The Giant Stuffed Hamburger

A couple of months ago, Robert comes in and tells me that Adam texted him an requested a special meal for his "Welcome Home" dinner. He wanted a Giant Stuffed Hamburger.  He told me this evening as he we were gathered around the dinner table eating it that it was the very first meal he ever ate at our house. He proceeded to tell us a long list of foods he remembers eating here, and only here. Adam was my resident eater, he always fed my ego as I fed his stomach. When he left for the service, I honestly had to adjust because my own two guys wouldn't eat leftovers, Adam loved raiding my fridge. Anyway, I posted pics of the hamburger on FB and have some interest in the recipe.

Giant Stuffed Hamburger

3/4 c crushed Nacho cheese Doritos                     8 American Cheese slices
3 eggs                                                                    1/2 c dill pickle chips
2 TBSP mustard                                                    1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 tsp salt                                                             1 medium tomato, sliced
1/4 tsp pepper                                                        1/4 cup butter   
2 lbs hamburger                                                     1 TBSP chili powder
2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce                               
                                                                               
Mix Doritos, eggs, mustard, salt, pepper, hamburger, Worcestershire sauce. Divide into 2 parts,
one slightly larger, pat out into flat circles, I use a dinner plate, covered with wax paper to judge size.  Make the bottom one all the way to the edge, and the top one about an inch less in diameter.  Layer onions, tomatoes, pickles and cheese on bigger half and cover with smaller half, press seams together. Melt butter, add chili powder and baste the hamburger. Grill or broil for approx. 10 minutes, until no longer pink. I use a King's Hawaiian Round Loaf, it is the perfect bun for this.

Here is the finished product:

I have never tried broiling it, I have always grilled. This is what the basket I use looks like, I imagine they are still pretty easy to get ahold of:

One more thing about this recipe. When I was a teenager, I lived by Seventeen Magazine. I don't know if Seventeen still does it, but every month, they had recipes for one meal. Every month, I would make that meal. I admitted today that I have a binder with every single one of those recipes ripped out and in it. So, from one generation to the next, this has been a hit.

And I can't forget a picture of our guest of honor for the night!

(totally disregard that Robert had just got home from work and stripped his Midas shirt off, leaving an oil covered t-shirt).

We lost count a long time ago of how many meals Adam had shared with us, looking forward to years and years of more to come though. Welcome Home Other Son.

NEUAC 2014

I had been anxiously awaiting this last week's trip to the National Energy and Utility Affordability Conference. The conference itself did not let me down. I only had two workshops that were not what I expected and I think I just didn't get as much out of them because we had went through the same processes, one was on propane. I was really wanting to move beyond last winter's fiasco because I felt like the State of Illinois handled our situation amazingly, as did our clients. That one and the one that I went to that our own deputy director ended up being the main speaker. I knew he was doing part of it, but he pretty much explained how we do things, and I am sure, by all the questions that were asked that some people got a lot out of it. So, eventhough I didn't learn much in that one, I did feel proud to know we have our act together.

I met so many people this year! This is the first time I had ever went to conference by myself. It forces you to interact with new people. I met people from California, Washington State, Idaho, Arizona, Texas, Missouri (including the LIHEAP coordinator from the county I am sitting in right now!), Michigan, Oklahoma, Washington DC, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Florida.  I had many great discussions with these people.

I guess two of my favorite workshops was one on outreach strategies and then a plenary session on generations. I am bringing home material that I can share with the field staff if they would wish to grow themselves. All in all, fantastic conference and just what I needed to get my "umph" back.

To top it off, I got to take Andrew with me. He enjoyed the World War I Museum, Union Station and Crown Center.

Tuesday evening was my "vacation" evening, we went to the Sea Life Aquarium at Crown Center and then I put him in charge of finding us dinner. He found a place called Jerusalem Cafe. It was AMAZING!! Then, get this, we are putting pictures of our food on facebook and Andrew's great aunt says, "my granddaughter works there." Really??  Out of all the restaurants in KC? How funny is that?  We asked our waitress and Michele wasn't there that evening. The next morning, I was friended by Michele, relation I have never met but really, how cool is that??

Of course, we had to get in on the BBQ contest. We had ate at Gate's before but heard there was an ongoing feud between Gates and Arthur Bryant's. We ate at Gate's again on Tuesday eveningSo, we were going to meet a friend of mine from IL one evening for dinner. We decided to try out Arthur Bryant's. Let me tell you, that place is so fast paced that they actually made me nervous just getting our order but I ordered the exact same meal I had ordered two nights before at Gates. Arthur Bryant's BBQ is definitely my favorite.  Yesterday before we left town, we decided to try Jack Stack. This place wins hands down for decor but I wasn't impressed with the service or the meal. I ordered what was  supposed to be a burnt ends dinner with a cheesy corn cake. Andrew ordered the same thing except with fries and baked beans. When our meals came, his had BBQ sauce on it, mine did not. The girl asked if we wanted BBQ sauce on the side, we said yes, she never came back. My "corn cake" was more like cheese soup with corn in it, I don't know where the "cake" part was supposed to fit in.  Anyway, really disappointed. And on top of everything else, it was by far, the most expensive.

SO now we are on to today. We are in Brookfield MO, we got here yesterday afternoon and spent the evening with Andrew's Grandma Virginia. We are leaving in a few minutes to pick her up and go see Marceline MO, the hometown of Walt Disney. We will head for home after lunch.


I will add pictures to this later,

A New Chapter

So, today is the day, the first one of "our boys" is getting married.I actually started feeling sentimental yesterday morning as I walked by the church that today holds the grand event. Many have probably already heard this story, but today, you are going to hear it again.

We were living in Olney, IL but coming to church at Hidalgo (our "home" church). We would also come up to AWANA every Wednesday night. Robert had friends in school at Olney, but who he considered his two "very best" friends were Garrett Birch and Tanner Parr. They both went to school in Newton. We had been looking for a house to buy for a couple of years, in Olney, mind you. I didn't want Robert pulled out of school. However, on our way home from our church's AWANA Christmas program, Robert states, "I wish we lived in Newton.". I was working at Greenup which was a 40 mile drive for me, so the thought of moving to Newton, (20 miles closer to Greenup) let alone it being "moving home" for me, actually sent chills. Robert, Garrett and Tanner had already discussed the fact that there were two 6th grade classes with Tanner being in one, and Garrett being in the other. No matter which class Robert would end up in, he would be with one of them. He told me this that night. I need to back up and say, Robert had about three real friends in Olney and a bunch of people who beat on him on a regular basis. He was just not that happy. So, the next step was to look for a house, the one I had loved for a lifetime just happen to come on the market and the rest is history. So, quite seriously, I owe a lot to Tanner and Garrett, I don't think they will ever realize what they did for Robert.


Garrett has stayed a close, true friend to Robert all of these years. I don't even remember what we were doing but Garrett was with us and he was texting Meredith. I finally said, "Garrett, is she the one?" He got this really goofy grin on his face and said, "Yeah". A while later, Meredith was going to school at SIU and Garrett hated it. I was seriously afraid he was wanting her to be closer to home because he missed her and I was thinking he needed to let her get her education in too. Garrett and I talked about it one day though and he explained to me that he worried about her because he didn't feel like she was safe, I think that was the day I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that THIS day would come.

I have gotten the chance to get to know Meredith a little and understand completely what Garrett sees; she is a sweetheart and I feel privileged to get to be in their lives. I am looking forward to lots of happy days for and with this couple.

I started this before the wedding and time got away from me. The wedding was just gorgeous and absolutely perfect. Today the kids on on their way to their honeymoon. I am sure Meredith needs the breather, I think she about stroked out several times during the past few weeks, once on Friday it was because Robert hadn't picked up his tux yet. I thought the funniest part of that was Robert having to deal with a woman other than his mother stroking out on him!

So, to Garrett and Meredith, I pray you have a wonderful, happy life together, somehow, I know you will.

Garrett and Tanner making Christmas cookies at our house

Robert's High School Graduation

Robert, Brian Emmrich, their teacher and Garrett at thier College Graduation

And a few more from the wedding.....

Tanner and Robert both clean up pretty nicely

Getting announced at the reception

Garrett and Meredith and wedding party, the place was absolutely magical!

Me and MY honey ;-)

LIHEAP Conference 2015

Well another conference is about in the books. Technically, the LIHEAP conference IS in the books. I am staying this morning for one Weatherization workshop, then probably lunch and home. I have picked up some good information, as well as been in on some discussions of ways to improve what we do. I think my main thing though is getting to catch up with some of my friends. I guess there are hidden blessings to having new stuff that you have to come to trainings for. We are all used to seeing each other a lot more than we have this year. I didn't realize it until we got up here. One of my friends and colleages has lost 149 lbs, basically since the last time I saw her. She said hi to me and then realized I wasn't realizing who she was. Then I remembered one of my other friends telling me she had lost weight so it dawned on me. Debbie, if you are reading this, I told you to your face, you look beautiful, but wow, you have been an inspiration to me this week. I have struggled so much lately and  knowing you did it makes me believe that if I work as hard as you did, I can do it too.

Our lunch speaker Tuesday was very inspirational as well. She is a counselor and published author from here in Springfield. She told about becoming pregnant at 14 and her own counselors treating her differently after having the baby, basically telling her she now needed to forget her dreams of going to college. She told them she WOULD go to college and she did. DON'T let other people write your book----EVER!!!!

The connection to us was when she was a single mom trying to make ends meet and wouldn't quite have the cash to pay her bills. She would play the game of sending the wrong bill to the wrong company to buy her some time. One day, a lady from the electric company called and told her about LIHEAP, point-blank, she told her that we could help her stop playing that game.

While I was gone, our totally amazing staff at home spent ALL of the AARP money we had received. $7500 in basically 3 days. These were all for people over 50 who were in threat of disconnection. I feel a little guilty I wasn't there for basically any of it, but so proud of giving them a task and them just blowing it out of the water; thanks girls!

SO, back home this afternoon, looking forward to being home. Mom had a bunch of precancerous cells froze off (to the tune of 43 of them) of her face and arms. I hated that I wasn't there for that, but we neither one had any idea they were going to do it. Andrew had a nerve conduction study done on his arms and neck yesterday, hopefully we will know the results of that today. I would give anything to find the source of his pain and be able to alleviate it. Robert has been back and forth between Charleston and Mattoon this week, glad they trust him and like his work well enough to send him. He   likened it to being at a great-aunt's house instead of being at your own though. He can only take so many of his own tools with him to Mattoon, so he has to borrow and sometimes someone else doesn't have the identical tools, so it's different, but as I said, good.

Well, close to time to load up the van and get to my workshop.

Happy Thursday everyone!