Hey, what's in YOUR freezer?

My friend, Sharon, asked me recently if I'd heard about freezing candle jars to loosen the remaining wax.

Oh, yes, I've definitely heard about it! In fact, I catch a lot of grief around here because you won't find much edible in our freezer. It's full of forgotten candle jars. :-)

Two more satisfied customers!

Today was a great mail day for Tinsel and Lily. Their new Cat Squares, made by blogging buddy Sarah C., arrived!

Click to enlarge!

Lily was napping when I brought in the mail, so Tinsel was the first to inspect the very cute package. She could not wait for me to open the bag! By the time I did so, Lily had appeared. She knew something exciting was happening!

Lily and Tinsel inspected both Cat Squares, then Tinsel took the orange one for herself. Lily gave the pink one a good "product testing" and then decided that she'd better check the orange one, too. Tinsel was not too happy about that, of course!

The kitties love their new Cat Squares! They're completely adorable and feature little paw "tags" on the side. Check them out at Sarah's Etsy store here.

Thank you, Sarah! You have two more very satisfied customers!

Great Outdoors mini-album

Here's an accordion album project I put together for a class. I used the Ki Memories Earth line of stickers as the basis for this project, which will house 10 nature photos.

Accordion albums may not be glamorous or new, but they're simple to put together, fun to make, and easy to adapt to any theme.

And of course, you can't go wrong with Ki Memories! :-)

Recipe: French Toast Casserole

The recipe I'm sharing today, French Toast Casserole, has a special place in my heart. My friend, Ruth Hamilton -- retired Girl Scout guru, cat-lover, scrapbooker extraordinaire, and really great cook -- created this recipe. I've served this it for many brunches and Christmas morning breakfasts. It's also a great for times when you feel like having breakfast for dinner.

Ruth's recipe takes me back to the time when I was a Girl Scout leader. One weekend a few years back, I went to a lodge camping workshop at the same Girl Scout camp I attended as a child. I included a photo of the camp site in my (OLD!) recipe scrapbook (click to enlarge and read more about it):

While at the leader training, we learned how to cook over an open fire and in an indoor fireplace. (Dutch oven cooking can't be beat, BTW!) In addition, we cooked some easy dishes to serve a crowd, including Ruth's French Toast Casserole. Here's her recipe:

French Toast Casserole

1 stick margarine

1 C brown sugar

1 T cinnamon

12 slices Texas toast (I sometimes use only 10)

6 eggs

1.5 C milk

Salt to taste

Melt margarine, brown sugar, and cinnamon in bottom of 9 x 13 inch aluminum pan (not glass). Cover with two layers of bread (sliced). Mix eggs, milk and salt. Pour over bread layers. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. Uncover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from pan promptly by turning pan upside down.

Note: Leftovers keep well for a couple of days!

Here's what the casserole looks like prior to going into the oven. Assemble it in the evening before you go to bed, then pop it in the oven in the morning. I guarantee that the sweet smell of cinnamon will awaken any sleepyheads! I might add that this is a great recipe to make with kids. Having girls over for a slumber party? Have them mix it up. It's easy and fun to make.

And here's what it looks like when it comes out of the oven! I invert it onto a cookie sheet, then cover it with the pan until ready to serve. As you can see, the brown sugar and butter create a nice gooey topping. No syrup necessary! (HOWEVER, an extra trip to the fitness place might be in order!)

And here it is ready to eat! Because it is so rich, I usually serve it only with sausage and fruit.

For an easy overnight recipe, this one cannot be beat. Thanks, Ruth!

Feline Friday: Lily sayz:

Ki Memories Pet Shop card set

Here's a set of Ki Memories Pet Shop cards I just finished up. I created this set in response to a couple of customer requests for a pet-themed greeting card class.

This line is perfect for cards! The colors are beautiful, and the rub-ons are just the right scale.

Can't wait to have the pet crowd back in class. There are always great stories, and everyone understands why I dress my cats! lol

Recipe: French's Crunchy Onion Chicken

I'm not a huge fan of onions, especially the dried, crunchy ones you find on top of the dreaded green bean casserole at Thanksgiving time. (I'll admit that I'm even a little bit scared of that casserole...) So my sharing a recipe featuring crunchy onions comes as a surprise.

This all came about today when, in a desperate effort to cook something Daughter would actually eat, I thumbed through the pages of a recent issue of Better Homes & Gardens and ran across an ad for French's Crunchy Onions. The ad included a recipe for a chicken dish, which Daughter proclaimed she MIGHT eat. SOLD! Off to the store I ran to pick up the ingredients.

And to my surprise, this dish was actually good! Everyone ate it, including Daughter AND Spouse -- a very unusual occurrence around here. This recipe is a keeper!

Please note that the photo shown here is from the French's website...not my kitchen!

French’s Crunchy Onion Chicken

Ingredients:
2 cups (4 oz.) FRENCH'S® Original or Cheddar French Fried Onions
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
4 (5 oz.) boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 egg, beaten

Directions:

1.Place French Fried Onions and flour into plastic bag. Lightly crush with hands or with rolling pin. Transfer to pie plate or waxed paper.
2.Dip chicken into egg; then coat with onion crumbs, pressing firmly to adhere. Place chicken on baking sheet.
3.Bake at 400°F for 20 min. or until no longer pink in center.

