Steph's Simple Life

   So, in my mad dash to get some form of holiday decorations, I ended up at Dollar General.  Yes, I know, a true sign that I had stayed in Missouri too long recently,  but I went in to grab some cheap pillar candles in hopes that I could come up with some sort of centerpieces for my tables.  After I grabbed the pillars, I grabbed 3 little tea light holders because I bought a package of about a thousand tea lights at IKEA like 14 years ago, and now seemed like a good time to get rid of them.  Any who...these little glass holders were a dollar each so I figured I could find a use for them, or they could sit around with the tea lights for another 14 years.      When I got home I started looking around and couldn't find anything to use for a centerpiece, because while I was away, my husband (well, at least he's the prime suspect) hid all of my craft supplies.  After looking around I came across some of my old jars, and r...

Yes, I do realize that we are still 6 days from Thanksgiving, but I can't wait....I'm sharing this recipe.  To get the true taste you might need to make a trip to World Market somewhere near you this weekend.  While the recipe is simple, this is probably one of the most addictive things you will enjoy this Thanksgiving.  1 15oz can of pumpkin (not pie filling, just pumpkin) 2 cups of powdered sugar 1 package of cream cheese 2 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. vanilla pumpkin pie spice, ginger, all spice to your taste Let the cream cheese get about room temperature, then mix ingredients together, chill and serve. I've never been a fan of gingersnaps until I found the ones below...they are so light, and not over powering, you have to try them.  I suppose you could use regular gingersnaps too, but you have to try these! Nyåkers Pepparkakor's current tin is pictured below, if you have a hankering for these tasty little cracker-like biscuits at other times of the...

So, while it seems that I may have dropped off the face of the earth, I really haven't!  After 3 months in Missouri, I've returned to Texas.  While my time there wasn't exactly planned, I had a lot of time to reflect on things that I'm thankful for this year, and it has been a busy year for the Spruill family. Now, with the holidays just around the corner I need to really get in gear!  My pantry runneth over and my grocery list is growing.  We will have a houseful next week, which I'm excited about, so lots to do around here! And in the weeks to come, I'm sure there will be plenty more things to be thankful for.  (Hopefully I'll get my pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust recipe posted next week.) Happy Thanksgiving to all! 1 Thessalonians 5:18    In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.  

Well for years now I've been making my own salsa, it's quick and it's easy and so much better than what you can buy in the store.  No matter what, I always have the ingredients on hand to make salsa. Life is just better with salsa, well until we fell in love with Salsa's cousin Pico!  Pico is a little more time consuming, but so worth it.  The last couple of month's I've been perfecting my pico, and adding it with avocados to make guacamole...it's delicious! How do I make it? It's equal parts tomatoes and onions, cilantro, 2 jalapeno peppers, fresh lime juice (I use 2 limes) and salt. Cut the onions first, leaving them on the bottom of the bowl, then the tomatoes, then I combine my cilantro and jalapenos in the food processor and pulse a few times.  Combine with the onions and tomatoes, then squeeze the lime juice on, then salt and mix.....this needs to set up 24 hours or so for best flavor. (I use Roma tomatoes, because they hold up the be...

Since my last blog, I've been quite busy...in fact, I don't even know where to start!  So, I will split this actually into 2 blogs, one with crafts and one with what I've been doing in the kitchen! Sewing and Crafts When I last left off, I was working on my daughter's college blanket.  She wanted Angelo State's School colors, but I decided to also add the mascot, but I really didn't think that through, and didn't realize it until I got started.  Here's the finished product, we used fleece for the blanket and a various array of  other crap for the mascot. After that, I started working on a blanket for my nephew.  I combined my Domo pattern that I'd used previously for Josh's pillow (which is really Jodie's) I just had to shrink it down and the techniques that I used on Sarah's blanket, her it is "in progress." From the blankets, I started to work on something completely different.  A friend of mine has been m...

