Day 238 of 2026

It was a quick trip to the store after dinner. 

We only came home with a couple extra things. 

No, seriously, just two things - tomatoes and bananas. 

It would be hard to make a BLT without tomatoes.

 

Day 233 of 2026

I'm using up the rest of the strawberries from another meal. 

Tonight they will become the topping for strawberry shortcake.

 

Day 215 of 2026

These little toast crackers are so good, 

but I can't buy them here. 

It's hit or miss for Little E to find them

 but when she did recently, 

she bought a few boxes to bring with her 

when she came for our Big Adventure.

 

Day 214 of 2026

I made tacos tonight

 and found I needed to start the most basic of grocery lists.

 

Day 186 of 2026

For the 4th we had a small family group over to celebrate. 

We tried some new recipes including this mocktail. 

It was a coconut and lime concoction which was just ok. 

Next time I could try to fix it, 

but I'm more likely to try a new one.

Today's throwback is from July 4, 2014. 

Just for fun I'm leaving the blast from the past photos here.

 

Day 170 of 2026

I'm making some pudding to keep in the fridge for emergencies.

 

Day 153 of 2026

Happy Birthday, Big D!

 

Day 149 of 2026

I made a copy of a favorite salad 

from a restaurant we sometimes go to. 

It was really good 

and definitely needs to be on the menu again soon.

 

Day 109 of 2026

Today we ate the last of the Easter eggs.

 

Day 94 of 2026

On the search for a particular style of gluten free pretzel, 

Fireball and I stumbled upon this. 

With very few exceptions, everything in this section is gluten free. 

And, yes, I did find the elusive pretzels.

 

Day 62 of 2026

Last night we used the shells for chicken tacos. 

Tonight we are putting the chicken on salads 

with taco toppings. 

 

Day 61 of 2026

Eight taco shells nest nicely in a full circle

 but four is trickier. 

To avoid letting the last shell collapse

 making it nearly impossible to fill, 

I've arranged these like a Girl Scout friendship knot 

or cardboard box flaps.

The configuration was successful.

 

Day 40 of 2026

White popcorn in my blue bowl.

I also fixed my Crock-Pot lid with a new handle 

which makes it better than new, 

but that picture wasn't as colorful as this one.

 

Day 22 of 2026

My candy canes from Christmas are almost gone

 so I am savoring my peppermint hot chocolates while I can.

 

Day 6 of 2026

I can always count on my trusty Betty Crocker's Cookbook

 (©1969, 1974 reprint) to quickly give me the right proportions 

for the medium white sauce for tonight's casserole. 

Oh, in case you needed to know, 

Cheez-it crackers now come in a gluten free version in the US. 

Yes, they are also in my casserole.

 

Day 363 of 2025

I'm not great at just winging it when I make food, 

but tonight I took one leftover soup, 

another leftover from Big Christmas 

and two new ingredients to make a new soup. 

It turned out pretty well. 

Fireball intends to take the leftovers to work for lunch.

 

Day 328 of 2025

After a procedure today, my doctor told me to go eat. 

If it had been earlier in the day

 I would have gone somewhere for pancakes, 

but my appointment was late enough in the day

 that all the restaurants that offer pancakes were closed. 

I checked their hours of operation last night

 and was pretty sure that this would be the case. 

To satisfy my craving for pancakes, 

I got the next best thing I could think of

 that was simple to fix at home. 

These waffles are so good.

 

Day 296 of 2025

Today's snack is an apple I picked at an orchard with cheddar. 

I'll be sad when these apples are gone.

Day 295 of 2025

The third try at this meatloaf was not a charm. 

Day 1: I didn't realize that to cook the meatloaf frozen was going to take 2 1/2 hours total to cook. I put it in the fridge to thaw and to have the next day instead. 

Day 2: I put the thawed loaf in the oven and cooked the prescribed amount of time. I cut a couple slices of it and found it was not cooked through as promised. We had leftovers while I put it back in the oven to finish cooking to have the next day. 

Day 3 (today): I put the precooked slices of meatloaf on parchment paper and into the oven to heat it up for dinner. Before my timer went off, the smoke alarm started beeping. We did eat this version of the loaf. After the char, it really did have a great flavor so I will revise my cooking method for reheating the remaining slices for subsequent dinners.

 

Day 267 of 2025

I'll be prepping a lot of meals tomorrow.