Sun series beginning

I've started sketching some ideas for a new sun series that I plan to paint. I like the way this sun's face turned out. I always find myself doodling suns, moons and stars on things while I wait. Just out of curiosity, how many of you like suns and would want suns or other celestial type subjects in your home for artwork? My mom got me into them and I've always loved them. She had them around her house and I treasure the ones I have from her home.

I made fish and veggies for dinner tonight and just look how pretty they came out. If you are trying to lose weight, this is such a low calorie meal that fills up your belly. Came together super quick, too. Here's what I got in there...  

About a cup and a half of zuchinni, tomatoes, onions, peppers that I sauteed up in a teaspoon of olive oil with a fair sprinkling of Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy. Scrape all that on the plate. Using the same pan, I added a little non stick spray and then added 8 oz Tilapia (frozen, thawed) and a little more seasoning. Cook till it flakes with fork easily, just a few minutes turing once. That's it. Quick, yummy and uses up your garden veggies. You could add any veggie you like. I thought about mushrooms after the fact. Oh well, next time.

The total calories for this entire plate, which really could serve 2, is only 288. I ate almost all of it because I thought I was really hungry, but I couldn't eat it all.

I've lost 20 pounds since the first of May. I've been using My Fitness Pal which is a free program for your computer and/or your phone. It has made it so much easier. If you've got any weight to lose, I highly recommend it.

Strawberry Sunday

just picked

I had to share my drool worthy pictures of what my latest project has been and that is cooking (well sorta) I guess making strawberry yummies. I went strawberry pickin' if you can't tell.


Freezer jam... aka candy crack. I use Sure Jell and have success every time. So easy to make if you've never tried it. When buying berries for it remember one and a half pounds of berries = 1 quart if you're trying to figure how much to get for the jam. Tons of sugar, not for the faint of heart, but oooh so tasty!

just jellin...

and strawberry pie!

make sure you wipe the drool off your keyboard ;)

nom nom nom

And of course many many didn't make it this far. Popped right into my mouth! Mmmmm


I went to an art show today called Arts in Harmony in my little town of New Harmony. There was a real nice selection of artists of all kinds. Some I see often, some friends and some new ones that I've not seen until today. All very talented and I want to buy something from everyone but of course I can't. Still though, I'll share with you my finds tomorrow hopefully when I can snap some pictures of my goodies :)


Enjoy your Sunday evening.

Italian Beef sandwiches

I made Italian Beef sandwiches with this new recipe last week and had to share it with you all because it was so yummy and fairly easy.

I got the recipe from my friend Amelia but cooked it a little different. She used her crock pot and I used my pressure cooker. Super fast that way. Otherwise they tasted the same. So if you have the time use your crock pot and if you're always planning what to eat like 2 seconds before you jump right in like me, then the pressure cooker will save you. My time management skills are lacking.

Ingredients are simple:

3 pounds of rump beef roast

2 packets of dry Italian Dressing mix

8 oz jar of peperoncini's including juice

1 can beef broth

onions (optional)

olive oil (optional)

buns, I like hoagie buns

Trim all the visible fat off roast because once it's in there, it's stayin'. This next part is optional. Brown the meat in a little bit of olive oil and onions. Then I added the can of broth, the peperoncini's, and the 2 packets of dry Italian dressing mix. Stir it around a little to mix up the dry stuff and put your lid on either the crock pot or presser cooker.

The crock pot would take about 8 hours on low or 4 on high until the beef is done and tender. My method of using the pressure cooker took me only 35 minutes once I brought it to full pressure (which was only a few minutes) at 15 pounds of pressure. Cool off using the natural method which means you just take it off the heat and let it cool and the pressure escapes. Easy peasy.

Always remember to open the lid away from your face unless you want to melt your eyelashes together, not that I would know... ahem.

I pull out the meat that is still intact in the hunks I had cut it in and then I pull the beef apart with two forks. The meat is so tender, it's very easy and you don't need a knife. Then add the shredded beef back into the juices and stir it up. I didn't even need to thicken it. You could if you wanted, I guess.

I toasted my bread under the broiler with butter and provolone. Just pile up the meat on the bread and enjoy! This is a sloppy meal, but sooooo yummy.  You can adjust the heat with less peperoncini's or could use banana peppers instead. I would call this a medium heat only because my husband thought it was. My heat indicators must be burnt cause I would label it more mild to medium.

I got about 8 good size sandwiches with the 3 pounds of meat. I'll make a bigger batch next time. I got a good deal for the meat at $2.39 per pound, so this is a pretty economical recipe, too. I hope you give it a try. Oh and try not to melt your eyelashes, they take a really long time to grow back in. Just sayin'.

