First OBG of the Year!

Welcome to the FIRST Oldie But Goodie Thursday of 2014!

Since Christmas time was a bit crazy around our house (as I imagine it was around yours), there were lots of photos and projects I haven't yet had a chance to share.

Today's OBG is the Dottie - Cookie Tray, which I used for my Annual Cookie Exchange (you may remember the invites HERE).

Well, I thought I'd share the rest of the photos from the afternoon of Brunch & Sweets!

My Oldie But Goodie is this little sign to welcome the girlies to the party featuring this terrific Dottie - Cookie Tray Image from Bugaboo!

The Beverage Table (complete with Treat Bags for guests)

The BRUNCH table - can you say YUMMO?!

The Centerpieces for the table

And the Table

The only thing I realized I FORGOT to take a photo of was the COOKIE TABLE!  What was I thinking?! :)  We must have just been all about getting those cookies swapped.

For some of my favorite Brunch & Cookie recipes, you can check them out below:

B&B French Toast  (YUMMO!!)

Cracked Out Quiche (YUMM-O Squared!)

Weekend Brunch Casserole (A hubby FAVORITE)

Spinach Strawberry Salad

Princess Punch (I can't for the life of me remember where I found this recipe, but it's fabulous!)

1 - 46 oz can Pineapple Juice

1 - 6 oz. can frozen pink lemo

2 ½ c. Water

3 - 28 oz. bottles Ginger Ale (I used 1 - 2 liter bottle)

1 qt. Strawberry Ice Cream

And of course, I must share at least ONE of the cookie recipes with you - Believe it or not, I actually made 25 dozen cookies this time around (and in ONE day!!!  WHEW!)

Chocolate Candy Cane Kiss Cookies (My FAVORITE and definitely a DO OVER!!!)

Hugs & Happy Days!

SUPER YUMMY - DO OVER Banana Bread Recipe

So I found this great Banana bread recipe on Pinterest - you can find EVERYTHING there I keep telling Glen!!!!  =)

Other than my mama's Banana bread recipe, I think this is the BEST BLANANA BREAD recipe I've tried!!

You can check out the recipe HERE at Thirty Handmade Days.

Because I only had 1 large loaf pan, I ended up with 1 large loaf and three little mini-loaves baked in little metal mini-loaf pans.  I think the mini-loaves were our favorite.

The fabulous women I work with LOVED it, my mama and our friends LOVED it and I LOVED it! 

All that Lovin - I consider it a SUCCESS!

We will definitely be making this bread again.

Check it out and leave Mique a little love!!!

Hugs & Happy Days!

Recipes Galore....

At Bugaboo Stamps today!!!  It's a recipe challenge for you to join in and play along with - 

The Recipe??   1 Circle and 3 Brads

So, this is what I whipped up - 

Image - Bugaboo Stamps "Light house"

Papers - From one of my many mini 6x6 stacks (love this paper stack)

Coloring - Copics B91 B93 B95 B97 B99 Y26 Y28

Tools - Cuttlebug, Nesties and EK Success Border Punch

Extra STUFF - Miscellaneous Sentiment stamp, Stazon Jet Black Ink, Dimensionals & 3 brads

And of course, I can't call out a Recipes Galore and not include a FOOD recipe!  =)

Yummy food recipe for the day?

Well, because it's getting a bit cooler here in Michigan, we're resorting to comfort foods and crock pot cooking.

Here's the most recent new recipe we've tried - 

WHITE BEAN CHICKEN CHILI

From my hubby's TAILGATING book

(Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications)

Boil chicken (we used 5 LARGE boneless/skinless chicken breasts)

1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 14.5 oz cans Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained

3 4 ounce cans diced green chili peppers, undrained (we only used 2 cans and that was enough "SPICE" for us)

1 14.5 oz can chicken broth

1 1/2 tea. garlic powder

1 1/2 tea. ground cumin

1 tea. garlic salt

1/4 tea. cayenne pepper

1/4 tea. ground black pepper

1 8 oz. carton sour cream

1/4 cup whipping cream

Optionals

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Diagonally sliced Green Onion

Boil chicken breasts with some garlic powder & pepper (in addition to what is call for here) until it is cooked through and no longer pink.  Shred chicken chicken and put it in the crock pot.

