Love My Country Home

Sunday Scripture

2012-02-26T07:16:00.000-05:00

We put our hope in the LORD.

He is our help and our shield.

Psalm 33:20

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

2012-02-24T11:42:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday! How has your week been? I am looking forward to this weekend so I can sleep in. No getting up until my tired body tells me it's time. AND, I'm going to have a scrapbook giveaway this weekend. Please come back if you like scrapbooking!!

I made this a few nights ago and it's a delicious, easy recipe. I didn't know what my boys would think of it, but they both liked it and asked for seconds. SCORE! This is another recipe from Plain Chicken (cooking blog full of great recipes). Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the jambalaya I made so I'm using the picture from Plain Chicken.

Picture courtesy of Plain Chicken

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

Ingredients:
1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast halves cut into 1" cubes
1 lb. smoked turkey sausage, sliced
1 (29 oz) can diced tomatoes with juice
2 stalks celery, sliced
3 tblsp dried minced onion flakes
1 cup chicken broth
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried parsley
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp Cajun seasoning
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
white rice

In a slow cooker, mix the chicken, sausage, tomatoes with juice, onion garlic, celery and broth. Season with oregano, parsley, Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, and thyme. Cover and cook 7-8 hours on low, or 3-4 hours on high. Mix in cooked rice and cook for about 15 minutes to warm through.

I'm linking up to Hooking Up with HOH #88 today.

Hands

2012-02-19T07:00:00.002-05:00

We've been driving alot lately and one of us will reach over and hold the other one's hand. When I hold my husband's hand, I can feel the softness of it. I can feel how gently he holds my hand no matter how large his hand is. I feel comforted knowing that our hands are together - no words are spoken, but I know everything will be ok when he holds my hand.

This has been a familiar scenario the past week with my husband and I. You see, our two dogs have been missing for over a week and we've spent almost every evening and almost all of our time on the weekend looking for them. We drive, drive, and then drive some more. Our son drives around looking for the dogs. Our friends drive around looking for the dogs. People we don't even know have been driving around looking for our dogs. We've handed out or posted over 150 flyers. I don't even want to start listing all the places and people we have called to report our dogs missing. Then there's Facebook. Social media can be such a pain and yet it can be a wonderful tool for getting a message out to the masses.

Getting back to the hands....when my husband was holding my hand it reminded me of God's hands. Strong, loving, and gentle. I feel comfort when I come to Him with my troubles even when no words are spoken. God knows my heart and hears my cries. So, in the midst of my current situation, I need to remember to go to the one that comforts and put my faith and trust in God. No matter if we find our dogs or not, I need to remember and trust that God's ways are better than mine could ever be.

Harley and Snickers - Fall 2011

Cherry Marshmallow Cake

2012-02-17T21:10:00.003-05:00

What a week! Our two dogs ran off last week and we've spent every evening and all weekend looking for them. They've been spotted around the area but we've not been able to get them back home yet. Hopefully tomorrow will be a good day because we've place an ad in the local paper with a picture of the dogs. When thinking about how upset we are that our two dogs are missing, we can't help but wonder how parents feel when their children are missing (or any loved one). Situations like these sure make a person think about things and fill you with more compassion for others.

Let me tell you about this cake. Our friend Mike told us about it and it sounded like something I had to make. Maybe it's because this cake sounds like a science experiment of sorts. It has marshmallows on the bottom and pie filling on the top, and when the cake is baking, the marshmallows rise to the top and the pie filling sinks to the bottom. Trust me - it's so good! If you don't like cherries, you can use any flavor pie filling you like.

By the way, I'm also having my first giveaway very soon. If you like scrapbooking, check back next week for more details!

Photo courtesy of Food.com

Cherry Marshmallow Cake

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs (or as called for by your cake mix)
1/3 cup oil (or as called for by your cake mix)
1 1/3 cup water (or as called for by your cake mix)
4 cups mini marshmallows (about 3/4 of 10 1/2 oz. pkg)
1 (21 oz.) can cherry pie filling

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2 baking pan.
3. Prepare cake mix according to package directions.
4. Spread marshmallows in the bottom of the baking pan, pour cake mix over marshmallows, spoon pie filling evenly on top.
5. Bake 30 - 40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool before serving.

I hope you like this recipe! I'm linking up to House of Hepworths this week and Skip to My Lou Mady by you Mondays.

Have you seen these missing dogs?

2012-02-11T13:26:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure how many people from Montgomery County or the surrounding areas read my blog, but I've exhausted all other options and am asking for anyone's help in locating our missing dogs. Harley is a male Golden Retriever and Snickers is a female chocolate Lab. Even though both dogs have collars on in these pictures, only Harley was wearing his collar the morning they disappeared. The last time our family saw Harley and Snickers was the morning of Thursday, February 9. Several other people reported seeing them that afternoon about 5 miles from our house near 500S and 850E north of Ladoga. If you have seen these dogs or if you know where they are, please email me at cpsacco@yahoo.com. Thank you for your help!!

7-Up Biscuits

2012-02-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

During one of my most recent searches for recipes on Plain Chicken, I found these delights. Their actual name is 7-Up Biscuits, but I call them a fattening slice of biscuit heaven.

They are absolutely delicious! Now the reason for that could be because my helper mixed the melted butter into the batter and then had to melt more butter for the baking dish ;) Or it could be because of the 7-Up. Either way they were perfect with our chicken and wild rice soup.

7-Up Biscuits

2 cups Bisquick

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup 7-up

1/4 cup melted butter

Cut sour cream into biscuit mix, add 7-Up. Makes a very soft dough.

Sprinkle additional biscuit mix on board or table and pat dough out. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a 9 inch square pan. Place cut biscuits in pan and bake at 450 degrees until golden brown.

Nesco Roaster Oven Review

2012-02-08T08:00:00.006-05:00

** I want to start off by saying that this IS NOT a paid endorsement - I only want to share information with you about something I love. **

Last fall I was shopping for a new crockpot and just couldn't find what I wanted. After visiting several stores, I went to the local Ace Hardware and found the Nesco Roaster Oven. I've never had a roaster oven before, but everyone that I know that has one absolutely loves them. What really sold me on the Nesco Roaster Oven was everything it could do. Basically, it can do everything my oven and crockpot can do except broil, it holds 6 quarts which is perfect for my family, and it will save money on my gas bill since I wont be using my oven as much. Tonight I'm cooking a chicken in the roaster that I will use for dinner this week.

See a picture and learn more about my new favorite kitchen appliance after the jump....

Read more »

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

2012-02-07T06:11:00.007-05:00

Well, Plain Chicken has done it again. I've found another great recipe that my family really enjoyed - Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti Casserole. It was so easy to make which means it's a keeper in my book. I started off by roasting a whole chicken that I can use for several meals and I'll have a post on that later. I also thought about using thicker homemade noodles, but didn't have enough and after seeing how the it turned out, I'm glad I stuck with the recipe and used regular spaghetti noodles.

Learn how to make cheesy chicken spaghetti casserole after the jump.....

Chipotle Barbacoa Beef Recipe

2012-02-06T08:00:00.007-05:00

Recently Carl asked to have a Mexican fiesta for dinner and specifically asked for Chipotle's barbacoa beef. I searched for a recipe and found this one and then this one, but decided on this recipe. We love their barbacoa beef and I thought it would be fairly easy to make, but have you tried to find canned chipotle peppers? What about Mexican oregano? They weren't available in my little grocery store so I had to travel to the next town over and I was able to find the peppers. Still don't know what Mexican oregano is, but I'll probably google that later. And in my search for the special peppers, I saw a large bag of dried chipotle peppers Walmart for a little over $5 and the small, itty bitty can cost almost $3!! Guess what I'll be buying next time? And the outcome....Carl thought it was different that Chipotle's barbacoa beef, but he really liked it (specifically, two thumbs up).

If you want to make your own version of Chipotle's barbacoa beef by using this recipe, read more about it after the jump....
Read more »

Sunday Scripture & Word of the Year

2012-02-05T08:58:00.000-05:00

I've seen so many people on twitter, facebook, and various blogs talk about picking a word of the year instead of writing resolutions (for a great explanation and project on picking a word of the yeart, click here). The last couple of years our family has picked a word or a phrase that we could all relate to, something that we all needed to work on, and something that we could say to each other that just our family would understand. We've picked:

responsibility because we all needed to practice it.

more chili - Basically this meant give whatever you are doing more effort - do your best. But chili? That was something silly that Ryan came up with and we all liked it.

Our word for 2012 is:

CONFIDENCE

There are many reasons why our family has picked this word and since they are personal to our family, I won't be sharing them with you. But, I will share that this covers many areas of our lives and with God, we will be able to approach every day with CONFIDENCE.

But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.

Jeremiah 17:7 (NLT)

Mexican Casserole Recipe

2012-02-03T14:42:00.003-05:00

Hi there peeps! It's been a long time since I've posted and that means I have a lot to talk about...which is usually not a problem for me :) For this first post I want to tell you about this blog I found with some awesome recipes - it's called Plain Chicken. I found several recipes that I want to try and the first one was Mexican Casserole. The family liked it so much that I have permission to make it again (aren't they so sweet!). It is super easy to make but let me tell you it calls for Ranch style beans. They aren't plain old navy beans with Ranch dressing in them, but more of a Tex Mex flavor of beans.

