New Year

What are you doing for New Year's Eve or day?? We will be traveling Lord willing to our son and daughter-in-law's home for Christmas! I will be taking the main part of the meal, ham and some sort of potato dish! We are pretty excited to celebrate with them and have a day of fun with them! Erika and Trevor will join us also! The weather is not suppose to be good tomorrow, but hopefully by Saturday things will have cleared up! Blessings! See you next year!

Christmas

Isn't it interesting that we fuss over Christmas and have all these ideas on how to make it the best day ever, only to remember that it's Christ birthday and that's why we celebrate the day! We had a wonderful day, maybe too quiet with no little kids around, but it was great! The next day is Gordon's birthday and we had a brunch for our group of "breakfast crowd" here in his honor! We ate way too much and talked alot! Hope your weekend was great and not too hectic! Blessings!

Cookies

My pal, Jordan Lombard died on Friday and his visitation is tomorrow! He had Downs and many medical problems, so Jesus said "hey, Jordan, it's time for you to come to my house"! So, I was asked to make cookies for the visitation and I came up with 2 platters for the family and friends who gather! So, I found at the store some new M&M's that are cherry cordial flavored, so I bought a Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix and added some chocolate syrup and the M&M's! YUM!!!! So here's what the cookie platters look like! Blessings!

candy jar

My good friend Ellen and her husband Bob are deserving of this jar! You see, Ellen LOVES candy! When I think of them I think of all sorts of candy, so this year, I found this beautiful glass jar and thought of them! Enjoy! Blessings! P.S. Please excuse the mess on the counter behind the jar!

Christmas

Christmas time is upon us in full force! Many years ago in a very small town came joy in the form of a baby! His name is Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Almighty God, Savior, and Messiah! Jesus is what we call Him. He gives us victory over sin and death! Do you call upon Him only in times of trials and trouble?? Please call on Him in the mundane times of life, not just the crisis' that seem to plague us! He is the Joy to this world and the next! Blessings!

3 bean casserole

We really love 3 Bean casserole! I make it from time to time and tonight was the time! I serve it with corn muffins, YUM!!! Recipe follows: 1 onion chopped, 1 pound of ground beef( I used venison), 1 can of butter beans, 1 can of Bush's beans, 1 can of kidney beans, 1/2 cup of ketchup, 1/4 molasses, and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. There are many recipes out there, but this the one I use! I brown the meat and onion together, add the beans( I drain the kidney beans), and ketchup/molasses/brown sugar mixture! I did add 1/2 bag of shredded carrots for some more texture! Blessings!

Snowed in

The snow fell and then it fell and then it fell some more! Our son called last night(they live in Minneapolis area and he works for a snow removal company) and told me he had been working since midnight Friday night till 7a.m. Sunday morning! WOW!!!! He's younger than me and they can do that, maybe not too often, but he survived it! Pray for his safety and others that he works with, they work hard!!! Well, I made banana bread for our pastors and more cookies! Blessings!

snow

Well, the snow has been falling since,I'm not quite sure when it started last night, but it looks like alot has already fallen! It seems to be about 6" already, but I could be on the high side, but it hasn't stopped since I got up at 6:30a.m. So, I'm home today and thinking about baking some banana bread, finishing up the small tree I put up, addressing some cards and just generally hanging out here in the warmth! I pray everyone is safe and can snuggle in! Blessings!

Russian Tea Cookies

Sorry I didn't get this up earlier! So, here's the other cookie recipe I promised! It is the only thing my mother-in-law could bake that wasn't a total disaster!! This is the recipe: 1 cup of softened butter, 2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of finely chopped walnuts, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Mix together and form small 1" balls. Place on cookie sheet, make sure your oven is preheated to 400. Cookies bake for 10 minutes, remove and roll into powdered sugar while warm(not hot), then roll again! Very simple recipe! Blessings!

cookie exchange

The finished and bagged cookies!
The pan of not over baked cookies!
The dough looking so pretty!


