A love it when things go as planned

So far, everything planned for the last week has been going along swimmingly. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop because our plans usually have some glitch.....but not this week.

It's a cloudy afternoon, my husband and son are off to enjoy a bit of time together and pop a few rounds off at the range. We went to the range together yesterday, all three of us (and had a blast), but I think some father and son time is needed now and again.



Besides, I started a fat baguette for this evening's meal and am waiting on it to rise, getting caught up with email, meal planning and thinking of getting a few Christmas decorations down.

Usually we take decorations down the first weekend after Christmas but with Tristan coming to visit I wanted it more festive. Being stationed at Ft Stewart makes it a 4+ hour trip home when leave is granted. How I wish he were stationed at Ft Rucker in Dothan; that's only 2 hours and we could see him more. Not complaining though, we'll take whatever time we can get.

The meal planning has been on the mark so far with everything I planned being cooked/baked/consumed just as I wrote it out. We have been making great use of any scrap of leftovers by employing them in soup or a casserole. For instance, I have a bit of chicken left on a carcass from a bird I roasted with rice and fig stuffing. Also had one lonely smoked sausage link and obviously neither was enough to make a meal - unless combined.



Gumbo was the answer there as I had canned tomatoes in the pantry and broth in the freezer. That cost us literally nothing to make gumbo for lunches which lasted three days. Plus, as we don't seem to have any heat at work a steaming bowl of soup was just the ticket to warm our hands.

On the plan for Friday/Saturday was Picadillo - see it all plated below



served with Maduras, rice and black beans.



If you'd like the recipe click HERE. It's a little something different you can do with beef mince besides spaghetti sauce or cottage pie. Evernote has been helping me stay a little better organized.

Weather has been crazy with highs and lows running 50/29F one week then topping up around 70F a few days later. Certainly makes it hard to store summer clothing away. One possibly poor decision I have made was getting my hair cut shorter, as in it's high above my neck now. Brilliant idea when it's been so cold at night. Scarfs are the quick fix there. But I ought to have waited until summer.

That's the update here. Never exciting, mostly delicious, always have wine.