Happy Mothers Day! My husband worked so my sisrer wife (in law) came over (hers worked too). We had such a nice day. The kids had sparkling pink lemonade and SIL and I had Rubinos. I saw Rachel Rays husband John make them. It is Prosecco, Lillet, and raspberry purée. The Lillet is very interesting. I made a flatbread appetizer using Naan bread and it was awesome. SIL brought Lobster Bake in a bucket which had 2 lobsters 1 1/4, mussels, clams, potatoes, and corn. You just add water and steam and you keep the bucket. It was $20 pp which I think is very good and worth it! We let them play first with our friend Shirley first... SIL and DN made cupcakes. My daughter had a secret...this ice cream cake in the freezer from Carvel. I also made a tray of baked ziti for the kids. It was a great day!

I buy the Jimmy Dean Natural at Costco 3lb log for $6.99 every two weeks..and it often doesn't get us through. I make patties with just shy of 2/3 for breakfast sandwiches and the rest goes into sausage gravy for one Thursday breakfast night. The Natural small (12 or 16 oz) tube is almost $5 in the grocery if you can find it. I just made butter for the first time..out of half a quart of cream, I ended up with about 1/2 c butter and 2 c "butter milk".

Sue, I should've had your dinner. I am just stuffed! Sure was good, though. Sueva, the best kind of dinner is a homemade one you don't have to cook yourself, right? As long as it still tastes good to you, enjoy! Glenda, do you know how they braise the beans? Don't mention cleaning out your car, please, Georgysmom. I really need to get out there and do that myself. How the heck can it get so messy when we're barely ever in there? Ravencajun, I really miss those holiday get togethers we had before we moved. There's always so much good food. I guess I'm assuming it was a pitch-in. We had pancakes last night, Toni. Harry was in heaven. I use Krusteaz pancake mix. Just add water. So easy (but don't tell Harry)!! Kathsgarden, sure hope you feel better soon. Chicken soup should help. Monica, it always helps to eat before grocery shopping--especially if it's your yummy eggs Benedict. Salmon sounds good, too.

That would work, I generally get the raw peeled frozen shrimp, let them thaw, drain the liquid, then I drop them in a pot of boiling water with plenty of seasoning so that the shrimp are actually seasoned, the pre cooked shrimp have very little flavor to me. I put old Bay seasoning in the water or something similar or Cajun seasoning the shrimp will pick up just a little flavor from it. Shrimp take only a few minutes in boiling water. If they turn nice and pink they are done. Never buy raw shrimp that already have a pinkish tint that means they are about ready to turn or have turned. I personally would not cook my shrimp in the pasta water I would use fresh water but that's just me. The starch from the pasta could affect the taste and texture of the shrimps. Yes that is a good price, kinda small but fine with pasta. You might also consider cooking them more as a scampi for the pasta, that's what I do when I use them in a pasta dish. Just basically saute them in some butter herbs and seasoning I add sliced garlic and diced chives. Keep stirring frequently till nice and pink and tender when you bite it, if you test one and it's not easy to bite through just let them cook a little more.