A Jeanne in the Kitchen

Like me, all of our lake residents prefer to be out and about when the temperatures are cooler, either in the early hours of the mornings or at dusk. Lately, it has just been way to hot to be out and about during the heat of the day. There was a Common Grackling cooling himself down at the water’s edge. He looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself too. I just love his spectacular colorings. I think these are such beautiful birds.

Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. Have a great day. ‘Til next time.

Today, I give you the last of the VBS snacks. I call this one fish bait. I don’t know if this is what this snack is really called, but sticking with an underwater theme, it just seems appropriate and the name seems to fit. It is a combination of all things kids love to munch on for snacks.

The “fish bait” is a combination of goldfish, Swedish fish, pretzel sticks and popcorn. I also added the rest of the Sweet Tarts for more color. Besides, I had them, so why not use them, right? Just combine everything together and mix well, then bag them up. To make it more fun, I bagged them in colorful bags.

I just kept adding to my bowl as needed and stirring it all up until I had got used it all up and my big bowl was empty. In total, I made 92 bags.

If you have been following my VBS series, you would know just busy I was. Even though all of these are very simple, easy-peasy recipes, they were time consuming too, especially since I made them in the volumes that I did. Just to recap, I made about 200 clamshell cookies Snacks for VBS – Part 1 – Clamshell Cookies, about 130 schools of fish Snacks for VBS – Part 2 – Schools of Fish and about 92 bags of fish bait – ALL in one day. I was wiped out at the end of the day. They were all a lot of fun to make, and definitely for a very good cause. They were labors of love, but I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

The VBS starts today and will continue all through the week, and all these snacks will hopefully be enjoyed by all the kids who attend all week long. Lacy did a FABULOUS job of decorating the church too. One of our other parishioners drew and painted all these fabulous cutouts of all kinds of marine life. She did an amazing job with these too. They were used to transform the church into an aquarium for the week. The kids are well on their way to becoming underwater enthusiasts.

Have a great day and a great week Everyone. Stay cool, stay safe, stay well and carry on. ‘Tl next time.

I was in the kitchen for most of the day preparing all the VBS snacks for VBS that starts tomorrow. Yesterday, I shared the clamshell cookies. Snacks for VBS – Part 1 – Clamshell Cookies. Today, I am sharing the schools of fish. I think they turned out adorable. They are very easy to make, but again, time consuming, especially since I made about 130 of them. They only require three simple ingredients – graham crackers, goldfish and blue frosting. These are another fun kids’ snack idea that the whole family can have fun making together, or the kids can do themselves.

Keep the graham crackers whole, then spread the blue frosting over 1/2-2/3 of the graham cracker and place the goldfish on top of the frosting. Pretty easy-peasy.

Both the schools of fish and the clamshells are fun and very creative things that kids of all ages will enjoy.

Just keep swimmin’, just keep swimmin’, just keep swimmin’.

As you all know, I do the church coffee cart every Sunday. Everyone at church knows I love to cook and love to feed people. So it is only natural that I help out with the snacks for the VBS or Vacation Bible School that will be running this week.. Lacy, the pre-school and early childhood facilitator, came up with all these fun ideas for the VBS, and I am the creator of the goodies.

Our theme this year is “Under the Sea“. Here are all my ingredients I get to work with.

My first batch of goodies are now done. I will start on the next batch in just a bit. Round one – Complete – 200 Clamshell cookies.

These are super easy to make and are made with vanilla wafers, colored frosting and sweet tarts.

Each clamshell requires 2 cookies and 1 sweet tart as the “pearl” inside. Frost one cookie (rounded part down, then add a sweet tart in the center.

Add a little frosting on the bottom of the second cookie and stand it up on the edge of the first cookie to make the clam.

This is the first round, with two more to go. So, that being said, I need to get back in the kitchen again, to start Round 2. This is just a brief breather in between rounds. 🙂

Stay cool, stay safe, stay well and carry on. ‘Til next time.

Pasta is always on my easy go-to list, but especially when things are hectic. It is easy to make and easy to re-heat for later. It was one of those days when Larry and I were both going in all different directions and wouldn’t be home until later. So I made something that would be easy for us to heat up once we got home. Every night could easily be a pasta night for me, but this time it definitely was.

I had a whole bunch of vegetables that I chopped up and added some Andouille sausage to. I also had some heirloom tomatoes that were ready to be used as a sauce. So I whipped it all together to make for a light, tasty summer meal, though it is really good anytime of year.

I also got to use up all the little bits and pieces that were leftover, which as you know, is always a favorite of mine. I had 1/2 a zucchini and 1/2 a crookneck that I sliced, about 1/3 of a red onion that I sliced very thin, and then I used some red, yellow and orange bell peppers along with a diced jalapeno pepper too. And don’t forget the garlic! Always add garlic.

I sauteed everything together with some olive oil and lime olive oil until all the vegetables were cooked. Once they were done, I removed them from the skillet and added the Andouille sausage.

When the sausage was cooked, I re-added the vegetables, as well as the chopped tomatoes, about 1-1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream and all my seasonings and spices; salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper and some ancho chili powder. Once all the ingredients were added, I brought everything to a boil, then reduced the heat to a simmer and let it continue to cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

This colorful combination of sausage, vegetables and spices made for a delicious Southwestern pasta. I LOVE Southwestern foods, and combined with pasta, well, it is just a homerun! It just knocked it out of the ball park. All I needed to do was add some garlic bread and some chardonnay and voila! Dinner was served.

Keep it simple, especially in these dog days of summer. Stay cool, stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Yesterday, I showed you yet another surprise baby picture of a baby duckling with its mommy. Nature Walks – Just Mommy And Me. But just as surprising to see this late little duckling was the fact that my goslings are almost all grown up now. What happened? Where did the babies go? Time just flies by so quickly.

Time is of the essence. Make the most of it.

Just when I think I have seen the last of my tiny babies, all of a sudden I see some more. Today, it was just one little baby with its mommy. Mom was so proud of her little duckling.

Then I even saw the duck teens resting in the ponds too. WOW! What a difference.

I hope your day is just ducky.

Colorado is known for its breweries. We have a lot of micro breweries all over the state, but we also have some major ones too, like Coors and Anheuser-Busch. The Anheuser-Busch brewery (Budweiser) is based outside of Fort Collins, where Carol Anne is staying while out here in Colorado. While we were out for lunch, we thought we we try to take a tour of the Anheuser-Busch brewery. But alas, the tour facility was closed. We did take a few pictures of the outside though, just to prove we were actually there.

Neither one of us are beer drinkers, but my favorite part is always to see all the big Clydesdale horses. Since the tour was not taking place we were not able to see the horses either. However, we did get to see the horse trailers. They are huge, but then they have to be since the Clydesdales are also huge.

At least we can say we went to the facility and Carol Anne has the pictures to prove she was there. 🙂 The grounds were beautiful.

Despite the fact that we could not take the Anheuser-Busch tour, we still had a lovely visit, a beautiful day and a delicious lunch. It was a very good day indeed. 🙂

Stay cool, stay well and stay safe Everyone. ‘Til next time.

There is so much beauty all around. We just have to open our eyes and open our hearts to see it all and really appreciate all that is here for us to see. Often, we don’t even have to go that far to see what’s right outside for us, just waiting to be discovered. Yesterday, I gave you some beautiful orange and yellow flowers. Nature Walks – Pretty Orange and Yellow Flowers Today, I give you some pretty purple flowers.

These irises are my own irises in my front yard.

This salvia is in my front yard too.

These are from my neighbor’s yard.

Today, I say color your world purple. Have a very beautiful, purple day.

Our blogging world is full of so many wonderful people and it is always so much fun when we actually get to meet each other in person. Yesterday, I met up with Carol Anne from https://therapybits.com/

I picked Carol Anne up from her friend’s apartment in Fort Collins, about an hour north of me, and we went out for lunch. We wanted to go to someplace that was NOT a chain, but was unique instead. We chose Austin’s American Grill.

“Austin’s American Grill is the quintessential taste of Colorado. With two great Fort Collin’s locations—one in the heart of Old Town and another on Harmony Road, we’ll have you wondering why mom’s food never tasted so good and when you can come back for more. Savory roasts and chicken cooked over an open flame in our front-of-the-house rotisserie. All-natural buffalo seasoned to perfection. Cornbread baked in iron skillets and drizzled with honey and butter. Signature cocktails sweetened with fresh-squeezed fruit juice. Plus, our decadent desserts are made fresh daily, giving you an excuse to stop in for a slice that reminds you of home. So grab a friend and make plans to meet at the red umbrellas. There’s a reason Austin’s is one of Northern Colorado’s favorite destinations.” We went to the Harmony Road location.

I was very impressed that Austin’s roast their own rotisserie chickens over a wood fire, out in front for everyone to see. Neither of us ordered rotisserie chicken this time, but I guarantee I will next time, and there will definitely be a next time.

Carol Anne and I placed our orders, and then I was off and running taking pictures of the restaurant before our delicious food arrived. The decor was very warm and inviting and the staff was fantastic. They were all so friendly and so helpful.

I loved their colorful wine rack too. I would love a wine rack like this at my house.

Austin’s is very spacious, with dining options both inside and outside and even in the large bar area. We chose to dine inside, though the outside patio was very inviting.

The food at Austin’s was delicious. Carol Anne ordered a bison burger. Bison is very popular here in Colorado, and there are many bison ranches all around.

I decided upon one of their fabulous salads, that was loaded with chipotle chicken, candied pecans, tomatoes and crispy fried onions. It came with some honey fried cornbread on the side as well.

Carol Anne and I thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and each other’s company and decided whenever we are in each other’s corner of the world, we will definitely be meeting up again. After lunch, we drove to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. We wanted to take the tour, but it was closed. We did still get some good pictures though. You will just have to wait a bit longer for that. Anticipation, you know. 🙂

Our time together passed quickly and before we knew it, it was time to call it a day and to bid our farewells for this trip. But their will be more meetings again in the future. I also got a good picture of Carol Anne and her friend Sarah too. I hope Carol Anne is having a good time here in the States and making a lot of fun, happy memories along the way.

Until we meet again. Save travels Carol Anne.

The Austin’s American Grill that we enjoyed is located at 2815 Harmony Road, Fort Collins, CO. You can give them a call at (970) 267-6532 or check them out online at harmony@austinsamericangrill.com or better yet, just drop in and pay them a visit in person. You will definitely be glad you did.