Tasty Tuesday/Egg Salad

    It's Tuesday again, sorry I've been such a slacker the past few Mondays which makes Tasty Tuesday my first post of the week.  I really have been working on a lot of things and plan to share another project with you tomorrow.  However, today I want to share with you a recipe that I do keep in my recipe box but that I've made quite a few times. 
    It all started one year when I was given the responsiblity of providing Deviled Eggs for Christmas at my mom's Christmas party.  Hmmmm.....I was only like 16 (I lived with my dad so my mom assigned me something to bring to contribute to Christmas dinner) so I didn't know how to make Deviled Eggs and that wasn't a staple food at my dad's Christmas dinner so he nor my stepmom knew how to make them either but advised that I should call my uncle Tim to see if he had a recipe.  Well he did!!!!  For many holidays to come I was always assigned Deviled Eggs....if you've ever made Deviled Eggs you know that they are a time consuming item to make.  Which is kind of not my thing!  Quick and Easy is my preference so eventually I decided not to take Deviled Eggs to every single family get together anymore.  The family was not happy.....they really are that good!  Well I made them for a family function one year and we had left overs?????  Yes you read that correctly....this did not happen often.  Well, what do you do with left over Deviled Eggs?  Squish it all together making Egg Salad!  Yep....and with my brilliant mind I figured out that Egg Salad was just as good as the Deviled Eggs since it has ALL the same ingredients but so much easier because it doesn't matter how mutilated the egg gets when you take the shell off and you don't have to sit and scoop the filling into the Egg White because it's all just going to be squished together in the end anyways...... So here it is...so easy and super yummy!

Ingredients:
6 Eggs
1 Tbsp Mustard
1/4 C Mayo
1/4 C Relish
1/2 Tsp Sugar 

Hard boil the 6 Eggs and peel off the shell

Throw all ingredients in a big bowl and squish it all together. 

I used to use my hands which worked well at makeing sure it was all mixed very well and the eggs were well broken up.  Now I use a potato masher to mash it all up and then stir together with a spoon....I go back and forth between the potato masher and the spoon until it's well mushed together!

We serve it on toasted bread!


Inspired by Uncle Tim



Parties I'm Attending:


Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop


Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Let it Snow!

We finally got some snow!  So I wanted to share my mantel shelf!  Our first snow of the year, we had some flurries last week but this is our first to accumulate at all.  Gregory just being 21 months old never really noticed snow last year so this was the first snow he acknowledged.  I was so excited to show it to him but our trip outside only lasted about 5 minutes b/c Momma is a wimp when it comes to cold weather!

             It was a little too cold for him to want it on his hands...this was the only time he touched it!

                                                                           Fascinated!

                                                                          It was cold!!!

Here is our snow for the day and it's still flurrying right now.  I know it's not much and no it hadn't started sticking to the patio yet when this picture was taken.  But we are expecting more and the temperatures are supposed to be so low that the main concern is ice on the ground.  I'm so happy that I work from home and don't have to venture out in it...I get to enjoy it from inside!

On to my mantel shelf.  As stated before I have decided to decorate a shelf on my hutch since I don't have a mantel or anywhere else at this time. 

Yes I know the top two shelves do not "go" but I don't have enough decorations yet to cover the whole thing...I've never decorated for "winter" much less many other things.  Plus I have never been a huge fan of snow until recently....I guess becoming a Momma has led me to appreciate all of the seasons and the joys they bring!  Anyways I never thought much about decorating until I joined blogland, so yeah....I'm a "wannabe"!  I do LOVE what I did with the bottom shelf though...all the decorations are new BUT were super cheap b/c I got most of it at least 50% off as leftover Christmas decorations!

I did try this with fake snow but I don't think it pops well enough for me with the fake snow.  So I left it as shown above!

On this side I have a shimmery tree that I got for $1.49 as part of Christmas leftovers!  I found this beautiful sign for $1.75 as part of 50% off Christmas leftovers at a different store (I am really in love with this sign....how they had any leftover I do not know but I'm very greatful!).  The glass fixture in the background I created here and then one of the exceptions to my Christmas leftover sale items are the blue/silver bulbs that I found before Christmas for $1.  The flowers are all part of one bunch of silk flowers removed from the bouquet that I got for $1.50 before Christmas.

On this side I have 2 shimmery Christmas trees....I know you only see one but I have them stacked to make this side taller than the other side but I got them for $1.49 a piece as well.  The flowers as stated above were part of a bunch I purchased before Christmas for $1.50 and the bowl with the snowmen and lid was part of Christmas leftovers that I got for $.50.  I'm pretty excited about it.....much improvement to be had but what do you think?

Inspired by Snow!



Parties I'm Attending:


Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop


Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Wayward Weekend

Closet Coat Hanger???

Mike and I have a walk in closet in our room and it's always packed full.  Doesn't matter how many clothes or shoes we get rid of.  I have managed to get the top shelf pretty clear and neat, the floor has drawer units along it holding shoes and bed sheets and flip flops and whatever else.  It's ridiculous!  Just as most of everyone else in blogland I have been in hyper-organizing mode with everything.  I'm already an organizer, I feel like that is all I ever do but ever since Christmas and all the new cool stuff we accumulated I have had the need to organize organize organize.  I've done a lot of great things that I'll be sharing!  Today I would like to tell you how I solved the crazy belt hanger issue and all the bags that I have been adding to the clutter in the closet. 

In my home we have a few coat hangers on the walls behind many of our doors.  My dad made them for us and they are awesome!  They keep the coats and jackets picked up with easy access!  Well in all my organizing craziness I had an idea of putting one of these coat hangers in my closet to get some of my bags/purses off the floor and to get Mike's ties off of the belt hanger b/c that thing just was beyond capacity!  So here we go with a scarey peek at our closet!

Here is the coat hanger my dad made us with bags and ties on it!  I'm holding the clothes back so you can see it!  :-)

Here is a view from the doorway with out holding the clothes back

THIS is what it looks like with ALL the clothes in place!  Ridiculous right!?  But I think it's fabulous...you can't see the coat rack but it's there and all you have to do is separate the clothes in the back to grab whatever it is you might want!  The belt hanger is no longer over flowing and there are no more bags collecting on the floor!

Inspired by post Christmas organizing!



Parties I'm Attending:


Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop


Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Tasty Tuesday/Potato Soup

Here we are again this week being crazy so this is my first post of the week!  But I am here!  Today I want to tell you about a Potato Soup that I have found to be better when made by someone else  :-)

We tried this Potato Soup for the first time at a bible study we were in.  It was delicious and the hit of the night.  Everyone LOVED it!  So much that I insisted on making it for my uncle and his wife when he had a really bad accident.  So I went to my friend's house and she helped me make this Potato Soup by showing me first hand how to do it.  Again...yummy!  However as I make it for my "Recipe Challenge" it wasn't so good  :-(  Edible but really rich and I'm not that into really rich tastes.....but since it was part of my challenge, I'm going to share it with you.  Maybe you will have better luck than I did!

Ingredients:
1 Bag Frozen Hashbrowns (To be honest I think this was my failing point, all I had was pre-seasoned)
1 Bar Cream Cheese
7 Chicken Boullion Cubes
1 Bag Bacon Pieces
Dill Weed
Onion Flakes
Garlic Powder

Toppings:
Shredded Cheese
Bacon Bits

Boil 7 Cups of water, add Boullion cubes.  Whisk until the boullion cubes have desolved.  Soften the cream cheese by warming in the microwave for about 30 seconds to 1 minutes...wish into the water. 
Add spices, add hashbrowns.

Cook until the hashbrowns are soft

Then put into crockpot to cook for several hours

Serve!

Sounds pretty easy huh!?  Well it was when I had my friend by my side to help me make it but somewhere along the way when making this on my own it wasn't so yum!  I think it was that the only hashbrowns I had here were pre-seasoned....maybe that made all the difference?  I'm not sure but I do know that my husband didn't seem too interested in me giving it another shot.  He says he isn't a huge fan of potato soups anyways....plus as mentioned before he isn't a fan of cream cheese either.  He really isn't a picky eater I swear!!!


Inspired by Erin



Parties I'm Attending:


Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop


Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Cereal Box Repurposed

I found this awesome idea in a series called 31 Days to Cheaply Organize Your Home by Organizing Made Fun!  She has so many awesome ideas and I'm always trying to organize something.  You'd think someone with only a 3 bdr 2 bth home, and only 1 child wouldn't have that much organizing to do.  But seriously it seems like that is ALL I do.  I guess it's my personality and even after I've organized a room, a month later I have a different idea or the organizing that I did is no longer working?  Anyways....I have been looking for cheap ways to organize my computer paper, you know keep regular paper, card stock paper, colored printing paper....separated!  Okay, to be honest I'm still looking for a way to keep my paper separated but I love that she used cereal boxes to do this!  So I decided to try it myself...

I pulled out my Scrapbook paper tote, an  empty cereal box, ruler for straight edges, scissors, Mod Podge and a paint brush to apply the Mod Podge with.

I cut my cereal box

I then started applying the Mod Podge and putting the paper on my cereal box

This is my end result...it doesn't take much time at all to do but I then let is try over night...it was kind of messy but I guess that is to be expected!  Well...as I said "I'm still looking for ways to organize my paper"....why?  Because my cereal box was not big enough to hold paper.  So it sits on a cabinet where I sort my mail!  I continue to search for cereal boxes that are big enough for my paper though!!



Inspired by Organizing Made Fun



Parties I'm Attending:



Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop


Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Tasty Tuesda/Lots of Christmas Goodies!

I know, I know...I've already posted today!  But even though I wanted to start 2012 with a BIG project doesn't mean that we are canceling Tasty Tuesday!  So you're in for a Double Dose of G Inspires!

Today you're in for even more of a treat as I share several recipes from our big Christmas baking party!

Although the main event for today are Cake Balls!  Have you had them?  They are phenominal!!!


Ingredients:
1 box cake mix
1 canister of frosting
Candy Coating

First bake a cake as directed on the package, just so you can crumble it up...I just used my "clean" hands!

Mix in 3/4 of a canister of frosting...I also used my hands on this part b/c a spoon was just not blending it well.  Obviously I don't have a picture of this as my hands were a mess!

Roll the mixture into balls and place them in the freezer for 20 minutes

Heat up your Candy Coating

Dip your Cake Balls in...this proved to be quite a mess and after MANY cake balls I couldn't find an easy or non-messy way to do this.

Let the cake balls sit for the chocolate to dry...takes maybe 10 minutes and ENJOY!

BONUS Material!

No Bake Cookies

Ingredients:
-1/2 C Milk
-1/2 C Butter
-4 tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
-1/2 C Peanut Butter
-3 C Quick Cooking Oats
-1 tsp Vanilla Extract

In a medium sauce pan; combine sugar, milk, butter and cocoa.  Bring to a boil and cook for 1 1/2 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, oats and vanilla extract. 

Drop by tsp fulls onto wax paper.  Let cool until hardened (or sneak some mid-hardened b/c that is really yummy!)

We also made some Kiss Cookies

Simply make the cookie as directed on the package...we did sugar cookies and peanut butter cookies.  Place the Kiss in the center of the cookie after you pull them out of the oven while they are still soft so the Kiss sinks into the warm cookies!

We also make Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies per the directions on the package

Then cookie cut out sugar cookies....make sure you have plenty of flour so that you can cut the shapes out and then cook as the package says.

No guys sorry...for the most part we aren't "homemade" type people but it was fun and made A LOT of goodies that we are still trying to get rid of!



Inspired by Christmas Baking!



Parties I'm Attending:



Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop


Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On

Refurbished Desk/The BIG Reveal!

Do you remember this?

I showed off this find here....

Well it's done and I'm in love! 



I took the hardware off, I let my dad take degreaser to it and I sanded it a little

All so I could paint it!

I painted the entire desk, even though I was going to cover the top with some scrapbook paper I found that matched the colors and look I was going for.  The top of the desk isn't pure wood so I was advised that painting it wasn't going to work as it would scratch easily.  So I decided I would try my hand at mod podging the top!  I lined up the papers and cut them down to size as the cover the whole top of the desk.

Covered big enough sections to place one sheet at a time

There are words on the paper that talk about dreams and inspirations....PERFECT!  I mod podged them all down.

This is where I came to an issue.  After that first coat of Mod Podge dried I had really horrible air bubbles in my paper!  After a lot of thought I decided to cut out the sections with air bubbles.  There were four big air bubbles and I think that putting a layer of paint down on the top before laying my paper really helped when I cut out the section using an xacto knife...it came right up.  I then traced my cut outs onto pieces of the same kind of paper and mod podged those pieces in where I had cut out sections.

(In hindsight I would do this in smaller sections...I think that would help me not get big air bubbles.)

The BIG reveal!!

Brush Nickel hardware was added to match all of the hardware in my bedroom.....I think it looks fabulous!

This was my first refurbished piece....what do you think?

Before:

After:

Inspired by my "Craft Corner"

Parties I'm Attending:


Homemaker on a Dime: Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop

Make the Scene Monday

The Bunny Hop

The Creative Spark

Beyond the Picket Fence

Gluesticks: Get Your Brag On