VVDDP - 2015 Edition

Our annual couples gathering for February had to be rescheduled to this past weekend due to weather.  We were thrilled that all the couples were still able to make it in March and the day couldn't have been more beautiful outside!  We kept the menu simpler as our focus was more on spending time with friends.   The table decor was spring like as well!

There will be a follow-up post with all the recipes 

and links to where  I found them. I have to admit this year was simpler but was not without taste! I have found a go to chicken recipe for the grill I know we will make again!  

My favorite part of the gathering was the games.  Our friends DD and JD did a GREAT job of preparing a super game (s)!  I won't share all the photos but I will tell you we were all laughing having quite the time!  I now have a few games to do at future other gatherings!

It was such a nice day that a couple of our guests drove their beautiful vehicles.
So we took our annual group photo with them!

I want to talk about the games for just a moment. 
 It was like the game Minute to Win It. 
 Did I mention how much fun it was?  
We did several different ones.  
Here's a little information on each.

One used conversation candy hearts, while another 
used candy corn and a paper plate.  
How about pasta and spaghetti!

Oh and the one with all our hot air!
My sister won this round!

I think my sister cheated, she used the end of the counter!

Then there was the one where 
the guys used pantyhose and pennies! 
 The guys had to wrap us girls in crepe paper too. 
 Those photos are hilarious 
but I better not post them, my friends 
might not come next year!

And the only reason I am allowed to show 
this next photo is because my husband was the 
winner of this round!  
Yep, he's got talent! 
He can get a cookie from his forehead 
to his mouth without using his hands!

The couple that won with the most points was MG & LG.  They have been married for 24 years, but this game it took skills, not years! Apparently they had the best and their prize was awesome from DD & JD!  A Gratitude Smash Book!  

We all got little prizes, which ours was a piggy bank that had LOVE BANK on the backside! :) 

Thanks again to DD and JD for their fabulous game and prizes!

Our menu for the gathering is below.  

My sister and her husband brought an assortment of cheese, grapes, and crackers for us to munch on.  I had some mushrooms I needed to get used up as we were heading out of town the next day, 
so I whipped up my recipe for stuff mushrooms!

Beer Cheese Soup
Herbed Chicken Cutlets with Mustard Sauce
Parmesan-Lemon Roasted Broccoli
Chocolate Italian Love Cake
Strawberry Yogurt Pie

Milton & I were very pleased with the meal.  It was good tasting, healthy, and fun to prepare.  We look forward to start planning our 2016 gathering!

Be sure to look for the recipes and links to the menu items!
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Julie & Milton

Potato Casserole

Potato Casserole 

Provided by: Tashley Stockham

2 lb. bag of frozen shredded hashbrowns

1/2 cup to 1 cup greek yogurt (plain)

1 cup sour cream

10 oz. of cream of chicken soup

1 pkg Ranch

Salt&Pepper

Mix together ingredients above and place in 9x13 pan. Bake on 350 degrees for 35 minutes. If warm in the middle, top casserole with small container of french fried onions and shredded cheddar cheese for 10 minutes or until melted and crispy. 

**if you don't like the ranch flavor, leave that out and substitute with Garlic and onion powder.

My Kitchen Neccessities... or so I think!

On our Facebook page I recently asked our followers what they were interested in for our blog posts and what they would like to read about.  One of them mentioned about kitchen gadgets.  

The funny thing is I had a post in my drafts that I had started a 

very long time ago about my favorite kitchen gadgets!

So hence... a blog post showing my favorites to date is published!

Let me say right now though, I am NOT a Pampered Chef dealer! 

You will know why after reading it!

By the way, this is not a paid advertisement, just my own opinion!

 But if PC wants to pay me, I'd be happy to talk figures! :)

This is my Pampered Chef glass batter bowls!

 I LOVE THESE! 

I have no idea why I have not bought another set of them.  

These are looking kinda worn!

This is my Pampered Chef mini spatula..... I LOVE THIS too, seriously!

I need another! I use it ALOT when I make jam!

This is my Pampered Chef...... Mix N' Chop.... 

( I had to look up it's official name but I call it my hamburger dealee)

This is our Drainer- we both like it.

Yes, it's Pampered Chef....

I prefer the measuring spoons like these... I need to get a couple more!

 Yes they are Pampered Chef too!

Measuring cups -Pampered Chef !  

I like that they are clear and the level is nice when smoothing the ingredients evenly!

I have another set (different brand) that are black that I use, but I really like these!

Our knives are Cutco, and when we bought (forked out ALOT of money for the set because the hubby wanted them) we got a FREE cutting board!  

Honestly, I love this cutting board and I am thinking I will need another in the near future.  

I use it so much it is stained and I didn't want to gross anyone out, 

so I changed the photo to black & white! :) 

It is a WELL used item in our kitchen!  It's clean too! I promise!

I love the grooved edge and it sets so nicely on the cabinet when I chop!

Yes, it's Pampered Chef, I think I got it due to having a party!

Actually most of my stuff I have I got for having a party.

I guess I need to have another party, it's been a couple years!

I have found my favorite thing to use it for is when I make Strawberry Jam!

It dices them wonderfully!

This is my favorite thing ABOUT my kitchen!

When we were building our home I saw the slide out pan drawer/holders at Lowe's.

Yep, I told Milton right then, I WANT THIS!  

As you see, I won, and I love it! I think he does too though!

Ok, he isn't a utensil but Milton really is a great asset to the kitchen when I am cooking, baking, or making jam.  He puts up with my dramatic tantrums when something isn't going right, he usually lets me get away with snapping at him when I shouldn't, 

and he always tells me my food is "good".  :)  

We enjoy cooking together and watching cooking shows, 

so it's a win-win situation in the kitchen AND the living room!

What is your favorite kitchen necessity?

Thanks for stopping by!

Julie

PS: Other things I really like & use are:

Nut Grinder (by hand)
Pampered Chef 

Prep Bowls 

Bamboo spoons

Santoku Knife - This was Milton's favorite!

But unfortunately after having a large family gathering this past year, 

it has disappeared from our home!

I guess the dishwasher ate it!

Hot Fudge Sundae Cake

One evening a week or two ago I decided to bake a cake from scratch.  My husband loves to have cake around the house, his mom always seems to have one. I have no idea how either one of them keeps their slim figure! :)

I decided that I don't use my cookbooks enough, and opened my cabinet to grab one.  The one I grabbed was our church cookbook.  I looked through the cakes for an easy recipe that I might have all the ingredients for.  I found this recipe below, and come to find out, I see the person that supplied it for the cookbook happens to be one of our landlords.  We farm her ground, so kinda a nice little note there!

You are to make it in a 9x9 cake pan, but I received a beautiful glass pie pan for Christmas from a friend and wanted to use it! It worked out fine and I didn't have to double the recipe!

My husband loves Vanilla ice cream like there is no other, he would eat it every evening if I let him.  This night, we both enjoyed it with some warm Hot Fudge Sundae Cake on it! It was pretty delish!  And the best part of this recipe, you mix it IN the pan you will bake it in! One less dish to wash! Yippee!

Hope you enjoy it!  Thanks for stopping by! 

Julie

Hot Fudge Sundae Cake

1 c. flour                             1/2 c. milk

3/4 c. sugar                         1 tsp. vanilla

2 T. cocoa powder               1 c. nuts (optional)

2 tsp. baking powder            1 c. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt                         1/4 c. cocoa powder

2 T. salad oil                        1/ 3/4 c. hottest tap water 

Stir, in an ungreased 9x9 inch pan the flour, sugar, 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.  Mix in oil, milk, and vanilla.  Stir in nuts (optional) until smooth. Spread evenly in pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa powder combined. Pour hot water over batter. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes. Serve with ice cream.

Holiday Recipes 2012

I decided to create a post with all the recipes/links that I used this year for the holidays.  I have had a few people ask for the recipes.  I hope your holiday season is a sweet collection of new memories and blessings abundant!


The Macaroon Kiss - This one was a huge success, if you like coconut, this one is for you!

Rolo Turtles - This was my favorite!

Peanut Butter Kiss - One I make every year!

Two Cheese Wheat Bread - Beautiful & Awesome tasting!

Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce - Simple & Delish! Cute gift idea too!

Scent of Christmas - Not to eat but makes your home smell LOVELY!


I also did the pretzels dipped in almond bark which is a tradition in our home. Milton made Elk jerky as well.

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

Holiday Kitchen Memories - 2 (2012)

I don't think that I have mentioned how much I love the candy Rolo's.  Seriously, if they are near I probably could eat an entire bag.  Which obviously isn't the best choice! So when I found this recipe on Pinterest, I should have absolutely NOT pinned it! But I did.....

Rolo Turtles - they are just lovely little creatures!  You can see the entire post here for step by step instructions. 

On a side note, (I don't know this blogger personally but) I absolutely think her blog is lovely.  The vibrant colors and simplicity of her layout! Lovely to my eyes, but you didn't come here to hear me rant about her blog!

Here are the ingredients!

This recipe is both simple & tasty!  You will want to be sure to put it in your list of recipes to try. In fact, I think I am going to coerce personally recommend for Heather to use it at next years open house! :)  It's alittle late this year, I won't put that kind of pressure on a pal!

Here are the pretzels- all lined up neatly in a row!  They remind me of military guys in formation!

Here they have their little hats on ready for the oven!

Pecan smooshing accomplished - time to cool!

I actually put mine on my patio table on our covered deck to cool. I was short on space in my frig and in Kansas it was chilly, so I used the resources I had! 

Also, in the original recipe she advises to use the rolls of Rolo's, I wanted to make alot and save money, so I bought the individually wrapped. It did take a bit longer  and a helper would have been nice but my little girl was sick that day. So it was up to me!

Here's my pile of Rolo foil for proof!   Festive isn't it! 

I hope you enjoy your holiday season & let me know if you try these!

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

Grilled Cheese with a Twist!

Ok! I think I have been on a sandwich binge lately!  Here's another that I recently tried for the first time and fell in love with! I first found the idea here but we added a little twist of our own!  I decided my hubby needed some MEAT in his!

Here are the ingredients we used!

Apple, Bacon, Brie Cheese, and Sourdough Bread!

We fried the bacon like you normally would, sliced the apples and cheese thin.  Butter the bread to grill it in the skillet. Layered the cheese and apple onto the bread, and grilled the bread until toasty and cheese melted!  We opened it and added the bacon when it was finished, but I am sure you could layer it in when you add the cheese and apple too. I prefer mine without the bacon but when I am craving meat I throw some on!

The apple gives it a taste of sweetness and the Brie cheese is just lovely all melted and gooey!

We served ours with a new salsa and chips I picked up at Adrian's Boutique in Buhler, Ks! Yum  Yum!  The chips are Tweeds Flax seed & Sesame seed corn tortilla chips (gluten free) & the salsa is Jake & Amos Peach Salsa!

Let me know if you have any sandwich ideas or recipes you would like me to try! I am all for new recipes! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Julie

Mushroom Swiss Burgers!

One of our favorite things to eat is Mushroom Swiss Burgers.  So today I am going to share with you how we make them!  It's pretty simple, yet oh so delish! (or so we think)

First the ingredients!
Ground Beef patties, Button mushrooms, Swiss cheese, Onion, Bread or buns!  The type of bread below is sourdough, but usually we just use whatever we have on hand! The button mushrooms are sliced here, I had used a 12 oz container of whole ones and sliced them myself. On the onion, we used about half of it sliced.  As you can tell, we just kinda guess at how much we want!

Milton grilled the burgers to our liking and I sauteed the mushrooms and onions in about 1 tablespoon of butter.

Once the ingredients were cooked, I toasted our bread and added the hamburger patty.  Then laid a slice of swiss cheese on top, and put it under the broiler until melted.  The final step is adding the mushrooms & onions!

And the final product...... ... YUMMINESS!


Do you have a favorite sandwich or burger you like?  Comment below & share if you want too! I am always looking for some new great ways to feed my family!

Thanks for stopping by!

Julie

Holiday Kitchen Memories (2012)

Well it's December 2nd and it has begun!  Christmas baking that is!

I decided to try a new recipe, you can find the actual recipe by visiting the original bearer of this gift here!
(Thank you Kansas Farm Mom)

I had my handy assistant, which I am thankful for! If you have little ones that like to cook, this recipe really is a good one to have them participate with.  She was awesome at rolling the dough into balls!

While we wait for the dough to chill in the frig, I headed out to the garage to check on the hubby!  He is creating something I have wanted for the house since we moved in!  I won't tell you what it is, but here's a photo of a couple of the supplies!  I promise I will blog on this masterpiece when it's finished! (Can you tell I am alittle excited about it!)

Ok back to the cookie making!   The pre-bake stage!



And drum roll please!  The Finished Product!  Yumminess all over!
Don't they just scream Christmas Goodie!

I want to tell you that normally cookie making isn't my thing but today it was a JOY!

The cookies are DELISH too!  Be sure to try the recipe, it really is lovely!

(FYI, Milton loves snickerdoodles and these got two thumbs up from him!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Julie

25 Random Things Prize

Lisa received this as her prize for the 25 Random Things drawing!

The Rainbow Cake in a Jar you can read about in this post!

The other jar is homemade peach jam that Milton & I make annually!

Thanks for stopping by!

Julie

Fall Friend Gathering Recipes 2012

You can find the recipes for our Fall Friend Gathering 2012 by clicking each title below

Thanks & Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Trifle
Lemon Yogurt Parfait
Tagalong Peanut Butter Parfait

Canastitas Caprese (On this recipe I altered it.I used Puff Pastry verses Empanada Shells)
Mushrooms Stuffed with Brie


Barbequed Meatballs                             From: "Cookie with Jeanie & Friends" Cookbook
                                                                  Recipe by Jeanie H.

1.5 lbs ground beef                               1/2 C. chopped onion
1 sm. can evaporated milk                   1 tsp. salt
1 c. quick oats                                       1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 egg                                                      1 tsp chili powder

Mix all ingredients together and shape into walnut size balls. Place in 9x13 pan.  No need to brown them.

Sauce
1 c. catsup                                          1 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 c. brown sugar                             1/4 c. chopped onion
1 tsp. liquid smoke                    

Stir until the sugar dissolves and pour over meatballs.  Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees in oven.

You can make these ahead of time and freeze them uncooked with the sauce over them.  I froze mine but without the sauce.  Thawed, put sauce on, and then baked.

Fall Friend Gathering 2012

My Fall Friend Gathering post is finally complete! 

You probably heard me mention it here !  This past weekend we welcomed four couples into our home that we call dear friends.  We are thankful to have them in our lives and we can't wait to gather once again with them!

I wanted to be sure to mention that my sister, Elizabeth was the official photographer for the evening!  That is why there are some shots of me! She took her job seriously, and she wasn't even being paid!  :) Thanks sis!

We had an Appetizer and Dessert Tasting!  I really enjoyed trying the new recipes and making these tiny dishes of love for our friends!

Let's take a tour of the evening shall we!

First up the Decor!

I love the Fall colors in this flower spray!

Alittle ambiance lighting!

Each guest received alittle brown bag to take home! It included two 

homemade muffins and a serving of breakfast casserole!

Let's step into the kitchen for some food preparation!

Milton does wonders with a knife and cutting board!  I am lucky he

loves to cook!

Desserts - Yummy! 

We are for hire! :) HaHa!

We had a couple helpers that came early! That's Elizabeth & Ray!

And there was food!

Assortment of cheeses, grapes, and crackers!

Appetizers!

Desserts!

The Spread!

Misc!

I just thought this was a neat photo my sister took of the glasses!

My friend Lisa brought these very cool glasses she decorated with Vampire Blood! :)

This evening included us lingering around the kitchen visiting, enjoying food around our dining room table, and finishing our time together around a beautiful fire on a calm night on the patio!

The best part of the entire evening was spending it with all of these great people!

Appetizers:

Caprese Puffs

Mushrooms stuff with Brie

Barbeque Meatballs

Desserts:

Lemon Yogurt Parfait

Pumpkin Trifle

Peanut Butter Trifle

(Recipes will be provided in a seperate blog soon!)

Thank you for stopping by and thanks to all our friends that came that evening!

Julie & Milton