Alone With My Tea

What is that I hear?  I know I've heard it before, but it's been so long.  That old familiar friend.  What was his name, again?  Oh wait, just a second, the name, it's coming, hang on a sec, yes, YES, my ears have not deceived me after all, hey it's - SILENCE.   Golden SILENCE!  I am alone, alone, ALONE!  This NEVER happens!  Ahhhhh... give me a second, to soak it up...

Ok, I'm done.  Sorry, for the giant run on and overuse of commas, but I couldn't help myself.

So, sitting here with my tea, yup still have the cold!  Wait a sec, have to blow my nose.... ok, back now.
The kids are in bed.  In their OWN beds by themselves!   They are starting to feel better, as I still fight mine!  I will win, I WILL.  Michael is out with our small group guys to watch the Broncos first training season game and talk about how to be better husbands!  Do you think they can combine the two?  I'm curious to see.  Well, It is awesome that they are getting together, and at the hub's prodding!  Thankful for him.  We girls are gonna try a girl's night out next week!  Again, Michael's idea!  Did I mention I LOVE him!  Before you think we are all perfect and everything, just don't go down that path.  There is plenty stuff we have had to work through, like every other married couple.  It's just great to see God working in Michael.  I hope Michael can say the same for me.  :)

I worked yesterday.  It was AWFUL.  Well, not "go in the bathroom, cry, and pull yourself together" kind of awful (It was for my CNA, found that out later.  Poor Kayla);  I just had my nasty cold, wore a mask all day, and had more discharges and admissions than I can recall just at this moment.  I was exhausted by the end of my 13 hours!  Ready to go home.  Michael had soup on the stove for me and a clean house.  AGAIN, not trying to brag.  hehehe... just sharin my day.

This morning, I felt less tired.  No fever.  No dizziness.  Just congested and sneezy.  Annabelle and I went out in the backyard for a few minutes after breakfast to check on our tomato plant.  We had quite a few ripe ones.  Well, quite a few to us.  Our tomato plant has very small tomatoes.  BUT, compared to last year's tomato plant that only produced 2 very small, hardly worth the chew and gulp, tomatoes, we felt rich with our crop!

I decided to run today.  I thought I would just go out and see how I felt.  I figured I would run about 4 even though my training is 6.  Amazingly, I felt pretty good, and ran the 6 miles.   My last 3 miles were around 7:30 pace.  Yay!  Running can be great for a cold, provided you are not dizzy or with a fever.  So far, this hasn't settled into my lungs.  Just an icky head cold.  We'll see how tomorrow looks.

Grocery shopping today, and made yummy stuffed pepper casserole for dinner.  I LOVE peppers!  They are SUPER DUPER good for you.  I remember when my Mom would cut them up for my Dad's tacos and I would sneak some of them for myself.  YUM!

Had to have a snack, while cooking! 

The first time I ever had or even heard of stuffed peppers was at a friend's house in high school.  I fell in love.  Now, it is super fun to have a pepper stuffed with the little pepper lid on top, but I find that people eat the stuffing and NOT the pepper.  A bit wasteful.  So I found this great stuffed pepper casserole recipe and adapted to suite my tastes!

http://www.food.com/recipe/inside-out-stuffed-pepper-casserole-397049

 Add 1 cup uncooked rice to 2 cups boiling water.  Wait for a really good boil, cover, reduce heat, and don't touch!  YOU WILL LET THE STEAM OUT IF YOU CHECK.  I use brown, and with our altitude it takes 60 minutes to cook.  Don't use instant - too soggy.

While the rice is cooking, Brown 1 lb ground beef or chicken or whatever.  Add salt pepper.  Drain off fat. Cut up 2-3 green peppers, 1 yellow onion, a couple cloves of garlic and throw it in the pan with the beef.  Saute until veggies are softened. (side note:  I always salt and pepper as I go.  Really keeps me from over/under salting foods.  Ex.  salt your beef, then as you add other ingredients, add salt to them as well.  Make sense?)

Add a 15oz can of tomato sauce, or 1.5 cups spaghetti sauce.  Add a few splashes of worcestershire sauce to taste.  When working with tomato sauce, I always add a touch of sugar to balance out the acidity.  Seriously, a little goes a long way!

Mix up your beef mixture with the cooked rice and bake in 350 degree preheated oven about 20 minutes.

Shred 1 cup cheddar cheese. 

(This is my FAVORITE cheddar cheese brand!  I get a 2.5lb block at costco for $7.  Great flavor.  I use it for lots of my recipes.)

After 20 minutes, pull casserole out of oven and sprinkle cheese.

Place back in oven uncovered for another 10 minutes, and ....

Yummo (Getting on my Rachel Ray right now)!

What I LOVE most about this meal, is how CHEAP it is.  Serves about 10 and costs about $7 for everything!   I love good cheap food!  Ha!  Plus, I don't have to cook tomorrow!  Win Win!

Alright, time to sit mindlessly in front of the TV for a bit.