Hello 2021

Hi there everyone. Well, this is the last day of 2020 and I am SO GLAD tomorrow is the new year of 2021. I do hope it will be much better then this year has been. I am sure other people have had it worse. But God, never gives us more then we can handle. Sometime I wonder how much more He will give us. I need a break from the health and financial problems we face. 

I have no plans for this new year, no goals, no desires. Although, I would like an Air Fryer, guess that is a want. I am not sure which one I will buy. Been waiting 6 months, but the money has never been there to buy one.....guess I will wait a little longer. Maybe when the stimulus $600 hits our bank account, then I will start looking. That is if we are allowed to leave our homes to shop....who knows what will happen when the changing of the guard takes place in the White House.

Not much happened today, I made some apple turnovers...that was fun, I might try cherry turnovers next. I bought a can of apple pie filling and a package of puff pastry. Cut it in 6 squares, brushed egg wash on each of the sides. Dropped some apple slices in the middle, folded them over and pressed them down with a fork, made 3 slices on top and brushed again with egg wash. 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Cooled then spooned icing on top. BAD MOVE, I COULD NOT STOP EATING THEM!!!!!!!

Made a pizza later on in the day. For JP, I made Lox and crackers with cream cheese, tomatoes and onions. JP's favorite. He usually likes bagels, but they are too hard for him to chew.

Well, now I am here, writing my last blog of the year, #25 today. Just a little lax in doing blogs this year, There was not a lot of good to write about. Hopefully things will be better in the new year. Just going to take one day at a time, one hour at a time, maybe even one step at a time, can't go no farther then that. Putting my trust in God the whole time, He knows best what is good in my life, I certainly don't. I've tried to do things my way and just made a mess of every thing. Guess now I will let Him make the calls. Who knows, this maybe the year that Jesus comes back for His church and OFF we go in a twinkling of an eye, what a day that will be.

You all take care and keep looking up, better days surely must be coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Look What I Found.....and a Blue Apron Pizza

Hi there everyone. Well, well, well, look what I found. The Original Green River!!!! Do you remember drinking Green River back in the old days? I may be dating myself, but I remember drinking this stuff with French fries at the local Walgreens. They still had the soda fountains and booths where you could sit and play the juke box via the wall selection at your booth. Yep and a big glass of Green River....those were the days.

Here's what the label reads: Green River soda was introduced to Midwestern drinkers in 1919, just as Congress was passing the 18th Amendment establishing Prohibition. When Prohibition officially went into effect on January 16, 1920, some breweries turned to making nonalcoholic drink called Near Beer, while others were churning out ice cream. The Schoenhofen Edelweiss Brewing Company of Chicago turned to Green River. The soda was poured into old beer bottles and sold in the market. It was an immediate hit. The soft drink was so popular that Al Jolson recorded a song written about Green River.

Today, we celebrate Green River's history! With an amazing visual appeal including its bright green color, the brand takes people back to a pleasant time in their life, in the 1950's and 1960's at a time of corner soda fountains and drive-in movies.

Yep....had a little glass tonight with a couple of frozen strawberries in it. Oh yummmmm.....a taste of the "good ole' days"!!!!

AND then, another glass of "Green River" with this delicious Blue Apron pizza...oh yum.

I have not talked about Blue Apron for quite awhile, that is because I have not gotten a Blue Apron box since the last week of December.....saving money and just waiting to see a few dishes that are completely different then what we have received and wanting a box that both JP AND I would enjoy together. He is getting very picky in his old age. I have to be careful that there is not too much spice.

So this pizza was very delicious, I gave it 5 stars!!! "Spinach & Fresh Mozzarella Pizza" As you can see, the sauce was on the side. The pizza is covered with cooked spinach, (I added red pepper)green pepper, olives and shallots. Topped with mozzarella, ricotta and Parmesan cheese. I have found that all Blue Apron pizzas are really good.

