Saturday, October 29, 2011

Autumn Leaves and a recipe

I took a walk around the yard today

 This is the only tree left in the yard after the ice storm a few years ago....






You can see at the top where the limbs were sheared off from the weight of the ice of winter's past




This tree is across the road and I always find myself taking pictures of it





I love this picture...there are some great tire swing limbs across the road




Wild flowers on the bank




Autumn in Kentucky






I'll leave you with one of my favorite recipes

Cheese Ball
2 – 8 oz cream cheese, softened
¼ cup grated bell pepper
1 tbsp grated onion
Seasoned salt
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained very well
1 cup crushed pecans

Mix all ingredients except pecans.  Mix and shape into logs or a ball.  Roll in pecans.


Friday, October 28, 2011

Apple butter is in the crock!!

The psychology club hosted a Halloween party last night for area children and there were apples left over that I got to bring home.  I was so excited!

I have a huge batch of apple butter in the crockpot.  I've never made it before and didn't follow an official recipe.

5 pounds apples
4 cups sugar
3 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

I'm going to cook it on high for about an hour then reduce to low and cook all day then process it.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Mini Lasagna Cups

Thanks to Amy over at A Little Nosh, I found a new family favorite!

Her recipe comes from Amanda at Kevin & Amanda.

This couldn't be easier and since I used my toaster over, they were ready and on the table in less than 20 minutes.

Ricotta, salt, pepper

Ground beef with some of the homemade spaghetti sauce I put up this summer


Yummy goodness



Mini Lasagna Cups
1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb sausage
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 cups part skim ricotta cheese
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
24 wonton wrappers
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown sausage and hamburger in a large skillet over medium high heat and drain. Divide into 4 portions and reserve three for another night. Add spaghetti sauce to remaining meat mixture and stir to combine.
In a large bowl, combine the ricotta the salt and pepper and stir to combine.
Coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray, and arrange a wonton wrapper in each cup. Take half the ricotta mixture and divide it among the 12 cups. Top with half of the meat sauce, and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Place another wonton wrapper over the cheese, and repeat the layers by adding the remaining ricotta cheese, meat sauce, and top with shredded cheese.
Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the wonton wrappers are golden. Cool in the muffin tin for 5-10 minutes before serving.


Read More http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/dinner/mini-lasagna-cups.html#ixzz1atSAEZdX

One

One can be lonely
One can grow
One can be strong
One can accomplish

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Homemade Vanilla Extract for Christmas

Oh this is so good.  My beans have only been soaking in the vodka for a few hours and it's delish!


I used about 10 Tahitian vanilla beans from eBay and a bottle of vodka.  Sliced the beans in half and placed into a quart mason jar and covered with vodka.  It will be ready just in time to use as Christmas gifts!

This is one of my favorite home made Christmas blogs.

Nothing like getting ready early!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

As I sneak in . . .

Good morning!  I apologize for disappearing - somehow life just got in the way of blogging!  Does that ever happen to you?  I'm taking 16 hours this semester along with doing my senior project, doing a 120 hour internship, lots of projects, lots of papers . . .

Oh yeah AND raising a family!

I promise I will try to do better, so in the meantime I offer a few new pictures as an apology