Afghan Swap 2016: Package #1

 Today, my swap partner, Vwoman and I were able to meet at a local Mexican eatery "Los Palaminos" for lunch today. It was great to be able to meet her and her mum, and introduce her to Jerad as well. We had great food and great company, despite the cold weather.

As part of our visit, we swapped our packages. It was fun opening them and watching her open hers as well. In mine I received the beautiful shawl pictured above,

Three beautiful fingerless gloves. The pair on the right matches the shawl. I love all of these and will be strutting my stuff at work! These will help, even in the Summer time when the store has the Air Conditioning on and it gets too cold for my hands. I will be nice and cozy all year round!

Some colored pencils, an adult coloring book, a pattern for Reindeer mittens, and a recipe for Russian Tea and Date balls. I'm pretty sure that my Mimi (Dad's mum) made the Date Balls, but never shared the recipe. Which, of course had the grand kids coming around for more. They may have been figs, instead but they look very similar. I just know that whatever it was it was yummy and I can't wait to try out these recipes!

Some safety eyes for the toys and dolls that I plan to finish, buttons to add to my collection and two Dahlia bulbs (which Jerad was surprisingly excited about). We have been wanting to start a garden and these will be perfect for it. Now, we just have to wait for the frost to stop making appearances.

Lastly, a beautiful skein of Lion Brand Heartland yarn in the Bryce Canyon colorway. I am excited to find the perfect project for this yarn. I think I might actually have a second skein in my stash. Or my dark purple would look great with it. Hmm...I guess we know what I will be doing on my days off. Pouring over my library of patterns to find the perfect one.

Thank you, so much! I enjoyed our visit and I am enjoying everything you have made for and given me. I am excited to start the next package!

Please remember that you are beautiful and well loved.
Feel free to leave comments below and check out some of my other posts! I always love hearing from you.

Acorn squash

Last night, I made some Acorn Squash. I haven't cooked anything in a long time and it was great to get back into making something. Jerad has been doing most of the cooking and I always appreciate that it is one less thing that I need to worry myself over. I do love that when I do feel up to cooking, he lets me.

When I was a kid, my parents would bake butternut and acorn squash with some sort of meat where the seeds were. I decided to do a play on that and prayed that it turned out all right. So, here is what I had to make it:

*rectangle cassrole dish (pyrex)
*one acorn squash
*box of stuffing (yes, I cheated), I probably should have used two boxes
*bread crumbs
*about half a pound of ground pork sausage (no casing)
*Seasonings: Italian, Garlic, Pepper, Salt
*Butter

Here's what I did:
Preheat oven to 375 F
1. Wash and cut the acorn squash in half (From stem to bottom), and "gut" it. You can save the seeds if you want, I didn't because I didn't think of it until I started the pumpkins. Set the halves aside.
2. Make the stuffing as the box directs. Mine took 1 and 1/2 cups of water and 1/4 cup of margine.
3. You can put some oil or cooking spray on the cassrole dish, I didn't have any on hand. Spread the prepared stuffing in the casserole dish to make an even layer.
4. Place the squash, skin side down, in the stuffing. Take some margine and put three small (really small) pieces round the cavity of the squash.
5. Ball up some sausage, knead some breadcrumbs and seasoning to your liking; form the blob into more of a ball, plop it in the cavity of the acorn squash and pat it down. Top with some more bread crumbs and seasoning, if you like.
6. Slide the dish into the oven to bake for about 1 hour, or until the squash is tender, when poking it with a fork.

7. Take out of the oven and let cool a few minutes before dishing it out.

Enjoy!

We did :)

What are some of your favorite squash recipies?
Feel free to check out some of my other posts and leave comments below. I do love hearing from you.

Remember that you are beautiful and well loved.

Squashing Out the Excuses

 

I am so happy to be back and blogging again! A lot of things happened and I was unable to find time or internet, long enough to be able to post. Lame excuse, I know. I don't really want to get into all of my excuses I just want to dive right into posting and I have quite a few posts planned, so stay tuned! As much as I want to post them all tonight, I don't want to over load you with the adventures I have had.

As of this moment, our adventure is more of a squash "problem". The acorn squash is in the oven, for dinner. Butternut squash is in the fridge for future use in a meal and we have two pumpkins from Halloween that we are just now starting to carve (they are still good) and figure out how to cook.

 I will post a picture of the Acorn Squash once it is finished. Right now. These three pictures, in this post are all from one pumpkin and they are separate parts. I have a really full pan, a pumpkin bowl with pumpkin. Pumpkin wedges are in another pan, waiting to go in the oven and then there are the seeds.  This is all from one lovely pumpkin.

We want to roast the seeds and do different flavors. I'm thinking some cinnamon sugar but we are the adventrous types so what are some of your ideas for flavors? Have you ever made roasted pumpkin seeds before? This would be, admittedly, our first attempt.

We are going to boil down some of the pumpkin meat that we already have in the pan, tonight and probably bag it and freeze it. I have no clue what to do with it though.

I remember, as a kid, my dad would boil the pumpkin and we would eat mashed pumpkin with some butter and sometimes brown sugar. I loved it and I'm excited to enjoy it, once again. However, seeing as we have "pumpkin for days" I'm thinking of trying some recipies.

What are some of your favorite things to do with pumpkin and the seeds?  Feel free to leave comments below. I always love hearing from you!
Again, I apologize for the lack of posting. I'm going to try and do better.
Remember that you are beautiful and well loved.

White Peppermint Bark

It is the season for baking and making the house smell so wonderful that you stomach growls. I love the feeling of baking, the warmth and the togetherness. I think that is why I like Thanksgiving so much. Today, I'm going to share with you, a very simple recipe that I only learned to make in the past couple of years.

White Peppermint Bark

What you need:
2 cups white chips (I use Hershey's, when it is on sale)
1/4 to 1/3 cup crushed peppermint candy (I usually use the mini candy canes because you can get a lot of them for much cheaper, and they are great for stirring hot chocolate!)
A cookie sheet
Wax paper

1. Crush up those peppermints!
2. Line the cookie sheet with wax paper (learned that the hard way.)
3. Place the white chips in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave them for 1 minute. Stir. Continue microwaving at 15 second incriments and stir after each, until chips are melted smooth when stirred.
4.Set aside about 1 Tablespoon of the crushed peppermint candies. Stir the rest into the melted chips and pour the mixture onto the prepared cookie sheet. Spread to about 1/2 inch thickness. Gently tap out the cookie sheet on the counter to even out the thickness. Sprinkle the 1 Tablespoon of crushed candies over the surface.
5. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until the bark is firm. Break it into pieces and store in a cool, dry place.

This makes about 3/4 pound of candy.


I know that it isn't exactly baking, but it still makes the house smell good and then you can put mint candies on your hot chocolate and marshmallows, while you wait.

I loved making this while I studied for finals because I would put several mini pepermint candy canes into a ziploc bag and just have at them with a rolling pin, hammer, whatever I could find. It took out some of the stress and if you do this with kids, they will love it!

As I go through my recipe box, I will share more of them.

I hope that you enjoy, if you try this.
Stay warm and remember that you are beautiful!