Happy Purrthday

Enough sympathy card posts for now.

It's time to move on to sharing the half dozen cards

I made over the weekend of World Card Making Day/Digital Scrapbook Day !

I'll start with this adorable swing card with cute partying cat images.

I found this stamp set with matching dies at a yard sale recently. 

New, never used, until now when I made this card !

It is by Lawn Fawn and called Meow You Doin'.

I also used a Flip It card die from Sizzix

The images are stamped on water color paper

then colored with ink from my dye ink pads 

using an aqua painter. 

They are die cut then popped up on dimensionals.

All inks and papers were from Stampin' Up!

The stitched circle die is from The Stamps of Life.

Bonus Project:

a coordinating "candle holder cake topper"!

Topper stuck in a slice of home made New York style cheesecake

I made for the birthday girl.

I didn't really want to poke 28 candles into the

top of the pretty cheesecake, so I made this single

candle holder/topper for her slice.

This also tells me when looking back at the photos

in the future that it was her 28th birthday

and

it kept germs from being spread to the rest of the cake

as she blew out the single candle on her slice ;)

If you are interested, here is the recipe I used.

It turned out beautifully and was delicious. 

Thanks for looking =) 

St. Patrick's Day



I'm enjoying my once a year lunch of corned beef and cabbage 

with soda bread while the family is at work :)

None of them like the taste - or smell - of corned beef and cabbage so

I always make while they are gone and preferably on a warm

day so I can open up the house.

This year St. Patrick's Day is cold, cloudy and windy,

but it was sunny and 83 yesterday so I cooked it a day early.

I made enough to share with my parents, too.

 

 

 

Crock pot (slow cooker) corned beef and cabbage, so easy !
I toss my corned beef that has been covered with the seasonings that come in the package into the crock pot with a few cups of water (I use a 6 qt slow cooker and buy a 2-3 pound brisket). Some people add carrots and potatoes as well. I cook it on low for 8 hours total, adding the cabbage in 90 minutes before I'm ready to serve it. It always comes out tender and moist !

The Irish Soda Bread I made , a different recipe I tried this year:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/brown-butter-soda-bread-233910

  

 

 

I've updated my leprechaun face card post

to include some how to photos!

http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2015/03/leprechaun-face-card.html

Perfect Day for Chicken Noodle Soup

http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2014/01/microwable-bowl-potholder.html

I still use the bowl cozies nearly every day ! 

I love them and they are easy enough to make.

Brrrrrrr! 

So cold and snowing again,

homemade chicken noodle soup is perfect for lunch.

I cheated and didn't use home made from scratch stock or noodles though !

I used this recipe today (minus fresh thyme and parsley)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-noodle-soup-recipe0.html

We've had more winter weather since Groundhog Day

(when he saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter)

than we have had all winter long, crazy! 

Fresh From The Garden Tomatoes and Bruschetta Pizzas

(I meant to post this in late August)

Just when the tomatoes started ripening,

horn worms feasted on my

tomato plants as well as the tomatoes themselves,

grrrrrrrrrrrr! I lost half of them.

We were then hit with a heat wave,

record setting high temperatures and no rain for a week

soon followed by severe storms then fall weather.

No more tomatoes from my plants this year,

and there were soooooo many green ones on them still ! 

I know, you can fry or pickle green tomatoes,

but I'm going to pass on that. 

The 17 large tomatoes we did get were pretty tasty.

I had enough to share with my parents, too,

so that made me (and them!) happy.

The bruschetta pizza above is simple to make,

the recipe was found on the back of a box of 

Lipton Recipe Secrets Savory Herb with  Garlic mix.

