Cherry Jello Squares

This is a recipe I prepare often. It comes from the Taste of Home cookbook, Fast Fixes with Mixes.  

1 package (6 oz.) cherry jello
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling
1 1/4 cups lemon-lime soda, chilled
Whipped Topping, optional

In a bowl, dissolve jello in water. Stir in pie filling, mix well. Slowly stir in soda. Pour into an 8 inch square dish. Cover and refrigerate until firm. Cut into squares. Garnish with whipped topping if desired. 

You will find some other tasty recipes at Colleen's weekly recipe swap at And Baby Makes Five.

Bluebirds, Daisies, and Snow

Snow days equal time off from school, which means more time to cross stitch. I really like samplers. I found this cute little Bluebirds and Daisies sampler at Blue Ribbon Designs. I stitched it on 16 count sage Aida. All that is left is to find the perfect frame.

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind

I recently finished reading Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann Ross. Miss Julia is the recently widowed wife of Wesley Lloyd Springer, a wealthy banker. Her life is turned upside down when Hazel Marie Puckett shows up on her front porch with a nine year old boy in tow and informs Julia that this is the child of Wesley Springer. Hazel is on her way to beauty school in Raleigh, North Carolina. She expects Julia to take care of the child until she returns. Miss Julia finds herself in the middle of a scandal, a robbery, and a kidnapping. I fould this book to be enjoyable and at times funny. It is book one in the Miss Julia series.

Start 'em Young

I've always enjoyed reading. I guess it is no surprise that I became a language arts teacher and librarian. I find reading a relaxing past time. I also love going to bookstores. You will often find me in the children's section checking out what has been published recently.

It thrills me to no end that already at one year old my granddaughter loves books. Board books are a great choice for babies and toddlers. Some of my granddaughter's favorites are Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin, The Best Mouse Cookie, and Baby Nose to Baby Toes.

Favorite Pieces

This was probably one of my first country purchases made when I first got married over 30 years ago. It was an unfinished furniture piece purchased at Andersons. My husband assembled it and painted it. It is now being used in the kitchen to house cookbooks. On the top is a mason jar lamp and a crock with a teddy bear sitting in it. One of my favorite cross-stitch pictures is above the cabinet.

Potato Sloppy Joe Bake

Colleen at And Baby Makes Five hosts a weekly recipe swap. This week I'm posting another quick and easy casserole (Do you see a trend here?) Just add a salad and some bread sticks and you have a complete meal.

Potato Sloppy Joe Bake

1 pound ground beef

1 can (15 ½ ounces) sloppy joe sauce

1 can condensed cream of potato soup, undiluted

1 package (32 ounces) frozen cubed hash brown potatoes, thawed

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef and drain. Add sloppy joe sauce and soup. Place hash browns in a greased 13 X 9 X 2 baking dish. Top with beef mixture. Cover and bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover; bake 10 minutes longer or until heated through. Sprinkle with cheese. Yield: 6-8 servings

A Spoonful of Memories

What is your favorite cooking utensil?  For me it's this wooden spoon. I find that a wooden spoon makes stirring easier. This isn't just any wooden spoon. This one was given to me by my mother-in-law. This special woman wasn't really my husband's mother, but was his god mother. She was very instrumental in raising my husband to be the wonderful man he is today. She was a wonderful cook and seldom used a recipe.  All the information she needed was stored in her head. I do have a few of the recipes that she did write down, and they are still family favorites today. Everytime I use this spoon, I think about her and the meals she must have prepared using it. She passed away about 12 years ago. Boy, do I wish I knew her secret in preparing homemade chicken and noodles!

It's a Picnik

Looking for a site to edit your photos at? Try Picnik. It's a free photo editing site and easy to use. I just read about this at 320 Sycamore. Melissa of 320 Sycamore advises to beware; it's addictive. I tried it out on some photos you will see on some upcoming posts.  This will also work great with some of my digital scrapbooking projects.

With Needle and Thread

I like to be busy, even when I'm watching television. So if I'm not blogging or working puzzles, then you will probably find me doing some sort of hand stitching. I started cross stitching when I first got married. That was over thirty years ago. I particulary like stitching samplers. I've been enjoying reading other cross-stitch blogs. I'm inspired by the stitcheries at Little House Needleworks and The Busy Stitcher. Bent Creek, The Trilogy, Shepherd's Bush, and Prairie Schooler are some of my favorite designers.

Pictured are some of my favorite cross stitchings I have done.

Organized or OCD?

Before I could do any stitching today, I decided I needed to clear the craft table of all the piles.  For some reason my craft table ends up being the place where all the piles land when I'm trying to straighten the rest of the house up.  This of course, leaves me very little space to scrapbook or to cut fabric. One of those piles involved sorting through articles I've either ripped from magazines or printed from the Internet. Since a winter storm was headed in my direction and I anticipated schools being closed, I stopped on my way home from work on Monday and purchased some three ring notebooks. I used some scrapbook paper and adhesive letters to spruce up the notebooks so they would look somewhat attractive on my bookshelf. Some will probably say this borders a little on OCD, but for me keeping things organized helps me keep my sanity.

Recipe for a Perfect Day

Snow Day + A Little Chocolate + Some Stitching and Sewing + A Good Book + A Good Movie + A smidge of housework = A Perfect Day

It's still snowing and school has been cancelled. My husband works until late tonight so I have today's activities planned.  I have several movies recorded to choose from. I want to start reading The Time Traveler's Wife. I also have some stitching projects to work on.  I'll post about those separately.  I also want to try a new recipe I saw posted over on Country Pleasures for a Fudgy Pound Cake. And if the mood strikes me, maybe a little housework will get done. 

Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Bake

1 package (6 oz.) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 package (16 oz.) frozen broccoli florets, thawed, drained
1 can reduced sodium condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) Velveeta Cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare stuffing mix as directed on package; set aside. Combine remaining ingredients; spoon into 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Top with stuffing. Bake 40 minutes or until chicken is done.

**Substitute frozen mixed vegetables, thawed, drained, for the broccoli.

You will find some other tasty recipes at Colleen's weekly recipe swap at And Baby Makes Five.