Add all items except for Sour cream and whipping cream.  

Combine in crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours.  

About 1/2 hour before you're ready to eat, mix in sour cream and whipping cream and heat until warmed. 

Stir before serving.

Garnish chili with Shredded cheese and onions.

ENJOY!!!

So, head on over to The Bug Blog and play along!

Hugs & Happy Days!

Oldie But Goodie In the Kitchen

Dusted off this oldie and added a little Felt Flower to it and it's a little lovin' from the kitchen.

Image - Bugaboo Stamps "Kitchen Jar"

Papers - Miscellaneous papers from my bin

Coloring - Copics

Tools - EK Success Border Punch, Cuttlebug, Embossing Folder

Extra STUFF - Felt for hand made flower, Button, Twine and Dimensionals

And of course, I can't make a card that has SOMETHING to do with the kitchen and NOT share with you a yummy new recipe Glen and I found and tried.

With football season upon us, we're always looking for some fun new football munchie recipes.

BAKED REUBEN DIP

(CAN YOU SAY FREAKIN' YUMMO?!)

I switched it up a bit - it called for MAYO and I'm not a big Mayo fan, so I switched it out for Cream Cheese - Just as yummy!

1 jar (32 ounces) sauerkraut, rinsed and well drained

10 ounces thinly sliced deli corned beef, chopped

2 cups, shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

2 cups, shredded Swiss Cheese

8 oz Cream Cheese (or 1 cup Mayo)

1/4 cup Russian Salad Dressing (may try it sometime with Thousand Island too)

1 teaspoon caraway seeds, optional

Rye Crackers or Rye Cocktail bread (my fave)

In a large bowl, mix the first 6 ingredients; stir in caraway seeds if you decide to use.  Transfer maxture to a greased 13x9 baking dish.  Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350* or until melty and bubbly.

Serve with crackers or bread (and watch it disappear!!!)

Hugs & Happy Days!

YUMM-O!!!

Glen and I have been talking about making 'Beer Can Chicken' (thought it's called 'Beer Butt Chicken' in our house).

Well, last night we finally whipped up one for dinner and IT ROCKED!!!

How pretty does this look??

Looking at it I you could almost picture it dancing around to some goofy music . . . .couldn't you?

Maybe that's just the crazy in our household - this is the place that at Thanksgiving, my dad used to make the Turkey 'fly' and my hubby has carried on that tradition.

Today, the left overs will be made into chicken salad and homemade Chicken Soup.  YUMMO!

Hugs & Happy Days!

Grilled Mozzarella Basil Tomatoes

A little grillin' something I thought I'd share with you -

Grilled Mozzarella Basil Tomatoes 

Tomato (we use the bigger tomatoes, but any kind will work)

Fresh Mozzarella Cheese

Balsamic Vinegar

Fresh Basil

Grill or Oven

Salt & Pepper (we sprinkle on the tomatoes when sliced)

Slice Tomato in 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices and slice Mozzarella.  On a piece of foil place a tomato slice, sprinkle Tomato with Salt & Pepper and balsamic vinegar.  Top with a slice of Mozzarella on top of tomato slices.  Slice up some fresh basil in thin ribbons and sprinkle on top of tomato/mozzarella sammie.

Pop on the grill or in the oven until cheese gets melty and bubbly.  Tomato will get good and cooked too - You can also turn the broiler on if you're using the oven to make the cheese a little brown and crispy.

We usually put these yummy tomatoes over grilled chicken, but you could eat these as a side dish too.

Here's what they look like all bubbly, brown and yummy - 

Sorry one's missing - they looked so good I had to 'TRY ONE' before I too a picture.  =)

Give these guys a try & let me know what you think!  =)

Hugs & Happy Days!

