Homemade Dog Biscuits

Today is about bringing joy to the canine members of my family. One thing they love and live for are their dog biscuits. They get one in the morning after going outside and one before bedtime, after going outside for the last time. However, last week, I forgot to buy them a new box. And I live 6 miles from the closest store and did not feel like driving just for a box of biscuits. So, I decided to make a batch for them and all was well with their world.

What do you mean you forgot my biscuits?

I will not look at you until I see biscuits!
 

Here's the recipe and it really only took me about 15 minutes to put it all together, plus the baking time. Not bad.

• 2 ½ cups flour (whole wheat or regular - whatever you have on hand)
• 1 tsp. salt (or less)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup organic beef stock
• 2 tbsp. bacon grease (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together and knead into a ball. Then roll out to a 1/4 inch thick and cut out the biscuits. I just happened to have a bone shaped cutter.

 

 

I wound up getting about 12 biscuits. Then place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet (mine is lined with foil, but you don't have to do that).

 Bake at 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes. Then viola! The finished product!

 You'll be happy to know that these were great substitutes for the regular biscuits and my lab even drooled at that sight of them! Sorry, I don't have a picture of that.

Peace, Love and Chocolate

Girl's Night

Last week, I tagged along on a mini-getaway with my friend Lisa, to a reading by Beth Kephart at Converse College.

Me with Lisa

It was out of my element, but that's exactly what I wanted. I like to get out of my comfort zone every now and then, to experience new things. AND with the literary experience, we experienced some AMAZING food...

Buffalo Mozzarella

This buffalo mozzarella changed me. I'm not sure how, but I know I'm a different person now.  And I came home with some new books. Now to find time to sit down and read.

 

 

 

Peace, Love and Chocolate

Fabric Love

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about fabric...

 

The different colors, textures, weights...

 

  The endless possibilities.


Peace, Love and Chocolate

8 Years of Joy

Tomorrow is my son's 8th birthday. Wow! For eight years I've been on this motherhood journey, which has made me a better person and been such an emotional ride! I wouldn't trade it for the world.  

 

 

 

 

 It's all happened so fast. Cliche', I know, but so true.

Peace, Love and Chocolate

30 Day Photography Challenge

For the month of March, I've started a 30 day photography challenge on my Facebook page.  I found  the challenge on Pinterest (of course.)

Here's what I have so far:

Day 1 - a self portrait

Day 2 - what I wore

Day 3 - clouds

 

 

I took the challenge to get my creativity flowing again. It's helping and getting me to look at things in different ways. I didn't want to do the 'what I wore' day and it turns out that I'm really quite fond of that picture. And I stood for about an hour looking at the clouds to get the above shot. It could have been better, but we had a very cloudy/rainy day, so there wasn't much contrast.

 

I'm looking forward to completing the rest of the 27 days.

 

Peace, Love and Chocolate

Fun Night

This week has been crazy busy! [For me anyway] There's been baseball games, dental appointments, school projects, (much needed) visit with friends, and last night - a mother/son fun night at my son's school.

Here we are right before we left:

And part of the fun was playing dodge ball - moms against sons. I got out early with a tag to my arm. I think the moms may have had more fun than the sons.

There was dancing later, but my son wouldn't dance with me. Oh well, I guess that's part of growing up.

Peace, Love and Chocolate

Cheap Joy

One of my favorite things to do is peruse the clearance section(s) of my local craft stores. I can literally spend hours and lose track of time going through all the leftover bits and pieces.

And it's a great way to try out new products without spending too much cash.

 

 

 

Peace, Love and Chocolate

 

Lemon Cheesecake Squares

It was my hubby's birthday yesterday, so I wanted to make him a special treat. One thing he "ooh's and aah's" over were his mother's homemade lemon cheesecake squares. I don't bake, but for him, I'd give it a try.

I found a recipe from Pinterest. And they turned out really well. An FYI: if it says not to butter the baking dish, don't. I speak from experience.

Peace, Love and Chocolate

Love Ninja

A little something I made for my son this V-Day. Totally made with love...





Peace, Love and Chocolate

Absentee Blogger

Has it really been almost a year since I've last blogged???

 

It wasn't planned. Life got in the way. If you're still here...

THANK YOU

Anyway...

 

We had an official Snow Day last week. Here are some pics of the powdery fun...

Peace ~ Love ~ Chocolate

The Joy Diet

Hello.

I'm not sure if you saw a post of mine last Friday about an online project I wanted to start - but I've removed it. And I apologize for being so hasty. But the truth is I jumped before thinking and if I would have continued, I would have landed head first.

Photo Credit

But, I will tell you, I am spending the next four months on me. And I'm starting with the book, The Joy Diet, by Martha Beck.

Photo Credit

I'm on "menu" item #1 and have a feeling I'll be there a while. It's sitting for 15 minutes doing nothing. Basically meditating. Something I've always wanted to do, but every time I try, my mind distracts me. Beck gives tips about how to guide what she calls, "squirrel brains" to mindful contemplation.

 

I'm also revamping my diet. I've started with giving up soda and drinking water and juices (some coffee and tea also). That has me feeling better and not so dehydrated. Next, I want to add exercise. But, I have to pace myself. If I try too much at once, I'll create anxiety for myself and quit everything.

 

So, anyway, another blogland lesson for me.

 

Peace ~ Love ~ Chocolate

Birthday Reflections

Last week I had my birthday. I turned 38, which really isn't an exciting birthday. But I do like the fact that my b-day falls in the middle of the year, because I think this is a good time to assess how I've been doing since my New Year's post.

Me on the 4th of July

And I think I've been doing pretty good. Excellent actually! I've definitely gotten out more. And I've met a lot of great people who I now consider friends. My art has a location to be shown. Two locations actually and I have more events coming up! Wow, lots of changes in the last few months!

The one area I've fallen short in is getting healthier. It seems the busier I've gotten the worse I eat! I need to make this my focus for the rest of the year. I know I would feel better and have more energy. I NEED the energy!

Tomato from my garden - a good start in getting healthy!

Yes, I see more veggies in my future. Water too. I have a horrible diet soda addiction that I need to overcome. And exercise. Who has the time? I do actually. But I have a million little excuses as to why I can't. But I have to. I need the mind/body balance that I'm lacking.

So there it is. More goal setting. More to do. More Joy.

Do you take the summer to assess your goals? How have you been doing?

Peace ~ Love ~ Chocolate

Ice Box Cake

I’m a bit of a Food Network/Cooking Channel junkie - not because I like to cook so much - but because in the last two years I’ve been thrown into the duty, since my family has gone down to one income. What I’ve found is that things I thought were complicated to prepare, are actually pretty easy. Like this Ice Box Cake:

Source: foodnetwork.com via Joyce on Pinterest

I was perusing the Food Network when I saw Ina Garten - aka The Barefoot Contessa - making this ice box cake.  I changed it up a little because I didn’t want to add alcohol to a dessert that my son would eat. Trying to be a responsible mom!

My version - not as pretty - but tasty!

Here’s my version:

2 cups heavy cream
2 tsps vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsps cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark)

1 bag crispy chocolate chip cookies

First, I gently whipped the cream with a hand held mixer, until it thickened slightly. Then I added the vanilla, sugar, and cocoa powder and continued mixing until the cream thickened (like Cool Whip). You have to be careful to not over whip, otherwise you'll get butter! It took about a minute.

Then, in a round cake pan (Ina used a spring form pan, but I didn't have one and didn't want to buy one), I layered the cookies, then whipped cream, cookies, cream, cookies and had a layer of cream on top. I covered it with plastic wrap and let it set in the fridge overnight - about 12 hours.

Easy peasy! Actually, it took longer for me to write this post then to assemble the cake! And it was DELICIOUS!!! It's not something I'd make every week, because of the high fat content, but for get togethers it would be fabulous!

