What's Cookin'? ~ Tips ~ New Recipe

Tip 1:  I found another way to use leftover (when there is any) whiskey butterscotch sauce.  Bake a cinnamon/brown sugar coffee cake, and drizzle some on 10 minutes before it comes out of the oven.

I baked the coffee cake, but no sauce to be found (sad face). 

Tip 2:  I opened a jar of home canned hot sauce to make jalapeno poppers, but need to use the rest up before I forget I opened it.  I found that adding home canned hot sauce to greens is a wonderful way to flavor them up.  I used them on spinach recently.

We are short on eggs.  The colder weather has slowed production down, but no need to panic (I told myself).  I had a good supply of ingredients to make a crock pot of steel cut oats (with apples, walnuts and raisins).

Got Wine Corks?

My name is....and I am a wine cork hoarder.

It's true.  I have had this tote of corks in my crafting supplies for years.  Many years.  Since before we moved here.

I have made many Christmas tree ornaments over the years, gifted many, and maybe even sold some.  I can't remember.

..... so I'm him-hawing at letting go of these corks.  Or keeping a handful.  Or not.  

Today, I decided to take you down "wine cork memory lane" (and myself) to decide if I shall pass these corks on.  They were not saved for storage over the years.   I have been a bit creative.

New Recipes ~ New Rug

I told a few folks that I was "taking Sunday off."  Ha!  Well, it sort of happened.  I tried several new recipes in my "try it" pile. 

First, our super bowl food yesterday:

Spicy Thai Chicken Wings.  Made using my home canned habanero-apricot jelly, freshly grated ginger, and fresh cilantro.  Delicious.  Different, and not real spicy as we thought.

Just Do It!

Saturday was a "just do it" sort of day for me.  Hubby had to take off in Daughter's car to diagnose it.  Yeah...more car repairs.  We just put a $170 part in the truck.

I have been going from utility room to closet, back and forth. It's due to the magic I am preforming.  I'm downsizing, and moving as much crafting supplies as I can, to the utility room.  The kids will have easier access and there is a small table to work on too.

Last night Hubby said, "Hey! There's a floor in there?" laughing of course.  I had yarn everywhere.

Upon entering my closet,

Pearl ~ Purging the Bedding

Ever wake up feeling like Pearl (we accidentally left her out all winter)?  Rained on, snowed, on, hailed on, wind blown, knocked down.........looking all haggard?  I did.  All of December and all of January.

February is a new month, and I am back to almost walking 2 full miles a day.  It's been painful, but trips to the chiropractor are swiftly returning my body to a painless stage. It's a lesson to myself really.  I think about that miserable experience, and I wake up to a fully charged, positive demeanor.  

I don't skip the herbal teas.  I don't skip the exercise.  I clean something every day even in the midst of a canning day, or other engaging day.

Kitchen-ness ~ Dogs

Here is what has been cookin' up this week (and last):

Banana, strawberry, blueberry bread.  I used Giada's recipe for banana-blueberry bread, but left out one banana and added a cup of chopped frozen strawberries.  It turned out very moist, and delicious.  It was a much welcomed, "after school" snack.

Ma's Little House Shawl

I originally posted this back on May 10, 2013 on this blog. Blogger won't allow me to link this post back to my old post, and I want to share the pattern. Evidently, it's becoming quite popular on Pinterest.

I continue to receive emails asking for the pattern, so here it is: