What an absolutely full and crazy fun week this past week was. My friend and neighbor Saunie decided it would be fun to *officially* share meals for the week (since we kinda do that already, so we thought it would be cool to actually plan meal days during the week and take turns cooking). I made dinner for both of our little families for Monday night. I decided that since it was Family Home Evening, it would be fun to do little mini pizzas with Rhodes Rolls Dough. We had each of the kiddies, Kaden & Seneca and Saunie & Neil’s cute little Parker, make their own pizzas with whatever toppings they wanted. They had so much fun. I made a little salad to go along with the pizzas and it ended up being really tasty and fun.
After dinner, we had Family Home Evening….or rather, we TRIED to have Family Home Evening. Oh goodness. My little ones were so naughty…I was so embarrassed. They would not sit still and listen and had forgotten their manners. It was more than slightly chaotic. So much, in fact, that we couldn’t but laugh. I commented that I sure hope Heavenly Father looks down and gives points for intention and even just ATTEMPTING to do our weekly Family Home Evenings. In the end, the story I was doing for the lesson was cut short and each of the kids ending up choosing a Primary song for all of us to sing. And to no one’s surprise, Kaden chose ‘In the Leafy Treetops.” So funny…that has been his favorite song since he was first in nursery. And ever since, that has been the one he wants us to sing every week. LOL! And so, for the past 4ish years, we have started our Family Home Evenings singing “Teach Me To Walk In The Light,” just as we did in my own family every Monday growing up….and we END with “In The Leafy Treetops” just for Kaden. LOL! From start to finish, I think our Family Home Evening was slightly under 4 minutes. Good times.
Tuesday, we got together again and I made all of us my friend Amber’s DELICIOUS Corn Chowder with her yummy Cinnamon Sugar Wheat Rolls. There wasn’t a DROP of soup or a single roll left over. I met with my Dad later that night about a few things I’m working on as the General Young Men’s Presidency Historian, and had saved him a bowl and a few rolls. He loved it as well. I am thinking this is by far, my new FAVE soup ever. The only thing I would do differently, is leave out a little bit of the Creole Seasoning JUST for the kids’ portions. It was PERFECT for us, but just a little bit spicy for the kiddies. Otherwise, SO SO SO SO awesome! Thanks Amber, for sharing such awesome recipes at our last craft night. Tuesday night after playing all night out in the circle and visiting on our lawn with all of our families for hours, four of us gals decided to go out and see a movie. Saunie has only lived here just barely over a year, but Angela and Katie have been my neighbors since we moved here almost 7 years ago and we have NEVER been out together. We thought it was about time. We had a great time together!! What fun gals! I am so fortunate to have such incredible neighbors!! Love you guys!
On Wednesday night, we met up at Neil & Saunie’s house for Shrimp Scampi and Fried Catfish. HEA-VEN-LY!!! It was so yummy. The scampi was so yummy and the catfish literally melted in your mouth.
Thursday night was cul-de-sac BBQ night, so we decided to split up the assignments. I made the meat for us, for Neil & Saunie and for our other friends and neighbors, Jed & Angela. I tried a new recipe and LET ME TELL YOU…….I will NEVER be able to have a plain old burger EVER again!!!! I found this recipe for Outside-In Bacon Cheeseburgers with Green Onion Mayo in one of my fave Rachael Ray cookbooks and decided to try it out. I have NEVER tried out a Rachael Ray recipe that I didn’t LOVE. And this was no exception. The second I bit into the burger and the cheese oozed out, I thought I was literally in heaven. And combined with the delicious homemade green onion mayo and crisp lettuce on a Kaiser roll, it was very likely the BEST BURGER I have ever had!!! And of course, it just wouldn’t be fair not to share this awesome recipe with you. ENJOY!!!
OUTSIDE-IN BACON CHEESEBURGERS
WITH GREEN ONION MAYO
6 slices bacon, chopped
4 green onions
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (E.V.O.O.), for drizzling
1 ¾ pounds ground beef sirloin
1 ½ T. Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ T. Montreal Steak Seasoning
¾ pound extra-sharp white cheddar cheese, grated
1 C. mayonnaise
1 tsp. ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 crusty Kaiser rolls, split
6 leaves crisp romaine lettuce
Preheat grill over high heat. In a medium pan, brown bacon and drain . Brush scallions with a little E.V.O.O. and grill on a hot grill (I actually grilled mine in the same saucepan that I browned the bacon, in a little bit of the bacon grease) 2 or 3 minutes on each side. Remove from heat to cool.
MAKE THE BURGERS: Combine ground beef with Worcestershire sauce and steak seasoning and mix well. Divide meat into 6 equal parts. Combine grated cheese and cooked bacon. Take a portion of the ground meat in your hand and make a well in the center of it. Pile in cheese and bacon, then carefully form the burger around the cheese and bacon filling. Make sure the fillings are completely covered with meat. When all 6 large patties are formed, drizzle with E.V.O.O. and place on a hot grill. Cook 2 minutes on each side over high heat, reduce heat (or move to warm area of grill) and cook burgers 7 to 8 minutes longer, turning them occasionally. Do not press down on burgers as they cook. Transfer to a plate and let them rest 5 minutes before serving.
MAKE THE MAYONNAISE: Chop cooled, grilled green onions and add to a food processor. Add mayonnaise and cumin and pulse-grind the onions and mayonnaise together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (I don’t have a food processor, so I just chopped the green onion into small pieces and mixed the other ingredients together with the green onion and it worked out great.)
Place burgers on crusty Kaiser buns and top with crisp lettuce leaves and a slather of green onion mayonnaise.
These burgers were to die for. Saunie and Neil brought what we all agreed, was the BEST watermelon of the entire summer and Jed made the most heavenly fresh green beans EVER (made with chopped fresh basil, squeezed lemon and bacon. YUMMM!). We all agreed that…WE SERIOUSLY KNOW HOW TO BBQ!! After we were completely full, Saunie broke out ice cream cones for all of the little ones and Bear Claw ice cream for the adults. YUMMM! The ice cream was a HIT..as you can see!
On Friday, Chas went to visit his grandma on her birthday. He took her a little gift from us and stayed and visited with her for a while. We had also sent a card and a few word search books (Grandma's faves) in the mail prior so that they would arrive on her birthday. Then, he ended up going to a high school football game with his friend Conor that night. Earlier that day, I went and got balloons for my friend Ursula who turned 90 on Friday. She was so surprised to see me and overwhelmed at the sight of the balloons and gifts. Ursula
can’t see very well without things being very closely to her eyes, so I decided to get her a night glass vase and fill it with potpourri. She loved it. I also gave her a framed picture of her and Christian, our mailman and friend, who just recently moved back to Germany with his family. She absolutely loved it. She was so taken back by how much love she had been shown by her friends. She is such an awesome lady. I just love her so much. We sat and visited and laughed about the fact that she is officially 3 times my age this year. LOL! I had been out running errands all day and was in my grubbies and had NOT planned to take any pictures….believe me. However, when I got there and one of Ursula’s other friends was there to take a picture of us (and I happened to have my camera in my car), I felt strongly that I should just have her take a picture of us…just in case. So this is NOT my favorite picture of me, but I love it because I am next to Ursula. What a blessing it is for me to have the opportunity to visit her on a regular basis, not only to have the fun opportunity to speak German with her every time I visit, but to learn from her experiences and wisdom. And to be honest, she is simply SO MUCH FUN to be with. Goodness...I sure hope that I am the picture of good spirits and good health that she is at 90 years old!!!
Friday night was technically supposed to be our monthly craft night, but I ended up canceling it, since there were so many that wanted to be there and weren’t able to because of other engagements. So we will be doing the craft night in a few weeks. More about that when that time arrives. So, instead of eating at the craft night, we got together at Saunie & Neil’s again for dinner. Saunie make hard and soft shell tacos and virgin Strawberry Marguerites. They were DELISH!!!! And Saturday, while I was doing a photo shoot of his sister and her in-laws, Chas golfed with his cousin, Uncle and our neighbor Jed and then had his Fantasty Football Draft with his buddies that night.