Get the recipe for Mexican Casserole after the jump.....
Read more »

Easy Chicken Stroganoff

2011-12-21T10:42:00.001-05:00

I have to share another recipe from the Easy Recipes for Busy Moms blog. This time I made the easy chicken stroganoff and it was delicious. So simple and very few ingredients!

picture courtesy of ezdinners.blogspot.com

EASY CHICKEN STROGANOFF

2 tablespoons butter
1 lb. chicken breast, cut in strips
2 cups mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
4 cups egg noodles

Directions:
1. Cook chicken in 1 Tablespoon butter. Remove.
2. Cook mushrooms and onions in remaining butter.
3. Stir in soup and sour cream. Heat until boiling.
4. Return chicken to the pan. Heat thoroughly.
5. Serve over noodles, with a tossed salad and buttered Italian bread.

Easy Recipes for Busy Moms

2011-12-15T15:24:00.002-05:00

A friend recently told me about a blog call Easy Recipes for Busy Moms and it has super easy meals to make. Check it out if you have time - there are several recipes that I know my family will like. Tonight I will be making the Honey Pecan Pork Chops (bottom right picture).

All pictures courtesy of ezdinners.blogspot.com

** UPDATE: I made the honey pecan pork chops tonight and they were delicious!!
I'm linking to House of Hepworths this week. Check it out!!

Sunday Scripture

2011-12-11T06:30:00.000-05:00

The many names of Jesus.

Image found on Pinterest.

Sunday Scripture

2011-11-27T06:00:00.001-05:00

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

John 14:27

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T06:17:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T...That is what he needs from me

2011-11-22T09:33:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'll admit it. I really didn't come up with this title myself. I took it from the Proverbs 31 devotion for today which is too good not to share! If you have never visited Proverbs 31, please go there after reading this post!

I feel so strongly about this subject and have posted before about celebrating your husband and celebrating wives, and this devotion fits with both of my previous posts. Today's devotion by Renee Swope talks about respect and submission - which will not cause you to lose your identity in your marriage. I think/know that so many wives will not have anything to do with the "S" word because they feel like their husband will treat them like a doormat, or that they will lose their identity, or even that they may be taken advantage of or appear weak, but that is so untrue! And if your husband does take advantage of you or will sometimes treat you like a doormat, you need to remember that God commands us to love one another at all times. We are to forgive at all times. Wives, this is such a hard thing to do. I have trouble doing this. My friends have trouble doing this. But do not give up! The more you "love" your husband, the more he will respond in a positive manner (more on this later in the post). Someone once shared a verse with me that changed my thinking forever about marriage and how I treat my husband. It's Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV):

³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.

It really made me think about my husband, his needs, and how being a wife that shows her husband respect will win his heart for God. Here are some suggestions from the P31 devotion to help you show your husband respect and submit to him:

• Ask God to show you ways to respect your husband. He will show you things to do or say - no matter how large or small, easy or difficult!
• Say “I’m sorry” and mean it when you dishonor him.
• Say “I forgive you” and mean it when he dishonors or hurts you.
• Let him overhear you telling someone one thing you appreciate about him.
• Praise him when his decisions turn out well and encourage him when they don’t.
• Tell your husband one thing you are thankful for – about his character, his work ethic, his provision, his humor or something he adds to your family.
* Some of these ideas are from What A Husband Needs from His Wife © 2006 by Melanie Chitwood.

So, what do you value and respect about your husband? How often do you criticize or encourage him? Take the time to write a list of of these things and maybe ask him to do the same for you. We have so many things that we are thankful for and we don't hesitate to share it with others - let your husband be at the top of that list this Thanksgiving.

Digital Scrapbooking - My Newest Addiction

2011-11-21T07:14:00.000-05:00

I've always wondered why anyone that does traditional scrapbooking would want to create a digital scrapbook page. It always seemed so not normal, or kind of like I was betraying a friend. Maybe it was because I didn't understand it or was too scared to try it. But I tried it and I liked it!! I'm totalled hooked, but I still want to do traditional scrapbooking. It's just that I have soooo many digital pictures that this would be a great way to capture so many of them. Here are a few examples of some of my first digital pages.

All of these kits were purchased from My Memories and I edited them using Photoshop Elements 8. Overall, it was very easy - the hardest part was trying to figure out which kits to purchase! If you are a digital scrapbooker, I would love to hear your thoughts, likes, and dislikes.

Sunday Scripture

2011-11-20T07:51:00.000-05:00

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15

Christmas light garland

2011-11-18T22:19:00.003-05:00

Are you looking for an inexpensive and easy Christmas decoration or gift? Look no further because help has arrived! You can make this super easy Christmas light garland project for your home, office, or to give as a gift.

You will need a box of 140 mini Christmas lights and your choice of 4 different Christmasy fabrics with each color cut into 1" x 6" strips. Keep in mind that even though I chose 4 colors, you can choose more if you like.

Step 1: Take one of the twist ties that held the lights together and use that to tie both ends of the light strand together. Match up the first and last light - one end of your strand will be longer than the other.

Step 2: Take one strip of fabric and tie it around both strands of lights. I put one piece of fabric between each light, but you can put more between each if you want. Alternate colors as you go. My colors were red, red/white stripe, white, green with white polka dots.

Keep tying :)

This is a good project to work on when you're watching tv.

Step 3: You're done! These lights would be great on a small tree, a mantel, or on a window sill.

This project would be good to use at Easter with pastel fabrics, or in the fall with beautiful reds, greens, and yellows. Anyway you make it, it's an inexpensive cute decoration.

Linking up to Making the World Cuter, Made By You Monday, Sew Can Do Craftastic Monday, So Very Creative, The Girl Creative, Craft-O-Maniac.

Personalize Your Favicon

2011-11-15T16:07:00.002-05:00

Have you ever wanted to change the little favicon by your url? Maybe personalize it to reflect you or your blog? Well, now you can do that in a few easy steps. Check out my new favicon below - I wanted something that reflected my blog name, so I picked a home with a heart. Isn't it cute?!

I was surprised how easy this was and the best part is it’s FREE! Follow these steps to create your own unique design:

* Go to http://www.favicon.cc/ and create an account.

* Create a favicon or upload an image.

* Once you have created your favicon, you need to download the image. You can “preview” it first, but just remember where you saved it so you can add it to your blog.

Gardners2 Bergers listed two ways of installing your favicon and I only tried one which I will post below.

* Go to your dashboard and click on design.

* Right under add and arrange page elements, you'll see favicon.

* Click on edit and add the saved file here. You can save your changes and preview your new favicon. If you don’t like it as much as you thought, or something is wrong, you can delete it and start over. Save the changes and voila, you’re done!

That was easy, wasn’t it? For the original post on Gardners 2 Bergers, click here.

I found this tip through TipJunkie's Homemade Projects Party. If you link up to a "party", it pays to check out out what other people have posted and I have found some delicious recipes and neat projects. Gardners 2 Bergers has a great list of blogs that host parties - and I know there are more out there, so one night when you want to relax and there's nothing on TV, check a few out. These ladies put a lot of work into setting up parties and posting about them - please let them know how much you appreciate it!

Sunday Scripture

2011-11-13T18:32:00.000-05:00

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others.

Philippians 2:3-4

Men's Brains and Women's Brains - They are Different

2011-11-12T08:16:00.000-05:00

It's a beautiful sunny day here and I'm up and ready to go today. There are several projects to finish at home and I'm sure there's not enough time in the day to do them, so let's get the show on the road.

Thankful day 11: I am so thankful and grateful to all Veterans for the sacrifices they have made. Thank you for the freedoms that I have in this country!

I love this picture! I'm not sure who took it, but I found it on facebook.

Thankful day 12: I'm so thankful for my dad and everything he did for my family. His words of wisdom (sometimes not well received), his work ethic that he tried to instill in us, his humor, the sacrifices he made for our family, and so much more!

See what I mean about humor?

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Last night a friend shared this video with me and I think it perfectly describes how a man's brain and a woman's brain work. It's just a little something to get your morning started and give you a little laugh, but it's so true! I hope you enjoy it and have a wonderful weekend!!

Thankful Posts & Carrot Cake Recipe

2011-11-10T08:57:00.000-05:00

I see that I'm a few days behind in my thankful posts - better catch up on that :)

Thankful Day 8 - I am so incredibly thankful for God's healing. Not for me, not for my family, but for a friend. I'm praying that through all of this there will be a sweet, loving relationship formed between my friend and God.

Thankful Day 9 - I am thankful for my health. Thankful that the things that are wrong (bad knee, bad back) with me can be corrected or managed by how well I take care of myself. Thankful that I have the resources to do it and a husband that encourages me to.

Thankful Day 10 - I am so thankful that my family has a home to live in. A roof over their heads. A safe place. A sanctuary. I pray that God will always be present here, that he will guide my family, and be felt by our guests when they are here.

There is so much to be thankful for in our lives, isn't there? I have to admit that I find it hard to pinpoint one thing to put on here. Some things are private and I would rather not share them publicly, and others seems so little that when I think about posting them it all sounds so silly. Like the sun.....I was so thankful for the sun earlier this week. Just feeling the warmth on my face. Seeing the brightness of the sun when I looked out my window. The happy smiling faces as I walked down the sidewalk and hearing others talk about what a beautiful day it was since the sun was out. Does anyone else have a hard time deciding what to write about?

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Ok, let's talk about food - that's an easy subject for me!! I want to share the carrot cake recipe that I made for Carl for his birthday. It was soooo yummy!

Carrot Cake III

Recipe from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

4 eggs

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

2 cups white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 cups grated carrots

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

4 cups confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.

Do you have any favorite recipes that you make for special occasions? Please share - I would love to hear about them.

Thankful Day 7 & Recipe

2011-11-07T19:29:00.003-05:00

Wow - Day 7 of thankful posts. Only 17 days until Thanksgiving. Doesn't it seem like the holidays are suddenly here? Is it because of the warmer than normal weather we've had? I have to keep reminding myself that Thanksgiving will be here soon, then Christmas, then New Years.

