Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Now when I think of fudge, my first thoughts always go to chocolate or peanut butter, but I have now been exposed to something totally different.  Back at Christmas, my uncle tried a candy he had never seen before at his company’s employee dinner.  One of his co-workers brought Dreamsicle fudge and he loved it.  He brought me her recipe, but it made not one, but two 13×9 inch pans and that was just too much to experiment with so I found this recipe over at Confessions of a Cookbook Queen on Pinterest that made a much smaller amount and was basically the same recipe scaled down.

I must apologize because I only have photos of the finished product.  The first two times I tried to make it, I burned it.  I mean I REALLY burned it, so the third time I was very careful and didn’t take photos during the process. It is pretty much just basic candy making, but I just didn’t have the attention span that day to make it so I tried again later after wasting 3 sticks of butter and 6 cups of sugar.

3/4 cup butter
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup evaporated milk
12 oz. pkg. white chocolate chips
1 (7 oz.) jar marshmallow crème
3 teaspoons orange extract
12 drops yellow food coloring
5 drops red food coloring

In a heavy saucepan, combine butter, sugar, and evaporated milk. Cook and stir on low heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 4 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in white chocolate and marshmallow crème. Remove 1 cup and set aside. Add orange extract and coloring to the remaining mixture. Stir until blended. Pour into an 8 or 9 inch square pan that has been lined with foil and sprayed with nonstick spray. Drop reserved mixture by tablespoons on top and cut through with a knife to swirl.

Let pan cool in refrigerator for several hours until set.

IMG_2510

Please join me and other bloggers over at Rose City Reader for today’s Book Beginnings.  Want to join up, too?  It’s so easy…just grab the book you are reading, or have read or want to read, and type the first couple of lines in said book.  Then give us your opinion. That’s all there is too it!

My book beginnings for today is from “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” by J.K. Rowling:

"The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive."

This sentence really doesn’t give us a strong idea of what is going to happen in just a few short pages, but it does kind of give you a feeling that the “drowsy silence” may not last too much longer.  This is a great book and series!!

Happy Monday to everyone!  I hope your week and weekend was as productive as ours was.  I think I mentioned last Monday that C & I built another raised garden bed and raised flower bed while we were off for spring break.  Last Thursday, C’s dad helped us out a bunch by using his handy dandy tractor with a front-end loader to bring us four beautiful scoops of composted dirt to fill these and top off the old beds. 

I got up Saturday morning to weed and top off the strawberry patch with fresh dirt and it looks so good!  There are plenty of green berries already and we made sure to cover them so last week’s cold snap wouldn’t hurt them.  The two garden beds and the flower bed are also ready to plant so hopefully I will start filling those up this week.

C & I are also helping his parents refresh their landscaping a little so we worked on that Saturday afternoon.  Fresh mulch always makes plants look so much better.  We hope to get more accomplished this week and weekend.  Wish us luck!  Since we are doing so much outside, this week’s menu is a little on the simple side again, but I do have a couple of new recipes planned for next weekend.  Have a blessed and wonderful week, everyone!

Grilled pork chops for 2 & oven baked fries

Tacos with fresh fruit

Grilled steaks with butter roasted potatoes

Pizza night

Sliders (new) with oven baked fries

Orange juice cake (not new but I have never posted it on here.)

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

How’s that for a long name for a quick and easy recipe that is so, so, so good?  I found this recipe over at the blog Plain Chicken and I may be addicted now. I made this to go with a pot of chili back during cooler weather and was hooked.  This is a perfect bread to go with chili or soup and would be perfect as a party food, too. 

I don’t ever need to make this when I am home alone or I would eat the whole loaf by myself with very few regrets later.  This is definitely an sharing recipe.  It’s just too good!  I will say that mine didn’t turn out quite as pretty as Plain Chicken’s did but it tasted great just the same.

1 unsliced loaf of (round is preferable) sourdough bread (I couldn’t find sourdough at my grocery so I used Hawaiian bread and it gave it a great sweet kick.)
8-12 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
3 oz. bag Oscar Mayer Real Bacon bits (I didn’t have bacon bits, so I just cooked about 4 slices of bacon and crumbled it.)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 Tbsp. Ranch dressing mix

IMG_2463

 

Using a sharp bread knife cut the bread going both directions. Do not cut through the bottom crust. Place the shredded cheese in between cuts. Sprinkle bacon bits on bread, making sure to get in between cuts. Mix together butter and Ranch dressing mix. Pour over bread. Wrap in foil the entire loaf in foil and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Unwrap. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

IMG_2476

Please join me at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday.

For those of you who have been following my blog for a while (thanks by the way!), you will know that I have been trying to “green” my cleaning routine for a while now.  I have used store-bought non-toxic cleaners and was really impressed with their cleaning power, but not so impressed with the prices of these.

Then I began reading on different blogs that many people were making their own cleaners at home for pennies on the dollar of the bought stuff.  I found this pretty intriguing and started by making my own clothing detergent.  This post tells all about that.  The results were great and I haven’t bought any detergent since.  This got me to wanting to try more cleaning recipes and I found these instructions on Pinterest at the blog Macheesmo.  I ordered all of the components from Amazon at about fifty bucks for everything including the bottles.  Now that may seem like a lot, but I have enough of the ingredients to make a LOT of the cleaning products, plus these should be much easier on the environment and hopefully our bodies. 

I will start with the antibacterial spray that is made with only two things: water and lavender essential oil.  The oil has natural antibacterial qualities so it makes a great-smelling safe spray.  Just mix 1 cup of water and 20 drops of the essential oil.  I made a double batch since my bottle was big enough to handle it.

IMG_4294

IMG_4295

Next was the all-purpose cleaner which includes:

3 Tablespoons vinegar
1/2 Teaspoon washing soda
1/2 Teaspoon castile soap
2 Cups hot water

Mix all of these together in a spray bottle.  There will be a slight reaction with the vinegar and washing soda so watch out for a few bubbles.  I noticed that the ingredients will separate a little when the bottle is left alone, but all you have to do is shake it up to re-mix.

IMG_4297

Next is what I call the tub and tile cleaner and it worked great!  You will need a squirt bottle for this instead of a spray since it is quite a bit thicker in consistency.

2/3 Cup baking soda
1/2 Cup castile soap
2 Tablespoons vinegar
1/2 Cup water
A few drops of Tea Tree oil (another natural antibacterial product)

Mix all of these in a squirt bottle.  Again, watch out for a few bubbles from the reaction of the components, but they will dissipate quickly. 

IMG_4301

IMG_4303

The fourth container in the above photo shows the homemade window cleaner that I have been using for a while.  It is 1 part distilled vinegar to 2 parts water.  So easy and so effective!  So far, all of these homemade products were effective and it only took about 15 minutes to make all of them. 

If you are trying to “clean up” your cleaning routine, give these a try. 

Furry family members…

Ellie

IMG_3424

IMG_3441

Eenie

IMG_3427

IMG_3521

Roy

IMG_3616

IMG_3631

Welcome to this week’s edition of Menu Plan Monday!  Please join me and many, many other bloggers over at I’m An Organizing Junkie for this weekly event.  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and got to celebrate Easter to the fullest.  C & I attended church services yesterday morning and then had two family dinners that afternoon and evening.  Boy, were we stuffed, but it was oh so good!!

Spring break is now over and our time off went by too quickly so it is back to our regular routine with work and home. Since this week promises to be busy at work, I am including a couple of meals that make enough for two nights.  C & I were able to work on a couple of gardening projects while we were off and I will have posts about those coming up soon.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Deep Dish Pizza Casserole (2 nights)

Sausage Bake (2 nights)

Pizza Night

A1 Swiss Steak with Butter Roasted Potatoes

I love pasta!  You would think that I have a strong Italian influence in my family, but that is the furthest thing from reality.  No Italian blood here; just a great love for Italian food!  I found this recipe on Pinterest and it was pinned from a great blog, Creatively Domestic.  Here is the link to the original recipe.

There were only 2 little changes I made: I had to use penne pasta because my local grocery stores do not stock a pasta called “ziti” and I used a half pound of ground beef and a half pound of Italian sausage instead of just one pound of one of them.  This is a wonderful dish and will be added to my regular meal rotation.

16 oz. dried penne noodles
1/2 lb. ground beef

1/2 lb. Italian sausage

1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
6 cups meatless spaghetti sauce, divided
1 cup pasta water, reserved from draining ziti
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

IMG_2406

Note about the above photo:  I cooked the ground beef, sausage, onion and garlic powder the day before to save time.  That is what is in the small plastic container.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the beef, sausage, onion and garlic powder until the meat is completely cooked and the onion is soft.

Slightly undercook ziti, about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water, set aside.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  In the pot where you cooked the pasta, combine 5 cups of the sauce, reserved pasta water, and the meat mixture.  Reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes.  Add the cooked pasta back in to the pot and stir to combine.

Spoon 1/2 of ziti mixture into 13x9x2" baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle with Mozzarella and 1/2 of Parmesan cheese. Top with remaining ziti mixture and remaining 1 cup spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake 25 – 30 minutes or until heated through.

IMG_2415

 

IMG_2426

IMG_2431

All you need now is a salad and some garlic bread.   Mmmm!! This is also great the next day for leftovers. Just re-heat and serve.

Please join me and other great food bloggers at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday.

Book Beginnings has a new host, Rose City Reader, and I am so glad she decided to continue this link party!  Don’t forget about A Few More Pages.  Just because she isn’t able to host anymore, doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve some reader love.  Other bloggers link up the books they are reading and their feelings toward them.  It is always interesting reading.

Today, I am bringing you the first few lines of the fourth Harry Potter book: Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling.  I have really enjoyed the first three and this one is just as good.  Ms. Rowling’s imagination and creativity are amazing and I wish I had just a drop of  her writing ability!

“The villagers of Little Hangleton still called it "the Riddle House," even though it had been many years since the Riddle family had lived there.  It stood on a hill overlooking the village, some of its windows boarded, tiles missing from the roof, and ivy spreading unchecked over its face.”

Doesn’t this sound like a sad place to be?  It turns out to be a dangerous place to be for one poor man and a temporary safe haven for another very bad man.  This book, along with the others in the series that I have read, are awesome.  I can easily understand how these books exploded onto the scene and I am glad I decided to give them a try.

Home…

IMG_3465

IMG_3466

IMG_3469

IMG_3531

IMG_3548