Strawberry Truffle Cake

Ingredients
1 box of Angel food cake mix made according to directions
1 small box of jello cook vanilla pudding made to directions on box
1 small container fat free cool whip
1 box of fresh strawberries hulled and sliced

In a large punch bowl put half of the angel food cake in diced. Then half of the pudding drizzled on top. And then half of the strawberries. Then the other half of the angel food cake diced and the rest of the pudding. Then the whole container of cool whip and spread evenly and then the rest of the berries. Put in fridge for an hour before serving.

Fried Rice

Ingredients
6 cups of cooked rice
3 tbs. oil
1 clove garlic
1 onion diced
2 celery stalks sliced
1 carrot pealed and sliced
1/2 package fresh mushrooms sliced
1/2 green pepper chopped
2 tbs. chives
1/2 lb. hamburger cooked and drained
2 eggs scrambled
1/8 cup soy sauce

Heat oil in heavy pan add vegetables and saute until until slightly done. Then stir in the rest and heat through

Breakfast Pizza

Dough Ingredients
1 cup warm water
1 package yeast
1 tbs. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tbs. oil
2 1/2 cups flour

In mixing bowl add yeast and water stir then add the rest and mix well. Grease hands and knead a couple of times until dough is smooth. Cover with a dish towel and let set for 1/2 hour.

Topping Ingredients
5 eggs
2 cups mozzarella cheese
half pound of bacon or sausage cooked
Optional: mushrooms, green pepper, onion
Heat oven to 400
After dough has set press into a greased cookie sheet. Wisk eggs together and put on dough and spread. Then top with cheese and other toppings. Bake until brown on top and is done through. About 30 minutes

Fishing For Pickerel

When fishing for pickerel you need to find the most weeds or grass, this is where they like to hide. Rig your pole up with some heavy line, and a steal leader. If you don't use the steel leader they will bite the line off and swim away with all of your rigging. Use a lure. The color for pickerel is hunter orange, or neon orange. They are very attracted to this color. I use the moosewobbler myself. When you snag a pickerel keep your line tight. If you give them any slack they will bite your line off just above the leader. Have a net handy, they like to spit out the hook just when you get them close. Do not try to take the hook out with your hands. Pickerel have rows of nasty teeth and they are not afraid to use them. Use a pair of needle nose pliers.

Fried Pickerel

Many people think that pickerel are not good to eat because they look strange. They are so delicious. Here is what I do. Clean the fish, put it in warm water and scale. Then fillet them you can get a fillet off of each side and along the back bone. Make sure you are using a very sharp long knife.

In a heavy pan heat a small amount of oil on medium heat. Roll the fillets in flour and add a little seasoning salt and pepper. Fry on each side until golden brown.
Serve with potato and corn on the cob!

Streak Free Windows

I have found a way to clean windows without getting the streaking. I spray the whole window down with spray away glass cleaner. I wait until the foaming is done. Then I rub down the whole window really well using a rag. Then I take another dry rag and keep wiping it until the window is totally dry. It works every time.

Getting Rid Of Mold And Mildew

If you have some surface mold someplace you can easily get rid of it by wiping it down with a sponge soaked in straight bleach.

If your mold is more then surface mold then you need to take out the wall or where ever it is at. Then get a garden sprayer and fill it with straight bleach and spray the studs or area all down several times until there is no sign of the mold or mildew and then replace the sheet rock or whatever you had to get rid of. After you replace the sheet rock paint it with Kiltz Latex 2 primer and then a semi gloss or satin paint.

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie!

Crust Ingredients
2 1/4 cups flour
2/3 cups shortening
1 tsp. seasoning salt
10 tbs. cold water

Filling Ingredients
3 chicken drumsticks ( or the equivalent of, can even use leftover chicken or turkey)
3 bouillon cubes
1 mug boiling water
2 tbs. butter
2 tbs. flour
3 carrots pealed and sliced
2 potatoes pealed and diced
1 onion chopped
1 celery stalk sliced
1/2 can peas ( optional )

Start by boiling the chicken until it comes of off the bones. Discard bones and skin. Dice chicken and add to a frying pan with a little bit of oil add vegetables and saute1 minute, In another frying pan add butter and melt then add flour and cook untill forms a ball, add the water with the bouillon cubes dissolved in it and beat with a wire wisk. This will make a gravy. Poor over the meat veggie mixture and simmer.

Make your crust. In a mixing bowl add flour and salt stir together, add shortening and work into the rest with a fork until well cut. Then add water and mix well, you may need to kneed it a little to get it mixed. Then roll out on floured surface. Put down bottom crust in pie pan then add filling then repeat with top crust. Poke 9 holes in top of crust with a fork and tuck under extra dough and pinch crust around the edges. Bake in preheated 450 oven until brown and done.
serve with mashed potato or rice.

Cream Puffs And Filling

Cream Puffs
Ingredients
1 cup water
1/2 cup of butter
1 cup of flour
4 eggs

Heat Oven to 400

Heat water and butter to a rolling boil in a medium sized heavy pot. Stir if flour. Stir constantly over low heat until in forms a ball ( 1 minute ) Remove from heat add eggs. Mix with mixer on high until it is very smooth. Put onto ungreased cookie sheet a 1/3 cup at a time leaving about 3 inches in between each one. Bake until puffed and golden. about 40 minutes. Cool Cut off tops and fill with filling. Replace tops and drizzle chocolate sundae sauce on top.

Filling
Ingredients
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbs. cornstarch
2 cups of milk
2 egg yolks
2 tbs. butter
1 tbs. vanilla

Add everything to a heavy medium pot. Stir together with wire wisk. Bring to a boil on medium heat stir all the time. Turn to low heat and cook 1 minute still stirring. Let cool and fill puffs.

Found A Cure For The Raven Problem

As I posted before, I was having trouble with Ravens getting into my chicken house and taking the chickens eggs and killing my chickens. Well I had enough of them the other day so I decided that it was time to really do something about it.
I made some scarecrows, nothing fancy but they seem to be doing the trick. I screwed a board to the side of each chicken house. I planned it so that the board would be about 7 feet up off of the ground. I wanted the scarecrows to be really intimidating. Then I screwed an old pair of jeans to the chicken house right under the board. I used long wood screws so that is would be sturdy. I tied knots in the bottoms of each leg and stuffed them with shopping bags. Then I put a shirt down over the board. I stapled the back of the shirt to the board with a staple gun. I tucked the bottom of the shirt down into the pant and then nailed it all together to the side of the house. I stuffed the shirt with old shopping bags. I tied a knot in the sleeves and stuffed them with plastic egg crates. Then for the head I used old feed bags. I just bunched them up into a ball, put the ball down on the top of the board and then stapled around the head with a staple gun onto the board. I took a permanent marker and drew a face. I pulled the neck of the shirt up to the head and stapled again. Then I took a bright yellow safety hat and put it on. It looked huge and scary.
Now, it was time for the test. I let my dog outside. She went crazy growling and barking. She thought they were real. It has been two days and no problems yet with the ravens. I see them circle my yard, but then they leave. They want nothing to do with a 7 foot man in a safety hat.

Tuna Casserole

Ingredients
1 package egg noodles
2 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
4 tbs. butter
1 large can tuna
1 can peas
1 can carrots
Italian bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350
Cook noodles and drain. Add 2 tbs. butter, peas, carrots and tuna. In a small bowl stir together the soup and garlic. Add to the rest and mix well. Put into a lightly greased 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle heavily with Italian bread crumbs and then add 2 tbs. of melted butter. Bake until heated through and bread crumbs are brown.

Ravens Are Dangerous Around Chickens !

