Dinner at the Dining Room Table

We bought a dining room table and chairs a month or so ago but didn't start using them right away because I forgot to get felt on the bottoms and we didn't want to scratch up the wood floors... now this is in our formal dining room. Once I finally remembered the felt, we have eaten every meal there. WE LOVE IT!!! Right now it's decorated for Halloween and I can not wait to use my Thanksgiving decorations!!

Normally we fix our plates in the kitchen and take them into the dining room but yesterday at dinner time I decided to put all the food in little dishes and put it at the table. It was so nice, I should have taken a picture! I tried a new recipe for pork chops and it was pretty good!

4 pork chops
salt & pepper
1 can beer
3/4 c. ketchup
4 tbsp brown sugar

Salt & Pepper the chops and brown them in a skillet. (don't cook them through, just brown them). Mix up the rest of the ingredients. Put the chops in a pan and pour the beer mixture over the top. Bake at 350 until done.

Nelson LOVED it! He ate all of his chop and part of mine. And kept dipping his bites into the pan to get more of the sauce.

On the side we had corn with butter and broccoli & cheese. It was my first time to make broccoli with cheese myself (instead of the usual frozen with cheese sauce kind). I just heated up a 1/3 c. milk, 6 slices of american cheese, a drop of Franks Red Hot Sauce, and a little salt & onion powder... I think I got that from cooks.com Anyway, it was very tasty!

We had a great lunch yesterday too. I put a roast in the crock pot the night before and I seasoned it differently. Normally I use Liptons Onion Soup Mix (they have three varieties and all work well)and Cream of Mushroom soup along with the potatos and carrots. Yesterday I sprinkled Cavenders Greek Seasoning on the roast and then dumped in a package of Roasted Garlic Brown Gravy Mix. It was SCRUMPTIOUS!!

So today it's all about leftovers!

Happy Cooking!

Tonights Supper

Tonight a friend of mine came over with her cute little girl and hubby was at work. I'm still working on making the change to healthy eating (for all of us) so we had steamed broccoli that the kids topped with parmesan cheese, baked chicken marinated in Yoshida's Original... if you haven't had that you should!! I get it at Sams Club. They have other flavors but I haven't tried them yet. Also rice seasoned with garlic. I cooked it in a rice cooker and if you don't have one of those you should get one! They make rice perfect EVERY time...I know rice isn't that difficult but with this you literally do nothing but measure and dump the rice and water into it...of course, you can dump in veggies, meats, or any seasons. AND, You don't have to watch it at all. Click here to buy one like mine. Anyway... supper was SOOO yummy. The kids ate it pretty good except the older one had to be ENCOURAGED to eat the broccoli, ha ha! But, they ate it... that's fantastic!

It's Party Time!

This coming Friday we are having a little party at our place... with NO KIDS! That's right, adults only! Not sure what all this entails but...the menu is planned!

Chips
Home made hot sauce
Black eyed pea dip
Queso w/rotel
Taquitos
Santa Fe Stew
Sour cream, cheese, olives, and green onions as condiments for the stew.

YUM YUM!
And I'm not sure what dessert....I'm thinking of minicheese cake bites.