Gettin' by with a little help from my (foodie) friends

Last week I posted about these awesome friends of mine who have been helping out big time while we've been dealing with my father-in-law being in hospice care (view that post HERE.) First was my friend, Michelle, who brought by salad and mostacioli and homemade banana bread. The next day Judy made a casserole with chicken, tater tots and veggies, croissants, salad (including a pack of croutons and bottle of dressing) and homemade cupcakes. The next day I picked up McDonald's for everyone with the boys and they came along to visit Grandpa.

Then as the week started, my friends came to the rescue again. I wish I had photos of everything, but didn't get an opportunity to photograph it all. On Monday, Patty made a wonderful meal - heart shaped biscuits, Parmesan chicken (I've had this dish prepared by Patty before and it is so good!), mashed potatoes and gravy, ginger carrots and chocolate fudge cupcakes.

The next day, my friend Gloria, had bags of food ready when I stopped by her house. She not only cooked dinner, but it was late morning when I was there and she packed up lunch, too - chicken sandwiches (and PB &J for the kids) with chips and beverages and even plates and napkins. Then for dinner there was pork roast with veggies in a delicious buttery sauce. Back in the summer I'd sent her a tip I saw on a food blog about taking fresh herbs and putting them in an ice cube tray then pouring in olive oil and freezing it to use later in dishes and soups. Gloria has an extensive herb garden and always has more than she needs so it seemed like a good way to be able to use more later on and she did freeze some. She said she used some of those in making the pork and vegetables. She also made baby red potatoes. I wish I had pictures of it all. I did get one. She sent an apple salad for dessert with apples, yogurt and walnuts.

After that it was a night of leftovers and then that angel Gloria had me stop over again. She'd made a lasagna and a tossed salad and had Italian bread with it and some banana bread and cake for dessert.

I also stopped by my friend Laura's to pick up some soup she'd made for the next day. It was lemon rice soup - yum! with some bread and an almond pound cake. Here's a shot of Laura's soup and Gloria's salad. :) It was a nice lunch!

Gloria's sister, Raquel, had given Gloria some money to get a lasagna to pass along, but when Gloria had already made a lasagna, Gloria passed on the money for us to get a meal. Very sweet of them both. Probably another day of finishing up all the leftovers and then I'll use that money to pick up Boston Market or KFC to drop by the house. I've been so lucky to have these wonderful ladies pitch in to help us out. And each of them has full and busy lives themselves and for them to take time out to do this for us is so generous. I can't thank them enough.

 My father-in-law has been in pretty good spirits...kind of on a roller coaster ride - a good day, then a bad day, then another good day, then another bad day, but it's such a blessing that he's been able to communicate with everyone and he says he's not in pain. So he's hanging in there and we're hoping he'll get a little better day by day.

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