Manic Monday

Good morning! It's not really a manic Monday around here since I'm at home listening to the rain fall, while also listening to the Selah "channel" on Pandora. Does a heart good to be filled with worship songs on a Monday morning. What is manic about today is this post! It will have lots of randomness and I just wanted to warn you. :)

First, this is one of the Christmas gifts that Hudson got me this past Christmas. Love it--so convenient when trying to get pasta out of the pan!

Second, let's all take a collective sigh that my second attempt at making a pillowcase dress for Micayla will a) fit her like an actual dress (dress #1 would have been a shirt) b) the armholes will actually allow her arms to go through it easily (dress #1, not so much), and c) that I am mastering this sewing thing just a little bit. :)

Third, I made this at Christmas for Hudson's work Christmas party and it was soooo good. It's Peppermint Red Velvet Cake with Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting. I just found the picture on my phone, hence the delay in putting it here.

Fourth, I made cookies for Micayla's Valentine's Day party at school today. This one was broken and I made it for Hudson. My icing was too thick to get the words to look pretty, but he still ate it. Micayla helped me roll out the dough, and then I iced them and put all of her "owl" friends' first initial on it. I think they turned out pretty good! The second one that says "143" is for my sweet hubby too--that's our code for "I love you" (1:I, 4: Love, 3:You).

Fifth, I'm taking a meal this afternoon to a close friend and it's one of our favorites (though I couldn't tell you the last time we had it.) Here's the recipe:

Stuffed French Bread
1 loaf French Bread or Italian Bread
1 lb. sausage, ground beef, or ground turkey (if you use turkey, make sure you season it really well!)
1/2 onion, minced (cook with meat once meat is near done)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
1 egg
1/4 milk

Cook the sausage (or beef, turkey) and crumble. Make sure to drain well once done. Carefully slice off top of bread and "hollow" out the middle of the loaf, placing bread in a bowl. Mix egg, milk, and cheese with bread in bowl. Add meat and onion mixture, adding Italian seasoning if desired (about 1 tbsp). Place in hollow bread and cover with top of bread again. Wrap well in foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Sixth, I made one of our favorite "go to" winter meals yesterday and can't remember if I've shared it on here or not. So I'll share again!

Seven Can Soup
1 lb. ground beef (could use ground turkey too; I used ground venison because we have plenty)
1 onion, minced
2 cans Petite Diced tomatoes, Italian style
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Rotel
3 cans Minestrone (I used the lower sodium variety)

Cook ground beef with onion until done. Drain well and add to crockpot. Add all cans to crockpot and stir well. I typically add some Italian seasoning (about 1-2 tbsp) to it as well. Cook on high 3-4 hours or on low 7-8 hours. We put a few fritos and a little bit of shredded cheese on top and it is so yummy. This makes a lot of soup, so I usually freeze half of it or use half to take as a meal to someone.

Seventh, Happy Valentine's Day (a day early)!
Eighth, anyone know how to get those block lines from showing up near the banner of the blog at the top? I'm dumbfounded on how to get rid of it. Thanks!