Pam's Cheesecake

I made this cheesecake for our scrapbooking week-end.  It was so yummy!  The recipe is from the blog whatever that is posted in my sidebar.  If I can make it, you can too!

Have a great day!

Karin

Philly Beef-Stuffed Sandwich

Here's what we had for lunch on the Saturday of our scrapbooking week-end.   A Philly Beef-Stuffed sandwich, pineapple that was a little too ripe, broccoli/cauliflower salad, kettle chips and olive dip.  The sandwich recipe is below. 

1 cup green pepper, chopped

3/4 cup onion, chopped

1 tablespoon, vegetable oil

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1 teaspoon dried oregano, divided

2 packages (10 oz.) pizza crust

8 ounces thinly sliced deli roast beef

8 ounces thinly sliced American cheese

1 egg white, slightly beaten

1 tablespoon water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat oil over medium heat in frying pan.

Add garlic, pepper, onion and

1/2 teaspoon oregano to oil.  Cook until vegetables are tender. 

Unroll 1 pizza crust onto floured surface.

Roll out into a rectangle.  Cover with 1/2 of beef, cheese, and vegetable mixture to within 1/2 inch of edge. 

Starting with the longest size of the rectangle, roll up the dough. 

Press seams together to seal.  Repeat with remaining pizza crust and ingredients.  Place seam side down on baking pan.  Beat egg white and water together.  Brush mixture on dough.  Sprinkle with remaining oregano.  Bake 20 - 25 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

This is what it looks like when it comes out of the oven.

Have a great day!

Karin

Swifter Love!

A few years ago, I went over to a really nice lady's house.  She had yummy food and her house was decorated so nicely.  And then it happened... I noticed dust bunnies all over her ceiling - YUCK!  (Don't worry, it wasn't anyone that could possibly be reading this blog.)  So, from then on, I started to take a really good look - UP - when I do my cleaning.  It occurred to me, the other day, that my Swifter might work really well on the ceiling - and it did!  My friend Pam sold me on the Swifter years ago and now I love it even more!

Have a nice day!

Karin 

Scrap Happy!

Last week-end I went to Minneapolis for my bi-annual scrapbooking week-end with friends.  Most of us stay at my parent's condo - everyone, but Chris, because she lives nearby.  We all bring food to share and then go out to dinner on Saturday night. 

These pictures are from our spring get together, but it's all pretty much the same each time.   Pam's sister, Anne, usually joins us for dinner on Saturday night, but it was snowing this time, so she stayed home.  We were planning on going to The Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, but it had closed down so we ate at the new restaurant that was there - Kiernan's Pub.  It was good.

This is Lana.  She just had her fourth son in September.  What an incredible husband to let Lana join us and leave him with their 4 boys!  Lana has her own business selling jewelry.

This is Robin.  Robin is an outdoors women, so it's always good when the weather is bad for scrapbooking... she doesn't feel bad about being inside working on her albums.  Robin has 3 kids and is a school nurse.

This is me.  I love our scrapbooking week-ends because they make me keep my kid's albums up-to-date.   Plus, it's always so much fun being with these ladies!

This is Pam.  Our husbands used to work together and that's how we became friends.  Now that we live 5 hours apart, these scrapbooking week-ends help keep our friendship going.  Pam has 3 children, homeschools 2 of them and is a homeschool teacher in the public school system - imagine that!

This is my cousin Chris.  Chris works as a consultant in the accounting field and has her masters in Library Science.  She has a precious cat at home that is her sweetie.

Pam, Chris and I have been getting together for scrapbooking at my parent's condo for 9 years now.  It such a fun event to look forward to each spring and fall.  We eat good food, have a bunch of laughs and get a little work done too!

Have a great day!

Karin

She's Not Fat-i-gued!

In Aesop's fable The Tortoise and the Hare, we learn that hard work and perseverance bring reward. 

This story is about a girl (who, by-the-way, has a turtle collection that was started by her grandmother years ago) that has learned this lesson for herself.

Blossom #1 has worked very hard to become a better reader.  In first and second grades, she was in Reading Recovery and then Title I.  By 7th grade, she had improved a lot, but half way through 7th grade we decided to homeschool her, so she could get even better at reading.  She read and read and read, and has become a better reader.  Now in high school, she gets almost all As.

In 7th grade, Blossom #1  joined the Cross Country team.  Even though she was usually one of the last to finish, she LOVED it!  In 9th grade her running improved and she was voted Most Improved with the most impact for the team.

When the Cross Country season was over last year, Blossom #1 kept on running right through the winter.  She also started doing some upper body exercises, ran her summer miles, cut out all junk food and ran 5 road races.  And, this season, she qualified for the state competition and was the Most Valuable on the team.  She worked hard and she deserved it.  In the state competition, which her team also qualified for, she came in 25th and the team came in 6th.

 One day on the bus going to a Cross Country meet, Blossom #1 asked what "fatigue" means.  She mispronounced the word and it sounded like "fat-a-gue".  (I guess we still need to work on her reading skills.)  Anyway, her teammate pronounced the word properly to her, but it didn't end there... fat-i-gue and fat-i-gued became the team words that they had soooo much fun with.  And, Blossom #1 took all of the fun like a good sport!  Blossom # 1 is amazing and she's not fat-i-gued of running yet... she's running the Drumstick Dash on Thursday! 

Have a great day!

Karin



Swedish Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes

I'm 7/8 Norwegian and 1/8 Swedish.  And, I'm going to say, I certainly love Swedish meatballs much more than I do Lutefisk!  Even if you're not Swedish, you can still enjoy this meal!

Mix the meatball ingredients together and chill for 2 hours.  And, yes, I use my hands to mix the meatballs!  I scrub my hands clean before and after.

Form meat into balls and place on a jelly roll pan.  I spray the pan with Pam or use parchment paper so that the meatballs don't stick.  Bake for 45 minutes at 325 degrees.

Save the drippings for the gravy!



Here's what I do... I put the meatballs in a crock pot.

And, then, I pour the gravy over the meatballs.  At this point, I either put them in the refrigerator for the next day or I get them heating for later in the day.

While the meatballs are baking, I make the gravy.  I'm not going to show so many pictures of the gravy, but these are the 2 most important things:  a large skillet and the utensil for stirring the gravy pictured above.  The directions are below the recipe.

Meatballs:   2        Pounds Ground Beef
                    1        Pound Ground Pork Sausage
                    1        Cup Minced Onion 
                    2        Eggs
                    1        Cup Milk
                    1 1/2  Cups Bread Crumbs
                    2        Tablespoons Parsley
                    1        Teaspoon Salt
                    1/2     Teaspoon Pepper
                    1        Teaspoon Allspice
                    2        Teaspoons Worcestershire

Gravy:        1/2      Cup Flour
                   4         T. Butter
                   3         Cups Skim Milk
                   2         Cans Campbell's Healthy
                              Requests Cream of Mushroom
                  1 1/2   Cups Sour Cream
                           1         T. Better Than Beef Bouillon
                           1         t. Dill Weed
                  1         t. Salt
                  1/2      t. Pepper

Melt the butter in a large skillet on low.  Mix the flour and 2 cups of milk in a separate bowl.  Add the other cup of milk to the butter.  Now add the flour/milk mixture to the butter and milk.  Stir to blend.  Add remaining ingredients, plus the meatball drippings.  Stir until blended and as thick as you like.  Turn the heat up and add a little flour if you like your gravy thicker.  If you are going to eat soon, add meatballs to the gravy and let simmer until completely cooked.  If you are going to eat the next day, put meatballs in a crock pot and then pour the gravy on top.  I like to do this for a Sunday noon dinner.  Have the meatballs warming in the crock pot and the potatoes warming in the oven while we are at church.  Come home, heat up some vegetables and bread, and in no time have a wonderful meal!  **  For some reason, my gravy ingredients won't line up.  On my work space, it looks great, but then when I post the information,  it scrambles.    

Here's my favorite make ahead Mashed Potato recipe:

5    Pounds Potatoes
6    Ounces Cream Cheese (I use 1/3 less fat.)
1    Cup Sour Cream (I use light.)
2    Teaspoons Onion Salt
1    Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
2    Tablespoons Butter

Cook peeled potatoes in boiling, salted water until tender.  Drain and mash until smooth.  Add remaining ingredients and beat until light and fluffy.  Can be refrigerated up to 2 weeks.  To use, bake at 350 degrees until hot - about 45 minutes.  Or, if you'll be at church, heat on a lower temperature for a longer time.

