Spaghetti Aglio

Yummo!!! I had to share. I think I'm having this for lunch everyday. Sooo Delish!

I got it from pinterest. It's so simple and you have all the ingredients in your pantry already.

http://www.yumsugar.com/Spaghetti-Garlic-Olive-Oil-Chili-Flakes-21398824

I made just enough for 1 serving so I used 1 garlic clove and 1/4 tsp of the crushed red pepper. I eyeballed the pasta and  olive oil.  LOVE THIS!!!

Here's the link to my Pinterest board:

http://pinterest.com/pin/224194887669834630/

Gypsy Eye's

I made the fam Gypsy Eye's for breakfast this morning and had to share. My Joy (Stepmom) made these for us all the time when I was younger and they are soooo goood!!! Very easy to make too!

First you need to cut a hole in the bread. I used a glass. Grease up a skillet with lots of butter and but the bread and cut out hole on it. When they are golden brown, flip over and crack an egg in the hole. Salt & pepper to taste and cook to desired degree of doneness.

So yummy and good!! Enjoy!

Kahlua Cake Trifle

I just had to share this cuz it's so yummy!!!!

Ingredients:

2 - 10.75 oz pound cake cut into 1 inch cubes

2 box instant vanilla pudding

Kahlua

12 oz whip topping thawed

8-9 Heath bars crushed

Layer: pound cake, pudding, Kahlua, Heath bar, whip topping. Repeat 3-4 times. top with whip topping and sprinkle Heath on top.

'

I used too much pudding in my layers in this pic so I didn't have any left for the last layer but oh well. It still tasted great!!!!

I Gave It A Go

Well I tried some art journaling and I have to admit I'm don't hate how it turned out. I don't have all the supplies I want so I got out all of Gus' paints out and mixed the colors until I got what I wanted. I loved it then tried to add a stamp and hated it so I painted over it. Loved it more before that happened but what do ya do? I think I'll put it in my SMASH book.
Here it is.

Craft Day!

Gus loves doing crafts is an understatement. Everyday he asks if we can do one. Here, I set him up with foam sheets, pipe cleaners, googly eye's, pom poms, glue and scissors and let him go to town. I got the foam sheets, pipe cleaners, googly eye's and pom poms at the dollar store. SOAR!! Oh, I mean SCORE!! 

With a little help along the way, and a lot of glue on the table, he made some pretty fun stuff.

Chicken and Dumplings

I feel like a real cook after making this!!

I have been buying a rotisserie chicken every week for Chris to use for lunch meat. I decided to make stock out of what was left from pulling the meat off the bone. I put the bones in a large pot and covered with water. Added 1 onion, 2 carrots, and 4-5 garlic cloves. I would've added celery too but I didn't have it. The first time I did it, I kept only the liquid but the second time I kept the vegis and pulled more meat form the bones and added them to the stock as well. It froze very well.

My mom was an amazing cook. I mean A-MAZE-ING!!! She loved savory dishes, like shrimp scampi, BBQ spare ribs, and she made a mean prime rib which she encased in rock salt to cook. I didn't spend a lot of time in the kitchen with her when I was young which is something I regret now. I really didn't get into cooking until I was older and that's when I started asking my mom a ton of questions. Her recipes were always kept secret and no one was allowed to read her recipe book. But being the baby of the family, I stole it from my sister after mom passed and you'll have to pry it from my hands when I'm go.

Chicken and Dumplings isn't something I remember her making so this was a stretch for me to make. The hubs loves these down home cooked meals and it totally hit the spot with the cold winter day's we've been having lately.

Ingredients:
1 pkg chicken breasts, chopped into bite size pieces
1 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs butter
1 stalk celery
1 potato chopped
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper
1 tsp poultry seasoning
2 Tbs flour
1 cup frozen peas

Dumplings:
2 cups Bisquick
2/3 cup milk (my youngest son is dairy intolerant so I used So Delicious Coconut Milk. It made the dough pretty thick so I added a tiny bit of water until it came together)
1/2 tsp salt (didn't add this this time but will next time. It needs it)

Heat large pot over med high heat. Add oil and butter. Add potatoes, celery, and bay leaf. Cook 5 min, stirring frequently. Season with salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. Add flour and cook for 2 min. Stir in stock and bring to boil. Add chicken and stir. (I cooked for 10 min but was too long) mix ingredients for dumplings and drop spoonful of it into the pot. Cook uncovered for 10 min, Add peas, cover and cook an additional 10 min.

