Happy Palm Sunday! Friends dear near and far!

We had a wonderful weekend; I invited our friends Paul and Deb, with their boys, over on Saturday night for dinner and for a desperate need to catch-up.
Since I am home on Saturdays I also try to make fun meals for us, last night was no different I just added four more to the mix.

We had Philadelphia Cheese Steak Sandwiches—–Yum!

Printable Recipe

Heros warmed in the oven!

Shredded Beef sauteed in 1 Tablespoon of olive oil, accompanied with sauteed Italian Frying peppers and one sweet onion, seasoned with sea salt and black pepper for taste, about a ¼ teaspoon of each.

Arugula salad with a lemon vinaigrette; real simple,  juice from one lemon, 1/3 teaspoon of lemon zest in the juice, ½ teaspoon of salt, 1/3 teaspoon of black pepper…then whisked in 1 Tablespoon of extra virgin  olive oil; I poured dressing onto the salad when I was ready to serve.

Provolone/mozzarella cheese sauce also attended the party;sadly, it was camera shy (I forgot to take a picture …oops!) I don’t have any pictures of the sauce or an assembled sandwich ….can you trust me to tell you that the sauce was delicious, somewhat mild but it added a distinctive taste on the sandwich, I also dipped my steak fries in it; couldn’t resist!

Cheese Sauce:
¼ cup of butter
3 Tablespoons of flour (make a roux)
2 cups of milk – Ssh I used 1% milk (that’s all I have)
2 cups of shredded mozzarella/provolone cheese (Sargento brand)
Mix all together on low heat to medium heat;as it gets closer to a boil it becomes thicker…..Yum!

Yesterday was my friend Christine’s birthday, and sadly, the miles that separate us, meant we could not celebrate together. I hope that she felt my good wishes that I sent her while she celebrated a milestone birthday with her family….I met Christine when we were in our twenties and although we are miles apart, when we see each other or talk on the phone, we pick up right where we left off…. She called me this morning while I was cooking for the week; we spoke for quite some time, it didn’t seem that long but when we said our goodbyes, I was done cooking for the week. Time flies when we are on the phone, and it takes great discipline to say we need to say goodbye — Chis, talk to you soon!

Today, after Mass, Nick took the kids to a work-related outing when he came home, he told me that he ran into an old friend. Through the years they lost touch, it seems like yesterday that I met him and his wife and we all went on vacation together to Disney; and spent many weekends hanging out playing board games, cards or just talking through the early morning hours! I truly hope that the meeting was not an accident and that we can pick up where we left off!

These yogurt, strawberry, granola parfaits were our breakfast this morning after Mass! Nick opted to have a cup of coffee! Amelia and James loved them! It truly was a moment of