I have been having a hard time lately to get any eggs. I thought at first that my chickens just were not laying. After a few days of there not being any eggs, I got very suspicious. I noticed one morning that there was a raven in the chicken fence. Then a few days later I saw a raven flying with an egg shell. That raven was going into my hen house and eating the eggs before I could get them. So I started leaving my chickens closed in the house until I got their eggs for the day and then I would let them out in the fence.
Sunday I was at Church, and my husband left the house to pick me up. He brought the dog with him, so all was quiet in my yard. A raven killed one of my chickens. This chicken was huge. It weighed about 8 pounds. The raven struck it in the back of the neck with one hard peck killed it and then carried it off. We found the chicken when we got home laying on the ground and could tell by the wound that it was a big bird that had done it, also we saw the raven and then sure enough he came back after the chicken. We were only gone about 15 minutes. I was shocked, the egg thing was bad enough but killing my chicken that is really going way too far.
Today I went to a friends house and came home to find that my chicken nest that the chicken was laying on, in order to hatch the eggs was empty. The chickens were all spooked and about 20 eggs were gone. My guess, that raven again. And the worst part is my husband can't get a shot at him, he is too fast. He is going to wipe out my chickens.

Do You Keep All Tax Info and Receipts For 7 Years?

Everyone make sure that you are keeping all of your receipts and tax info for at least 7 years. The IRS will go back a long time and question about something. This week I got a letter from the IRS they wanted my receipt that I had paid my 2290 taxes in 2006. I can't find my receipt. The IRS will make me repay this plus 3 years worth of interest and penalties. All because I can't find my receipt. Don't let this happen to you!
Also make sure that you are keeping your bank statements for that long. If I had kept those it would be a help right now. Keep this stuff in a place that is easy to get to and well organized. That way if anything comes up you will know right were to look for what you need.

Hummingbird Feeder Craft To Do With Kids

These are so cute and great for gifts.

Needed
inexpensive plastic hummingbird feeder ( family dollar 2.00)
craft paint in red, orange, yellow, green
foam brushes in different shapes (craft department at Walmart)
Chunky plastic assorted beads with big holes
Thin Nylon Rope
sugar
Sand Paper fine grit

Start by having the kids sand the bottle part of the feeder. Now paint the whole feeder red. Paint green grass and flower stems on the bottle part after the red paint dries. Then make orange and yellow flowers out of the round sponge brushes. Use the big on for the whole flower and the little ones for the center. Let them be creative with the different shapes of brushes. Let dry. Add a rope to hang it by. Give the kids a bunch of beads and let them string them all over the rope. Make sure to make the rope long enough that the feeder can be hung anywhere. While my son was making his feeder the hummingbirds were coming to it before he even got it done or anything in it.

Making the feed
Boil 4 cups of water with 3 cups of sugar in it and then let it cool. Add to feeder and hang.

Kick Your Chicken And Leave It Casserole

Ingredients
2 lbs. boneless chicken tenders
1 can of cream of chicken soup
8 ounce package of shredded Monetary Jack Cheese
1 box of stove top chicken stuffing mix
1 stick of butter

Preheat Oven 350
Grease lightly 9x13 pan. Lay the chicken in the bottom raw. Add can of soup all over the top. Then top with the cheese. Add stuffing mix dry all over the top. Melt the butter and pour on top of that.
Bake for 1 hour. Or until brown and bubbly all over.

Hanging Dish Towel Instructions

Needed

Dish Towel
small amount of scrap yarn
big button
big needle
scissors
crochet hook size G

Fold your dish towel in half top to bottom. Make sure the print side is out.
along the top of the fold, poke holes about 1/2 inch down using the eye end of your needle. You want to poke a hole about every 1/4 of an inch all the way along the fold. Make sure the hole is through both layers of the towel.
Now, you are ready to start crocheting. Make a loop with your yarn and pull it through the first hole in your towel using your crochet hook. Single crochet. Same with each hole all the way across.
Now chain two and turn, double crochet in each single crochet.
Chain two and turn, double crochet in every other double crochet.
Chain two and turn, double crochet in every 3rd double crochet.
Chain two and turn double crochet in every double crochet.
Keep double crocheting in every double crochet until you have done 10 rows of that.
Chain two and turn. Double crochet in first two, chain 3, skip next 2 double crochets. Double crochet in the remaining double crochets.
Chain one and turn. single crochet in first two double crochets. Single crochet 3 in the hole and then single crochet in remaining double crochets.
Weave in ends.
Thread your needle with same yarn, and tie a knot. Fold down the handing part of your towel and decide where you want your button. Make sure that your button is lined up with the hole. Sew on your button and tie of end.
Towel is finished enjoy!

Do you have hairspray build up in the bathroom?

I have been fighting with hairspray buildup in the bathroom for awhile now. I just couldn't seem to get it off of my bathroom closet door. I tried everything, and nothing took it completely. Today I sprayed it all down with Spray Away.
If you are not familiar with this product, it is a glass cleaner in an aerosol can. It will take a lot of tough stains out of things.
I sprayed it on my closet door and let it foam up and set a minute or two. Then I wiped it off with a dry rag. It took every bit of the hairspray build up off. I only had to do it once. I was afraid that it might do something to the finish on the door. But, it didn't harm a thing.
Give it a try.

Double Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients
2 sticks of butter
18 tbs. baking cocoa
6 tbs. vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Spread into a lightly greased 9x13 pan. Put into the oven and bake until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. About 40 minutes

Why Chicken Eggs Didn't Hatch

I have about 8 chickens and a rooster. I thought everything was going fine. I had about 40 eggs in the nest and then about 60 days ago a chicken starting sitting all of the time on the nest. I kept saying to my husband, what are we going to do with that many baby Chic's?
Well after about 28 days I started to wonder what was going on. I knew that the babies should have been here. I had even gone to the feed store and got the special feed for them. I was checking that nest about 10 times a day. Well after 60 days and still no baby Chic's, I knew something was up. I am not that experienced with chickens. That same day, the chicken must have figured the same thing. She stopped sitting and went to live in the other chicken house.
Today I went out to clean out the house and get rid of the eggs. My husband said lets break open some of these eggs and see if any of them have started to develop. Nope! Not any, they were all rotten and nasty. I found out that chicken eggs will rot. If the chicken doesn't sit on the eggs within 26 days then the eggs will not develop, they will rot instead.
Lesson learned the hard way.

Au Gratin Potatoes

Ingredients

3 round white potatoes
4 tbs. butter
2 tbs. flour
8oz. brick of mild cheddar cheese
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tbs. dried mustard
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400
In a glass baking dish add some non stick spray. Wash and slice the potatoes thin, add to the dish. In a medium sized sauce pan add 2 tbs. butter, melt on low heat. Add the flour and stir. Add the milk and stir again. Add the cheese and stir constantly until all melted. Add the onion powder, garlic powder, dried mustard and stir. Dump over the potatoes. Now slice up the remaining butter and lay on top of the potatoes. Add salt and pepper. Place in the oven and cook until tender when poked with a fork. And brown on top.
About 30 minutes.

Staining Trim Boards Sucks!

I have been staining trim boards all week. I hate it! Ask yourself do I really want to use stain? Paint would be sooo much easier.
I started out with 3 inch pine boards. I do not like actual trim boards. They are too fancy for me. I picked the best side of the boards and sanded them with a fine sandpaper.
Well then I thought, where am I going to stain these at? I didn't want to put them up and then do it. I knew if I did that, then I would end up with drippy stain running down my wall. So I decided to stain them before I put them up. Another problem, where would I put them to stain them? I ended up laying them all out on the floor. I did this in the room that I have been working on. So it really didn't matter if I got some on the floor. I am laying carpet in that room this weekend. But, I thought where would someone do this if they didn't have a room like this? Anyhow, so when I first started staining them it was working okay. Then I was running out of room. The boards took up almost all of the floor space. So there wasn't much space for me to be able to put the stain on. I ended up holding them up and staining the sides first and then doing the front after. It has taken forever. I have been working on them for 5 days. I am just starting with the poly. The poly is hard to see when the boards are flat on the floor. I can't tell if I am getting any runs or not.
If I lived in any other house, I definitely would have used paint. That way I could put them up first and then taped off my wall and just gone to town on them. But unfortunately, in my house painted trim boards would have looked really dumb.