After he got home, I sat out with Angela and Katie and we watched “The Bucket List” on our front lawn. I had seen it before, but was happy to see it again. What an inspiring show. LOVED IT. Unfortunately, because of Jack Nicholson’s profanity, I can’t fully recommend it, but I CAN share one of the parts that hit me so hard BOTH times I watched it. The part that stands out to me the most about that movie is when Edward and Carter are sitting on ruins overlooking Cairo (which I thought was fun anyway, since I just barely had the opportunity to talk to one of my friends from the International School the other day who is currently living in Cairo) and Carter tells Edward that the Ancient Egyptians believed that when you die, the gods asked you two questions and your answers to those questions would determine whether or not you would be able to enter into their presence. The two questions were: 1) Have you found joy in your life? And 2) Has your life brought joy to others? Isn’t that wonderful? Definitely something to think about. I LOVE THAT!!!! It was an absolutely beautiful night out and so much fun to sit out and watch a great movie with great friends and neighbors.
What an awesome week. This week was very typical of almost every week this summer with almost every night filled with our families, neighbors and friends, movies on the lawn, shared meals, fire pits and smores, etc. etc. etc. And I love that every now and again, I will get a text (as I did tonight) from Saunie even after we've already been out with our families playing out in the cul-de-sac most of the day and long after the kids are in bed, to meet back out on our lawn and visit.
She took this picture of us tonight while we were chatting on our lawn after the kiddies went to bed (P.S. Saunie..the date and time are off on your camera. LOL!). She had just gotten home from a baby shower and is looking all cute and I have been cleaning all day...and thus look BLAH with no make-up and my hair pulled back all the way. Nice. Oh well. Love to have this picture to document our fun "lawn chats" with each other, with our other fun neighbors, with our spouses, etc. This summer has been FANTASTIC!! As I have mentioned before, we are truly blessed to have such an awesome unity here in our circle. There is such a fun and social feeling here and I love it! Sometimes it almost seems like a fairytale circle because everything is constantly so happy and social and drama free. I LOVE IT!!! A few evenings ago, the doorbell rang and there was Saunie with a tray of freshly canned peaches and a loaf of HOT banana bread......just because. Seriously….does it get any better than this?!?!
Seriously?!? How awesome is that! Sharing the cooking, fresh goodies at you door for NO specific reason! That's the best. It's so wonderful that there are still neighborhoods where everyone interacts like they're an extensions of the family :) I don't think I've spoken directly to any of my neighbors in the last week! Sad, huh? Hopefully the summer will last extra long so you can enjoy it to the fullest :)
Posted by: Libby | August 27, 2008 at 08:12 AM
always so many fun things happening. Enjoy this wonderful time with your neighbors, as the kids get older it seems things get busier and times like these will fade. So ejoy, enjoy, enjoy!
Posted by: Dawn | August 27, 2008 at 08:51 AM
Honestly? You and your culdesac would never make it on T.V. Like you said.....there's NO drama and you have such fantastic friends! I am just so thrilled for you. It's the perfect place to live. You should give your culdesac group a name. : D You have amazing friendships.
But like they say...."What goes around, comes' around". SO I am NOT surprised. I LOVE what you did for Ursula. What a sweetheart you are. Look at the smile on her face. Pure joy. Pure friendship. Pure righteous charity.
You are awesome woman!
P.S. THANKS FOR THE RECIPES!!! YUM!
Posted by: Lynn C. | August 27, 2008 at 11:13 AM
That's a super idea to trade cooking meals! However, when we get together with our best friends - there are nine kids between the 2 of us. All under the age of 8. CRAZAY!
That cheeseburger looks sooo yummy. Man, I wish we lived closer! LOL! Loved the photos as usual. You guys have so much fun!
Posted by: Bobbi-Jo Grunewald | August 27, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Seriously does it you have an awesome neighbourhood such great people!!! Plus they have you for a neighbour so how could they not have fun eh!! You are a riot I want to live in your neighbourhood!!! hope all else is good ttys Awesome recipes too! thanks for sharing always you are the best!@!!
Posted by: Christal | August 27, 2008 at 02:18 PM
HOly cow, girl...this is a typical week for you?! Share the energy and motivation, please! :) I am offically moving to your neighborhood...mmmmm! I always say, "It's all about the food!" Looks like you and your neighborhoods feel the same way!
I would love to get together soon...let me know! :)
Posted by: julie | August 28, 2008 at 07:43 AM
I LOOOVE that recipe! It is one of our favorite burger recipes! Rachael Ray rocks out another great recipe.
Posted by: Meagan | September 01, 2008 at 10:54 AM