Today, on day 7 of thankfulness, I am thankful for the smile on my boys faces. We had a wonderful weekend and both boys were so happy and laughing over silly things which warms my heart. It's so nice to see them enjoying each other's company.

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I wanted to share a new recipe with everyone - if you're on Pinterest, you've probably seen it pinned a hundred times or more. Drumroll please.........it's homemade dishwasher detergent from Being Creative to Keep My Sanity. I made and used it yesterday and it's received two thumbs up. That's right folks, it's a keeper! Here's the recipe and please check out Being Creative to Keep My Sanity for more household recipes.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Ingredients:
1 box Borax
1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
24 packages of unsweetened lemonade drink mix, like kool-aid.

(Note: lemonade will stain soap dispenser yellow,

another option would be to use citric acid instead of lemonade)
3 cups Epsom Salt
Lemi Shine rinse aid (this recipe does not work very well without it)

Being Creative recommends sprinkling about a tablespoon of Lemi Shine in the bottom of your dishwasher before you start your load. Mix everthing together and use 1 tablespoon for each load - that will last a long, long time! When I mixed my ingredients together, there were large clumps and I ran it through the food processor to break everything up. Put it in a container like the one pictured (you can purchase that at Walmart) and you are ready to go.

Have a wonderful evening! See you tomorrow with day #8! Have you been thinking about what you are thankful for?

Sunday Scripture & Thankful 5 & 6

2011-11-06T12:16:00.000-05:00

I'm a teeny bit behind on my thankful posts, so I'd better get caught up before I'm another day behind. I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having - we all know about that white, fluffy stuff that is coming soon.

Day 5: I know I've already said that I'm thankful for my family, and this may seem a bit redundant, but I'm so incredibly thankful for my husband. He is hardworking, honest, trustworthy, caring, funny, a wonderful, patient father and husband, full of surprises, and he has the cutest smile on this earth. I can't imagine a day without him.

Day 6: My grandmother, mother, and mother-in-law for the influences they've had on me. I've learned so many things from each one of them. How to sew, cook, bake, can, take care of a home and family, and many other life lessons. I hope I can pass along some of these lessons to my boys (and my nieces).

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Instead of sharing an scripture verse today, I wanted to share what someone recently shared with me. I think it would even be something nice to print and frame for a home.

Ten Blessings for Your Home

- Holley Gerth

Peace - may there be peace within your walls. Psalm 122:7

Joy - May the God of hope fill you with all joy. Romans 15:13

Strength - May our Lord....encourage your hearts and strengthen you. II Thess. 2:16-17

Success - May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. Psalm 20:4

Comfort - May your unfailing love be my comfort. Psalm 119:76

Grace - May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ....be with you. II Cor. 13:14

Favor - May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us. Psalm 90:17

Kindness - May the Lord now show you kindness. II Samuel 2:6

Protection - May Your love and Your truth always protect me. Psalm 40:11

Love - May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in You. Psalm 33:22.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

Has anyone started counting the days until Thanksgiving?

Thankful November

2011-11-04T12:21:00.000-04:00

It seems like everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and posting something they are thankful for every day in November. So, I'm jumping too even though I'm a few days late.

1. I'm thankful for my salvation!

2. I'm thankful for my family (husband, kids, brother, sisters, in-laws, cousins....every single one of them).

3. I'm (very) thankful that my husband and I both are employed.

4. I'm thankful for my friends, old and new. I hope I can be as good of a friend to all of them as they have been to me.

Who else is writing about being thankful? We all have something to be thankful for - some days it's easy to see and other days you have to peel back the layers to find it. It's there - just keep looking!

I'm late writing about this, but last Sunday was Carl's birthday. I won't divulge his age, but will share a picture of him and his birthday cake. Carl asked for a carrot cake and, of course, I had to make one! Happy Birthday sweetie <3

And I also have to share a Halloween picture. We went to the big, booming metropolis close to our small, itty bitty town for trick-or-treating and a couple of Ryan's friends joined us. It's fun - the city closes Main Street and people are walking everywhere!

The mummy, robot, and alien pirate ready for some candy.

Sunday Scripture

2011-10-23T08:00:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Instead of posting a scripture verse today, I wanted to share a video with you that was recently posted on Denise in Bloom. She shares crafty things, delicious recipes, and her faith. If you're experiencing feelings of insecurity in your life and not sure if you're having any impact with the life you are living, please watch Denise's video - I hope it will be an encouragement to you and give you hope to continue the path God has put you on.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Pam

Mini Pumpkin Bundt Cakes

2011-10-16T16:04:00.001-04:00

This cooler weather has made my baking juices start to flow. All I want to do is bake, cook, look at recipes, and watch cooking shows. Does anyone else get that way once the weather turns cooler? This is what I've made so far:

pumpkin whoopie pies

pumpkin spice cake

chocolate whoopie pies (I followed the quick & easy whoopie recipe)

streusel coffee cake

and the latest is mini pumpkin bundt cakes.

If you've checked out these recipes, you'll see that I visit All Recipes frequently, but I also like Tasty Kitchen - after all Pioneer Woman is one of my faves! Today I'm going to share pictures of the mini pumpkin bundt cakes. I will say that instead of light brown sugar, I used a combination of dark brown and white sugar with a small amount of molases mixed in.

Aren't they so cute?!

Mini Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Ingredients for the cake:

4 whole eggs

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Ingredients for the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons butter, softened

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs thoroughly with an electric mixer. Add brown sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in oil and pumpkin, mix completely.

2. Whisk together dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and combine just until moistened.
3. Pour batter into greased mini bundt pans and bake in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes or until cakes spring back when touched with your finger.
4. Let cool slightly before removing from the pan. Glaze with a simple powdered sugar icing made by mixing the glaze ingredients together.
Note: this can also be baked in a 10″ tube pan for 1 hour.

What kind of fall recipes do you like to make? Have you tried new ones this year that you would love to share? I'm linking up to Savvy Southern Style's Wow Us Wednesday to see what creative ideas have been shared - why don't you take a trip on over and see what everyone has been up to this past week?

Sunday Scripture

2011-10-16T08:12:00.001-04:00

The effective, fervent prayer

of a righteous man avails much.

James 5:16

photo courtesy of Fox News

Making Whoopie Pies

2011-10-12T22:01:00.000-04:00

Fall is time for pumpkins and festivals which makes me think of the Covered Bridge Festival. That festival makes me think of all the places we stop at during our visit to the festival, including some Amish roadside stands. Amish roadside stands make me think of homebaked goodies. Homebaked goodies make me think of whoopie pies! Did you feel like you were reading "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" books or one othe others in that series? I really wanted to make something special for Carl this was the perfect recipe. They were very easy to make and didn't last long :)

PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIES

Recipe courtesy of Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups solid pack pumpkin puree
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
2. Combine the oil and brown sugar. Mix in the pumpkin and eggs, beating well. Add the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, 1 teaspoon vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix well.
3. Drop dough by heaping teaspoons onto the prepared baking sheets. (I used my fingers to slightly flatten the dough before baking otherwise mine ended up looking like little mountains.) Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cookies cool then make sandwiches from two cookies filled with Whoopie Pie Filling.
4. To Make Whoopie Pie Filling: Beat egg white and mix with the milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 cup of the confectioners' sugar. Mix well then beat in the shortening and the remaining cup of confectioners' sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.

Sunday Scripture

2011-10-09T08:58:00.000-04:00

For a while now, I've noticed that a few blogs I read have "Sunday Scripture" posts and I've really enjoyed what they've posted. Now they have inspired me to post my own Sunday Scripture and let me share this little story with you. Several years ago I received a calendar that had scripture cards included that you could use to memorize verses. Even though the alendar is long gone, I've kept the cards and put up a new card every so often on one of my kitchen cabinets...it's changed periodically...I have the boys or Carl pick a new card....I pray that God will have a verse picked that will really speak to me and our family...something that we can think about, remember, and hide in our hearts. Here is the card that God chose for me, my family, and you to meditate on this week:

For God has not given us a spirit of fear,

but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7

Please check out these blogs that have inspired me to be bold in my faith and share God's word with you...Domestically Speaking and Stone Gable.

Pioneer Woman's Marlboro Man Sandwiches

2011-10-05T20:06:00.000-04:00

My oldest son recently asked for Pioneer Woman's Marlboro Man sandwiches for dinner and I just had to make them for him. Speaking of Pioneer Woman, have you seen her new show on the Food Network? Even though I think most of the recipes she's made so far are from her cookbook, I really enjoy her show. If you haven't seen it already, check it out - it's a nice change from the usual cooking shows on TV. Anyway, this is what my version of the sandwich looked like, including the bad photography.

This is Pioneer Woman's version of the Marlboro Man sandwich (and she thinks her photography is bad - I'll let you compare the two pictures :)

My picture may not look as good as hers, but based on the smile on my son's face, I think it tasted just as good. Here's the recipe if you would like to make your own Marlboro Man sandwiches for your son or cowboy.

Marlboro Man Sandwiches

Ingredients:

2 whole Medium Onions, Halved And Sliced

1-¼ stick Butter

2 pounds Cube Steak, Cut Into 1/2-inch Strips

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 teaspoon Black Pepper

¼ cups Worcestershire Sauce

5 dashes Tabasco Sauce

4 whole Deli Rolls (crusty), Split

8 slices (thick) Fresh Mozzarella

8 slices (thick) Ripe Tomato

1-½ cup Arugula

Instructions:

Season meat with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Melt 1/3 stick of butter in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Cook onions for several minutes, until golden brown. Remove to a separate plate and set aside.
Return skillet to stove and increase heat to high. Add another 1/3 stick of butter. When melted, add meat to pan in a single layer. Do not stir. Allow meat to sit, undisturbed, for a minute in order to brown. With a spatula, flip meat to the other side and allow to brown. Reduce heat to low. Add onions back into pan, then add Worcestershire, Tabasco, and remaining 1/3 stick of butter. Stir and allow to simmer, adding more Worcestershire or Tabasco as desired.
Melt 1/2 stick of butter on griddle or in a separate skillet. Place roll halves, cut side down in butter and brown over medium-low heat until golden brown.
To serve, spoon meat/onion mixture over bottom half of rolls. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons pan juice over the top. Lay two mozzarella slices on each sandwich, followed by two tomato slices. Top with a generous amount of arugula, then press the top half of the roll on top. Cut in half and serve immediately.

Garlic Ravioli

2011-09-30T06:24:00.001-04:00

In my quest to pull together a quick dinner, I found this recipe on the back of a frozen ravioli bag and it was so good. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture but hopefully you can see it in your mind and know that you need to make this recipe ;)

Garlic Ravioli
1 pkg. cheese ravioli
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch green onions
salt & pepper
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Cook ravioli according to package directions and when draining, reserve 1/4 cup cooking liquid. While ravioli is cooking, add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a skillet and add the garlic, salt and pepper. Cook just until the garlic starts to brown, then add onions and cook just until the start to soften. Add drained ravioli and reserved liquid to pan with garlic. Stir and let cook for a few minutes - just to let ravioli get brown, but not stick to pan. Transfer to serving platter and top with mozzarella cheese.

This was so simple and all three of my guys loved it!

This weekend is homecoming at the college I work for and I've been asked to be one of the judges for the festivites. The first event is at 10:00 tonight....don't they know that I'm old and I'm usually in bed by that time? Oh to be young again and have tons of energy!

Racing season is coming to an end - just a few more races in October and one in November. Carl and Ryan are racing this weekend and I'm looking forward to the day when Kyle gets his cast off and can join them. I forgot to mention that Ryan won his fourth race this season and also won the points championship for the 65cc class. Way to go Rocky!!

Lego SUV

2011-09-28T09:33:00.001-04:00

I just have to share another Lego creation with you. No, this one was not built by my son, but I'm sure that he would love to have enough Legos to do this one day. It's a life-size Lego SUV.

Here are some factoids about the Lego SUV:

It took 22 master builders to complete the SUV.
2,500 hours is how long assembly took.
It weighs over 2,600 pounds, more than half as much as the real car.
The builders used about 380,000 bricks.

I find it so fascinating to see all of the Lego creations that not only my son has built, but everything you find on the web, such as the Lego bedroom, the Lego hats from the 2010 Royal Ascot, plus a YouTube channel. The creativity that goes into each one of these projects is beyond anything I could think of and I'm looking forward to finding the next cool, unique, new creation and sharing it with Ryan.

Happy Anniversary to My Husband.

2011-09-15T07:14:00.000-04:00

Happy anniversary sweetheart. I'm looking forward to many more years together <3

Week in review

2011-08-28T11:49:00.002-04:00

There's been alot going on at the Sacco house this week that I want to share with y'all (I'm not from the South, but I did watch a show last night called "You Don't Know Dixie"). Sit down and relax and enjoy the reading....

Are you ready for some football? Ryan decided to play football this year and has had two games so far. Unfortunately his team hasn't won...yet. He hasn't played for a few years so we were slightly surprised when he asked to sign up. Ryan ran with the ball yesterday and gained some yards for the team - exciting to watch our "quiet one" at work.

#53 on the white team.

This was the first full week of school for the boys and Carl and I were so happy for summer break to end. Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed the summer with the boys, but it was time for them to get back into a routine, see their friends, etc. This is Ryan's last year in elementary school and Kyle is a sophomore in high school. Kyle found a job at a local fast food restaurant. If you're in the area, look for him when you order a frosty :)

Racing has been wonderful lately. Ryan came in first last Sunday at the MWXC race in Brazil and I think he has the points lead in the 65cc class wrapped up. Carl came in second - woohoo!! He's been wanting to place in the top five for a while now and he did it. Kyle came off injured reserve and placed 12th which we were very happy about. He broke his hand in the beginning of July and hasn't been able to ride until one week before this race. This has been a wonderful year because all of my guys are racing hare scrambles - no motocross this year - and I get to be their biggest cheerleader! Here's a picture of them after the Brazil race.

I have three projects going on at home (honestly, there are lots more than that - I'm just concentrating on a few right now). The first one is the laundry room. We took out some cabinets and put them in the kitchen (will be blogging about that later), and I want to paint and add a shelf. Here is the inspiration for my laundry room.

I love the color, the bench, the shelves - it's cute! I'm not going to do the board and batten - that would require painting of the trim and I don't want to do that. I thought about putting bead board in my laundry room, but I think I'm going to paint it blue on the bottom and a light brown on the top - the shelf will probably be stained golden oak. Here's what the laundry room currently looks like.

I'm also working on sprucing up the outside of my house and finishing some yard work. To brighten things up a bit, I'm repainting this milk can that I've had forever. My parents had this before I did - mom cleaned it up and painted it blue then I stenciled the sunflowers, but now it's time for a face lift. I'm painting the can black and then I'm going to use my Silhouette machine and cut some vinyl words or designs. Here's the before and the finished product will be displayed later this week.

Remember when I blogged about the sewing machine that Carl bought me? Well I've started my first quilt and it's been a bit of a challenge. The pattern I chose was for a crib size quilt and my sewing encyclopedia friend Kelly has given me a wonderful idea on how to resize the pattern so it will still look nice. I'm working with Moda Giddy fabric. Sandy Gervais designed it - do you remember her when HGTV first aired?

Well, other than football practice, cleaning the housel, and work, that's all that's been happening here. Hope everyone had a great weekend :)

Words, words, and more words

2011-08-22T12:52:00.000-04:00

Pinterest has been so good and not so good for me. Not so good because it is a productivity decreasing piece of my life. Good because of some of the wonderful words and phrases that remind me about life. My life and what it is, what I need to be thankful for, and why I am here on this earth. I'll post some of those in a minute, but first you need to check out Pinterest. There are so many incredibly wonderful ideas out there for food, crafts, fashion, home decorating, life, etc., and they are all collected on Pinterest. If you haven't checked it out yet, you really need to do that. Seriously, go there now...or after you read this post ;). Here are some of my favorite "words" that I've found on Pinterest.

I need to remember this every day, even in the bad times.

I often tell my boys that in their dad they have a wonderful example of what being a man is and they need to follow his example.

I have one of these at home <3

I need to remember that everything doesn't have to be perfect...all the time....every day....with everything that I do.

I think this is why I get so frustrated with people sometimes.

This is so true.

For my sweetie

Yep...definitely need to remember this.

love my house, my boys, my dogs, my cat, and every mess they (and I) make

This picture was titled "A Fathers love letter to the World" and it makes my heart melt.

This is what I'd rather be doing on certain days.

I can see this being turned into a rap song.

I thought this was interesting.

I hope you enjoyed my little tour of the good and creative, but yet productivity decreasing, world of Pinterest.

It's all mine!!

2011-08-09T10:54:00.001-04:00

I'm so excited to show you what Carl recently bought for me - a Janome 3160 QDC sewing machine! I have an old Kenmore that has been through the ringer and doesn't work anymore, and I also have an older Brother machine that someone gave me which I can use as a backup, but sewing on this will be like a dream come true! So between painting (yes, more painting), dirtbikes, and now football, I'm going to finish some of my sewing projects. Stay tuned for updates!

Hot Hot Hot

2011-07-20T11:51:00.002-04:00

Sweet Sixteen

2011-07-09T15:15:00.000-04:00

My oldest son turned 16 yesterday. Somehow it doesn't seem possible that 16 years have gone by since he was born. I remember moving into a new house when he was 11 or 12 days old, when he went to preschool, his first time trick-or-treating, catching frogs when he was 5, his first babysitter other than a relative, the first day of kindergarten, when he learned to ride a bike, his love for animals, how happy he was when his little brother was born, all of the elementary school parties and programs, dirt bike races, then it was junior high and high school, basketball practices and games, the first girlfriend, and taking drivers ed. More recently it has been looking for a car, a broken hand, and talk about finding a job. My little boy is growing up. We celebrated Kyle's birthday at Texas Roadhouse last night.

Kyle and Ryan

Sitting on the birthday saddle and having everyone sing happy birthday to him.

I think he had a nice day ;) I can't wait to see what memories are made this next year.

2011-06-29T05:46:00.000-04:00

Have you heard about Pinterest? If you haven't had a chance to check it out, do it soon but let me warn you that it's addicting. If you would like to check out my boards, click here. There are so many great ideas on Pinterest and it's so easy to use. Here's a brief description of Pinterest:

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. To get started, request an invite

I love to pin recipes, home decorating ideas, remodeling projects, sewing and scrapbooking ideas, cute fun pictures, and so much more. It's really a virtual pinboard - just think.....no more bookmarks saved on your computer.

Silhouette Project and Flea Market Find

2011-06-28T10:03:00.001-04:00

I've been looking at things in my house trying to figure out what will be the next victim of a Silhouette makeover and the lucky winner is ..... the plain snack jar. Come on down plain snack jar and lets have a look at you before your makeover. You're nice, but you need a little color.

I think pink would be a great color on you and it would brighten up the pantry. Let's take a look at you after the makeover. You're beautiful!! Thank you Silhouette for another fine job!