I'm pretty excited to be going to a cookie exchange tomorrow night! I have never been and that makes it so special for me! So with that in mind, I took pictures of the creations I made! So enjoy the photo gallery! I did cheat a little with some help from a bag on one kind of cookies, but they are so................good!! I used the Betty Crocker's bag of Sugar Cookie mix, 1 stick of butter( softened) and one egg. Mix in mixer, add green food coloring about 4 drops, mix that well and then add 1 cup of Nestle's semi sweet chocolate chips that are half mint and dark chocolate! It's a pretty green and festive looking! Tomorrow I will share the other recipe! Blessings!

Bratwurst

Last night Gordon asked me to help him make brats, so I did! Kurt showed me a long time ago how to soak the hog casing and run water through them to make sure there isn't any leaks and it helps to open up the casings! It is time consuming, but hey we have the time! We got 35 pounds of bratwurst made and cased!!!YUM! The spices I bought for the bratwurst I got from Penzey's Spices company. Go to the website and look at all they have to offer, it's truly amazing! Blessings!

Banana Nut Muffins

The store has bananas for 39 cents a pound, which is dirt cheap!!!! They are usually 59 cents, so to celebrate the savings, I bought some to make muffins for breakfast! I usually wait till morning to bake them, but I'm not going to because of the snow and roads! Blessings!

Turkey leftovers

What to do with turkey leftovers????? I love to make turkey tetrazzini or turkey orzo soup or turkey/cranberry sandwiches! What kind of cuisine do you make with your leftovers??? Please share with me and my foodie friends! Blessings!

Saturday

Today is a fun day in Spooner! There is craft shows going on and I'm going! I have made myself a new rule to get out more with girlfriends! My best friend left about 15 yrs ago and I'm still groping my way without a best friend to do things with and end up doing alot alone, but I am changing that slowly this past year! So, I will have a great time with Ruth, laugh alot, drink some coffee, eat some goodies and enjoy the day! Have a great Saturday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Gordon and myself! We hope and pray that each one of you who reads this thing has a great time with family and friends! We pray that the meaning of thankfulness will continue throughout the rest of the season! We also pray for our servicemen and women who continually maintain our freedom! We thank the Lord God Almighty for our freedom! Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are persecuted because of their faith! Blessings!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is just around the corner! We had 3 of our 4 granddaughters here over the weekend and we talked about the Pilgrims! Most children aren't learning about the pilgrims, why we give thanks, the first Thanksgiving and what is a cornucopia! I tried to explain in child like reasoning who the Pilgrims were and why they came here! It's amazing to me still why they came here and how much they endured for my freedom! Seize this time and share with your families! Tell them stories of grandma and grandpa, where they came from if they weren't born here, what it was like when you were growing up(walking to school up the hill both ways, LOL)! Let's all give thanks!! Blessings!

Craft Day

Yesterday was the annual Craft show that I sell my mom's famous fudge at, we had a fun day! Here are few photos of who else was there! One family was there selling Christmas wreaths with the proceeds going to World Hope International for a well! What a great idea! Hope you all had a great weekend!

soup

I told you the other day that I would take a photo of the chicken enchilada soup that I made, it is good! We've eaten it for 3 nights and this is the last night for us! I put chicken, adobo sauce, tex-mex rice, sour cream, onion(diced), diced carrots, chicken stock, oh and pinto beans! We love it and I will make it again! Blessings!

hunting weekend

Rifle season starts this Saturday in Wisconsin! With that said, all life as we know it stops! No kidding aside!! I attend a craft fair with my mom's fudge made and make some money for Christmas! I never reveal my recipe which was my mom's, but I truly enjoy making it and sharing with others! So stop in this weekend to see me and many other truly talented people at the American legion Hall in Spooner! Blessings!

chicken enchilida soup

I had a wonderful soup on Thursday in Siren while waiting for my truck! It was enchilada soup. It had black beans, corn, chicken and tortilla strips served as crackers! So, today I will attempt to recreate it for our meal! I baked 2 chicken breast for the recipe! After I put the baked chicken, I then put them into the stock pot with some water and brought that to a boil, turned the heat down to a simmer, took the chicken out and cooled it down so I could pick it off the bone! Today I will finish the soup with adding sauteed onion, fresh carrots diced, black beans and corn, plus a can of enchilada sauce with some milk. I will post later some pics of the soup! Blessings!

