Another year..........

Well, Christmas is over again for another year.  Everyone is happy and I was pleased that I found enough time to do my own version of 12 days of Christmas again this year.  I think the person that had the most fun with the 12 days was my son's girlfriend who got to go shopping in my fabric stash in the basement.  I had forgotten how many truly beautiful fabrics I have down there.  I would love to begin sewing/quilting again, but until I clean up my scrap space that is not going to happen.  Anyway, my version of the 12 days of Christmas is that on day 1, you get one of something or that something has to do with the number 1, day 2 you would get two of something or a pair of something or something that has to do with the number 2, and so on up to day 12.  It's a lot of fun for all.  I love to see their faces as they giggle over what they received.  For example, day one for my boys was "one" gift card, while my husband gets a dinner date with me. (See how I got something out of that deal?? :))  Well, I think they all loved day seven, which was the same as last year: a pill organizer from the dollar store, each day has a quote picked out especially for that person and a piece of candy.  So, that totals "7".  Some days are harder to come up with than others, but it is worth it.  I did this last year and they all enjoyed it, and this was the second year.  Next year I want to try to start earlier gathering my 12 days goodies.

I think that this weekend will be time to take down the Christmas trees.  We put up two small tabletop trees this year because of the puppy.  The goal is also to do everyone's day 3, which is a meal of their choice consisting of: appetizer, entrée, and dessert. 

Life is settling down.........

Well, I haven't been on here in forever.  The past few years have been a roller coaster.  I did finish nursing school.  I first attained my LPN degree, then went back for another year and now have my RN associates degree.  I am enjoying my new job, and learn something new each day.  Now, to get back into the swing and start creating again.  I spent my night off last night canning salsa and baking zucchini bread.  Yum to both!  Today I am just lazing around the house.  I suppose I should get cracking and do something productive.  Hope to back on here soon!

OMG!! Yummy yummy yummy goodness from the Pioneer Woman!

Well, I made another of the Pioneer Woman's recipes from her blog, "Apple Dumplings" and they were oh-so-good-melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness. I am still thinking about them. They were incredibly easy to make and the kicker? They contained Mt Dew. Yes, you read that right, Mt Dew. Who would have thought to add Mt Dew to any dessert I don't know. I mean I don't even like Mt Dew, but we should have taken out stock in the Pepsi corporation because of the amount of Mt Dew that my husband drinks. So, when I looked over the recipe and saw Mt Dew was an ingredient, I knew I had to try them. My husband said they were better than my apple pie (which is my mom's recipe) and that shocked me! So, this will be a recipe to keep and make again. But not very often! So bad for you, but so good to eat! YUM! Total yum fest for the tummy! Of course I had to bake it in my cobalt Fiestaware 9x13. Love those dishes!!! And then we had to choose what colors to eat them in when they were done!

Ack

Well, I feel this is a safe place to post this considering no one has been here for awhile except for me. I am turning a new page soon and starting back to college. I am terrified. I really want to do well, yet, I find myself procrastinating in looking over the books I have acquired. I am really scared that I will not do well this summer. I am taking Intermediate Algebra and Introduction to Chemistry. SCARY!! I think I am even more psyched out by the fact that my advisor was worried how I would handle taking Chem when I haven't had biology.

I just noticed that I hadn't said what I am going for. Nursing. I am hoping to get into the program and finish before Brett has to retire.

What's even more shocking is that Kurt is starting college this fall. He will be in Idaho. That will be hard to realize that isn't home anymore. The only thing making it a little easier is the fact that his senior year has been so busy that he isn't home a lot. I am worried about the choices he may make, but I hope that we have raised him to choose wisely.

I still have to finish cleaning this house. Yuck. I am slowly getting the kitchen in order. I absolutely love the Fiestaware. It still makes me happy to use it and just look at it.

This Saturday I have my fingers crossed that I keep the day off. We are planning to go to Lewistown to check out the antique store and hang out. It should be a fun day. I am going to make us some bentos and sandwich fixings. I am planning on taking my Chemistry for Dummies (that's me!) book and hopefully read a bit.

