Monday, February 15, 2016

HIDDEN TREASURES

Look what I found while rummaging through my closet! A whole stack of newly framed, still in the brown wrapper cross stitch pieces! Obviously these were framed in the Spring of 2013. Right before I went into the hospital, had my nightmare diagnosis and it seemed like my whole life went into a tail spin. I must have set them in the closet to come back to them and then I forgot!! I would think about them once in a while and wonder where they were or even worse, I would wonder if I had dreamed stitching them at all!!!
 
Sarah Schall by Heartstring Samplery. Look at the detail on that frame!!



Needleworker by Little House Needleworks. I love how the white thread in the bird's mouth trails through the piece!


 Primitive Adam and Eve by Country Rustic Primitives. Love this piece!


And last but not least, The Stars were Brightly Shining by Heartstring Samplery. This is my second piece with a verse from my very favorite Christmas carol, O Holy Night. I love the frame on this piece also!



Thanks for stopping by to see me! Until next time, may you have simple days and uncluttered heart!

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Beef A Roni Recipe - DELICIOUS!

It's that time of year again! Time to update my recipes and look for some new ones to take the boredom out of dinner time. I had some luck over at Pinterest and found a good many that I would like to try. Sometimes my eyes are bigger than my grocery budget! Now to make my next menu and slip several of these new meals in there!
 
I have a confession to make. I LOVE FOOD. I don't mean that I sit down and just stuff my face though. I really enjoy food. The taste. The aroma. The entire process. Whether it is made at home, take out or going to a restaurant for a meal. I love to try new foods, savor the classics and melt away with the comfort foods. And the less fuss, the better. By fuss, I mean an over abundance of bells and whistles. It can be simple (few ingredients), easy to make and still taste wonderful! To coin an old phrase, sometimes less is more!


Several of the BIG food topics floating around now are eating healthy (or eating clean), budget recipes and gluten free. Because of my health issues I have to follow certain guidelines with the foods I cook and eat but I will admit that sometimes I cheat because I just HAVE to eat some cheesecake or get a take out burger!
 
I would like to share some of these recipes here so that you can enjoy them too! One of the first recipes I want to share is something I found on Gal on a Mission. I have always loved Beef a Roni but as long as I can remember, we always bought it in the can. Easy, yes but I wanted to fix it and know exactly what was going into it! 
 

I was very pleased how easy it was and delicious it turned out to be. I served it with roasted potatoes (recipe later) and a tossed salad. Plus there was enough left over for a week's worth of lunches and/or snacks. So if you like left overs, this is your dish!  

INGREDIENTS
  • 1 pound of ground beef
  • ½ tablespoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
  • ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary
  • pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 6 ounces tomato paste
  • 14 ounces tomato sauce
  • 1 pound of macaroni noodles
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Cook the macaroni noodles according to the instructions on the package.
  2. In a large skillet, brown the ground beef and add in the all of the spices. Make sure the ground beef is fully cooked.
  3. Stir in the tomato paste and tomato sauce. Simmer on low for about 10-12 minutes or until the noodles have finished cooking.
  4. Stir in the noodles.
  5. Serve with Parmesan cheese (optional)

The recipe calls for tomato sauce which is another sore spot in my cooking lately. I wanted a tomato sauce without all the extras. Something simple and once again, something that I know exactly what is in it! We will discuss homemade tomato sauce later in another post.

Monday, February 08, 2016

More Trees And a Few Birds!

Well, here it is another new month. Another new week. Another new blog post. And I still have my trusty coffee with me through it all! I am feeling pretty good about myself and the fact that I have been keeping up with my blogging after that long lull. I realize just how much I enjoy it.

I have had trouble with my email and have been getting a lot of notices that people are sending me emails that cannot be delivered. So I sent each person an email explaining the problem. THEN I find out that Blogger or Google is trying to send me a copy of the comments I leave on other blogs and THAT is the email that cannot be delivered! Pssst. So to those of you who got a strange email from me, I wish I had found this out sooner. To Blogger and/or Google, cut it out!

I was able to get some stitching done on AAFG. I was a little more careful this time and stopped working on it when the hand cramps started instead of pushing myself onward and making them worse.  


I got some stitching time in on And Heaven and Nature Sing. I am enjoying stitching this design!

 A surprise to myself, I pulled out Backyard Birds by La D Da and got some more done on it also! A wonderful Springtime piece.


We had some lovely weather last weekend and the first part of the week. There are buds on the trees and the birds were singing like it was Spring! I loved it. The feeders were empty from the birds gathering for food during the snow storm we had a couple of weeks ago. Before I could get myself up and out the door to fill them all up again, my husband comes in and tells me that he has already done it for me! It's those little things..........  

Thanks for stopping by! Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart!