My First Quiche!

Growing up and living in the rural part of the South that I live in, Quiche was not an everyday item that we cooked or ate. I never made quiche before. I think I may have eaten it some time in the past, but wasn't impressed with it.

Well, let me tell you, that has changed! My sweet daughter requested that I make Quiche for Christmas morning and I thought it would be complicated and probably not good.

But, I made the following recipe and not only was it good, it was extremely easy to make. So from now Quiche will be one of my regular foods to prepare.

QUICHE

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cooked ham, diced
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
3 eggs
1 cup milk or cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground dry mustard
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust (Deep Dish)

Directions

In medium bowl, toss 4 teaspoons flour with the grated cheese. Sprinkle mixture into the pie shell.

On top of cheese, sprinkle 1/2 cup of diced ham and 1/2 cup of chopped mushrooms.

In medium bowl, combine eggs, milk or cream, and then add salt and mustard powder. Beat until smooth and pour over cheese and ham.

Put foil around edge of crust to protect it.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes, or until filling is set and crust is golden brown.

The good thing about this recipe is that you can substitute lots of things to make different variations. For instance I also made one using cheddar cheese. I plan to incorporate broccoli, onions, peppers and the like, soon.

Now is a good time to stock up on the frozen pie shells because they are on sale for the holidays.

Concentrate...

FINALLY, the finished Christmas Stockings:



I was so happy not to put "finish Christmas stockings" on my To Do List today!!!!!

Recently I have been doing some planning to streamline my life a little. I want to CONCENTRATE on smaller areas of the things I want and/or need to do. So many times I simply try to do too much and so NOTHING gets done.

One area that I plan to apply this to is COUPONING.

Even in the small towns I live and work in, there are many stores to choose from. Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart, Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly, Dollar General, Family Dollar, just to name the most prominent ones. I often see deals on line and in sale papers for all these stores.

Well, my friend, I just can't keep up with them all. I have tried in the past and then I just gave up and didn't worry about any of them.

So, I've decided to pursue the deals at one drugstore and one grocery store. I will only be concerned about Food Lion and CVS. If I CONCENTRATE on these two, I can do a much better job of making use of coupons for items on sale.

Even then, I can't take advantage of every deal that CVS and Food Lion have. I also don't need to buy things that I really don't need or want, even if its a good deal or free.

With that in mind, here is what I plan to buy at CVS this week:

First Transaction: 1 Colgate Total toothpaste for $2.99. Use 1 $1.00 coupon. One 3/pack of Ivory soap. Use $1.00 off the soap, makes it free. Out of pocket, $1.99 plus tax. Receive $2.00 extra bucks

Second Transaction: 2 Pantene Shampoos for $7.00. Use 1 $1.00 coupon on one and 1 $2.00 coupon on the other. Use $2.00 Extra bucks from first transaction. Out of pocket $2.00 plus tax. Receive $2.00 more extra bucks.

Third Transaction: 3 bottles of Dawn dish detergent for $3.00. Use 25 cent coupon on one and $2.00 extra bucks from second transaction. Out of pocket, 75 cents plus tax.

So for $4.74 I will have purchased 1 tube of toothpaste, 1 3/pack of ivory soap, 2 bottles of Pantene shampoo and 3 bottles of dawn dish detergent for $4.74, plus tax.

That's pretty good, don't you think?!!!

Merry Christmas!

I'll leave you with one last picture of a Christmas Stocking I made last night. This one is for the Appalachian State graduate and fan.

I only have one more stocking to make and that will get done today, I'm pretty sure. Whew!!! I made it.

I hope that each and everyone of you have a wonderful Christmas! I'll be posting again next Monday, the 28th. See you then.

Two More to Go!!!

I made the flannel Camouflage Stocking for my son last night. So, I hope to make one more stocking tonight (Appalachian State) and the last one tomorrow night (Spiderman).

I have purchased some old-fashioned candies for the stockings, but need to think of some other inexpensive items.

Happy Tuesday!

We Need a Little Christmas.....

In the spirit of Christmas, The East Carolina (Purple and Yellow) and the NC State (red, white and black) stockings seem to be getting along peacefully.



The Tree. I must tell you this is an artificial tree that is at least 25 years old. I keep considering buying one of those newfangled, prelit trees, but once the old tree is decorated it looks pretty good, so at least for one more year, we'll keep it.



The centerpiece for the kitchen table. I tried to use what I had on hand. Pulled the candle holder out of a closet, folded a pretty piece of Christmas fabric to make a runner and put some matching gold star garland all around. I like it and didn't cost a cent.



Still have to make one stocking, but really WANT to make three more. Time is really getting short, but we will see.

Merry Christmas week to you.


PS: Today is the first day of Winter and the shortest day of the year. Isn't it comforting that the days will start getting longer tomorrow? I'm looking forward to getting off work and getting home while its still light outside!

Christmas Stocking Progress

I was able to get three more Christmas stockings made this past weekend.

NC State Theme for my Hubby:






Pink Diamonds for one of our girls:




If you want to make one of these, see my Christmas Stocking Tutorial on the left sidebar under "Tutorials".

Have a great Tuesday!

Organization Continues

I have been having computer problems, so please forgive the lack of posting lately!

I'm still working diligently on getting my routines, to-do-lists, schedules, calendars and LIFE in order. This is such a busy time for me and this is helping me to stay on top of things and relieving some of the anxiety.

Reading little snips from organizational books, blogs or websites also help me to stay motivated and I keep learning new things.

Here's a tip I read in an older book I own, which was bought at a library discard sale, called "The Messie's Manual", by Sandra Felton. I don't consider myself a messie.... just time challenged. But, nonetheless, this book contains some valuable information. It is one of the keepers in my collection of reference books for homemaking.

Today's Organizational Tip:

If you have a long term project, break it down into small jobs. Then schedule a few minutes a week for working on it. This will help relieve some of the anxiety of having this project looming in the future.

The long term project that comes to mind for myself is our 2009 Tax Return preparation. I have a "box" where all our paperwork goes into all year. By this time of year is gets pretty full, because most of what is in there is totally unnecessary as far as record keeping for tax return preparation is concerned. This is a project that I could work on a few minutes here and there, just going through it and putting together the receipts that will be needed when tax time rolls around. I simply need to schedule it! This is a great tv watching project. When I am finished, the box just goes back into its storage place until the next scheduled time to work on it.

I'm sure all of you can think of a long term project that you could schedule a few minutes a week toward. I would love to hear what they are!

Menu Planning Help

Last week I worked in my kitchen doing a deep clean and decluttering the counter tops. So what did I do as soon as a corner was empty? Fill it back up!

Anyway I placed this chicken tray, which was a gift from my husband, in the corner, along with three cookbooks that I am currently cooking meals from. The tray was formerly located on top of the china cabinet, but I really like it here as a background for other items. I want to put a small lamp there too, as soon as I find one that works. I am thinking a red and white checked lamp shade would be cute.

I went through these cookbooks recently, making a list of the recipes I wanted to try, a list of items to be bought from the grocery store and the page numbers of the recipe in each cookbook. When I make my daily list the night before, I choose a recipe from one of the cookbooks from my recipe list. Since I wrote down the page number and the name of the cookbook, I can easily find it.

In the morning before work I open the cookbook to the page I need, gather the ingredients and place them in the corner of the counter. Like this:



Don't worry, the frozen sausage will be placed in the refrigerator before I go to work, or my husband will put it in there when he comes home for lunch.

Now when I get home from work, there is no question as to what will be for supper, since the cookbook is already open to the right page and I KNOW that I have all the ingredients on hand because I checked that morning before leaving to go to work.

This post is a part of Whatcha Working on Wednesday at Leslie's blog, My Country Home. I am really working on getting organized and this post represents just one of the ideas I have come up with. For more ideas on getting organized, see my POST HERE on how I make up my "To Do List".

Happy Wednesday!

The Five Minute Job Bank

I thought I'd show you my list of 5 Minute Jobs. When time is short (when isn't it?)I can look at this list for ideas to accomplish a small job. Without the list, I'd spend the 5 minute time slot trying to figure out what to do!

Clean sink
Check for cobwebs in one room
Dust one piece of furniture
Iron one shirt
Cut quilt squares
Sew quilt squares
Wash kitchen window
Wash one wall around light switches, etc.
Wipe off fronts of appliances in kitchen
Wipe off top of the refrigerator
Organize and purge magazines and books
Declutter counter tops
Wipe out under stove top
Declutter top of dryer
Wipe off washer and dryer
Address some Christmas cards
Wrap a gift
Pay a bill
Write a get well, etc. card
Call to make an appointment (Dr. Dentist, etc.)
Clean out Spice Cabinet
Plan a meal
Declutter living room for 5 minutes
Declutter a junk drawer

This week I am working in my living room in an effort to get it cleaned up and decluttered before I put out any Christmas decorations. So, when a 5 minute time slot is available, I will check the 5 minute job list for things that can be done in the living room.

This morning, I plan to work on the table beside my chair. There are lots of books and magazines on it that need to be either thrown away or given away. If I work quickly and don't analyze it too much, I should be able to do that in 5 minutes.

Its really sad when I don't even have 5 minutes to do a job, but it happens! So I must get off this computer and get at it! Have a great day!