Ooo... on another note, the art show I'm in is this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I'm pretty syked. I'm putting in 2 original pieces (the limit) and they are both for sale. I'm using "Sinister Feline" and "My Three Suns". I have since framed them but haven't taken a picture yet. Wish me luck!

Sinister Feline

My Three Suns

Hamburger Stew for a cold winter's night

I've got a recipe to share today and it's perfect for this time of year. With all the big dinner's going on and family over but you still gotta make your normal every day dinners, this is great to have around in the fridge. It just gets better in the fridge as a matter of fact. It's also one of those recipes that you can add or delete whatever you have on hand. It's filling and warm good comfort food. I hope you enjoy it :)


Hamburger Stew

• 2 big cans of whole tomatoes
• potatoes as many as you want
• carrots about 2 lbs.
• onion
• garlic
• hamburger, about 2 pounds
• tomato sauces (according to how much you want to make, i.e. how soupy. Sometimes I use a big can of spaghetti sauce)
• sweet basil
• oregano
• salt + pepper

So the first thing I do is get a big pot and get my sauces and tomatoes simmering with the spices in it. This way they get all yummy and flavorful. The longer it simmers the better. 

Side note: This is perfect for my tomatoes that I've frozen from my garden. If you've never done this, it is sooooo much easier than canning. Just toss your washed and cored smaller tomatoes like roma type in freezer bags and freeze those suckers solid. No blanching, no peeling. When you pull them out of the freezer to use, the skins slide right off as they thaw. Great for sauces, soups and chili's.

I then peel my carrots and cut them up in 1" bites and pop them in my micro cooker with a little water to steam them in the microwave. I like my carrots real soft, so I do this instead of just letting them cook in the sauce.

I'm usually in a hurry, so I cut up my potatoes and usually cook them up in my pressure cooker which takes like 3 minutes. I should probably just toss my carrots in there too. You could also just cook them on the stove or microwave.

Then I fry up my burger with the onion and garlic. Drain the grease and add to stew. Let it simmer. You really could serve it up right then, but I like to let all the flavors come together. Serve it up with some butter bread and there you go. Like I said, it is even better the next day.


Let me know if you try it :)

Lovin' from the oven - Banana Bread Bonanza!

Today we had rain and temperatures colder than normal and I had some bananas that were way past their prime so that makes a great combination for Banana Bread! Oh the wonderful smell that fills the house... so warm and homey.

I've made lots of loaves of banana bread in my lifetime, as it has always been a favorite of mine and my family growing up and now my family as an adult. My most favorite recipe and the one I always go back to is from a great long time friend, Amie (a very gifted artist) and it's the best I've ever tasted. I've used this recipe for a long time now and added a little cinnamon and walnuts but that is it.

start with these!

add some yummy walnuts

makes a lot of batter

I always work in a mess and make a bigger mess ;)

So here it is in all is yummy deliciousness... baked in my mother's loaf pan :)

Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2 eggs, beaten
4 tablespoons of sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda (dissolved in sour cream before added)
3 really ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup of flour
handful of walnuts (optional)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees F

Cream sugar, butter and eggs. Stir in mashed bananas, vanilla, sour cream w/baking soda dissolved in it and finally the flour.

Bake in a greased loaf pan for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out fairly clean and not gooey. Top will be pretty brown and firm. Let cool some (if you can!) and enjoy.

Beans and corn and corn and corn and beans

Sweet Corn - temperatures so hot the camera kept fogging up - but how cute is my little helper?!

So the garden has come in and in a big way. Every year about this time, gardening... vegetable gardening that is, becomes hard work and makes me want to give up quit and just buy grocery store food. Between the mosquitoes that think I'm a free all-you-can-eat smorgasbord for them and my sensitive skin blistering up from just rubbing against the leaves and weeds it's been a trying season.

Especially like the last couple days. I've picked beans, snapped beans, canned beans and they never end. Hours and hours of beans. Yesterday in the sweltering 98 degrees (F) with heat indexs of about 105+ we picked corn, cut down the corn, schucked the corn blanched the corn and wrapped each cob in Saran wrap and then froze the corn.

Today... still more corn to schuck, blanch and this time cut the corn with this blood thirsty little machine that sliced me up good all to get the kernels off and then freeze for creamed corn (but don't freeze the bloody corn). Now the dang beans need to be picked again. I feel like Jack and the Beanstalk, only it's the beans that just keep coming and coming. Oh and guess what I'm doing Thursday (today technically after I go to bed and wake up)... you guessed it, more corn. Plus, the tomatoes are just coming in too so that means salsa and canning tomatoes and maybe some sauce. Wow, no wonder I've got no time for creating any new art!

