Cheesy Zucchini

This is just a quick recipe post for a friend.
I usually post a step-by-step of how to make it.
I thought I already had posted it, but apparently not.

This is my recipe card I made for the yummiest Cheesy Zucchini Bake.  It can be used with either zucchini, squash or both.  I usually mix both for prettier color.

App Happy - Using Camera Plus & BubbleFrame Apps

I am happy to have a reason to share these photo and the fun I have with them. Linking up to Barb's "App Happy" party.

For Father's Day we went to my parent's house to spend the day swimming.

When we pulled up I saw these gorgeous coneflowers and knew they would be my willing subject for the day.

Here is the original picture of the edit I am going to share:

Pretty……but needed some help

This is after a little help using the "Backlight" scene in the CameraPlus app

And this is one extra step using a filter (I believe it was Lo-fi or Chrome)

After that edit, it seemed a little too fake for me.

So days later, when I was playing around in the BubbleFrame app, I saw that the app now has pre-made layouts.  

I was never very good at using BubbleFrame on my own, so this made me very happy.

There are lots of layouts to choose from.  

You can either use photos or choose from the many patterns there are.

If you haven't already, go check out the app.

It seemed to tone down some of all that green. 

This was the final step.  After saving the BubbleFrame edit, I brought it into Rhonna Designs (app) and added the "Beauty in bloom" text.
Then I posted it to Instagram for #myweekofnature

App Happy

This is inspired by http://www.keepingwiththetimes.com ----- Every week she links app happy links to her blog, and then links our posts to hers.

So…. I thought I would start with this one.  I posted this on Instagram (you can see my photos by clicking on the right hand side)

Here are the original two photos:

The first was a bird flying above in our backyard.

The 2nd was a sunset in our backyard.

I had a photo prompt for "twilight", so I thought I would try to mix them together.

I then brought both photos into the bubble frame app.  I first brought the sunset pic in and toned down the opacity.  I then bought in the bird picture with toning that down a bit.  I wish I had more specifics, but at the time I just did it and wasn't thinking about the process.  Will do much better next time.

I then brightened up the sky in #pictapgo

Italian Crescent Casserole

This is one of our most favorite recipes.  The girls have even requested it for their birthday dinners.

It is so yummy & also so easy to make.

And…..more than likely it is ingredients you always have on hand.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 cup pasta sauce

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup sour cream (or more to make it more creamy)

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tube of crescent dinner rolls

2 TBL butter

Minced garlic

Directions:

Cook your ground beef and add in 1 or 2 cloves of garlic.

Once cooked, add in pasta sauce and store until heated.

In a medium bowl, combine mozzarella cheese and sour cream and mix well.

Pour the hot beef mixture in the bottom of an ungreased 9 1/2 or 10 inch deep-dish pie pan.

(any size dish will do, really)

Spread the cheese mixture on top of the  meat.

Unroll the crescent roll dough and place over the cheese mixture.

Depending on your size dish, you may have to get creative with how you place the dough.

The original recipe says to separate the dough into 8 triangles; arrange points toward the center over the mixture, crimping the edges if necessary.

I used a square dish this time and just slapped that dough right on top, breaking a part a few triangles so that every thing was covered.

Put the melted butter and some minced garlic in a microwave safe dish and heat.

For some reason, this time I mixed the Parmesan cheese with my butter BEFORE I melted it.

Uh-Oh - don't do that.

Melt your butter first and THEN add your cheese…...

'cause I ended up with a big clunk of Parmesean cheese that wasn't spreadable.

Spread the butter/cheese/garlic mixture over top the crescent roll.

Bake for 18-25 minutes at 375, until deep golden brown.

Broccoli using the leftover sauce from my Asparagus Parmigiano recipe.

Yuck, my sauces started to run together.  I had to put a stop to that quickly.

Directions:

Cook your ground beef and add in 1 or 2 cloves of garlic.

