Some Cards & Sourdough Muffins

Hi there everyone...how you all doing this 1st day of the Merry Month of May???? We are still in quarantine till the end of May. I must say....Been doing a lot of baking and cooking of different things. Been really having fun using my sourdough starter. She was in the fridge for a couple of days and I brought her out today to warm her up and then take 1 cup out, gave her another feeding and will probably put her back in the fridge for a couple of days. I will be needing some bread in a couple of days. Still have some buns in the freezer, so that will be good for a couple of days. 

While doing this post, I am in the midst of making "easy sourdough muffins" (okay I am back, another pan of muffins going in the oven). I will give you the recipe at the end of this post.

So these two cards, I made Wednesday night. The top one is going to my brother-in-law down in Illinois. I really like the way it turned out....very manly-man card. It's a die-cut, forget the name of who makes it. I just taped it to white card stock then used copic markers to color in the triangles and squares (guess there are not too many squares)...kinda fun to do, very relaxing. The Happy Birthday is a die-cut also, used sparkly paper, then glued the back to the top of the card.

The Hello card below is done the same way, except in pinks, blues and lavenders. The Hello is a die-cut done in silver. I then added gems to embellish the card. The card is going down to Indiana to a fellow blogger....she has been missing from blogland for a month or so....found out her computer pooped out. Gosh, being in quarantine and not able to be on the computer, that's got to be a double whammy!!!!

So here is what my muffins look like...not quite.....lol!!! Picture looks good though, doesn't it??? I shall have to try one before I end this post and give you a rating!!!

These easy sourdough muffns use up some discard to give your muffins a delicious sourdough taste!

This recipe is for a 10-12 muffins. 
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 c. sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 large egg, room temperature
1/3 c whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c liquid fat(oil, or melted butter, shortening, lard or coconut oil) 1/2 c. sourdough discard (make sure you stir down the bubbles before measuring.)

1. Preheat oven 425 degrees, Line a muffin tine with muffin liners or spray with nonstick spray.
2. Mix Dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
3. Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, vanilla, oil and sourdough discard until well combined.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients together, stir with spoon or spatula until well combined. The batter will be lumpy. Do not over-mix or the muffins will become tough. If using, fold in any add-ins.
(blueberries, raisins, chocolate chips, etc.) I topped the muffins with a butter, flour, sugar crumble. (this mixture added to the muffin very nicely. I usually use this crumble for my apple pies)
5. Divide the batter evenly between the 10-12 muffin cups.
6. Bake at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes and then turn the oven heat down to 350 degrees for about 5-7 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.

Okay, these muffins were dangerously delicious, cooled down with a smear of butter....ummmmm....not thinking there are too many calories in these muffins....but they sure were GOOOOOOOD!!

I am rating these muffins from a 1-10??? I think they are a 10

Well hopefully JP will have enough goodies to last him for the week end. Chocolate chip cookies from Schwans, one donut and some soft sourdough cookies from last week.

Well time to close here....did lots of stuff today and I guess I am a little tired....so much to do so little time. Looks like it is time to work outside and do some planting...maybe some radishes and spinach...cold weather stuff that grows better in the early spring.

Keep looking up better days are coming and us prisoners will be set free!!!! Yes, free at last!!! Cheers ~ Louise 

Doing Christmas - Cards, Eggs & Votives

Hi there everyone. Gosh...Christmas is getting away with us isn't it....8 more days and all this rush, rush, will be over with. I have everything done that needs to be done. Decorations up, cards out, cookies made.

I did make some interesting cookies the other day and they were very simple...I should take a picture before they all disappear. Ritz crackers, spread with peanut butter then made into sandwiches,  dunked in melted chocolate then covered with sprinkles and refrigerated. I already gave some to the Schwan's man...he said they were right up his alley. He likes Ritz crackers, peanut butter and chocolate....who doesn't huh????

My next project will be to make "MaMa's Cookies" I had a taste of them this past Wednesday at our Card Making Christmas Party. One of the ladies who is from Denmark, made them...gosh were they good, like little pancakes. Lis gave me the recipe after she changed it from grams to ozs. Think I will make them tomorrow or Monday.

In the above picture are the little votives I made for the ladies. Aren't they cute. The die cut is from Tim Holtz, called "Trees" I then ran some vellum through the cuttlebug with the embossing folder from Stampin'up called "Snowflakes" (I think) I added a punched out circle for the moon. Glued the trees and vellum together and wrapped it around the votive. They liked it....Betty wants to borrow my die cut....she must have a great idea to use with it. Can hardly wait to see what she comes up with.

In the above picture are the cards I gave the ladies or close to it. (these cards are going into my Etsy store after I do this post.) I brought samples of the paper and showed them how I made the tree....I am sure they all will be making these trees also.

This is what I brought to the party. "Angel Eggs" or famously known as Deviled Eggs. Betty had Ham, buns and cranberry sauce. Sue brought bacon wrapped chestnuts in BBQ sauce. Lis brought the Mama Cookies and Joan brought crackers and liver paste.....everything was delicious and all blended well with each other. I am thinking there were no calories in any of the food we ate....lol...kidding of course!!!

