Valentine's Gift for Hubs

Message in a bottle. What better way to let your husband know how much you love him than writing a love letter? Hopefully he doesn't see this blog! A message in a bottle, stuck into his lunch on Valentine's Day. I can't wait to give it to him. And it was 100% cost free. The glass bottle I got from a friend, the cardboard tag was cut off of some packaging from a christmas toy I think, and the ribbon was from some dish towels I bought.

I hope everyone has a very happy valentine's day! Spread the love!!


Linking to:
Blue Cricket Designs
Sassy Sites

A Fish Dish!

Yes, to change up the flavor of chicken and ground beef, I actually cooked fish tonight. I'm not a huge fish fan (although I loooove sushi), so this was more for Tony; I could eat ground beef 2 meals a day, every day. I saw this recipe and was like Fish drenched in ranch dressing? Now that's how you eat fish. I was willing to give it a try. That's how you do it, right? Anything you don't like you just dip in ranch dressing? As a kid, that's how I ate green beans. We both gave it 3 stars because it was good, but we're not the hugest fish fans and therefore don't want to eat it very often, just as an occasional change-up. So here goes:

6 tilapia filets, thawed, about 1 1/2 pounds (*I was only able to fit 4 filets in my pan, but that's all we needed*)
1 cup prepared ranch dressing
2 ounces parmesan cheese, grated, about 3/4 cup (*I cheat by buying the 'italian six cheese blend' packages of cheese - so much cheaper*)




Spread half of the ranch dressing in the bottom of a greased 9x13" metal baking pan (*I covered the pan with foil and sprayed it with cooking spray*). Arrange the fish in a single layer over the dressing. Spread the remaining dressing evenly over the top of the fish. Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese. Bake at 425º 15-20 minutes or until the fish is done (*I did 20 min*). If the top needs browning put the baking pan under the broiler for a few minutes until nice and brown. (*I broiled mine for 1 minute*)

Low Carb Snacks

While all yall are watching the superbowl, here I am at home, watching Dora and blogging :) I'd actually rather be doing this than watching football so I'm happy. Tony is over at friends place watching game. I was thinking he would need snacks for the game, and since we're doing the low carb thing right now, I came up with 2 snacks for him. Sooo jealous that the snacks are over there and not here with me... oh well. Ham Rolls and Deviled Eggs. YUM!

First the Deviled Eggs. I used the tutorial over at deviledeggs.com to cook the eggs. I didn't prepare in advance so I didn't do everything she suggests, but i do suggest this tutorial - the eggs were cooked PERFECTLY. For the filling i just added mayo and prepared mustard. Super simple, nothing fancy. I put the prepared yolk filling in a ziploc freezer bag with a star piping tip thing to make it all fancy-likeish and sprinkled paprika. They turned out pretty darn good.

Now on to the Ham Rolls. My family makes these for New Years Eve snacks and they've always been one of my favorites. You need:

Packaged ham (rectangular shaped)
Flavored cream cheese - I used 'artichoke and spinach' and 'chive and onion'

growing up, chive and onion was always my fave but I think the artichoke and spinach is my new favorite. My family has done pineapple flavored, honey nut flavored, and I'm sure all the other flavors offered in the store.

First, dry the ham with paper towels

Then spread a layer of the cream cheese on the ham. Put as little or as much as you like.

Roll up the piece of ham. You can roll width-wise or length-wise, it doesn't matter.

And for the last thing: cut into yummy bite-size pieces!!

That's all there is to it! Fast, easy, and low carb! And oh-so-yummy. Mmmmm.



Linking to:
LambAround
Today's Creative Blog
It's a Hodge Podge Life
Fingerprints On The Fridge
Young and Crafty

My latest scrapbook pages

I'm trying to get all of DeVon's 2008 pages done so for my birthday I can get them all printed out and into a book. Here's my latest ones:

^credits:

Resolutions by Aprilisa

Resolutions by Mix Match Scrap

Resolutions by Pixelily Designs

straight stitch - Plentiful from Shabby Princess

zig zag stitch from The Scrapping Sisters

Photo Corner - Color Theory Gold by Christina Renee Designs

 ^credits:

brown stitch - Plentiful from Shabby Princess

rounded page stitch - Mercy’s Farm by StashHappy Designs

papers = With Love by Valarie Ostrom Designs

stamp frame - Falling For You by Chrisscrap

picture frame - Ticket To Love by Nicole Young Designs

clip, ric rac - Smart Chic Sweet by Sweet Sophisticate Digital Couture

polka dot ribbon - The Hermitage Collection from Designs by Amanda Dykan

flower and flair button - Artemia Charity Kit

scallop border - Check Yes Or No by Designs by Josie

^credits:

Frame and Ribbon - Daydream Believer from Little Dreamer Designs

paper - Life is a Bubble Bath by RebeccaB

thought bubble - dare 2 be u by Cinzia Designs

^credits:

 paper - Fall Festival from Designs by Mel

date tag - Winter Dream by ScrapDesign Isyndra

flair button - My Favorite Guy by Armina Designs

glitter bracket - Summer Fling from Oscraps

brown bracket - Fall Spunk by Holliewood Studios

stitch - Shabby Stitchin by Christina Renee

flower - Baby Kit by Newlife Dreams Designs

wire heart - Artemia Charity kit

flower scatter - Summer Surprises by Donna Duncombe

^credits:

Photo Mask #1 by Gunhild

metal alpha - Stop Drop and Roll from scrap orchard

black paper - working overtime by Pixelfairy-Design

^credits:

