I recently learned about Cake Pops on Bakerella’s website, and had to try them myself!!! They are so adorable!!! I can’t wait to get her book (Cake Pops: Tips, Tricks, and Recipes for More Than 40 Irresistible Mini Treats
), and try some different designs!!  Here are a couple photos of the ones Sammy and I did for a family reunion that was a couple days before the 4th of July.

This picture really doesn’t do them justice.  They are quite an impressive site all set out together…. especially when there are 100 of them!  LOL  Not bad for our first time, huh? 

The cuteness is just killing me!!!!  LOL

The really cool thing about them is they are soooo easy to make!  They are nothing but cake, icing, and those melting “chocolates” that they make molded lollipops out of.  They are a bit time consuming, but you definitely get that “WOW!!!” factor.    And when they are made to look like tiny cupcakes, panda bears, or frogs, people just get way impressed.  LOL  For now, though, I’m happy with my little balls of cake. 

Have you ever made Cake Pops?  If so, leave a link to your photos, and tell us about them!

Happy Independence Day!!!!

Yep!  You heard me right!  I’m now a Grandma!!!  And on Mother’s Day, no less!  :-D

Which of my babies blessed me with this title, you ask?  Why, one of my Fur Babies!  Little Kitty!

Yeah, we have kitties!!!

Sammy went out in the garage and heard something, and was surprised to find our little girl in the middle of giving birth to a kitten!  All together, she had five, but one was still born, so we have 4, count ‘em, 4 adorable kittens!!!  And on Mother’s Day!  What a wonderful gift!

Here are a couple pictures and a video.  They may be a bit icky, so if you’re very easily grossed out, then you might not want to look.

This year is the first year I get to do Thanksgiving at my own home!  We usually go to one in-law or the other, but this year, my grown and moved out daughters requested I do Thanksgiving, so THEY could go home for Thanksgiving!  Wasn’t that just the sweetest???  I have the best kids in the world!!!

So, I wanted to not just share that, but also the menu I have planned, and some recipes!  And because I am in love with them, I am making this post part of a Blog Hop/Linky Party.  :-)  Click the link (button) below to go to the main site of the Hop, and see what other people have shared for Thanksgiving this year.  And please feel free to add your own post to the linky!

Ok, here we go!

Thanksgiving Menu

Turkey

Dressing

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Hot Rolls

Cranberry Sauce

Vegetable Pizza

Pumpkin Roll

Pumpkin Pudding/Molasses Cookie Trifle

And that’s just what I’m making.  My girls are making dishes to bring, also!  So, we should all be good and stuffed!  LOL  Below, you’ll find a couple of the recipes I’ll be using.  Please feel free to share recipes or menus in the comments!

Happy Thanksgiving Y’all!!!

Rosemary Roasted Turkey Recipe

Bread and Celery Stuffing

Vegetable Pizza

Pumpkin Roll

Oh, and what holiday would be right without a Charlie Brown Special???  I love these shows, even now!  LOL  If you don’t already have them, you can click below and get them on Amazon!  :-)

It’s not very often that I just HAVE to have something.  Even though, my husband will tell you I’m spoiled.  LOL  But as I was shopping around online for canisters, I came across these.  If you know me at all, you know I have a thing for mushrooms, so I instantly fell in love with them!  They were on Ebay.  Originally, they were from Sears and Roebuck in 1978, so I guess they are antique.  They are in mint condition, too!  I don’t really remember having these around when I was little, but they just have that homey, comforting feeling to them.    So I was very excited to win them!  And I just had to share them with you!  There are four canisters and a salt and pepper shaker. 

To me this is what a peach cobbler should look like.

My daughter and I were having a conversation over her failed attempt to make a peach cobbler.  I’m not sure what her problem was, but we’re trying to figure that out.  It brought up the topic, though, of the difference between a cobbler and a crumble, or crisp, or several other similar creations.  Just what are the differences???

I’ve done some research, and would like to share my findings with you!

Peach cobbler and apple crisp are just two of the many great fruit desserts that are similar to each other in that they are basically fruit baked with dough either under or on top of them. Many of these desserts were named for how they look after being baked.   They are made with fruits, such as apples, peaches, blueberries, raspberries, black berries, nectarines, and plums.

A cobbler is a type of deep-dish fruit dessert with a thick biscuit or pie dough crust that is prepared and then served warmed to guests. It is very similar to a pie except that the crust is thicker and it is traditionally placed only on top. However, over the years, ingredients and preparation methods have been created that bake the cobbler crust on the top for some recipes and on the bottom for others.  The consensus is that the dish got its name because the lumps of cooked dough resembled cobblestones.
In the United States a cobbler is typically made with fruit or berries but in the United Kingdom it is typically a meat dish. In the United States, peach, blueberry and cherry cobblers are among the most popular varieties.

A crumble is a dessert with a crumb topping made from flour, sugar, and butter combined into a mixture that is sprinkled on top  and baked. The topping is made up of basically the same ingredients as a pastry except it doesn’t contain any liquid. When the crumble bakes the butter melts and mixes with the flour and sugar to create a crunchy, crumbly topping. A crumble is very similar to a crisp except that the topping for a crisp generally contains oats and often nuts, giving it a coarser texture that the crumbles toppings.

The traditional crumble topping contains flour, sugar, and butter but there are many variations, which some include ingredients such as oats, nuts, and spices. As more of these ingredients are added, the crumble becomes even more similar to a crisp. A crumble also resembles a cobbler, which has a fruit filling with a top crust and no bottom crust. The difference being that top crust of the cobbler contains a leavening agent such as baking powder with gives it more of a smooth bread type texture rather than crumbly. One of the most common crumble desserts is “apple crumble”, but it is also common to use blueberries, strawberries, peaches, rhubarb, and plums.

Peach Cobbler Recipe

See Peach Cobbler on Key Ingredient.

Apple Crumble Recipe

See Apple Crumble on Key Ingredient.

I am famous around these parts (clear from one end of my house to the other) for making what I like to call Food with No Name.  LOL  It’s what happens when I make up my own recipe out of my head.  Over the years, there have been many versions of Food with No Name, but tonight’s was especially tasty,  so I thought I’d share it with you!  I’m calling this recipe…

Creamy Italian Sausage Casserole

Ingredients:

1 lb italian sausage links

1 can peas

1 large can cream of mushroom soup

1 box macaroni and cheese (the powder kind)

Directions:

Brown the sausage links until cooked through, then cut into bite size pieces.  Add soup, peas, and cheese packet and stir.  Let simmer while you cook the macaroni.  After draining the macaroni, add it to the meat mixture, and stir to combine.

Don’t forget to let me know how you like it!

Well, my friends, it’s that time again.  It’s time for another fascinating installment of  PIGS IN SPACE!

No, wait, that’s another show!  LOL  It’s time for a garden update!  Wahoo!!!

If we keep going like this, in a couple years, we won’t have to mow at all!

The potatoes are pretty sad looking, after our battle with potato bugs and some other kind of beetle.  The taters are good though.  And mine are bigger than Greg’s!  Mwahahaha!!! 

Here is our first little zucchini!

After the peas were finished, we put in lima beans.  They are pole beans, so Greg made a teepee shaped thing for them to grow up.  When they get a little bigger, I’ll tie some strings at the top and let them hang down for the beans to grow up, too.

Doesn’t this make you think “Feed me Seymour”???  Well, it did ME!  LOL

Here is the whole little patch of limas.  We should get a few messes from it!

If you look closely, you’ll see the green beans starting to grow up the corn.  Alton would be proud of our multi-tasking corn, by golly!!

Here you can see the cucumbers and tomatoes.  Well, some of the tomatoes.  There are cherry tomatoes in a couple buckets, too!

That’s pretty much it.  I didn’t want to bog down the whole interwebs with my photos.  LOL  If you have any questions or comments, leave them below or catch me on Facebook!

