Cocoa in a Jar

 

It's National Cocoa Day ! 

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 cup powdered milk
• 1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1-quart mason jar

1. Using a clean quart jar, layer the ingredients starting with the unsweetened cocoa.
2. When ready to serve, store in an air-tight container.
3. Add 1/3 cup of mix to one cup of hot water.
4. Makes 12 servings.
5. Attach an instruction tag to each jar.

Hot Chocolate Day

 Hot Chocolate Day 

Enjoy my colored picture of warm Hot Chocolate as we celebrate the last day of January ! 

A perfect way to pass a cold wet Tuesday... Lisa 

By Request : Louisiana Gumbo

 

Happy Wednesday ! 

And I am starting a big pot of Gumbo today for Supper . Gumbo is a traditional Louisiana dish but every family make  it a little different .This one is based on John Folse (Louisiana chef)  recipe. 

Basic Chicken and Sausage Gumbo 

• 1 chicken ( traditional a hen)
• 1 lb smoked sausage (diced into rounds)
• 1 cup Oil
• 1 1/2 C Flour
• 2 C sliced Onions
• 2 C diced celery
• 1 C diced bell pepper
• 1/4  C minced Garlic
• 3 quarts Chicken Stock  (from chicken) 
• 2 C sliced  Green onions
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 tsp chopped  basil
• 1/2 C chopped parsley 
• salt and pepper 
• Creole seasoning to taste
• Served with Cooked White Rice 

Cut up chicken in a large pot. Cover with water and boil. When down strain stock and save. And debone chicken and set aside the chicken meat. In a skillet with 1/4 C oil brown sausage and set aside. 

Then in a large pot start the roux:  with oil and water on medium heat. Keep stiring until a golden brown (do not burn) . Then add vegetables (trinity) and cook until soft. Add chicken and sausage and cook about 15 minutes. Add Chicken stock in a little at a time- Mixing well. Cook about 1 hour. Then add seasoning, green onions and bay leaf - cook another 1-2 hours. Adjust taste and seve with White Rice. 

What is Gumbo : 

Gumbo is a heavily seasoned stew that combines several varieties of meat or seafood with a sauce or gravy. Any combination of meat or seafood can be used. Meat-based gumbo may consist of chicken, duck, squirrel, or rabbit, with oysters occasionally added.

Button Balloon Birthday cards

 Button Birthday Cards !    .... 

• Craft Buttons
• Cardstock/ stickers
• Pencil
• Black Marke
• Craft Glue

Make your card and using sticker spell out : Happy Birthday and name.  Then Glue Buttons in a cluster and with a black marker make the ballon strings. 

The perfect card for my little niece birthday ! Lisa

Journal of Memmories

Welcome to my Home this Tuesday ! 

One of my favorite things to make are journals and small photo albums 

to give to friends as gifts, This is a bought album I decorated. with stamps

and a little water color.

The open window on the front I filled with a simple water color stamp. 

 

I stamped this in black on water color paper. Let dry. Then lightly colored with water colors.

 I love water colors because of the amount of water added to paint you 

can get various shades of the same colors and blending is fast and easy. 

My finish album : 

Please make sure you follow my Facebook page ! Lots of New 

crafts are around the cornor... Lisa 

DIy Mardi Gras Beads

 It's Mardi Gras time in Louisiana! 

And we are planning a parade in town. Need some beads to give out? Make your own... 

• Duct tape: green purple and yellow (or gold)
• Drinking straws
• Scissors
• Yarn or string

Measure out your different colors of duct tape. Place straw on edge and roll up. Trim up your beads and strong on yarn to make your Mardi Gras necklace. 

No Duct Tape ? You can use construction paper to make your beads by cutting your paper in triangles and rolling them up on the straw and seal with a little glue. 

Monday At Home

 { Happy Homemaker Monday - 01/29/2024 }

Its Another Monday in South Louisiana. And Yeah! We have Sunshine!!! After a week of Rain its so nice to see. The weekend was wet but quite but I spent time watching craft videos on Facebook. It was an inspiring events.... 

Weather

• 61/41
• 69/42
• 61/38
• 64/40
• 70/47
• rain

My Monday Morning : 

Sun is shining. We had our morning walk and heard the Woodpecker outside , Still in my fuzzy pj. Morning coffee is Hot and I am having cinnamon toast for breakfast. Soup for lunch and dinner is white beans and chicken. Looking like another great Monday .... 