I know that this might seem a little strange (okay a lot strange) to most of you, but I just feel like I need to share this! After I retired there were some things that I really wanted to change around my house.  You see, for years I came home, opened the door and started complaining (okay, yelling) about all of the things that needed done, and apparently I was the only person that noticed.  Most of them were your standard house chores.  You know the things that you never have enough time to do, dust, vacuum, sweep the kitchen floor, laundry and changing the sheets.  Keeping things picked up and orderly seems to come easy enough, it's just all of that other stuff.  Well, once I was at home all day I started to get in a routine.  I know, seems crazy, after 22 years in the military....I STILL needed routine, even to get my house in order! My routine is flexible, but I get all of my stuff done in a week, and if I don't, I can do it...

I haven't been in a very creative mood lately, but I'm sharing my most recent creations.  The first one is something I made for my son and his wife.  I just purchase the $3.00 frames at Wal-Mart and use card stock, stamps, chipboard...whatever I have on hand.  They both really liked it and look forward to hanging it, when they eventually get their home. The second project was a little more fun. After my son saw the owl pillow he said that he wanted one, but I decided that he needed something different than the owl, even though he wanted me to make it out of old uniforms, which I still might have to do!  Here's the fun pillow that I came up with...I love making my own patterns!

We just returned from a short trip home, for Spring Break.  Our daughter thought she should go to South Padre Island, but we decided to go to Missouri.....she had a great time with the Johnson Twins.  It's so great being able to go home and we're so blessed to have such great friends.  I look forward to the day when Josh and Jodie can come visit us in Missouri too. What did we do in good ole' Missouri, well...we lit brush fires on our property, hunted mushrooms (it is that time of year!) ate....too much, Sarah and I got our hair done....something everyday.  Wish we could have stayed longer, but Jim had to get back to work and Sarah to school. We got back here unpacked and seems like we've had thunderstorms since....I did make a trip to get some fabric and crafting supplies yesterday....so be on the lookout, I might get some projects done soon! -Steph

I just realized that it's been almost a month since my last post, so I thought I better put something down!  I spent a couple of weeks under the weather and just when I started feeling better, things got busy! The last week and a half has been busy, our daughter-in-law graduated basic training, and last weekend her family was in town.  After all the festivities, we had them over and on Saturday night we all went to the hockey game.  Of course my son has been here, and will be heading back to Florida tomorrow.  I will hate to see him go, but am looking forward to getting back to my schedule...and creating some new things! One thing I have noticed is when your children get older, you know they really don't want to spend any time with you, or not much any way, so you just make yourself available for them when they do.  I've cooked for him and made all of his wife's requested items.  Yesterday he told me that he wanted me to make him an owl out of ABU (US...

I know that it took me a long time to post my first hat,  but after I did.....I couldn't stop!  Not only that, I wanted to try to make some hat pins (that's very addictive!).  The hat I made today, is a combination of several that I had seen, I used cotton fabric and heavy, sew in, interfacing.  I messed up a little, but I made it work, after awhile.  (Again, that's why I'm not using expensive supplies.)  In the picture, I placed one of the small hat pins on the front of the hat.  The hat sits on the crown of your head and I still need to attach a comb so that it stays in place.  What do you think? -Steph

Today I'm trying a recipe from the Pioneer Woman's collection, I actually saw her make this a few weeks back on her television show and thought it looked good, especially since she used chilpotle peppers! (Here's the actual Pioneer Woman's recipe .) The recipe calls for a pork butt, but I'm using a loin instead, because that's what I have and it's not as greasy.  I started by cutting up 2 onions and placing them in the bottom of my dutch oven (again, if you don't have one...get one!) and placed the meat on top of them.  Next I put the peppers on the meat.  The peppers look like this: Pour on 2 cans of Dr Pepper, cover, and cook for 6 hours at 300F...you will want to turn it over half way through the cooking time to ensure that it cooks evenly. This turned out so good, it's sweet and spicey.  I served with a marinated cole slaw which I prefer over the creamy kind....plus it's a "make ahead" recipe, which I love too! I shred a h...

