30 Minute Card -- Get Well Card

Just a quick layered card using a couple of Cuttlebug folders a punch and stamp.

Hello Card

Now that I'm concentrating on making cards for the local nursing homes I can finally use up the supplies on hand that weren't suitable for OWH cards.

Split Gothic Folder Card -- 30 Minute Card

The background was embossed with a Gothic folder and then cut down and split into three sections to allow the colored cardstock to show through.  Splitting the embossed area gives it a totally different look and one more good way to utilize an embossing folder.

I used Hallmark Card Studio, Nokia Brush HMK and Bernhard Modern fonts to print the sentiment.

This is the twelfth, and final, Father's Day card layout I made for the local nursing homes.  There are two of each style, one for each of the homes in town.

Father's Day Cards

This is a repeat of a layout done in the past.  I changed the colors and inks and it looks quite a bit different.

The football is a Silhouette shape cut from paper printed to resemble the texture of an actual football.

Inside sentiment: "Kick off, kick back and enjoy your Father's Day"

My goal for the weekend was to make a dozen different Father's Day card layouts for the local nursing homes.  With these two, that's eleven down and only one more design to come up with.

30 Minute Cards -- Father's Day Card

Just a couple of stamps and a clip art image of the fish.  The fish and the circle image are pop dotted for dimension

30 Minute Cards -- Father's Day

Thank goodness for Pinterest!  This week I took some cards to the local nursing homes and found out that they were in need of cards for Father's Day.  Pinterest provided a lot of inspiration for cards that I could do quickly and looked really nice.  These came from The Cutting Cafe.

 There are only two nursing homes in our town and I didn't want to take them any duplicated cards.  I'm making two of each design, one for each nursing home.

The jean's pocket is clip art, re-sized and printed using Hallmark Card Studio software.  The hearts were done quickly using Make The Cut software; some of them are pop dotted.

The sentiment was also printed in HCS and punched with a 1" circle punch then mounted on a 1 1/4" scalloped circle.

Zesty Grilled Chicken and Veggies: Seasoned Grilled Potatoes

The Seminole Nation has been hosting some cooking demonstrations.  The nutritionist works for the Chickasaw Nation and comes up from Ada once a month to present the demonstration, give us hearth healthy, diabetic friends recipes and food facts.

Last night two of the recipes were Zesty Grilled Chicken and Veggies and Seasoned Grilled Potatoes.  All of the recipes she prepares are simple and use ingredients available locally.

We all enjoyed tasting the food and I stopped on the way home to pick up the squash and pepper to prepare the chicken and veggie recipe for our dinner tonight.

ZESTY GRILLED CHICKEN AND VEGGIES

10-12   wooden skewers
1 lb.      chicken tenderloins, boneless, skinless
1/2 c.    Zesty Italian dressing, fat free
3 T.       Olive oil
1 tsp.     Garlic poswer
1/2 tsp.  Rosemary, dried   ----  I used basil instead
1/4 tsp.  Salt
1/8 tsp.  Pepper
1            Zucchini, sliced 1'2" thick
1            Yellow squash, sliced 1/2" thick
1            Onion, medium, sliced 1/2" thick
1            Bell pepper, red, seeded, cut into 8 wedges
16          Mushroom buttons

1.  Soak wooden skewers in warm water for 30 minutes.

2.  In a gallon zip top bag, mix chicken and dressing, seal bag and turn to coat, refrigerate for 15 minutes.

3. Drain off marinade from chicken and thread chicken onto skewers.

4.  Cook over medium high heat on grill 5-6 minutes on each side, until internal temperature reaches 165°

5.  Place all vegetables except onions into another gallon zip top bag, add oil and shake to coat.

6.  Mix seasonings in a small bow, add to vegetables and toss to coat.

7.  Spray both sides of onion slices with cooking spray and grill until done.

8.  Place the zucchini and squash onto a preheated grill, thread mushrooms and pepper onto prepared skewers.  Cook until brown and tender.

She gave us a good tip on grilling onion slices.  Peel your onion and then poke toothpicks into the sides.  This will hold the onions together while on the grill plus the toothpicks mark the thickness of the slices.

