11 Recipes You Will Want to Eat Soon!

At my recipe clubs we sample the fun recipes from the kitchen's of members and then we scrap the recipes. These are the recipes from this month's club. While I haven't personally eaten every one of these dishes, I can vouch for the quality of women who serve them! The art is nice too. Enjoy!

Yum E - a really good 4 letter word!

Yum. That is pretty much all I can say to describe this recipe. My kids ate 4 helpings each. . . Yep, Yum E it is.

While I was cooking Mikensee was asking what I was making. . . I told her I didn't know yet, but that I promised it would be good. When, after all, is anything I cook not good? She pretty much agrees, but still presses me.

Mikensee says, "Have you ever made it before?"

"Nope." I say.

Mikensee again, "Well then, how do you know it's going to be good?"

"Just trust me." (me again.)

"I don't really like zucchini except in bread. Do you have a recipe for this?" she says.

"You'll love it" I say, " and I don't need a recipe."

Well, I have one now! This is what it looked like then:



This is what it looked like finished.


We are a big family (by today's standards) so I cook a lot. We also like left overs since we eat at home almost 3 meals a day, 7 days a week and cooking and cleaning seems to be all we ever do. . . You may want to adjust up or down, according to how much your family eats.

Recipe for YUM E

1 12 ounce Box Farfalle (Bow-Tie) Pasta - Cooked and Drained. (I boiled it while I cooked the "stuff")
Garlic - lots
Olive Oil - enough to coat the pan
Sea Salt and Coarse Ground Pepper - I like to grind my own
Grilled chicken breast (I used 2 pounds.)
3 large zucchini (the green prolific garden variety)
Grape Tomatoes - about 1 lb, sliced in halves
Leaf Spinach- Raw, fresh, 1 Salad Size Package
1/4 Cup Flour
2/3 - 1 Cup Half and Half
Parmesan Cheese - I like fresh, but only had Kraft. It worked fine!

Grill your chicken until close to done. Slice and place in large fry pan heated with olive oil. Add chopped zucchini, garlic, salt and pepper (generously) and add grape tomatoes. Toss until chicken is cooked through and zucchini is tender. Add spinach and wilt. Sprinkle with flour and stir in half and half. Pour drained pasta into the mix and enjoy! Sprinkle or douse in Parmesan cheese just before serving according to your personal preference!

P.S. Mike is still on his diet so I cooked a second pan and just stopped at the veggies. . . no noodles or cream for him, and he still loved it. I would call this YUM, not quite YUM E, but hey, it's all good! Go ahead and try it! You know you want too! Feel like sharing my recipe? Go ahead, but please link back or give credit here! Love ya!

Oh and the 10 or so recipe cards from my class will be posted in the next day or so, so don't forget to check back! (Art and Food! What a great combination!)

10 Paper Crafting Techniques You Can Try Today!

Stuck in a rut? Need some inspiration.

Here are 10 fast, clever and innovative ideas you may not have tried or tried and forgot to use again.

Go ahead, you know you want to play!

Playground

The QUICKEST EVER Fudge Frosting

Tonight I was making a recipe acquired at my most recent class (the recipe club class. . . what fun!) The recipe calls for a can of fudge frosting, but I have to tell you that I absolutely can not stand store bought frosting. That type of frosting along with a few other things just taste fake and not at all like food to me. I decided I could just make some so I did a quick online search for fudge frosting and low and behold there were several. . . mostly the same variety. I have a secret cake recipe for the Most Incredible, BEST EVER, Chocolate, Chocolate Overload Cake (just ask those I've made it for and they will quickly concur) and for that recipe I make the following Quickest Ever Fudge Frosting. I figured since I was looking, someone else out there might be too!

Here goes:

Chocolate Chips (I prefer Toll House Semi-Sweet or Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet)
Butter (no substitute)
Cream, half and half or Milk (whatever you have)

Melt butter in a saucepan. I stick should do a cake. Add chocolate chips. . . I just pour them in. . . probably about 3-4 cups, add a splash of cream (I usually have half and half on hand) and stir. . . That's it.

Now isn't that the easiest fudge frosting recipe you've ever heard of???!!??

If you watch carefully, my secret Chocolate Cake recipe may just appear on this blog sometime before April of next year when this year's recipe club is over!

P.S. I also found this. . . The Chocolate Blog! Wish I'd have thought of it!

Have a fudge filled day!

A Colorful Idea!

Who isn't looking for an easy way to pick colors for a scrapbook layout, card or gift? Perhaps even for your bedroom? Look no further. I just found this great blog which features color combos to work with and art inspired by them! Enjoy!
Color Combo's - 80 so far!

Theme Cards - Tutorial for one Here!

After I made my cute lady bug themed invitation I started thinking of other cute little theme ideas I could make. . . I saw this one today and I don't want to forget! I'ts so cute for a Halloween party!

Zany Not Crazy: Easy Candy Corn Card Tutorial

Garden Birthday Party

Jessica turns 7 August 8, Wyatt and Walker turn 5 August 11th. Every year this poses a general problem in my house. . . how to have 3 birthday celebrations in only 4 days! (Our anniversary is also the 7th and my birthday is in late July! Oh my!) I always feel guilty having a party for Jessica, but not W&W or having one for W&W, but not Jessica. . . I feel equally guilty about having them all share one party. Last year we went to the Grand Canyon and took a railway trip. That got me out of the dilemma last year (even though we still had cake and ice-cream along with presents on each of their respective birthdays.) So here it is, time a ticking and I had not a clue what to do! Then, a miracle happened! I saw a cute flower cake idea and thought "I should make that for Jessica's birthday." Then, I saw a caterpillar cake idea and thought "that would be the perfect cake for W&W!" My mind started working and by noon today, I had a party planned. Tonight I made the invitations. Here is how they turned out. I made 24 (customized for Jessica and her friends, W&W and their friends and of course family who will be celebrating for all of them!) in about 2 hours with some help from the divine M. The party should be fun. We're going to do some buggy (boy) and gardeny (girl) activities and all should be well! I'm really excited now and the guilt (for now) is at bay. I did tell Mikensee though, that I think from now on I'm going to rotate birthday years making sure I hit the biggies for each child in their year.

Pop Up Tutorial Made Simple

Make any card a pop-up card like the one I made below! I just found this and while my old slice and cut method worked great this is a way you can make a card into a pop-up even if you've already finished the card. For the TUTORIAL, Click HERE!

Cards Installment 2008, Class 1

I just love my new class! I've got some seasoned veterans in class, but some new faces too. I won't have a hard time seeing these ladies until next June at all! (They may get entirely sick of me, but that's a different story!) In all actuality I love all of my classes and don't know what I would do without them!

I was really feeling out of MOJO in prepping for this class and as always I fretted and stewed about the quality and satisfaction level for my students. My DD insisted that I shouldn't do another shaker card, but the class was glad I did and my inspiration to use real cup cake sprinkles was a huge hit. Here's the card. I actually first made the blue but wasn't entirely satisfied and my cupcake sprinkles actually crushed, so I made the second in green.



I think the class favorite was this yellow and black card in which I taught them crayon resist. . . So easy and such a big impact! I had seen a card using this set using the shaving cream technique, but I like how mine turned out better.


They really enjoyed this floating Smile card that I learned from Lois and I do like how this card pops!



I think this card really carries the sentiment well. I love how the colored flowers on the inside give the impression of a better day.



It's hard not to like this card that has a built in book mark gift. A simple magnet underneath the layers keeps the gift attached and also aids when using the book mark!




This 6X6 was one of my favorites. There are things I would do differently if I made it again, but over all I think its a great card.



My next class is Recipe Club. . . This is going to be fun! Until then, I hope you enjoy this post!

Tag, I'm It. . . Again!