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.  Psalm 119:105

I didn’t get to go to the last night of VBS at our church tonight, because my back was hurting.  Thank you very much to the storm that was heading this way.

When they left in my van, it hadn’t rained yet, but looked like it could any minute.  The wind was kicking up, and there were dark clouds looming above.  Within a few minutes, it did start to sprinkle, but it never really rained enough to count.  Which is why I was particularly stumped when I saw this…

Yeah, you’re seeing it right. It’s wet where the van was parked, and dry everywhere else. It was not wet when they left for VBS. So, you can see why I’m bewildered. Perhaps there was an EXTREMELY localized shower above my driveway??? LOL Leto is checking things out for me.

He’s thinking it over…

Then he and Max had a debate on the subject, but they have not yet come to a conclusion.

The world may never know.

We had our very first taste of fresh from the garden vegetables over the last few days!  I wish I had pictures of some of them, but silly me forgot to take any.  LOL  I know, me, the queen of garden photos, forgot to take pictures.  What is wrong with me???  LOL

Oh well, I just had to tell you that they were delicious!!!  One day we had liver and onions from the garden.  Then we also had fresh peas!  Pods and all!  They were soooo sweet and yummy!  Then another time, we had some little baby red potatoes from Greg’s square.  Some of them were no bigger than my thumbnail.  LOL  But they were almost creamy to the taste.

I don’t think we’re going to do the layered thing with his square foot potatoes.  The soil he used is too heavy.  So, we probably will try that next year.  But I have every belief that it would work just fine!  Also, the peas might give me another mess, and then they’ll be done.  So, I need to figure out what I want to put in their square.  I would like to plant something we don’t already have growing.  Hmmmm…

I just came across this cookbook by the author of the Square Foot Garden book, All New Square Foot Gardening Cookbook: Taking the Harvest to the Table,  and it looks really good!  It has lots of recipes all centered around your square foot garden!  Click the link to buy it on Amazon. 

Well, here is another RIVETING installment of How the Garden Grows.  LOL  We’ve been able to keep the deer at bay by putting buckets over the tomatoes every night, and either deer netting or chicken wire around or over the other things.

Last time, I bragged a bit over my potatoes that are in the Mel’s Mix.  Well, I may have to eat my words.  Take a look at this.  Greg’s topsoil on the left, and my Mel’s Mix on the right.

Here are Greg’s….. just covered in beautiful, lavender blooms!

And here are mine….. ONE single bloom. I don’t know what the problem is. Maybe it’s because it’s in my shallow Square Foot box.

The peas are just covered in blooms as well, and there are several little pods here and there!

And on the Back 40, the corn is just goin’ to town!  I can’t wait to have fresh corn on the cob!

Our tomatoes are now as safe as we can get them.  We put cages around the bigger ones, and wrapped them in deer netting.  So, unless our deer grow fingers, we should be good!  I also can’t wait for a tomato sandwich!  Store bought tomatoes have no flavor.  Blech.

The other day, Greg made a recipe from Alton Brown’s Good Eats: The Early Years
cookbook. (Click title to buy on Amazon)  It was called 40 Cloves and a Chicken.  I know, it sounds like pure craziness, but he loves garlic, so he made it.  It smelled wonderful as it was cooking!

Here is the face Sammy made when she heard the number 40.  She said, “Did you say 40 or 14???”.  LOL

Sorry for the blurriness.  I was picture snapping on the spur of the moment.  LOL

Now here is the finished dish.  Doesn’t it look yummy?

Have I mentioned that I love my cast iron cookware???

Here’s the recipe, if you’d like to try it!

40 Cloves and a Chicken

3 – 4 lbs chicken pieces

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp plus 1/2 cup olive oil

5 sprigs fresh thyme

40 cloves garlic, peeled

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper.  Coat chicken all over with 2 tbsp of olive oil.

Over high heat (in an oven safe skillet), cook the chicken on both sides, until brown.  Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients.  Cover and bake 1 1/2 hours.

Remove from oven and set aside for 15 minutes with the lid on.  Serve with toasted bread to spread the soft garlic on.

