Back with a layout.....

Two posts in one day !
As promised below here's a layout........

It's another layout for the Friday challenges on the American Crafts blog.I don't really need an excuse to scrap with AC products but a challenge is as good a place as any to start a layout from.This week it was use the Craft Fair collection for a non girlie themed page........

Supplies are American Crafts....... Craft Fair Papers(Elenore Battington,Myrtle O'Seam,Pearl Bobbinhauser),Thickers(Eggnog),Rub-on Letters(Kate,minimarks) and Journaling Sticker.Cardstock,Bazzill and Heart sticker,October Afternoon.

Whipped this simple one up Friday afternoon before the boys came home from school.Oliver and the class mascot Harmonie.He was so excited to bring that bunny home,luckily it was Thanksgiving so we had plenty to write about on the page we had to do for the class book.
I wrote a little more journaling on the back explaining how I spent the weekend calling the bunny "Harmony" and Ol correcting me every time with "No Mummy it's 'am-mon-nee' remember you don't pronounce the H" !

OK well lots of little things going on this week,hoping the rain stops and we see some sun soon.

Here again..........

Monday morning.
It's dull and raining so no problem in getting started on cleaning the house today,bathrooms done,beds changed,laundry underway,house vacuumed.....so time to grab a coffee and catch up here.

The weekend .............

• Took a road trip......just because !
  
• By the time we hit Ontario there was no snow !
  
• Saw thousands of geese(Canada and snow)
  
• 10 Wild Turkeys
  
• 1 Porcupine.......up a tree!
  
• 17 degrees and sunny on Saturday.......gorgeous
  
• Even if the GPS seems to be taking you to hillbilly hell it will get you out :)


• But don't rely on it to find the closest gas station......but when you do.....


• 74 cents......fill it up !!
  
• Didn't take 1 photograph
  
• Saw Monsters Versus Aliens 3D........great effects,boys loved it.
  
• Came home,in the rain to dirty snowy garden.

So that was the weekend in a nutshell !

Going back to the movie,it was fun,Bob was our favourite character,not hard to work out how it was going to end but the effects made up for it.For me one of the best bits about going to actually see a movie is the trailers !!
Lots of 3D movies coming out one that everyone thought sounded good except me "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" "Up" looks interesting and "Ice Age 3" we all liked the look of that one !
Non 3D :)"Harry Potter" everyone wants to see that one except Ol and nobody except me thought "Where the Wild Things are" looks amazing.

Since I took no photo's this weekend I'll be back later with a layout........

A couple more layouts

It's Friday.......it's been a busy but pretty unproductive week,hate that.

A short and sweet post today as there's not much to report, so I'll get on with just posting a couple of layouts and be done !

I finished this one last week,not loving it I think I should have left it how I had it in the beginning but it's done !

There's no journaling,which I don't like to do but the title and photo say it all,love that photo of the boys from last summer.
I think I've used that Grafton line by Scenic Route for most of my layouts from last summers cottage photo's !! It just goes so well,I pull other stuff out but always come back to that one.

I didn't use it here though ;) I made this one back in January,super simple double page........

Photo's from our holiday at our friends cottage last July.Roll on summer !
Which leads me nicely into saying a lot of these photo's made it into my favourites for July over here :) where you can see them better,if you want that is ! Since this has come out rather small.

Hopefully later today I'll have time to upload favourite(s) #8 over there too.

Busy weekend ahead but a good type of busy !

A layout...

and it's not even Friday :)

I finished this one on Saturday but it's taken me all week to photograph it ! I really wanted to use the new AC Backyard papers and had this one pretty much planned out and ready to go.Then I saw the challenge on the American Crafts blog to use 3 different times of thickers on a page.Well I had one picked out already so added in two more and it was done............


Everything on the page is American Crafts and the Thickers are:

GIGGLES(super) EGGNOG(soaker)and SUBWAY (date)

So,another layout completed with older photo's,Ad's early years album is slowly filling up !

Back tomorrow with a couple more layouts.......

and Monday went where ?

I have no idea.........boys had a ped day but both ended up at friends houses so I still had the house to myself but somehow got nothing really accomplished.Looks like today could well be heading the same way too.........Oh well !!

I've been doing more sorting and tidying.

