Finally Spring

Spring is officially here!! I love the signs of Spring, the Bradford Pears at work below are in bloom - I love the way they look, not so much their smell.

Parking Lot at Work
Bradford Pears = Pretty

 Another sign of Spring is Mr Man firing up the grill - YUMMY - Notice that Heathen is close by in case Mr Man needs his opinion on taste :)

 This is what I call the oasis in my side back yard. I must admit that I do not spend time in this area, the swing is on the other side of the yard. It does make for a great view looking out the kitchen window. I love those yellow bushes. My son told me this would be a great spot for the pond I have been wanting, but I never sit in  that area but it would be pretty :)

The Oasis

 Another sign of Spring is Mr Man getting the garden ready. I absolutely loved having the fresh vegetables last year. We bought a deep freeze and I have been researching canning. Are there any fellow canners out there that could offer some advise? I have a flat stove and most of the books say that the ceramic stoves are not good for canning but I have seen some posts on FaceBook that have been using one and it worked great. Do you have any experience in this?

Doesn't he look interested? LOL

Heathen running towards me, ain't he cute?
The Baby

A little growth in my backyard flower bed, YAHHH

 So the recipe this weekend was Swedish Meatballs in Sour Cream Gravy. For my fellow Weight Watchers this is only 8 points. The meatballs turned out pretty good, I will lower the amount of nutmeg and I think next time I will also use some sausauge, a recommendation from my brother Jeff, who says it adds a ton of flavor :) Now about the gravy - well I feel like a failed  Southern Girl - I am too impatient to make gravy!!! So the first batch was really, really greasy and it wasn't the color in the picture. In the picture the gravy was white, my gravy was tannish. So I decided to add more flour, well it helped so much that I decided to add some more - well actually alot more. I ended up with a greasy looking glue substance - not bad to the taste but could not imagine it clumped on my plate. So I threw it out, and used fat free beef broth, flour, and sour cream. This was much much better. I have never been able to make gravy using fat drippings and I suspect it is due to my lack of patience. I served this over rice since last week we had goulash over the egg noodles. It will be a repeat with some modifications suggested by my brother, Jeff. My brother Bradley asked me if I gave the gravy to Heathen and laughed and laughed, he is on my list JK :) I will be sure to make him gravy when he visits next WAHHHAAAA

Saturday was pretty but it was too cold to for me to outside. The weather on Sunday was FAB!! I was able to sit outside in my swing and was motivated to get my house turned over for spring. How was your weekend and did you do anything special? Hope you have a great day!!