Yeah, yeah I can hear you all now saying Dang... she's crazy! Well, yes. Yes I am. I've turned into Psycho Suzie Homemaker haha... living off the land but bitchin' about it the whole time. But come December when I'm cracking open those jars of home grown green beans and heating up that sweet corn that tastes like I just picked it I'll be feeling pretty good about myself... haha.  Not to mention munching tortilla chips with my to die for Dee-licious Salsa! Yummy! see it here cooking

Jaime's Dee-Licious Salsa
Makes 8 pints + a half pint to eat right then! ;oP


Ingredients:
9 cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained (I don't bother seeding, but you can)
2 1/2 cups onions, chopped
1 1/2 cups green peppers
1 cup jalapeno pepper, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons pepper
1/8 cup canning salt
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vinegar ( I like apple cider vinegar)
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 ounce) can tomato paste

Mix all together and bring to a slow boil for 10 minutes. I can it and I've also froze it in jelly jars with great results. It smells divine and you'll have to beat off the people with a big stick to get them to leave you alone trying to get you to make more. But believe me, you'll wanna make more.

Great Cake Balls of Fire!

Cake Balls

This past weekend we had our family get together from my mom's side of the family and I took the usual meatballs and weenies with sauce. I was also asked to bring a dessert if I could, so I thought I'd get fancy with some Christmassy looking dessert. I thought of Cherry Cheesecake because that is pretty and always a hit, but I would have to make a lot of pies to feed everyone. My Aunt Jane has the cookies market cornered and everyone has their "Specialty" dessert that they bring so I had to get creative. Well, with creativity comes trouble sometimes. I spent more time and effort on these dang things and they all only ate a few. It's those cookies that went like hot cakes and the dirt pudding. Ugh. Why is it when you try the hardest to make something nice and special that either it goes unnoticed or poo poo'd all together?!

But aren't they pretty! They taste great, too. They are like Crack! Very addicting. This is not the recipe you throw together a hour before you have to leave for the party, let me tell ya. If fact I will tell ya:

Cake Balls
1 cake mix, baked according to directions (any that you want)
1 can of icing (that will taste good with the cake!)
Almond bark or chocolate chips for melting and dipping the balls into
decorative sprinkles or nuts (optional)

• Bake your cake and let cool but not completely cold. 
• Crumble up the cake (I used a wooden spoon) then add the icing to the cake and mix it all together. You could use a mixer if you want but it only took a few minutes to mix it all together. If you use a warm cake it will be a gooey mess, but yummy to lick your fingers! 
• Place the mixture in the fridge overnight or for a few hours. 
• Next day roll balls out of mixture and place on parchment lined pan (or wax paper, whatever you've got) and place in the freezer for 15 minutes or so. I use this time to melt my chocolate. I used Almond Bark and to make it a little more Christmassy, I added a half a teaspoon of peppermint flavoring to the melted bark. I'm not sure I'd do that again, it didn't add the pizazz I thought it would. 
• If you want sprinkles, ass soon as you coat one ball, have the sprinkles ready to throw at the ball as you lay it on the paper. It hardens almost immediately. I used a big tablespoon and my fingers mainly to twirl the ball around in the bark. I tried toothpicks but that was taking too long. 

I store these in the fridge, but I don't know that you have to.

Easy but time consuming. Costs about $5 or less to make, I'd say. You could make the balls bigger or smaller. They do look pretty, don't they!

Merry Christmas! (a wee bit early)

Cherry Cheesecake recipe

Cherry Cheesecake!

I wanted to share with you my mother in law's sister Janice's Cherry Cheesecake which is simply made and always a crowd pleaser for special occasions. It is as yummy as it is pretty. This recipe is a no bake recipe and makes 2 cheesecakes. Make this the night before so it sets up nice.

Cherry Cheesecake

ingredients:


2 graham cracker crusts
1 can cherry pie filling (divided) we like Lucky Leaf
12 oz. cream cheese, softened (1 + 1/2 packages)
2 tsp vanilla
2 tubs of cool whip (8 oz)
2 cups powdered sugar
pecans for garnish

Beat powdered sugar, cream cheese and vanilla till blended. Fold in cool whip. Distribute evenly into graham cracker crusts. Cover each with the cherry pie filling (1/2 can per pie). Sprinkle with pecans.


This is so yummy and I have used an Oreo crust in place of the graham cracker crust and it is more like a Black Forest treat... mmm! Also, if you choose to lighten it up with the light versions that is ok, but it may not be as firm as the one here. I have used the fat free cream cheese and it didn't set up but still tasted good, but not quite the same. Let me know if you try it!