Five on Friday:What's up

For my 5 things this Friday I thought I'd share some things that I've been up to lately.

photo taken last night at sunset from the steps down to our dock

I can't get enough of our bay and the outdoors lately. The weather has been so lovely and mild. Everything is starting to get green and trees are even beginning to bud a little. My MIL's tulips were almost all the way up and should bloom by next week! Ruby and I are getting in nice walks and lots of fun playing catch with her ball on the hill.

When I haven't been outside, I've been indoors working on more scrapbook catch up. I've still been primarily working on my travel/vacation album. It's so fun to work on these pages that are full of our adventures and travels.

Annie with fellow class mate & cast mate 

For a couple of nights this week I was at my daughter's school play (she's in the drama club). She had a fairly leading roll and was so nervous as it was her first time on stage. And they got to perform the production at the big local High School stage. She absolutely loved it and this proud Mama can say she did an excellent job!! It was so fun to watch her and her cast mates (3rd - 5th grade) put on a great production.

I've also still been shopping for a garden table and trying to decide how big I want to go and other details. I'm a little intimated as I've never truly had a garden before & I'd really like to have some things actually grow! Lol  We're limited for ground space so I think the table will work beautifully, plus less bending over (yay!). Also, I like the idea of a cover for it as there are SO many critters in our yard often as we're in the woods too, and it would protect from the deer munching everything! I think I'll stay on the smaller side and plan to have a pot or tiny container garden in Annie's patch, or on the deck, for herbs too.

And finally, I've been thinking Springy & Summery thoughts by getting out more of my summer decorations/candles and looking into nice lighter recipes. That's one of the most fun parts of this time of year I think - is the fun menus to plan. More creative salads and dishes with yummy ripe fruits in season. Yum!!

I'm linking with Amy at Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.

Apple crisp

Did I ever tell you about the time that I was published in a cookbook and felt famous for 5 minutes?...

Well I was - and I did - and here's the story. I have always been a big Mary Engelbreit fan. I love her artwork, her cards, or scrapbook goodies etc. I used to have a subscription to her Home Companion magazine for many years, which isn't published anymore, but I remained on her email newsletter list. The Mary Engelbreit people sent out an email to fans on her newsletter list, and other circles, about a request for dessert recipes to be submitted for this cookbook:

Well being a fan of Mary and of baking I sent in a recipe. Then many months went by and I kind of forgot all about it.  But low and behold after those several months went by I received this very book, autographed by Mary, with this letter in the mail:

don't you love the inside cover? so adorable.

Well needless to say I was very excited!! I had sent in the recipe for my Gram's apple crisp - which I had tweaked just a bit. Apple crisp in my family was always this dish - almost more cobbler style and without the oats and crumble kind of topping you see in a lot of "crisps"- but still with kind of a crunchy topping to it! Heavenly with ice cream especially. There are many other wonderful recipes in this book and I highly recommend it! (just my opinion - no compensation here for saying that). 

So that's my 5 minutes of fame, and something I would have shared more towards Autumn as that's more often when I make it and it looks like this around here:

But I was looking through this book the other day so thought I'd share it now.  I won't make you wait any longer - Lol. Here's my recipe for apple crisp from the very page in the M.E. cookbook:

The only thing I'd like to add is that I usually sprinkle a little cinnamon/sugar mixed together over the top while it's still warm. It kind of melts into the top of the crisp and gives a crispier crunch to it. Yum!

photo from last Fall when I was making this crisp - Mmmmm

Wednesday Wonder

The Bay is open, the grass is green, chimes are singing...all is right with the World.

Among the Sunflowers

Today I wanted to share this layout from many years ago that I still just love so much. I think a big reason I love it is due to the fact that my son is so young and adorable (2 years old) and my Gram is in some great photos with him. 

These pictures were from the late summer early Fall of 2002 when some relatives (including my Grandma Anne) came to visit us and my Aunt who lives close by. My Aunt had a bunch of sunflowers tall and lovely in her garden and we caught some nice shots there.

I love that these pages are simple but bright and cheerful. Much like a sunflower. I just used some sky blue card stock as a backdrop, and when you don't have sunflower paper....then just make your own big sunflower, right? 

