Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Chicken & Broccoli Braid

OK -- if MY kids will ask for seconds (even THIRDS tonight!) of a meal, I think it's worth sharing :) Nice & easy meal.

First off you need some pizza dough. I have about 3 different recipes I bounce around and use (depending on how much time I have & what type of crust I'm craving). Now I was taught to make bread -- really MAKE bread. No machines, all hands and this is the *only* way I do it. When I had a bread machine (broken and in the junk yard now) I sometimes would use it until the DOUGH stage, so that can be done if you want to save the time... otherwise, make your own dough -- OH SO WORTH IT.


Here's what you need for the braid:
2 cups cooked chicken breast (2-3 of them), chopped.
1 cup broccoli, chopped (uncooked - the fresh stuff!)
1/2 cup red pepper, diced
1 garlic clove (minced)
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp dried dill weed (optional, but yummy)
1/4 tsp salt.

**Mix all these ingredients in a bowl. Roll out your pizza dough into a rectangle, then make cuts down both sides about 3cm apart?? Maybe 6 or 7 cuts per side (don't you love my recipes! LOL). Don't' start quite at the top or bottom of the dough, you're going to want to fold that in a bit to keep the ends from "leaking". take your mixture and pour (Ok, so it doesn't really "pour") it down the center of your rectangle. Braid. Put it on a pan and bake it at 350degrees for 30-45 minutes. You can brush it with some melted butter if you like a nice brown top.

Slice it and serve with a yummy salad :)

ENJOY.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

and the winner is.....

Random.org selected #5!!!

Hi,
I just found your blog, it is great!!!
Thanks for the chance to win pretty dragonflies.

God bless
Giovana

Thanks for leaving a comment everyone, it was great to hear from you! The run was awesome, had a blast. Searching for the next one! :)

Friday, April 25, 2008

The Race is ON! & a freebie!

I know I've been busy training for the run this weekend and have little to no time for stamping.... but hopefully once this run is done & I can get my space organized & ready! I just put in an order with Kristie for a few more Copics (you can never have enough) and they should all be here by Monday... perfect little gift after the race weekend. A few of you were asking about her website. Check out:

www.sherunswithscissors.com

I just thought I'd pop in & let you know I'll be gone for a few days and then hopefully BACK (and stamping!!) -- what have you been working on?



A giveaway -- it's about time don't you think?! These darling little dragonflies didn't get claimed last time so back in they go! Leave me a comment about anything, just pop in, say hi, let me know you're still out there! LOL. I will pick a name Monday night. Make sure you leave me your email if you sign in as anonymous or I have no way of contacting you... or sign up on my blog & you'll get notified each time I blog & you'll catch your win that way too! :)

Have a fabulous weekend! Enjoy this sunshine...
.j.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

snowy weekend

We got so much snow over the weekend, it was crazy!! Throw in a little one with a high fever, workers in the house, and training for the run this weekend in Victoria... no stamping. So I'll show you a few pics instead. We have the flooring guys come and look at the areas that are not drying (why did one of those areas have to be my stamp room!!) and then I think they have decided to bring in the buffing machines and see if that helps. So... stamping stuff is still mostly packaged & in disarray! :( .... soon I'm hoping!!
Yes, this is my daughter's bike that the kids were riding the DAY BEFORE!
I'm not sure WHY a inner-tube was left outside, but the kids thought it was quite funny to have a "snow donut" in the yard!
the little *creek* in the front woods.
I hope you're all finding time to stamp.
.j.

Friday, April 18, 2008

COPICS!!!

It's Friday. I'm done my run, home now to do some cleaning, kids all arrive home from school in about an hour & I'm LOVING that the weekend is here! :))))) So looking forward to some relaxation mode! We've had workers trapsing through the house all week and although I love the THINKING that things are getting DONE, I like to think I'm showering all alone (yes, still no interior doors!)