***since I only cook for the 2 of us, I used a boneless chicken breast cut into strips and cooked all this on my Cuisinart indoor grill.  I did not use skewers, just laid the sliced vegetables onto the grill, and omitted the mushrooms entirely***


SEASONED GRILLED POTATOES

3 T.    Water
1 lb.    Potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1/4" slices
2 T.     Margarine
2 tsp.   Garlic powder
1 tsp.   Onion powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp.    Cornstarch
1/8 tsp. Cayenne pepper

1.  Place potatoes and water in a large microwaveable bow.  Cover and cook on high for 6 minutes or until almost tender.

2.  Drain off water.  Let stand for 2 minutes.

3.  In a gallon size zip top bag, add the cooked potatoes and margarine, toss to coat.

4.  In a small bowl mix the seasonings, add to coated potatoes in the bag and toss again.

5.  You may place potatoes on a plate for coating to set.

6.  Place the potatoes on the grill and cook on medium high heat 5-6 minutes until potatoes are tender  and brown.

The cornstarch in the recipe give a crispy crust on the potato slices.

M

Tried Another New Recipe--Cilantro Cream Chicken

Pinterest gets me into more trouble!  Every time I go there I wind up pinning numerous recipes to experiment with.  Tonight I made Cilantro Cream Chicken.  It's simple to make and, in my opinion, really good.  DH, however, said he "could" eat it again which is Fred-speak for "I really don't like it and don't make it any more."

I used a Smart Chicken breast cut into large cubes. One small red onion and 3/4 of a red pepper cut into narrow strips.

The recipe would make enough to feed at least 6 people so it had to be cut down for just the two of us.

The sauce is unusual looking but quite tasty when you combine it with the chicken, vegetables and rice.

The recipe does not call for salt or pepper but you should add it to your taste.  The sauce tasted really flat until I added salt.


CILANTRO CREAM CHICKEN

    1 & 1/4 pounds chicken tenderloins
    1 cup Italian dressing
     juice from 1 small lime
    1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
    1/4 cup sour cream
    1 red onion, sliced
    1 red bell pepper, sliced


 Combine the Italian dressing, lime juice & about 2 tablespoons of the cilantro.

 Reserve 1/4 cup of the mix to use as garnish on finished dish.

Place vegetables and chicken in separate containers and divide the marinade between the two containers.

 Turn the chicken to coat & marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour up to overnight.

 Add the remaining cilantro to the reserved 1/4 cup of marinade & combine with the 1/4 cup of sour cream. I gave mine a quick blend in my food processor. Chill until ready to serve.

Heat a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. Remove the chicken & vegetables from the marinade, discard the remaining marinade.

 Saute chicken until the chicken is no longer pink & juices run clear. Add the vegetables to the chicken after the first few minutes and cook until the vegetables are tender.

Serve the chicken & veggies over rice & topped with the Cilantro Cream Sauce.

Butterfly Card

The butterfly is Silhouette file 19799, pop dotted for dimension and embellished with a tiny flower and pearl.'  I used a 5 1/2" paper doily with a 3" circle in the center cut from patterned paper.  The doily was cut in half and then tinted with Always Artichoke ink.

The sentiment is from a set of stamps that came with a card making magazine from the UK. 

I added some pen stitching with a Close to Cocoa marker.

Baked Onion and Parmesan Cheese Dip

 I made this yesterday and enjoyed sharing it with DH and some friends last night.  Since the recipe makes enough for about 12, I cut it in half.

Baked Onion and Parmesan Cheese Dip

1 large sweet onion, chopped
3 (8-ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened
2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, plus more to taste
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives, plus more for garnish
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425º F.

In the bowl of a food processor combine the onion, cream cheese, parmesan cheese and mayonnaise.  Process until completely smooth.  Add the cayenne and fold in the chives.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Transfer the mixture to a 1-quart baking dish and smooth the top with the back of a spoon. 

Bake until browned and puffed, about 20 minutes. 

Allow to cool slightly; garnish with chopped chives. 

Serve warm with crostini, crackers, or chips.  Enjoy!

Starfish and Seahorse Card -- And Time To Move On

Now that Operation Write Home has announced they'll no longer be accepting donations of cards effective August 1, 2015, I'm having to re-think my card making efforts.

It seems futile to just accumulate a huge supply of cards but I have so many supplies that need to be used up!

I'm seriously considering putting away my paper crafting supplies and going back to other hobbies that I've enjoyed in the past.  And, if I cannot find an outlet for my cards, that's what I'll do.

Making cards has been my primary focus for so long that it's going to be quite a change for me.

