Cooking from the Garden

Well, not my garden. My yard is AWFUL! Seriously, my back yard is barren with more rocks than grass and it seriously looks like the backside of a mountain. We hate it, I didn't think it would be that bad but after living here for awhile we despise it. Not sure where that leaves us but I didn't want you lovely readers to think I was the green thumb behind what you are about to see.

My mother has a great back yard! Totally flat and huge! So this year she decided to grow a garden which I thought was awesome. Then the pictures started rolling in from her. She didn't plant a garden, she planted a whole freakin' farm! You wouldn't believe the amount of stuff she planted and several things she doesn't even like to eat! But it has worked out well for me because she sent a ton of stuff home with me last weekend and has already asked that I come back for more.

So last weekend I came home from her house with several cherry tomatos, 4 big green tomatos, 3 large cucumbers, 2 yellow squash and a ton of green apples from her tree. Now, what I was going to do with all of this was completely beyond me but the thought did occur that perhaps I could try an apple pie and some fried green tomatoes. I thought I had all of the ingredients on hand for both so I started searching for recipes. I found this one for the Apple Pie and this one for the Fried Green Tomatoes. Turns out I didn't have all of the ingredients so I had to start looking for substitutions. These are pictures of the final results:

First let me say that the Apple Pie turned out AMAZING! I don't know if you can screw up an apple pie or if it is one of those "Anybody-Can-Do-It" kind of things but I was seriously patting myself on the back over this one. I used the recipe above but here is what I had to do as far as substitutions:

• Instead of 2 cups of All Purpose Flour for the pastry, I used 1 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour and 1/4 cup corn meal (I ran out of All Purpose Flour hence the substitute)
• I didn't have 2 tablespoons of lemon juice so I used 1 tablespoon of vinegar (I think this is a pointless ingredient as it serves only to keep the apples from turning brown but you're baking it anyway and if you are like me, by the time you get the apples peeled and cut they are brown any way)
• I also didn't have a 1/4 cup of All Purpose Flour or a 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg on hand for the filling so I skipped that part

Now, even with all of those missing ingredients and substitutions it turned out so good. I seriously don't think I would make it differently next time. I think I would make it exactly the same. I also attempted to roll out the pastry dough but it was too difficult so I just put the bottom part into the pan and used my fingers to smash it up the sides. For the top I did roll it a little and then fudged it until I covered the top. When I cut the pie it became more of a crumble than a pie slice but still super good.

The Fried Green Tomatoes were a new one for me. I've never had them but I love tomatoes and I've always been curious. The only substitution I made on the tomatoes is that I used self rising flour instead of all purpose and I used regular table salt instead of coarse kosher salt. They turned out good but I think the coarse kosher salt was the key. They needed more flavor so I ended up sprinkling a little salt on them when I ate them. I think they could use some different seasoning to add more flavor. Think I'll try this one again.

So do you have any recipes for tomatoes, apples, zucchini, squash or cucumbers? I have a feeling I'm going to be up to my ears in this stuff so I need ideas! I did make some fried apples with leftovers from the pie and I'm planning to can some tomatoes, dry some (how yummy will sun dried tomatoes be in the fall) and probably make some Caprese Salad (a favorite around here) but I need more ideas! Please share!

Another Card from Scraps

Remember THIS POST from last week where I showed you the cards I made from that little grab bag from my local LSS? Well there was another card and I forgot to post it with the others. It was sad, I found it sobbing in a corner (between you and me it was a disturbing thing to see). Anyway, I'm spotlighting it today in hopes of restoring paper harmony to my scrap space!

Tomorrow I have some garden/cooking goodness to share with you. Martha Stewart I'm not but I gave it a go this weekend and the results weren't too shabby. Stay tuned!

Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer Blog Hop

Welcome one, welcome all the the Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer Blog Hop! I hope you all have enjoyed your trip thus far. There have been some truly amazing projects and I know I have several ideas after seeing all that I have seen. If you started at the MemoryWorks Blog and arrived here from Susan's Bloggity, Blog, Blog, Blog then you are in the right place! If you just happened upon our Blog Hop Fabulousness then definitely be sure to start at the beginning at the MemoryWorks Blog. You don't want to miss a single thing! Plus, one lucky visitor who leaves a comment on this blog hop journey is going to win the grand prize supplied by Simple Stories!

Now, on to the projects! I have a few things to share with you today. First up, our Summer Plan! I found this adorable free printable at Laura Winslow Photography and knew it was the recipe I was looking for to get our perfect summer! But I couldn't just print it out by itself - it needed a good home. I took an old frame I had laying around and painted it using some Heidi Swapp Icee Acrylic Paint I had laying around and then I decorated the frame with items from the 100 Days of Summer kit. I love how it turned out and we have already been able to complete several of the items on this list

Next up is a mini album I created for my cousin who recently graduated from high school. I remember my "Senior Summer" and I thought she would appreciate a little mini to capture those special memories.

The pointing finger stamp is from the Pink Paislee Daily Junque stamp set. I highlighted the banner I cut out and the bottom of the page with a Copic Spica pen. It has so much sparkle but the camera just can't do it justice.

The arrow stamp on the left page is from the Pink Paislee Daily Junque stamp set. I tried to leave her plenty of space for pictures and journaling.

I used some white buttons from my stash to add a little dimension to the cloud

The bicycle stamp is another stamp from the Pink Paislee Daily Junque stamp set and the "Remember" are letter stamps I had in my stash.

Lastly I have this reward chart I created for my daughter.

She was having a hard time staying in her bed all night and no one was getting a lot of sleep so I created this reward system for her. Each night that she sleeps in her big girl bed all night without getting up she gets a flower to put in her garden. When she get's 7 flowers she gets a reward (Chuck E. Cheese has been the favorite so far). It is really working well so I'm totally happy!

To create the garden I cut strips of green paper from 100 Days of Summer paper and then hand drew some leaves using Copics. I used stickers from the 100 Days of Summer kit to put the title on the page and then I laminated everything with sticky paper. I then hot glued some magnets to the back so we could put it on the refrigerator.

The flowers are stickers from the elements stickers in the 100 Days of Summer kit that I laminated and then cut out. I then hot glued magnets to the back. It's holding up really well considering my 2 year old can't keep her hands off of it!

 So that's it for me. I hope you enjoyed these projects. Your next stop is Sandy at Creating in Real Life. Here is the blog hop line up just in case you get lost!

 1. MemoryWorks Blog (http://memoryworksblog.blogspot.com)

 2. Lacey Igo (http://laceybugcreations.blogspot.com)

 3. Sheri Feypel (http://www.thedesperatescrapper.blogspot.com)

 4. Susan Nichols (http://susan-nichols.blogspot.com/)

 5. Jade Wilson (www.thescrapyardrose.com) ~~~~ YOU ARE HERE

 6. Sandy Zent (http://creatinginreallife.blogspot.com)

 7. Lisa Harris (http://mykreativepursuits.blogspot.com)

 8. Kelly Holbrook (http://kellyrholbrook.blogspot.com)

 9. Sharon Hill (http://ascrappersmemoir.blogspot.com)
10. Sarah Jimerson (www.snippetsofme.net)

11. Christy Musack (http://christymusack.blogspot.com)

12. Simple Stories (http://www.mysimplestories.com)

Don't forget, leave everyone a comment to increase your chances of winning the Simple Stories Grand Prize!

A Few Cards

A couple of weeks ago I stopped by my local scrapbook store to pick up some paper for decorations in my step sons new WWII themed room - more on that later. As I was checking out, I noticed they had little "Grab Bags" at the register. No doubt scraps left over from classes but several of them looked cute so I picked one out. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, it didn't look like it had a ton of stuff but I thought I'd give it ago anyway. Here are a few of the things I have made with just that little bit of stuff:

I actually made 4 of these cards. The first one I made for my Grandmother for her birthday but I forgot to take a picture of it. I thought it turned out really good so I decided to knock out a few more for my stash.

Everything you see here came in the little grab bag. I used some plain white cardstock to make the card base. I used the Cuttlebug Script embossing folder, Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the "Birthday Wishes" sentiment is a Stampin' Up stamp.

Again, almost everything here is from the grab bag. I added the flowers and brad from my stash, the ink is Really Rust from Stampin' Up and the stamp is a $1 stamp from AC Moore. I really like the way these turned out. This is not paper I would typically pick out on my own so it was cool to get out of my rut. More coming soon so stay tuned!

A New Challenge!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope this week is good to you. Today I am sharing a card I created for the Card Cupids Weekly Challenge. This weeks challenge is sponsored by The Stamping Boutique and I really like their images. They have quite a variety. The challenge is to create a monochromatic card. This challenge is a little different from the others because it will run for 2 weeks. Here is the card I created:

I colored the image with Copics (E000, V12, V15, V17), the paper is from the Pink Paislee Hocus Pocus line (see, Halloween paper can be used in other places LOL), the border stamp is from Lizzie Anne Designs Sixlets Timeless Textures (I won these from the Moxie Fab blog and I will be posting some projects that used these stamps in the very near future), the ink is Stampin' Up (Basic Black, Lovely Lilac), The Rose stamp is from the My Mind's Eye Lost and Found collection and the "For You" stamps are from Stampin' Up's Fabulous Phrases stamp set.

A Rare Weekend Post

Last night, Hubs and I took the small man child to the movies. This is a super rare treat around here because Tinker being 2 makes it impossible to sit in a dark, loud place for more than 3 minutes. Since she was off visiting family last night we thought we'd take the opportunity to go see something. We had seen trailers for Zookeeper on TV and thought it looked cute so that's what we decided to see.

This is a MUST SEE movie! It was WAY better than any of us expected. We thought all of the funny stuff was probably shown in the the trailers but we were wrong. This was a super funny movie and we all came out talking about how much better it was than we expected. It had a fantastic cast too: Kevin James (always funny), Rosario Dawson, Donnie Wahlberg, Cher, Nick Nolte, Silverster Stalone and Adam Sandler (love him). Plus so many more! It's PG and I know I heard at least one four letter word (not the F bomb though) and there were some sexual innuendos but I didn't feel too uncomfortable having the 11 year old man child there. I mean, there were 2 four letter words in Cars so this wasn't too bad to say the least. I highly recommend this movie - you will not be disappointed.