Week Chores :

• Household chores
• clean up yard
• Blog updates (Feb) 
• craft projects

Menu for the week ;

• White beans / chicken
• Chili frito pie
• Chicken noodle soup
• pork and gray with mashed potatoes
• Shrimp creole 

Reading and watching on You tube: 

Retired folk art curator Beatrice Coleman knows everything there is to know about quilts, except how to make them. But with her recent move to Dapple Hills, North Carolina, she’s learning all sorts of new things—including how to solve a murder…

As the newest member of the Village Quilters Guild, Beatrice has a lot of gossip to catch up on—especially with the Patchwork Cottage quilt shop about to close. It seems that Judith, the landlord everyone loves to hate, wants to raise the rent, despite being a quilter herself…

But when Judith is found dead, the harmless gossip becomes an intricate patchwork of mischievous motives. And it’s up to Beatrice’s expert eye to decipher the pattern and catch the killer, before her life gets sewn up for good.

Includes quilting tips!

You Tube : Modge podge , Slow stitching, Miss Tracy 

From my Community Annual Gumbo Cook off for charity... 

Enter Now at the Library ! Mardi Gras Shoe Box floats

My Bible journal : 

Sunday Cozy Mystery and Tea

 

Pancakes and Corpses (Peridale Cafe Cozy Mystery Book 1)

Read for FREE on KINDLE UNLIMITED!
The 1st FUN book in the BESTSELLING Peridale Cafe Cozy Mystery series!
"Any reader of cozy mysteries will enjoy this book!" Soon to be divorced Julia South never expected to be caught up in solving a murder, until she discovered the body of her cafe's most awkward customer. With a new smug Detective Inspector in town who underestimates her every move, Julia makes it her mission to discover the real murderer, before her village friends are dragged into the frame, and more bodies are discovered. Book 1 in the Peridale Cafe Mystery series! A light, cozy mystery read with a cat loving and cafe owning female amateur sleuth, in a small village setting with quirky characters. No cliffhanger, swearing, gore or graphic scenes! Other books in the series: 1. Pancakes and Corpses 2. Lemonade and Lies 3. Doughnuts and Deception 4. Chocolate Cake and Chaos 5. Shortbread and Sorrow 6. Espresso and Evil 7. Macarons and Mayhem 8. Fruit Cake and Fear 9. Birthday Cake and Bodies 10. Gingerbread and Ghosts 11. Cupcakes and Casualties 12. Blueberry Muffins and Misfortune 13. Ice Cream and Incidents 14. Champagne and Catastrophes 15. Wedding Cake and Woes 16. Red Velvet and Revenge 17. Vegetables and Vengeance 18. Cheesecake and Confusion

At Library : Book Review 

To summarize: this was a very promising start of a new series. I enjoyed reading this book and quickly read through it. The mystery was well done and I hadn't figured out who the murderer was. there were some nice twist and background information and some personality things that got uncovered during the investigation. I would've liked to get to know the characters a bit better, but I think that might happen in future books. There was a lot of focus on the mystery, which was nice, although at times I would've liked to see a bit more focus on the other aspects as well. The story kept my attention and I enjoyed the book. It was a fun read and I am looking forward to the next books in this series.

My Vintage Daisy Tea Cup :  Perfect Cup of Tea 

• First, you have to boil the water - don't just heat it, boil it. Second, add the boiling water to the tea bag, not the other way round. - putting the water in the cup and adding the bag to it - is a recipe for disaster. Unless the water is at boiling point when it makes contact with the tea, the tea will never properly brew.
• Make sure the cup or pot is nice and hot before you start. If necessary, rinse it out with near-boiling water. And keep it covered while the tea is brewing.
• Leave the bag in the water for at least two minutes - longer if you like your tea strong. And for goodness sake, resist the temptation to dunk. Just leave the bag alone until the drink is ready! Add milk and sugar to taste.

Deuteronomy

 

This Sunday we are exploring

Deuteronomy :

When translated from the Greek Septuagint, the word “Deuteronomy” means “second law,” as in Moses’ retelling of God’s laws. The dominant theological theme in this book is the renewal of God’s covenant and Moses’ call to obedience, as evident in Deuteronomy 

THOUGHTS :

Since there is but One God, and that God is Israel’s God, so Israel must love God unreservedly and entirely. The “heart” is mentioned as the seat of the understanding; the “soul” as the center of will and personality; the “might” as representing the outgoings and energies of all the vital powers.

Valentines Wooden tags

Today's project is using some items I purchased from Temu

Wooden tag blanks

Valentines clip art

Pink acrylics paint

Ribbon

These wooden tags came in unfinished.  I coated them with pink paint and let dry. Then I added the Valentines clip art and ribbon. 

The perfect addition to add to gift jar recipes or other crafts. 

Temu review: I was apprehensive about ordering from them but I have been pleased with everything I got. Shipping is a little long so I plan ahead and use PayPal to pay for purchase.  

Southern Charm

 Saturdays are all about sitting on the porch and enjoying life: 

Did you know why people paint there porch ceiling Blue? The blue color was meant to ward off “haints” or evil spirits who might want to harm the house or the family inside. Also thought to keep insects away. 

National Chocolate cake day

 This is a rich and moist one bowl chocolate cake. It only takes a few minutes to prepare the batter. Frost with your favorite chocolate frosting.  This was my Moms go to quick cake for when quest dropped in. Lisa 

• 2 cups white sugar

• 1 3/4 C AP flour

• 3/4 C untweeted chocolate

• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp Salt

• 2 Eggs

• 1 C milk

• 1/2 C vegetable oil

• 2 tsp vanilla1  extract

• 1 C boiling water

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two nine inch round pans.

  2. 1. In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer. Stir in the boiling water last. Batter will be thin. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely..

• 
  

• Celebrating National Chocolate Cake Day !!! 

• 
  

Making Heart Wreath

 

• Paper (cardstock or construction)
• Paper plate
• Ribbon
• Scissors
• Glue
• Heart templatehttps://www.iheartfrugal.com/free-printable-heart-templates-and-heart-coloring-sheets/heart-templates/

1. Print heart template on colored paper. There are three different sized hearts per page. We printed off seven pages of hearts on different shades of pink and purple paper. Red and white would also look nice. 

2. After the the pages have printed, cut out the hearts. If you are working with younger children, you could point out the different sizes and ask them to put the hearts in order from smallest to biggest or biggest to smallest before working on your heart wreath

.

 Cut out the inner part of the paper plate leaving the outer rim intact. You will be using the outer rim for this heart wreath craft. Younger kids may need help with this step or getting started in randomly gluing hearts onto the paper plate until you feel like you have enough hearts on your heart wreath. 4. Add a ribbon to the back of the plate to hang the wreath. 

Pretty in Pink

Thanks for stopping bye! And it's getting closer to Valentines 

I made this floral card and matching bookmark all in shades of Pink. 

The tag features ribbon , clipart and lace to give it a vintage look.  

Fabric Friday

Fabric Bookmarks 

made with

Felt

Elastic cord

Basic sewing and embroidery supplies 

Pinky Scissor 

Cut out hearts in felt. Measure Elastic around a book for size and add an inch. Fold in half and glue on bottom heart. Glue  or fuse next heart on top and sew around the heart.catch Elastic  inside.  Layer the next heart and  decorate with stitching. 

cut 2 fabric straps 2.5 by 7.5. Layer with light bonding and ribbon between fabric as pictured. Cut around the Bookmarks with picking shears. And Sew around the edge with straight or zigzag stitch. 

I Love You : Valentine cards

Thursday sneak peak: Valentine cards.  

Are you ready for Feb 14th .. 

These are some easy quick cards while watching the Super Bowl game on Sunday 11th. 

 Using just this one stamp set and simple supplies from my stash I made some cards for friends and family. 

This stamp set from Penny Black. Limiting supplies make it easy to whip these up.

Chinese Paper Lantern

 Lanterns 

Red Lanterns repersent wealth and Yellow..Good Luck.

• Construction or other heavy colored paper (red is a traditional color for Chinese New Year)
• Scissors
• A ruler
• A pencil
• Tape
• A stapler
• Glue, glitter, stickers, markers, paint, sequins, and other things to decorate your lantern

1. Fold your sheet of paper in half lengthwise.
2. With your pencil and ruler, draw a line lengthwise on the paper one inch from the top of the unfolded edge. This is your "do not cut line" that marks where you stop cutting.
3. Now, take your pencil and ruler and draw lines one inch apart from the folded edge to the do not cut line.
4. Cut the paper along the lines to the "do not cut" line.
5. Now unfold the paper. If you flip it over and re-crease the fold in the opposite direction you can hide your pencil marks.
6. Roll the paper into a cylinder and tape the narrow edges of the paper together where they meet. The middle of the lantern will flare out at the crease.
7. Cut a one-inch wide strip from the narrow end of another sheet of colored paper for your lantern's handle. Use the stapler or tape to affix the handle to the top of the lantern.
8. Add decorations: stickers, glitter, paint, markers, crayons, and more can be used to make your lantern a thing of beauty!
9. 
   
