Labor Day 2013

Two outta three ain't good either.

The three day weekend started out ok...

On Saturday, we wandered.

We started in Dyersville, home of the Field of Dreams movie site.

Then we checked out Elkader, a super cute little town that gave me lots of ideas for Bellevue.

I loved this store!

Just outside of Elkader is the little town of Gunder.

VERY little

Gunder is known for the Gunderburger at The Irish Shanti.

A Gunderburger is one pound (!) of locally raised beef served on a locally baked bun.  (I love that everything's local!)

I did not have the Gunderburger, but the smaller version from the kid's menu was delicious!

After Gunder, we wandered over to the flea market in Marquette (it was very hot and everything was very expensive).

Across the river is Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin where we stopped at a couple of garage sales.  I found a large, white enamel bowl with red trim for $3.

not the one I bought, but mine is just like this

After Prairie, we drove through the orchards in Gays Mills (orchard after orchard after orchard after...), to Richland Center where I saw this shelving unit on the side of the road with a sign that said 500.

I had seen this...

at Addicted to Decorating, and wanted to do something similar for this girl...

so cute!

Luckily, in this case 500 meant $5!

Now we'll see if I ever do anything with it.  It's real wood (not particle board) and I almost hate to "ruin" it!

Sunday, we went to the pork roast ("Iowa's Largest"?) at the church behind my house.  We ate pork sandwiches, listened to music (some good, some...), and "visited" (small town Iowa's version of "hung out".

On Monday, we broke up.

(my idea)

On the bright side, when the going gets tough, I get super productive.

First on the list was ripping up the carpet in the living room.

after

I also made this Rotel Chicken Mexican Casserole.

The actual recipe is...

Ingredients

3 split fryer breasts cooked and cubed

1 bag of tortilla chips crushed

1 can of Rotel

1 can Cream of Chicken soup

1 small can of chopped green chiles

1 lb of Velvetta or American Cheese

Directions

Cook and dice your chicken 

Mix together your Rotel, Soup, Green Chiles, and cubed Cheese

Heat this mixture in a microwave till melted and then add your chicken 

In a casserole dish, layer 1/2 your chips and 1/2 your cheese mixture

Repeat these layers and top with a few crushed chips

Bake at 350 until hot and bubbly

But I threw everything (except the tortilla chips!) into the crock pot on low for about 8 hours, shredded the chicken, then layered it into the baking dish and threw it into the oven.

It was SO good!  If you like that cheesy Rotel dip (who doesn't???) you'll love this.