I have so many reason’s to be thankful and alot of that is because of all of you!
Your kindness, support, comments and friendship mean so much to me. I have also gotten to know so many of you, that I never would have, had I not become a stamper.
To read the THOUSAND comments on everyone’s Egg Boxes at PTI was truly amazing. It was heart warming to read the sweetness that was poured into each one.
So the card today is for ALL of you! With a big cyber hug and kiss-MWAH!
Well, how honored do I feel being nominated for the Excellent blogger award by 4 different people!
Please check out there blogs below. They are all EXCELLENT too 😀 I am so happy to have connected with so many amazing people (aka ALL OF YOU out there in cyberspace), through stamping.
SPECIAL Thanks to these girls-I feel SO loved-seriously!
Kimmie, Michelle, Lynda and Amber
I also have received some great RAKs from Bobbie Lawrence, Debbie, Tracy, Lora, Lynda, Chelsy, and Ilysa-THANKS GIRLS!
I also want to thank Paulette who is always there to pick me up when I am down-AKA great shopping buddy and friend. It means so much to me 😀
So here you go! My many thanks card
Not a single stamp was used! GASP!!! I know-it was hard for me to even admit as I typed.
I have to say I am totally in LOVE with it though. These are actually STICKERS I got from Heidi Swapp. I saw them, and just fell in love. Let the layering begin.
This could definitely be re-made ALL INK and Rubbah/Acrylic, but talk about a FAST card.
The “thanks!” is a rub on by making memories.
I will say getting the circle cut out-not so fast! But I have happy once I got it right.
Along the circle I needed SOMETHING!!!! So I went with the brads.
What do you think?
I’m loving the colors, ribbon and eyelets on this.
Speaking of LOVE-anyone else out there going to CKU in Manchester NH May 16th?
I know I am getting together with some of my BESTEST PSF’s ever-and am going to have quite the fun spend fest!
If you go-I’d LOVE to meet you!!!
OK I’m off -I need to do my quickie clean up then order pizza.
If anyone has a GREAT quick dinner recipe-PLEASE share! I am in a What’s for dinner? Some ole crap RUT! BLECH!!!!
Till tomorrow 😀
43 Responses for "Many ways to say thanks-I guess Im excellent :D"
Hi Lauren! Adorable card!
I’m a huge fan of your blog, I stalk it daily!
Here’s a quick dinner recipe that I make almost once a week-
(Adjust amounts depending on the size of your family, this feeds 3 of us)
-One can diced Italian style tomatoes
-One can white beans, drained
-Big handful fresh spinach, torn into pieces
-One can chicken broth
-Handful of small pasta (I use “Salad” pasta, but macaroni would work)
-Garlic Powder
-Parmesan cheese (optional)
-Sour dough bread for toast (optional)
-Bring chicken broth to a boil, add past and cook for a few minutes
-Add white beans and tomatoes, simmer until pasta is tender
-Take off of heat and stir in Spinach
-Add garlic powder to taste
-Let sit for a couple of minutes until spinach is wilted
-Serve in bowls with parmesan sprinkled on top and sour dough toast
Enjoy!
OK, I will try and send you some recipes by e-mail when I find a minute… but I seem to be in the same situation as you!! LOL 😀 With Noah being gluten free/casein (so dairy) free, it doesn’t make it easy for the others, I just wish I could put everyone on the same diet!! LOL!
You should subscribe to kraft foods magazine, it is free and you get it every month with easy ideas!!!
I love your card, it’s so different from what you usually make, super cute accent with the brads! 😉
Hi Lauren,
I love your blog. I check it everyday. I don’t think I’ve ever left a comment before, so here goes. I have a receipe that I have been making for my two boys for years. They both love it (‘cuz usually they never like the same thing) and it’s easy to make. All of these measurements are approximate, I don’t really measure anything! If you like more or less of something, this is a great receipe to add and subtract ingredients.
