Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Italian Zucchini Crescent Pie

This is that time of year when zucchini squash becomes very plentiful.  My mom gives us many of these awesome squash out of her garden.  I made this “Italian Zucchini Crescent Pie” for dinner last night and it was so yummy, I thought I would share the recipe. My mom used to make this when I was a kid, and now I make it a couple of times every summer.  You can make a meal of just the pie as it has cheese in it, or serve it with some sort of meat (we had cube steak with ours).   I wish I would have taken a picture of the pie before we ate it so I could post a pic, but it smelled so good, all I could think of was eating it.  :o)

ITALIAN ZUCCHINI CRESCENT PIE

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  You will need;

4 cups of sliced zucchini

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup butter or margarine

2 TBSP parsley, 1/2 teas. salt and pepper, 1/4 teas. garlic powder, 1/4 teas. basil, and 1/4 teas. oregano

2 eggs

2 cups shredded mozzarella or muenster cheese

2 tsp. brown or Dijon mustard

1 8 oz. can crescent dinner rolls

Melt butter in a large skillet and cook the squash and the onion until tender.   Stir in parsley and other seasonings.  In a large bowl, mix the eggs and cheese and add the squash mixture., and stir until mixed.

Separate the 8 triangles and place in an ungreased 10 inch pie plate or a 12 x 8 baking dish.  Press over the bottom and up the sides of the pan to form the crust.  Use the back of a spoon to spread the mustard evenly around on the crust.  Pour your squash and cheese mixture into crust and spread it evenly.

Bake until knife inserted near center comes out clean.  If your crust starts to get too brown, cover with foil for the last 10 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.  Cut into wedges to serve.  Serve hot, and enjoy!!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Ice Cream Cake Recipe

Reid and Rachel’s birthday celebration went great……my hubby makes the most marvelous ice cream cakes. I thought I would share this simple recipe. About 10 years ago, a friend I worked with shared it with me and birthday cakes have been so much better at our house ever since.  This recipe even works for a diabetic if you use sugar free ice cream and cookies and light cool whip. You can use any combination you like.  Reid had a mint chip ice cream with mint Oreos and choc. syrup (also great with mint julip).  Rachel had vanilla ice cream with Nutter Butter cookies and peanut butter topping…the combinations are endless.  I had one once with butter pecan ice cream and Pecan Sandies and carmel sauce …let your imagination run wild!!  :o)

You will need a 9x 13 pan (we use glass), 1/2 gal. of ice cream(1 box) about 1/2 pkg. cookies, a 12 oz. cool whip, and ice cream topping.

Directions

Place cookies in a ziplock plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them (use just enough cookies to crumble and lightly cover the bottom of the pan).  On top of the cookie crumbs, you slice the ice cream and lay the slices to fit in the pan.  Use it all and it will be getting a bit soft by now…just smooth it over with a knife.  The topping is the next layer to go on…you can use choc. syrup, (I make homemade peanut butter sauce), but if you use a warm topping, let it cool before you put it on the cake.  Use whatever topping goes well with your ice cream.  So, after you spread the topping, frost the top with thawed cool whip.  We sometimes drizzle syrup on the top and make the cake look fancier.  Cover the cake tightly with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer.  Leave it until; about 5 minutes before serving.  Let it sit and soften just enough to cut.  The great thing about this cake is that it keeps so well that you can make it a few days or even a week ahead of time.  I hope if anyone tries this you will let me know how you liked it.  We very rarely get an order for a reg. baked cake anymore.  Here is a pic of Reid and Rachel with their cakes so you can see what they look like.  :o)

reid and rachel b day cakes

Monday, July 27, 2009

Twin’s Birthday

Reid and Rachel are celebrating their 22nd birthday today.  It is wonderful that they are both able to be here.  They just left to go to Red Robin for lunch and then we will have chicken cor don bleu and hash brown potato casserole for their birthday dinner.  Reid ordered mint chip ice cream cake and Rachel ordered peanut butter.  Steve made those yesterday, so they are in the freezer just waiting to be eaten.  It is also Chloe, our dogs birthday…she is 11 today.  She is getting a new rawhide chew.  When we got her, almost 11 years ago, we never knew the exact date in July that she was born, so the kids decided she would have the same birthday as them.  My parents are coming over to help celebrate.  :o)

Reid and Rachel Reid and Rachel Lund

Saturday, July 25, 2009

50’s Festival

Today our town is sponsoring their annual 50’s festival at the village park.   We are hoping to go over and check out the antique car show (my husband’s thing…not mine LOL), as well as listen to the 50’s music.  We are hoping the weather holds out as it is supposed to rain this afternoon.

