easy dinner night…

It’s Thursday, I didn’t know what to make for dinner and I didn’t have anything defrosted.

I stopped in our local grocery store and picked up a tray of hamburger and as I’m standing in line… like forever… it’s Pau Hana time people, everyone is shopping for their dinner and they only have two registers open?! Well, thank goodness for the wait because I picked up some random magazine that had a picture of a plate of spaghetti on the cover with the caption best sauce ever.

Well of course I had to pick it up and start reading. I glanced at the recipe briefly and then of course it was my turn and I had to either buy the magazine or put it down. Well, being cheap… mean frugal I put the magazine down, checked out and went home hoping I’d remember the recipe.

Well, I didn’t. All I could remember was carrots, onions, cinnamon and nutmeg. I figured I’d wing it.

I mixed my hamburger with half a packet of Italian dressing powder, a little bit of ketchup,about a teaspoon of crushed garlic, a couple of dashes of worcestershire sauce and by a couple I mean about 10, a few dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg and about a half a package of crushed up butter crackers. I made them into little meatballs and fried them up. After they browned up on all sides I took them out of the pan and drained most of the oil. Then I added one large can of spaghetti sauce, no homemade for me tonight I’m trying to rush. I put one bay leaf and then the meatballs back in to simmer all together.

I made a package of spiral egg noodles just cause they’re fun shaped. At the very end I sprinkled a lot of parmesan cheese over the sauce. Put it all together and sprinkle a bit more cheese, cause well I think everything is better with lots of cheese.

I really enjoyed the taste and so did this lil guy!

Now the hubby is on his way home, lets hope he likes it too!

Holiday Party at the Grand Hyatt Kauai

The past two years we have been very fortunate to have our Company Christmas Party at the Grand Hyatt Kauai. The Hyatt is so pretty, I worked there for over 5 years I think when I first got married. I even worked at Tidepools, the restaurant where we had our dinner. I love their food and I love their staff, they are the bestest!

We had a large party so we had to have a preset menu. I worked with their manager and they were so accommodating, I was so excited to just EAT!!

Please don’t mind the junk phone pix… hope I can still make you drool!

We started with family style pupus (appetizers). I just love fried calamari, my hubs calls it bait, but I call it delish!

We also had the lump crab cake. Ooh this has always been one of my faves and each time they change the menu I’m so glad they don’t change this! Big chunks and lumps of crab meat not too much filler.

This was a new one on the menu and I was excited to try it. Hamachi sashimi with watermelon and topped with jalapenos. YUM-O!!
Hamachi, or yellowtail, is family to Ahi, but it is a higher grade fish for sashimi or sushi. It’s a lighter meat and very mild tasting.

For dinner I chose the Opah. Grilled not gangnam style. It’s a very mild fish also known as the moon fish. Of course the men all ordered the prime rib, which my husband ranks as number one on the island!

We had a gorgeous dessert platter of bread pudding, crème Brule and a chocolate mousse bomb… and yup everything was THE BOMB!

I think everyone had way too much to eat, because after dinner everyone just went back to their rooms to rest. In the morning we woke up to this beautiful view.

Yup, luck I live Kauai. (am I making ya’ll jealous?)

I enjoyed a cup of coffee on the lanai and ate some chocolate covered dried pineapples for breakfast before meeting up with my friend who watched my son for us so we could have a night out. We picked up the lil guy and then came back to the hotel so he could play for a little bit.

THANK YOU MIKI! We totally owe you!

First things, first…. chocolate ice cream shake for the lil man!

Of course then we had to have lunch pool side.

He played in the pool for a little bit.

And before long… he was out cold!

It’s days like this that remind me we live in such a beautiful place and I need to take more time to enjoy it and enjoy my lil man especially since he’ll have to share my attention very soon.

I am blessed to work for a great company and have a wonderful Christmas party and wonderful friends who will take my son for the night so mom and dad can have a date.

