Friday Funny

 

I'm going to take a break next week.  I've got a special blog friend coming to visit and a lot of you know her!  I'll tell you all about it when I come back.

Cooking Thursday

 Here's the recipe I promised you earlier this week. These are the bars Heather brought to our July 4 gathering.  You could change up the color for different holidays.  We all thought they were so good!

Red, White and Blue Cheesecake Bars

1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar

3 8 oz packages cream cheese
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
red and blue gel food coloring

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Line 9x13 pan with parchment paper.  Stir together graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar. Press into pan and set aside.
Beat softened cream cheese with sugar and salt, mix well. Stir in eggs, one at a time beating each egg well.  Stir in sour cream and vanilla, mix until creamy.
Transfer 1 1/3 cups filling evenly into two bowls. Add red food coloring to one bowl and green to the other.
Pour the remaining white filling over the graham cracker crumb base.
Pour alternating lines of red and blue filling down the length of the bars. Use a knife to create a swirl pattern.
Bake for 50-55 minutes until center is set. When done, turn off oven, open oven door and let set inside for an hour.
Remove from oven, refrigerate overnight, then pull up parchment paper and remove from pan. Cut into squares and serve!

Wordless Wednesday

 

A Day in my Life - July

July is here!  We're halfway through the year and it's hard for me to believe that.  Here's how I spent the first day of the month.

This is my usual start to the day, 30 minutes on the treadmill.  Then it's time for breakfast, devotions and some computer catch up time.
After that I threw the sheets in the wash.

This is the devotion book I'm reading right now and enjoying.  It's a study on Jacob.

I had lots of cleaning to do on this day.  I started by cleaning the stove and wiping down my frig, dishwasher and microwave.  After that I cleaned the bathrooms.

This is one of my favorite cleaning tools.  It's a dyson cordless vac and it makes it so easy to vacuum my carpet, rugs and hardwood floor. The floors were done in no time!

When I finished these things it was close to noon and we had some special visitors stop by.  Heather was nearby and she stopped with Cassie and Connor.  Can you believe that I forgot to take any pictures? They stayed about 45 minutes and we had a nice time visiting.

After lunch, I made a run to the grocery store. It was a beautiful day, blue skies and a nice drive.

When I got home, I went out to Bob's shop to see what he was up to. He's working on these cute signs to put in some of our garden beds.

I spent some time reading in the afternoon.  This is one of 4 books in this authors Blue Sky series.  Each book can stand alone, but I'm reading each of them and totally enjoying them! If you haven't read any of her books, I recommend them.

We had taco salad for supper, a good meal on a hot day.

After supper, we took our usual walk around the yard to see what new things are blooming.

This is Bee Balm or Monarda.  The flowers just started to open up.

We relaxed and watched some tv, then went out a little after 9 and sat on our deck.  We've been really enjoying it in the evening.

The sky was getting a little pink, there were some birds singing, and it's just peaceful.

This is a firefly. There have been a lot of them in our backyard in the evening and they are so fun to watch blinking as it gets dark.

And that's the end of my July 1.  It was another good day!

Celebrate!

I hope you all had a nice 4th of July.  Ours was a little strange because Heather and Andrew and kids were planning to come for supper. (Laura and Aaron were with Aaron's family).  Anyway, on Wednesday Bob got a cold  (He said it was a man cold) and he felt crummy.  I was having stomach issues and Andrew wasn't feeling on top of things either.  So we decided to try again on Saturday.
We were all doing better a day later!

Bob grilled burgers, I made baked beans and pretzel salad.  Heather brought fruit salad and some yummy cream cheese bars.

These are the bars she made - so festive!  They were good and she said they were easy to make.  I'll share the recipe on Thursday.

After supper, Cassie and I made these cool little critters.  You choose gel colors to fill these molds, dip them in the water solution and they pop out!

Here's our critters.  They need to stay in the solution for 4 hours.

Cassie put them in another container so she could take them home.

I got some cute pictures of them while they were here too.

The whole family

Cassie

Connor

And both of them!

It was a fun evening and it was worth waiting a day.

Happy Fourth!

 (Comments turned off for today. Enjoy your day!)

Cooking Thursday

Today's recipe is one I got from my sister.  This is for Stromboli, and I've posted similar recipes with crescent roll dough, but this one is made with frozen pizza dough that you can buy, which changes it a bit.  It's full of gooey cheese, meat and a nice pizza crust on the outside. Plus, you can change it up to fit what your family likes!

