Mini Lasagna

These are mini lasagna's I made from a recipe on Pinterest. The bottom is wonton wrappers. I made them a second time, making them spicier and more flavorful. This is a picture from the first time.
Basically, spray your pan, put in two wonton wrappers, layer your meat mixture and your cheese mixture, cover with shredded cheese (which I did the second time I made it). Stick in the oven just briefly - about 10 minutes. Easy dinner with easy clean up.

This is a Shrimp Jumbalaya I made around New Years. Here is the recipe:


1/2 stick of butter, melted in a large skillet
1 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic crushed
Saute these in the butter until soft
Add:
1 1/2 cups of water
1 can diced tomatoes
salt, pepper
1/2 thyme
1 bay leaf
1 cup uncooked rice
Put the lid on and let it cook for 25-30 minutes
WARNING: I burned my rice on the bottom, so either use med heat or stir it.
After the liquid is absorbed and the rice is done, add your shrimp. I got the cheap bag at walmart and I took the tail thingy off. Let the shrimp get warm and decorate with parsely.
My kids did not like the parsley.
also we agreed it was too bland and that it would have been better if we had used the tomatoes that have the peppers in them.

Making a quilt/wall hanging

I love material and buttons and thread. I don't like to sew. I hate trying to follow directions, rules are not meant for me. But I have boxes and boxes and boxes of material. So I decided to make a quilt - a quilt with no rules, a crazy quilt. How appropriate - I have often been told I am a little crazy. I am sure they all mean it in the nicest way. At least I will pretend they did.
Anytime I want to do something - like take apart the plumbing, I go to an ehow website. So, I found one on how to make a crazy quilt, using the flip and sew method. I made my squares, and added all kinds of embellishments, buttons, rhinestones, ribbon, lace and embroidery. Which means it is extremely heavy and not washable. That is how it is becoming a wall hanging.
I have the squares put together, but have noticed some imperfections, so I need to do a little more work before I sit down and figure out how to make it hangable and back it and edge it.
I went to a bead exchange and a nice lady gave me a whole bag of broken jewelry, some of which I sewed onto the quilt.

Anyway, I am not working on it right now, because...the sewing machine is at the OTHER house. I have a reputation for starting projects and never finishing, but I am going to get this one done...someday. These are just a few of my squares

a quarter of a century

When I turned 25 (a few years ago) I started really freaking out. I hadn't finished college, I wasn't buying a home, I didn't have children, I was pretty much a hedonistic party girl. So I made a bucket list, before it was a movie and a popular idea. I threw myself into a photography class, ceramics, horseback riding. I returned to the fertility clinic.
Now I am another quarter of a century old, and I finished everything on the list but one. I need 9 hours to finish my bachelors degree. So, I have a new list. Not a bucket list, cause I have no plans to kick the bucket. It is the how can I have fun with my life list.
I want to ride in a helicopter, I want to go to Costa Rica, I want to ride a zip line, I want to learn to played the Bowed Psaltry (yes I own one!), I want to go to Alaska, and I want to hike the Appalachian Trail. Oh and I want to finally finish writing my book, even if it is never read by anyone. I did do one thing from the new list - I went parasailing. It was wonderful. There is no noise but the wind, it is beautiful and I could have stayed up there much longer.

So bring the next quarter century on, I can handle it!

This is part of a fence I painted last year, there are actually two sections. I planted sunflowers behind it, and marigolds around the bottom. Here is how I did it.
I went to my local home improvement store and bought two sections of picket fence, which they refused to help me load to the top of my car. So I somehow wrestled them up to the luggage rack, got some twine from one of the registers and secured it to the top. I drove home slowly and carefully.
I got a gallon of white barn paint. Barn paint is wonderful. Heavy duty, and comparatively cheap.
When I got home I talked Robert into unloading the fences for me, and then I laid them across my husbands pick up bed and started painting them white. (Sorry about the paint on your truck, but since it is white too, no one will notice, probably) It took me two full weekends just to prime them with the barn paint. By then, the hubs had broke down and let me buy saw horses.

Here is another clever idea. The local home improvement will mix up small quantities of paint as samples for about $3. Plenty for this project with lots of leftovers for the next one. They also had, in the brush department some round foam dauber things. I bought a pack of three with several sizes. Robert had a stencil with some Egyptian stuff he got in a bookfair book, and I went to the local craft store and picked up another one with ivy. The flowers, butterflies and other things are freehand.

Once I got started on the fun part, Elisabeth and her friend decided to help, and it took 2 or 3 weekends to fully decorate all the slats and touch up missed areas.
I had to check several stores to find plain wood drawer pulls, but I got a few and painted them to look like bumblebees and ladybugs. My wonderful Hubs used a drill to make holes so wecould screw them on. We got 4 of those green metal fence stakes, Hubs got busy with the drill and put it all up for me.

Warning! This was not the cheap project I had invisioned. The fence was $19.99 per piece, so that was $40.00 right from the start. Another $13 for the barn paint, another $20 in paint samples, and another $20 in miscellaneous supplies - daubers, stencils, drawer pulls. The total - more than $100.

I haven't put up the fence this year, because we are moving and I am waiting to put it up in front of the new place.

Last night Robert and I cooked one of his favorite dishes. The recipe was originally braised oxtail. We like oxtail, but it is expensive for the amount of meat so we have modified the recipe to use short ribs, which we cut into bite size pieces.  This recipe is for a large pot that will feed 4 really hungry people. I don't actually measure stuff.

In a deep pan, melt about 3/4 stick  of butter. Use the real stuff, don't try to use crappy margerine!
Add 1 chopped onion, a few baby carrots, a a few diced turnips if they are small, or a nice big one, 1 stalk celery chopped.  I added about 6 small potatoes. It stretches it nicely and cheaply. When nicely transluscent, add 2 or even 4 Tblspoons flour and blend well. Then for a broth - I dumped in 3 cups of water and 3 beef bullion cubes. This is cheaper than buying beef broth.
Have your butcher cut the 2 oxtails into 2-3 inch pieces. Or just buy short ribs and cut them up yourself. I bought two pounds, oh and for petes sake, buy your meat from a butcher, don't even ruin my recipes with Walmart meat!  Add these to the pan, with salt, pepper and two cloves. I used 2 t of ground cloves since I didn't have any whole ones. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, reduce heat, simmer 2 hours. Or until the potatoes are done, if you are standing there starving.

Robert and I ate like little piggys,(a teenage boy is a bottomless pit!) and I filled a gallon freezer bag for a future meal. The meat was over $3 per pound but I had the rest of the items except the turnips already. So let's call it $10 for a dinner that could have fed 6 if I had fleshed it out with some bread. Since we don't eat bread we probably ate more than a normal serving size.  Still more cost effective than eating out, healthier, and tastes much better, using vegetables from our local co-op.

 

Well, I have been threatening to start a blog, so here we go. I am going to talk about the things I like to do, and you will like it. That is an order.
I like to take photo's, write, quilt, build gardens, SPEND MONEY, refinish furniture, and cook.
So I am going to share some recipes, and some other crafty ideas. Maybe a little of my philosophies, not too many, because I have found that thinking is greatly over rated. Think a little, do a lot.