Tex-Mex Pot Roast - YUMMO!

Yep, another fantastic recipe that will be a DO OVER at our house!

Tex-Mex Pot Roast 

courtesy of The Pillsbury Annual Recipe 2012 Cookbook

It's an EASY recipe and Low Fat too.  Pair it with some mashed spuds like we did and WOW, everyone will be full and smiling!

1 medium onion, halved, sliced

1 beef rump roast or boneless arm roast (3 lbs)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (we used minced garlic)

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained

1/2 cup beef broth (you can do half beef broth & half red wine if you want)

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

Spray 4-5 quart crock pot with cooking spray.  Place onion in bottom of crock pot.  Place beef roast on top of onion.  Sprinkle with garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper.  Pour tomatoes & broth (or broth wine mixture) over top of roast.

Cover and cook on low for 7 to 9 hours.

Remove roast to cutting board; cover and keep warm.  Ladle cooking liquid into 2 quart saucepan; heat to boiling.  In small bowl, combine cornstarch and water to form a smooth liquid; stir into boiling liquid.  Cook and stir 1 minute or until thickened.  Slice beef; serve with gravy.

ENJOY!

Hugs & Happy Days!

Easy Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

Had to share this one with you - 

I'm not sure if you've given the Philadelphia Cooking Cremes a try, but I HIGHLY recommend it!

We've done it a few times, and I think today's modified recipe has been the best!!

They called them Easy Chicken Enchiladas, in our house they're

Easy Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas!

What you need:

1 small onion, sliced

2 tsp. olive oil

3 cups shredded/cooked chicken (We used extra chicken, so they were good and full of chicken.  

We also boiled them with some seasonings - dried onion, minced garlic & pepper)

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained

1 tub (10 oz) Philadelphia Santa Fe Blend Cooking Creme, divided

1 cup Mexican Style Shredded Cheese

Salt, Garlic Powder & Pepper

8 Flour Tortillas (6 inch)

Heat oven 350*.  Boil chicken until cooked, shred.  While cooking chicken, saute onions with olive oil until onions are carmelized - sprinkle Garlic powder & pepper to taste (maybe a 1/8 tsp of each - we just do the shake and season method when we cook at our house).  

Mix together onions, shredded chicken, drained tomatoes and 3/4 of the cooking creme and 1/2 cup shredded cheese.

Spoon about 1/3 cup of mixture into center of each tortilla; roll up.  In a greased 9x13 baking dish, place rolled tortilla, seam side down.  Roll all tortillas.  With remaining cooking cream, top tortillas and sprinkle with extra shredded cheese.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until heated.

Top with Lettuce, Sour Cream (and chives) & Taco Sauce.

Enjoy!

Definite DO OVER in our house! 

 Hugs & Happy Days!

Pin It

Ground Beef, Onions & Dumplings

As a Kid I remember my mom would make Ground Beef, Onions & Dumplings.

Tonight, we had a hankering for a revised version of my mom's original recipe.

1 pound Ground Beef

1 medium Sweet Onion, sliced & halved

1 - 12 oz. bag of frozen mixed veggies (corn, carrots, green beans & peas)

1 can whole potatoes, sliced

2 TBSP Worschershire Sauce

Garlic, Salt & Pepper to taste and any other seasonings you'd like - we do the spice & sprinkle cooking method)

2 cups Beef Boullion

2 cups of water

2 cups Bisquick

2/3 cup Milk

Paprika

Brown Ground Beef and sliced Onion, add 2 TBSP Worschershire Sauce.  Once browned, add remaining ingredients (except for Bisquick & Milk).  Cook on Medium heat for about 1/2 hour, slow boiling.  Make Dumplings with  Bisquick & Milk (according to box instructions for dumplings).  Drop dumplings into boiling stew, book for 10 minutes uncovered, then cover and cook for another 10 minutes.

Sprinkle with Paprika, scoop yourself up a plate and Enjoy!

It doesn't look like much, but Mmmmmm Good!  =)

Hugs & Happy Days!

AWESOME BRUNCH Recipe

If you're lookin' for the Bugaboo Blog Hop CLICK HERE

If you're looking for MY Blog Hop Post, Click here

For Challenge Entry click here

For Week long Bash click here

So, I tried some new recipes for my Annual December Cookie Exchange Brunch and I wanted to share one that we all really enjoyed - RASPBERRY CREAM CHEESE STRATA

The great part - it's a make it the day before, so the day of, all you have to do it bake it and put some homemade raspberry syrup over it the day of.  This is a definitely DO OVER in our house!

Photo from Taste of Home.com

Raspberry Cream Cheese Strata

There were a few adjustments I made to the recipe, which I have highlighted

1 Loaf French Bread - cut into 1" cubes

2 8-ounce blocks of low fat cream cheese

3 cups raspberries

15 eggs

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon maple syrup 

2 1/2 cups milk 

Raspberry Syrup (A MUST MAKE)

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 tablespoons + 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstartch

1 1/4 cups water

1 1/4 cups raspberries

1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons butter 

Place half of the bread cubes in a shallow 1-qt. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with cream cheese and raspberries. In a small bowl, combine the eggs, syrup, milk and remaining bread cubes; spoon over raspberries. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes Covered. Uncover; bake 20-30 minutes longer or until set (depending on the amount you're making additional bake time maybe necessary).

For the syrup, combine the sugar, cornstarch and water in a saucepan until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 2-3 minutes or until syrup reaches desired consistency. Add berries; mash slightly. Remove from the heat; stir in butter. Pour over strata. Serve immediately. Makes about 10 servings.

I use the Taste of Home website on a regular basis for wonderful recipes - we get several of their magazines - so, you could say we're kind of addicted to the yummy recipes they have!

I hope your family enjoys this as much as our family and friends did!

Hugs & Happy Days!

No Paper Creation....

My Mojo is on an unscheduled mini-vacay right now - 

But I thought I'd share with you a new Mashed Potato recipe we've been using since October that is just FABULOUS!!!  Kind of like a Loaded Baked Potato, but mashed if that makes sense.  =)
It does in my slight scrambled mind today!
We made these for Thanksgiving and everyone was disappointed we didn't make them again for Christmas Dinner (especially my mom).  So, when I stayed at the farm with her this past Thursday, you won't even believe how excited she was when I delivered her her very own dish of these potatoes!  

You would have thought I'd just given her a million skeins of sock yarn (my mom knits some amazing socks - so this is a big thing - kind of like if someone gave you a million pieces of your very most favorite paper - yep, THAT excited!)

Photo by Taste of Home

They're called Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes, or in our house 

"The ONLY Mashed Potatoes for Holidays & every other Meal!"
We've made a few adjustments to the recipe (like we usually do)

3 lbs of potatoes (about 9 medium) peeled & cubed

1 pkg (8 oz) cream sheese, softened

1/2 c. sour cream & chives sour cream
1/2 c. butter, cubed

1/4 c. skim milk

1 1/2 tea onion powder

1 tea garlic powder

1/2 tea pepper

1/4 tea salt

1 lb. Crisp Bacon, crumbled (it called for 6 strips, but in our house, it's always BETTER with MORE Bacon!)

2 c. (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

3-6 green onions, chopped

Boil potatoes until tender enough to mash and make mashed potatoes.  Drain & then mash potatoes with cream cheese, sour cream & butter, stir in milk & other seasonings.  

Crisp bacon in skillet and drain on paper towels.  Shred cheese, clean & chop green onions.

Place potato mixture into a greased 9x13 baking dish, sprinkle with cheese, green onion and top with crumbled bacon.

Cover & refrigerate until ready to use.  Remove from fridge about 30 minutes before baking.  Bake uncovered at 350* for 40-50 minutes.  Cheese will get gooey and the toppings a little crunchy

Makes 10 servings (according to the recipe).  According to our family -- it doesn't make ENOUGH! =)

ENJOY!!

