Friday, October 31, 2008

Recipe Friday: Crock Pot Stroganoff

I got this recipe off the glass forum I go to, I have not made it before. Sunday I am making it in the crock pot so I can make beads all day.

Crock Pot Stroganoff

3 pounds any kind of lean roast cubed
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 can golden mushroom soup
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 package cream cheese
1 16 oz container sour cream
1 large package egg noodles or rice

Ok here goes its so simple
In a large crock pot add beef, canned soups and dry soup mix and stir together. Put the crock pot on high and walk away for 8 hours.

about 15 minutes before you are ready to eat start boiling the noodles or rice.
While that is boiling cube the cream cheese and add that and the sour cream to the beef mixture and stir together.

When your noodles or rice are cooked al dente just drain and serve beef stroganoff over either.

Remember to sign up for the blog give away below!!!

EDIT: This was fantastic, nice flavor, and so easy!!!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Blogging by mail and Give-A-Way

I am going to give away Paula Deen's new book. All you have to do is comment on your first memory of cooking. Please make sure I have a link to your blog or an email address to contact you should you win. The deadline for this to end is Nov. 10th. I'll put all the names in a hat and have my co-worker draw a name. Good luck!!!















I have one item I have been looking for to add to my BLOGGING BY MAIL Box. I found it, I'll run get it on my lunch break, then get my box in the mail. I hope my person isn't irritated that it isn't in the mail yet, but I so wanted to get this one thing!!!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Allergies

Karen called me yesterday to let me know she was in the midst of a very nasty allergic reaction. When she told me what was happening, she was in the process of losing her airway, or close to it. I had her hang up, call her MD and get going.

Turns out she is allergic to Pine Nuts. Now she has to carry an epi pen and be prepared if she should ever have another reaction, she'll have to inject herself, or Bryan will need to do it if she is unable.

Lord have mercy.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Halloween Bash 2008 a success

Here are some pictures of the Halloween Bash. We have Deanne as Esmerelda the witch, Cindy as the Bugtender,Those are bubba teeth, and Dianne as the Pirate Princess. We have pictures of the space where Dr. Insane had his lab set up, Esmerelda's lair, (photos don't do it justice) and some pictures of the food tables, and some of the kids. There were 73 at the first party for the little kids K-5th grade. The 2nd party was for the 5-8th grade, it was from 7-9:30pm, we had 83 in attendance. I think they all had a great time.









Friday, October 24, 2008

Recipe Friday: Halloween Bash is TOMORROW!!!

Before we get to the recipe, there is a little gal that is a friend of my duaghter. She wants to win some scrapbooking stuff on a blog. All you have to do before 5pm tonight is go to this blog site leave a comment that Rachel Arnold of ONe Life One Chance sent you. The more people that do that the more votes she'll get and hopefully win.

So, I am going to post the recipe for the eyeballs. They are very popular! I have to make them every year. But that may not be many more, my sis is selling her house, we won't have a space big enough to do the party after this year.



Eyeballs

Yields approximately 9 dozen bite-sized eyeballs

3 oz lemon gelatin (can be sugar-free)
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
1 cup pineapple juice
8 oz cream cheese (can be lowfat/Neufchatel)
1 cup mayonnaise (can be fat-free)

Dissolve lemon gelatin in 1 cup water in double boiler, add marshmallows and stir to melt. Remove from heat. Add pineapple juice and cream cheese. Beat until well blended. Cool slightly. Fold in mayo. If you have a truffle candy mold or round ice cube trays, pour the mixture in the molds and leave to set in the fridge. Otherwise pour into a deep ceramic dish and chill until thickened or firm enough for scooping into eyeballs. Using a melonballer, scoop full balls of the mixture and set aside for decoration. To decorate, use liquid food coloring and an old detail paintbrush and get creative. You will need black food coloring for the pupils. Also, if you are in a hurry, instead of painting the colored irises, you can carefully dip the ball in a small pool of food coloring to approximate the iris, but still paint on the pupils.

I purchased Truffle Molds from Mangelsen's for this, it works out great. The recipe yields quite a few eyeballs. It fills a nice round tray. The recipe came from this site. I display mine on a round tray, also.

The first year I made them, they were much neater. Last year I was pressed for time, and it shows if you look at them close up. But, the kids love them. We had 116 kids last year. This year we are splitting the party up, the elementary age kids will be first, the junior high kids will be 2nd. We'll be so tired, but it is so much FUN!!!

Monday, October 20, 2008

I won I won

I entered a blog contest and won. Here are the items, it really made my day. I don't know, I have a little kid in me, I love to get packages!

















Here is the bracelet I made with Blue Healer's beads, I didn't get a good photo of them,but if you click on the photo, you can see it up close. The beads are called Autumn Leaves Discs. They are located on the 2nd page of her ETSY if you want a set. I got 23 beads total. Good price, I think!!! I LOVE This bracelet and wear it all the time!!

















It is sad to get rid of things that you have had for a long long time. Such is the case with our old TV. Steve and I put signs up all over town, and at his job. I thought somebody would want it for kids to play games on, etc. But I was wrong. Good Bye TV. We had you longer than Isaac.


A good time was had by all.......

The sister's breakfast was a ton of fun! The highlight of the evening for some was the Haunted House, followed by my lame car taking a big ol' vacation at a very busy intersection!! One of the sister's got a picture of us sitting at a 4 lane stoplight while my little sister gave my battery a JUMP. That didn't work, so they ended up pushing it UPHILL, I found a parking lot that had a downward slope that I coasted into. I would have loved to been behind them and gotten it all on video, it had to be a hoot!!

