Microwave mug brownie

 Made a brownie in a mug in the microwave :)

1/4 cup of Flour
1/4 cup of Sugar
2 Tbsp of Cocoa

pinch of salt
2 Tbsp of Olive oil
3 Tbsp of water


Mix the dry ingredients...

Now add all the liquids.. Mix until it is well combined.

Microwave for 1minute and 30 seconds.

Caution.. this will be hot for a while so don't eat it immediatly. Let it cool :)

And now you have a one serving brownie :)

Enjoy! I did :)

Home made whipped cream

Made some home made whipped cream a week and a half ago. The pumpkin pie was on sale. I used half a carton of heavy whipping cream and some vanilla flavoring and whipped it up for a few minutes in my mixer. Great texture just not a fan of the after taste. Dad seemed to enjoy it :) I made him eat big bites of the whipped cream so it wasn't wasted.. haha

A Growing garden makes for a happy Gardener :)

Tomato plant is producing many tomatoes! Now I just have to wait until they turn red :)

Garlic sprouted!

Cilantro sprouted!

My poor little peas just waiting for me to put a system in order for them to grow up the right way! Trust me, this will happen asap! Hopefully tomorrow!

My wonderful, tall cucumbers also in need of the system to allow them to grow upwards... tomorrow my little cukes!

Cucumbers are attacking my peas.. haha

Cucumbers :)

My garden beans! 

These garden beans will be ready in just a few weeks!

Tomorrow I am hoping my order is ready at Lowes to pick up some fence posts which I'll then place around my garden and tie rope up the sides and across through the veggies to help them grow.. I hope it works. I think it will :)

I'm hoping my mom buys some celery soon so I can plant the stalk and grow some celery too. And someday, I'll buy a pineapple and plant its stalk/base too. But that is sometime when we are in a more stable home (at least 2 years).

Pistachio pudding pie!

Yes..this was unbelievably good! My Dad said as much but getting up and getting seconds :)
It was easy, fun and fast!
So here is the really great recipe!

What you need:
36 Oreos (or the equivalent) which is about one      package
6 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
2 pkg. (3.4 oz. each) JELL-O Pistachio Flavor Instant Pudding
4 Cups cold milk according to package
                                                                                    1 tub (8oz.) COOL WHIP whipped topping (or the                  
                                                                                    equivalent)
                                                                                    1/2 cup of toffee bits (or you can just skip using this 
                                                                                    like I did or you can substitute it with chopped 
                                                                                    Pistachios.


Make it!
MIX cookie crumbs ( how I did this was putting the cookies into plastic bags (sandwich bags) and hammering them down with a hammer) Make sure they are finely crushed.. the bigger the crumbs, the less it will hold together in the end (you can tell from my pie that it didn't stick all that great but it worked :) )
So, mix crumbs and melted butter well blended. Press onto bottom of 13X9- inch pan. 


BEAT pudding mixes and milk in large bowl with a whisk for 2 minutes; pour over crust : spread cool whip over pudding.  Sprinkle toffee bits/pistachios over pie. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until firm.

My little garden is growing!

Here is my garden! I've added  in the 4 cinder block openings Oregano (the plant) cilantro, garlic and green bell pepper.

As much as I hope it works, I'm not getting my hopes up with the pepper. I planted the seeds from a pepper I bought at the store. So we will see if it works or not. If not, oh well. I have 7 more cinder block openings to fill :)


And here on the right I have some little flowers blooming on my tomato plant. If my guess is correct then these are more tomatoes that will be growing soon!

And here is a blurry (sorry) picture of anther cluster of flowers that are about to bloom. So, so far I have 2 clusters of tomatoes (15 tomatoes) and now it looks like I will have 2 more. So that is about 30 tomatoes if no more clusters show up which I think there might be at least one more!
I'm so excited to grow tomatoes!!

Isaiah 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

Spaghetti Stew

While in NY last month my nana and I made spaghetti and she makes her sauce super thick. So  I decided to turn it into a soup (or stew). So this is kind of a home made recipe :) My real first one!









Spaghetti Stew

What you need:
1 large jar (or two regular jar) of desired pasta sauce
1 or 1/2 package of hamburger to fry (not patties)
1 package of Kielbasa
2 cans of diced tomatoes ( I use cans with herbs already in them)
1 package of frozen meatballs (or cook like a boss and make home made)

Add desired amounts of:
Green Bell Pepper
Onion
Garlic
Carrots
Oregano
Basil
Parsley

Stir fry hamburger and kielbasa.
Put all of the ingredients into large pot. Cook on low to medium heat until it is cooked. (For this stew in picture, I put everything (besides the meatballs because I ran out of room) into a crock pot and let it cook all day long. Took forever to cool down though.)

And there you go, Spaghetti Stew.

Home made Pretzel bites

They always say that 'You are your worst critic" so as my own critic, I would say these turned out good but not great.  My mom disagreed. She said these were better then my home made auntie anne's pretzels which I think were the best :)

But over all, they were so yummy and fun to make. Here is the recipe!

Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites with Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• Vegetable oil
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• Pretzel or Kosher salt

Instructions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the water, sugar, yeast, and salt on low speed for 10 seconds.  Switch to the dough hook and add the flour and butter.  Mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl and transfer it to a well-oiled bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
3. Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an wide 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.
4. In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Slice each rope into 1-inch pieces.  Place a lightly damp towel over the pretzel pieces to prevent them from drying out while you roll and cut the other pieces.
5. Using a slotted spoon lower a handful of the pretzel pieces into the boiling water and boil them for 30 seconds, flipping them around in the water with the spoon a couple of times. Remove the pretzel pieces from the water using the spoon, drain as best you can, and place them on the baking sheets. Brush the top of each pretzel with the melted butter and sprinkle with the pretzel/Kosher salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 10 – 12 minutes. Brush with remaining melted butter before serving. Serve warm.

For the cheese sauce: ( I did not make this but wanted to)

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 8 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (not package pre-shredded cheese – shred your own)
• Kosher salt

Instructions:

1. In a small saucepan set over medium heat, melt the butter.  Whisk in the flour and cook for 30 seconds, whisking constantly.
2. Slowly whisk in the milk until no lumps of flour remain.  Stirring constantly, bring the milk to a simmer over medium-low heat until it thickens, about 3-5 minutes.  Remove the pan from the stove and stir in the shredded cheese until all of the cheese has melted.  Add a pinch of salt, if needed.  Serve warm.  Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave on medium power at 30 second intervals.

Hand squeezed orange juice

This past week I found on the clearance rack at Publix, a juicer that was only like $2. So I grabbed it. Then the other day I bought 2 oranges from Kroger which caused a big mess because the cashier accidentally rang me up for 21 oranges. When I pointed it out to her, she fixed it on the screen but when I got home (luckily only 5 minutes down the road) I realized that it wasn't fixed on the receipt and I still paid for all 21 oranges.So I had to go back to Kroger and get it fixed.... oy. (Not to mention that the bagger bounced my kiwi up the conveyor belt back to the cashier because she forgot to ring it up. There I was, watching my kiwi bounce up the belt...can you say rude? Was it too hard to just hand her my kiwi? )

Anyway, so this morning I decided to make some real orange juice (first time) and it went rather well. No big messes or anything. Can't say that I like this more than store bought. Orange juice is like my favorite so store bought is the best. In my opinion :) But this juice was cool :)

Look how much they grew!

 My family and I took a road trip up to NY last Friday and just returned today. A neighbor was able to take care of my garden and my cat while I was gone and look how much my garden has grown in just under a week! 






So now that I am home, I have soo many recipes that I want to try so stay tuned to what I have in mind!

 Peas have really grown!
But my poor Marigolds are dying.. anyone know if they can be revived?
Also, anyone know any other kind of good flowers for gardens? I have lots more cinder blocks that need to be filled! I'm thinking of planting some herbs in them.. not sure yet.





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Growing and growing :)

 Still growing


and growing

and growing


.....


cucumbers










Garden beans

 Peas are starting to sprout!


:)

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Well, here is the pie that I made. It didn't turn out completely perfect but what can I say, I'm still rather new at this. First of all, I wasn't thinking and the directions never said to put aluminum foil over the edges of the pie so it burned a little bit. And then I left the pie in the pie plate on a burner on the oven nearly all day. Well, later tonight my mom turned on a burner, to cook some hot dogs without realizing that she turned the wrong burner on so this beautiful pie almost was destroyed...

but luckily it was fine and she was able to transfer the pie into a new dish. But now we are out of pie plates.. Our one and only pie plate cracked horribly. It was nice too. It was Home and Garden Party stone plate... oh well. As long as the pie was still edible! And everyone liked it too!
Oh, did some crosstiching last couple days and here is a patriotic design I decided to do. Turned out really great and realized how to stitch what I believe is called a Laisy Daisy or something all by myself. (the green leaf)

More sprouts in my garden! And pretty nails too!

Well, Dad helped water my garden today and look what came up! More Garden Bean sprouts! My Cucumbers also had more sprouts. Peas will begin to sprout at the end of the week or beginning of next week.

I'm so proud of my little babies  haha Aren't they just so cute?




















Found this idea on Pinterest to splatter nail polish on your nails using a straw. I think I breathed in too much fumes from the polish though.. eww.


But don't they look so cute and just in time for the 4th of July!!!

Fun Patriotic Jello

 

 Found this recipe on Pinterest and showed my mom who loved it. She did the blue and
 white and I did the red and caps.
First you add blueberry jello with blueberries.


Once completely chilled (4-6 hours) then add strawberries and strawberry jello. Chill for same amount of time. We used a baster to add the jello into the jars.

 Then add cool whip.


Take the caps off of the baby food jars and spray paint them red white and blue. Our boxes of jello made 12 jars. So painting them it was 4 of each red, white and blue.

First sprouts!

Well, it has been 6 days since I planted 

this little guy and look! The first sprouts 

have emerged! There isn't a lot but I'm 

just so excited to see sprouts! This is a 

first for me :)

These are my Garden Beans. Some of my Cucumbers have started to sprout. Now just waiting on seeing the first of my Peas :) And then the rest of my beans and cucumbers..