This week’s project was picture frame ornaments, chosen by MaryAnn at Stirrin It Up.

This is a really simple craft that would be great to do with kids. You print out the template, trace onto card stock and them glue and glitter them, after punching a hole at the top. Once the glitter dries, you make a cut out in one of them and glue a photo in it and then glue the back on. Very, very easy. Even I could do it.

In full disclosure I used Martha’s glitter glue and glitter that they sent me. I have to say I was quite pleased with the quality of both. The glitter glue has a brush attached inside the lid – just like rubber cement jars and I found that to be very convenient. Martha’s glitter was, as always, very nice.

This week’s project was picture frame ornaments, chosen by MaryAnn at Stirrin It Up. This is a really simple craft that would be great to do with kids. You print out the template, trace onto card stock and them glue and glitter them, after punching a hole at the top. Once the glitter dries, you … Read more →

The assignment for 11/30 is picture frame ornaments, chosen by Mary Ann at StirrinItUp.

Here are the dates for everyone’s next round of picks. Let me know if you can no longer participate. As always, if you can get your pick to me by Monday night (the week before your assigned date) so I can post it on Tuesday and everyone can do it in time for the date assigned to your name, that would be great. If you would like to join, just post a comment or send me an email- new members welcome. Thanks!

12/7 Robyn’s Nest

12/14 MegansCooking

12/21 SassySuppers

12/28 My Life Pru Singer

1/4 Abby Sweets

1/11 Homemade Iowa Life

1/18 Sweet Lorraine Bakeshop

1/25 MarthaAndMe

2/1 StirrinItUp

The assignment for 11/30 is picture frame ornaments, chosen by Mary Ann at StirrinItUp. Here are the dates for everyone’s next round of picks. Let me know if you can no longer participate. As always, if you can get your pick to me by Monday night (the week before your assigned date) so I can … Read more →

This week’s Martha Mondays was my pick – suet birdfeeders from November Living. Let me say I am so, so, sorry. If you made this and it stunk up your house as badly as it did mine, I apologize. I think this is truly the nastiest Martha thing I’ve ever made. My grocery store did not have suet so I ended up at a butcher. Mr. MarthaAndMe chopped it up for me since I was grossed out by it. The directions say to render this until it liquifies. It seemed to me like that would be pretty simple but it wasn’t. It took FOREVER, it smelled horrible, and I was not sure when it was actually done. There were lots of chunks of stuff still floating around in the liquid fat, but it was starting to burn. I pulled the plug and strained it.

Martha says you have to strain it with cheesecloth – I just used a sieve. Then you have to let it harden, then melt it and strain it again. Can I just say, this seems like a LOT of work for birds. Seriously, can you see Martha taking an entire afternoon to make these birdfeeders? I think not. I’m sure she buys them from someone who makes organic artisan suet birdfeeders or something.

So I did let it harden and liquify it again, but I confess I did not strain it the second time – there was nothing in it to strain out. I just did not care enough. I mixed in the sunflower seeds, peanuts and cranberries and we smushed it into plastic containers with string in it and froze it. I actually halved this recipe, but somehow it made 4 containers full. I was a little concerned when about 3 hours after I put it in the freezer it wasn’t sticking together.

I left it in overnight. This morning we checked them and they all seemed loose, but we hoped for the best. We took the most solid one outside and tried to get it out of the container. You can see from the photo that it completely fell apart.

What a mess and what a disappointment. I’m wondering if maybe the butcher didn’t give me enough suet? Maybe I should have kept on cooking it down even though it was on low and was burning? I don’t know what to think, but it sure would be a lot easier to just BUY one of these suet things in the store for $2 than to spend this much time horsing around and ending up with such a mess!

This week’s Martha Mondays was my pick – suet birdfeeders from November Living. Let me say I am so, so, sorry. If you made this and it stunk up your house as badly as it did mine, I apologize. I think this is truly the nastiest Martha thing I’ve ever made. My grocery store did … Read more →

I never heard from the person scheduled to make this week’s pick , so I’m going to go ahead and choose it so we can get going with it. I thought we would try something a little different, so I’m choosing Birdseed-and-Suet Feeders from page 36 of November Living. I’m going to paraphrase the instructions for those of you who don’t have the magazine. You need 5 lbs mixed wild birdseed, 2 lbs suet (Martha says you can buy it from a butcher), 1 lb dried cranberries, and 1 lb raw peanuts. You need 5 1-qt plastic containers (takeout style) and twine.

First, render the suet by chopping and cooking over medium until it’s liquid. Strain through cheesecloth and let it solidify. Then heat it and strain it again. Mix it with the birdseed, cranberries and peanuts and fill the containers, leaving a loop of twine coming out of the middle of each. Freeze it 2 hours or overnight, remove from the containers and hang outside. It makes 5 (I’m going to cut this recipe at leas in half I think). I can’t wait to hear how it works for everyone!

I never heard from the person scheduled to make this week’s pick , so I’m going to go ahead and choose it so we can get going with it. I thought we would try something a little different, so I’m choosing Birdseed-and-Suet Feeders from page 36 of November Living. I’m going to paraphrase the instructions … Read more →

This week’s Martha Mondays was chosen by AquaSunday – thanks for the pick! Apple Tart, from November Living was the pick. This is a quick version of an apple pie since it uses puff pastry. You have to roll out the puff pastry first to Martha’s specs. Mine stuck a bit to the counter despite the flour. You cut off an inch around the edge and layer that along the side to create crust. The tart has a layer of applesauce, then Granny Smith apples which are brushed with butter and sanded with sugar. I added quite a lot of sugar because I do not like my apple tarts tart! I also sprinkled on some cinnamon, because I think that’s necessary too.

You bake this at 400 for 20 minutes – Martha says until the edges puff. Yikes! I should have checked mine sooner. At 20 min, my edges were dark brown. I had to cover them with foil for the next round of baking at 375 – until the apples are golden. When this comes out, you brush with apricot jam mixed with water and dust with powdered sugar. It looked very pretty I thought and it was very easy to make compared to a pie.

As for taste, I didn’t like it. I thought it was very sour. I dumped some more powdered sugar on top, but even then I didn’t care for it. The kids ate theirs though (and Dude Martha had more for breakfast this morning). Mr. MarthaAndMe didn’t care for it much either. I did like the puff pastry and it did look very nice. So if I made it again, I would use a different kind of apple that is not so tart and lots more sugar. Then I think it would be very good.

Did you try this? If so, please post a link or let us know how it went, and try to visit everyone’s posts! If you would like to join Martha Mondays, let me know via comment or email.

This week’s Martha Mondays was chosen by AquaSunday – thanks for the pick! Apple Tart, from November Living was the pick. This is a quick version of an apple pie since it uses puff pastry. You have to roll out the puff pastry first to Martha’s specs. Mine stuck a bit to the counter despite … Read more →

So here’s the deal. I’ve never had sweet potato pie or that candied sweet potato dish people make for Thanksgiving. The only way I make sweet potatoes is as oven baked fries. And I use the white sweet potatoes, not the ones people think of as yams. So I’m pretty clueless about the sweet potato thing. And, I have to say, the idea of potatoes in pie never, ever appealed to me. I also am not a fan of marshmallows. I don’t like them roasted, I don’t like s’mores, and I’ve never had them with sweet potatoes – although I am partial to Rice Krispie treats!

The Martha Stewart Cupcake Club assignment for today was Martha’s sweet potato cupcakes (from the Martha Stewart Cupcake Book).  It was pretty easy to make – your basic cupcakes, except you added a lot of mashed sweet potato. I thought the batter tasted pretty good.

They took longer to bake (as usual), but came out looking nice. Martha says to pile marshmallows on a baking sheet and blow torch them or broil them to get them brown. Then you’re supposed to transfer them to the tops of the cupcakes. That sounded ridiculous to me. Instead, as soon as the cupcakes came out, I stuck the marshmallows on top. Because the cupcakes were warm, the marshmallows stuck. Then I stuck them under the broiler to brown them. It worked very well and was much easier than trying to transfer them. Martha also says to add candied pecans to the top, but I skipped that step.

I thought these were good, but I don’t think it’s something I would make again. It did sort of taste like pumpkin pie, but I couldn’t get out of my head that it was potatoes! The family sort of felt the same way. Off this went to Mr. MarthaAndMe’s office where they were enjoyed from what I heard. Maybe sweet potatoes in desserts is a learned taste.

Anyway, it was fun to make and they did look cute with the marshmallows.

So here’s the deal. I’ve never had sweet potato pie or that candied sweet potato dish people make for Thanksgiving. The only way I make sweet potatoes is as oven baked fries. And I use the white sweet potatoes, not the ones people think of as yams. So I’m pretty clueless about the sweet potato … Read more →

I ordered Martha’s November Pick, Mario Badescu Cellufirm and have been using it for a few weeks.  I paid $25 plus shipping for one ounce. Eek. This cream is supposed to tighten and plump your skin and improve elasticity. You’re supposed to use is after toner and before moisturizer. Three steps, way too many for me.

This cream is green, which is rather scary, but the color goes away once you rub it in. It smells nice and has a nice feel to it. My skin does feel tighter after I use it, but I have not really noticed much change in my skin’s appearance.  Maybe I’m just ignorant about skin care, but I don’t quite get it.  I’ll stick with my daily moisturizer and skip this I think.

I ordered Martha’s November Pick, Mario Badescu Cellufirm and have been using it for a few weeks.  I paid $25 plus shipping for one ounce. Eek. This cream is supposed to tighten and plump your skin and improve elasticity. You’re supposed to use is after toner and before moisturizer. Three steps, way too many for … Read more →

I ordered Martha’s November Pick, Mario Badescu Cellufirm and have been using it for a few weeks.  I paid $25 plus shipping for one ounce. Eek. This cream is supposed to tighten and plump your skin and improve elasticity. You’re supposed to use is after toner and before moisturizer. Three steps, way too many for me.

This cream is green, which is rather scary, but the color goes away once you rub it in. It smells nice and has a nice feel to it. My skin does feel tighter after I use it, but I have not really noticed much change in my skin’s appearance.  Maybe I’m just ignorant about skin care, but I don’t quite get it.  I’ll stick with my daily moisturizer and skip this I think.

I ordered Martha’s November Pick, Mario Badescu Cellufirm and have been using it for a few weeks.  I paid $25 plus shipping for one ounce. Eek. This cream is supposed to tighten and plump your skin and improve elasticity. You’re supposed to use is after toner and before moisturizer. Three steps, way too many for … Read more →

The pick for the next Martha Mondays is the apple tart on page 212 of November Living, chosen by AquaSunday. Sounds delicious! Please join us! Still room for new members if you’re interested – just leave me a comment or shoot me an email.

The pick for the next Martha Mondays is the apple tart on page 212 of November Living, chosen by AquaSunday. Sounds delicious! Please join us! Still room for new members if you’re interested – just leave me a comment or shoot me an email.

Today’s Martha Mondays Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Bacon was chosen by Pru at My Life: Pru Singer. Thanks Pru.

Let me be honest. I didn’t think I would like this. At the least, I knew I would be the only one in my house who would eat it. Mr. MarthaAndMe really doesn’t like Brussels sprouts. The kids are not fans. I like them a lot, but the idea of them in pasta was kind of weird.

I cooked my bacon (anything with bacon can’t be horrible) and then added my shallots (I cheated and used one shallot and then some onion), garlic and sprouts. Once it cooked a bit I added chicken broth. By the end of the allotted time, the sprouts were not cooked, so I covered it and cooked it longer until they were soft.

I didn’t have rigatoni, so I used some curly pasta in the pantry. Mr. MarthaAndMe ate it under duress (not much else on the table to pick from), TeenMartha ate most of hers (picking out the sprouts for the most part). Dude Martha wanted no part of it. I liked it, but still think Brussels sprouts in pasta are weird. I needed something more. I admit I didn’t have fresh sage, so I used dried – maybe that was the problem. It just tasted like pasta with Brussels, bacon and some onion. I don’t know what else it could taste like since that’s all that is in it, but it really needed something else for me. I don’t think I would make this again, but I will probably be picking at the leftovers for lunch all this week. It was fun to try it though.

If you made this, please post the link to that post and let’s try to visit everyone else’s posts!

Today’s Martha Mondays Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Bacon was chosen by Pru at My Life: Pru Singer. Thanks Pru. Let me be honest. I didn’t think I would like this. At the least, I knew I would be the only one in my house who would eat it. Mr. MarthaAndMe really doesn’t like Brussels … Read more →