These birdies will be happy

Because #4…Margaret will be feeding them all winter long in her new bird feeder made by J & S Creature Comforts- (and since I am not sure about loading the pic on this mobile device I won’t but I have it in case anyone needs it!)

Congrats Margaret and I will get this to you as soon as I head back toward town!

Everybody get ready to share a favorite recipe from their Thanksgiving eats!  And have a safe, happy and blessed Thanksgiving.  Remember to pay it forward and help someone less fortunate!  Do an “act of kindness” anonymously!

Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving is just around the corner!   It seems it came quick this year or maybe its because I am now retired and home.  I am just as busy retired as I was working!  And that’s a good thing because it sure is a lot more fun doing the things I now do!

Have you pulled those pumpkin pie and pecan pie recipes out yet?   What about mom’s dressing recipe?  Will you be the one roasting the turkey or taking a side dish “over the river and through the woods?”  Or are you traveling this Thanksgiving holiday?

Whatever your plans, I pray for a safe, happy and family-filled Thanksgiving for each and every one of you!

And while we are feeding the whole family that includes all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and those twice removed, let’s not forget about those less fortunate and remember to donate a meal or get a bag of food to donate or even donate time to help feed those in need.  And if you think about it, drop off a bag of dog and/or cat food by your local humane shelter.

 

AND lest we forget our feathered friends!  We buy bird seed by the 100 lb bag!    See this bird feeder?   It can be yours to help keep your little flittery friends fed this winter!

The lid flips up to add bird seed and and the shield will slip out if needed for some easy clean up!

If you want a chance to win this hand made bird feeder leave a comment below and let us know what you will be doing your Thanksgiving holiday!

 

A winner will be selected Friday and posted and birdhouse will be sent out next week!   I pray that all will have a safe and happy Thanksgiving for all of you and for your family and friends!

 

GRITS-So Southern

You will want to make these…and soon!  These are great for tailgating, for Thanksgiving, for brunch, for holiday mornings, or for just about any morning!  Easy to make, put in refrigerator the night before, bake the next morning, throw what toppings you want on them and chow down!  There won’t be any left, I can assure you.

 

Loaded Grits Cakes

6 cups chicken broth (can use fat free – I do)

1 ½ cups quick cooking grits (not instant, though)

1 cup shredded sharp (or extra sharp for a little extra flavor- or some smoked gouda would also be good)

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

½ to 1 Tsp salt (or to taste – got to salt those grits!

½ tsp ground pepper (or to taste)

½ tsp garlic powder (or to taste)

A pinch of cayenne pepper (or to taste)

2 Tbsp melted butter

 

For Garnish after cooked cakes are baked:  Sour cream, shredded cheese, cooked crumbled bacon (or your choice of toppings)

 

1. Lightly grease a 13×9 inch baking pan.
2. In a large saucepan, bring broth, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to a boil over medium high heat. Stir in grits, stirring constantly, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5 minutes stirring frequently to prevent lumps.  Stir in parsley when done.   Pour into 13×9 pan and let cool slightly.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
3. Unmold grits onto a large cutting board and cut into 2 dozen squares.

All cut up and ready for the oven!

4.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

5.  Brush a large rimmed baking sheet with melted butter. Place grits squares on pan.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Brush tops of cakes with more melted butter and turn over and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown on both sides.

Nice and all golden Brown and just waiting for toppings!

6.  Garnish with toppings of choice and serve.

I added cheese on all of them, then added bacon on some, sausage on some, and left some plain, sprinkled chopped green onions on all of them, and dusted with a bit of parsley to make them look pretty!   And they went over quite well at Sunday School!

 

And winners, your cookbooks will be mailed tomorrow (Thursday).  Hubby has had some eye surgeries the past two weeks (one each week) and I haven’t been getting out much other than taking him back and forth to the eye doctor!  I will mail tomorrow!  Thanks for understanding!  Have a great weekend!  Cooler weather is on its way.  Well, a little cooler, anyway.

Look who won!

I won’t the suspense drag on….

Random.org drew as first winner…

 

#5 – Betty – congrats Betty!

 

and the second winner of this beautiful cookbook is

 

#4 – Madalyn L!  Congrats Madalyn – I hope you both find many recipes in this book that will please both you and your families!  I will get these off to y’all next week!  Happy baking and hope your team wins if they are playing this weekend!

 

Go Trojans!

Go Hawks!

Go Tide!

Go Tigers!

Go Irish! (yes, I do, root for Notre Dame! What can I say, I like the movie, Rudy!)

And yes, for the kiddos that are Vols fans, I will even say Go Vols!  Now I shall go wash my mouth out with soap! teeheehee

Cookbooks are my passion

Y’all.  This cookbook.  Man oh man.  I already picked out my first recipe to make.

Cinnamon Roll Layer Cake.  And that’s just to start!  What cakes!

What Cupcakes!

What Cheesecakes!

And this Blueberry Oatmeal Icebox Cake may make its way to our Sunday School Breakfast! Man! It has to be good for you! Oatmeal, right??!!

And techniques to boot are included inside!  Another winner in my book!  I may have to cook my way through this one, too!

And since i am catching up on things around here by quilting a quilt top on the machine yesterday, among other things, and because I haven’t had a give a way in so very long time, I am giving away two of Lindsay Conchar’s “Simply Beautiful Homemade Cakes” cookbook to two of you who may just want a copy!

If you are interested in winning one of the two cookbooks leave a reply and tell us what your favorite dessert is!

Two winners will be selected by random.org and posted Saturday!  Good Luck and have a great rest of the week!

Three Little Birds

“Dont worry about a thing

Cause every little thing gonna be alright,” sings Bob Marley in his “Three Little Birds” Song – which helped to inspire the pillow below – along with a picture on Pinterest, of course and the fact that I could never find where to get one, and the fact that “hey, I can make one of those” ideas, and the fact that I found my felted wool in the most quaint quilt shop in downtown historic Colorado Springs, Colorado and here’s what I turned out:

So retro and cute, if I must say so myself!   I wanted to put the little tweeters on an off-white throw pillow but it’s hard to find an off-white pillow that has a zipper in order to take the pillow insert out in order to be able to embroider the feathers on to the little birds or that doesn’t have a lot of “fluff” already on the pillow!   So this one will do!

And if you can see the top row of the squares at the top of the quilt frame (the square with the pink in the top center)  there is just one more row peeking over the top roller –

two more rows of 12 inch squares and this one comes off! I am almost done with the center section – a big section to say the least – the center square was 36 inches of bordered squares and the side of this monster had 6 -12 inch squares on each side.  I finishing up the very top of the center portion and the outside 12 inch squares and rolling it down to the next to the last row.  I haven’t been working on it that long – it went on June 8th – quilted June and most of July – about an hour or two most days but not every day – none in August – traveled to NYC and then the rest of August and all of September out West/Northwest.  And back on it first part of October!

This will go on the frame next for our bed:

It is a wholecloth quilt – every line you see will be quilted in an ecru thread -(unless I decide to use a darker brown thread)  all you see  are the quilting design – I may double the batting to make it “puffier”. I can’t wait to get started on this one!  It will most likely be on the frame for a while!

And for Tailgating, look up my “Sugared Jalapenos” and make a jar and serve over some cream cheese!  And don’t forget “Bacon Wrapped Tots” – You won’t have any of these left if you serve these!

I hope your team wins this weekend!

 

 

Sweet Tea and Chicken…yes!

Y’all.  This chicken.  And tea.  As a brine??? Oh yeah.   y’all. Man.

I have seen, I have read, and I have even bought “Smokin Sweet Tea” by McCormick’s as a marinade and knew I should be able to replicate a marinade from all that I have read.  (I read a lot…especially in the recipe category!)

So I set out to do exactly that.  I got some chicken tenders.  I took some sweet tea (homemade, of course, cause that’s always the best kind), added some salt (about a tablespoon – I actually used a bit more and figure it might have been a bit too much)  and threw in the tenders.

 

See, there they are marinating.   The longer they can marinate the better.  I marinated mine for about 5 hours. (maybe 4 1/2 to be exact).  Then I took a bowl and put about a half cup of tea, and a cup of buttermilk and mixed that together with about two to 3 tsp. hot sauce (more if you want a kick).   Then in another bowl I took about a cup and a half of flour, about a half teaspoon pepper, threw in some garlic powder, a pinch of cayenne pepper, a teaspoon of salt, and about a half to 3/4 cup of corn meal for extra crunch and mixed that all up real good.

