cherry blossoms

Can't get much better than friends, drinks and paint!  What a great night! 

My finished product:  Cherry Blossoms

Calzones

I decided to try something a little different from our regular pizza.  We made Calzones.  They were really good! 

Make your favorite pizza dough recipe.  Roll out two 8 - 10 inch circles.  Spread 1/2 of the filling on one side.



Filling:



2 cups ricotta cheese (let liquid drain for about 15 minutes)

1 cup mozzarella

1/2 - 1 cup parmesan ( I only had about 1/2 cup so that's what I used)

1 cup cooked, chopped spinach (be sure to get the liquid out)

Brush a little water around the edges, fold over and press together.



Cook for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

We had pizza sauce for dipping.  This made about 6 servings.


ENJOY!!!  :)



dog treat recipe

I found this old recipe that I printed years ago and discovered that I had all of the ingredients in my pantry.  Taryn and I decided to give it a try.  It seems like a lot of work but it really isn't and it makes a ton.  I made about 40 treats and still have 1/2 of the dough in the freezer.  The dogs recommend it!  :)

Pooch Peanut Butter Swirls

Dough #1

4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cup water
1/3 cup peanut butter (I used chunky because that's all I had)
1 egg

Combine all #1 ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Knead on a lightly floured surface.  Set aside.

Dough #2

4 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup mashed banana (this was about 1 1/2 small bananas mashed up)
1 egg
1 1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp cinnamon

Combine all #2 ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Knead on a lightly floured surface.

Roll each dough separately to a 1/8 inch thickness, into rectangles.  Lightly brush a little water over the top of the light dough.  Place the dark dough on top, then roll up like a jelly roll.  Wrap the roll in plastic and chill in the freezer for one hour.  Cut the roll into 1/4 inch slices.  Place them on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray.  Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. 

***The dough was a little too dry so I added a little more water until they mixed better.  Next time I will probably only cook them for 45 minutes.  They are SO hard you can hardly break them apart.  The dogs don't seem to mind though.

a week in pictures (Feb 19-24)

Taryn certainly has her own sense of style.  :)

AMAZING Vegan Apple cake!! 

Taryn and I made homemade dog treats Saturday morning.  I'm glad the dogs love them because we made a ton!

My first baby purchase!  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!! 

friends

I found out last night that one of my oldest friends has a brain tumor.  What a scary thing!  Her surgery is coming up and hopefully will go well.  Her positive attitude will certainly be an inspiration to me.  She's amazing!

my week in pictures

This was my drive to work Monday morning.  Unfortunately it was mostly gone by the time I got home.  :(

We had a great Valentine's Day! 

I wish that I could relax 1/2 this much.

I just like this picture.  :)

and we have snow...

FINALLY!!!!!!  I'm so happy to see snow!  :)  :)

Super bowl

NY won just as I predicted!  That was a fun game to watch!  :)

Harry Potter

We saw The Woman in Black tonight.  It was soooo scary!  I'm not used to seeing Daniel Radcliffe not fight everything with his wand.  He was great in the movie though.  Madeline may possible be sleeping with us tonight....haha

photo challenge day 1 & 2

I thought it would be fun to do this photo challenge for February.  So here goes....

Day 1: Your view today

Day 2: Words  :)

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Beauty in the Common Things: My walk and nonstop conversation with Taryn.  The mind of an 8 year old is amazing.  :)
Listen In:  Barry Manilow playing on my ipod.  haha

Supper Plans: We had hot taco pockets.

Today: work, school, unfortunately not much exciting.

View From the Kitchen Window: darkness  (it's 9pm)

SOS

Tonight after laughing and telling funny stories to the girls about Megan, I had an unexpected email from the Survivors of Suicide group.  It really threw me.  I got on to see how it felt to read around on there and after almost having an anxiety attack I canceled my account.  Now for some reason I feel overcome by guilt.  Ugh.....I'm finally, after all this time, at the anger part of grieving I think.  I hate this and want all of it to just go away.  I'm going to bed early so I can wake up to a new day and hopefully feel better.

goals...

My goal (for tonight anyway)  is to quit my job so I can concentrate on all of my pinterest finds.  Haha...I realize this is shallow.  I will never have enough hours in the day to do every awesome craft I've found on there but I'll sure have a blast working on them! 

unicorns

 Instead of bugging me for candy at the store, the girls have been bugging me to buy corn on the cob.  That's a nice change!

Corn tastes soooo much better impaled by unicorn horns!

Alice

"No, I don't know what you are talking about!  I didn't rip Alvin's eyes out!!"

Alice leaves her signature mark once again!  Haha...she doesn't look guilty at all does she?

in case of emergency...

A few nights ago I picked up Taryn's backpack to see why it was so full.  She told me she had packed it in case we had a tornado or something and we had to leave quickly. 

She had magazines, a bible, her Harry Potter wand, goggles, 3d glasses, toothbrush, bandaids, cotton balls and her sunglasses.  She is one prepared little girl!

Seeing what she's grabbed that's important to her has really made me rethink how much I spend on Christmas presents since not one thing I bought her made it into her bag.  She's such a funny kid and always makes me smile.  :)

hearts

I found this idea on http://www.lifeinthethriftylane.blogspot.com/ and loved it!   

I cut this from a box I was throwing away.

Made lots and lots of little felt roses.

Ended up with a cute Valentines decoration to hang up!  I love how it turned out!  :)

pizza!!

I love that when my family wants pizza, they would rather have my homemade pizza rather than ordering it out.  I make the dough and Taryn usually does the rest.  It's a fun way to cook together.  I thought I'd take advantage of a lazy Saturday afternoon by making a couple of batches of pizza dough since I usually don't have time on a hectic weekday evening.  YUM!!

I love my bread machine!!  I hardly ever use it except for making pizza dough, but for that, it's the best!!                                    

My favorite veggies  :)

Our finished pizzas.  They were delicious!

painting

Natalie and I attended a Wine and Pallette class last night.  It was at Johnny Carino's.  I never knew I loved to paint so much!  We ate dinner, had a drink and painted.  What an awesome way to spend an evening!  We can't wait to do it again soon!

Here is my finished product.  My favorite part is my little owl.  :)

Hello again...

It's been way too long since I've been here. I've got lots to share. It's been a long day so I'll put my pictures up tomorrow.