10. Lanterns symbolizes people letting go of pass selves and getting new ones... 

Football Scrapbook

Thursday sneak peak! 

Super Bowl

Are you ready for some Football!  The Super Bowl is just around the corner in Vegas this year. 

Did your favorite team make it this year? 

While watching the game spend sometime scrapbooking . 

Check out my Mardi Gras dip on Wednesday post .. 

Easy Tomato Soup with Canned Tomatoes

 

Ingredients

• ▢1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢1 tablespoon butter
• ▢1 cup (52g) chopped onions (1 medium onion)
• ▢2 teaspoon minced garlic (2 cloves)
• ▢1 28-ounce can (825ml) whole tomatoes, 
• ▢1 cup (235ml) vegetable broth or vegetable stock (or chicken broth)
• ▢1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (or more to taste)
• ▢1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• ▢1 teaspoon sugar

• MAKE SOUP: Heat oil and butter in a medium or large saucepan on Medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes until translucent (not brown). Add tomatoes and their juice (crush tomatoes in your hand as you add them to pot or break them up with a spoon in the pot). Add broth, salt, pepper and, if using, chili flakes and/or herbs. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium heat and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  While soup is simmering, make parmesan croutons if you like, Note 2.
• FINISH SOUP AND SERVE: Puree soup in pot with a handheld stick/immersion blender until smooth. Or, puree in two batches in a blender. Stir in cream. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding salt, sugar or pepper as needed. Ladle into bowls and serve with cheese crouton sticks in the soup if you like

 

MARDI GRAS : MUFFULETTA DIP

• 1 1/4 cup olive salad drained and divided {I like the Boscoli Family brand}
• 2 cups Italian blend cheese shredded
• 1/4 lb deli ham diced
• 1/4 lb deli salami diced
• 1/4 lb capicola {or substitute mortadella} diced
• 8 oz container Olive cream cheese spread
• 2 -10 inch round Muffuletta bread loaves {or sub another bread bowl like Sourdough or Italian}
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• olive oil for drizzling

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cut the top off the bread bowls and remove the center leaving a ¾” shell.
• Cut the top and the insides of loaf into bite sized squares for dipping. Spread on a baking sheet and set aside.
• Add cream cheese, 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, olive salad {drained}, and all 3 diced meats to a large bowl.
• Stir well until combined.
• Spread mixture into the bread bowls {or an 8X8 baking dish}.
• Top with remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese.
• Bake for 20 minutes until melted and heated through {see step below about covering dip}.
• Meanwhile, sprinkle garlic powder and drizzle olive oil over the cubed bread.
• When the dip has 5 minutes of bake time remaining, remove and cover with aluminum foil so the cheese does not get too brown and add the tray of bread to toast in the oven.
• Remove from oven and add bread bowls to a platter with toasted bread cubes on the side for dipping.
• Garnish with a couple tbsp of olive salad {be sure to drain the extra oil} on top of each bread bowl and serve hot with toasted bread for dipping.

Grilled Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

It's national Sandwich Day ! 

And today I am Thankful for my son -whose away at college getting an education. His favorite sandwich is plain old peanut butter and jelly sandwich wich is grilled in a skillet until toasty. ! This one is for You!!! 

 

• 2 teaspoons butter

• 2 slices white bread

• 2 teaspoons any flavor fruit jelly

• 1 teaspoon peanut butter

• 1. Heat a griddle or skillet to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

  2. Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread. Spread jelly on the unbuttered side of one slice of bread; spread peanut butter on the other unbuttered side. Place bread slices together, so peanut butter and jelly are in the middle.

  3. Cook on the preheated griddle until golden brown and heated through, about 4 minutes per side.

Bullet Journal : month of January

 Bullet Journal : month of January .. is your month on track? 

Spreads

A spread is often said to describe the pages in a bullet journal. Most people tend to refer to two pages side by side as a spread. You often see monthlies and collections referred to as spreads because they sprawl across two pages.

The word “monthlies” is just shorthand for monthly spread or monthly log.

A tracker is a spread used to track certain information for a period of time. Trackers can span a week, a month, a year, or anything in between. There are unlimited types of trackers, but we’ll be covering some of the most popular ones below.

January bucket list : checking them off.. 

With bought pizza dough shaped like snowman: cheese, olives for buttons, green peppers for scarf.