YUMMY!!

I made this recipe last night and it was so good. I entered it in a contest on thepioneerwoman.com
If you win you get to go visit Mrs. Drummond on her ranch in Oklahoma!! boy, I would love that. I have read her book, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels and I have her cookbook and use her recipes all the time. I also love to watch her foodnetwork show. She is so funny and witty and makes SUCH fabulous food.
I made this http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/05/chocolate-chip-caramel-ice-cream-sundae/ 
last night and oh-my-gosh, it was so good and my family just raved about it. I do hope that you make this and enjoy it as much as my family and I did. I also made noodles to go with it, used oil, pepper and a bit of vinegar and garlic salt with parsley and some parmasion cheese. wow!!
I hope also that you have a fabulous day.

Orange tropical chicken K-bobs

makes about 12-15 k-bobs

Marinade

½ cup vegetable oil

juice of one large orange

entire zest of above orange

2 Tbsps of cider vinegar

4 cloves of minced garlic (I used the already minced garlic and I used 2 tsps. It equals 4 cloves)

2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp pepper (more if you like it spicy, less if you don't)

¼ tsp paprika

1-1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 medium to small zucchini

1 large red pepper

1 medium to large onion

Sweet Mesquite Bush's Grilling Beans (serve these on the side)

Mix marinade in a bowl and let set while you cut up everything.

Cut the chicken up into 1-2 inch cubes, place in a gallon ziplock bag. Wash the pepper and zucchini, cut pepper into 2 inch pieces, cut zucchini lengthwise and then cut into about ½ inch to 1 inch pieces.

Cut onion in half then cut each have into roughly 6 or so pieces.

Throw all veggies into the bag with the chicken. Pour the marinade over everything and seal. Turn over and over to coat and to get it all mixed well. Place in the refrigerator and either let sit overnight (super good) or let sit at least 4 hours, turning over every hour.

Drain and discard marinade. Thread chicken and veggies onto water soaked skewers. Grill over medium to low heat, about 15 mins or until chicken is done, turning as needed.

I actually don't have an outdoor grill. I used my indoor grill and an inverted cookie sheet as a lid. It was so easy and soo delicious.

I love this recipe and it can easily be adapted to use lemon juice and zest instead of orange, or you could use pineapple juice and then put pineapple chunks in with the chicken and then grill it. Yummy!!

Vaya Con Dios 

~Erin

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!!
I pray you have a great holiday, and may the Lords bless you richly this coming year with blessings you couldn't even imagine.

And in keeping with my previous posts,
Book- I am reading "The Secret Band" by Edith Lavell. It takes place during Christmas. Printed in 1935 it is a very sweet and good book. I read it every year at Christmastime.

Crafts- I used the stitch from this pattern to make a cowl for my Grandfather for Christmas

Cooking- I might make some chocolate chip cookies tonight for Christmas Eve. We always have tamales for Christmas Eve supper, so Mama made the chili and we will make rice and the heat the tamales too.

And Such- as is my usual custom I will post a Monkee's song. It is a Christmas song, and I will post their Christmas episode too!
Song-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w3-NX8H_tk
Show- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jSFwcVYIkE part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mH48_NXUJU&feature=related part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1gT9gLx1VM&feature=related part 3.
The song they sing at the end, "Riu, Riu Chiu" is one of our favorite Christmas songs, and my mother first heard this song on The Monkees Christmas episode. This is a great version of it too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRZWiWKfoQw

Merry Christmas!!!
Vaya Con Dios!

~Erin

3 DAYS!

  Oh my gracious heavens! 3 DAYS til my sister gets married!! AAAAAHHHHH!!! ;) okay, I'll settle down now.... no, really, I can't believe it! It's kind of weird.
 But today is Mama's "spa" day. I'm going to give her a manicure, and Kieran is going to give her a pedicure. It's going to be lots of fun. I just wanted to post really quick, while I had a spare minute.

Books- Hardy Boys # 7

Craft- I just finished this for my mom's Christmas present http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/L0230AD.html?noImages=

Cooking- this looks good. I'd like to make it http://allrecipes.com/recipe/annies-fruit-salsa-and-cinnamon-chips/detail.aspx

"And such"- Here is a song for you!!   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umt_7jXfFfA  I hope you like it! if I have posted this before, sorry. I love it. ;)

Vaya Con Dios

~Erin

Cool and Cloudy Days =D

 Hello!!
  Today is the most lovely day we've had in a LONG time! cool, cloudy, breezy and wonderful, lovely, super-fine.... I think maybe you get my point. =D

 I think that perhaps Thursdays will be my new blog day. For some crazy reason, this week and last week have seen me so "out of it" that I forget to post on Wednesdays. Also I have been so disorganized on menus this week. I don't think we eaten or fixed what I put on the menu, like we were supposed to have bean for lunch, did that happen? no. So we had eggs instead.

  I made some bean bread today for Grammy. The doctor told her that she needs to eat more protein. She can't eat beef or pork, as that makes her stomach hurt. So I told her she needed to eat beans and some sort of grain at the same time (ie beans and rice, beans and corn...) and that makes a complete protein. I made a big sticky mess.... first the mill was acting up and spewing flour all over the place, got that cleaned up and then when I made the bread, that too, was so sticky, even though I added the right amount of flour, that I made a big mess of that too...... Oh well, got it all cleaned up and now I am just waiting for it to rise.....

Books- Still reading Hardy Boys... BUT I did get a neat book from the library. "1,001 Arabian Nights." I hope it well be fun.

Craft- I'd love to make this http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/30330AD.html?noImages= Don't know WHEN it will get made, but that's okay....

Cooking- A great pecan pie recipe
                                                                    Grammy's Pecan Pie

Makes 1 pie

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

½ cup dark corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla

6 Tbsp butter, melted

1 1/4 to 1 ¾ cups pecan halves and pieces.

1 unbaked 9in pie shell

Preheat oven to 350. Mix in order given except for pecans. Pour pecans in pie shell. Pour mixture over pecans. Mix slightly. Bake for 45min to 1hr. Check after 30mins, turn if needed. Let cool, serve with lots of whipped cream.

Guess what?! I have written 4 pages of my novella!! I'm almost finished with the 5th page. Groovy? I think so. It's very exciting.

Here is your weekly song. This is nice to watch them play it and all but the second one is a better recording.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWTa9CE51sA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJw0qpqIONQ&feature=related

It was so cool, I heard this song on the radio yesterday morning, and I was so excited! I've only head 1 Monkees song on the radio before. I knew it was this song at the first few notes!! Valleri is the name of my heroine in my book. Just thought I'd tell  you that and hopefully you'll want to hear more about my story? 

Okay, well that wraps up this week's post. Hope you have a great day!

Vaya Con Dios,

~Erin

Happy Birthday Monkees!!!

Hello,
 This is a special post for The Monkees. On September 12th, 1966 The Monkees Television show debuted on NBC network.
Here is the Wikipedia page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkees_(TV_series) It's really interesting.

The theme song-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYLm-LyOd04

These are just some (of the many) of my favorite songs, in no particular order. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nLPO-Dhe7s&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbiH9igrlKs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUZeZ1e441A&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEh38KiLxAg&feature=related Watch for Mike's wink at the end ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z76r49dAYTw&feature=grec_index

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izj6INxMfy4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUzs5dlLrm0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qtW1jAwZgU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfuBREMXxts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m8w-Ij4BWo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgXc5zylMn8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cGx5hotr3Q This one is essepicially funny. It's actually an outtake, but super funny! I laughed my head off when I first saw it. it's not a song, it's part of a show.

I really like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO9_h3rrCG8 it's not the greatest quality, but still. :)

Yes, I'm probably crazy, but I don't care. The Monkees make me happy when I listen to them or watch the shows. They are really very funny.
This is their screen test tapes. I think you'll like it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63nhSFFFfJ4&feature=related
Some of it is silent, so don't worry, it's not your speakers.

Anyway, I hope you like them.

Have a great day!
~Erin

Hello September!

    I love Fall. It is, I think, my very favorite time of the year, cool crisp days, nippy winds blowing, and the smell is so wonderful. Don't know just exactly what is smells like, it just smells, like, well.... FALL! ;)
You might think I'm crazy, but I am a person to whom smells mean a lot. Like for instance, propane (when you first turn on the burner on the stove) on a cooler day, reminds me of visiting my great-grand parents house in Colorado... And apple pie smells like Thanksgiving.... Making homemade chili and chocolate chip cookies remind me of Christmas..... I could go on and on, but I suppose you get the point.

  Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I was very busy, I had to deliver pies, and then go the the grocery store to get more ingredients, and then I had to make supper early, because we had spaghetti. So, I say all that to say, that I am sorry about not posting... Did I tell you my good news? I got a job! *does little happy dance* Yep, I did, making and selling pies to a local diner. It's fun, and pays pretty good.

