Mother's Day Ideas

Fun Mother's Day Fact: The U.S. Congress officially designated the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day in 1914.

John and I were watching Suburgatory the other day, the Mother’s Day episode where each of the husbands with reluctant kids in tow try to outdo each other in making mom feel like a pampered queen. That would NEVER happen in my household. I’m lucky if I get text message.

I don’t want much… In fact most mothers don’t want anything more than quality time with their kids. According to a Wakefield Research study (conducted for Godiva Coffee), “87 percent of Americans (moms included) believe it's the quality of time spent with Mom, not the quantity of time, that's most important.”

Godiva Coffee has three under $15 gift ideas that go along with spending time with Mom:

Surprise her with breakfast in bed: Nothing shows your love for Mom like waking up before she does to prepare her a delicious breakfast. Of course Godiva Coffee needs be in the coffee pot. Oh and clean up the kitchen afterwards.

Work yourself into her schedule for a day: Help Mom run her errands or be her chauffeur to enjoy the great conversation that comes while driving around together doing everyday things. This might be a good time to find out who your mom is.

Stroll down memory lane: Sit down with Mom and view old photo albums and/or videos to reminisce. Find out who Mom was before you came along. If you’re a good kid, help Mom scan them onto a computer to share on Facebook.

The Godiva Coffee Mother's Day Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research among 1,000 American adults, ages 18 and older, between April 6 and April 12, using an email invitation and an online survey. Quotas have been set to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the U.S. adult population 18 and older. Wakefield Research is a global market research consultancy that advises clients throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia Source: Godiva Coffee via PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1aAeL)

The Serious Teddy Bear Company also has some Mother’s Day idea, particularly for those who live to far apart to visit on that day. The first suggestion is the obvious: cards, flowers and chocolates. Not very creative, but still suitable.

Then there’s the greener, cheaper version: Personalized message online e-card services . Free versions of video animation software also are available that allow kids – and spouses - to upload family photos and even brief video clips.

The next best thing to visiting mom on Mother's Day is to talk with her face-to-face on a live video chat. Take advantage of online services that offer free computer-to-computer video calls. The news release says “This experience will blow her away, especially if she gets to see her out-of-state grandkids for ‘the first time in ages.’” (I guess they’re assuming moms aren’t that technology savvy – shaking head.)

Source: The Serious Teddy Bear Co, via PRnewswire http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/make-mom-feel-loved-on-mothers-day-even-from-hundreds-of-miles-away-147786575.html

How about these ideas:

Buy her a flat of flowers and plant them

Frame a picture of yourself, yourself and your siblings and/or the grandkids

Make the frame for the above pictures

Lunch

Make a cement cast of your hand or your foot, yeah even if you’re grown.

Wow! I need to get to posting some how to’s, don’t I?

Chicken Florentine Alfredo -The Slow Way

I've moved from soups to noodles in the slow cooker! This week I made for the second time a unique chicken Florentine Alfredo dish. Very easy to do! And oh so yummy! Unlike my other crock pot dishes, this one is one is a little more involved, but it's perfect for a Sunday supper!

Ingredients:
8 oz frozen spinach
4 oz frozen onions
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can mushrooms
2 chicken breasts
1 16 oz alfrado sauce
1 cup milk
½ stick butter
2 cups linguini
Garlic salt, pepper

Season a frying pan with garlic salt, and pepper. Sautee the frozen spinach and onions in a skillet until all the water is gone. You want it to be fairly dry before you put it into slow cooker.

Season the frying pan with garlic salt, salt, pepper again. Drain the diced tomatoes and mushroom and put the remaining contents of the cans into skillet. Sautee the tomatoes and mushrooms until all the water is gone, but don’t let it burn. Again, you want it to be dry before you put it into in the slow cooker, but not scorched. Once the vegetables are cooked and dried, put them into the slow cooker.

Boil the linguine until the noodles are soft, but not completely done. Drain well, rinse and put in crock pot. It’s important to rinse the noodles to get rid of the excess starch that will make the noodles gummy.

Chunk the chicken breasts and put in the crock pot.

Pour in Alfredo sauce, milk and butter in crock pot and mix well.

Cook on low for 3-4 hours until the chicken is done.

Delish with wine and HBO!

Five Ways to Ensure a Healthy Lawn and Garden

Gardening is not my first love. I plant perennials like mums which are hardy and come back year after year. But some folks love to dig in the dirt at the first sign of spring. Outdoor power equipment manufacture Troy-Bilt offers these ideas for taking care of your lawn this spring:

Don't plant annuals or fruit- or berry-producing plants early. Annuals and fruit- and berry-producing plants are especially susceptible to being killed off or damaged by frost. If you have these kinds of plants already in the ground, keep them well-watered. If you know the temperature will be dropping dangerously low on a particular night, cover the plants with mesh netting.

Begin pest and insect control earlier than usual. Cold winter temperatures keep pests and diseases in check, but this year many of those pests and diseases may not have died or gone fully dormant. Also, it's possible the warm winter could have thrown off the life-cycles of various insect species, which may mean the good insects we count on to gobble up the bad insects that harm grasses and gardens were born too early to do the job – so keep an eye out for new problems.

