Pumpkin Pie

Hello! Fall is a time when my kitchen gets a bit busier. I welcome the heat from the oven and long for creamy casseroles, pies and other goodies. As I type this, there is a double batch of brownies in the oven. Oh my!!

The other day it was pumpkin pie. Now personally, I am not a huge fan of pumpkin pie but Greg and the boys are. It isn't always about me after all. (the brownies in the oven are TOTALLY about me and my PMS, lol) It is a recipe I have used for years and figured it was one for the recipe binder I am continually working on.

Here is a pic. No comments on my not-so-pretty crust okay?! It may not be pretty but it tastes wonderful! Taste always trumps and this crust is flaky and pretty fool proof. It rolls out beautifully. You can see this post for the crust recipe.

Ready for my couldn't-be-simpler recipe card??? Seriously, I feel like I cheated.

I used My Mind's Eye Mischievous paper pack. Even the pumpkins are cut from one of the papers in the 6x6 pack. I did stamp the 44 in the top left corner. I didn't even bother with stitching...it was all about getting it done before the timer for the brownies beeped. A girl has her priorities!! Especially when it is PMS time.

Here is a PDF file with the recipe if you want to down load it. It will print 4 to a page.

Pumpkin Pie

Have a great day!!

Recipe Time

I hope you enjoyed a relatively labor free Labor Day! We attempted to go camping and cut our trip short due to weather. I really enjoyed a quiet day at home, just puttering about. My kitchen cupboards got reorganized and cleaned out. I got some bargain/coupon shopping done. I made yummy potato pancakes for dinner. Mmmmm, good! I am working on a recipe card for the pancakes so look for that down the road.

A couple of weeks ago I made a recipe card that never got uploaded. This one is for Pantry Pasta. The name came from the fact that most of the ingredients are regular pantry/freezer items in our house. It is one of those flexible recipes, those seem to be preferred in our house lately.

The chicken is so cute isn't he?? I picked him up at Buffalo Stamps and Stuff, I think he is from Great Impressions. I knew right away that he would be just the right size for a recipe card. He is colored with Copics and then I added black glaze pen over the petals of the flower.

Here is the PDF file in case you would like it, it will print 4 recipes to a page.

Pantry Pasta PDF file

Menu Monday: Crockpot Ravioli

Welcome to another week!

This week Tops (our local grocery store) is having a big frozen food sale. I came home with a small pile of bags of cheese ravioli. That means ravioli is on the menu for this week. I do not have a lot of success making pasta in the crockpot, except for this recipe. It is simple and all it needs is a salad and some fresh bread.

Click on the recipe to get a larger view. The tomato image is from a CHF set by Shady Tree Studios. It is colored with Prismacolor pencils and gamsol. In person the reds match a bit better.

Speaking of Shady Tree, keep a watch for some new releases from Nancy coming soon!

Have a great day!

Menu Monday: Creamy Italian Chicken

So, did your team win last night???

Our house had divided loyalties so someone was bound to be excited and someone else crushed. Our youngest has been a Steelers fan for years now and hubby has been a Packer Backer for...well, a looooong time.

Me...I just love the food ;). I made sure we had appetizers galore, all those things you don't normally prepare unless there is an event. Followed by a few Tums, lol.

Today on the menu is Creamy Italian Chicken. It is a crockpot meal that we repeat on a regular basis in our house. Crockpot recipes can be such time savers. We enjoyed this on Friday but I failed to get a photo.

I used the retired SU set, Best of Cluck. For the title font, I changed it up a bit, using Honey Script. I was getting a bit weary of the other one.

I have the PDF version if you care to download it for yourself...and a few friends since it prints 4 to a page.

Creamy Italian Chicken PDF

Menu Monday: Quickie Pork & Vegetable Lo Mein

I can't promise a recipe card every Monday but I am thinking of making it more of a regular feature. It will keep me on task with my cookbook.

We are one week into using the e-Mealz plan. To be fair, we didn't plan on using all 7 meals. Partly because we often have left overs and partly because we have some other things in the freezer to use up. At dinner one night we read through the menu provided by e-Mealz and chose 5 of the 7 dinners. The shopping list they provide makes it easy at the store. That part I really liked. I shopped at Walmart for the ingredients so my bill was very reasonable and I felt great knowing I had a meal plan ready to go for the week ahead.

On Saturday I started to prepare the Pork Lo Mein recipe provided and found that I had used up the red pepper I needed and due to time, I could not cook the recipe as directed. (note to self: read the recipe all the way through ahead of time!!) I quickly made some adjustments and created a great dinner. It was easier than the recipe provided and filled with more veggies. It was such a hit that I added it to my recipe files before the night was done. Since it is quite a bit different than the e-Mealz version, I don't have any issue sharing it with you.

First, let me show you the end product...

Aldi's sells a great bag of frozen Oriental veggies, I don't remember the exact price but I like to keep a couple of bags on hand for quick meals. It worked great in this recipe. I used the Teriyaki sauce from the bottle instead of the packet that came in the bag. Beware though, this makes a big batch. The left overs will be great lunches this week at work.

And here is the recipe card. Click on the photo for a closer view.

I used some Graphic 45 DP along the side and for the accent at the top I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I added a bit of VersaMagic ink on the folder before embossing a scrap of vanilla card stock. Then I punched it out with a circle punch. It makes it much easier to see than just using the embossed piece plain. Here is a pic of the folder I used, the lantern on my project is in the lower right corner.

I am trying something new this time. I have made my recipe into a PDF file that you can download. It prints up 4 to a page, just an FYI. Click below for the PDF...

Quickie Pork & Vegetable Lo Mein recipe

Menu Monday

Another Monday, ugh! Weekends go by so fast. Hubby returned home at 2am Saturday. We are all so happy to have him back. While he was away he had severe pains that ended up being from a 7mm kidney stone. He was virtually pain free this last week and was able to complete his course work. Yesterday the pain returned, I am hoping he will be willing to go to the doctor to have the stone blasted so it can pass more easily. Poor fella.

I am finding life a bit hard to balance of late. Finding time and desire to stamp has been difficult. Instead I have been focused more on my duties of being a mom. After months of deliberation, I signed up for e-Mealz. The meal planning at our house has been severely lacking so I am hoping to get some help from the folks at e-Meals. If you haven't heard of them before, check out their site. Until the end of January you can use the code "organize" to save a few more dollars off the already reasonable rate. I am embarking on week one and some of the meals are simple enough for the boys to make. I will keep you posted. I would love to hear from anyone who has already tried them out.

One of the meals that we often rely on when ideas are short, is breakfast for dinner. I have a tried and true pancake recipe that we all love and it uses ingredients you most likely have in your cupboard. While Greg was away the boys and I made a batch, throwing in some frozen blueberries we picked last summer. They were soooo good!!! It was time I made a recipe card for my files since it's such an oft used recipe.

Here is a photo of our blueberry batch...

The basic recipe is simple and you can throw lots of different things into it...fruit, chocolate chips, pecans.

Click on the photo of the card to see a larger image.

Thanks for stopping by!

YUM Time!!

Hold onto your hats and mittens....it's time for a classic Harp recipe. I didn't create it but I have been making it for years and well, you sorta become known for certain things after awhile. I made 2 small modifications this year and OM goodness! Over the top.

What is YUM? Some people call it White Trash, others call it White Chocolate Party Mix, but after eating it you will totally agree that YUM is the right name. I packaged some up to show you but there is no way I would give this package to someone! It is way too small and would in the end just be a cruel joke rather than a thoughtful gesture. It would be like offering someone one lick of an ice cream cone. Just. Not. Right.

There are several ingredients but it is oh so easy to make. Here is the original recipe, click on the photo to get a larger view. Then keep reading for my modifications.

As always, I keep my recipe cards simple so they will store well. No big or thick components. I used the SU ornament punch for my accent and the sentiment is from Paper Trey. Oh, and the fab and fun paper is from Echo Park.

