Greek Yogurt with lots of fruit and a cheesy omelet with vine ripe tomato.

For the yogurt
1 cup plain Greek Yogurt
1 teaspoon Limoncello Liqueur (this is a lemon liqueur)
1 tablespoon honey

For the fruit
1/2 cup blueberries
1 small banana sliced
4 to 5 strawberries sliced
1 teaspoon of Lemoncello Liqueur

Granola
4 cups oats (not instant)
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup walnuts
1 1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup of dried mixed fruit (don't add this until after you cook the granola or the fruit will get hard)
1 stick of butter or oil (I prefer real butter)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon of cinnamon



I used my homemade granola, fruit and yogurt and I did a layering effect to built this most delicious  wonderfulness.  The yogurt I put a teaspoons of Limoncello Liqueur and 1 tablespoon of honey and mixed. The fruit I cut up and placed in a bowl and added Limoncello.  The granola I made last week, I keep it in an air tight container.

In a large bowl, mix the first 5 ingredients leave out 1/2 cup of coconut and save it for the end when you add the fruit.  In a small sauce pan add the butter, brown sugar, honey and cinnamon bring to a boil for just a few minutes until everything is bubbly and melted.  Pour over granola and mix well spread granola on a large cookie sheet pan.  I use my jelly roll stone pan from Pampered Chef.  Spread granola evenly where it is not piled up but laying flat out on the pan.  I hit it again with  a few shakes of cinnamon and bake it at 375 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes.  Don't walk away from this, it has a tendency to over cook very fast.  If you smell it, it's time to pull it out of the oven this usually happens 10 to 15 minutes of cooking.  Turn granola over and place back in oven for another 5 minutes.  Let granola cool in pan for 15 to 20 minutes, no eating  just kidding you won't be able to help yourself, it's okay, go ahead.  Now add the dried fruit and the other 1/2 cup of coconut.  Enjoy!

The first thing you should know is I absolutely love my omelets very thin.  I do not care for those fluffy puffy omelets, so if you are looking for that you won't find it here. I scrambled two fresh homegrown eggs in a small bowl and I used no water or milk, just strait up eggs.  I used a stainless steel frying pan, turned the head to medium high. I added a about a tablespoon of butter and let it melt to coat the bottom of the pan evenly.  I poured my eggs in and just waited until it set slightly on the bottom.  Once that was achieved I started swirling the pan around and moving only the un-cooked egg toward the edge of the omelet and pan to get the egg cooked completely.  I added a slice of cheese and turned the heat off and flipped the omelet over with a spatula onto one side, and slid it right out of the pan onto my plate.  Hey, I am very proud of this achievement it took me many years to be able to make an omelet in this kind of pan without it sticking or turning brown.   I diced up a very ripe tomatoe and wella!  So yummy!

Vine Ripe Tomatoes with Shaves of Parmesan Cheese and Basil

I used one very juicy vine ripe tomato cut it into slices, shaves of Parmesan Cheese, a drizzled of white wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, 3 fresh Basil leaves, a sprinkle of sea salt and cracked black pepper.  Enjoy!

Shrimp Scampi

Preheat oven 425 degrees F.

Just a side note:
You can cut this recipe in half if you don't want to make so much and you can use medium shrimp. A shallot works best but if you don't have a shallot you can use onion but make sure it's very minced.  I find this recipe work best if the topping is very brown and crunchy, so try to get it as brown without burning the top.

2 pounds of large shrimp 12 to 15 per pound ( I buy the devein with the shells on)
3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tablespoons of white wine
tsp. Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tsp. minced garlic about 4 cloves
1/4 minced shallots
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 tsp. minced fresh rosemary
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 extra large egg yolk
2/3 cup panko bread (Japanese dried flakes/crumbs)
Lemon wedge for serving.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F

Peel and butterfly the shrimp, leaving the tails on.  Place the shrimp in a mixing bowl and toss gently with the olive oil, wine, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper.  Allow to sit at room temperature while you make the butter and garlic mixture.

In a small bowl, mash the soft butter with the garlic, shallots, parsley, rosemary, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, lemon juice, egg yolk, panko, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper until combined.

Use a 14 inch oval gratin dish, starting from the outer edge of dish arrange the shrimp in a single layer cut side down with the tails curling up and towards the center of the dish.  Pour the remaining marinade over the sprimp spread the butter mixture evenly over the shrimp.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes on the bottom rack of you oven until hot and bubbly.  To get the top top browned, place under a broiler for 1 to 2  minutes keep your eyes on it don't walk away!  I keep the oven door cracked open while you do this.

Enjoy!

I made homemade granola with lots of dried fruits, oats, cinnamon, honey, nuts and coconut. I cut up strawberries and banana's and I use Greek Yogurt to make this parfait. Now that's a great way to start my day.

How I made the granola.  I used about 4 cups of Oats (not instant), 2  cup of nuts, I used 2 cup of sliced almonds because that's what I had on hand but you can add walnuts, pecans or seeds.  Sometimes I add all the nuts when I am making granola. I added about 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and  1/4 cup of honey to 1 stick of butter and melted this in a small sauce pan over medium low heat. Once it comes to a bubbly boil and its all melted I added it to the oats and nuts, mixing it really well until everything was completely combined.  I spread it on a  cookie sheet.  I put the oven at 375 and baked for 15 minutes making sure not to walk away and keeping a close eye on the cooking process because, I know this has a tendency to burn very quick.  At 15 minutes of cooking I took it out of the oven and turned over the granola mixture and added the 1 cup of coconut flakes, I then placed back in the oven for another 5 minutes.  Once done and cooled I added a 8oz bag of mixed dry fruit and 1/2 cup more coconut flakes.  I like my coconut both ways cooked and raw.  I keep this in a sealed tight container.  I use this on yogurt, ice cream, peanut butter or I use it as a cereal. 

I use Plain Greek Yogurt because it has the highest in protein coming in at 23 grams.  I add about a teaspoon of honey to take that tang away and a squeeze of lemon juice.  The lemon juice gives it that fresh taste.  You can use any fruit you want to make your parfait.  Enjoy!

She likes it!

I made this late Christmas present for my daughter and myself.  What is it you ask?  Well it is a journal box.  What you do is you journal one thing you did for that day all the way throughout the year.  Then the next year you start all over and then when you look back over that past 5 to 10 years you can see what you have done everyday throughout the years.  I  modge podg the box from all the magazines that I have.  I used a Christmas box that I got from Party City.  I modge podged the whole box top bottom insides too.  Then I made these cute dividers and gave them some bling and pizzas!  I used index cards and cut them down to fit the box and there you have it.

My Art Studio La de dah.... A place to be creative!

I have been working at organizing my art studio and this has been a huge job! This is therapy for me to show you the before and after pictures the last picture is what it looked like when I started working at cleaning this mess up!  Well I deleted ALL the before pictures, I just couldn't show you my dirty laundry, I guess I still need therapy, oh well and besides that I don't see anyone else showing there messy spaces. This room turned into a catch all room for some of the things we didn't put away where they really belonged.

Now it is my Art Studio La de dah ....a place to be creative.  Now if I can just keep it this way.  If you know me at all, you know I am not a stuffy kind of person who has to have the finer things in life.  Well it wouldn't hurt to have some finer things, so when I say la de dah with my pinky sticking out, I am totally laughing at myself.  My husband built the large white art table for me, which I just love.  I had Christmas decoration thrown in this room along with everything else.  It feels so good to have a creative space to work again.  I am donating a lot of books and magazines to the art class at the middle school and I am still looking to donate a lot more.  I am not finished organizing this space.  I have the shelves with the scrapbook to organize and I have only organized half of the plastic bins. I still have work to do in this space but I thought I would share with you, what I have been up to the past two weeks. I am so happy that's for sure.

Products I love....

It all started right before the Christmas break.  I was sucking on a peppermint candy and bit down on it and a sharp pain went strait up to my head while I was drive down the road, can you say holy mother of raccoons!  If I never feel that pain again, I will have lived my life to its fullest.  Then while I was on Christmas break it happened again, while I was eating the most delicious French toast.  Now French toast is soft, so it got me thinking, is it the sweets that is hurting my teeth?  I decided I better get to the dentist because I have been avoiding eating on the one side of my mouth for to long now.

I also went to the dentist, because I have dental insurance, that's right!  The dentist looked around in my mouth where I said the crime happened; he said  that he did not see anything that was wrong, so he took an x-ray.  He came back and said there is nothing showing up on this x-ray.  He took a baby hammer out.  That's right I said a hammer!  He hammered all the teeth around where the crime happened and he said, "do you feel any pain?" I never in a million years would have thought, that I would say, ”no that does not hurt, I don't feel anything". For God sake the man is tapping on my teeth with a dam hammer, have I lost my mind!  He said well, there is no abscess in your mouth or around your gums or teeth and nothing is showing up on the x-ray.  Then he asks me.......the question....."Do you think you might be grinding your teeth?"  "Holy mother of raccoons," that's it! I said, "YES!" I do think I am grinding my teeth! He says "do you wake up with mild headaches and a sore jaw?"   I said "YES I do!" It's like a light bulb went off in my head.  He said keep an eye on it and if it gets worse then you might need to get fitted for a mouth piece to sleep with at night.  I said well lets get that started right now.! He said "well, it's expensive".  I said how expensive?  He say's "500 dollars expensive and it is not usually covered under insurance.  I say "Holy mother of raccoons"!  Forget it, "I don't have 500 dollars to spend on my mouth".  He says just keep an eye on it and we will check it again when you come back for your cleaning.  Now I am thinking to myself, how does your eye keep an eye on your tooth?  Oh, it's my minds eye, oh you didn't no that either, your mind has an eye. Didn't your mother ever tell you she has eyes at the back of her head.  I said okay to the doctor and got up and left.