Protect ornamental bushes and shrubs that are out of their native range. Ornamental bushes and shrubs that are on the border of growing in their climate zone are usually more susceptible to blooming early at the first sign of warmer weather. If they do and there's a freeze, it's likely they'll lose their flowers for the season or produce fewer flowers this year. Protect them by watering well early in the season.

Begin weed maintenance earlier than usual. Your grass and garden aren't the only things growing sooner this year. Weeds had an early start as well. If you don't get an early start on weeding this year, your lawn or garden may get choked off and not grow as well this season.

Stay off the lawn, and resist the urge to cut the grass too short too early! A growing lawn is more susceptible to freezing than a dormant lawn. Staying off the lawn keeps the stress down on the grass and helps protect it if the temperature suddenly drops. Also, don't cut more than a third of the blade at a time. If you go lower and a freeze comes along, it could shock the grass and stunt its growth.

Once you're ready to pull your lawn mower out of the shed for the first time this year, take some time to tune it up. If you've used your mower for more than a year, it may be time to sharpen or replace your blades. Also add fresh gas and oil. If your mower needs to be replaced, now is the time to start researching and hitting the stores.

Not sure what kind of mower you need? Consider the following choices to find the mower best suited to your needs:

Walk-behind mower – If you have less than an acre of land or many obstacles in your yard, a reel, push or self-propelled walk-behind mower may make the most sense.

Lawn tractor – For larger yards that would be difficult to cover on foot, consider a riding mower.

Source: Troy-Bilt via PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1bEur)

Satisfying the Sweet Tooth Without the Sugar

Low carb diets are hard when you’ve got a sweet tooth! Sure, there’s sugarless sweets out there, but they’re budget busting expensive! But I’ve found a solution in Pillsbury’s sugarfree cake mixes and brownie mix. The cake mixes come in yellow and chocolate. Unfortunately, the gourmet flavors and the fun flavors aren’t available in sugarless versions yet.

Fortunately with basic flavors, you can be creative to change them up. Sugarfree chocolate and vanilla frostings are available so you can make up a straight up traditional pan cake. I haven’t done that yet as I’m not a fan of mounds of frosting. But I have found some creative alternatives.

I typically back cakes in my bundt cake pan. I could eat plain hot cake, but to compromise with John, I drizzle frosting on them – vanilla and chocolate work well on the chocolate mix. With yellow, I stick to chocolate.

My favorite way to make these cakes is to top them with no sugar added fruit. This works great on the yellow mix. Or fill the bottom of the pan with no sugar added fruit pie filling and pour the cake mix on top. I’ve done used blueberry and cherry pie filling on the yellow mix and cherry pie filling with the chocolate mix. Flipping the cake out of the pan is a little tricky – I use an oversized plate (bigger than my cake plate) to avoid spills. The results are amazing!

This photo doesn’t do it justice.

Be warned: These delish deserts are low sugar, but not low calorie.

Beef Taco Soup

Beef Taco Soup is one of our favorite spring dishes from the slow cooker. Not too heavy; not too light. Just enough to keep the spring chill at bay, but not enough to overheat. This is similar to the black bean salsa soup, but there are some differences. And this version is more of a main meal soup while the black bean salsa is more of a side soup.

We like to eat this with corn bread or corn chips.

Ingredients:
1-2 pounds of lean ground beef (thawed)
1 can or bag of corn
2 cups chopped onions
1 bag of pinto beans or black beans
1 can of diced chili tomatoes (or regular)
2 cans of tomato sauce
2 packages of taco seasoning.
1-2 avacados (optional)
Sour cream (optional)
Salsa (optional)
Shredded cheese (optional)

Mix the ground beef, vegetables (except avocado), tomato sauce and seasoning in the slow cooker. Top off the crockpot with water. Cook in crock pot until beans are tender and the meat is done, about 4 hours on high and 6-8 hours on low.

Serve over corn bread or corn chips. Top with cheese, sour cream and avocado slices.

Slow Cooker Spaghetti

I’d always considered spaghetti a meal that was easy to throw together, and not worth the time it would take to cook. But then I got to thinking that maybe I could make it more like a gooey goulash. Turns out, I could. Here’s how I did it:

Ingredients:

1/2 package of angel hair pasta

Two cans of spaghetti sauce. I typically use Hunt’s tomato and basil flavor.

One can of Italian-style diced tomatoes
One can if Italian zuchini (Del Monte is the only brand I've been able to find)

One small can of mushrooms.

1 pound of ground beef, Italian sausage or pre-packaged meatballs.

½ pound of grated cheese

Cook the spaghetti on the stove in boiling water until it’s soft, but not mushy. Mix well the other ingredients in the slow cooker and allow to simmer while the spaghetti softens. After the spaghetti is soft, add it to slow cooker and stir. Add grated cheese to make it gooey.

It doesn't take long to cook. If you're in a hurry, set your crock pot on high, and the meal will be finished in about 90 minutes, depending of course on your crock pot's high setting. If you have all day, make sure the setting is low.

