the.amanda.sewell

Here is another couple of yummy recipes from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food book that I bought. We were surprised at how yummy the beans were. I served these two recipes with a side of broccoli and it made a colorful and yummy meal. Chicken with Cranberry Sauce Serves 4 2 tablespoons butter 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme Coarse salt and ground pepper 4 bone-in chicken breasts (8 ounces each) 1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup) 1/2 teaspoon dried sage 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth 1 cup cranberries 1/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon cornstarch (mixed with 1 tablespoon water) DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl, mix 1 tablespoon butter, 1 teaspoon thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Rub evenly under chicken skin. Place on a rimmed baking sheet; roast skin side up until skin is golden brown and meat is cooked through, about 25 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, melt remaining tablespoon butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion, stirring

So these root beer cupcakes are a conglomeration of a couple of different recipes. Basically, I made the recipe from my Crazy About Cupcakes book (Castella) and I found it was not as rootbeer-ish I was imagining that it would be . . . so I decided that instead of the actual can of rootbeer, I would try it with rootbeer concentrate. I think I ended up using about 1/2 a bottle. I just kept adding it until I could taste it in the batter (yep, I tasted raw eggs too, so far I have not died). Anyway, then I was looking for a topping for it. I found a site online that had pretty cupcakes so I copied that topping idea. I am not too fond of the shortening frosting recipe though -- I think next time I would just stick to something butter based, or something even lighter than that -- I just don't like how the shortening feels in my mouth. It still tastes sweet and good, I just have issues (hey, at least I admit it). Anyway, here is my closest approximation to my final recipe. ROOT BEE

Seriously since I have been mostly cut off of stamping (aka, I can do it but it is a chore now to get everything out) -- I have been crocheting a lot more and baking up a storm. Today was no exception -- I made pumpkin cupcakes to take to some friends. I am still working on figuring out the best way to carry them to people -- I did see a cupcake box at Hobby Lobby that holds four of them and I think I might get one of those to copy from. Anyway, here is the recipe for the pumpkin cupcakes. The spiders are just spider rings with the ring part cut off. I made some like this last year (but I sprayed them with that frosting spray and stuck the whole rings in so these ones look better today) , but really the only thing new is the pumpkin cupcake recipe. I think this afternoon I am going to make rootbeer cupcakes so I will post that one a little later. . . watch for it. PUMPKIN CUPCAKES (Yield: 2 doz.) 1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter 1 c. firmly packed brown sugar 1/3 c. granulated su

This recipe came from Martha Stewart Everyday Food cookbook I have and looked interesting so I tried it and it was delish! I hope you like it too! My kids even ate it, well all except the green beans *giggles* PASTA WITH PESTO, POTATOES and GREEN BEANS Ingredients Serves 4 2 waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes 1 tablespoon salt 8 ounces cavatappi 8 ounces green beans, trimmed and halved 1/2 cup Pesto (I used classico brand ready made in the pasta sauce aisle - there is a recipe at the bottom if you want to make your own) Pepper Directions Peel and cut 2 waxy potatoes into 1-inch cubes; place in a large pot of water; bring to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt and 8 ounces cavatappi or other short tubular pasta; return to a boil; cook 2 minutes. Add 8 ounces trimmed and halved green beans. Return to a boil; cook until vegetables are tender and pasta is al dente, about 6 minutes. Drain; toss with 1/2 cup pesto; season with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at roo

Happy Tuesday! I thought I would take a couple minutes out of my insane schedule for the day and post some pictures of a couple of the projects that I did at Creating Keepsakes convention this past weekend in Phoenix. It was fun as usual. I volunteered for the crop on Thursday night, which I think is the best crop as you complete a 6x6 album in one night. Each of the pages is designed by a different sponsor. I was surprised at how few people there were there. It seemed super calm. It was nice to see Michaela and the other creating keepsakes team gals. As I have volunteered 3 times, they seemed to remember me more now. They are always super cute. Michaela had a new grand baby and the pictures were just darling!!! Saturday morning I volunteered in classes in the morning. The first class I helped out in was "Journey: Accordian Keepsake Book" sponsored by Zsiage and taught by a cute Arizona girl named Jami Myers. Her hubby helped out too. It was a fun class and everyo