Man, Do Peaches Ripen QUICK!

HA HA!!

I tell you, yesterday the peaches felt okay, not too squishy, like I had a few days to tinker around before I started peeling and canning them and then today, HOLY COW, like OVERNIGHT, they're RIPE and going to be peach jam instead of lovely peaches in jars.  How in the world did that happen??

Heck, the last time my mom and I made peach freezer jam, we couldn't find any RIPE peaches to save our lives.  This fall, I've got more ripe peaches than I know what to do with.
I wonder if they're comin' out my ears yet......

Guess I know what everyone's getting for Christmas this year??  LOL
At this rate, I may be taking orders for Peach Jam this year - any takers?? 

Umm, Yah, so that's my story today and probably tomorrow.

Photos to follow of course :)

CANNED - Part Deux!

I'm sure there will be parts Three, Four, Five and Six too!  LOL

Last week Glen and I pickled and canned the Sweet Banana Peppers we had - we had more peppers than I even wanted to try & count - Really!  Once we got them cut into round slices, it was MORE than 10 cups! 

So, in a few hours, we were listening to the popping of a GOOD day canning!

There's a lot to be said for freshly canned peppers and fresh garlic.  We have to wait 5-6 weeks for them to be ready (we pickled them).  I can hardly wait to taste them when they're ready though.

If you have a crazy amount of peppers like we did, the recipe we used:

10 cups Banana Peppers (we cut in circles - you could cut in strips if you wish)

4 cups White Vinegar

2 teaspoons Pickling Salt (we used Dill Pickling Salt)

1 clove of garlic in each jar

Mix Vinegar & Salt together - bring to boil.

Keep jars warm.  Pack jars tightly with garlic & peppers leaving 1/4" head room.  Add vinegar/salt mixture into each jar - leaving 1/4" head room.  Remove bubbles from jar.  Put hot lid on jar, screw on band.

After this step you can stop, but we wanted to make sure that the peppers were preserved (I'm a germ freak & wanted to make sure there was no FUNK growing in the jars).  You can put them in a hot water bath (boiling) for 10 minutes.  Let them cool & listen to those lids pop!

Thanks for stoppin' by today.  Hopefully I'll have a little something more creative that doesn't involve Veggies to share tomorrow.  LOL :)

Next on the agenda - either peaches or tomato sauce - guess it's good we don't have HUGE plans for Labor Day weekend, huh?

Buffalo Chicken Recipe

A definite DO OVER in our house!!
This is the recipe from the chicken Glen made for my birthday.  I thought I'd share so you could enjoy it as much as we did.
Recipe is courtsey of Simple & Delicious Magazine.  You can check out more asweome recipes at Taste of Home - they publish several recipe magazines.  You won't be sorry!!  PROMISE!

Buffalo Chicken - makes 4 servings

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

1/4 tea. salt

1/4 tea. pepper

2 eggs

1/2 c. seasoned bread crumbs (we used more to make sure the breasts were well coated)

3 TBSP Canola oil

1/4 c. Buffalo wing sauce

1/4 c. shredded provolone cheese

1/4 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Mix salt & pepper with bread crumbs in a shallow bowl.  In a shallow bowl, whisk egg.  Preheat oven to 350*.  Dip chicken in eggs then coat with bread crumbs.  Oil a baking dish and place the breaded chicken in dish.  Bake for 25 minutes, flip and bake for another 25 minutes or until chicken juices run clear.  During the last few minutes of cooking, add the Buffalo Wing Sauce over the top of the chicken.  Sprinkle with cheese and bake until cheese is melted. 

Can you say YUMM-O???

You can also cook this in a skillet/stove-top, but we baked them instead and were SUPER happy with the way they turned out!!

Thanks for stoppin' by today.  Let me know if you give this recipe a try & what you think! 

Happy days to you!

A Family Tradition

When we were growing up, I remember my mom always making nut rolls at Christmas.  She'd make three.  Half would go home with my grandpa and grandma - they were my grandpa's FAVORITE treat.  The other half my mom would keep and we'd have on Christmas Eve after Church service.

My grandpa has been gone for 13 years this past August and it's been that long since we've had his favorite nut rolls.  So, this year I decided to bring back the family tradition, but to include my in-laws into the tradition.

So, this was one of the beauties I baked up yesterday.  I had to smile.  My mom gave me the recipe that Aunt Irene had written out for her - it was the original recipe, splashed with ingredients after making the recipe for so many years.  I love getting recipes like this!  A recipe that has a story.  In reading through it, I actually had to do some research - anyone know what 2 cakes yeast are?!  Now, we cook quite a bit, we make bread on a pretty regular basis I make dozens of cookies throughout the year and we'd NEVER heard of 2 cakes yeast.  Well, thanks to my hubby and his quick bing.com skills, we learned that 2 cakes yeast are equilivent to 3 - 1/4 oz. yeast packets or 6 3/4 teaspoons of dry yeast. 

You learn something new every day, don't you?

Doesn't this look yummy?
If you've never had a nut roll before, it's a yeasty bread dough rolled like a jelly roll and the filling is a combination of ground walnuts, brown sugar, white sugar, honey, butter and milk (and no joke, that's about what the directions provided as far as ingredients for the filling - there were NO measurements).

My apologies for the not so attractive looking baking sheet.  Ever have one of those go to pans or baking sheets that you KNOW how everything will turn out that you cook on it, in it?  Well, that's my baking sheet.  My mom in law was kind enough to get me a few new sheets, but this one just seems to be the one everything gets baked on.
Well, this afternoon we'll be delivering the other two nut rolls to both my mom and dad and Glen's mom and dad when we get together for Christmas Eve Dinner.  I had to have a little sample (you know, quality control!), and they're not quite as good as what my mom made, but pretty darn close.  With a few years of practice, they just might be.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to my other blog readers that may not necessarily celebrate the Christmas Holiday!

Wishing you a time of enjoyment with your families and friends!

Min

Cooking + Crafting + Gift Giving = Happiness

Since I met my husband, I found a love in cooking.  We both love to cook.  He makes some amazing food - for instance, this past Saturday when we had our Turkey Day After Dinner, he and his brother made the most FABULOUS beef tenderloin.  I usually like my beef medium well or well -  I'm not a big fan of pink, or red and mooing.  Well, I had my first medium tenderloin this weekend with a fabulous horseradish sauce he made.  Can you say YUMMO!?

When I was single, my family joked that my idea of cooking was 6 minutes on high (I could boil water and make the pasta in a bag!!)  Both my mom and mother in law are WONDERFUL cooks, so I've had two great ladies to learn from.  I LOVE recipe books, recipe magazines and some fabulous recipe sites I've found.

So imagine my elation when I found this website - it combines my love for cooking with gift giving and crafting.  Our Best Bites.  Can you say FABULOUS!!

If you have time, check it out!!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Ole!

So, because Suz's Entertaining at Home Party's Theme was 'Fiesta', that was the perfect reason to pull out the vinyl and the cricut. Not finding the tie on? Cricut, Vinyl, Fiesta - well have no fear, grab your margarita and join the party!
At the EAH party I hosted in April my mom in law got me this Beverage Server that I absolutely LOVE to use!! For some reason the beverage tastes THAT much better in it! It has a neat wrought iron stand too but I was a bit lazy when I took the picture last night.
Anyway, I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to use my Life's a Beach cart and this was a great canvas for me to use! It's pretty simple but turned out cute!
Didn't this turn out cute?
I cut the geckos at 3" in green vinyl and then created the little sombreros in the pink and orange in design studio. I'll have to save these little guys for our next fiesta party!
Ole!
In honor of Suz's Fiesta party, I have to share the Cilantro Dip recipe that is FABULOUS!! Of course I was camped out right by that dip! I'm not sure if this recipe originated from Amy's Recipe box or Susan's but regardless, it's GOOD STUFF!
Cilantro Dip
1 box pkg of cream cheese
1 medium bunch of cilantro
1 medium tomato
1 small onion (1/2 c. chipped)
6 or so pickled jalapeno rings (1 TBSP chopped)
1 tea. salt
Spend about an hour tediously plucking all of the leaves off of the cilantro bunch. Get frustrated and leave a little stem on there too. Discard stems. Chopped leaves up a little bit. Chop tomato, onion & jalapeno rings into large pieces. Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender. If you have a food processor, you will want to use that. Chop/blend until yogurt consistency.
Don't over blend or it will be soupy.
If you have time, let sit in fridge a bit before serving. Serve with tortilla chips.
Mmmmmmmm! Thanks for the great grub Susan!
Thanks for stopping by to take a look today!
Hope it's a good one!
Happy Craftin'!
Min

