Oh yum

Christmas candies done and passed out. I have to say they turned out nice. The centers were so yummy. The lemon and orange were delicious, but I would say the raspberry was my favorite.

So with Christmas a few days away, I can say I am done and am going to sit back and enjoy.
With the exception of a couple of pies, a frog eye salad, I don't have any more baking to do.

What will the new year bring? Lots of new projects! I am going to start a small cooking group and a monthly sewing group. So next week I will be getting lots of ideas put together and a schedule down.
I also have a special project up my sleeve. Hopefully I can get it going, and hope it will be a hit.

2010 has been an amazing year. I am so blessed to have had so many wonderful experiences.
Thanks to all of you, have a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!

Christmas candies

Every year we have the tradition of making holiday candy. Dave's Grandma was a great candy maker so I have lots of fun recipes from her. I also have a few from my childhood that I remember making with my Mom and Aunt.

But this year, I went outside of my normal box and decided to try something new. My sister-in-law CiCi starting making hand dipped chocolates a few years ago, and they are to die for. My favorites are her orange cream. So I did some research, and try it out.

I am so excited to get them dipped. I had no idea what to expect when making up the fondant, but it all turned out okay. I made some peppermint, orange, lemon, cherry and chocolate.

Of course I am still doing my normal root beer caramel's, and cashew brittle, but it is always fun to add some more goodies to the neighbor packs.


This is what I poured onto my marble from the pan, I wasn't sure how I was going to get that to a nice creamy chocolate center.



But after a lot of kneading they came out perfect. Now just waiting to be balled and dipped.
(I will post the finished product later)

Learning our ABC's

I saw this really cute idea on a blog that I follow. It took me a little bit to collect the orange juice lids, but finally got them all, and Morgan and I did the project in less than an hour! All it took was 2 pieces of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper, a set of capitol letters (I used the cute puffy polka dot ones), 26 orange juice can tops (no sharp edges) and a empty peanut can or jar with wide mouth.

Chase is doing really good at recognizing all his letters, he did however learn that they slide really well on the floor and uses them as hockey pucks. Needless to say, I have to put them up when we are not using them to learn!

Kitchen Tools

I love anything kitchen. So if I am near a Williams-Sonoma or Spoon's and Spice, I stop in and just browse.. People love cars, books, or clothes, I love kitchen tools.

With a new sugar cookie and donut recipe, I learned a couple of new tricks of getting them the perfect thickness.
So I put my honey to work in the wood shop and saved me some dough. :)

I had the standard size rolling pin, but I saw Alton Brown rolling out his donut dough with a little bit of a longer one. The reason is so that he could roll it along these handy little sticks. They are cut at 3/4 of an inch thick so that your dough will roll out to that measurement.
Now with sugar cookie dough, you don't want it that thick, so I have a set that is 1/4 of an inch. The perfect sugar cookie.



If you don't have a wood shop or a honey in a wood shop, I did find some plastic rings and a long rolling pin at Williams-Sonoma that do the same thing. Also the sticks can be found at any craft store in different thickness's.

enjoy!

Big fluffy donuts

As another Halloween tradition that started way back when and I brought back a couple of years ago is homemade donuts.
I have tried a couple of different recipes and this years is the one I am sticking with.
They were so good. One of my fav's from food network is Alton Brown. (here it is) I love how he gets so scientific about stuff and really explains things. Try it out. I think I will try a maple glaze next time.
Good thing I only got one and the rest got gobbled up, they would have been dangerous lying around.

Halloween Cookies

Bats, cats, ghosts and pumpkins. Yummy, and soft and so many of them. I am plum tuckered.
I made the dough this morning, baked up all the cookies.
Went and did Morgan's class Halloween party.
Came home and made up the Royal Frosting. Put a pizza in the oven, and started frosting the cookies.
Ate some pizza, kept frosting cookies.
A lot of work, but aren't they adorable? Now time to plate them and pass them to friends and neighbors.

Happy Haunting!

Hemming Levi's for us short people

It may just be me, but does anyone else have a hard time with Levi's being too long? As I was getting all my winter clothes out, I found a pair that I hardly wear because they are just too long. So I decided to use this new hemming method I found.
Measure your desired inseam. I like a 30 inch inseam because it hits perfectly below my ankle bone.
Cut off the unwanted length. I know you might be thinking you need a couple of extra inches to fold up and sew, but hold on and I will tell you the cool trick. So, go ahead and cut at the exact length you like.
Now, you know that really cool bottom seam of levi's? The one with the gold stitching that is really hard to mimic? Cut that off your scrap. Do not cut right up to the edge, but leave a scant :) or 1/4inch for sewing.
Now pin that original hem around the bottom of your levi's. Sew right sides together.