I started my morning in a good mood, when I saw my yard full of stars! Little did I know that my happy mood was about to be dashed to bits. I was about to discover that a heinous crime has been committed in my own backyard. A dastardly deer has eaten four of our baby tomato plants.

Mr. Redbreast was sitting in this tree at the corner of our yard, telling me about the attack. Apparently, he saw the whole thing. Detectives are taking his statement as we speak.

The deer didn’t take long to find our newly planted tomatoes. All four plants are nibbled down like this. They made it one whole day….. yay…… Law enforcement officials say it’s only a matter of time until the perp is caught.

A deer left footprints right through the middle of the Mortgage Lifter tomatoes. The forensics lab is currently analyzing them, and will be able to find the culprit!

The deer saved these for another meal. The SVU is going to place a watch close by, so hopefully, they will be able to avoid the same fate as their neighbors.

Hello People!!!  It’s been a few weeks since I showed you our gardening endeavors, and I’ve got some new photos for you to see.  Actually, I’ve taken photos before, but never could seem to get here to post them for you.  I hope the wait will have been worth it!  Now, without further ado, heeeeeeere’s veggies!!!

First, we have Greg’s potato box. We are using a suggestion from Mel (the Square Foot Gardening guy), and will be stacking a few layers of boxes. Kind of hard to imagine, but I’ll take pics when it’s time to add a new one! His potatoes are starting to come through pretty good. The soil that he used was sandy and has packed down some, so they are a bit slower than they probably would be in the Mel’s Mix (By volume, one part each of compost, peat, and vermiculite).

Now, here are “my” taters! This is one of my regular square foot beds, but I wanted to see how New Potatoes would do in a shallow one. They are really growing like crazy! I can’t wait till they bloom, so I can dig in and find the small potatoes!

You also see how well the catnip is doing. I haven’t done anything to it this year, but it’s really getting bushy! They are too small to see, but my basil is starting to pop through the ground, too!

This is a close up view of my taters! Aren’t they gorgeous!!!

This bed has parsley to the right, cilantro to the left (it’s just starting up), and zucchini on the other side of the fence. The large parsley started up from what was there last year, but I also put seeds in a couple weeks ago in the six squares to the right. The six squares to the left has cilantro seeds starting, and a few little plants popped up from last year. I hope I can get some salsa made with fresh tomatoes, cilantro, and onions from our garden!!!

My peas are looking fantastic! I can’t wait to have fresh peas!!! There were a few bare spots, so I put in some more seeds a couple weeks ago. They are just barely starting to push through!

This is our modest corn patch. It’s actually a little larger than what we had last year, when we first tried it. Last year, it grew really well, in spite of the mini tornado (or possibly aliens ) that felled several stalks. We still got several small messes to enjoy! Can you believe we fit seven rows in that little space this year? Yesterday, actually. And we planted Silver Queen, cause apparently, that’s the only kind worth having, so says the hubby. LOL And, since we didn’t plant corn all the way down, we had enough room to put in a row of lima beans at the far end!

I think Greg made someone (in the most plural sense of the word) a bit upset when he tilled yesterday. LOL

This is the main garden. We’ve had the onions in for a while, but we just put in tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, and lima beans! We didn’t do green beans this year, but we’ve never had limas, so we did that instead. We are NOT, however, growing maples, as it might appear. LOL

I put eight strawberry plants on the bank. I haven’t had any for a few years, so this will be a treat! That is, if the deer don’t eat them all.

And, last, but not least, we put in some cantaloupe! We’ve had some in this spot before, and they did very well, so we hope we have the same luck again this year!

That’s it for this installment of our square foot gardening updates!

Tonight for dinner, I made pizza.  And when I say, “I made pizza”, I really mean I MADE pizza!  Well, really, I should say WE, because my hubby did help by making the crust.  He is the official bread making type person in this house!  Also, I made the sauce from scratch.  Not so much because I was feeling like being all domestic or anything, but I just didn’t have any spaghetti sauce, which is what I normally use.  So, I made due with what I had.  And what I had was a couple cases of tomato juice that we canned last year.

