Gifted Crafts

 Okay . . .not necessarily gifted by me . . . but made for my mother to give as gifts:)

 Hot Pads

 

Diaper/Wipes Pouch (I'm loving this one!!)

 

and Diaper Bag:)

A hint of some of the things you might find at our yearly Artisan Fair Bazaar!

Of course, there will be plenty of other types of things there, as well!

Lazy Dazy Cake

 

Lazy Dazy Cake

Mix & Let sit 20 minutes:

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup butter

1 1/4 cups boiling water

Meanwhile, beat:

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Sift or Whisk together:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. allspice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cloves

Add all parts together and beat well.  Pour into a greased 9"x13" pan and bake a 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Meanwhile, make frosting.

Mix together:

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup coconut

1/3 cup chopped nuts

1/4 cup melted butter

3 Tbsp. milk

Pour on top of cake and spread evenly right when it comes out of the oven.  Broil for one minute.

Then let it cool off and enjoy warm or at room temperature!

******

Not really sure why it's called what it's called . . . 

but it's a delicious spice like cake with a coconut sort of frosting.

Tasty & easy to make!

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Hot Chocolate

with a dollop of whip cream

Perfect for a rainy, cold fall day.

 

And we must share with little boys who beg to have some, too:)

Pumpkin Scones with Glaze & Spiced Drizzle

 

Pumpkin Scones w/ Glaze & Spiced Drizzle

2 cups flour

7 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

3 tablespoons cream

1 egg

6 tablespoons cold butter, cubed

Plain Glaze:

1 slightly heaping cup powdered sugar

2-4 tablespoons cream or milk (or combo)

Spiced Drizzle:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2-4 tablespoons cream or milk (or combo)

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch ground nutmeg

pinch ground ginger

pinch ground cloves

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.  Add cold butter and use a pastry cutter to blend butter in.

In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, cream, and egg.  Add to flour mixture and mix until the dough comes together in a ball.  Turn the dough onto lightly floured surface and gently knead 4 or 5 times to bring the dough together; then flatten int a circle 1" thick. Using a pizza cutter, cut into 8 wedges.

Place the wedges on a parchment paper lined baking sheet (separately like you would cookies) and bake at 425 degrees for 14-16 minutes, or until just starting to turn golden brown.  Remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

When scones are cool, whisk together the plain glaze ingredients and spoon on to each scone; spread slightly.  Let harden 10 minutes and then whisk together the spiced drizzle ingredients; drizzle on top.  Let harden completely, about 1 hour, before serving.

 

Would you like to hear a funny story?  While these are absolutely delicious, I just realized I forgot to put the baking powder in these! No wonder they seemed so heavy/dense and didn't rise that much like other scones I've made have risen!  Not sure where my brain was this afternoon though!

But these are absolutely delicious!  And probably even more so if you make them correctly.  Next time we'll see how they turn out:)  Yes ~ there will definitely be a next time!!  Yummy, pumpkin-y, spicy fall goodness!  Enjoy!!

And, oh yes, one other thing!  They're just like dessert:)

And have a wonderful day!

Morgan-y Expressions

 Oh yes . . . Morgan-y expressions . . . Her being her silly self on the way up to pick huckleberries in August:)

Just don't mind the dirty face:)

I guess we know she was happy, anyways!!

And how 'bout we end here with a gorgeous sunset picture from up in the mountains.  (The spots?  It was raining a bit!)

 

Felt the urge to blog again:)  Hopefully I'll start blogging more!  Although it HAS been busy lately:) Hope y'all have a lovely day!

Lately . . .

. . . I've been busy,

 designing & sewing . . .

 . . . these zippered pouches/clutches.

Think bazaar.

Maybe actually doing something ahead of time!?!!

Oh my Yum . . .

 Fresh Peaches

Delicious . . . 

. . . to eat fresh

or with ice cream

or with cornflakes for breakfast

or any number of other things!

 

Peeled and cut with sugar in the freezer

for frozen fruit mix.

 

Sliced and Canned to eat throughout the year.

 

But I must say . . .

when comes along that perfect peach with the perfect taste . . .

I much prefer it just peeled, sliced, and eating it fresh,

with nothing added to it.

Yum!!

Best. Thing. Ever.

(Or one of the best, anyways!)

 

Hope someone else is enjoying fresh peaches right about now!

Couple Things:)

Made another clutch, but with my own design on it:)

 

 

And I FINALLY got my license last Saturday!!  So excited;)  Anyways, isn't my key chain cute!?! ;)

A Love of Reading

Sometimes, even if you want to start a new book, you have to start supper instead:)  That is what I did tonight.  Pleasing Potato Pizza and salad was for supper here.  And yes, it was pleasing!! :)

Anyways . . . I LOVE reading!!  I can get lost in a book and stay up way too late just to finish a book.  Sometimes I have to force myself to set it down so I can get some sleep!