Warning......Reminiscing ahead.........

I'm disappointed though because you know when you're sure you've put something somewhere and then it isn't there ? Well I was sorting through old stuff from my Art college/Uni days.I've dumped tonnes of stuff from this era,most of it before we moved overseas because I just wasn't sure I would have the room for it.Turns out I always have and I'm sorry now that so much of it is gone.
Anyway I remember being set this project about colour.Mixing the colour from the primaries in gouache and the effects of what a little or a lot of one colour or the addition of black and white and what it could do.Well it produced pages and pages of tiny colour charts in a sketch book.We then had to pick our favourite colours,re mix them,paint them up large(so we could cut them up into small pieces) and the mix and match them with each other.Bare with me I'm getting to the point :) So I had all these cool colour combo's in sets in my book and I thought it would be fun to look at them now,see if they were still inspirational...............well I can't find that book and I know it was one of the few sketchbooks I kept because I put a lot of time into that project.
Bugger !
I did find these 2 things tucked away,not sure why I kept this one,it was part of a collection at college but it never made the final cut.......

My God,could that woman be any thinner or taller !! I always drew these tall,long limbed skinny women,used to make my dad laugh.

This one too,I think this was my Tudor underwear/Sinead O'Connor phase........

I'm not at all sure why I kept this one either?

I have one other place the missing sketchbook could be but that's tucked away in the garage and I'm not tackling anything in there until our annual spring garage clean out !!

Not much else to report,it's glorious and sunny but cold,I so want to be done with my winter coat !

Off to help at the library......

It's here..........Spring !!

Yep it's officially spring today.....Woo Hoo.I am so,so,so pleased about this !
This year it really feels like it could be too ! Yes,it's a tad chilly out there this morning but the 2 week forecast is giving above average temperatures.It's also giving some rain,not too thrilled about that but at least it will wash away all the dirty,disgusting piles of snow that are still here.

So I had to quickly whip up a card for Mother's day,since it's Mothering Sunday in the UK this weekend.I had these papers left on my desk after I'd made a page,so used them to create this..............

Super simple but I think she'll like it !

What else ? Well since it's Spring and I'm all excited about plants and flowers,how about this double page that's in the current Creating Keepsakes magazine.....

The photo's ( that aren't very clear here,unfortunately,) were from Victoria day weekend last year at our friends cottage.

On the topic of my friends cottage as I've been sorting pictures for my favourites on my other blog I came across our dragonfly pictures that I've never posted,so I put those there too,just here ! in case you want to take a look !
Still flower/spring related,well sort of.....

A page from February.I don't think you can see the photo's that well but I loved them.The one in the bottom right has a dandelion seed on it and it's all covered in dew.This was one of those pages I just made because I loved the pictures.

Easy weekend ahead,weather's looking sunny so hopefully lots of fresh air and some BBQing,a little get together with some great girl friends on Saturday,should be fun :)

OK better stop wasting time on the computer and get my act together as I've got to get groceries and tulips !

Rosemary

I love rosemary,the herb that is.So here's two recipes I make fairly often that use it.
Both very different.
Sorry no photo's again,I will add them when ever I next cook these dishes.Had I been organised enough I would of had this all planned with piccies but since it was a spur of the moment thought on Monday,I don't.
That's why I don't do spur of the moment very well or very often :)

The first is a pasta one,using chicken and chorizo but I've made it with only chicken and added a good pinch of smoked paprika and with only chorizo(I just added more chorizo and reduced the stock to 100ml)Both are good.If I haven't had the lima beans(butter bean) I've used white kidney beans(cannellini)

Mediterranean Chicken

Serves 4

150g Chorizo,roughly diced
1 tbsp Olive oil (if needed,sometimes the chorizo produces enough)
4 chicken breasts or 8 chicken thighs,chopped into big bite size pieces
1 onion sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste(puree)
400g chopped tomatoes
200ml hot chicken stock
leaves from 3 sprigs of rosemary
100g pitted black Olives
400g lima beans(butter beans)

Pasta to serve,penne is best.

1. Heat a large frying/saute pan over a heat heat,add the chorizo.Cook for 2/3 minutes until lightly browned and the oil has begun to run.Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

2. Add the olive oil if needed,and add the chicken to the pan.Cook over a medium heat for 3/4 minutes,stirring occasionally.Add the onions and cook for a further 3 minutes.
Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a minute.

3. Add the tomatoes,stock and rosemary,bring to the boil,then simmer gently for 10 minutes.

4. Stir in the olives,beans and cooked chorizo.Simmer for a further 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has reduced a little.Season to taste.

5. Serve over the pasta :)


Next one !!


This ones more wintry and don't be put off by the lentils,it's really,really good !!


Spicy sausage and lentil one pot

Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
6/8 spicy sausages (I use the Italian ones)
1 large onion,chopped
1 large carrot,diced
2 cloves of garlic,finely chopped
1 bay leaf
2/3 sprigs of rosemary
250g puy lentils
600ml hot vegetable or chicken stock
400g chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley(optional)

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan and fry the sausages for 8-10 minutes until beginning to brown.Remove from the pan and set aside.

2. Add the onion,carrot and garlic to the pan and fry on a medium heat for 3/4 minutes until the onions are soft and just lightly browned.

3. Return the sausages to the pan(I cut mine in to 3 to 4 big pieces first but you can keep them whole if you want)Stir.

4. Add the bay leaf,rosemary sprigs,lentils,hot stock and tomatoes.Bring it all to the boil.Then reduce the heat and simmer gently,covered for about 45 minutes,or until the lentils are tender.If you feel it needs more liquid just add a little water.

5. Remove the bay leaf and sprigs of rosemary(should only be the stalks left!) and season to taste.

6. Serve sprinkled with the parsley,if using and some steamed greens and wholewheat chunky bread.



That's it recipes done for now ! Back tomorrow with a couple of layouts and a card and unimportant ramblings !

Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding

Mmmm,this is a great dessert,it would be good for brunch too.
Quick and easy too.
As a kid I never liked bread and butter pudding because I didn't like raisins very much and I thought it was stodgy ! This is much lighter.Stuart decided to make it after seeing it in my copy of this months Canadian living.We added more bread,cooked it as a whole rather than individuals and used chocolate sauce rather than caramel.As I never seem to make anything as it states ! I do have a picture today but it's not the best.........my battery died after 2 shots obviously I was oblivious to the flashing battery symbol !

Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding

Serves 8 to 10

3 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg

2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup raisins
2 tbsp butter(melted optional,we did us it!)

8 slices of Sun-Maid Raisin Bread cut into cubes

Heat the oven to 350 F (180 C)
Combine eggs,sugar,vanilla,salt and nutmeg.
Stir in the bread cubes.
Let stand for at least 5 minutes or refrigerate over night (Really I would say it needs at ;east an hour to soak)
Pour into a,7x9inch ovenproof dish,that will fit inside a roasting pan.Add hot tap water to the baking pan until it comes half way up the sides of the dish.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

I served this warm with chocolate sauce(chocolate chips melted with a little cream)

I also have something similar with croissants and chocolate......mmm might have to try and find that one too :)

Nothing to do with Ireland !

Well it's St Paddy's day but I don't have an Irish inspired recipe,sorry.I do but it's so lovely and sunny and spring like I'm not going to post a Stew recipe !

I couldn't decide between simple,versatile Spicy Tomato sauce(which was a 3 for one deal !!) or Mushroom Quesadillas .....................

Quesadillas won !! I make these a lot in the summer served with this bean salad You don't have to use the really big mushrooms,I often buy the smaller ones.It's really one of those recipes that you can work to how you like it,use the ingredients amountsas an example.
Sorry I don't have any photo's,next time I make them I'll try and remember to put one here.


Roasted Portabella Mushroom Quesadillas

Serves 4

Allow 2 tortillas per person for a lunch,maybe 3 and a half for dinner served with a salad.

8 portobello mushrooms(generally I allow one mushroom per quesadilla)
6 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper

8 large flour or whole wheat tortillas
4 cups grated cheddar Cheese (I think goats cheese would be yummy too but haven't tried that yet !)
2 cup chunky tomato salsa(I use medium heat)
1/2 cup coriander leaves chopped


1. Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).

