Tuesday, July 31, 2018

1 pd. of Spaghetti = 3 main dishes

Spaghetti With Meat Sauce

This pic compliments of https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/





Howdy Sweet Friends,


How is your week going so far??
Good I hope.....
Can you believe this is the last
day of July already.....that is just
totally amazing to me....


We are 2 months into hubby's
 retirement today and still loving it!!
So far, our week has been a good
one, a lil busier than usual, but 
that is fine...... hope yours has
been good too.

Thought I would share some-
thing that was helpful to me,
that just happened by mistake
actually....but thought it use-
ful to share with you.

A few weeks ago I decided to
make spaghetti and meat sauce
for din din.....and because I was
hungry, and tired and not really
thinking I made a whole pound
of spaghetti for just the 2 of us.

So once we had dinner and I was 
cleaning up the kitchen, I thought,
 oh wow, we really have lot of 
sketti left over....and thought what
 could I do with it, as I really do not
 like to waste food.  So I thought
I know.....I will make a Spaghetti
 pie.....as they are very easy.


So first, I rinsed all the leftover
Spaghetti in the colander with
hot water to get that starchy
gunk off that settles on it, as it
cools....then after rinsing I let
 it drain really well.  Then I got a
 glass pie pan and put half of the 
leftover sketti in it,  then thought
don't want to make 2 of these or
they will not get eaten, so was 
thinking what else can I make,
and Mac n' cheese came to mind,
and I thought perfect.

So I added our leftover meat sauce
 on top of the spaghetti in the pie pan,
then added some shredded mozzarella
 and parmesan cheese, and sprinkled
some granulated garlic and italian
 spices on top of that, and it was 
a done deal.



This pic and the one below are
compliments of lil o me!!  lol

 Then I started to make the Mac and
 cheese....once I put the spaghetti in a
 casserole dish I took a knife and fork and
 sort of cut it into pieces, then added 2
 different types of cheeses and stirred it
 up as best I could. (no milk added yet)
 Then I covered both dishes and popped
 them in the fridge to keep for the next 2
 nights for din din.




Uncooked Mac and Cheese, without
Milk added, that comes later when you
are gonna cook it.



My purpose wasn't to give you the 
recipes but the idea. I whipped these 
2 extra items together in less that 
10 mins, but had a partial dinner for
 2 more nights.  Love that!!  and
thought you might too!!


You can use whatever sauce you
make or buy and have meat sauce
or meatballs for the first meal,
then add the sauce, meat and cheeses
your family likes to the spaghetti 
pie, for the 2nd meal, (would need to 
crush up the meatballs probably)  then
 use your Normal Mac and cheese recipe
 or cheeses you like. I put the milk in
just before I cooked it, then added
more cheese to the top after it was
done cooking along with some
 panko bread crumbs on top and
let it brown a little.  I cooked the
 Spaghetti pie for about 20 mins. 
or so,  @ 350 degrees until it is
 warmed thru well and browned on 
the top if you like it that way......
Cooked the Mac and cheese at 350
 degrees for about 50 mins. then
added more cheese on top, then
put the panko on top of that. and
put it back in until it melted and
browned a little bit.  

Sorry for no after pics once it was
cooked,  totally forgot!!  But I like
mine browned on top a bit, and
it looks nice like that.


If you have a larger family you
will probably need to double or
triple the amount of spaghetti
if you want to do what I am
suggesting here.



Anyway, hope this helps someone
else time wise, and $ wise, I was quite
 happy at how my over abundance
 of spaghetti turned out.  Made for
3 quick dinners.  Quick and easy
works for this girl.

If  I left anything out or left you
 wondering about something,  please
 let me know in the comments
 sections so I can correct it or add 
info if needed.


Happy Eating!!


Thanks for coming by!



Have a Sweet last Day of July,

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Quote to Ponder






Happy Sunday
Sweet Friends,


Here is a quote to Ponder today!



To be grateful is to recognize the 
love of God
 in everything He has given us.....
and He has given us everything.
Every breathe we draw is a gift of 
His love, every moment of 
existence a gift of grace.

by Thomas Merton



Just in case you are wondering who
Thomas Merton is....



Thomas Merton OCSO (1915–1968) was an American Trappist monk. He was a successful writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist, and scholar of comparative religion. On May 26, 1949, he was ordained to the priesthood and given the name Father Louis.

