Long Time.....

It has been quite a while since I have been here to post. I started school in June to further my nursing career. Add that to the craziness of summer with kids and vacation....it has been a busy couple of months.
Since my last post, I have started using Young Living Essential Oils. I am hooked! These things are amazing! It is so neat that we can use the oils and not have to use medicine. I will try to post new things I learn with using my oils.
There probably won't be a whole lot going on at my craft table until Spring since I will be focused on school. However, our kitchen table is always busy. I will try to post new recipes if I get a chance.
Comment if there is something you want to know or a certain recipe you may be looking for, I bet I have it! :)

Fresh Fruit Hand Pies

I wanted to share a recipe for some homemade fruit pies. I made them small like little hand pies. I found this on Pinterest but of course I modified it a little bit like always:


Cream Cheese Pastry

(courtesy of Kraft foods)

2 cups flour
½ tsp. salt
1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter or margarine

Put in a food processor and pulse all ingredients, (then divide into two portions if you are using it as a double pie crust) (I wrapped it up as one piece of dough)

Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours until firm.


Here is how to make the little pies:

1 recipe for pie crust as above
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1 cup fresh fruit, cut up
1 egg beaten

Preheat oven to 400. I divided the dough into 6 parts and rolled out each one into a circle (maybe 6", you don't want it so thin that it breaks and won't hold the juice in). Then in a small bowl combine the fruit with sugar and cornstarch, mix well. Spoon 2 tbsp of fruit mixture onto half of the circle of pie crust. Fold over to make a half circle (see pictures). Using the tines of a fork, crimp the edges of the pie so it will stay together. Prick the top of your hand pie with a fork to vent. Brush the top of each pie with egg. Bake them on a cookie sheet sprayed with non stick spray for 15-20 minutes at 400.

Cool and pass them around....they don't last long!

Click here to go to the source of the recipe

"You Light Up My Life"

Hello there, blog world!

It has been a busy, busy week for me so far. Getting ready for my summer class to start next week. I am taking classes to further my nursing career. It's going to be a crazy year, but I am ready!!

Also, over the next couple of days I will be baking for a bake sale for our youth group. The bake sale is Saturday, so I have a lot of work to do! I will share with you this weekend what I made for the sale. Stay tuned for all the goodies and the recipes!

Tonight I have a card to share. This card was made for the photo/color challenge over at the Peachy Keen Stamps blog. I used a sentiment and the lightening bug from the May stamp release. I was inspired by the bright colors in this photo.

I made this card a little different. I used a flattened toilet paper roll to make a pocket card. I didn't take a picture of the back of the card, but I just wrapped the paper all the way around. Then I folded the bottom of the paper up and glued it down (like wrapping a present) to seal off the bottom. The top of the polka-dot paper is folded down into the opening of the roll and glued to make it look neat and finished. I used a circle punch to cut the half circle notch at the top of the card, so the tag can be pulled out. The tag is made out of a cereal box and is covered in card stock. Take a look and let me know what you think.

I love making things with toilet paper rolls because you are re-purposing it instead of throwing it out. I have made a couple mini albums before using flattened toilet paper rolls as the pages. It works so well! As you save the rolls, the best thing is to store them flat. Fold them flat and keep them under a big, heavy book, or clipped together with binder clips.  Then when you are ready to use them, they are nice and flat.

Hope everyone is having a great week!! Come back this weekend and check out how the bake sale went.

Road Trip!!

I just returned home on Monday from a road trip with my grandma. Our trip to Missouri was great! We visited with family and had a good time. I went fishing with my brother and step-dad, did some crafting with my mom, went shopping,  had a yummy fish fry, and sat on the porch swing and enjoyed the opportunity to relax. We went so my grandma could visit her cousin and her son, who is sick. I am glad we were able to make the trip for to be able to see them. 

I have many good memories of road trips to MO with my nanny. Her and I made a lot of trips together and we always had so much fun. Her family is from MO so we have always had a reason to go there. Plus, my mom, step-dad and my brother live there. (My step dad is also from Missouri)

I just wanted to share some pictures of a few of my favorite things.

On the way there, we like to stop at a pajama outlet. They have all kinds of discounted nightgowns and pajama sets. Then the next stop is in Choteau, OK. The Amish place has all kinds of neat goodies. I stock up on preserves (this time I got peach and strawberry rhubarb), bulk spices, candies, rada knives, and they have misc kitchenwares.

In Choteau, OK. Love this little place

This is in the same building as the
Amish Cheese House. She has the
best homemade breads and goodies

Beautiful view at the lake by my mom's house

The hummingbirds zip by you on the porch
to get a drink. I love watching them 

I spent a lot of mornings on the
porch swing...so relaxing listening
to the birds

My mom also took me to a beautiful quilt shop there to find fabric to make me a junk bag. It was fun going through all the fabric and picking out what colors to use. My bag is so pretty....more on that later.

We had a good time, but I was ready to get home to my hubby and kids.
Do you have any fun trips planned this summer?

Lemon Pound Cake

My grandma and I went to Missouri last weekend to see family. We stayed with my mom and step-dad. I wanted to make something to take with us.....something yummy! I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try.  This pound cake is very good and very easy to make. I also took one to work this week for a coworker's birthday. It was a hit.

This would be good served with cut up strawberries and whipped cream. 

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 Tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
5 eggs
2 cups unbleached flour + teaspoon salt, sifted

Here is what you do:

Preheat oven to 325 F. Butter and flour a bundt pan, or use baking spray with flour. In a mixer, beat the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and creamy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until just combined after each addition. Fold in the flour and salt mixture in 2 batches, mixing after each addition until well combined. Be careful not to over mix. Spoon the batter into the bundt pan and bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick poked into the cake comes out clean. Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil if the crust browns too quickly. Remove the cake from oven and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

See link above for source of recipe

My favorite mixer

Peachy Keen May Linky Party

Hello folks! I am joining the PKS blog linky party for the first time. You have to make a project using something from the new May release stamps. I just so happened to win two of those sets for free! This is one of the sets I won:

Find it here

Isn't it so fun?!

I decided to make a cute little birthday card with these stamps.  They are so adorable! I started with kraft card stock as the base. I used some patterned paper as the background.  The banner on the side is stamped with the cute phrases in the set and embossed with black powder. I love the effect this gave it, it looks toasty! I used colored pencils to color the stamped raccoon and fire. Then on the inside I stamped the rest of the cute sentiment. 

So what do you think?

Grilled Chicken Penne al Fresco

My family loves this easy dish! I love using my Deep Covered Baker from The Pampered Chef. I like that it uses fresh ingredients. I sautéed the chicken with garlic in a hot skillet. Also, I do not use the wine that it calls for. We do not drink wine (or any alcohol for that matter) so I do not cook with it. I just used more chicken broth in its place. It is simple and easy and that's what I like! All the family liked it so that is always a plus.
You can find the recipe here.

The Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker is amazing! It enables you to cook meats in the microwave that taste great. It is like using a brick oven.