As is, the recipe makes 5 quarts, enough to share if you feel so inclined. I give a lot away so I usually make between 3-5 batches. That is no joke! My whole 8' kitchen island is a sea of YUM. Often times instead of using the white chocolate chips I buy the huge 2.5 lb blocks of Ghiradelli white chocolate at Sam's club. It seems to melt a bit better for me but either way works. Everyone seems to have their favorite component and mine is hands down the Corn Chex. My least favorite are the pretzels but I still like them. This year I substituted half of the pretzels with mini animal crackers. Honestly, I can't distinguish the crackers in a huge way but I like them better than the pretzels. What put this year's batch over the top was subbing half of the regular Cheerios with half Chocolate Cheerios. That was the winner! The fun of this recipe is playing around with different ingredients. I may just stop playing now though, why mess with perfection, lol?

Change up the M&M's seasonally and enjoy all year round. I save it for Christmas otherwise I would be round. Ahem...rounder.

Hope you enjoy!

Woofy Treats

My boys wanted to make some homemade dog treats last week so I set out to find a good recipe. We made the dough and used dog bone shaped cookie cutters to create the treats. Of course, I couldn't pass up the chance to make some fun packaging. Isn't this adorable??

The cute kraft gable box came from Niki Estes' Etsy store, Apple Blossom Paperie. The size is perfect for small items or homemade treats. The front is covered with some Basic Grey Max and Whiskers paper. The image is one from CHF, so sadly it is not available anymore. It was from the Kim Hughes line along with the "woof" sentiment I stamped all over the box.

In honor of the holiday, we made the dog biscuits Thanksgiving flavored. The dogs {{loved}} them!! Here is the recipe in case any of you would like to make treats for your four legged friends.

Gourmet Dog Treats

2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup powdered milk

1 egg, beaten

5 T vegetable oil

1/4 cup water

2 jars strained baby food (any flavor as long as it is all natural, no preservatives)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients into a thick dough. Knead about 4-5 minutes, until it becomes smooth. Sprinkle additional flour onto counter, roll out to 1/2" thickness. cut into small pieces or use cookie cutters to make shapes. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets about 22 minutes. Cool and store in airtight container.

I found that ours needed to bake closer to 45-60 minutes in order to make them crunchy. I used organic baby food, one jar of sweet potato and one jar of turkey and vegetables. Try different flavors. One thing to keep in mind is dogs can not have onions so make sure your baby food does not contain additives.

Have a super day!

Danish Anyone??

I have another recipe and card to share with you today. These mini danish's are deceptively easy and will get rave reviews at your next brunch or function. This recipe has been a favorite for some time and I am always asked for the recipe. Wanna see what they look like? Check these out...

They are made easy with the use of cans of rolled Crescent Rolls. You can easily change them up by adding a bit of fruit filling too. We prefer the cheese kind with fruit on the side but to each his own ;).

Here is the recipe card

I used a stamp from a Shady Tree set that CHF used to sell along with some Basic Grey paper.

Oh, and did I mention the recipe makes 40? It does, really, no lyin'! I wouldn't recommend cutting the recipe in half either, you'll just regret it later. Invite a friend over for a cuppa, a danish and some girl time.

If the clouds will ever clear out so I can take some photos of projects I just might be back tomorrow. I am so done with the rain and gloom!

A Card and Some Stew

I am sliding feet first into the weekend! Well, after I work a full day. I. Can. Make. It.

I have two things to share today, this first is another card made with SU's Just Believe set. I combined Marina Mist with Basic Grey. I like the more mellow color scheme.

The second thing is another recipe card, this time for Meatball Vegetable Stew. Tis the season for soups and stews and this one even goes in the crockpot for a super easy and yummy meal. Just add fresh bread and call dinner done.

How do you like my hand cut carrots? What is it they say, necessity is the mother of invention? Something like that. I had no veggie stamps to fit so I cut carrots out of orange pattern paper and drew in the green tops.

Keepin' it short today, the sooner I get workin', the sooner quitin' time will get here.

Thanks for visiting.

More Recipes

I have been having trouble with my eyes lately, trouble focusing mostly and it is freaking me out a bit. The doctor gave me some drops to try so I hope it improves soon. I tried to do some stamping last night and just had to walk away. So, I will share 2 more of the recipe cards I made over the weekend.