I tell my husband all about this and he says "lets just go get you a football mouth piece".  I said are you kidding me? I can’t sleep with that in my mouth.  So I forget about it until yesterday, when I got my declined statement from my Dental insurance in the mail.  You say what?  Yes, that's right you heard it, I got a declined statement from my dental insurance to pay for that office visit over the holidays.  The man looked in my mouth, hammered a few teeth and took an x-ray and the bill was $87 dollars.  So I did what every God Fearing American who gets pissed off, and called the insurance agency up to explain why they declined to pay my office visit.  I am rattling on to much again; I just better end this now.  So sorry.  You are not interested anyway! If you are, just ask me.  Oh wait a cotton pickin minute; I forgot this is why I wrote this whole long drawn out drama of a story in the first place.  I casually mentioned this whole thing to my son Brandon last night around 7 o'clock, when he told me the most wonderful news.  He says mom, "just go on line and look for "The Doctor's Night Guard," it's only $18 to $20 dollars".  So I did and there it was for all to see....the heavens opened and the angles sang a song and the reviews were amazing.  Jeff and I looked on the Wal-Mart site and they had it.  I called them to make sure and the lady on the other end of the phone says yes we have them and they are in the tooth paste isle.  We jump in the car and head to Wal-Mart.  Long story short, I woke up with no headache or sore jaw.  Thanks Brandon!

P,S. So sorry about my grammar and punctuation, I am a work in progress.

Cleaning Out the Art Studio and Ringing in the New Year 2012!

Cleaning out the Art Studio today. That sounds so funny what makes it a studio?  It's a spare room that I turned into a work space to be creative, so that's what makes it a studio, he he.  I sent my husband to Home Depot today, to make me a table for my studio.

When he came home he was leaning in the back door in pain.  I said, what is wrong?  He said, "I am in so much pain, groan!"  I said, what happened?  He said, "I dropped a very thick and heavy piece of wood on my big toe while I was in Home Depot."  I said, "do you want to go to the hospital?" "No" he said, "not on New Year's Eve."  So what did he do? He took to Advil and had a Beer. I still think he needs to go to the hospital.  I think that is where I will be tomorrow.

My sister came over today and made the most wonderful Collard Greens, to ring in the New Year!  We also, had Black Eyed Peas, Jasmin Rice with lots of veggies cooked inside the rice, Corn Bread with bits of corn cooked inside, Grilled Barbeque Chicken and Pork.  The best part of this meal was the Collards. Being from the South this is what true Southerns have on New Years Eve and Day.  Happy New Year everyone, I hope it's a great one for all!

Breakfast is Gouda Cheese Omelet

Breakfast this morning is a Gouda Cheese Omelet covered in fresh Salsa..  Oh how this speaks to my soul.  I love flat thin omelets, don't even try to give me a big fluffy omelet! The way I made this is I used a stainless steel frying pan.  I know, it took me many years to master this small feat of cooking eggs in a stainless steel pan without them sticking to the pan.  I have had many deformed omelets in my life time.  It's all in the heat and amount of butter or oil you use.  I put no cream or milk in my eggs, I know some of you are saying what the heck?  But trust me you don't need it, that is if you like your omelet thin and skinny like your body., well not like my body.  Something has got to be skinny in my life, it might as well be my omelet.  Scramble two eggs until bubbles appear, then stop!  Turn your burner on medium to high heat, place pan on top of heat, make sure your pan gets good and hot but not smoking hot.  This is where the fine line comes in to getting your pan to the right temperature.  Now make sure your pan is a good size, so you give your omelet room to spread,.  You know how it is when people crowd you, well that is how your omelet feels, give us room people!  Once the the pan is heated add the butter swirl it all around in the pan to coat the whole inside of the pan, poor in your scrambled eggs.

