Newly Decorated laundry Room

A charming "new" door adding a touch of nostalgia. I got it off Craigslist (I have been finding alot of good stuff there lately) and drove an hour north of Atlanta to a junk shop to get it. But it was worth it, we went to eat at Marietta Diner for lunch and I highly recommend it if you are in Marietta on Cobb Parkway, their baklava is to die for!

It's a bit excessive I know, but I am the only one who does the laundry and I wanted it to be very girlie and quaint like maybe I wasn't doing laundry, hmmmm...

How To Make a Comment on My Blog

If you want to respond to some of the posts on my blog and are not sure how. Just click the title link above and follow the directions on the help page. I would love to be able to respond to your comments on my blog so everyone can all see our ideas.

Thanks
Jenn

Earth Angel cutie

This artist on the Earth Angel website above, has the cutest little things. She is very inspirational, please check her out under the Soft Sculptures section, her name is Nicole Bowen.













Also the jewelry artist Jill Schwartz hast beautiful jewelry collections.

You may fine a few other artist you might like here too.

Oven Chicken Salad

So I made another yummy casserole for dinner. I loved it! Although the hubby doesn't like to hear the "C" word for dinner (casserole not chicken), but tough sometimes I just like it. And once he actually tried it he liked it. Like my son my husband eats with his eyes. Which I know alot of people do, but it is so annoying for the cook. Anyhow enough ranting about the complainers, here is another yummy recipe for those who like the "C" word for dinner :)

Oven Chicken Salad

2 cups cooked chicken, cut in cubes
2 cups celery, thinly sliced
2 cups bread cubes
1 cup light mayo
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup almonds
2 Tb lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. onion salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 2 1/2 qt oval baking dish with nonstick spray. In large bowl, combine the chicken, celery, 1 cup bread cubes, mayo, 1/2 cup cheese, almonds, lemon juice, and onion salt. Spoon mixture into dish. Top with remaining bread cubes and cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, until bubbly.

Hope you all like it. If you are fans of chicken salad on a sandwich this is a nice switch.

Baked Eggs in Bread Bowls

I made these "Egg Bread" muffins for dinner and I really liked them although I made too many and they are not good as leftovers, so when you make them do just as many as your family can eat so you dont waste as many as I did.

6 Jiffy muffins prebaked
6 eggs
1/4 cup mixed herbs like parsley, chives, taragon (I used only parsley)
2 Tb heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice top off muffins and scoop some bread out of the middle to make a little bowl. Place them back in the muffin tins you baked them in, set tops aside. Mix eggs, herbs and cream and pour a little in each muffin, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until eggs are set and bread is toasted, 20-25 minutes. After eggs have cooked 20 minutes place tops on tray and bake until golden brown. Let sit 5 minutes, place tops on muffin bottoms and seve warm.

I served this with fish and green beans tossed with tomatoes in lemon and oil mix. Although this fish dish was tolerable, I wouldnt make it again, I will stick to the other fish recipe I posted earlier!

Coffee Cake

3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup sour cream

Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts

Cream butter, sugar and eggs. Add and mix remaining ingredients. For topping mix all ingredients together in small bowl with a fork and set aside. Pour half batter in greased bundt pan, cover with half the topping mix, pour remaining batter ontop then add remaining topping. Swirl together with a knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 345 minutes.

This is a great breakfast treat too.

Enjoy!

Poppyseed Chicken Casserole

So this recipe is easy, quick and great. Maybe not great for the waistline, but I am sure you can use lowfat items. But my family loves it when I make it and even my husband doesnt mind that its a "casserole".

5 Large chicken breast cooked and cubed
2 cans cream of chicken soup
16 oz. sour cream
1 can water chestnuts, rough chopped
2Tb poppy seeds
2 sleeves round butter type crackers
2 sticks butter, melted

Combine 1 sleeve of crackers and 1 stick of melted butter and spread in bottom of 9x13 casserole pan. Mix chicken, soup, sour cream, water chestnuts, and poppy seeds, spread on top of crackers. Mix other sleeve of crackers and stick of melted butter and spread over top of chicken mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until lightly brown and bubbly.

ENJOY!

