TEMPTATION TUESDAY

Good afternoon all and happy Temptation Tuesday to ya!  I told ya that I had some good recipes for you and believe me I do.  For today, I thought that I would give you 3 recipes.  Yay!  Two of them are for desserts and the other one is for a dip.  I don't honestly know which on of these I like the best.  That is how delicious they all are.  So, what do you say we dive right in? 

The first recipe that I am going to share is the one for the dip.  This is where I originally found it at:  http://www.justaspoonfulof.com/2012/05/neiman-marcus-dip.html 


NEIMAN MARCUS DIP

5-6 green onions, chopped
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2c mayonnaise
1 jar Hormel real bacon pieces
slivered almonds

Mix all ingredients together and then chill.  Serve with Ritz or corn chips.

I didn't use nuts in mine.  We have some folks that don't enjoy them.  It was delicious without them and I am sure it is just as delicious with them.  I was thinking though that craisins would be delicious in this as well as a little coconut.  I think that would take it to another whole level of tastiness.  Just sayin! 

We all loved the dip.  It was finished being eaten up on July 5th!
Here is a picture of the dip:

The picture doesn't do it any justice but, take my word for it.  This dip is awesome!

For the next recipe, this is for all of you out there with a sweet tooth like mine, maybe a little Butterfinger sweet tooth.  I originally got the recipe from here and if you would like there original version and not my shorthand, go here for it:  http://mykitchenadventures1.blogspot.com/2012/02/butterfinger-dessert.html     


BUTTERFINGER DESSERT

1 angel food cake, cut into 1" pieces
1 1oz pkg sugar free, fat free, butterscotch instant pudding mix
1 1/2c skim milk
2 8oz containers of cool whip free, thawed
10 fun sized Butterfinger candy bars, crushed

Spray a 9X13 pan with cooking spray.  Arrange half of the angel food cake cubes in bottom of pan.  In a large bowl combine the pudding mix with the skim milk.  Whisk until starting to thicken.  Fold in both containers of cool whip free.  Pour half of the pudding mix over the cubes of cake.  Top with half of the Butterfingers.  Repeat with the rest of the cake and then the pudding mix and finish off with the Butterfingers.  Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving, or overnight. 

Holy cow, can I just tell you how good this thing was!  Wow!  And the best part is, it wasn't that bad for you.  I mean, it could be alot worse, like the next recipe.  LOL!  Here is a picture of mine:

 

 

After this had been refrigerated and all those yummy flavors combined, Wow!  Really yummy and very easy to throw together. 

For the last recipe, this one is another one for all of you with the sweet tooth like mine.  I got this recipe from here:  http://theimperfecthousewife.blogspot.com/2009/09/fried-ice-cream-dessert.html 


FRIED ICE CREAM DESSERT

1 stick of butter
1 c sugar
3 c crushed corn flakes
2qts vanilla ice cream  *let ice cream sit out for 1/2 hour to
                                            soften
1 container cool whip
1 teas cinnamon
honey for drizzling

Melt butter in frying pan.  Add cornflakes and sugar.  Fry for about 3 mins, stirring constantly so that the sugar doesn't burn.  Pat about 1/2 to 1/3 of the cornflake mixture in the bottom of a 9X13 pan. 
In a large bowl beat ice cream, cool whip and cinnamon.  pour ice cream mixture over cornflakes on bottom of pan.  Sprinkle remaining crumbs over ice cream.  Freeze.  When serving, lightly drizzle honey over each slice. 

WOWZERS!  Yeah, this was as delicious as it sounds.  And so easy to make.  That's what makes this recipe very...... dangerous!  LOL!

I did think that it was to sweet, though.  I think when I make it again I will try 1/2c sugar in the corn flakes instead.  It was way too sweet and then we added the drizzle of honey and it pushed it over the top.  I think that cutting back on the sugar will make it way more tasty.  That is just my opinion though.  Others may think that it is great just the way it is and that is fine.  Just giving ya all my opinion on it. 

Here is the picture of what mine looked like:

We had never had the real fried ice cream but, had heard about it.  This was a great way to experience it.  Truly yummy1


These recipes that I shared with you today were all quick, easy, and just a few ingredients.  They were fun and tasty too!  I hope that you all give them a try they are definitely worth it.  If you have a special occasion you are going to and need to bring a dish, any one of these would be a big hit.  Try them soon. 


Hope that you all have a great day.  I hope to be back soon but, I got to get going on them curtains, ya know?! 

Warm and primitive blessings to you all.

prim_bug

MONDAY AND A FEW PICS OF WHAT I GOT DONE THIS WEEK END!!!!!