Then I dipped each chicken tender in the buttermilk/tea mix and then in the flour mix and fried them up in a cast iron skillet that I had let get good and hot with some canola oil.

See how crispy and good they look?   Well, they were.   Next time I use this recipe I am using a whole chicken, cut up, bone in, and I will fry the chicken until crisp, lay the pieces on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and bake in the oven until done through and through.   That chicken will be crispy, moist and good and done.

Try it.  What a great flavor!   And come back and tell us how you liked it.

Grillin’ Time

As promised, I have a dry rub recipe I made for the ribs we smoked (among other things) this past weekend to “tide us over” for a while.  It blends up perfectly and is a great rub not only for ribs, but for chicken, country style riblets on the regular grill or even on a pile of wings!  I just might sprinkle some on some fish (make sure you drizzle oil on your fish first so it won’t stick to the grill).

And, why, yes, I do have all these spices in my possession at any given time, and why, yes, I have them in super sized containers (most of them, anyways!

What are your plans this weekend?  Cooking out? Ball games?  Working in the yards?  Or just chilling?   Make you a batch of these.

While on our travels, we visited the absolutely neatest place..Polebridge Mercantile, Polebridge, Montana.

It sits off on a trek of a paved road, that changes to a gravel road, then to a dirt road which is probably only about a 35 mile drive but takes FOREVER because it is a curvy, bumpy road and it borders Glacier National Park. But, y’all. It was well worth it.  This Place.  It has been there forever and looks like it.  But they are famous for their breads, pastries, and mostly, for their pecan sticky buns the size of your hand.  And yes, we split one.  ONE.  ONLY ONE.  I could have eaten a dozen.  I regret not getting more than ONE. I would drive back to Montana right now for that sticky bun.  Point, I think I have found a recipe that is the height, color, and sounds like the one we had.  I will let you know.  Keep your fingers crossed!   I commented to this blogger she may have just saved my life!

Have a fun weekend and get outside and enjoy the weather!

Rib Rub – (adjust amounts according to your own tastes – you can add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper if you want more heat in yours)

3 Tbsp Splenda Brown Sugar (4 Tbsp if you use regular light brown sugar -Splenda tends to be sweeter than the regular so I cut the amount I normally use)

2 Tbsp Paprika

2 Tbsp Chili Powder

1 Tsp onion powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

1/2 tsp thyme

1 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Mix all the above and keep in an air tight container.  (I store my rubs in a mason jar.)

Well Hello again

Man what a year it has been!  A wonderful year of working in the yard, training this boykin spaniel who is no longer a puppy but almost two! AND traveling! Oh the traveling!

We just got back from an almost 6 week trek across the mid west and up to Montana and South Dakota.  What a trip.  God certainly knew what He was doing when He created such beauty for our eyes to behold.

If you are still somewhat following (or not since I haven’t posted anything in a while) I understand!  I haven’t been around!  But if you are still out there, I appreciate you hanging in there and not removing your emails!   Hopefully I won’t leave for such a long period.

The blog may include snippits of trips, quilts I am working on, new recipes tried and true, and some recipes that you, the reader, may send in to share.

It’s football season and time to get grilling!   I will have a great rib rub to post in the next day or two for you to try.  Hubby used it this past weekend and loved it – he doesn’t even use the homemade bbq sauce with this dry rub!

And hopefully there will be some give-a-ways included -so stay tuned if you are so inclined – and if you are so inclined, this here lady will sure appreciate it!

Have a great week!

Winner, winner, Christmas winner!

Well, that was quick!

Thank you for those who entered as I thoroughly enjoyed all the responses.  Safe travels to all who are traveling-whether just over the hill, county line, or many miles to celebrate gathering with our family for Christmas.

And I guess you want to know who won….duh!

OK – winner of the Birchbox e-gift certificate…#4-Lynnie!  You are going to enjoy the monthly surprises, Lynnie!

Winner of the e-gift certificate for the dollarshave club-# 3-Cody Lide!

Random.org was the selector and I have the pictures of the winning selections if anyone needs them.

I will contact the winners and give them 24 hours verify an email address with me to send their e-gift certificates to them.

Merry Christmas to all!  May your celebration be safe, and may the true meaning of Christmas remain in our hearts through the hustle and bustle of the season.