Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Pinterest, and a Whole Lot of Cross Stitch!

I know I have said this before but, Pinterest is awesome!  You can find anything out about everything DIY (Do it Yourself), some inspirational quotes, food, food and more food, most with recipes but even more with mouth-watering pictures, and for me, lots and lots of cross stitch.  Some of what I find are just pictures, some cute, some not so cute, but my favorite are the ones with color charts.  I have printed off a lot of those.  Putting the copies away for a later date to make for myself, for friends, for gifts and the like. 

There is a recipe for Lavender Laundry Detergent that I have been making for almost a year for our family.  It is so amazing to spend $20-$25 on a large batch of powdered detergent that lasts our family of four for almost five months, instead of the same amount for "good" quality name brand laundry detergent that lasts just about one month. 

So many of the recipes that I have for food is for casseroles and breads, of all different kinds.  One of my favorite ones that I have yet to try is for Pretzel Rolls.  They seem to be the "in" thing now.  Every place from fast food to fancier locales are serving these in differing capacities.

I have learned from different links how to clean our shower doors, whiten a bed cover, re purpose  even the most mundane household items and give them new life. 

Check it out, but be warned, Pinterest is so addictive!

Friday, October 11, 2013

An Ol' Standby...Tuna Casserole

I told a friend today that I was planning on making tuna casserole for dinner tonight, and she gave me a suggestion as an addition for creaminess and I thought I would try it. 

I started with a 24 oz. package of egg noodles and got them boiling according to the package directions.

In a medium sized bowl, I combined the following:

2 sm. cans of cream of chicken soup mix (cream of mushroom will work also)
1 can worth of milk
2 small cans of canned tuna fish
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
A dash of pepper to taste
The new addition...1/2 cup mayonnaise ( I used name brand salad dressing, but next time I will try a favorite name brand mayo)

Once the noodles were half cooked and then drained, I added the tuna mixture to the drained noodles, and combined them.  Then I transferred the mixture to a casserole dish and added additional shredded cheese a top it all.  Then it baked in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.  My friend suggested adding french fried onions at this point and baking for another 15-20, which I did not have so I just checked on it, and let it bake for another 10 minutes. 

She was right, the casserole did not come out of the oven dry at all.  It was plenty creamy, and that is a good thing, especially if you are planning on leftovers.  The next time I make this though, I will use actual mayo.  I am sure if you prefer salad dressing instead that is fine, there is that "tangy zip" to it. 

The recipe above would comfortably feed a family of five or six with an extra helping or two I am sure.

Holiday Desserts...shortcuts!

I have decided on a Dessert theme for this coming Thanksgiving Dinner, with a few exceptions.  There will be the traditional pumpkin pie, and a concoction favored by my husband's family with graham cracker crust, and some jello-ish topping that reminds me of tapioca.  But the features of the dessert will be bite-sized, and finger food inspired.  Petite fours with different flavors, chocolate covered nuts, English toffee, and pumpkin, chocolate, and red velvet whoopie pies.

Yes, I will make from scratch some of the items, but my intention is to purchase most of it.  The petite fours are always well packaged when someone else does them, and the chocolate covered nuts, and toffee are less time consuming when purchased, but I will take care of the whoopie pies, and the pumpkin pies.

I know that I could do like others do and spend the week prior to Thanksgiving doing all of the baking of desserts, but why?  When there are perfectly good bakeries that are more than happy to take care of that for me.  So, that is my shortcut...shh, don't tell, ha, ha!

My home will smell plenty delicious on Thanksgiving with the Baked Ham, Roasted Turkey, and the other aromas that will join in.

Do you have any shortcuts for any meals that you use?  Holiday or no those shortcuts are pretty smart aren't they?