Well, I think I shall close this post....have been working on this particular post for a couple weeks and just saving it as a draft. So actually this is OLD news from two weeks. I do have a few post ideas up my sleeves....that's better then no posts....right???

The Blackhawks are playing tonight....so I sure do hope they win this game, they are down 2 games and if they want to stay in the playoffs, they need to win the next 4 games!!! Not sure I would make a very good coach...."you win or else....hit the road Jack and don't cha' come back no moe")

You all have a great night and keep looking up...better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

43 Years!!!!

Hi there everyone.....how you all doing??? Well, today is JP's and my anniversary....yep, we have been married 43 years!!! So hard to believe how fast that time went. We had a lot of good times and a lot of sad times, but we made it through, always following that light that shined at the end of the tunnel.

When JP and I got married, Monday, August 27, 1973....during his racing season. He did not want to take time out to get married the conventional way, in a church, white dress, reception afterward. I even had to buy my own ring. Yeah, so we quickly got married at City Hall in Chicago at 11:00am. Then at 3:00pm we were signing the closing papers for our house in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Moving into our new house that night....geez what a day!!!

His family and mine were not very happy about the plans we made.....but at that time, they were OUR Plans. Six months later, my mother threw a wedding party for JP and I. If I had it to do over again, I would have waited till he had time to get married the real way, a Church wedding, a white dress and reception and a Honeymoon to some far away place! We never did get that honeymoon....still waiting.

So the picture above is JP and I on "Awards Night" (September 22, 1973) JP won the track championship and "Most Popular Driver". This was the track championship trophy. Most popular driver trophy was a bit smaller. Yep the girls were always chasing after JP....and the men? not so much except on the track.

I just recently signed up with a group from Waukegan Speedway via Facebook and was surprised to find there were quite a few people that remembered the blue Camaro and JP Gatti. There were a few comments that said "JP used to be my hero when I was a kid". What's really funny is the kid that was JP's President of his fan club is now 47 years old. Gosh time does NOT stop for no one!!!

The evolution of a race car. The above picture was in 1972, see, no lettering or numbers....they must have just finished building this car.

Here we are....same car but the number is plastered on it.

After the 1972 season....JP and 2-3 other guys worked on and rebuilt the car to look like this....pretty snazzy huh???? The day we had this picture taken was the last time the car ever looked like this. Because that night at the races, it seemed like every single driver was out after JP and his new car trying to stop him from winning the race. She was pretty beat up that night....so glad we had pictures taken.

Yeah, those were the days with a lot of good memories. It is very interesting too, that some of the drivers JP raced against, commented or "liked" the pictures I posted.

This car went through quite a few car owners and drivers too. JP sold his share of the car to Bob W. (JP stopped racing after he won the championship, he saw a driver get killed and did not want to end up like him.) So, Bob got a new driver in 74-77. Then sold the car to Chuck B., he raced it for a couple of years (77-78) then he sold the car to Micheal M. (79-80) which ran the car at Wilmont. Then in 1980 Micheal sold the car to Don L. he had it (80-82). From there we are not sure what happened to that blue Camaro, but we know it made a lot more laps around a few tracks. Would be interesting to know how many races it won with all the owners and drivers and where it ended up.

Well, there you go, the genealogy of a '69 Camaro. Forever engrained in our minds....our wild and crazy years. Some things I wish could be done over, some things not so much....all in all, it was good.

I guess it is time to close for now, have to get an anniversary card made for JP. He bought me (actually I picked them up) a dozen red roses. I bought a pizza for tonight, JP will have lox and bagles tomorrow and maybe I will buy a piece of prime rib at Festival's tomorrow....my choice of meal if we ate out someplace. I also bought a Chocolate Cream pie from Schwan's (now that will be a real treat.) No we will not be going out to eat. Cooking at home as usual.

You all have a great day and keep looking up - better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Simple Rhubarb Crisp and a Quiche from Blue Apron

Hi there everyone. Hope you are having a good day....Friday and Sunday is coming!!!! And in between those two days is SATURDAY!!! Have to love those Saturdays. It's suppose to be in the 80's, a little bit warmer then today, but I enjoyed this day too, didn't have to put the fans on. JP finally brought up the window air conditioner....it just has to go into the window now. Maybe tomorrow.

So today I made this "Simple Rhubarb Crisp". It's kind of my recipe, mixed with another. I had a lot of frozen rhubarb in the freezer and pulled it all out....I guess I had about 9-10 cups of rhubarb. So I thought, why not make a crisp following the pie recipe I had. Here's the recipe:

Spray a 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 pan or glass dish. Mix together:
5-6 cups rhubarb, 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (one cup if you like real sweetness), 2 eggs, 1/2 cup flour, stir and pour into the sprayed pan or glass dish.

Mix together: 1/2 stick butter (softened), 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 to 3/4 cup flour, mix till crumbly and sprinkle over the rhubarb mix.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and bake 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake for 40 - 50 minutes, depends on your oven. Cool down a bit and slice, top with ice cream or whip cream...very yummy!!

My Blue Apron recipe. "Zucchini & Cherry Tomato Quiche with Tomato-Arugula Salad" Yep, this is a keeper too. The zucchini was diced, cherry tomatoes quartered. Make a paste out of the garlic by zesting it. Zest the lemon and quarter the lemon. Make a dressing with the lemon zest, 1/4 of the garlic paste and juice of all 4 lemon wedges. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the zucchini and season with salt and pepper, cook down till lightly browned and slightly softened. Add half the tomatoes and the remaining garlic paste and season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

Make the filling, crack 2 eggs in a medium bowl, beat till smooth, add 1/2 cup ricotta cheese and whisk till combined. Add the cooked vegetables, whisk well and pour into small pie shells and top with Fontina cheese and Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 425 degrees for 18 - 20 minutes till the crusts are browned and the filling is set and cooked through. Serve with lettuce and the rest of the cherry tomatoes, pour over the garlic-lemon mixture with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Yep...I would make this dish again also.

Tonight is pizza night from Schwan's and left-overs.....so JP will be eating pretty well tonight after work. I hope he appreciates me and my cooking and making sure he eats well. My only problem is I enjoy my cooking also....so hard to lose weight in this house....so maintaining is all I can muster.

Well, you all have a great evening and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise.

PS Just a note....I was so sorry to hear of the attack on innocent people in Nice, France by a truck driver. It is so sad to think these terrorist think nothing of human life. Too bad, they have been deceived by the evil one and they think killing people (and themselves) will get them "73 virgins in Heaven"........I think they shall be shocked. As per Rush Limbaugh here is his link.

Their "Koran" was wrongly translated and the "73 virgins" they think they are getting is actually "73 raisins"....what a shock!!!

I pray their eyes will be opened and Jesus will give them visions of the REAL HOLY God of the Universe and many Muslims will be saved.

Everything Green....

Hi there everyone, hope you have a great St. Patrick's Day celebration!!! I found this funny cartoon on the Internet and had to save it to my files. I wish I could say there is some Irish running in my veins, but then you never know.....maybe centuries ago someone Irish crossed the lines into Germany, but as far as I know, there is none.

When going through my files, I was wondering what I should post for St. Patrick's? Suddenly the thought of "Everything Green" came to mind, so as you scroll down, you will find everything green from my files in celebration of St. Patrick's Day

This is "Frieda the Frog". I thought she was so cute and wanted to have her in my garden last summer. But, because of sickness last year I was not able to fulfill my goal. I did find 4 tires and painted one as the base for my bird feeders. The other 3 tires are in the back yard...one is painted green, the other 2 need to be painted. I do need to find some small tires for Frieda's eyes, lashes and feet. Hopefully I can meet this goal this summer.

