Crispy Crunchy Onion Rings

Here are the onion rings that I mentioned last week. They were so good the last time that I made them that my husband asked me to make them again this past weekend.
I aim to please so I finished off the last of the bag of onions and now he will have to wait a while before I make them again.
My waistline says wait a long while. These are so good but definitely not the healthiest. I have tried to make baked onion rings before and they were good but nothing compares to good old deep fried onion rings.
I did not measure any of my ingredients so I'm going to tell you what I used and you will have to judge on the amount yourself. You really can't mess them up.

                           Crispy Crunchy Onion Rings

                                      sweet onions
                                        buttermilk
                                     self-rising flour
                                      seasoned salt
                                       black pepper
                                   ground red pepper
                                          paprika
                                       oil to fry in

I start by cleaning and slicing all the onions into rings.
Next place buttermilk in a bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix flour and all spices together.
Heat oil.
When oil is hot dip the onion rings in the buttermilk.
Next coat them in the flour mixture.
Dip them back into the buttermilk and once more in the flour.
Place in hot oil and fry till golden brown. I turn mine over half ways through the cooking time so that both sides brown nicely.
When done remove to a paper towel lined dish to soak up any of the extra grease.
That's it! It's super easy and so so tasty.
I think that the trick to tasty rings are in the self-rising flour (as opposed to regular flour) and the double dipping.
That all for today. I'm off to teach the kids and then if there is enough time I need to head to the store for a few things for Easter dinner this weekend.
Enjoy your day!
 

New Blogger Templates

Hello everyone!
As you can see I have spent the weekend fooling around (again) with my blog and some new graphics. I worked all day Friday trying to find just what I wanted and then that evening I received an email from Blogger announcing that they had new templates.
Great! A whole day down the drain cause you know that I just had to hop on over to check the new stuff out.

If you haven't checked out the new templates, well then you must.
I love the fact that you can now change your template, background, fonts and font color with just a click of a button and the best part is that you don't have to know anything about HTML codes. Blogger takes care of all of that mess for you and you can preview it all before you click to make it final.
The bad part is that the backgrounds are still pretty plain. It's better than before but there are still so many others out there to choose from. Ones that will fit *you* and your personality or likes so much better.
I found that I loved the ease of using these templates but preferred to find a bit more stylish banner for the top. As you can see on the right hand side of the screen that there is still one little bird flying in the air that I just can't seem to make disappear. I'm still working on it though! I haven't given up yet.
It's always a work in progress, right?
If you haven't checked out these new features then I suggest you do so. You might find something that you like.
Also let me know what you think of my new digs.
I kind of think it looks a bit busy with the three columns and am debating on changing it back to a 2 column. But first I'll wait and see if I get any great suggestions from you all.
Hope you have enjoyed the weekend.
I'm heading to the couch to watch "Blind Side" for the second time.
Maybe this time I can stay awake to watch the whole thing.

Meet Messed Up Molly

Here she is!

My attempt at making a prim doll didn't turn out too well.

I loved stitching here face until I realized I had not given her a mouth and that of course wasn't until after I had already stuffed her head.

The next issue that I faced was sewing her arms and legs on.

I allowed myself too much open space to insert the arms and legs plus I should have stuffed them more. When finished she was just too floppy. That's when I decided to take matters into my own hand and just sew it up any ol' way that I could.

As for clothing....well that went downhill too along with my mood.

After spending a day trying to get the time to actually sit in one spot long enough to complete this project (which was interrupted more times than I could count on both hands) I think my mood just headed south right along with my sewing skills.

So the end result ~

Well I guess you could say she is a PRIM doll due to the crude sewing job that I have done.

She did manage to get some hair and I finally gave her a mouth but she still sits on a slant and the poor lil' thing is naked as a jaybird.

It was a toss-up as to who to give the poor thing to. Should I give it to Katie to play with or just let the dogs use it as a chew toy?

Of course, Katie won out on that one.

So now Messed up Molly sits in Katie's room nestled between all the rest of her dolls.