Throw in some sunflower stickers and one tall sunflower with a photo of Gram hugging my Aaron in the center and you have...

...one beautiful layout of memories among the sunflowers.

Scrapbooking is such a fun way to express one's creativity, but the best part of all is capturing those treasured moments so vividly.

Happy Homemaker Monday

Another weekend has flown by and here we are on another happy Monday! Hope you had a wonderful weekend. The weather here was just beautiful and I tried to get out and enjoy it as much as possible! Looking good for the week ahead too - woo hoo Spring!! 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

 Quite nice - some sun and 50's already. Supposed to hit 60's today.  We had our first little thunderstorm last night and it hit 80 degrees before that during the day!! Grass is starting to green and I really believe Spring is here to stay and I'm thrilled!

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

Coffee (of course) with hazelnut creamer. English muffin with peanut butter and honey.

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Sun is shining. I see how nice the grass is starting to look. My hubby even cut the lawn for the first time yesterday. I've been seeing little lily buds starting to come up. Outside with Ruby earlier on the deck and birds were singing away... seeing robins on our hill.  All is right with the world. 

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Making a plan for the day. My MIL and I may go do some fun errands and go out for some lunch later and take a walk. Just truly enjoy the lovely day. 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

I have some dishes from last night yet to do. There's a stray item thrown here or there by a kiddo - my son leaves for school earlier with my hubby and he's always in a mad dash out the door so I never know what he's thrown about before he leaves. I see I still have laundry to catch up on (never ending!) but otherwise fairly tidy. Ruby is laying by my feet quite content.

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

May run to a couple of fun shops with my MIL and possibly out for some lunch for a change of scenery. If weather continues to be lovely thinking of a walk and get some miles on my fitbit.  

CURRENTLY READING:

I obviously cannot make up my mind - as I've kind of gone back to reading Outlander again. Lol! I've also been catching up on some magazines. I've been watching Outlander now that it's back on Starz network for the 2nd half of the season, so it has me interested in reading some of it again.

ON THE TV TODAY:

I watched Outlander and Call the Midwife, but need to catch up on Good Wife. Plus I have a new Game of Thrones which started back this weekend (yes I watch that show too - I'm hopeless!) and I taped an old Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable movie I haven't watched yet. Too much t.v. (sad really) and too little time. 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

I made some dinner for the in-laws over the weekend and haven't even thought about what I want to do for this week yet. It may have to be a lazy week as my daughter has a pretty big part in  a school play that has performances 2 nights this week, plus back to summer hockey schedule and practices for the kiddos. Probably throw some easy stuff on the grill and do sandwiches/soup - again most likely keep it easy. I will get to that poke cake for you eventually though Alison! Lol Next shopping trip that goes on the list.

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

 Still just catching up on scrapbooking. Nothing really new there at the moment.

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

Nothing in mind this week....yet. Stay tuned - who knows. Lol

TIP OF THE WEEK:

I, like most folks this time of year, am feeling very conscious of my weight as we get into warmer weather territory - which of course equals less clothing to cover us territory ((shudder)). So I have been trying to be better about my diet and exercise.  I know drinking lots of water is a great help to be healthy, but also to help in weight loss. I've been trying to be good about drinking a glass of water before I eat a meal to help with appetite. I heard that if you stir some apple cider vinegar into your glass of water it can keep appetite suppressed more too. Have any of you heard that before?

FROM THE CAMERA:

I took these photos early on in the weekend and the grass is already much greener and the bay is pretty much completely open - not like in pic above with it only half open in front of our dock. See my buds coming up?

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Scraptastic Saturday:Embellishing Cards

I've still been very much enjoying my newly organized scrap space (you can read more about it here.)  So I have been busy catching up on more scrapbooking -- but I like to go off the path now and then.  I think I just get a little attention deficit, at times, on whatever I'm working on so I like the little diversion...and often times that leads to making cards.

It's actually a rather practical and profitable diversion because it is nice to have some cards on hand to send or give to friends and loved ones for various occasions. The latest cards I have been working on are a little different than my usual.

Instead of making cards from scratch (my own card stock) I embellished some cards I already had on hand. I have a couple of packs of cards (I think from Hobby Lobby) which are quite lovely all on their own - and they came with their own envelopes etc. However, I was inspired to jazz them up just a little with bits of scraps & stickers I had around to give them even more of a theme.

