Bacon Au Gratin Potatoes

Ingredients:
3/4 lb bacon cooked and crumbled
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 cups whole milk
salt and white pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 lbs new red potatoes sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 cup grated monterey-cheddar cheese mix

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 8x10 rectangel baking dish
2. in a nonreactive saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Whisk in the milk and cook until the liquid is slightly thick and coats the back of a spoon, about 4 to 6 minutes.
4. Season with salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder. Remove from heat
5. In mixing bowl, toss the sliced potatoes with a little salt and pepper. Fold in the cream sauce and pour 1/2 into prepared pan. Layer with half of bacon and 1/2 cheese. Then add potatoes and the rest of the bacon and cheese.
6. Cover with tin foil and place in oven about 35-40 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Remove tin foil last 5 minutes to golden the top. Cool a couple of minutes before serving.

Pineapple glazed Ham with Pineapple Corn Relish

I got a great discount on a half a ham during the holidays and been meaning to have some friends over the share it with. Finally we got out dates together and had a wonderful dinner in the middle of the summer. Oh well...it was yummy.

Pineapple glazed Ham

Ingredients
1 6 to 9 lb ham
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1 tbspn honey Dijon or stone-ground mustard
3/4 tspn hot sauce
3 heaping tbspn crushed pinapple
1/8 tspn ground cloves
1 can sliced pineapple


1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Insert the meat into a cook bag and onto a racking pan with at least a 2 inch lip. Cook about 20 minutes per lb, fat side up. Insert a meat thermometer, making sure it does not touch the fat or the bone. Bake uncovered until the meat thermometer registers 135 degrees F.
3. Combine apricot preserves, mustard, hot sauce, crushed pinapple, and cloves in a small bowl, to make a glaze. Whisk until smooth. Remove the ham from oven and brush with the glaze. Bake until the meat thermometer registers 140 degrees about 20 mintues.

Pineapple Corn Relish

Ingredients:
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 cup whole kernel corn, yellow
1/4 cup diced onion
2 tbsp diced sweet red bell pepper
1 can chopped pineapple
1/3 cup water
pinch ground cloves

1. Combine the vinegar, sugar, mustard, and turmeric in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the corn, onion, and bell peppers; cook for 4 minutes. Set aside.
2. In a small saute pan, cook diced pineapple with water over medium heat until tender. And corn relish and a pinch of ground cloves and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Serve the relish hot or cold.

Cross-country

If you were to do a cross-country road trip where would you go? What would you prioritize as a sight to see? How many days would you spend at each spot? Would you stop so you can taste Louisianna Jambalya? Or check to see which is better Chicago pizza or New York Pizza? Or would you want to see Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone?

Home By: J. Andrews

Home: A memoir of my early years By: Julie Andrews

I just finished reading this book. There is a reason I don't pick up books as often as I use to. They engross me at times. I have hard time putting it down. I am sure my kids enjoy that I am not annoyed at them interrupting my reading. "Just a couple more pages, please".

This was a hard book for me to read. Julie Andrews has been a big part of our family. Penelope hated the car seat. But whenever we turned on the sound track to Mary Poppins it would calm her down. It was magical music. Nothing else would do it. I always said that it had something to do with the active melody of the music. Sadly it doesn't work with Austyn's dislike of the car seat.

Julie Andrews life was fairly difficult to start. She had a troubled childhood and was an English childhood actor/ performer. Through the beginning of the book I kept telling Russell out loud, "I liked her better in Mary Poppins". To me Julie Andrews was still the nanny that help soothe my daughter through her voice. Soon enough I separated the part she played in one movie from the actress. She opened up in the book about her family, her feelings, her life. It was wonderful to be able to peak inside of her life this way. It intensely saddened me to find out that her first marriage ended. I didn't know that until I was almost done with the book. Though she doesn't go that far in her life in this memoir (only until she is starting rehearsals for Mary Poppins) she doesn't hide the fact. Though there is a part of me that wanted this seemingly wonderful marriage to continue no matter what, I am glad she is happily married.

It is difficult to separate yourself when it is a novel versus a memoir. With a novel the end is the end. If there is no more you can make it more in your head. With a memoir you get a snippet of someones life but Julie Andrew is living a full life. There is so much more to her story. I recommend this book. Especially for anyone who has been raised with her as I have, watching her in the Sound of Music almost every Christmas.

10 K

Since I finished my 5K and have lost a significant amount of weight I have kind of plateaued. At times I am loosing weight, at times I am gaining weight. For the most part it's coming off but not nearly as quickly as it could. I have been talking about doing a 10K (with the hopes of one day doing A (meaning one only) marathon. 5K has become a comfort level. I need to push myself further. So 10K training schedule here we come. Here is a link I am probably going to lightly follow. And then I have to schedule a race. I already have my races up till September planned. October there is a Wet n' Wild 5K some friends were going to do. So maybe in November. Which probably gives me too much time to do it. So the laziness might continue.