Saturday, November 17, 2012

Make This! Pinterest inspired craft.

What I love about this project is the pure ease of it! And the price. I had all but the dry erase markers on hand, a collection of old frames, some left over burlap. Did I not say this was simple?

I came across this nifty idea on Pinterest and immediately pinned it to my Crafty Ways board. Jill Ruth & Co. blogger has made several for her home and I just loved the simplicity of it. 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Autumn Breakfast Hash

Really this could be anytime of the year hash, but as the leaves are still falling and it's November, I'll go with Autumn Breakfast Hash. My medical leave saga continues and I've been watching daytime T.V., one of my favorite programs is The Chew, a talk show, crafts show, foodie show. Perfect. This recipe is my take on Daphne Oz's Turkey Sweet Potato Hash -- you really can't go wrong with hash, it lends itself to adapting to the ingredients you have on hand. Daphne used apples and sweet potato's in hers and this intrigued me. I've used sweet potato's before, but never thought to add apples. A quick inventory of my fridge yielded fresh Kielbasa. This Kielbasa is the best, it's from Piekutowski's European Style Sausage shoppe, which is located in North St. Louis City, 40 or so miles from our home in the burbs. Our son was in that area yesterday and bought us some Kielbasa and other meats. So yum! Thank you son! 

Back to the hash. Here are the list of ingredients:


  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 tbs butter
  • 1 garlic clove minced
  • 1 Idaho potato cubed
  • 1 sweet potato cubed
  • 1 apple cubed
  • 1/2 red onion chopped
  • 1/2 pound kielbasa
  • Salt and pepper to taste
In a skillet, melt butter and add a tbs of the olive oil, add to this the garlic. After a few minutes, add the potato's and continue to cook until they are browned. Add additional olive oil if necessary. Now add your onion and continue to cook. Last, add the apple and kielbasa. The kielbasa is already cooked and only needs to be warmed, continue cooking until the apple is warmed through, but not too mushy. 

Cook your eggs in your preferred method--I cooked mine up over easy--plate a serving of hash and add your egg on top. 

This is a new breakfast staple for our house. Love the tart sweet bite of apple, along with the smokey flavored sausage. 

Enjoy!!

33 Shades of Green: Tasty Tuesdays
mizhelenscountrycottage:full-plate-thursday-11-15-12






Monday, November 5, 2012

Thanksgiving Mantel Inspiration

I'm currently housebound, as I tore my Achilles and had surgery two weeks ago. My knee scooter allows me to zip around, but simple things like hanging a picture can be problematic. The Halloween decor is being packed away and now it's time to dress the house for Thanksgiving. Get it, dress, like in dressing? I know, pretty lame.

I want something different this year for my mantel, so I've culled some Pinterest and Blogger finds here for inspiration:



















Source: thenester.com via Diane on Pinterest



Saturday, November 3, 2012

PicMonkey.com Tutorial Featuring: Collage, Labels, Blending Tools and Text

Hi all, 

Here is another fun Picmonkey tutorial, in this one I show you how to create a collage, add background color, a label overlay and text. Did you know that Picmonkey has an easy peasy facebook banner collage? There are so many things you can do with your very own photo's, come on, let the fun begin.



Click below for today's tutorial.



Let me know how I"m doing, leave a comment with features you'd like to see.

Most of all, have fun!

di

Friday, November 2, 2012

Picmonkey Tutorial: Basic Edits and Clone Tool

Hi all,

As you are aware, I absolutely love photography. And what you may not know, I love free things. Who doesn't? Full fledged editing software, such as Photoshop CS6 costs $700 and the basic Photoshop Elements can go for around $100. Although both offer more bells and whistles than a free editing site can offer, chances are those same bells and whistles would go unused...same as all the menu options I neglect to use on my Rebel xti. Insert chagrin here.



Welcome to my inaugural Photoshop, er, I mean Picmonkey.com tutorial featuring basic editing and the clone tools.



Let me know what you think and what you'd like to learn. Most of all, have fun!