Week 347 and 20 hours of driving

Hi everyone! I'm happy to have a day off today to spend with my kiddos at home. My weekend ended up being different than I originally planned. My dad's older brother died unexpectedly and I got the chance to go to his funeral.

I drove 10 hours to Utah with my cousin who lives a few miles away from me (without our families) on Friday and came back on Sunday. It was good to be with my family and to be there to hear my dad share stories at the funeral. Almost all of my cousins and extended family were there, most of whom I hadn't seen for at least 10-15 years. It was nice to reconnect, reminisce and give hugs. I am forever grateful for my faith and belief that we will be with our families after death. This brings so much comfort to me.

This quote was on the top of my instagram feed this morning. It sums up pretty much all of my feelings about things as death puts things back into perspective. Make the most of today and remember the good things about the past without dwelling on it.

I'm thankful for my family for functioning without me this weekend. It was nice to come home to happy kids, a clean house and groceries in the fridge and laundry washed and put away. I'm also thankful for friends that I can just send a text to and they'll do anything I ask.

Menu planning is pretty easy this week since I didn't make much of what I'd planned last week.

Monday: Chicken & Gnocchi Soup, fresh bread

Tuesday: Bistro Chicken, garlic mashed potatoes

Wednesday: Quick French Dip Pitas, baked sweet potato fries

Thursday: BBQ Chicken Pizza

Friday: spaghetti

Saturday: easy night

Sunday: roast, potatoes, etc.

What are you making this week? I hope you all have a great week. I'm going to work on being a little nicer, more patient and making my home a little bit more peaceful and organized.

One Hour Rolls

These rolls are amazing! I've been making these rolls since 2001 when I was a newlywed and my sister-in-law shared the recipe with me. The rolls are light, fluffy, easy to make and they only take one hour! And delicious too! I've made these rolls more times than I can count, so I've perfected the art of making them. Here are some step-by-step instructions with pictures for you. Here's what you'll need. I buy pretty much all of the ingredients in this recipe at Sam's club, thus the huge containers. You need warm water, yeast, oil, sugar, salt, egg and flour. In the mixer bowl, add warm water (not hot), oil, sugar and yeast. Mix together. After ten or fifteen minutes the yeast mixture should be puffed up like this. Time to add the salt and beaten egg. Then mix in the flour. (I've used a mixture of half wheat and half white flour successfully.) Keep adding flour until the dough is manageable. It will be a little sticky, b

Don't like your house to smell like food? I've got a kitchen tip for that!

I have a smallish, one story house and if I cook food that is kind of smelly, like onions, the smell tends to linger in every room. This is a pet peeve of mine and (also my husband's). Over the years I've found a few ways to cook smelly food without smelling up the kitchen. Use your garage! I use my garage quite often to cook things in. I open the window and it airs out, especially when you open the garage door. I'm sure my neighbors wonder what I'm cooking. I've used two different kitchen appliances in the garage: my crockpot and my food dehydrator. Crockpot - I did this very thing today since I'm simmering chicken, onions, carrots and celery to make chicken noodle soup tonight. I don't want my house to smell like onions all day, so I plugged it in on my husband's workbench. Food dehydrator - when I make jerky, I plug the food dehydrator in in the garage. I don't really want my house to smell like meat for hours

Chicken Angelo

Don't forget to enter the Whirley Pop giveaway . It ends tomorrow! Am I the only person that asks their friends what they're making for dinner all the time? That's kind of why I started this blog, because I want to know what my friends are making for dinner. The other day I asked my friend, Juli (who is great cook), what she was making for dinner. She told me she was making Chicken Angelo. Then she told me what's in it. I knew I had to try it too because she has some picky eaters at her house like I do. I figured if they'll eat it then maybe it was worth a try at my house. This Chicken Angelo pasta has my favorite things, artichoke hearts and mushrooms in it. But don't be fooled into thinking that my family likes these things too. Because they don't. They won't touch an artichoke or mushroom with a ten foot pole. That being said, my family loved this pasta dish. They even gave me the go ahead to make it again. They loved the ch

What is on your menu this week?

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