Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello my Friends!

Happy official summertime to you. :) We've reached the summer solstice time of year and I love how it's getting warmer during the days and the sunsets come later all the time. Nice long days of sun and fun! ☀️💛

Speaking of fun...it was a lovely and fun time here this past weekend. My cousin David and his wife Micki came up from Green Bay, WI to stay for the weekend. Dave ran Grandma's marathon - which is a local marathon here that is nationally known. Many use it to qualify for the Boston marathon. It's funny as I've grown up and lived here my whole life and always had the mentality to stay away from that area during race weekend because it's so busy with people. Besides the full marathon there is a half one and a 5k and between all of them 20,000 people participate! So it was actually fun to be a part of it and get to cheer my cousin at the finish line. It's quite an accomplishment as he's close to my age (he's 53) and only began running as a hobby at age 48. So it's pretty cool to witness. They came up on Friday and we drove the course so he could see it ahead of time. The race was on Saturday morning. We asked what he would want to eat after the race and he said steak. So Matt grilled him a ribeye as big as his head! Lol It was wonderful catching up with them and hanging out. Matt and I did sneak away for a little bit Saturday evening to go to church and to check on my Mom and bring my step Dad goodies for Father's Day before we made dinner for my cousins.

Then early Sunday morning Dave & Micki left... and Sunday afternoon we had my Dad and step Mom over to celebrate Father's Day. We will be going to the lake in the near future to celebrate Matt's Dad too. 

Both of my kiddos were not in town this past weekend but they sent Matt the sweetest messages that made us both cry. They expressed how much they love him and look up to him as family and a father figure in their lives. And I presented Matt with the goodies that were from all of us. I love how Matt has become such an important person in my kids' lives too  and how much we all love him. It's truly a gift in my life I didn't think I would have after my divorce. We are so grateful for him! 

I hope that if you celebrated Father's Day with your loved ones that you had a wonderful weekend too. 💗

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

ice protein coffee 

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

errands, Ruby vet visit to have ultrasound, visit my Mom, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT: 

some new craft projects I want to start on

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

sweet summer watermelon with a little tajin (chili lime seasoning) sprinkled on top

CURRENTLY READING

I need to finish a book I had started a month ago! Then I can dive into my new pile. I'm determined to fit in a little time to read every day now.

 

ON THE TV TODAY:

  Jeopardy, old seasons of big brother (can't wait for the new season soon!) Castle Impossible, AGT, Sweet Magnolias

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - leftovers from the weekend

TUESDAY - buffalo chicken sheet pan bake with ranch potatoes and  roasted broccoli

WEDNESDAY -  tacos and homemade salsa

THURSDAY -  leftovers

FRIDAY - out for dinner?

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

hopefully get back to reading my books, craft, go for walks with Matt

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

 

FROM THE CAMERA:

my cousin's wife Micki, Matt, & I went out for brunch to kill time before Dave was going to get in at the finish line (it's hard to park anywhere to watch him run along the way). She said she wanted to treat us for the hospitality. She's such a sweetheart and I've known her for many years. They are tall folks - Dave is 6'4" and Micki is 6'1" (and I have shrunk to 5'2" now - sigh) Lol This pic shows that I'm a shrimp pretty well. 🙈

Matt took this shot of all the people at the finish line in that moment watching for their loved ones like us. It's neat because there's an app where you can track your runner. They have a chip on the bib they wear with their number. When they run over certain parts of the race it triggers the chip and on the app so you can see where they are.... and you can know when to head to the finish line.

I took this pic from the video I had taken of David coming in at the finish line and giving us a wave when we were all yelling & cheering for him.

Happy David it's over and did it! :) 

Summer scenes from home sweet home:

peonies starting to really pop now and one partly open!

Yay back to shorts season! (spot Ruby in the background doing her wiggles on the floor😂)

Matt & I played some ladderball in the backyard yesterday before my Dad and step Mom came over.

For Father's Day we got pizza from my Dad's favorite place and I made sides (including cutting up wonderful juicy watermelon) and I also made dessert which was an apple bluberry crumble. My Uncle had given me wild blueberries he had picked last year and frozen. I forgot to get an after pic of the crumble baked up - but it was so good and we had it with natural vanilla bean ice cream 😋

my superman 😉 (notice his shirt)

We had been gone to the family reunion the weekend before the week my cousin came up to visit. I decided with my arthritis and how much I wanted to get deep cleaned I would hire a service. They were amazing! I'm going to book them monthly for some things now. And I love all the little details they did around the house - so cute! 

I highly recommend getting help if you need it. It saved my arthritic back so much!! 

The pretty moon I captured last night when I let Ruby out before bedtime.

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 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:

Happy summer goodness to you dear Friends! 

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

Cooking Thursday: Caramel Cashew Bars & Monte Cristo Sliders

 

Hello dear Friends ~

The weekend is in sight and I hope you have some fun plans ahead!

Speaking of fun...I thought I'd share the recipe for these fun bars I made recently that have been a favorite around here for years (just like the twix bars). I thought I had shared them on here before, but now I wonder if maybe I hadn't? So I thought I'd put the recipe down here today so you will have it for sure. 

I also made monte cristo sliders up at the lake for brunch a few weekends back. I forgot to take any pics but we all LOVED them. So I want to be sure to keep the recipe here for my own record. But also so you have it if you would like to try it as well. 😋💗

First up the bars. Think 7 layer bars (I think they're sometimes called magic cookie bars?) but instead of a graham cracker crust it is a sugar cookie dough crust. And instead of a sweetened condensed milk topping, you use a thickened caramel.  I just love cashews with caramel - thus caramel cashew bars were born! (PS: if you've never had a caramel cashew sundae you're missing out - give it a go!)

