkle taco seasoning in to taste. Add half of this to casserole.

Put a layer of half the cheddar cheese.

Repeat layers.

Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly and slightly browned.

You can use a rotisserie chicken if you are short on time and need to get supper ready quickly. Pour all the juices from the chicken into your soup mixture. I then take the bones and boil them for a fresh batch of chicken broth to use another time.

Blessed with Grace.

Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Garage sale 9/19/09

A Dell laptop for $35.00 Bike for $20.00. Kyle's bike was stolen, he can't find it, ???

vase $.50

Clothes $.25 each

American Eagle skirt for $1

Clothes $.50 each for my 13 year old. She won't wear the turquoise shorts. The plaid ones are Hollister.

Material $1 for the two big pieces and $.25 for the others. I paid $.25 for the two shirts to use as material.

These are earrings, but I bought them for putting in the center of brooches. All for $1.00.

G

I am dying...

to tell you that I DO NOT HAVE A TUMOR!!!! It is a cyst. I went in yesterday for my Endoscopic Ultrasound and biopsy. That is where they put an endoscope with an ultrasound tip down your throat into your stomach and the first portion of your small intestine. They are able to use the ultrasound to see your pancreas and other organs better from the inside. He did a needle aspiration and it was fluid filled rather than a mass like a tumor would be. Sorry to all those who are eating or who were planning on eating until you visited my blog.

I had to be at the hospital at 9:30 and my EUS was at 11:00. I guess someone took longer than expected because it was close to 11:00 before they took me back to pre-op. I was taken to the pre-op unit where there are 11 beds set up. I put on my special bootie revealing fashionista gown and grippy socks and was given bed number 3. My nurse got an IV started on the first try. Yipee! But, she put it on the inside of my wrist and it felt like it was pulling up the whole time. I laid there for almost two hours. I could hear the people on each side of me through the curtain. I knew it would be awhile when I heard the lady next to me tell them she was having an EUS with Dr. Billings- my doctor. Meagan was on the other side. She and another man were brought in after me, but were taken back before me, so I guess they were with a different doctor. When they came to get me the guy called me Meagan. I was hoping that they knew what was really going on and didn't take me and remove something on the wrong person.

I woke up in post op and the nurse came over and told me it was a cyst. I started crying and she freaked out and asked what was wrong. I told her I was happy. I don't think she understood that I had prepared to have cancer and go through major surgery, chemo, and radiation. I would lose my hair. The diagnosis of the 10% of people caught early enough to have surgery is an expected 18-20 months to live. If it has progressed where it is not contained in the pancreas and cannot be removed with surgery your diagnosis is less than a year. To go from that to it is a cyst is just amazing and wonderful. God is so good. I am singing and dancing and jumping up and down.

There were beds across from me in post op. The nurse kept trying to wake a man and he would not wake up. Then he kept passing gas really loudly. I hang around 9 and 11 year old boys too much, because I thought it was so funny. Then I realized that I might have done all that, too and wished they would hurry up and let me go home. The horror of not knowing what you did while under anestesia.

The cyst causes the symptoms I have had with stomach pain, etc. I still need to get it under control. Today, my throat is very sore. I am not sure if I am developing a cold or if it is just from having stuff in my throat and oxygen blown into my nose. I have had to use a decongestant and sneeze quite often. I feel as if I am running a fever, I am assuming just fighting what was done to my body. My stomach is upset. So, today I am just going to take it easy. I have my sewing class, but can just rest the rest of the day.

Fall Patchwork Scarf

Check out Twice Remembered's link up with projects that people made themselves.

Be sure to check out more projects at A Soft Place to Land.

I was in the mood to make something today so I made a fall scarf. I am in love. It was so easy! I won someone's scraps off a blog last year and it had the owl fabric in it. I am so in love with that fabric! The rest I bought from a friend that was selling off her fabric.

This shows the fabric I lined it with. I cut 15- 5" squares. I measured that against my green scarf that I love and decided on the length of my green scarf. I just cut a 5" strip of the backing fabric. I had to piece two of them together. Then I pinned it to the front and cut off the excess.