Thomas Merton - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Merton


Happy Pondering!


Have a Wonderful Day!

Friday, July 27, 2018

Thankful Thursday July 26, 2018, Golf cart tour #6




 For great is the LORD and 
most worthy of praise; 
he is to be feared above all gods.
1 Chronicles 16:25 NIV


Morning Sweet Friends.

So how has your week been??
Hope it has been a good one.

Ours has been good....fairly quiet
 this week.  Hubby has worked a lil 
more this week than usual but only
a few hours a day, so it goes by 
pretty quickly. It has been very 
dismal, overcast and rainy, and 
 didn't rain but it was still overcast
 most of the day.  If we want sun we
have to get out there very early.
This weather really makes both
of us sleepy and lethargic. I am
in the mood to do something 
creative, so think I am gonna
work on a birthday table for
my daughter for when they
come next month, it will be
after her birthday but we will
celebrate with her then.

Pictures today....are you guessed
it from our golf cart tour of
Charleston still,  next week
will finish us up.........lol


So on with my thankfuls for
 the week.



#1
Thankful for our new shower head
in our Master Bath.  Every time I
would get in the shower I would
start sneezing and coughing and
feeling like my throat was closing.
Finally figured out we must have
mold in our shower head and hose.
We have one that you can use
as a hand held as well, so we
got a new one,  problem solved.
Not one sneeze or cough now!!






Click on one picture to enlarge
them all, for better viewing pleasure.






#2
Thankful for our new Life Group, 
we are really enjoying it, we still
call in Sunday school......lol








#3
Thankful for another fun Sunday. We saw 
an old student of ours, who used to come
 to our marriage classes years back, when he 
was single cause he wanted to learn to be a 
good husband for when he did get married.
He is married now with 3 children and
his wife said he is a wonderful husband.
They also have moved back to our area
and we will get to see him all the time
now.......lovely family.....and what a 
smart cookies he was and still is......








#4 and 5
Thankful for lunch out with our new 
friends again to another place we
 haven't been lately, and thankful
for seeing an old neighbor of ours 
in the restaurant again. She just 
moved back into the area.  She was
 a young single gal in her 20's when
 we last saw her, now she is married
 with 3 grown children.  Am surprised
 we even recognized each other, but I
 kept thinking she looked familiar and
 she was thinking the same so she finally 
said something and we figured it out 
from there.  She was and still is a very
 sweet young lady.







#6
Thankful to have come across a letter 
when I was working on my closet, from 
an old friend that I haven't heard from
 in years. The letter was from when
 she was in rehab for a drug addiction.
She wrote me and I wrote her back but
 never heard from her again. I said to
hubby when I read it that I wished I
knew her Mom's phone number to
see if I could call and find out how
she is, just a few mins. later I came
across a notebook and was thumbing
thru it, and here was her address at
the rehab but also her Mom's phone
number......I personally think that was
the Lords hand,  so I called her Mom
and she is back in the area,  so plan
to call her this week.  Seems like
the Lord is bringing so many people
from the past back into our lives.











#7
Thankful for what a wonderful role 
model that Tim Tebow is for our young
 people, and old ones too!!  lol


So sorry to hear he broke a bone
in his hand and will need surgery
next Tuesday.  Praying for this
inspirational young man.



#8
Thankful for an old game we have,
but is like new to us, as we haven't
played it in years.  It is called Phase
10 and we have really been enjoying
playing it.  Sometimes we play half
of it,  then get some work done,
then come back to it later......lol
Makes for a fun day!









#9
Thankful that we got some new 
 family pictures hung up in our
bedroom.  Have had them done
for about a week or so,  but just
couldn't decide if I wanted to
put them in the same place as
the ones I took down, but finally
decided to just do that for now,
as I don't have time for rearranging
the whole room right now, as you
who decorate know, you can move
 one thing and it leads to something 
else and then something else, etc.
So decided to post pone that for
a better time, as I have other fish
to fry right now ( mainly our
guest bedroom) as it is still full
of things from Winter and early
Spring, and the kids are coming
the end of the next month and we
also might have some friends
come in mid August as well,
So looking forward to both.
and gotta get our guest bed
room gussied up again.



#10
Thankful we finished one book
 we are reading, so we can move on
 to another one we need to finish.








