Cooking Thursday: Smashed Tater Tot Salad & Chocolate Fondue

 

Hello beautiful Friends!

Happy end of week to you. The weekend is right around the corner, yay! I survived the blizzard here. My Hubby had to be gone to North Dakota for a few days for work - but I braved it with my Ruby and Bubba and we got probably another 8 inches of snow. Matty mine gets home in just a few hours in time to see it's all winter wonderland yet again. At least it sure is pretty. ❄️

But it's been kind of nice having cozy time all to myself. I've done some crafting, some cleaning projects, watched some girlie shows and even did some coloring as I listened to zen music and dreamed on Spring. Lol

I love how with alcohol markers the color is so saturating -even the back of the page is pretty. 

 I had shared that for Valentines I had made my blogging friend Mari's air fryer steak bites (you can find her at mari's little corner of the world blog here. ) And you should go look up those steak bites - they were amazing!! 

And to go with it I had made us this smashed tater tot salad that was so good too. You cook up some tater tots. Take them out part way through and give them a smash and then put them in to cook until golden brown. Cut and toss your fresh ingredients. Mix the tots and the fresh salad ingredients together. Make a wonderful lemony creamy dressing and then pour over the salad and toss. I garnished with some chopped chives. I found the recipe on social media from @kalejunkie and I highly recommend it as a great side dish! It was fresh, crunchy, salty, creamy and tangy. 

Here's the recipe. I halved this since it was just the 2 of us and we still had leftovers (it was good cold the next day too). 

So good!! 😋

And then for dessert I made some chocolate fondue. I don't remember where I got the recipe but I've had it forever. This recipe was more than enough for the 2 of us and we had leftovers the next night too. 

You take 1 c. heavy cream

12 oz good chocolate broken into pieces

and a little pinch of salt

It couldn't be easier - you add the pinch of salt to the heavy cream in a saucepan. Put the saucepan over medium heat and stir once in a while until the cream is scalding. So it's hot enough to form bubbles but don't let it boil. You break up the chocolate into a bowl (I used semi sweet Ghiradelli semi sweet chocolate bar broken up, and Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips to all equal 12 oz). When the cream is hot enough you pour it over the chocolate and stir until everything mixes nice and smooth. Put it into a fondue pot or small slow cooker or whichever way you want to keep the chocolate warm. I've had a set of these mugs, that fit a tealight under them, for years and they work great. Serve the fondue with dippers like: berries, orange slices, nilla wafers, marshmallows, broken pieces of angel food cake or pound cake, and salty things are good too (think potato chips or pretzels). 

For fun variations you could add cinnamon and cayenne to the chocolate to make it like a spicy Mexican hot chocolate. Or you could add orange zest for fruity chocolate. Or use white chocolate. You could also steep the cream for a few hours with herbs before using - like lavender (which would be really good with white chocolate). Use your imagination! 

It sure is a fun and very romantic treat to share! 😉❤️

Have a blessed weekend and if you try any of these dishes I hope you enjoy! xoxo

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello my dear Friends!

Happy Monday. ☀️

The sun is shining away this morning here in the northwoods. It's been sunny and lovely for about 4 days now and the snow has melted a ton. It's been wonderful! 

But of course we know where we live and we don't get too excited for Spring yet. In fact, there is a storm system a-brewin' and looks like we may get 6 inches of snow or more in the days ahead. ::sigh:: But I dream on Spring...even if I can't get excited yet. :) 

We had a nice relaxing weekend here and hope you did too. 💗 We did a lot of the usuals and also watched more Olympics and celebrated a yummy and mellow Valentine's Day together. I hope you had your batteries recharged, are getting lots of sunshine too, and are ready to dive into the week ahead...

 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

coffee and a yogurt with berries

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

running some things to my Mom, errands, deep clean master bath cabinets, work projects, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT: 

how the sunshine streaming in gives me such energy and life as I listen to some praise and worship music

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

the smell of a rose (as I sniff at one that I got this weekend) ❤️

CURRENTLY READING

The Selected Journals of Emma M. Lion vol. 1 by Beth Brower (there is a whole series but I'm going to see what I think of the first one)  

ON THE TV TODAY:

 the Olympics, Jeopardy, old seasons of big brother & the office, Junk or Jackpot on HGTV, Best Medicine, the Pitt, Miss Scarlet & All Creatures Great and Small on PBS, cooking shows and movies

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - BLT's on keto bread, fresh veggies & dip

TUESDAY - chicken soup dumplings, veggie spring rolls

WEDNESDAY -  I plan to fast most of the day for Ash Wednesday

THURSDAY - slow cooker chicken fajitas

FRIDAY - ? not sure

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

scrapbook, read, watch a movie

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

FROM THE CAMERA:

Still enjoying cozy days here which include some comfort food moments like my Gram's chickie chip casserole (secret ingredient: potato chips) and the recipe is under my recipe tab. Also, coloring on my ipad, doing more watercolor paintings, and when I'm not crafting I am reading my book or Spring dreaming magazines on the couch in my office with a view. I put the tv on in there with some mood music from youtube. I sit on the chaise lounger side of the couch while Ruby takes her nap on the other side. :) 

I have been finding some fun papers and stickers for our travel scrapbook as I catch up on past and current trips we've taken. 

