Meal Planning with Connie

Swiss Chicken and Noodle Casserole We all really like the Swiss Chicken and Noodles Casserole. I know we've eaten out way too much from L.'s comment: "This is restaurant caliber!" I know my kids are getting older from M.C.'s comment: "I really like the mushrooms in this!" Ways I saved money: Free "Aunt Jean" homemade sourdough bread!!! I used store brand cheese and broccoli. I bought the noodles on sale. They were fusilli (corkscrews), not egg noodles. Most pastas are versatile and substitute well for another. We had Club crackers in the pantry that needed using. I substituted these for the Ritz. You could top this dish with cheese, too, if you prefer. On days when I make a recipe that calls for chicken and chicken broth, I try to cook chicken that day and save the expense of buying canned broth. It doesn't always workout for me to cook chicken on the days I need broth, so I stock up on canned broth when it's on sale. I also fre...

Tonya's Chocolate Cobbler One of my birthday gifts was that Larry refurbished our porch swing. For those of you who are familiar with the length of time many of Larry’s projects can take, be very proud of him! It was a great gift - and a true labor of love on his part! He had the swing fully sanded, repainted and hanging back in its place by my birthday!! We bought this swing at True Value the year we built our house, and it has hung on our porch since. It was hand-crafted, signed and dated by Mr. Loran Naugher. It is special to us. Occasionally, Mr. Naugher used to ask me if my swing was “still holding up”. The swing is so well built, it will be "still holding up" long after I am! It very much deserved the refurbishing it received. Larry had a great time reminiscing about the swing and Mr. Naugher with the guys out at True Value, as he went for refurbishing supplies. Besides Preston, several of them worked there back when we bought the swing. Not a lot cha...