Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Edible Acorns

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I thought it was pretty crazy that on the night my kids were assembling these too-cute cookies, I checked my email and saw this post by Kristen.  Apparently these are all the rage!!

I happened upon a friend's facebook photo and was inspired to make these with my kids.  In my friend's photo these cookies were sitting atop the most beautifully frosted cupcakes.  (I never got to the cupcake part- we ate 'em up too fast!)

Edible Acorns
  •  1 or more bags of Hershey Kisses
  •  1 box bite-size vanilla wafers
  • 1 bag butterscotch chips
  • white frosting (I just used powdered sugar and milk)
"Glue" first 3 ingredients together with white frosting and you have the cutest little edible acorn! 


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Make Your Own Pesto

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Making homemade pesto has been on my want-to-do list forEver!  My garden is overflowing with basil that needs to get used up.  So, after my facebook friend posted this recipe, I knew there was no excuse for me to tarry any longer.  Mmmm, I am glad I finally got around to it; it was a nice change from ordinary pasta sauce. :)

 

Ingredients:

2 cups basil leaves

1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup pine nuts or toasted almonds  (I used almonds)

1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan  (I used a blend of Parmesan and Romano)

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1/2 tsp lemon juice

salt

Directions:

- Toast pine nuts (almonds) in a skillet with a little olive oil for a couple of minutes until golden

- In blender (I use the Ninja NJ600 Pro Blender) or food processor, mix dry ingredients until well chopped. Add olive oil in a thin stream while blender is running.

- Continue blending, scraping sides, until well blended. Add lemon juice.

Our favorite way to eat pesto is on buttered toast, so I keep it pretty thick.


*Linked to Tasty Tuesday and Try a New Recipe Tuesday

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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Homemade Taco Seasoning

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I am really trying to cut down on prepackaged seasonings, mostly for the healthy reasons.  My family loves tacos and refried bean burritos, so I came up with a yummy, mild seasoning mix. My whole family LOVES it!!!!



Homemade Taco Seasoning

1 TBSP Chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. red pepper
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. onion salt

*To 1 lb. of cooked, drained ground beef - I added the above seasoning mix, 1/2 TBSP olive oil, and 1/2 cup water.  Bring to a boil, then turn to low and simmer for about 5-10 minutes.


When money was ULTRA tight, I was forced to get really good at making homemade refried beans.  Now I am glad I did.  I still make them a lot, and it's a meal that lasts for about 4-5 days for a family of five.  We use the beans instead of meat to fill flour tortillas, top tostadas or stuff in taco shells. 

I use the same seasoning mix as I did for the tacos, except I usually double the amount of salt and garlic powder.

Now, to those of you (like my hubby) who like HOT, you've just got to add that in yourself! :)

Linked to Tasty Tuesday and WFMW

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The Very Hot Fall Field Trip

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Vertuccio Farms Field Trip


Definitely saw our fair share of animals pooping on the farm!  No shame.


Pizza garden tour.  Garden is in the shape of a circle divided into 8 "slices."  Slices include wheat grass, tomato plants, pepper plants, onion and garlic, cow pen, goat pen, pig pen, etc.  Informative and fun!


Corn maze treasure hunt

 


Air Pillow

 

Pumpkin Hunt

 



Monday, October 17, 2011

My Memories Suite {Giveaway}

Pin It Now! *Updated ~ And the winner is Stacey T.!  Thanks for playing.  You can still use the coupon code below for $10 off the software and $10 for the My Memories store. :)

Scrapbooking used to be a high priority in my life.  I was even a Creative Memories Consultant at one point.  Those were the days before the birth of my third child and homeschooling. 

My third child is now six years old, and I still haven't finished her baby album.  I confess: life is busy, homeschooling takes up most of my time, and I'm tired.  Once I got behind in scrapbooking, it was hard to catch up.  Though not in boxes, my pictures are piling up in computer folders.

I try not to think about all those memories fading away, or I'll cry.  You can imagine my excitement when My Memories contacted me about reviewing the #1 rated -and affordable- scrapbooking software!

So, if you're like me and can no longer find the time for traditional scrapbooking, My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software is the perfect solution!

With this software, you can create scrapbook pages, videos, calendars, cards, and so much more!  The following video explains from start to finish just how easy it is to use My Memories Suite.



Here is just a sampling of some of the pages I have created using this software.  I loved the fact that there was no mess to clean up! 

Most of these pages were created in a very short amount of time using available templates and designs on the software.  The "High Maintenance" page came from a free kit I downloaded from the My Memories site.  By the way, there are tons of free kits from which to choose!  I downloaded a bunch myself.

Here's the best part:  My Memories is giving away My Memories Suite Version 2.0 software to one lucky reader!  ($40.00 value!)

*To enter visit http://www.mymemories.com/ then come back here and tell me which digital paper pack or layout is your favorite.

**For extra entries follow My Memories . . . (1 entry per follow)


Facebook- http://facebook.com/mymemoriessuite

Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite

***Earn 5 extra entries for sharing this post with your friends!

__________________________________________________________

To all readers, here is a fabulous coupon code for $10.00 off the purchase of My Memories Suite Version 2.0 scrapbooking software and a $10.00 coupon for the MyMemories.com store.

Coupon code: STMMMS5495  (Feel free to share this code with all your friends!)


Giveaway ends Monday, October 17. (Don't forget to leave contact info.)

Digital Scrapbooking works for me! WFMW

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Mums and M & M's

Pin It Now! First thing I saw when I finished getting ready this morning. :)  So sweet ~ he's totally speaking my love language!




Added it to my front door fall display.  We have to do something to make it look like fall around here!  (Cuz it shore don't feel like it!)

Now I need a fairytale pumpkin to complete the look. ;)

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Disneyland

Pin It Now! Squeal!  Too excited about going on vacation with my family.  It was time!  How do you choose from hundreds of pics?  Here is just a sampling of our wonderful getaway from the real world.


Oh, it was such a great feeling to have finally made it to this point! 


Love Aurora's castle! And it was so lovely having random people offer to take pictures.  Friendliness does still exist in pockets.  Well, at least in fantasy land.
Starting with a classic.  (For the boys, it was just an opportunity to hurry up and get it out of the way!)  At Daddy's and Shiloh's request, we actually ended our adventure with this ride, too.
Yes, about to be brainwashed by children singing the same song over and over again . . .
Yuck -rain!  Hoping for a little shelter on the monorail.  Ew, my hair's starting to get curly, too. :(
Trying to look on the bright side: at least it's not over 100 degrees, and we got to wear layers ~ yea!

I didn't realize that Disney changed the inside theme of The Haunted Mansion during the holidays.  Neat, but I like the regular way better.
Awww, the Pooh ride.  Can't go to Disneyland without riding this one!
The one ride Daddy can't go on . . . Teacups.  He can't do the spinning round and round and round rides.
Of course the boys LOVED Star Tours!  It was fun for me just because I didn't know what to expect - it was a new one for me!
Ice-cream break!
Waiting to ride Thunder Mountain



I have to admit, I couldn't wait for Pixie Hollow.  So many sweet memories of reading tons of Disney Fairy novels to my own little fairy!!  Mark says I'd make the perfect Vidia - getting to scowl all day long.  ;)
Fawn, the animal talent fairy.  Shiloh would make a great animal talent, if only I'd let her have some pets!
Vidia and Tinkerbell.  What fun to dress up and get your picture made all day long.  I missed my calling.
My very happy girl on Dumbo.  After a long day riding thrill rides that she did NOT like, (we went to California Adventure, too) she was so excited to be here.  Ugh.  We waited WAY too long for this ride!!!  The boys, especially Mullin, weren't too gung ho, but Daddy had gone back to the hotel for jackets.  I wouldn't let them sit out.  For goodness' sakes, Shiloh had to ride all kinds of rides she didn't like!!!  Poor girl.  I LOVED all the roller coasters and such at her age, but she preferred the safe and gentle ones.

Buzz Light Lear was fun.  Guess who had the best shooting score?  Of course, it was the hunter (Mullin) of the family, but I was a close second.


So cool seeing the castle all lit up at night.  Magical indeed.


Favorite Disneyland rides:

Daddy- It's a Small World.  (No, I am not kidding.)

Me- I just don't know.  Liked the anticipation of having not experienced Star Tours and Indiana Jones before.

Mullin and Lincoln- Splash Mountain

Shiloh- following in Daddy's footsteps with It's a Small World.

*For some reason Pirates of the Caribbean wasn't up and running while we were there.  Okay by me, though, not my favorite or anything.

**Another highlight for me was just sitting on Main Street with my big, fat cinnamon roll and hot cocoa taking it all in.  :)

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