It was a sad day when I heard that Hostess was closing it’s door, laying off thousands of employees across the country and filing for bankruptcy. I hadn’t been following the company’s problems, so the whole issue kind of snuck up on me. All of a sudden I found myself in fear of never getting a SnoBall or DingDong again! So what do the Naylor’s do when pushed into a corner? We combine our efforts, shoot for the last hurrah…which of course, ends up in a whole lot of excess! That very night, Megan and I drove over to Foods-4-Less…we found one bag of chocolate Donettes. So we went across the street to Walmart – surely we would find some over there…nothing! We stopped at 2 gas stations on the way home, but no luck. So Megan had the bright idea to send a shout-out to other Naylors across the country…okay, in Vegas and Salt Lake City…to give them a mission, should they choose to accept it, to be on the look-out for any and all Hostess goodies. One thing I’ve learned – Naylor’s never back down from a challenge! I decided to make an early trip over to Business Costco and look what greeted me when I went to my car! I went down the street and had to stop… …then I went to the main street and had to stop again! When I got
Our family really loves Asian-style food. We adore PF Chang’s, but going there usually surrounds an event like a birthday or a graduation. When time is of the essence, our favorite go-to is Pei Wei, a PF Chang fast-food alternative. Good food, reasonable prices and it’s quick. But I have been determined for a while now to start experimenting with main dishes that might satisfy our chicken and rice cravings right here at home. I came across this recipe for Bourbon Street Chicken and adapted it for a larger quantity, to be prepared in the crock pot. Bourbon Street Crock Pot Chicken Serves 8 – 12, depending on how hungry you are! 5 lbs. raw boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces 5 – 6 tablespoons olive oil, 1 – 2 tablespoons per pan of chicken (my frying pan only cooked up about 1/3 of the chicken at a time) Sauce 1 cup apple juice 1 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper 5 large garlic cloves, minced 1 1/3 cups soy sauce 1 cup hot water 1/2 cup ketchup 1/4 heaping cup of cornstarch Combine all the sauce ingredients in your crock pot, with the temperature on high. Put the lid on the crock pot. Next, add olive oil, 1 – 2 tablespoons per pan full of chicken to a frying pan and turn
typo [tahy-poh] noun, plural ty-pos. Informal . 1. a typographical error; misprint 2. cute Australian concept stationery store For someone who has spent the last decade acquiring a broad expanse of scrapbooking and paper art supplies, the introduction to this cute little store in the Fashion Valley Mall, San Diego, should not have brought such delight. But with the coming of Christmas, I broke my normal rule of staying away from malls. I didn’t go to shop but to see what fun fashion color trends and pattern combinations are available for the season. When what to my wonder eyes should appear but a miniature corner store…okay, I’d better stop before I hurt my brain trying to carry on with that theme! But a great find, nonetheless! The walls of the store are lined with journals and fun spiral-bound notebooks, knickknacks, stationary, cards and office supplies. For the holidays, there are decorations, small trees, wrapping paper, ribbons and twines. I didn’t take a bunch of pictures inside the store…I always feel kinda funny about doing that without getting permission. But what a fun time we had window shopping! Lots of great products (although there were a few items that needed to be censored because of the verbal content!) that offered some great inspiration and embellishment. If you get one in your area, go check it out. If you aren’t so lucky and you want to see their “stuff”, check out
The holidays are approaching and my mind turns to feeding family and friends with easy to prepare foods that I can plan for in advance. It’s amazing how impromptu gatherings can throw you for a loop if you aren’t careful. When company is coming, I try my best to have great hot meals, but there are days when spending time with my company takes precedent over the time I have to spend in the kitchen. Sandwiches to the rescue! I love a good sandwich prepared with a yummy, freshly baked Rhodes Texas Roll. But if you’re having a party and want things to be appetizer-size, you can easily bake smaller versions with the same bread dough and make them into Dollar Sandwich Buns. Here’s what you will need: 1 – 24 count Rhodes Frozen Texas Rolls Flour for dusting, vegetable spray, 2 large cookie sheets and plastic wrap. Place the frozen rolls on a cookie sheet sprayed with vegetable spray; cover with plastic wrap that has also been sprayed with vegetable spray. Let sit until thawed, but still cold. I didn’t need 48 rolls (24, cut in half = 48) , so I just set out 12, but if you need to make more, you will definitely need 2 cookie sheets. Cut each of the rolls in half with either a knife or kitchen shears. Roll each piece in flour; dust off any heavy excess flour. They almost
I love to bake, but I am basically a lazy baker. It has been a really long time since I baked a cake from scratch. I am not a very discriminating cake-eater. I was thrilled when I discovered that adding melted butter instead of oil to a cake mix seriously changes the texture and taste of the finished product. I can, however, recognize when I’ve eaten something good. This is a really good recipe! Thanks Amy and Pam for letting me share! Banana Cake Cake 1 1/2 cups ripe banana, mashed (about 4 – 6 medium-large) 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 3 cups flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup butter, room temperature 2 1/8 cups white sugar 3 large eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups buttermilk Cream Cheese Frosting 3/4 cup butter, softened 12 oz. cream cheese, softened 6 to 7 cups powdered sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1. Pre-heat oven to 275°…yes, it is 275° – this is not a typo! Grease or spray 2 – 8″ round cake pans with baking spray and set aside; for cupcakes, put paper liners in a cupcake pan and set aside. 2. In a small bowl, mix mashed bananas and lemon juice; set aside. In a medium size bowl, sift the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. 3. In a large bowl (or mixer bowl),