In this green picture is the "Flat Tummy Water" oh if only this would really work. It does look refreshing though and I may try this for sure this summer.

In this picture is the insert of one of the St. Patrick cards I made.....so Best of Luck to you with many, many Blessings too!

This file is a cute Irish leprechaun I made at Betty's house last month. I may save him for next year and give him to Hospice.....that's if I am still going to the meetings and making cards for them. Never know, things change so quickly now a days.

This card is a Birthday card I made for the grand nephew's 7th birthday. I like my birds, they are fun to work with.

Last but not least is this yummy pizza I made from Blue Apron, "White Pizza with Baked Eggs and Arugula-Brussels Sprout Salad" I am pretty sure I gave this "5 Stars." Yep this was a pretty delicious pizza.

I don't really have many plans for tomorrow...maybe work on some cards, pay some bills and cook a Blue Apron meal that will be delivered tomorrow....can hardly wait.

So there you have it, "Everything Green" for St. Patrick's Day.....hope your day is full of fun and food. Have a great day and keep looking up because better days are coming!!
Cheers ~ Louise

Stampin'Up Camp Today

Hi there everyone. Well, today I went to a Stampin'up camp....it's always fun to go to. I always end up ordering more stuff.....it can be very addicting and problem is I want everything....bad girl!!!

It was especially fun today because Kathy's husband was making pizza's from scratch, my goodness, even the dough smelt good. He made 3 pizza's with his own sauce, sliced mozzarella, mushrooms, sausage and pepperoni.......excellent pizza, I gave him 2 thumbs up and 5 stars!!! They even gave me a "take home" for JP. I managed to save him one piece of pizza, lucky him. It was a little bit too spicy for him.

So in the picture above and below is a kit that Stampin'up sends out once a month. There is enough cards and embellishments in the kit to make 6 cards. I think I will donate these cards to Hospice this week. I still have about 40 cards to put together as yet. Must get working on them this week as the meeting is this Friday. Yikes, I shall be busy, but having fun!!!

In the above card....it was rather hard to make, (and even more harder to explain) a double fold card with the "make a wish" circle coming out of the top. It is opened at the top, folding over, then the bottom opens up with the message of the card showing. That die cut flower and leaf will be my next investment. I did order the papers on this card. There is two strips of washi tape on the card also.

The card above is a man's birthday card....maybe I might give this one to Hospice also. I don't have the stamps to make another one like this....but maybe I could use a different stamp....maybe I should keep this one for a sample.

This is a fun Birthday card and cute stamp set. Another thing to think about getting.

WINNER....WINNER....CHICKEN DINNER!!!!!! I won these little buttons as a door prize. How exciting is that!!!! Very seldom do I win something and when I do it is a shock to my system!!!

So this week.....Monday, we have to take our car in to get the left and right blinkers fixed. One day they work and the next moment they don't....so best to get them fixed so they work all the time and hopefully it won't cost too much to get repaired.

Tuesday, I am going to see about getting a mortgage through our bank and hopefully at a lower interest rate and payment. We shall see what transpires.

Wednesday and Thursday is free, I may be doing cards those days. Because Friday is my Hospice meeting. Geez, the week went fast, and it is Saturday already, if I did not finish putting together my income tax this week, this will be the day to finish them for sure!!! Because next Monday I take the taxes in for the accountant to work on them....hopefully we get a refund.

Well, time to close here, goodness, it's 10:30pm already, so you have a great week and keep looking up.....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

A Foodie Blog Today........

Hi there everyone....how is your week going. Gosh, these days are flying by. Before you know it, winter will be over and Spring will be here. I know, rushing things a bit here, can hardly wait to start sitting out on the front porch and taking in some warm sun.