Tonight when I was starting supper, I wanted to start reading A Ranger's Trail by Darlene Franklin.  It's the fourth book in a series that I've been reading.  (The series is both Texas Trails and A Morgan Family Series). The books are all outstanding!

The first book I read was actually the second book in the series.  Captive Trail by Susan Page Davis.  The books can be read separate as a novel or all together as a series.  Although I am trying to read the rest in order now:)  Anyways, I was seriously amazed-in love with this book!  It was definitely that good.

Then I went back to the first book, Lone Star Trail by Darlene Franklin.

Then to the third book, Long Trail Home by Vickie McDonough.

And after I finish the book I am now ready to start reading, A Ranger's Trail, I will be ready to read the fifth and sixth books, Cowgirl Trail by Susan Page Davis and End of the Trail by Vickie McDonough.  I am really looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series.  And I totally recommend that you read the series also!

The book I finished earlier today, Plain Pursuit by Beth Wiseman was also a seriously amazing book!  From reading the back summary thing, I wasn't that excited about it, but I totally got caught up in the book and loved it from beginning to end!  The summary definitely didn't do justice to the book (don't you hate summaries like that?!!??).  It's actually the second book in the Daughters of the Promise Series, and I wish I would've read the first one first, but oh well:) (I wasn't sure if they had to do with the same people or not, but I learned they did!)  And the reason I read this one first was because I had ordered the series from the library and had received this book, but not the first.  I am also looking forward to reading the rest of this series.  If this book is any indication of what I'll be reading, I know I'm going to love it!

I hope everyone else has been reading as many good books as I have lately!!

Glazed Cinnamon Scones

 

When I was eating these, I was going over and over in my head whether they were good or not.  I finally decided that although they were good, they weren't like the best thing ever:)

Oooops . . . if you make these, make sure you cook them long enough!!  I thought they were done and took them out of the oven, put the glaze on them, and proceeded to take pictures.  Then I went to put one on my plate and found out the inside was still VERY doughy and gooey!!  Fortunately, I was able to put them back in the oven (even though the glaze was already on) and cook them until they were done.  So it turned out okay . . . but still, just make sure you cook food long enough to start with:)

Glazed Cinnamon Scones recipe is found here.

Snickerdoodle Poppers

 

These were so yummy!!

While they were good with the "cream" pudding in them, I think I actually liked them better without the filling.  I know several of the kids really liked the pudding in them, so I suppose it's personal preference:)

These are made of canned biscuits fried in oil, rolled in cinnamon sugar, and filled with vanilla pudding.

I didn't use the actual biscuits the recipe called for; I just used the kind I had on hand, so I'm sure it would work with most any kind of biscuit.  Also, you don't need NEAR as much cinnamon sugar as it called for . .  not sure how much I actually used though.

While they're probably not something you should be making all the time . . . I still think you should try them:)

The recipe is found here.

 

Have a wonderful day . . . and eat some wonderful food!! :)

A One Dish Dinner: Italian Chicken, Beans, & Potatoes

 

Italian Chicken, Beans, & Potatoes

4 chicken breast tenderloins, cut in half

4-5 potatoes, cubed

1 can green beans

1 package dry italian seasoning

1/2 cup butter, melted

Place the chicken in the center of a 9x13" pan.  Put the beans and potatoes on either side of the chicken.  Sprinkle the italian seasoning over everything.  Drizzle/pour the butter over everything.  Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until potatoes are soft.

 

Yummy!!!  If you are on Pinterest, you may have seen this recipe floating around:)  I did make a couple changes from the original recipe though.  This is a great dinner though . . . it's fairly simple to prepare and of course, it's delicious!! 

Have a wonderful day!

Scones with Devonshire Cream

Yum . . . in a way, they're kind of like a dessert.  For breakfast.  Or supper.  (Or I guess it could be lunch, too!)

We had just picked raspberries, so I decided to try mine with some fresh raspberries.  It was pretty good!

We normally just eat them with jam and the devonshire cream on top of that.  They're good either way!

We had these scones with scrambled eggs.

Scones

In a medium bowl combine:

2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Cut in with pastry blender:

6 tablespoons butter

Add all at once:

3/4 cup milk

Stir just until mixture leaves the sides of the bowl.  Then knead 8-10 times on lightly floured surface.  Roll out 1/2" thick circle and cut into 8ths.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet in the circle, with a small amount of space between each piece.  Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until light brown.

Devonshire Cream

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup whipping cream

4 teaspoons powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Beat cream cheese in a small mixer bowl until light and fluffy.  Beat in whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla until mixture is smooth.  Refrigerate, covered, 1 hour before serving with scones.

I would definitely recommend you try these!!  (And if you need to eat gluten free, make some plain scones and make the devonshire cream to put on top:)).

Have an amazing day!!