Trials of a Long Haired Girl

With my birthday quickly approaching, I was reminded of the things that Mom used to do to celebrate my birthday.  She always tried to make it special for me.  I do recall her telling me that on my birthday she also got a present because if it were not for her, I wouldn't be here and she did all the hard work.  In my high school years, it seemed that Mom's go to was a taco salad recipe that could stretch quite a ways and didn't cost us quite so much.  Oh what I wouldn't give to sit down and have some of Mom's taco salad.  I sometimes make it myself, but it's never quite the same as hers.  I also remember a chocolate chip cake with a whipped cream frosting that was super tasty.   This is my first birthday without Mom and, while I know that the years still come, this one is a little difficult being the first.  For me, this journey is one step at a time and being thankful that God is with me on this journey to guide my steps.  

I have a confession to make...until last night, I'd never made a traditional lasagna.  I made one several years ago in the crockpot, but I decided that I wanted to prepare a traditional lasagna for my family.  It was much easier than I expected it to be.  I will say that mind did not look nearly as pretty as the picture to the left.  I am thankful that I had some help though.  We all came together and handled different parts of the meal.  I wish I'd paired it with a big side salad, but to be honest, I was so preoccupied using my Ziploc Vacuum Sealer for my salad, I didn't think about reserving some lettuce for a salad for the family.  It was definitely a popular meal and I will have to do it again.   I realized something while I was on the hunt for a recipe the other day.  While I have quite a few cookbooks, I found myself more inclined to look for a recipe on Pinterest.  There are so many recipes that I know are in my cookbook, ye...

Do you have a Kroger card?  Have you participated in the Free Download Friday electronic coupons?  I can't say I have tried all of the things that have showed up, but I recently took advantage of the free Chobani Greek Yogurt Flip that they offered during that promotion.  I also took advantage of a sale at Tom Thumb and purchased some different flavors, which got me a rebate on Ibotta.  Since I've been doing well with my meal planning this week and pre-tracking, I realized I was going to end the day with far too many Smart Points left and wouldn't get my blue tracking dot for the day.  Left with this dilemma, I promptly went to the refrigerator to see what we had that would use up a chunk of those remaining Smart Points.  While this one is rather high on the Smart Points scale coming in at 9 Smart Points per serving, I had them to use.   Here's my take on it.  I'm not certain quite what I expected, but it did have the salty sweet flavor t...