I've had a few people ask me about COPIC markers. They are the BOMB! Seriously, if you love to color then you MUST, MUST try these. Prices little guys, but amazing! Now I've also been asked a number of times WHERE IN CANADA can you get these babies. Well... I can now not only TELL YOU WHERE, but... wait for it.... she gives FREE SHIPPING! I know, I know. She's amazing! "She Runs With Scissors" is now carrying the COPIC SKETCH markers for $7.99. SWEEEEEEET! AND.... She has a copic club -- Every six markers you buy you get one free! Once you have purchased 24 markers you will get two more free. That ends up being buy 24 markers, you end up with 6 more FREE! Tack on the free shipping & this is an AMAZING BUY! Plus, she keeps track of all the markers you buy from her so you'll never buy two the same -- now that in itself is worth BIG BUCKS to me. yes, I've purchased doubles a time or two!!! She has a toll free number # 1-877-287-4572 so you can call and order them up. She's also got nestabilites for $24.99!! *sigh*... I love buying goodies. She carries Bella Stamps too... SO.... call her! Tell her Jennifer from Nanaimo, BC sent ya! (no, I don't get anything for it, but I told her I'd pass along her great news 'cause I love her store soooo much!)
OK - that's my exciting news! :) Have a fabulous weekend!
.j.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Sale, Sale, Sale....

I'm again going through the drawers and selling off some of my sets! So I thought I'd post a list of my stamp sets here (if you want to see a photo of any, leave me a comment with your email and I'll send the ones you'd like to see your way) :) I love to pass them along to be loved by someone new! I'll post misc. items later on.
Thanks!
This is my Stampin' up! sets that are available:
Delightful Doodles 10.00
Fabulous Four 10.00
Say It Simply 10.00
Sweet of You 18.00
Flowers & flourish 18.00
Smorgasborders 15.00
Watercolor Garden 20.00
Looks like Spring 20.00
Sketch It 25.00
Loving Hearts 18.00
Weather Or Not 15.00
It's A Date 15.00
Peace On Earth 18.00
Holiday Blocks 15.00
Beyond The Basics 10.00
Very Merry 8.00
Wee Watercolors 8.00
What Could Be Better 20.00
Around The Block 12.00
Little Layers II 10.00
Little Layers Plus 10.00
Mini Medleys 10.00
Best Blossoms 12.00
Oh My Word 12.00
Too Terrific Tags 12.00
Vegetable Garden 18.00
Paint Prints 12.00
Painted Posies 18.00
Alphabet Soup 12.00
Burst Into Bloom 10.00
Great Shapes 25.00
Quick Cards 20.00
Watercolor Minis 15.00

.j.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Blowing off the dust

Has it honestly been nearly 10 DAYS since I've been on my blog -- wow. Priorities shifted a bit as family needed me, but I think I'm back and able to post a little more again. Been suffering with sickness and bugs.... but I'm hoping that is all behind us now and we can get back to stamping! :) Yes, I'm still in a mess and yes most of my stuff is still all over the place & disorganized BUT... I had to stamp a card for a friend (Hi KIM!) and it was wonderful to STAMP! When she asked me I didn't hesitate even for a second to say YES!!!! as I knew it would FORCE me to actually do it.
I don't make Sympathy Cards too often so I wasn't sure where to go with it. I thought I'd use soothing and soft blue/grey hues and used the watercolor misting technique which I love! You simply use watercolor paper... ink up your stamp (in this case I used my Stampin' Write markers to color the stem and flower head different colors)... spritz it with a water bottle to give it a nice light misting of water... then stamp. Yes, that easy and isn't the result beautiful?! :)

What are you working on? I'd love to hear from you (see if I have any faithful readers! LOL)
enjoy your day!
.j.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Happy Monday.

The other day I pulled out some bella stamps and thought I'd stamp a few so I could color (got a new package of COPICS in the mail!) when I had the chance. As I was stamping I dropped the stamp.... grr... hate that. Then I took another look and thought it was PERFECT. You know... so sick that the room is spinning type of thing. LOL. My daughter walked in and thought it was cool and how did I do it? One of those errors turned good :) Bet I couldn't do it again if I wanted!

I also really like polyshrink (or shrinkydinks depending where you get it) to create my own charms. I know I've shown you this before, but it's a really neat and different way to get a sentiment on your card. Simply stamp with stazon ink (the dye inks will just smudge off) and punch your hole (remembering to use a regular sized hole punch as the hole shrinks too) and then use your heat tool to *shrink* it up. This one was a little deformed which I thought was perfect for my *sick* card :)

Happy Monday -- hope you're healthy and if not at least on the mend.
.j.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

My woods....