So last night I had the urge to go make some cupcakes, so I put down the blanket I was crocheting and DH came downstairs with me to relax and watch a movie while I whipped some up. It was really late when I got done baking them, but I iced them anyway . . . the icing is "special" because I could not find the tip I wanted to use, so I just used the icing bag snipped! My kids were really excited this morning to find these waiting for them. Nothing like a good sugar high in the morning (Yep, I let them eat a cupcake for breakfast). Anyway, after all that, if you think these sound yummy, here is the recipe: Strawberry Lime Cupcakes (from Crazy About Cupcakes by Castella) 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature) 1 c. granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/3 c milk 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 1/2 c. fresh or frozen strawberries (sliced) 2 tsp lime juice 1 tsp grated lime zest DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat the oven to 350

I know Valentines Day is a long way away still . . . but I was playing with my magnolia stamps and I still have not shared these cards with you yet, so I thought I would. I am super excited about how they turned out! I hope you like them! This first card is a blowing kisses one. I just loved this stamp. I paired it with my purely pomegranate (SU!) paper and stamped it with my new polka dot background stamp (also SU!) I thought the black would help to set things off. The image was watercolored and when it was dry I used my white gel pen to put dots on her dress and shoes and on a couple of the hearts, and her pony tail holders. Sentiment is by Amuse. This second stamp I just had to have. I love the heart and I thought it could be used for thinking of you cards and sending love cards, and of course, Valentines. I used Night of Navy with Purely Pomegranate (SU!) and I also used my new Posy background stamp (SU!) which is totally pretty in the navy color. I had this stitched ribbo

This recipe comes from Martha Stewarts book Everyday Food: Great Food Fast. It was super easy and the results were great!!! Buttermilk Baked Chicken Vegetable oil, for baking sheet 1 cup buttermilk 8 slices white bread 1 teaspoon hot-pepper sauce Salt and pepper 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (2 1/2 ounces) 1 teaspoon dried thyme 4 pounds chicken parts (preferably legs, thighs, and wings), rinsed and patted dry DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously rub a baking sheet with oil. In a food processor, pulse the bread until it turns into coarse crumbs. 2. In a large bowl, stir together the buttermilk, hot-pepper sauce, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. In a separate bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, thyme, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. 3. Place the chicken in the buttermilk mixture, turning to coat evenly. Working with one piece at a time, remove chicken from liquid, letting excess drip back into bowl; dredge in the breadcrumb mixture, turning to coat evenly. Plac

I remember where I was exactly. I had just woken up to listen to a friends radio show. I was in college and was surprised to hear him say that they would be going to a live feed of MSNBC radio report. As I listened and discovered what had happened, I turned on the television and began to dress knowing it would be a long day. I had no intention of going to classes because I knew I would spend the day collecting student reactions for the local student news channel. I hurried to the school and got busy. I will never forget how scary it was to not be able to contact my grandma, who lived in VA, because the phone calls would not go through. I knew she was supposed to be at the naval hospital for an appt. and no one had heard from her. Luckily it turned out she was okay and everything was fine. But it was not this way for everyone. Let's take a moment of silence to remember the tragedy of Sept. 11th. I think that is important to do before I go on. ******************************

It is getting closer, as you well know if you are reading my blog frequently. I thought I would post some pictures, including the latest one . . . This is a picture of the house framed. We were pretty excited at this stage.... This is a picture of the house at the insulation stage. All of the insulation had been put in, all the wiring was in, and the tiles are on the roof to help the house settle. We did our framing inspection at this point. This is our house as of Saturday. The drywall is all done inside, and we have stucco (unpainted still, but there) done on the outside. Our cabinetry should be in by Sept. 19th. This is a view of the rear of the house. I am so excited about my balcony off the master bedroom! Also, excited about the huge backyard!!!

