Friday, January 29, 2016
Real Hot Chocolate
When my kids were little I often made hot chocolate using a homemade mix. As the kids got older and life got busier it was just one of the lovely things that went by the wayside, replaced by the convenient.
The other day I had a craving for chocolate but it was really humid out and I just didn't crave it bad enough to make me want to walk to the store. Then I remembered the tin of cocoa in the cupboard.
I had forgotten just how delicious homemade hot chocolate is. Here's the recipe I used . . .
Serves 2
2 tbsp and 2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup and 2 tbsp white sugar
1/2 pinch salt
2 tbsp and 2 tsp boiling water
1-3/4 cups milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup half-and-half cream
Combine the cocoa, sugar and salt in a saucepan. Blend in the boiling water. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn't scorch. Stir in milk and heat until very hot, but do not boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Divide between 2 mugs. Add the cream to the mugs of hot chocolate to cool it to drinking temperature.
Enjoy!
Craft Space Get Organized Challenge #5
SORT: time to be ruthless. Consider if you are really going to use these items. If you bought a whole sheet of die cut just to use one or two tags, why are you hanging on to the whole sheet? Those stickers you bought in 1999 were adorable then, but definitely not your style now, are they? So, sort into piles: TRASH, SELL, DONATE, TO KEEP
PURGE: Throw out the TRASH pile. Bag up, and assign a price and your initials to the SELL pile and put them directly into the garage sale box. Make immediate arrangements to rid yourself of the DONATE items.
ASSIGN: The KEEP items need to be divided into categories that make sense to you: by colour, by manufacturer, theme, size, or type.
CONTAINERIZE: Here is an article about storing stickers, diecuts and rub-ons: http://www.clubcreatingkeepsakes.com/blogs/ck_community/archive/2010/04/26/5-easy-ideas-for-storing-your-stickers.aspx
EQUALIZE: take a few minutes at the end of each scrap session, and whenever you return from a crop or a shopping trip to put your stickers, rub-ons and diecuts where they belong.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Pierced Navel
1 ounce peach schnapps
1 ounce vodka
1 dash grenadine
orange juice
Pour the schnapps, vodka and grenadine over cracked ice in a highball glass. Add fresh orange juice to fill. Stir briskly.
Peach Cocktail
2-1/2 cups diced, fresh peaches
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp sugar
chilled ginger ale
fresh mint
Combine peaches, lemon juice and sugar. Fill fruit cocktail glasses. Add 1-2 tbsp ginger ale to each glass. Garnish with a sprig of mint.
Serves 4.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Fuzzy Navel
1 ounce peach schnapps
orange juice
cracked ice
Pour the schnapps over cracked ice in a highball glass. Add fresh orange juice to fill glass, stir briskly . . . enjoy.
Whole Radishes
Select firm red or white radishes. Wash and scrub thoroughly. Leave enough stem on to serve as a handle. Wrap in a damp cloth. Chill thoroughly in refrigerator.
Turnips
Monday, January 25, 2016
Stuffed Celery
Use only the tender white stalks showing no discolouration. The inside stalks are preferable.
Wash and leave tips of leaves on stalks or remove leaves from coarser stalks. Crisp in ide water. Dry on paper towels before stuffing.
Use a pastry tube or a knife to fill grooves with processed cheese spread.
Garnish with chopped parsley, green pepper, chives, pimiento, or a dash of paprika. Chill before serving.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Friday, January 22, 2016
Craft Space Get Organized Challenge #4
It's Week 4 of the Get Organized Challenge . . . Tools & Adhesives
Gather together all of your tools and adhesives into the Big Box, and let's start S.P.A.C.E.ing them!
Sort: one by one, put each item into piles: FAVOURITES, TRASH, TO SELL, STORE, DONATE.
Purge: For the SELL pile: bag up and assign a price and your initials to tools/adhesives that you don't love/use anymore and put them in your garage sale box. Throw out the TRASH pile. Arrange pick-up or drop-off of the DONATE pile.
Assign: Store your most used items in a basket or box or other system right on your desk, within easy reach. Divide the STORE items into categories that make sense to you: cutting tools, pens, punches, templates, etc.
Containerize: This is the time to tidy up your tools. Tools need regular maintenance to keep them efficiently working. As you put your tools away in whatever container (drawers, shelves, boxes, baskets - always ensuring the container is clearly labelled) give them a little maintenance.
scissors - sharpen your scissors using a small scissor sharpener, or have them professionally done. Carefully clean the blades (I like alcohol swabs to remove sticky adhesive)
pens - test pens and throw out the ones that are dry or don't work well.
craft knives - change the blades
trimmers - clean the deck of your trimmers with a damp cloth, and a little cleanser if necessary. Replace dull blades, or cut through fine sandpaper or aluminium foil.
work surface - clean ink, adhesive and paint from the mat.
punches - to prevent punches from sticking, punch through wax paper. Problem punches may need a little lubricating oil such as sewing machine oil, then punch through scrap paper several times to remove oily residue. Dull punches can be sharpened by punching through aluminium foil or fine grade sandpaper (both right side up and upside down)
rubber stamps - stamps should be cleaned after each use, but if there is a build up of ink on your stamps, you should clean them with an alcohol free baby wipe, or paper towels moistened with a mild cleanser (ammonia free/bleach free) Use a soft toothbrush to remove ink stuck in the crevices of a design. Store stamps flat, rubber side down.