I hope you enjoy this meal!

Karin

                
                 

Dear God,

Thank you for another beautiful fall day!  Each nice day you bless me with helps make the approaching Minnesota winter more tolerable.  You've teased me this fall with a few cold blustery days.  And, I've thought, this is it - winter is here, but then you pour out your blessings with more beautiful days.  Those blustery cold days were your reminders for me to enjoy the beautiful days.  You know that the winter is hard on me and that I want to move because of it, but you brought me here and you must want me to stay.  So, thank you Lord, for one more beautiful day!

In Jesus' name I pray.  Amen.

Have a great day!

Karin

He Melts My Heart!

This is Blossom #3.  He's very polite, generous, likes to have fun and eat good food, and he's not too worried about what people think of him - he's his own man.  He's a kid that has always made my life easy and I love him for that!

  For Halloween, he wanted to be something scary!

Not too long ago, my husband was talking rude to me at the dinner table in front of my favorite Blossoms.  He apologized later, but not in front of the Blossoms.  I told him he should really be apologizing to me in front of the Blossoms, since he was rude to me in front of them.  So, later, when we were all in the livingroom, my husband apologized.  Blossom #3 stood up, went over to my husband, patted him on the back and said "now that's what I call being a man".  It was so Blossom #3!

Blossom #3 was a dinosaur lover.  He played with dinosaur toys and we read dinosaur books over and over.  Even though he has outgrown playing with dinosaurs, he still wanted to watch Jurassic Park.  Finally, this past summer, my husband decided that Blossom #3 was old enough to watch this movie and they watched it together.  He loved it!

Have a great day!

Karin 

Gus is Back!

 Gus with his 2nd place ribbon.  Sofie received 1st place.

The contest was held by Blossom #4 and her friend.

Last April our neighbor's dog, Gus, kept coming to visit us and we kept bringing him home.  On May 3rd, I decided to stop bringing him home.  I thought, if the neighbors want him, they know where he is.  And so, Gus lived with us for 3 months.  He played with the kids, ran with Blossom #1 and chased birds with our dog, Sofie. 

Then, on July 28th, Gus disappeared.  We drove around the area looking for him, but didn't find him.  I thought that he had just gone off and died.  I was sad.

Then about a week ago, we got a call asking if we were missing our dog. I had recently seen Blossom #4 with Sofie.  She had Sofie dressed in a costume, so I thought that Sofie may have run off.  So, I said "does she have a costume on?"   The caller said I'm talking about Gus.  Gus, our neighbor's missing dog.  The caller, who lives about 7 miles away, said that Gus had moved to one of his neighbor's house and they named him Bob.  Then "Bob" started visiting the caller's yard.  The owner's of "Bob" couldn't keep him home and didn't want him any more.

It so happens that the caller's son lives down the road from us and he had seen Gus at his son's house.  He said he was pretty sure that it was Gus, because he responds to Gus, better than Bob.  The caller did not want to keep Gus, since he already has two dogs, so he called the original owner to see if he wanted his dog back.  The original owner did not want his dog back.  So the caller decided to see if we wanted the dog, otherwise he was going to bring Gus to the dog pound.  I said, sure, we'll take him - without even telling my husband.  So, Gus was delivered to our house.

Gus stayed 2 nights and then returned to the caller's house.  (As soon as he was here, I made an appointment to get him neutered.)  The caller returned him to our house and suggested that we chain him up.  We got a collar for him, but didn't chain him up.

Well, the Gus saga continues.  Yesterday, Blossom #4 said to me "mom, what's this note on Gus' collar?"  On Gus' collar was a piece of duct tape with a note.  It said: Next time your dog will have a bullet between the eyes keep your dog home.  Oh my gosh, so violent!  The person that wrote the note had to have known how sweet the dog is just from putting the note on. 

Gus is so sweet and happy.  In fact, Blossom #1 said she doesn't like Gus because he's so happy and grateful.  I loved when Gus would sit with me in the garden while I worked.  The thing about Gus that I love the most is the way he eats.  He eats like me... just snarfs his food down.  And, if possible, he'll just stay in a lying down position and eat his food.  This is so cute!

Gus may find a new home away from this area.  We are just waiting to hear from someone.  We hate the idea of chaining a country dog up, but the idea of someone killing him is even worse!

Have a great day!

Karin