Raising Turkeys Can Be Too Much Of A Project

My Grandfather started me out with a couple of baby turkeys. I fell in love with them. In fact I didn't even know that I was getting them. I got a phone call and my Grandfather said. Go look in the box on your deck. So at first I didn't know what I was going to do with these strange little things. But, I wasn't long figuring it out. I wrapped them in wash clothes and rocked them in a rocking chair. That is right, I said that I rocked my baby turkeys. They were so homely that they were cute. I kept them in the house in a box with a light on them for months. Until I figured that they were big enough. Everyone kept saying those turkeys need a pen outside. But I just didn't think that they were big enough. So I kept rocking them. It did get to a point when they had to go outside. They got so smelly and yucky in that small box.
I named them Cuddly and Fuzzy. My grandfather had a mansion built for them. At least it would be considered a mansion as far as Turkeys are concerned. This is when all of my problems began. I had some people over for supper one night. We were all out on the deck eating having a nice time. One of my Turkeys walked up to me and got on my lap. It was so embarrassing, as if that wasn't bad enough, he then started making a sound very similar to the sound that a cat makes when it is purring. I had a really hard time trying to explain to my guests why my Turkey was doing this. Okay so you are probably thinking that is funny. But, let me tell you how bad it got. My Turkeys would get on the deck and stare at me through the window of my kitchen. If I did not notice them they would tap on the glass. If I moved they moved to the other window and did the same thing. I would have to put them in their pen when I was going for a walk. They would follow me all over town. People started calling me the turkey lady. Every where I went people were asking me about these birds.
Of course my Grandfather is just loving all of this. Every time I see him he is laughing. Asking how are those turkeys doing?
Then it all changed with the delivery of another present from my grandfather. He brought me a female turkey. That was it! My precious Cuddly and Fuzzy turned on me like you would not believe. They would fly right up and try to bite my face. They would chase my 5 year old son all over the driveway pecking at him. They were always looking for a fight. The female turkey changed their mood. It was all about fighting and challenging everything for her.
I stopped getting company because my turkeys would attack anyone who came over. People in my town started referring to my turkeys now, as guard turkeys.
So one day I went to help a friend. When I got home, one of my turkeys was missing. I do not know if an animal got him, or if my neighbors were tired of him. About a month later a fox got my other male turkey. I still had the female though. And, she was sitting on a bunch of eggs.
So needless to say, it all started all over again! I always have been a sucker for punishment.
Could you resist that cute little face???

Home Style Lasagna

Ingredients
1 box lasagna noodles
1 tbs. cooking oil
16 ounce container cottage cheese
1 egg
4 cups mozzarella cheese
1 lb. hamburger
45 ounces of Ragu Chunky garden combination spaghetti sauce (or any kind you like, make sure you use exactly 45 ounces though)

In a large kettle or stock pot, cook lasagna noodles add the oil to the boiling water while cooking ( leave the noodles a little bit under done) and drain. Do not rinse. Set aside to cool.
In a frying pan, cook hamburger and chop it up while cooking it. Add the sauce and warm through. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl add cottage cheese, egg and 2 cups of mozzarella cheese. Stir together. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Time to layer the lasagna. Preheat oven to 350
Add 1/4 of the sauce in a 9x 13 pan and spread around. Add half of the box of lasagna noodles. They will be a couple of layers thick. Now add the mixture from the mixing bowl and spread around. Add the rest of the lasagna noodles. Make sure you use the whole box of noodles or your lasagna will be runny and nasty. Now the rest of the sauce. Put 2 cups of mozzarella cheese on top.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until bubbly in the center.

I am famous for my Lasagna around these parts. Everyone always asks for MINE!!

