Ok. So. This isn’t going to be a measured, neat, consistent looking recipe.  Together we can get the idea. Let’s go.

Here’s what you need. Veggie choices are yours. I’ll show you what I used.

I love these White Sweet Potatoes.  They offer a unique sweetness and texture. I skin these, and leave the skin on the red ones. I used a sweet vadalia onion, about half. And carrots.🥕🥕

Then the star of the show!! The bird.

I patted this guy dry. In the cavity and out. Most bacteria conscious people may not like this, but I let it sit on the counter and dry even more as I prepped my veggies.

I discarded the giblets and what not. No thanks.

I folded the wings under, and used salt and pepper together, tossed into the cavity. Little more over the bird.

This blue speckled roaster makes me happy. It’s been with me for a long time. Has a lot of meals under its belt.  It just makes me feel something nostalgic.  I love it. I sprayed it with olive oil. This really neat Misto thing was used for that. Then I put my veggies in there, with some fresh basil and Mrs. Dash.

Now for this so easy herb butter.  Found these “roasting herbs” at Kroger.  You could easily use any herbs you desire here. This blend was a good chicken blend in my opinion.

You could also use real honest to goodness butter, I used “Smart Balance. ”  to me, it tastes just as good,  and is easy to cook with.

Put your butter in a saute just until it gets white there on the edges.

Add your herbs.

Saute for just a few minutes. Move those herbs all around to lift out the fragrance and flavor that butter!

Take off the heat, and stuff those herbs into the cavity.

You are now left with this delicious herbed butter to brush all over the chicken. How delicious would this herbed butter be on a grilled steak??

Place chicken on a rack and brush that luscious, fragrant herbed butter all over!

Now ya roast. 350 – preheated oven for an hour.

Here is the kicker. Don’t cover that bad boy.

Let it roast!!

Kitchen Fact:

The safe internal temperaturefor cooked chicken is 165° Fahrenheit (75° Celsius). A meat or instant-read thermometeris your best bet for determining thetemperature of your chicken, and if you’re cooking a whole bird, it should be inserted into the thickest part of the thigh but not touching bone.

Wine choice should be a blush one, or moscato, or even a sangria complements all these flavors.

I pictured that wine bottle holder. It’s another thing that makes me happy. Bought that in beautiful Cancun.  It brings to mind that beautiful place and the memory is perfect.

Stuff:👇

MISTO

DELALLO

Simple Truth Organic

Deer Creek Wine

How about some refreshing Mason Jar, personal iced tea?

Here’s a fun way,  and the possibilities are endless.

Need:

16 oz. Mason Jar (s)

Tea bags of choice.

Sugar, which is optional.

Water💧

Lemons, berries, mint leaves, or anything you desire! I used apple slices before.  You could even add all the above for a wonderful fruit infused iced tea.

Add your tea bags to jar. For the 16 oz. Jar, I used three.

Fill with your water. Then add in your sugar, berries,  lemon slice, mint leaves, or however you design your own personal tea.

Lid that jar, and place in refrigerator to “brew.”

If it’s sunny out, put that out in the sun!☀️

Couple hours, either way, you have your tea over ice.

Fun idea:💡

For a dinner or lunch crew, use the smaller size jars and make a variety of teas for each guest!

Iced tea reminds me of Summer. Let’s have tea.

💕

I saw a meme on Facebook, poking fun at the food bloggers and the long stories before you get to the recipe.  It was funny, quite true, and I snickered.  I however, enjoy the story.  I read it all. Food and cooking are an experience.

I’ll jump right in here, to the dinner I cooked this evening.   This won’t be a fancy measured recipe to print out. Let’s just experience a cool dinner idea, that is easy and simple.

The Sheet Pan. Once I only thought you baked cookies on these, but yowza, you can do a lot with a simple sheet pan!

Tonight we did sheet pan roasted vegetables with grilled eye of round steaks.

