Tasty Tuesday - Magic Stew

Welcome! If you're here from the Ultimate Blog Party, please see my party post!


Today I'm sharing a dish based on a recipe in the book Beyond Macaroni and Cheese, by Mary Beth Lagerborg and Karen Parks.** I was fortunate enough to pick this book up several years ago at a moms group - they had a table where you could leave things you didn't want, and pick up things you did. Someone was getting rid of a copy, so I grabbed it. I've used it quite a bit, and would be sad to lose it!

The recipe I'm basing this off of is called "Magic Stew". I have tried to make stew in the past, and have just never been happy with the results. I hate coating the meat with flour and browning it, and then the meat always seems very tough when the stew is done. When I came across this recipe which didn't require browning the meat first, I thought I'd give it one more try. I thought there would be left-overs, but we devoured every last bit! It was really good, and the meat was TENDER! I've made it several times since then, and still have not had left-overs.


Step 1: Layer your cubed meat in the bottom of a casserole dish. I'm using my beloved Pampered Chef pan that I picked up BRAND NEW for $3 at a yard sale!!! I don't know what I'd do without it! Anyhow, I'm using venison as my meat, since it's what I was blessed with, and I'm trying to use up what's in my freezer before our move. The recipe calls for a pound of meat, if I recall, but I'm using about 2 pounds (still aiming for left-overs!).


Step 2: Cut your veggies into chunks, and layer over the meat. I used 4 carrots, 3 large red potatoes, an onion, and a package of sliced mushrooms. The original recipe does not call for mushrooms, and possibly not onions, either (my book is already packed, and I'm going from memory!). It does call for celery, which I have used, and is ok.


Step 3: Pour in your liquid. The recipe uses tomato juice, but I never buy tomato juice. This time, I'm using a can of tomato soup and about 2 cups of broth left over from some Italian beef. I'm using more liquid than it calls for, because I've basically doubled the recipe.


Step 4: Sprinkle a packet of onion soup mix over top - DO NOT STIR! I can't remember if this is in the recipe or not, but I think it is. I know I have done this step every time.

Step 5: Cover with foil, and bake at 350 300 degrees for 4 hours. [I baked it at 350 this time, which turned out to be a little too high. The meat was still good, but a little overcooked, and it would have been nice to have had a little more gravy in it.] DO NOT peek at it or check on it while it's doing its thing! I like to serve this with biscuits - my daughter makes great cheese ones!.


**This post DOES contain an affiliate link. However, the opinions posted are all mine. A copy of the book was NOT provided to me for this review - I already owned it.

The Drugstore Game

Welcome! If you are here from the Ultimate Blog Party, you can find my party post here!


I haven't posted about drugstore deals in a long time, but here's my haul for this week!

First stop, CVS:

I ended up with two boxes of Crispix cereal, two bottles of Crest Pro Health mouth rinse, two Oral-B tooth brushes (for my Operation Christmas Child stash), a bottle of Complete contact solution, a bottle of got2b flat iron spray, two packages of GUM flossers, a Physician's Formula mascara (on raincheck from last week), six bags of Robin Eggs candy, and two bags of M&Ms. I was pretty excited about all of this - the mouth rinse and flossers are for my kids (they actually USE them!!!), the cereal is for making puppy chow and also for this rebate, and I will be seeing if our pastor's wife wants some of the candy.

After all my coupons and ECBs, I spent a total of $7.95 for $86.28 worth of merchandise! And, I still have $5 of ECB left! On a sad note, I have discovered that there are NO CVS stores in our future hometown! The nearest one is an hour away, in the town my parents live in, ironically! So, I guess I will only be doing CVS deals when I happen to go down there for a visit, probably about once a month. This pains me, because I STRONGLY prefer CVS over Walgreens!