Brown Background Paper - Free Spirit from Designs by Monalisasmiles

Frame - Summer Cottage from Shabby Princess

Date tab - Sweetest Days by Erica Zane

Papers - Artemia Charity Kit

^credits:

 paper - Back to School by 4 Shades of Blue

frame and black paper - The Orient by 3.h.d.

circle edge - My Blue Period by Miss Kim Designs

label - P’tit Bonhomme by Chriscrap

^credits:

stitched ribbon and paper - Summer Love by This Little Missy

clouds: Baby Kit from Newlife Dreams Design + felt action from Atomic Cupcake

stick frame - Dizzy by Andrea Dickinson

caterpillar - bug-a-boo by Kelly-Jo

Linking to:

Free for All at Young and Crafty
Fantastic Friday at Iron Violet Designs
House of Hepworths
A Little Knick Knack
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

Baked Pecan Chicken - 3 stars

3 stars for 3 reasons:
     1. We've had chicken the past 3 nights or so
     2. We both loooove pecans, but there's such thing as too much of a good thing. The taste was boring and redundant with each additional bite
     3. If it had a sauce or glaze (which of course wouldn't go along with our low carb diet) it would have been a 4 star meal

Don't get me wrong - it's good. Here's how my stars rate
0 - GROSS, don't ever make that again!
1 - edible, but not my style/not very good
2 - it's ok. I'll eat it, but whatever. slightly better than a 1
3 - good. will eat it again, but only every so often
4 - WOW that was good!
5 - OMG!!! I love! Make this again soon!

I've made a couple meals that are an easy 5 stars. Can't wait to make them again so I can share them with yall.

Here's the recipe for the Pecan Chicken:


2 1/2 ounces pecan meal or very finely ground pecans, 3/4 cup
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg white
2 boneless chicken breasts




Mix the pecan meal and salt on a dinner plate. In a cereal bowl, beat the egg whites with a fork until foamy. Dip the chicken in the egg white on both sides then coat them with pecan meal. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 400º 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is done.


I used a bag of crushed pecans and attempted to beat them to a pulp. I didn't do as well as I thought I had but it worked. With that one bag of pecans, I was able to cover about 6 chicken thighs. OOOOH i just  thought of something. I wonder if brushing melted butter over the chicken and pecans before cooking it would make it better at all. Hmmm, something to try next time.


Happy eating!




Linking to:
Just A Girl

Catalog Inspiration

Here's some inspiration I got from the Pottery Barn, Ballard Designs, and Restoration Hardware catalogs. This is by no means ALL i got from them. Some stuff was too much a style rather than a specific something, some was redundant, some wasn't worth scanning, and some was so genius I'm keeping it to myself :)

1: When I get a house, if it has a small closet, I would like to transform it into beautiful shelves like these!

2: LOVE! Could do this with signs or pictures. (minus the wreath - not much of a wreath person)

3: Describes my style perfectly - rustic warm woods with touches of metal. I love the metal basket maybe a little too much

4: Do you see those hinges? Probably will implement hinge hooks somewhere in my son's new room (coming no time soon, unfortunately)

5: More wire baskets! Industrial love <3

6: Love the color!

7: I guess it's obvious. Easy to duplicate, too.

8: Wanna do something like this in DeVon's room

9: Adding to my memo board inspiration. Easy to make, too!

10: Oversized letter? Yes please!

11: Copper? You know it!

12: Signs. Could make one for every vacation destination traveled to? And/or places lived.

13: Easy decor with frames and scrapbook paper.

You see the wire basket again? And that fabric art! Can't wait to make that one day!

If I had rooms with open doorways, I would like to do curtains like this to cozy it up

Wanna do this for toy storage/display in DeVon's room

Linking up to:

Tidy Mom

Mushroom Chicken and Sausage Casserole

Okay, so maybe I didn't honor my hiatus. So sue me! I tried to stay away from blogging and just couldn't! I got a new blog, so I'm starting all over! I've imported my old posts but have redesigned the blog. I'm still on track with my CCNA studying so don't worry :) What I really want to start blogging about is our low carb diet. I know it sounds boring, but the food we've been eating is SOOOO good! I couldn't be selfish and keep it to ourselves; I want to share it with everyone. Last night's dinner was "Mushroom Chicken and Sausage Casserole". Yummy! it got 4 out of 5 stars from the both of us. 

I forgot to take a picture of the prepared plates, so all you get is this half eaten pan... The recipe says it has 8-12 servings, but realistically, it would provide between 5 and 7 plates. When something's this good, who wants to eat only a tiny serving? I served steamed broccoli on the side. YUM!

3-4 cups diced cooked chicken *I used 10 small boneless skinless chicken thighs (two packets of the fridge to freezer packs from costco)*
1 pound pork sausage *I used Pork & Beef Kielbasa and sliced it*
1 stalk celery, chopped fine *I didn't use any celery*
1 tablespoon onion, chopped
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
8 ounces cream cheese, softened 
16 ounce bag frozen cauliflower, cooked well and drained
8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded *definitely going to add more next time*
Salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Paprika, optional *didn't use*




Brown the sausage with the celery, onion and mushrooms. Stir the softened cream cheese into the sausage mixture until well blended. Coarsely chop the cooked cauliflower. Mix all of the ingredients and spread in a greased 9x13" baking dish. If desired, dust the top with paprika. Bake, covered with foil, at 350º for about 30 minutes *I did 25 minutes*. Uncover and bake until hot and bubbly and the top is lightly browned, about 10-15 minutes *I did 10 minutes*.




This easily feeds a family and If you're not going low carb, I can see this mixed with a penne pasta to feed even more people. That sounds sooo good - wish I could eat pasta!



Linking to:
Katie's Cucina