Tag Archives: Homemaking

Magic Bars ~

We were having a family get together on Saturday and I decided to try this recipe for Magic Bars that I saw on Trish’s blog and that she posted on the MGCC blog (Mennonite Girls Can Cook). I blew it right off the top cuz I only bought one package of Fig Newtons and 42 Fig Newtons means you need 2 packages! Hey did y’all know that Oreos come in a Golden Variety??

Magic Bars with a twist by ellen b.

45 Newton cookies/ Strawberry or Raspberry/ Trish and I used Fig (you’ll need 2 packages)
1 (14oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup pecan pieces (walnuts would work, too)
8 Golden Oreos or regular ones if you can’t find the Golden broken up into pieces
1/4 cup shredded coconut (Lana and Steve B. you can omit the coconut!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper. Lay Newtons side by side in pan to fill bottom. (Here’s where I went wrong so I improvised and used the Golden Oreo’s to fill the rest of the pan. Yikes I hope they turn out ok… Pour condensed milk over the top of this layer.

Yep one package left me a little short…

Sorry to say as creative as this improvise was it did not work!!

Stir together chocolate chips, nuts, broken up pieces of Oreos, and coconut. Sprinkle over the Newtons and condensed milk.

 

Bake for 22-25 minutes. Let cool and then chill for a while. Cut into 24 bars.

The finished product out of the oven. The Fig Newton side cut well into squares but here’s the improvised side…

Thankfully there were enough bars to share from the Newton side…

 

These were easy and good when you follow the recipe and buy enough Fig Newtons. The Fig flavor was well received but I’m thinking I’ll try Raspberry next time. Enjoy…

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I posted on my blog from 2007-2015 hostage and replaced them with big black and grey boxes with threats. So discouraging…as I’m slowly trying to clean up thousands of posts!

Mango Crockpot Chicken

Sandy at 4 Reluctant Entertainers shared this recipe on her blog and I decided it would be perfect for my Saturday Company/overnight guests. Sandy has the gift of hospitality and if you are timid about entertaining she has a lot of great tips and inspiration on her blog for you.

Spray the inside of your crockpot with whatever cooking spray you like. Load it up with whole boneless chicken breasts. I used boneless/skinless half breasts – 6 of them. Pour 1/2 a plastic tub of the Mango Peach Salsa that Costco sells over the chicken. Cook on low all day long. Do not open, do not stir. When it is done you can shred the chicken and stir it into the sauce.

This is what it looked like before I shredded the chicken.

After I shredded the chicken

 

Here is how we chose to serve the chicken up this time around. Build your own soft tacos with corn or flour tortillas, cilantro, rice, more salsa, beans, onion, cheese, and jalapenos.

Here’s Dear’s creation before he gobbled it up.

After the 4 of us had our fill I still have enough of the shredded chicken left over to serve up a lot of meals this week. Let’s see there’s chicken enchiladas, chicken salad, chicken tacos, chicken burritos, chicken soup…

My brother Tim and his wife Letty came up to visit us on Saturday and stayed overnight. The beauty of cooking a meal in the crockpot is that you don’t have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen while your company is around. We went out for lunch and did a little antique shopping in Old Town Camarillo while our dinner was taking care of itself. The toppings were all easy to put together at the last minute especially since I made the 90 second Uncle Ben’s Santa Fe Rice :0). Everyone gave the recipe a thumbs up!

Thanks Sandy!

Tonight I used some of this leftover chicken for chicken enchiladas.

 

I bought Green Enchilada Sauce for these. Heat up half the sauce in a saucepan and heat up each tortilla in the sauce to make it more pliable. Fill the tortilla with the chicken and some cheese. Roll up and put in baking dish. ( I sprayed the baking dish with Pam before I filled it with the enchiladas) After all the tortillas are in the baking dish cover with remaining sauce and with more cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or so…

Here are the baking dish of enchiladas after they have been heated through.

They made a great dinner for Dear and I with a fresh salad on the side…

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I posted on my blog from 2007-2015 hostage and replaced them with big black and grey boxes with threats. So discouraging…as I’m slowly trying to clean up thousands of posts!

