Patriotic Gnome

This is just about the easiest and laziest gnome ever but he turned out pretty cute for how quickly I put him together! 

All I did was make a cone out of blue paper for his hat; punched out little red stars and glued them on; glue a bit of batting and a star bead nose to a paper party hat; put the cone shaped hat over the party hat body and glue in place. 

I didn't like the star shaped nose so I added a small wood bead instead; to finish I put a paper firework in the top of the hat (click here to see how to make the fireworks). 

6.30.21: hermits

6.30.20: tip-sy tuesday: tension rods

6.30.19: 🔥week 26

6.30.18: strawberry collins
6.30.17: make a flag luminary

6.30.16: make a red white and blue headband

Quinoa and Sweet Potato bowl

Made this delish bowl for lunch the other day - I saw a recipe online for something like this but instead of following the recipe (it called for creamy tahini dressing, I didn't have or want to make that...) I just winged it based on what I thought would taste good. And it did hahahah.

Mix together cooked quinoa, chunks of cooked sweet potato, chopped kale, and edamame; I drizzled the salad with a little extra-virgin olive oil and white wine vinegar, season with coarse salt and pepper. 

6.29.21: sewing tip

6.29.20: RV living (privacy curtain)

6.29.19: 3D paper stars

6.29.18: Lisa's button flag art
6.29.17: make a red, white, and blue windsock
6.29.16: patriotic potato salad

S'mOreos

I haven't made these and probably won't because (1) Dave is allergic to peanut butter and I'm not sure what I could substitute to make the oreo stick, (2) I don't tend to make s'more's for myself and not Dave haha, and (3) he's particular about gas fire pit and won't let me toast marshmallows over it LOL. But, I still wanted to share it with you because I'd love to try one and am hoping one of my friends or family will make them and invite me over hahahahaha. 

And how great is the name - S'mOreos?!!! Love. 

It's a traditional milk chocolate, toasted marshmallow and graham cracker s'more with the addition of an oreo spread on both sides with peanut butter. 

found at taste of home

6.28.21: another mask pattern

6.28.20: 🔥week 26

6.28.19: flag door hanger

6.28.18: painted mason jar with paper pinwheels

6.28.17: healthy berry trifle

6.28.16: travel - Goodwood

Photo Keychain Gift Idea by Jenny

Just a little fun gift idea.. we gave Jeffs sister a Lulu lemon fanny pack (yes fanny packs are back) for her birthday.  To make it more of a gift we turned it into a “walking kit”.  Flashlight/doggie poop bags, bandaid, sunscreen etc. 

Anyway- in that kit the best item we added was an old school key chain that you add the pictures to.  the best deal we found was on Amazon (nope- I don’t get kickback on Amazon for selling their shizzle).  The deal was 10 of them for $8.  I remember having these as a kid so was happy to bring this back!   The negative is that I needed one and now have 9 more to go.  Hope my friends and family aren’t reading this cuz you have a keychain with my face on it coming your way! HAHAHAHA

6.27.21: 🔥 week 26

6.27.20: garden squirrel

6.27.19: MSIH: chicken and wild rice casserole

6.27.18: paper pinwheels

6.27.17: pompom earrings

🔥 Around the Campfire (week 26)

Dear Campers ~

Here's a quick recap in case you missed anything at camp last week:

Posts ~

6/19: 🔥 week 25

6/20: old windows make a photo display

6/21: tip-sy tuesday: how to remove paint from windows

6/22: stars and stripes cupcakes

6/23: msih: alice springs chicken

6/24: tree stump table

6/25: alice springs marinade

What's Cooking ~

• grilled thin chicken breasts, packaged rice blend, steamed broccoli (boring, I know!)
• grilled bbq salmon, parmesan couscous, roasted green beans
• burger salad
• mahi tacos, coleslaw
• bbq ribs, potato salad
• grilled pizzas

Miscellaneous stuff keeping me busy but doesn't qualify for a blog post ~

• read 'Meet Me at The Cupcake Cafe' by Jenny Colgan. I read a couple of hers in the 'Little Beach Street Bakery' series last week and really enjoyed them, so I borrowed this one from the library - it's not part of the same series, but it is still about baking (among other things!) and I really liked it. Easy, light reading - I also read another in the 'In Death' series so these Jenny Colgan ones are a nice break from the murder mysteries! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

That's it for this week. We are camping for a few days - after our hectic last couple weeks it's nice to work on the computer while listening to the lapping lake water. Ahhhhh....stop back to see what I think of to make at camp next week - I know there'll be cupcakes and another post or two from things we made at the open house. Bye!