So, with the pepperoni and cheese I had in the fridge, we had a very yummy pizza!  Of course, we didn’t eat all junk food (a misnomer, in my humble opinion), because we had a lovely romaine and spinach salad to go with it!  I love spinach in salad, and romaine lettuce is actually good for you, as opposed to iceberg, which is mainly water.

I forgot to take a pic of our pizza while it was still hot, so here is a pic of some of whats left.  And I’ll post the recipes for you below.

Pizza Crust Recipe

Ingredients:

1 tbsp active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 1/2 cups flour

Directions:

Dissolve the yeast in the water.  Add the rest of the ingredients in, and mix.  Dump onto a floured surface.  Knead into a smooth dough (five minutes or so).  Roll out and press down onto a greased pizza pan.  Add some pizza sauce and your toppings.  Bake at 450 degrees F for around 12 – 15 minutes untill the crust looks crispy and lightly browned.

Shannon’s Homemade Pizza Sauce

Ingredients:

2 quarts tomato juice (mine was some of  our homemade stuff, but you could use store bought, or use tomato sauce or puree)

1 tbsp dried oregano

3 small (or 2 large) bay leaves

1 tbsp dried basil

1 heaping tbsp garlic, minced

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

1 tsp dried onion flakes

1/2 tsp celery seed

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

dash hot sauce

dash paprika

dash chili powder

1 tbsp sugar (near end of cooking time, so sauce will be less likely to scorch)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Throw everything but the sugar in a sauce pan, and simmer until it’s your preferred consistancy.  When it’s getting close to that, add the sugar.  You can add it directly to your pizza, or store it for later.  The flavors and spices get stronger as it sits.

I almost forgot to mention the movie part of Dinner and a Movie.  LOL  After dinner, I watched Penelope, with Christina Ricci, for the first time!  I really liked it!  Like Mommy always said, Pretty is as Pretty Does.  And she sure knew what she was talking about!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a separate note, I also started a small batch of “fodder beans” for Greg for tomorrow.  You have to soak them overnight.

To tell the truth, I just don’t get fodder beans.  It seems like a terrible thing to do to a green bean.  I suppose, though, that it was a necessary way to preserve beans for some people.  But drying a green bean makes it dry (go figure), mangled, and moldy looking.  Totally unappetizing, in my humble opinion.  But Greg’s Granny used to make them, his Mom still does, and he really likes them, so I’m cooking them for him.

Here’s what they look like right after they went into the water to soak.

I cooked them in fresh water, with a little ham and salt and pepper.  They simmered for several hours.  Here’s what they looked like when they were done.

I know… Not much difference, huh?  LOL

But don’t fear, Sammy and I didn’t starve on Sunday (the day the beans were cooked).  I made a nice roast on the stove, in my wrought iron skillet, no less!  I LOVE cooking with my wrought iron cookware!  I also put some cabbage in the pan with it, and it turned out pretty darn yummy, if I do say so!

Plus, we had mashed potatoes and gravy. I love mashed potatoes! Boiled potatoes. Baked potatoes….. scalloped, au gratin, fried…. oh my!!! LOL Sorry, I digressed. We also had hot, homemade hot rolls, thank you very much Greg!!!

Have I ever mentioned that Greg, yes my hubby, my hard workin’, truck drivin’ man is one heck of a baker???? I kid you not!! And he out did himself today! Not only did he make hot rolls for dinner (plus helping with other parts of dinner making), he also made pepperoni rolls…

And, two loaves of banana bread!!!

And they were all excellent!!!

Well folks, that’s all for now.  Two days of dinner blogging is enough to bore you to tears, so I won’t torment you any longer.  LOL  Thanks for stopping by!  Don’t forget to leave me a comment, so I’ll know someone has actually been here.  LOL

I went in the bathroom, and what did I see? This horrible spider staring back at me! *pardon me while I scream*

This nasty, ugly, huge thing is actually INSIDE the scales!!!