Keep an eye on the temperature of  your pan, making sure that you are not over heating your pan and that omelet is not browning, turn it down if you think it is cooking to fast.  Don't touch the omelet until the bottom of the eggs are set.  Now this is where I use the flat edge to my spatula and scrap the raw egg in the middle to the edge of the omelet so that will cook too.  Once the edges are pretty much set I take a slice of Gouda Cheese and tear it into three pieces and place it on on side of the omelet. This Gouda Cheese comes in slices in the cheese section of the grocery store.  I then fold one half of the egg over the other half.  You can add more cheese if you are a cheesy kind of person.  You can also, fold your egg like the French do and fold  1/3 over one 1/3 and then again, I don't bother with this.  The omelet should just slide out of the pan, if you have mastered these steps.  Practice, practice, practice, don't give up!  I then put fresh salsa on top and dive right in, well right after I take a picture.  One of my favorite fresh pre-made salsa's if La Mexicana Medium Salsa, you can find it at Publix's or Ingles Grocery store in the produce section.  I have tried others and I did not like them as much as this brand, or you can make it from scratch.  Make sure you get the medium heat, it's mild enough yet you get a little kick to your day!  I hope I helped you make your next omelet, good luck!

Hot Coco to warm your soul

Nothing better than some of my Hot Coco to warm your soul.  I also, made some chocolate and vanilla cake pops to go along with some chocolate dipped spoons to stir in your coffee or chocolate.

My Homemade Christmas Cards for 2011

I made 42 of these homemade Christmas Cards.  I prayed that God would inspire me to create a card that I could bless others and him with. This was the design that unfolded and I started working on these in September and did not finish until the first week of December. Lot's of detail went into these cards, hand stamped, colored, glittered and lots of layers. I used clear rubber stamps, my Cricut Machine, Big Shot Machine, dollies, glitter, Martha Stewart Snow Flake Punch, Stamping Up paper and stamps, Martha Stewart Snow Flake Stamps, embellishments, scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby, ribbon from Micheal's Craft Store, Copic Markers and lots of love.  I'm not sure next years card will be so intricate.  I also decided to pick 4 of my high school friends from Facebook to give these cards to, that I normally don't interact with except on Facebook and I loved doing that and I will do this again. If you click on any one of my pictures you can see it up close. If I did not give you one I am sorry, I would not want to hurt you.  This also cost me a $1.71 to mail each card because of the weight of the card.  The furthest I mailed a card to was the Netherlands, to my crafty friend Corey.  Corey's cost more to mail of course.  I hope you like it as much as I do as you can see this cards  4 sections to it; first it lays flat, then you open the first page that say's Christ is Born and right across from that I wrote my notes to my friends; then you flip it again to that white plain paper and across from that is the little stamp that reads May the true spirit of Christmas fill your heart with peace and your home with love and finally that plain white part and the front of the card is tucked behind that last stamp I just mentioned and it stands up all on it's own.  Neat huh!

December 29, 2011 Breakfast On A Chilly Morning

I see some snowmen are checking out my breakfast, look they are talking about it, I've got to hurry with this breakfast before it gets out of hand.  Have I told you how much I love eggs?  Not just any eggs, but organic cage free eggs.  I am trying to convince my husband to build me a Chicken Coop and to purchase some hens, hopefully this spring this will happen.  Anyways, I am rambling again, I made these over easy eggs, just cooked enough where the whites are firm and defiantly not runny and the yokes are runny very runny so they seep onto my home fries.  I used my leftover baked potatoes from last nights dinner and cut them up and seasoned them with a steak seasoning, onion powder and Sea Salt and pan fried them until they turned this crispy brown on the outside.  I also toasted an English muffin to dip into that bright yellow yoke, oh so yummy!  My husband made me the most perfect cup of coffee this morning, now I am ready to face the day, bring it on!  Okay, I am going in, in my art studio that is and yes, a catch all room.  I might even be brave enough to show you a before and after picture, it's very scary!  This happens every year and every year I pull up my girly pants and get brave and dive right in.  I have to pull everything out, lay it out in another room and go through everything, it's not for the faint of heart, it's a big deal, a big job, well you know what I mean, it’s huge!  If you click on any of my pics you can see the pictures up close.

Chocolate Chip Cookies makes everything better.

All the relatives are gone so it is safe to bake these Chocolate Chip Cookies they are so warm and the milk is icy cold.  I made the cookie dough last week and kept it in the fridge for this most perfect moment.  All is well in the world, peace and goodwill to all and to all a goodnight.

December 28, 2011 and a very hot mug of homemade Coco

My house stays very cold inside, so I started a fire in the fireplace and enjoyed a cup of my homemade Hot Coco. I received some gift cards for Christmas so I went shopping at Kohl's and Micheal's today. I got most of my things for the treat bags that I make for my kids, for next Christmas. I also got some new earring's and a few other things at Kohl's. I am making Seasoned Cube Steak for dinner with bake potatoes and salad. I hope to have a picture for you a little bit later.

