Scrumptious Scones.. yeah for Biquick!

   Today started so early I feel like two days have pasted and tomorrow is Sunday and I have to get up extra early for church.. but that's not the case. I didn't get to take a nap but I also didn't work at full speed. But for a full day I made a lot. Coffee twice, belgium waffles, cut grapefruits, made egg salad and cut cucumbers for the sandwiches, made awesome orange black tea, and last but not least.. the scones. I split the dough in half and added cheddar cheese to half and Craisins to the other half. They both turned out awesome. Im very happy with them, for my first time. 

    Scone Recipe

2 cups Heart Smart Bisquick

2-3 TBSP of butter

2 TBSP of sugar

1/2 cup of cream or milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine sugar and Bisquick. Cut butter in small pieces and mix into dry ingredients until it looks crumbly. Then add the cream but be sure to not make it soupy. You want it to look like biscuit dough. Move the dough to a flat surface you've sprinkled with more Bisquick or flour and need it just a little to create a nice round 1/2 in. mound. Use a 2-3 in. cookie cutter to cut the dough.. place on a pam sprayed cookie sheet. Cook for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. 

     You can see where I cut the cheese scones differently. I cut it like a pizza before I put it in the oven and it took a little longer since it was closer together. If you make a whole batch of cheese scones, I would recommend using less sugar.. and half a cup of cheese.

     And you can just spoon them onto the cookie sheet without using a cookie cutter for a rougher top. They seemed to rise better that way too. 

Top with a little pat of butter and keep warm wrapped in a kitchen towel in a bowl. :)

    Traditionally scones are served with a cream butter but I was too tired to make some and they tasted wonderful by themselves. :)

     I'm going to bed a happy girl. Going to a graduation in the morning. I'll be up around 7am. :( I'm glad I'll have scones to have for breakfast in the morning instead of having to make something in a rush. 


     I hope that all you ladies out there dream of your very own fairytale tonight and remember your standards and that dreams can come true. :)

A Day to Remember..

      Today a common girl became a Princess. It was just magical to watch history being made. The ceremony, the venue, and well come on.. the dress. I woke up at 3:55am to insure that I wouldn't miss anything. To my surprise I found out that I could have slept in another hour and still caught Katherine entering Westminster Abbey, but I had coffee set to come on at 4am so I decided to just get up and be excited and watch the real life fairytale instead of dreaming of one. I thought it was important to watch and make the idea of having my own fairytale one day more tangible. A friend of mine's child brought something else important into view, that everyone who watched this morning also in a way went to church. I loved one part of the mass when the priest said something along the lines of, "When two people come together in marriage they make a work of art with each other." If you didn't hear it, it might not sound as amazing but it really touched me. I had to write it down. :)

    I will admit that in my giddy excitement, I decided that I wanted to capture the royal memory with my camera phone and I will post pictures to follow. :) I just kept thinking that I would get to remember this day and where I was and who I spent it with forever. Maybe one day I'll get to see them become King and Queen and think back on the morning where I got up and watched the wedding with my Dad and then later had a lovely breakfast with my friend Stevi. We had grapefruit, fresh waffles with syrup and powdered sugar sprinkled on top, and coffee of course. Got to have the coffee when 4am wake up times are involved. All was very delicious and I got to spend a pretty morning with a good friend. :)

     We were greeted with cooler weather this morning and a nice breeze which lead me to turn my A/C off and open the windows. My wind chime is adding awesome background music to the day.
     I have an informal menu planned for lunch/ dinner today. I will be making tea sandwiches of the egg and cucumber variety, along with cranberry and cheese scones. Of course I will be making my own tea. I plan to make a hot black tea to serve and also a cold tea full of orange slices and maybe lime slices also. I have cordially invited my mother to join me for Afternoon Tea and I pray she excepts my invitation but it will not be the end of the world if she does not.
     My table has been set and used and reset to be used again when my next guests arrive. I loved decorating and digging through my cabinets for serving pieces and arranging everything specially for the day. Everything is a little mix-match with a vintage feel but fun. I found pretty smoke colored glass goblets yesterday while out and the main color showcased is red. The red is probably the only thing royal in my whole set up but I'm about as south as you can get and a southerner first and foremost.

     Even though the love filled Royal Wedding and processional is over, my day will be full of love and food and thanks to God for the beautiful day. Cheers! everyone. :)

How will you be spending your Friday.. around 4am..

     Unless you are living under a rock, most of you know that this Friday, Prince William and Kate Middleton will be getting married. Well for those of us "Yanks" who want to watch the whole affair, we will have to get up at 4am and hope that our tea is caffeinated. I guess there are those who shell out the money for special recording services but I do not so I will be going to bed extra early tomorrow night and setting my alarm. :)


     I hadn't come to the decision to watch the Royal Wedding till after watching The Nate Berkus Show today where they talked about everything royal and british. It got me thinking about how this might be a once in a lifetime opportunity to watch the event live and see what all the fuss has been about. I got the idea from Nate to plan a special menu for Friday. I'll will unfortunately be alone most of the day but that will give me time to prepare something fun and appropriate for the special day. 

     Brief History Lesson: Afternoon tea was started by a young duchess in the 19th century who would get hungry long before the very late 9 o'clock dinners. She asked for tea and some bread with butter and little cakes to tide her over and that is where afternoon tea seems to have originated from. Later it became a social event and now it is simply a way of life for many English and Scottish who call it High Tea instead. 


     Nate had a man on today who showed how to make his mothers recipe for scones which had cheddar cheese in them and Pimm's Cup which is a fun sounding liquor drink. SO after watching I got online to find the recipe and them started thinking I could find a sweeter version and I think after talking with a cousin of mine, I've found the one I want to use. I will also be making egg salad and cucumber sandwiches on white bread cut in cute triangles. Revised recipes will probably follow cause I always change my mind last minute or make my own variations. 
BUT.. here are the links and recipes where I'm taking ideas from. :)


http://www.thenateshow.com/tipsandtools/detail/colin-cowies-royal-recipes


http://britishfood.about.com/od/cakesandbaking/r/scones.htm


     I actually have a cousin who will be braving the crowds Friday to catch a glimpse of the royal family and the trendy, soon-to-be Princess Kate. I really hope she posts pictures on Facebook. I am genuinely excited as of now and I'm sure she is too.


     Good night and God Bless. I hope I might have inspired some of you to make something special for the day or maybe just made you rethink getting enough sleep thursday night. :)

Sunday isn't just another day..

     Today didn't start with boom like last night ended. Gotta love when your neighbours stay up late playing awfully loud music with an open window facing your house. :( 

     But I did wake up with a mission. I was going to make some wonderfully sweet dessert that will wow my family and select friends. On the dessert menu for tomorrow will be Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting. All from scratch!.. and grated by hand. I know. I'm amazing. ;)

                                                                               ***Finished Product***

Here is the link to the Carrot Cupcake recipe!!! :)

carrot cake with maple-cream cheese frosting

Here is the Cream Cheese Frosting recipe!!! :)

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar (I say taste it after 1 & 1/2 cups of sugar because mine turned out almost too sweet)
1/4. t. vanilla extract
dash ground cinnamon
dash ground nutmeg

Use an electric hand mixer to mix the cream cheese and butter together. Gradually add powdered sugar to the mix until all lumps are gone. Add vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix till evenly dispersed. Taste to see if it is sweet enough for your liking and then chill for 10 to 15 minutes. 

I used a plastic baggie to decorate the cupcakes. I cut the tip off of one corner and had more fun than I thought I would considering how tired I was from all the work. My dad was laughing at how giggly I was. :) Might have been the beginning of the deliriousness.. :)

I highly recommend you all try this recipe! It is delicious. The cake turns out moist and just looks awesome! Oh and I added some raisins but not the full suggested amount and no nuts. :) ENJOY!

Tonight dinner pictures..

     It was pretty darn delicious for frozen fish if I do say so myself. I was out of white rice so I made some Uncle Bens long grain rice and it was so good. The green beans were good but I already knew they would be.
     Lili and lexi are fast asleep with Peter Pan on low volume. UNFORTUNATELY the cable is out so no Vampire Diaries tonight. :( I'm just going to ask for guidance in my little problem and read my bible.
     It was really nice out today. I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy it. Tomorrow is Good Friday and my dad is off work. I hope we get to spend part of it together. :)

Hello world..