OMG!!! So yummy!!! I believed I SOARED on this one!
Hope you enjoy!!

I'm on my way!

I did it! I cleaned out a cabinet next to my computer desk and filled it with my craft stuff!!! That was my first goal for the new year but this blog got started first. :)

Anyway, I thought I'd share my accomplishment.

                  Before                                                                                After

Before

After

After

After

Still looks cluttered but at least it's cluttered with the right stuff  :)

Now I have my creative supplies at my fingertips and can craft whenever I'm inspired. As long as my 1 year old is napping that is.

UPDATE!!

OK so Colton is napping and I got inspired! I watched the Glitter Girl Adventure 003: Breaking the Block on Two Peas in a Bucket this morning and had to make something!! I used a lot of layering that I saw Shimelle use on this video. Thanx Shimelle!!

Be Brave & Soar!!

Man What a couple of weeks I've had. My youngest got the flu a week and a half ago and gave it to the rest of us shortly after. He is still hurling at night so not sure what's up there. UGH!!!

I did get to go on a girls trip to the coast though with the best girlfriends in the world!! Much needed! Nothing like hanging with friends that have known you for most of your life. I cherish those times.

I recently signed up for Creative Jump Start Summit through Nathalie Kalbach's blog http://nathaliesstudio.com/  Everyday in January I receive an email that has a link to a video by some very talented ladies about how they find inspiration for their projects. I found out about this from Heidi Swapp's facebook page. So far I am loving it!!! I just watched the video by Donna Downey which made me wonder over to her blog http://donnadowney.typepad.com. LOVE HER!! I watched her Inspiration Wednesday video and just loved her message.  Know who you are, know what you want, be brave. Totally resonated with me. Kinda goes along with my one little word Soar. I need to be brave in order to soar.

I have been so inspired lately to try things that I have always thought I was no good at. This blog for one. I am so not a writer so I thought I could never have a blog. I'm digging art journals lately. Pinning them like crazy. I am by no means an artist but find myself wanting to go get some paints and start painting after watching these inspiration videos. I have always done the same things on my scrapbook pages but am drawn to a totally different style lately.

I've learned through these Jump Start videos that I need to stop being scared of trying something new and stop being scared of making mistakes because it is in our mistakes that we learn. I think that's true for most things in life.

So, I am determined to be BRAVE this year and SOAR in the things I do.

Here is a picture of the art journal page by Donna Downey's Inspiration Wednesday 1/11/12 blog post.

 http://donnadowney.typepad.com.

My Addiction

One of the things I wanted to post on my blog were my scrapbook pages. I have only been scrapbooking for about 4 years and I can honestly say I am addicted!!! Addicted to the fun paper, addicted to my Cricut and Gypsy, addicted to the embellishments, addicted to scrapbook weekends... I could go on BUT I won't, for your sake :) I don't get a chance to scrap as often as I'd like because my 2 little boys keep me very busy. I'd like to share what I've got so far though (well not everything).

Like I said in an earlier post, I'm also addicted to crafting blogs. I LOVE Rahel Menig's style over at http://swissgirldesigns.com/blog/. Her style is very different than mine and I am anxious to try some of her techniques. I also love Corrie over at http://corejones.blogspot.com/  Again, very different than my style but I get so inspired when I see what these gals are doing. Anyway...... Here they are

Chicken Fried Rice

Yummy Chicken Fried Rice!!! I tend to make this about once a week. It's easy to prepare and I usually have the ingredients on hand. Sometimes I leave the chicken off and cook it in teriyaki sauce but this time I added it to the fried rice. Yum!! Soooo good! Hope you enjoy.

Chicken Fried Rice

2 chicken breast halves

2 Tbs corn starch

2 Tbs soy sauce

salt & pepper

Asian seasoning (I used Pampered Chef)

canola oil

1/2 onion chopped

1 carrot chopped

3/4 cup frozen peas

2 eggs

sesame oil

3 cups cooked rice (I cooked 1 cup brown rice so I think it ended up 3 cups cooked)

2 garlic cloves chopped

1-2 Tbs chopped ginger

sesame seeds

soy sauce

3-4 green onions

Chop chicken in small bite size pieces and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with cornstarch, toss to coat. Add soy sauce and stir well. Season with salt, pepper and Asian seasoning. Heat a wok or large skillet between high and medium high heat. You want the pan really hot. Add canola oil to hot pan then add chicken. Cook until chicken is done then set aside and keep warm.

