I guess it's my turn!

Tag- You're it!!! Let others know a little more about yourself by re-posting and tagging your friends. Re post note as your name "1) What is your favorite salad dressing? my Homemade bluecheese

2) What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Cafe Mia

3) What food could you eat for 2 weeks straight and not get sick of it? Chicken salad w/bluecheese dressing

4) What are your pizza toppings of choice? Chicken Garlic5) What do you like to put on your toast? Peanut butter

6) How many televisions are in your house? 5( too many,I know)

7) What color is your cell phone? black

8) Are you right-handed or left-handed? right

9) Have you ever had anything removed from your body? A child & parts of my knee

10) What is the last heavy item you lifted? I don't lift heavy things, Thats what Geoff is for

11) Have you ever been knocked unconscious? no

12) If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? No way

13) If you could change your name, what would you change it to? I like my name :)

14) Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? Yes, then I would die if a stomach ache

15) How many pairs of flip flops do you own? 0, but in the summer I will buy mabey 5or6

16) What’s your goal for the year? Get a job and go to SSCC's professional Baking and Pastry school

17) Last person you talked to? Geoff before he left for work

18) Last person you hugged? Geoff

19) Favorite Season? Summer

20) Favorite Holiday? Thanksgiving

21) Favorite day of the week?Weekends with the kids

22) Favorite Month? December

23) First place you went this morning? Bathroom,then Kitchen to make coffee Do you always answer the phone? nope

25-27)Where'd these questions go? someone didn't want to answer them so they just deleted them. Where's the fun in that???

28) If you could change your eye color what would it be? I love having very dark brown eyes

29) What flavor drink do you get at Sonic? never been, don't think we have one around here

30) Have you ever had a pet fish? Yes

31) Favorite Christmas song? I try not to think about Christmas in March

32) What's on your wish list for your birthday? I had my wish, Dinner with the kids and family

33) Can you do push ups? No, Why would I!

34) Can you do a chin up? again, WHY!!!

35) Does the future make you more nervous or excited? I'm excited

36) Do you have any saved texts? Yes,

37) Ever loved a dog like its your child? Miss My Louie, I love this picture of him!

38) Do you have an accent? No

39) What is the last song to make you cry? Can't think of the name right now, but its good

40) Plans tonight? Make dinner, clean,play on the computer,work on my blog

41) Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? Once

42) Name 3 things you bought yesterday? Starbucks,groceries,(way more then 3 items)T.P

43) Have you ever been given roses? yes

44) Current hate right now?Not having a job, and looking for a job!

45) Met someone who changed your life? Yes

46) How did you bring in the New Year? At home

47) What song represents you? Not sure

48) Name three people who might complete this? Not sure

49) What were you doing 12 AM last night? Ummm..Sleeping
50) What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up?I did'nt program the coffee pot so it would be ready when I got up , so I have to go make it!
I tag whoever reads this & hasn't done it yet :)

A Friend Loveth at all Times.

I have had a dear friend since I was 17, her name is Alice. She is such an encouragement and someone I could talk to about anything.Remember hanging out in our jammies and watching movies all day and eating goodies? I was going through some papers and I found a sweet poem she wrote for me. It was a highlight in my day. We have been there for each other through good times and bad. Now that I live in Seattle, we can't get together like we used to,remember Tea and cookies at my house??? Yummy! If you have a sweet friend like I have, please keep them close and talk to them often. Love you Alice, you will always have a shoulder to cry on and a friend to laugh with!

"Forever Friends"

A true friend I found in you,

You're there no matter what I do.

When I fall I know you care

You help me up, my burdans share

I hope I'll do the same for you

When you're down, I'll be there too.

You know on me you can depend,

My only "true" forever friend.

~Alice~

Three Desserts using Pound Cake.

I recently found an article in Real Living magazine that uses kitchen staples to give them a new twist by adding different ingredients to spice them up.I am using a 6oz pound cake in these recipes. Each will serve 6 people

Pound cake with oranges,honey and Rosemary.

Cut away the peel and the pith of the oranges and cut out the segments. In a medium bowl, gently combine the orange segments, 2Tbs Honey,and 1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary. Slice cake and top with orange mixture. Enjoy. Whip cream would be nice on the top.

Glazed pound cake with crystallized ginger

in a small bowl,whisk 1 cup of powder sugar 1tablespoon powder sugar to form a thick but pourable glaze(add more water if necessary)Spread glaze over the cake letting it drip down the sides.Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of chopped candied ginger. Let the glaze set for 20 min. before serving.

Toasted pound cake with whip cream and almonds

Heat oven to 375* Spread 1/2 cup of sliced almonds on a rimmed baking sheet and toast, tossing occasionally, until golden. 5 to 7 min. Heat broiler.Slice the cake into 1 inch thick pieces and broil till golden brown,about 1 min. per side. In a medium bowl,beat 1 cup of heavy cream and 1/4 cup of powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.Top cake with whip cream and top with the toasted almonds.

Baby its cold outside...Lets bake some cookies!

It's Saturday and the kids are here for the weekend. Its raining outside and we were stuck inside,so michaella asked me if we could make cookies. I love to bake and develop recipes and this is one I had been working on for a little while. I had some dried sour cherries so i decided to try the recipe. We had alot of fun. Michealla is so fun to cook with Her favorite thing to do is to crack the eggs. Later that night we made homemade spaghetti sauce and cheese bread. It was really good.

The First signs of spring in our front yard!

I thought everyone would like to see some signs of spring while we all have to be patient while it rains and snows(I know it's March!!!) I was outside watching, I don't do yard work so I was watching Geoff do it. I noticed some little flowers growing in the grass. Geoff said the squirrels bury them in the winter. So we find them popping up all over the place. So enjoy, spring will be here soon!

Sensible Substitutes, Yummy!

In recent years I have always looked for ways to make my food healthier. I came accross this book that had a few homemade versions of things you find in the grocery store and use often,after some trial I realize these turned out to be really good and very cost effective. So I thought I would share a few. The chocolate syrup is my favorite because you can add a higher quality cocoa powder, which defeats the purpose of being cost effective, but it is really good.Last time I made it i used Calibou cocoa powder, which is 16.oo for 120z at Sur la table. You can use Hersheys and it really does taste butter then the canned stuff. Taco Seasoning
6 teaspoon chili powder
41/2 t cumin
5t paprika
3t onion powder
21/2 t garlic powder
1/8 to 1/4tcayenne powder
Mix all together and store in an airtight container.The homemade mix is much stronger then the store-bought one,so use half as much and adjust to your taste.

CHOCOLATE SYRUP
1/2C cocoa
1cup water
2c sugar
1/8 t salt (dont skip this, it really adds to the flavor)
1/4t Vanilla
Mix the cocoa and the water in a saucepan. Heat and stir to disolve the cocoa.Add the sugar,and stir to dissolve. Boil 3 min.Add the salt and vanilla.Pour into sterilized pint jar and store covered in refrigerator;Keeps for several months.
Hershey syrup:$1.69 for 24oz jar or 7cents per ounce. Homemade: 3 cents per ounce

Cream Soup Mix

2 cups dry milk

11/4 cups of corn starch or 21/2c of flour

1/4c chicken bouillon powder

1/2 tsp powder

1t thyme (optional)

1t Basil

Mix all together, and store in airtight container.If the mix is made with cornstarch,add 1/3 of the mix to 1 1/4 cups of water; if made with flour add 1/2 cup of mix to 1 1/4 cups water. This makes a consentrated casserole consistancy. For thinner soup coninstancy, double the water.

Enjoy

Try these and let me know how you like them. I have a few more to post,so keep checking back.


HOMEMADE VANILLA
1BOTTLE OF GOOD VODKA
2SPLIT VANILLA BEAN POD

Split the vanilla bean pod lengthwise,
put into vadka bottle and store in a dark place
in about 2months it will develope a dark color.
As you use it refill with vodka, It will last for 7
years. I love this and I have been making this for
years. It may take longer to develope the destinctive
dark color. It is way better then store bought. I purchased
vanilla beans at costco. If you are botherd by having a
vodka bottle in your kitchen, buy a pretty bottle and
make it in that. ENJOY!!!

A Beautiful Winter day at the Beach.

Today, Geoff came home from work early so we decided to go down to the Cove. We live in Normandy Park and we have access to a private beach for the owners in the area. So we decided to take bread so we can feed the ducks. It is so fun, as soon as we go to the ducks, they swarmed us. They will even take the food right out your hand, even the baby ducks.We found alot of little crabs, snails and starfish under the rocks on the beach. It was so nice to be in the sun.We love to bring the kids down here there, we love to have a fire and roast marshmellows.There are a couple of little bridges over a protected marsh that sometimes you can see fish spawning. It is such peaceful place to go. Because it is private you dont have alot of kids running around and messy people. It was a nice day and I think we will bring the kids down this weekend to feed the ducks and walk on the beach.

Lemon Desserts remind me of summer! Yummy!

Here are a few pictures that remind me of summer. Anything made with lemons are my favorite. I hope you enjoy these pictures and you are inspired to make something for yourself. I have found a really great collection of lemon recipes on Martha Stewart living web site. My Absolute favorite lemon dessert of all time would have to be Lemon Meringue Pie. I useally make mine really tart.Mmm.... I will post a few recipes here soon. Enjoy!

More Snow PIctures!

This is the tree in our neighbors yard, So pretty!

This is what the main road looked like in Normndy Park on our way the the resturant!

Winter Wonderland

It's Monday March 9th 2009 and we have snow on the ground. I got up early this morning to find 2 inches of the white stuff on the ground, Needless to say I was not happy. I thought I would post a few pictures of my cute house covered in snow. These were taken in December when we had over 2 feet. Wow, it was really pretty and I was excited then but now I am sick of it! Anyway about the pictures, there is one of the house and the tree in our neighbors front yard. I will have to say after 5 days of being stuck in the house we were suffering a serious case of "cabin fever". It could have been a good thing because at the time I was baking about 25 dozon cookies for christmas. But at that time after about 20 dozon I was going to go mad if I did not take a break from baking and cooking. So we bundled up and decided to walk to a little place not far from the house in Normandy park for dinner. It was so nice and warm once we got there, and I was happy not to have to cook anything. I am patienly looking foward to spring, I see little flowers sprouting up in the yard, so pretty. It will be here soon!

A day with my best friend!

Friday was a really special day for me, my friend Alice aka Aly, came to visit and see my new house and meet Geoff. We had such a great day talking about old times and laughing so hard my face hurt. We hav'nt done that is so long. We enjoyed a cup of spice tea and she brought lunch, Yummy potatoe soup, Homemade, it was really good. Thanks Alice. She brought me the cutest picture frames and a fluffy scarf for my birthday. I loved it!The weather could'nt have been better, it was really nice.We will have to di that more often.

New to Blogging!

Well, after reading Alices' bolg and many others, I thought why not, I will try anything once. So keep checking back and you might like what you see. I will be posting pics from my birthday and random things from time to time. So comment on what you like, but keep negative comments and gossip to yourself, life is too short. Live, Laugh, and most of all LOVE!!! Thanks. Let the fun begin!!!