Halloween Gift Bag by Hero Arts

Baked Shells with Pesto, Mozzarella, and Meat Sauce

I made this dish last week.  It is simple and easy to pull together on a school night.  Plus, it is yummers.  I used ground buffalo, instead of ground beef, and you couldn't tell.  If anything, I like the buffalo better.  Hope you enjoy this if you make it at home.

*From Food & Wine

Ingredients

• 1  tablespoon(s) cooking oil
• 1   onion, chopped
• 1  pound(s) ground beef
• 2  cup(s) canned chopped tomatoes, drained (from one 28-ounce can)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
• 1/2 cup(s) store-bought or homemade pesto
• 3/4 pound(s) medium pasta shells
• 6  ounce(s) mozzarella, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/4 cup(s) grated Parmesan

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Directions

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Oil a large baking dish (about 9 by 13 inches).
2. In a large stainless-steel frying pan, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften, about 3 minutes. Stir in the ground beef and cook, breaking it up, until the meat is no longer pink, about 2 minutes. Drain off any excess fat.
3. Add the tomatoes and salt to the pan and bring to a simmer. Cook until most of the liquid evaporates, about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the pesto.
4. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the shells until just done, about 10 minutes. Drain and toss with the sauce. Put half of the pasta into the prepared baking dish and top with half the mozzarella and 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan. Repeat with the remaining pasta, mozzarella, and Parmesan. Bake until bubbling, about 15 minutes.
5. Wine Recommendation: This robust dish with its meat and tomatoes calls for a gutsy red wine from Italy. A Chianti Classico Riserva's medium body, dried-cherry flavor, high acidity and moderate tannins will fill the bill perfectly.

Spiced Sweet-Potato Cake with Maple Brown Sugar Icing

This blog post should probably be titled, "Sift your powdered sugar like your momma taught you!"  For realz.  As you can tell...I did NOT.  I thought I could skip that step.  I mean, really...who sifts their sugar?  Apparently...everyone, lol.  OK, I will next time.  I hope you enjoy the recipe on this beautiful fall day.

 

*From November, 2000 Bon Appetit (but I made a couple adjustments)

 

Cake

• 4 8-ounce red-skinned sweet potatoes(yams)

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 t allspice
• 1/2 t cloves
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon maple extract

Preparation

For cake:
Pierce sweet potatoes with fork. Microwave on high until very tender, about 8 minutes per side. Cool, peel and mash sweet potatoes.

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 325°F. Spray 12-cup Bundt pan with nonstick spray, then generously butter pan. Sift flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Measure enough mashed sweet potatoes to equal 2 cups. Transfer to large bowl. Add sugar and oil to sweet potatoes; using electric mixer, beat until smooth. Add eggs 2 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture; beat just until blended. Beat in vanilla. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack 15 minutes. Using small knife, cut around sides of pan and center tube to loosen cake. Turn out onto rack; cool completely.

For icing:
Sift powdered sugar into medium bowl. Stir brown sugar, whipping cream and butter in medium saucepan over medium-low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil. Boil 3 minutes, occasionally stirring and swirling pan. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour brown sugar mixture over powdered sugar. Whisk icing until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Cool icing until lukewarm and icing falls in heavy ribbon from spoon, whisking often, about 15 minutes. Spoon icing thickly over top of cake, allowing icing to drip down sides of cake. Let stand until icing is firm, at least 1 hour. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and let stand at room temperature.)

Eli's 3rd Grade Science Project

I thought it would be fun to show off Eli's 3rd Grade Science Project on my blog tonight.  He was required to find at least 6 insects, label them, and put them on a nice display.  He wrote three of the labels, and I helped with the rest.  He has a hard time with hand writing, so I am allowed to help if he gets tired. 
The insects are in a shadow box.  I bought some Styrofoam and cut it down to size.  We had to insert the foam upside down because there is glass on the other side of the shadow box, and it just wasn't quite deep enough.  It would have squished the bugs if it was right side up.  PLUS, it is 3rd grade, and it doesn't have to be perfect!
The Cicada Killer and the Praying Mantis were caught in our backyard.  All others were caught in Fort Scott.  Matt and Eli caught the insects.  The scorpion is not an insect, but we thought it was cool, so we mounted it anyway.

Holidays Card Workshop by Hero Arts @ Archiver's

Hero Arts Stamps:  Hanging Christmas Ornaments, Joy to All, Merry Christmas Trees, Sending Holiday Cheer, Starry Night; Ink:  Ranger Tinted Embossing Pad, VersaMagic Green Tea, VersaMagic Royal Blue; Embossing Powder:  Ranger Bridal, Ranger Gold Detail, Ranger Lettuce, Ranger Roman Gold, Ranger Snowflake Tinsel, Ranger Silver Detail; Copic Markers; Paper:  Bazzill Coconut Swirl, The Paper Company Shimmer Cardstock (Antique Gold, Arctic Gold, Arctic Snow, Bluebell, crimson, Kiwi); Stickles; Mark Richards dots and gems; Glossy Accents; AC Ribbon; QuicKutz dies; Corner Chomper (deco); Krylon gold and silver leafing pens

I took the Holidays Card Workshop (by Hero Arts) class at Archivers night before last.  These 4 cards were designed by Archiver's.  All I did was assemble, emboss, and color!  It took 2 hours to make these cards.  Most of the time was spent on the ornament card and the gingerbread house card...lots of coloring.