Saute onion, carrot, and peas until onions are translucent. Spread vegis to sides of pan so there is a spot in the middle to scramble up the eggs. Crack eggs into center of pan and break yokes and scramble them. when almost cooked stir all together and let eggs cook rest of the way. 

Push everything to the side of pan and add a small amount of sesame oil. Add cooked rice, garlic, ginger, sesame seeds, and soy sauce to pan. Stir well. Cook together for about 3-5 min. Add half green onions and stir. Pour into a large bowl and top with remaining green onions.

A New Lease On Life

WHY NOT NOW?!?!?

OK so I have been obsessed with reading blogs lately and I've read a lot about picking a word for the year. I loved the idea of picking one word that I can focus, meditate on and think about all year long but didn't think I'd do it. The more times I saw this on different blogs I kept thinking, well, maybe I otta!! Why Not?!?! Then I stumbled onto a blog post on My Day-to-Day Life by Amy Coose (http://amycoose.blogspot.com/). This post just resonated with me. So I prayed about and thought long and hard and came up with

SOAR

I'm not sure if it's the new year itch or what but I just want to do all the things I said I'd do "someday" That's kinda how this blog got started. Like I said, I'm obsessed with blogs right now, especially scrapbooking and art journaling blogs and I kept thinking "I wanna start a blog!!" I told a friend in passing one day and she called me a few days later and said she thinks I really should. And here I am. (Thanx Michelle)

Anyway... I just got to thinking of all the things me and my hubby want to do and want to have "someday" and got to thinking Why Not Now? Why not start a blog? Why not start posting my scrapbook LO's Why not put a shop in our backyard for Chris to do wood working?

WHY NOT NOW?

Since the word for a year thing is to pick ONE word I knew it couldn't be why not now so I got as close as I could with SOAR

Someday Turned into Today

The business men's goodbye by Catrin Welz-Stein Image from pinterest

People who soar are those who refuse to sit back,

sigh and wish things would change.

They neither complain of their lot nor passively

dream of some distant ship coming in.

Rather, they visualize in their minds

that they are not quitters;

they will not allow life’s circumstances to

push them down and hold them under.

Unknown

http://happylifequotes.com/2010/11/soaring-quotes/

 

Well today's the day!

Wow!! How exciting!! I started a blog!! Not at all sure of what I'm doing but so what right!?!?
 The first thing I'm going to post is a recipe I made the other night. I was at the grocery store the other day and the cashier noticed the Rhodes Rolls I was getting and turned to the cashier behind her and said "I need to make those things you make with these rolls" and the other gal said " Oh the Kraut Lassen's"  Let me just say that peeked my interest right away so I butted in (which is my M.O.) and asked what that was. She proceeded to tell me that she cooks up hamburger, onions, and cabbage and wraps the roll around it and bakes them. I just happened to have cabbage in my fridge from another amazing recipe (I'll post that next time I make it) so I made it and loved it!!!! Actually I googled it first and found Kraut Bierocks is what they are called. I couldn't really hear the gal when I asked what they were called but thought I heard Lassen's. Apparently I didnt' :) They turned out so delish.

Here's the recipe and pics

Kraut Bierocks

Rhodes Rolls (as many as you think you'll eat, I did 16) thawed and risen

1 lb ground meat (I used ground turkey)

1 head cabbage chopped ( I had purple cabbage on hand but most recipes call for green)

1 onion chopped

2 garlic cloves chopped

2 tsp Thyme, divided

2 tsp Rosemary, divided

1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper

salt (lots) and pepper

Follow directions on the Rhodes package to thaw and rise rolls.

 When rolls are ready, Heat a large pot or dutch oven on medium high heat. Add olive oil to coat pan and add onions. I always throw some salt and pepper on them and let them sweat a bit. Add ground meat and season with salt, pepper, 1 tsp Thyme, and 1 tsp Rosemary. When meat is browned, add cabbage, more salt (I know, lots of salt right? but it needs it), pepper, rest of the Thyme and Rosemary, and the Cayenne pepper. Stir and cook until meat is done and cabbage is somewhat wilted.

Take a roll and use your fingers to flatten it out.

Put a heaping spoonful of cabbage mixture on it.

Close it up around it. Sounds hard but you'll get the hang of it promise!

Place on a jelly roll pan and brush with melted butter and cut a tiny slit in it.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 min until golden brown.