Monday, July 5th. Today is the official July 4th celebration, but I think it was a regular day for everyone I know. We all celebrated over the weekend.

The boys headed off to scout camp today. We had lent our Suburban and trailer to the scouts so most of the boys spent the night last night so there parents would not have to bring them early today.

I got up early and made pancakes for everyone. I used a mix that i get at Sam's. You only have to add water. This is definitely something that I do not have enough of in my food storage. Any type of food like this where you only need water and wow! now you have something edible. Well we like that and the mix should feasibly last for several years if stored properly. (I will tell storage tips later).

Maria went to the store early with Felipe and David to get some last minute items they needed for camp. She came home with cereal, which we are NOT buying for one month. She claims to have forgotten! Fito took the cereal and hid it. he did let them have 2 boxes on Sunday as a special treat.

We had leftovers for dinner.

Tuesday, July 6th, Fito and I did errands all day. His mother, whom we call Grandma Nena or Abuelita is coming tonight. We bought meat, went to Sam's, Wal-mart, etc. She is an excellent cook, so of course he wanted everything ready for her.

I did want to add that we went to a new Spanish Meat Market on SW 59th Street in OKC. if you live in the area it is on the south side of 59th, west of Western, and across the street from Tandy leather. I do not remember the name, but what a great market. We bought marinated chicken fajitas meat that had the veggies included for $1.59 pound. Also, other good buys. Their ground beef is 100% meat...you have to request fat added if you want it.

It was very clean and they were very helpful. We bought queso fresco (fresh cheese) and Spanish breads there, too.

Wednesday July 7th. Today was a great day as it always is when I get my hair done. When I came home, the house smelled of great food. Nena had made beans from scratch, which she then ran through the blender and we ate with homemade corn tortillas.

Her tortillas are perfectly round and each one puffs up to perfection. I make really good flour tortillas, but still have not mastered corn tortillas.

Thursday, July 8th. Today, Nena made a pork stew which is like my Guisado, but with pork. Both are good, but you do get a completely different taste with the pork.

Friday, July 9th. Today we had another Spanish wedding at our house. Fito and the children spent yesterday and today cleaning, mowing, and setting up tables and chairs. I also was asked to do the refreshments for an activity at our church on Saturday evening.

Each year, we have a dance festival with a floor show, dancing for the family, learn dances, and just have fun. I made 19 loaves of Poppy Seed Bread for Saturday's activity and then hid it in the pantry so it would not disappear tonight.

I still had about seven loaves of the Hummingbird Bread left. I cut it into slices and put it out for the wedding. I also made a large pan of rice, cooked 4 rabbits in my big roaster pan (used the Spanish Turkey recipe), and mixed 2 pans of leftover beans together. One pan of beans was black beans and the other pan was red beans, but I threw them in together and added a little chopped celery, onion, and bacon bits to make something new.

The Spanish ladies brought a 3 leches cake, potato salad, rice, refried beans, and some type of pork meat that was red and extremely HOT! We ate good as always.

The first wedding, the girls had decorated the gazebo with white balloons and white crepe paper cut outs. This time, they decorated it with a garland that had tiny white flowers and white netting made into bows.

It had rained horribly on Thursday night and again on Friday-late afternoon. We actually set up tables and chairs inside in the game room, living room, and my mom's dining room, but then it cleared away in time for the ceremony and turned out to be a beautiful evening. (I will post video of the wedding later).

Saturday, July 10th. Our good friends were sealed today in the Oklahoma City temple. We went to spend the day with them. Then when we got home around 3:30...I sort of freaked out. I was so tense from the past few days and trying to do too much. We have 18 people in the house which is quite a bit of cooking in itself and then the wedding, and now I had 3 hours left to get refreshment ready for 200 people.

I had cooked 10 pounds of hamburger last night as the wedding was winding down. my son had bought the greasy stuff on accident so i just took a bunch of paper towels and put it on the meat to absorb the extra fat. I did this 3 times to get all the grease off. I have tried other things, however, this is the fastest way.

I put half the meat in one roaster pan and half in another. I then added 4 large cans (29 oz) of veg-all to each pan. I had a #5 can of black beans. i had Maria add half to each pan. Then we added traditional spaghetti sauce to each. we also added some of the leftover juice from the rabbit...from last night. We added some of the Goya spices, salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder...basically, my Taco Meat recipe.

I made another large pan of rice and made homemade Chili con Queso. We took chips, refried beans, and guacamole that Nena had made. She also put together 2 trays of celery sticks, baby carrots, and radishes. And she made a layered dip of refried beans, sour cream, cheese, and salsa.

I opened 2 jars of homemade salsa, and put them in a pretty bowl, added chopped cilantro. We also had chopped cilantro in a bowl.

At the festival, i set the paper items first, then the chips. Then we had the big pot of Chili con Queso. next we had the 2 pans of Taco meat, the rice, and then another bowl of chips.

Then we had the salsa, the trays of condiments, the layered dip, the guacamole, the cilantro, and the refried beans. At the very end of the table, I had a large glass platter with slices of the Poppy Seed Bread.

The one mistake I made is that I made Strawberry Lemonade...but not enough! It was a dance and everyone was hot. I should have made three times as much lemonade. other than that, I went off very well.

Sunday, July 11th. A normal Sunday. After church I made a batch of rice and Spanish scrambled eggs. Then later, there was a baptism at the Spanish church. I had Chili con Queso and Taco Meat left from the Dance Festival, therefore, I took those. I also made a new batch of rice to take. One of the Mexican ladies had made Posole. I will have to add the recipe...Yum! It is basically a corn or hominy, pork soup.