Peach Butter Labels

Peach Butter Labels for your regular mouth canning jars. Print and enjoy!

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B3i1FEKszVtIOWY4ZDkyOTgtY2VmMS00ZWQxLWFmMTItNDc3MmUwNzNlMThk&hl=en

Apple Butter Labels

I created some canning jar labels for Apple Butter. They can easily be printed on your printer at home, then cut out and glued to the top of your regular mouth canning jars using a standard glue stick.

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B3i1FEKszVtIOGIyN2EwYmMtZWNjOS00MTQzLTg2MjctMjYxNDEyYTQ3MjE3&hl=en

Mama's Pound Cake

The cake is still in the oven, but I wanted to post the recipe before I lose it again and have to call mama again to get it.

2 sticks butter
1 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup milk
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup self rising flour

Pre-heat oven to 300 F. Cream the butter, shortening, and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla and beat well. Finally, you will add the flour and milk. Start with a little of your flour and then a little bit of milk. Alternate until everything is incorporated, but make sure you start and finish with the flour. Bake for 2 hours in a greased and floured bundt pan.

Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat Cupcakes

I made these Cat in the Hat cupcakes for Aly's class at school last year to celebrate Dr. Seuss. I used a mini cupcake for the head, but you could also use a doughnut hole. The hat is a marshmallow glued on with frosting. The eyes and nose are M&M’s. The whiskers and hat stripes are just frosting that I tinted and piped on. The original called for twizler type candy, but I had a hard time getting it to curl around the hat and stay there even with gobs of frosting, so the piping was much easier for me.

Goldfishy Chex Mix

With all the coupons and crazy grocery shopping I do, we always end up with an abundance of cereal. I made this version of chex mix today. Just looking for something a little different for an after school snack for the girls. I thought it could use a little more flavor, but the girls both loved it just how it was.

3 tablespoons margerine
4 1/2 cups Corn Chex cereal
1 cup Golfish crackers
1 1/2 cups pretzel sticks
1/2 pkg. ranch dip mix (powdered kind- standard 1 oz size)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (kind in the canister)

Heat oven to 250 F. Melt margerine in the oven in a 13 x 9 inch pan. Stir in cereal, goldfish, and pretzels so they are evenly coated. Sprinkle the ranch dip mix and grated parmesan cheese over the top and toss to coat. Cook for approximately 15 minutes stirring every 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Chicken Caserole

I don't fix this for supper very often, but when I do, everybody seems to really like it. I usually make it without the peas and just serve them on the side, but decided to try something different this time.

1 can peas (15 oz drained)

1 can cream of mushroom soup (10.5 oz can- substitute any flavor you like)

2 cups cooked chopped chicken

2 cups dry rotini pasta (cooked and drained)

1/4 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

6-8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

First, cook and drain your pasta. I used Rotini, just b/c that is what I had in the cabinet already. While pasta is cooking, combine chicken, cream of mushroom soup, peas, milk, and salt and pepper in a 2 quart casserole dish. Stir just to get it all mixed together, you don't want to mash the peas up too much. Add pasta to the casserole dish and stir it all up, then smooth out the top. Top with shredded cheese. Bake in 350 F oven for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

First Day of School

Well, we all made it through our first day of school yesterday. My "baby", Abby, started full day 4K this year. I was lucky enough to be able to stay home with her since she was born, so this was her first experience at any type of school. The only thing Abby didn't like was that they made her take a nap.



Aly is in 1st grade and was very excited because she would have a real desk this year, not just a spot at a table with her name on it.



They wanted to dress alike so everybody would know they were sisters.



Daddy walking his girls into the school.

Apple Picking

Me, Donna, and our 4 kiddos decided to make a day trip "home" to my parent's house yesterday. It is about 2 hours away. We got there just in time for a quick tour of all the farm animals, ate lunch, and then drove over to my Granny's house to pick apples. After that, we went back "home" to have an afternoon snack of apple pie and homemade ice cream. Add the kids took turns turning the handle on the ice cream churn.

My girls had so much fun, it was hard for me to snap any pictures. I was lucky enough to catch a picture of "Grandma" in the edge of one though!

Lisa brought Phoebe over to see her cousins and wonderful aunt too. I have to say, I think I have the cutest niece in the world. These pictures do not do her justice!

We ended up bringing home almost 7 bushels of apples. So now, I have 3 1/2 bushels of apples sitting in boxes on my dining room table to be dealt with.

Goodwill Finds

It was a great day to shop at Goodwill in Pendleton, SC today. All items with a red tag (everything you will see here) were only $1.00. I love shopping at Goodwill and am not at all ashamed of shopping there either. I get a thrill out of searching and waiting for the awesome deals on great quality clothing there. I could afford to pay retail prices for my kids clothing if I had to, but this is so much more fun. And we get a few nicer things by shopping there also if I am just diligent enough to wait and dig for the deals. The only blemishes on any of the items I bought today are the minor stains you see on The Children's Place size 5 jeans.

Gymboree Dress from their Lots of Dots line. Size 9, but it fits Aly well enough to not look sloppily big on her now. Original price $26.50

Gymboree Petite Mademoiselle Capri pants size 7. These do not look like they have ever been worn. Original Price $34.50

Old Navy Long sleeve T-shirt size M. Original cost $9.50

3 Pairs Jeans The Children's Place size 5 originally $16.50, Faded Glory with embroidery size 6 approximate original cost $10.00, and Levis 517 size 6x originally $19.98.

"Wedding Dress" for the girls to play dress-up size 7. No clue on original cost, but Abby really wanted the one at Target in the toy department for $29.99, so I will go with that.

Total Original Cost of all items: $146.97

Total I paid for all items: $7.00

Total savings: $139.97

Seeing the look on Abby's face when I gave her the wedding dress: PRICELESS!