pay it forward

I saw this on Candice's blog and thought it would be fun...

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me (yeah for handmade!).
2. Winners must post this challenge on their own blog, meaning that you will pay it forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!
3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember it’s the spirit and the thought that count!
4. When you receive your gift, blog about it! If you are not one of the first three to comment on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! It's all about paying it forward.

funny recipe

Growing up we ate a lot of casseroles. I like casseroles. Some better than others. Casseroles have many benefits, to name a few: they feed a lot of people, they're usually pretty cheap. Funny how you can combine just about anything and end up with a casserole. So I'm sharing one of the casseroles I grew up with, and it's a very interesting one. When you see what's in it, it may sound a little strange, but somehow it ends up being rather yummy. I think maybe my mom made this one up, at least I've never seen it in any recipe book.



Sausage and Rice Casserole

Cooked rice*
1 lb. ground sausage, cooked
2 cans-ish chicken noodle soup*

Combine all ingredients in a casserole type dish and place in a 350 degree oven until warmed through. Enjoy!

*So many times with casserioes there aren't exact measurements of ingredients, it just depends on how much you want to end up with, which is directly proportionate to the number you need to feed.

Shawn likes this one with Soy Sauce on it, so give that a try too.

Go ahead, try it. Let me know what you think.

christmas 08 gifts

I've been meaning to post this stuff a while ago, but just never got around to it. Pictures of some cute Christmas gifts... but I should probably explain a few of these first.

We grew up with one of these great cloth chickens. It covers a bowl which warm rolls are then placed in... the chicken keeps them warm, and then it's such fun to reach in, under the chicken's wing, to grab a roll. I'm still not sure why chickens lay rolls, but at our table they always did.

A couple of years ago when Shawn's parents were visiting, Deb saw my chicken, and commented that she remembered her mom having one. So I finally got around to making her one. (I hear it doubles as a great hat too.)

And then of course I made one for my mom too... I'm not sure what happened to the great red one that we grew up with, but here's an updated version!

We also had Shawn's sister Tori and her husband Clark and son Ezra for Christmas, so we decided to give them a whole Family Home Evening themed gift. Here's what we came up with...

An FHE bag that you can grab and go... to Family Home Evening, without too much prior thought in preparing. Here are some of the goodies inside.

Your basics: various coloring utensils, glue, scissors, tape, small papers, and of course a couple of card games for ativity. Some random GAK pictures and flannel board characters, colored/white paper, and a brownie mix and peanut butter cookie mix for dessert.

And then we included a few ready-made lessons:

A flannel board Nativity story.

Daniel and the Lion's Den: Fine Finger Puppets.

Brass Plates: Perfect Peg People, that go with the map of the story...

(It's really so cool in real life, the photo just doesn't do it justice. The trails are numbered so you can remember the order of returning to Jerusalem/the wilderness, etc.)

A flannel board Word of Wisdom lesson.

Excellent Easter lesson eggs. In each egg is a small something that helps tell the Easter story. Kind-a fun.

And another way to teach Nephi and the Brass plates - sack puppets.

We had a lot of fun making these gifts for everyone, we hope everyone that recieved one of these is still really enjoying it too!

take a second...

and watch/listen to this song. Clever!
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/OrenLavie/Her-Morning-Elegance--205809176

I found this great link from her.

chicken stroganoff

A couple of weeks ago a friend organized a recipe swap... each person brought prepared main dish with the recipe. Then we got to sample all of the recipes. It was a lot of fun, and I got some new ideas for dinner. This was one of my favorites, and my family liked it too!

Chicken Stroganoff:

4 bacon strips
1 lb. chicken, cut up
1 med. onion
2 cloves garlic
1 pkg fresh mushrooms (the original recipe calls for 2 cans of mushrooms drained, but I detest canned mushrooms.)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp paprika
pepper to taste
1 cup sour cream
2 T flour

In a skillet cook bacon until crisp. Remove to paper towels and drain some of the drippings, reserving 2 T, set bacon aside. When cool enough to touch, break up into small pieces. Cook the chicken, onion, garlic, and mushrooms until chicken is no longer pink. Add the broth, salt paprika, pepper and bacon back in. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Combine flour and sour cream until smooth; add to the skillet. Bring to boil, cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened. Serve over egg noodles or rice, whichever is your family's preference.

I guess if you're not a mushroom fan, you could leave those out, but it just can't be as good as the original without those! Let me know if you make it, and what you think. Enjoy!