Maybe she can find an outfit of theirs to dress her in.

As for me and my sewing machine, well I'm NOT and it can set idle for a while.

I still have plenty of other things that I can work on by hand like my quilt or the little project that I am slowly working on as a Thank You to Ginger for helping me to get started in rug hooking. I promised myself that I was going to finish that before I even began on the rug hooking.

Oh, if there were only more hours in a day!

I better get off here and go get busy. If I'm not back on here tomorrow with a new post then I hope you all enjoy the weekend. It's supposed to be a cooler weekend here with a bit of rain so maybe I will get more time indoors to catch up on some of my projects.

Catch you all later!

Keep It A Hopping! -- Hershey's Better Basket Blog Hop

Kudos to Hershey!

Hershey's is donating $10 (up to $5,000) to the Children's Miracle Network each time we bloggers post about their Better Basket Blog Hop.

Susanna over at Granny Sue's News & Reviews was kind enough to pass this on to me so that I could do my part to help out.

Now I just need to pass it on to a few of you.

The Rules are Simple:

Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
Create a blog post giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger – you can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want.
Link back to person who gave you an Easter Basket.
Let each person you are giving a Virtual Easter Basket know you have given them a Basket.
Leave your link at BetterBasket.info/BlogHop comment section. You can also find the official rules of this #betterbasket blog hop, and more information about Better Basket with Hershey’s there.
Hershey’s is donating $10 per each blog participating to the Better Basket Blog Hop to Children’s Miracle Network (up to total of $5,000 by blog posts written by April 4th, 2010).
Please note that only one blog post by each blog url will count towards the donation.

So, Crystal, Donna and Nancy ~ I'm passing the basket on to you all!

Great Balls of Hail!

Yesterday afternoon we had a few rain showers pass through our area and near the end of it all we got a big and noisy surprise. There was thunder but that's not the noise that I'm talking about.

I'm talking HAIL!

A hail storm like I've never seen before.

We get hail here in our neck of the woods but it's usually mixed in with rain and is only about the size of a pea. Not this time though!

These huge ice balls were bouncing everywhere. I was on the phone with my girlfriend and had to get off because we couldn't even hear each other over the sound of all the hail ricocheting off of everything.

It started out small but just kept getting bigger. By the end of the storm we had hail the size of quarters to just under golf ball size.

My husband arrived home from work just as the heavy stuff started and he chose to wait it out inside the car rather than make a made dash for the house.

Can't say I blame him. These pictures make it look just like it was snowing but trust me this version of the white stuff sure packed a punch.

When it was all over with we were left with 2 beautiful rainbows that looked as if they ended at the top of our street. Too bad there really isn't a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow because it was close enough that I could have gotten to it.

Getting Things Ready For Planting Time

This weekend was awesome!

Nothing fabulous happened but the weather was super and that in its self is reason enough for me to be happy.

We spent the whole day Saturday out back digging up the garden. My husband ran the tiller while Katie and I walked behind picking up any pieces of glass or stone that he turned up.

After dinner we finished by placing a fence all around it so as to keep the varmits out. (The pesky rabbits and our 2 dogs.) It's a little ugly to look at but it does the job and on a rainy day like today it will help to cut down on the muddy paw prints crossing over my kitchen floor.

I was reading the Farmer's Almanac over the weekend as I was thinking about what and when to plant. I have a friend whose father has always relied on the Almanac to tell him what days were best for planting and I'm curious to know if a particular day actually makes a difference.

So how do you all plant? Do you go by the Almanac or do you just plant any old time after the threat of a freeze is over? Just curious to see what your thoughts are!

I may plant some potatoes soon but that is about it for now. I'll have to wait till the warmer weather decides to stick around for good.

That's about it for our weekend. We spent the majority of it outdoors soaking up the sun.

We did manage to get a bike ride in each day as well as a 3 mile walk last night.

Today is a bit on the rainy side even though the sun is trying to shine here at the moment.