I purchased the snack jar at Goodwill for $5 and the vinyl is leftover from another project. A great update for a little money is priceless in my book.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Last week I visited the indoor flea market in town and found these lovelies to add to my amber tiara sandwich glass collection and for under $30, they were a bargain!

I love the floral pattern on this bowl.

This week I'm linking up to:

Sugar Bee Crafts Take a Look Tuesday

Farmchicks Homemade by You Monday

At Home with K Terrific Under $10

Embellishing Life Craft Catwalk

Please take a few moments to see what everyone has been up to lately. Have a wonderful week!

More Legos

2011-06-24T16:07:00.000-04:00

Many of you know that my youngest son loves legos - he is even entering a lego creation in the 4-H fair this year. Well, my husband's cousin sent us this picture (her youngest son loves legos too) and I knew I had to blog about it.

These pictures are from various sites and were from the 2010 Royal Ascot. Click here to read more about it or read a snipet below:

Ms Carradine-French, whose hat included a Lego Big Ben and London Eye, said of the 2kg creation, made of 1,400 plastic bricks: "I'm wearing it all day. It's very heavy."

Her hat, and a traditional top hat worn by Mr James, were designed by Leicester College fashion student Charlotte Samuel.

Charlotte's design was built by professional Lego builder Duncan Titmarsh, of Brickin-it. He has been collecting Lego for more than 18 years.

The woman's hat took him 14 hours to build, while the top hat was made from 1,000 bricks and was produced in eight hours.

Ryan's dream - Stoney Lonesome

2011-06-21T09:29:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share a video that Carl made about Ryan dreaming about his dirtbike race this last weekend at Stoney Lonesome Motorcycle Club. Ryan placed 3rd in this race.

This will be the last time I do this

2011-06-14T22:20:00.000-04:00

Friends that have know me for the last few years know that I usually dig up my hostas and move them every year. Every year, without fail, I do this and this will be the last time. Why, you ask? Because I'm old, tired, and don't have the energy any longer. Plus I'm too busy trying to keep up with my boys and other activities that I enjoy. So I've decided that it's time to downsize the flower gardens. Anyway, enough with the whining and lets look at some of my gardens and some beautiful pictures of hostas. These are some gardens that I like.

Courtesy of American Hosta Society

Courtesy of Lilacs and Roses

Courtesy of Dogwood Farm Hostas (One of my favorite places to go!)

These are pictures of my hosta gardens.

Have a great week!

Pam

Beaded Shoes

2011-05-27T10:46:00.000-04:00

I was on craftgawker and found the cutest blog about beaded shoes. Check out these lovelies and the tutorial on Aunt Peaches blog. So the next time I'm at Goodwill, a thrift store, or a garage sale, I'm going to look for some old, funky, groovey (Kate, that's for you) jewelry and some sandals and start creating!

Have you been to craftgawker yet? There's also foodgawker, dwellinggawker, and weddinggawker - or you could just go to gawkerverse and check them all out.

Happy Memorial Day! Spend it with someone you love <3

Cube storage

2011-05-26T12:23:00.000-04:00

How cute is this?! I was recently at Hobby Lobby with my mom and sister, and we saw this storage container that is a Rubick's cube.

Lego Bedroom

2011-05-25T11:29:00.001-04:00

A friend sent me this link from HGTV and this would be so super cool for my lego-loving son! We have lots of legos and some of these green squares at home...maybe a small portion of a wall would be better. :)

To read the complete article at HGTV, click here.

Bedroom Redo

2011-05-19T22:03:00.003-04:00

I feel like Carl and I have been working on this project forever. It was been one year since we started it. Even though our bedroom has been finished for at least six months, it was not totally finished. I really wanted some vinyl wall art and once I got my Silhouette cutter, I thought I would be finished. Well, shortly after Santa (Carl) delivered my Silhouette, my computer crashed, then it was finished the time, then it was fear....how do I use this thing?! Well, now I've figured it out and I'm ready to start covering everything in vinyl or using it on every scrapbook page, and I haven't even thought about heat transfer projects and temporary tattoos.

Getting back to the redo, our bedroom was a bland yellow with a red floral Waverly bedspread...ummm, it was nice back in the day, but we were both ready for a change. I had been really like this quilt from JC Pennys and we decided to paint the walls a silimar blue with brown accents.

Another silhouette project.

I tried a new paint technique on my ceiling which meant I didn't have to worry about getting blue paint on the ceiling. :)

Close up of the ceiling.

I was going to put more vinyl words around this picture using my silhouette, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe a small picture or two around it.

So that's the bedroom redo. I'm linking up to My Romantic Home's Show and Tell Friday and My Repurposed Life Catch as Catch Can. Hope you can join me!

Fruit Salsa, Tortellini Salad, and Meat & Potato Casserole

2011-05-18T08:32:00.003-04:00

Who is tired of all the rain? I know my family is tired of all the dreary days. And I'm tired of turtle necks, long sleeve shirts, and huddling under a mound of blankets. Lately I've been wishing for sun, warmth, grilling...all the fun summer stuff. Some day.....

I have three recipes to share today - Meat and Potato Casserole, Tortellini Salad, and Fruit Salsa with cinnamon chips. You can click on the recipe title to view the recipe and picture on the original site. I've made the meat and potato casserole for the last few years and it has always been a hit at our house. As a matter of fact, my youngest son ate almost a third of it by himself last night. I wonder if he's growing??

Meat and Potato Casserole
Recipe courtesy of Country Ground Beef Cookbook and Tasteofhome.com

3 to 4 cups thinly sliced peeled potatoes
2 tblsp. butter or margarine, melted
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg (10 oz.) frozen corn, thawed (I used 1 can of corn, drained)
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed cream of celery soup, undiluted
1/3 cup milk
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tblsp. chopped onion
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese, divided
parsley, optional

Directions:
Toss potatoes with butter and salt; arrange on the bottom and up the sides of a greased 12 x 8 x 2 inch casserole. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are almost tender. Meanwhile, in a skillet, brown beef; drain. Sprinkle beef and corn over potatoes. Combine soup, milk, garlic powder, pepper, onion and 1/2 cup cheese; pour over beef mixture. Bake at 400 degrees, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from oven; top with remaining cheese. Return to oven for 2 to 3 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Garnish with parsley if desired. Yields 6 servings.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Recently I was at a scrapbook event where the next two recipes were shared at the pitch-in and I was surprised at how much my family like both of these when I made them at home. Honestly, we couldn't stop eating the fruit salsa. So yummy!!

Hearty Tortellini Salad

Recipe courtesy of TasteofHome.com

1 pkg. (19 oz.) frozen cheese tortellini

1 c grape tomatoes, halved

1 c chopped zucchini

1 c chopped yellow summer squash

4 oz. provolone cheese, cubed

1 pkg (3-1/2 oz.) sliced pepperoni

1/2 cup prepared pesto

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

Directions:

Cook the cheese tortellini according to the package directions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Drain tortellini and rinse in cold water. Add to vegetable mixture and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate until serving. Yield: 12 servings.

Fruit Salsa
Recipe courtesy of AllRecipes.com

2 kiwis, peeled and diced

2 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and diced

8 oz. raspberries

1 lb. strawberries

2 tblsp. white sugar

1 tblsp. brown sugar

3 tblsp. fruit preserves, any flavor

10 (10 inch) flour tortillas

butter flavored cooking spray

2 tblsp. cinnamon sugar

Directions:

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, Golden Delicious apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray. Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

** I think the beauty of the fruit salsa is that you can put whatever fruit you like in it. I didn't put the preserves in my recipe, but I did add red raspberries and some grapes.

I hope you enjoy these recipes. I'm linking up with Wow Us Wednesdays on Savvy Southern Style. Please take a moment to look all the great blogs linked there. And, stay tuned if you would like to see another Sillhouette project - the bedroom redo is almost complete.

Snappy Bag

2011-05-16T09:31:00.000-04:00

Sorry if you've already read this post, but I'm reposting since I lost it last week when Blogger was down. I just hate that - I have a hard enough time coming up with the right words to say the first time around so my posts don't sound too boring or lifeless. :)

To get back to the story, here is a picture of the snappy bag purse that I made last week at Sew Vac Central. The pattern name is Snap Happy and you can click here for more info. From two fat quarters, Kelly made three super cute bags and everyone in class made the large bag (which really is about 7" x 5"). This pattern is so easy to follow and adapt to whatever size you need. I think the next one I'm making will be a small eyeglass case and I'll use a smaller tape measure for the "snap". If you make this, I challenge you to not snap the bag open/close more than two times. Seriously, two times only. It's so addicting that I lost count of how many times I opened/closed my bag :)

This next item is a little gift from my friend Mary Jo. She makes the cutest cards and paper crafts. If you have time, please check out her blog Me and You + Two. Mary Jo designs for a few publishing teams and is always coming up with something cute and fun! Last week she gave me this little mother's day milk carton filled with some chocolates.....my tummy was happy.

Check out that cute little bee on a mini clip. How adorable!

In the next day or two I'll be posting another Silhouette project that is part of a bedroom redo, but for now, I'm enjoying the sunshine.

Silhouette fun

2011-05-09T22:16:00.003-04:00

Now that I've actually figured out how to use my Silhouette machine there are all kinds of crafty ideas running through my head. Yesterday I cut out some letters and shapes to use in my scrapbooks and then I decided to use my vinyl. This really isn't my idea, I just can't remember where I saw it before....I think it was on House of Hepworth's blog. I have two glass containers on my counter for flour and sugar and wanted to dress them up like the blog post I saw somewhere out in blog land. I used the SNF Classy Charm font, black vinyl, transfer paper, and made sure my glass was clean and dry. Here is the end result....and I know my words aren't even, but those r's and the g were difficult enough the first time around :)

See ya next time!