It has been a busy October and we still haven’t gotten up into the attic to get down Halloween decorations. The only decorating that has been done is with those few items that got missed when we put away Halloween LAST year! But because we are feeling the need to have a splash of those fall colors, we decided that we could “make the pathway bright” and fill our doorway with pumpkin cheer! You all know that I love my Everything99cents store – yet another reason! Last Saturday they had pumpkins out front! That’s right, a big box of pumpkins for just a dollar! We got the tiny pumpkins from the grocery store and they were less than a dollar, but the bigger ones? Yep…a dollar! When you can get them that inexpensive, I don’t mind sacrificing one. Measure the approximate height of the pot that will go inside – figure that the wall of the pumpkin will be at least 1″ to 1 1/2″ thick, so choose your pumpkin carefully – then chop off the top and remove the seeds. Your pumpkin pot is now ready to put a pot of posies (also just a dollar) right inside. Easy peasy and cheap! Mixing it up a bit, the little white pumpkin had the perfect stem to attach a sparkly bow on top! It’s a process…but such a fun one. Now I don’t
This dip is out-of-this world delicious! Enough said…or is it? I could go on and on…everyone that tries it does! One of the main reason behind serving this with apples is because it eliminates the need for utensils. Using a slice of an apple helps you get some of your daily servings of fruit in. You will learn early on that you should get a good scoop of it on each slice, since double-dipping is socially unacceptable…and yes, you will have to keep an eye on the dip – the dip-partakers might just forget their manners! You could always encourage your guests to use plates, but you might want to double this recipe or there won’t be enough to go around. If there does happen to be any left, lock the frig or it will mysteriously disappear overnight. Yep…this Heath Toffee Cream Cheese Apple Dip is THAT good! Heath Toffee Cream Cheese Apple Dip 2 – 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup white granulated sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar, well packed 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 1/2 a 8 oz. package Heath Toffee Candy Bits Let the cream sit out until it softens. Add the two sugars and the vanilla. Whip together until smooth and creamy. Add about 1/2 the package of the Heath Toffee bits and whip it up a little more. Chill for a few hours or overnight. This will
I’ve been so busy baking that I almost let today get away from me without making any cards…ridiculous! Can’t let that happen! So why not stop, take a few minutes and start getting ready for Halloween greeting cards? I couldn’t think of any good reason either. I had a couple of sheets of Graphic 45 Happy Haunting Collection and I love the nostalgic, whimsical look of the artwork, so for today it was the perfect choice for my cards! I had a cute little moon button that I tied up with some linen thread at the top! Don’t you just love the scaredy cat? Use pinking shears along the edge of a 2′ length of crepe paper; gather, put redline tape on the back and apply as a ruffle, tying up with some orange Hug Snug seam binding. It’s kind of hard to see, but I added some Star Dust Stickles to the face on the pumpkin for just a little fun sparkle! This card uses ribbon on the side and three buttons to dress it up. A little black tulle, a brown paper bag flower and some fancy pins give a nice touch! And here’s more of the little quilt in the background! If you haven’t made cards yet today, it isn’t too late! Happy Card Making!
I was at a friend’s house a couple of weeks ago for a meeting, and Amy graciously served us lunch. Food is always better when someone else does all the work, but this lunch was so delicious that I asked for all the recipes…just to spread the deliciousness around! We had some toasted pita chips with this yummy bean dip, similar in flavor and texture to humus. It was so good and simple to make that we decided to make it for a women’s conference (of 200 women) that was coming up at the end of September…and I made 6 double batches! I will, however, just give you the smaller-sized recipe – technically, I could only do a double recipe batch at a time…it’s all my Cuisinart food processor would hold! Cannellini Beans, also known as white kidney beans, are high in protein, low in fat and a great source of fiber. I spotted some cans at my local grocery store for $1.69 per can, but because I was making such a large batch, I shopped around and found them at my Walmart (not a super store) and there were 2 brands of cannellini beans – one was 92¢ and the Great Value label was only 68¢. I am not picky about my canned beans…I opened one of each of the cans, tried a bean from each and couldn’t tell the difference. After all, I was
Along with the changing color of autumn leaves comes the anticipation of cooler weather…and my favorite seasons for baking! Those days haven’t quite arrived here in San Diego, but I anxiously await a good excuse to heat up the house. For those of you blessed with something other than our “horrid” San Diego climate, the time is now and this is a great recipe to add to your “fresh-out-of-the-oven” arsenal! Time again for a guest post over at the Rhodes Bake-N-Serv Blog with this fun recipe for Chopped Pizza. No red sauce, which is great for some kids, but what I really liked about it was that it makes a no-mess pizza bread that is delicious served fresh, easy to re-warm and yummy served cold! Go check out the step-by-steps and make some tonight for dinner…and extra for lunch tomorrow!
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