Don't know that I will get a bike ride in today but maybe if the rain holds off I can squeeze another walk in.

For now I am off to begin schoolwork. I'll be back tomorrow with who knows what.

I'm still working on my Annie doll which by the way I am renaming Messed Up Molly.

Does that give you any idea of how well that project is going???

I also made another chocolate treat to share with you sometime as well as killer onion rings.

What a combo, huh?

Catch you all later!

Butterfinger Bars

Hello to everyone!

Hope you are soaking up the sun like we are. I am finding it harder to even get the time to get on the computer because it's just too nice to be inside.

I've been able to hang my laundry outside to dry the past few days, the furnace is turned off and a few windows are open. I love this weather. It's not too hot nor too cold.

Just perfect! We've even dusted our bicycles off and began riding the trail this week.

I think we are all a little rusty from the long winter but it won't take much to get us back into the spring of things.

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

Before I show the recipe I'm going to show you a glimpse of what I am working on today.

It's a first for me so I'm not sure how it will turn out but I'm going to give it a try.

Can you guess what it is?

It's hopefully going to be a prim Annie doll!

I'll have to show you a picture of it when I get it finished. I just hope it turns out.

Okay, now to the Butterfinger recipe.

This is sooooo good and it's super easy to make.

Butterfinger Bar

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup corn syrup

18 oz. peanut butter

1 bag of chocolate chips

3 cups corn flakes

Heat sugar and syrup until boiling.

Add peanut butter and mix well.

Pour over cereal and stir together.

Press into a greased 9x13 pan.

Melt chocolate chips and spread over the top.

Chill in the refrigerator for 20-25 minutes.

Cut into squares.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

A Hunting They Will Go

Here we have a team of two armed with paper, pencil and a few buckets.

But what could they be hunting?

Could it be Easter Eggs?

NO silly....it's too early for the Easter Bunny!

It's a scavenger hunt!!

We finished school early yesterday so I sent both of them outside with this list.

They were to work together to find an object that started with each letter of the alphabet.

As you can see they had a hard time finding anything for the letters K,Q,U & X.

They had fun though and asked if they could do it again. We'll just have to do it in a different place and see what new things they will come up with.

This idea came from a game that they had received for Christmas.

It's a really fun game to play with your family and I say your family because you may not want just anyone searching through your house and belongings to locate some of these items.

(striped t-shirt, coins, something blue and so forth.)

The best part of this game (from a parents point of view) is that to win the game you must not only find all the items and bring them to me but you must also return them all to their original spot before you can actually be declared the WINNER.

Great Idea, huh!

The kids love to play this and I'm always happy because the pile of treasures that they have found and placed before me always gets picked up without a big fuss. It's the fastest that I have ever seen them move to pick anything up.

What a way to MOTIVATE!

A Menu Plan, Stocking Up and Birthday Gifts

I've been reading lots of blogs that use monthly menu plans and thought that I would give it a try. I want to see if it will save me time and money by planning ahead. I began by asking everyone in the house for ideas on meals. Unfortunately, I didn't get much response from them so I was off to come up with my own ideas.

Next I sat down and made a grocery list of all the things I would need for those meals. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that I made a seperate list of desserts and snacks that I could make throughout the month too! Who could forget those, right?

I checked my local grocery ads to see what specials were to be had and then off to the stores I went.

Aldi's * Sam's Club * Riesbecks * Kroger * Walmart

Why so many stores?

Well, if you are trying to save a little money then you go where the deals are !

In the end I had spent just a little under $500 for a month's worth of groceries. (Just a little over $100 per week.)

Now the fun part ~ unloading all this and putting it away.

I filled my cupboards and put the overflow in the pantry. That's the easy part!

The hard or shall I say not so fun part is repackaging all the meat into meal size portions.

There was a whole pork loin to be cut and divided into 4-5 meals.

Four huge packages of ground beef to divided. Hamburger patties to be made, meatloaf to be mixed up as well as meatballs to be formed.