These are a few of the cards we made. The chickadee in the top picture. Colored in with Copic markers....Betty gave us bow makers that she made....so we can make our own bows now. She also gave us a BIG spool of ribbon.....I got yellow ribbon. So you may just see many cards made with yellow ribbon. A good Easter and Spring color.

This card was absolutely beautiful. The picture does not do it justice though. The background is gold sparkle paper. The poinsettia was stamped with "Staz-on" on one side of the acetate and we colored the other side with copic markers. Otherwise mixing Alcohol ink with Staz-on would smear. Sure is a beautiful card. I may just keep this card and frame it. Lis made a beautiful card also that is worthy of being framed....I have a bunch of frames in the basement. That should be one of my projects this winter, framing cards.

Apparently I did not take a picture of the other cards that were made. That will be for another post in a few days. I was only able to make 3 cards....the 4th card, I had to leave otherwise I would be late getting home and making JP's lunch and fixing him something to eat before he leaves for work. Sometimes.....it is just plan hard sharing a car....but in the end, it is cheaper....gas, insurance and car repairs would be doubled I guess.

Well, I guess I will cut this post short....it's getting kind of late and I need to get downstairs and ride my bike for a couple of miles. Been very laxed in doing that lately. I really need to try and lose 10 - 20 pounds this winter. I know I would feel better and maybe my blood sugars would not be so high.

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

Yep...I have been missing again!

Hi there everyone.....yep...as my title says, I have been missing again. Mostly because, for the past week my computer and TV has been acting up. OH I have tried EVERYTHING, pulling plugs, cleaning files and cookies, optimized, checking this plug and that plug. FINALLY I analyzed that it had to be AT&T and something in their system. MY COMPUTER WAS CLEAN!!!!! The TV is old but it kept freezing up and then would give me a message of what I had to do. So finally I called AT&T....a call I dread. BUT they fixed the problem and everything is working again. FOR NOW. I tell ya...the trouble one must go through to get things to work again!!!!

Well, on to nicer things. tomatoes growing....oh yum I can hardly wait for those BLT's!!!!!

This is a meal I made for JP last week.....I was getting silly and this looked so much like the jolly green giant....had to embellish him with some eyes and mouth.

For our 43rd wedding anniversary.......I bought a dozen red roses for $2.98......yep that is right, not a bad price huh????

This is the wonderful chocolate cream pie I bought from Schwans....swoonnnnnnnn. I shall order this again. We ate it while frozen, so it was like eating ice cream.

Saturday's special lunch for JP was Lox, bagels, cream cheese, onions and tomatoes oh and vegies and dip. Lox and bagels is one of his favorite meals.

Here is the card I made for JP.....a light house.......Jesus is the light of the world!!

Today we had our teeth cleaned....I had a clean bill of health and JP needs 3 teeth filled. We are still waiting to hear when JP's appointment for a biopsy of the prostrate is. I will be having a mammogram this month also....yeah I thought we could be done with Doctors for awhile...but no, not this month.

Well, time to close here....have to go ride my bike for a couple of miles. Have a great day and keep looking up....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

A Shorty Blog 2 Day!

Hi everyone. Hope your day is going well. It's sort of dreary today, not sure if there is more rain in the forecasts or not....but I think we have had enough. Had to transplant 2 tomato plants cause there were no holes in the bottom of the planter for the rain water to drain. So I bought 3 new colorful planters, 2 orange planters and 1 fuchsia planter. Along with 4 new tomato cages, a red, green, yellow and orange cage, new color added to a garden always makes for happy tomatoes. Don't you think???


I was going to post my strawberry picking from last night. But for some odd and unknown reason Blogger.com is not letting me download my pictures onto this post. I have hunted all over this site to see what the problem is and can't seem to find it. I've even shut down the computer hoping there was a small kink and that it would clear it up once coming on again. What in the world changes from one day to the next.....is hard to explain and beyond my computer savey. Must be some kind of curse!!! I know....an Internet curse and some hacker is playing games with me again!!!! Honestly, I keep to myself and hopefully don't bother anyone, but there still seems to be a problem with this computer. Please Viruses and Hackers leave me alone!!!


Maybe it is just the weather and things will be better tomorrow.....I hope.


Well, nothing much going on. I need to take Kylie for a walk and get back before the Schwans Man shows up.....mmmm...getting some golden nugget ice cream bars tonight.....my guilty pleasure!!! Along with some sweet potato and regular fries. Yep...simple meals this weekend. Hamburgers, fries and salad, eggs and bacon, cheese omelets and pizza and maybe a soup of some kind.


Still need to plant a few things, two more tomato plants and some white sunflowers....and start weeding the front yard.....it's a mess that I have just not wanted to tackle, but it must be tackled sooner or later.


So you all have a great weekend and keep looking up.....here's to sunny blue skies and puffy white clouds are in our near future!!! Cheers ~ Louise