Thursday, October 25, 2012

Trick or Treat!

Happy Trick or Treat everyone...yes, I realize not everybody has trick or treat tonight.  I think they should just do trick or treat on one day, everybody has off, it's an all day event....yes much like Christmas, but with candy!  Oh, I would love it!!!  Here at our house we're prepped for trick or treat tonight...we're pumped!

Our goal is to be "that house" with the good candy...not the whoopers, apples, bananas, oranges...ya know..."yucky" stuff.  (I do love apples, bananas and oranges...just not for trick or treat.)

oh yes, the 5lb. assortment bag :)  plus we have 2 more of different kinds!

Apparently sour warheads turn your tounge extremely blue. I really don't remember that ever happening before! (Please excuse my "bum" clothes today.)

Have a safe and happy holiday everyone!!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Lazy Wednesday

Good morning guys!  Hope everyone is doing well.  I'd like to take the time and show you my failed attempt at banana cake....yeah.  It probably wouldn't be so bad if I used baking soda instead of baking powder, which is what I accidently grabbed out of the pantry :(  Plus our oven still doesn't work...well...kinda.  Broil works....that's about it,  now all we have left from this cake is horrific scratches on our new wood floor from pulling the stove out to try and fix it.  

The cake is exactly how it looks...gummy. :(  It actually has the consistency of banana bread, sort of, kinda.

However...great news!! The repair man is coming tomorrow for our oven and washer!


We bought a new spice rack yesterday....they gave us double of 6 spices.

We finally got our money for our trailer we just sold, gooooooodbye car payment, hello mortgage payment :(

Time to get a start on this day, have a great hump day!


Monday, October 22, 2012

Sweet Rice

It's Monday!!!! That means it's wing night for us, unfortunately we can't go for them until after 9 o'clock tonight, rather than our normal early bird 5 o'clock.  Work....always interfering with life.  Oh well.


Alright, so I've been working like a maniac.  I usually only work 3 12 hour days, Friday-Sunday, it's pretty awesome having off 4 days a week, every week.   However, our first house payment is coming up :(, I think this is my least favorite part. Long story short, I was on my way home from work and hungry for sweet rice, not to mention I've been bragging about this sweet rice to my boyfriend for like...a long time.  And it just makes the house smell splendid :)

The one thing I love most when coming home is seeing these sweet faces:
this means they missed me...

and these...

mean they did something bad...like knock the trash can over.
I don't think I'll ever understand why dogs are so obsessed with knocking trash cans over.  Gotta love them either way <3



Combine all ingredients in medium saucepan.

Bring to a boil on medium heat, stirring occasionally.



Once it starts to thicken up, reduce to low heat, stir frequently, until there is no excess moisture and rice is soft.

Serve warm or cold, with cinnamon on top. Enjoy! 

(I am completely unaware of what "1 serving" of sweet rice looks like...it's usually at least 2 servings in my bowl)



Grandmas Sweet Rice

4 C. milk
11/2 C. Rice
1/4 C. Granulated Sugar
1 tbsp. butter
1/4 C. raisins (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon

Grab a medium saucepan and add all ingredients.  Stir together.  Boil on medium heat, occasionally stirring.  Once this starts to thicken up reduce to low heat and stir frequently for 15-20 minutes, until there is no excess moisture and rice is soft.  Serve warm or cold, with cinnamon on top.  Store in fridge.

***Let it cool down to room temperature before putting in the fridge.









Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Homemade Ham Pot Pie with homemade noodles

Alright guys, I've had this huge craving for chicken n' dumplins from Cracker Barrel, like my most favorite resturant, but...times are tough.  So I thought of the next best, closest thing, ham pot pie, with home made noodles. Plus I STILL can't use the oven :(  Not to mention it's helping me get in the holiday mood!  I just found out that trick-or-treat is next Thursday for our new town, yaaaaaay! Now we just need to stock up on candy and lots of it!

Homemade Ham Pot Pie
1 5lb. ham hock (fully cooked and cut into pieces.)
2 qt. any flavored broth (we used the broth from our ham when we cooked it.)
4-5 small potatoes cubed
2 c. frozen peas and carrots
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/4 c.all purpose flour
2 tsp. parsley

Homemade Noodles
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp. cold water 

It's actually a very simple easy recipe, not too many ingredients.  Just simple and to the point, perfect for me who is cooking challenged.  