It is also online at their website, I'll share it below

BRUSCHETTA PIZZAS

INGREDIENTS

• 1 envelope Lipton® Recipe Secrets® Savory Herb with Garlic Soup Mix [or Onion Soup Mix]
• 2 cups seeded, chopped tomatoes
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 (12-in.) thin crust prebaked pizza crusts
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425°. Combine Lipton ® Recipe Secrets ® Savory Herb with Garlic or Onion Soup Mix, tomatoes and oil in medium bowl. Let stand 5 minutes.
2. Put crusts on baking sheets. Evenly top crusts with tomato mixture. Top with shredded mozzarella.
3. Bake 10 minutes or until crust is crisp and cheese is melted and bubbling.

• Tip: Don't have a pizza crust? Try using a loaf of crusty Italian bread.

Pop Up Box Card and Boston Creme Pie Cupcakes

 Above is the pop up box card birthday card I made for my mother's birthday. 

All stamps and supplies (other than "Mom") were from Stampin' Up!,

most are now retired.

I have directions for the first one I made posted here

http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2014/03/pop-up-box-card.html

This is one of the "Boston Creme Pie" cupcakes I made her.

It doesn't look that great,

but they tasted just fine !

I'm certain the make them from scratch recipe

that included a home made chocolate ganache topping

would have been oh so delicious, but I decided to try to

make them with easy to use store bought items. 

Yes, mom is worth it but I wasn't quite up to all the work involved 

with making everything, pudding included, from scratch. 

Simple Boston Creme Pie Cupcakes Recipe

1 box of butter recipe yellow cake mix

French Vanilla instant pudding mix,

Container of premade chocolate icing

Bake cupcakes according to cake mix directions,

but do not use paper muffin pan liners. 

Instead spray/grease each tin well and

pour mix directly into pan. 

Prepare instant pudding mix to make a pie milk amounts,

1 3/4 cup rather than 2 cups for the brand I used. Chill.

Once cupcakes are baked and completely cool, 

carefully remove them from their pans then cut in half horizontally.

Place a dab of pudding in the middle of the two halves.

Ice the tops. 

Fresh From The Garden Lunch

It may not look appetizing to many, but I thought it was quite yummy ! The rest of the family refused to even try any of it, saying the tomatoes didn't look right and they didn't like the idea of a "zucchini patty". More for me !

I have two friends that put in gardens this year so the delicious heirloom tomatoes came from one and the monstrous zucchini was from another. I made two loaves of zucchini bread and these patties from it.





Zucchini Patties (my notes in red)
Original recipe makes 12 patties

• 2 cups grated zucchini (I squeezed as much moisture as possible from mine)
• 2 eggs, beaten (I used one egg since that is all I had on hand, it worked fine)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion (I did not have any onions on hand.....)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour ( I used seasoned bread crumbs instead)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used prepackaged shredded cheese in a plastic bag, not the powdery type in a canister)
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• salt to taste (omitted since I used the seasoned bread crumbs)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I cooked mine in real butter)

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine the zucchini, eggs, onion, flour, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, and salt. Stir well enough to distribute ingredients evenly.
2. Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Drop zucchini mixture by heaping tablespoonfuls, and cook for a few minutes on each side until golden.

Zucchini Bread-

Paula Deen Recipe

Total Time:

1 hr 10 min

Prep:

10 min

Cook:

1 hr

---

Yield:

2 loaves

Level:

Easy

---

Total Time:

1 hr 10 min

Prep:

10 min

Cook:

1 hr

---

Yield:

2 loaves

Level:

Easy

---

Ingredients

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 cups grated zucchini (squeeze out excess moisture)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

---

Baking Frenzy for Father's Day

I am no master baker, 

not even a mediocre baker ;)

I don't know that I have ever seen a "twin" egg !

There were two yolks in the large egg on the right.

The egg on the left is a regular large egg from the 

same dozen. 

Making muffins (box mix) for breakfast 

I then spent the rest of the morning baking three desserts 

(and making a big ol' mess !) for the dads:

Brownies (box mix) with walnuts and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

I wanted to have the kids sprinkle powdered sugar over 

die cut letters D A D since the brownies were for their dad, 

but they wanted no part of it. I could have done it myself...