Good Monday morning all.  I hope that you all had a great Fourth and an awesome week end as well!  Ours was great!  We had our usual get together and tons of food and lots of laughter, jokes, remember whens, and just great family togetherness making new memories!  Love it!  I hope that you all made some new great ones too.  I will be sharing a few of the new Pinterest recipes that I made on the Fourth with you all tomorrow.  YUMMY!  For today I wanted to share a few pics of what I did this week end.  Not alot but, I did get a couple of things finished and that is always an accomplishment for me.  LOL! 

The first thing that I have been wanting to share is the pics I took of the flowers that the hubs brought home for me on our anniversary. They are so beautiful still, and he brought them home for me on June 21.  I love that they are still sitting on my dining room table almost as beautiful today as they were when he brought them home for me.  He got them early for me because he knew that on our anniversary (the 25th) he would not have time.  That is just so sweet, I know!  He's the greatest!  Here are the pics;

Aren't they beautiful?  I love, love, love, daisies.  They last so long and they are so beautiful.  And, who doesn't love baby's breath?!  To top it all off, the hubs takes me out to dinner on Saturday for our anniversary and as we head out the door, there is a limousine waiting to take us there, WHAT?!  I know!  I have never gone in a limo before.  This was so sweet and he never does anything like that.  What a great guy.  If he continues to keep surprising me like this...... I'm gonna continue to love it!  LOL!  He is the greatest, I tell ya!  Thanks hon!

Now, for the other projects that I finished up.  Do you all remember the rooster needle punch that I did?  Well, it has just been laying around waiting to be finished off.  I had no idea how to finish it.  So, I looked it up and found a tut and they told me to cut all but a quarter inch around it and then basically glue the back down.  I did.  Not sure I like doing that though.  I think next time I will just stitch it down on the back.  Always think of this stuff after.  Oh well!  After I glued it down, I decided to attach it to a basket that I had just laying around.  I just sewed it's four corners to the basket and that was it.  I had the perfect spot for it right on the hutch in my dining room.  Here's the pic;

I knew that it would look great on this hutch because of the green color of it.  The green in the rooster looks great up against it.  Yay!  Now I can enjoy seeing this in my dining room every time I go by instead of seeing it waiting to be finished laying in my craft room.  Woot!  Woot!

So, this next project is one that I did with my youngest nephews for the Fourth.  I got the original idea on Pinterest here:  http://www.backintymeprimitives.com/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=Americana&isThumbs=No&curpage=1&Thumbs=  There were alot of similar ideas for this type of thing and I kind of followed this one and added in a couple of pieces from the others I saw.  I unfortunately didn't have any of the others pinned or I would have shared their addresses as well.  Sorry.  It is pretty basic but, it looks awesome.  My nephews were going camping over the Fourth and these were going to be awesome to take for little night lights as well as festive for the Holiday.  Hope that you all like the looks of them as well.  Here it is;

Isn't that pretty neat?!  I wish that you could see the glow of the tea light inside.  It is too bright in the house.  I used a peanut butter jar.  I bought a package of four flags at Wal mart for just a couple of bucks.  We took the flags off the poles.  Then, I wrapped twine around the flag to hold it in place and knotted it in the back.  For the lid I put a used and dried out coffee filter over it, (it still showed the green of the lid so I placed a small piece of muslin under the filter and problem solved.  I wrapped that with twine too.  Inside the jar we used some white rice just to lift the light up a little, and then we added a battery operated tea light. Voila!  The only thing that I need to do with this is stain it so that it looks aged.  I wanted to get the picture taken so that I could show what I had worked on.  When I made the ones up with my nephews, we purchased blue mason jars at Wal mart for them.  They liked the blue jars and they were reasonable at 1.97 each.  It is a fun project to do for the holidays and if you have an area in your home with the Americana theme.  And very inexpensive. 

For my next project I needed to re-cover my Bible.  It was just not matching my decor on the stand where I keep it.  I didn't want it moved so, I had to do something.

So, here it is before.  Kind of loud and doesn't really look old and prim. 

The first step was picking the fabric that I wanted to cover it in.  I liked the stripes and the blue stripe fit in with the room.  So, I basically tried to fit it like a book cover similar to back when I was in school.  I am not a big one on measuring and fitting to perfection, my bad!  I can't help it.  It just seems like I should be able to just lay it out and make it fit just right.  Haha.  Never works that way but, ya can't blame me for trying, right?! 

Before I could sew the actual cover, I wanted to put a patch on it that read:  Holy Bible.  I got a piece of muslin and just hand wrote on it.  That would be easy enough to stitch on.  I thought that dark brown embroidery thread would work great and I used 3 strands to sew on the words.

I am very pleased with the little stitched patch. 

To finish it I took more of the brown embroidery floss, just one strand, and did like a running stitch all the way around the Bible cover.  Then I took it and did the same thing to patch it on.  Love the way that it came out.  Now I can have it on my stand and I think that it looks great!  Very happy girl.

