CREEPIN' UP ON US!

Morning my peeps... hows it be? LOL... I'm relieved to be finished with my shopping (unless I need something I am cooking with and run out- which always happens LOL!) and I can just relax and stay home and bake! I don't even plan on getting out of my PJ's the next few days! Until I have to go to my Christmas present from my brother that is... can't go to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert in pj's! LOL! Yes, my brother knows I love them and he went last year. He said it was an awesome show and I "HAD" to go, so he wanted to take his 3 favorite girls to see it and that was our Christmas present this year (the tickets are expensive... I should know- I had to rat-race buy them while he was at work LMAO!). So he is taking my daughter Madison, her BFF Katie (like my other daughter) and myself! WOOHOO! Gonna have a blast! Its on the 27th so be ready to hear all about it Monday morning LOL!

Alrighty folks... its the 22nd... and Christmas is just around the corner! Its literally creepin' up on us! Are you ready? Well if not, I got another idea for you for a present!

Craft Idea of the Day: Video CD's

One of the best gifts you can give someone is the gift of love and memories. Do you have some pictures of yourself or that loved one and some music on your computer? Well, if you do, you can make a slideshow set to music and burn it onto a disk or cd and give that for Christmas! The program I use is called PhotoStory3 and its really easy to use. I also used avery's Christmas CD labels and printed a pretty label for the disk. I picked out a specific song for each person and had plenty of photos set to the music. It was awesome! For some reason it brought tears to my eyes for each one I did! Think about it... like I said it makes a great gift!

Okie dokie... I just got home with all the last minute stuff I needed from the store (milk, eggs, etc.) and looking at all that food made me hungry! Sooo.. what to make, what to make, what to make! I think I am gonna do some bacon wrapped steak fingers, mashed potatoes, and asparagus casserole. Yea that sounds good!

To make the bacon wrapped steak fingers, you sinply take one of the thin cut steaks and slice it into strips. Strips should be finger size... about 3-4 inches long each. Season the meat on both sides (for this I use my own version of Emeril's Essence". Around each "Steak finger" wrap 1 slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Fry in a skillet with vegetable or olive oil (I use veggie most of the time) until the bacon is crisp and the meat is cooked. Remove and drain on a paper towel then remove your toothpick. These are my DS18's favorite little "snack" dinner lol! I'll assume you know how to make mashed potatoes, LOL, so let me share the asparagus casserole with you... (courtesy of my favorite lady- Mrs. Paula Deen!)



Asparagus Casserole

Ingredients

1/3 cup butter
3 pounds asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 (8-ounce) package sliced baby bella mushrooms
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (6-ounce) can french-fried onions

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚. Spray a 13x9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add asparagus, onion, and mushrooms; cook for 5 to 6 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Add flour; cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add milk, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until mixture is thickened. Stir in cheese, sour cream, salt, lemon zest, and pepper.

3. Spoon mixture into prepared pan, and bake for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Top with onions, and bake for 5 minutes longer.

Absolutely delish! Now I would say I have a sweet tooth, but right now, teeth are a "sore" suject with me LOL! So here is your sweet treat for the day...



Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

Ingredients

1 (9 inch) deep dish pie shell
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup butter
4 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees F).

2. In a small saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, and butter or margarine. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until butter or margarine melts and sugar dissolves. Cool slightly.

3. In a large bowl combine eggs, bourbon, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Slowly pour sugar mixture into egg mixture, whisking constantly. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Pour mixture into pie shell.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes, or until set and golden. May be served warm or chilled.

Doesn't that sound like a tummy warmer? So how's that recipe book coming? LOL! Told you there would be tons to share! Anyway, I'm off to outbake Mrs. Edwards pie company LOL! I'll meet you here tomorrow for another exciting adventure in crafting and cooking! Til tomorrow... HUGS!

WHEN IS MY 5 MINUTE BREAK? LOL

Mornin' everyone! How are you doing this cold and wet morning? 46 and raining here... yuck! We had our Christmas parade last night through town, so we decorted my daughters instrument in lights and garland and all the kids were in the holly jolly mood. It was great... COLD... but great! UNTIL we went to leave that is! See after the band gets to the end of the parade, they have 30 minutes to get back to the bandhall and put up their uniforms. We go to leave but can't get out! Some inconsiderate jerkoff blocked us in! And on top of that, he left his door wide open, so anyone could have stolen his truck! I sat there until he came back and let me tell you, I gave him what for! So much that the cop who was there kept standing between me and the guy cause he didn't want me attacking him! LOL... but we got a police escort back to the bandhall, so DD didn't get in trouble LOL!

Got a couple of errands to run early this morning, including taking my DS to the eye doctor for a new set of glasses, and delivering a couple of candy bouquets, but other than that I'm home alone YAY! LOL... SO, I plan on some crock pot soups and making some other TV Dinners, trying to finish the decorating, and who knows what else! I did 7 loads of laundry yesterday. but I should really do some more! I hate laundry YUCK! LOL... plus I still have to finish the inlaws last 2 presents before Sunday. FUN... NOT! LOL anyways, ok so yea, what craft idea to share today? Well... I posted on one of my yahoo groups about some of the gifts I have made and people wanted to know about it, so I think I will share it with you...



(**This is a picture I found on google... as I realized I don't HAVE one of the ones I made and I already wrapped them up! UGH! Next one I make I will make sure to take a picture and replace it here!**)

Craft Idea of the Day: Quillows
What is a quillow you ask? Well a quillow is just a quilt and a pillow in one. The basic idea is that you fold the quilt into a pocket you sew on and when it's all folded up it looks like a pillow. Some people sew a strap to carry it onto their quillow. It is a great thing to have if you do alot of traveling. They are very easy to make actually. Here are some instructions courtesy of essortment.com:

Materials needed for a quillow:

2 Fabric Panels Pre-Washed
Yarn for Quilt Tying
Pins
Needle
Thread
Sewing Machine
Quilt Batting

1. Start by making the Quillows pocket. You will need 2 pieces of approximately 18x18" fabric squares. These pieces of fabric will be getting a lot of wear and use and will need to be extra sturdy.
2. You can purchase commercial pillow panels that are pre-printed on material in a variety of styles. You can find panels with sports teams insignia, tractor and racecar panels, outdoor fishing or hunting motifs, southwest pillow panels and dainty flowered panels. Fabric stores have a wide variety of options available for decorating your quillows.
3. If you are not using a very strong material, reinforce it with heavy duty fusible webbing sandwiched between your two pocket panels. After choosing your pillow top panel, layout the 2 pillow panels right sides together. Sew them together leaving a few inches open at one end to turn the pillow inside out. Before turning the pillow panel, use a pencil point to bring your corners to a nice point and clip off the corners at an angle. Turn the pillow right sides out and using a hand needle and thread, blind stitch the turning hole closed. Press the pillow for a crisp look.
4. Position the finished pillow front on the top middle of one of the quilt fabric panels. Match up the panel on the unfinished outside edge of the quilt panel. Machine stitch the pillow panel to your quilt panel leaving the side of the pillow that faces the vertical quilt open to form a pocket. Be sure to double stitch the top ending seams of your pocket for durability.
5. Next, laying out both top and bottom quilt fabrics with the "right" sides of the fabric together, the pocket facing in. Separate your quilt batting in two as the general commercial batting tends to be to thick and makes it difficult to fold your bulky quilt into the finished pillow pocket. You will find it quite easy to pull the batting apart once you start separating a corner and working it apart.
6. Lay the batting on top of the two pieces of fabric and pin all three pieces together along the edge of the fabric. Turn the pinned pieces over with the fabric side up and trim the batting to fit the fabric panels.
7. Next, machine sew all the way around your pre-pinned quilt leaving a 12 inch hole to turn your quilt inside out. After turning your quilt using a hand needle and thread, blind stitch the turning hole closed as you did with the pocket.
8. The last step is to hand tie your quilt with coordinating yarn and wide eyed quilting needle. If your fabric has a pattern you may want to tie off the yarn along the design. Yarn ties should be made about every foot of the quilt to keep the batting in place.

FOLDING A QUILLOW

After you have folded your quillow into a pocket a few times it will be easy to do. To start, lay out the quilt with the pocket side down and fold the outer vertical edges of the quilt towards each other overlapping first one side, than the other edge. Flip your quilt over so the edges are folded in and the pillow pocket is at the top of your quilt. Start at the bottom of the quilt and fold it into approximately 2 foot sections until you get to the pocket and slide the quilt into it's self made pillow.

OK now for some yummy food! I'm making creamy tortellini soup, homemade yeast rolls, beef stew, and cornbread, and a pecan pie for dessert. I'll also be making more TV dinners for freezing, and I will begin mixing up some fresh dry mixes for storage (oh you're gonna trip out when you see what I am talking about later on down the road LOL!) So I am gonna share my soup and pie recipes with you today... you can use the pie for holiday cooking as well! YAY! Holiday baking is just around the corner! I start bright and early on Monday!! YAY!



Creamy Tortellini Soup

Ingredients
1 1.8-ounce envelope white sauce mix
4 cups water
1 14-ounce can vegetable broth
1-1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 7- to 8-ounce package dried cheese tortellini (about 2 cups)
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
6 cups fresh baby spinach leaves or torn spinach
Ground black pepper (optional)
Finely shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions
1. Place dry white sauce mix in a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker. Gradually add the water to the white sauce mix, stirring until smooth. Stir in broth, mushrooms, onion, garlic, basil, salt, oregano, and cayenne pepper.

2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours or on high-heat setting for 2-1/2 to 3 hours.

3. Stir in dried tortellini. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 1 hour more or high-heat setting for 45 minutes more.

4. Stir in evaporated milk and fresh spinach. If desired, sprinkle individual servings with black pepper and Parmesan cheese. Makes 4 servings.



Incredibly Nutty Pecan Pie

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 cup butter, chilled
4 tablespoons ice water
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup pecans, finely crushed
1 cup pecans, quartered
1 cup pecan halves

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. To Make Crust: In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and white sugar. Cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Gradually sprinkle the water over the dry mixture, stirring until dough comes together enough to form a ball. On a floured surface flatten dough ball with rolling pin. Roll out into a circle that is one inch larger than pie dish. Place pie shell into dish and refrigerate until pie filling is complete.

3. To Make Pie Filling: In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, light and dark corn syrups, brown sugar, butter, salt and finely crushed pecans. Spread quartered pecans over bottom of refrigerated pie crust. Pour syrup mixture over top of pecans, then arrange pecan halves on top of pie.

4. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for one hour or until firm; let cool for one hour before serving.

Well this concludes todays info-blog LOL! Be aware that starting on Monday, I've decided that along with my dinner recipes, I will also be sharing one sweets (cookie, pies, cakes, etc) recipe with you per day so you can have fun with some holiday baking as well! I imagine to see swarms of my extendeds when the oven fires up for some sweet yummy goodness next week! LOL I can't keep their grubby hands away! But I love them all and wouldn't have it any other way! Until tomorrow my darlings... HUGS!