Casserole!

What's your favorite kind of casserole? So far the only kind I've made has involved chicken and rice, along with various "cream of" soups. Delicious, don't get me wrong, but I have a feeling Hotty would appreciate a little variety.

In the meantime, if you want an idea, do you want to hear about what I made for dinner last night? The recipe came from a book my sister put together for us last year for Christmas - it's an old favorite from my childhood. :)

1 cup uncooked rice
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup (I didn't have this, so I used another can of mushroom)
1 can water
1 packet ranch mix (I added this - Mom never used it.)
2 Tbsp. parsley (I left that one out, because of the ranch)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix ingredients together in a bowl. Place frozen chicken in a lightly greased casserole dish, and pour mixture over. Top with 1/2 to 1 stick of margarine (I used butter). Bake for 1 hour (I left it in for a couple extra minutes - 10, I think - because my chicken was frozen; I'm pretty sure it should be thawed).


Verdict - Delicious, of course. I can't tell you how much I LOVE that ranch mix. Although the rice (I think the rice that was on top) was a little crunchy, of which I'm definitely not a fan.

Edited to add: It's true, I didn't say how much chicken. I use 4-6 pieces; Mom always used breasts, but I find I prefer thighs.

Rice Pudding in a Crock Pot

My Relief Society hosted a "Crock Pot Luck" yesterday. I wanted to make rice pudding for it, but... you know, things happened and I didn't end up with time for it. But I tried anyway and... any guesses? Yeah, it was a total failure. So just as well I didn't take it. The recipe called for uncooked rice, but I'm thinking that person's crock pot works differently than mine. Or else they just like the rice in their rice pudding a little less cooked.

So today I tried again. I cooked the rice beforehand, and used a little less nutmeg (I'm not a huge fan, although I tolerate it). It turned out pretty nicely, although I think the next time I make it there might be a little tweaking of... something? I dunno, it tasted a little, um, rice-y. Is that a word? Anyway, here's the recipe.

1 c. uncooked white rice
1 c. sugar
2 - 12 oz cans evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Cook the rice, then combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours, stirring every so often. (My original recipe also called for a stick of cinnamon, which I completely forgot both times. But it sounds delish.)

Water contest, anyone?

So you guys. I'm crazy-dehydrated. Like, I'm pretty sure I'm approaching unhealthy levels of water deprivation. For some reason, I'm just bad at drinking water! I even have this nifty water bottle they gave me at work, and we have one of those fridges that has the water/ice dispenser built into the door, but I'm STILL dehydrated! I think I need an external incentive.

So here's where you come in. Yes, I'm talking to YOU. Will you have a water-drinking contest with me? There are a couple of ways we can do this; I'm open to suggestions. It can be a mutual goal (for instance, if we all drink x amount of water per day for a month, we'll go to a movie/get pedicures together) (or if I don't live near you, at the same time), or it can be a competition (if I win, you mail/buy me something; if you win, I mail/buy you something), or whatever you prefer! As long as I get hydrated!

Please let me know if you'd like to participate in a water-drinking contest. And let your friends/blog buddies know, too, because this contest is open to anyone and everyone.

My blanket made me swear last night

I worked on my latest baby blanket this weekend. It's done, thank goodness, or I might take some scissors to it the next time I work on the thing.

Admittedly, it's not the blanket that made me swear. It was the yarn I was using. OH MY GOSH. I will never buy that kind again. It's so FINE that it snagged on itself all the time! I spent more time unsnarling my yarn than actually working on the darn blanket! I resorted to snipping the yarn... at least three times. There might have been a couple more times when snipping it actually helped me resolve the tangle; the other three times, it was just snipping out the knot entirely.

SOO frustrating! I'm so glad it's over! And I'll put up a picture, once it's given away to the person I made it for; I don't want to spoil her surprise. Despite the trouble it gave me, it looks really good!

Blog Contemplation

Hi, guys.

So here's the thing. I started this blog as a way to chronicle my journey into becoming a homemaker. That's the idea, that was the point. As a blog with only about 20 posts on it, it's taking a while to take shape, and I'm ok with that. But I'd like to go back to the original idea.

See, when I got my sewing machine for Christmas, I started reading lots of other blogs, and I discovered the world of the Craft Blog. There are a lot of them out there, mostly driven by motivated women who balance their love of crafting with their "other" life, usually involving school, a job, a family, or a combination thereof. I read their blogs, and I thought, Hey! I could do that! I could have that!

But guys, that's not really what I want. I like making things, and I like trying to make my home prettier, but I'm not in love with it. I'm not obsessed. I don't have that kind of time, and I don't have a strong love that compels me to make time, either.

So here ends my foray into the world of Crafting Blogs. No fear, I'll still be reading them all, because they're mighty fun to read. And I'll still craft and sew occasionally, and crochet my little heart out (because THAT I am obsessed with). But I don't want to feel like this blog HAS to be ALL about crafting, and that I can't post anything off-topic or go on tangents. Because that's NOT what it's about, and that's not what I'm about.

Much love, friends.

In other news, I actually cleaned my front room yesterday. Hooray!

To-Make List, Updated

1. Coupon Holder
2. Small pouch for bookmarks
3. Bookmarks, of the fabric and ribbon variety
4. Duvet cover out of T-shirts
5. Rings, of the button and Scrabble tile variety
6. Wooden keychains (beaded ones, also)
7. Mat for framed Proclamation to the World
8. Pouch for contact paraphernalia
9. Large bag to carry around the large blanket I'm crocheting for Hotty
10. Lunch bag
11. Tissue holder

Strange how I work on things, but my list doesn't get shorter, it grows. :/

Keeping My Life Pretty

So I've seen a couple different posts amongst all the blogs I'm collecting, concerning covers for sewing machines. Apparently you're supposed to have them... question mark? They do useful things like keeping dust out of the machinery, and they also look very pretty, if you so desire.
So, using this tutorial, I went ahead and made one! What do you think??

It's reversible; the other side is brown, and instead of bothering with troublesome things like measuring and cutting to make the cover short enough (it's quite tall), I folded the bottom up a couple times to make a cute cuff! So that you can see both fabrics at one time, and admire how well they go together. :)

Also, you might notice what's sitting on the table next to my sewing machine. Those would be bookmarks.

Front

Back

When I got married, my cousins got together and gave me some scrapbooking supplies. Which, to be honest, I don't really... well, scrapbooking just isn't my thing. Sorry, Mom. Anyway, included with those supplies were these really pretty pages of what looked like scrapbook paper, but were actually stickers. AND the awesome patterns were accompanied by coordinating solids. ^_^

So what I did here was take a used-up Barnes and Noble gift card, cut it in half, cut some of my scrapbook stickers down to size, and apply them to the cards! Super easy, and now I have some cute bookmarks!!


I'm linking to these parties: