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Archive for September, 2012

Menu Plan Monday

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , on September 10, 2012|

Wow, another week has rushed right past me and it is time for another menu plan.  I know I sometimes read like a broken record, but really, where does time go?  It seems like if you blink twice, another week has passed.  Last week was busy, but good for both C & I.  We had a nice cool, rainy weekend so we took the opportunity to catch up on our rest a little, but we still managed to get a few chores accomplished. 

I am hoping to get a little outside clean-up work done this week.  I want to sow some lettuce seed for a fall harvest and my flower pots need refreshing desperately!  You know, flowers don’t grow very well if you forget to water them.  Oops!  Oh, well, I think it is time to stick a few mums in there anyway.

I have one new dish planned for this week, plus I hope to try my hand at homemade salsa next weekend.  I love salsa and I have been planning to try Pioneer Woman’s recipe for quite a while so next weekend is the time!

Meatball Sub Casserole (new)

Cheesy steak sandwiches with oven fries (2 nights)

Sausage bake (a request from my dad)

Pizza night

Tacos

Oreo pie (a request from C)

Please join me at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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Frozen Nutella Pops

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , on September 8, 2012| 5 Comments »

I used to think that Nutella didn’t look like it would taste very good.  Why did I think that?  It is delicious!!  I know a lot of people like it on toast like peanut butter, but that really isn’t my cup of tea.  In desserts though…yum!!  When I found this frozen treat over at Real Mom Kitchen, I knew I had to try it.

The original recipe only has two ingredients, chocolate milk and Nutella.  Since I am lactose-intolerant, I used plain almond milk and chocolate syrup in mine.  These are a quick,easy, and delicious frozen treat!

Frozen Nutella Popa

1 1/2 cups plain almond milk

1/8 cup chocolate syrup (I like my chocolate milk REALLY chocolate-y.)

1/2 cup Nutella

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Whisk the milk and syrup together until combined.  Add the Nutella and stir until the mixture is smooth.  Pour into popsicle molds and freeze until firm. 

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I always have a hard time getting the pops out of the mold so I unmolded all of them and wrapped the individual pops in plastic wrap.  They will keep frozen for over a week with no decrease in quality.

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Book Beginnings & A Winner Announcement

Posted in Books, tagged , , , on September 7, 2012| 2 Comments »

Please join me and other bloggers today over at Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings.  The book I am featuring today is “On Folly Beach” by Karen White.  What attracted me to this book at first was the beautiful cover of seashells on sand with water washing over them and the name of course.  Folly Beach is a little island off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina and is a place that I would love to visit some day. 

“Emmy awoke to the song of the wind in the bottle tree, to the black night and the winter chill, and knew Ben was gone from her the way the moon knows the ocean’s tides.”

Doesn’t this first sentence just send chills down your spine?  This book is full of memories with a little magic thrown in.  The way Ms. White joins the generations of women is really poignant.  I can’t wait to try more of her books!

Now, to the big announcement!  I have the opportunity to give away 3 copies of “even if I am.” by Chasity Glass that I wrote about last week.  I wrote down everyone’s name and had my husband, C, to pick three names out of a bowl.  Real high tech!  Anyway, the three lucky winners are…Mostraum, Chris Thompson, & Kesha!  You three will be receiving an email from me and from Mary Bisbee-Beek, who is Ms. Glass’ publicist.  Ms. Bisbee-Beek will need more information from you so please respond to her email to receive your book.  Congratulations!!!!!  Many thanks to Ms. Bisbee-Beek and Ms. Glass for the opportunity to host my first giveaway.

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Almost Wordless Wednesday

Posted in Fun, Pets, Pets/Animals, Photography, tagged , , on September 5, 2012|

Show livestock and their entourages at the Kentucky State Fair…

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Menu Plan Monday

Posted in Cooking, tagged , on September 3, 2012|

Happy Labor Day to my American readers!  I hope you have a wonderful holiday today.  We are experiencing the remnants of hurricane Isaac in our area, but the weather has not been too bad, just some much needed rain showers.  This week’s menu is a little short because, since it is the first of the month, it is grocery shopping time again.  Wow, it is hard to believe that another month has passed and September is going strong.

If you haven’t already, please check out my Book Beginnings post from Friday and leave a comment to enter my first ever giveaway to have a chance to win a copy of the book I reviewed.  It is an amazing book and I have the opportunity to give away three copies.  Hope to see your name listed!

Sausage bake with fresh fruit

Cheeseburger bundles with oven fries (2 nights)

Pioneer Woman’s fried round steak (new) with curly fries

Tomato soup & grilled cheese

Pizza night

Peanut butter chocolate chip bundt cake (new)

Please join me at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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Dairy Free Blackberry Ice Cream

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , on September 1, 2012| 9 Comments »

Today I am bringing you my latest adventure in dairy free ice cream making.  Last year was an amazing blackberry year so I still had a small bag in my freezer.  Since I had already made strawberry ice cream and I also remembered that the blackberry sauce from last years was so so good with ice cream, the decision was made to combine those berries with the dairy free vanilla recipe to make blackberry ice cream.  Mmmm, this was so good and the color was gorgeous!

BlackberryIceCreamPinterest

1 14oz. can full-fat coconut milk

1 1/4 cups soymilk or other nondairy milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar (or agave syrup)

1.5 tbsp. real vanilla extract

2 cups blackberries, fresh or thawed from frozen

Juice from half a lemon

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In a medium saucepan over low-medium heat, cook the berries and lemon juice until the berries release their juice and the juice simmers.  The berries should be soft and almost falling apart on their own.

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Next, using a fine mesh sieve and a potato masher, mash the berries to strain all of the juice and flesh into another bowl.  The sieve will catch those annoying little seeds.

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Combine the strained berries with the rest of the ingredients and chill for 2 to 3 hours then process in your ice cream maker according to package directions.

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