      I was awake pretty late last night reading.. the bible and I kept finding awesome verses that  related to what's going on and I just couldn't stop flipping through it. :)
      Dad came home for a little break this afternoon which was nice. Nice for him to get to take a break from work in the middle of the day and me to get some interaction. I get so stir crazy during the day sometimes. 
     I did plan dinner for tonight though. I will be making Lemon-Baked Cod with green beans and rice. THis plate is going to look awesome! I can't wait to post pictures! I'm going to put Panko bread crumbs on the fish and add Rotel to the green beans(just a little trick I came up with to make green beans not so bland.) I think I'll leave the rice alone except for some butter just cause there has to be one simple part to the plate. 
    I've been listening to my Christian radio station on Pandora Radio for the past couple hours. I feel so content. :) I should probably watch last weeks Vampire Diaries before I go to Erica's but more than likely their TV still isn't picking up channels. Oh well. Im going to get started on dinner here in a little bit so watching a show probably isn't the smartest thing to start doing now. 
    Dad forgot to water the garden this morning so I just watered the edges and my potted plants since I could pull them out of the sun. I'll be leaving him a note to water them when he gets home if he doesn't get here before I leave for Erica's.


Song of the moment is: Glorious Day(Living he love me) by Casting Crowns :)

Garden update..

Garden is doing just fine. I picked dead buds out yesterday and pulled a few baby weeds. Loving it. :) I bought a new garden stake with a humming bird on it. Soo cute. :)

Jesus take the wheel..

     I don't think there's any better way to say it. I've decided to let Jesus take the hypothetical wheel of my life. I'm ready to let him in and start to guide me down my intended pathway. I'm ready to see myself as he sees me. I'm done worrying about stuff because I know I'm in his arms and that's the safest place I could ever be.

     Tansy dear, you are my peace and joy warrior and without you I don't think I would have made it as far as I've come in this journey to find Jesus and faith. So thank you. You are a light in my life. You're smile is contagious and you radiate love and what I can only guess is the holy spirit. Thanks for lunch today. I had know idea that it would have gone the way it did but I feel like it was right.

     I was soo high on the holy spirit earlier. I could barely keep composure and now I've had time to calm down and read some. I bought some stuff at the dollar store. All but one thing was for other people. :)

   I'm ready to do great things and become a peace warrior for someone else.

Saturday Sunday tuesday..

     So Saturday was lovely. A bit too windy for my hairs liking but still lovely none-the-less. I had a wonderful breakfast with my dad early early and then hit up an estate sale back by Mayo. My dad found a nice newer TV for his room for pretty cheap so we loaded it up and brought it home. I had been invited to go to Huguenot beach with a friend so I got my beach bag together and went to go get burned. Ha! No one actually wants to get burned at the beach but it always seems to happen at least once in a summer. Mine was on Saturday. That means I will be purchasing moisturizer with SPF in it and a big bottle of sunscreen for the remainder of the summer. I've been using aloe lotion everyday twice a day since saturday night and my face decided to start peeling this morning after my shower. My forehead and nose are so silly looking right now. :( Im dealing with it for now but I learned my lesson. Sunscreen or no sun!!!
    
     As for Sunday, I had decided to go to church and see my new friends Tansy, Tara, Tasha and Jenny and Erica of course. And Erica's little sister came too which was a treat since I haven't seen her in a while. I knew I was going to be getting a surprise form Tansy but I didn't really know what it was going to be. Turns out she had bought me my own bible with my name on it. I LOVE it. It's a New International Version Study Bible and I've already started reading through it. I found a section near the back that tells you where different talking points are in the bible. It's in an A - Z set up and it made it easy to go find topics I wanted to read more about. :)

     Church was great. I really enjoyed the Youth Minister that spoke. He spoke kind of fast but he spoke with clarity and with a young mind so that everyone could really understand the message he was trying to get across. Being cute to look at was nice too. ;)

     Today seems like it's going to be great. My dads new TV is being installed. I'm going to meet up with Miss Tara to go Easter dress shopping in a little while and then Alpha at 6:30. :) I've got my windows open and the fans running and the wind is bringing the Ligustrum smell into the house. Probably will aggravate my allergies later but it smells great right now.

     I'm so glad that I am excited about Easter this year. I can finally appreciate the meaning of the holiday and share it with the people I've become friends with. I'm trying to talk my Dad into coming to the Eater service at the Vineyard but I'm not sure I'm going to have much luck. I'm already nervous about exposing him to this contemporary church but I think he needs to see where I'm going so he can be more comfortable.

