Very Vintage Easter Basket Swap-What I sent!!!

I am so excited to share with you all that I participated in my first swap! I signed up for the Very Vintage Easter Basket Swap over at www.foxglovesfabricandfolly.blogspot.com. Heidi does swaps regularly and I am so glad I signed up. I was paired with Shara in Farmington, AR. She has a great blog as well. Go see her at www.mydealoftheday.blogspot.com. I am going to share with you what I sent in this post and then in the next post I will show you WHAT I GOT!!!

This is the view from the top.

These little pillows almost stayed at my house!! The little scroll-ey candle holder were precious!

Her favorite candy is jelly beans and malted eggs, so I threw in a couple of small boxes each!

Mrs. Chicken

Mr. Chicken

This country lookin' carrot was so cute! I hope she like it as much I did!

There was pink candle holder as well, and also a little bunny with floppy ears peeking out.

There was also a vintage-y small candy dish and a great basket!

I so wanted to do good for Shara, I think she loved it!

True Love Waits!!

My youngest daughter Jena, who is 16 years old has been participating in some classes at our church. The program is called "True Love Waits". She has made the commitment in front of her parents and the church of "saving" herself until marriage. My husband and I feel so blessed to have her as our daughter. Sometimes when we are talking about this particular commitment she has made we really just dont have any words to say how lucky we feel.

This is part of her group after the service on Sunday. Keep in mind this is only PART of the group and we were at 2nd service. There was another big group of kids at the early service.Showing off their "True Love Waits" rings.

This is Jena and her two besties. They have been friends from when they were tiny girls. Jena is on the far left. Emily is in the middle. Emily and Jena had went to the same caregiver when they were 2! They have been great friends ever since. Astrud is on the right. Jena and Astrud met each other the first day of 1st grade. They were like magnets to one another. They became friends that day, and have been ever since. I am so proud of these beautiful girls.

This is my husband and myself putting Jenas ring on her finger during the ceremony. Sorry for the "chest" shot. Please remember, pics do not capture the true image sometimes!!!!

Jena! Emily! Astrud! We are so proud of you and love you very much!

Cheesy Creole Pasta

Hope everyone is having a great day! Its is raining here. Good rain too. Measurable rain. I am so excited because that means my garden will take off. I will post some pics soon. Today I am bring to you, the easiest dish. I mean really easy. I whipped this up in no time. My daughter brought me this recipe home she copied from somewhere. I think it is a Sandra Lee recipe. You start out with these simple ingredients:

Onion, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, diced tomatoes with green chilis, creole seasoning and boxed shells and cheese dinners. I doubled this recipe so there is double of everything in the pic. I added regular tomatoes because I thought two cans of tomatoes with chilis may be too spicy.

I used Hillshire Farms smoked sausage. Cut up into bite sized pieces.

Make your macaroni and cheese according to the box directions.

Saute your onions, bell peppers, sausage until cooked add the tomatoes and mix it up.


Add to macaroni and cheese. Woo. Tough. LOL

Then add your creole seasoning.

It really was tasty and if your needing something fast then this is the recipe for you!



Cheesy Creole Pasta

1 12 oz box Kraft shells and cheese, cooked according to directions

1 lb. Hillshire Farm smoked sausage cut into bite sized pieces

1/3 cup diced onion

1/3 cup diced red bell pepper

1/3 cup diced green bell pepper

1 10 oz. can of diced tomatoes with green chilis

1 teaspoon creole seasoning

Cook shells and cheese according to directions and put in a large bowl. In a large skillet cook sausage and veggies until sausage is crispy. Add tomatoes and their juice stirring to combine well. Add this to your shells and cheese and add your creole seasoning and mix well. Serve immediately.

My Creative Daughter

I went shopping Sat. morning and I found the perfect little cutting board thingy that fits just perfect in the middle of the kitchen island.



I left for a couple of hours and my daughter made a cake. Cool, eh?

Sweetest Boy!

Yesterday my cousin visited with her new baby boy. His name is Scotty and I am completely in love. I could not put this beautiful baby down. I now have pictures of every angle of this child. I know I usually try to stick with all things kitchen on my blog but I really could not resist sharing this with you all.

Sleeping. But we bugged him until he woke up.



He never even fussed one bit.

This can make my heart swell so big it almost hurts.

I couldnt leave his feet alone, they were so sweet!

Braised Chicken

I have that excited feeling again. Its the feeling I get when I try something new and it turns out even better than I expected. And my family just loved this. I got this particular recipe from The Pioneer Woman blog. This lady has so many great recipes. She talks every so often about making a cookbook and this would be a great one for anyones collections I think. She has a great writing style as well. This dish if full of fresh veggies and a wonderful marinade. It is definately worth trying.