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor

6.26.21: mozzarella stuffed portobellos

6.26.20: chicken noodle soup casserole

6.26.19: cherry pie cookies

6.26.18: patriotic rag wreath

6.26.17: paper fireworks

6.26.16: track day at Goodwood

Alice Springs Chicken Marinade

Quick one for today - we are on our way up north to the lake and I've got lots to do...wanted to share a secondary post to the 'Alice Springs Chicken' my sis reviewed the other day. For the record I love bacon, and I'm fond of cheese, but not all together - I don't even like cheese or bacon on burgers and that's the most common way of eating all 3 of those ingredients hahaha. The point of telling you that? When I was making this dish for my sis I marinated extra chicken for my dinner - and it was delicious even without the toppings! Remove from the marinade and grill until done; Dave said it stuck to the grill a bit (probably 'cuz there's no oil in the marinade?) so make sure you spray the grill with non-stick spray or brush on oil or something - or if you bake it just grease your pan or put the chicken on parchment paper.

whisk together and put in a ziplock bag along with chicken breasts, marinade for an hour or up to 24 hours:

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
• 3 T. mayo
• 1 T. lemon juice

6.25.21: Brooke's spaghetti tacos

6.25.20: veggie cobb salad

6.25.19: tip-sy tuesday: gardening tip

6.25.18: spaghetti squash shrimp scampi

6.25.17: week of dinner menus

Tree Stump Table

Jenny sent me this picture and it's such a great idea I had to share. Her father-in-law had some trees cut down and had them leave one of them with a taller stump. He then set a tree slice on top of the stump to form a table - the slab is heavy enough that it's just setting on top of the stump without any anchors. Cool, right? 

Sorry for all the trees in my yard that I now have my eye on wondering which I'd cut down and turn into a yard table hahahah! 

6.24.21: red, white, and blueberry salad

6.24.20: bluebarb pie (rhubarb blueberry)

6.24.19: wire basket with ribbons

6.24.18: moving furniture

6.24.17: mojito fruit cocktail

6.24.16: travel blog - 2nd day at Goodwood

MSIH: Alice Springs Chicken

Today's 'my sis is hungry' review is for Alice Springs Chicken - I don't know what makes it 'alice springs' but Dave says its Australian so maybe that's why hahaha, don't know. Here's my sis's review tho:

Oh my gosh.  My sister made this pan of chicken and all I can say is WOW.  Like REALLY wow.  It makes up for the soup she gave me last time – please see review for that if you want to know what NOT to make. HAHAHAHA

Anyway- this chicken.  I don’t know how complicated it was to make but if it was fairly easy I would definitely make it again.

It had bacon on top (whats not to like about bacon) as well as big mushrooms (also yum) but that isn’t actually even the best part.  It was the flavor.  Whatever that “sauce” (juice?) was.  It was SO good.

She asked what I ate it “over” and honestly I didn’t put it over anything.  It was so great I wouldn’t have wanted to alter the flavor by serving over noodles/potatoes.  It was amazing.

If I ever have the in laws over and want to show them what a great cook I am I will make this.  If after I view the recipe I see its too hard for me to make then I will ask my sister to make it for me and pass it off as my own. 😊

 

The husband gave this one a 9- and he is a tough critic.  Make this one!

recipe found here at slow roasted italian

6.23.21: 4th of July cake idea

6.23.20: TT at home gel nails

6.23.19: 🔥 week 25

6.23.18: houseplants

6.23.17: outfit idea - flare jeans

6.23.16: travel - Goodwood

Stars and Stripes Cupcakes

I came across this idea in a Food Network Magazine and love how the cupcakes look. I'm pretty sure it looks way more complicated than it is - and I already know I'd do a couple things differently. One - I'll probably just make cupcakes from a cake mix, even tho this recipe is simple without a lot of ingredients I kind of feel like if I'm going to make party cupcakes I'll need more than 12; and Two - another way to get swirled frosting is to put both colors side-by-side in a large baggie or decorator bag, when you squeeze the bag it'll combine the 2. Note: any color paper liner will work of course, but the blue really makes these cupcakes - if not blue I'd try to find a patriotic themed liner, or silver foil would also look great. 

I haven't made them yet but wanted to share with you well before the upcoming Fourth in case you want to make them!

 

For the Cupcakes: 

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/4 t. salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 T.) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 T. pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup milk

For the Frosting:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1/2 t. raspberry extract
• 2 to 3 T. milk
• red gel food coloring
• 1/2 cup blue candy melts

Preheat oven to 350'. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Make the cupcakes: whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Combine the sugar and eggs in a large boil, beat with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and thick, about 2 minutes. Beat in the melted butter and vanilla until smooth. Reduce mixer speed to low, beat in half of the flour mixture, then the milk, and the remaining half of flour mixture until smooth. 