Pam

Happy Mothers Day!!

2011-05-08T14:05:00.000-04:00

Happy Mothers Day to my mother and mother-in-law. Carl, Kyle, Ryan, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Happy mothers day!

Easter Obituary

2011-04-21T07:52:00.001-04:00

Click on the image to make it larger.

Recipes

2011-04-14T13:14:00.001-04:00

This is a just a quick post to share two new recipes the family tried last night - both were very good and I would positively make them again. The first one uses the new Philadelphia Cooking Creme Santa Fe blend variety - have you tried those yet - I bought one in three of the four flavors (Savory Garlic, Santa Fe blend, and Italian Cheese and Herb). The photo and recipe are from the the CookPhilly.com site.

Santa Fe Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:
3 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
2 green onions, sliced
1 tub (10 oz) Philadelphia Santa Fe Blend Cooking Creme, divided
3 flour tortillas (6 inch)
3/4 cup Mexican style finely shredded four cheese, divided

Directions:

Heat oven to 375ºF. Combine first 4 ingredients in large bowl. Add 3/4 cup cooking creme; mix lightly. Spoon 1/3 of the chicken mixture into 9-inch pie plate; top with 1 tortilla, half the remaining chicken mixture and 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Cover with second tortilla, remaining chicken mixture, 1/4 cup shredded cheese and remaining tortilla. Top with remaining cooking creme and shredded cheese; cover. Bake 20 min. or until heated through; uncover. Bake 5 min. or until cheese is golden brown.

NOTE: I will make 2 changes the next time: 1) add a can of drained corn, 2) bake for about 10 minutes longer.

The next recipe is from a church cookbook - banana salad. I do think those cookbooks always seem to have some of the best recipes I've ever found.

Banana Salad
2/3 c. sugar

2 eggs

1/3 c. flour

1 1/3 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

bananas

chopped peanuts

Stir and cook first 5 ingredients over medium heat until thick. Cool. Layer bananas, dressing, and chopped peanuts, then add another layer of bananas, dressing and chopped peanuts.

NOTE: I used a 9” pie plate for this recipe.

One more day until the weekend! I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful, sunny, warm weather.

12 Hour Scrapbooking

2011-04-13T20:42:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday I went to an all day scrapbook getaway at Treasured Memories Retreat in Brownsburg and had a great time. I haven't worked on my scrapbooks for 2 1/2 to 3 years and will admit that I was very nervous about having enough pictures, paper, embellishments, tools, ideas, etc., but no worries - I had enough of everything and even found a few new tools to put on my wish list.

Here are some of the finished pages from last weekend.

Another all day scrapbook getaway will be here soon and I want to be ready, so I'm off to gather more pictures, get ideas, and buy those tools on my wish list.

Trololo Sing Along!

2011-04-11T10:48:00.002-04:00

This video is so weird, funny, old, hilarious - whatever word you choose, it probably describes this video. If I've shared this before, sorry for the duplication, but it's good for a smile on a rainy day like today.

Trivet project completed

2011-04-08T07:23:00.001-04:00

I've been wanting to start sewing again and one of my first projects is this trivet I made in class at Sew Vac Central in Crawfordsville. I had a great time with the other ladies that evening...sewing....laughing....sewing.....laughing.... Here is the finished product.

Front

Back

You start with some squares, folded into prairie triangles. All triangles are stitched on at the points.

Keep adding rows of prairie triangles.....

You keep going until you reach the desired size, pin the backing on, trace a circle on your fabric, and cut. By this time, the trivet is heavy. Sew on the bias and you're done!

Here are the trivets from the other ladies that took the class. I took these pictures before class was over, so they are not finished projects.

One made with vintage fabric.

This one reminds me of my grandmother and a farmhouse. Sooo cute!

Beautiful batik fabric...my mother would like this one.

Pretty floral - I love how the light blue really stands out.

I'm signing up for a few more classes that Kelly is teaching (she's so much fun!). If you would like the class schedule for Sew Vac Central, click here.

Have a great weekend!

Good bye Tupperware, Hello Rubbermaid

2011-03-31T13:30:00.000-04:00

This warmer weather has put me in a cleaning and organizing mood and my pantry was the first victim. Here is a before picture - look on the bottom shelf all the way to the left. It looks like a pile of mismatched, old, icky containers.

I used to have dreams of shelf after shelf of beautifully arranged Tupperware containers storing everything in my pantry. (Christy, if you are reading this, you were the inspiration for that dream.) I bought Tupperware at yard sales, Goodwill, thrift stores, you name it...I bought it. The only problem with that is the stuff didn't match, smelled, ended up cracking, didn't store well (mismatched pieces don't play well together) and I just didn't get a good vibe from it all no matter how hard I tried.

Then a miracle happened. Or else I was hit in the head with a V-8 (remember those commercials?).

I discovered Rubbermaid Food Storage containers (can you hear the angels singing right now?) I have both of these sets below and I can tell you that I plan on buying more of the ones on the right.

They clean up well, are easily stored as you can see in the pantry picture below, and they have made my life so much easier! So, without sadness or regret, I have to say good bye Tupperware, hello Rubbermaid!

Proud Mom...Now and Then

2011-03-27T09:29:00.000-04:00

I am just a proud mother that wants to show off my boys and what they've been doing now and then....

Kyle during basketball season this year. Both of these photos were taken by Laura Harris.

This is from the first dirtbike race Kyle ever did in April 2007.

Here's all three of my guys waiting for the start of the race....

This is Rocky from his second race of this season (first race was motorcross, second was this hare scramble). He finished in second place, but was holding steady at first for most of it.

Rocky getting scanned at the end of the race.

Post race reflection on the one that got away.....

Flowering Fern

2011-03-15T08:27:00.001-04:00

The winter thaw has turned my mind to gardening and trying to come up with a plan to keep garden maintenance to a minimum. I have so many hostas and have started to incorporate ferns and other shade loving plants waiting for them to grow (which has turned out to be a wonderful tool for keeping weeds under control), but I'm ready for something a little different. This weekend, I found this beauty in a coupon insert ad for Brecks and they're calling it a flowering fern. Here's the description from the Brecks site:

Flowering Fern is known for its attractive, textured, fernlike foliage and striking, trumpet-shaped blooms. Each plant features 3-5 statuesque stalks that reach up to 18" tall and are loaded with beautiful pink flowers. This perennial multiplies freely and forms neat clumps up to 18" wide. Makes a lovely border addition. Adored by hummingbirds. Not a true fern, it needs a bit of sun to thrive. Plant in full sun to partial shade.

Photo courtesy of Brecks

This is definitely going to be added to my gardens this summer for a splash of color (and my favorite color too). Have you been thinking about your gardens already? What are some of your favorite plants?

Third Day Concert

2011-03-11T14:38:00.001-05:00

If you read my previous post, you know that Carl and I went to see Third Day, Tenth Avenue North and Trevor Morgan at Northview Church in Carmel, IN. What a wonderful night. Absolutely amazing! I can't stop singing all the music we heard (luckily we purchased a CD from each group). Here's a clip from the show on Wednesday courtesy of 3rdDayRocker on YouTube (Thank You!!!!)

Make Your Move

2011-03-09T09:02:00.000-05:00

Carl and I are going to a concert tonight to see Third Day, Tenth Avenue North, and Trevor Morgan at Northview Christian Church in Indy. I'm super excited and wanted to share the newest Third Day song, Make Your Move.

Barn Quilts

2011-03-06T16:24:00.001-05:00

Last spring we drove to Georgia and saw so many of these barn quilts. By the time I thought about actually taking a picture that would last alot longer than my memory, we didn't see any more of these beautiful pieces of art.

Photos courtesy of A Prairie Home

Photo courtesy of Mad Silence

Photo courtesy of Sarah Creates

This photo is from the Town of Neversink. There are several great pictures of barn quilts on this site.

Well, I think I've found several places for inspiration for my new spring project. The only problem is that my husband doesn't know that I want to put one of these on his barn.

Happy Birthday Rocky!!!

2011-03-03T11:55:00.000-05:00

Today my baby is 11 years old. I don't know where the time has gone.
Happy Birthday Ryan (Rocky) Sacco!

A Valentine for my husband.

2011-02-15T20:33:00.000-05:00

So my husband "hacked" into my account yesterday and posted the absolute sweetest most romantic Valentine video that he made just for me. All he asked for in return were some muffin top chocolate chips cookies. Guess what....I failed. I started making them and wanted to them to be extra special, so I added some Heath bits. Total and utter disaster. He wouldn't even eat them. Then in my excitement about the video he made, I forgot that I found this poem about a week ago (I can't remember what blog I found it on, but it's one that I read frequently). So, I'm a day late and a cookie short, but here is my Valentines gift for my husband. Love you sweetheart!

I Carry Your Heart With Me

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)

i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear no fate (for you are my fate,my sweet)

i want no world (for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Edward Estlin Cummings

My Princess

2011-02-14T11:52:00.000-05:00

Yes I've hacked into Pam's blog so I could post this. I wanted to do something special and different to show her how much I love her on Valentines Day. So grab your popcorn and enjoy the show.
(*) <3 U

Scones

2011-02-08T05:38:00.000-05:00

Prudent Baby strikes again! I was in a baking mood Sunday night and found this delightfully delicious scone recipe. I've had scones before and decided that this would be the perfect breakfast food for Monday. I've never made scones before, but let me give you a few tips - partially thaw out your fruit or at least get the ice chunks off (obviously my fruit was in the freezer for way too long), and if you don't have heavy cream you can use this substitute (3/4 cup milk and 1/3 cup melted butter = 1 cup heavy cream). My picture is not very good...they really look and smell so yummy.