I will be making inquiries locally to see if any of the nursing homes or local charity groups might be interested in receiving some cards but have decided that I will no longer devote my crafting time exclusively to paper crafting.  It's been great fun to participate in the OWH effort.  Through making cards I've met a lot of new friends and pushed myself to learn new techniques.

My blog will be changing as I will now post more recipes and perhaps photos of my other creations.

"Swine-Apple"

This popped up on Facebook today.  I want to try it--but without the Creole seasoning added onto the bacon.

"Swine-Apple"

Hollowed out pineapple stuffed with boneless country style ribs then rubbed with homemade seasoning and wrapped in thick cut bacon and sprinkled with a light creole seasoning.

Smoked at 240 average for 5 hours.

"Hello Kitty" Card

Ran across this idea on a Stampin' Up page.  The bow is done with the retired Butterfly punch and a 3/4" circle punch.  The eyes are 3/4" punched circles and the nose is a Small Oval punch.  I drew the whiskers with a Stampin' Up water based marker.

Love Banner Card

The die used for this is named Kensington Branch from Memory Box Company .  I cut off the upper portion of the die cut and used the branch with the large butterfly.  Then I cut the smaller butterfly off the remaining portion of the die cut and adhered it beside the branch.

The larger embossed butterfly was done with Stampin' Up's Elegant Butterfly punch.  The sentiment was printed with Hallmark Card Studio and cut out by hand.

The banner and larger butterfly are pop dotted for dimension. 

Oven Baked Fajitas

 Found this recipe today on Facebook and it looks interesting.  I don't believe that I use this much oil when I prepare fajita meat the traditional way.  This method would be a great way to make larger amounts if you're feeding a crowd.

Oven Baked Fajitas

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp seasoned salt
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chilies (Rotel)
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1/2 green bell pepper, cut into strips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken strips in a greased 13×9 baking dish.

In a small bowl combine the oil, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, dried oregano, and salt.

Drizzle the spice mixture over the chicken and stir to coat.

Next add the tomatoes, peppers, and onions to the dish and stir to combine.
Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.

Cleaning Up The Smoker

I wish I'd taken a "before" and "after"  photo of DH's smoker that I cleaned yesterday.  It's a Cook Shack similar to this one: 

These are manufactured here in Oklahoma and we have really enjoyed using it for the last few years. 

However, the smoke residue builds up inside quickly and it's a pain in the butt to clean.

We've tried various types of oven cleaners, spray cleaners and degreasers as well as Magic Eraser sponges and none of them have worked as well as the Easy Off Heavy Duty oven cleaner.

I sprayed it onto the inside as well as the racks and the smoke just melted right off.

Since I wasn't 100% sure if it contained any caustic ingredients, I did thoroughly rinse the inside of the smoker with vinegar water.  Vinegar neutralizes acids. Then I rinsed it with plain water to remove any traces of vinegar.

DH and I have had a running battle about cleaning the smoker's interior.  His theory is that the smoke needs to build up to "season" the smoker, sort of like having a seasoned cast iron skillet.

He's used the smoker for too many years without getting it cleaned thoroughly and I felt that the smoke build up was causing the "Q" to have a slightly bitter taste.

He spent a couple of hours using some degreaser to clean it last week but it didn't get all the smoke build up. Yesterday I started out with hot water and a spray cleaner with a Magic Eraser and got a lot more off.  That's when I sent him to pick up some oven cleaner to try.

I sprayed the cleaner inside the cold oven and the smoke residue just melted right off.  Guess I'll be keeping a can of this on hand from now on.  It sure made a nasty job easy and quick! 

****NOTE TO SELF----next time wear gloves!****  I stained my cuticles and nails so badly that it took bleach to get them clean!

Cat Silhouette Card

The cat image is from the Silhouette store, file # 72957.  I wanted it to appear as if the cat was really looking outside so I used the cloud printed paper.

Mississippi Sin Dip

Haven't tried this yet but it sure sounds like a dip we'd enjoy!  I'll have to cut it down by half to serve it to the wine group and probably by two thirds for a smaller group.  The place I found this online suggested using chicken rather than the ham as an option.

Mississippi Sin Dip


24 oz cream cheese softened
1/2 cup mayonnaise
8 oz chopped green chiles
2 cups cheddar cheese
16 oz sour cream
12 oz deli honey ham, very finely chopped.

1.Preheat over to 250
2. Mix all ingredients together
3. Bake for 30 minutes 'til hot and bubbly
4. Serve with corn chips or any type of cracker you like.

Serves 20+