The recipe I was inspired by is actually in an old cookbook I have. And it was for caramel pecan bars. 

Here's the recipe from the old Pillsbury Holiday Baking cookbook I have (this recipe is under Autumn). So for these bars I just changed the pecans to cashews. And I also add butterscotch chips. So I did about 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips and 1/2 c. of butterscotch chips (maybe a little extra of both but don't tell) 😉

These bars hold up well and don't need to be refrigerated. They'd be great to bring to a potluck. Plus they're delish and always a home run with folks! :)  

Next up I want to share the monte cristo sliders I made for our brunch at the lake a few weekends ago. It's a recipe under my "sliders" board on pinterest you can find if you click here.

Here is the recipe as it's posted from the jennifercooks site. They were easy and so amazing!! We had them as brunch along with fruit and some veggies and dip. Highly recommend giving them a try. The only thing I did differently is that I didn't have gruyere cheese and used provolone cheese slices and they were still amazing. 😋

Ingredients

• 1 package Sweet Hawaiian Dinner Rolls 12-count each
• ½ pound deli sliced smoked ham
• ½ pound deli sliced smoked roasted turkey
• ½ pound Gruyère cheese hand grated

Sauce:

• 1 stick salted butter melted
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Garnish:

• Powdered sugar
• Raspberry Preserves

Instructions

Prepare the Baking Dish

• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Line a 9×13-inch baking dish with parchment paper or foil, ensuring enough overhang to use as handles for easy lifting.
• Lightly coat the parchment paper-lined dish with cooking spray.

Assemble the Sliders

• Keeping the rolls connected, slice them horizontally as one unit. Do not separate into individual rolls.
  1 package Sweet Hawaiian Dinner Rolls
• Place the bottom half of the rolls into the prepared baking dish.
• Layer the ham, turkey, and grated Gruyère cheese evenly over the rolls.
  ½ pound deli sliced smoked ham,½ pound deli sliced smoked roasted turkey,½ pound Gruyère cheese

Make the Sauce

• In a small bowl, whisk together the melted butter, beaten egg, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, and mayonnaise until smooth.
  1 stick salted butter,1 egg,1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce,2 tablespoons dijon mustard,2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• Pour half of the sauce evenly over the layered cheese and meats.

Bake the Sliders

• Place the top half of the rolls over the assembled ingredients, pressing down lightly.
• Pour the remaining sauce over the tops, brushing to distribute evenly.
• Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes.
• If the tops brown too quickly, cover loosely with foil to prevent burning.

Finish & Serve

• Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 5 to 10 minutes.
• Using the parchment paper handles, carefully lift the entire slab of sliders onto a cutting board.
• Cut into individual sliders with a sharp knife.
• Dust generously with powdered sugar.
• Serve warm with raspberry preserves on the side for dipping

Wishing you a great weekend ahead! If you try these recipes I sure hope you enjoy them as much as we did! 

xoxo

Perfect Valentine Brownies & Super Bowl Queso Dip

 

Hello my Friends!

Happy Friday Eve to you. :) 

Do you have any fun weekend plans - particularly any fun Valentine's plans? 

Matt & I are planning to snuggle in as more snow is on the way tomorrow night. But he's going to cook me a steak dinner. Yay me! 💝😋 

We also have some little gifts we plan to exchange together. And I ordered us some special gourmet chocolate covered cherries and a few chocolate truffles that arrived the other day that I'm chilling in the fridge until tomorrow. Isn't it wonderful to have an excuse to celebrate L❤️VE? 

I thought I'd share a couple recipes I had made for our little Super Bowl gathering last weekend. And one of them is for these amazingly decadent and delish blackberry swirl cheesecake brownies! They would be SO perfect as a valentine treat too. 

isn't the swirl so pretty? 

You can see the spread behind us with all the goodies. We watched on the big screen downstairs in our media room (& half of the downstairs is Matt's office as you can see too) 

You can find the full recipe for these brownies on my pinterest board "sweet treats" which you can find if you click here.  But here are parts of the recipe I was able to screen shot (it didn't have a print option which makes it nice and neat). I took a shortcut and made the brownie layer from a Ghiradelli brownie box mix which I highly recommend. So much easier and SO yummy. So I'm only sharing the rest of the recipe for the cheesecake layer and the blackberry swirl. 

*so basically make the boxed mix by the instructions and pour into the bottom of greased 8x8 pan. Then follow the rest of the steps shared here. Doing the boxed mix did add to the overall baking time for me. I think mine took more like 45 minutes or so. I topped them with a drizzle of chocolate sauce and fresh blackberries on top. They were a hit with everyone! 

Some other ideas the recipe gave were:

☀️ serve them in the summer with blackberry sorbet (doesn't that sound amazing?). 

🍂🍁Do an Autumn edition and add a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg to the brownies. 

🎄❤️💚And even a holiday version by adding some orange zest the cheesecake layer. No matter which way you make them - I just recommend that you do! 

Another yummy snack at our super bowl table was a queso dip. I didn't get a good after pic but this was it looked like in the works melting in the slow cooker. We had done up a nacho bar with different chips, taco meat, and then queso dip and all the fixings - so everyone could build their own nacho plate. This queso was also a hit and wonderful to keep nice and warm in the slow cooker for the whole evening. You can find the recipe under my pinterest board "appetizers" if you click here. But I've also shared it below. 

Enjoy! 

xoxo