Christmas Gift!!

Yes, it has been months since I have posted something.

I have a many excuses....holidays, computer issues ....

The real reason is I like LOOKING at blogs.

I think of lots of things to post.

But, tend to go back to browsing at

all the fun things other people are

sewing,

cooking,

crafting,

organizing.

Now I just need to join the fun more regularly and POST.

So here it goes the first post of 2011!

I will give a disclaimer here.

For those of you starting your New Years Resolution with

exercise

eat healthy

or

lose weight

You may want to quick go to another page!

OR

Save this for Valentine's Day when you

are ready to treat yourself for

all your hard work with your healthy resolution.

I got a new cookbook!

Did I need a new cookbook?

Probably not! But... I think maybe I am becoming a cookbook collector.

Not because I planned to be a cookbook collector but because I seem to have

accumulated many cookbooks and there are many more on my wish list.

So the newest one is How Easy is That by Ina Garten the wonderful Barefoot Contessa!

(I have 4 of her 6 books...maybe I need to complete the set! )

So for New Years Eve I tried two recipes from the book the French Mussel Bisque (which quite frankly did not turn out well....there was too much wine. I will try it again substituting chicken broth for wine.)

What was sensational!!?

The Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake

you can get the recipe along with many other recipes direct from her website here.

I substituted regular coffee grounds for the espresso powder in making this mocha filling.

Yum!

I used a tub of little store bought chocolate cookies purchased from Trader Joe's.

Any thin crisp chocolate cookie will do.

This is sooo easy!!

Whip up the mocha cream. Layer of cookies in springform pan,

Layer of Mocha Cream. Repeat....5 times!

I had cookie helpers!

Pop it in the refrigerator for 6 hours!

Delicious! Reminded me a bit of tiramisu!

This is the photo from Ina Garten's site.....I would have taken my own but we were too anxious to cut into it!!

Enjoy!

Italian Fries - from Mad Hungry

Remember when I posted about Mad Hungry the new tv show spinoff from Martha Stewart?
Have you tried any of the recipes?

I tried her Italian Oven Fries.

YUM!!

The kids loved them!

These take a little time (mainly oven time), but they are easy and worth the wait.

What was the best tip?

She soaks the fries in cold water, then dries them a bit before putting them on the baking sheet. This helps them crisp up well, by extracting the starch.
She also sprinkles italian cheese, coats with olive oil and dabs with butter....mmm!

Of course she has a blog with links to all her recipes check it out here!

Blogs

Have you heard of a book-azine?

I first heard about Matthew Mead

and his Holiday Book-azine on the

Mary Englebriet blog.

I love Mary Englebriet!

Big Fan!

Wish the Magazine would come back but it looks like that will not happen.

She mentioned this holiday book-azine, and

Mary Englebriet has something featured in it!

It is only sold on-line and I am very tempted to purchase it!

Mary Englebriet also mentioned something else I had never heard of an "e-zine".

Basically it is a magazine on the computer.

Amy Powers has issued an e-zine called Inspired Ideas.

Her blog is called inspire co. and can be found here.

Here is the cover of her fall e-zine. You can look at it page by page here.

The Christmas edition just came out too! You can view it here.

This issue is over 130 pages! It has contributions from other craft bloggers,

and projects for the holidays. The pictures are great! And there

is probably at least one craft idea you will come away with.

A "book-azine" an "e-zine" who knew!

Fall -- Apple Cider Recipe!

Look what I picked from my garden just yesterday!

Not bad for the end of October! Fall is here!

And it seems that this time of year is always busy.

School is in full swing.

We are getting ready for the holidays!

(I would have uploaded more pictures but I am having some technical difficulties.)

I would like to share a recipe for Apple Cider.

It is a family favorite this time of year.

It makes the house smell great!

And it warms you up.

Perfect for Halloween night after trick-or-treating.

Hot Apple Cider

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 quarts apple juice

1 t. whole allspice

1-1/2 t. whole cloves

2 sticks cinnamon sticks

Put brown sugar and apple juice in crock pot (if you don't have a crock pot just put it in a pot on your stovetop.) Add spices, if desired wrap whole spices in a cheescloth. Cover and cook on low 2 to 8 hours in crock pot. On stove top bring to a simmer and it will be ready in approx 45 min.

I reuse the dried spices....you can just keep adding more juice and brown sugar as needed.

Happy Fall!

Random Update

I have not posted in AWHILE!

What have I been up to?

Nothing too exciting...

just keeping up with the everyday stuff.

Kids, kids activities, cooking, cleaning, organizing.

Thinking about all the projects I WANT to do, but not making to0 much progress.

I will have to correct that.

The next two weeks the big kids are on fall break.

Ellie is off this week.

What do we have planned?

Well, Ben went here with his Academic Decathalon team.

Do you recognize the skyline?

I have never visited this city...just the airport.

It is Chicago. He left yesterday and will be back on Saturday.

I am sure he will have lots of fun!

Madeline and I will be going to San Francisco for a quick over night visit.

We definitely plan to go here. We also have reservations for Alcatraz.

We also want to hit Union Square, Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown, ride a cable car...

I think we will have plenty to do.

I finally got brave enough to trim "E"'s hair!
It had grown very long!
She has only had one trim...
before she turned a year old.
Her hair was turning quite green on the ends.
We were calling it mermaid hair.
I may need to have someone fix it up in a few weeks...

But, I think it went pretty good for MY first hair cut!

Yesterday we went to what has become Ellie 's favorite place.

The New Children's Museum in San Diego.

She really wanted to bring her big sister (unfortunatley I did not take any pictures of her yesterday :(

They have this really cool rainbow tunnel jumpy that has become her favorite!!

She would have nothing to do with it the first visit.

There are many other fun things to do there...

very focused on hands on art, there is a rain house,

a rock wall, clay, chalk, paint, chariots....lots of fun, not your typical museum.

Have great day!

New Show --- "Mad Hungry"!

Have you heard of the new show Mad Hungry?

It is part of the Martha Stewart entourage

but don't let that turn you off!

(I know some of you are not Martha fans, I for one do like her for the most part. I like to dvr her show that way I can skip the segments that do not interest me but I digress.)

Lucinda Quinn is the author of the book Mad Hungry.

It came out last year or maybe early this year.

She has been on the Martha show many times, and is one of the hosts of Everyday Food.

Now she has her own show which began on Monday.

It airs on the Hallmark Channel that is 343 for Cox Cable Viewers in San Diego.

Her emphasis is family dinners, and she even has her "boys" in the kitchen with her.

Yesterday she made a great Flat Roast Chicken you can find the recipe HERE.

It looked easy, and because it was flat it is a little faster than roasting a chicken.

Today she made these great bagel sandwiches you can find the directions HERE.

She had a good tip for bacon.

She cooks a big batch in the oven. Then freezes it, and wraps it individually, that way you

can pull a piece of bacon out to put in your sandwich without having to actually cook the

bacon everytime....it is already PREpared beforehand.

Doesn't that look yum!

Let me know if you check out her show!!

I think it has potential for some good recipes and tips.

Pretend Play...

"E" is proving to be my best "pretend" player!

She cracks us up everyday!

Most recently she wanted a guitar!

So I quickly put together a paper towel holder, a shoe box and some rubberbands!

And guess what?

She loves it!

(I didn't even do a very good job...I was in the middle of making dinner.)

She wants to take it with her everywhere!

She took it to Sports Authority and "strummed" some songs for the employees.

Grandma picked this flapper costume up for her for Halloween.

It doesn't look like she likes it does it?

This is her chef's costume my friend Wendy got her last year for her birthday!

She still wears it all the time!

This picture was taken just last week.

Her older sister has gotten involved and they have gotten creative in coming up with costumes, but my teenager would not be too happy if I posted those...they are pretty funny!!