And Sunday is Soup Day...

It's starting to get cold outside, so today seemed like a perfect day for Minestrone soup in the crock pot.

This is definitely one of my "crafting" with food projects because this is what I do:

- add jar of pasta sauce to crock pot

- add 4 - 6 cups of water 

- add 2 chicken bouillon cubes

- add vegetables (mystery ones and left overs from bottom of fridge work well like onion, carrots, beans, corn)

- one can of kidney beans

- one can of garbanzo beans

- one can of tomato soup

- spices that you like to taste in soup

- cook on high for 6 - 8 hours

- I then add 1 cup of small pasta

- cook until pasta is done

- I then add cooked  Veggie Ground Round

- heat through and Enjoy!

This recipe makes lots so you will have left overs for the week.

Here is a picture from the river valley near my house today:

Yes, that is snow in the picture!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

 

Kathy

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today my son and I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.  They are delicious!

We used up the last of the frozen pumpkin from the freezer.

Below is the recipe for these cookies:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 cup mashed pumpkin

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 cup oatmeal

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3 tablespoons ground flax seed

1 cup chocolate chips

Mix ingredients together in order, and fold in the chocolate chips.

Bake for 15 - 18 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Enjoy with milk.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Fresh Baked Buns

Last evening I realized there was no bread in the house.  Surprise.  

I have been at home all of this week due to having pneumonia, so no grocery shopping was done.  Now, the quick solution would have been to go to Safeway, but I decided it would just be easier to make buns.  So, I did.  They were delicious if you want to know!

Here is how I haphazardly make buns:

Quick and Easy Buns

1 cup warm milk

4 tablespoons butter melted

1 cup warm water 

4 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon yeast

- mix all of the liquids together and sprinkle sugar and yeast over the warm liquids (not too hot, not too cold)

- once yeast has a "foam" to it, pour liquids into a warm glass bowl and add flour a bit at a time, will take about 4 - 5 cups dependent on the day and the climate of where you live.  

- once the dough does not stick to the side of the bowl take the dough out onto the counter and knead for about 5 minutes, dough should not be sticky.

- cover bowl with dough and keep in a warm place until doubles.

- punch dough down and shape into 12 round balls, and place in buttered 9 x 13 pan and let rise until about doubled.

- bake at 350 degrees for about 20 - 25 minutes.

- brush with small amount of butter immediately to give tops shine.  Enjoy!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Christmas Card # 3

This is the third card for my planned Christmas Card Making Party with friends.

 The card base is Cherry Cobbler card stock, along with a layer of Gumball Green, and pieces from the Snow Festival Designer Series Paper.

The stamp set is Snow Much Fun, the greeting is from the Border Banter stamp set.

The buttons are left overs from a couple of Christmas catalogues back!

I colored the snow man in Raspberry Ripple and Gumball Green. Of course there had to be some glitter, so I made the snow and the snow ball from the glitter. 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy     

Knitted Dish Towel

I found the pattern for this Dishtowel on a blog called Traci Knits.  I followed the pattern exactly for this first one, and it turned out a decent size 9 x 13" as she indicates in the pattern.

I used Lily Sugar n' Cream Yarn that I picked up at Joanne 's in Great Falls Montana, because although this awesome 100% cotton yarn is made in Canada, it is cheaper to purchase in the US.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Hot Chocolate Christmas Package

I know it's not even Halloween yet, however that has never stopped Costco from having the Christmas stuff out early.

I found the case of Christmas flavored Hot Chocolate packages there on the weekend, and decided that this year instead of just a ribbon and tag, I would make a quick gift wrap for the packet when giving out to co-workers etc.

I used a piece of Cherry Cobbler card stock (probably my favorite color - my car, camera, phone, casserole dishes, small appliances...).

I cut the card stock at 4 1/4 x 11.

I scored it at: 4 7/8, 5 1/8, and 10".

I used the scallop edge framelit for the fold over edge. The snowflake image stamped all over is from the Make a Mitten stamp set.

I used the Windows framelits for the center image, paper is from the Snow Festival Designer Series Paper set and Very Vanilla.

The hot chocolate mug is from the Scentsational Season stamp set.

I closed the package with a self adhesive piece of velcro from the dollar store.

Here's what it looks like inside:

And yes, I did drink one of these while making this craft as it is trying to snow outside!  Could be worse, I could be in Saskatoon today.....

Check out this picture of Saskatoon earlier today!  Ah, to be home.....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

 

 

Kathy

Oh S"crap"! It's Monday

So, it's Monday which means Oh S"Crap"!

For today's use of scrap I have two pieces of random brown.  The brown layer was run through the Cuttlebug with Stripes Embossing Folder, and then the raised stripes were sanded to give a different color/look/feel to them.

The random piece of orange was cut and I used the Scallop Trim border for it.

The main feature of the card is the Wonderfall stamp set.  The images are stamped in Versa Mark, then clear embossing powder and then the colors are sponged on.  I used Old Olive, Wild Wasabi, Early Espresso, Chocolate Brown, So Saffron, Tangerine Tango and Peach Parfait.  Three wooden buttons with hemp twine and TAH DAH!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy