November 28, 2011

Outside Temp: 25 F (I've heard a rumor that snow is in the forecast in the next few days... )

What I cooked today:
Goulash: I'm not sure if this is actually how you make goulash, but that's what I'm calling it.  It's ground beef, celery and onions, with a can or two of tomatoes, then macaroni and water, a little Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper and simmer until pasta is done. 

I'm starting to gather recipes for ground beef. I have lots of ground beef, and I've managed to run out of original ideas.  So, I'm going to scour the Internet (and my friends) to come up with some new recipes.  My goal is to do 50 unique recipes using ground beef, although from my initial search, I'll be happy with 10.  And if I can, I'm going to attempt to use a different recipe each time, until I've done them all.  Which means I won't be able to fall back on my old standby of burgers and mashed potatoes.  Okay, so I'll still fall back on it (or else there will be riots in my house), but I'm going to step out of my comfort zone and try something new.  Hopefully, my family will not revolt.  So, if any of you have a recipe with ground beef that you like, please pass it on.

Update:
Ryan is still in the hospital, although he's doing fine.  We took cultures again today, and hopefully, the staph infection is gone.  Once they are sure what the best antibiotic to use, they will send us home.  Yea!

Patrick is with him because this way he can play computer games all day, stay up until 4am without me nagging him and not have to wake up at 6:45am to get the kids ready for school... hey, wait a minute...

I had to run into Great Falls to get Patrick's signature on some escrow papers, so while I should have had a relaxing day with nothing much to do, I spent the morning driving and shopping.  I did manage to save a bunch at CVS (I bought about $40 worth of stuff for about $13... good couponing and sale day!), which always makes me happy.  By the time I got home, and got all the paperwork together and sent off to the Realtor, the kids were home from school.  No bon bon's for me today.

Both boys enjoyed the extra 2 hours of play time they had, with no basketball practice.  I think they were almost bored.  The good news is that there were no complaints about how little free time they had. 

I had a chat with one of my friends about 4H today.  Allen claimed that he was interested ( I think it was because the kid he was talking to made about $100 selling his cow at the fair this year).  Of course, I haven't a clue about 4H, but apparently, it's not only about farm animals.  I mean, there are definitely farm animals, but we don't have the yard for a cow or a pig or a goat, so I think farm animals are not in the cards for this year.  But there are other fields like robotics and cooking and sewing and stuff like that.  There is a meeting next week where the kids are making cookie plates for the senior citizens, complete with a hay ride around Geyser and hot chocolate.  I can see our plans for Sunday will involve a couple dozen of my chocolate chip cookies.