Look what I made for my school bus......

It's back to school next week so look what I made. I think school buses are pretty boring looking inside. Every year I make decorations to put up on my bus. I like to give the kids something to look at. I made and put together these decorations to use on my school bus. I am still working on other things too. I used mirrored flowers and butterflies with magnets. I used glittered rubber foam and lots of rhinestones to write my name and I use really pretty ribbon to tie it all together.

I make these pencil cans from recycled veggie cans. I paint the cans and add pretty paper and embellishments. I also put Velcro on the bottom so I can put it on my bus without it falling all over the place. I made these cute pen's that have the grades on the top of them. I sell the can's for $5 dollars, if anyone is interested.

Lunch today.....

Lunch today is a BLT......

I used one of my very, very, juicy homegrown tomatoes for this sandwich. Do you see how juicy that tomato is, folks? There is nothing like growing your own tomatoes. This was not picked green to ripen, this was picked vine ripe, huge, huge difference. I took a big basket full of these tomatoes to my ladies group last night and they were glad to have them. I also used crispy Romain Lettuce and crispy Apple Smoked Pepper Bacon with light mayo. This was so delicious. Oh yeah, I used just plain old regular white bread, "gasp," I know, who buy's white bread anymore? I do, why you ask, well because I like it, so there! That's right and I'm not sorry either! I also, use white bread for my homemade meatballs, I put bread slices in the food processor and well-la, I've got bread crumbs and let me tell you, fresh bread crumbs make a world of difference in the meatball world and I've tried Whole Wheat Bread and it just doesn't work, it gives them a funky taste. Listen you healthy eating people out there, don't get your panties in a twist. I don't use white bread that often. I actually use a lot of Whole Wheat Bread, Rye Bread, Pumpernickel Bread, Ezekiel 4:9 Bread, Ciabatta Bread, Rosemary Bread and Italian Bread, okay, the last three are not that healthy you can't expect me to be good all the time people! What am I talking about, I just made a BLT, we are not talking healthy here, when you make a sandwich like this, unless you use turkey bacon, so leave me alone.

Dinner tonight

Dinner tonight is a seared and roasted pork chop marinated in fresh rosemary, thyme, parsley, garlic, sea salt , cracked black pepper, fresh squeezed lemon juice and Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Served with a side of pasta served with roasted Cherry Tomatoes, roasted garlic tossed in wine, chick peas and fresh Basil hit with a little Parmesan Cheese and fresh lemon juice. Very Tasty!

The herbs and tomatoes are from my garden.

I made a bunch of Homemade Birthday Cards....

I made a whole bunch of Birthday Cards! I used really good paper with a good weight and texture. I also, used satin ribbon. The birthday saying, is hand stamped and hand glittered. I have a good amount of detail in these cards All my cards come with envelopes. Inside my cards I put additional love by using dimensional with a birthday hat on one side and a bunny being kissed by a butterfly on the other side. I have signed the back of every card. I put love into these cards and they are only $3 each or 4 cards for $10. If you want to send someone you love a card that they will love than this is the card for you. If you click on the picture you can see them closer. These cards can be used for adults or children. I also, can mail them to you with additional cost of postage to you.

Dinner Tonight is Salmon

Tonight I made Blackened Salmon, with fresh spinach with garlic chips and Jasmin Rice.

A Big Country Breakfast......

My husband and I decided to make a big breakfast this morning! We used the leftover bake potatoes, Morning Sausage and Organic Cage Free Eggs and made a Country Scrambled Breakfast. I just think the egg yokes are brighter and more tasteful when I use these eggs. We also used the leftover London Broil Steak from last night's dinner. I toasted Sour Dough Bread and had a cup of coffee with Creme Brulee Creamer and I used one of my favorite mugs.

I bought these really juicy strawberries yesterday at the market, so I decided to make a Yogurt Parfait. I used plain Greek Yogurt and added honey and fresh squeezed lemon juice and stirred away! I cut up fresh bananas and strawberries and did a layering effect and to make it taste even better I used my Great Grandma's pretty glass. I also, used my homemade granola, just because I love granola!

Now for you true Southerner's, I know I am missing a few things to this breakfast to make it a true Country Breakfast, so I will just lay it out for those folk's who don't know any better. A true country breakfast would have Grits for sure; Country Ham with Red Eye Gravy; the most flaky of biscuits and sausage and gravy to pour over those flaky biscuits. And there would be no Strawberry Parfait caught dead in a true Country Breakfast! I know the difference folks!