Happy Thanksgiving!

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!  Serve the Lord with gladness!  Come into his presence with singing!  Know that the Lord, he is God!  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.  Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!  Give thanks to him; bless his name!  For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. 

Psalm 100 (NIV)

From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!  :)

 

Pinned it, Made it! Monday & More

Good morning everyone!

I'm so sorry that I failed to pop in here and let you know that I'm taking two weeks off from Pinned it, Made it! Monday, that being yesterday (November 25th) and next Monday as well (December 1st).  I will be back at it on Monday, December 8th.

I really appreciate my blogging friends!  Thanks for hanging with me and not giving up on me during my time away from regular blogging.  I have much to share and hope to get back at it after our vacation this week.  We're in Alabama for the week of Thanksgiving.

I hope you and your family have a Blessed Thanksgiving!  :)

Pinned it, Made it! Monday ~ Week 63 ~

Good Monday morning! :)

I'm wondering how many folks out there in blogland have already decorated for Christmas? We put up our big tree the weekend after Halloween and the rest of my Christmas decor went up in the two weeks following! We love Christmas around here and because it takes awhile to get it all out and we want plenty of time to savor each moment and enjoy it all, we start early! I can now say that we are fully enjoying the coziness of the twinkling lights in the evenings. And I LOVE it! :) Christmas is my favorite!!!


Today for Pinned it, Made it! Monday, I'm going to share something that I probably shared at some point on my blog (awhile back) although I can't seem to find it. Since I haven't shared it at least on Pinned it, Made it! Monday before and I tried nothing else new this week from Pinterest, I'm going to share it with you today! :)

They are prim (or grungy if you prefer) candy canes.

I started with the candy canes you can pick up at Dollar tree like these:

First I tea stained my homespun and then cut them into strips (I think mine were about 1/4 to 1/2" wide.)   I used muslin and red striped/ticking homespun. First I covered the candy cane in the muslin fabric and then went back and added the red ticking fabric leaving a space in between each wrapping for the muslin to show through. Just add glue at the start and then at the finish.

I have them all on the Christmas tree in the Cedar Loft.  Jason and I  also made those twig stars...

They're really easy and they are so prim and cute for decorating around the house or hanging on the Christmas tree. I even bundled some together with greenery and berries and gave them away as gifts.

I just found another package of the unopened candy canes from Dollar Tree, so I'm going to try something a little different. I'll see how it turns out and maybe share it next time.

And now it's youur turn, my friend! I can't wait to see all the Christmas projects! Oh Pinterest is full of them right now! So link those projects up.... :)

Thanks for stopping by today and have a wonderful week! :)

Pinned it, Made it! Monday ~ Week 62 ~

Good morning friends!  It's already the beginning of another week.  We have a busy week planned but I'm expecting it to be a good one!  I hope yours is too!

It's getting to be that time of year when we are in the kitchen cooking and baking more so I can't wait to see some of those Pinterest projects.  :)

This week for Pinned it, Made it! Monday, I'm sharing a recipe I tried out and served to my family this past week.  It's called Crowd-Pleasing Taco Salad.

Here's the original pin:

Source

Crowd-Pleasing Taco Salad Recipe

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 medium head iceberg lettuce, torn
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 can (2-1/4 ounces) sliced ripe olives, drained
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup taco sauce
1 package (10-1/2 ounces) corn chips

Directions

In a large saucepan, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.  Stir in the ketchup, oregano, chili powder, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, olives and beef mixture.  Combine mayonnaise and taco sauce; pour over salad and toss to coat.  Sprinkle with corn chips.  Serve immediately.  Yield:  14-16 servings.

**Variation**  To adapt taco salad recipe (for camping, etc..), cook the ground beef at home until no longer pink.  Combine lettue, cheese and diced tomatoes in a resealable bag.  On site, I simmer the meat with a can of chili beans, then add a packet of taco seasoning with water.  Come time to eat, top tortilla chips with the meat/bean mixture and other fixings.

**Can also use salsa instead of the homemade taco sauce mixture.**

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I made ours with the taco seasoning pkg and chili beans with the meat.  So I didn't use the ketchup, oregano, chili powder, salt and pepper.  

For the dressing/sauce, I did mix the mayonnaise and the taco sauce, but I also put salsa on the table for anyone to use that wanted that extra spicy punch.

Oh, and I left out the tomatoes because Jason always picks them out and the rest of us are fine with or without them.  And make sure to add the fritos at the last minute so they won't get soggy.  :)

This recipe was really good!  Jason kept telling me it was good....so I think we have a winner.  I will definitely be making it again! 

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If you have a Pinterest project to share, you can link your project below.  And thank you, whether you're stopping by to read and enjoy, or whether you're linking your own project!