I’ve had this Tupperware Marinader thing FOR YEARS.  the miracle is both pieces are still around.

This is a simple marinade,  that brings out delicious flavor to the eye of round cut.  These cuts can be pretty tough, but with this simple recipe,  they grill up fabulous.

1/2 cup each olive oil and balsamic vinegar,  4 cloves garlic, salt, pepper. Add your steaks to this any way you usually marinate.  A plastic bag even.  I let those marinate as I prepared my veggies.

I found this adorable salt grater from “Salted”

I use it often,  and used the Himalayan Pink Salt in this recipe,  to taste.

Line a sheet pan with foil. You don’t have to, I do because clean up is a breeze.  I add olive oil to the foiled pan, much like you would Pam or cooking spray.

Thes Potatoes from Kroger’s Private Selection line are so neat!! “Petite Medley”

Washed and cut in half. They add such a great color layer to your pan.

I used zucchini,  baby bella mushrooms,  yellow squash and halved grape tomatoes. The thing about adding grape or cherry tomatoes is, as they roast they create another flavor layer, and almost make a sauce.  Mixed with the seasonings and olive oil, the flavors are spectacular.

Once all your veggies are chopped and on the pan, drizzle with about 1/2 cup olive oil and add whatever seasoning you enjoy.  Even salt and pepper alone is fine. I used the Penzys Ruth Anne’s Meskego Ave., for chicken or fish. But let me tell you, what this seasoning does for roasted vegetables is fantastic!! I’m out of it now. So I need to stock up! I am really a huge fan of all things Penzys.

Roast in a 425 oven for 40 minutes. After about 20 minutes, I’ll go in and turn everything. At that 20 minute mark too, you can check to see if your Potatoes are done, and gage your time from there. It’s not an exact science I guess.

The steaks were grilled perfectly.

I paired a BlackBerry wine with this meal. A deep color, such as red, brings out all the flavors with steak and vegetables. This wine from Rettig Hill is not a super sweet or extra dry wine. It was perfectly paired here.

Sheet pans make such easy and simple dinners, with little effort to clean up! It’s a great way to get your veggies in.  The possibilities are endless too.

Use any vegetables your family loves with chicken, fish, sausage, steak. Anything!

Cooking and enjoying food is indeed an experience.  Enjoy the stories people tell, especially over dinner.

❤

Kroger Private Selection Online

Rettig Hill Wines

Salt Grater found on Amazon

Penzeys Spices Online

I won’t give you a full on out story or novel approach to what I made for breakfast this morning.

I will tell you, it’s a cold Winter Sunday morning.  Our sun is out, but it’s cold. Windy. “Blustery” they call it.

At least once on the weekend we cook a big breakfast. When the kids were growing up it was eggs made to order, sometimes French Toast,  bacon, fried potatoes, and lots of pots and pans banging.  Teenagers hated that. Yet loved the breakfast.

I’m still in that mode, even though it’s just the two of us. This morning I made a Turkey Sausage Egg Bake and Honey Bran Muffins.

Without further fanfare,  here are the recipes:

Turkey Sausage Egg Bake.

This one won’t be as professional looking as the muffins. I’ll give it a good go here though.

The great thing about this bake is its versatile,  customized to what you like, and how big you want it to be.

What I did:

I browned a pound of Turkey Sausage.  I used the Simple Truth brand. I guess it made me feel better to use that brand. 👩‍🍳 I whisked 6 eggs with 1/2 cup milk, pinch of red pepper flakes, salt, pepper to taste, and about a tablespoon dried basil.  Halved grape tomatoes,  2 green peppers chopped, red onion, baby bella mushrooms,  and cheddar cheese shredded.  Rubbed olive oil in a 13×9 pan, added all the ingredients with the eggs poured over, and cheese on top.  Baked in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes.