Fresh peach pie (Betty Crocker recipe) my brother in law requested.

That was supposed to be a tie on his pie,

but I don't know what I was doing - 

it looks like a fish! 

First time I've made a basic peach pie and it was pretty good! 

My dads slightly burned fresh apple pie

(Betty Crocker recipe).

I felt so bad for burning it and had no time to 

go to the store to get more apples, make another.

Despite it being burned , it tasted great and the apples

didn't get too mushy like they do sometimes !

I cut D A D into the top of it.

Since it was a bit burned, the colors coordinated

with the card I made him =) 

I did make one thing healthy to take to the family dinner: a really large salad with home made dressing,
a family favorite. Here is the recipe; it is a Roman type dressing.

It went well with the beautiful gargantuan sized home made lasagna and cheesy garlic bread my sister made. I think the dads enjoyed their meal and desserts =)


Thanks for looking !

Time To Bake The Cookies.............

My first batch, Kevin And Amanda's Secret Ingredient Christmas Cookies, was done late last night. I stumbled across this yummy recipe last week and decided to give it a try. It is quite a bit of work (for me, personally), but they were very good. If I make them again, I will leave small pecan pieces in the mix. 

Kevin & Amanda Secret Ingredient 

Christmas Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup whole pecans
1 cup quick one-minute oats
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the Rolling Mixture:
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. Melt butter in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium to medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted and begins to foam, start whisking constantly. Once the butter is brown and has a nutty fragrance, transfer to a large mixing bowl to cool.
2. Meanwhile, toast the pecans in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 4-5 minutes until the pecans are dark brown and smell toasted. Immediately transfer to the bowl of a food processor. Add the oats and pulse until the oats and pecans are smooth and combined. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and whisk in the flour, baking powder and salt until well combined.
3. Next add the sugar and brown sugar to the cooled brown butter and beat on medium to medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for another 2-3 minutes until well combined. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined.
4. Use a medium (1.5 tbsp) cookie scoop to form dough into balls, then roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes until edges just start to turn golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

The  second, Oreo Cream Cheese Cookies, a recipe that a friend pinned to her facebook wall, was completed by 6:30 AM today. Now there is an apple pie my dad requested in the oven ! Next up, gooey butter cookies for my daughter and chocolate chip cookies for my son (although I don't think we really need more cookies!). 

Oreo Cream Cheese Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 oz cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup mini dark chocolate chips
2 cups Oreo crumbles

Preheat oven to 375, line a cookie sheet with parchment. I have found that parchment keeps the cookies from spreading too much, as they tend to do on a greased pan or a silpat.

In the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed, cream together butter and cream cheese until thoroughly combined.

Add sugar and vanilla, mix well.

Add flour one cup at a time and mix on low just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.

Pour Oreo crumbles into a bowl. Scoop dough out and roll into roughly 1.5" balls, then roll in cookie crumbles, coating thoroughly. Be sure to cover the dough balls really well in crumbs, as this is what holds the cookie together while baking. Space cookies about 1-2" apart on sheet. Bake on center rack about 14-15 minutes and allow to cool on sheet several minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

**********************

What's that, a Christmas tree in the background of the photo of the cookies ? Why yes, yes it is ! It wasn't put up sooner, and won't be decorated, because of the menace kitten. 

As I was making the Sugared Pecan Cookies last night about 10 PM, hubby decided to drag the tree out - then proceeded to walk away leaving Hyla kitten unsupervised. She never climbed it as she did last year, but she did have too much fun attacking the branches and hopping around the tree stand. I had to call it quits baking to keep shooing her away from the tree and make sure she didn't eat any of the needles that had fallen on the floor. Not sure how much I will get accomplished today despite being up since 5 AM if she keeps messing with the tree! Geeesh. 

I won't have time to post them today, but I made a neat box to hold hand made cards for my mom and a cool pants with wallet and belt card for my brother in law. I finished them up last night. I'll post the how to's later this week.