I know, making hats has a real name....millinery, but since I don't have all the fancy tools that is really necessary, let's just call it what it is, hat making.  I do know now why the Mad Hatter was mad, it can drive you crazy!!! I've always loved hats, the stranger the better. I don't know why.  Now that I have the time, I decided to try to make some.  Not really knowing what I'm doing, I bought cheap fabric.  Actually, I bought some felt remnants at Joann Fabrics.  Not the felt squares, but the premium felt remnants....they had some white and black so I figured that was good to start with.  After I started making the first one, I decided that I wanted to learn how to put a birdcage on a hat.  So that took some trial and error too.  As I said, I didn't know what I was doing, still don't, but wanted to use what I had on hand so see what I could do.  I also bought some cheap tulle at Wal-Mart to play with.  Once I feel a little mo...

My Amaryllis that my sister Stacy got me for Christmas bloomed this week!  Isn't it beautiful?  And speaking of beautiful, I took my daughter to have her Senior pictures taken this past week, we will be going to look at them tomorrow. This week should prove to be creative this week since my husband is out of town.  I'll post what I end up making/working on....since it's been a couple of weeks.

I woke up this morning about 2 am and all I could think about was making an owl.  I know it sounds silly to wake up in the middle of the night thinking about that, but I had been looking at them on Pinterest and thought I'd make one.  I didn't get up right away, because I had promised myself the next project that I was going to try from that dang Pinterest was fusing plastic shopping bags.  (I had already watched the DIY video and everything.) Finally around 2:15 a quietly went downstairs, got my stash of plastic shopping bags, sat on the kitchen floor and began cutting. First let me say, fusing bags is a huge pain in the rear, and I really wished I hadn't promised myself that was my next project.  It did give me time to clear my mind though and start thinking about my owl.   After coffee with my husband, he left for work and I went straight to work too....on making my owl. I got out the freezer p...

Mongolian Beef (at my house.) 2 tsp canola oil 1/2 tsp fresh grated  ginger 2 cloves of garlic 3/4 Cup low sodium soy sauce 3/4 Cup water 3/4 Cup brown sugar 1/4 Cup Rice Vinegar 1 tsp hot pepper flakes oil for frying (I used Canola) 1 lb thinly sliced sirloin steak 1/4 Cup cornstarch  green onions Heat the 2 tsp oil and add the garlic and ginger, then add the water and soy sauce and brown sugar.  Stir until sugar is completely dissolved.  Once dissolved, add in the Vinegar and pepper flakes...keep stirring until mixture starts to caramelize.  Remove from heat and set aside. Slice the meat and place in a plastic bag, add the cornstarch and coat. Slicing the Meat Heat Wok or frying pan and add the meat.  Cook until brown.  Remove from pan, throw out frying oil.  Put meat back into the skillet over medium heat, pour sauce over the top and add green onions.  Let simmer for about 3-5 minutes and i...

  So, a couple of months ago I was wanting to make a beef tenderloin so I started looking for recipes.  I love beef, and my husband loves beef with onions.  I finally found a recipe that I decided to try.  Please understand that when you're getting ready to spend  $70.00 on a tenderloin, you better cook it right...there are no redos!  The recipe that I tried/modified can be found at: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/446/Beef-Tenderloin-With-Five-Onio78637.shtml   I did make some changes, as with any recipe, you have to do your thing.  I use only red and white onions.  I have made this with and without Cognac, it is better with, I can't tell you why, but it is.  I also use rosemary on the tenderloin before I put it into my dutch oven (smells so good cooking).  A couple of other recommendations, use a little Kitchen Bouquet in your onions, it gives them a rich dark color. (I always use this in french onion soup too for t...

So, after a lifetime of working, I recently became a stay at home mom, however, my kids are gone or no longer require my motherly micro-management so I needed to find something to keep me busy....so I told my husband that I was going to start blogging! I was raised in a small rural area, and in a couple of years, when my other half retires, we'll be getting back to our roots.  Not that I've ever really gotten away from them, I love the simple things, a sunset, a horseback ride, a good homecooked meal, all things that I can make at my sewing machine and more than anything I love a bargain!  That's what I intend to focus on here.....we'll see how it works out!  Our future homeplace in Missouri