Last, iron seam down and you are done!

Friday Fun

Friday night is our pizza and movie night, and with the fall weather and Halloween just around the corner I had to add a fun Halloween tradition from my childhood.
Yummy ohhy gooey caramel apples. The only thing missing from the caramel packages found in the store, in the produce section next to the apples?? THE STICKS! What is up with that? I had to improvise. I guess I will be collecting Popsicle sticks next summer.

What are some of your special Halloween tradition treats??

Personalized Pumpkins

Okay, so I saw this idea on a blog I follow and had to do it in memory of my good ol' Nashville days. They monogram everything, and I love it. So this is for y'all down south.
With all the coats we had to do, the kids pitched in and helped. I think they make a cute addition to our Halloween porch.

Sweet Nector

Each year I have the traditional canning items.
September: Peaches
First part of October: Spaghetti sauce and Salsa
Mid October: GRAPE JUICE

Now this stuff is like liquid gold. Normally I walk away with a few quarts when I help the in-laws. For all the time it takes and the little product you get, there is not much to go around, but this year, I lucked out. The in-laws are leaving in a couple of weeks for a mission to Canada and they decided not to do the annual grape juice. So I got to go and pick all the grapes. I got 19 quarts! Holy grape juice! Yeah, it was a long day starting at 9am and finishing at 9pm. But it was well worth it!

Next...
First part of November: Apples

Boo to you too!

I finished my fun Halloween quilt the day of Dave's big birthday bash on the 9th. I have been enjoying its nice warm coziness at nights with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book. I may have to keep it out until Thanksgiving, then its will be time to switch to my Christmas one. Which I refuse to start until after Halloween!

Life is like a Hurricane

Okay, so does anyone remember that tune from Ducktales. Yah, so I was thinking about where the time has gone since my last post, and that song popped into my head.

My life has been so busy. From kid's school, football practice, PTO, football games, PTO, and oh did I mention PTO???

I volunteered, to be the Room Parent coordinator. Hmmm, now why did I do that? It has been so much work the last couple of weeks, not to mention the school's fall carnival is in 2 weeks, and I am on that committee, oh and I am also the Room Parent for Morgan's class, who is of course in charge of a booth at the carnival.

But with all that, I have bottled 16 quarts of spaghetti sauce, 48 quarts of peaches, and few quarts of salsa. Oh, and today I started to tackle my Halloween quilt.

Yup, I am officially insane. Why do we fill like we need to do so much? Fall is supposed to be my quiet time, my curl up on the couch with a good book and a Diet Coke time.

No, I have too much to do. I will finish my Halloween quilt by Oct. 1st so that I can have a full 31 days of joy with it.

Please stay close, don't leave. I will be back, I promise!

P.S. We had our ward chili cook-off (which I should have totally won). I did my white chili, and these amazing SMORE' BROWNIES. Ohh, they were to die for. Here you should really try them!


White Chili
1 TBLS oil
1 onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp pepper
2 whole chicken breast cooked and diced
3 cans Northern white beans (15oz)
1 can Garbanzo beans (15oz)
2 cans White corn (12oz)
1 can chopped green chili's (1 7oz or 2 4oz)
2 tsp chicken bouillon (or 4 cubes)
1/2 to 1 cup of chicken broth

Boil chicken (season water with lemon pepper)
While chicken is cooking, saute onions, garlic and spices in oil.
Dice chicken and add to onion mixture.
Add remaining ingredients (do not drain beans, corn or chili's)
Simmer for 1 hour or put in slow cooker on low for a few hours
Serve in bowl topped with shredded Monterey Jack cheese and sour cream


Smore Brownies
1packaged brownie mix (or I use a homemade recipe)
Bake as instructed on box
Take out of oven and sprinkle with mini marshmallows and broken up pieces of graham crackers. Put back in oven for 5mins. Watch so your graham crackers don't burn. Take out and sprinkle broken up pieces of Hershey bar.
Cool for 20mins (that gives time for the sweet chocolate to melt)
Cut and serve (with Milk and a napkin)

Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes

Who didn't remind me that hot tomatoes and a blender don't work?
Today I made my spaghetti/lasagna sauce. I love the way it smells up my house. I was going right along and poof! Tomatoes everywhere. I guess I got a little excited and forgot myself. Production stopped and I had to clean up. Not long after I have 6 great jars for some yummy lasagna and spaghetti!

Pleated Skirt

This having the kids back to school has been pretty productive. I made up this adorable skirt yesterday for Morgan. It is so adorable on, and was so easy too.