Speaking of Walgreens...:

I got two boxes of Rice Krispies (also for the cereal rebate above), a package of shredded cheese, a bottle of bbq sauce, two bottles of Coke (yes, one is missing), three bottles of Purex laundry soap, three tubes of Luster tooth paste, two packages of Always pads, two tubes of Colgate tooth paste, two packages of Olay bar soap, two bags of Brach's jelly beans, two Wonka chocolate bars, four pads of stickers (not pictured), and three bags of Planters almonds. The cheese and bbq sauce was for dinner. The Colgate and Olay are also going in my Operation Christmas Child stash, and the stickers were for a friend. I got the Cokes and Planters nuts because of a coupon I actually picked up at CVS, but used at Walgreens because the nuts were on sale, and since it was a manufacturer's coupon, I didn't have to use it at CVS. I think I can say that with the candy I've picked up in the past few weeks, along with what I got this week, that my kids will have PLENTY of candy on Easter!

I didn't do as well at Walgreens, as far as what I spent. But, then, I rarely feel like I do as well at Walgreens. My total, after coupons and RRs, was $26.83 for $94.53 worth of goodies. I didn't end up with any RRs left over.

Do you play the "drugstore game"? I get all my deals from two places: Hip2Save (she has a great customizable, printable list), and MoneySavingMom. These two gals save me a LOT of time! You can go there to check out this week's deals. I hope I inspired you to save some money!

Are You Here For The Party?

If you are here from the Ultimate Blog Party, then welcome to my own part of this little shin-dig! You can read my profile up there to the right. A few things you might find interesting, but are just random:

• I like pickles, but not cucumbers.
• My eyes are green.
• I have lived all over the U.S., and went to enough different schools that I could have gone to a new one every year.

Here are some of my favorite posts - some of them may actually tell you more about me!

• Get Some Air
• New Obsession
• HAPPY New Year
• The Year of Jubilee

I'm glad you stopped by, and look forward to your comments! Feel free to subscribe to my posts or follow me via Google Friend Connect - you can find both under my profile!

Be Careful Little Eyes What You See

Do you know this Sunday School song?

Be careful little eyes what you see
Be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above is looking down in love
Oh, be careful little eyes what you see!

I thought of this song while we were in church this Sunday. There was a new family this week. A woman, her teen-aged son and daughter, and the daughter's boyfriend. The daughter and her boyfriend were not what you would call... traditional in appearance. The girl had purposely matted orange hair, with an odd little bow in the front. She had several facial piercings, including a ring in her nose - I mean, like a bull, not a cute little one on the side. The boyfriend had a matching nose ring, and I do believe they both had gauges in their ears. They definitely did not look like most people at our church, and it seemed to me that not as many people were greeting them as were greeting others.

We settled into our seats and the service, and pretty soon it was time for praise and worship. I wondered how many people were surprised when the different-looking girl threw her hands in the air and sang the songs wholeheartedly? She obviously knew the songs, and was very enthusiastic in her worship. At some points, I thought she was so into it that she'd float right off the floor! I confess, I was surprised at first. But, I was quickly humbled, and reminded that God does not look at the physical of our beings:

What matters is not your outer appearance - the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes - but your inner disposition. 1 Peter 3:3-4, The Message

I did not expect such spiritual passion to come out of that girl. I'd actually suspected that her mother had made her come to church that morning. I was wrong. I was looking at her through human eyes, not the eyes of Christ.

What would YOU have thought, if that girl had sat down in YOUR church? What would YOU have seen?

The Year of Jubilee

We sang a song in church recently which really touched me. We have sung it before, but it never really spoke to me, other than being an upbeat song with interesting lyrics.



The Year of Jubilee is about forgiving debts. But it doesn't happen every year. You have to wait and be patient.

My husband and I used to be assistant pastors. We reached a point where we became frustrated and discouraged, and we resigned from ministry. This was 8 years ago. Mr. Man went through a long period of anger toward the church and God. He gradually made his way back to a right relationship with God, but not fully until after the loss of Morgan. I gradually came to see that perhaps God was not leading us away from ministry when we left, but that instead He was giving us over to our own selfish desires for a time. We tried to do things our own way, and it hasn't worked.