Sunshine on a Brrr Kinda Day

I thought I'd share this lovely photo and warm up some of my iced over and frozen friends......Photo is courtesy of my hubby - just one he happened to snap when we were in Aruba last summer.
And in honor of the warm photo that has you thinking about your toes in the nice, warm tropical sand, listening to the crashing waves and smelling the salty air, I thought I'd share a recipe I came across that sounds fabulously yummy! I always love new recipes and for some reason salad recipes are particularly interesting to me.
Grilled Chicken Salad Cosmopolitan
1/4 cup jellied cranberry sauce
1/4 cup orange marmalade
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons lemon flavored vodka (you could use lemon juice here instead)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon lemon pepper (regular pepper if you don't have lemon pepper)
1 (10 ounce) bag European blend salad greens (Salad greens of your choice)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 cups diced orange segments
2 tablespoons orange zest strips
I'd add in some pecans too as a finishing touch, but that's just me.
In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the cranberry sauce and orange marmalade. Warm and stir until melted and well blended. Remove from the heat and stir in the lime juice, orange juice and vegetable oil. Remove 1/2 cup of the mixture and set aside in the refrigerator for later (this will be your salad dressing).
Allow the mixture to cool then stir in the lemon vodka and transfer to a large resealable bag. Season the chicken pieces with salt and lemon pepper; place them into the bag with the marinade. Seal the bag and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, turning occasionally.
Preheat a grill for medium heat (if you can actually get to your grill through the snow & ice). Remove the chicken from the plastic bag, discarding the marinade.
Place the chicken pieces on the preheated grill and cook for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, or until firm and no longer pink in the center. If you have a meat thermometer, it should measure 160 degrees F (70 degrees C) when measured in the thickest part. Remove chicken to a cutting board and allow to rest for about 5 minutes. While the chicken is resting, combine the salad greens, cranberries, and orange segments. Pour the reserved citrus marinade over the salad and toss lightly to coat. Divide the salad between four serving plates. Slice each piece of chicken crosswise into 1/2 inch strips. Arrange over the tops of the salads and sprinkle with orange zest strips.
YUM-O! Enjoy!
Happy Sunshine today!
Min

Meatloaf Recipe

I realized when I woke up this morning that I forgot to include the Boston Market Meatloaf Recipe in yesterday's post. DOH! It's off the wall things like this that wake me up in the middle of the night.

Well, here it is - If you like meatloaf, you will LOVE this one. It was the most moist meatloaf I think Glen and I have ever made.

Boston Market Meatloaf

1 cup Tomato Sauce

1 1/2 TBSP BBQ Sauce (we used a bit more)

1 TBSP Sugar

1 1/2 lbs ground sirloin (we actually used a mish-mash of ground turkey, beef & pork)

6 TBSP All Purpose Flour

3/4 tea. Salt

1/2 tea. Onion Powder

1/4 tea. Ground Black Pepper

dash Garlic Powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix together the tomato sauce, BBQ sauce and sugar in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Heat the mixture until it begins to bubble, stirring often and then remove it from the heat.

