Weekend Wrap-up

It’s been a good weekend although there were a few moments that almost got me really depressed. First, I went to the movie, Gran Torino, and Clint Eastwood was an amazingly good ole codger. The movie was good, but it was filled with offensive racial slurs, but I guess that's what this movie is about. Clint played Walt Kowalski, an angry Korean War vet. This movie evolves around his personal struggles and the struggles of his Hmong neighbors. It has its flaws, but overall I would say it’s worth seeing. Kleenex warning though which happens to be like the 4th movie in a row where I cried. The first was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 2nd Revolutionary Road (which I don’t recommend at all--it's a real downer!!), and 3rd Marley and Me. Biggest tears were at Marley and Me (which included some sobbing) and then Gran Torino.

My sweet baby girl, who is 4 months away from nursing school graduation, had an extremely tough day at work yesterday. One of the pediatric patients on her floor passed away. I can’t imagine being as strong as she is going to be in her job considering that while typing this I’m getting tears in my eyes. She will be an excellent nurse though and I’m crossing my fingers that she gets a job at Children’s Medical Center or Cook’s Children’s Hospital.

I’ve been eating better this week and I am feeling better. I’ve been loving the taste and texture of all the crunchy vegetables I’ve been eating. The food stand-outs for this week would be my newly discovered love for couscous (with lots of crunchy carrots, broccoli, red peppers, and a little finely chopped onion, lime juice and seasonings), whole grain tortilla roll-ups with cream cheese spread and finely chopped fresh vegetables, and spinach artichoke dip. I also had my 1st attempt at cooking with tofu. I did a stir-fry and it was pretty good. I liked that it was spicy and the veggies were crunchy. Hubby liked it and I really appreciate his support of my vegetarian lifestyle. I did make his favorite meatballs today in the crock pot. They are so easy to make.

Yummy Juicy Meatballs
1 bag of meatballs from Costco
1 32 oz jar grape jelly
2 jars of Heinz chili sauce

Combine grape jelly with 1 bottle of the chili sauce and warm in microwave to semi melt the jelly. Fill crock pot with meatballs and pour jelly mixture and other jar of chili sauce. Stir and cook on high for 3 hours and then reduce heat to low and cook for 4 more hours. It’s actually ready before then, but it gets better when it cooks all day. The big bag of meatballs doesn’t all fit in my crock pot so I keep some in the freezer. If you want them to cook faster, thaw the day before in your refrigerator. The meatballs are a family favorite especially at Christmas. They make the best sauce that it wonderful to dip bread into. Mmmmm! Almost makes me rethink being a vegetarian.