I discovered a variation on this recipe takes remarkably like Chef Boyardee canned spaghetti.

To the slow cooker add ½ a package of uncooked spaghetti, 2 cans of spaghetti sauce and prepackaged meatballs. Don’t add any extra water. Cook on low for about 8 hours. When finished, you’ve got homemade canned spaghetti.

A Texas Star

Did you know that the Texas will be 176 years old next week! March 2, is the celebration of the adoption of theTexas Declaration of Independence, declaring itself independent from Mexico. Even though state joined the United States a decade later, Texas Independence Day is still an official holiday in the state of Texas.

In celebration of this uniquely Texas holiday, I thought I’d share a quick little craft idea. This Texas Star is a variation of the rustic Valentine heart. I purchased this wooden star a couple of years ago in Canton for 50 cents at the same time I purchased the wooden heart. It too got stuck away in my craft stash. Fortunately wooden star cut outs are easy to find year round.

I painted the star a bright blue, using acrylic craft paint. I let it dry for about four hours. While that was drying, I used white acrylic craft paint on the pre-cut wood letters and bright red on the pre-cut heart I purchased at Michael’s. Once drive, about six hours, I glued the letters and heart to the star using wood glue. When the glue had set up, about two hours, I sealed the whole thing by painting it with a layer of white craft glue and let it dry overnight.

I put it on the fireplace as a reminder of holiday.

Easy East Texas Jambalaya

With Mardi Gras just around the corner, I’m in the mood for something a little Cajun so I set out to create an easy slow cooker jambalaya. Authentic jambalaya takes forever to make, and you have to stand over it – something I’m not a fan of doing. And I’m not a big fan of mixing meats, chicken with seafood and sausage and whatever else Cajuns toss in. I set out to create a jambalaya that was easy and appeasing to my pallet. I ended up with easy Cajun dish slow cooker with a little bit of East Texas influence.

Ingredients:

4 cups brown rice

1 small bag of dry red or pinto

1 ring of smoked beef sausage. I’m using Hillshire’s all beef

1 can of plain diced tomatoes
1 bag of PictSweet's seasoning blend. It has onions, bell peppers and red peppers.

Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning

Mix everything in the slow cooker and season to taste with Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning, Cook on slow until the beans are soft, about seven or eight hours.

Lentil Soup

Once upon a time, my mother and grandmothers would labor over roasts on Sunday. Every single Sunday. It was the “fancy” meal of the week where everybody gathered at the table. I love a good roast, but I'm basically lazy when it comes to cooking, especially the day after a StoneAge show… and I don’t remember the last time we ate at the table.

In trying to figure out quick soups I could make before we left for a show, I hit upon lentil soup.
It’s quick, easy and pretty inexpensive to make. And John says they're pretty good too! Just what we need to get us out of bed on Sunday after a night of rock and roll.

Lentil Soup

Ingredients:
1 package of dry lentils
2 cans of sliced carrots, drained (or one package of frozen sliced carrots)
1 medium onion finely chopped (or one package of chopped frozen onions)
1-2 rings of smoked sausage, any brand or flavor. I usually get Healthy Choice or Hillshire Farms, all beef.

Fill to the crock brim with water

Sometimes I’ll put this on low before we go to bed and it’s usually ready in six hours. Lentils cook really fast compared to other types of beans and legumes. If I forget to put it on the night before, I’ll set the slow cooker on high, so it's usually done in about three hours.

Rustic Valentine

Even though Valentine’s is just around the corner, there’s still time to create a one-of-a-kind Valentine for your true love, that be used for decorating year after year.

I purchased this wooden heart a couple of years ago in Canton for 50 cents, and stuck it away in my craft stash. I also have a stash of fabric cut outs, which includes multiple sizes fabrics. At this time of year, wooden and fabric hearts are easy to come by.

I painted the base of the heart a deep red, using acrylic craft paint. I let it dry for about four hours. Then I used fabric glue to attach the bigger of the two hearts to the wood. With fabric glue, make sure that you coat the entire surface that you want to glue down. Once you have the fabric heart placed where you want it, smooth out the bubbles. I just used my fingers to smooth out the bubbles and shape the heart. I let that dry overnight and then in the morning, I glued down the second heart, again using fabric glue and smoothing out the bubbles.

While I let the second heart dry, I painted pre-cut wood letters. For this project, I used a paint pen, but next time, I’ll use acrylic craft paint or maybe just spray paint. I set aside the letters to dry as well.

Once the letters were completely dry, about 12 hours, I used a fine-tip black Sharpie to outline the edges and paint the sides. While those were drying, I used the white pen to seal the edges of the fabric hearts and outline the wooden heart. Again, I waited 12 hours to let the paint dry. I used the black Sharpie to outline the fabric hearts. Once dry, I used fabric glue to place the letters. I sealed the whole thing by painting it with a layer of white craft glue.

Now I have a cute, rustic Valentine that I can use year after year.

While I love the result, the paint pen was difficult to control. I’d use fabric paint next time.