Author: Lois Houston
Father’s Day fun
I managed to do a little scrapbooking this week! Yay!
Here are some pages I did with the pictures we took on our Father’s Day adventures:
We spent Father's Day wandering around the NC mountains. After a yummy lunch at the Dillard House, we took off towards Highlands, NC. We walked around the downtown area and explored the shops. As the afternoon wore on, the shops closed and we headed back out to explore the countryside. We took the highway towards Franklin and stopped at the waterfalls along the way, including Dry Falls and Bridal Veil Falls. The girls loved the waterfalls and the fact that they could get up close to the waterfalls. Angelina dipped her hair into the water and thought that was just the neatest thing. We also stopped along the way and let the girls "swim" in the Cullasaja River. It was cold, but they were thrilled to take a dip in the water and explore the river a little.It was such a nice day and really felt like a mini-vacation, even though we were only gone for a few hours… the time together as a family was just precious and sweet and it was one of those days where memories we'll cherish for years to come were made.
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Colonel Lois’ Cole Slaw
I will start this post off with a confession to you. I don’t eat cole slaw. Never have. I’ve tried it a few times, but never got past the raw cabbage taste.
SuperMan, on the other hand, loves cole slaw.
So, because I love my man, I make cole slaw. Regularly. Or at least I try to make it regularly.
I’ve been making a concoction that was mostly invented through trial and error and a little coaching from my momma. (That’s what mommas are for, right?)
SuperMan eats it and says he likes it, but I always felt like I could do better. So, I’ve been on the hunt for another recipe he might like. But it’s challenging because I don’t eat cole slaw and therefore it’s hard to tell what might or might not work in a recipe.
I knew that SuperMan liked Cole Slaw from KFC. And so I set out to try to replicate that recipe. Why not start there, I thought? I searched on the internet for some of those restaurant-secrets websites where they have tried to duplicate restaurant recipes for the home kitchen. After finding a few with the KFC cole slaw recipe, I decided to give it a try. We were having friends over for dinner and I was serving a cold supper of chicken salad and pasta salad and I thought the cole slaw would be a perfect accompaniment.
I am sorry I don’t have a picture for you – the photo-taking part of this food prep task got forgotten in the huge mess I made in my kitchen. I had stuff everywhere. I was more interested in getting finished and cleaning up than in documenting the finished products!
ANYWAY.
The verdict of those who consumed it was that it was a pretty-darn-close replica of the Colonel’s cole slaw recipe. One of my friends, who said she’d never had KFC cole slaw said she loved it. And what made me even happier was that SuperMan loved it. That’s what really counts. 🙂
This is not a real mayonnaise-y type of cole slaw. It’s got a tiny bit, but it’s really more about complimenting the natural flavors of the vegetables in the salad. It’s not goopy or real wet. Actually, if I did eat cole slaw, this would be the type I’d want. Fresh, crisp and clean tasting.
Here you go:
Colonel Lois’ Cole Slaw
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper (I used a little more because SuperMan likes pepper)
8 cups finely chopped cabbage (1 head – think chop the size of grains of rice. Use your food processor)
1/4 cup finely shredded carrot (about 1 carrot)
2 Tbsp minced onion
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Chop carrots & cabbage into very fine pieces (like rice grains)
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Combine mayo, sugar, milk, buttermilk, lemon juice, vinegar, salt & pepper in a large bowl and beat until smooth.
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Add the cabbage, carrots & onion.
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Mix well.
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Cover & refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.
A couple of notes:
I made mine the night before I was planning to serve it. The next morning, there was quite a bit of liquid in the bottom of the bowl. SuperMan didn’t like this, so I placed about 2-3 paper towels in a colander and dumped the bowl of cole slaw in the colander. I let this sit, over another bowl, for about 30 minutes. Most of that excess water drained out. Now, truthfully, I think most of that was from the milk and vinegar, etc. that I’d put in it and I think it was supposed to be there. But the man didn’t like it, so I got rid of it! He said it didn’t affect the taste at all.
Project Life Tuesday ~ 28 June
Happy Tuesday!
Lots of pictures again this week – mostly from our fun Sunday with friends.
I got to do a little work last weekend on my Project Life album but I have to say, being 5+ months behind in putting stuff IN the album is quite a mountain to tackle. I have all sorts of stuff – receipts, pictures, kids’ schoolwork, etc. but it is just SO MUCH stuff that I got overwhelmed on Saturday and after spending a couple hours sorting and organizing I just had to quit.
I realized one thing – this is a much easier project to do if you do it on a weekly (or daily) basis than if you try to go back and catch up.
I think what I’m going to do is start with June 1st, get everything from that point forward put in and fixed like I want it. Then I will do my darndest to keep it up to date on a weekly basis (and share with you here) by printing my pictures & putting them in the album every Saturday (that’s the plan anyway).
Then I will catch up the March – June pages on a weekend retreat I’m going to be at in a few weeks. It’ll be a good project to do that weekend because I won’t be distracted by kids, cooking, etc.
For those of you doing Project Life, too, what works for you? I’d love to know how you keep up without getting overwhelmed. Last year I did a lot of digital pages and a little bit of PL/P365 and ended up doing a combined album. I wasn’t thrilled with it, but my photos were scrapbooked and everything documented. So, I just let it go.
If I can’t get this one caught up, I think I may just go with an all-digital project. I’m finding that I’m just not into the mess and dealing with the paper projects anymore. I get disconcerted by the bits and bob (where I used to be thrilled with all the stuff gathered around me)
Anyway, here are this week’s pictures:
Monday: Scooby Cat’s new favorite place to sleep – right in the main traffic-way in the kitchen!
Tuesday: lunch for the girlies – their request! 
Wednesday: Kitty hiding from the rain.
Thursday: no picture
Friday: Big Girl is doing the Big Picture Classes: Kidding Around class this summer. It’s her first page! I’m so proud of her.Saturday: SuperMan making his almost famous beef jerky

And my Amish Breakfast Casserole – that I forgot to put the hash browns in!! (tasted good anyway)
Sunday: Lake fun with friends.
Sunday Fun
Thoughts Along Life’s Highway
Menu Plan Monday ~ 27 June
Wow!
Can you believe June is almost over? It has just flown by. We’ve been busier than ever this summer with adventures every weekend. The kids are bigger this year and that is allowing us to do some things we weren’t able to do in years past – like stay out later and travel a little further from home on our day trips.
Sunday afternoon was spent on the lake in Blue Ridge with some very dear friends. I don’t there is much better than spending the afternoon floating around nestled in the mountains and enjoying the company of people you care about.
We had such a nice time!
But today we are back into what is becoming our weekday summertime routine… work, work, work in the daytime and a little fun in the evenings – usually the pool – before we end our days. I’m planning some easy suppers for this week. I did a little cooking ahead this weekend and some prep work to make things easier on me this week.
Here’s what I have planned:
- Monday: Spaghetti
- Tuesday: Grilled Steaks, Hobo Pockets with potato & veggies
- Wednesday: Calzone w/ the leftover Spaghetti sauce
- Thursday: Grilled chicken & veggies
- The holiday weekend will be left to chance – we’ll be spending time with family and friends and I’m sure grilling will be in our future. Beyond that, I’m not so sure what we will do.
Hop on over to orgjunkie.com for more yummy menu planning ideas.
Sunday Silliness