I have been a bad blogger the last while. Lots of my stamping stuff it temporarily packed up and other stuff is accessible -- why is it that what I want to use is hard to get to and what I could pass by is available.... the 'ol want what ya can't have is in high gear here! LOL. I thought I'd pop my nose in here anyway. I guess even though I have nothing CARD-like to show you I can still ramble :)

My hubby has been working hard in our own private "woods" and it's looking awesome. He's made trails and make-shift bridges.... log walls and clearings.... it's such an amazing space. The kids love to explore and find frogs & salamanders, ride there bikes and build forts... here's some pics he took the other day:




Oh.. dinner update on the pasta -- I thought it was good. Kids didn't like those sundried tomatoes though.... might use fresh next time or skip 'em altogether :)
Enjoy your weekend!
.j.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

a blah card, but still a card.

I haven't gotten back into the stamping groove. Not sure if it's the excitement of the house slowly coming together & my focus is there, a disastrous stamp area (all the rooms without flooring had to be emptied and put in a finished room so my stamping stuff is everywhere --although hubby did a pretty great job and still making everything accessible... isn't he fabulous!), or what.... but the last couple of cards I've made are ho-hum. This was one of those cards that I was just using up an image I had and wanted to try a new technique I saw -- embossing on ribbon! Not sure if you can tell (maybe you can click on the photo to enlarge it)... but I stamped and embossed on the wide green grosgrain ribbon on this card.

It's a pretty boring card if you ask me.... but... my goal this afternoon is to ATTEMPT to clean off enough space that I can actually stamp and enjoy it! :) Frustrations with locating things and running out of room quickly depletes my creativity - you?
I'm off to help in my son's classroom today for a few hours so I will spend time tonight hopefully in my space. Still trying to go through and PURGE want I don't use/love/need.... I'll post some sale items in a week or two - stay tuned :)
weekend is around the corner! yah-hoooo :)
.j.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

K, I actually did stamp an (OK) card yesterday and one that I'm happy with (just haven't put it together yet).... I need to take photos of them and get them uploaded to show you, but.... that whole time issue that I'm strugglin' with. I have a bunch of fresh spinach in the fridge that I need to use up so I checked out one of my favorite recipe websites (www.allrecipes.com). So this is going to be our dinner tomorrow night - anyone else wanna give it a try with me? I don't have pine nuts so I'll omit that - might add a little bacon (doesn't EVERYTHING taste better with bacon? LOL) not sure what the kids will think about the sun dried tomatoes.... but I'm going for it!

Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

SUBMITTED BY: MADBALL
PREP TIME 15 Min
COOK TIME 25 Min
READY IN 40 Min
Original recipe yield: 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 cup vegetable broth
12 dehydrated sun-dried tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) package uncooked penne pasta
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bunch fresh spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
DIRECTIONS
In a small saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Remove from heat. Place the sun-dried tomatoes in the broth 15 minutes, or until softened. Drain, reserving broth, and coarsely chop.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place penne pasta in the pot, cook 9 to 12 minutes, until al dente, and drain.
Place the pine nuts in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir until lightly toasted.
Heat the olive oil and red pepper flakes in a skillet over medium heat, and saute the garlic 1 minute, until tender. Mix in the spinach, and cook until almost wilted. Pour in the reserved broth, and stir in the chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Continue cooking 2 minutes, or until heated through.
In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta with the spinach and tomato mixture and pine nuts. Serve with Parmesan cheese
Guess I'll tell you tomorrow how my kids reviewed this one :)
.j.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

I'm slowly getting back on track here. Kids are back in school this week, David flies out this afternoon, boxes are getting opened and unpacked, beds are getting set up! My daughter was thrilled to have her bed up! Yeah -- after 2 years it was "brand new" again! LOL. I had about 5 minutes to stamp the other day.... pulled out my new stamp set by Penny Black:

I didn't edit these pics so hopefully they come out ok -- not cropped and pretty, but still a visual! :) I stamped these little birds and then colored ONE with my Copics and ONE with my primsacolor pencils & OMS.... can you guess which is which?

Today I will sadly drive hubby to the airport & then tonight I will treat myself to some stamping time! SO... hopefully tomorrow I'll have a REAL card to show you :)
hope the sun is shining at your house,
.j.