As an added bonus, there were two trailers at the beginning of the movie for movies that I think look really good. One was for this movie:

Dolphin Tale is a movie based on the true story of a dolphin named Winter who was saved after being trapped in a crabbing net. Winter lost her tail due to the incident and learned to swim with a prosthetic tale that was created for her. This looks like a truly heart warming and inspiring movie for the entire family and it had a great cast: Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd and Harry Conick Jr. (*heart* him).

The other movie was an Adam Sandler flick (it's about time, I've missed his movies):

In this movie Adam Sandler has a twin sister (played by Adam Sandler of course) who comes to visit. It looks like a typical Sandler flick (YEAH!) full of laughs. Surprisingly, Katie Holmes plays his wife (thank you for finally letting her out of the house, Tom) and I saw a cameo of Al Pacino (you'll die when you see it). It looks like it will be really good.

Anyway, I thought they all looked good enough to pass along to you lovely readers so I hope you'll check them out and let me know what you thought.

Several Goodies for You Today

I have several projects to post but I haven't had time to take pictures of them! Ugh, I hate when time is so absent. Anyway, while you wait for me to get my photography act together (here's hoping it doesn't take that long) here are several little goodies for you to take advantage of or put on your calendar.

First up:

Blog Hop

So excited about this! The TeamWorks team from MemoryWorks have been busy behind the scenes creating some AH-MAZING projects to share with you using the 100 Days of Summer kit from Simple Stories. Yours truly will be hop-hop-hopping along on this fabulous journey and I hope you will too! There is bound to be some fantastic inspiration along the way (and I'm sure a few prizes too) plus Simple Stories will be giving one lucky participant an awesome prize - that could be YOU! So mark your calendars for Thursday July 14th and get ready to bask in the rays of 100 Days of Summer fun!

Next up:

This is something new to my area and I am over the moon excited about it! Recyclebank is a program that pays you for recycling! How awesome is that? You sign up, get a free garbage can, throw all of your recyclables in it (no sorting!) and then they come and pick it up at your house! You get points for how much you recycle and then you trade in those points for gift cards and other rewards! As if recycling didn't already have enough perks of its own! Plus they are running a cool contest right now with lots of winners and two amazing prizes - a trip to the Galapagos Islands and one to a Four Seasons Resort! It's definitely worth checking out to see if Recyclebank is in your area!

Wait, there's more:

I'm still taking players for my "Pay it Forward". I have a spot for 4 more people and it's so easy and rewarding! Just leave me a comment HERE telling me you want to play. I'll email you with some questions (make sure I can email you either by leaving your email address or a blog address I can contact you at) and then sometime before the end of the year I will send you a handmade gift! What's the catch? Well, I'm hoping you too will "Pay It Forward" by doing the same for 5 other people.

And yet even more:

Free 

(or in some cases discounted) 

Scrapbooking Supplies?!

I am putting together an informational piece on how I earn free/cheap scrapbooking and card making supplies to share with you all. I should have things put together in the next 2 weeks so if you want to know my secrets you can email (just use the Contact Me button on my blog) or leave me a comment on this post. The information is completely FREE but I'll be emailing it out. You will also receive invitations from me to join websites I use to pay for my scrapping addiction but you have the choice to sign up only if you want to and you are under no obligation to use them.

And finally:

I have to thank my blog buddy Stephanie from Charming Paper Crafts for giving me this Irresistibly Sweet Blog award! Steph is AMAZING and I don't know what I'd do without her. She makes the cutest cards and she sells some of the most adorable stamps I've ever seen! Please go check her out - it's definitely worth your time!

So the rules of this award are:

Here are the rules for this award

1)  Send a thank you to the person who gave you the award. 
2)  Answer 7 random facts about yourself.
3)  Pass this award out to 8 other blogs.

Here are my 7 random facts for your viewing pleasure . . . 
1.  I love all things Audrey Hepburn
2.  I secretly long to be an amazing cook but I truly suck at cooking (I do try, sorta)
3.  I really don't like the beach (sand, salt water, large fish that can cause me bodily harm? Uhm, no thank you)
4.  I have an unbelievable fear of alligators and crocodiles (my mother once put me on a brick wall to take my picture, no fence behind me and a large pit of alligators below, my fear is not unfounded) 
5.  I want to craft WAY MORE than I ever get to
6.  I love mint chocolate chip shakes (YUMMO!)
7.  I prefer greasy, salty junk food to sweets any day

Now to pass it along to:

I have so many favorite blogs, it is so hard to pick just one. And I love that you come to read my blog when my life actually lets me not only create something for you but also post that creation. So I am giving this award to each of you! You are all incredible and I really am so thankful that you take the time out of your day to visit me and leave such sweet comments. So take this award and know that I think you are Irresistibly Sweet!

Have a great weekend everyone!