Recent Developments

I've decided to combine my food & craft blogs because cooking is crafty & I'm not keeping up with 2 blogs well. So there will be menus & recipies here as well as my craft stuff. I've got comments set to allow everyone with moderation, but I never get comments & I don't know if that is beacuse I have it set wrong or I have no visitors. I'd appreciate if a visitor who could not leave a comment would email me & let me know or leave the comment if able.

I'm working on a new blinkie about this blog for my sig in the various forums I frequent. I've also figured out how to make this a 3 column blog. So as soon as I get my slideshows made I'll be adding them to left side here.

I got my new Wacom Graphire 4x5 tablet today. Plugged it in & it seems to be working fine. I hope to be able to do some real experimenting with it sometime this week. But I need to get a USB multi-port hub first. I have a camera, Ipod, 2 scanners, digital mouse & now the tablet, all fighting for the 2 USB ports on my PC.

I have completed 2 quick page sets for 1hourscrap & have them uploaded. I've got a 3rd done but its still in PSP format & I know what I want for the 4th set & with luck I will have both uploaded by tomorrow night. (Got sidetraked by first the site blinkie & then the 3 column issue or I would be done). Then I just have to do the 3 word art pieces.

I need to work on the posting prize for Thursday's Mommy's Choice Crop.

We're having gnocci with pesto for dinner. It's not on the menu but I saw it in the grocery store today & felt a desire for it. DH loves gnocci & it is such a pain to make from scratch..I once again forgot to get ground beef.

These are the 2 quick page sets I have just uploaded. They are available at www.1hourscrap.com

Warm Dots



Cool Dots

Meals so far

I have made 3 meals from the menu & since there have only been 4 meals since I went shopping for it; that is pretty good. Tuesday I made spaghetti with creamy pesto & chicken because the grocery store had no leeks for the Beguine soup I had intended to make. Wednesday I made the Salmon cakes. I had intended to make this asian version with fresh ginger & edamame beans. The grocery store had no fresh ginger & the bag in my freezer I had thought was shelled edamame was in fact, peas. So I made it with ground ginger & peas. Very tasty!! I bet the original version is even better (note to self: do not grocery shop on Tuesdays, everything is restocked tuesday night) Last night I was going to make veal milanese, but it became instead veal positano, with a creamy tomato sauce. Today's baked ziti is now baked penne (note to self: a glance is insufficient when checking supplies before grocery shopping) made with the extra positano sauce added to tomato sauce and leftover diced veal.

Tomorrow night I am taking the boys to Burger King for dinner & picking up sushi for myself on the way home. The boys liked the pesto pasta, were so so onthe salmon caked (try breading them next time) and very dubious about the veal. I'm fairly sure they will eat the penne, pasta is one of the few things I can be 90% certain they will eat. Sunday night is DH's problem. We may do a cook out with the neighbors or he'll make pork chops. If he asks nicely I may make the beguine soup or the chicken velvet soup. I forgot the ground beef while shopping so the meatball soup is out until I get to the store again.

really, I am going to get my act together on this. I swear.

This was done using Traci reed's wonderful Mr Adoreable kit. It was for the Scrapmommies element challenge.

This was done with Traci Reed's Mister Adoreable kit. I just love the car frame & the texture on the papers

Menu for the next 2 weeks

I have decided to plan 12 means per 14 day period this year,and actually cook at least 10 of those, putting me one up from last year. We go out to eat one weekend night & the other can be fairly random, but this way we know at least *most* ofthe ingredients are available for something. May have to run out for fresh veggies but the basics will be there. This has been working out fairly well so this year, espeically since the random meal works out to be pasta with whatever veg is avaiable or veg soup.

Most of my meals have been coming from Rachel Ray's books lately, though I often end up altering them to suit me over time. This time I am using her
Mini Meatball Soup
Garlic Roast Chicken
Veal Milanese (new, we'll see what the boys think)
Salmon Cakes
Bracioli with mushroom tomato gravy

I've been into EveryDay Italian too
Chicken Parmesan
Simple Bolonese sauce (I put on several dished this time period)

There there are some soups
Beguine Soup - from 12 months of monestary soups
Velvet Chicken Soup - from complete book of soups & stews

An my own stuff
Pasta Carbonara
Baked Ziti
Salmon with leeks in foil

Next year I hope to have this main meal thing down & will work on side dishes

This if for my ABC album

This was for the heritage challenge on Scrapmommies. I used the Neutral Tones backpack set & the chipboard alpha by Lauren Bavin

This was done for a Scrapmommies sketch challenge. I used Nikki Beaudreau's Sweet Daze kit

This was done for the ScrapMommies color challenge. Everything is by me

Fresh new look for spring

I was getting a little tired of the autumn look so I went for something a bit more spring-ish. Artwork is all by me. I've been experimenting with checks, gingham & plaid lately in PSPX. I'm getting better at the style sheet thing too. Please note there is a banner, rather than the title blogger wants (thought I later realized an easier way of doing it) & the description is over in the sidebar with some new & improved links to my online scrap albums. I'm debating going for a 3 column look but with my pics at 600 wide I am probably already causing people with monitors at 800pixels to scroll to see anything anyway. I've been using Hello to upload layouts lately& it gives smaller photos, so I may have room. I just need to experiment.

This was done for the Scrappy Chat challenge on DSP, with Kim Liddiard's Windswept kit

This is the second & final version of the layout I did for the DET challenge

This is the first version of the layout I did for the DET challenge, using Angie Svoboda's Trendy Blue kit

This was for the Baby Book challenge on ScrapMommies. I use the Why? kit by Amy Blesser and the sketch from DSP's Feb Sketch Challenge

This was done with the sketch from the Scrappy Chat challenge on DSP. I used Stacey Jewel Stahl's Brother's Paint the World kit

This was for the Photo Layout Challenge on ScrapMommies. I used the P4D Breast Cancer Awareness kit.

I did this layout for the Mission Possible challenge on DSP. It uses Stacey Jewel Stahl's That's My Boy kit.