I was tagged twice! by Elaine and Stacey.......so this is what I'm supposed to do:

Share 7 facts about myself on my blog, some random, some weird. THEN tag 7 people at the end of my post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs and let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So-here goes:

7 - I like to exercise but I hate to sweat.
6 - I am a quilting dropout. I tried and would love to do it, but my patience level is not high enough for the hobby. That is how I became a paper crafter.
5 - My favorite stores when I was a kid were stationary stores. I used to spend my money on stationary, markers pens and such. . . not much has changed!
4 - My favorite foods are Potatoes and Ice-Cream and yes, I like them together. I especially love french fry's with Milk-Shakes. My favorite flavor is Vanilla; so many possibilites.
3 - If I had unlimited resources I would adopt 10 more children. I would also pay almost any amount of money for the privilege of giving birth to another child.
2 - I frequently wish I didn't have to sleep, just so I would have time to do more.
1 - I moarn the fact that kids today don't have an innocent childhood and that nothing is as good as it used to be. (Some may find that a bit negative, but if you think about it, its pretty true.)

I'm tagging these friends because I'd like to know MORE about them!

Tamara
Tara
Atalie
Lisa
Kari
Tori
Deb

Pictures in Art - Wall Hanging

While this may never end up on my wall I do love how it turned out. I woke up dreaming about this project a few weeks ago and couldn't be more pleased to have it in my hands. This was the class 1 project for my Pitctures in Art class. . . Yes, I manufactured these by hand and it was a LOT of chipboard, but totally worth it! The overall size of this project is 8.5 X 11" and there are (8) 2-sided inserts. I still plan on adding photos to the inner and outer covers as well as adding some journaling. This showcase album features our family over the past few years in our favorite California get-a-ways.















The best part of making a project like this is the extra measure of gratitude I feel for my life, family, opportunities and experiences. There is a sense of satisfaction here that is hard to explain. I'm hopeful that the 7 members of my class walked away feeling it too.

Getting It Done - Sarsaparilla

These are the pages my Get it Done Class made on June 13th. We had such a great time and although they were worried about making their photos work with the class everyone's pages turned out fantastic! We had one class member use these layouts to do a "Being Joel" through the years display. Another used her Wyoming vacation pictures. Cindy used Sedona Red Rock pictures and even though the layouts were the same each went home with their own treasured memories! Shar and Laurel still need to show me their finished pages. . . they promised!!! My photos, as you can see, are of a field trip Mikensee took when she was barely 8 to the Pioneer Living History Museum and what was the very last Laura Ingals Wilder day. The class this month focused on a collage page to help deal with the "left over" pictures you have once you've basically scrapbooked your event. Sometimes as scrapbookers we feel we have to do a 2 page layout for every photo we ever take. The collage technique helps you overcome this by allowing you to feature many, many pictures (many of the not so good ones) and keep the flow of the event without just trashing it!

A Day Stamping With Friends

Lois, Jen and I got together two weeks back for a little grown up girl bonding time. (Actually it was just our excuse to play, but we can't say that in public!) We'd like to do it more regularly, but it seems like we manage about twice a year. It was just what I needed. . . thanks girls!

Jen came up with this beautiful card:




Lois showed us this cute card with fun hanging sign trick:


and I showed them another envelope trick. . . What is my deal with envelopes anyway??!!?? I actually found the tutorial for this here, but of course this is my own spin:





Our session left me feeling renewed and inspired! Hope posting these inspires you too!

That Explains It!

Where have I been?

I've been right here, but my Hard Drive Crashed and Jessica dropped my camera on the same day. I'm finally back up and running (close anyway) so I have so many projects to update you on! My family blog and Moments in Time Blog are also slowly getting worked on. If you care to "SEE IT ALL" you may want to check in and look because I am going to back date some posts to keep an order to the whole ordeal!

Also, if you don't have MOZY, you want to sign up today. I would have lost 13000+ pictures and tons of files without it. I don't know if they have a referral program, but if they do, please put my name in the referral box. It's the best $4.95a month I'll ever spend! Why did I pick Mozy and not Carbonite? Mozy also backs up all EXTERNAL devices which is the HD I lost and Carbonite does not!

P.S. I signed up 2 months ago on a whim. . . That whim saved 5 years of photographs!