I just retook pictures of my apple and pear drawstring bag, which I had changed the string on, and relisted it.  It has had 400 hits, so it would be great if it finally sold.  I know the pics are so important to good sales, and some of mine need to be redone.  Here is one of the new pics.  :o)

apple pear 1

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Rain, Rain Go Away!!

I thought April was supposed to be the rainy month!!  It seems like it rains every day here lately, and I am so sick of it!!  Our back yard is under water again.  The good news is that our flowers are growing just great!!

Yesterday was a very nice day.  The boys had counseling, so we went to Sprague Brook Park and had a picnic supper and the boys played on the playground.  We discovered that they have three different fishing ponds there, so we are going to plan another picnic and take their fishing poles. 

Yesterday was evidently a great selling day also.  I got a call from our groomer to say she had sold the “Doggie Travel Bag” I had on display in her shop, and she sold a dog collar.  Last night when we got home I saw that I had sold one of the “Twilight” bags to a customer in England.  I am so thankful for the sales and hope they continue.  :o)

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This is the bag that sold yesterday!!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Dinner at Red Robin

Nick had a certificate from Red Robin for a free meal for his birthday.  Since our twins have their birthday on Monday, the 27th, Rachel also had a certificate for a free meal.  Naturally we went to Red Robin for dinner and it was fantastic as usual.  Nick and Brad always get the chicken fingers and fries kids meal.  Rachel gets the bacon cheeseburger, and Steve and I get the mushroom swiss burger.  They have the best ranch dressing in the world, and they will give you as side of it to dip your fries (which are also fantastic, and I am not a big fan of french fries).  “Red Robin” herself was there and Rachel got a pic of her with Nick.  Bradly flat out refused  LOL.  When the waitress brought Nick and Rachel their free birthday sundae, she brought some other waitresses along and quite loudly sang Happy Birthday to Nick and Rachel.  Rachel’s face turned so red..LOL  We also went to Target while we were there and got some great bargains.  :o)

Nick with “Red Robin”5600_511683581924_208300310_30794282_7077955_n

Monday, July 20, 2009

Haircuts

I gave my hubby and Bradly each a haircut today.  It was unbelievable how much hair I took off Bradly’s head.  His hair tends to get bushy rather than long, so he needs about half as many haircuts as Steve and Nick.  I left  most of the length and layered and thinned it.  They both look quite handsome, plus we saved the $20 we would have spent at Fantastic Sams..

Last night we watched “Drop Dead Diva” on the Lifetime channel for the second time.  It is such a good show, plus from what we have read, it got the highest ratings ever for a new show on this channel.  I wonder if anyone else saw this entertaining show and what they thought of it.

Nick has a birthday coupon for a free meal at “Red Robin”.  He is chomping at the bit to go and get some of their big french fries.  Rachel has a coupon also because her and Reid have a birthday on the 27th, so her and Nick are going to go for dinner tomorrow night.  We may go too, we will see what tomorrow brings.  :o)

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Blueberry Pancakes

Mmmm…what a way to start the day!!  My sweet hubby made scratch buttermilk pancakes with fresh blueberries for breakfast this morning.  Now, I am sure some of you are wondering if those pancakes fit on my diet plan, and I would have to say, “NO WAY”, but boy were they delicious.  LOL

Nick’s birthday went great…no meltdowns.  Rachel took cupcakes and drink boxes in for his party at summer school which went wonderful.  I had my parents here at 3:00 so as soon as Nick got off his bus, we could start the party.  It worked great!!  First he opened gifts and then we had “birthday cake”, which was actually banana splits as was his choice.  They looked really authentic as Rachel’s boss at the ice cream shop she works at, gave us the boats for serving the banana splits.  By 4:30 he was sound asleep and slept until bedtime.  I figured he would sleep like that which is why we partied earlier than normal.  He did sleep right through his birthday supper which was spaghetti and meatballs (his favorite).

nicks birthday 5 Nick’s birthday #8

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Nick loves his new sleeping bag

I shipped out the green and plaid laptop sleeve/bag with removable strap to a customer in Virginia today.  I am always so exited every time I sell something because I am still amazed that people want to buy something I make.  I hope I never take these sales for granted, because they are a blessing from God!!  :o)

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Friday, July 17, 2009

Nicholas has a Birthday Today

Hard to believe that this big 8 year old was that beautiful 9 month old baby that Social Services placed in our home when he was only 9 months old.  Despite the behavior problems Nick exhibits due to his first 9 months and probably things ingested by birth mom during pregnancy, he is such a blessing to our family.  We adopted Nick and his brother Bradly, who is almost 4 years older than Nick, in 2006 and they were a welcome addition to our family.

