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There’s An Anniversary We Did Forget

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Our son, Zachary, turned 21 this past July. In August, on the 14th to be exact we should have done the “happy dance” for Zachary and at the very least remembered the date. August 14th, 2012, was Zach’s 8th Anniversary of cancer survivorship. He’s a survivor of childhood leukemia (ALL). I told our family’s story earlier this year in a three-part series, where you can read all the details of our experience.

I woke up this morning feeling a little bummed out that we had forgotten to mark the date this year. I have never forgotten to celebrate this date since Zach’s chemo ended in 2004. So, since I have this platform to celebrate my son and his good health, I am.

December 2001 – Zach had been in treatment since April of 2001, and continued his chemo regimen until August of 2004.

Christmas 2001 – Zach’s a trooper!

Turn the clock ahead to 2012-Healthy and strong.

Zach’s 21!!*

Happy 8th Anniversary, Zachary. Livestrong, Superman.

*Photo credits from the birthday party – Elaine Zee.

No comments Posted in Around the House, Family

My Favorite Sloppy Joes

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Renee Spindle

I’m in a recipe kind of mood this week. Probably because there is the tiniest hint of fall in the air, probably because I’ve been busily harvesting all kinds of goodies from my garden, and most importantly because I just love to cook. I’ve made a lot of different sloppy joe recipes, even the Manwich variety. I remember making sloppy joes in 4-H when I was 10 or 11. I think that was in the second year of cooking. Then I tried the sloppy joe recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. There are a few changes to the recipe; namely ketchup in place of tomato sauce. It would be hard for me to make any other sloppy joes after enjoying this one.

The Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef, or ground turkey
1 splash of vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium)
1/2 cup chopped green pepper (1 small)
1 cup of ketchup
2 Tbsp. water
1 to 1½ teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup of water
6 kaiser rolls or hamburger buns

The Directions:

In a large skillet cook the onion and green pepper in a splash of vegetable oil until tender.
Add the meat to this and cook until completely browned.
Drain the fat from the pan.
Stir in the remaining ingredients, including the additional 1 cup of water.
The additional cup of water allows you to simmer the mixture for about 15 minutes so the flavors can mesh and meld.
Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Serve on toasted kaiser rolls or hamburger buns.
Don’t forget to serve the potato chips on the side. A little bit of sloppy joe on a bit of a potato chip is an amazing snack!

This is a great recipe to double or triple for a crowd. (This is a Party House favorite recipe!) A simple, easy to do week night recipe. Or a great party crowd recipe, or a great let’s watch the baseball playoffs recipe! (Is it October yet?) Oh, and don’t forget if you’re serving sloppy joes and potato chips you must include the dill pickles. Happy cooking everyone!

3 comments Posted in Food, Recipes

Zucchini Pancakes

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Renee Spindle

The zucchini harvest here at the Spindle Ranch is going gangbusters. I had been perusing the allrecipes.com website and came across this recipe for a pancake with a twist. This was a great breakfast pancake as it has the zucchini, onion, and my favorite, cheddar cheese. You could add any variation that you please with this recipe. Maybe add some green onion, or finely chopped jalapenos, or green peppers. Travel Man suggested this would be a great pancake to eat with a couple of fried eggs on the side.

With your next harvest of zucchini try out this scrumptious recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated onion
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup biscuit baking mix (such as Bisquick®)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil, as needed

Directions

Mix zucchini, cheddar cheese, and onion together in a bowl.
Stir eggs and biscuit mix into zucchini mixture until well combined.
Heat vegetable oil on the griddle or large skillet over medium heat.
Scoop about 1/4 cup batter onto heated griddle.
Cook until pancakes are browned, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
Repeat with remaining batter.

I did not take pictures when I made these, so my post is a little barren. But I wanted to share this recipe with you, because it’s almost like an omelette and biscuit on your plate at the same time. An easy, simple weekend breakfast kind of pancake. Enjoy!

One comment Posted in Around the House, Family, Food, Recipes

How do you Charge your Electronics?

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Renee Spindle

What’s the best way to take control of all of the electronics being charged in your house?

I’m a fairly organized person. I prefer to have things in order, and put away as much as possible. But here is my current dilemma, there are chargers everywhere in our house. I have tried and tried to corral the cords, but they always end up back in their own little corners. Near a chair here, or a table there. For our house, The Party House that is, we have a never-ending stream of cords, especially in the living room.

Chargers for phones, chargers for netbooks, chargers for headphones (this a travel man thing), chargers for kindles, chargers for camera batteries. Yes, we do have a lot of electronic devices. Remember, I live with Travel Man, and he’s a “road warrior”, so he has a lot of gadgets. I had been asking him what we can do to get the cords under control. So our first solution has been to try this:

A big charging station in my office, which is closest to the living room by the way. This has definitely helped the situation. But, when Travel Man comes home from a trip the chargers and cords multiply by leaps and bounds! We have quite a few phones in the family that all use a similar charger. I thought with my charging station some of the straggling chargers in the house would disappear and everyone could just use my office charging station. The chargers around the house have diminished slightly, but not as much as I had hoped.

Oh, and how many of you use your cell phone for an alarm clock too? So that means you have to be able to charge your phone next to your bed. Another cord! See what I mean. It’s getting almost to the level of the Tupperware dilemma. You know how you have that one piece of Tupperware that you can’t find the lid for, or you have a lot of lids and no bowl. It’s like they duplicate themselves when you are not looking!

If you have any suggestions for taking control of the “charging” dilemma please leave me a comment and let me know how you’re handling this situation. Maybe it’s not a dilemma for you, I’d love to hear from you.

2 comments Posted in Around the House, Family, Organizing, Travel Man

Have you Made your Zucchini Muffins?

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Renee Spindle

www.reneesrevelings.com

If you have a garden, and you’re growing some zucchini, you need this recipe. These muffins are so moist and yummy, I love baking them for breakfast. And they freeze well, and taste oh so good with a morning latte. If you want a fresh muffin hurry on over, these generally don’t last too long at my house.

Ingredients

3 cups grated fresh zucchini
2/3 cup melted unsalted butter
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons baking soda
Pinch salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup walnuts (optional)
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries (optional)

The How To’s

And by the way you don’t need a mixer for this recipe.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl combine the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the grated zucchini and then the melted butter. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir these dry ingredients into the zucchini mixture. Stir in walnuts, raisins or cranberries if you’re adding them.

www.reneesrevelings.com

Coat each muffin cup in your muffin pan with a little butter or vegetable oil spray. Use your favorite cookie scoop or a small spoon distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups, filling the cups up completely. You’ll notice I had enough batter left over to make a mini zucchini loaf.

www.reneesrevelings.com

Bake on the middle rack until muffins are golden brown, and the top of the muffins bounce back when you press on them, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick or a thin bamboo skewer to make sure the center of the muffins are done.

www.reneesreveliongs.com

Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin let cool another 20 minutes.
While you’re waiting for the muffins to cool go and make yourself a coffee or a latte to wash them down with!

It’s so incredible to me that the zucchini comes from the garden plant with the biggest leaves, and can end up as a yummy and delicious treat. Stay tuned for my next zucchini recipe. I made some wonderful breakfast pancakes that did not require any syrup. What’s your favorite recipe that requires your zucchini from the garden?