I think that it looks so much better now.  And if you look in the back ground I think that you can see Kayzer's eyes glowing too.  He is such a little cutie.  If I can sneak them in a picture, you know I am going to.  Love my fur babies. 

I didn't do any big projects but, for me completing a few smaller ones is sometimes even more difficult.  I feel very accomplished after all this.  Now do you all know what I need to get working on?  Yep, more curtains..... yay!  Can't wait until they are all done. 

Hope that you all have a wonderful day.  I will be back tomorrow to share some of my new recipes.  Can't wait for that.  See you then.

Warm (not hot, lol) primitive blessings to you all!

prim_bug

TEMPTATION TUESDAY

Happy Temptation Tuesday all!  Yeah, that's right.  I am here on the correct day.  YIPPEE!!!!  Now, the recipe that I want to share with you all is one that I made on Sunday afternoon.  And while it was baking the only word that I could think of to describe the smell is..... heavenly!  OMG!  The smell of strawberries and cinnamon in a bread baking for an hour.  WOW!  It was almost too much to bear.  The best part was that my mom came over to visit while it was baking, and Sam and Cole came over to play board/card games with my sis.  They do this pretty much every week end.  Are they great or what?  Think about it for a minute.  How many teen age kids do you know that would give up a few hours on their week end to spend with their aunt/uncle/family member to do activities with?  There are not many that I know.  Makes it even more special.  They will always have these awesome memories with her.  <3  Love them lots.  Anyway, I got to take a quick picture of them all having a slice of it while they were in the midst of their game.  Of course, they had to give me a bit of a hard time though.  You be the judge;

So, my sister was the only one sweet enough to give me a thumbs up!  I was so focused on Cole, acting like he was choking on the bread that I didn't even see Samantha being a wise guy too, with the thumbs down!  What the heck?  

Is that not a cool photo?!  I love it.  I needed to do a little spread on Cole because I am always talking about Samantha.  Pretty much what you see with Cole is what you get.  He is a handsome, 15 year old, with his driver's permit.  He already has his first vehicle, a red pick up truck.  He is responsible, funny, sweet, smart and all of the wonderful things that you would want your son to be.  I have to say that my brother and sister in law are very fortunate to have two kids as great as these two are.  Okay Cole, I hope that I didn't embarrass you too much.  Love you both to the moon and back!  

Now, on with the recipe.  Have I gotten you drooling yet with the talk of the strawberries?  Maybe this next photo will help;

 This is my moms slice of bread.  I forgot to take a picture of the loaf before we cut into it.  And she hadn't dove into hers yet.  You can kind of see the bread underneath.  The top is the strawberry butter that I made to put on it.  YUMMY!

So, if you would like to copy the recipe from the original spot that I got it from, go here:  http://www.jamhands.net/2012/03/strawberry-bread-with-strawberry-butter.html 

If you want my shorthand version, here you go:

STRAWBERRY BREAD WITH STRAWBERRY BUTTER

1/2c butter, softened
3/4c sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2c sour cream
2c fresh or frozen strawberries
1/2c nuts

Cream butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs, one at a time and add vanilla.  Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the wet.  Mix in 1/2 of the sour cream.  Mix in another 1/3 of the dry ingredients.  Mix in the remaining sour cream.  Mix in the last of the dry ingredients.  Mix in the strawberries.  Pour into a greased loaf pan.  Bake in a 350* oven for about 60 minutes.  (I had to cook mine for an extra 10 minutes). 

STRAWBERRY BUTTER

1/2c butter, softened
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
2 Tbsp (+/-) strawberry preserves or fresh berries (I used the strawberry sauce below instead)

Mix together until creamy.  Cover and refrigerate until serving.


I used a strawberry sauce in the butter that my mom showed me how to make.  It is very easy and tastes great on ice cream, pound cake, inside filling of oatmeal crumb bars, toast, pretty much anything.  You also can use any kind of fruit to make this.  It is probably something that you all know how to make but, I didn't and I thought that maybe someone else out there might not either.  So, here's the other recipe for ya.

STRAWBERRY SAUCE

1 quart of strawberries
3/4c sugar
3 Tbsp Tapioca

Mix the sugar and the Tapioca together. (This prevents the Tapioca
 from clumping).  Hull, and half or quarter your berries.  Put them into a medium sized saucepan and turn on low heat.  Add your sugar/Tapioca mix to the berries.  You will want to watch this and stir it often so it doesn't stick on.  Turn your heat up to medium after it has started heating up a little and wait for it to come to a boil.  Make sure you keep stirring.  When it comes to a boil you will need to let it boil for 1 minute.  Keep stirring still.  when the minute is up, it is done.  So delicious.  A good mixture is strawberries and rhubarb.  That is too yummy.

