Happy Sweethearts Day!

What a beautiful day... the sun is shining and love is in the air!  I wish all of you a very Happy Valentines!! This year at our house we are keeping it simple. With me not working we really need to stretch our dollars. 


I have started with homemade valentines. I was able to throw something together in the craft room using scraps of paper I already had. 

This morning I started working on a bow tie for Charlie and had some trouble with my sewing machine. I'm sure it was an operator error but I finally was able to put together something that resembled the tie. Here are a few shots of my handsome man...

Making the tie was really quite easy. I took an old red t-shirt and cut out two pieces of rectangles and sewed them right sides together and I left a space so I could flip it right sides out.. hand sewed the middle together.. and wrapped with more t-shirt and added a collar and velcro. Easy peasy! 

Mac had to try too! He didn't appreciate being woke up from his nap though.. sorry Mac Daddy! 


so far I haven't spent a dime but have had fun playing crafty cupid!  Ok OK.. so I still have an entire evening with the hubby to go... so here's what is planned. 


I found a recipe on pinterest that is awesomely yum-a-licious! It's low in fat and full of flavor.. always a bonus! 

Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmigiana

You can find the complete recipe here: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/04/chicken-rollatini-with-spinach-alla.html

This of course will be consumed with a bottle of wine and a nice little living room picnic set up! Ahhhh Romance! 


I have reserved a redbox online... so for our viewing pleasure we will have: The Rum Diary with the OH SO HEAVENLY Johnny Depp! 

Based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson, THE RUM DIARY, follows journalist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp) on an alcohol-fueled journey across the island of Puerto Rico where he finds himself caught between a shady American businessman, a beautiful woman, and several bottles of booze.


This movie sounds right up my alley! *giggle 


HAPPY VALENTINES DAY to all the LOVERS in the world! 

Getting Hacked

Can you believe I went without my camera for over a month? I searched high and low until one day while complaining to my sister (that's what sisters are for right?) she asks me if I own a blue camera. Why yes I do!! Apparently I had left it over at her house on Christmas Eve. CHRISTMAS EVE!  Good grief...I guess I really have been busy. I finally drove over to her house and picked it up. It was exciting to see all the Christmas photos of the family.. and then I came across this picture...

I laughed... man NOTHING gets past these kids! Alex is my nephew. Very funny Alex!! 

Easy Sticky Bun Ring

This is a super easy sticky bun recipe that I have made quite a few times and we all LOVE it! What a great Valentines breakfast treat this would be for the family. Be sure to come back and let me know how yours turned out!

EASY STICKY BUN RING

1 tube of Pillsbury Grands Biscuits
3 tbs. Butter, melted
1/2 C. Maple Syrup
1/3 C. Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
Pecans are optional

In a small bowl combine melted butter and syrup. In another bowl combine brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts. (Pecans.. not family)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray fluted pan with non stick cooking spray.

As you can see I do not own a fluted pan. NO WORRIES cause I can just make my own! I took a pie plate and put a small bowl in the center. Woola!

On the bottom of the pan (or pie plate) pour in half the butter and syrup mixture. On top of that sprinkle half the sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Next, I cut my biscuits into quarters and put them in the plate on top of the oooooie gooooie.  You can also leave them whole and just layer them so that they are touching.

Over the top of the biscuits pour the remaining butter and syrup mixture and sprinkle the remaining sugar and cinnamon.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Flip the pan over onto a plate and ENJOY!!

Happy New Year...a little late

Happy New Year to everyone.. as you can see I'm a little behind. Been busy training my replacement and haven't had much time for my blog. 

Quick updates: 

Our house is still for sale by owner and we haven't had many bites. This has of course put the lake property on hold. It's so hard to see the property I want just sitting there.... I know God has a plan and I just need to be patient. By mid February we will have our house on the market with a realtor so hopefully we will get some action!  For now.. it's just a waiting game. 

Cody is enjoying his time at Culinary School. He has made the President's Honor Roll for both quarters so far. This session he is doing well even though the classes are a lot more challenging. He thinks he would like to get a job at a tropical beach resort...I would sooooo visit him ALL THE TIME! 

Michaela has FINALLY made a decision on a college. She didn't take too far of a leap color wise as she has chosen K-State. Purple purple everywhere... we are already used to that. 

This week is my last week working as office manager at the church. Today they are giving me a farewell party. The cake is pretty and I can't wait to taste it! 

