Hop Along

Hidy Ho crafty peeps!

It's the last Wednesday of the month, so that means it's time for the monthly hop at Bombshell Stamps! This month's theme is a nod to that Turkey Day that just passed. It's a recipe challenge. This means you gotta follow the recipe!

Ingredients:
2 Bombshell Stamps
3 patterned papers
1 ribbon


Now, you put 'em all together, stir in some creativity and add a dash of your own mojo and VOILA...you have created the perfect entree to dish up for this challenge!

If you hopped over from Jodi's blog, then you're in the right place.

For my entry, I was a bit rushed...WAY under the gun...and TOTALLY uninspired...too distracted...too much on my mind.  LOOK! A SQUIRREL!

*sigh*

Meh, it happens.

In my defense...this past week...I attended my cousin's delivery of her first child. I hosted Thanksgiving at my house...and cooked the ENTIRE meal...for 23 people. Oy. AND, my mom had surgery on Monday...and that means I'm staying at the hospital for the next few days (not that I don't trust the nursing staff to take care of her...but...I DON'T TRUST THE NURSING STAFF). Is it a horrible thing to not trust your peers? I just need to be there. I'm a nurse. It's what I do...and she's my mom.

SO...that said, doing a project for this hop was WAY LOW on my priority list; and, unfortunately, it shows in what I created for this hop. I apologize for not putting in 100% effort. My goal was simply to get it done before I left for the hospital at the butt-crack of dawn, two days ago on Monday morning.

That said, here is my lackluster card. Ugh. I am REALLY not loving it, but whatcha gonna do. Not everything can be a masterpiece. I'm certain Monet had some "off" days. I used the wonderful sailing ship and the sentiment stamps from the Homeward Bound set. Don't tell anyone, but I sort of fudged on the "3 patterned papers" rule. I used 2 patterned papers and created the third (the blue background) using the compass stamp from the same set of stamps--stamped overlapping, repeatedly, using Versamark ink.

Thank you so much for sailing by! Your next port of call is Jenn's fabulous blog! Make sure you sprinkle love notes along the way and create a recipe card of your own to play along with us (enter on the Bombshell Blog for a chance to win prizes!)

Here's a full Hop list in case.

Bombshell Stamps
Alison
Susie
Alaine
Glittery Kate
Jodi
Torrey --- me
Jenn
Kim
Kelli
Cassie
Stempelientje
Kathi

Ingredients:
Ship, sentiment, compass stamps - Bombshell Stamps (Homeward Bound)
Prismacolor pencils
Ribbon - Michaels
star brads - Creative Impressions
all stamping ink - Tsukineko

Portabello Road

My mom recently switched her diet to vegan.

Oy vay.

I am SO not a vegan.

I like meat.

Meat is my friend.

But mom is trying very hard to be as healthy as she can be going in to her upcoming hip replacement surgery next week. Kudos to her! She's actually doing a very good job of it. She went vegan about 3 weeks ago. And before you ask, she's breaking for Thanksgiving. THANK GOODNESS...the thought of Tofurkey just makes me want to hurl.

The challenge, for me, is coming up with dishes that she can eat along with the rest of us. Tonight I struck GOLD.

No, I struck TECHNETIUM (the most expensive metal on this earth...go look it up).

Tonight, I fixed a wonderfully satisfying dish using stuff I had in the house. Amazing. I stumbled upon the recipe while I was cruising Pinterest. Let me tell y'all right now. It is ABSOLUTELY delicious. Truly. It is a PERFECT autumn dish. It's hearty and filling and oh-so tasty. It's great as a side dish, but could also stand on its own as a main course. AND, the best part...it's really nutrient dense.

Oven Roasted Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms

Ingredients
4 large Portabello mushroom caps
2 large sweet potatoes
2 cups fresh spinach
1-2 cups PREPARED quinoa
1/2 cup slivered almonds
olive oil
salt
pepper

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees (yeah, hot oven)
2. Clean off the mushroom caps of any soil using a dry brush. Don't get them wet if you don't have to...they're like sponges. Remove stems (you may cut them up and use them in the stuffing or discard them).
3. Peel raw sweet potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes
4. Place cubed potatoes in large mixing bowl,  drizzle with olive oil (about 1-2 Tbs), season with salt and pepper and toss to coat.
5. On cookie sheet, scatter almonds in single layer and bake in oven (just put them on rack below potatoes). Toast the almonds until golden brown (you'll need to watch them so they won't burn).
6. Spread potatoes on SEPARATE cookie sheet lined with foil. Bake in oven for about 20-30 minutes until soft and brown on top/bottom.
7. Remove potatoes from oven and scatter raw spinach leaves over potatoes. Return pan to oven for 1-2 minutes more--just enough to wilt the spinach leaves..
8. Prepare quinoa as directed (1 part quinoa, 2 parts water...bring to boil, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until liquid absorbed--do NOT stir while cooking).
9. Let potatoes, almonds, spinach, and quinoa cool slightly.
10.  In large bowl, gently combine the stuffing ingredients.
11. Brush smooth sides of mushroom caps with olive oil (it will IMMEDIATELY soak in...that's okay).
12. Place mushroom caps on cookie sheet with smooth side down.
13. Fill each cap with stuffing mixture in mounded heap.
14. Drizzle olive oil over each filled cap.
15. Bake stuffed mushrooms for 15 minutes until the mushroom is cooked.

Makes 4 servings.

Serve HOT.

The Nose Knows

Hidy Ho Crafty peeps!

October has come and gone...ZIP...FLASH. November has arrived. It's actually getting sorta chilly at night now. I am hopeful that this is the herald of cooler temperatures to come!

Over at Kenny K's Krafty Krew, we're having a challenge this week to usher in those frosty nights....our theme this week is:

Sparkly Snowflakes

Even if it's still 90 degrees where you are--you can play along and dream of winter white! The more the merrier. And if you use a Kenny K image on your project, you'll be eligible to win this week's prizes which are:

The prize from Kenny is the winner's choice of 5 digi stamps.

And our second sponsor is 

Leo at Flonz

The prize from Flonz this week is $20.00 gift voucher for Leo's store.

WOWZERS!!!!

So for this challenge...I morphed the cute little Elf Boy stamp into old Mr. Jack Frost himself! And, about the sentiment...

yeah, I'm weird, I know. Actually, I was originally gonna put "Nipping at your nose"...but my mom thought "Snipping at your nose" with him holding scissors would be better. I changed the "at" to "off". I know it's macabre, but heck, yesterday was Halloween and I'm still kind of in that mode. 

But when it boils down...it was still my mom's idea.

Now you know where I get it from.

I colored up Jack with my Prismacolor pencils with just 3 pencils (PC 932 Violet, PC 1088 Muted Turquoise, PC 906 Copenhagen Blue). I used the plastic "bubble" off some leftover packaging from something and created a shaker box filled with big, sparkly glitter and punched cardstock snowflakes covered in glittery ink. I gave him a pair of scissors and...a nose--both of which I created in Photoshop.

Ingredients:

Elf Boy stamp - Kenny K

Prismacolor Pencils

Patterned paper - Anna Griffin

ribbon - Michaels

mini scallop scissors - Provo Craft

glitter pen - Sakura

drip border punch - EK Success for Martha Stewart

snowflake punches - McGill, Emagination

cardstock

crystal glitter - Glitterex

plastic packaging