Progress Report: Garden Project #1

I spent a good portion of the late afternoon and evening working on Garden Project #1, a complete overhaul of a bed in front of our house. As you may recall from my previous blog post, here is what I started with:



Basically, this area has been neglected for several years. At one time, we had a large tree and a nice ground cover in the space. One day, however, a strong gust of wind blew down the tree. Finally last fall, we replaced it with a Japanese maple. I think the new tree is dead, but Spouse disagrees, so we'll give it a few more weeks to see if it produces leaves. If not, it's outta there!

This is what the area looks like now that I've planted it. The first thing you'll probably notice is that the foundation bushes are not evenly spaced! Ack! I'm going to have to fix that tomorrow.

We apparently live over a rock quarry (just kidding -- we don't) because there are tons of rocks in this bed. In addition, certain areas have old tree roots and clay soil. All of these factors made for very difficult digging today. Thank goodness I go to the Dreaded Fitness Place! I was able to do all the digging, planting, and mulching without any help whatsoever! Go, me! :-)

Here's another "before" shot of the area next to the sidewalk. A whole lotta nothin' goin' on...

And here's the "after" shot. In this photo, you can see some of the perennials I added to the area: coral bells along the sidewalk, astilbe at the left, and a sweetspire bush ("Little Henry" variety). This bush will grow approximately 2" high and will be covered with elongated white flowers. It already smells beautiful. I also added foam flowers, hostas, bugleweed, and cranesbill. You can't see from the photos, but we still have some Chinese astilbe groundcover in the bed. I moved it around for better coverage.

You can also see that I left all of my wild columbine, jonquils, and grape hyacinths in place. After a few weeks, those plants will completely die back and I'll need to figure out how to handle the empty spaces.

On a side note, it took six bags of mulch to fill this space. Can you believe that? I could have gone with fewer bags, but I don't like to skimp on the mulch!

Overall, it's a good start to Garden Project #1. I'll be adding a few annuals to the bed for color and to fill in some of the gaps, after the new plants have a few days to get settled. Stay tuned for further gardening projects! This is just one of MANY I need to tackle this spring.

Trees in bloom

The weather was beautiful this past weekend! I decided to take the camera out and snap a few photos of the gorgeous flowering trees in our neighborhood. The blooms seem to be particularly profuse this year. But it's a fleeting pleasure...in a few short days, the flowers will be gone!

Garden Project #1

The first of many gardening projects on my list is this eyesore in front of our house. It's been bad for awhile, but it has now become embarrassingly bad. By that, I mean so bad that you know it has become a subject of conversation in your neighborhood!



We pulled out the foundation bushes last year but didn't replace them because we were undecided about what to purchase. We added a Japanese maple to the space last fall to replace a serviceberry tree which fell years ago. Well, I discovered today that the new tree is pretty much dead. This is an unfortunate turn of events, because the now-dead tree was to form the centerpiece of my grand design! It needs to be replaced before I can move forward with my plan.

I found this plan in a recent issue of Better Homes and Gardens and thought it would work well for the space. I know just enough about gardening to be dangerous, so I thought that following some sort of plan might be helpful. I soon discovered, however, that our space is quite a bit larger than the space in the sketch, which means, of course, that it's going to take more plants to fill the area.

I started with a few bushes. I picked out boxwoods ("winter gem" variety) because they can handle heavy/clay soil. (I'll amend the soil prior to planting, but there's only so much you can do to counteract the poor soil immediately next to our house.)

Following the plan, I picked out a few coral bells, hostas, and astilbes. I've grown all of these successfully in the past in that same general vicinity, so I'm hoping they'll work. But in order to fill the space nicely, I'm going to have to invest in some larger plants or move some in from other areas of the yard. I'm willing to fill in a few spaces with annuals, but I much prefer the look and ease of perennials, if I can find the right mix.

Stay tuned as Garden Project #1 progresses.

A visit to the greenhouse

Each year at this time, I'm filled with optimism and excitement about my flower beds. "This is the year I'll finally get it right!" I say to myself. But by the time July and August roll around, my optimism generally changes to disappointment. My flower beds almost always fall far short of my vision for them.

Over the past few years I have learned, however, that gardening is not something that you suddenly get "right". A garden is constantly changing and evolving, so things may only look "right" for a short time. A garden is, by definition, a work in progress. It requires ongoing tinkering to create and maintain the design you see in your mind.

With that in mind, I visited our local greenhouse today to gather inspiration for the growing season. Surrounded by a host of vibrant colors, varied textures, and sweet scents, I began planning for a new bed to surround a tree we planted last season. I selected foundation plantings based on research I did over the winter. I purchased a few perennials I've grown successfully in the past. I'll eventually fill in the empty spaces with annuals to add color and interest.

And I'll lower my expectations. Beautification, not perfection, is not the goal!

First flowers of the season

One of the things I most look forward to each growing season is being able to pick flowers from the yard and bring them indoors. There's nothing like a pitcher of fresh lilacs or a casual gathering of colorful zinnias in a simple vase. In a week or two, I'll be able to pick tiny bouquets of lilies of the valley. Their strong, distinct scent reminds me of springtime in Paris, where street vendors sell the delicate white flowers in paper cones.

The bluebells pictured here were given to me by my late grandma, an avid gardener whose yard was dotted with them every April. I started a few plants in front of our house and look forward to their colorful blooms each spring.