Lettuce Wraps Recipe

These are so very good and easy to make. I pretty much made up the recipe as I went along.

Lettuce Wraps, Vegetarian or Shrimp

1/2 bag broccoli slaw
1/2 bag shredded carrots
2 chopped green onions
1 lb sliced mushrooms
1/2 green pepper, diced small
2 stalks celery, chopped small
6 oz frozen shrimp, cooked, remove tails
1/2 cup plain yogurt
ranch seasoning
season salt
garlic powder
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1 head bib lettuce (or any other soft lettuce that has a nice 'cup' type leaf)

Spray skillet with nonstick spray. Saute slaw, carrots, green onions, mushrooms, pepper and celery until soft. It just takes a few minutes. Remove from skillet, spray again with nonstick spray, add shrimp. Sprinkle shrimp in skillet with season salt and garlic powder. Saute shrimp quickly for just a few minutes. Add half of the vegetable mixture back to pan for the non vegans, and keep the rest aside for the vegans.

Mix about a teaspoon of powdered ranch seasoning into the yogurt. Add a bit of season salt and stir.

To create wraps, spread a spoonful of the yogurt sauce on a lettuce leaf. Add a scoop of either shrimp mixture or the veggies. Top with tomato and cucumber. Enjoy!

I think you could also bulk this up a bit by using leftover steak, chicken, or turkey. The veggies are my preference, you could certainly use anything you liked, or omit any you don't.

Mrs. O'Leary's Cow...

Do you think my firebug hubby has ever heard of Mrs. O'Leary's cow? Look at the flames on that grill! I was up on the deck by the pool and just had to snap a shot of that!

Everett was grilling some steaks Saturday, a real treat for us. Our neighbor, Delbert, came over and we had a really nice meal. After Ev cooked, we went inside to eat. Had corn on the cob, salad, and steak.

We were inside for about half an hour. Had left the dogs out while we ate. Well, that puppy decided she needed to cool off and jumped in the big pool while we were eating supper! Thank God we were only inside for a half hour, because who knows how long she had been in and how long she could have kept treading water? She was just paddling away at the edge, but was unable to get out of the pool! I feel so bad that she was in there, and so thankful that she didn't drown!

So Sunday morning, Father's Day, I was at Lowe's at 8:00 a.m. buying fencing material for around the deck. Our yard is fenced in around the back yard where the pool is, but the deck does not have a railing or fencing around it (you can see that in the picture). It was so very very hot Sunday that we were only able to work on it in short bursts. We did get the gates put up at the top of the steps. The gates, plus the fact that the deck is too high for Ivy to get up on without the steps, and putting some big flower pots on the sides of the gates will prevent Ivy from getting to the pool until we can complete the work. We just ran out of daylight.

Everett has to work 12 hours today through Wednesday, so he won't be able to do any work until Thursday morning, if then. The heat is absolutely unbearable, and I'm concerned about his health. The factory where he works is very very hot.

My weight loss is coming along nicely. I was concerned that I would gain on vacation, but I actually lost! I think it's because I was pretty active and outside a lot! I have lost 36 pounds and am down to 184! This is a big big deal for me.

Been working on mystery 13 still. Have been cutting strips into 4 patches and sewing them. I get tired of cutting, so I sew a bit, then go back to cutting. I have 13 strip sets left to cut...I think they are multiplying while I sleep... haha.

Oh Baby, It's Hot Outside!

Yes, Summer is here. Not officially for a couple days, yet, but the temps are skyrocketing and the heat index is soaring. Everett is working from 11 to 3 today and hopefully drinking plenty of fluids. I cut the grass in most of the yard, something I haven't done for years, and would have cut the rest but I was getting a heat headache. There's not much left to cut. This is something Ev is really protective about and normally does himself. Weird, but I have never complained.... At any rate, since he is working today and the grass needed it and I'm still on vacation, it was the least I could do.

Tonight our friends Bill and Diane are coming over for a swim. They are bringing the beer and wine and we are getting pizza. We will have a good time, I'm sure.

It's Homecoming weekend here in town. The carnival comes to town, we have a parade, and all manner of freaks show up from the nether regions of the area. Mostly it's a great time during normal hours, but if you stay real late at the grounds, it does get dicey. Of course there was the one year where they mayor's wife decked his mistress during the afternoon out at the grounds!

Thursday evening in June

I have not done as much sewing as I wanted to on my vacation, but I have done some. I got all the strips pressed for the mystery quilt I've been working on for a while. Now I'm cutting them and sewing them into four patches. I did manage to move some of my material bins into Johanna's room to make more room in the sewing room. I then put up one of my large tables to use to cut fabric on. I used to have a card table up there for that purpose, but it was not very stable and is in use elsewhere in the house.

Yesterday Ivy had a lousy day as far as housebreaking goes. Today she spent a lot of time outside, as it was a nice day, and the time she has been inside has been well monitored. It's almost 9pm and she has not had an accident inside, so we are keeping our fingers crossed!

I had lunch with my step mother at the tea room in town. I've never had lunch in a tea room before. To me, it was a good salad, but overpriced. I don't think it will be a place I will put on my list to go to all the time. Give me a good pizza anyday...

Ev went in at 11 a.m. today and is working 12 hours. He was supposed to do the same tomorrow but they are shutting down the entire second shift tomorrow. Seems like we just cannot catch a break.