Start out either cooking your ham on the stove in a large pot with about 2-3 quarts of water, or how ever much you need to cover it about 3/4 of the way.  After your ham is done, ours took about 2 1/2 hours, remove it from the broth (DO NOT POUR OUT THE BROTH!!!!) and cut it up into small pieces, return to the broth.  Add potatoes, onions, and celery, let them cook on medium heat. When potatoes become soft (able to put a fork through) add your frozen peas and carrots along with flour and parsley.  Now time to make the noodles. Combine flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl.  In a separate bowl beat together eggs and water.  Slowly add flour mixture to egg mixture. Stir dough until it forms a ball (add small amount of water if necessary), dough should be stiff.  Cover surface with flour along with your rolling pin.  Roll out dough approx. 1 in. thick.  Cut into 2 in. squares, makes about 24 squares.  Slowly add noodles to pot pie, add them one at a time, if not they will stick together. After all your noodles have been added, let it simmer on low for about 1 1/2 hours, or until ready to be served.



Sorry guys!

Sorry guys, I know I said I'd have something new up yesterday come to find out I had actually signed up to work the next 3 Mondays.  And not to mention the fact that everyday this weekend felt like Monday, except for Monday...it felt like Friday.    Anyways, the oven still is not fixed :( we haven't had time to call anyone until today, so hopefully we can get this show on the road!  Well, I have some errands to run and some appliances that need fixed, I will actually try to get another post on here either later today or sometime tomorrow.  Have a great Tuesday and drink some coffee for me!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Rolls

It's officially fall, I realized this while I was driving home today and all the leaves are falling off the trees, not to mention the 40  degrees windy weather!  I'm kind of bummed out about it this year, only because I love baking and right now I can't...our oven is broke!!!! :(  Not to mention I've been wanting to make something with pumpkin in it to get in the mood for the holidays, which are right around the corner, and nothing warms up the house like baking! I haven't been able to bake anything since we moved into our house.  Total buzzkill.  As I mentioned I'm obsessed with stumbleupon, I found this wonderful sounding recipe for pumpkin spice cream cheese rolls, and it's so simple, unfortunately I can't make them or test them out.   Anyways, here's the recipe, maybe someone will make them and send me some, or just let me know how they turned out, that would be fine too.

Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Rolls
 2 packages of Pillsbury Crescent rolls
4 oz. softened cream cheese
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. canned pumpkin
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Frosting 
 4 oz. softened cream cheese
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. canned pumpkin

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Unroll crescent rolls to form 4 rectangles placed side by side.  Pinch together seams to form one large rectangle.  Beat together cream cheese, brown sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Spread mixture over crescents leaving a 1/2" border around the edges.  Starting at the end roll up and cut into 1" pieces.  Place rolls on a greased cake pan. Bake 28- 30 minutes.   While the rolls are baking mix together the frosting ingredients, spread on rolls when they are done baking.


So this is the end to todays blog. Not so entertaining, no pictures...nothing.  I'll make up for it on Monday, it's back to work tomorrow, plus hopefully we'll have the oven fixed and tasty good looking stuff will be made if we do! Have a fabulous weekend everybody!

P.S. I have an Esty account, check it out!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Mod Podge!

Alright, here's the deal... My boyfriend and I just recently bought a house.  Sounds nice, but it's not, I absolutely hate moving stuff, hate it.  However, I sure don't mind making things to decorate the house.  So I decided to spruce up the toilet brush holder I bought today.  Just a plain white one from dollar tree, oh how I love that store!! It's actually quite simple, almost fool proof!

Grab your supplies:
toilet brush holder
Mod Podge (any finish, I used gloss)
Sponge brush (to brush on mod podge)
Scissors
Clear spray paint (finishing coat)
Acrylic paint if needed/wanted
and last but not least, and probably the hardest part....
a pattern you want to put on your toilet brush holder, I used this pattern.

or you can just as well Google a pattern or print.

First, print your pattern, I printed out four 3.5"x5's of my pattern ( I only ended up using 3 of them). Just use plain ol' printer paper, no need for anything fancy.

Next, apply a generous amount (not slopping wet, but enough to hold your paper in place) of Mod Podge to the toilet brush holder.

Cut out your pattern, I found it was easier to cut it into different pieces rather than just put the whole 3.5"x5 piece of paper on there, things slide and don't agree with me, ever.  Anyways whatever you decide to do with your paper that has your pattern printed on, mod podge that back of that (the plain white side).  Apply to the toilet brush holder, smooth out wrinkles, I had a bunch but you really can't tell. 
After your toilet brush holder is covered in the pattern put another coat of mod podge on top of that, all over.  DO NOT FREAK OUT, the mod podge will dry clear!!!

After the mod podge is dry (I used my hair dryer since I'm impatient), apply acrylic paint to any white areas, I had a white area around the top of my holder.  After the paint is dry apply a clear finishing coat.

V'oila! fancy toilet brush holder, enjoy!



The great thing about this project is that it's super inexpensive.
Mod Podge- already had (runs about $5 for a 5 oz. bottle)
Toilet Brush holder- $1 (dollar tree)
Acrylic Paint- already had (usually runs about $1 and some change for a 2 oz. bottle)
Clear finishing paint- already had (costs about $2 at Wal Mart)

Total Project Cost- $1.06 (stupid taxes)