Baby Shower Invitation

Here is a cute baby shower invitation I just created using my digital scrapbook program.  I have a wonderful program from the company Creative Memories.  I've created a lot more than just scrapbook things with it over the years like this invitation but also event programs and such.

My Ladies Bible Study always throws a shower for our expecting moms in the group.  We have had two showers this year and a house warming party too.  It is so much fun designing and creating digital artwork.

I am linking this up to One Project at a Time @ Bowl Full of Lemons

and Wine'd Down Wednesday @ Our Three Peas

Happy Scrappin'

Sunday Supper Series Jan 6-12

Monday - Red Beans and Rice
Tuesday - left overs
Wednesday - Brunswick Stew
Thursday - left overs
Friday - Pecan Crusted Catfish
Saturday - Eating Out for Dinner
Sunday - Beef Stew in the Crock Pot

Brunswick Stew

Ingredients:

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 ½ Cup cubed, frozen hash brown potatoes

1 Cup chopped onion

1 Can (14 ½ oz) chicken broth

1 Cup frozen corn kernels

1 Can (15 0z) Lima beans

1 Can (15 oz) black-eyed peas

1 Can 14 ½ oz stewed tomato

3 Cans (5 oz) white chicken meat

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

½ tsp black pepper

½ tsp dried basil

½ tsp dried thyme

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a 4 ½ quart Dutch oven or soup pot over high heat.  Add the potatoes and onions.  Cover and cook for 4 minutes, uncovering to stir about every 30 seconds.   (the potatoes will stick to the bottom)  Add the chicken broth and stir and scrape the brown bits from the pot bottom.

2. Add the corn, then cover and cook while opening the cans.  Rinse and drain the lima beans and black-eyed peas and add them to the pot, then add the tomatoes and the chicken with its juice.

3. Stir in Worcestershire, pepper, basil, and thyme, then re-cover and bring to a boil, uncovering occasionally and stirring.  Reduce the heat to medium-high and continue boiling, stirring occasionally for 8 minutes.

Serve with hot, fresh from the oven buttered cornbread.

Recipe from Desperation Dinners! by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross

Catfish with Pecan Crust

Ingredients:

Cooking oil sray

¼ cup fine bread crumbs

2 tsp Cajun seafood seasoning

4 boneless skinned catfish fillets (6 ounce each)

¼ cup pecan pieces

1 lemon cut in half

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven ot 450 F Spray a 13x9 baking dish with cooking oil spray and set it aside

2. Put the bread crumbs and Cajun seasoning in a 1-gallon zipper top plastic bag and shake well to combine.  Add the fish fillets to the bag and shake vigorously until they are coated with the crumb mixture.  Place the fillets in the prepared baking dish.

3. Use a chef’s knife to finely chop the pecans.  Use your fingertips to lightly press the chopped pecans onto the top side of the fish fillets.

4. Place the butter in a microwave safe dish, cover it with paper towel and microwave on high power until melted about 30 seconds.  Meanwhile squeeze the juice from the lemon halves through a strainer over the fish.  Spoon the melted butter evenly over the fillets.

5. Bake, uncovered, until the fish is opaque throughout and flakes easily with a fork, about 15 minutes.

Recipe from Cheap. Fast. Good! by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross

I'm linking this up to Menu Plan Monday  @ I'm an Organized Junkie.
and Save Money Monday @ Frugality Gal

Too Many Aprons

I love aprons.  There is something inspiring about all those cute, sophisticated and seasonal aprons I see in the kitchen stores.  They are a fun necessity of the homemakers wardrobe.  Problem is I have so many that they look cluttered and uninspiring.

But what to do?

I don't want to get rid of them.  I use them.

I decide to put the one's out of season in a drawer.

I made room for them by getting rid of all the pot holders I don't use.  I used to collect pot holders like I do aprons but they were never thick enough to keep me from feeling the heat from taking pans out of the oven.

But last Christmas Santa brought me awesome potholders that can withstand heat up to 500 degrees! I now only use these to pick up hot pots and pans.

So its time to get rid of all those I don't use except a few I can use as hot pads to put the hot pans on the counter.

I also separated my wash rags from my dish towels.

And one apron to use between special occasions. 

I am linking this up to A Slob Comes Clean  Weekly Decluttering Party.  Check out Nony's blog to see others decluttering success stories.

I am also linking this up to What-About.Co Show Off Friday Linky Party. 

Today

I've been thinking of my word all day, TODAY.  Today I did my Bible study, exercised, went to the doctor and got news that I'll need surgery for my elbow tendinitis (tennis elbow but in my case guitar elbow) went to my Daughters of the American Revolution meeting and learned about the history of women's sportswear, went to my parents apartment had a nice visit then headed home where I fixed dinner for hubby and now I'm relaxing and writing this post.   And while doing all these things I reminded myself to stay in today and not worry or think about tomorrow.  When something triggered my mind and I started to plan out a cool idea for later I would say TODAY and bring myself back to the here and now.

Today I appreciated being alive and being loved.  I am thankful for many things like being able to exercise, friends at my DAR, good health insurance, my parents, and a very wonderful husband.  It's been a great TODAY!

One Word Will Change Your Life

So I've been toiling with the idea of new year resolutions, reflecting on what I'd like to change and just basically how I'd like 2014 to be memorable.  As I was watching Good Morning America this morning while waiting for the Rose Bowl Parade I caught the interview with author Jon Gordon who wrote the book One Word That Will Change Your Life.  I love this idea!  I could go on and on about it but the video explains it so much better.

Click HERE to view video

Some of the words Im thinking of are:
Finish
Progress
Productive
Content
Active
Act
Complete
House
Home
Wait
Ruby
Live

Before I decide I need to do some real thinking.  Some priority making.  Some focus on a vision.

