my cheesy mac

I'm a terrible mother. 

Well, ok, maybe not...but some days I sure feel that way. 

I had full intentions of coming home tonight and making an incredibly delicious looking Cheeseburger Macaroni recently posted by Amanda. It looks crazy easy. But life happens, and to top it off, I didn't have all the ingredients. So, this is what we ate instead...

I cooked a pound of ground beef and made two boxes of Trader Joe's Organic White Cheddar Shells. (Um, separately...but you probably figured that.) Once done, I prepped the shells according to the box directions adding the standard butter, milk, and cheese, and drained the beef. I added about half the beef to the prepped shells, tossed in a pinch or so of garlic powder, onion powder and seasoned salt and...Voila!. My cheesy mac. 

Not counting the time it took to heat the water, I'd say I spent a grand total of 15 minutes on it. 

No running to the store, no spending even more money this week at a restaurant. (And a cooked half-pound of beef to freeze for future spaghetti!). Not fancy or gourmet...just necessary. 

Perfect for the days you have to get up at 4:40 a.m. to take your hubby to the airport (90 minutes away) for an unplanned trip, drive back, and work a full day in the office so all you want to do at dinner is collapse. 

Yeah...that kinda day.  

But my kids are laughing on the sofa, we're all in our PJs, and one of our favorite movies is playing. 

Maybe I'm not such a terrible mother after all.  :-)

coffee

My parents surprised me Tuesday night.  Out of the blue, they came over with a Keurig coffee maker.

My mom has one, and I love it.  I have debated getting one, but just couldn't justify the expense.  After all, for the same price I can buy fabric for two quilts.  (Everything is measured in fabric-worth these days.)

All of a sudden, boom.  I have one. 

And about 40 little coffee pods, with a carousel organizer.

My folks rock.

Now I can stay up later and sew.  (*heehee*)

strawberries

It's strawberry season around here and, I must admit, I've never been the biggest fan of just plain ol' strawberries.  I like desserts made with them and like strawberry-flavored things, but have never been much on the actual berries themselves. 

This year,  my mom took the boys strawberry picking. They didn't do much of the work, however.  Something about spiders... gotta have a talk with those boys.

Being the good daughter that I am... and being that I've apparently been bitten by some kind of "Suzy Homemaker" bug, I decided that I should make Strawberry Jam.  Now - with all that said earlier about not liking strawberries, I absolutely LOVE strawberry jam.  And to think of having my own supply.... ohhhhhhhhhhh... happy day!

I had decided to take the easy route and try the "freezer jam" method.  After sufficiently smashing the berries I added the sugar - an insane amount of sugar - and let them juice up.  Add pectin and lemon juice and viola...jam!  

Ok... so, not exactly jam... but the syrup that eventually will form jam.  I ladled the yummy goodness into little 8 oz. jars and sealed them up.  They have to sit now for 24 hours, then they go into the freezer. 

Tanner and I were both pretty bummed that we had to wait 24 hours.  He asked me at least three times on Friday when the jam would be ready.  I guess he inherited my sweet tooth.

Because we had quite a bit of berries leftover, I capped and washed the ripe ones and froze them for future strawberry smoothie concoctions and what else?...

Strawberry Shortcake!!  :)

Happy Summer!!