Weekly Winners Feb 13-19. 2011

{All photos taken with my Canon Rebel Xsi}

If I can do it, he can do it

Rose

Remembering 7 years ago......

Peaceful dreamer

French Fries

A Birthday Party

BBQ Chicken Stuffed Baked Potatoes

When I was trying to figure out what meals I wanted to plan for these upcoming 2 weeks, I decided to use one of my favorite blogs {that I like to read}, A Southern Fairytale.  One of the first recipes that I tried {and the one that led me to her site} was Rachel's Blueberry Zucchini Bread.  I had a ton of zucchini bread & was looking for different ways to use it.

{this is my picture}

So, as I scrolled through the recipe index on the site, this particular recipe looked quite yummy & very simple to make.  BBQ Chicken stuffed Baked Potatoes; now tell me that that doesn't sound good....

Thought so.

I kept true to the ingredients of the recipe, but went about my own way of preparing the end product.  Instead of cooking the chicken & onions & sauce in a fry pan, this is what I did:

In a glass dish, I coated two very good-sized chicken breasts with BBQ sauce.  I then sliced up one onion, and covered the chicken with them.  I then sprinkled some S&P & put some tin-foil on top.  I stuck the pan in a 400 degree oven w/ my potatoes & let everything cook for a good hour, hour & fifteen minutes.  After checking to make sure the chicken was done, I pulled the chicken out, shredded it, and then through it back into the pan to soak up all the yummy-juicy bbq sauce.  I sliced open my baked potato, squished it, and then topped it with some chicken & onions, dolloped some sour cream {which my husband was extremely happy about}, and finished it with a sprinkle of cheese.

What a hit!  I really enjoyed it.  So, so, simple....my kind of meal.

I kept thinking that my plate needed something else, but then I told myself that we covered all the food groups ;)

I'm excited for further endeavors into The Southern Fairytale recipe selection!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Have a wonderful loving day!

Valentine Card Tutorial

So, today we're going to get creative.  We are going to make our very own Valentine treats!

As I was surfing around blogland, I read about these Valentine treats.  Very cute......and I wanted to make some of my own.  I happened to go about it a different way in making the picture.

First off, I've discovered digital scrapbooking materials....more importantly, FREE digital scrapbooking materials.  One of the places that I go to is The Shabby Princess.  Most of my papers & embellishments have come from free downloads.

Second, fonts.  I discovered a website {Kevin and Amanda}where they have made available tons of free fonts.  There are so many to choose from, that it takes me a couple of minutes to go through everything.

So, those two things are the beginning to making our project today, and any future projects you might have.

Now, I don't have any fancy photo editing software yet, but I've been quite happy with the program I've been using.  That program: Microsoft Office Publisher.  I've been doing my recipe cards, invites, signatures, greeting cards, and various other things using this program.

So, onto the tutorial!!

First off, open up the program, and you'll come to this:

You'll want to click on blank sizes because we're making our own little picture.

This is the next page.  Now, this is where you're going to decide what size of picture you're going to print out.  If you're going to make a 4x6, then set it up as that size.  If you're going to do a 5x7, then set the page as a 5x7.  Do you see what I'm getting at??  I've noticed that when I create something in a 4x6 format, and print it off as a 4x6 format, the picture is great.  If I do it differently, then the picture gets cropped funny.  For today's tutorial, we're going to make a 4x6 picture.  So click on it or create a custom page and then select create at the bottom right.

Here's your page.  A blank canvas to put on it whatever you want.  We're going to add a background, so click on format and then background

 Click on picture and then select picture.  This is where the digital scrapbook supplies comes into use.  Click on a picture that you want to use.  I'm using a raspberry colored paper with some texture.

 Now you've got your background, we need to add some pictures.  Click on insert, then picture, then from file

 Pick out whatever pictures you want, resize, and arrange in any order that you want.

 Now we're going to add some embellishments.  Click on Insert, click on picture, click on from file & pick out your assortment of embellishments.  I decided to go with a simple ribbon.

Now, we're going to add a text box {as seen on the left side}.  Write whatever text you want, size it, and change it to whatever front you want.  Also, I would make sure to Bold your font, it makes it easier to read when you print.  This is a front that I got off that Kevin & Amanda site. 

 Next, I wanted to add a heart, so I'm going to click on basic shapes, and then click on the heart.  You can make it whatever size you want and whatever color you want.

 Next I added another text box saying "The Clegg Family".