Equalize: Once you have a system in place for you tools, putting them back in the same place every time will become a reflex, and you will never have to hunt for you scissors again! Take a couple of minutes at the end of each scrap session to put your tools away.
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Chicken Stroganoff
Chicken Stroganoff |
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Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Lentil and Vegetable Soup
I love soup when it is cold outside. I love all the flavours cooked together to make me happy. This is a really simple and delicious recipe.
Lentil and Vegetable Soup |
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Friday, January 15, 2016
Craft Space Get Organized Challenge #3
Week 3: Organize your photos . . .
So, your paper is beautifully organized, your scraps carefully stashed or purged, and your desk is gleaming! Doesn't it make you feel creative? Don't you want to get cropping? Well, you CAN'T scrapbook without PHOTOS!
Our third challenge is to organize our photos. Here are a few articles to get you thinking about how to organize those precious photos before we S.P.A.C.E. them:
http://www.scrapjazz.com/topics/Organization/Photographs/113.php (this is an excellent article)
So, your paper is beautifully organized, your scraps carefully stashed or purged, and your desk is gleaming! Doesn't it make you feel creative? Don't you want to get cropping? Well, you CAN'T scrapbook without PHOTOS!
Our third challenge is to organize our photos. Here are a few articles to get you thinking about how to organize those precious photos before we S.P.A.C.E. them:
http://www.scrapjazz.com/topics/Organization/Photographs/113.php (this is an excellent article)
Another great article, especially when dealing with old photos . . . http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2015/07/17/organizing-and-preserving-a-family-photo-collection/
SORT: Gather together all of your photos, and sort them into categories that make sense: TRASH (it's okay to throw out photos with bad colour, expression, composition. Why keep them? You're not going to scrapbook them) TO SCRAPBOOK (the shots you know you are going to use) TO STORE (photos that need to be kept, but aren't necessarily going to be going into your scrapbooks) TO GIVE AWAY (doubles that you want to send to friends and family)
PURGE: Throw out the TRASH pile. Put the TO GIVE AWAY photos in envelopes and mail them to friends/family, or put them in your car so you can drop them off the next time you visit. Do not leave them in your studio, or they will creep back into your organized space.
ASSIGN: Sort the final two groups of photos into a system that makes sense to you:
Chronologically
Holiday/Event/Vacation
Person
CONTAINERIZE: Now it's time to decide how you want to store your photos. Perhaps you want to put your TO STORE photos in acid free envelopes or albums. Perhaps you want to put your TO SCRAPBOOK photos into photo storage boxes, or accordion folders.
EQUALIZE: Next time you get new photos from the photo processor, spend a couple of minutes and put the photos where they belong: throw out the bad shots, give away the extras, put the keepers away in their storage, and sort your photos for scrapbooking into their container.
Please take a moment and read this exerpt from Design Strategies for Scrapbookers:
SORT: Gather together all of your photos, and sort them into categories that make sense: TRASH (it's okay to throw out photos with bad colour, expression, composition. Why keep them? You're not going to scrapbook them) TO SCRAPBOOK (the shots you know you are going to use) TO STORE (photos that need to be kept, but aren't necessarily going to be going into your scrapbooks) TO GIVE AWAY (doubles that you want to send to friends and family)
PURGE: Throw out the TRASH pile. Put the TO GIVE AWAY photos in envelopes and mail them to friends/family, or put them in your car so you can drop them off the next time you visit. Do not leave them in your studio, or they will creep back into your organized space.
ASSIGN: Sort the final two groups of photos into a system that makes sense to you:
Chronologically
Holiday/Event/Vacation
Person
CONTAINERIZE: Now it's time to decide how you want to store your photos. Perhaps you want to put your TO STORE photos in acid free envelopes or albums. Perhaps you want to put your TO SCRAPBOOK photos into photo storage boxes, or accordion folders.
EQUALIZE: Next time you get new photos from the photo processor, spend a couple of minutes and put the photos where they belong: throw out the bad shots, give away the extras, put the keepers away in their storage, and sort your photos for scrapbooking into their container.
