Happy Homemaker Monday

Hey there my Peeps! 

How are you doing on this fine Monday? Did you have a lovely weekend?

We were away to see family for a little reunion in Green Bay WI. Matt, Annie & I traveled down to the vrbo rental we had rented...and to meet other relatives for the weekend. It was a gorgeous property right on Green Bay (the actual water not just the city) and it was perfect for all we needed. We have several family that live in that area - as well as a few more relatives that flew or drove up for the weekend. 

We celebrated a few momentous things besides just catching up as family. My ex's Uncle had passed recently and he was a big GB Packers fan. Annie had asked if maybe we took a little of his ashes we could sprinkle some of him there. Matt & I as huge fans as well, were happy to oblige. Plus, in another life he had been my Uncle too. :) 

We also gathered at my Aunt's condo on Sunday for a little birthday celebration of a great Uncle of mine. He turned 98! So we had a little luncheon buffet and cupcakes and sang him happy birthday. 

We were blessed with lovely weather. We played bocce ball out on the lawn. We sat out in the sun and visited. Matt and I took sunset walks with my Aunt Mary Jo and had great deep conversations. We ate a lot of good food and played a lot of games. I don't know that I've laughed that hard in a long time. It was so nice as some cousins that never met Matt finally got to meet and know him. Many family members came up to me and kept saying how he fits in our family so well and how much they just love him. Yep, he's a keeper for life. 😊💗 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

ice protein coffee and half of a bagel with scant amount of veggie cream cheese

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

errands & groceries, lab appt, cleaners come (we have company coming to stay this weekend and sometimes hiring help is a useful thing), visit my Mom, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT: 

things I want to accomplish and to grab to make for company coming this weekend (making lists) as well as Father's Day plans for my Dad (& step Dad, Matt)💙

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

watering and tending to my flowers in the morning as I listen to the birds sing, someone mowing the lawn in the distance, and geese honking on the bay

CURRENTLY READING

I have not been in summer reading mode yet - too busy during the day or too tired at night, but I have lots of good books lined up!

 

ON THE TV TODAY:

  Jeopardy, old seasons of big brother & the office, Castle Impossible, AGT, Sweet Magnolias

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - leftovers we brought back in a cooler from the reunion

TUESDAY - asian chicken crumbles with sauce (Costco) over cauliflower rice, veggie spring rolls

WEDNESDAY -  

THURSDAY -  

FRIDAY - 

*need to plan out the rest of the week before we get groceries

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

organize some of my craft area, play with my flowers/garden

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

I thought you might enjoy this "cozynooks" channel from youtube that had ambiance of a strawberry garden  🍓

 

FROM THE CAMERA:

Watering my flowers this AM and I could see all the ants crawling on my peony bulbs. They will bloom soon, yay! 

My great Uncle Paul is in the yellow shirt. He is a retired priest and we had a little 98th birthday for him at my Aunt's condo:

Here are some moments of family time at the VRBO. We took turns being teams playing bocce ball or being the cheerleaders on the sidelines.

The VRBO was a 5 bedroom 3 bathroom place and had several levels and a few different decks. Matt and I loved this one for coffee in the morning as we were often up earliest.

This is the back of the property standing on the big dock looking back at it. And I caught some sunset pics when were walking back from one of our walks with my Aunt:

Here are some pics of the property. Matt & I secured the VRBO and handled menu planning, grabbing the groceries, and made a lot of the menu items (Matt did the grilling too) - so they insisted we have the primary suite. Which was the whole 2nd floor! 😍

I forgot to get a photo, but besides the dining table it had several stools along the island and the cutest breakfast nook connected with the island that had benches.

the lower level had a bar, big screen tv and fuseball:

The whole 2nd floor was a primary suite that included the bedroom, bathroom, and a hallway that had 2 very large separate walk-in closets and full laundry. Matt & I loved it!

The top floor was like a little cuppola with a desk area....basically a nice quiet work area with an amazing view!

Matt, Annie & I took a visit to Lambeau football stadium and said hi to Vince Lombardi (the statue where Matt & I got engaged). We had stopped there to sprinkle some of my ex's Uncle Gary's ashes (Annie's great Uncle) as he had been a huge Packers fan. Matt & I love Lambeau and were happy to help. We picked out a lot number in the parking field so there was kind of a designated spot to know where he is. I said a few words and we all said an Our Father prayer over him and then Annie sprinkled him and I got some pics for her dad. 

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear, especially everything going on in the middle east right now. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace. For healing for my Mom. 

For the Lord's love and peace to fill 2026. ❤️ 

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way to loving our neighbors as ourselves. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I am so grateful for the gift of family. And I consider my good friends (like you) family I get to choose to have in my life too. 😊💗 

Blessings on your week Friends!

I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Cooking Thursday: Healthier Ham Tetrazzini

 

Hello Friends!

Happy Thursday to you. 😊💗

That means it's recipe time again. And today I thought I'd share this ham tetrazzini I made the other day. It was a great use of leftover Easter ham.  I had looked at a few different recipes and then made my own recipe with some healthier ingredients. It turned out great! And was even yummier the next day reheated too. While I was cooking the sauce it brought Matt right upstairs (he works from home in our lower level). He said, 'If you could bottle that smell you'd make me a rich man.' So I guess that's a good sign, huh? Lol And then he went on to call me Carrie Crocker and say how he's already a blessed rich man with my cooking. Aawww - I know I sure am blessed to have that ray of sunshine in my life. 💛

But before this gets too sickening 😂 let's move on to this delish dish!

Most tetrazzini dishes have a cream based sauce and use spaghetti or linguini. I did things differently based on what I had and the healthier ingredients I wanted to use. Also, this made a 13x9 pan - as we are sharing some with my Mom. But I think you could easily halve everything too. 

I sauteed veggies and aromatics in some olive oil and butter. I then whisked in the ingredients to create the sauce. And once the sauce was well incorporated - I stirred in the ham and peas. 

While I was making the sauce I had a pot boiling for the pasta and made that, drained it, put it back in the pot and had set it aside. Once the sauce was done I stirred it into the pot of pasta to stir everything together. I then poured all into a greased 9x13 and topped with cheese and baked it. We had ours with a green salad. 

I tried to remember measurements (or guess them when I didn't measure). I'm not always good about worrying about measuring in cooking...so thank you for your patience. But here are the ingredients and how I made this dish to the best of my memory. I used protein pasta, fair life milk (more protein instead of regular milk) and greek yogurt instead of heavy cream. All to be a bit healthier and less fattening rich calories. I know I talk about high protein, but if you read up about it - it's especially beneficial as we age to maintain our muscles and strength as we lose a lot of this as we get older. It's also so good for bone health and immunity. So there are real benefits - not that I'm following a fad. Lol Plus, I've been working out and lifting light weights regularly now and want to support those efforts! 😉 I need to keep fighting this old lady arthritis stuff. 

But I believe you should use whatever ingredients work for you and I'll include what some of the more traditional ones would be as well. 

INGREDIENTS:

10-12 oz of pasta (traditional is spaghetti - I used high protein rotini)

2 c. or more of cooked cubed ham (could do chicken or turkey too)

1 & 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella, divided (could do 2 c. if want cheesier)

 1/2 c. frozen peas

1 c. chopped peppers (but could do more traditional which is mushrooms - we just don't like them)

1/2 of a medium onion, chopped

1-2 cloves of garlic (to your taste)

1 c. chicken stock

1 c. milk 

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 c. greek yogurt (or you could do heavy cream)

seasonings to your taste: I did salt (but remember lots of salty ingredients with ham and the cheese so be sparing), pepper, thyme and fresh grated nutmeg (so good in cream dishes)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350*

Put pot of water on to boil pasta according to the box directions. 

While waiting, or while pasta is boiling, heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tbsp each of olive oil and butter. Saute onion and peppers until getting softer and browning a little. Add garlic and saute a minute more. Deglaze pan with the chicken stock. Whisk in the greek yogurt, milk, and the cream of mushroom soup. Season to your taste. Once incorporated well and bubbling, turn down the heat to low. Stir in 1 c. of the shredded cheese, the ham, and the frozen peas. 

Whenever pasta is done, drain and put back in pot and set aside. When the sauce is done take off the heat and stir all into the pot of cooked pasta. Pour all into a greased 9x13 pan. Top with 1/2 c. more shredded mozzarella (or do another cup if you want it cheesier). Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes - broiling the last minute until brown and bubbling. 

Enjoy with a salad or side dish of choice. 

We loved it! It was rich and creamy and was so good leftover too. 

We will definitely make this again and I think I'll use chicken next time. 

Enjoy!

xoxo

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello Friends!

I hope this Monday has begun beautifully for you. Happy almost April, almost Easter and happy holy week for those that participate. 

I love how April means we are hurdling that much closer to true Spring weather here in the northwoods! Today it's gray, cold, and in the 30's and still quite late winter feeling rather than spring-like. But the Easter forecast looks promising of 40's and ☀️, so here's hoping! 

Did you have a nice weekend? We had such a productive one and it brings me such joy!! My wonderful Hubby helped me tackle a giant job. This house doesn't have a basement. Just a lower level that is our media room. And even though we have a 2 stall garage there is actually not a lot of storage space when you have vehicles in there. We are fortunate with some bigger closets. And the biggest extra storage space/closet we have is in our lower level room. There have been so many decorations, bins of things from my past life with my ex, an old hope chest among many other things in there. We pulled EVERYTHING out. It was a chore as part of it is in a crawl space that is not easy to deal with when you have old joints and arthritis. Lol But we got it all out in the light of day. We sorted it all into stuff to get to my ex, stuff for Goodwill, stuff for the kids, and stuff to re-organize. It was a massive job I have wanted to do for a decade and Matt was an absolute dreamboat and helped me so much and we got it all done! Now there is so much more storage there for his world too. He moved into this house with me 3-4 years ago and packed a lot of his stuff away from his old place.  I have been living here for 20 years now). So it was another win knowing I could give him storage for some of his collections and things now. Plus his office is down on that level too. Now it makes me want to tackle every other closet in this house. I'm going to go through each one by one. Starting actually first with our dining room built-in hutch. I feel positively lighter in my soul getting that done! 😊

We also went to church this weekend and it was Palm Sunday and they read the passion. I love sharing that with Matt who is learning about Catholicism. We have such great discussions after mass like that and he asks such great questions. I just love that man SO much! We also went out for a nice dinner one night and ran a few errands. 

Now on to Easter planning week ahead...

 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

coffee (fasting)

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

more Goodwill trips, dinner with my Mom and step Dad, errands, groceries, clean out hutch, Easter cleaning and getting ready to host this weekend, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT: 

That even though it's going to be a colder gray week - I was thrilled to see my first robin recently and that I keep hearing geese as they're all flying back for Spring. I know they can't wait for the bay to be rid of ice so they have a lovely landing strip again. :)  

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

Listening to praise and worship music and devoting quiet time to prayer. 

CURRENTLY READING

 Coming Home to the Comfort Food Cafe by Debbie Johnson (the next book in that series I had been reading)

 

ON THE TV TODAY:

  Jeopardy, old seasons of big brother & the office, the Pitt, Survivor, Outlander, Virgin River, Call the Midwife, The Forsytes, Best Medicine, Shark Tank

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - dinner at Mom and step Dad's

TUESDAY - leftover creamy potato soup from the weekend, salad

WEDNESDAY -  tacos

THURSDAY - maybe egg bake to use up veggies? and I have some breakfast chicken sausage I could throw in there too

FRIDAY - ? not sure, mostly fasting for Good Friday

*We will be hosting the Easter meal Sunday with our relatives over after Easter mass. I plan to do: 

Appetizers of orange peppers sliced and filled with whipped cream cheese & dill to look like little carrots, deviled eggs, crab dip with veggies & crackers. Main dishes of glazed ham, cheesy potatoes,  green veggie salad with raspberry balsamic dressing, fresh fruit salad, Matt's family recipe spring jello, corn, crudite of pickles and cheese, fresh baked dinner rolls, homemade lemon bars, easy fruit pizza cookies (they are tradition), and a strawberry rhubarb sauce over ice cream for my gluten-free Bro. Also, soda, iced tea and coffee

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

read, watch shows with Matt, work on some shutterfly projects

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

Summer thoughts too soon? 😂

FROM THE CAMERA:

Isn't this insane? And there were still several bins that were pulled out not even in the pic yet 🙈 It's crazy how much stuff one accumulates over 20 years. I am not holding on to far less. I keep telling myself it will be easier when we move from this house one day if I get rid of more stuff now! 

More Easter around the house:

Some new recipes I made last week - caprese chicken pasta with balsamic glaze, and filet-o-fish sliders with homemade tarter sauce. Both turned out great and were so tasty! I will share the recipes soon. 😋

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear, especially everything going on in the middle east right now. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace.  For everyone to have a safe and blessed Easter.

For the Lord's love and peace to fill 2026. ❤️ 

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way to loving our neighbors as ourselves. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Wishing you a blessed week ahead and a very blessed Easter holiday my Friends. 

I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.