sketti and meatballs

I made something really yummy this week!

Sketti and meatballs as I like to call it.

I saw a recipe for these on Pioneer Woman's website here...click on this to go to her page.

I decided I MUST make them!

It's waaaayy better than this...

This is one of Preacher Man's favorites.  I don't like it.  I think it smells awful and sorta looks awful too!  Bleh.

I decided to make him the real deal this week!  :)

Starting with the meatballs....

And I even touched the meat for those of you who know that I don't like to touch raw meat!  I was super proud of myself!  :)

And I used one of my favorite kitchen gadgets to form the meatballs....my cookie scoop!

Don't those look like the best cookies you've ever seen?!?!  Ha!

That's more like it!

I kinda made a lot...I mean a lot!!!!  I just used one package of meat too!

47 to be exact.  :)

Oh yeah, look at this beauty that I found at the store!  I was super proud of myself!

I got a 4 pound roast for a great deal!

It was originally...

And I paid this for it...

Good deal!!!!!!  So good that I had to interrupt my discussion of meatballs to tell you about it.

Back to it...

Here's my precious little nuggets of deliciousness!  I browned them in the pan first and took them out.

Then I threw some sauce together.  I didn't follow Pioneer Woman's instructions step by step.  I made up my own!  And I also added a little kick to my sauce.  Some Red Pepper flakes.  Like my bottle of them?  Hahaha!

And no, I didn't cook all of the meatballs.  I saved some for a rainy day.  They're in the freezer.

I let them cook for about 30-40 minutes on the stove-top and they were glorious!  So delish!  I was very proud of myself!

I cooked some noodles and cheesy bread to go along side it too.  It was a tish bit hot when I took the picture below...

YUM, YUM, YUM in my TUM, TUM, TUM!!

I did good, Momma!

Oh yes!

And Preacher Man said the meatballs were much better than Mr. Chef Boyardee man's.

Ha!

AND the next day after I made them we had meatball subs for lunch.  Sooo good!

Hooray for meatballs!

And hooray for today being Saturday!  I'm sitting on the couch all day long...it's been a long week!

Everyone have an awesome weekend!

Dreaming of some more meatballs,

The Preacher's Wife

Now Taking Applications...

Just wanted to let all family and friends know that Preacher Man and I are now accepting applications for visitors this summer.

We have wonderful guest accommodations at our town house in Wake Forest.

A nice guest bedroom with a full-size comfy bed.

An inviting couch to snuggle on and watch some TV or sit around and talk.

Ample games to play with us....lots of laughing is promised and guaranteed.

Yummy, home-cooked meals made by myself.  I'll cook you anything you want.  And I'm not talking frozen dinners people!!  And if it's your birthday I'll even let you eat on my special birthday plate!  :)

Wonderful sight-seeing around the North Carolina area.  We are only two hours from the beach and there are some great shopping malls, outlets, and lakes around too!

Fun stores in and around Wake Forest that girls will LOVE!

Golf courses for the guys...that's for when the girls are shopping.

AND to top it all off, we won't even charge you rent.

Please send all applications to kharbin31@hotmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Also, in the application, please include when you can visit and how long you will be staying with us as well as where you will be taking me out to eat for letting you stay here for free.  Kidding...okay maybe not.  What can I say, I like to eat out.  :)  Haha!  Some weekends could already be booked, but Summer is looking pretty empty for visitors at our household and we just need to change that...quickly!!  It makes me happy when family and friends come to visit.

That is all for now!  I'm sure my inbox will be overflowing when I check my email again later today!

Love to all,

The Preacher's Wife

just another weekend...i might have done it again...

It was a good weekend at our house...minus the fact we couldn't go home for Mother's Day!

A good breakfast Saturday morning and a delicious birthday dinner on Saturday night for our great friend, Andrew.

And I might have done it again.  I made another ice cream cake.  This one was a bit different though.

This one was a chocolate cake....but I might have added a thing or two to make it a little bit more special.

See below...

I poked holes in the cake....like a zillion holes it felt like.

And then...

I poured hot fudge all over the top.

And while I was doing this, our pet dog came to visit us in the backyard.

Say hello to him....and check him out...

Is that not the biggest groundhog you've ever seen?!?!  They are bigger than a lot of dogs that I know and they seem to be pretty fearless around these parts.  And they just might scare me a bit.  You just never know when one is around the corner or lurking outside your back door when you open the blinds.  Creeeppppyyyy.  Not a fan.

Back to the cake...

Once I started to assemble the cake it decided that it was going to try and topple over..my ice cream was too creamy and was starting to melt everywhere but I wasn't going to have it though....this cake was going to make it.  I yelled for reinforcement from the living room and the guys came running.  Preacher Man and Andrew came to my help to grab some skewers for me to put in the cake so it wouldn't topple over.  My heart was racing thinking that I was about to lose it but never fear, the cake was saved and quickly rushed to the freezer with the skewers in it.  Thank goodness.

And yes, I did have to rearrange the kitchen because of all of the chicken I bought at the grocery store the other day.  :)

About an hour later I was brave enough to take it out and frost it with some Cool Whip.

And then it was time for the birthday boy to make a wish...

Preacher Man and I sang to him too.  My singing sent chills down every one's spine.  I'm such a glorious singer!  :)  Best in the family I tell ya!  Hahah...so far from the truth but I sure do act like I'm good...most people tell me to hush!  :)

Best buddies!!  It looks like they are posing with a while bowling ball.  Ha!

Now this...this is the inside.

And this is how you do it.  Slice a piece and then drizzle the hot fudge on top and gobble it up!  :)

It was pretty good even if I did make it.

I also made my Preacher Man some Chicken and Dumplin's to put in the freezer for him to eat when I can't cook for him.  :)

So that was our Saturday fun.  On Sunday we went to a great church service and we had lunch at this place......

Can you guess what kind of restaurant it is?!  It was pretty delish!

And later that day, Preacher Man went to the Beauty Salon...aka...his wife cutting his hair.  :)

He is just thrilled to no end.  Ha!  :)

Sort of a military hair cut.

Bahahahahahahaha a mo-hawk!  NICE!

A side view.

And the finished produce.  His new summer doo.

I think he looks like a baseball player. 

So cute if you ask me!  :)

And yes, I did cut his hair in the living room.  It was just too dark outside and we can sweep up the mess in no time!  :)

And that my friends, is our weekend in a nutshell!  :)

Happy Monday to you all!

Can't wait to see who will figure out the name of the restaurant that we ate at on Sunday!  :)

Lots of Lovin',

The Preacher's Wife

To my Momma....

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mom's in the world!  :)  Today I wrote my Mom a poem for Mother's Day.  It is entitled,

 "Mom, You Are So Grand"

  By Katie H.

                                                                   Mom you are so grand,

                                                                   Only you are the best in the band.

                                                                   Most mom's aren't like you,

                                             because onlyYou know how to keep me not feeling blue.

                                              You are the One with the funny quirks,

                             and I always see in yoU the great qualities of your works.

                                                                   Amazing, loving, and talented you are,

            you are one of the brightest staRs.

                                                                   Even though I'm not there with you,

                     I hope that you won't feel So blue.

                     It won't be long till I see yOur face,

                                  cause I'll be cominG home to your place.

                                           Thank you foR all that you do,

                                            I'll never be Able to repay you.

                                    I hope that you kNow how much I appreciate you Mom,

                            You really are so granD.

I love you, Mom!  Happy Mother's Day!  :)

This poem is copyrighted....by me.  Thank you.

:)

Love,

The Preacher's Wife

Just getting a sandwich....

Some days I enjoy grocery shopping, other days not so much.

Today was one of those days where I LOVED it!!!!

Let me just show you the things that I got in the store for a whopping $30!  Yes, $30!  :)

I'm one of those people that sometimes shops with a list.  Today I didn't have a list.  I was on a mission to go to Harris Teeter to get myself a sandwich for lunch because I'd heard how glorious they were from other people....and of course I just had to see for myself if they really were that good.

Well, before I get into the store I saw an amazing ad so I just HAD to stop and see what the fabulous deal was of the week. 

And then I might have snuck a picture of it on my phone because they didn't have any fliers out that told you what you needed to buy to get your free stuff.  Oooppss.  YES, I was that crazy lady at the front of the store snapping a picture of the sale sign!  Hahaha!  :)

Here it is........

All I had to do was buy a package of bacon and some eggs (which I really needed) and I would get four things FREE!  FREE!  FREE!  So of course I just had to take this deal on.  I got my bacon and eggs and I got all kinds of stuff for free.  I got a big can of coffee for free, some hash browns, bagels, and cream cheese!  AND the good thing about all of this stuff is that we actually eat it all!  :)  It was a perfect deal for us!  And not to mention when our parental's come to visit we have coffee in stock!

So of course after seeing that deal I just had to check out the sales paper to see if anything good was going on.  You bet there was!!!!!!  :)  My favorite kind of chicken that I use was on sale for 97 cents a pound!  Yippee!!  I wanted to do a little tap dance right there in the store I was so excited.  Much to my surprise I went to look at the chicken and they were $2-$3 per package.  Amazing....I might have bought four packs.  Okay, I DID buy four packages of Split Chicken Breasts.  Ooopppss.  :)  My freezer is now stocked with chicken.

After that exciting thing, I realized I had a coupon for $10 off a purchase of $40 or more so I just decided to shop around.  Here is everything that I came back with.....

and I was just going to go get a sandwich for crying out loud!

Here is everything out of the bags....

All of my meats are wrapped in those baggies because I don't like chicken gunk on my hands.  Gross!  I got my honey some Cheetos because he LOVES them and because they were buy one get one free!  And I normally don't buy impulse candy at the check-out, but today I had to because when the lady finished ringing up my groceries I was only at $37 so I had to buy some CANDY!  I didn't mind it.  :)  Oh, and on the right side is that sandwich I was going to Harris Teeter for in the first place! 

And my total price..............

Oh, and the sandwich......

It really was GLORIOUS!  Very much a yummy-in-my-tummy sandwich!  And they pack the meat on there!  I had half for lunch today and I'll probably eat the other half for dinner!  :)  And this one is a supposed to be a six inch.  Mmmhmmmm.

I can't wait for Preacher Man to come home from work today and see all of the chicken. 

I'm going to tell him I don't know where it came from.

Wait, that would be lying.

I don't think he will be mad.  Surely not.  Especially after he sees how much money I saved today!

Yahoooooo!  :)

Off to stare at my refrigerator because I'm so happy at all of my savings today at Harris Teeter,

The Preacher's Wife :)

P.S. Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!  Eat a taco today!

car shopping

I feel like my blog is falling to the wayside because of mine and Preacher Man's crazy work schedules.  My goal for myself is to try and do better!

So let me tell you about this weekend...

Preacher Man and I have a new favorite restaurant called Carolina Ale House.  It's a sports themed restaurant where a lot of people go to watch their favorite sporting events because there are10 bazillion TVs in there.  They have a TV everywhere you look and they also have some amazing food!  Well, we assume that they do.  We've only ever eaten the same thing every time we go there.  We both always get the Buffalo Zinger Wrap...it's Buffalo chicken fingers wrapped in a tortilla with lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, cheese and Ranch dressing all mixed together.  It is glorious and a definite must go to restaurant for our next visitors!  We ate there Saturday for lunch before our big adventure out to shop for a car.

Let me just be clear about one thing.  I HATE shopping for cars!  I wish I could just snap my fingers and have the perfect car sitting out in the parking lot for us to drive.  Here's the story as to why we are shopping for a car....

Before we moved to North Carolina, P.M. sold his car.  It was an '02 Ford Explorer and was the cutest car for him.  Unfortunately, the '02 model of Explorers are known for their transmissions to bite the dust every 1-2 years and this poor car had reached it's last leg and just needed to be sold.....soooo it got sold.

Well, one day while I was working Preacher Man and his Mom went out shopping for cars.  (this was probably about a month before we got married in July 2010....the good 'ol Explorer lasted a little bit longer than that and then just bottomed out a bit after the wedding)

So let's try and make a long story short...Preacher Man calls me at work and says that he found a car!  He was stoked!  Wanna know what it was?!

Look below:

It was a GOLD Kia!  GOLD!  GOLD!  GOLD!  Teeny tiny car!

Now this picture was taken this past weekend because we were driving through the car lots and my hubby screams "Katie!  That's it!  That's the Gold Kia that I called and told you about and wanted to buy!".  (I made him get out of the car so I could take his picture beside it.)  :)

Luckily he didn't get the car for various reasons.  It was in the budget that he was looking for but I didn't think it was smart for him to make that big of a purchase without me there RIGHT before our wedding since we were about to be joined together as one.  :)  And I hadn't seen it and I didn't know what we could afford and yada yada yada.  I think I fthought of a thousand reasons.  And luckily everything worked out and he ended up having a car to drive.

So now we are in a different state with jobs and trying to function with just one car for now and a bicycle.  :)  Oh the bicycle!  :)  Just ask Preacher Man the places he goes on his bicycle now!  Sonic, the grocery store, school, you name it, I bet he would go there.  The other day I thought he had went to Pizza Hut on his bike, but he had just ordered a pizza for delivery.  :)

So onto the cars.  It's hard to figure out what we want and what is going to work best for us.

Today Preacher Man's Mom sent a picture of this to my phone....

His Grandmother is selling one of her cars.....the CROWN VIC baby!  :)

And I'm sure she would give him a reeeaaaaallllll good deal.  I'm seriously considering it.  He's not.  :)  Hahaha!

Needless to say we have got some big decisions to make about our first big purchase together.  I just hope that we make the best decision.  There are just so many things to think about.

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it....anybody looking to sell their car?!  ;)

Wishing you a Terrific Tuesday,

The Preacher's Wife :)