Baked Mac n Cheese

Wow...it's been almost a year since I posted on my blog! But I wanted to share this recipe with someone and I thought if I'm going to type it out, I might as well make it accessible for more people. :)  This recipe is adapted from a Company's Coming cookbook.

2 c whole wheat macaroni

1/2 c chopped onion
1/2 c chopped mushrooms (optional)
1/3 c butter

3tbsp flour (if using mushrooms, add another tbsp)
2 1/4 c milk
1/2 tsp salt
pinch pepper
1/2 tsp paprika

2c old/sharp cheddar cheese (medium is fine too)

1/2c dry bread crumbs
2tbsp melter butter

Cook the macaroni according to the package directions. Drain.

Saute onion, mushroom, and butter until soft. Sprinkle flour over and stir well. Slowly add milk and stir often until it thickens. Add salt, pepper, paprika, and cheese. Stir to melt the cheese and then add macaroni. Dump into a caserole dish.

Mix the breadcrumbs and melted butter and sprinkle on top of macaroni.

Bake uncovered for 30 min (350 degrees)

I've tried a few variations of this - here are some ideas:
-add chopped (or baby) shrimp, or cooked chicken, or bacon!
-add spinach (I tried bok choy once...that didnt work so good LOL)
-add different cheese...I think some feta would be nice.

Let me know if you try it!! I often make a half recipe and eat it myself for supper, with enough left over for lunch the next day. Mmmmm....

NSD Contest

There's a huge giveaway and great contests going on at nationalscrapbookingday.com.  You should go and check it out - you can win a Tim Holtz cutitng machine (it looks like a suitcase - so cool!) and tons of other scrapbooking prizes!!

Blog Hop Time!

Welcome to WeScrap's Trick or Treat Bloghop!

To celebrate Halloween, we would like to share some of our favorite scrapbook tricks and treats with you today! So join us on our blog hop where you'll be inspired by some cool projects, learn some new tricks, and have a chance to win some scrappy treats!

As you hop along, each of our Inspiration Team members will have 1 or 2 words for you to collect. Leave a comment on all the blogs and collect all the words.

Hop on back to the WeScrap Forum for your chance to win our GRAND PRIZE!

Here's our Favorite Things Blog Hop rotation

WeScrap Kits Blog:

http://wescrapkits.blogspot.com/

Sarah Nolan:

http://www.theoccasionalcreation.blogspot.com/

Sue Sykes:

http://www.kewl-beans.blogspot.com/

Melissa Buhler: (you are here!)

http://greenpixel.blogspot.com/

Jessica Acs:

http://www.jessicaacs.com/

Victoria Lau:

http://vjlau.blogspot.com/

So here is my trick for you today...a really simple gift idea, and you can use up some scraps! 

Clothespin magnets!  Pull out some scraps of your favorite papers...just a tiny bit will do!  Trim down the size of the clothespin - yours might be slightly different size, so I wont give a measurement. Adhere with zipdry, or your favorite adhesive.  Cut a piece of adhesive backed magnet to the other side, and voila!  You have a cutie magnet you can pin stuff with!  Feel free to jazz them up a bit - add bling, buttons, or little tiny flowers.  I added a layer of dimensional glaze on top of the paper for a bit of gloss.

I made 2 sets of 3 (actually 3 sets were made...one by my 4 yr old!), and then I created a little gift tag for them, so I can clip sets to the papers and give them as gifts.  

My treat for you today...the printable gift tag sheet.  There are 4 tags on the sheet - 2 say "Thanks for sticking with me" and 2 say "I'm stuck on you..."  Hope you enjoy!! (Download here).  I printed mine on kraft cardstock, but you could do it on any color!  Lots of room to leave your own personal note, too.

My secret words for you today are: and treats

To be entered to win the grand prize you must complete the entire blog hop by Sunday October 30^th at 11:59 EST

Winners will be announced on the forum on Halloween Day – October 31^st!

A scrappy update

I've done a lot of scrapbooking since I last posted layouts on here.  I will just share a few of my favorites. Ok, maybe more than a few. How about nine? Ha ha.

The first 3  are with pictures from Gavin and Kelsee's wedding day - hense the pretty dresses and hair!

This one is lyrics from a song on one of Taryn's CD's...I love it.

Pictures from last fall...but I still love them!

Auntie Ricki and Ellyce reading books on the floor one day.

The dress (see a couple posts back for more info about the dress)

Another one with pictures from the wedding day.

Swingin'!

My grandpa!!

Trick or Treat Blog Hop

There's a blog hop coming!  Lots of prizes, RAK's and a WeScrap kit to be won!  

I will be sharing a little scrappy trick or treat during the hop...so be sure to stay tuned!

Ellyce's New Dress

Could also be titled... "Should have been Taryn's Dress" or "The dress mommy couldnt sew" or.. "Grandma saves the dress" LOL!

In any case, I think its a cute dress! And a cute girl, of course. :)

The latest birthday party ever!

So we have been trying to plan Taryns birthday party for months....and for various reasons it just hadnt happened.  Finally we ditched the original plans, and just did a party before the summer was over!  I had a lot of fun planning ... and thanks to pinterest, I got some great ideas!  If you havent checked out pinterest...well, you should.  Its like an online bulletin board where you can collect all sorts of ideas, from recipes to decorating to quotes...pretty much anything you can find on the internet, you can pin!

First, the cake.  I followed tutorials on making marshmallow fondant, how to use it, and other tips all from Pinterest.  Buttercream recipe (my favorite) is from Saucy. The characters were store bought dolls...I am not that good. LOL

 

Then, decorations...banners are all the rage right now, so I came up with something easy that I could make at home. I made up these letters using a digi kit called Sweet Caroline by Meredith Cardall at 9th and bloom. I made them as 4x6's and printed them out and stapled them to ribbon. Easy peasy.

 Last but not least, the strawberry bar! Assorted strawberry candies, and of course real strawberries (on skewers) along with printables (the box and circles) found again, on pinterest!

The party was great! Now the girls are playing with all the new toys and things...I love how new toys, combined with old toys, make everything seem new and fun again.  Good stuff.

I have a green thumb

But it's not what you think. I have been shelling peas ... from my mom's garden. Taryn and I went to pick this afternoon ... I was going to do peas while she did raspberries. Well, she lasted about 5 minutes and I am sure ate just as many as she got in the pail, but she tried. Then she raided grandpa's cherry trees (shh...dont tell LOL), stole a carrot (which was promtly washed and eaten) and played with the cat. I collected more raspberries later (along with some swiss chard, an onion, a couple carrots, and a pail of saskatoons - thanks mom!)

I was sitting on my deck tonight shelling the peas (a good 5 gallon pail full), enjoying the peace and quiet and summer breeze, and memories of doing the same thing when I was a kid came flooding back. Mom would usually have the peas picked before we were even out of bed, and after breakfast we would each get a bowl and fill it up with pea pods and we would all sit on the deck in a circle around a big pail where the pods would get chucked in. There was usually a dog hanging around waiting for runaways or bad aim. I dont remember which dog liked the peas and which ate the shells. Pretty sure Copper (our golden retreiver) ate both. LOL I remember sometimes we would toss some to the dog just to see how fast it would jump. After a while we would get reprimanded, most likely so the dog didnt get sick.

At least that is how I remember it. I dont remember my wrists cramping up like they did tonight though. LOL

I hope my kids get to sit around on Grandma's deck with her and shell peas someday too.