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Archive for August, 2010

The Swan Thieves

Posted in Books on August 8, 2010| 1 Comment »

I love to read!  Books, magazines, newspapers, blogs, food packaging…I guess you get the point.  I also love my local library.  My mom was the family historian and spent many hours at the library using their extensive local genealogy section.  While she browsed through rolls and rolls of microfilm, I browsed the children’s book section.  I would take home stacks of books to read and enjoyed every minute of it.  I read my way through the entire Little House on the Prairie series, the entire Nancy Drew series, and entire Anne of Green Gables series, plus others too numerous to mention.

Sometimes I will go looking for a certain book and sometimes a book finds me.  The latter is the case with The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova.  The cover of the book caught my eye and I am very glad that it did.  Painting, really art in general, is something that I do not know much about.  This book opened up that world to me and it was very interesting.  Here is a link to a synopsis of this book:  http://www.shelfari.com/books/5694040/The-Swan-Thieves.

If you like historical fiction (I DO!) and art, I highly recommend this!

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Taco Ring

Posted in Cooking on August 7, 2010| 24 Comments »

Around here, you can’t go wrong with a recipe that uses canned crescent rolls.  Everybody loves them!  This is a quick and easy recipe for a busy week night supper.  It is also great for potluck…just slice it into smaller pieces!

2 cans crescent rolls

1 lb ground beef

1/4 cup taco sauce (I used mild.)

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I used a fiesta blend.)

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Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat.  When there is no pink left in the meat, pour in the taco sauce and stir to combine.

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Meanwhile, open the crescent rolls and unroll into 16 triangles.  Arrange the triangles in a circle with them slightly overlapping on a round pizza stone.  (You can use a baking sheet if you do not have a stone.)

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Scoop the taco filling onto the crescent roll circle and top with the cheese.  Bring the points of the triangles up over the filling and tuck under at the center to form the ring.

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Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

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Almost-Wordless Wednesday

Posted in Pets/Animals, Photography on August 4, 2010|

Relaxed!

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Sorry the photo is a little hazy, but my camera lens was fogged because of the humidity.

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Menu Plan Monday

Posted in Cooking, Menu Planning on August 2, 2010|

I have fallen off the wagon when it comes to menu planning and the reason is pure laziness.  Well, starting today, back to the routine.  I don’t know why I let it slide since it makes supper time so much easier to deal with when I know what I am fixing.  This time I hope to stick to it much better, but I will list a few quirks of my menu.  Sunday and Monday are spent eating with family so there won’t be anything on those days except maybe dessert or a side dish.  My menu will be Tuesday through Saturday because of that.  Here goes…

Monday: pecan pie (Strike that-really, really bad recipe.)

Tuesday: cheesy steak sandwiches, homemade baked fries, and sliced homegrown cucumbers

Wednesday: leftover sandwiches, chips, and cucumbers

Thursday: grilled pork chops, grilled potato wedges, and cucumbers

Friday: pizza night

Saturday: grilled hot dogs and chips

I am trying to keep the Saturday meals pretty simple because I have a home improvement project going on that I do on Saturdays.  When we built our house four years ago, we finished our upstairs just enough to pass our appraisal, and I had the inspiration to finish it this summer.  There are two bedrooms, a bath and a hallway to work on.  I have painted one bedroom, the bath, and the hallway already.  This Saturday I hope to do the touch-up painting in those areas and move a bedroom suite from the unpainted bedroom to the painted one.  Wish me luck!  I will have before and after photos when the project is nearer completion.

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