I need purpose.  I don't want to just exist. There are things that are getting in my way of this.  First my lack of consistent focus. I tend to get distracted by other more interesting things and so I hardly ever complete any projects or ideas I start.  I heard a saying once that has stuck with me: "It's better to finish than to start."  I'm great at starting.  I make a big deal about it by planning it, getting all the stuff I need to complete it and talk and talk and talk about it.  I celebrate the start. Problem is I don't finish and then after a while no one wants to celebrate with my starts anymore because they see no finish.  I need to get rid of these extra projects to get my purpose back in focus.

I've spent the day really thinking about my word for this year and I've decided on TODAY.

Through out the year I will remember to focus on today.  I will keep my one word front and center. I will ask myself today questions.  What tasks need to be done today.  Who can I help today. What did I learn today. What am I thankful for today.

This year it will be all about TODAY!

Happy New Year!

Comparing Prices, What I Learned Today

Ok I know they told me shopping with coupons would take more time but 4 hours?!  It was my first time and I wanted to see what Costco's bulk prices were first.  I had my other grocery store flyers in hand and my Price Book sheets for each store.  In Costco I wrote down the prices for the named brand and store brand of just a few things like computer ink, paper towels, toilet tissue and meats.
It would be impossible to compare everything I ever buy.  Then I went to Walmart.  The first thing that made me smile is that they do have a flyer.  It is just not mailed out.  So I'll need to pick one up on Friday's when the other ones are mailed to me.  Ok, so now I have to see if Walmart has anything on sale that I brought coupons for so I sat a table in the McDonald's and made a note of what matched.  Off to get a cart and start shopping.  Going down my grocery list I write prices on my Price Book pages.  I figure after a few weeks of this I'll have most items I buy recorded.  Compared adds, coupons and store brand prices and made my choices. I ended up buying most things at Walmart but my Tom Thumb had a much better sale price on New York strip that we are having for New Year's Eve dinner and Iams Cat food was on sale at Tom Thumb along with the coupon was a better deal.  All in all it was very enlightening.  I'm exhausted but encouraged and look forward to trying again next week.

One more thing.  I found our computer ink much lower on line at 4inkjets.com  and Costco store brand paper towels and toilet tissue was a better deal.

Menu Planning with Coupons

Ok I said today was planning day and that is what I did.  I took the grocery store flyers, and stack of coupons I clipped and went to work.  My first problem is Walmart.  They don't send out a flyer so I don't know if the grocery store sale plus the coupon is a better deal.  Also the store sale is contingent with buying 5 of the item which is ok because they are non perishable items but I'll need to find a place to store them and what if they are out of the item because the circular came out Friday and I shop on Monday.  I have resolved myself to this risk because it is my first attempt at coupon shopping.  I know it will take a few months to find a system that works for me.  Any advice would be ever helpful and totally appreciated!

Also we have quite a few left overs and an out of town event so my grocery list is very small this week. This is what I came up with:

Week of Dec 30-Jan 5

Monday: Shepherd's Pie made with left over beef roast and mash potatoes

Tuesday: New Year's Eve - grilled steaks with roasted red potatoes and green beans

Wednesday: New Year's Day - Hoppin' John (you can see how I make it HERE)

Thursday: left overs from freezer

Friday: Dine Out

Saturday: Grandson's Birthday

Sunday: left overs from freezer

I'm linking this up to Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com



Turkey Stock Recipe

One of my favorite things to make this time of year is turkey and brown rice soup.  I have made it in the summer but can never find turkey stock in the grocery store that time of year and so have to use chicken instead which really does not taste as good.

So before I can make my soup I have to make my own stock.  Its very simple but time intensive.

First break up the turkey carcass that you saved after Thanksgiving and put it in a large stock pot.

 

Cover with water and add onion, garlic, celery and carrots and 2 Tbs salt

 

After slow boiling it for 3-4 hours uncovered, strain the broth into a large bowl or second soup pot.  I first started staining mine into this glass mixing bowl but it was way too small.

 

finally after the stock has cooled separate it into two cup size freezer containers and freeze until needed.  It will keep up to 6 months.

 

 

Turkey Vegetable Soup with Brown Rice

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 tsp minced garlic

3 cups shredded green cabbage

4 cups homemade turkey stock or 2 cans chicken broth

1 can diced tomatoes

1 bay leaf

¼ tsp thyme

1/8 tsp black pepper

1 Tbs soy sauce

1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

3 cups frozen mixed vegetables

2 cups chopped cooked turkey

 

Directions:

1 Bring 2 ¼ cups slightly salted water to a boil in a covered 2-quart saucepan.  Add the rice, stir and reduce the heat to low. Cover  and simmer until all the water is absorbed about 45 minutes.

 

2 While the rice is cooking, heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Add onion and cook until it starts to soften, about 2 minutes.

 

3 Add the garlic to the pot along with the cabbage, broth, tomatoes with their juices, bay leaf, thyme, black pepper, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce,  Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium.  Add vegetables and turkey to the pot and simmer until ready to serve.

 

4 When rice is done, place about ½ cup in each bowl , spoon the soup over rice and serve.

 

This recipe is from my favorite cookbook Cheap. Fast. Good! by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross

 

 



Evening Review

Well we didn't go to the movies so I cleaned the kitchen and completed the laundry.  I picked up a couple of money saving strategy books from the library.  I'd like to get my grocery budget under control again.  I never actually had it under control before but I have tried before.  I know the first thing is meal planning which I'm pretty good at but its the next level of using coupons I'd like to master.  I registered for three coupon sites and saved the local grocery store circulars.  Tomorrow is planning day.