Easy Stromboli

1 ball of frozen pizza dough, thawed
3 tablespoons butter melted, divided
1 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, divided
1 1/2 cups mozzarella, shredded
Toppings of your choice - ham, pepperoni, sausage, green pepper...
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons shredded parmesan cheese
Marinara sauce or ranch dressing for dipping

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Roll out pizza dough into a rectangle about 12" x 14" inches.
In a small bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon melted butter and 1 teaspoon garlic powder. Brush over entire surface of the dough.
Sprinkle 1/2 cup of mozzarella over dough leaving 1 inch border on one long edge and both short edges.  Layer one of the toppings over the cheese, then sprinkle another 1/2 cup of cheese over top. Spread remaining toppings over all and finish with the rest of the cheese.
Beat the egg in a small bowl and brush it on the exposed edges.
Starting on the long edge without the edge wash, roll the stromboli tightly in jelly roll style. Pinch the seam to seal and fold edges under.
Combine remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter with 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and parmesan cheese. Brush over top of stromboli.
Use serrated knife to make shallow diagonal cuts about 2 inches apart along the top.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until top is golden brown.
Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes, then slice and serve with warmed marinara sauce or ranch for dipping.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Baby Shower Time

Last week was a busy one!  After VBS all week, a few of us had a baby shower for our Pastors wife, Hannah, on Saturday.  It was a lot of fun, and I thought I'd show you a few pictures of how it went.

Here's a few of the decorations:

My daughter Laura is gifted at flower arrangements and did this cute little arrangement in a vintage baby girl planter for Hannah's table.

I found this sign on Etsy. You could personalize it and then print it out yourself.

I found pink gauze runners on Amazon, borrowed these wooden bead strings from Laura and then put little vases with pink roses on the tables.  We had some pink heart balloons scattered around too.  It looked cute and girly!  (This is baby number six and a girl after 5 boys!)

This was a really cute idea for a baby shower.  We bought some newborn diapers and sharpie markers.  The sign says:

Late night diapers must be done,
but here's a way to make it more fun.
A word of encouragement, a giggle or two,
Give the new parents a note just from you.
Pick up the diaper and write on the booty,
Something to take their mind off the doody!

Here's Hannah with her mom and lots of gifts!

This is something I added with my gift.  I saw it on Pinterest and thought it was such a cute idea.
Take a tiny bud vase and type out this message, roll it up and put it in the vase:
"Motherhood is full of sweet, yet simple moments, like your little one finding and picking flowers for you! This tiny vase's purpose is to hold tiny flowers, delivered by tiny hands, picked just for you. Place in on your windowsill and remember just how much you are loved."

Here's one last photo - a shot of the whole group when the shower was done.  It was such a good time!

VBS

This past week we had VBS at our church. I worked there for a few days being the nurse.  They always have a nurse there just in case, but thankfully it usually only requires a hug and a bandaid!

I have to show you how great the decorations were.  We have some talented ladies that worked hard, and a few guys that helped build things. The theme was the Wild West this year.

This is what you see when you enter church.  These were the registration tables and the sign in/out tables.

Decor along the wall.

More wall decor.

Cute horses!

Wanted posters of our Pastor, church secretary and a few others.

Here's a gold mine passage that leads to the classrooms.

The railway to the front of church

There's even a train up front!

Cactus made of paper plates and toothpicks.

Here's Bob and a friend, neglecting security to have a photo op!

Having fun outside

"Lassoing" stuffed animals

And lots of good classes inside!

It was a good week!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

Do you like Chinese food?  One of the things I like is Chinese Curry Chicken, but it's not readily available around here.  I found a recipe for it that sounded good, but changed it a little so it would be more like the curry I've gotten in the past.  It was really quite quick and easy to make and was very good!  

Chinese Curry Chicken

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin flat slices
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon corn starch
3 tablespoons canola or olive oil
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 carrots, peeled and cut into thin slivers
1 green pepper, cut into slices
1 small onion, cut into slices
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 1/2 cups coconut milk (May also use regular white milk)
2 tablespoons corn starch
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk together soy sauce with 1 tablespoon corn starch, then stir chicken into it and set aside.
Heat canola oil in heavy skillet, then stir in 1 tablespoon curry powder for about 5 seconds.  Add chicken with marinade and cook for about 3 minutes. 
Stir in carrots, green pepper and onion.  Cook for 4-5 minutes until chicken is cooked through and the vegetables begin to soften.
Whisk together the water and 2 tablespoons corn starch.
Heat milk in small saucepan until it just comes to a boil.  Use whisk to stir in the corn starch slurry and simmer until it thickens.  Whisk in the 1 teaspoon curry powder and salt.
Stir sauce into chicken and veggie mix.  Serve over rice.