Please take a moment and read this exerpt from Design Strategies for Scrapbookers:
Photo preservation begins with safe
storage. Remove photos stored in the old magnetic
albums immediately. A magnetic album has
cardboard pages with adhesive on them and a plastic sheet to cover the
photos. The adhesives and plastics in
these albums are highly acidic and can ruin your photos very quickly.
To safely remove photos from magnetic albums you can use:
1.
Dental floss – Slip a piece of dental floss
under one corner of the photo and use a gentle back-and-forth sawing motion to
lift the photo.
2.
Blow Dryer – Set your blow dryer on low
heat to soften the page’s glue and then carefully lift the photo.
3.
Spatula/pan scraper – Use a thin spatula to
slowly pry photos loose.
4.
Undu Adhesive Remover – Undu neutralizes
adhesive’s stickiness, making photos easy to remove. It dries clear and will not damage photos or
smudge most inks.
5.
I have heard about freezing the pages
first but I’ve never tried it so use at
your own risk.
Use an acid-free photo box with dividers or
an archival quality photo album for storage.
Organize photos chronologically or by theme, event or subject depending
on how you scrapbook. Write notes on the
dividers or on the back of the photo for later reference. Don’t use ballpoint pen to write on backs of
photos. Buy a special photo-marking pen
or pencil.
Always save original photos if they are one
of a kind and can’t be replaced. This is
especially important with heritage photos.
Instead, scan and print new copies, storing the original for safe-keeping. If you are determined to use the original,
use photo corners to adhere these precious photos to your layouts so they can
be safely removed.
I just had a reminder of this rule
recently. I’ve been working on a family
tree album and needed some baby pictures.
I scrapbooked all my baby pictures when I first started scrapbooking
many years ago. And that was the
problem. I had cut them all in shapes
and used decorative scissors on them.
Not one was complete enough for me to scan and reprint. My mom and aunt are going through their old
photos in hopes they have some originals.
So I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to save original
photos. Scan the originals and have them
reprinted.
Don’t forget to properly store and organize
negatives. Plastic negative sleeves will
old 4-7 negatives, depending on brand and the size of film. If you have older negatives in smaller sizes
(such as 110) you can easily create subdivisions in the sleeves with a sewing
machine and clear nylon thread. You can
store negative sleeves in a 3-ring binder or folder. Label each sleeve with the date and/or
subject.
Digital photos have their own set of rules. Always back up
your computer files, including your digital photo files because computers crash
and hard drives fail. Store a back up
copy of your photos and important documents to an external hard drive. You can also download your digital photos to
CD’s or USB drives although there is some debate as to how long they last. There are many online sites that you can save
your photos to as well.
When you are looking for a safe place to
store your memorabilia, photographs, negatives, supplies and albums, keep in
mind that they will do best in a dry, cool place, out of direct sunlight.
Available in colour, black & white or large print
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Special Party Dip
This is one of my favourite dips . . .
1 8-ounce package of cream cheese
2 Tbsp. cream
2 Tbsp. French dressing
1/3 cup ketchup
1 Tbsp. grated onion
1/4 tsp. salt
Blend the cheese and cream until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Place in a serving bowl. Serve with crackers, potato chips or veggies.
1 8-ounce package of cream cheese
2 Tbsp. cream
2 Tbsp. French dressing
1/3 cup ketchup
1 Tbsp. grated onion
1/4 tsp. salt
Blend the cheese and cream until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Place in a serving bowl. Serve with crackers, potato chips or veggies.
Shrimp Cocktail
Clean shrimp, removing black line from backs. Chill.
Serve in lettuce-lined cocktail cups with cocktail sauce or highly-seasoned mayonnaise. Finely chopped celery may be added.
Radish Roses
Cut down thin strips of red peel of radishes almost through to stems to form petals. Place radishes in ice water. As they chill the peel will curl back like petals.
Radish Fans
Pepper Rings
Cut off tops of peppers. Remove seeds and centres. Cut crosswise into thin slices. Crisp in ice water. Dry before serving.
Ham and Onion on Picks
Spear small ham cubes and small pickled onions (or small stuffed olives or cubes of dill or sweet pickle) on picks.
Green Onions
Trim washed green stalks, leaving about 3 inches. Trim onion, removing roots and any loose "skin". Chill in ice water.
Cucumber Slices
Peel cucumber. Score it by running a fork lengthwise down the surface of the cucumber. Cut the cucumber into very thin slices. Chill in a tray of ice. Drain and sprinkle lightly with chopped parsley.
Cheese and Onions on Picks
Place a 1/2" cube of cheese, a tiny slice of pickle and a tidy pickled onion on each pick.
Celery Curls
Cut small stalks or short pieces of celery lengthwise into thin shreds, cutting to within 1/2 inch of the leaves or end of piece. Place in ice water to curl.
Chicken Cutlets a la Ferrer
Chicken Cutlets à la Ferrer |
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