North Carolina Part 1: Hanging Out

To make up for neglecting you wonderful people for so long, I am going to post every day this week. EVERY DAY! Oh yeah. I am going to tell you all about our trip to NC. And pay attention to the pictures, because one of them will be used for the July contest. And it won't be one of Hobbes. I think I have posted enough of him. :-)

This is Josh. Hi Josh. Nice braces. They are red, white and blue, you know. I don't even want to hear obout your patriotic clothes or hair. How many of you have a patriotic mouth?

This is Joel. Hi Joel. Nice face. Oh, and since he is a skateboarder- radical card playing, dude!

We had a couple fires during the week, complete with s'mores.

Joel loves playing with the fire. He takes after his father and grandfather. His grandfather set a field on fire. His father set his curtains on fire. Both of these things were done on purpose. :-)

This is my Uncle Mike, fire tender extraordinaire!

This is (from left to right) my grandpa, aunt, uncle, grandma and dad. And Joel and Hobbes.

Hi people. Enjoying the fire? That's nice. It's leaving now.

Every day Josh and Joel went outside and hit golf balls off of a hill.

I also did a lot of stamping. It was kind of hard because I had to take everything out and then put it back again, and it took a long time. But my aunt was really nice to let me use her things. That is either Mrs's or Jessie's card.

And to finish this post off,

Ooof.

Thank you, Hobbes.

Tomorrow: Gorges State Park!

Pizza Soup, Bird's Nest Cookies, And A Preview

Sorry it has been a while!

Every Friday I make a dinner and a dessert that is chosen by the kids. This past Friday I made pizza soup, bread sticks, and bird's nest cookies. It was all so good, I thought I would share the recipes with you. So here they are!

Pizza Soup
Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients: (Makes 4 servings)

• 2 cans condensed tomato soup
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• 3/4 cup uncooked tiny pasta shells
• 1 cup shredded quick melting mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup French's Taste Toppers French Fried Onions (optional)

1. Combine soup, 2 soup cans of water, garlic powder and oregano in saucepan. Bring to boiling over medium-high heat.

2. Add pasta. Cook 8 minutes or until pasta is tender.

3. Stir in cheese. Cook until cheese melts. Sprinkle with Taste Toppers.

French Onion Bread Stix Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients: (makes 12 bread sticks)

• 1 1/3 cups French's Taste Toppers French Fried Onions, crushed
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 package refrigerated soft bread sticks
• 1 egg white, beaten

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine Taste Toppers and cheese in pie plate. Separate dough into 12 pieces on sheet of waxed paper.

2. Brush one side of dough with egg white. Dip pieces wet side down into crumbs, pressing firmly. Baste top surface with egg white and dip into crumbs.

3. Twist pieces to form a spiral. Arrange on greased baking sheet. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Bird's Nest Cookies (makes about 3 dozen cookies)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups "M&M's" Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Baking Bits, divided

1. Preheat oven to 300F. Spread coconut on ungreased cookie sheet. Toast in oven, stirring until coconut just begins to turn light golden, about 25 minutes. Remove coconut from cookie sheet, set aside.

2. Increase oven temperature to 350F. In large bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla.

3. In medium bowl combine flour and salt; blend into creamed mixture.

4. Stir in 1 cup "M&M's" Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Baking Bits.

5. Form dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Roll heavily in toasted coconut. Place 2 inches apart of lightly greased cookie sheets.

6. Make indentation in center of each cookie with thumb. Bake 12-14 minutes or until coconut is golden brown.

7. Remove cookies to wire racks; immediately fill indentations with remaining "M&M's," using scant teaspoonful for each cookie. Cool completely.

(this is pretty much what they look like, except with M&M's in the middle.)


And now, for a preview of our trip to North Carolina!

TA DA!

The Weary Warrior

Congratulations to Bekah R.!!!!!! You are the proud owner of three free cards from my business! Just comment on this post to tell me what you want them to be. All of the entries were hee-larious! I loved reading all of the names you came up with. But I think Bekah R. named him best! He really does chase lizards all day, and the occasional squirrel.

Thanks for playing, everyone!

If You Have An Order...

Hey everybody! Just a little note here, but if you have been thinking about getting some cards from my business, now would be a good time to order because we are staying at my aunt and uncle's house. My aunt has a lot of stamping supplies that are really nice, so my cards actually look a little better when I make them with her things. :-) So, if you would like to order some cards, just leave the order in the comments section of this post. Please include how many cards you want, what the occasion is, what colors you want (or I can pick them out for you), etc. Also, please include the gender you want the card to be for. Or, if you prefer, I can make the cards so that they can go to either a boy or a girl. Thanks!

Just A Note...

Just so you guys know, if you enter a contest and forget your name, just rewrite your entry and add your name. I can delete the comment without the name. The same goes for if you post something twice. Don't worry about it; I will just delete it. Thanks!

And here is a purty picture to cheer you up (I like it so much that I added it to the sidebar!):