Mexican Lasagna
1 pound ground beef
1 package taco seasoning mix
1/4 cup water
1/2 lb Velveta, cut into cubes
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup frozen corn*
1/2 cup Colby/Jack cheese, shredded
1 package 8″ flour tortilla shells
Brown the ground beef and drain fat. Add taco seasoning mix and water. Simmer for a few minutes until the seasoning mix has disolved. Add Velveta and salsa, continue simmering until the cheese has melted. Mix in corn.
In a 9″ cake pan, spead on about a 1/2 – 3/4 cup layer of the beef mixture, top it with a tortilla shell. Continue adding another layer of meat/tortilla shells unil you are out of room in the pan or out of meat! The last layer should be meat and top that with the Colby/Jack cheese. Lightly cover the cake pan with foil and bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
* The corn is optional, I just started throwing a handful in a few years ago. It’s a nice addition. If my kids would eat them, I think some beans would be good too. I’ve even made this without the co/jack cheese before….because I didn’t have any in the house.
Once the lasaga is out of the oven, cut into triangle shape wedges and serve! We top this with sour cream and eat it with chips and salsa. Sometimes, if I have the stuff in the house, I’ll put out lettuce, tomato, and onion to add to the pie.
I hope you try this, I know it’s a family favorite around here!
Lauren:
This is a recipe I cook like once a week, or every other week if I forget to get one while I’m at the store (like I did yesterday).
It’s super easy to make:
My favorite (and easy) recipe is a pork dinner:
1 pork bone-in butt
1 onion
1-2 cans chicken broth
Throw all in a crock pot on high for 4 hours stir and continue on low for 4 hours. You can serve as is or sometimes we strip the roast off and drain the liquid out, add in BBQ sauce and have chopped BBQ pork sandwiches. I have been doing this like once a week as it is so easy and the house smells SOOO good!
You can even have ideas e-mailed to you every week…. 🙂
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf
Hi – well you deserve it all. Your creativity is just amazing!!
Here’s a recipe to try and my kids even love it (although it looks like a recipe they would turn their noses up at)!!
Ziti with tomatoes, Pesto and Artichokes
1- 6oz jar marinated artichoke hearts
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minces
1 – 28oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 c pesto
1 12oz box of ziti pasta, cooked
1/3 c grated parmesan cheese
(to make it more of a meal, I bake a few chicken breasts with a little bit of water, 1/2 tsp of basil, oregano, some salt and pepper and then just smear some pesto on top. Once baked, slice or dice up the chicken and add to the pasta at the end).
Drain artichoke hearts – reserve 3 Tbsp marinade. Set aside.
Saute onion and garlic in the marinade in a skillet over low heat for 7 min or until onion is tender. Add diced tomatoes and artichoke hearts. Simmer 8 min or until thickened. Add pesto and simmer 1 min. Stir in cooked pasta and diced chicken. Top with parmesan cheese.
I hope you enjoy this!!
BTW- love the card, and no stamping to bat!!!
checking your comments for ideas for our family too. We had chicken sandwiches tonight- bun, lettuce, tomato, mayo, etc. not too exciting but we usually just serve it bunless and with side items, so it was a little change for us.
GASP, a stampless card! Oh, the horror! 😉 It looks great, Lauren!
No help on the recipe – we went out. I hate hearing everyone complain that they don’t like this and the other doesn’t like that, so I just don’t deal with it as much as I probably should. Looks like you got some great ideas here.
you should put a sign in the kitchen saying: kitchen closed closed due to illness. The cook is sick of cooking..LOL
Hugs, Susie
That card is to cool!!! I Love checking your blog out everyday. Love all you ideas!!! I wish I had a recipe for you,but I am in the same boat!!!! Kim
It’s marvelous, dahling! Stamps or not! LOL Love it!
Those are GREAT stickers! I was looking at it and waiting to see whose stamps you used because I hadn’t seen them and I wanted them!