Doggies In A Blanket

Ingredients

6 hot dogs
6 slices American Cheese
1 package yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tbs. sugar
2 tbs. oil
2 1/2 cups flour

In a large mixing bowl, add yeast and water, stir together well. Add sugar, oil and flour. Stir until well mixed. Put some grease on your hands and kneed the dough until smooth. Put a towel over the bowel and let set for 1/2 hour.
After dough has set. Preheat oven to 350. Take out a 9x13 glass baking pan and grease the bottom lightly. Divide dough into 6 even pieces. Put a piece of the dough in your hand and roll it out like a long snake. Lay it down in the pan and flatten out a little. Lay a hot dog on the dough centered. Break a piece of American Cheese in half, and lay on the hot dog, use the whole slice, it just fits better broken. Fold the dough around the hot dog, Do the sides first and then fold in the ends of the dough. Make sure the dough is sealed well, so that the cheese doesn't come out when cooked. Repeat until all hot dogs are wrapped. Make sure they are all seam side down in the pan.
Put in the oven and bake about 1/2 hour or so. Until the dough is lightly brown. Do not over cook.
Serve with french fries and some spicy mustard for the doggies!

Are You Really Ready If The Power Goes Out For A Long Time?

We have all seen these emergency kit lists everywhere. They are in the event of an emergency, all you would need to survive. I think that they are missing a lot.

What if the power goes out at your house for a long time. Do you have what you need? Can you do your dishes? Can you bath? Can you eat hot food? Do you have heat in your home? Can you flush the toilet? Can you do your laundry?

This is what I do. I live in the country of course. I have found I can get by with or without power. It doesn't make any difference to me. I have to work a little harder without the power. But with or without power I still can do all of the things that I need to do.

I happened to think of this because the power was out at my house for a long time today. Due to high winds.

In your emergency kit. You have a gallon of water per person. That is great you can use that for anything that you are going to drink, or make food out of. But, you still need to be able to have water for other things. The first thing that I do when my power goes out is, I get every container I can find, buckets, kettles whatever is handy. Then I put them under the eaves of my house. That is a great place to catch rain water. Do not drink rain water!!! But use it for everything else. If you don't have a good place where the water just runs off of your eaves, then you need to put a board on the roof and then a bucket underneath. If it is winter time then, Go outside and fill all of your container with snow and then bring them inside.

Make sure that you have a cooking source. Here are some that I can think of. A wood stove, a propane kitchen stove, a barbecue grill, a hibachi ( mini grill), a camp stove like a Coleman stove, a fire pit outside, you can make a fire pit by stacking bricks or rocks if it is an emergency and you have not planned ahead. Then just take the oven rack out of your oven and lay it on top.

You are going to use this cooking source for almost everything. You can warm the rain water up in a kettle on your cooking source. Dump it into dish pans and then wash your dishes. One dish pan for wash and one for rinse. You can warm it up and take a bath. Lug it into your bathtub and bath. If you don't have enough water for a full bath then just dump some in a bowl and sponge bath. And of course you can cook anything on it. Even if it is a barbecue grill. Just put the pan or kettle right on and turn it on high.

Now flushing the toilet. It is going to take about 3 gallons of water to flush your toilet. So I just wait until it has to be flushed. Get a big bucket, and put 3 gallons of water in it. Dump all of it really quick into the toilet and this will flush it. Do not dump it slowly, because it won't work.

Laundry, if it has been a long time without power, you are going to need to do laundry. Dump a load of wash into your bathtub. Then put in a cup of detergent and enough rain water to cover it. Let it set over night. In the morning, go over each item with a scrub brush, and swirl it around in the water good. Now drain the tub. Bring in enough rain water to cover it again and make sure everything gets rinsed good. Now ring everything out and go hang it on the clothes line. If you don't have a clothes line, then hang up some rope between trees, or hang it on the shower curtain rod.

Now if it is winter time, you are going to need heat. Once again any of the cooking sources can be a heat source. If all you have is an propane oven, then you need to close off all of the rooms except the kitchen and stay in that one room. If it is something smaller like, a propane camp stove, or a hibachi grill, then decide what room it is going in and close off all of the rest. Even if you have to hang up tarps to keep the heat in one room. Now if your cooking source was a fire pit. You are going to have a problem in the winter, and need to be thinking of another solution.

It is a lot of work, but when times get tough, the tough get tougher!!!!

Be Carefull When Painting With A Dark Semi Gloss Paint

My son wanted his room painted dark mallard green. I refused to paint the whole room that dark. So I decided to paint most of the room a pale green and then just one wall the dark color. Well this was a newly sheet rocked room, so I started with the primer like I always do. Then I did the pale green it took 2 coats and looked beautiful. Now it was time to do the mallard green. I put on 3 coats and there was still some places that looked lighter then the others. I just went around and just put a 4th coat on the parts that looked lighter. It turned out very nice. But, I think if I had put on a 4th coat of paint all over it would have still had spots that were lighter then the rest.

I chose the semi gloss because in a little boys room, I know the walls are going to get very dirty. We burn wood too, so this is the only way to go for us. I can just wash the walls down each Spring and they are like brand new.

I put up a John Deere tractor border around the pale green part. It looks beautiful. Now I need to get up the trim boards and lay a carpet. My job is never done with my old house.

Rustic Hash

Ingredients
3 large russet potatoes
4 tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. seasoning salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Scrub potatoes well, leave the skins on and dice. In a heavy skillet ( I like cast iron ) heat the olive oil on medium-high heat. Add the potatoes, seasoning salt and pepper. Watch it close to make sure it is not cooking too fast. You want it to be slightly brown on the outside and tender when poked with a fork. Cook until done, stirring often.

Variations

Onion Hash: Peel potatoes first and add 1 chopped onion. Use regular salt instead of seasoning salt. Use butter instead of oil. Can use leftover potatoes for this kind.

Fancy Hash: Peel potatoes first and add 1 chopped onion and a chopped colored pepper.

Deer Meat Steak Sandwichs

Ingredients

1 lb. Deer Steak
1 onion
1 green pepper
1 package of fresh sliced mushrooms
8 ounces of mozzarella cheese or American cheese
2 tbs. real butter
1 tbs. Worcester sauce
1 tsp. seasoning salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1tsp. mustard
3 tbs. Mayonnaise
1 package of sub rolls or hot dog rolls

Preheat oven to 300
In a heavy skillet melt butter, add Deer steak chopped fine, add onion and green pepper sliced, add sliced mushrooms. Then sprinkle Worcester sauce, seasoning salt, and pepper on top. Saute until meat in cooked through and brown.
Cut bun up the side and place on a baking sheet. In a bowel mix the mayonnaise and mustard together. Then spread on the buns. Now add the meat mixture to the buns and top with the cheese.
Put in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted.
I like to serve this with rustic hash.

Cheese Popcorn

Ingredients

1/2 cup hot air popcorn or 2 bags of plain microwave popcorn
1/2 stick of real butter
2 slices of American cheese
salt

Pop the popcorn. Put the butter into a coffee cup, fold the cheese in 4th's and lay on top of the butter. Put the mug in the microwave for 1 minute. Take out the stir. Dump over the popcorn and add salt to taste.

Deli Cheese Ends Mac and Cheese

Today I am cooking up something good, and cheap.

Ingredients
8 ounces of deli cheese ends ( assorted kinds)
1 lb. box macaroni
1 1/2 cups of milk
2 tbs. butter
2 tbs. flour
1tsp. onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Cook macaroni, while macaroni is cooking, get out a heavy saucepan medium sized. On medium heat melt the butter, add the flour and stir together. Reduce heat to low. Add the milk, onion powder, salt and pepper and about 8 ounces of deli cheese ends stir constantly until melted. When cheese is all melted pour over the cooked and drained macaroni.

I served this with spam browned in a cast iron frying pan and asparagus. My 6 year old son who likes nothing, loved this meal.

Give it a try!

Refinishing A Bedroom Door

O.K. today's project is this old nasty bedroom door. I started by using an electric palm sander with a fine sandpaper on it to sand off all of the old finish. Then I wiped it all down with a acetone paint thinner. That just took any small amount of old finish off that may have still been there. I checked the door for small holes and then filled them using a small putty knife and a tub of Elmer's wood filler. I let the filler dry and then sanded again on just those spots. I sanded until all I could see of the filler was what was just in the old hole. Then I wiped it again with a dry rag to take off any small particles left from sanding.

Now it is time to decide paint, or stain? Easy decision for me and this old house. I know that paint is going to look very strange with my rustic decor. So a trip to the local hardware store and I decided on Special Walnut stain. I love it!! It looks great, kind of dark but not too dark.


Now, I have found that when putting stain on, it is easiest to use a sponge brush. They come in all different sizes and are cheap and easy to use. When using stain they keep the drips off of me, and also I have better control of how much stain I am putting on and where it is going. I just dip the sponge brush into the stain and work it in slow. Watching very closely for drips on the door. If there are any drips, I just lightly run my sponge over them, not adding any pressure to the sponge. I can control the amount of stain going on at once by the pressure put on the sponge.

It takes about 6 hours of dry time on this stain. But, I have found times that it took longer. After about 6 hours I just touch it, if it feels tacky I wait longer. After the stain is good and dry, I run a drywall sponge on the fine side, very lightly over the surface, and then wipe in down with a dry rag again. I do this in between every coat. I put 3 coats of stain on.

Now I am ready to polyurethane. Another choice, it comes in satin, semi, or high gloss. I go with the high gloss. I will need 3 coats of this also. I put it on just like the stain only using a clean, new sponge brush. It has 6 hour dry time also, maybe longer.

I realize that I need to replace the door knob now. Maybe something in a nickel finish, or brass. I need something a little different. So another trip to the hardware needs to be scheduled. But that will have to wait for another day.

Of course looking at the dry times you may have guessed,that this took more then one day. It was worth it. The old door looks almost new, but better then that because it is old it has character.

You may be thinking there is no way I am going to add that many coats. But I have found that it makes the door very washable. Being washable is a big thing in a house like mine.

Spicey Spaghetti !!

Ingredients

1 package Hillshire Farms Kielbasa
1 large onion
1 large green pepper
1 small package sliced fresh mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. chili powder
2 large cans of tomato sauce
2 tbs. oil
You are going to need to start this first thing in the morning and put in crock pot!

I start by cutting the kielbasa into wheels, then chop the onion and green pepper. Mince the garlic, and slice the mushrooms if they are whole. Add the oil to a heavy skillet ( I like to use cast iron, but whatever you use will be fine as long as it is heavy) Heat the oil and then add the kielbasa, onion, green pepper, and garlic. Saute until the kielbasa gets brown. Add just a little bit of water in the pan at this point, and scrape the drippings on the pan with a spoon until it looks almost like a dark gravy.

Add this mixture to the crock pot with the chili powder and cans of tomato sauce.

Turn on low and simmer most of the day. Let it cool a little while for better flavor before serving.

I like to serve this sauce on cooked angel hair pasta, add a green salad and french bread for a beautiful meal. Also add Parmesan cheese to each serving.

This was my grandmothers recipe. Yummy!!

Am I just a housewife?

I am just a housewife some people would say. I am a lot more then that. I am a homeschooling mom, a cook, the cleaning lady, assistant treasurer and Sunday school teacher for teen girls at church, I love to do crafts and most of all, I am famous around this small town for doing weird home projects.

My friends call and ask "So what is today's project?" So I thought why not write a blog about it. Each day I will write about what is going on, what I have done for a project and how it turns out. It should be interesting.

I believe very strongly that there is nothing that a housewife can't do if she wants to. Let me tell you about my biggest project. My house, I bought a house 3 years ago. It was built in the 40's, rumor has it that the mafia built it as a hunting camp. I don't know if that is really true or not. I just know that I loved the house and had to have it. Now this is the crazy part. My house was in horrible shape. It was all moldy and I gutted it out and have been redoing it slowly. I do it as I have time and as my purse will allow. I don't want to go far in debt, I just want to do a daily project until it all gets done. I work on this place so much that I have been mistaken as a contractor in my small town.

My favorite place to go is Home Depot!! That is a project in itself to find what I need and then to load it on the pickup and to unload it when I get home.

A housewife's job is NEVER done!!!

enjoy!