For example: here's the back side of one of the cards I'm talking about so you can see what it looked like before. I'm showing the back as I had already embellished the front. But the front looked just like this before I added my touches.  A very pretty card all on its own - I love the blue with the earth tones.

And this is what it looks like now. I added some bright blue and orange touches. Some orange flower brads, white cloth "hi" letter stickers and a brown satin ribbon. It just gives it a little more life and dimension. A perfect card to send to a friend that lives far away to say hello.

Again - the before and after.

This one has a pretty back drop that almost reminds me of floral wallpaper. I used my scalloped scissors and cut a square to hold a pretty pink heart and a cross sticker. Then I tore a little piece of softly patterned paper and added an appropriate sticker. I think this card would be nice to send to someone who may be having a difficult time or just needs a pick-me-up. 

Before embellishing and after.

This last card started out with a soft geometric design. So faded and pretty. I added another torn piece of soft patterned card stock and put a satin ribbon over the top with a soft paper flower I glued on. Then I dug through my letter stickers and found these neat old fashioned looking patterned letters I just L-O-V-E  (Lol) This would be a perfect card to send to any family or friend that is dear to your heart.

Before - and then after my "loving" touches.

I think it was fun to make cards a little differently this time using nice folded cards which already gave me a base to start with, and then inspired me with ideas for using colors and embellishments to make them more my own. It also gave each card that much more identity and personality.

I'm linking with Andrea at Scrapality for Scraptastic Saturday. 

Five on Friday:Easter dinner

I thought I'd close out this week after Easter with a final Easter related post for my:

and I'm linking with Amy at Love Made My Home.

I thought I'd share 5 things we traditionally enjoy for Easter dinner each year. We usually host the dinner at our house and have my hubby's parents and my mom over with us. We of course, like many folks, have ham as our main course. I often have some appetizers out for when our family first get here and one I do each year are deviled eggs.

I think I probably make these a little different each year as I don't follow any specific recipe. I usually make them pretty basic where I take the egg yolks and mix them with mayo and some mustard, salt, pepper, & paprika and top with more paprika. Some years I think I throw in relish or a different kind of mustard - you get the idea. I like to put the filling in a baggie and snip off a corner and squeeze the filling into the egg whites as it looks a little neater. I love these springy flower egg dishes I found in a fabric/craft store several years ago.

And what's ham dinner without some yummy cheesy potatoes!?! I have made different versions of these - with creamed soup etc, but our favorite recipe is these:

However, I'll warn you right now they're not low cal and if you're faint of heart turn away now! Lol  These are made with a 2 pound bag of frozen country style hashbrowns that are thawed. Then take 1 pound of velveeta cheese and cut into cubes and place in large bowl in microwave and melt (do about 50% power for a couple minutes and stir and keep running at couple minute intervals and stop to stir until melted). Then stir in a cup of sour cream and a cup of mayo and 1/2 to 1 whole onion, diced small (depending on how much you like onion). It will look like the mixture on the left. Then stir in the hashbrowns add salt and pepper & spread into pan. Top with more pepper. Like photo on right. You can do this day ahead. Before you bake them crunch corn flakes all over the top and melt a stick of butter and pour over the top. Bake at 350* for an hour. These are not low cal - but always a HIT!  ((I do often use light mayo & light sour cream))

We have some veggie side dishes - corn, raw veggie crudite and also some warm dinner rolls. But a favorite side dish each year is my strawberry spinach salad. It's as yummy as it is pretty.

I do this salad in layers. So I take some chopped romaine lettuce and spinach leaves and add a layer of sliced strawberries, mandarin orange segments, red onion and my homemade sugared pecans. Then do another layer of the greens with all the pretty toppings again and serve this with sweet creamy poppyseed dressing and extra sugared pecans on the side.

Love those pretty layers! This is a great salad all summer long and also good with a strawberry or raspberry vinaigrette instead of the poppyseed dressing.

And of course one of the best parts of any holiday dinner - dessert! I usually do 2 desserts each year and one we typically do every year is fruit pizza or mini fruit pizzas as it's my kiddos' favorite. 