Does anyone have any good crockpot recipes. I love my crockpot and need some more recipes to try out on the family. Please share what you know! Thanks

Betz White

This Website has the cutest little stuff! I am addicted to her book Sewing Green (like I can sew, my mom has the book and just made 6 aprons). But she is sooo inspirational. I have been scouting every thrift store for wool sweaters and hope to one day make something cute from them like she has. What do you think? Anyone know any other crafters like her to inspire us?

Soooo Cute butterfly!

I love this idea of the butterfly on the back of the chair. I think I want to do it on my dining room chairs all the time! When I do i will let you know how it turns out, anyone else wanna give it a try? Oh, by the way this is a great blogspot you might want to check out the other cute stuff she has. http://olivejuiceco.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Such Cute things

Check out this website www.tracyporter.com .

The birdnest in the closche is really cute!

It is just like the ones I make and am selling at curlyjp.etsy.com. But mine are WAY cheaper!

Matchbook Notebook Craft Project

I did this simple project with the kids the other day and they turned out sooo cute. I cut pieces of cardstock the size of an open matchbook, folded a lip at the bottom and inserted a few pieces of cut copy paper squares, punched a tiny hole through the lip and pieces of paper (i bought a special small punch at Michaels) and insterted a scrapbook binder clip (I got a package at the dollar store) and folded the top over to slip into the flap. Then cut some pictures out of magazines and glued them on the front, some I stamped witha cute "friend" stamp. The boys loved them and it was pretty quick.

Great Complete Meal

So here are a few recipes I made the other night my family loved! They could'nt stop raving about it, my husband even commented that it was the best complete meal I had ever made (WOW!).

Italian Orange Roughy

1 lb. orange roughy fillets
1/2 cup tomato juice
2TB white vinegar
1 envelope italian salad dressing mix
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped green peppers

Place fillets in shallow 2 qt microwave dish, position thickest part of fish toward outside edges. Combine tomato juice, vinegar and dressing mix; pour over fish. Cover and refrigerate for 30 min. Sprinkle with onions and green pepper. Cover and microwave on high for 3 minutes. Turn fillets; cook 2-4 minutes longer or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Let stand covered for 2 minutes.

I left the green peppers out because my husband doesnt like them and it was perfect without it. I also used some talapia fillets with the orange roughy because they were cheaper and it tasted the same as the roughy too.

GOLDEN POTATO BAKE

1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup half and half
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp. pepper
10 cups frozen, shredded hash brown potatoes
8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated (2 cups)

Heat oven to 400degrees. Mix sour cream, half and half, butter, green onions, salt and pepper in small bowl, stir until combined. Toss potatoes with cheese in large bowl. Pour sour cream mixture over potatoes and cheese and mix until combined. Spoon potato mix into 9x13 casserole dish. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. remove foil and bake until golden - about 45 minutes more. Remove and cool for 10 minutes, serve warm.

I only did half portion of the recipe since it makes alot and for a family of 4 it would be alot left over. I also used frozen hash browns instead of shredded and it was wonderful!

ENGLISH FARMHOUSE SALAD

Salad:
1 apple, cored and thinly sliced
1 bag spring mix salad
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

Vinagerette:
5 TB sugar
1/4 tsp dry mustard
5 TB white vinegar
3 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 TB Worcestershire sauce
3 TB canola oil
salt and pepper to taste

In large salad bowl, toss spring mix, walnuts and blue cheese. Mix vinagerette making sure sugar is mixed well and dissolves. Add vinagerette and gently toss. Top with apple slices.

I used pecans instead of pecans instead of walnuts and they were great too.

These are definately keeper recipes and I dont think my family would mind if I cooked it weekly! And as you can see I substitue ingredients to fit my families tastes and they loved it. Hope you enjoy it too!

Free Fun

So lately I have been really enjoying going to the public library with my kids. My plan goes like this: In the evenings I go online to my libraries website, login to my account and browse through the books I think I might be interested in checking out. When I find some books, I request for it to be sent to my closest library location. When they send me notices through my email account that my books are waiting for me to pick up I choose a day to go to the the library when they might be having a free puppet show or story time. I show up early and pickup my books on reserve and head over to the kids area and wait for the "show". If there isnt a show that day I just let the kids look at the books in the kids area or play on the kids computers while I look at the books I have chosen. The kids really love going to the library and I get a little reading and slightly quieter time to spend with my own thoughts! Here is the link to my local library, maybe you can post the link to your local libraries too and find new mom-friends at your local library. http://www.gwinnettpl.org/index.html