Scones

Recipe courtesy of Prudent Baby

2.5 c flour
0.5 c sugar (Prudent Baby uses turbinado sugar)
2.5 tsp. baking powder
0.5 tsp salt
6 Tblsp COLD unsalted butter
1 c heavy cream
0.5 c frozen fruit (~ish. Frozen helps keep the fruit intact.

Blackberry and raspberry are my faves but have done peach, blueberry, chocolate chip, mango)

Mix first 4 ingredients. Add butter (chopped) and mix to a meal. Add cream and mix. Add berries and mix. Place onto flat surface and form a circle. Sprinkle with more sugar and cut into wedges. Place wedges on baking sheet. Bake in 425 degree oven for 15-17 minutes.

Try a scone today....it might be your new favorite breakfast food.

Make that shot!

2011-02-06T19:39:00.001-05:00

Wow Ryan, way to make that shot!

Oh, maybe that's why you were able to do that.....

Snow, Szechuan, and Sewing

2011-02-05T20:18:00.005-05:00

It feels so good to be back in the blogging world! My laptop was on the fritz for about a week and Carl was able to fix it after a few aggravating days. If have to say that he's the best - unfortunately I think he knows everything about just about everything and that makes him feel a bit more pressure to fix things in a jiffy. Sorry sweetie. {{{hugs}}}

Like everyone else in in the country (except Florida), we've had a bunch of snow this last week. The boys were out of school for three days and I left work early one day and stayed home another. More snow today...more snow next week....snow, snow, snow. I promise, promise, promise that I will do my very best not to complain about the heat and humidity this summer :) The boys were outside this afternoon building a fort and then Ryan decided to climb on the dog house.

While I was lounging around the house eating bon bons on my (snow) day off, I watched Barefoot Contessa and she made szechuan noodles with chicken and broccoli - it looked absolutely delicious! Carl and I loved it, Ryan didn't like the peanut flavor, Kyle wanted more chicken and less noodles. When I make this again, I will probably use less noodles or more veggies and chicken.

Szechuan Noodles with Chicken and Broccoli

Recipe courtesy of Barefoot Contessa

Good olive oil

3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets and stems discarded

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 cup fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup tahini (sesame paste)

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup good soy sauce

1/4 cup dry sherry

1/4 cup sherry vinegar

1/4 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon Asian hot chili oil

2 tablespoons dark toasted sesame oil

1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1 pound spaghetti

4 scallions, sliced diagonally (white and green parts)

1 yellow bell pepper, julienned

1 red bell pepper, julienned

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan, skin side up. Rub the tops with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 minutes, until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin and bones. Shred the chicken in large bite-sized pieces and set aside.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and blanch the broccoli florets for 2 minutes. Drain and immediately immerse in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and set the color. Drain and set aside.

Place the garlic, ginger, vegetable oil, tahini, peanut butter, soy sauce, sherry, sherry vinegar, honey, chili oil, sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and the cayenne pepper in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and puree until smooth. Set aside.

Add a splash of olive oil to a large pot of boiling salted water and cook the spaghetti according to the directions on the package. Drain the pasta in a colander, place it in a large bowl, and while still warm, toss with the sauce. Add the scallions, peppers, chicken and broccoli and toss well. Serve warm or at room temperature.

When I was taking a break from the bon bons and cooking shows, I decided to finish some sewing projects. Prudent Baby has been one of my favorite blogs lately for sewing projects and everytime I read it, I find a new reason to get the sewing machine out. Here is my finished fat quarter apron (pot holders will be coming soon) - click here for instructions.

I also worked on my wristlet key fobs - also from Prudent Baby - that I started for Christmas presents....lets not talk about how incredibly late they are.

Well, that was a nice, little wrap-up of the last week. I hope you enjoyed your visit and I'll see you next time.

Old school meets new school

2011-01-27T12:47:00.001-05:00

My husband took this picture on his way up north....somewhere on Rte. 41. I love this picture and I think Carl summed it up perfectly....old school meets new school.

Project 365

2011-01-24T10:50:00.000-05:00

Add another project to the list.....this one has a purpose though. After hearing people talk about Project 365 and seeing pictures that other people have posted, I've decided to create my own Project 365. Click here to see my pictures. The premise is to take a picture every day and post it - my goal is to take a picture every day to learn how to take good pictures. I really don't have an eye for this stuff. Seriously, I don't. If you've seen good pictures on my blog, it's only because my husband has taken the picture, and he's really is good at it (hint hint Carl - you need to take up photography again).

Disclaimer: Don't look for 24 pictures on my project blog - still working on my project organization.

Elliptigo

2011-01-17T06:16:00.000-05:00

It's a bike It's an elliptical. No, it's an elliptigo!

Have you heard about the elliptigo? A co-worker shared this with us and after checking it out, I think I will stay with my regular bike purely for financial reasons. It does look like fun though.

Have Supplies, Will Craft

2011-01-15T08:18:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week I ordered some vinyl for my silhouette machine and guess what came in the mail yesterday. If you said 5 rolls of vinyl and 1 roll of transfer paper, you are correct! Stay tuned for project updates...

2011-01-12T05:17:00.000-05:00

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home. ♥

That quote sounds so comforting, warm, and inviting. Makes me wish I had a fireplace in my house.

How many of you like crab dip? Normally I would raise my hand and say ME, but I tried some this weekend and I enjoyed it so much that I asked for the recipe. So, here is the delicioius recipe that changed my mind.

Hot Crab Dip

Courtesy of Food Network

Ingredients

8 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchatel), room temperature
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon crab boil spices, (recommended: Old Bay)
1 garlic clove, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
12 ounces fresh crab meat, picked over for bits of shell and patted dry
2 scallions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 to 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Whole-wheat crackers for serving, optional

Stir together the cream cheese, sour cream, hot sauce, crab boil spice, and garlic in a medium saucepan until smooth; season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Heat the cream cheese mixture over medium-low heat until warm, stirring constantly, 2 to 3 minutes. Fold in the crab, scallions, parsley and lemon juice and warm until heated through, about 1 minute more. Serve immediately.

My first Silhouette project

2011-01-03T17:49:00.001-05:00

A few weeks before Christmas I entered some giveaways and tried to win a Silhouette cutting machine, but obviously it wasn't supposed to happen, so I ~~begged~~ asked Carl to pretend he was Santa and put one under the Christmas tree for me. And low and behold, it was there! Ok, I'll be honest...I ordered it and Carl wouldn't let me open it until Christmas. Not a problem. It just gave me more time to think about the things I wanted to make once I got my little hands on it. Drum roll please.....here is my first project.

Supplies needed: abstract flourish border under the word LOVE, Painters Hand font for FAMILY, frame, scrapbook paper, and embellishments.

Presto - new wall art for my dining room.

I love my Silhouette!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T13:21:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year Everyone! I would like to wish you and your loved ones a healthy, happy, prosperous new year.

Are you making a New Year's Resolution?

2010-12-31T08:22:00.000-05:00

'I used to make new years resolutions when I was younger and (of course) things fell apart or were forgotten after a few weeks. Years of doing that have made me not want to make resolutions the last few years. However, I realize I need to, and want to, make some changes and lately I've been thinking about making some resolutions. What it really comes down to is taking better care of my body - what I put in it and what I do to it - so that means eating better and finding and doing exercises that are gentle on my knees and back. After watching my husband do this last year and seeing how much better he felt and looked, I know I will have support and encouragement from him. What I need to do is give myself the support and encouragement to do this, and that comes from spending time in God's word and receiving support and encouragement there. And not only for taking care of my body, but for everything in life. The daily devotions on the Proverbs 31 site have been wonderful for me, and today's devotion was no exception. Wendy Blight talks about writing a new year's prayer - this is part of what she said:

Committing to a New Year’s Resolution will not necessarily bring profound lasting life change. Committing your heart to God…studying, learning, and praying His Word…that is what will bring eternal, lasting life transformation.

I invite you to join me this year in writing a New Year’s Prayer. To begin, examine your New Year’s Resolution and prayerfully ask the Lord to reveal the heart issue behind it. Ask Him to lead you through His Word to verses that directly address what you hear.

Listen to the power of God’s promise in our key verse today: “For the Word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires” (Hebrews 4:12, NLT).

Once you have found your verses, take each one and personalize it. Then join them together, along with your own words to make a prayer. Copy your prayer into a journal or notebook.

Friend, Isaiah 55 is God’s PROMISE to you. If you pray His Word over your life…over your heart…over your home, He will be FAITHFUL to prosper it and make it bear fruit!

This really is nothing new to my ears. I've been told several times to do this, and I have done it....I need to do it more often. Like all the time. So, take the verses that God leads you to and write a prayer for yourself. Your very own personalized new year's prayer...I'm sure you will find it better than any resolution you will make.

Happy New Year!

Top 10 Favorite Recipes for 2010

2010-12-30T22:37:00.000-05:00

One more day for 2010. How quickly the year has gone by...will someone please tell me where the time went?! I've thought about things I wanted to do this year and how many of them I accomplished....I've come to the realization that I'm a procrastinator. A big one. Actually, I already knew that, I was just putting off admitting it :) One thing I did do this year was try new foods and recipes and here is a list of my top 10 faves (in no particular order):

Stone Gable Granola - it's so, so good!

Picture courtesy of Stone Gable

Moroccan Pot Roast

Edamame Corn Salad

XXL M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies (aka Muffin Top Cookies)

Homemade Laundry Soap

Edamame Dip

Espresso Shortbread Brownie Bars

(If you eat too many of these, you'll be running around like George of the Jungle)

Sunny Broccoli Salad

Thai Peanut Turkey Burgers

Charred Chili Rellenos with Green Rice

I hope you find a recipe here that might tempt your taste buds. Happy New Year!