     In conclusion to this recap of the last couple days and my feelings of this weekend coming up, I am feeling wonderful and hope that everyone else is. I love the feeling of finding my faith. :)

Blog Name Change

The way my blog is headed it seems like I'll be writing more about finding myself and my little loves in life so I figured I should change the title so it's more open ended and then added my original title as the blog description. Hope it's not confusing for those who are reading along. :)

Great weekend ahead! Early breakfast and then beach tomorrow!

Love!

Light and Love are filling me up..

     Of those of you that have watched me grow up or even just those who have known me since high school, you know that religion was never something that I talked about or wanted to explore. I would go to church with my Marmar aka Gramma aka Grandma when I was still too small to see past my hands reach but it was more about getting all dressed up and wearing some pretty necklace of hers and drawing on the back of the bulletin. Never about creating a relationship with Jesus. I've asked both my parents many questions about why they never took me to church growing up and the answers just fell short with several bad excuses. Being from a divorced family and never at the same house on Sundays was one. 

     After starting Alpha, a beginners study group at a local church, I realized that I didn't even know that the 10 commandments were from the Bible and on top of that.. I didn't know what they all were. My dad apologized for that one. 

     

     I was very unsure about church and praying in the beginning but now it's something I talk about everyday. I pray for things throughout the days and even people I don't have in my life anymore. I thank God for little things in my life, like my flowers growing and the sun shining and the wind blowing my new wind chime around. I've found that focusing on these little things alone can bring me so much joy. Sometimes I can sit by myself on the couch and stare out the window and just smile. And a little bit joy goes a long way. Everyone needs joy. I like to think I've met some joy warriors in the past few months. 

     With all that said, I want to let everyone how happy I am with my life right now. I'm so full of love and appreciation for everything and everyone around me. Lately I've been going over some unsettling things from my past that I need to let go of and everyday I ask got to show me the person he sees and everyday I see myself a little clearer. I was sitting here making a list of things I want to do this weekend, and my eyes were just.. open. Open soo wide. I know I'm experiencing some serious joy and peace when my eyes open up and I feel like I'm letting something wonderful in. Something bright that I don't get to see often.

     I feel very light and full of love today, and I wanted to look and see if there were any verses in the Bible describing what I feel. I went to http://www.biblegateway.com/ and searched "life light" and this verse below came up. Not exactly what I was looking for but I think it's pretty and meaningful just the same. 

John 1:3-5 (Contemporary English Version)

³And with this Word,
   God created all things.
   Nothing was made
   without the Word.
   Everything that was created
    ⁴received its life from him,
   and his life gave light
   to everyone.
    ⁵The light keeps shining
   in the dark,
   and darkness has never
   put it out.

   I pray that everyone experiences some light and joy in there life today whether they recognize it as a gift from god or simply as a good day.

Breaking through the clutter..

Today seems to be going in slow motion. There's a task that I want to begin but I'm nervous to start it because of how large it is. Can you guess what it is?.. or what room it is rather?..

If you guessed my laundry/ computer room then you are the winner.. wanna come help me? I'm only joking of course. This room is a disaster and I would never subject anyone to it. I had a friend that would always enter it at her own risk to use the computer. Never made much sense. I have a lovely lightweight laptop that can sit with you in any room and she always wanted to go in there. :)

If I can put this room in perspective for you(those who haven't already seen it), it is a little 8x9 room with the washer and dryer and a built in corner desk. Doesn't sound scary till I tell you that it has my old wooden doll house, my childhood high chair, 4 storage tubs full of Christmas stuff, and all of my dads clothes. It just makes me ill!

The room has no A/C either so starting it means I'l probably be down to my bathing suit, sweating profusely by the time make a small dent in it. Okay, it's not that bad but it is stuffy and will need some incense or spray when I finally find the floor. ;)

I think I just realized that I am working myself up to get started. Aww. This blog is doing me some good (even though I feel as if no one is reading it since I CAN'T get any comments).

I think I am going to lay a sheet down on my living room floor cause it's the largest place to work in and start pulling stuff out. Then do a little organizing and moving. Thank god there isn't anything extra heavy  so I should be able to do this all on my own.

Oh and just to keep with my blog topics, my flowers are doing great and I see a few more little green leafs popping up every day. :) AND how do you get the smell of Marigold's off your hands? I was picking the wilted flowers off this morning and I can't get the smell off even after washing with scented soap. :(

TIME TO GO BE PRODUCTIVE! :)

God give me the strength to break through the clutter if anything falls on me in the cleaning process.

Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe for easter!

• Found this recipe while searching for something special to make for Easter and I think I will be making these for sure come Easter Egg hunting time. :)

Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe

photo courtesy of emmyboop

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 oz. red food coloring (two bottles) or 4 oz beet juice (if you use unprocessed light cocoa you can leave out the food dyes and you'll get a warm red/brown color)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins or silicone pans with cupcake liners.
2. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a smaller bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste without lumps and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.
4. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Be careful as it will fizz so don't do it in a shallow bowl. Add vinegar mixture to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Fill cupcake cups with cake batter until they are a little under 3/4 full. I ended up with 20 cupcakes. Place muffin tins in your preheated oven. Bake for approximately 20, rotating pans halfway through. The cupcakes are done when you are able to pat the tops and the cake springs back up. If it sinks down they are not yet complete. Or you can insert a toothpick into the center of a cupcake in the center of the tin and if it comes out clean they are done!
5. Cool the cupcakes in their tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove and allow to cool completely before frosting.

I don't think I've ever been this excited for Easter in all the years I've known what it was. Even in the years where I couldn't wait to dye eggs or go easter egg hunting. I feel like something in me has gotten a little bit older, more mature. The crafty person inside me still wants to dye eggs in some creative way and I'm sure I will be posting some crazy Martha Stewart craft as we get closer to the day but I definitely know that something has changed and for the better. :) 


I will with out a doubt NOT forget to let you all know when I finally get around to making these. In fact I'm sure you'll find out as soon as I get all the ingredients and then the day before I actually make them. :) OH and I already have the cupcake tins which will get their moment in the spotlight. 

Two peas in a pod.. covered in milk and cheese.

Today has been simply wonderful. Woke up at a good hour even though when I checked the time, my clock tried to tell me it was almost 6 pm. Too funny! I shot out of bed so fast to check the clock in the living room to find that it was just a little after 11am.

After having breakfast and making a call to my dad to tell him about my wake up, I had to check on my garden. Everything seems to be doing good. I even saw a few new sprouts! I think I want to buy some Miracle Grow and we certainly need to get some mulch this weekend. It's so hot here and watering at the same time everyday isn't always ideal for me or my dad so I'm hoping the mulch with hold in moisture.
My whole day was pretty chill. I looked through a cookbook. Read the Beaches Leader. Checked the sales papers for deals. And just enjoyed having the windows and front door open.

Making dinner wasn't really in my plans for the day but I did have pasta on the mind. Milanos has a Wednesday pasta special that seemed like it would have been promising but Dad wanted to go shoot some pool with a friend so that idea was thrown out as quick as it had come to me.

I wasn't really hungry anyways so I just figured we'd throw something frozen in the oven when he got home but after about an hour, the thought of frozen burritos made me angry.. and that's when I got to Googling. The first I entered in the search was "Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo" and sure enough the second link I clicked on the list was just what I was looking for.

I had everything I needed to make the wonderful dish. I just substituted Italian shredded cheese instead of parmesan and I added peas. It turned out awesome and when my dad got home he cleaned his plate just as I did before got home. I wasn't even upset that I ate alone. That's how satisfying it was. :)
I truly hope that everyone had a great day today. I'm so excited to go babysit my two favorite kiddies tomorrow night. :) Goodnight and god bless.

Highlight: Chicken salad

Where to begin.. well it's getting easier to get up early. Maybe the early bed does actually catch the worm. ;)

I got quite a lot accomplished today including getting transmission fixed, furniture shopping (even though nothing was found), and an awesome chicken salad lunch with my grandparents and mother.

Besides getting to enjoy my grandma's chicken salad, I did plant my little seedlings when I got home and repotted my baby Christmas pine plant.. even though I'm pretty sure its either fake or dead and just pretending to be alive.. ;)

Good day all around. Had leftover seafood chowder for dinner and got to watch three new shows tonight instead of catching the reruns. Soo glad 13 is back House! She's amazing. Nurse Jackie and The United States of Tara were amusing as well.

I know its Monday and all but I hope everyone survived and had a few highlights. Comment with my signature (..) if you read just to show me I'm not talkin to myself.

Muah! Goodnight! Say your prayers tonight. I wish you all a lovely Tuesday.. specially those of you who will be enduring the rain showers in the morning.

Garden in the making..

Today I woke up a little later than usual but it didn't change my plans for the day. Flowers were bought last weekend and needed to be planted no later than this weekend so that's exactly what I did.

It's been 10 years since we've had flowers planted along the side of our walkway and after reading a bit from Job in the bible about flowering life, I knew it was time to make our front yard beautiful again.. or at least not embarrassing.

So this afternoon I went to purchase gardening shovels and as soon as I got home I got to work. I dug through the dirt as deep as I could get to loosen up the soil. And then I had to figure out the spacing for the flowers and I really like the layout I came up with. Then it was just a matter of shifting dirt around and getting the dirt wet before placing the flowers in the ground. I have snap dragons, marigolds, dahlberg daisies, salvia, and dianthus out there. It's definitely an interesting combination but I made it work.

I think my favorite part about planting was getting covered in dirt.. jk! No it was definitely cool, for me not to be afraid to get dirty today, but what loved was being able to do it myself and then add the pretty ground rocks I bought out there throughout the flowers. It just gives it that little something extra.

OH and my seeds are starting to sprout out in my germination bags. I was so happy to find that when I woke up. A few more days and ill be able to put then in the dirt and wait patiently for them to grow big.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Sunday! I certainly have and even though I'm really tired I will be assisting in the making of Shrimp Chowder.. and doing some small chores. Bless you and may gods light shine on every one of you. :)

Just how saturdays should be..

Great day! Got up at 7:40. Beach Hut for breakfast with my dad. Went in search of yard sales and furniture but had no luck. :( Then he had to change out a faucet for my Papa's rental property, but then we got to go back to the house and have lunch with my gparents. :) We made it home just before the traffic got bad and now I have the house to myself and nothing to do but watch Charlie St. Cloud and find something awesome to make for dinner.

Hope everyone had a peaceful saturday!!!

Oh and I've been searching for the cookbook I want to get and last night Cooking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America drew me in but that could change with a little more research. :)

Giving my heart to food.. II

    Well last nights Chicken Florentine Meatball over spaghetti squash was a success! We had plenty of leftovers and will be enjoying them tonight. I really like the idea of putting chicken in the food processor and then molding it into chicken paddies or into meatballs like last night. My sauce was rudimentary though so I know that's something I can work on.. homemade spaghetti sauce. I know i have a family recipe around somewhere that I got several years ago. I was so giddy when I finally put everything together on the plate in front of us. My dad said I was smiling from ear to ear. We opened the bottle of wine I bought at Target the day before and had a very nice dinner together. Dad thinks sitting at the actual dinner table is "fine dining" and I think it's just what normal people do.
     On a unrelated note.. I took the flower seeds I bought and placed them in wet paper towels and then in plastic bags to hang in my window to start germination. :) I'm excited to see little sprouts in the next couple days. I will definitely be sharing that discovery when it presents itself. :)
     Back to food. I think some Shrimp Chowder is in the weekend menu. Along with early Saturday morning breakfast, garage saleing, cleaning off the front porch, AND planting the flowers that we bought last weekend. :)
     I need to make a trip to BAM also to look for a cookbook to follow.

Waiting patiently for the father to return home but the leftovers are trying to jump out of the fridge and into the microwave RIGHT now... ;)

Giving my heart to food.. I

  I have been cooking for a long time. Helping mom with breakfast and baking with dad for holidays are some of my most prominent memories from growing up. Recently I started searching out new recipes for stuff that I had never attempted before and I'm finding that with everything I make, I get more ideas for dishes and Im becoming a better cook. I can honestly say that I starting to cook with passion before seeing Julie & Julia but after I watched the movie and saw how cooking effected her life so much and how fun the ride was, I think I have decided to find one of Julia Child's cookbooks and make my way through it. It's sounds like a lot of fun and time consuming.. and I need time consuming.
     Tonight I will be making Chicken Florentine Meatballs over spaghetti squash. :) I have never tried to make either parts of the dish but I am very excited to see how everything turns out. The recipe came from Taste of Home website so I know it'll be good. Oh and I picked up a bottle of Barefoot White Zinfandel yesterday also while out shopping so hopefully that will go nicely with my dinner.

I feel like I've just made a huge decision. Like I just said yes to a proposal or something. lol.

I have my lovely new apron ready to be put to use and all but the mushrooms gathered so I'm off to the grocery. :)
Wish me luck!