For the mini fruit pizzas simply take sugar cookie dough and cut into slices (I used store bought) and bake according to directions. You could also arrange the slices on a cookie sheet and press all together to make a whole pan of crust for the fruit pizza. Then for frosting take one 8 oz. cream cheese (softened), 1/2 c. powdered sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla and blend together in mixer. Then fold in about 4 oz of cool whip topping. Spread over cooled cookie dough and top with fresh fruit. This year we just did berries and grapes (we used raspberries too just not on this batch) but also good with kiwi, mandarin oranges, bananas, even crushed pineapple. 

The second dessert each year is whatever sounds good to me that year or ingredients I have on hand. This year I made a family recipe for what we call "summer cake".

This is a yellow cake with mandarin oranges (& juice) in the batter, and then topped with a fluffy frosting of cool whip, crushed pineapple and vanilla pudding mix. 

It's another yummy light recipe that's good all summer long. I love that there's almost as much topping as there is cake! Here's the recipe I copied off of notes my aunt sent me from my Gram's recipe:

Cake:

Yellow cake mix

4 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1 small can mandarin oranges with juice

Topping:

1 9 oz. Cool Whip

1 can crushed pineapple with juice (15 oz.)

1 small box instant vanilla pudding

Preheat oven to 350. Mix cake ingredients, add oranges, beat for 3 minutes. Bake 35 minutes for a 9 x 13 pan. Cool thoroughly. Prepare topping. Mix ingredients. Frost cake and refrigerate for 4 hours.

(If you ever want the variations, let me know but they mainly involve more oranges--less or more pineapple with some juice drained, more Cool Whip, more oil, one less egg, doing layers... I think I would start with the above on a test cake and adjust however you like on your next one.)

So that's Easter dinner around here and I love that there's always lots of leftovers to send home with family and for us to gobble up for several days after! Have a wonderful weekend. xo

Easy Roasted Turkey Breast

I have a plan tomorrow, for Five on Friday, to share some of my Easter recipes. 

However today I thought I'd share a quick way to have some yummy turkey on hand in a hurry.  Turkey sandwiches are one of our favorites around here and deli lunch meat can do the trick, but having a "real" piece of turkey on that sandwich is just so much yummier! Who says turkey has to only be for Thanksgiving time anyway...

Take a basic turkey breast - this one was boneless - but bone in can be even better for flavor and less chance to get dried out. Boneless was where I found a deal at the store I guess. This was a 3-4 pound turkey breast. Anyway, pat the breast really dry with paper towels. Let it sit and warm on the counter for a few minuted while you make your butter mixture and turn your oven up to 425* or 450*.

Next, take softened butter and add whichever yummy seasonings or herbs to it (I think here I did salt, pepper, garlic powder, thyme and parsley - oh and maybe a pinch of poultry seasoning). Mix it all together.

Rub the delicious butter mixture all over the turkey and especially lift up the skin and get it under there too. I have also done just olive oil rubbed all over with seasoning (or can do 1/2 butter & 1/2 oil) if you'd like to have it a bit healthier and calorie conscious. 

Put the turkey either on a rack like this (so doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan) or can put it on a bed of veggies if you want to add a quick side dish too. It could be a nice evening meal and then eat up leftovers for sandwiches. Now turn the pre-heated oven down to 350* and roast for an hour. If you have olive oil only it may brown more quickly so watch for that. I always check about 40 minutes or so in and if it's browning too much will then cover with foil for a while. After an hour use a meat thermometer to make sure it hits 165* at thickest part - then you know it's done. Sometimes it takes an hour sometimes hour and 15 mins to hour and 1/2. Depends on the size of the breast. If it needs longer than an hour just add 5 or 10 min increments and keep checking so it doesn't dry it out.

Once you take it out let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes before cutting. Then dig in! MMmmm  - nothing quite like a turkey club, or one of our favorites around here is what we call the turkey melt. We toast some bread then layer some mayo, cranberry sauce (just from the can for speed), cheese and the turkey and microwave for 30 seconds or so until the cheese and toppings ooze over the turkey. Best sandwich around! 

Wednesday Wonder

EASTER 2015 MOMENTS