Post-It Note Tuesday-Random Thoughts 2

Monday Musings-Week 4

Yep, it's Monday again...in fact it's the last Monday of January!!!!!!!  Wow...where did January go??? 

We had a wonderful weekend...finally finished putting away the Christmas stuff..hey, don't judge!! :)  Harley Man was here to help get everything into the attic.

Since the weather here is certainly not typical January weather, we went riding with our H.O.G. Chapter this weekend while the temperatures hovered around 50 degrees... it was our annual Groundhog Ride.  It was a little chilly on the bike but worth it.  26 bikes took off to ride the backroads to Concord Mills for a late lunch at TGI Friday's to show our appreciation for  the support they provided for Biker Blues and BBQ last year!!  31 hungry riders descended on the restaurant and the staff made the most of it...great service, smiles and wonderful food.  Doesn't get any better than that!!

Hope you enjoy your Monday!!!

Food Friday- Groundhog Treats!!!

Groundhog Day is coming!!!  Check out these cute treats!!

Punxsutawney Phil's Groundhog Day Cookies
From: Gourmet Mom On The Go

Ingredients:
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough (or sugar cookie dough)
Granulated Sugar
Hershey's Kisses
Chocolate cookies (I used Grasshopper cookies)
Small Marshmallows
Chocolate Chips
Chocolate icing (I used some Betty Crocker right from a can! Ack!)

Green icing (I used buttercream icing tinted green)

Pink Starburst candies, mimi M & M's, or gumdrops (for the nose)

Directions:Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Take a golf-ball sized pinch of cookie dough and flatten slightly in your hand. Place one hershey's kiss in the center of the dough and wrap dough around it, completely covering the hershey's kiss.

Roll in granulated sugar and place on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes, until edges are barely brown and cookies are set. Let cool completely.

Trim a storebought chocolate cookie slightly on one side and press into cooled cookie.

Using scissors, snip off two pieces of a small marshmallow for eyes, adhere to chocolate cookie w/ a little chocolate icing. Add a piece of gumdrop (or whatever) for a nose and two chocolate chips for ears (again using chocolate icing as your "glue"). Add two small drops of chocolate icing for eye pupils. Place green icing in a plastic baggie, snip off one end, and add some "grass" on your cookie.

Or these....

Groundhog Cupcakes
Source: Sweets & S'morsels Cakery

Directions:
Bake your favorite chocolate cupcakes
Frost cupcakes with chocolate frosting
Add two chocolate frosting cheeks
Add white chocolate disks for eyes with mini chocolate chips in center (attach with frosting)
Add chocolate chip for nose
Add white chocolate hearts for mouth and shaved chocolate for fur.
Enjoy!!

Thursday Thought!!

Just thinking about this today and thought it was fitting after a conversation I had this morning!!!

Why is it we can receive 100 nice, positive comments but get that ONE negative comment or situation and the negative one is what we replay over and over in our head!!!  It's so hard to let it roll and ignore it.  Yet that's exactly what we need to do.  We need to give our focus to those 100 nice, positive comments!!  We need to believe in ourselves and know "what others think or say about us is none of our business!!"  Their ignorance is not the truth!!  Just believe in yourself and welcome only constructive, respectful criticism because that's what pushes you to reach your goals and become a better person!!

Now that's what I'm talking about!!!

Monday Musings-Week 3

Have you been to the exhibit, Mummies of the World?  If not, you need to go!!!  Saturday I went with a group of friends from our Harley Club and it was awesome!!!  Now, I don't have photos because you are not allowed to take any while in the exhibit but trust me...it's worth going to see (at least in my humble opinion)!!

Since I don't have any photos, I'll share some links with you so you can get an idea of what is in the exhibit. 

Mummies of the World

Family Guide

Food Friday-#12

Since it's National Soup Month, I'm going to share a French Onion Soup recipe today.  French Onion Soup is by far a favorite in our house and Prissy's house as well.  Prissy (nickname for my oldest daughter) made this recently and shared the recipe with me.  She said it was delicious!!! 


French Three Onion Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds yellow onions, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced, (about 6 cups sliced)
• 6 shallots, thinly sliced, (1 3/4 cups)
• 1 leek, white and light green part thinly sliced, washed well, and dark green top reserved
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 to 4 fresh thyme sprigs
• 1 fresh rosemary sprig
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 4 cups low-sodium beef broth
• 2 cups water
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 8 (1/4-inch thick) slices whole-wheat baguette (2 ounces), toasted
• 1/2 cup finely grated Gruyere (about 1 3/4 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

Directions:

1. Heat the butter and oil together in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, shallots and leek, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir to combine and cover. Cook, without stirring until the onions are soft and beginning to brown, about 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Uncover, and continue to cook, stirring often, until the onions are a rich brown color and well caramelized, about 25 to 30 minutes. (If the onions begin to stick to the bottom of the pan or burn add about a 1 tablespoon water at a time.) Meanwhile, tie the reserved leek top with the thyme and rosemary using a piece of kitchen twine.

3. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and cook, stirring, to cook out the raw flour taste, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the broth and 2 cups water, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pan; add the herb bundle. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, 20 to 25 minutes. Stir in the Worcestershire and remove from the heat. Discard the herb bundle, stir in the sherry and season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

4. Preheat the broiler. Divide the soup between 4 (16-ounce) oven proof bowls or ramekins and arrange them on a baking sheet. Top each bowl evenly with 2 baguette slices and top with the cheese. Put under the broiler until the cheese is melted and lightly browned, about 1 minute. Sprinkle with the chives and serve.