I am half German, spent 6 years growing up in Germany and my mom still lives there. I wish we could afford to visit as a family! If for no other reason than to eat fresh brotchen and authentic schnitzel. We looooove German food and I often make dishes at home. Potato pancakes, pork roasts, spaetzle, red cabbage...mmmm! This recipe for German beef goulash is one of our favorites. The long simmer times produces a very tender meat but you will have to leave yourself time to make it, this is no 30 minute meal. Totally worth it though.

I found this piece of Basic Grey paper that I had stamped in my discard pile so I pulled out that Unity stamp and used it for my card as well. I was in a fall color mood when I made my cards last week.

When we have banana's in need of being used up I usually make bread but sometimes I splurge and make this banana cake with cream cheese frosting. It is super moist and yummy!

Here is my not-so-exciting card, lol. This must have been the last one I made and my creativity had run out. No banana stamps in my collection so I went with stars. Lame I know. They can't all be home runs ;).

There you have it. I hope you enjoy!

Sunday Supper

One of the biggest challenges I have with my new job is meal time at home. It requires some planning ahead which I am not in the habit of doing. Now that cooler weather is settling in I am finding that Sunday is a great day for cooking a big meal and dessert.

I have a meatloaf recipe I have used for several years. Now before you groan at the thought of meatloaf, you need to know this is not your average dish! I think I got this recipe from a gourmet cooking magazine where they featured an entire article on the different aspects of meatloaf. I remember thinking at the time that a whole article devoted to meatloaf was overkill, but it was very enlightening! It is not a difficult recipe but it may have some ingredients that will surprise you. (the recipe also calls for 1/2 tsp thyme but I don't care for it) We love meatloaf sandwiches if we manage to have left overs. Here is the recipe card I made, click on the photo to get a bigger view.

All the recipe cards I make are 4"x6". I print them out 4 to a page so I have extras for the cookbooks I am making for my 2 sons, leaving me one to share with a friend. The font I use for the title is from Creating Keepsakes, called Ali's hand, you can download it free at this link. The body of the recipe is a font called AFL and can be downloaded free from Dafont at this link.

You will notice that I use the same basic layout for my cards. There isn't much room for extras so I often use scraps of PP for my left edge strip. I have limited food stamps so I do have to get creative sometimes. In this case, I used a punch I had to create the accent.

I also made a fall favorite, Apple Cheese Torte, for dessert. I shared this recipe a long time ago but I didn't have a card done. Not sure this design could have been any simpler, I used a QuicKutz embossing folder with apples along the left edge and also cut out a single embossed apple for the accent. I added a touch of black glaze pen for the seeds.

Here is a photo of the torte, I apologize for the poor photo, it was a gloomy afternoon.

Tip: double your recipe to freeze a meal for a later date. Making 2 meatloaves was hardly any extra work and now I have one ready to go for a night we need dinner in a hurry.

Tip #2: use one of the extra recipe cards as a gift tag when you take a sample of your goodies to a friend.

That's all for today! Thanks for visiting.

Tomatoes??

Are you over run with tomatoes from your garden? Despite eating tomato sandwiches and salads every day we still had a mountain of tomatoes. And there are more coming. The $5 I spent on 12 small plants this spring more than paid off.

Several years ago I was getting box fulls of tomatoes from folks at church so I searched out a spaghetti sauce recipe to use them up. It was hard to find a recipe that used fresh tomatoes rather than strictly canned ones but I did finally find one. It makes a huge batch, perfect for freezing future meals. You can cook it on the stove top but in the heat of summer I opt for my electric roasting pan, letting it just simmer away for hours. To get the best flavor, I cook meatballs and/or sausage right in the sauce. We tried hot sausage one year and the flavor was incredible but too spicy for us so I stick with mild sausage now. The photo isn't the best as it was dark and raining out the night we enjoyed our meal, but here it is...

Of course I had to create a recipe card for my files. The embellishment on this one was a freebie when I ordered some items from Etsy. Works for me!

My other favorite thing to make with tomatoes is salsa. I have already posted that recipe here. Just gotta find more time in the day.

This afternoon we head back up to Toronto so my mom can catch her flight back to Germany. Her visit just flew by. Sniff, sniff!

See you later!

Peaches 'n Cream Pie

When I was a kid I was allergic to peaches. I would break out in hives all over if I ate one. I KNOW! The tragedy of it all! Somewhere along the way my allergy went away. Thank goodness, 'cause I loooove peaches. Peach season is upon us and I am finding more and more ways to use them. Here is what we had for dessert last night.

You are in for for a 2fer today! I have a recipe to share for incredible Peaches 'n Cream pie as well as my favorite pie crust. We like the Sour Cream Apple Pie recipe so much I searched out something similar to do with peaches. Mmmm!

I make my own crust after years of being too intimidated to try. The recipe comes from The Silver Palate cookbook. My SIL has been using it for years and we always love her pies. I find the recipe really easy to work with and the results are always tasty. I use my KitchenAide food processor to whip it up in a flash. Just be careful not to over process it or it will be tough.

Click on the photos to bring up a bigger view if you'd like.

If you give these recipes a go, I would love to know what you think!

Thanks for stopping by, blessings on your day!

Surprise!

Whoa, it's Friday already! Where does time go? Oma and oldest son are back in the house, they arrived just in time to enjoy funnel cakes last night. I spent almost 2 hours frying up cakes for the crowd that came. At the end there was one left for me to enjoy. Oh. My. Goodness! Crispy, sugary delight! I will share the recipe at the end of this post in case you want to impress your family and friends. Just don't blame me when your pants won't button, lol.

Here is the second of the three cards we made at Tuesday nights class.

Again, she had us stamp second parts to pop up, this time the bottom and top box pieces. We used an exacto knife to cut around the ear so we could tuck the ribbon behind. The greens and oranges are a nice contrast. There is more black glaze pen on the polka dots of her dress and the pupils of her eyes.

Okay...for that calorie busting Funnel Cake recipe:

3 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 whole eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups milk

powdered sugar

canola oil

Heat oil to 350 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl then whisk in eggs, vanilla and milk. The batter should look like pancake batter, add a little more milk if necessary. Pour 1/2 cup batter through a funnel while making swirls in the oil. Fry until lightly browned on both sides. Drain on paper towel and dust with powdered sugar.

This recipe says it serves 8, I thought the batter would never run out!

I was so busy cooking that I didn't get a chance to take a photo but here is one I found on the web just in case some of you have never had the pleasure!

Blessings on your day!

More Samples...

from the ATC line at CHF. This first one I made using the Haute Couture set. The Eiffel Tower image is my favorite and here I paired it with some fashion themed DP from Graphic 45. The deep blues and creams in the paper are so lovely. I did a lot of sponging around the image, giving it a dreamy, night time feel. Gotta love distress inks!

The other sample I made is another recipe card. We love to buy kettle corn when we go to a fair or market but what if you want it when there isn't a fair around?? I found this simple recipe and we have made it several times. MMMmmm is all I can say. The corn image is from the Fall Harvest set, I like the advertising feel of this one.

It's back to work for me, catch you later!

Bawk, Bawk...

It is finally Friday! Hubby will be home tomorrow and I can not wait.

I have 2 items to share with you, they are actually items I made for last weeks Backgrounder focus at CHF, both using the Chicken Wire backgrounder. They also both use this adorable Sizzix chicken die.

We live in a pretty rural area and it is not uncommon for people to keep chickens. It also isn't uncommon to get random gifts of eggs. The senior pastor at our church has chickens and when I had my gallbladder surgery, instead of a card, I got a carton of eggs with the words "praying 4 you" spelled out on the top of the eggs. Cute, eh? So this chicken themed thank you card comes in handy around here, lol. Embossing the Chicken Wire in silver draws attention to it. The finished size of the card is about 4".

Back in the spring I tried out a new recipe for a dinner at church. It was a keeper recipe so I made a card for my files.

You should be able to click on the photo for a better view.

Our neighbors have chickens and though they can be somewhat noisy, they didn't really bother us. Now, the rooster they got last year...that is a different matter. I guess it is all part of livin' in the country.

Have a super weekend!