Rhubarb!

Lots & lots of rhubarb! A few weeks ago I posted a picture of my rhubarb that was just starting to come up:

We've been super busy the last few weeks, & not home much. We barely had time to eat, much less check the garden (the rest of which is still bare). Here's what I found when I went out last weekend:

Yep, that rhubarb grows FAST lol - you gotta be quick!

So I picked as much as I could carry back to the house with me, because of course I didn't bring anything to carry it IN. 

I quickly looked through my rhubarb recipes & decided to just make some compote. My grandma used to make this & my boys LOVE it. It takes very little time, & I happened to have a whole bunch of strawberries sitting in my freezer. 

You simply cut up all the rhubarb (I tripled the recipe, if you are thinking it looks like a LOT lol)

Add strawberries, sugar, water & lemon peel. 

Cook over medium heat until it boils, then reduce to low heat.

When it's done, add vanilla & VOILA - a yummy side dish that the kids will love! Mine is all gone & I just made it on Saturday. My older son is in track - & when he comes home from practice or meets he is generally not very hungry. This is the perfect something for him to have. It didn't get quite as thick this time around as it usually does, I think because the strawberries were a bit iced. Taking that into consideration, I did use a bit less water but I think I should have used a LOT less water. BUT - it was still good. Did I mention it is GONE?!

STRAWBERRY RHUBARB COMPOTE

2 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2" pieces
2 cups strawberries, halved
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tsp finely grated lemon peel
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, water & lemon peel into pot. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil; reduce heat to low. Cook 7 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until rhubarb is fork tender. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla. Refrigerate. May or may not last longer than 2 days :)

I am on a roll!

Hello all, & happy WEEKEND! It was a beautiful day today - I had no idea it was supposed to be in the 80's - but it was sunny & not rainy & perfect! This spring has been CRAZY here in Wisconsin. Just last week I had my electric blanket on. And the heat. Good grief! 

Are you wondering about the title of this post? I am on a roll because I made ANOTHER card! That's the third card this year! LOL. (Never mind that I used to make 3 cards in a week!) I sold some Magnolia stamps recently, & as I was going through them all to decide what to sell & what to keep, this cutie popped out at me. I love this one - it has to be one of my favorites. Don't know why, I'm not really into fishing anymore - but I used to go all the time with my hubby. Ah yes, nothing like getting up at 4 a.m. - putting worms on a hook - sitting in a boat for hours on end - having to KEEP QUIET so I don't scare the fish away LOL - then smelling like fish the rest of the day. Good times :)

Anyway, on to my card:

I also sold some papers recently - but I will never part with my Basic Grey pads - especially the older ones. This is Boxer & it is pretty much gone, except for some scraps :(

I feel like I've lost the ability to color. I thought it was like riding a bike - but as I peek at some blogs, I see there have been some new discoveries in the realm of coloring. Mine's a bit blah - but I still like the card overall. 

This was a dollar stamp from Michael's, from about 5 years ago. Back when they made the square wooden ones. Love this stamp, definitely one of my most used sentiments. 

I really go back & forth with the whole stamping thing. Some days I look at my stuff & I just want to get rid of the whole lot. But, then when I sit & actually start to go through stuff -- like the Magnolias -- I find it really hard to part with some of it. Some days I think, what's the point? I'll make a card & it will sit, collecting dust. But, then I think at one time in my life it was very therapeutic & if I didn't spend at least a few minutes a day doing *something* card-related, I thought I would lose my mind. I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff, which has really helped. I think I was overwhelmed with all my choices before. If I pare it down to the bare minimum, I don't have to make so many decisions. Decisions are stressful, you know :)

I will leave you with a couple of pictures I took on this fine summer day - Saturday is my day to walk around the yard & catch up on what I missed all week while I was at work!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! 

Indigo bunting

Look who came to visit me on Mother's Day :)

I think the Indigo Bunting is one of the prettiest birds we see here in SE Wisconsin. 

I first saw him about a week ago, but by the time I got my camera a mean ole Blue Jay bullied him right out of the feeder :(

Um ..... you have something on your beak!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

to all the fabulous mothers & grandmothers out there! Hope you are spending your day doing something FUN!!!

A weekend of birding

I don't know about you but I am sooooo glad to see spring. It was a long winter here in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, the northern part of Wisconsin & parts of Minnesota got walloped with snow last week. My condolences to all of you!

I kept my camera close to me these last few days, because the FUN birds have arrived. If you are friends with me on Facebook, you have already seen these because I'm obsessed with posting my bird photos, LOL. But if not - enjoy :)

 A rufous-sided towhee. I had never seen one of these before, although I'm sure they've been around. It took my husband & me a while to identify it. You should have seen me looking at the picture, looking at my book .... looking at the picture ... looking at my book....

Of course, cardinals are NOT new to me & they are here all year round. But I really like how this shot of a female cardinal turned out. You can see what she's eating for lunch. She needs a napkin :)

I assume this is her boyfriend :)

A rose-breasted grosbeak - these are so pretty & believe it or not, there was another male sitting on the other side of the feeder. At the same time! They were giving each other dirty looks, but they didn't fight at all. Good thing, or I would have had to give them each a time-out!

This shot was actually taken at my mom's house. We will get the Baltimore Oriole - our feeder is out - but we haven't seen one yet. She also has an Orchard Oriole, which I have never seen & is actually the one I wanted to get a picture of but he never showed up. That's just fine..... I think this one is prettier anyway :)

We should be seeing an Indigo Bunting any day now, & some years we've seen a Scarlet Tanager. And I just put the hummingbird feeder out over the weekend so we should be seeing those soon. My goal this summer is to get a GOOD shot of one of those fast moving critters!

I have cleared out SO MUCH of my stamping stuff, I can't believe it! Not only is there more space, but there is also more $$$ in my bank account. Kind of nice to be the seller instead of the buyer for once, lol - I can't believe all the money I spent on STUFF! I've held on to  my basics though - I will never get rid of my Penny Black stamps - I'm keeping most of my High Hopes stamps - most of my Magnolias - & of course my pencils will stay. As long as I have those (& probably some card stock would be good to hang on to LOL) I can dabble when I find the time. You know. At 4:00 on Saturday mornings. 

Have a super week!

Mandarin Orange Cake

So I was chatting with a co-worker recently about desserts - one of our favorite topics - & we started talking about orange cake. I told her I had some orange frosting & was looking for an orange cake mix. She told me she was also looking for an orange cake mix for her Mandarin Orange Cake that she used to make all the time, until it became impossible to find the mix. Oooooo.... that sounds better than what I was going to make. So that day after work I went to a higher-end grocery store, since the usual Walmart & Target didn't carry it. And VOILA! I found it! But you do NOT want to know what I paid for it! 

Anyway, she gave me her recipe - I made it - um .... GONE in 2 days! So..... I am sharing with you..... if you are able to find the Duncan Hines orange cake mix (or any orange cake mix, but I don't know anyone else who makes it), then you must try this!

MANDARIN ORANGE CAKE

1 box orange cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 (11 oz) can mandarin orange segments with juice
1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip
1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple with juice
1 (3.5 oz) pkg Instant Vanilla pudding mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease & flour a 9"x13" pan. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, oil & mandarin oranges with the juice. Beat until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. Allow to cool.
To make topping: In a large bowl, beat Cool Whip, pineapple with the juice & the dry pudding mix until blended. Spread on cake. 


That's it! Sooooo good when it's cold! A perfect summer dessert ~ thanks for sharing, Kim :)