By 10 o'clock that night I was exhausted but the job was finished. Now I could enjoy my birthday weekend.

And enjoy it I did.

No cooking and NO DISHES! A dream come true.

Sunday dinners are always spent at my parents house so as we all gathered we had cake and ice cream to celebrate my birthday. I received many great gifts from everyone ~ A Taste of Home Cookbook, 2 western romance novels, a gift card to Outback, an electric candle warmer, Chris Daughtry CD, Lady Antebellum CD and a John Deere T-shirt.

I couldn't have asked for anything better. Books to read, music to listen to and I love love love anything John Deere!

Birthday Winner is....

Hello all!

Today is the day. It's my birthday and it's time to draw the winner for my birthday giveaway.

There were a total of 19 entries which included a few double entries for those of you that posted about my giveaway on your blogs. I wrote them all in order as received and then I went to http://random.org/ to draw the winner.

So who is lucky #2 ?

It's Carmen from WaxedOutCreativeLife.

Congratulations Carmen and thanks to all of you that entered.

I'll have to do another one soon and Carmen, I'll be sending you an email shortly.

Well I'm off to enjoy my day. It has started out good so far. My husband made my absolute favorite *blueberry muffins* for breakfast this morning. I've got a bit of shopping to do and then who knows what!

Hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Puffed Wheat Bars - Easy & Inexpensive Treat

Hello everyone!

I sure hope you all have been outside and getting to enjoy these great sunny days.

We've spent the past few days outdoors while the kids have been riding their bikes, coloring the sidewalks with chalk and just simply playing in the mud. My poor floors have been scrubbed twice this week and probably by the end of today they will need it again. I've been on patrol at the doors telling all the kids to take their shoes off so that they don't track through the house but obviously have missed here and there.

Oh well! I'm just glad that the weather is decent enough to get outside finally.

Before I get to the recipe I'll give you an update on my last post.

It was about our truck getting hit because of a pothole ~ well I am happy to say that the pothole has been taken care of. We have had 2 good nights of sleep without getting woke up numerous times to the sound of someone hitting that hole and the insurance adjustor came yesterday so we are on the road to getting it all fixed. Just need to get the truck aligned and have the body work done and it will be good as new.

Ok, now to the snack recipe. I've seen this posted in several places recently and thought that I would give it a try. If you have never had Puffed Wheat then I will tell you that it is in the cereal aisle. I buy it in big bags for .99¢. We put a little sugar on it and eat it for breakfast or as a snack in the evening. It's super cheap and fat-free.

It's pretty yummy used in this recipe too!

Puffed Wheat Bars

8 cups Puffed Wheat cereal

3 tbsp. cocoa powder

1/3 cup corn syrup

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup butter

Measure and place puffed wheat in a large bowl.

Place the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan.

Cook and stir over medium heat until it comes to a full boil.

Let boil for 1 minute.

Remove from heat and pour over puffed wheat.

Stir well to coat and then place in a greased 9x9 pan.

Cool and then cut into squares or bars.

Enjoy!

Don't forget there is only a couple more days till my giveaway winner is announced!

Hope you all enjoy your day!

Damage Due to the Roads of Ruin

All of this lovely winter weather has created havoc on our roadways.

First it was the snow and ice and now it's the sea of potholes. The drive home from just about anywhere is like navigating through a maze. You swerve left one minute and right the next just trying to avoid being swallowed by the deep craters. Everytime I miss and get swallowed up in one I just cringe and think of how much damage our roads are doing to our vehicles.

For us, these potholes have also caused many nights of restless sleep.

You see, there is a large pothole in front of our house. Every night for the past several months we have been awakened numerous times to the sounds of cars hitting that hole with a loud "kerthump".

Well, yesterday just topped it all!