Little Indiana Comes to Lowell

2010-12-10T12:52:00.000-05:00

If you are just dying to see where I grew up, then you need to check out the Little Indiana blog. Jessica and her family visit small towns and blog about these little gems that make the state of Indiana what it is. It's kind of like Chuck Lofton on Channel 13 and his 1 tank getaways. Here are some of the more recent posts of Jessica's adventures to Lowell:

Spike's Railhead (all about trains). To read about Jessica's most recent post about Spike's Railhead and a giveaway she is hosting, click here.
The old Lowell High School.
Cornerstone Mansion.
Gardens on the Prairie
Indiana Pumpkin Patch and Apple Orchard Locations
Athens Grill (yummy food!!)
Tish's Antiques

Jessica takes tons of pictures along the way (of course...who wouldn't want to document all this fun?) so click here to check out her Flickr photostream of Lowell and don't forget to enter her Classic o-gauge train set giveaway at Spike's Railhead.

What small town do you think she should visit next? Send her an email and I'm sure she will be there soon and ready to blog about your little Indiana town.

Happy Birthday to my Mom!!

2010-12-10T11:18:00.001-05:00

Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday dear mmooooommmm...
Happy birthday to you!!

We hope you have a wonderful birthday!!

Snow and Recipes

2010-12-05T21:42:00.000-05:00

I love the first few snowfalls of the season...how it covers the ground, totally white, undisturbed and clean, and everything looks so peaceful.

We'll review this thought again in January.

To keep warm with this cold, snowy weather, I have two yummy, warm-your-tummy recipes to share. Sorry there's not much else unless you want to hear about basketball practices and games.....

Sunshine Chicken
From Gooseberry Patch Slow Cooker Recipes Cookbook

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 c. molasses
2 T. cider vinegar
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 T. orange juice
2 t. Dijon mustard
1/8 to 1/4 t. hot pepper sauce

Arrange chicken in a slow cooker, set aside. Combine remaining ingredients and brush over chicken. Cover and cook on low setting for 7 to 9 hours, or on high setting for 3 to 4 hours. Serves 6.

I also found a good granola recipe on Stone Gable blog. Lately I tend to look more for blogs that have recipes and crafty projects....I can tell my "tastes" are changing when looking for new blogs (I know, lame joke).

Stone Gable Granola
6 cups of oatmeal
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 1/2 cups slivered almonds
2 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup coconut (flaked)
1/2 dark brown sugar
1/2 cup non flavored vegetable oil
1 tsp cinnamon
2 TBS vanilla
1-2 cups assorted dried fruit
1-2 cups of add-in (mini chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, cereals)

Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Mix all ingredients except dried fruit and add-ins in a large bowl. Mix well to coat evenly. Distribute on 2 large rimmed baking sheets. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Turn every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely. Stir in dried fruit and add-ins.

Silhouette

2010-11-29T17:57:00.000-05:00

I'm sure that if you do any crafts, scrapbooking, sewing, blogging, etc., you've heard of the Silhouette machine. I really think the Silhouette and I need to be friends...bond in some sort of crafty way. It's actually so overwhelming to me to think of what can be done with this machine that my stomach is a big twisted bundle of nerves (this happens every time I get really, really excited about something). Check out these cool projects that were accomplished with the Silhouette.

All photos courtesy of silhouettemachine.blogspot.com

So, hop on over to House of Hepworths to enter to win one of these little gems. HOH is a cool, thrifty, decorating blog...plus she's on Facebook and Twitter. Check it out...you won't be disappointed!

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

2010-11-28T20:58:00.000-05:00

Well, I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted, so let's get caught up on the action over here.

Thanksgiving was great. No traveling, just the four of us. Ryan has been asking for breakfast pizza for days, so Carl and I made our own version.....two thumbs up from Ryan. For dinner I made Bobby Flay's turkey recipe from the Throwdown show with Pioneer Woman. I also made his brussel sprout recipe and Pioneer Woman's mashed potatoe recipe.....new recipes = smiling faces, full tummies, and happy men. If you didn't see the Throwndown episode, you can read about it here and here.

Ryan has had a few basketball games recently - his team is 3-1 so far. Here's a picture from the game this weekend. Practice for Ryan's school team starts tomorrow, Kyle has been having practice almost every day....we feel like we live in our cars some days....this is one time when I wish I lived closer to town. Ok, that sounded really, really whiney...sorry about that.

I have snowflakes in my house. Lots and lots of them. Okay, I'll tell the truth...they are the paper kind. Ryan started cutting around 10:00 on Thanksgiving morning and stopped cutting around 10:00 at night. I even found a huge snowflake on my car, in my car, throughout the house, and then a gigantic one in the computer room.

My youngest sister and her family came for a visit on Friday. Say it with me....S-H-0-P...shop 'til you drop, shop 'til you drop. Reality: It's hard to shop on Black Friday with a 10 yo, 2 yo, and 4 month old even when you start shopping around lunch time. It was nice to visit with my sister and her family, but we've decided to change our shopping plans for next year (hint, hint grandparents).

We ended the weekend visiting with friends and getting a Christmas tree. Lights up today...decorations tomorrow. My next question is how many more days are there until Christmas?

HO HO HO!!
Pam

Football and Soup Recipes

2010-11-14T20:51:00.000-05:00

Wow, I can't believe the weekend is over already! Time is going by so fast and I don't even want to think about the number of days until Thanksgiving and Christmas. I've been rearranging things in the house this weekend after our friends helped us move our piano on Friday night - I'm hoping to get pictures posted this week. Carl and I are sooooooooo thankful for their help! Speaking of being thankful, my thankful post for today is really a two parter: 1) the rain yesterday...we so desperately needed it; and 2) a Wabash victory over DePauw.

Speaking of Wabash, DePauw and the Monon Bell football game, here are some pictures from the game on Saturday. Despite the rainy weather, it was a fun day and the rivalry lived up to it's hype. Of course its always fun when the team you're rooting for is winning :) To read more about the game, click here.

This is what both teams are playing for.

Even Elvis was there to cheer Wabash to victory.

Victory celebration!

And now with the colder weather ahead, here are two soup recipes to warm you up. I made these a few weeks ago and the entire family really liked them.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
2 T. canola oil
2 med. onions, chopped
2 c. diced cooked chicken
1 15 oz. can whole kernel mexicorn
1 15 oz. can black beans
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 4 oz. can chopped green chilies
1 envelope taco seasoning mix
2 14 oz. cans chicken broth
1/2 hot banana pepper, chopped (I didn't add this to my soup)

Saute onion in oil. Add chicken, corn, beans, tomatoes, chilies and taco seasoning. Stir to combine and add chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Serve with optional shredded cheese and sour cream. Serve corn chips on the side.

White Chili
1 c.chopped onion
1-2 cloves fresh garlic
1-2 tsp. ground cumin
3 c. cooked chicken breast
2 c. cooked wild rice
1 or 2 9 oz. cannelini beans
1 pkg. frozen white shoepeg corn
1 or 2 4 oz. cans diced green chilies
49 oz. chicken broth

Cook chicken in pan with enough water to cover along with 2-3 bouillon cubes. Reserve liquid. Saute onion, garlic and cumin. Dice chicken into cubes and return liquid to pan and add remaining ingredients. Add canned broth to desired consistency. Garnish with shredded cheese when serving.

Have a great week everyone!
Pam

Thankful Post and Pumpkin Redford Recipe

2010-11-13T07:41:00.000-05:00

Happy weekend all! The weather has been absolutely beautiful this week and I'm hoping that the rain in the forecast will hold off until after the Wabash/DePauw football game has ended. If you aren't familiar with the Monon Bell game, click here for more info.

I'm trying to be consistently with my thankful posts and I'll recap the first 11 days of November and then add yesterday and today:

1. for hugs everyday from Ryan.
2. my chiropractor...my back feels so much better :)
3.   my husband fixing our stove - now I can make more muffin top cookies.
4. coupons...now if I would use them regularly, I would save even more money.
5.   for Kyle and his wonderful smile :D
6.    Ryan and how he enjoys playing basketball. His first game was great!

7. Rock Point Church...the service on Sunday was awesome!

8. Coupons....I love how much money I save by using them.

9. The start of a new grading period. I hope this six weeks is better than the last one.

10. Yoga class, no matter how hard it can be, I know my body feel better after class is over.

11. Our Veterans and the sacrifices they have made.

12. My dad and the time I got to spend with him and all the lessons he taught me. It was one year ago today that he passed away and I can't believe how fast time has gone.

13. Good friends that are strong and willing to help move a piano :)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I have a yummy pumpkin recipe to share. The teachers I used to work with would make it in the fall and it is one of my favorites.

Pumpkin Redford

Recipe courtesy of Jan Vice

1st layer - crust

Mix 2 cups flour, 2 sticks butter, 1 cup chopped pecans. Spread in a 13 x 9 pan or glass baking dish. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool and add 2nd layer.

2nd layer

Mix 16 oz (2 pkgs) cream cheese, 2 cups Cool Whip, 2 cups of powdered sugar, and 2 tsp. vanilla. Spred on cooled crust.

3rd layer

Mix 2 pkgs instant vanilla pudding, 2 cups Cool Whip, 15 oz. can pumpkin, 1 1/3 cups. milk, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice. Beat slowly just until well mixed. Pour on top of cream cheese layer.

Spread cool whip on top and sprinkle with chopped pecans.

I'm going over to Colleen's blog to see what other great recipes everyone has posted.....come join me please.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Pam