Applesauce Walnut Cake

Wedding Anniversary

It was our 32nd Wedding Anniversary this week, and we celebrated by going to a show, Holiday Inn, at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. Our anniversary is actually on Valentine's Day, but we usually celebrate the day before, mainly because it's less crowded and less expensive that way.

And since it's also almost always cold and snowy on Valentine's Day in Minnesota, we like to stay in and celebrate at home.

I usually try to make something romantic for us to eat, and this year it was lasagna with spicy Italian sausage and a spring mix salad with walnuts, dried cranberries, and raspberry vinaigrette. Peanut butter kisses, too, except with Dove chocolate hearts instead of kisses.

After supper, we planned on watching a favorite old movie (Groundhog Day), but in the end decided to watch another episode of the Great British Baking Show, which we can't seem to stop watching.

Bruce gave me some lovely red roses and a heart shaped box of chocolates. (I gave him a new pillow and something to attach to his laptop to cover the camera for privacy. I think he wins for giving the most romantic gift ... 💕 ) But, he also gave me another really wonderful gift. He had converted all the old videos that he could find in the house (think wedding, vacations, holidays, babies!) into a flash drive that we could use on our computers. Huge, Huge, Huge!

I've been watching them, and they make me cry ... so many sweet memories.

What a good man.  💕

January Eat Out Of The Pantry Challenge Officially Over

 

The January Eat Out of the Pantry Challenge is over!

I think we did really well although there is still a lot of food in this house. No surprises there, I knew that would be the case. But Bruce did say that there was an obvious dent in the pantry and freezers, and I have to agree.

It wasn't so bad once we got into the swing of it. I ended up buying some things like ... milk, coffee, coffee creamer, bread, english muffins, bananas, and fresh tomatoes. Also some sliced ham and a cantaloupe so that Bruce could make his special appetizer kabobs when we went to Pa and Richard's for game night. Also some wine ... does that even count?

We went out to eat three times.

On the night before February 1, I found myself getting excited, thinking about going to the grocery store. It's crazy that I love to grocery shop so much! And I had to reign in that feeling because I think I need some new behaviors when it comes to buying food.

I mentioned before that I started making soup on Sundays. Today I made bean soup with some chorizo sausage I found in the freezer. Yikes that stuff was spicy, but Bruce seemed to enjoy it. I think I'll continue doing that routine this month, too.

Bruce defrosted the freezer in the basement, and what we found was lots of venison and lots of fish. Maybe we have a meal of venison and a meal of fish every week for awhile.

So, maybe February isn't officially an eat out of the pantry month, but maybe it's an unofficial eat out of the pantry month.

I think I'll continue recording meals on the sweet guinea pig calendar that Katie and Avi game me. That should help keep me accountable.