The kids and I were in the house working on schoolwork when we all jumped at the sound of a loud crash. We looked out to find a car crashed into the side of my truck. I immediately ran out to see if that person was alright. I found a woman sitting in the car, obviously shaken and upset by physically okay. I asked her if she had hit the pothole and then lost control and she replied, "Yes". I felt so sorry for her. She was so upset and rattled. When she hit the pothole her tie rod snapped thus leaving her with no control of the steering wheel. Her car hit the back corner of my truck & continued down the side of it stopping only when it hit my front tire, which then pushed my vehicle up and onto the curb.

In the end, her car was towed away and she was forced to find another ride to work. Our vehicle has scuffs, scratches and a dent that begin at the back bumper and continue to the front wheel.

For now, it's parked until we hear from the insurance compnay and get the front end looked at to make sure it didn't damage anything when she hit the wheel.

As for the pothole ~ it's still there.

I contacted our Street Dept. to see if they could patch the hole or at least put a barrel or barricade of some sort up to prevent further accidents.

**Just think if my kids were out playing on the sidewalk and my truck wasn't parked there to stop that car. Would the curb itself have stopped it or would the car have continued up and onto the sidewalk?** Scary thought, Huh?

The Street Dept. told me that they would take care of it. My question is when?

Yesterday was not the first day that it's been brought to their attention!

SUNSHINE & Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuits

We finally have SUNSHINE!

This weekend was great. The sun shined bright and the temperature was in the 40's.

A much needed reprieve from all the winter blahs. Saturday was spent outside cleaning out our vehicles, a job that was much needed. After getting them all cleaned and swept out I headed to the car wash for what seemed like a never-ending wait in line. That place was packed! I guess we all had the same idea.

It was also a great day to hang laundry up outside to dry and to grill out for supper. Later in the evening I sat down and finished the pillow for my giveaway that ends this Saturday as well as another stitchery that I have been working on. While I sewed I watched another great movie on the Hallmark. It was called "Uncorked". It was really good and I believe it plays a few more times this month. Definitely worth watching!

Sunday was spent catching up and getting things done around the house before we all headed back to school and work. After a busy day I needed something quick for supper so I whipped up these basic biscuits and had sausage, egg & cheese biscuits as well as some hashbrowns. I prefer to use the larger size sausage patties for these but they are so expensive to buy that way (preshaped) so I just used 2 rolls of Bob Evans sausage and shaped them into large patties myself. Add some egg and a slice of cheese and you've got a quick simple supper or breakfast!

Quick & Simple Biscuits

2 cups flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cups Crisco

3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425°.

Place flour, baking powder & salt in a bowl and mix well.

Add Crisco to flour and use a fork or pastry blender to blend.

Add milk.

Mix it enough so that the dough will hold together.

(I just used my hands for this step.)

Place dough on counter and knead it about 10 times.

Roll dough to about 1/2 inch thickness.

Use a biscuit cutter or drinking glass to cut circles.

Place on a greased baking sheet and bake 12-15 minutes or till browned.

Well we are off to get busy on school so that we can get it done and get outside to enjoy another day of sunshine. I'll be back later to catch up with all of you. Hope you enjoy your day!

Another BBQ and a Crumble Bar

Carmen over at Waxed Out Creative Life shared a recipe the other day for BBQ Lasagna and I just HAD to try it.

I made a pan of it for my bunch and got thumbs up from everyone. It's a definite keeper.

While I was making ours I thought I would make a pan of it for my Dad who is a vegetarian as well as a diabetic. So for his I just substituted Morningstar Farms Crumbles in place of the meat and I used Splenda in place of the brown sugar. It turned out just as good.

I spent that whole day in the kitchen cooking. I made a couple loaves of Italian bread to go with our dinner and tried a recipe for Crumble Bars that I found in one of my Amish cookbooks.

Crumble Bars

1 stick butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tbsp. vanilla

2 cups mini marshmallows

1 bag chocolate chips

2 cups Rice Krispies cereal

1/2 cup peanut butter

Mix the first six ingredients together and spread into a greased 9X13 pan.

Bake at 350° for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle the marshmallows on top and bake again for another 5 minutes.

Let cool.

Once cooled, melt chocolate chips & peanut butter together.