Jeff is doing absolutely amazing. Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes. He had his feeding tube removed this week and ate a cheeseburger!!! A CHEESEBURGER!! And to think the doctors told us he would never eat again. Bah!! See how big our God is? Wow.. just amazing! 

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I WANT!! I WANT!!
I saw this product on Pinterest today and just had to share. Anyone with pets I'm sure can appreciate how awesome this is when it comes to hair. Check it out!! 

It's an electric dust pan! Whoo hoo! You just sweep the dirt up next to it and it automatically sucks it all up! I can't stand having all those pet fuzzies stuck to the broom bristles or just flying through the air like feathers... I just GOT TO HAVE THIS! 


For the low low price of $99 bucks I say it's well worth every penny. Now... hmmm.. to come up with the money. Gotta go find some junk to sell so I can buy more junk! 

To get more information or read the reviews (or buy me one..hee hee) check out the link below.
http://www.smarthome.com/9178P/Crowley-Jones-EV1850-Eye-Vac-Pro-Electric-Dustpan/p.aspx

Chicken and Dumplings

What a great meal for a cold rainy night! My kids love Chicken and Dumplings and is an easy go to meal for me. The recipe is so versatile as most soup recipes are. You really just need to dump in what you have. I will post the basic recipe and then tell you how I changed it up last night using what I had. 

Chicken and Dumplings        (Items marked in red are ones I substituted)

2-3 Chicken Breasts boiled and shredded (save stock)          
Small Onion

Celery

1 Bay Leaf

1 Can Chicken Broth

1 Package Lipton Noodle Soup

3 Diced Potatoes
1 Can Cream of Chicken or Mushroom Soup

Bisquick Biscuits 

Boil chicken with onion, celery and bay leaf. Remove bay leaf and shred chicken. Add chicken, broth, leftover chicken stock, potatoes, cream of chicken soup, and noodle soup. Bring to boil and add salt and pepper. Drop biscuits and boil for about 20 minutes until biscuits and potatoes are done.

Alrighty!! Great basic recipe! Last night I simplified it some due to having to use what I had on hand and it turned out great! (I had 3 servings!!!)

Here are the changes I made last night... easy peasy folks!
~Instead of shredding the chicken I just cubed.. or diced it up small to save time.
~I omitted the celery because I didn't have any
~I didn't use chicken broth OR the noodle soup. Instead I used the stock I saved from boiling the chicken. I drained out the onion and bay leaf and chicken goo. I then threw in a chicken bullion cube.
~No Bisquick in the house but I did have a package of Grands Biscuits. They were the jumbo butter ones that I just quartered. 
~ I also added carrots to mine.. I used canned but fresh is good too! If you use canned be sure to wait to add them until right before you drop your biscuits. 

 

As you all know my son Cody is in culinary school and he has just finished up his first quarter/session. I'm going to toot my own horn here and brag on him for making the President's Honor Roll at the Le Cordon Bleu. Congrats Cody!! One of the things he mastered this quarter was a 7 sided french cut called a Tourne cut. I believe it's pronounced Tor-nay...that's what it sounded like he was saying anyway. The chefs at the school were very impressed with how quickly Cody caught on. To me.. as I look at the finished product I think... why bother? Just give me a chunk of potato in my soup.. I don't care if it has seven sides! Ha.. oh well. Here are some pictures of Cody demonstrating this difficult cut.

 This is the finished product. They cut potatoes and carrots in this shape for soups and stews. Look at all the wasted potato! Ha! This one was made from using half of a smaller potato. 

Those knives are sharp by the way. Notice Cody's finger injury. ;) 

Kid at Heart

Looks like this may be out last nice day for a while. The temps will soon be falling which will make me want to start decorating for Christmas. I will need to force myself to hold back for a couple weeks so that I don't completely skip over the Thanksgiving season. 

I'll be packing up the Halloween tonight so I thought I had better post what my creepy project was this past week. Britt and I made a spell book out of an old book that was laying around. Then we made potions out of used bottles we had. We also printed off creepy photos from the internet and framed them. I had to spray paint the frames black. All of this cost me a total of .50 cents. I already had everything.. just happened to find a potion bottle at our local thrift store that I spent 50 cents on. That's it! I think it turned out cute. Michaela's dressing table was in limbo.. already out of her old room waiting to go into her new room.. so we just put it in our entry way to display all our handmade stuff! 

 

Britt waited patiently for the trick or treaters last night. He sat on the top step so that he could see them coming. He had so much fun passing out candy.. look at that smile! 

Don't mind the paint on the door..we are under construction..lol