Cheese Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos

My Hubby and I love to grow a garden. We try different stuff with some success but due to the pecan trees taking all the good soil, it is hard. One thing that grows with no problem is jalapenos and lots of them. I decided to experiment with cheese stuffed jalapenos, here is the best recipe I came up with.

Prepare your peppers by cutting off the top and hollowing out the inside, rinse out the seeds. TIP: I wore gloves doing this, just to make sure.
Stuff you pepper with any cheese you have in the icebox.
Use GOOD bacon to wrap around the pepper, starting with covering the hole over the cheese.
Place on a broiler cooking pan. Cook in the oven on 400 for about 15 minutes or so till bacon is how you like it.
Enjoy!!

Verdict: My son didn't like them. Hubby, Luis and I loved them they were very good.

We won the Lottery!!

We thought we won the lottery a few months ago. Our son Seth barely missed being hit by a speed demon trucking rounding the corner, on 2 wheels after drum lessons. My hubby was ready to punch the guy out for driving like that but backed down when someone with a gun was going to get out of the back seat. I then thought I had won the lottery cuz my hubby didn't get in a fight. Long story there lol. We both decided leaving the seen since we were all fine, Thank You Jesus and that was like winning the lottery, even if we never actually win.

Well guess what?? We did actually win!! We got 5 out of 6 numbers in the Texas Lottery last Saturday night. We were 1 number away from 94 million! We spent out usual $5 and got all quick picks. We ended up actually winning $2,115 before taxes. I have been on cloud 9 to say the least. God is Good!!!

Final thought: You can't win if you don't play!!

Stephie's Texas Chicken Gumbo

I made up my own recipe for Gumbo. I was inspired by the movie The Princess and The Frog. Lylah, my Granddaughter has been watching it over and over. There is also some sort of dessert on this movie which I haven't caught the "correct" name of but I would love to make it as well, it seems to be powder sugared sopapillas, anyway they look very good.

First seared my veggies, chicken and sausage to lock in the juice and flavor. The veggies I used were bought at Wal-Mart but I price compared with my grocery fliers, very easy and saves a bunch. My red pepper was only 88 cents and it is the most nutritious color of the bunch.

Veggies:
celery, red bell pepper, onion, minced garlic and okra thawed (i bought frozen), ginger root
Meat:
beef sausage, chicken breasts and frozen cooked shrimp

I put my chicken stock in my crockpot to heat while I prepared my ingredients. While searing my ingredients I add soul food seasonings, which is a nice blend of salt, garlic, paprika, onion black pepper and red pepper. Let everything slow cook on high for 4 hours then add thawed shrimp and okra. Everything is really cooked it just has to merry. I served on a bed of whole grain rice with some sweetened cornbread. Yummy!

My hubby LOVED it and he thought he would hate it. It is very healthy and lasts several days and gets better with each day. I think even Justin Wilson God rest his soul would have loved this, give it a try.

Julie & Julia inspired

I can't believe I haven't blogged since August. Wow! I have had so much happen in my life since then. I turned 40 on November 6 and that was awful, at first. I have now come to turms with it even though I did NOT reach the one major goal I set out for myself. I had planned on weighing 140 or somewhere close. I did manage however to loose over 30 pounds and I am still working on it. I loved the movie Julie & Julia. Meryle Streep did a fantastic job and Amy Adams is another one of my favorites! Must see!

Georgia - trip

My Dad gave me some of his frequent flyer miles for United Airlines. I used them to fly to Georgia to visit my adopted Sister Darlene and her hubby Dave. I have not flown in an airplane since I was 21 so it was VERY exciting. I had a layover in Chicago, where the president is from and I had never been there. It was such an awesome adventure to take by myself. I enjoyed every minute of it even the rushed ones such as running thru O'Hare to catch my next my plane. I was on an adventure. Georgie is a gorgeous state with lots of hills and tall trees. I could actually feel Moore oxygen in the air. Darlene's house was amazing and I so enjoyed being a guest in her home. Dave taught me how to do my taxes myself and keep better books for our business. We also had play time when we went out on the boat and I got up on water skies. I have not got up on skies in about 15 years or so. It was just as I remember, totally awesome as if I was walking on water. I am very thankful for this wonderful trip! Thanks Dad, you are the BEST Daddy ever!!

Family Vacation

We went on vacation to South Padre Island, Texas. It was a 9 hour drive one way but so worth it. The beach was beautiful and majestic. We took all 4 kids and our grandbaby, which was a little tight but we managed. We went on a 3 hour dolphin cruise complete with fireworks. Then we rode horses on the beach and had a wonderful time. Only 1 kid got burned, our 16 year old she refused sunscreen cuz she wanted to tan. It was a great time for all of us and we are glad to be back home. Thank you God for keeping us safe on our journey.

WaMu/Chase

We have been banking with WaMu for 4-5 years now, but the last year is has been AWFUL. We own our own business so a GOOD bank is vital to our business. We had a REAL bank error just like in Monopoly but it was not in our favor. They bounced a huge check written to our glass supplier when we had 4 times that amount in our account. I went to the bank only to find out that is was a mistake on their part and they were "sorry". They offered to write a letter of apology to us and Dallas Flat Glass, which they did. We was gonna change banks at this time but decided everyone deserves a second chance so we stayed.

Then we hired a credit card company for our business, thinking this is essential these days. We got the machine etc. and was being charged $5.50 a month to our bank account. We didn't need to use them yet and it was several months before we did. When we did finally use them it was for a transaction of over $4,000. We followed ALL the rules but they didn't. We would not deposit out money even after they had taken off the customers card. It was a mess. We cancelled our service and returned their equipment. They continued to charge our account the $5.50 but was now adding in another $30 from somewhere. I went to the bank to stop payment to them. I payed the bank $30 to stop payment and was told they could no longer access my account. Then a few weeks later here came another statement for $44. The bank then backtracked saying the stop payment had conditions, which they failed to tell me. The only way I was told to completely stop the charges is to close the bank account and they would not refund my $30 stop payment fee. I was furious!! I closed all 3 of our accounts and demanded the money in cash, much to their surprise. I was also VERY loud in the bank, which is so out of character for me. I held my head high and walked out of the bank, VERY nervous with several thousand dollars in cash. Goodbye WaMu/Chase!