Once cooked, add in pasta sauce and store until heated.

In a medium bowl, combine mozzarella cheese and sour cream and mix well.

Pour the hot beef mixture in the bottom of an ungreased 9 1/2 or 10 inch deep-dish pie pan.

Spread the cheese mixture on top of the  meat.

Unroll the crescent roll dough and place over the cheese mixture.

Put the melted butter and some minced garlic in a microwave safe dish and heat.

Spread the butter/cheese/garlic mixture over top the crescent roll.

Bake for 18-25 minutes at 375, until deep golden brown.



The original recipe is from Pillsbury

Asparagus Parmigiano

I never realized how pretty asparagus was.

I was looking for inspiration for a photo prompt for my 'photo a day' on Instagram - the word was "half," and as I was prepping my asparagus for dinner and breaking off the asparagus stalks, I saw the pretty purple triangles on the stalk - the other half.

Isn't it pretty?

Here is what you will need to create this flavorful dish.

And by flavorful, I mean my girls LOVE it.

That always makes it a top recipe for me.

A bunch or 2 of asparagus

3/4 cup of sour cream

2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup Parmesean cheese

+

1 tsp salt

Mix it together (minus the asparagus) in a bowl

Cook the asparagus (I cook mine in a pampered chef steamer and hit the fresh vegetable button on my microwave)

Cook the sour cream mixture in a saucepan; heat slowy, but do not boil.

 Arrange the cooked asparagus on a platter and top with the cream sauce.

Sprinkle paprika as a garnish, if you would like.  

I forgot.

Ingredients:

Fresh asparagus

3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup Parmesean cheese

2 tsps lemon juice

1 tsp salt

Directions:

Cook asparagus and drain.

Combine sour cream, cheese, lemon juice and salt in a saucepan.

Heat slowly, but do not boil.

Arrange asparagus on a platter.

Top with cream sauce.

Sprinkle with paprika. *optional

**This recipe is from my Virginia Hospitality cookbook.

Flattened Potatoes

The greatest potatoes on earth…...or so my husband calls them.

This original recipe is from Pioneer Woman.  She rocks!!!

First you boil your potatoes…..or hit the baked potato button on your microwave like I do.

Drizzle olive oil all over a pan.

Place cooked potatoes on the pan.

Press down on potatoes with a potato masher and slightly flatten.

Brush the tops with olive oil & sprinkle with lots of salt, some pepper & a fresh herb.

Bake on top rack @450 for 20-25 minutes.

***Hint---I ended up cutting my potatoes in half to make them even smaller.

It made them even more crunchy. 

Valentine's Day ideas

Here are some Valentines Day ideas for you…..

Aren't these little hearts cute?

You have to plan ahead to make these.  

I cannot find mini candy canes in FEbruary, so you have to plan around Christmas when they are sold in the stores.

For the first time since I made them TWO years ago, I planned ahead and bought the mini candy canes in December.

Yay ME!

You will need:

Mini candy canes (2 per Valentine Heart)

Red candy melts

Lollipop sticks (short or long)

Sprinkles….any kind of course (I used white sprinkles and little pink hearts)

Put 2 mini candy canes together to form a heart

Insert lollipop stick from the bottom all the way to the top

Melt red candy chips in a bowl

Spoon into the heart shape

Add sprinkles on top

Put in fridge to harden

Serve as is to your kiddies, or bag them up and make them pretty to hand out.

I obviously had a wide range of candy canes that year.  

The girls all chose their favorite.

On a side note……this was the dinner spread that particular year

OOOh - yum…..lobster tails for the adults

Pancake monkey faces for the kiddos

"fortune cookies"

I made these out of fruit roll ups with little messages inside.

These are hershey kisses with special messages that we bundled for the teachers.

My blurry mantel pic

These are bookmarks made out of paint samples that we gave to all the kids.

We used a heart whole punch in the middle, added a tiny hole at the top and tied with ribbon.