I also made a stop at my local quilt shop to get my elastic and ribbon and happen to see all the new Halloween fabrics. Those who know me well, know I love anything with Halloween and the colors orange, green and black. I had to snatch up a few fat quarters for a Super spooky Halloween throw. I will get started on that next.

But first, I just picked 2 HUGE bowls of tomatoes, so my special spaghetti/lasagna sauce happens first.

Super Hero

Movin on up from the old dish clothe super cape...

To the new and improved super capes.

Apples and Pears

I was in the kitchen all day yesterday making more zucchini bread to freeze and chunking it up for soups this winter and things were getting messy. Including me, so I thought "I need an apron".
I have admired this "apples & pears" material for a long time. I first saw it in TN and loved it, but never could think of what to make with it. When we moved back to UT I saw it in our Joann's and snatch some up to just wait for the inspiration.
Well it came to me this morning. So here it is. Don't ya just love it, and easy too!

A moment of reflection

My sweet sister-in-law was diagnosed with cancer almost 3weeks ago. It started in her Uterus and has spread to her lungs and her bones. She just had surgery yesterday to put rods in her 2 broken arms, so she could function and be able to go home to start outpatient treatment.
One of my first thoughts while she has been confined to a hospital bed was that I wanted to make her a quilt. Something soft and comforting and bright.
As I rummaged through my fabric supply, I came across on old project. One that I had started over 10years ago. Unfinished, because of the lack of motivation. It was a tedious project. A lot of cutting and piecing, and with my little experience back then you can see the mistakes made. I simply gave up, and didn't want to continue because they were too difficult to correct.
As crazy as it sounds, as I looked at this unfinished quilt I couldn't help but think of CiCi. It would be so easy for her to give up, to think there is no way. I looked at this project and it represented something all of a sudden to me. A little life lesson.
We all have made mistakes, thought things were too hard to do, and wanted to just give up. It may take a little bit more work to correct those mistakes, and now I have more knowledge to correct them.
I am almost finished, and even though it is not a masterpiece, it is pretty and hopefully will bring some comfort.

More zucchini?

With all our zucchini plants, I have had so much to work with. We love it grilled, sauteed, make it in bread and I even have a couple of casserole recipes. However, I am running out of ideas. I went to my cooking group and came home with a couple new ways to use zucchini. So I thought I would share.

Cream of Zucchini soup
3 cups of zucchini
1/2 cup water
1 TBSP minced onion
2 tsp chicken bouillon
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP flour
1/8 pepper
1/2 cup light cream
Combine zucchini, water, onion, 1 tsp bouillon. Cook until zucchini is tender and most of the water is evaporated.
Puree or mash and set aside.
In saucepan, melt butter, flour, 1 tsp bouillon and pepper. Blend, add cream and simmer until thick. Add veggies to cream and mix.

This is such a great cream soup, I was pleasantly surprised. I fixed it last night and it was so good. Next time I thought I would even add some potatoes and corn to make it into a chowder.

Here is another:

Zucchini Brownies
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp vanilla
½ c. milk
2 ½ c. flour
½ c. cocoa
2 c. grated zucchini

Mix ingredients together and beat. Bake at 350 in a greased 9x13 pan or deep cookie sheet. For brownie consistency: bake 20-25 minutes. For cake: bake 30-40 minutes. (I noticed it didn't matter how long I baked it---it still had a cake-like consistency. But still very good)

Frosting:
½ square margarine
3 TB milk
1 ½ TB cocoa
Bring to a boil and add enough powdered sugar until smooth for spreading.

It doesn’t take a holiday

I love taking my hubby to Costco with me.  He was such a sweetheart and bought me some new pots and pans.  He isn’t the best at traditional holidays, his philosophy is that he doesn’t need a national holiday to show me how much he loves me.  I agree with him 100% on a day like today.

I have been using the same pots and pans that we got 12years ago at our wedding.  They were great, but few in number and seeing some wear.  It was time to pass them on to the DI.

I love them, and highly recommend them to anyone in the market.

 

So, I have been busy trying them out.  I steamed fresh green beans from our garden, made some wonderful teriyaki chicken in the sauté pan, and even made some caramel popcorn balls for our FHE treat. 

Thanks again sweetheart.  I am sure they will last another 12 years and more.

Garden goodies

With summer in full swing, our garden is starting to give us some good things.

I picked my first zucchini, which I smothered in butter and parmesan. I also got 3 bright red tomatoes. So of course I had to have BLT's. Both bring back some great summer time memories of growing up. My Mom always used all the wonderful things from our garden.

Today I picked another zucchini and decided to make bread. The prerequisite? Chocolate Chips.

Bowl full of cherries

Yummmm. I found the most delicious cherries today at the store and we had them with a great BBQ dinner. Some shishkabobs marinated with Italian dressing and Parmesan cheese. Now I had to borrow my neighbors BBQ (pathetic) but with nice warm, soft french bread, it was a nice dinner. And my house stayed nice and cool. We got a massive wind storm with a down pour of rain.

A perfect day!

Summer salads

With summer heat in full swing, I have lost the desire to cook. Especially if I have to turn on my oven. I decided to just make easy meals with cool salads as sides. With that, also giving my kids an opportunity to try something they may not like.

Colton doesn't like sauces or really even salad, so it has been interesting. He has been good though and taken his "no thank you" helping.

Morgan is my salad eater which is helpful, I can usually get her to try anything.

So here is one of my cool picks we tried out.

Broccoli salad. This is a favorite of mine. I ate half the LARGE bowl i fixed last night, and then more for lunch today. The kids were funny, they kind-of liked it, but would only have the "No thank you" helping.

Here's what I did:

5 cups of raw broccoli

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup bacon

1/4 cup red onion

1 cup frozen peas

For the sauce:

1 cup Mayo

2 Tb vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

Hope you give it a try and enjoy!

Summer time blues

With summer in full swing, I have not done a single project. Now I have done plenty of baking which is always my favorite. With all the BBQ's and parties, I have been able to do some of my favorites. Mint brownies, luscious lemon cake and so much more.

So, I guess the sewing machine will have a much needed rest, and my Bosch will get a work-out. Not to mention I will need to do some heavy working out after all the baking.

Spring Pleated Bag

I am so in love with this new pattern my friend Natalie sent me.  It was such an easy bag to make and I love how roomy it is.  Both outside panels and inside lining are pleated, with a large pocket on one side and a flap pocket on the other.  I was originally going to add a zipper but flew by the step when I needed to add it so I did a snap closure instead, which I love.

So cute and it only took me a few hours!  Its no wonder my etsy shop sits empty, I never can part with my projects.  However I did go shopping at “Mom’s quilt supply shop” and came home with lots of fun materials.  I will have to do up a few of these new bags and some of my original and put them in the shop.

Free Music Download

I found this great free download. It totally takes me back to my Boot Camp class in Tennessee! I love it! I downloaded it on my ipod and do my thing.

Go here to download.

*thanks For the Mommas*

Mother’s Day

I decided to do a special project for my Mom this year.  I was so excited, I created a 4 generation picture for her.  It was so special and of course she cried.  She was an only child, and Morgan and I are both the only girls.  I forgot to take a picture of the finish project, but these are the pictures.  I so love my heritage, and love my relationship that I had with my Grandma, that I have with my Mom and that I have with my baby girl.

I love you ladies!

Not always what it seems

So I saw this way cute bag on a blog and thought it was a great project.  So I got everything together and headed to a friends.  It took two of us to complete and boy were we fooled by the picture.  It is a “little” bag.  Cute, but little.  I think after doing a few it may get easier, so I will have to try again because Morgan thought Grandma should have it for Mother’s day.  I hope she likes it.

Target Deals Busted

I have decided that if I want to get my freebie deals at Target, I need to do it first thing Monday morning. I went today to get:

Nivea body wash on sale $3.98. Use $4.00 MF coupon found in RP 5/2 *FREE*

Shelves empty :(

Kleenex hand towels on sale $2.98. Use Target coupon $1.00 and stack w/$1.00 MF coupon found in Smartsource 5/2

*.98 cents a box*

Shelves empty :(

Good thing they don't expire for awhile. I will just have to check back or hit another Target.

I did get some other good deals. Like B1G1F Tic Tacs, Kellogg's granola for 1.64 a box, Listerine and Kids Listerine for 1.39 and 1.44, and some great things in the $1 section for Chase's birthday.

I do love Target. They are great to be able to stack. Check out what coupons you could print and use w/ a MF coupon here.

Home Depot Kids Workshop

Tomorrow Home Depot is having a super cute workshop for kids ages 5-12. I usually take my kids to the Lowe's workshops, and sign-up online, but Home Depot is a little different. It is from 9-Noon and is first come first serve. So you may want to get there early. It is a cute Picket Fence Planter. I am going to give them to the Grandma's for Mother's Day. Way cute and FREE!! Go here to see if your local store is participating!

*UPDATE*

The kids had so much fun making their planters. They are pretty good with a hammer, my thumbs recovered pretty fast.

Block Telemarketers from your cell phone

Nothing makes me crazier than telemarketers and nothing would make me angrier than having them call on my cell phone and waste my minutes! (Ok, there are probably alot of things that would make me angrier, but still, it's annoying!) I highly recommend everyone with a cell phone read this:

Cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies beginning May 3rd.


…. YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS!

To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222.

It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number. It takes about 20 seconds.

(all you do is type 1 for english, then it will ask you to type in your cell phone number you are calling from)

**Thanks Discount Queens**

Rainy Day

Usually on a rainy day I sit down at my sewing machine and work on a project, but today I was more in the mood to cook.

A friend of mine in Tennessee showed me how to make these amazing egg rolls, and so I got to work on those early. The recipe makes a grundle, but they are great to freeze and I have a quick easy meal.

Then I got even more motivated after my yogurt stop at Fresh Market. They had their strawberries on for $3.98 for 4lbs. They weren't the best looking, but great for freezer jam.

I think it is going to be cold and rainy again tomorrow. After I finish up my jam, I may just need to find another project. I found these adorable freezer paper tee's. So cute for summer!

Yoplait Yogurt

We go through a lot of yogurt at our house, so if you are looking for a good deal Fresh Market has Yoplait yogurt on 3 for $1.00 which makes them .33 cents a piece.

If you go to www.yoplait.com and click on the red yoplait yogurt, you can print a $1.00 off 8 coupon. Print that coupon twice which would give you 12 yogurts. Fresh market has a limit of 12, so that makes your yogurts $2.00 and .13 cents a piece!

Super good deal!

Oatmeal anyone??

My sister-in-law called me this morning and gave me a heads up for a great deal Smith’s was having.  I had to patiently wait until this afternoon to receive my mail so I could get my ads, but made it over there (along with quite a crowd) and scored BIG!

So here is how it works…

In the Macey’s, Fresh Market, and the Buy low ad you will find a Manufacture's coupon for $3.00 off 5 Quaker cereals and oatmeal.

Smith’s ad was with your Fresh Values card…

$5.00 off 5 Quaker cereals and oatmeal. 

So that ended up being $2.00 for 5 Quaker products!  Cool right!  Even better…  I found 5 $1.00 off coupons for a Quaker product.  And here is what I got.

5 free Quaker cereals and oatmeal, and 15 on the $3.00 off coupon, my total…  $11.09 (I also got 2 gal Milk (1.79each) and some garlic)

That was 5 boxes of cereal and 15 boxes of oatmeal.

Love the sweet deals!

Okay, so here is another awesome Walgreen’s deal I got today.

4 boxes of Post cereal

1 bottle dish soap

2 candy bars

For a grand total of…..

.54 cents

Yup, can you believe it!!  Couponing is so much fun.

Couponing

I have found a new hobby, it is so addicting, and I can't get enough. One of my first cool deals was from Walgreen's.

I got...

2 boxes of General Mills cereal

2 big bags of Twizzlers licorice

2 bags of M&M's

The new Tide stain remover 20oz bottle

all for $1.37!

I saved over $19.00. All with coupons and sale items. It is so fun, and easy! Check out the button on my sidebar, that has been the key. There is so much great information out there to help you find the good deals.

Mom's recipes

I will admit, when I first got married I was a little offended when Dave would suggest a recipe that he had growing up. I know, bad. But I have changed! Now I welcome all the wonderful things his Mom made. She is a great cook!

One of my favorites is her homemade granola, or better known in the Lindsey family as

"Good Earth".

We eat it up so fast, I make it once a week.

Pigs in a blanket

I think every kid growing up in the 70's remembers school lunch and pigs in a blanket. I started doing them for the kids when Dave was reminiscing about his school lunch lady and how she made everything there in the school kitchen. That's just one thing that has changed about school lunch.

So, what I do is just make my Lion House roll recipe and instead of rolling the dough into rolls, I roll hot dogs. The kids (and Dave) love them. With homemade french fries it is a great dinner.

Oh and for dessert...

Cinnamon rolls. I have to use the left over dough for something.

* Helpful hint: If you do not have any powdered sugar for the frosting. Put the same amount of sugar in a blender and blend until it turns into powder.

Mmmm Caramel sauce

I was on Alton Brown's site and watching his little clips and I came across one for homemade caramel sauce. I LOVE ice cream, but just not vanilla. It has to have some flavor, so I was excited that it was a quick fix to the old stand-by vanilla.

Try it out!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/hittin'-the-caramel-sauce/44251.html

*maybe something you didn't know...

3/4 cup milk and 1/3 cup melted butter and you have a substitute for 1 cup heavy cream!