Super quick dinner is on the back of a can of cream of mushroom soup for chicken and dumplings. You can use bisquick for the dumplings and you just put them on top of the stuff in the pot and let it all cook. EASY!!!!
Also on the back of the cream of potato can there is a recipe for a chicken pot pie. Again, bisquick on the top. Fast and easy!
Audrey only likes veggies when they are in a sauce and she gobbles them up in either of these!
Your card is adorable! It looks so cool visually. There’s a chicken dinner that’s pretty yummy….although I suppose you’ve already had dinner. Maybe for another day!
chicken tenders (16 oz.)
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 pepper, cut into small pieces
1 onion, cut into small pieces
Italian seasoning
mozzarella cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Just put the chicken in a glass baking dish and shake some Italian seasoning on top. Throw in the pepper, onion, and can of stewed tomatoes. Cover the dish with mozzarella cheese. It’s ready when the chicken is done…usually about 30 minutes if the chicken is thawed.
Beautiful card! Hoping you are having a good week. I too, was going to suggest Kraft food and family, I’ve gotten a few good recipes from them 🙂 let’s see…a quick and easy meal… 845-878-0800…just kidding (my favorite pizza place) but seriously, there is also a great “what are you making for dinner tonight?” thread on SCS http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128923 somewhere in the middle of the thread, Michelle compiled all of the recipes into a few word documents that you could print out. a ha, while I was typing one came to mind…but may not appeal to your family, as I don’t know everyone’s tastes…
Pork chops and kraut
thin cut boneless porkchops
1 can/bag sauerkraut
Season the chops with a little garlic powder, salt and pepper
heat skillet to med-hi, add porkchops (no oil or butter) sear the chops in the pan…make sure to let them get brown…both sides.
dump in sauerkraut reduce heat to low and stir, the juice from the sauerkraut will deglaze the pan, and the ‘brown stuff’ in the pan flavors the sauerkraut, and makes it less ‘sour’…may take a little longer the first time, but it usually takes me literally 15 minutes, aside from the side dishes…I usually pair it with mashed potatoes and a veggie…
do you have a crock pot??? It doesn’t get much easier than this one…
1 onion
1 whole chicken
remove stuff from inside chicken..rinse thoroughly…
chop onion, put in bottom of crockpot…place chicken on top…cook for 6-8 hours on low
done! The wings literally fell off the chicken when I made it this way…
You so deserve the great comments! You are an amazing, inspirational lady, and we adore you!
Thanks for making the “thank-you” card for all of us in cyber space!!!
Tonight I made homemade chicken and noodles ….
Just boil some boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins (I always have a supply of these in the freezer) in some chicken soup base, (or buillion); toss in a little garlic (or powder) and an onion (or powder)…a couple of ribs of celery if you have it…and cook until done. Remove chicken and cut into small pieces. Remove large pieces of celery and onion.
Save the broth! I use my immersion blender and blend the liquid (makes it nice and smooth) and then boil a bag of wide egg noodles until done (5-7 min.) Thicken if you want with corn starch (sometimes I don’t) and add back the chicken. Serve! It takes about 40 minutes start to finish. . .and the leftovers are good, too! (My guys would never eat veggies in this, but you could sneak in some carrots if you wanted to!)
Have a GREAT week!
I love this card…but let’s be real, I love all of your work! Have a great day! Heather
I am so going to print off all of the great recipes that people have posted here – yummy stuff! Gotta check out the thread that Tracey posted! I love recipes!
You know I love you, my friend! Hope you are having a great week!
What a great card. I can’t believe you didn’t use any stamps on it! It turned out great!
Oh, I *wish* I could go with you and the other PSFs to the CKU in May. That would be sooooo much fun! I can’t wait to hear all about it.
Easy dinner idea???.. Hmmm… I’m like you and often get stuck in a rut. Here is one of my fast and easy dinners….
