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Friday, December 20, 2013

Recipe To Try - Banana Bread


I've never been a huge fan of banana bread...until now.  This stuff is delicious!  I got the recipe from Plenty of Lesley.  The only thing I did different was add 1/2 teaspoon or so of cinnamon.  A splash or two of vanilla would be awesome.  I also used butter instead of margarine.  I think the lower temperature for a longer amount of time is what makes this bread so good.

Want to give it a try?  Here's the recipe:

The Best Banana Bread

1 3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup mashed bananas (about three bananas)
1/3 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
splash or two of vanilla

Grease your loaf dish or spray with pam. Bake for 1 hour 275 degrees. Let sit for half an hour before cutting.


Click here for original recipe.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Did Everybody Get Thawed Out?

Can you believe how much ice we had week before last?  Wow!  It was crazy around here. 

Here's some pics from around our house:






Ice Angel

We're hillbillies around here, y'all.

Ice Man



Icicles at night


Big Icicle
And this is what the side of the freeways looked like after it started to thaw:

Yes, that's ice.
The high today is supposed to be 67.  The low Sunday is supposed to be 28.  Welcome to Texas!! 

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Outdoor Ice Skating in Fort Worth? You Betcha!!


I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself.  Tomorrow, November 22, 2013, Panther Island Ice opens.  It's Fort Worth's first outdoor ice skating rink.


I am definitely taking my kids during Thanksgiving break.  Hope to see y'all out there!

Click HERE for 1/2 off tickets via LivingSocial.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Rainbow Birthday Party

My girls' birthdays are exactly 3 years and 361 days apart.  That means that we throw them a joint birthday party every year - or I will do that as long as I can get away with it!  This year the theme was rainbow - rainbows, rainbows everywhere.

My sweets
I made both girls' tutus.  Maddie didn't want the curly tutu, so that saved me a lot of cursing because I normally curse when I sew (a wonderful trait that I picked up from my mother.)  Isn't this curly tutu cute?


I wish I had a better picture of it.  I got the idea from this picture on Pinterest.  I'd been oohing and ahing over the picture on Pinterest for a while and I found this forum that kind of helped me figure out how to go about sewing it.  The tulle will naturally curl when you sew the ribbon on the bottom of it.  It turned out really cute.

We made this pretty balloon arch:


The two people in this picture were responsible for blowing up the balloons - one of them with an air compressor and the other with pure lung power.  I pretty much followed the instructions I found here but instead of using waxed twine, I used yarn because that was what I had.


We had a rainbow candy bar.  I used mason jars and filled them with rainbow-colored candies.  I left the candy in their wrappers and then filled the jars up, so red was Kit-Kats and purple was grape Nerds - you catch my drift.

We also used our dot markers and made rainbows on the party favor bags.  Got that idea here.  I also made rainbow hair bows and clipped them on each bag for the girls to take home.

I almost left that horrible picture out, but I was so dang proud of my paper flowers I had to include it.  I have, like, an infatuation with tissue paper flowers.  I just think they're so pretty!



Everybody at the party got a chance to guess how many Sprees were in the jar, and whoever got closest without going over won the jar and the candy.  Well, our niece won but she didn't get to take it home because my youngest dropped it and glass shattered and Sprees went everywhere - awww, the joys of having a 4-year-old.



I made rainbow cupcakes.  Got that idea from this pin on Pinterest.

And we had a photo booth.


Yes, I used the falling-apart trampoline as the backdrop.  We taped plastic tablecloths over one side of the trampoline, grabbed a bunch of hats, wigs, sunglasses, different things from the girls' dress-up box and stuck them in a bucket.  We also cut mustaches and beards and lips out of foam and hot-glued them on wooden skewers.  The girls all had a fun time with this.


 
 Thank you, Pinterest, for making me pretend I'm creative!

Monday, November 11, 2013

Mall-Wide Sale @ Historic Camp Bowie Mercantile



The Historic Camp Bowie Mercantile will be having a mall-wide sale starting Thursday, November 14, 2013.  Look for savings up to 50% throughout the mall. 

My mother and I (High Cotton Pickers) have three booths at The Mercantile, and we are having a 15%-off sale during this mall-wide event - can't beat it!

Y'all come take a look and get started on that Christmas shopping or pick up something for yourself.  You deserve it!

Friday, November 8, 2013

Funky Finds Holiday Shopping Experience 2013



On November 9 & 10, y'all go check out Funky Finds Holiday Shopping Experience 2013! The event is free to the public and is family AND pet-friendly. With over 100 artists, crafters & designers participating, there is certainly something for everyone!

WHAT: Funky Finds Holiday Shopping Experience 2013
A HANDMADE SHOPPING EXTRAVAGANZA! Free Admission * Family And Pet-Friendly * Charitable Raffle benefiting The Humane Society of North Texas & Toys For Tots * Swag Bags * Much More!

WHEN: Saturday, November 9, 10am-5pm and Sunday, November 10, 11am-4pm

WHERE: Will Rogers Memorial Center, Small Exhibits Bldg., 3409 Burnett-Tandy Dr., Fort Worth, TX 76107 (Directions)

The event will feature swag bags for the first 75 attendees each day to purchase a minimum of ten $1.00 raffle tickets. Raffle features items donated by all participating artisans & sponsors, and all raffle proceeds benefit Toys For Tots & The Humane Society of North Texas who will be facilitating on-site pet adoptions all weekend. I look forward to seeing you there!

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Recipe To Try - Chicken Dressing


This recipe comes from The Simple Life of WD-40.  This man knows how to cook now, y'all.  He's got some good ol' country, down-home recipes.  He doesn't have a web page or a blog.  All he has is the Facebook page.  I don't know about y'all, but I keep track of recipes I find by pinning them on Pinterest.  Since WD is only on Facebook, you can't pin any of his pictures.  So pin this and here's his recipe word for word:

WD-40 Chicken Dressing

1 (10 oz. ) can Chicken Breast
1 box Chicken Broth + 2 c.
6 c. blended cornbread crumbs

1 ½ c. blended biscuit crumbs
1 lg. onion diced
3 lg. stalks celery diced
1 ½ Tb. Spoons rubbed sage or 2 tbs.
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
1 reg. cans of cream of chicken soup
4 lg. eggs
½ c. butter or margarine
3 tsp. butter

Cook biscuits and cornbread let cool and grind up in blender and measure out amounts for recipe into a large mixing bowl mixed with sage and set aside. Using a med sauce pan add onions and celery 1 ¾ c. water and 3 tsp. butter boil for 10 min. Remove let cool. Add celery mix to bread crumbs, chicken soup, salt, pepper eggs, ½ c. butter, chicken broth and canned chicken. Mix up batter should be soupy if not add 1 c. water. Remove 1 c. or uncooked dressing set aside. Using 2 (9x13) buttered dishes pour in batter. Place into a 500 degree oven bake until brown on top 45 to 6o min.


 
Gravy.
2 c. chicken broth
1 c. raw chicken dressing
½ c. water
1 boiled egg chopped optional
1/8 tsp black pepper
3 Tb. Spoon corn starch or plain flour mixed with ¼ c. cold water.
Using a sauce pan on med heat add chicken broth, raw chicken dressing, and water and pepper. When hot mix corn starch and cold water in a ½ pint jar and shake until no lumps. Now pour this into gravy mix stirring until thickens to your likeness. Remember gravy will thicken more as it cools. Enjoy The Simple Life wd40 - Watson Ashe

Note: For moist dressing make your chicken dressing mix soupy.


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I halved this recipe.  It was so good, I ate a bowl of it for breakfast.  Chicken Dressing...the breakfast of champions.

For the biscuit part of this recipe, I made these this weekend:


Nailed It
These are 7-Up Biscuits and they are ugly but, Man, they tasted scrumptious.  

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Recipe To Try - French Fries


If you like your french fries or fried potatoes crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, then this recipe is for you.  It's so simple, yet so tasty.  Here's what you need:

Russet Potatoes
Corn Starch
Oil for frying
Water
Couple of cup towels

Easy!

I used my fancy french fry cutter dealymabob.  After cutting, put the fries in a bowl of water and rinse and drain and rinse and drain a couple of times.  Lay fries out on cup towel (dish towel) and cover with other towel and pat dry.  Sprinkle fries with corn starch just enough to coat them a bit - doesn't have to be perfect - some fries will have more cornstarch than others - no biggie.  Place in hot oil and fry till pretty golden color.  I seasoned my fries while they were cooking and after they were done. 

WARNING:  These are addicting!!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

What I've Been Working On - Stool & Chair


I bought these at a garage sale.  After some gluing and clamping and clamping and gluing - after taking each individual nail/tack thingy out by hammering a screwdriver under each one and using pliers to pull them out - after sanding down the wood a little and applying a layer of brown glaze - after pulling and tugging and stapling and tacking the fabric - after gluing the trim around the edges - after all that, they looked like this:






Amen and halleluiah!