Stamps in Disguise

I'm the hostess for this Friday's challenge!! And in honor of Halloween, I designed a spook-tacular challenge.

Stamps in Disguise

I know that we all like to celebrate since we are crafty stampers. In honor of Halloween, let’s give our stamps a switcheroo! What can you do with a simple stamp image? Will your pear become a turkey? Can you make petals into a ladybug? I think my all time favorite was when one creative genius made the “Treat Yourself” gumball machine into an ELEPHANT! J I am sure there are plenty of new ideas for the new stamp sets that have been released in the past few months. Bonus points are awarded to those who can make more than one idea out of the same stamp. Also, today is the last day for the Pink in October Challenge. If you want, add some pink!

Examples:

Pearly a Turkey

Pearly a Snowman

If you do play this challenge, let me know your SCS id so I can look it up! Can't wait till I see the clever ideas!

New Family Favorite...I think...

I went to the bus stop today to pick up my kids. One of the other moms was there. I was surprised to see her b/c she had said that she was going to the Kindergarten Halloween Celebration. (Yes CELEBRATION, b/c we can not call them PARTIES.) As soon as she spoke I understood why. Her barely audible voice sounded aweful. So I offered, repeatedly, to take her 2 kids home with me for the afternoon so she could get some rest. (When I took them back home several hours later, she told me that she had fallen asleep as soon as she got back in the house.)

Meanwhile, I thought that I might cook some dinner for the family. Chicken Enchiladas are easy to make a double batch for 2 families when I am bringing in dinner to a friend. But, I realized that I had no peppers. So...I grabbed an old Church cookbook and opened it to see what I could fine.

Right away I found a recipe for Monterey Chicken. Looking at the list of ingredients, I was pretty sure that I had olives on my shelf and figured I could probably substitute regular milk for evaporated milk. But to my delight, we had the olives AND the evaporated milk. (Homework for self: what is the different between evaporated and regular milk??)

Here is the recipe. Well, my recipe...for I made some changes. It said that it called for 4 lbs of chicken. But I'm thinking that is a typo and should be 4 pieces of chicken. I also doubled the amount of ingredients for the coating too.

Dawn Mercedes' Monterey Chicken

1/4 c. flour

7-8 T taco seasoning

4 pieces of chicken breast...I had chicken tenders...and had a heaping plate of them.

1/2 c. butter, melted

2 c. tortilla chips, crushed...a lot

3 T. finely chopped onion

1T. oil

2 T. flour

1/4 t. salt

1 can evaporated mlk

1/4 t. hot pepper sauce (or a few dabs)

1 c. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (I had colby monterey jack in stock today.)

1/4 c. sliced olives

1 t. lemon juice (or a splash)

Put flour and taco seasoning in brown lunch bag. Shake chicken (a few at a time) in the bag to coat. Dip into the butter. Then roll in the tortilla chips. Back at 375 for 50 minutes. (Again I did not set a timer so just keep an eye on them.) I flipped the chicken at some point during the cook time.

Saute onion in the oil. Then add flour, salk, milk and hot sauce. Cook until thick. Add cheese, olives and lemon juice. Stir until cheese melts. Serve chicken and sauce on a bed of lettuce.

Ken loved this...I mean LOVED it. LIke he was trying to get every last chip morsel left in the pan. And the cheese sauce would make a nice dip for chips. We had maybe a cup left over.

Recipe...

I posted this bread dough recipe earlier this year. Click here to see it!

Tis the Season

You may think that when the weather turns cold, it's time to wear gloves and coats. Or maybe you are thinking, "Oooh, time to start lighting a fire in the fireplace!" Or are you someone scrambling to get Christmas gift buying finished early?

Well, here...this time of year is "Cinnamon Roll Time." Yep. It's the time of year when I start baking ...mainly the rolls. haha.

Today I made FOUR pans of the most perfect rolls. It's been a while too. My neighbor V* had given me 2 lawn rakes a couple of Saturdays ago. I said that I'd bake her a pan of cinnamon rolls as payment since she didn't want any $$ for them. haha. Another pan goes to the next door neighbor, whose husband is so very helpful in all sorts of handy ways. The third pan was slotted to for C*'s Soccer Coach since none of the parents organized a group gift.

At dinner, everyone was dismayed to hear that we were already down to ONE pan. There wasn't enough for us, rolls aren't baked often enough AND "You always give the best looking rolls away!!" So I conceded. Each neighbor got a partial pan...which equaled 2 overflowing plates of cinnamon rolls.

V* was delighted. Next door neighbor said I didn't have to give them cinnamon rolls every time I make them. But I responded, "Oh I know. But T* is so helpful and it's a fun joke to kid about." And Coach Mark said that the rolls wouldn't last until the morning when we presented him with "breakfast" and a card from C.

E* gleefully announced at dinner that "Mom is making cinnamon rolls every WEEK!"

Hmmm.. maybe I"ll try my hand at the artisian bread recipe IF my mom shares it with me!