When the going gets tough, you can count on them, I know that.

After all that excitement, we ended up back at the condos and spent the night drinking wine and visiting. Deanne and I couldn't sleep, so we snuck off down the hall and watched TV in another condo. We ended up going to bed at 3:30 am, and then I couldn't fall asleep worrying about my car.

I ended up spending a good portion of Saturday just trying to get the car home. Later I got a call, just as I was getting ready to take a much needed nap, I got a call we were going to dinner at 5:30. So, we went out to dinner and went to have dessert at Ron and Linda's, then I went home and fell into bed. Sunday was a wash, I did the laundry and slept most of the day.

I sure thought I posted a photo of the bags for art in the bag:




This event was held to earn money for non profit cancer organizations. My girlfriend was the guest of honor. Because of family commitments, see above, I was unable to attend this event. It bummed me out because Donna and I have been friends for many years. The bags were made by my little brother's wife, Brandy. She is cool like that, always doing whatever you ask her to do. She had the honor of having her work posted on a website, too.

The real bummer is, the blog or website for this hasn't been updated to say how it went. I thought that they would have done it by now.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Recipe Friday October 17 2008

This is a good idea, I think, if you need sweetened condensed milk and don't have any on hand:

Sweetened Condensed Milk

Ingredients
1/3 cup boiling water
4 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup powdered milk (recommended: Carnation)

Directions

Using an electric mixer, blend together water, butter, sugar, and vanilla.

Add powdered milk and blend until thick. Store in refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Monday, October 13, 2008

I added a picture: Vote daily for the no kill shelter please

Petfinder and the Animal Rescue Site are teaming up on a challenge that will result in a total of $100,000 in grants to shelter and rescue groups. To give The Cat House a chance to win up to $25,000:



1. Go to The Animal Rescue Site.

2. Click on the 'Click here to give' button.

3. Click on the 'Vote now' button, it is hard to see, it is upper right.

4. Search for The Cat House Lincoln, Ne

5. Click 'Vote'.

6. Repeat daily until December 14th.



From my friend BETH: While we're up against some pretty big shelters and rescues for the big prize, there are also grants to the shelter with the most votes in each state. As I write this, we're #7 in Nebraska, out of 23 groups that have received votes, so let's get out there and click our way to some money!

Trotted around on my lunch break, look what I found, these are foot long suckers:




Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Blog Give-Aways

I am doing the Blogging by Mail, it sounded so fun! I really want to make the box special that I send to the person I am assigned. I'll see what I come up with.

I love Pioneer Woman, she gives away stuff all the time. If I were to have a giveaway, what would you want to see?

Monday, October 6, 2008

Mice...oh how I hate them!

I love fall weather, but this time of year we get a mouse or two in the house. I have an arsenal of mouse traps that I keep in a 2 gallon zip lock bag at the ready at all times. It consists of those cheap wooden traps, sold 4/$1 at the Dollar Store. The best thing I have found is the electronic mouse trap. Purchased from our local Wal-Mart store about 4 years ago. When all the wooden traps fail to trap the intruder, this one NEVER fails. It is available at Menard's. I am going there right after work Wed. to get another one!:













All you do is put a 9V battery in it, turn it on and wait. The mouse enters a little tunnel in the trap to gain access to the peanut butter you so cleverly smeared on the back of the trap. Once inside, there's a metal plate that 'puts him to sleep'. It is very humane. I really hate to kill them, but if you ask our daughter what nightmares occur when you DON'T eliminate them..........well, we'll just let it go at that. (ask her about the 35 member family that set up house in our garage at our old location) It was not very pretty. I am deathly afraid of mice, I had a hard time believing she convinced her dad to let 'JUST ONE' go............ha!

Tonight I am making Karen's recipe for Apple Butter in the crock pot. I'll post the recipe on Friday if I have a success. So far the house smells great while they cook.

Tomorrow we are helping a local man run for sheriff of our county. We're doing a dinner in the small town close to us, population 25, I think.(I stand corrected, I just googled it, as of the last census in 2000, there were 215 living there. Who knew??? WE'll grill burgers and hot dogs. The candidate will be available to answer questions. Then we'll call it a night.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Recipe Friday Oct. 3rd 2008

Recipe Friday

In preparation for Halloween,I have the mice cookie recipe. We are freaks about Halloween! I love the recipes that we find, the Halloween bash is going to carry on this year, even though my sister has her house up for sale, the party is in her outbuilding every year.

This time, I am going to tell you about a neat kit sold for making pretzels for Halloween. Wal-Mart is selling them for around $10, everything you need to make the pretzels is in there, except the pretzels.




















They are too cute, the witch's fingers are so adorable.

Here's the mice recipe I used last year:

Mice Cookies

4 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
1/3 cup sour cream
1 cup chocolate cookie crumbs

1/3 cup chocolate cookie crumbs
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
24 silver dragees decorating candy
1/4 cup sliced almonds
12 (2 inch) pieces long red vine licorice (chocolate if you can find it)



DIRECTIONS

Melt the chocolate, and combine with sour cream. Stir in 1 cup chocolate cookie crumbs. Cover and refrigerate until firm.
Roll by level tablespoonfuls into balls. Mold to a slight point at one end (the nose).
Roll dough in confectioners sugar (for white mice), and in chocolate cookie crumbs (for dark mice). On each mouse, place dragees in appropriate spot for eyes, almond slices for ears, and a licorice string for the tail. I used these little black sugar balls I found at Mangelsen's for the eyes, they are PERFECT!!

Refrigerate for at least two hours, until firm.


Yield 3 dozen