Divide the batter between the 12 cups, bake for 20-25 minutes until done; let cool in the pan 10 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely. 

Make the frosting: beat the butter in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually add the confectioners sugar until smooth, then add the extracts and milk 1 T. at a time, until creamy. Transfer half of the frosting to a bowl and tint red using the gel food coloring.

Put the white and red frostings in separate ziplock baggies and snip a corner from each. Snip the corner of a larger ziplock baggie and put both frosting bags in the larger bag, twist the top so both frostings pipe out of the snipped corner. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. 

Make the candy stars: line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Microwave the candy melts in a microwavable bowl at 45 second intervals, stirring until smooth. Spoon into a small ziplock baggie and snip a corner. Pipe twelve 2-3" stars onto the parchment, piping double or triple lines for stability. Refrigerate until set, about 10 minutes. Carefully lift the stars from the parchment and insert into the frosting on each cupcake. 

6.22.21: TT air fryer hasselback potatoes

6.22.20: watermelon windsock

6.22.19: Karen's layered taco dip

6.22.18: blog business cards 

6.22.17: hair idea - top braid

6.22.16: travel - Goodwood Festival

Tip-sy Tuesday: removing paint from windows

Jen showed you yesterday how they turned old windows that Mickey used as useful displays at her wedding last September into photo displays for Brooke's open house. She mentioned scrapping the paint off and when she told me they were struggling to remove the paint I suggested she use a razor blade - that's what they do to clean up windows after painting a room and it makes quick work of getting off the paint. Little useful tip! Not sure if I told her in time for her to use that little useful tip, I think she might have been complaining to me after the fact hahaha. Oh well - next time sister! 

Click here for yesterday's post on how she made the photo displays. 

6.21.21: patriotic windsock

6.21.20: 🔥week 25

6.21.19: lego key holder

6.21.18: garden soaker with timer

6.21.17: baked lemon donuts

6.21.16: packing tips

Old Windows for a Photo Display by Jenny

Hi! Me (the sister) again! 

I mentioned in a previous post that we reused windows from my oldest daughters wedding.  I have been asked questions about that and also to see them. 

So let me show you! We got these old windows for FREE (have I mentioned how much I love free?) on Facebook Market place.  Yes, they were a bit beat up.. I mean ummm.. RUSTIC.  But that is what she was going for. So we grabbed these old windows, and honestly didn’t even take a lot of time cleaning them up. For the wedding she painted on them with “stations” for her food tables. For example she had a sign painted (with window paint) that said “Station 1 – Salad Bar”.  It was gorgeous and a great use of these windows.

So with that background- I tediously scraped the paint off all of the windows and decided to use those for her pictures.  As it turns out, nine 8X10’s fit almost exactly on each standard window. I turned the windows over, used small pieces of tape to attach these to the back, and added a little bit of green vines (that I got on Amazon) to them to tie them into our décor. 

We got a lot of comments about how much everyone loved these and how different and beautiful it was- and I agree! 😊

 

6.20.21: 🔥 week 25

6.20.20: wedge salad platter

6.20.19: chipotle sweet potato posole

6.20.18: latch hook rug

6.20.17: change a lightbulb

6.20.16: garage sale signs (Brooke's first post)

🔥 Around the Campfire (week 25)

Dear Campers ~

Here's a weekly recap in case you missed anything at camp last week:

Posts ~

6/12: 🔥 week 24

6/13: photo centerpiece

6/14: tip-sy tuesday: butter substitutes

6/15: greenery wall 

6/16: msih: chicken cheeseburger shepherds pie

6/17: selfie light

6/18: stacked finger sandwiches

What's Cooking ~

• grilled hot dogs (beef, turkey, and veggie), baked beans, pasta salad 
• marinaded grilled chicken, orzo salad with tomatoes and mozzarella balls
• turkey and cheese sandwiches on multi-grain seeded bread, potato salad
• steak, baked potatoes, roasted asparagus, wedge salad
• ribs, chopped salad, leftover baked potatoes 

Miscellaneous ~

• read 'Little Beach Street Bakery' and 'Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery' by Jenny Colgan and really enjoyed both. LeDonna loaned them to me, I don't tend to read many romantic comedy novels but after reading probably 20 in a row of the 'In Death' series books by JD Robbs it was great to have a break from gruesome murders hahaha. The characters, setting, plot, and especially the puffin made these books fun to read! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Can't wait to read more by this author - L is finishing the 3rd one in the series and I'm looking forward to her passing it on. 