In almost 20 years, this was, I think, the second spider my husband has ever killed for me.

Two hours later and I still have the heeby jeebies!!!!!

Spider 2 on Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

Last year, I decided I wanted to try Square Foot Gardening.  I like the idea of it for several reasons.  First, except for the initial investment of wood and supplies for the soil mix, it’s a really economical way to grow veggies.  You don’t have to buy the soil supplies again, just use compost to top off the boxes each year.  And, I made my own compost from yard clippings, kitchen scraps, and old newspapers and such.  Second, you can grow the same amount of veggies in a regular garden, but in a lot smaller space.  Third, you don’t need to use fertilizers, so you can grow organically.

Today, we planted 10 lbs of red seed potatoes!  We’ve never grown potatoes before, so we are very excited to see how they do.  I’ve taken some photos for you to see how it went.  Enjoy!

The box closest to us is the main potato box. I also put some in a few of the squares in the box right beside it. For the main box, we will be adding to it, as the potatoes grow. It’s kinda hard to explain, but I’ll show you more photos as time progresses. It is pretty neat!

Greg and Sammy got some of my homemade compost from up on the hill. Thank goodness I have helpers for this, or I’d be working on it till midnight. LOL They are both very good to help me with anything.

Is this some good looking compost, or what??

You can’t really see them here, but there are about 27 generations of earth worms living in this compost. Yes, I counted! LOL (not really)

I had some seeds left after planting in the big box, so I decided to plant the rest in one of my other boxes. That’s catnip on the corner, in case you’re wondering.

Greg filled the box up, so that the soil was level with the top again.

We work so well together! He does the hard work, and I take pictures!

Max even helped by killing the stick I found in the soil! Aren’t I lucky to have so much help??

Hey…. who the heck took this photo??? Max…. what has Mommy told you about playing with the camera???

When you get to play with the hose and make rainbows while watering the garden, helping is a lot more fun!

If you’d like to try Square Foot Gardening, too, you can get the book below!

Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden in Less Space with Less Work

Actually, I DO feel tardy. It’s been ages since I’ve posted. I do apologize. But you know, they say absence makes the heart grow fonder. In that case, you should be proposing any day now. LOL

I really don’t know what happened to me. It’s like I woke up one day in a slump, and haven’t been able to pull myself out of it. I’ve actually started medication for depression, but I’m not really seeing any improvement. Prayers about the situation would be greatly appreciated!

I am going to try to get some claying done. I want to make some more morels. I really love the way the others turned out. This time, I am going to make some that would be suitable for terrariums.

There are also some sewing projects swimming through my head. I’m going to recycle some clothes into different and new clothing for me and Sammy. I’ll try to get her involved in it, because I think she’ll be more likely to wear something she designed herself.

I will try to be around more often, but I’m not making any promises. Any de-slumping ideas would be wonderful. LOL See you again soon, I hope!

I have been gardening for years, but this is the first year I’ve done Square Foot Gardening and composting.  My compost pile is way out at the back of my yard, and gets stirred from time to time.  It can be a little hard for me to take care of, what with my back problems, so doing it on a smaller scale, especially for kitchen scraps, would be great!

That’s why, when I came across this post, I just had to share it with you!  It’s all about doing composting with worms, or vermicomposting, in a small plastic bin.  Composting with Worms (http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2009/08/composting-with-worms.html), sorry about this link, my browser is acting up, will be really helpful to you, if you were thinking of starting a small bin for your fruit and vegetable scraps!

I also wanted to tell you about a site I discovered tonight.  It is a really great recipe site/blog called Tammy’s Recipes.  http://www.tammysrecipes.com  I found it while looking up menu planning info, and I stuck around for the really simple, healthy recipes she has!  If you’re into that sort of thing, I think you will really like it!  One bonus, which I’ve never seen on a blog before, is the ability to create a user profile, and save recipes to your Recipe Box!  Plus, she has some fun memes going on certain days of the week.  Honestly, just go check her out!