Leftovers

I had made some bread with a new recipe on Monday, so with the leftovers getting hard, I made bread salad. It includes frying the bread cubes in olive oil, garlic and a little butter, then adding a can of diced tomatoes(I drained the juice), then add to bread cubes and chill! Yum! With that I served leftover risotto, it was great! Blessings!

new coffees

The other day at the grocery store I saw some shiny coffee bags!!! Dunkin Donuts have some holiday coffee flavors out now and going fast! Pumpkin Spice, Vanilla Nut and Mocha Mint! I bought a Vanilla Nut and Mocha Mint for gifts! A little coffee and maybe a mug or two would be a really nice gift for a teacher, co-worker, pastor, friend and grandma who has everything! Check them out!! Blessings!

Appreciation

Pastor talked yesterday about blessing God with thankfulness! WOW!!!! This week he has challenged us to ask for nothing, but to give thanks and bless His name! So, with that in mind, today was a little on the tough side, but I have almost made it through! I'm so thankful for my job and the people I work with! I have worked many jobs(once I had 8 W-2 forms for the year), so I know what I speak of! I'm sure there are jobs out there that would be more fun, but I have so much freedom to do demos, help people, and help my co-workers! Blessings!

class

Last night I took another cooking class. It was demonstrating the greatness of Le Creust pans. They are beautiful and well made, but my, oh my they are costly! The pan I would love to have is $210!! WOW!!!!! But on the way there, I missed an 8 pt buck just by the hair of his chinny chin chin!! So, to continue the thankfulness theme this month, I'm so thankful that I didn't hit that deer and cause damage to Gordon's vehicle, but that I got home safely! Blessings!

thankfulness

I was reading "The Park Wife " blog today and she was talking about thankfulness! I thought "what a great idea"!!! I told her in the comment area of her blog(I have one too which some of you never use), that I would use the same idea here! What are you thankful for"" For your job. children, grandchildren, home, relationship with the Living God, your spouse, your health or that you're not so sick as the neighbor????? I'm so thankful for my family and friends who care for me and about me! For my job and employer! The people I work with and the people I don't(just kidding)!!! For a loving God who is never pushy or judgmental! For Jesus who loves me so unconditionally!! Join the journey and leave a comment! Tell me in person when you see me and I will pass it on! Let's start something big with thankfulness! Blessings!

Friday

Today is pizza day, but today I'm demoing a new cookie that is brought in to our store bakery! It's called a "Smart Cookie". It has pureed veggies and fruits in them! They are very moist and tasty! No one could taste the veggies, except one smartaleck teenager and we all know those kinds of teenagers who are needing a take down! Anyway, come in and have a piece of cookie and cup of coffee! Blessings!

vote

Please go and vote today! I won't preach my politics, though I could since this is my blog, but I reserve the right that you have the right to vote the way you do! Most of you know that I am a Christian and as a Christian, God has given us this right to be a good stewart of what we have in this nation! We just finished going through a Bible study that had you think about your politics and can you back up what you believe politically with Scripture! It was a great study! Makes you think! Blessings!

pork chops

I made pork chops today for supper! Because I'm doing this allergy diet, I had to make sure I didn't use any flour in dusting the pork chops. I did dust them with Emeril's seasoning which I think is probably the best all around seasoning on the market! Bake them for 1 hour and they were so good, moist and seasoned so well!! Have a great week! I'll be back soon! Blessings!

Saturday

Well, it's been very quiet here while Gordon has been gone on his hunting trip! Mostly working on a jigsaw puzzle and working on what is making me cough, yes, I'm still coughing 7 weeks later! I truly believe it's an allergy cough which leads me to have a little wheezing problem! So, I am trying a new diet that takes away a lot of food items like yeast, flour, sugar, you eat lots of vegetable, no peanuts, but you can almonds, cashews, fish, chicken, beef, grapefruit, oranges, apples, no dairy! So all in all it's not a bad way to eat to eliminate the culprit, but the first few days were a little rough, I was glad Gordon was gone and I didn't have to think about feeding him! The cough is getting more loose, but sounds dry by night! So, pray that I get to the bottom of this soon!! Blessings!!!!

hunting

Well, we got a few flurries of snow during the night and I'm thinking the "bug" has really started! That is the hunting bug! My man talks hunting most of the year, but during this time, it's pretty much 24/7, if he's with other guys! We really like venison and I have pretty much done everything with venison! We have come to the conclusion what we like, what we are willing to eat till the next year and what we won't make again! I use venison pretty much like beef! Chili is superb, meatloaf is divine and meatballs are wonderful! Blessings!

oven roasting

I love oven roasted vegetables! For example, I roasted a whole head of cauliflower yesterday and there is none left, finished it up tonight! I add a little olive oil and salt, the oven is on a 350 and I leave the vegetables in for about 20-30 minutes. The flavor is so good, not boiled to death!!! Try it! Blessings!

Sunday

Today Gordon is off on a hunting trip! I'm baking some chicken to eat on all week! I love baked chicken! Also throwing in the oven a head of cauliflower! Oven roasted vegetables are so yummy!!! He took the camera, so there will be no photos of whatever else I cook this week! Have a great Sunday! Blessings!

busy

Sorry I haven't said anything for a few days! Busy here, just working and still monkeying around on getting the computer working correctly! It's truly fall here! Temps have dropped to normal levels and Indian summer is gone! Looks like rain and everyone is making soup or stews! Have a great weekend! Blessings!

Debbie's soup

I was at work and needing to figure out something for supper when I spotted my friend Trudy! She said she had a soup that is easy to make! So, I was game for the recipe! She said she had gotten it from a friend and it was so good! Here's the recipe: 2 cans of evaporated milk, 3 cans of cream of potato soup, 8oz. of Velveeta cheese, 1/2 cup of onions diced and browned, at least 2 cups of Tex-mati rice, and maybe 4 strips of bacon or 4oz. of cooked sausage(like Jimmy Dean's). Cook the rice according to directions, add onions, bacon, soup cans and milk. Stir Velveeta into soup and let this simmer for about 15 minutes. Makes a large pot! YUM!!!! Blessings!

meatballs

Today I'm making meatballs and freezing them. I like making them. Then I know what's in mine and not so much filler like store bought in the bag! I make them like I would meatloaf, but Italian seasoning makes them so good! Gordon is leaving next Sunday for a hunting trip, so maybe he'll take a few for meatball subs! Have a great day! Blessings!

squash cake

I found a recipe for pumpkin cake and of course, I'm not crazy about pumpkin, but love squash!So, I made the cake with squash and it's so moist and wonderful!!! I found the recipe in Saveur magazine and followed most of the recipe, just not the filling as I didn't make a layer cake! I also cut the recipe in half as we don't need to have so much sweet stuff hanging around, so this the recipe in half! Recipe follows: 1 cup of squash cooked and 1 Tablespoon of oil, use mixer and mix well, until it looks like puree. Cake ingredients: 4 Tablespoons of softened butter, 1 cup of flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, 1 egg, 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of buttermilk. Mix butter, sugar, brown sugar together, add egg and milk, add remaining ingredients, pour into greased pan(8x8). Preheat oven to 350 and bake cake for 28 minutes. Let cool before frosting cake. Frosting: 4 oz. of cream cheese soft, 2 Tablespoons of soft butter, 3 Tablespoons of brown sugar and enough powdered sugar to hold together(about 1/2 cup). Very excellent! Blessings!

sick

I don't remember if I blogged this last year near this time, but I had pneumonia last Nov. and now I have it again! Boo Hoo for me! I was asked to leave work because of my horrible cough(I understand) and I'm not quite sure if I will be there tomorrow! I feel OK, not tired or feverish, but just a horrible hacking cough! I told the Dr. I was going to call and get a shot for pneumonia, but I didn't get going on it soon enough! So, it's leftovers for tonight! Blessings!

mixer

Please go to tastykitchen.com and enter the contest! It's for a yellow pepper (color)Kitchen-aide mixer! How pretty would that look in my kitchen!! I have a white one that Gordon bought a million years ago! I have used it many times(more than a million)and never get tired of looking at it! Good luck! Blessings!

Tuesday

With today being Tuesday and a work day, I kinda wanted a day off! I know it's the middle (sort of) of the week, but I just wanted a day off. My cousins were coming and a family emergency came up, so that is out! We had leftover spaghetti sauce and penne pasta! Very good! Clouds are moving in and rain is coming! Blessings!

Ruth's spaghetti

Most of my family knows that spaghetti is not my favorite meal! I'm not sure why, but I will eat it when I go to someones house if that is what is put in front of me, but at a restaurant or at home, that's not in my radar! But lately I had spaghetti at my friend's Ruth's house and it was the best! I overheard her tell how she makes it and so I tried to recreate it! I think I did a fine job and Gordon said to please remember what I did so I would do it again! I think that's a fine compliment! So here's what I did: 1 package of beef stew meat(maybe a 1/2 pound), 4 Italian sausages cut up into small pieces, 10 meatballs(homemade is what I used), 1 jar of spaghetti sauce, 2 Tablespoons of tomato paste(in the tube), 2 grated garlic cloves, and 1 green pepper diced. So I browned the meat, added the garlic and pepper, then added the sauce and paste. I did add 1 Tablespoon of sugar towards the end of cooking! The sauce got me and I love it! I simmered the meat for 45 minutes before I added anything else! Blessings!

Miss me???

Well, on Tuesday night my computer crashed! So, different not being able to sit down whenever I want to check emails, blogs, checking, etc!!!! But I'm back up and running! Lost most of my personal files, Kodak pictures, quick books for Gordon's business(thank the Lord that I just had names, addresses and phones, no tax information!)So, back to square one and trying to figure out stuff! So, I will post a recipe in the next few days, just hang tight! Blessings!

nachos

Tonight I made nachos! They are one of our favorite meals, super easy and super good! I read a recipe the other day about adding pickled jalapenos to the nachos, it was good and hot!!! Layer of Scoops from Frito Lay, ground meat that has been browned, grated cheddar cheese, a few sliced pickled jalapenos and topped with salsa! YUM!!!!

class

To start off, I forgot my phone and had to turn around to retrieve that thing, thankfully I wasn't too far down the road, then I forgot my camera! So, I have no pictures of class, but I do have recipes! It was a great class taught by a man! He was so fun! Charlie is a salesman for the Fissler company and goes around the area giving classes for the company! He had some new kitchen gadgets and of course, I bought one! It's a garlic mincer, so cool! I'm very excited to cook something in the pressure cooker that has collected dust in the cabinet! Blessings!

frost

We got frosted again for the second time this fall! It's late as was the first one, but maybe people who suffer from allergies will get some relief! Fall colors are prime and won't last long if it rains and the wind blows! I took a pictures of our oak and it's beautiful when the sun hits it! Hope the photos does the tree justice! Tonight is my cooking class with pressure cookers, I'm pretty excited to go and get some recipes in hand! Have a great day! Stop in for coffee if you are in the area! Blessings!

cranberry weekend fest

This Saturday is the Stone Lake, Wisconsin Cranberry Fest. For those of you who don't live in this area, Stone Lake is a very small town, so this is a huge event! I on the other hand have never gone and I'm not sure about this weekend! Saturday's are very treasured by me because I work all week, but hey, I need to play sometimes! Also Gordon and I were going to try out the smoker with some racks of ribs(YUM)! If I get to go, I will post some info and photos, otherwise I will post photos of the rib fest here at our house! Blessings!