I just had to share this especially after my little rant yesterday.

It’s all good!

Dessert Alert! ~ Rum Balls ~

 

Here is a quick and super easy dessert recipe that is sure to please the adults!

It’s called Rum balls, and yes they contain alcohol so keep away from the kids.

Here’s the line up only 4 ingredients I promise.

Vanilla Wafers, Butter, Rum and powdered sugar.

Crush up your vanilla wafers in a blender, food processer or chopper whatever you have. If you don’t have any of those and you’re desperate banging the heck out of them in the bag works too… trust me I know. *wink*

When you’re cookies are crushed till they are pretty uniform but not into cookie dust add in a tablespoon of butter and 1/4 cup of rum and mix with the cookies.

Keep adding butter and rum little by little until you get a chunky sort of sticky batter like it looks below.

It’s not an exact science, add more rum if you want them stronger and more butter if you would rather then not so strong, but why would you not want them strong with a kick?

As long as the texture is moist enough to roll up in a ball with your hands like below.

After that I usually roll it around in some powdered sugar to keep the outside from being too sticky and what doesn’t taste good with powdered sugar on top of it, you just can’t go wrong.

After they are all done, I like them up and dust a little more powdered sugar on top right before I serve them.

Enjoy and don’t forget to have a designated driver!!

Im linking to:

Our Delightful Home

Funkypolkadotgiraffe

Not just a Housewife

a bowl full of lemons

House of Hepworths

a little knick knack

Fireflies & Jellybeans

Somewhat simple

a glimpse inside

Michelle's Tasty Creations

 

Easter Weekend

I hope you have been following all that is going on with the Plantation camp that I grew up in and where my mom still lives.

I havent given an update recently and I plan to, sorry.

There has been so much and its been such a long and emotionally draining ride.

Either way we wanted to have what was possibly our last family gathering at our family home.

It turned out to be a cold and rainy day, we didnt get to go outside and hide eggs but we made the best of it and had a great Easter.

This was the first year I made my son an Easter basket.

I figured he was too young in the past and it's just not what Easter is really about.

He loved his basket and I kept it really simple.

His faves were the Spiderman watch and the box of egg dying supplies.

I dont know what they're called... I personally made a confession on my FB page that I cannot dye eggs. I wish I could enjoy it but I just can't my OCD makes me crazy sometimes!

Of course grandma to the rescue, she just loves dying Easter eggs.

She belives that kids should be allowed to play and make a mess and have fun.

I guess thats what grandmas are for... what the heck happened to me?

I do have to admit right when they come out of the little cups they look so beautiful.

Then, I'd like to know what happens?

Oh and don't even get me started on Easter grass! Yikes!

I cannot stand when I step on them on the floor!

Well.... enough of that.

We had tons and tons of food!

How beautiful is that!

And of course a few local favorites as well.

And thats just some of the stuff we picked on before we had a late lunch early dinner of turkey, stuffing, rice, gravy, roast beef, salad... my head is already spinning.

To top off the night, my son was out cold, sleeping in his own bed by 8:30!

Yay! Mommy and Daddy could clean up our kitchen, take out the trash and fold laundry as we watched GCB!

Hope you all had a great Easter as well!



its a hard job but someone's gotta do it...

If you guys follow me on FB I mentioned that I had volunteered to do a hard job of test baking a delicious pie from The Right Slice.

Life is rough huh.

I picked up my mango lilikoi frozen pie and my directions and brought it home to do my 'homework'.

And then the countdown began.

I just love love these pies, they are so yummy.

The house smelled so good, just like my grandmas house growing up.

Look at this golden deliciousness.

Sooo buttery....

It didnt take long at all before it looked like this....

Yum-o!

That was hard work man!

If you guys are ever on Kauai you MUST check this place out.

Sweet and savory pies to die for!

And... if you cant make it here she does mail order as well!

White Bean, Green Chile & Chicken Stew

Sorry for the absence recently and thanks for sticking around!

I wanted to share this recipe with you because not only was it good, but my hubby also liked it!

And YES I was VERY supprized!

It was a perfect set the crock pot in the morning, go to work and have dinner ready when we got home. It was warm and cozy and also perfect timing with all the storms were having over here.

I got the recipe from myrecipes.com

I put the chicken, white beans, green chiles, one onion chopped and a can of chicken broth a dash of salt and cumin in the crockpot before leaving for work one day.

When I got home I took out some of the broth and tossed it out, I'm assuming I could have kept it for another similar recipe. I spooned out about 1/3 of the beans and put it into a blender.

I beat the beans until it was a sort of smooth consistency.

Then I pulled the chicken out of the crock pot and removed the skin and bones and shreaded the meat.

I put the shreaded chicken back into the crock pot.

And the bean mixture from the blender as well. This thickened it up very well.

I sat and thought it definately needs some dinner rolls but I didn't have any!

I did have some left over hot dog buns so i buttered it up on both sides and threw them in a pan.

Would you belive it was delish!!

AMAZING and I'm not joking! I would have this over and over again any day over a dinner roll. My son and my hubby would have eaten only the hot dog buns had I allowed them to!

This recipe passed with flying colors.

Kid tested, husband tested and mother approved!

It tastes like a chimichanga in a bowl.

Next time I'm making extra and keeping some on the side to make a chimichanga casserole with tortillas.

I'll be linking up to the parties at the bottom of my page and I hope ya'll try this one!

It's definately a keeper!!

Breakfast/Dinner "Cowboy" Casserole

I created this casserole by combining two ideas.

One I got from a friend who takes her leftovers and choppes some potatoes and calls it cowboy dinner.

The second I got from Giada De Laurentis Italian Sausage and Egg Bake.

I would absolutely love Giada's recipe but I have to also keep my boys happy and they are some picky boys.

So on this particular night, I had no idea what to make for dinner and I had an abundance of potatos leftover from Christmas.
I chopped up some onion and bell pepper and sauteed it with olive oil, salt pepper and some garlic.

Then I took a Turkey Kilbasa sausage, peeled off the casing and sauteed that as well.

I threw everything together and mixed it up.

I also cracked a few eggs over the top of it and poped it in the oven for about 10 mins, just enough to cook the eggs but so that they were still runny.

It was yum yummy!

The boys liked it and it was fast and easy!

Linking at some of the parties at the bottom of my page!

Thanks for checking it out!

Goals for the New Year

I hate Resolutions, just calling them a resolution is like asking for failure in my book.
I noticed a sign outside of a church in the town next to where I live this past weekend and I cracked up out loud. It said:
"May your troubles last as long as your resolutions."

HAHAHAHAHA How true is that! Hilarous!

Ok so I have set goals for myself this year as far as project around the house go and here are a few of my personal goals:

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Numero Uno: Spend Less, Payoff Debt!!

source

2. Stop spending because it's a 'good deal'
I love getting a good coupon but I cannot be buying stuff if I dont need it.
You know like those people on tv with like a thousand tubes of toothpaste.

3. Plan our meals better.

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I hate coming home from work at 6pm and having to figure out what to make and then having to rush to defrost something to make within an hour. No more!

4. Spend more time doing things my son wants to do.
And speaking of which, I never get a picture doing things with my son because I'm usually the one behind the camera.

5. Read more to my son.

 He is really getting into reading and this past weekend we cleaned out his stuffed animal shelf and filled it up with books.

6. Exercise more or atleast be more active.

7. Use up all my fabric before I buy more.

(with the exception of the fabric for my curtains)

8. File my taxes on time.

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I know this one should be a given but to be completely honest, since my son was born I have not filed on time not once.

Alright thats enough to get me started, I dont want to make my list too long and get discouraged!

I'm linking my goals to Fingerprints on the Fridge, how about you guys join in too!