TIP**** Change your sugar amounts depending on berry tartness. 

        Add more Tapioca if your berries are real juicy.

This is very easy to make and yummy to have as a treat.  It is also quick to make up and almost as quick to disappear.  With the Fourth in a couple of days this is just something handy to make up and serve over ice cream for a quick dessert. 

Well, I hope that you have enjoyed the blog today.  If you make up the bread, prepare your house for a delicious smell to fill it. 

Warm and primitive blessings to you all!

prim_bug

MONDAY BEFORE THE FOURTH!!!!!!!!

Well, Happy Monday all!  I trust that you all had a nice week end.  Ours around here was good.  It was kind of productive.  Not in the ways that I had hoped for but still got things done around here and that was good.  I had hoped that I would have alot to share with you today but not as much as I had wanted.  I will show you the pictures I took of the camper with my kitchen towel curtains.  At least, the ones that I had done.  I had to go get more towels this week end so that I could finish up the curtains for the bathroom and the bedroom windows.  But, here's what is done;

 



 

When you first open the door and walk into the camper this is what you see.  Kitchen to the left and the living room to the right.  Further down to the right is the bathroom and then the bedroom.  Pretty standard but, it is our first camper.  Woot, Woot!! 

This is obviously to the far left in the kitchen.  So, what do you think of my curtains?  I think that they came out pretty good.  It just makes you proud when you put into it so much of yourself.  Hopefully I am not boring you all.  I just thought that if I showed you what you can do with $25 in kitchen towels, and if I can do it, anybody can.  I don't sew a straight line, I don't measure things to the exact, most of the time I don't pin the fabric down, so if I can do this, just imagine what you can do.  That is what I am trying to get across here. 

This is obviously off to the right in the kitchen.  My curtain rod is not hung on very good.  The wall brackets needed to be replaced and I didn't realize until I went to hang them.  Next trip to the store.

This is of the living room section.  Over the lovely PINK couch.  Yes, that is still something that I have to figure out as well.  But, the curtains look good.  What do you think of the little lanterns above?  I got them at Tractor Supply too!  When I went back for more of the towels, I spotted these in their clearance section.  What a steal for $6.99 each.  They are LED lights and they have a dimmer switch to turn them up or down.  They take a couple of batteries but, what fun!  Love them. 

This is across from the couch in the living room.  There is a small table/counter under this window.  The valance on this window needs one more towel but, that was all that I had done at the time and I was dying to see how they looked.  I think they all look great.  In the end, that is all that matters, right? 

And this picture here is showing you down the entryway to the bathroom and bedroom.  These two rooms still need to be washed down and finished cleaning, as well as yep, you guessed it.  The curtains.  I have already vacuumed and cleaned the bedroom for the most part.  Even got us some bedding at Wal mart.  Now is a great time to find some Patriotic bedding.  So, I am almost done with it.  I would like to say by the end of the week I should have it all done but, with the Fourth on Thursday and appointments, and with watching my nephews on Mondays and Tuesdays..... doesn't look promising.  But, I am gonna try. 

I wasn't very successful with tutorials and finishing projects this week end but, I am working on things to show you soon.  I will try to put them on here little by little.  Just be patient with me.  I know, if you are still checking in here, you are a very patient people.  Thanks for that. 

I am hoping to make a cover for my Bible that matches the prim look in my front room.  That is where I read it and the blue and green coloring just doesn't fit in so well.  I can fix that easy enough.  (I hope) LOL!  I also am planning on making some Pioneer dresses out of pillow cases that i picked up at Goodwill.  The free pattern is at Our Pioneer Homestead.  I will link you all there after I post it.  I also have a few other goodies that I want to get cracking on. 

There is one more thing that I want to share with you all today though.  I found this on Pinterest, duh?! It is a 52 week money challenge.  This sounded so cool when I pinned it.  Then I forgot about it until Nancy was looking at my pins and asked me about it.  Well, that brought it to my attention again and I printed it off and I am going to try it.  It sounds really neat.  If you are interested in it too, you can find it here:  http://stuckathomemom.com/52-week-money-challenge/the-52-week-money-challenge-you-game/  

This starts off with you just putting in one dollar the first week and two dollars the second week and on the 52nd week you are putting in fifty two dollars.  At the end you will have saved $1,378.00  I think that is sweet.  I am starting mine this week and I will try to keep posting with you all to see how you are doing too.  Nancy had a great idea to start it on the week of her Anniversary and that way when it comes around next year they will have money to go somewhere they might like or do something special.  I think it is a great idea.  Thanks for reminding me of it again, Nancy.

See you all tomorrow.

Warm and primitive blessings to you all.

prim_bug