Nick and his new glasses 2 Birthday Boy

 

I am excited to say I had two orders to ship out yesterday.  The first went to a customer in Finland and the second went to Missouri.  It was a great selling day as I also sold my first dog collar which I have on display at “Mindy’s” our dog groomer.

I found a new Aussie shop this morning.  I told this Etsian that I would mention her shop on my blog today.  She has various items in her shop, but these are my two favorites.  By the way, her shop is called , “Omigosh”.  Take a peek and see what you think.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7616139

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Well, I need to get ready for my Chiropractor appointment.  I sure hope Dr. A can fix me up! :o)

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Sciatic Problems

I think painting the garage might have been responsible for this reoccurrence of sciatic pain.  I spent two summers, a few years apart, laid up with this problem.   It is a very painful condition and not only do you get bad lower back pain, but also pains down the front and back of one or both legs, often to your toes.  I am going to see the chiropractor tomorrow and hopefully he can whip me back into shape before I end up really bad again. 

Tuesday, we went to our camper for the afternoon and early evening,.  Rachel was off that day, so she went along.  Being the peach that she is, she took Brad and Nick swimming in the in-ground pool there and then they went fishing in the lake.  Both boys caught quite a few sunnies, but then Nick caught a decent sized bass.  On the drive to the camper he had stated that if he caught a fish, he was making it into sushi for supper. (Yuck) He changed his mind when he got the fish…he wouldn’t even touch it.  LOL  We grilled steak and had salt potatoes for supper.  The boys rode their bikes for a while and then we made an early evening of it because Nick had summer school the next day.  It was a very nice and relaxing day.

Tomorrow is Nick’s 8th birthday and he is naturally very excited.  He decided he didn’t want birthday cake, he opted for banana splits.  Rachel’s boss at the ice cream shop gave us some boats to make them in and we have all the makings…Mmmm should be yummy.  Rachel and Nick are baking cupcakes after school today so he can take a treat for his class to celebrate his birthday.  :o)

Monday, July 13, 2009

Busy Listing New Items

I just finished listing 3 girl’s felt, play wallets as well as a girls play clutch.  It is a great day for taking pictures outside, and I have had these made for awhile so it seems good to finally get them listed.  Here are  the front and back views of three of them.

blue wallet 4 front

blue kids wallet 4

 

 

 

 

                             back

pink wallet front

pink wallet 3

 

 

 

 

                          back

kids clutch 1 clutch front

kids clutch 2

 

 

 

 

              clutch back

 

On another note, I was wondering if anyone happened to watch the new show on Lifetime channel last night.  It is called “Drop Dead Diva”.  Steve, Rachel and I watched it and loved it.  If anyone else watched it, I would love to hear what you think.  :o)

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Babies

No!!  I am not having a baby….but I found this Etsy shop that carries some of the most adorable baby quilts, diaper bags and bumper pads I have ever seen.  I thought maybe some of my readers would enjoy taking a peek at some of the adorable items made by Dvorales.  If you are having a baby or no someone that is, be sure to consider investing in a baby set from her shop.  You can find her shop here.   

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7089886&&ga_search_query=baby+crib+sets&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=20&order=date_desc&includes[]=tags&includes[]=title

Here are a couple of my favorite sets.

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Have a great Saturday!!  :o)

Friday, July 10, 2009

It is Already Friday

Wow, almost hard to believe how fast this week has flown by.  Nick just left for his 5th day of summer school .  We have accomplished a lot this week.  Our garage is all painted and all we have left to do is scrape the excess paint off the edges of the windows.  Amazing how bright and clean everything looks with the new white paint and the shutters, trim and window box sporting a fresh coat of black paint and the doors have a new coat of red paint.  We are very pleased with the outcome.  Steve, Rachel, Brad and myself worked on it and it went rather quickly with all of us working at it (many hands make light work).  I will take a picture to share one day soon.

While I was working on my newest wristlet yesterday, Steve and Brad started hoeing out the garage.  Somehow that garage accumulates so much stuff (Could it be our grown children depositing their unused items?).  This morning was garbage day and we were a bit worried whether they would take the huge…I mean huge pile of junk we put out.  They took every bit of it…Yippee!!!  Here is a picture of my new black and white wristlet I listed in my Etsy shop last night.

damask wristlet 1

I just discovered an awesome Etsy shop that I will be sharing with you tomorrow.  If you have a baby or know of someone that does, be sure to check back tomorrow.  :o)

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Painting Day

If all goes as planned, we are painting our garage today.  We would rather put siding on it, but since that isn’t in the budget, at least paint will spruce it back up.  Steve spent quite a while yesterday with the power washer and was able to remove quite a bit of the old paint.  Rachel is off from work today and has volunteered (or maybe she was drafted..LOL) to help us.  Bradly is chomping at the bit to help, so we figure he can do some of the lower part.  If our backs hold up we will be doing good.

I thought today I would post a few pictures from my second Etsy shop.  I have sold quite a few tooth fairy pillows in the last year and since I don’t talk much about this shop much I thought I would share the link to it as well as a few pics.    www.ArelelDesigns2.etsy.com

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Sunday, July 5, 2009

Sunny Sunday

I must say it seems wonderful to get up to a beautiful sunny day.  I am not sure how warm it will be, but just having the sunshine puts me in a better frame of mind.

Today I would like to feature a shop that makes awesome playhouses for children,that fit right over a card table.  This Etsian is extremely clever and talented.  I love that the “Post Office” also has a mail bag and letters made of felt also.  My mom and I made something like these as a gift for my brothers when I was a kid.  We all had hours of fun playing in it.  The link for this shop is     http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6117191&page=1&section_id=&order=

Here are a couple of my favorite playhouses.  You can also custom order a playhouse to meet the likes of the child you are buying it for.  :o)

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Saturday, July 4, 2009

July 4th

It is hard to believe it is July considering the temperature here is in the 60’s, and I am freezing.  The good news is that it is not raining.  We are having my parents and Steve’s brother over for a picnic around 6 pm….we are eating inside!!!  Steve is going to grill Sahlen hotdogs and  I made a potato salad, a crab macaroni salad and a new salad recipe I got from the Kraft site.  It is really yummy and could actually be a meal all  my itself.  I used 4 cups of cooked mini bow tie pasta, 8 oz. of precooked chicken breast cuts from the dairy case, which I cut in very small pieces.  Next is 2 cups sliced fresh strawberries, 2 cups small cantaloupe cubes, and 2 cups green or red seedless grapes cut in half.  This all gets mixed gently and then you add 3/4 cup of Kraft Creamy Poppyseed Dressing, mix well and refrigerate.  The taste we had told us this recipe was a keeper.  I have baked beans in the oven and Steve made a jello cake with cool whip on top.  Hopefully everything will taste great.

Finally, I finished the last of those 5 diaper/tote bags I had cut out.  It seems good to think about making something totally different..  I really had to exercise self discipline to finish all 5 of them before beginning another project.  Here is a pic.  I have a question…if something has fish on it, is it considered “Nautical”??  Couldn’t decide if I should use the word in the description. 

fish diaper bag 1  I would love to hear what everyone did for the 4th.  Leave me a comment and also if you have an opinion about my nautical question!!  :o)

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Is Today Thursday??

It must be because the kids are out of school, but I continually have no idea what day of the week it is.  I tend to think it is the weekend, I presume because there is no school on the weekends…sure hope I don’t spend the whole summer confused about what day of the week it is..LOL.

I finished another diaper/tote bag and listed it .  I have one more to finish and then list.  I told my hubby to remind me not to cut out 5  of the same bags again because I am heartily sick of making the same bag in different fabrics over and over.  I like variety, but I forgot myself and thought I was doing this great thing by cutting out 5 complete bags in this style.  Here is the newest bag I have listed.  This bag is covered with cute frogs.

frog diaper bag 5 We hope to hit some yard sales tomorrow morning as there are quite a few around Arcade.  The boys love looking for bargains at these sales and they save up their change in case they find something they can’t live without.  Steve and I are still trying to decide whether the weather is going to be decent enough to have a picnic on the 4th.  I have a menu done and everything is bought just in case, so we will see how the weather comes off and plan accordingly.  ":o)


My Etsy Shop