Make It Monday ( Serving Tray)

Here is a cute project to make. It would be great for a present or just for you to use around your house. I bought a wooden serving tray at Michaels' and painted it. Then I Mod Podged some scrapbook paper onto the bottom of it.

thrifty Thursady

Here is a really simple tip I found on Pinterest to cut brownies even while they are hot use a plastic knife.

see how well this works

hardly any crumbling at all

don't they look great

This also works very well for the Zucchini bread Mindy made yesterday.

Have a great night everyone 

Stephanie

Whatever Wednesday (Zucchinni Bread)

I thought for today we could mix the garden and Christmas. Zucchini Bread uses our produce from the garden and it freezes well so you can give it as Christmas gifts. First you need to shred your zucchini. After peeling it I cut it into small enough pieces to go through the food processor.

 Zucchini Bread
3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 1/2 cups grated zucchini
3 cups flour
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp salt
3 tbsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 tbsp cinnamon

Beat eggs until fluffy. Add oil, zucchini and sugar.

Stir in flour, baking soda, salt, vanilla, baking powder and cinnamon.

Bake 350 degrees for 1 hour. Makes 2 loafs

You can make this in different ways to. I made a thin cake with it

and muffins

and a couple of loafs with it

The muffins only took about 15 minutes, the cake just a little longer than that.
Zucchini can also be frozen after you shred it, just make sure you drain it well before freezing.

If you have any good recipes for zucchini I would love to hear them. My garden seems to be producing a ton of it!

Tastey Tuesday a day late Pinwheels

 

Pinwheels 

These are so simple to make.

all you need is:

Cream cheese 

Flour Tortillas

Green Onions 

Thin sliced Ham lunch meat

First you let the cream cheese soften 

Then you chop your green onions and mix then up in the cream cheese.

place a tortilla on a plate

Spread a layer of the cream cheese and onions on the tortilla

add ham on top of the cream cheese mixture.

then roll the tortilla up and cut them in slices

I think these would be great for Christmas by using the green tortillas and stacked to look like a Christmas tree

Make it Monday Christmas in July Christmas ornaments

Remember these a lot of us seen them on our grandmothers Christmas trees.  They are really simple to make.
All you need is a Styrofoam Christmas ball. ( I get the one covered in satin stands on clearance at the end of the year.  You can leave the satin on or take it off I prefer to take it off. )
Straight pins like you would use to pin stuff you are sewing together.
Sequins
Very small beads just make sure you pin will go threw the hole in the bead.
And Glue.
It is so simple all you do is put a bead then a sequin on the pin. Dip the point of the pin in a little glue and stick it into the foam ornament. Keep going till it is all covered and you have a really nice ornament for your tree. 

 These look really good on the tree.  The light reflects off of them and as more sparkle to your tree.  They also look nice in a big bowl or vase on the mantel or a table.
  
 You don't just ave to do ball you can do any shape you would like this would even look good on a Styrofoam tree.

If you try these please let me know I would love to see pictures
Hope you have a great day
Stephanie 

Christmas in July Freezer Friday Bourbon Balls

At our house Bourbon Balls are a must have at Christmas for Scott.  I am not sure where I got this recipe I have had it for years and my family love them.

 Bourbon Balls

Ingredients
1 c. coarsely chopped pecans
6 tbsp. bourbon
1 lb. powdered sugar
2 sticks butter less 1 inch of 1 stick
8 oz. chocolate (for melting)

Combine the nuts and bourbon. Set aside and let stand for two hours. Cream the sugar and butter until the consistency of meal.  Add the nuts. Roll into little balls then refrigerate approximately 1 hour.

Melt chocolate over a double boiler.  Dip the balls in the chocolate and place on waxed paper.  Store in covered container.  I like to make up a big batch and freeze them until I need them for a gift or for Scott to eat.  He likes to eat them straight out of the freezer. 

Thrifty Thursday ( Drawstring Bags)

Since we are doing Christmas in July I thought this would be a cute idea to make for either presents or to gift wrap something.
First cut a piece of material ( any size you want depending on what size bag you would like).

Fold material in half ( inside out)

Pin the sides and sew the 2 sides leaving the top open.

Turn right side out. Roll the top down and sew a seam. This can be as small or large as you want.

Cut 2 small holes on the top of the bag. This will be for you to run ribbon through to close the bag.

Pin some ribbon onto a saftey pin run through the top seam and come though the second hole.

Pull ribbon tight and tie in a bow.

Here are 2 other ones that I made.

Whatever Wednesday ( garden)

The garden is starting to produce!!

The zuchini I have picked t his week.

The cucumbers are coming on.

My tomatoes are cracking down the side and now we can't eat them. Does anyone has an idea why?

The one in the garden itself is doing much better than the one in the pot.

Christmas In July Tasty Tuesday Fudge

This make a great gift to give out to friends and neighbors also great to take to parties.

Fudge

18 oz chocolate chips
1 can Eagle Brand milk
pinch of salt
3/4 cup nuts (optional)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt chips and Eagle Brand milk. Remove from heat, and add remaining ingredients. Pour in 9 inch foil lined square pan. Chill a few hours, then cut into squares. 
sorry about the color change don't know what is going on tonight.
Stephanie   

Make It Monday (Christmas In July)

Happy Monday everyone! For the rest of the month Stephanie and I thought it would be fun to do Christmas in July. For those of us who craft we all know it is never to early to start working on making presents. Today I started working on crafts to take to a craft show that a friend and I are doing on Saturday. I thought that these would make a perfect gift for someone.

I took a serving tray that I bought at a craft store, painted it black and then Mod Podged some scrapbook paper on it ( How can you go wrong with milk and cookies!) It would be great to serve snacks on it.

Freezer Friday

Here is a  great chart to help you learn what you can and can't freeze from your garden and how to freeze it the proper way!
http://www.finecooking.com/pdf/freeze-chart.pdf

Have a great weekend!

Thrifty Thursday ( Felt matching games)

I had some felt scrap pieces and wanted to make something with them so I decided to make a matching game.

I thought it would be fun to make a harder one so I cut 10 squares, 5 had numbers on them and 5 had that number of shapes on it. Very simple and they last a lot longer than the cardborad games!
Mindy

Whatever Wednesday ( Garden)

It's Wednesday so that means we get to update you on how our gardens are doing!

Mindy's Garden

It is really getting big which is amazing sine it has been so dry and hot here in Indiana.

We finally decided to put some Miracle Grow on our plants last night. My youngest daughter wanted to help.

The zucchini is doing really well. Pretty soon I can make bread from it!

The tomatoes are really coming along to.

The watermelon is just starting to grow, not sure why it has taken so long.

I also have cantaloupe, green peppers, and cucumbers in the garden. They all have blooms but no produce yet.

 Stephanie's garden

My first harvest

this was a mystery plant now looks like tomato's 

more tomatoes

look at the pretty watermelon.  If I can keep the new puppy away from it.

Yellow summer squash

remember I said there were cucumbers growing well I was wrong they are jack be little pumpkins not edible but nice for decoration this fall. 

I hope everyone's garden is doing good also.  Have a great day.

Mindy & Stephanie