Flash forward to the beginning of January. We were able to attend a retreat and see some friends from our ministry past. Mr. Man talked for hours with one friend in particular. The friend told him about a ministry position he was looking to fill in the church he pastors. On our way home, we were in agreement that we felt we were being led back into ministry in some way. We prayed about whether we were to try to become pastors again, contact this friend with the opening in his church, or if we were being led somewhere else. Mr. Man went ahead and contacted our friend about the position, and let him know we were interested. The friend asked for time to pray about it. We continued to pray for guidance, but weren't really feeling led anywhere. That was the last we heard from our friend...

Meanwhile, we sang this song in church. It really spoke to me when we got to the line about the Year of Jubilee. I felt God saying THIS is our Year of Jubilee - we have turned our lives back over to Him, and are truly seeking His will and direction for our family. Our past selfishness is forgiven, and we are being restored!

At the end of February, our friend suddenly called, and wanted us to come out for an "interview". Something just "clicked" with both of us - THIS is what God wants for us right now. We both know it without a shadow of a doubt. We were patient and waited on God's timing, and He has revealed at least a peek at His plans. We went out for the interview (an entire state away), and have gone out again for some follow-up stuff. Every question has been answered by God along the way, every wrinkle smoothed out. All that is left is for official permission to come through from the church's headquarters (we already have unofficial permission), and for God to show us what house He has in store for us. As soon as that comes through, we will be moving, and Mr. Man will be working again! That in itself is an answer to prayer, as we were going to move in with his parents - and there still wouldn't have been a job lined up. While I will not be an employee, I will do plenty of lay ministry, and we are both excited to get back to doing what we know we should have been doing all along!

An Announcement...

We've been keeping a secret from most people. We found out just after Thanksgiving that we are expecting baby #5! After our loss in September, we just were not ready to shout it in the streets or anything. However, I have been to the doctor, and had an ultrasound, and everything looks good!

It's a BOY, due around August 2nd!

Made-By-Me Monday & Book Review

For Christmas, I decided to make a hoodie for Wonder Boy. I chose a pattern from the book Sewing Clothes Kids Love: Sewing Patterns and Instructions for Boys' and Girls' Outfits, by Nancy Langdon and Sabine Pollehn.** The book: I bought this book because many of the projects looked like things that Super Girl would LOVE to wear, especially if she had helped make them. I loved that it had a wide range of sizes, from 18 months to 12 years, meaning I can use the patterns for years to come, and possibly even make matching items for the two girls. It also has several chapters with great advice on how to construct quality pieces of clothing which are also unique. My absolute favorite page is the one where you can write down ALL of your child's measurements. However, this is also where my disappointment set in. I eagerly measured all three children, and recorded those numbers. I then compared those numbers to the sizes of the patterns. I discovered that Super Girl is just too big for the largest size of these patterns. At almost 10, she is 5' and 108 pounds. I didn't think about it in the store, because she was in a size 12 in commercial clothing at the time. Little Miss is still a bit on the small side for these patterns, as she is a little peanut of a thing. I also discovered that the patterns don't include seam allowances. However, I look forward to making items for Little Miss in the future using these fun and easy patterns. I will just keep in mind that these patterns go up to a size 10, more realistically. Lastly, while the book includes boys in the title, there were only two patterns I'd actually use for a boy.



The hoodie: I wanted something warm, so I chose a remnant of camouflage fleece, as well as a remnant of coordinating green fleece. I picked the fleece up on mega-sale the day after Thanksgiving. I used the "Imse" pattern, which had options for feminine or masculine styling. I chose a straight sleeve and sides, and rounded hood. I embellished it with a couple of old military patches that my dad gave me. The pattern went together quickly and easily, and I was pleased with how it came out. However, I made a size "large", and it will possibly not fit Wonder Boy next winter. Keep in mind that he is still a rather slight boy right now. He is just now growing out of size 10 in commercial clothing. If he has an honest-to-goodness growth spurt, it will definitely be too small.

**Note: This post contains an affiliate link. The opinions expressed in this review are my own. I purchased this book with my own money (ok, I did use a 40% coupon).