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor 

6.19.21: charcuterie platter 

6.19.20: pompom bookmarks by Brooke

6.19.19: owl pull-apart cake

6.19.18: your blog comments, and a deer psa 

6/19/17: how to distress jeans

6/19/16: gnocchi with tomatoes and snap peas

Stacked Finger Sandwiches

Here's a fun picnic or party (or private picnic party all by yourself!) - stack bread or tortillas, lunchmeat, and sliced cheeses cut out into little finger sandwiches and poke a pretty toothpick (or a plain ol' toothpick) thru the middle and stack them on a serving plate. I have little molds so can make different shapes but you could do this with cookie cutters or a small glass. You can spread the bread or tortillas with mayo, mustard, whatever sandwich condiment you like before layering the ingredients - I've never added lettuce, thin sliced pickles or cucumbers but as long as whatever you're cutting with will cut thru the veggies I think it'd work. I just stick with meats and cheeses, I like to use different meats and different colors of cheese for variety - in the pic below I made them with white and spinach tortillas, ham and turkey, yellow and white cheddar cheeses. 

6.18.21: mint chip brownie ice cream squares 

6.18.20: patriotic fruit pizza

6.18.19: tip-sy tuesday: balsamic reduction

6.18.18: halibut stacked with potatoes and spinach

6.18.17: meatloaf

6.18.16: garage sale

Selfie Light by Jenny

Jill here - my sis sent me some posts after Brooke's open house last week, everything turned out great and in addition to what she's written up I also have a couple things to share in the next few days. I'll spread them all out so it isn't 100% open house hahaha. Here's what she has to say about a fun thing she added to the greenery wall:

I sent a previous post about our greenery wall (everyone loved it) but didn’t add one more thing we added.

At previous weddings/events we have seen this at you have to get someone to take your picture.  If you are like me you don’t want to bug people, and if you are a teenager you don’t want to have someone random snapping your picture over and over while you have to approve every shot they took or have a full blown photo shoot.  This gave me the idea to go hunting for some kind of selfie light.  Who knew that was a thing? 

So I found a zillion of them on Amazon (no I don’t get a kick back from them for my great sales..haha) but the one we got has the light on the top, a phone holder to slide your phone in and a remote control that you can click to even take it (if you aren’t tech savvy enough to set a timer on your phone instead). It also will raise and lower with a simple slide up or down. 

 

This light was a HIT. Everyone loved it and commented what a great little touch it was. And the best part?  Less than $30.  Totally worth it to me. Another added bonus- the teen can take it with her when she goes to have fun with friends.

Now I have to go- I have some selfies I need to take!

Jill again - I don't have a picture of the selfie light set up in front of the greenery wall, it was a few feet in front of it like a person would be if they were taking the actual picture. It provided excellent light when taking pictures in the dark! 

6.17.21: pierogi

6.17.20: peas with rosemary and pine nuts 

6.17.19: paper tropical flowers

6.17.18: coincidentally it's a different paper flower.

6.17.17: for real, it's another paper flower! I honestly had no idea and did not do this on purpose!

6.17.16: rock photo stand. whew, 4 years of paper flowers woulda been super weird timing.

Chicken Cheeseburger Shepherds Pie

I made this for a 'my sis is hungry' post and her review, but she forgot to send me the review and now she can't find it - instead of making her write it up again I'll just give you the recap of what they thought...which was it's delicious other than the pickles. Funny, the pickles is our favorite part hahah. 

I made it for her family following the recipe and I think that's maybe why we have different opinions - I left out the peppers for our dinner, and I included them in hers. Maybe the peppers and pickles just don't go together? 

It's a mash-up of cheeseburgers and shepherds pie - to describe it better for you I'd say it's like shepherd pie with mustard and pickles added. I don't think peppers is a normal shepherds pie ingredient (?) and wonder if that's what threw it off for them. 

Oh My Gosh - you're not going to believe this...while searching the blog for a more traditional shepherds pie post to compare the 2 I came across for another MSIH post for cheeseburger shepherds pie and she reviewed that she loved it LOLOL!! And it's a pretty similar recipe hahahha. I have such a bad memory I completely forgot I made this in '19. Click here for the other mash-up post and her review - I'm still posting this because I've already written it all out hahahah. 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground chicken, ground turkey, or ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped red and/or green sweet pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 2 t. minced garlic
• 1 1/2 cups frozen whole kernel corn
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste with Italian herbs
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped dill pickles or 1/4 cup dill pickle relish
• 1/4 cup yellow mustard
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 oz.)
• 1 (24 oz.) container refrigerated mashed potatoes
• sliced green onions and/or chopped pickles, optional for garnish

Directions: 

Instructions Checklist

• 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat an oven-safe 4- to 5-qt. baking dish with cooking spray. In a large skillet, cook the ground meat, peppers, onion and garlic in the pot over medium-high heat until meat is browned. Drain off any fat.