In a large bowl, add all but 2 TBSP of the tomato sauce mixture to the meat. Mix the sauce into the meat, then add the remaining ingredients. Mix again. Pack a loaf pan with the meat mixture, cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove foil, drain any fat. Cut the meatloaf while in the pan in to slices. Pour remaining sauce over the meatloaf. Return to oven and cook for another 30 minutes, uncovered. Allow to cool a bit before serving.

Enjoy!

Happy Cookin' & Craftin!

Min

Freezer Jam & Kittens - Chapter Two

Isn't this the most beautiful Jam?
Mom titled the jar on the left, the one the 'elephant sat on'.

My mom and I had a wonderful time this weekend!

The Freezer Jam experience alone is worthy of its own page in the ole' scrapbook! Because neither mom or I have ever made the freezer jam, we had no idea how much 'STUFF' we'd need (peaches, jars, sugar, pectin etc.). So, on our FIRST trip to Mejiers for some munchies, necessities and Jelly Jars, we thought we were set. So home we traveled (this was AFTER the trip to pick up not one, but 2 kittens--photos below, a trip to the yarn shop and a stop at Kohls).

We started peeling our peaches, cleaning the jars, boiling the lids and reading directions (good call here). So, we got our first 2 large bowls of sugar & peaches mixed together, and realized that we were going to need more pectin and and A LOT more jars too......Who would have thought that 14 pouds of peaches could make so much Jam! Hence, trip number 2 out into the monsoon rain to Kroger we went.....of course, we had to pick up more salsa and chips as we put a large dent into the one we'd picked up on the FIRST trip....

And wouldn't you know it!? They were out of the pectin, but had jars, chips & salsa. So, we picked up those things and BACK to Meijer we went (it's still raining and about 6:30).

It was a comedy of errors, but my mom and I had a good laugh all the way home.

Poor Glen - not only was the weekend a TERRIBLE football weekend, I think he officially figured out where I get my ADD - doing 25 things at once, mass chaos syndrome from!!!

We had just enough of the jars for 4 batches of Peach Freezer Jam - not enough jars for strawberry.....maybe next year.....

Okay, so on to the kitty photos....mom & dad were only going to get 1 kitten. There's a wonderful Animal Care Center not too far from our house (Auburn Hills Animal Care Center for anyone who is looking for a new best friend who wants to love you....). The folks there were absolutely WONDERFUL! So, we went in and looked at the 70+ kitties they had - kittens, little-itty-bitty kitties, toddler kitties and some adult kitties too. I wanted to take them ALL home. About 1/2 way through, we found the sweetest gray & white tiger. She was waving to us from her cage. She's such a lover kitty! And boy, what a little motor she has. She's got the biggest ears and the longest tail and body and is just a sweetheart. (Glen playing with sweet kitty - he called her 'Squeeks'. She loved his wool slippers for some reason - they were fast friends!)

So, as mom is telling me, okay, no more pets, she finds a cute little black, white and brown calico kitty with a tiny face and body, and a voice that is much larger than her tiny body. She too was waving at us - mainly mom! Mom fell in love with her. (This is her Sunday after we picked her up from 'camp'. She was feeling a bit owie!).Our rational - you can't just have one kitten! So of course, I had to call my dad and tell him mom was bring two kitties home - their kitty and 'MY' new kitty who would like nothing better than to stay at mom & dad's.

My kitty had already been fixed, mom's kitty, had not, so we took one home and the other one spent the night to go to 'camp' as we call it around our house. We picked 'Cali' up Sunday afternoon.

Aren't they just the sweetest little things??

So, project wise, other than the Freezer Jam and the Kittens, I'm currently in the process of dressing 50 Mr. T dolls for 80's themed birthday invitations I'm working on. I think I made my mom chuckle when I told her I had 50 little clothes-less Mr. T's with only their boots on on my craft table. Kind of comical if you think about it! I'll be sure to post the completed invitation.

Okay, so off I go to dress the little Mr. T's!

Wishing you all a dry week (it has finally stopped raining here...), with sunshine and creativity!

Min