Summer Garden Casserole with Duck Sausage

This time of year there are always tomatoes and zucchini in the garden, so I used them to make a casserole.  Nothing taste better than fresh produce straight from the garden, and when mixed with pasta, meat and cheese you know you have a delicious dish.  But this casserole has something interesting in it.  Something you may not eat every day.   

This casserole has duck sausage in it.  Yes, that's right I said Duck Sausage and Maple Leaf Farms makes this great product, and you can order it online.  The duck sausage has good flavor, it is not overpowering and adds a nice flavor to your dish.

To make this casserole I browned the duck sausage and boiled water for the pasta noodles.  At the same time I chopped up zucchini and tomatoes.

Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

It's almost August and that makes me think about.....the Indiana State Fair (Aug. 3- 19)
and the Indiana State Fair makes me think about the Indiana Family of Farmers Recipe Trail (that's held on the fairgrounds during the fair)
and the Indiana Family of Farmers Recipe Trail made me think of this Strawberry Pretzel dessert which was one of the recipes on the card (and because there is cream cheese in it and that's a dairy product and this years theme is the Year of the Dairy cow.)

So short story made long.... I made this dessert which I'm sure you've seen at some point in time at a carry in dinner, but in case you didn't know the recipe I am sharing it with you today.

 

headband accessories for MacchiOTTo

I have a confession to make.... I like things to match.... if my purse and shoe obsession didn't make that point clear already, allow me to explain. I'm driven to find things in the exact shade or pattern.  Perhaps its OCD, perhaps its a quirk, but regardless each day when I dress MacchiOTTo I want her to match as well. And while she can't wear shoes or carry a purse just yet, the next best thing are headbands and barrettes. So to help her get all coordinated I have made her a few headbands to match some of her dresses exactly.

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not good at sewing.  In fact I'm downright awkward with a needle and thread, however even I could attach some simple buttons and flowers to a headband so if I can do it, you can do it. 

Fun with Sunflower Photos

While Sunflowers are about the only thing that looks good in my garden right now, I had to take some pictures to show them off.  Then I had fun editing the photos.  Enjoy!

Breakfast Crescent Roll Ring Bake

Previously on this blog I showed 3 recipes you could make for dinner using a can of crescent rolls. Well today I'm showing you a recipe for crescent rolls that you can make for breakfast. While this recipe is easy to make; it does take some time to prepare all the ingredients first, and creates quite a few dishes to do afterwards.  (hey, I'm just being honest.)  But it is a tasty breakfast dish that incorporates all your traditional breakfast items and turns into the the kind of meal that "sticks to your ribs."   

National Can It Forward Day

Today is National Can-It-Forward Day!

And as you know I do a lot of canning in the summer months with the produce we grow in our garden.  It's a great way to enjoy the fruits of your labor during the winter months.  In the past I've blogged about canning and you can find a lot of my tips and recipes under the canning drop down menu at the top of this blog.  I also have a canning board on Pinterest with lots of great pictures and recipes.

But today I am giving away 2 canning related gifts to two of my readers thanks to Ball.  Be sure to check out their Fresh Preserve website for all your Canning Equipment and more recipes.  You can also follow them on facebook for tips and more canning information.  

small ways to make your guest bathroom inviting

With a new baby in the house we have had plenty of visitors this past month who have stopped by to see us and the baby.  I've mentioned on this blog before how much I enjoy going above and beyond to make our guest feel welcomed and showcase our Hooiser Hospitality.  And of course being a good hostess means having time to get around things like guest towels, but then that also means having time to wash the guest towels and between diaper changing and bottle cleaning I've learned that doesn't leave much time to do much else.  But I've found a way to keep the bathroom inviting to our guest and save me the time it takes to do the laundry.

Kleenex Hand towels

crust-less zucchini pie

This time of year, every garden has lots of zucchini. Well... every garden but mine, but that's because we didn't plant any this year.  Apparently newborns take a lot of time so things like gardening got but on the back burner.  Luckily, a friend of the family gave us some zucchini, so I was looking for something different to make with it and came across this recipe in Gooseberry Patch's "Summer in the Country" cookbook for a crust less zucchini pie.  This made for a unique side dish for dinner and one recipe I wanted to pass along. 

a crabby card

There is just something about little kids making cute handprint and footprints cards that I can't seem to get enough of right now.  MacchiOTTo and I made this card for someone the other day and I wanted to share how we did it. 

Using both of her hands we made a crab, and after making a Father's day card with her footprints, I can safely say it's much easier to use her feet than her hands at this point because she likes to keep her fingers in a fist.  But after wrangling her hands open the card turned out pretty cute.

my new cupcake pan

My mother gave me this awesome cupcake pan she found at a hobby store and I couldn't wait to try it out.   The pan makes cupcakes that are flower shaped.  (that's right the cake part looks like a flower.)  Just thinking about all the decorating possibilites makes my head spin, but since it's the 4th of July and the pan has five petals I thought they could double as star shaped so I decorated them accordingly.

To use you start by dropping your cupcake liner in and filling just the liner with batter.  Then bake in the oven at whatever temperature the recipe calls for; for 5 minutes.  Then take out the pan and spray the petal part of the pan with cooking spray and pour the batter on top of the petal part of the pan.  Then just bake for the remaining time that the recipe calls for.

Pumpkin Ice Cream

So when most people think about Pumpkin... the leaves are changing colors, it's football season and there is a brisk feel to the air.  Well Ott, E thinks about Pumpkin... all year long.  So when the temperature outside started to get hot, he thought about a way to cool off my making Pumpkin Ice Cream.  And like any good husband of a blogger he took pictures while he made the ice cream and shared the recipe with me to pass along with you.  So without further ado here is "How to make Pumpkin Ice Cream with Ott, E."