Fruit Pizza

 

I found this simple recipe for Fruit Pizza on Bernideen’s Tea Blog and decided to make it for a get-together we were invited to. I’ll give you the original recipe and also give you some options that I decided to try.

 

The mix, the sticky dough in the pan, the baked dough and the cool whip with pudding mixed in…

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Yellow Cake Mix
1/4 Cup Water
2 eggs
1/4 Cup butter
1/4 Cup brown sugar
1/2 Cup chopped nuts
I large carton of Cool Whip
Assorted Fruit pieces

Mix together cake mix, water, eggs, butter, sugar and nuts until stiff. I think because my cake mix was a variety with pudding in it the dough was sticky and not real stiff but it was still spreadable. Spread into a buttered and floured pan. You can use 2 round pans or I used a large rectangular pan. I also sprayed the pan with the baking spray with flour in it. (lazy) Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes but watch carefully because it might bake faster and you want it to be golden brown not dark brown :0)

Cool completely and then spread with coolwhip and cover with fruit of your choice. I used blueberries, blackberries, and peaches that were frozen and peaches that were fresh.

 

Instead of using straight cool whip I mixed the cool whip with a box of instant vanilla pudding to make it stiffer. Next time I think I’ll first make the pudding according to the package instructions and fold it into the cool whip or whip cream and see how that works…

 

You can make this look a lot prettier and arrange the fruit more creatively. Enjoy the possibilities…

 

Thanks Bernideen for this fun, easy recipe!

I auto posted this for Saturday morning because Dear and I got up bright and early to hit the road from Seattle to Camarillo today. I’ll be brain dead for at least a couple days after we arrive late Saturday night. Hope you all have wonderful summer weekend!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

 

Vintage Thingees Thursday ~ The 2nd

It’s time again for Vintage Thingies Thursdays at Confessions of An Apron Queen!

 

I’m not sure if these vintage pot holders/hot pads are from Dear’s mother Verna or Dear’s Great, Great Aunt Emma. Either way they qualify for vintage…

 

 

Click on the link above to see more Vintage Thingies around the blogs…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

Vintage Thingies Thursday

This is my first dive into Vintage Thursday.

 

This is one of the vintage tablecloths I have from my MIL Verna’s stash.

 

It’s the largest of the 5 or so that I inherited from her. I love the blues and pinks in this one.

Now I’m off to see more vintage goodies from around the blogs hosted by Confessions of an Apron Queen. Feel free to “come away with me” to those days gone by…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

Easy Ground Beef Stroganoff

 

I started making this easy meal years ago when my kids were little. They still enjoy it as adults. It’s a great meal in a pinch. Easy to have all the ingredients handy. The original recipe is from The Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book (1970 version). I made it easier than their recipe and something my kids would eat and like.

1 lb. hamburger
1 medium onion diced
1 clove garlic minced
1- 10-1/2 oz. can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 Cup Sour cream
2 tablespoon Catsup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Noodles – Cooked in salted boiling water

Saute onions in a little olive oil till they are soft. Add meat and garlic and cook till meat is done. Combine remaining ingredients except sour cream and noodles and add to meat.  Heat through. Then mix in sour cream and heat but do not boil.

Serve over noodles. I mix the noodles and the meat mixture all together in the pot.

 

Enjoy with something green!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

Crockpot Ranch Chicken

I was on a quest to make a meal with my crockpot while in Washington because that is where my crockpot lives. I looked around some blogs and found this one and now I’m ashamed to say I can’t find/remember the blog I heisted this recipe off of. I thought it was Susanne’s but when I went back I couldn’t find it. If this is your recipe let me know and I’ll give credit where credit is due…

 

Crockpot Ranch Chicken

12-18 drumsticks or thighs skin removed. (I used 12 thighs)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons bottled ranch
2 tablespoons flour

Spray or oil the sides and bottom of the crock lightly. Very lightly salt the chicken pieces and place them in the pot. Combine soup, sour cream and ranch dressing packet and pour over chicken.