I made some spaghetti sauce today for dinner. Made two pots, one with meat and one without. Nick will be happy. Yesterday I made a ham, just so we have something in the house for sandwiches.

Vacation Tuesday

Just wanted to get a couple pictures up today. Here is part of the shirtings top I have been working on. There are 9 rows of 8 blocks per row. There are two different green men's shirts that were used in the 16 patch blocks and different neutral shirts also. The 16 patch blocks alternate with muslin blocks. This is similar to the red shirtings top that I finished a while ago. I need to put some borders on this one yet, but haven't decided exactly what to do.

Also posting a picture of the puppies. Well, one puppy and one seven year old doggy. Aren't they cute? My son's friend laughed when I went to take them for walks the other day and had matching leashes. Wrigley has a green leash and Ivy has a purple leash! I have to use the same colors on them when I walk them so I can keep straight who is on which leash. It's not such a big deal to control Ivy if she decides to chase a rabbit, but if Wrigley gets a wild notion to want to run, I have to have a pretty good hold on her! 80 pounds of dog has a lot of strength.

Mom is talking like she might come down this weekend. If she does, we are going to St. Louis to clean out more of Gram's house on Saturday. I know it has to be done, but it's not a job I'm looking forward to. But with two of us working on it, it will go a little quicker at least.

Johanna called this afternoon. She was upset because it had started to hail and her car was getting dinged with golf ball sized hail! She was able to get her car in the garage but I know she was upset. We have been having a lot of rain and thunderstorms lately. Finally turned the air conditioning on today. The humidity was just awful and couldn't stand it anymore.

I have lost 37 pounds to date! Have 43 more to go and I'm feeling really good. I can actually fit into a normal size of clothing. I have been to the thrift store and picked up several pair of capri pants and a couple tops. I don't want to purchase a lot of clothing right now because I fully intend to lose more weight, but I have to have something to wear! haha.

Ivy's first shopping trip...

Isn't she a sweetie? Here's Ivy, in a cart at Rural King. Now, I have seen a gal in the store with puppies in a cart before. She was trying to sell them. And Rural King is the kind of store that sells baby chicks and baby rabbits, so they do have animals inside at certain times of the year. All that said, I wasn't completely sure that this was okay, so I put Ivy in a cart out in the parking lot and just wheeled inside like nobody's business. The greeter was busy making fresh popcorn and had her back to me. I did pass a few workers as we headed to the back of the store for dog food, cat food, and toilet paper and none of them said a word. Ivy was as quiet as a mouse, just sat down in the cart and looked at me the whole time.

Of course, to make it interesting, as we were checking out, in the very next checkout line a woman was buying a baby bunny! I don't think Ivy spied it, because she didn't make a fuss or anything, but that would have been interesting, and not in a good way, if she had caught sight of the bunny! I had her leash on her at all times.

We walked this morning before it got hot. Our walk was an hour long, but we didn't really go at a fast pace or anything. It's breezy here now, but pretty warm in the sun. If it cools off a bit later tonight, I might take both dogs for a walk. This morning was just Ivy and me. It's easier to just walk one dog at a time, but I feel kinda guilty leaving one behind!

Ev and I are going to dinner tonight. We thought maybe Johanna and Ben would like to go with us to Peel Pizza down in Edwardsville. Ben has to work late so we are picking Johanna up and the three of us are going to go. Nick's friend from Georgia is here and they are going down to Breese to visit Nick's friends down there. This is Ev's last day of vacation (not counting the weekend) and my first day of ten days off. He has been working on cleaning the garage and I have made a feeble attempt at starting to clean the basement.

Going to make an effort to get upstairs to sew every day while I'm off. Tonight I'm going to wait until after we come home from dinner. It should be a little cooler then. I received confirmation from the quilt retreat in August that they received my registration and that I got into my first choices on my classes. Donna probably will not be going with me due to a health issue with her husband. If I go alone, that's okay. I'm just not nuts about making the drive by myself.

Quiet Sunday

It's a pretty quiet Sunday at my house. This week I did get up in the sewing room for a little bit. I put a few rows together on the 16 patch green shirtings quilt I started a loooonnnggg time ago. I can't remember exactly why I stopped on it, but I think it is because I thought the rows weren't long enough or that I didn't have enough rows. Well, I have since discovered a word that cures that...Borders! haha. I have five rows with one color scheme and four rows with another, so I am alternating them. I do have to pin the 16 patch blocks because I have to get all the seams to lay right, so it isn't a really really quick process, but it's fairly simple and has gotten me back into the swing of things.

A while back I also went on a spree buying used sheets and washing them a couple times. I had grand plans of making several sets of waterbed sheets by putting corners on them and sewing the bottoms together. I got a grand total of ONE set made before I lost interest and moved on to something else. Well, miss puppyness has created a need for more than one set of useable sheets so I have that on my to do list for the week I'm on vacation. And that week is next week! woohoo! (The puppy had an accident on the sheets when my darling hubby was aggravating her, not letting her go, etc. so I can't be mad at the pup).

Speaking of darling hubby, Everett is visiting his brothers and mother up north today and tomorrow. He sent me a picture of the church where we were married. It was taken out of the car window, but you get to see it at least.

Since Everett is gone for a little bit, I have to do something to the house. It's almost a pattern...when he goes away for a day, I change something. Last time it was the toilet seat. Don't ask. This afternoon I took the screen door off the back entrance. It was useless as it didn't latch anymore. We have a new solid door ready to go up, so I wanted to get a jump start on it.