I especially love this set of stickers I found on Etsy of the epic universe park - right down to the butterbeer and the BBQ and mac & cheese cone Matt loved. 

Valentines with my Honey is always the sweetest. We gave each other cards and little gifts - including he got me the cute Yoshi & Toadette plaque. Those are the characters we always choose when we play Mario Party together or with the kids. 😍  He took my out for a sushi lunch date and the restaurant gave me this sweet rose. Then I made my friend Mari's buttery air fryer steak bites for us for dinner (they were phenomenal Mari! That recipe is a keeper!!) And to go with it I made this smashed potato salad (tater tots) that had cukes, pickles, red onion and bacon with an amazing lemony briny dressing. It was so good too!  And then I made us homemade chocolate fondue for 2 for dessert with dippers of course! Doing extra walking miles this week but such a yummy weekend😋 And we snuggled in and watched the Olympics and shows and played some cards and video games. A perfect relaxing weekend with my sweet Hubby. 

This little stinker doesn't like it when I work on my computer and I don't give him enough attention. Lol I just love him though - I mean the cuteness alone. 😉

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace. For the Olympics to be fun and safe. For Nancy Gutherie to be found 😢

For the Lord's love and peace to fill 2026. ❤️ 

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way to loving our neighbors as ourselves. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Doing lots of this instead of "doom scrolling" 😊 

Blessings on your week Friends! I'm sharing this with my friend Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Blogaversary Giveaway

 

Hello my Dear Beautiful Blogland Besties!

First of all, thank you so much for being here. I treasure this blogging fun and the wonderful friendships I've made here. I like blogging for many reasons - including a place to keep memories...but the main reason is YOU! Connecting with you friends and sharing our worlds means so much to me. 

Even though my true blogaversary was late last Fall (when it gets so busy for the holidays) - I like to at least do a little something, even late, to acknowledge how much I treasure you being here. It is my 11th year blogging now. I can't believe that's real, as it's gone so fast! 

I thought I'd do a giveaway based on some of my favorite things lately, and that fact that we're whizzing through January with lightening speed and Valentines Day is right around the corner. I finally got Christmas down and kept up some greenery, snowmen, deer (all things we'll be seeing in the northwoods for months to come yet). But I also added some Valentines touches everywhere:

Okay onto the real fun: for this giveaway I'll be giving away 2 separate packages of goodies. For the first name drawn I will be sending you this:

A pop-up floral bouquet. 

I love the pretty vase with it and that roses just say Valentines Day (or maybe I should say Galentines Day😉 💗) It comes with a sweet little card too.

The first person chosen also get this blind date with a book. If I remember correctly it's in the thriller genre. I have been so much more into reading this past year...than I have been in years! So to honor that I thought this would be fun. 

Again, connected to Valentines Day I thought some sweet heart shaped earrings.  I found these crochet ones (& I've just started to get into crochet as a hobby). 

I bought these earrings (& the 2nd pair for the 2nd person drawn) from this small business on Etsy. I love that she included the Jesus stickers with her box. :) 

I forgot to take an individual pic of these - but these are also something bookish + coffee (another of my favorite things!). They are tiny adorable magnets. I thought they might be cute if you had a fridge where magnets work. Or maybe a little magnet recipe holder in your kitchen where you stick a recipe card to follow. Wherever you may find a spot they sure are cute and very detailed! They were also bought from a small business. ❤️

Now on to the 2nd name drawn...that person will receive this:

also a pop-up bouquet, cute book & coffee magnets and a pair of crochet earrings

Aren't these earrings SO cute too? And again, some hearts in honor of Valentines Day coming up. 

*Not seen is that I will also be including my other favorite hobby lately - watercolor painting. I will be hand painting cards for each of the winners plus maybe a few tiny extras thrown in to be a surprise. 

Oh, and I will do the drawing by Sunday and post the winners on Monday. All I will need is an email to reach you and get your address if you win. Thanks dear Friends. See how to enter below:

All you need to do to enter is leave any kind comment below about blogging, or Valentines Day, or your favorite hobby. I will ship internationally as well. And you don't need to be a blogger to enter either. Again, I appreciate you being here as well as your love, support, and friendship all of these years! 

🙏🏻💗

And I need to mention this little Valentine of mine as our sweet Ruby turned 14! Yay!! She is our other baby and we treasure her sweet little soul. Happy Birthday Ruby! 🎉🎂

💗💗💗