#11
Thankful that I am making headways
on destroying some old records that we
 had stored, but our no longer needed.
Takes time to shred all that stuff.....
So I am over half way there!!




#12
Thankful our lil bunny is back
this morning, as we hadn't seen
him for about a week or so and
was concerned that maybe some
thing happened to him.  Also
thankful for getting to watch 
a beautiful cardinal taking a
bath several times this week
in our birdbath.  They show up
so well, so you can really see
what they are doing,  the other
birds sort of blend into all the
background and you can hardly
see them unless you use binoculars.


                                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Well, there you have it .....
another week at Cozy Place.







Hope you have a delightful Friday
and weekend with those you love.






Love, Hugs, and 
end of July Blessings,

Nellie




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Tuesday, July 24, 2018

A couple of easy low-cal snacks





Hello Sweet Friends,

How this finds you well and happy!

We are well and happy, but just not
 a lot going on around here today other 
than the normal household chores. 
 So since I have time to spare decided
 to make a snack I have been wanting to 
make since last week to eat and to share
with yall.  I already made the other
 snack a number of times.  Both very
simple and yet delicious.


The first one I call...... 
personal fruit pizzas

Have you ever had fruit pizza?
It looks like a pizza with fruit
on it......well, if not, they are so
amazingly wonderful....but since
I can't eat a whole one of those
and because it has a lot of sugar
and sugar cookie dough....
I came up with these fun and
delicious lil babies.






that are made with these 3 ingredients
below here.




Just spread the creamy cheese on
the cracker,  slice a strawberry or
2 and lay them on the cracker and
if you want sprinkle them with
just a teeny bit of sugar.  
Sugar is optional and since I have
been using organic strawberries
they are so tasty I don't need to
use it at all.....

I figured the calories at about
123 for what you see on the 
plate below......that does not
include sugar......but if you
just sprinkle it lightly it shouldn't
amount to much. Love these!!
and you can use any kind of
fruit you prefer.......my fav just
happens to be strawberries.







The 2nd snack I think I might have 
learned from Weight Watchers
 eons ago......


I  just call them.....
Frozen bananas slices
(such a creative name, lol)


Use as many bananas as you would like,
and slice them into 1/2 " slices
I used 1 1/2 bananas for my pictures 
below.

Then put each slice on a cookies sheet
lined with parchment or wax paper.
Next use the Herseys syrup to drizzle
on top them.  You can use whatever
chocolate you want.......







You can either drizzle it or squeeze 
a dollop on top of each one.





This shows both ways.....I choose the
drizzle as it is quicker and easier on
my hand since it is a squirt bottle, but
you do waste some chocolate.....

Then you stop them with any kind of 
chopped nuts, many times I use pecans
 but this time I used peanuts cause I had 
some tiny bags leftover from MacDonalds
Ice Cream Sundaes, so just used those
since they were available, quick and
easy.  As you can see I wasn't going
for perfection here.....lol  but you
can if you want..........



















Now put them in the freezer uncovered
for about an hour till they freeze, and
you can eat them all or store them in
a plastic container and put them back
in the freezer and eat them a lil at a 
time........I usually make a whole 
cookie sheet full and they are closer
together, but ran out of naners...lol



I figured the calories for one banana
with both toppings to be about
 210 calories.  I typically only eat
about 4-6 at a time.  They are a
nice refreshing treat for this hot
summer we are having......


Hope you try some out.....think you
will like them, and if you have kiddies
that like naner's they will probably
love them too.  I meant to make some
today with caramel on them and forgot.
so guess I will do that next time.
So you might want to try it if you
have some caramel on hand, I am
sure they would be great too.


Thanks for dropping by!!


Have a fun summer Day!


Blessings,
Nellie


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Sunday, July 22, 2018

Quotes to Ponder







Happy Sunday Morning.....


Here's the quote to ponder.....



"A friend is a precious possession
whose value increases with the years,
Someone who does not forsake us
when a difficult moment appears."

By Henry Van Dyke


Do I get an Amen on that!!
So So True....


Happy Pondering!

Have a Blessed Day,

Friday, July 20, 2018

Thankful Thursday July 19, 2018, late spring golf cart tour #5


In him our hearts rejoice,
 for we trust in his holy name.
Psalm 33:21 NIV


Greetings Sweet Friends,

Hope your week has been a good
one.....

Ours has been good and a bit busier
than usual, which was fine.  I will
let the post do the talking today.

Pictures today are from Charleston
S.C. again, from our golf cart tour.


So on with my Thankfuls....



#1
Thankful for an evening out on 
Friday,  we tried to go shopping
but I all of a sudden I started
 feeling not so great, but at least
did get a picture frame I went
after, and we did get to go to 
dinner at Red Lobster and was
able to enjoy that and it was
 nice to get out of the house
 for awhile.  Think I was just
overtired from not sleeping
well the night before.




#2
Thankful to see an old neighbor
 of our friends that we just went to 
visit last week at our church this
 Sunday morning.  I just saw her
a few weeks ago in Publix and
she never said she was coming
to our church, so it was quite
a nice surprise.  


Front



Side and back




#3
Thankful to hear that the young
couples class that we taught for
41/2 years, has stepped up and
are doing a life group together
on Thursday evening. We were
very happy to hear that as they
are the church of the future.


#4 and 5
Thankful for a fun time out
to lunch with some new friends
after church and it was really nice
 that wwent to a buffet restaurant
 that is about 30 mins away in another
town that we haven't been to in years,
 in fact, it has a new name and new
 owners, but it was really good, and 
we love that it is like a little country 
inn....very quaint with a lovely
atmosphere and delicious food
and great fellowship with our new
friends.
Thankful also that when we were
walking thru the restaurant to leave,
 we saw a lovely older couple that
used to go to our church for years but 
moved away, but they were in the
 area visiting their grandson.  It was 
definitely a divine connection cause 
not only did we know them, and get
a kick out of seeing them, it turned
 out that those sweet folks used to be 
best friends with our new friends 
 parents back then, so they were
thrilled to see them. Love these
fun surprises like that!









#6
Thankful for a new bath and body
fragrance in my guest bath, it is
called Lemoncello and it is just
 such a wonderful clean lemon
 fragrance.  I love having a nice
fragrance when you walk into
a bathroom especially.



#7
Thankful hubby got a good 
report at the Dr. so far.  He still
has to do an echocardiogram,
but we are expecting it to be
good as well.  Thankful that
the Dr. cut back on his Blood
pressure meds, as his BP has
gone down since he retired.






#8
Thankful for a fun night out on
Tuesday after the Drs. visit to cheese-
cake factory and their yummy cheese-
 cake that we brought home.  Mine was
 Caramel salted pretzel, and it was really
 scrumptious but rich, so you can't eat
to much at one sitting, so finally 
finished it off today after lunch.
  Um Um....


#9
Thankful for my hubbies hilarious
sense of humor.  I am seeing that
more and more since he retired and
 when we watch lil darling. He is
really getting even more into his role 
as a Grampy, and it is fun to watch.
 Dr. asked if we were
working out and we said No, we
have been having fun...... but then
yesterday I told hubby we should 
make a video of our days with lil 
darling and send it to him, and he
will see we don't need a work out 
routine.........lol
She keeps us on the move all the
 time........playing games, like hide 
and seek with her barbie dolls, and
 my hubby has some very creative 
hiding places that crack us up,
then there is one called " 4 corners"
 and a new game "The floor is lava" 
or something like that, oh and finger
rockets....we are just having too
 much fun over here......and by the
end of the day we just want to drop
on the sofa and do nothing, cause
we are worn out.....but it is a good
worn out..........lol







#10
Thankful for a new food discovery.
Trader Joe's movie theatre popcorn.
It is really delicious and only $2
a bag.  Only problem is the store
is an hour away so not sure how
often we will get to buy it, but it
will surely be a treat when we do.
Just now realized my daughter is
coming in August and they have 
store near them. Will have to get
 her to bring me some. Sounds
 like a good plan to me.  lol


#11
Thankful for a sweet and precious
 card and letter from our friends
 in Gainesville today.  They are
both sweeties and we have missed
them every since they moved away
 about 25 years ago.






#12
Thankful for a lot of little projects
that we got done this week that
have been nagging at us. Such a
good feeling when they are done.






Well, that is our week at Cozy Place.


Glad you could stop by.......


If you missed Tour #4 and would
like to see it, Just click here.


Have a lovely Friday and Weekend
with the Special people in your life.


Love, Hugs, and
Sweet Summer Blessings,

Nellie


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