Merry Christmas !

Edited to add a photo of the freshly baked from scratch,

even the crust is home made,

apple pie - yum ! 

Savory Broccoli Cauliflower Roast

This is a recipe I've been holding onto for a year

and finally made it to take to Easter dinner.

I reduced the amounts of everything in it

since I wasn't make a full amount

knowing that nearly everyone would

probably turn their noses up at it.

I did not put on as much of the dressing as

the recipe called for, instead barely drizzling some on

and taking the rest in case anyone wanted to add more.

I also did not add the olives as I did not have any

(and no one would have eaten them if I did).

I liked it as did my brother in law.

Eggs Benedict Casserole

Need a recipe to use up some of your leftover Easter ham ?

Here is one I tried, first time ever.

It was another one of those 

samples my son and I tried at

a local grocery store we don't normally shop at.

He really liked it and suggested I get 

all of the ingredients to make it for us.

I thought it sounded like a good idea

to use some of the ham we were sure to 

bring home from Easter dinner.

I made it the next morning for breakfast

then delivered it piping hot to my parents

to share with them. I knew there was no way

we would be able to eat it all, it is very rich.

Everyone gave me a thumbs up,

however my son said it wasn't nearly as good

as the lady's at the store. Whatever ! 

Here is a photo of the recipe card,

I am being too lazy to type it all out.

You can do a search for it online,

surely there will be numerous recipes

for it posted and easily printed out.

Two Bite Brownies and a Tag

*Did you remember to set your clocks forward last night?*

A cousin held a game night for the cousins and we were asked to bring a snack. Mine were simple, a bag of Pepperidge Farms Baked Naturals Cheddar Multigrain Cracker Chips (so good!) and Two Bite Brownies made with a box mix, Triple Chocolate Fudge Brownies by Ghirardelli (decadent!).

To make the Two Bite Brownies, follow the directions on the box to make brownies, but instead of placing the batter in an 8" x 8" pan as instructed, divide it up between mini muffin cups. I baked mine at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. I used a dark non stick mini muffin pan lined with mini paper muffin cup liners. I filled them about 3/4 of the way full. They puffed up during baking, nearly going over the edge of the muffin cups, but once they cooled they settled and just filled the paper muffin cup liner. My batch made 33 mini brownie bites. Those that tried them raved about them, but they were all being good and didn't over indulge so I brought several of them back home.

As I was baking them I was trying to think of a way to transport them to the get together, something other than a simple plastic container. I remembered I had a nice cookie tin leftover from the holidays that hadn't been recycled yet, burgundy with embossed designs on the lid . Then I thought, I may as well add something cute to the top - ya' never know, maybe someone will notice and want to know more about Stampin' Up!, paper crafting, etc. After all, there are going to be two weddings and a new baby in the family this year, maybe they would like me to help craft favors, invites, traditionally or digitally scrapbook something for them, so on . Then again my crafty endeavors are nothing new to them, I do make handmade Christmas cards and have mailed them each hand stamped birthday cards as well.......  regardless, I wanted to add something to the top to let them know what was inside the tin, why not make it cute.

So I quickly made a tag to attach to the top using supplies mostly from Stampin' Up! as the brownie bites were baking.

The tag was die cut using a die from the Apothecary set out of old card stock from Stampin' Up! and I don't recall the exact name. It isn't Naturals, but something along that line. It is cream with lots of teeny, tiny black speckles in it. This particular piece was a scrap that I had already stamped JOY on from a really old Stampin' Up! Christmas stamp set . Sorry, once again don't remember the name and am too lazy to dig through all of the drawers of stamps to try to find it right now especially since it isn't an image you can really see and fall in love with, would want to know the name to try to find it somewhere........... The JOY was stamped in gold ink, but it was barely visible so I never used the piece on my project . I thought it made a nice background to my handwritten label. I lightly sponged Baroque Burgundy (retired) ink around the edges, doodled a line and hand wrote with a fine point Sharpie. I made a couple of simple knot bows from Chocolate grosgrain ribbon then hot glued them on. I recently removed some buttons from an old shirt so I glued a couple of those on, too. I attached it the the metal lid with strong double stick tape.

