Sunday, November 29, 2009

Candy Cane Stick Ice Cream Punch

I went through a phase where I was obsessed with this stuff. It was so yummy! I think I drove my extended family crazy by insisting that I bring it to every holiday anywhere near Christmas. I might have been pregnant, but don't tell anyone.

Peppermint Punch
Original recipe yield: 24 servings.

INGREDIENTS:
1 quart peppermint ice cream
1 cup cold milk
2 liters ginger ale, chilled

DIRECTIONS:
Place ice cream in a punch bowl, and allow to soften slightly. Blend in milk and ginger ale. Stir until frothy. Serve at once, or keep chilled until ready to serve.
http://drink.allrecipes.com/AZ/PpprmintPnch.asp

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Hopscotch Crunchies

This is a family favorite. Mom used to make these when I was a kid and we dug them back out a few years ago. And once again, big hit. Let the holiday calories begin!

Hopscotch Crunchies

1 cup butterscotch morsels
½ cup creamy peanut butter
3 oz. chow mein noodles
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 pkg wax paper

Melt butterscotch chips and creamy peanut butter. Remove from heat. Stir in chow mein noodles and miniature marshmallows. Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto a wax paper lined baking sheet. Chill. Serve.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Been Cooking...Not Blogging

Okay, so, once again, I'm behind. But it's officially acting like fall around here and I just want to... cook! Banana bread, banana muffins with cream cheese frosting, spice cake, chicken noodle soup and fresh bread, chicken and dumplings, white chicken enchilada casserole, no bake cookies, spinach lasagna... busy, busy, busy!

Mama's Stuffing

My mom makes wonderful stuffing from scratch. I love it. This is so good.

Stuffing

2 Tbsp butter
3 ribs of celery
1 large onion
1 cornbread mix
1 small loaf of bread
4 Tbsps of ground sage
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste (lots of pepper for Hubby)
4 - 6cups of turkey broth/chicken broth (Mom boils the turkey neck to make broth)

Fix the cornbread as directed. Set aside. Saute onions and celery in butter. Crumble breadloaf into 9x13. Crumble cornbread into same 9x13. Add eggs, sage, onions, celery, and broth. Stir to consistency. Bake @ 350 covered for 30 minutes, then uncover to brown (5-10 minutes)

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Beefy Tortellini Soup

This was served at a dinner party Hubby and I attended. Fell in love (With the soup, I mean. Was already in love with Hubby, of course). I should probably mention that I was in a soup phase. I should also mention I was pregnant and obsessed with soups at the time. Like, every meal.

Anyway, the point is, who doesn't love tortellini? Seriously, best pasta ever invented. Love it.

Also, Hubby and I are huge fans of French bread. Big, crusty, warm, yummy, soup for the soul French bread. Especially with anything pasta and any soup. So this is perfect. Personally, I make my French bread dough in my bread machine and bake it myself. Works for us. Bon appetit!

Beefy Tortellini Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 lb. lean ground beef
2 1/2 cups beef broth
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 tsp basil
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 lb cheese-filled tortellini
2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into thin half-rounds
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a medium saucepan, warm the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic, and stir-fry until the mixture just begins to brown, about 3 minutes. Crumble in the beef and cook, stirring, until the meat is no longer pink, about 3 minutes.

Add the broth, 1 1/2 cups of water, and the tomatoes. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, basil, and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes.

Add the tortellini and cook until al dente according to package directions.

Three minutes before the tortellini are done, add the zucchini to the soup. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is crisp-tender.

Serve the soup with the Parmesan cheese on the side.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

I. Am. Overwhelmed.

Let me explain. I asked for Photoshop a couple of years ago for my birthday and have been slowly learning with each occasion to use it. It's Photoshop Elements 5.0 and apparently that's a little different from regular Photoshop.


Like I said, I've been learning bit by bit and have recently found myself very interested in actions. If you know what these are you know what I'm talking about. If you know what a macro is, they're kind of like that. If you don't know what either of those is, let me explain. If you have several steps that you use regularly that you'd like to simplify, you can combine them all into an 'action'. So that when you hit 'go' on said action it runs a bunch of steps with one stroke and speeds and simplifies your process quite a bit.


When I started looking, I found that there are LOTS AND LOTS of actions for regular Photoshop. There are not many out there that are for Elements but they've been slowly popping up. I know next to nothing about actions and once I found them I didn't know how to get them on my computer and use them. So, that brings me to my point. I have been learning bit by bit about Photoshop via Pioneer Woman's tutorials. I just discovered a couple of sites that have PSE (Elements) actions and tutorials. What wonderful sites! I'm so grateful for these women throwing this great information out here for free! I have neither the time nor the money to indulge in actual classes about Photoshop, so these are invaluable to me.





So! To wrap this up. As I learn I'm going to post before and after pictures, well just because I like to torture you and because I'm enjoying them so much I can't help myself. And, I'd like to document my progress (I hope).


And to make sense of my title. There is SO MUCH to learn. My head is swimming. I'd like to learn how to:
Create my own actions
Learn how to use layer masks so I can use other actions to their full capabilities
Better use my camera

That's all I've got right now, but the list is ongoing.

This is what I did today. Not much and it should be subtle. First I adjusted the exposure and then added a little hard light (PW's favorite trick). Not a big difference but I like it.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Old Photos

I had to go through some old photos recently and just fell in love with this pic of Maryanna. I hadn't seen it in so long and she's so little! Then I had to do this. A little mind blowing isn't it?


Monday, November 2, 2009

My kids look so old!

I mean, don't they? They look so old to me! I feel like I have thousands of pictures just like this in my future... Is it just me or am I being a tad sentimental this afternoon? Anyway, Happy Halloween!


This little stinker is going to end me.
End.
Me.

And what's up with this?! Are you TRYING to look 16!? Grandma, if you had anything to do with this, you're in trouble!
I'm not even goint to touch this. He just makes me smile. And I can't wipe the smile off....
Was the butterfly a little much? Oh, who cares. It was so much fun!
I think we're cheering here... I don't really know.
L's like, 'why are we here?'
Maddie and Nana. two peas in a pod.
Camo and pirate. They are gonna love that I posted these :-)
The Ghostrider. We discussed a way to make his hair burn, but none of them seemed practical.
Home and hopped up on hot cocoa.
Mine...
Chris's.... I mean Powell's and Maryanna's.

They were in serious negotiations over the candy.

And that was our Halloween in a nutshell. It was a great night!

Gooey Butter Cake

My sister found this one. Talk about gooey, buttery heaven. This is a total comfort food.

Gooey Butter Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup melted butter
1 slightly beaten egg

1 box powdered sugar (3 1/2 cups)
8 oz. pkg cream cheese
2 eggs

Mix 1st 3 ingredients thouroughly and put into a greased 13 x 9 pan. Blend last 3 ingredients together and spread on top of the cake mix. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Halloween

Okay, so I want to spend some more time with this photo and post all the other photos at a later date too, but I have to go ahead and slap this one up here. Do you know how hard it is to get a good photo of the nonstop kiddos? I fell in love with this pic.