I wanted to keep my Valentine very simple, so I stopped here.  Now we're going to save.  First we're going to save this as a publication.  Go to File, then click on save, then title your project and make sure it's saved as a publication.  Why you ask??  If you save it as a publication, you can always come back and change the original picture without having to start over.  Plus, you can have several pages in one publication.

Second, we're going to save it as a jpeg.  This will allow us to print the picture.  Go to file, click on save as, not just save, but save as.  Name your picture, and then click to make this a jpeg.

 And there you have, your very own Valentine Card.  I usually send mine off to Sam's Club and have them print off the pictures for me.  When it cost $0.13 a picture, that's a price I can afford!

Here's my end product:

The boys and I went through and put candy into plastic sandwich bags, and then I stapled our picture to the outside.  I'm sure you can dress it up a little bit more, but I think going this basic will be just fine for a bunch of little kids.

I'm linking to these sites:

Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwiches

This is a household favorite!  One of my husbands favorite meals/sandwiches.  It's simple as well, and is a great food storage meal as well.

So lets get started!

First off, split your french bread.  I buy my french bread from Sam's club, and those are longer loaves, so I usually cut it down the middle as well so it fits on my pan.

 Drizzle some Olive Oil.....Yummo!

 See.....yummy!  Now put this pan underneath the broiler with some garlic cloves.  We're going to warm up the garlic & brown the bread.

 In a mixing bowl, combine your chicken

 Cheese

 And dressing.

 Add enough dressing until everything is combined

 Slice up some veggies

 When you take your bread out of the oven, they'll be nice and golden brown like this.  Take your garlic clove and rub it back and forth on the bread.

 Pile on the chicken, tomatoes, and lettuce 

 And wah-la.......Yummy sandwich.

 If you happen to have any left over, wrap it up in some plastic wrap and eat it the next day...it'll still be delicious.

I hope you try it out.

Enjoy!

I'm linking at these places:

Cooking Challenge- PW's Olive Cheese Bread

So, here we come to the last of my Pioneer Woman Cooking Challenge.

Tonight's food choice:  Olive Cheese Bread

The plan was to make up some spaghetti and have this side dish accompany it.  It didn't quite turn out that way.  As I pulled out the already prepared bread, my son asked if we were having pizza.  I said no, but that we could make it into pizza.  So on half the bread we added some pepporoni & extra cheese & left the other half {which I have pictures} the way the recipe called for.

 So, here are my thoughts on the matter.  As I was looking over the recipe online, I noticed that there was a difference in measurements when compared to the cookbook.  The cookbook called for 14 oz of black olives and a whole stick of butter; where as the online version called for 6 oz of black olives and only 3/4 cup of butter.

 Here's my thoughts on the bread......honestly......I didn't like it.  It looked so good in the cookbook, and I thought I could get over the fact that I'm not really a big olive fan, and it looked good when it came out of the oven, but one bite, and I was done.

 I think that I'm not a big fan of warmed mayo....just doesn't float my boat.

However, I may not have liked it, but my kids scarfed theirs done.  Which suprised me.  But hey, I'm glad that somebody enjoyed it; I would have hated to see it all thrown away in the trash.

If you really like olives and want to try out this recipe, go here:

The Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese Bread

Enjoy!

Cooking Challenge- PW's White Chili

Well, my cooking challenge is almost over.  I've been trying to think of another to do, but haven't thought of anything yet.

Tonight's dinner:

 White Chili.

It was perfect for today because today it was BUTT cold {thank you artic winds}.

I've never made a white chili before.  I can't even recall if I've ever had a white chili before.

As I sat down to eat this delicious-spicy bowl of beans, I wondered what chili meant.  Bean & spices thrown together to create a spicy stew.

Here are my thoughts on making this creation:

• I should have halved the recipe......I now have tons of chili left......leftover night here we come.
• The beans took longer to cook, and they could have been cooked a little bit longer.  The recipe said 2 hrs, but I went 2 1/2 to 2 hr 45 minutes in the end.
• I had to add more masa.....it didn't thicken up as much as I wanted.  I think the 1 cup milk to 2 tbl masa was not enough.  I think it should probably be like 1 cup milk & 1/4 to 1/2 cup masa.
• Adding the cilantro to the chili gave it a whole other taste experience.  I'm not a big fan of cilantro, but it clicked tonight.
• If you want your kids to eat it without complaining....lessen the spices {or half the jalepeno}.

If you would like to make this recipe, go here:

The Pioneer Woman White Chili

Enjoy!