Let me know if you try it!

Peace ~ Love ~ Chocolate

Happy 4th!

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Green Beans Everywhere!

Hello!

Raw beans, fresh from the garden

So, here's how random my life can be. Saturday, my hubby gets a text from a friend asking if he wants to go and pick green beans. His friend's garden has exploded with green beans and there are simply too many for his family. All of this green goodness means that Sunday we had to blanch the beans and freeze them. Here's how we did it:

The hubster's hand

First, we had to rip the ends off of the beans. This is kind of a zen task and was nice to sit and talk with the hubster over the bags of beans.

Monty and Kiki offered to help

Then I rinsed them and put the beans in rolling boiling water for 3 minutes (the blanching process). This kills anything that may have gotten on the veggies and also kills an enzyme that breaks down the green beans. (The hubster just told me that tidbit - I had no clue before.) It also brings out a lovely green color in the beans.

Blanching the green beans.

Then I stuck them in an ice bath for another 3 minutes. This stops the cooking process. The beans are still very firm at this point. And uber sweet and yummy! I could really eat them like this and be happy.



ice + water = a chilly bath for green beans

Then I laid them out on a paper towel on the counter and blotted any excess water off.

And then we placed them in freezer bags!

My hubby then worked to get all air out of the bags, to prevent freezer burn. We have about 16 quart size bags of green beans. I think that should get us through to the holidays!

We're hoping next year we'll be picking a bounty like this from our garden. We got off to a slow start this year, but we're ready for next year!

Have you done any summer gardening this year? How do you store your bounty?

Peace ~ Love ~ Chocolate 

Be Fearless

Hello!

Let me start off by saying that last week was BUSY! Good busy, but wow, I can't take weeks like that much anymore!

So let me recap what last week was like:

First, I called Monday to a local gallery/shop to see if they would be interested in my work. I had every intention of hearing, "No, sorry, that's not a genre we're interested in." BUT, the owner liked it and now my work has a home! It's called the Rita Smith Gallery, located in Forest Acres, SC.

You just have to be Fearless...

By Wednesday, I had installed [some] of my art and worked my first day in the gallery! Whew! But it's so exciting, I think I had adrenaline pumping through my veins to keep me going.

What is also great is that I can hold classes there. So, I'm now working on scheduling some for later this summer (more on that later).

The rest of my week was filled with mommy duties, like taking my son to karate...

Speaking of fearless, my son Aiden in his karate uniform. :-)

... and Father's Day activities...

Camping out on our property

Spending some time on the lake

So, yeah, I'm exhausted! But I had a great time. I even tried Knee Boarding (no pics thank goodness!) I failed at Knee Boarding. I couldn't even get on the board, lol. But I tried!

What I learned from last week is to just go for it! You never know what could happen. *smile*

Peace ~ Love ~ Chocolate 

Silencing the Noise

Hello!

I'm back from my "day off" - offline that is. And that's not totally true, I checked e-mail and searched Google for a few things, but I stayed off of the social media sites. It was actually pretty freeing! I got a lot done and I think I need to schedule more of those days for myself. Get out of virtual reality and get into "reality"!

It's so noisy online, don't you think? Every one's screaming, "look at me!", "buy my product!", "pick me, pick me!" It exhausts me and when I get caught up in it I start feeling bad. And I do get caught up. Because honestly, I want to be seen just as much as the next Blogger, Tweeter, and Etsian. And a lot of times, I don't feel seen. It's not enough. It's NEVER enough!

Photo Credit Unknown

So, now, to keep myself from spiraling into a deep abyss of self pity, I will just step away from social networking. It's still useful, I recognize that. But it's a tool and not an identity.


Peace ~ Love ~ Chocolate

Muted Monday

Today, I will not be logging onto Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. I'm totally unplugging and going to quiet the noise. This will be a good way to start the week and focus...

Peace ~ Love ~ Chocolate