2. Trim stems of mushrooms parallel to cap or remove completely and place in a non metallic dish.Mix the oil with the vinegar and pour over the mushrooms to cover them. Season well with salt and pepper.

3. Place on baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender. Thickly slice and divide each mushroom into 4 to 6 portions.

4. Lay one tortilla on counter.Sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese over half the tortilla. Lay 4/6 mushroom portions on top of cheese. Top with 1/4 cup tomato salsa, another 1/4 cup cheese and a good sprinkling of the coriander leaves. Fold tortilla over and press down.

5. Heat a non stick skillet or frying pan on medium heat. Place tortilla in skillet.(you can fit 2 at a time) Fry underside until browned, about 1 to 2 minutes. Flip over and fry second side until golden and cheese is melted, another 1 to 2 minutes. Repeat with other tortillas.

6. Let cool slightly and cut in to 3.....................eat fast before everyone else does :)

Hot and Spicy BBQ Rub

As promised back with recipes,well not strictly recipes,rubs for making stuff taste yummier !

I've used this rub on a number of things,anything with skin on works best !! My favourite is on rotisserie chicken,which I could eat every Sunday during BBQ season,which is pretty much April to October in our house :)

I can't remember if this is what we've used when making burgers? That could have been the steak one !

I have a lot of spices on hand,if you don't then yes,I suppose it works out a little expensive.But,by the time I've made all my favourite rubs up for the summer I've used pretty much everything I've had to buy.This way,like most stuff I cook at least I know exactly what's going in here.

Hot and Spicy BBQ Rub.

Makes about 2 1/2 cups and will keep for 3/6 months.I make double this in spring and it barely lasts till the end of summer !

1/2 cup sweet paprika
1/4 cup chili powder
3 tbsp salt
2 tbsp ground coriander
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp curry powder
2 tbsp hot mustard powder
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp cayenne pepper

Simply mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and transfer into a airtight container.
Store in a cool dry place.

Just for you Mary-Ann.........

Mediterranean Rub.

This is wonderful on roasted veggies,in fact it's the only thing I use on my veggies when we BBQ ! Also good for potato wedges,on fish,chicken pork..........

Now it does seem to include a large amount of salt...........I'm fine with that here as I barely use salt in anything else.Trust me it's worth it :)

Makes about a cup but again I make double as I use it all the time,all year round.

1/4 cup dehydrated garlic flakes
1/4 cup kosher salt
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp chili flakes
2 tbsp chicken stock powder
2 tbsp dehydrated onion flakes
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried marjoram(or oregano will do)
1 tbsp coarsely ground fennel seeds
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp cayenne pepper

Simply mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and transfer into a airtight container.
Store in a cool dry place.

Lovely Monday !

I'm here enjoying a well deserved cup of coffee.Both bathrooms are shiny,house is hoovered,laundry done,windows cracked open a little,the sun is shining.....everything is good !

Spring is definitely in the air,yesterday,while we were on a little drive I saw 2 flocks of geese..........got to be a good sign.We also saw a herd of deer,about 15 in total,not the best picture as they were in a few fields over.

Out the corner of my eye just now I either just saw Chippie scramble past or else it was a big mouse or small rat.........I'll go with Chippie :)

It's been sunny and warm,all weekend and what a good weekend it was too.
Signed both boys up for their summer sports,Ol choose soccer(can't believe I actually call it soccer now!) and Adam stuck with baseball.
I got to read,finished my book and I scrapbooked.
We spent quite a bit of it seeing my wonderful pal Carine and her clan.Friday for dinner,(BBQ !)Then Sunday we went and saw Mackenzie play goalie in Hockey and then ended up having supper there again,where we brought over a rotisserie chicken.I'm mentioned this so that it flows nicely into me saying I'm going to try and post a recipe a day this week(except Friday,that's layout day !) and the first one will be the fore mentioned BBQ chicken rub recipe !

Back later with it..........

Friday the 13th (again !)

It's taken me forever to get this post,posted.
Stupid Internet or really,stupid wireless !! Nothing more frustrating than seeing you're connected with a good signal and not being able to get your email connected or pages to load.
Now it seems to be perfect,everything is fast,strange !

Just in case I'll make it brief,here's my favourite page from last month.....