Whine and Cheese-2nd Serving

I am pretty much a positive person but every once in awhile I do whine a little. Since I need an outlet for that at times...I decided to start a little "Whine and Cheese" post which I may do weekly/biweekly or whenever I need to get some things off my chest!! LOL!!

The "whines" will be little things going on that I need to vent about; the "cheese" will be the good things going on in my corner of the world. I may even add a few pieces of "chocolate" to help bring a smile to my face (and yours)!!

WHINE

The Food Lion near my house is the pits lately!  I mean the produce section doesn't have half the items the store across town has nor does any other section of the store..what's up with that???  Guess I'll have to go across town from now on to get my groceries.  Why can't these stores all

          stock the same items????

Why do some people always have to create DRAMA the moment they begin to speak?  I mean there was no reason to bring it up but oh no, they have to start something right off the bat????? Walk the talk people!!!

I don't have a bank account in Africa, I don't need to meet "singles" in my area, I don't have a long lost relative in Russia nor has my credit score changed!!!!!!!!!!!!  SPAM...it's ridiculous!!

 

Isn't there someone out there who can develop a remote control that zaps you after so many times of changing channels on the tv?????  Just asking!!!!

CHEESE

Bman (the nickname for my youngest daughter) has completed almost a year of cooking lessons with me!!!  Whoo Hoo...she's done a fabulous job so this year we'll be "cookin" to get in some girl time!!!

Love my morning coffee with flavored creamer while having a little blog time!!!

We had a great activities planning meeting last week; there will be plenty of rides for the H.O.G. Chapter this year!!! 

I can't believe how much I'm lovin my short haircut!  Who'd have thought!!  Thanks, Jen!!

CHOCOLATE

An old farmer wrote to his son in prison: "This year I won't be able to plant potatoes because I can't dig the ground, I know if you were here you would help me."

The son wrote: "Dad, don't think of digging the ground because that's where I buried the bodies!"

The police read the letter and the very next day the whole ground was dug by police looking for bodies but nothing was found.

The next day the son wrote: "Now you can plant your potatoes dad, it's the best I could do from here!"

Blackout Day!!!

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://sopastrike.com/

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

PINT-Random Thoughts!!

Where In NC.....

I'm needing a little help....as you know Harley Man and I belong to a H.O.G. Chapter in NC.  We love to visit new places across the state and we are always looking for ideas.  So why do I need help? 

Well, I'd love to hear about some out of the way places you've visited in NC...small towns, restaurants, exhibits or festivals.  Over the years we've found so many places by word of mouth, no way we would have found them on our own!!!  So...if you've found some also, I'd love for you to share your suggestions!! 

No rides this weekend for us...Harley Man is doing a Monster Truck Show...but next weekend I head to Discovery Place to view Mummies of the World!!!  Should be lots of fun!!!

Food Friday!

I love having soup in the winter so I'm always looking for new recipes to try.  This one is cooked in the Crock Pot and has received rave reviews all over the internet.  Yum!!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:
6 large baking potatoes, peeled, cut in 1/2 -inch cubes
1 large onion, chopped
1 quart chicken broth
3 garlic cloves, minced (or pressed)
1/4 cup butter
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup cream or 1 cup half-and-half cream
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
1 cup sour cream (optional)
8 slices bacon, fried & crumbled
cheese, for sprinkling

Directions:
1. Combine first seven ingredients in a large crock pot; cover and cook on
HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours (potatoes should be tender).
2. Mash mixture until potatoes are coarsely chopped and soup is slightly
thickened.
3. Stir in cream, cheese and chives.
4. Top with sour cream (if used), sprinkle with bacon and more cheese.


Nutrition:
553 calories, 37 grams fat, 39 grams carbohydrates, 17 grams protein per serving.

Whine and Cheese-1st Serving

Over at Marvi Marti's, there's an idea I really like.  Marti does a post each week called Wine and Cheese where she posts her dislikes and likes each week.  It's a cute post...nothing really serious most of the time!!

I am pretty much a positive person but every once in awhile I do whine a little.  Since I need an outlet for that at times...I decided to start a little "Whine and Cheese" post which I may do weekly/biweekly or whenever I need to get some things off my chest!!  LOL!!  The "whines" will be little things going on that I need to vent about; the "cheese" will be the good things going on in my corner of the world.  I may even add a few pieces of "chocolate" to help bring a smile to my face (and yours)!!

WHINE

 I'm still decluttering but I've hit a snag....losing the steam to keep going.  I dislike all the time  it takes to do this!!! 

 I haven't downloaded one single book on my Nook Color yet.  Nope, not one!!! 

 Rainy weather is the pits!!  Too dreary, too wet, too cold!!

CHEESE

We had our first Officers Meeting for the H.O.G. Chapter and there were lots of positive ideas    presented for the coming year!

 I learned how to make an online survey using Survey Monkey!!  Yeah, doesn't take much to make me smile!!

 I'm planning a "Going Out of the Biz" Sale to get rid of all my educational resource books!  It's time for those books to find a new home!!!

 Harley Man can actually use two pieces of his workout equipment due to my purging!!!  Yayyy!!!!!!!