Stir Rice Krispies into chocolate mixture and then spread on top of the marshmallows.

Let cool and cut into bars.

These turned out pretty tasty. I thought the marshmallow layer sounded a little different but they gave the bars a little layer of fluff.

Needless to say, it was a long day and by the time supper was over I didn't care if I ever stepped back into the kitchen again or not.

However, that thought was short lived because I spent the next whole day scrubbing the kitchen walls and cabinets down. The Spring Cleaning Bug got me!

Now today I hope to dig through my fabric stash and find enough material to be able to sew a new set of curtains for the kitchen window. Not so sure that I will have the right fabric or enough of the right fabric but I'm gonna try and if I don't get off this computer I'll never have enough time to even sew the curtains.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

BBQ Beef Sandwiches

This is a recipe that my Mom has used forever. It's great to use when you have leftover roast or steak. What I usually do when I have leftover beef roast is to package it and place in the freezer. Then on a day that I need a quick meal I can just grab the cooked beef roast out of the freezer, shred it and make up this quick and easy BBQ.

My picky, non-meat eater even gobbled this up last night as part of his "don't knock it until you've tried it" challenge.

BBQ Beef Sandwiches

1 lb. leftover, cooked & shredded beef roast

1 onion, diced

1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 1/2 tbsp. vinegar

3 tbsp. water

2/3 cup ketchup

1 1/2 tbsp. brown sugar

salt to taste

1/4 tbsp. prepared mustard

Simmer all together and serve on a bun!

Not a whole lot to share with you today as there is not much going on around here. Just the usual cooking, schooling and laundry.

I can tell you that my giveaway stitchery is going to get made into a pillow. Most of you said that you would prefer it over a framed photo so a pillow it shall be. Other crafts that I am working on are the quilt that I started a few weeks ago as well as another stitchery project. The stitchery is a pretty vase full of spring flowers. A little something bright to cheer me up on these dull winter days.

Oh, and on that note, I am beginning to see more robins in the backyard so that is a sure sign that spring is coming! YEAH!

I can hear the lil' darlings running around upstairs so I better get off here and get them busy on schoolwork. I could spend all day on this computer but I've got lots to do today. I am going to make the BBQ lasagna that Carmen blogged about the other day as well as a new recipe for an Italian bread and a chocolate dessert.

Have a great day!

My Birthday Giveaway!

I've actually got a couple reasons to celebrate.

First of all I'm about to hit my 300th post which is amazing. I can't believe I've had that much to even talk about because life around here can be pretty boring sometimes. (Like these dull, drab winter days with nothing exciting happening except SNOW!)

But the even bigger reason is because it's almost my birthday.

It's always fun to receive gifts but it's just as much fun to give.

So here is what I am giving!

Tree Hut Shea Body Wash & Body Lotion - Brazilian Nut Scent

The Hearthside Collection Candle with battery operated tea lite ( flameless)

A little wooden "Simplify" sign

God Bless the 'Ewe" SA stitchery

First of all I've got to tell you about the body wash and lotion. I received a set of this at Christmas and WOW what a smell. I wish I could bottle that scent and have it with me all day.

It smells THAT good!

Second, I have to tell you that the stitchery will not come exactly as shown. I am going to finish it into either a framed photo or as a pillow. I haven't decided yet but you all can help me to decide by telling me which way you would like to see it done.

Which would you prefer, a framed stitchery or a decorative pillow?

By the way I got that free pattern over at Sew Many Prims.

Now for the rules!

1. You must be a follower, if you are not then just click on my follow button over on the right.

2. You must leave a comment on this post only.

3. If you want to post about my giveaway I will give you a second entry. (Just be sure to drop me line so that I know that you have done so.)

4. The winner will be announced on my birthday~ March 13th.

Good Luck to all!

Well that it's for today. I've got to get busy on schoolwork with the kids. I am going to leave this post up for a few days and take a lil' break but I'll be poppin in on all of you to see what you are up to.

Have a great day!