Friday, August 10, 2012

And We Have A Winner

 Many thanks to the lovely ladies at Gooseberry Patch,
Vickie and Jo Ann,
who make these give~aways possible and thanks
to everyone who came by for a visit and
threw your name in the pot for the drawing! 
You are all winners!

And now for the BIG reveal::



Oh my gosh that Apple Walnut Coffee Cake looks delicious!! I love Gooseberry Patch! Thanks for this giveaway! Please throw my name in there. :)
Elaine
loves2stitch@charter.net
August 9, 2012 1:06 PM

  
Well I threw Elaine's name in the pot and she came out a winner!!!!!!
Congratulations Elaine from Wisconsin! 
I will be sending your cookbook to you soon!

For those of you who didn't win the cookbook, don't despair, you can still
order this book! Go to my previous post here for three yummy recipes
and the link to purchase the book.

And remember


Have a beautiful day everyone
and I'll be back soon with pix of our
new grandbaby, Isabella,
after we meet her next Wednesday!!


Credits: Shabby Blogs, Gooseberry Patch, and Random.org
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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Giveaway in Progress

Only two days left to add your name and email address to the pile
for the Gooseberry Patch cookbook give-away!!!  Hurry... run....go now
to the previous post below this one!!  Entries here do not count! 

You could be the winner of this wonderful book on August 9th 

God bless and good luck!


Side note: we are still waiting on the baby...Miss Isabella,
to arrive in 8 days or less!! Please keep us in your prayers....Thank you~

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Gooseberry Patch Cooking....


Oh My Gosh…..its Gooseberry Patch Cookbook review time again!!! 
Check out this new book:  101 Breakfast and Brunch Recipes.  
 It is packed full of your favorite morning time meals.  This book is dedicated to all the early risers who love to eat a homemade breakfast while watching the sun come up!!  Breakfast was always an important meal at our house growing up....it started the day off right whether you ate early or ate late.  I even love breakfast for supper!! 

 Here’s a quick rundown of the contents: Rise & Dine, Leisurely Weekend Mornings, Come to Brunch, and Corner Bakery.  Now doesn’t that just grab your taste buds and make you want to get outta that bed?  Well I’m going to temp you even further…….
Temptation #1
French Toast Casserole

1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup butter
2 cups corn syrup
1 loaf French bread, thick sliced
5 eggs, beaten
1 ½ cups milk
1 t. vanilla extract

Garnish: powdered sugar, maple syrup
Melt together brown sugar, butter and corn syrup in a saucepan over low heat; pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish.  Arrange the bread slices over the mixture and set aside.  Whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla; pour over the bread, coating all slices.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Uncover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar; serve the syrup  if desired.  6-8-servings.

I made this one up one night and popped it in the oven the next morning and let me tell you….EASY and YUMMY!!!  But one thing’s for sure…..I did not need to add the powdered sugar or the syrup when it was done.  This recipe kinda makes its own syrup….no extra is needed.  Make this one up on Saturday night for a wonderful breakfast before Church on Sunday morning!

Temptation # 2

Fiesta Corn Tortilla Quiche

1 lb. hot ground pork sausage
5   6” corn tortillas
4 oz. can chopped green chilies, drained
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
6 eggs, beaten
½ cup whipping cream
½ cup small curd cottage cheese

Brown the sausage in a skillet over medium heat, drain well.  Meanwhile, arrange tortillas in a lightly greased 9” pie plate, overlapping on the bottom and extending ½” over the edge of plate.  Spoon sausage, chilies and chesses into tortilla-lined pie plate.  In a bowl, beat together remaining ingredients.  Pour egg mixture over sausage mixture.  Bake, uncovered at 375 degrees for 45 minutes, or until set and golden.  Cut into wedges to serve.  4 servings

This is a very different twist to breakfast!!  Next time I make it, I want to kick it up a notch by adding chopped onion and bell peppers which have been sautéed in with the sausage.  Warning: be careful not to burn the edges of your tortilla crust as with any pie crust when baking.  Side note of opinion: add a little salt to the eggs!!  YUMMY to the TUMMY….especially served late morning.

Temptation #3
Apple Walnut Coffee Cake

Should I….. Should I not…. Share this recipe?  Oh my it is so good that you will want to buy the book just to get it!!!!  But, just to show you that this book is filled with some awesome recipes and I know you will want it anyway….I will go ahead and share it!  Do the happy dance with me!

You will need:
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
1 T. vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 t salt
½ t baking powder
1 t baking soda
¾ t nutmeg
1 T cinnamon
2 cups apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 cup of chopped walnuts
In a bowl, combine all ingredients except apples and walnuts; mix well. Stir in apples and nuts; pour into greased and floured Bundt pan.  Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes.  Increase heat to 325 degrees and bake an additional 20 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes and turn out onto a serving plate.  Top with Glaze before serving. Serves 16.

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 ½ T milk
½ t vanilla
In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients and drizzle on top of cake.

Now...has the temptation been enough?  I know I know.....you are so ready to go buy this book...well you don't even have to leave your seat or get dressed.  Just go here to Amazon  for your early bird pre-ordering with a discount, and you may also be eligible for free shipping.  Now who doesn't love a discount and something free??

Speaking of freeeeeee.....how about a give-away?  One lucky person will win a copy of this wonderful cookbook right here.

BUT here's what you have to do:
1) Leave your comment here on this post only
2) Leave your email address so I can contact you if you win
3) Have a USA or Canadian mailing address for shipping
4) Cross your fingers!!

~This giveaway will end on Aug 9 and the winner will be announced on Aug 10.
The only thing that will hold me up in the announcement or delivery of the cookbook will be if my sweet and precious little Miss Isabella decides to come early into the world.  Those grandbabies come first and thank you for understanding.  Thank you Gooseberry Patch and Good luck everyone!!

Credits: Graphics are Gooseberry Patch and Photos are mine! :)

Saturday, July 7, 2012

The Excitement Is Building

 …The excitement and expectation of the arrival of Isabella Alaina. 

Our daughter Holly is 33 weeks along and doing so well, however the doctors do not expect her to go the full 40 weeks.  A week or so ago Holly and Richard were home (from Florida to Alabama) for a weekend filled with baby showers.  They received tons (really) of wonderful and thoughtful gifts, hugs, love and well wishes from lots of family and friends.  It could not have been any better.  Here are a few photos shots from one of the showers.
The door hanger I made which was hung on the door at the church
Thank~You favors
 

Daddy's Love Bug
Watermelon drinks in frou frou jars
with stripey paper straws
Richard and Holly with God's blessing


As you can see by the invitation insert above, we asked
that everyone attach a book instead of a card to their gift,
leaving a special note to Isabella inside.
She got lots and lots of books that we will enjoy reading to her.

 
This is the book I chose for her. It also reminded me
of Holly....when she was little, she loved to go!
I called her Holly-Go-Phillips!

On Monday we arranged a photo shoot for maternity shots of Richard and Holly.  They turned out so darn cute… thanks to the magic of Framed and Frazzled Photography.
She also took the shots at the baby shower too!!
~One of my faves~

~Too Sweet~


~~LOVE~~ 

After a FULL long weekend, Richard, Holly, Isabella and fur baby Willow returned home to Jacksonville and low and behold they got caught in the flooding from Tropical Storm Debby.  A portion of I10 was closed with water over the interstate so they had to detour which led them to an accident on I75…an 18 wheeler had overturned stalling traffic to a dead stop for miles.  Now use your imagination here with me and picture a 32 week pregnant woman sitting in stalled traffic in the pouring rain with a dog who has a small bladder.  Yep you guessed it…..they got out on the side of the highway in the rain….Hey nature calleth!  They finally made it home through more flooded back roads etc. which turned their 4.5 hour trip home into an 8 hour long tiring ride.  But God is good….He got them safely home….Amen.
Jackie and I have just returned from the 4th of July long weekend visit, where we finished out Isabella’s nursery.  Well almost finished that is…they still lack the floor covering. They just purchased this house and the carpet was so bad it had to be ripped up....leaving a cement floor for now. 

There was a lot of painting, hot gluing, burned fingers,
and creating before it all came together. 
Happi Tree designs and the door hanger that I made.


This is the chest of drawers that we used for Holly when she was born.
Of course I had to strip it down to the wood and repaint it.

These are Holly's bonnets and baby shoes and
Richard's cap and his baby shoes.
This is a birdie mobile that I made.  They are made
from wood and match the birds in the Happi Tree design.
They hang in front of an antique framed mirror.
God is so good to us!
The frou frou corner.  Holly and I made the feathered lamp
and the feather and tulle covered table.
The rocker came from a dumpster in LA.  Holly found it one day and
it was in perfect condition....Jackie and I stripped it down and painted it.
See the before photos here in another post.
The changing table is an antique buffet which I painted, added
some scroll work and replaced the knobs with pink glass ones.

 From white feathers and tulle froufrou …all the way to hanging a mirror in an antique frame, everything turned out beautiful.  Holly wanted me to paint the brown baby bed….but I refused to paint another thing!!  It would have looked better maybe, but I think it looks very nice with the brown tree trunk and birdie limb hanging from the ceiling.  Next up in the near future is the flooring.
We cannot wait until the arrival of Isabella.....the excitment builds everyday along with a little anxiousness, but our faith and trust in the Lord far outweighs both! 

  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh
 down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning.  ~James 1:17.


Tuesday, June 26, 2012

And The GP Cookbook Winner is.................

.....and without further ado and a huge drummer roll....
Random.org number generator says:


#7 is the WINNER!!!!!!! 
#7 BloggerTiffany & Chad said...
I love Fall and I love Goosberry Patch! I can't wait to experience this fabulous cookbook!
June 5, 2012 12:18 PM

Well Tiffany and Chad you get your wish!!  This fabulous cookbook will be coming your way soon!!
Congratulations and happy cooking with Gooseberry Patch!

Thanks to everyone who entered this lovely give-away and many thanks to the ladies at Gooseberry Patch
for allowing and trusting me to do the reviews and make these
fabulous cookbooks available to the readers and lovers of cookbooks!
Yall are awesome!!!

 
"Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always."
~Psalm 105:4