Have a wonderful week!  :)

Pinned it, Made it! Monday ~ Week 61 ~

Hi there!  :)

It's so hard to believe yet another week has slipped by me.  I've had the best intentions of doing at least 3 posts a week, but so many things have kept me away and time flies!  Thanks for not giving up on me!  :)



Anyway.....I do have a Pinned it, Made it! Monday post to share.  :)

Just this evening, I made an apple crisp.  It's a combined Pinterest recipe with a little twist of my own.

The original pin:

Source

Ingredients

4 medium tart cooking apples sliced (4 cups)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup quick-cooking or old fashioned oats

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Serve with ice cream if desired.

Directions

• 1Heat oven to 375ºF. Grease bottom and sides of 8-inch square pan with shortening.
• 2Spread apples in pan. In medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients except cream until well mixed; sprinkle over apples.
• 3Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a fork. Serve warm with cream.

We started with dried apples, and barely covered them with water.  Added 1 and 1/2 cup sugar and sprinkled in cinnamon, probably about 2- 3 Tbsp. 

Let this come to a boil.  Turn down heat to low-medium, keeping an eye on the apples and stirring them often. 

 Let them cook down until they are soft and most of the water has cooked off and they are thickened.  I didn't time this but it probably took at least 30 minutes.

Then I mixed the above recipe (minus the apples) in a bowl while the apples were cooking. 

When they were done, I sprayed an 8" square glass casserole dish with Pam, then spread the apples with the left over syrupy water in the dish.  

*I then added 1/4 cup of orange juice and mixed with the apples*.

  Then I crumbled the above mixture over the top and baked in the oven for 30 minutes (and topping was golden brown).

It was delicious served warm with ice cream.  

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If you have a Pinterest project you've tried out and would like to share, just link up below!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pinned it, Made it! Monday ~ Week 60 ~

This week for Pinned it, Made it! Monday I'm sharing a favorite around our house.  I can't really say that I found it on Pinterest or even the internet, although there are recipes for homemade donuts all over the internet.  I make them the way my mama always did and they're easy!
Homemade Donuts
Ingredients:
Canned biscuits (or homemade) powdered sugar water cocoa (optional) Vegetable oil

Roll up your sleeves cause this is SO hard!  :) I always use canned biscuits (the jumbo ones)....the bigger the donut the better!  :) I just pull the biscuit apart in the middle with my fingers in a nice round shape while my oil is heating on medium heat in a pot on the stove.

When the oil is heated well, just drop the biscuits in and turn them over when they start to puff up and turn lightly brown.   It doesn't take long for them to lightly brown on each side, so keep a close watch.  When both sides are fluffy and lightly brown, remove and place on a paper towel lined plate.

If you have a helper, you can have them mixing up your icing.  Jason likes to help me with ours!  If not, I would probably have it mixed beforehand.

Icing
Start with about 1 cup of powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of water....not too much. It's best to just add by tablespoons because you want it to be a thick paste consistency.  Too much water makes it runny and it doesn't stick to the donut well.  You can always add more powdered sugar if you get too much water.  
If you want chocolate glazed donuts, just add about a level tablespoon of cocoa to the above mixture.  It doesn't take alot of cocoa either because it will be bitter with too much.
Glaze donuts while hot.

We like the plain glazed best, but Luke wanted a few chocolate so we had to make Little Emperor happy.  :)

ENJOY!   *********************************************************
Thanks to those that stop by weekly to check out the Pinterest projects and a big thank you to those that link up your awesome projects!  I can't wait to see what you've been up to....link up below!  :)
Have a great week!

Pinned it, Made it! Monday ~ Week 59 ~

I know it's Tuesday, but I guess better a day late with Pinned it, Made it! Monday than to skip all together!  We spent 4 days out of town (in Alabama) and then Luke got sick when we got home and also had an allergic reaction to something.  He's on the mend, but I'm just getting the chance to sit down at my computer to do a post.  How's all my blogging friends?  Even if you don't see me around, I think about you!

This week for Pinned it, Made it! Monday, I'm sharing a pumpkin idea.  I'm pretty sure I came across this while browsing Pinterest and just didn't pin it at the time.  I saw it on the internet somewhere!  :)  When I saw it and showed Luke, he made up his mind right then and there that this year that was what he wanted to do with a pumpkin.  They used Mr. Potato Head parts to decorate a pumpkin!

 So we were both thrilled when we saw an adorable Mr. Potato Head pirate kit at the pumpkin patch we visited Saturday.  He picked out his pumpkin and the pirate kit came home with us!  He asked could we decorate it as soon as we got in from Alabama and I'm so glad we did because early Monday morning, he was sick, bless his heart! 

Anyway, here's the kit we used:

With a little help from daddy, he created his pirate pumpkin and gave him the name of  "Captain".  Captain now has a place of honor in our foyer.  He greets folks at the front door.  :)

If you would like to share something you've pinned and made from Pinterest, we'd love to see.  Just link up your project below!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great week!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