It was a great class!

A very cool thing I learned was embossing with two different embossing powders on one stamped image.  I never thought to do that before.  (Note the tree on the LH side of the tree card.)  I poured "lettuce" embossing powder in the middle of the tree...shook the powder off...then poured Roman Gold embossing powder on the top and bottom of the tree.  Very cool.  The other thing I learned was outlining two of the cards with the Krylon pens.  I probably won't use this trick at home.  Can't decide.  Yes, it looks elegant.  Plus it is very easy to do (and dries super fast).  But I'm a little concerned the look is too "hand-purchased stationary".  I like things to look home-made, of course!

I think my favorite is the ornament card.  I love white on white - plus I love the Glossy Accents!

Permanent Masking with Glossy Accents - a video by Hero Arts

Teacher Card in Apple Green

Core'dinations (green), white linen, black linen, apple stamp by Hampton Art, Studio G, "Best Teacher" by Imaginisce, Copic markers YG25, YG67, E50, E25, E13, black Memento ink, Quikutz Apple embossing folder, corner punch, sanding block, Ribbon by TPC Studio

I made this card tonight for Eli's teacher, and will place a "welcome back" note inside.  I plan to make 3 or 4 duplicates, as to have them in my card stash when Teacher Appreciation Day rolls around.

I adore the happy colors in this card and love it when I get a chance to use green (my favorite color).  I also love Core'dinations card stock and how when you emboss and sand, the core color isn't white...it is another color.  It's been a while since I've used my Copic Markers, and it was very nice to have them out again for this project.

By the way...the stamps used for this card were only $1.99 (each)!  The apple was in the "Hot Spot" bin at Archivers ($1.99 bins) and the sentiment stamp is either from Archivers or Michael's, and I'm pretty sure it was the same price.

Have a great weekend!

Hot Pink and Zebra Personalized Stationary / Invitations

White Linen, Black Linen, Melon Mambo, Designer Paper by gcd studios (Cosette Collection), Black Jewels (Bazzill Blackbird), name printer off on printer, Fiskars Upper Crest border punch, Martha Stewart punch, SU Corner Punch, SU Black Ribbon, Adhesive

I created the card up top last night for my friend, Jessica. She is hosting a bachelorette party for her best friend, and needs to mail out some invitations. She found the below invitation on the internet - and loved it, because her friend loves zebra print (I do too!!!). I think she did a great job picking out an invitation - don't you? She wanted me to duplicate the look. I made the above card, and gave it to her this morning. She loved it! Jessica is going to make the invitations herself, but she is borrowing my punches, and my design. I printed out the measurements for her paper cuts - so she can assemble everything pretty quickly. I think she is going to put all the party information on the inside of the card, since the home-made version opens up (not just a postcard, like the one she found on the internet). This will also leave more room, in case she wants to add a sentence or two. I really enjoyed using my favorite hobby to help a friend in need! I was pleased she asked me for help.

My Swim with the Dolphins

Here I am, getting a dolphin smoochie

I traveled to beautiful Riviera Maya, Mexico last week with my husband and son. We had such a wonderful vacation! We enjoyed many activities such as snorkeling, swimming in the ocean and pool, and also took in a couple day excursions. And most importantly, we were also able to relax and decompress. One of the best experiences I have ever had in any of my travels is swimming with the dolphins. I did it for the first time in 2002, and was lucky enough to do it again a few days ago (Friday the 13th). If you ever have the opportunity to swim with these fun and playful creatures, I highly recommend doing so. To me, they represent the aquatic version of playful little puppies - they are so sweet; only they are more peaceful and graceful. The only bad part of the experience, is that it went by too fast! We swam at a place called "Delphinus" and had an hour in the water. We wanted our son to join in and swim with our group, but he was too standoffish. Children don't realize how large dolphins are until they come close, and they really can be intimidating to a small child. I think he'll be ready in a couple years. I hope you enjoy our photos of our dolphin encounter. I will post more pics from Mexico in a day or two.Our group (they keep the groups very small, average 5 or 6 at a time with the dolphins)

Me doing the "dolphin push". (Two dolphins push your feet so you are pushed across the water.)

My husband getting a dolphin smoochie

Simple Friendship

Supplies: SU "Simple Friendship" stamp, SU cardstock in Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Real Red, Pacific Point, and Whisper White, SU Markers, Black Ink, SU Organza Ribbon, Paper Piercer, White Gel Pen, Circle Punch, SU Eyelet Border Punch

I case'd this card from Dragana Skoro, with the exception of a couple minor changes. I added the ribbon, and didn't use a scallop punch, and didn't use celery (green). I think my blue was different too - many even my orange. But it basically looks the same. Her blog is here.

I thought this card was so festive when I saw it - I just had to make one!
I wondered what is was that captured my eye. Then, it hit me! It reminded me of this:
Memories of fun days in Mexico! Hope this brings a smile to your face today!