There are indeed leftovers!! I’ll portion into individual squares and it’s a great fast breakfast during the work week, warmed in the microwave. This would be a fantastic brunch with friends too. Adding the ingredients to your liking. Ham, other veggies, and anything you enjoy in an omelet works too!

Sunday Breakfast.  Warm and comforting on this January Winter day.

Vacation. Packing. Oh what on earth to I take? Trying to cover every possible clothing scenario. What if I need that one blouse? Oh and that one eyeshadow? Those earrings.  I never wear them, but what if I really need them there?  Socks? Will I need a lot of socks? The struggle for this “You never know ” kinda personality is real.

I could write an entire novel of the neverending conversation of if TSA will approve my lipstick, or if I need to carry on my shampoo, or which is which? How many ounces are actually in a pound? Do I have to check my purse? What if my shoes don’t pass?  Very odd things go through my mind. I’m not looking for an international incident because my hair gel is a few ounces off of the mark, and I should have checked that.

We went to Jamaica.  It would be, and absolutely is, impossible to translate properly exactly how beautiful it is there. Upload, upload, upload, picture after picture just trying to express the beauty.  I was accused of “not being in the moment ” by some Facebook commenter,  because my phone was in my hand,  but the truth of that was I indeed was in the moment. The majestic sea, the soft breeze, the sound of the waves, the smell of the air, the smiles of the people around me, laughter, music somewhere always playing, conversations,  too much rum punch,  or possibly not enough. The warmth of the sun hitting my face.  A straw inside of a coconut,  and drinking the water inside!

I spent a lot of time just looking at the beach line. Staring really.  Where I was sitting one day, I looked beyond the white caps. You couldn’t see the ending. I watched a bird fly out. To the deepest blue color. A boat was going past, the music playing somewhere behind me. My husband said he was watching me. Watching me watch actually.  He said, “you love this, don’t you?”  Of course, yes. But I added that I was  “feeling this.”

I think that you can look at something all you want. Feeling it, with your eyes, it yet another whole thing.

I walked along the little beach line one day and felt a lot of things.  As the waves went out, I decided with them, a few things were going to go out of me too, at least try not to allow things in, and out, and back again.  Maybe I don’t need to become upset by every little thing that happens around me. Perhaps I save the upset for what matters. To that end, not apologizing for being hurt. That’s a big thing.  We feel hurt by an action of another,  and somehow end up apologizing for that?  Odd, but we do it.

Maybe, quit trying to be a “better person,” and just be the person you are.  Take a few deep breaths, before you speak.  But, speak. Your truth doesn’t have to be anothers. Which explains why it’s yours.  Understand other people. Understanding doesn’t always mean agreement. Disagreement doesn’t always mean a fight.  Bring the right energy into the things you live and breathe.  Locate some sort of balance.

I forgot a few things there.  I suppose I brought back the important things.

I took the earrings out of my suitcase, put them back in my jewelry box, because I might need them next trip.

“You forgot something. ”

Yes. I did.

✌

Ah. The after Christmas decorating dilemma. I call it that, because everything seems so bare,  dark,  and almost Wintery sad when you pack away the tree. It seems like so much more of a chore when you go to put it all away,  rather than the excitement felt when unpacking it all to put up.

Small touches of pine and berries, snowmen, and some little trees are still a Winter decor “ok”, and using things you have are easy on the budget, and can add those cozy touches that come with Winter and the need to feel warm.

Turned around a Christmas themed pillow and this wonderful moose check was on the flip side. Added pine and red berries and it made a cozy feeling area with the added battery candle.  Some pine around a lamp base adds just a little something-something.

Old sled with a snow dusted wreath, skates, cut greenery from bushes outside, and your porch can still be winter cozy.  Lanterns bring a warm feeling too when lit at night.

Taking the lights off, I decided to keep this tree in a corner, with the burlap bag and galvanized bucket.  Fills the corner, and still feels Winter bright.

Little touches, things you have, and left over Christmas stuff can keep things from feeling dark, and create a warmth as we all await Spring.  Make your space yours. Home is wherever you are.

Santa may be on a beach somewhere and packed away.🎅

We’ll await the promise of Spring.🏡

Happy New Year!!

New Years Eve, 2018.

The normal I’m gonna do…and blah blah..” begins.  Gyms get full with the resolute.  The produce section gets a lot more traffic at the local grocery store.  The rush and wonder of the holiday season fades, and Winter sets in.

I guess I join in on some of that year after year.

I think I’ll be more healthy.  Perhaps lose a few or a lot of these extra pounds that came in.  They came invited though. I mean, I participated in the party.  Maybe I’ll do more of the things. Whatever that means or whatever those things are.

In truth, 2018 taught me some stuff.  If you are being taught, then it’s definitely up to you if you learn.

Losing people.  In that were lessons. In their lives were gifts.  In the memories are learned lessons I intend to carry over into tomorrow. All of us end. We end exactly the same. Our lives here, now, at this moment,  is where you actually become.  Not everyone in your life is going to understand you. Not everyone stays.

We lose people, and we gain. The key I think, in all of it, is to be intentional.

If I’m resolved to anything as day 1, of 365 is nearing, it is to be more intentional.

Cultivating and intentionally investing into the relationships around me that matter.  Sometimes you just have to be completely involved in your own life enough to desire to share it. To pause and be in it with things and people that shape who you are.

Be more intentional about listening. Making time to be in that moment,  rather than moving though it.

If you think about it there is actually time. There is time for that lunch. That call. That text, that drink, that dinner, that trip, that letter,  that new top, those new shoes, that laugh, that cry, that job change, that word,  that apology, that moment, and that smile.

There is time to intentionally Love.

With everything,  there is hurt. Pain sometimes. Part of international love is pushing through that, in the end, or even at the end of the day, it matters exactly where you put your intent.

So yes, I’m doing that ” blah blah, New Year” thing too.

Maybe I’ll see you at the gym.

Intentionally.

✌

Ever stop and think how quick time passes?

Maybe not the clock on the wall, but “life” time. Those 365 days that add up to a year in our lives. We pack a lot into those 365 days.  As I get closer to the end of that last 365 batch, and get ready for a fresh new batch of 365, I think about how it seems you blink, and that time passes.

Decorating for Christmas around the house, brought to mind so many memories and emotions. This year almost everything has new meaning to me. I think about last year at this time, doing the same things, and how much has changed since then.  How quickly it did change.

I was talking with a friend,  and asked the question,  ” why do we do all this?”  Meaning all the preparations and decorating.  She said, ” we do it because it makes us happy in the moment,  and reminds us of a time when we were young, and things were simple.”  I’m honestly not sure that’s a direct quote, but close enough to the sentiment, and absolutely true.  I thought about that conversation as I put something here or there. It did make me happy inside, and reflective of simple things, and easier moments.

I remember the feeling of sitting on the steps as a kid, looking at the presents under the tree. The wonder of it all.  As the batches of the 365 come and go, I remember the faces of my kids waiting on steps to see what Santa brought.  The Christmas plays at church. How my Dad shook his keys to make them sound like sleigh bells on Santa’s sleigh, and we acted like Santa was on the phone with our kids. Putting toys together at 2am, and understanding why my parents were so tired on Christmas morning.

As the new batch of 365 days gets closer, more moments,  more experience,  more Joy’s, more ups, more downs are sure to be in that batch.

The wonder of it all, in this thing we call life, sometimes we wish we could stop time, and hold it where we want. We can’t.  That’s the thing about time. It moves, and we move with it.  The blessing is, if we learn to cherish time with all it gives us, it might seem to slow just enough for us to catch up.

Peace and joy to you, and your new batch of 365.

💕

Significance.