I have had this orange shirt for a few years. It is a medium and I am an extra large so it doesn't fit. I cut the back of this fabric for extra squares for my scarf. Don't forget to look at sheets, pillowcases, old clothing, and other items for fabric. I cut out another scarf that I am making. I am using the pillow sham that I had from the camper and a nubby fabric baby quilt I bought at a garage sale.

Garage sale 9/12/09

I got 5 Worship CDs for $1 each. The book was $1.00.

Sweater $.25.
Christmas balls $.50. I want to use these for crafts at Christmas.

Robins egg blue and tan/brown candleholder. The EXACT colors in my front room. It was $.50.

Bag for $1.00. I have a problem with bags.

Set of 8 glasses in the box for $2.50 Platter and plate with wall hangers for $1 each.

Frame $2.00

Alabama Laws

Alabama
• A 1950 anti-obscenity law in Irondale, Ala., prohibited any showing of anyone nude or "in a substantially nude state" except a babe in arms.
• Anniston: You may not wear blue jeans down Noble Street.
• An ordinance in Linden, Ala., provided that all women of "uncertain chastity" had to be off the streets by 9 p.m.
• Bear wrestling matches are prohibited.
• Boogers may not be flicked into the wind.
• Children of incestuous couples are deemed legitimate.
• Dominoes may not be played on Sunday.
• Hunting is not allowed on Sunday.
• Incestuous marriages are legal.
• It is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while operating a vehicle.
• It is illegal to impersonate a person of the clergy.
• It is illegal to maim oneself to escape duty.
• It is illegal to stab yourself to gain someone's pity.
• It is illegal to wear a fake moustache that causes laughter in church.
• It is legal to drive the wrong way down a one-way street if you have a lantern attached to the front of your automobile.
• It is legal to drive the wrong way on a one way street if you have a lantern on the front of your car.
• It is unlawful to wear women's pumps with sharp, high heels.
• It's against the law for a man to seduce "a chaste woman by means of temptation, deception, arts, flattery or a promise of marriage."
• It's illegal to play dominoes on Sunday.
• Jasper: It is illegal for a husband to beat his wife with a stick larger in diameter than his thumb.
• Lee County: It is illegal to sell peanuts in Lee County after sundown on Wednesday.
• Masks may not be worn in public
• Men may not spit in front of the opposite sex.
• Mobile: It is unlawful to howl at ladies inside the city limits. It is unlawful to wear women's pumps with sharp, high heels.
• Montgomery: It is considered an offense to open an umbrella on a street, for fear of it spooking horses.
• No persons may sell "blow-out nuts".
• Peanuts are not allowed to be sold in Lee County, Alabama after sunset on Wednesdays.
• Pool halls may not be operated between 11:30 PM and 6 AM.
• Putting salt on a railroad track may be punishable by death.
• Slavery is still legal in Decatur, Alabama.
• The game of crackaloo is illegal in Fairfield, Ala.
• Women are able to retain all property they owned prior to marriage in the case of divorce. However, this provision does not apply to men.
• Women are able to retain all property they owned prior to marriage in the case of divorce. However, this provision does not apply to men.
• You cannot chain your alligator to a fire hydrant.
• You may not drive barefooted.
• You may not have an ice cream cone in your back pocket at any time.
• You must have windshield wipers on your car.

Master bathroom before and after

Another before and after for the party. I am showing this one backwards, so you are seeing the after, then the before. We laid tile flooring with a mosaic border. We took down the mirror and used two framed mirrors. We changed the light fixture to two fixtures. We replaced the vanity with a Costco vanity.

Remember these iron pieces I got at a garage sale for $2.50 each? I used two in this bathroom.

The candlesticks are from a garage sale a couple of weeks ago.

The curtain was found at a garage sale. It is a Waverly print and was premade. I paid $2.00 for it. It fits my window exactly.

Now, for the before photos. This was the wallpaper. Let's play a game. Can you find the smiling bug? How about a monkey wearing a headdress?

The owner before us had a lace swag and put up the 3/4 high shutters.

Green carpet. I do not know why? Icky green carpet in a bath is against the law.

It just looks so busy to me, and cluttered.

. Join in at Sanctuary Arts.
Thrifty Decor Chick

And Between Naps on the Porch.