Basmati Rice

A easy, simple and utterly delicious basic one must have in your repertoire. I cook the rice over the stove rather than in my trusty rice cooker. I find the rice are more separate and more defined cooked over the stove. In the rice cooker, the grain then to be softer. After the rice has been fluffed, I transfer it to the rice cooker to keep warm. The delicious aroma wafting through the house.......

Blog Design Basics for Bloggers

I am so loving this new look of my blog! Okay, I am not brave enough to work on my original/main blog yet but I am getting there. I recently enrolled in this fabulous class at Jessicasprague.com entitled Blog Design Basic for Bloggers and cannot say enough good things about it! 

I have been blogging for awhile now, always wondering how some people are able to customized their blog format. Never had the time to fully explore how to customize my blog so when I saw this class being offered on JessicaSprague.com, I jumped at it! I am so glad I took this class and really appreciate that it was self-paced. When the class first started I had visitors staying with me, so I could not begin... Then when I could start, I had to put in additional hours at work because an employee was hospitalized. So I could not really work on it :( 

But when I could instructors, Crystal Wilkerson and Kristina Proffitt was right there for me, even though it was often for a few minutes at a time, in the middle of the night!! Yeah, for self-paced classes :)

Until now I have not had the time to design my own blog elements so finally I gave up. I decided to use the purchased blog kits and follow the lessons to ensure I knew how to customize my blog. I LOVE IT!! 

I hope in the near future to design my own background, banners and happy art. Meanwhile kudos to Crystal Wilkerson and Kristina Proffitt (and Jessicasprague.com) for bringing it all together for us. I cannot wait for the next class!!

Italian Style Meatballs

Dear daughter with meatballs on your mind, this is my latest meatball experiment. I like it!! Give this recipe a try. The fennel seeds give it a distintive flavor. Experiment with turkey meat. Sorry I did not get this posted before you made those turkey meatballs....I am only a Mom NOT Wonder Woman. LOL ! ( a darn Super Mom though)

Easy Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce from (Almost) Pantry

This is so easy and fast! And good too! All you have to do is to chop up the vegetables, open up some cans of tomatoes, put everything in a slow cooker and it is a go. It is very forgiving. Use whatever brand of tomato products you choose or is available. Try to choose lower sodium products. Use white mushrooms,brown mushroom or portabella mushroom, whole or sliced - whatever is on sale. I like to double the recipe, using one can of diced tomato and one can of whole tomatoes, roughly cut with a scissor, for texture. Start it at night and it is ready in the morning or start it in the morning and it is ready when you get back in the evening.