I have been using that world a lot lately.  I say that this or that is significant.  I told a friend that the new restaurant I went to had a very significant side salad.  I talked about a container of body cream being significant.  I told someone else that my new mascara was significant.  I have talked to my husband about the significance of a card he received in the mail.  I could go on here, because it is truly becoming a word I cue up and use constantly anymore.   I am not even sure if I use the word correctly.  It just sounds very good, and brings “significance” to a conversion.  At least I am telling myself that.  We all want to sound interesting, right?

This made me think about the word itself.   My Mother in Law passed away a few months ago.  On the heels of losing my mother, these two very significant people (there it is again) left us.  I never felt like I had a Mother in Law that was typical.  She was younger than I am at this very moment when I first met her.  She was beautiful.  Smart.  Strong.  Tenacious, and always giving advice that was welcomed.  The day she died, I walked outside of the hospital and noticed birds singing, people walking and talking, the sun was out; life continued.  It always does.  We get moments of significance, in the ever changing landscape that is our life, and those moments need to be savored.  Held.  Then spoke of often, as we continue on.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Which brings me to why I think I am using this world a lot.  In the last year I am learning how every thing we go through has significance.  A very small thing like noticing the song of a sparrow in a tree, all the way to a conversation at just the right time, to the people that enter and leave our lives, all have significance and importance to how we grow and change and become.  Nothing we go through or do in any given day is wasted. It all matters.  The traffic we got caught in, the wrong number we answered, the “thanks” to the clerk, the nod to the stranger, or the hug from a friend.

It was something my Mother in Laws life, and death taught me.  To notice the significance in a very simple things. To breath in experience, even if I think it’s nothing.   I am going to keep on using this word.  There was significance in noticing that I was saying that word a lot.  (see?) 

♥

Sometimes there is a balance to things. An order. Other times there is not.

We celebrated the “baby” of the family turning 22 with a “cook-out.”  I think the official term for that is “BBQ.” However, when living in the Ohio Valley, cooking out is a thing that weather controls. Anytime you can “cook out” it’s a celebration in and of itself!  We had it at my oldest daughter’s home. She did everything. Pasta Salad, dips, bread, meatballs, and yes!!!! Hotdogs, hamburgers, and chicken.

I can’t remember the last time I ate a hotdog from a grill, at a cook-out. We’ve been trying to be more healthy around here. We don’t get it right all the time, but those hotdogs looked tremendous. Hotdogs are the more easy simple things of this life. Slap some mustard, ketchup, and onion on that guy, and you have treat that calls to memory much about Summer and life and joy. So, I ate the hotdog last night. That easy simple thing. Balance. 😂😁💁

I went to Walmart, only to buy wrapping paper and a few other Walmart grabs. While walking by the clothes section, the clearance rack sang a song to me, called “Terra Sky”

This particular line of clothes they have is so easy and simple, and quite affordable! 

The great big yellow smile sign said $3.

These cute, off shoulder or on, “generous” fit blouses were $3!!

What?  Of course I bought a few! Three bucks here, and I have a few blouses that will easily transition into Fall with some boots and a jacket. So comfortable, and can be dressy, or casual with a change in shoes.🙌

Democracy brand boyfriend  jeans, some simple Jewerly accessories from Plunder, knock off Converse style shoes, from Roebuck & Co., and the easy simple look was completely affordable and comfortable.👍

There are gems hanging on a clearance rack. Always let it sing to you.👋

Makeup should be easy too. Some of the things I can’t do without are Cody Airspun loose face powder, of course Lipsense!  Almay Smart Shade face moisturizer, in “Straight up Medium” is a new drugstore find for me. I really like it, and around $8, it fits the budget nicely.

I think I’m going to opt for a salad today.  Offsetting the hotdog.✌

Balance.

Easy.

Simple.💞💋✌

Stuff to click:

Pinterest

Facebook

Almay Smart Shade on Amazon

Cody Airspun Loose Powder on Amazon

Plunder Jewelry

Democracy Brand Clothing