Fabu-Fri with a little food fun thrown in!!

**UPDATED**
Friends, yesterday was such a busy day at work, that after I posted my meme, I didn't get a chance to go to my usual blog haunts... having said that, I was horified to find out this morning that my dear friend's (MomRN2) little 8-year old daughter, is in the hospital undergoing tests, scans, and suffering from her 10th or 11th day of non-stop vomiting. This is serious. She needs our immediate prayers. Please, please take a moment in your day to lift this beautiful family up in your prayers, and stop by to encourage her. Thanks for showing your blog-friendship and loving care!

Now my own post seems so petty and trite.
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First I'm gonna thrill you with the beauty of my day, then I'm gonna bore you with my nutritional and medical "stuff," then I'm gonna toss in some cute kid things, and finally, I'll taunt you with the mention of a yummy crock-pot meal that can be used two different ways in one week ... so stick around a while!

Today is absolutely beautiful! The sun is out, and I can actually see some light blue poking through the white cotton in our sky! The humidity is so low, I've forgotten what humidity is, and the breeze is gently blowing. It's gonna be in the mid to high 60's today... can you believe it??? Love it. It's making my Friday fabulous. Even though I'm stuck inside ... at work ... oh well ... you can't have everything ... but I promise I'll go out during lunch and suck up as much of this lovely day as I possibly can!

So, this morning, since it was so sing-songy beautiful, I thought I'd deviate from my normal scrambled egg-beater and sausage breakfast. I had me a panny-cake, as my aaaa-dddorable niece used to call them. With syrup. REAL syrup. And I had sausage, too. Why? Because I was once told by a nutritionist (oh, okay, it was last year when I was pregnant and had gestational diabetes) that if you're going to eat carbs, eat them with protein, and the carbs (ehem) will (cough, cough) break down easier and faster.

Soooooo -- if any of you nutritionists, nurses, or really smart people know any different, (like Carol, or MomRN2) you'd better break the news to me gently. And since this beautiful day is a pre-cursor for a really nice weekend, you'd better do it today.

Now, I've been experiencing a strange sort of ear ache. It's more like an electrical charge that smacks the middle of my ear every so often, accompanied by a dull ache. And, there's a spot on my head (right behind my ear) that hurts badly ... especially when I touch it or brush it (so I try not to do that) -- I think there are glands back there somewhere, and I think they are hurting -- badly. But, since I'm not a real doctor, just a Google doctor, I really can't accurately diagnose why I'm feeling so yucky. Oh, and my throat hurts, and half of my face. So I'm guessing either allergies, a sinus infection, or both. Great way to start the weekend! Aaahhh, heck... If anyone out there thinks they know what ails me... feel free to chime in.

Anyway, my beautiful, adorable son is doing some new stuff and making us laugh so hard! After all, he was put on this earth mainly to entertain his parents and make them roll on the floor laughing, if not wetting their pants! He will.not.crawl. HATES being on his belly and will immediately flip over if put in that horrible, terrible position. But loves being in his exersaucer, and this past week, he began jumping up and down in it like a little monkey! So, out came the Johnny-Jump-Up-Clamp-Over-The-Door thingie ... and he loooooohhhhuuuuvs it! It is stinking hilarious to watch him jump all around in that thing! (And the best part ... I got it for free ... a hand-me-down from my sister of 4! Love those kind of toys!!!) Anyway, he laughs so hard and gets this funny look of concentration (not consternation, and definitely not constipation) on his face when he starts to jump in that thing. Then, the other night, I was holding his hands, and he started to jump his way down the hall to the bath tub. So, it looks like I may have a non-crawler-Mexican-jumping-bean for a son! Hey -- this girl's gotta be different, ya know!

So, because I know you're dying for more fun stuff ... okay, I'll share some more. I frequently give Hunter "eskimo kisses" (rub noses) and he really didn't get it at first ... that is until the other night! I went to give him an eskimo kiss, and the started laughing his little head off ... and shrieking. Did I mention he loves to shriek? So "adorable." Anyway ... last night, when I got home from work, he actually started laughing as I collected him in my arms and went towards the nose, and he pushed his head towards mine to get an eskimo kiss from his momma. And when I finished and pulled away, he pushed his face towards me again. I tell you -- the child is a genius. AAAANNND -- he melts my heart. And his daddy's, too, but this is all about me.

Now, for the deeelish meal teaser ... at the beginning of the week, I made a yummy crock-pot mexi-flare roast. Oh, my it was heavenly, and shredded beautifully, and whoo-ahhh -- it just melted in your mouth. (Yes, I actually said the banned whoo-ahhh word) The secret was in the seasonings, the cut of meat, and the sauce. Theeeeen, because I'm so brilliant -- oh, okay -- because I watch a lot of cooking shows, I got the idea to use the leftover shredded meat and make easy-peasy Mexi-flare Empanadas. Sigh, sigh, sigh. We ate them last night, and even though I was feeling sick, I enjoyed them soooo much. Yuuu-hhuuum.

Yeah, yeah ... whatever ... I'll share the recipe(s) with you ... just hold your apron on! Just don't forget where you got it!!!

Mexi-flare Crock-pot Roast

-3 to 5 lb beef roast (I prefer the eye-round roast -- it's long and thin, and I get two at Costco for like $13-15)
-1 pound bag of carrots, peeled and cut into 2" pieces
-2 or 3 baking potatoes, peeled, and cut into long 2" pieces
-1/2 large sweet onion (I use Vidalias) cut into big chunks (they will sweeten up and pretty much disappear while cooking)
-Flour to coat the roast
-Season-all Salt
-garlic powder
-Ground black pepper

Sauce
-1 (14-oz) can diced tomatoes
-1/3 cup brown sugar
-2 teaspoons chili powder
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1 teaspoon garlic powder
-1 teaspoon onion powder

Trim fat off of roast. Generously season the roast with the season-salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Cover the whole roast with flour. Place all the cut vegetables in the bottom of a large crock pot, and put roast on top.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients. Pour over the roast. Cook on low to medium for 8-12 hours (if possible, turn the roast over towards end of cooking time so it gets completely coated with the sauce).

Remove roast from crock pot and place on a cutting board to "rest" for about 5-10 minutes. Transfer veggies to a serving bowl (or keep in crock to maintain warmth), and transfer all of sauce into a pot to thicken. Thicken slightly (to BBQ sauce constancy) with a combination of cold water and flour. Shred the meat with two forks (saving 1/3 of it for later on in the week), and serve with the sauce and vegetables. MMMMMMM!

Now, you have the main ingredient for another easy meal later on in the week!

Mexi-Flare Empanadas

1 package refrigerator pie-crust
left-over shredded meat
diced green chiles
chopped cilantro
Sargento 4-cheese mexican shredded cheese combination

Let pie crust come to room temp for about 20 minutes. Unroll one crust and place on counter. In the 4 "corners", place a mount of shredded meat, and top each mound off with diced green chiles, chopped cilantro, and shredded cheese. With a pastry brush (or your finger) "paint" water all around the crust and in a cross shape in the middle of the crust. Place the top crust on, and press down lightly. With a pizza cutter (or knife), cut into 4. Crimp edges with a fork. Bake at 425 degrees until pie crust is nice and golden-brown.

There you have it ... TWO for ONE food fun on this Fabu-Fri-day.

So, now I'm off to design a beaded hand-made, and certainly, by no means, cheaper, gift for 6 female high-school grads, and try and think of a "cool" gift for 1 male HS grad. If you have any ideas, drop me a comment!

Have a fantabulous weekend, and make sure to catch all the LBY comments this evening and tomorrow! (links to the left)