So, I guess I must entertain myself by cooking, making cards, blogging and what ever comes up. Yesterday I went on Ebay and got in on a bid for some vintage Tupperware measuring cups. Yep, I still use those cups and for some odd reason, the "1 cup" measuring cup disappeared. I looked high and low for it but could not find it. Only thing I can figure, it got thrown out.....geez, now who would do that???? Certainly was not Kylie my dog....only two other people I can think of is JP and me???????

I don't know, I suppose I could have gone to the store and bought a new set of measuring cups, but I like my orange Tupperware measuring cups.....and to think, they are VINTAGE for goodness sakes. I can't be that old.

So anyways, I went on Ebay to see if I could find my measuring cups and sure enough, there they were, 6 cups for (1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 and 1 cup) for $19.88, yep.....that much!! Well, then I found a seller and the bid was $5.50, so I bided $6, then $6.50 but lost that one. Then I found another seller for $5.99 but he only had 5 cups, the 1/4 cup was missing....that was okay cause I have one. I ended up winning that bid....it never went higher then $5.99 and no one else was bidding. YAY!!! probably cause it was missing the 1 cup measuring cup. Well, I am happy....that was kind of fun though....I just may go back to Ebay and look for something else for the fun of bidding for something.

So following are a few meals I made from Blue Apron, here is their site, in the last month or so. I might have posted about these next two meals.....but they so impressed me, that I just may make them again.

The pizza above has a white sauce of ricotta cheese, lemon zest and juice of 2 lemons spread on the pizza then the cheese, onions, garlic topped the pizza, baked then the eggs were added and baked some more then taken out of the oven and arugula and Brussel sprouts with the juice of 1 lemon was added to the pizza.....Yum and very good pizza if you are not wanting tomato sauce.

This meal was very good too. I am really loving polenta, very yummy when cheese and butter is added then topped with your favorite meat or veggies. In this recipe, ground chicken and spices mixed together and rolled into balls, fried then kale and garlic was added and seasoned with salt and pepper, stirring till the kale is wilted then the tomatoes  and water was added and cooked down till thickened. Then topped on the polenta and Parmesan cheese added for the garnish.

In these two pictures were some real tasty meals. The top picture is "Steak Tacos & Mole Verde with Radishes and Avocado" OOOOH my was this good and to top it off, the steak was so tender and yummy, for sure I will make this one again. The mole verde sauce was 4 ounces tomatillos, pumpkin seeds, cilantro and the juice of lime wedges, salt and pepper. Oh that was so good, the radishes and avacodos topped the steak and sauce and the tortillas were warmed in the pan. I really like this meal and will most definitely make it this dish again.

I made this recipe tonight.....I love their chicken wings...."Spicy Orange Chicken Wings with Shiitake-Sesame Rice" Man this was good...my temptation was not to eat JP's share of chicken wings. The wings were baked in the oven then the sauce of soy glaze, orange marmalade and sambal oelek was added...I only added a tiny bit of the hot sauce....and it was just enough to give a tiny kick. JP can't take hot stuff anymore....so this was just right. The jasmine rice was delicious too. Dried Shiitake Mushroons were added to the rice along with the garlic and scallion and sesame oil, cooked then simmer.....yep, rice was good. Just the right tastes to make a good meal.

I may not be getting any Blue Apron boxes till March....so you may not be seeing any meals for awhile. I do have one more meal in the refrigerator....Goat Cheese and Kale Quish....which should be good.

I saw a recipe on Pinterest today.....I like those mug cakes and found a recipe for pizza in a mug....I really need to try this some time. Here is the recipe if you would like to try it for yourself.

4 T. flour
1/8 teasp. baking powder
1/16 teasp. baking soda
1/8 teasp. salt
3 T. milk
1 T. olive oil
1 T. marinara sauce
1 generous T shredded mozzarella cheese
5 mini pepperone
1/2 teasp. dried Italian herbs.

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a microwavable mug. Add in the milk, oil and whisk together. There might be a few lumps, but that is okay.

Spoon on the marinara sauce and spread it around the surface of the batter. Prinkle on the cheese, pepperoni and dried herbs.

Microwave for 1 minute, 10-20 seconds, or until it rises up and the topping is bubbling (timing is based on a 1200W microwave so your timing might vary). Always keep a close eye on your mug while in the microwave so it doesn't over flow or over cook.

So there you have it, my foodie blog, I guess I could go on, but one must stop somewhere. You all have a great day and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Garlic ~ Garlic ~ Garlic

Hi there everyone.....guess I have been "missing in action" again. I have noticed that a lot of blog friends have also taken time off from their blogs....guess we are all busy with life.

I have been doing pretty much the same thing every day. Cooking, dishes, making cards, computer stuff, working on income tax, staying warm, walking Kylie, shopping, Doctor appointments, etc. Oh, then there is sleeping and day dreaming about spring....yeah, I will be glad when this snow is gone. I have been feeling much better compared to last year this time....not suffering from hernia problems, looking back, I can see that all my sickness was related to the hernia.

In the following pictures are some "cooking techniques" I learned. How I have always struggled with garlic....peeling, breaking a part and peeling again. Well, my world has changed. Take a whole garlic clove and place it in a container or jar and SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE!!!!! I forget where I learned this, might have been on Facebook.

And wa-la......your cloves have broken up and broken apart from each other, so much so, that the paper thin skins actually come off. This a picture of the cloves at the bottom of the container.

In this picture below, you can see how the clove broke apart....so ingenious, don't know why I never thought of this. Blue Apron always sends a whole clove of garlic in their boxes, even if the recipe calls for 3-6 cloves, you get one whole clove. So needless to say, I have lots of garlic in the refrigerator. AND I use lots of garlic in my meals. Also, added to my cooking utensils, is a new garlic press that minces and slices....paid $20 for it, but it sure works beautifully and will probably last the rest of my life..

In this picture is one of my Blue Apron recipes this past week. This was so yummy. "White Pizza with Baked Eggs and Arugula-Brussels Sprout Salad." The white sauce is 1/2 cup ricotta cheese, lemon zest, and the juice of 2 lemon wedges, a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper mixed together and spread on the pizza. The pizza was then topped with onions, sliced garlic and mozzarella. Bake the pizza for 10 minutes then add the eggs, bake till the eggs are done the pull out the pizza and add your salad and Brussel sprouts that were drizzled with lemon wedges, oil and salt and pepper. Yep, this was a 5 star pizza.

In this picture was our Sunday Dinner. "Roast Pork with Sauteed Spinach and Olive Smashed Potatoes." The pork was salt and peppered and browned on all sides then put in the oven for 20 minutes. The temp inside must be 145 degrees to be done. Potatoes were cooked then mashed, olives, sour cream and half the garlic chives and juice of 2 lemon wedges were added. The spinach was cooked in the pan that the pork was cooked in till wilted and the lemon zest added. Yep, another 5 star meal.

The third meal was "Chicken Meatballs and Creamy Polenta with Tomato Sugo & Lacinato Kale." Love the polenta which is just "corn meal" added to boiling water, add some butter, salt and pepper to taste. I have at times added minced garlic and Parmesan cheese for an extra touch. The meat balls were made with breadcrumbs, spice, half the Parmesan cheese and garlic. Mix together then fried till brown. The kale and rest of the garlic was added and cooked down. Tomatoes added and salt and pepper added. (I do watch the salt and pepper and do not add as much as the recipe calls for), So the meatballs, kale and tomatoes are added on top of the polenta and topped with Parmesan cheese. Yep, another 5 star recipe.

I have been busy making cards....in my next post, I will put some cards up that I have been working on. My Hospice meeting is this Friday, so I have been busy making Valentine and St. Patrick cards along with Birthday, Thank You and Thinking of you cards.

I found a few cute stamps at Michael's...a flamingo and a pineapple.....so yeah, I will take pictures of those cards for sure, they turned out really cute.

Well, I guess I will close here for now, I need to get downstairs and make a few more cards to finish up the Hospice cards for Friday's meeting.

Have a great day and keep looking up...Cheers ~ Louise

Christmas, Pizza and Cards......

Hi there everyone. Goodness, it has been a week since my last post...time is a'flying! Hope your Christmas plans are shaping up and you are getting everything done that needs to get done. When you are finished you can "R-E-L-A-X" and enjoy the season and the real reason we celebrate this time of year. Yeah, all the fan-fare and busy-ness of the season sure can take our eyes off of what is important.

Have you not heard????? "JESUS....is the reason for the season". I am glad I don't have to worry about getting presents for everyone.....just a few gifts for JP, Kylie, sent off Pop's gift in Las Vegas, got my cards made and sent off, baked cookies and decorate the house.....whew....almost done with 9 days left till Christmas. Why do I put myself through all this busy-ness???? I don't know why, guess I just get caught up in it all, trying to make Christmas special even though it is not that much any more. It's for the kids anyways.

So in the picture below is my little Christmas tree....this year, I decided the tree will be in all blues....hard to tell that the blue and white lights are on...but they are. I have the same blue and white lights on the front porch....so pretty. After Christmas I will put up red and white lights for the Valentines.....love my little Christmas tree, it is so very hard to take downstairs after the season. If I could find green and white lights, I would leave my tree up till St. Patrick's.....hahahahaha!

In the picture below is my Blue Apron pizza...gosh was this ever delicious....I shall make it again. "Roasted Sweet Potato & Caramelized Onion Pizza" and oh....it was so yummy the next day too. Sweet potatoes were peeled and sliced and layered on a cookie sheet, a little salt and pepper and olive oil for 12 minutes or so at a 475 oven. Then cooled and transferred to a bowl. The pan was then used for the pizza dough, spread out to the size I wanted then topped with the béchamel sauce, 2 T oil, 2 T flour and cook, stirring 1-2 minutes till golden brown, milk, lemon zest and 1/4 cup of water was added then the juice of 2 lemon wedges and seasoned with salt and pepper. The sauce got thick and then spread on the dough.

Then topped with the sliced sweet potatoes, caramelized onions, garlic, oregano and fontina cheese. After the pizza baked, the arugula and remaining cheese was added to the pizza. Oh yum...I will do this again. If you would like the recipe just google the recipe name and google will take you directly to Blue Apron and the recipe and you can make this pizza yourself. Again...it was absolutely delicious.

In the picture below is a card a made for a blog friend. Her husband just died recently. I think this has to be one of the prettiest cards I have ever made....was really happy how this card turned out.

This card is for the groomer who does my Kylie's hair every 8 weeks. I picked up a new cuttlebug folder....if you can see it...little paw prints. The snowman is a Christmas napkin and the doggies are stamped, colored and cut out.

This is another new Cuttlebug folder and all I did was use speckles and smooch pens.

In this card, I used some plumbers tape, ran it though my Cuttlebug then added a die-cut tree and stars for decorations. If you can see it, there is a ribbon running down the middle of the card.

The picture below is another Christmas napkin. I use the first layer of the napkin and lay that on a piece of card stock that was covered completely with a glue stick. Smooth it out as best you can without tearing the napkin. Let it dry then cut it the shape you want. I then added speckles to pop out the candy cane, snowman and holly leaves.

I this picture, is the same technique....but I used a Christmas tree. A friend gave me some of her napkins....this is one of them and guess what....she will receive her napkin back in the form of a Christmas Card. I guess that is called "re-purposing".

So tomorrow is my card making outing at Betty's. We are all suppose to bring something to eat that will go along with her pulled pork....oh yum. So I will bring a "Grains and Quinoa Salad" and "Cucumber sandwiches" (of course...pictures to follow soon).

Well, time to close here....the debate is starting and I need to watch that. Finish my Quinoa Salad and type a few letters tonight to friends.

Have a great evening and keep looking up....things will get better.
Cheers ~ Louise

Busy Making Cards and FOOD!!

Hi there everyone...hope you had a wonderful weekend....it flew by fast, didn't it?? I was busy making cards and food this weekend. Guess I must have definitely gotten my Mojo back for card making and cooking since my hernia surgery.

Cooked up a "pumpkin pie" pumpkin and spaghetti squash (sorry no pictures.) I still have 4 pumpkins yet to bake and make pumpkin bread or pies...yummy. I found a really good recipe for the pumpkin bread, very simple and easy to make. I will leave you the recipe at the end of this post.

So Thursday JP and I went to the dentist to get our teeth cleaned. While Sue was cleaning my teeth, (I don't know how we got on the subject,) but she mentioned wanting some "apple" cards to give to her patients when she hears they are sick or whatever. I mentioned that I make cards...."Oh, could you make some for me???" She wanted cute cards with an apple, (this is what I came up with so far.) I borrowed an apple stamp from my friend Betty....so I could get a variety of apple cards for Sue. So this is just the beginning.

I want to make a lot of these apple cards, as I plan to put a set of 4 cards in my Etsy store for $12.00 + shipping. That would be $3.00 per card. If I make enough of these cards, perhaps I may donate some to Hospice for next month. They are very cheery....don't you think??

I went on Hallmark.com today to see what kind of cards they have and what their prices are going for. My goodness the prices are really high. I saw a cute card with a snowman on it and they were asking $6.99....yikes!!! Selling my cards is cheap, cheap!!!

So these 3 cards were simple to make. I stamped the apple, ladybug and sun. Using copic markers, I colored in the apple and ladybug, the sun is stamped. Then I sprayed the apples with iridescent spray, layered on black card stock then on the card itself. The second card was layered on silver card stock that was run through my cuttlebug with an embossing folder. I had some sticky silver paper, and thought I would use that for a couple of cards. I liked the way they turned out too.

I also have an order for Snowman Christmas cards...not sure how many as yet...so I have been busy making those also and again, I want to make lots of them so I can put some of the snowmen in my Etsy store and donate  a few to Hospice. Yes, I shall be busy this whole month, making cards. Making up for lost time.

Made this meal on Friday with Blue Apron.....this was yummy, I could not stop eating these Spicy Korean Chicken Wings....man they were good. I shall make these again for sure.

MMMMM my mouth waters as I look at these pictures!!!!! Actually went to Penzey's Spice store and bought some black and white sesame seeds for my next Korean Chicken Wing dinner.

Saturday morning I made a ham, egg, cheese and potato cup cake breakfast, (again, sorry no pictures) They did not last long....pretty good. Saturday afternoon I baked the pumpkin, thinking I would make a pie, but ended up making pumpkin bread. Then Saturday evening I made a pizza.

Today I made Lasagna Soup....oh gosh was that good, tonight's dinner was chicken, hash browns, spaghetti squash and salad. Yep, we ate well today.

So here is the recipe for the "So Easy Pumpkin Bread"
2 cup cooked or canned pumpkin
2/3 cup olive oil (recipe called for 1 cup oil)
1 cup sugar (recipe called for 3 cups)
4 eggs
3 cups flour (recipe called for 3 1/4 cup flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (shelled) this was not in the recipe, I added, just because I wanted to, so I guess this could be optional.
2 tsp. Pumpkin Spice (I got this at Penzey's Spice store)
(recipe called for 1 tsp. each of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon)

Sift ingredients together. Mix pumpkin, oil, sugar and beaten eggs. Stir in flour mixture. Bake in 3 loafs at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes.

Yep....this is a keeper for sure. So much better when you cook up  your own pumpkin.

Well, you all have a great evening....what's left of it. Enjoy this new week and keep looking up.....better days are a coming!!
Cheers ~ Louise