First you cut 2 bellpeppers into strips.

Add a large onion.

3 fresh tomatoes

In a seperate bowl, start your marinade with 3 cloves of garlic, minced or chopped fine.

Add these-paprika, olive oil cumin, curry, salt. And CINNAMON. Yes, thats right. Cinnamon. It does wonderful things to this dish.

Take your chicken that has been liberally seasoned with salt and pepper and quickly brown in a little oil.

This is what your marinade will look like. Its smells unbelievable. In a good way.

Measure a half of a cup of this.

Put a few of the peppers and onions along bottom and lay browned chicken on top. Brush half of the marinade over chicken. Add the rest of the peppers and onions and lay tomatoes over all. Brush the rest of the marinade over veggies. Bake for 1 hr. at 350. Maybe a little longer.

This is it. So So So Yummy!



Kays Braised Chicken

From: thepioneerwoman.com

4 chicken quarters

3 garlic cloves

3 fresh tomatoes

2 bell peppers

1 large onion

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/8 teaspooon cumin

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. curry

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 350.

Slice up 2 bell peppers. Slice the large onion as well. Dice 3 tomatoes. Finely mince 3 garlic cloves. Place garlic in a small bowl. Pour in 3 tbsp. olive oil. Now add paprika, curry, cinnamon cumin and salt. Whisk together. Season your chicken with salt and pepper and brown quickly in a little hot oil. Add a few of the peppers and onions to the bottom of a baking dish. Place browned chicken on top and brush with half of the marinade. Place remaining peppers and onions over the top of chicken. Put the diced tomatoes all over the top of the chicken. Brush veggies with the remaining marinade. Pour the half of a cup of chicken broth all around the edges of chicken. Bake for about 1 hr to 1 hr and 15 minutes.

These are not the exact directions of the original recipe, these are my words. I am working on my impatience!

Spring has sprung!! Random things!

My poodle Pinky is so happy its spring she cant quit laughing!
These African Violets however are not ready to bloom.

But my Basil I am growing in my kitchen is sprouting up!

Sour Cream Apple Squares

Hello, I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. The rain was just wonderful. We have needed rain for so long it was actually weird to see it come down. The cool weather was also nice. I guess that will probably be our last cold spell of the season but that is okay. I have planted some tomatoes and some onions and some herbs. I also planted some red and green bell peppers. It is the most glorious thing to nurture these plants and see them grow. And then to cook with them and eat them. I just love the feeling. This dessert I am bringing you today definately falls into the comfort food category and as you can tell by my blog that is exactly what I love to cook. This recipe was given to me by a friend and has been sitting on my cookbook stand for probably 6 months. It smelled great while cooking but I have to say, it must cool completely. Then that is when it tastes the absolute best!

First, mix up flour, brown sugar pecans and softened butter.

Mix it til crumbly and press into a 13x9 pan.

Mix up some cinnamon, baking soda, salt, sour cream, vanilla and an egg.

Then chop up 2 cups apple.


It'll look like this. Not pretty but smells o so yummy.

Pour over crumb base.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes. Cool completely. And I mean completely.


So moist, so delicious. Whipped cream would be great!!!

Sour Cream Apple Squares

2 cups flour

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup chopped pecans

Combine until crumbly, Press 2 2/3 cups crumbs into greased 9x13 inch pan.

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

2 cups chopped apples

Add these ingredients to the remaining crumbs. Blend well. Add the chopped apple. Mix and spoon over crumb base. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes for until pick inserted into center comes out clean.

More Fire King!

This is my latest ebay find. I love the Fire King Jadeite Dishes. So do my girls. So I decided I would collect the pink for my oldest daughter and the blue (Azurite) for my middle daughter. I have gotten about 8 pink pieces and this set too. My china cabinet is getting full!

OH and yes, I have a third daughter! What am I going to collect for her? I am thinking pink depression glass. She is only 16 so she said "Cool".

Napkin Folding-and stress relief!

I was shopping at Borders the other day and I always, always go to the bargain books. I saw this book and it piqued my interest. I have always thought that having cloth napkins at special dinners make them extra special. We went on a cruise a few years back and everynight in our rooms were small towels folded up in really pretty shapes. This is a big book. And very easy instructions. I sat down the other night when the house was quiet and I started folding. I could just feel the stress melt away. I know that is weird but it is so true. I had more fun doing this. If you ever get a chance to try this you gotta do it.

The Easter Bunny

Flowerbud

Creamhorn

Knotted Ribbon


Water Lilly

Springtime

Bishops Hat

Lovers Knot

Night Lite


I also forgot to tell you, the book was only $5. There is alot I havent done that you can do with napkin rings and wine glasses and holidays. I will post more later!