• 2. Stir the corn, water, tomato paste, pickles and mustard into meat mixture in pan. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes to blend flavors. Stir in 1/2 cup of the cheese. Transfer the mixture to the greased baking dish. Spoon the potatoes in mounds onto meat mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup cheese.
• 3. Place dish in oven. Bake, uncovered, 20 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted. If desired, top with green onions and/or pickles.
  
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  found at bhg.com food mash-ups

6.16.21: minty dream cookies 

6.16.20: tip-sy tuesday: toasting pine nuts

6.16.19: 🔥week 24

6.16.18: camping shower lanyard

6.16.17: outfit idea - distressed jeans

6.16.16: scottie topiary

Greenery Wall by Jenny

Well big happenings around here with Brooke’s open house.  We like to over analyze and overthink every detail so that’s consumed the last few months for us!

One idea was to reuse as much as we could from Mickey’s wedding.  We saved the windows, the greenery wall, and the card box that Kyle made (so cool!) and used them all.

This is a picture of the greenery wall that we repurposed from Micks wedding.  If you aren’t familiar with a greenery wall its basically a backdrop people use for pictures.  In this case ours came in squares which we mounted to a board.  When used at weddings they will usually attach the couples future last name, some kind of love quote etc.  So for Brookes open house we got a big neon smiley face from etsy and hung that in the center.  We saw several signs with the graduates name or the year but we decided since we like to reuse things so much we would do something more generic so she could use it in her future room.  We then decided we didn’t love all the green space around it so we added dollar store flowers in her colors.

 

6.15.21: TT slicing tomatoes hack and fail 

6.15.20: painted sticks

6.15.19: Jen's new 'mantra' 

6.15.18: diy duvet cover

6.15.17: chopping herbs 

6.15.16: mini fruit pies

Tip-sy Tuesday: butter substitutes

Jen sent me this chart showing different substitutes for butter - pretty handy, right? 

6.14.21: sweet and simple gift box 

6.14.20: 🔥week 24

6.14.19: diy: ice packs

6.14.18: rv headboard wall

6.14.17: mini hand pies

6.14.16: scented bath salts

Photo Centerpiece

We made these cute centerpieces by taping together 3 dollar store frames using clear packing tape, then popped in a 4" pot of petunias. Originally we thought we'd use mason jars with cut flowers inside the frames but Jen and Brooke went to the nursery and just bought plants - and then they left them for me to plant (yay!). 

I put one together before realizing that the pictures need to be in the frames first! 

6.13.21: 🔥 week 24

6.13.20: crispy salt and vinegar potatoes

6.13.19: MSIH: mini calzones

6.13.18: 1,000 posts! (it's now 2456!)

6.13.17: mason jar graduation gift

6.13.16: painted flag mason jars

🔥 Around the Campfire (week 24)

Dear Campers ~

A very, very quick recap of what happened at camp last week in case you missed anything:

Posts ~

6/5: 🔥 week 23

6/6: oops missed a day!

6/7: open house neighbor gift

6/8: crabby fun-guy (crab stuffed mushrooms)

6/9: stuffed mushroom tip

6/10: June 10 thru the years

6/11: open house party favors

Whew, we just had a week. Brooke's soccer team played in regionals Tuesday and won, yay! But that meant they played in the finals Friday night at 6 - guess what else happened Friday night at 6? Yep, her open house! Unfortunately they lost to the state champs, and she missed the first part of the open house but was able to hurry back and enjoy her party for part of the night. Yesterday we cleaned up the tent and yard, then celebrated Kyle turning 40. 

I've declared today as a 'do-nothing' day hahahah. 

No menu ideas this week, that would have required time to cook all week!

Hope you'll stop back often to see more projects, crafts, recipes, whatever else I can think of to make at camp next week! Bye!

Karen gave me a bag of corks - woohoo! She said to not judge how many
she has and this equals 6 years of collecting - hahaha if only she knew how 
many corks I've collected and in way less than 6 years LOL. After my last 
couple cork projects tho I'm getting low, so I'm thrilled she gave these to me!! 

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor

6.12.21: cauliflower pizza casserole 

6.12.20: Al and Cathy change their kitchen island 

6.12.19: potato, squash, goat cheese gratin

6.12.18: phone case hack

6.12.17: DIY clutch (placemat) purse

6.12.16: asparagus strawberry salad