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Taking a Break...


With the summer upon us and life getting busier by the minute, I have decided to take a short break from posting at Hullabaloo. I will continue to post on my other blog, To Be Debt Free, and will return to posting here very soon.

Grilled Zucchini and Summer Squash


Remember my post about heading to the Farmer's Market for fresh fruits and veggies? Do you have an abundance of fresh veggies that need to be eaten? I have to perfect recipe for you!


-makes 4 servings-
Adapted from Everyday Food Magazine

Ingredients

4 medium zucchini (about 2 pounds total) sliced lengthwise about 1/4 inch thick
4 medium yellow squash (about 2 pounds total) sliced lengthwise1/4 inch thick
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Procedure

Heat grill to medium. In a large bowl, gently toss zucchini, yellow squash, oil, vinegar, and oregano; season with salt and pepper. Working in batches if necessary, lift vegetables from marinade and grill, covered, turning once, until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Reserve marinade. (To store, refrigerate vegetables and remaining marinade separately, up to one day.) Drizzle grilled vegetables with remaining marinade and serve.

The Vacation to Hell (and back!): Part 2

Here's the next installment of my horrible vacation saga, if you missed the first part please go here.

Tuesday we decided to head to Sonic for lunch, the kids loved it! Always a hit to go there with Rachel, but for Dylan it was all new even though he’s been to the beach 2 times before. It was really neat to see how excited he was about everything! After lunch Sean’s Aunt calls and asks us to come down. The guys had gone golfing and were back. We pack up and head down there. It was great to hang out with everyone and have a few beers on the beach while the kids played. Dylan started crying that he wanted a gumball and it got worse and worse. Finally Sean decided to run him to the Dollar Store and get him some damn gumballs! At this same time I went inside to put Grace down for a nap. I heard him outside as he left with Dylan. By the time Grace was asleep Sean and Dylan had returned. We swam for a while more and then it was time to make dinner. Sean’s cousin and I went out front for a while to talk and I casually asked where Sean had parked since I was inside when he came back. Amy told me he parked behind her car. Well, I didn’t see it, so I asked if she was sure. She said yeah, but headed to the driveway to see. We both looked up and down the street. She then said, “Well maybe it was towed, was it blocking the sidewalk?” I didn’t know so I asked Sean.

He tells me he parked behind Amy’s car. I told him it wasn’t there. He ran out to look. SHOCK. It was gone. His Aunt called the towing company. Nope, they didn’t tow it. She calls the PD, no, they didn’t tow it. The police show up to get a report. My fucking car was stolen! In broad daylight, on a very exclusive part of a private beach. What the fuck. The rest of the night is a blur. I’d been drinking, now my car has been stolen. I have to remember what credit cards I had in my purse, what else was in my car, call the insurance company, figure out what the fuck happens next.

OK, so Tuesday night is spent calling credit card companies, State Farm, etc. We also called my mom and Sean’s mom, and I think I talked to Sam that night too. (Sorry Sam, I was a mess and didn’t know what to do!). The next morning I have to figure out what to do first. I called SF for some guidance as to what to do next. More good news. MY car doesn’t have rental coverage, but for some reason Sean’s car does? Yay! The lady was nice and said she’d see what she could do. Calls back, they’ll pay $25/day for a rental. So it ended up we paid 50/50. One crisis taken care of! Next we wait for the guy to pick Sean up so we can fill out the paperwork and get the rental van. (Our only choice w/3 kids, they had no SUVs w/3rd row seating.) Sean gets the van and comes back. Now it’s my turn. I had asked SF if I should just get some seats to get us home and then get the new ones I want, or just get them here. She tells me that I should get the ones I wanted now b/c they’ll only reimburse one set. OK. I decide to check Wally World first, but have a back up plan to go to BRU. The whole time I thinking to myself, “Shit. This is 2 majorly bad things, what’s next? Is one of my kids going to get hurt?” I was scared, on edge, just a wreck. At WalMart they had a really good selection of carseats, so I again called Sam (sorry! Thanks, you were such a help!) We discussed the different seats and I went w/the Evenflo Triumph for Grace and the Alpha Omega Elite for Dylan and a booster for Rachel, Cosco I think? Headed back to the condo.

Sean had decided to try to make everyone feel better and had gotten tickets to go see Medieval Times that night. This is the highlight of the trip for Rachel every year, so we felt obliged to go. The kids seemed to have a really good time. It helped a little bit, but I still was thinking about my interview w/SF the next day. I was still upset over my car. At this point I was feeling like even if it was found, I didn’t want it. I felt so violated. Sick to my stomach. We head back to the condo and watched TV, etc.

Corn Casserole

Photobucket

3 cans of cream corn

4 eggs

4 tbs. Melted butter

4 tbs. Flour

4 tbs. Sugar

½ tsp. Salt

Put all in oven safe bowl, uncovered at 350 for 50-60 min. Half the recipe for half hour. Can't get any easier than this!

Campfire Cooking: Lesson Two


Campfire Potatoes

This meal pretty much cooks itself - just leave it in the coals! Be sure to count how many potatoes you put in the fire, because the foil becomes covered with ash, and blends in well with the coals.

Ingredients: large baking potatoes
whole onions, red or yellow

dill, parsley, bacon bits

Directions: Slice potato almost all the way through, but leave enough to hold it together. Slice the onion, and put one slice in between each potato slice. Sprinkle with bacon bits and a little dill. Wrap well with heavy aluminum foil and bury in the coals of the fire. Leave untouched for about 45 minutes, and test for doneness by piercing with a fork - the fork should lift out without lifting the potato. Cooking time depends on size of potatoes and strength of fire. Serve with pat of butter and a few sprigs of parsley.