I used some older photo's,I made a mistake in the journaling because I wrote 11 but it's actually 12 years ago these pictures where taken,but decided to leave it(huge step for me !!) Looking at those pictures,part of me thinks it seems such a long time ago and another part thinks it seems like yesterday.......can not believe he'll be 13 and in high school so very soon.

I've been going through all my papers and if there's a line I've yet to use I've been making myself use it and that American Crafts above was one and this Basic Grey(mixed with a piece of paper I bought when I first started,that scrapworks brown/white dot) was another.........

I was so glad when that tooth fell out because Ol had been torturing me with how loose and wiggly it was for ages.I hate wiggly teeth !

All supply info I list on my flickr pages on the side there or here !

Off for supper at friends tonight,should be fun as always and then so far nothing planned for the weekend,except signing up the boys for summer sports.So we'll play it by ear,those are always the best.

All the warm/cold weather seems to have brought on the sniffles so I think I'm good for nothing other than a little scrapping this morning,plus I'm running out of pages to show !

Mid week

What a dreary day it is....yuck.
The only plus is it's rained so much there's no snow left on the driveway.............plenty everywhere else though.

Well I promised to post today but don't have much to say so I'll post a layout.
I have barely scrapped over the last couple of weeks but I'm itching to get started again and have one on my desk now.After my scrapping frenzy of January it tailed off in February and I only made 6 pages but I did manage one older layout in there.So my total for this year is 17 pages,not too bad.

So,this one's super simple and was inspired by this one .

I made it last month and thought I'd post it now as I've been loading my favourite monthly photo's on my other blog,to while a way the time over there until I start a photo a day again in April.

OK,more layouts Friday on my normal layout day :)

What,Where ?

Did the last week go ? !

I had good intentions of posting here,Wednesday and then Friday but it didn't happen.I do aim to do that this week though and since I've written it I'd better stick to it !

Most of the week was spent tidying,sorting,as started last week and it went pretty well,still a couple of little things to do in Ad's room and a whole ton of stuff to do in ours but it's nearly there.
As we had to move the computer out,it meant going wireless,as I didn't fancy paying Videotron money to come and move the incoming point.It posed a few problems but it seems to be working fine now.
ETA.....no it's not fine,stupid thing keeps throwing me off all the time,grrrr computers :)

Boys are still off today,since it's a Ped day and with that lost hour yesterday I think they needed it as today was the first day they actually manged to sleep in.

Yesterday was gorgeous,Stuart even got a little sun burnt on his face since he spent most of it sitting on the back deck !! Managed to take a photo to enable me to change the header,buds forming on the neighbours tree,I was sick of seeing the snow up there.I needed something clean and fresh,I'd been searching all my old photo files last week but had nothing I could use so very glad of the opportunity yesterday !

This was how warm it was(for my English readers,to be outside in this type of clothing in march is marvelous)even if it was just one day. We went for a walk and just soaked it up.

He's dropping an apple core into one of the holes the little red squirrel uses under the snow ! Of course it cold,dull and snowy again today.

There was/is a tag going around on Facebook and blogs,25 things about me and I had made Mary-Ann post hers on her blog and promised to do the same but after getting stuck at about 20 and reading through it I decided nobody needed to know this stuff ! So sorry mate :)

OK,better get my backside into gear for the day,be back Wednesday with something,even if I have to make it up !

The saying goes....

...Rome wasn't built in a day,well that's my chant for today.Nine o'clock this morning I started clearing out closets,making piles of stuff,by eleven after surveying the surroundings I was almost wishing I hadn't started,almost!

This room was tidy this morning.I took the picture of the least messy room,this is what is supposed to be Ad's new room by the weekend........

The house looks like a bombsite,piles of things waiting to be put in their new place.(Ikea trip with long list planned for tomorrow ) bags of clothes and toys to donate,hoping to drop that off tomorrow in town.Then I have a couple of piles of stuff set aside for friends.A huge container of the Brio railway track that I think I'll see if I can sell because Ol was never really that into it,like Ad was and it's taking up too much room.

So it's four thirty and I'm having a well earned cup of tea and thinking I've had enough for today,that is after I've taken out the 2 bags of garbage and recycling I've accumulated.

This is what will be keeping me busy all week but I'll try and come back later in the week with some pages.