On to good news, I am trying lots of new recipes lately. If you know me then you know that I looooveee cookbooks. I love to look through them and find new recipes, however I don't always try them because I hate it when no one here dislikes the recipe. Well, let me tell you that I am done feeling like that. I have decided that if I want to try something, I am going to try it. I have found some great crock pot recipes from not only my HUGE crock pot recipe book, but also from my Taste of Home cookbook. Let me tell you about some of the greatness. A few of my past posts have shown the Mexican feast that I made, with a little help, earlier this month. OK, let me talk about the foods.

Yesterday I made a very simple dish that was pretty good. It was a cheesy meatball casserole.

The night before I decided to make a Pioneer Woman cooks recipe: Cinnamon rolls. They are incredible. The recipe makes a ton of rolls. I have only made half the batch so far. The rest is still in the fridge. Anyway when I say it makes a lot, that's is no joke. I bought some round aluminum pans at the dollar store to make them in and half of this recipe used 3 of those pans. Wow! So, I haven't decided when I am going to make the rest of the batch, but when I do, watch out! Yummy!

Today I am making BBQ chicken in the crock pot. It smells so yummy. I am also going to make scalloped potatoes for the first time today. Wish me luck.

Next time I don't have daycare kids for dinner I am planning on making some more of the Pioneer Woman's scrumptious recipes.

Ah, I better go. Be back soon hopefully to talk. :)

More of the feast!

Well, I worked on that dinner for quite some time that day, and even needed Brett's help, because I bit off more than I could chew. For dinner we had chicken enchiladas, taquitos, mexican spoon bread, and dirty rice. I have since found out that dirty rice is cajun, but it was oh so good! Brett made that dish and did it justice (thanks Paula Deen for the recipe!). The kids didn't even know they were eating chicken livers! Ha!!! I will definitely make it again. The enchiladas were delicious! However, maybe I should have read the recipe a little better because I didn't realize until I started that the recipe was for 2 - 9x13 dishes!!! Huh, oh well, it made a ton and that was actually a good thing because we ate it the next day too! Kurt hated it but at least he tried it. It did look pretty in my cobalt 9x13 dish.

The Mexican spoon bread was delicious, at least according to Mitch, Brett and myself. Kurt and Kelsey hated the fact that it had corn and chili peppers in it. I thought it added to the overall yumminess. And let me say that my cobalt casserole dish was the perfect dish to serve it in. It will be on the menu again at some point in time.

The kids and Brett thought that I had made this dinner because I wanted to create something festive in my fiestaware............I don't know. Maybe it was perfect timing all the way around. I did enjoy trying something new. I have my fingers crossed that I keep next weekend off, because I am on the hunt for something fun to make. What will it be this time??? I don't know. I just need to make sure whatever it is it looks great in my fiestaware.

By the way, the lime soda recipe was from Sunny Anderson on the Food Network.

Uno de Mayo!

Ok, so we fudged a little and did our cinco de mayo on the 1st. I wanted to make sure at least one of my daycare kiddos could enjoy the feast. Kurt even brought Kelsey over to partake in the event. I found out from Kurt, Kelsey, and Mitch that their favorite part of the day was getting to sample the dessert. I had made sopapilla cheesecake pie. It was soooo yummy. I think the only one not thrilled with it was the daycare child. Party pooper..............

I had started with our snack that day. I made churros(I still have burn marks on my fingers and forearms to prove I made them) and homemade lime soda. I am showing the pictures that Mitch took showing some of the foods we had that day. The pot on the stove is boiling our lime syrup for the soda. Can you tell we drank them in my special glasses?? I mean, come on, we worked so hard to get those glasses from McDonald's. Huh, we can't even remember the last time we ate there..... Delicious. The churros definitely tasted like funnel cakes to me, so that was a plus.

You can see a little bit of the sopapilla in the tangerine fiestaware 9x13 dish off to the side. We saved that for after dinner.

Yummy on the plate

Doesn't food just look better on fiestaware? I believe that it does. I find that I choose which plate I am using based on what I am eating. Who wouldn't? Right? I mean you wouldn't want to eat homemade mac and cheese on a tangerine plate? Or scrambled eggs on sunflower? No, you must choose your dishes according to the food that is going on them. I have to admit that I am not a fan of blue normally, however, the cobalt fiestaware is striking, and the food looks so appetizing on it! Try it, you'll see what I mean...........Who would have thought that a pb&j would look great on a scarlett plate? or a meat and cheese with lettuce would look so yummy on lemongrass? Superb!