Now, do I save the container and tag for future use or repurpose both of them ?

Thanks for looking =)

BBQ Chicken Pizza - recipe

I took my teenage son to the grocery store with me the other day to pick out soft foods he would like to eat while recuperating from having his wisdom teeth removed.

I went to a store that I don't go to regularly. I do know that they offer samples at times, but I never take one.

However on this particular shopping trip, since I had a hungry son with me, we tried the samples they offered that day - and he was glad he did, he really liked the BBQ chicken (and ohhhhhh so sinful triple chocolate brownies!) so much so that I had to buy all the ingredients to make them for dinner that night.

They turned out great, so I thought I'd share. Of course these exact recipes are not posted online at their site, so here is a photo of the recipe card.

Spiced Cranberry Coffeecake - recipe

Another yummy recipe I tried to make for Christmas breakfast. I made two different , new to me recipes and shared them with my family on Christmas Eve so we would all have something special, and already made, on Christmas morning.

http://www.womansday.com/recipefinder/spiced-cranberry-coffee-cake-recipe-wdy1212

ingredients

U.S.

Metric

conversion chart

• 3/4 cup(s) (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan
• 3 cup(s) all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan
• 1.50 teaspoon(s) baking powder
• 1.50 teaspoon(s) baking soda
• 1 teaspoon(s) kosher salt
• 1.50 cup(s) granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1.50 cup(s) lowfat buttermilk
• 2 teaspoon(s) grated orange zest
• 2 cup(s) spiced cranberries or store-bought cranberry sauce
• 1 cup(s) roughly chopped walnuts
• 1.25 cup(s) confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoon(s) milk

directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9- by 13-inch baking dish with butter and lightly dust with flour. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, then the buttermilk and orange zest. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated.
3. Spread half the batter into the prepared baking dish. Dollop 1 cup cranberry sauce over the top, then gently spread, swirling it into the batter. Top with the remaining batter, then dollop with the remaining cranberry sauce.
4. Sprinkle the walnuts over the top and bake until the cake is golden brown and a pick inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes.
5. While the cake cools, make the icing: In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Drizzle the icing over the warm cake, then let cool completely before serving.

Pineapple Banana Hummingbird Loaves - recipe

Yummy, moist  bread I made for Christmas breakfast. The recipe was found in an ad for Dole in a magazine.

I found it posted online here as well:
http://www.dole.com/EatRightLanding/EatRightRecipe/RecipeDetail/tabid/596/Default.aspx?contentid=14174

Ingredients

  1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
  1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) vanilla flavor instant pudding & pie filling
  4 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  1 can (20 oz.) DOLE® Crushed Pineapple, 
  juice drained and 1 cup reserved
  2 medium, ripe DOLE Bananas, well mashed (1 cup)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
    Cream Cheese Glaze (recipe below)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350ºF.
• Combine cake mix, dry instant pudding, cinnamon, reserved pineapple juice, eggs and oil in large bowl with mixer 2 minutes, or until blended.  Add crushed pineapple, bananas and nuts; mix just until blended.
• Pour prepared batter into 5 foil mini loaf pans sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  Bake 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.  Cool completely.
• Drizzle Cream Cheese Glaze over cooled loaves.  Garnish with additional chopped pecans, if desired.


Cream Cheese Glaze:  Combine 2 oz. softened cream cheese with 1 tablespoon milk and 1/2 cup powdered sugar; drizzle over cooled loaves.




Variation:  Omit DOLE Bananas, substitute with 1 cup Maraschino cherries, drained and cut in half and remove ground cinnamon.