Happy Monday! It seems the weeks are just flying by. I am getting so excited and overwhelmed by all I have to do for the move. I need to go pick up more boxes today and get crackin' on the packing! (I'm such a dork!) Anyway, I thought I would share a card with you that I made when I still had a stamp space. This is a combination of my two favorites -- Magnolia and Penny Black! The colors in this card were completely inkspired by the American Crafts ribbon. I have been using my ribbon a lot lately as inkspiration. Image was watercolored in. I got a little too wet on her face by accident, and it started to pill a bit, but it turned out okay, you can't see it! YAY! Scallops were made using my slit punch. It is so easy to do -- I am sure you have seen how. If not, let me know and I will show you one my site. Sentiment is by Penny Black and I thought it just went perfectly with this image. Oh and you might notice something a little different about this image -- sh

This is the last card I stamped before I packed everything up. The challenge was to use colored pencils, or pure color pencils, or some kind of pencils. I used my prismacolors and sansodor and colored in the bucket of apples. I found this great ribbon in my stash from Cosmo Cricket that worked perfectly with the colors in the design (Thanks again so much Carrie.) Stamp Set is called "Give Thanks" by SU! and the background paper is by Cloud 9 Design and is called "You're so Lobster Red." I also used the new SU color called Wild Wasabi (the green) as a layering color. The background is SU's kraft paper. It is hard to believe that my stamps are all packed up and I don't get to play until probably November! YIKES! I know it will all be worth it once I am in the new house and in my new stamp room, but I am going to be going through some major "I need to stamp fits" before then . . . Here are a couple of pictures of my stamp room now turned

It has seriously been so long since I last got portraits done of the kids, that I decided to go to Picture People, renew my membership and get some. I looked and the last ones we had done were last October *insert terrified emote here* I decided casual pictures would be fun, so I just let them wear what they normally would on any given Thursday and we got pictures. Our photographer was excellent and things have changed at Picture People. They are now not super focused on props, and more focused on just your kids (which is awesome and what I prefer) and the pictures only took 15 minutes to load/develop and then you can view them on the computer and choose what you like. We had lots of fun! My kids were both full of smiles and it was a great session.

So I spent a lot of time holed up in my bedroom yesterday and I browsed a lot on Martha Stewart and came up with this recipe to make for dinner tonight: Walnut Crusted Chicken Breasts Ingredients Serves 4 2 slices whole-wheat bread, dried 1/3 cup walnuts 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, freshly grated Coarse salt and ground pepper 1 large egg white 4 chicken breast halves, boneless and skinless (6 to 8 ounces each) 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil Lemon slices, for serving Seasonal green salad Directions 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a food processor combine bread, walnuts, and Parmesan; season with salt and pepper. Process until fine bread crumbs form. Transfer to a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl, beat egg white, letting excess drip off, and then into crumb mixture, pressing to adhere. 2. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dip each breast into egg white, letting excess drip off, and then into crumb mixture, pressing to adhere. 3. In a large nons

2 very ripe bananas, mashed well 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour 2 tbsp. sugar 2 tsp. double-acting baking powder 3/4 tsp. salt Salad oil 1 1/3 c. milk (for thicker pancakes use only 1 c. milk) 1 egg, slightly beaten In large bowl, with fork, mix first 4 ingredients; add 3 tablespoons salad oil, milk, egg and mashed bananas and stir just until flour is moistened. Preheat electric griddle or skillet as manufacturer directs. If you are using a griddle that does not have a non-stick surface, brush lightly with salad oil. Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto hot griddle, making a few pancakes at a time. Cook until bubbly and bubbles burst; edges should look dry. Flip pancake and continue cooking other side until golden brown. To keep pancakes warm, place on heated platter. Serve pancakes with butter and syrup or for a change, your favorite preserves. Makes approximately 12 (4 inch) pancakes.