Chicken Pot Pie
3 – 4 chicken breasts (cooked and cubed)
1 bag of frozen peas and carrots
2 cans of Cream of Potato soup
1 can milk
2 TB poultry seasoning (more or less to taste)
salt and pepper to taste
1 frozen ready-made pie crust (the one with two rolled up pie doughs in a box)
Mix all the ingredients together and place in the pie crust in a deep pie dish. Top with the other pie crust. Add slits to vent. Bake for 45 – 55 minutes at 350 degrees. Let set for 10 minutes before serving.
That Paulette is sure a sweetie. A true friend all the way! I bet she’s a blast to shop with!!!
Off to copy down these recipes posted here! Tracey’s sounded really yummy and reminds me of something similar my mom used to make.
Hugs and love to you,
Renee
What’s nice about this, is that you can have all the ingredients on hand and just whip it together in a jiffy when needed.
Fun Card! Recipes, I love cookbooks so I’m always making something new. My other inspiration is allrecipes.com.
I love my crockpot: Throw in chicken breasts, salsa, and cubed cream cheese, cook on low all day. I leave my chicken frozen so it doesn’t overcook.
Oven chicken: Bake with pesto or spaghetti sauce and top with mozarella cheese
We had shrimp scampi last night which was a bag of frozen shrimp, thawed, and sauted in butter, garlic and white wine.
Great card, no shocker there:-). I love love reading your blog everyday! You are always a great source of inspiration. I will have to see if I have any good recipes for you. I’m usually looking for some new & QUICK to make.
So Cute and NO STAMPS!!!! WHAT???? Easy to remake with stamps! You’re awesome!
My favorite is the cooking light magazine and their site! Great ideas and great recipes!
http://www.cookinglight.com
We had this last night…and every other week!
My daughter’s favorite (she is 7 and the other dd loves it too – she’s 3)
Spicy Peanut Noodles
One package of linguine noodles (8 oz.)
While they are cooking:
cut up one red bell pepper (julienne it into long thin strips) I use my PC mandoline
1 cucumber (julienne it into long thin strips)
1/4 cup cut green onions
3 Tlbs. cilantro leaves chopped
3 Tlbs. chopped roasted peanuts (optional)
Mix up the peanut sauce to pour over all of it:
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup water
2 Tlbs. soy sauce
1 1/2 Tlbs. rice vinegar
1 – 2 tsp. chile paste
1/2 tsp. sugar
(Whisk it together til its smooth)
This is super fast…start your water and it will all be finished when the noodles are ready 15 mins. later!!! ENJOY! Only use a little chile paste if you are sensitive to heat! Dad can add more to his separately.
Also, you can add 1 lb. of shrimp or chicken to make it more hearty. We don’t. 🙂
Love the card Lauren, so cheerful! Hope you found some good recipes! We had frozen lasagna last night – I was really lazy and tired. Being pregnant will apparently do that to you sometimes:)!
Aww. lauren..we all stalk your blog daily, and you make us feel like part of your family..
Here is a recipe that is kid friendly, and my kids love it
Chicken Spaghetti by Chris mott
Cooked spaghetti,
4 cooked chicken breast chopped up
1 can cream mushroom soup
1 can cream chicken soup
1 medium container of sour cream
1/4 cup parmesean cheese
2 cups shredded montery jack cheese.{some in recipe, some for topping}
1/2 cup diced onion{by choice}
sprinkle salt and pepper
Mix all together in 9 by 13 dish, top with 1 cup of montery jack cheese at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Great dish with left over chicken. You can even use fat free soup and sour cream and the kids won’t know the difference. Best the second day too..and can be frozen ahead. I usually serve with garden salad and french bread.
Let me know if you try it..It is our go to recipe!!
Another quick favorite
Chicken Parmesean
milk
parmesean cheese
chicken breast
butter
Dip Chicken Breast in milk, and then Parmesean chicken..stick in the oven, melt 1 stick of butter and drizzle overtop of chicken , 350 degrees for 1 hour…
Love the card Lauren, I swear you could make something great out of just about anything. I love your style. I was browsing craft magazines at Wal-mart this morning (my reward for braving wally world) and easily picked out several cards you had made without even seeing your name first. You have a wonderful, unique style. Thanks for always sharing with us and for bringing us along on your stamping journey.
Ann
Great card! A fairly quick, but hands down favorite with about every kid I ever met:
Pizza Roll
1 hot roll mix
1 can/jar pizza sauce
shredded mozarella, or other good melting cheese
Pizza toppers: mushrooms, black olives, pepperoni, browned pork sausage…
(the choice is yours)
Prepare dough as directed on box. After 5 minutes of resting, divide dough in half and roll out on lightly floured surface into a large rectangle, not too thin.
Spread pizza sauce, then layer other ingredients all over the rectangle, not getting too close to the edges. Begin on a long side and gently roll. Fold ends under to seal and set the long pizza roll on cookie sheet. Repeat. Both rolls can usually fit on one cookie sheet. Loosely cover with a sheet of foil. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, uncover and bake another 20 minutes. Let cool 5-10 minutes. Slice and enjoy! Seems like this makes a lot…but we have to double this for my family of 6! They love it and always want leftovers.
Hi Lauren! This is a pretty easy fix for dinner…
Chicken and Rice
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can milk
chicken breast(s)
mushrooms
rice or egg noodles
Cook up the chicken (cut into pieces or whole, your choice), season with salt & pepper, add the cut mushrooms in with the chicken. Pour in can of soup and can of milk (after pouring soup, fill can with milk) Stir together, let simmer. Serve over rice or egg noodles.
The amounts can be adjusted depending on how much you want to make.
Great card as always, thank you! You are the BEST!
Hi Lauren! Great card.
Now dinner. I make this for – oh crap Company is coming and I have nine million other things to do…
Lemon Chicken
Flour
egg – slightly beaten with fork
boneless chicken breasts
salt
pepper
butter – 1 stick
8oz fresh mushrooms
lemon juice ( about 1/3 c or 3-4 small fresh squeezed)
Put some flour in a shallow pan and season with salt and pepper. DIp Chicken in egg and then flour. In a large fry pan melt half of the butter. Brown the chicken on each side in the butter. Reduce heat to low, add mushrooms and lemon juice. Cover and cook approx 20-30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. As you go along you may need to add more butter if it looks like it’s getting too dry. Serve over rice or egg noodles. You can cook chicken breasts from frozen as well. It just takes longer.
Can’t wait to hear what you made for dinner.
Oh, those recipes look so super yummy!!!
Lauren, great card!! You are such a talented and awesome person!! I am blessed to have you for a friend and as an inspiration!
I am sooooooo there in May. Let’s make plans to get together. Drag along whomever you like 🙂 I’ll pick a place where we can eat. As the resident Manch Vegas chick I know all the good spots :). Yum-O as Rach would say.
PS
My super easy recipe is Mexican Joes
1lb ground beef (very lean)
1 lg Jar of salsa
cook together and serve over burger buns w/nacho chips and carrot sticks or over minute rice sprinkled with cheese.
Definately a kid pleaser 🙂
How about this – made it last night:
Chicken Bruschetta: (soory no measurements)
Boneless Chicken Breasts
Italian Bread Crumbs
Olive Oil
Shredded Parmesan Cheese (not grated)
Mix together and reserve
Can of Diced Tomatoes
Chopped Fresh Basil
Garlic Cloves (maybe 2 – minced)
– put chicken breasts (seasoned w/ salt & pepper) in pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with bread crumbs, top with shredded cheese – bake in 375 oven @ 20 minutes – top with tomatoe/basil/garlic mixture – put back in oven to heat thru – maybe 5-7 minutes.
I served with baked potatoes (nuked) and garlic bread.
enjoy!
Love, the card and your blog. I love the way your mind creates and how you translate it on paper. I look forward to your creations everyday. Thank you for sharing your incredible talent. Ok, if you are anything like me, it isn’t so much the cooking as the clean up and the dishes. Can we all just tell our husbands that no woman ever shot a man while he was doing dishes? LOL!
I live in S. GA so we grill year round, but there are some northern die hards who are able to dig their grill out of the snow bank.
Our Asian night
Terriyaki porkchops
12 ounce bottle Kikkoman’s Terriyaki baste and glaze
8 ounce can crushed pineapple with juice
Mix marinade in large plastic bag. Coat each piece of bone on pork chop with marinade as you put it in bag. Leave out to get to room temp – about 1 hour. Flip several times during the hour. Barbecue.
Soybeans – (edamame)
Drop frozen soybeans into boiling water for about 1 and 1/2 to 2 minutes with a tablespoon of salt for each bag. (Keep in mind you are putting the salt onto the pods and you still have to pop them out of the pods to eat.) Drain and cool in cold water. Can put in fridge to serve chilled. Kids LOVE soybeans as they have to pop them out of their shells to eat them and they taste like nuts. We call them soy nuts because if we called them beans, naturally they would never reach their lips. They are sold here at the local Walmart in the frozen food section.
Rice
brown rice in the rice cooker or Uncle Ben’s five minute wild rice or Rice-a-roni’s Rice Pilaf
Cook as directed on the package, but add 1/2 to 3/4 cup golden raisins with the water. Not Asian but I am always sneaking in fruits/veggies and it makes the rice sweet and sprinkle with sliced almonds.
Yummmmmm
You’ve gotten so many wonderful recipes already. I thought of one more that is so easy, you’ll faint. No, not really…. but it is delish!
**********
Dirty Rice
I box of Zetarain’s Dirty Rice
1 tube (?) Bob Evans Sausage
Colby jack cheese
Brown and drain sausage. Prepare Dirty Rice with sausage as directed. Serve with shredded colby jack cheese sprinkled over top.
**********
That’s it. I told you it was easy peasy. I serve it with hot rolls or fresh bread and with a tossed salad. My family loves this dinner! ♥
Talk to you later!
Hugs,
Renee
Love the stampless card!!! You could never,I mean Never make a card that isn’t nice Lauren!!!
Love your card! I especially love the ribbon and the eyelets…great colors!!!! Terrific design which really reflects your gratitude. Merci!!!!
Wow! Ask and ye shall receive! your comments read like a really good recipe book! I will def printing some of these off! and as always your card is GREAT!
Wow – some great recipes posted here! I will be printing some off myself!
I hope that all is well – I’m in need of my Lauren fix and see that you haven’t blogged in two days!
Sending you a hug.
Teresa
[…] me many night’s last time I asked! I printed them out, and used many of them a couple times! HERE is that thread if YOU want to print them out. I aslo added a Recipe’s category! So for future […]
I love Lasagna but takes forever to make noodles and boil and put everything all together so here is a great recipe for lasagna that takes all of 15 minutes to prepare which is browning the hamburger.
Simply Lasagna
1 lb ground beef
1 egg, beaten
2 1/2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 15oz container Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup chopped Parsley
1 26oz jar spaghetti sauce
1 cup water
12 lasagna noodles, uncooked
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brown meat in large skillet on medium – high heat. Meanwhile, mix egg, 1 – 1/4 cups of mozzarella cheese, the ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese and the parsley until well blended; set aside.
2. Drain meat; return to skillet. Stir in spaghetti sauce. Add water to the empty sauce jar; cover with lid and shake well. Add to the meat mixture; stir until well blended. Spreakd 1 cup of the sauce onto the bottom of a 13 x 9 – inch baking dish; top with layers of 3 lasagna noodles, one-third of the ricotta cheese mixture and 1 cup of the sauce. Repeat leayers twice. Top with remaining 3 noodles and the remaining meat sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 – 1/4 cups of mozzarella cheese and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Cover with greased foil.
3. Bake 45 minutes. Remove foil; bake an additional 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting to serve.
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