Cook on low for 5 hours or on high for 3 hours.

Remove chicken carefully with slotted spoon. Mix bottled ranch and flour then whisk into the liquid in the crockpot. Put chicken back into pot for 30 more minutes. Serve with Rotini noodles.

This was so easy to make and it was very tasty. I would make it again. Both my son and daughter enjoyed it, too.

Ruby Tuesday ~ My Ruby Living Room

My living room in my home in Washington has a lot of Ruby/Burgundy accents.

It always cracks me up when I try to describe our style. Kind of an old lady, vintage, modern, eclectic, traditional mish mosh of stuff we’ve gotten stuck with inherited and purchased over the years.

Some of our Books

Kipling, Browning, and Favorite Poems ~ all very old with ruby covers!

For more Ruby Tuesday visit Maryt at Work of the Poet. You can join in any time, too!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

Oh, A Thrifting We Will Go ~

Oh, A thrifting we will go
a thrifting we will go
Hi ho the derio
a thrifting we will go..

So my sister Lana, our niece Michelle, my daughter-in-law Laura, and I met at Goodwill on Saturday morning to have a shopping party together. Michelle has been in Washington since Tuesday for a wedding and a visit. She is donning an apron that she was considering. This is our sorting out stage of shopping. We first load the carts with everything we think we might want, then when we’ve had enough shopping we sort through everything and decide what we really don’t want.

 

Some of the goodies I’ve acquired this week. I love the little saying on the blue plate from England. “When two fond hearts as one unite the yoke is easy and the burden light”

 

I love to mix lace and another color tablecloth for tea tables or just for some old fashioned fun. I’m a sucker for tablecloths and the two I bought today were unique and in very good shape. I’m looking forward to making some sweet treats in these Petite heart pans. Think of the possibilities.

 

This hand made tablecloth is a very interesting color and the work is so detailed on it. I just couldn’t walk away from it. Well, I could have walked away but I didn’t want to.

While we were shopping my two sons were home preparing a great barbecue for us hard working shoppers. It was so good. They decided on hamburgers and to go with the hamburgers they made carmelized onions, guacamole, bacon, a fruit salad and baked beans. We had my Rice Krispy Bars for dessert. What a feast it was. We felt blessed.

Ok my sister Lana G! really has a talent at presenting her treasures in a beautiful way. She spent the most of all of us. Check out her treasures here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

My Table and My Yard

 

I do other things beside canoeing, and sight seeing, and eating out when I’m in Washington or California for that matter. And whatever I do I’m inspired to take pictures. Digital Photography has made me free to snap, snap, snap away! First off it was time to change out the Red, White, and Blue table from our 4th of July celebrations. A fresh tablecloth, runner and a vase of fragrant lavender from my bushes make a nice crisp change. Then out to do yard work. I mowed, I pulled weeds and last but not least I attacked the following…

 

I don’t know what this fast growing, bamboo stalk type plant is but it has completely covered other plants and part of the trunk of this big pine tree we have in our side yard. I decided it was time to tell it who’s boss!

 

 

Now you can see the trunk of the tree and the other plants that are trying to grow here. In this shot you can see the stalks of the plant/weed that was taking over.

This shows you the bamboo type stalks on this plant.

And after work like this in the yard my body tells me it got used to living in a condo the rest of the year. I put my comfy clothes on and take 3 Ibuprofen every 4 hours just like Dear told me to. The next day I go out and am pleased I can now see all the not so well taken care of plants that were under the domination of the Bamboo stalker. What do you think, Dear? For those of you who don’t know Dear is in California right now while I’m in Washington and I miss him…

 

Now I just have to put all those branches in the Yard Waste bins…

Ha! But before I do I’m off for a day of fun because my niece Michelle, from Wait For It, is here in town and we’re going to have some adventures together with the family. Have a wonderful day everyone.

Oh and just one other thing. The sun has been shining most every day that I’ve been in Washington. Just gorgeous weather we’re having in the Great Northwest…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.