Tasty Tuesday - Cherry Cola Salad

This past weekend was HOT!  It was over 100 degrees in the sun and humid.  Perfect weather for a nice cool dessert, like this Cherry Cola Salad.

 I don't know why it's called a salad.  I guess it's because of the cherries... like a fruit salad.  Regardless of it's name, it's very very cherry and very very easy to make.

Cherry Cola Salad

1 - 6oz pkg of cherry gelatin

1 1/2 cups of boiling water

1 1/2 cups of cola (1 can of cola)

1 can (21 ounces) of cherry pie filling

Whipped cream or topping (optional, unless you're me and then it's mandatory)

Dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water.  Add the cola. Watch it fizz!  Stir in the cherry pie filling.

Pour into an 8 inch square baking pan.  Put in the refrigerator until firm.

Cut into 8 or 10, serve.  Add whipped cream or topping.

Enjoy!

Yes, this is my piece... lots of whipped cream.

You can also make a diet version of this.  Use sugar free gelatin, diet cola and lite pie filling and lite topping.

Friday - My Little Bliss List

My Little Bliss List (Remembering the things that made me happy this week, because it's so easy to forget them)

A happy coincidence.  Color my bliss list pink this week!  It's one of my favorite colors and this week pink is in each of my photos.

One of the joys of country living is the dreaded country ditch, which runs along the road.  Our's is on the steepest angle and makes mowing very difficult.  We've planted roses and lilies along it.  It looks like they've survived the winter and the early summery weather.  I was so happy to see this brave little rose blooming, with many, many buds waiting to burst into bloom.

Brave little pink rose.

Thanks to Operation Write Home, I'm actually taking time to sit and make some cards, which I haven't done in a long time.  Their Memorial Day Weekend Blog Hop starts at midnight tonight and I'm taking part on my other blog, Cruzines.

If you've never heard of Operation Write Home, they provide hand made cards for soldiers deployed overseas to write home to their loved ones on.  They do this through the help of hundreds of paper crafters who create and donate the cards to them.  I love this idea.  I know that when Mr. B. was deployed, I would have loved to have received a beautiful handmade card from him.  Skype is great, but sometimes it's nice to have a handwritten note or letter.  I can't show you what I've made, becauseI have to save it for the Blog Hop, but you're welcome to drop by and take a peek tomorrow.

We had some gorgeous sunsets this week, which I got to enjoy with Mr. B.

Coral Pink Sunset

Pink Sunset

What made you happy this week?  Share your blissful moments.

I am linking up with:

The Little Bliss List Link Party

and 

  

Wordless Wednesday - Cat In A Fry Pan

Lakota asleep in a cast iron fry pan on our large dog crate.

What?  Haven't you ever seen a cat in a fry pan before?

I found these today.  I had forgotten about them.  They were taken some time ago, before I turned the dog crate into a "counter", which I posted about HERE

Tasty Tuesday - Italian Casserole

When I don't want spaghetti, I make this casserole.  It's a spin off of lasagna, which Mr. B isn't so fond of.  He does, however, like this and he especially likes that there are always lots of leftovers, which he thinks taste better than the first night.

Italian Casserole - Hot and bubbly from the oven.

Italian Casserole

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly oil your casserole dish with olive oil.

Bring a pot of water to boil for your pasta.  I used shells, use rotini, macaroni, whatever you have.   One box of pasta will be more than enough.

While the water is boiling and the pasta is cooking, make your sauce:

In a pan combine:

1 lb ground beef
1 onion chopped
1/2 green pepper chopped
4 cloves of garlic chopped

Drain the fat off

Add and simmer:

1 - 24 ounce jar of spaghetti/tomato sauce or 3 cups of your homemade spaghetti sauce
1 tspn oregano
1 tspn basil
1/2 tspn thyme
1/2 tspn lightly crushed fennel seeds ( just lightly broken so they'll release their flavor)

Sauce and Pasta Simmering

Drain your pasta and put it in the casserole.

Pour the sauce over the top, along with:

1 cup small curd cottage cheese

Stir together lightly until pasta is coated and cottage cheese is well distributed.

Top with:

2 cups (approx) grated mozarella cheese
1 tbspn finely chopped parsley

Bake for 30 minutes until cheese is bubbly and golden brown.

Serve and enjoy!

The Cookbook I Love - They Draw and Cook

This is going to be one of those posts where I've removed the girl from the art blog but I can't remove the art from the girl.  I say this because the new cookbook that I'm so in love with satisfies both my love of food and cooking, and my love of art.  Here it is:

They Draw and Cook, presented by Nate Padavick & Salli Swindell

"They Draw and Cook" has 107 recipes illustrated by artists from around the world.  The recipes were also all written by the artists, not by chefs in fancy hats, or celebrities from television (unless of course they are an artist too).  The result is charming and original and very different.  Don't expect every recipe to have neatly laid out ingredient lists and directions.  Think instead of a little work of art on each page and the recipe is part of it.

