Tuesday, July 27, 2010

It's all Gravy Baby!

I had a great weekend. What made it great was spending some quality time with my Mom in the Kitchen on Sunday. I learned to make her Gravy. Now I am not talking about the brown stuff you put on your beef, I mean Italian Sauce.
My Mom has always made great meals but I love her Gravy and love when she would send me home with a Tupperware full of it with sausage and meatballs. I felt like it was my turn to learn and asked her to show me next time she was making it. There is NO recipe for it, I think it is more of a process or art form. It calls for "about this much chopped onion and garlic", "a handful of...." "a little bit of...." (You get the idea).
I managed to immediately cut myself opening a can of crushed tomatoes. Which then Mom said "Watch the sauce!" LOL. We made sausages and also meatballs during that time to add to the pot.
All in all I spent 5 hours at the house making it and letting it simmer on the stove. The commute home with my HUGE pot of Gravy was rough! Now Greg and I have so much sauce that we are freezing it and planning meals around it. Here was Sunday nights dinner: Fresh ravioli's from the Farmers Market with sausage and meatballs.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Great Buys!

I love a great deal at the supermarket! Who doesn't? I managed to get a few great deals today from in store coupons from the meat department. At my local Stop & Shop they put stickers on the meats that are close to the "sell by" dates. Today I found 4 different meats with $2.00 off each package! what a bargain!

I picked up Meatloaf Mix. The picture is Paula Deen's recipe from Food Network. I haven't tried her recipe only my mom's boring one- (Sshhhhh don't tell her I said that).

Also after being inspired by an article in Food Network Magazine, I purchased Ground Lamb. I really would like to make a Greek burger like the one below.

Also purchased today was Chicken Wings (which I have never made at home before) and Ground Turkey.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Summer Fun







It is almost the middle of July and I have had a great month so far. I wanted to share some pictures from my weekend(s).
4th of July weekend, my Hubby and I were both off on Friday so we took a drive all the way to Montauk and back. We stopped at the Lobster Roll. It is also known as "Lunch" for some seafood. We took our time driving through and walking around Southampton, East Hampton and doing a wine tasting at Duck Walk. We left there with 2bottles of wine. Saturday we went to a backyard party for our friend engagement. It was a HOT day. But it was fantastic seeing their excitement and hanging out with all of our friends. Sunday I was able to spend lazy by the pool with my friend Kathy. Greg had to work but was in time to watch fireworks that night.

This past weekend we went to Tara's in Port Jefferson for Happy Hour Friday night. They have almost like a lotto pull tab where you pick a number to see if your drink will be whole price, half price, or 10 cents! I was able to get all of my drinks at half price (SCORE!). Saturday we went to Croxleys in Farmingdale for 20 cent wings and then some relaxing from the rainy day we had here.

Monday, July 5, 2010

July's Goals


1. Read 3 books
2. Make and Stick to budget and spending plan!
3. Cook from Pantry / Freezer
4. Donate (time/money/knowledge)
5. Be more healthy
6. Print new pics for living room frames
7. Make a recipe binder for magazine articles and print outs

Decided that for July I would make some simple goals and make them count!