 Today I delivered more pies and then went to get my hair cut. It looks very pretty, as everyone in my sweet family has informed me :) <3.

 Oh! Guess what?! I started writing my first novella. What's that you may ask? Well a novella is just a short novel. Not as short as a short story, but not as long as a full novel. So.. it's pretty fun, I do like the people in the story very much. It's weird sometimes, I don't really think about writing it, they just happen themselves. They tell me what they want to do. I really do like it, it's good for me.

As for Books- still reading Hardy Boy books, but I am also reading a book called "The Honor Of Lawrence House" by Virginia Dailey. I've read it before, but decided to read it again.

Crafts-  I am working on Christmas presents now and the other day started my mother's present. Right now though, I'm making hats for my brothers, who are leaving on a Boy Scout backpacking trip soon. Got to get those finished ASAP!

 I don't have any cooking thing this week, but instead I am going to tell you about a really good movie. It's called "The Flame and The Arrow". It's a fun, swash-buckling kind of story. Somewhat like Robin Hood, but I think a bit better, because it's not so over used. We got it from Netflix. I highly recommend it. You should look into getting it. Please, you'll like it.

 And now for a song... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfuBREMXxts This is probably one, if not THE one, VERY popular song that The Monkees sang. Hope you like it. I do ;)

Vaya Con Dios,

~Erin

"This just doesn't seem to be my day"

  Yep, a lot of things have gone wrong for me today.. First I made awful breakfast bars for breakfast... Then I relized that I had forgotten to set the beans to soak for lunch. Then also, I went to the store and bought the wrong things and forgot to get some other things, came home and started to make some hamburger buns for lunch tomorrow, also some jello salad for supper, made a mess of the salad and splattered it on myself and then when I was washing all the dishes, I sloshed a fair amount of dish water all over the sink and floor.... Gosh. Then I started another kind of bread and after mixing the first part of it, I realized that it had to rise three times... and I won't be finished with it til about 8 or 9 pm.... I wonder what else I'll mess up today....
I am also feeling a bit lonely today... most of my friends (who are younger than me) can drive and I can't yet. and I have some married friends (also younger), AND Kieran is getting married (she's older), but I just feel a little left out..... I know that they sound like (and probably are) small things, but that's just how I feel right now...


Yesterday wasn't too bad... I got to go to Graham with Daddy. On the way we drove under a huge smoke cloud, there is a fire near there, it was the weirdest things I have ever seen. The sun was RED through the cloud. The lighting was very eerie too..... I played secretary at the church and helped file music. That was fun, got to use a really cool number stamp thing. I think I'd like to do something like more often. Maybe I could get a job in that line... Daddy took me out to supper, we ate at a place called The Steele Grill. I had a very good hamburger and homemade potato chips. The Daddy took me to a place called Neri's and we ate chocolate pecan pie. After that we took a quick walk around the square to burn off all those calories :) then we drove home. That was a fun time, I had like a "Daddy Date".

I really need to get a job, because I added up most everything I'd like to get for my 'new' room and it is about $70.... golly, I hardly make any money now....

I watched The Beatles movie "A Hard Day's Night" the other night. They sang some songs that I didn't even know they sang... It wasn't nearly as funny and The Monkees. My very favorite are of course still The Monkees, but I do like some of the Beatles early stuff.

Book- Still reading Hardy boys.

Craft- I think that this yarn is the coolest stuff http://www.yarnandstitcheryalcove.com/page/391446217 I would love to buy some of it and make myself either a poncho or a sweater. for a sweater I'd maybe use this pattern http://www.freevintagecrochet.com/free-sweater-pattern/spinnerin116/formal-time-sweater

Cooking- I'll just tell you the jello salad recipe. I got it from a very good friend, who is like my grandmother.
2 boxes of any flavor of jello (I used cherry, she uses lime)
1 can of pineapple chunks
1 container of cottage cheese
1-1 1/2 pecans opt.

Make jello according to package directions, substituting the pineapple juice for some of the cold water. Mix jello until coolish... add cottage cheese, and pineapple chunks, and pecans if using. Pour into either a lightly greased 9x13 casserole dish or a jello mold. Refrigerate until set. Enjoy!! I love this, so cool and refreshing on a hot summer night. I hope you like it.

Here is the song I used in my title today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m8w-Ij4BWo
And so concludes this week's post, a look into the life and adventure (sometimes misadventures) of Erin Smith.  Vaya con Dios
I also really LOVE this song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nLPO-Dhe7s&feature=related
Wish some guy would sing this to me.....