My friend at Arctic Garden Studio

You know I love to read your blogs and try to keep up with your doings. Well, today while I was reading on Arctic Garden Studio blog, I see Nicole has a cool giveaway going on. So I just had to join and see if possible there's is a chance to win! Go here to check this out:http://arcticgardenstudio.blogspot.com/2011/09/eat-your-books-giveaway.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ArcticGardenStudio+%28Arctic+Garden+Studio%29

I mean how could one go wrong with this? To be able to list the titles of  your cookbooks and be able to find the recipe you want faster! So, I went down to my bookshelves and reorganized them and took these pictures:

And this is not all, because there are magazines and recipe card boxes. I sure enjoy cooking!

I didn't know that I have over 158 cookbooks, pretty cool. Don't you think I might have a chance???? You should enter yourself, it will be fun to see who wins!
I do enjoy reading Nicole's recipes and have tried a few. She lives in Alaska, what an adventure! Although I love reading everyone's blogs and where they are from. I think the old saying is true, "Home is where you hang your hat." Every place on this earth to me has beauty, we just have to find it.  I have lived in 3 different states of the United States and have found great people in each one. But I feel I have many friends now through blogging. Thanks, blog world!

Just wanted to update on what I am working on!

I have been filling my hours of each day doing this:

 Sorting through lots of pictures, getting them ready to post on my family history blog.

I just didn't realize how many hours this would take, but I do enjoy it and it keeps me busy! I am working on the Armstrong side of the family for now and have over 100 pictures just from this family. How cool is this? Thanks, Karen!
Thanks for visiting with me today!

Cream of Pumpkin Soup

Ok, so I had some pumpkin thawing out and some cream I wanted to use up, so what better than pumpkin soup. I put the pumpkin in the crock and started heating it up.

In about an hour, I mashed the pumpkin with a potato masher then added some red bell pepper, (about 1/4 of one, sliced), 1/2 onion, and diced 2 apples.

Let that cook for another hour.

After a total of about 2-2 1/2 hours, it was smelling pretty good, so I let it cool for about 1/2 hour and added 1/2 cup of cream and 1/2 cup of whole milk, along with a can of drained green beans, and salt and pepper to taste. Put it all into a container and put the soup in the refrigerator for the night, (as I still needed to finish eating up the chicken noodle soup).

During the night I kept thinking I wanted this soup to be more creamy. So this afternoon,  as I pulled it from the fridge, I took out all the pieces of green beans and set them in a separate bowl. Then I put this mixture into a colander to drain out the cream and milk. Yep, I actually did this, so that I could take this soup and put it into my blender and blend away! As the blender was mixing, I added back the cream and milk to get the right consistency.  Then I put all of this, including the green beans into a 3 quart pot and heated the soup up. Now I have a cream soup!!! I  also sprinkled some cinnamon, and grated some nutmeg into it. All I can say, it was delicious and creamy, and perfect to my taste, I shall make this again. Only next time, I will do the blending before I put in the green beans and cook all in one day, using just the crock pot!

Thanks for popping in and seeing my craziness sometimes in the kitchen!
Enjoy!

Lasagna in the Crock Pot

How I to made lasagna in the crock pot:
Brown one pound of ground beef with 1 onion, 1/2 sliced red pepper and 1/2 cup shredded zucchini. Then add about 2 teaspoons Italian spices, (or how you spice your Italian dishes). Next add 1 can (15 ounce size) diced tomatoes, 1 can (8 ounce tomato sauce) and 1 can (6 ounce size) tomato paste. Plus I add a jar of spaghetti or marinara sauce. To this I add a container, pint size of cottage cheese. This is my meat mixture.
I took my new 5.5 quart crock pot (you should spray with PAM, as it would of been easier for me to clean) and first put in the meat mixture, then the lasagna noodles, (about 3 at a time, broken in half, I did not cook these up), and some sliced cheeses of your choice, (I use cheddar/colby and mozzarella and Parmesan). Continue to layer at least 3 or 4 layers. Ending with meat mixture. Put plastic wrap right on top of this and your lid to the crock pot. Put this in refrigerator overnight. Make sure this crock is not the machine part of the crock you are putting in the refrigerator, but only the stoneware part. This process will soften the noodles.
Five hours before serving, take out crock from refrigerator and take off plastic wrap, (throw away plastic wrap) and let set on counter for about an hour. Then put into your crock pot machine and cook on low for 3-4 hours. The last 1/2 hour sprinkle on the last layer of cheeses and turn off crock and let cheese melt. Spoon out and serve.
Next time I make this I will take pictures as part of the process, I am sorry I didn't think to do this before I started.
This was so good and easy, didn't have to heat up the house to make it. Had my daughter and the 3 grandchildren over to enjoy it with me!!!! It was cooking while we were at church (our church last 3 hours on Sundays) and came home to a nice supper.
Enjoy!