A peek inside "They Draw and Cook"

Each page is delightful and the recipes look delicious... well they sound delicious.  You don't see the finished product in this cookbook, but I don't miss seeing it.

If you have young budding cooks at home, they would love this cookbook.  I think it would make children want to cook.

But, wait.. I haven't told you the best part.. you don't have to own the cookbook to see all the recipes inside the book.  There is a website:  They Cook and Draw  where you can find every recipe in the book plus many many more.  I browse through there in heaven.. it's part art gallery, part cooking site.  Click on a recipe to bring up a page devoted to it, where you can print the recipe, download high res versions of the recipe, buy prints of the recipe, and comment on the illustration and the recipe itself after you've tried it.

On the website there is even a Dial a Dinner Page  which you can use like a slot machine to randomly give you an appetizer, a main course and a dessert recipe to make for dinner!  I could play with it for ages.  Oh.. and there is a vegetarian version of it too.

If you're an artist, you can submit your illustrated recipe to them for inclusion on the site.  Guess what I'm going to be doing?  Artists go to the Submit a Recipe page on the They Cook and Draw site to find out all the particulars.

There is a shop of course, where you can buy the cookbook and other items, like prints of the recipes and other products.

In short, this book and the website is nothing but pure fun and fancy.  It's proof that you can have fun cooking. 

Friday - My Little Bliss List

My Little Bliss List (Remembering the things that made me happy this week, because it's so easy to forget them)

Another week of blissfully beautiful weather.  I love it.  The dogs love it.  I captured this picture of Pamunky and Otis patiently waiting for me to finish taking pictures so we could finish our walk.

Pamunky and Otis during a picture taking break on our walk

Mr. B. is home on leave.  It has been bliss.  I love it.  The animals love it.  (lots of love its this week)  I found Mr. B., Otis and two of our cats napping on the couch... so funny.. I tiptoed away to get the camera and tried to be quiet but the cats were very aware that I was taking pictures... Otis and Mr. B., not so much.

Mr. B., Otis, Sniper and Recon piled up on the couch napping

And.. true bliss..  The mama fox and her three kits, which had moved in under our addtion aka the master bedroom, last week, are gone!  Mr. B. managed to get them to move out, after a few sleepless nights listening to them squabble, play and rustle around under the floor boards.  It sounded like they were right in the room with us.  Pamunky and Otis, of course would bark.  It was chaos and no one was getting any sleep.  Not only that, we had to clean up after them every morning.. they would leave the carcasses (snake, chicken, smaller birds, moles, a rabbit) of what they ate outside by the side of the house.  It's been blissfully quiet for three nights now with no signs of them.  We've been able to get a full night's sleep again.

(the quality of the following pictures isn't the best, I was taking through them a window and screen and the foxes were moving)

Mama Fox

One of the kits

Oh.. Tomorrow, I will be sharing my new cookbook from last week's Bliss List with you.  Drop back to read all about it.

This post is being linked to:

The Little Bliss List Link Party

Easy Tea Towel Valance

I realize that some of you are wondering what the heck a tea towel is, let alone a tea towel valance.  Tea towel is a "Canadianism" (as Mr. B. says) for a kitchen or dish towel.  It's a little known fact that I was born and raised in Canada and I am full of "Canadianisms".

I'm used to the fact that my "Canadianisms" cause all sorts of confusion.  Like the time I sent my brother in law (Mr. B.'s brother) to the store for a "tin" of tuna. He returned some time later and apologetically handed me a bag.  "Sorry." He said. "I looked and I looked for tins but could only find cans of tuna.  I hope it's okay."  He wondered why I started laughing... I'm giggling while I write this.

I'm getting off topic though.  Let's get back to the valances...  My kitchen window needed a new valance.  I couldn't find any ready made valances that I liked, and I couldn't find a fabric that appealed to me.  One day I was buying tea (dish/kitchen) towels and it struck me... these would look great over my window.  The short side was the perfect valance length.  I loaded my shopping cart up with the towels.

The valance was super easy to make.  There is very little sewing because the towel is totally finished and hemmed already.  This makes it a great beginner sewing project.

My kitchen window is 62 inches wide, or 5 feet 2 inches.  I used the long side of the towel for the rod pocket, so I bought one towel for each foot of window.  You may want to add one more towels for fullness, or in case your towels shrink when you wash them.  It's a good idea to wash the towels first in case of shrinkage.  

Working with the long side, fold the towels over about an inch to an inch and a half depending on the size of the curtain rod you are using.  Iron the fold and pin.

I started sewing inside the corner hem, so I didn't have to stitch over multiple layers of fabric.  Sew straight across following the inside of the hem as your stitching guide.  Pull the pins out as you sew.  Repeat on each of the towels.

Slip the curtain rod into each of the towels, adjust the gathering and hang.

The nice thing about this valance is that I can reuse it for drying dishes when I decide to redecorate.