Thursday, May 10, 2012

Teacher Appreciation Gifts!!! Colored Pencil Vase


It's that time of year!  Time to thank Kameron's teachers for all that they teach him and let them know how much we appreciate them.  Kameron and I made these cute vases and added some flowers from our garden.

I found these plastic tubes in the home interior section of AC Moore for $1 each.  They were perfect! It took a little over a pack of colored pencils to cover the outside.  We used E-6000 to glue them on the tubes. Let me just say this glue is awesome for gluing almost anything!!!!
Next I added the finishing touches......  some ribbon and paper crafts to make it extra special!  I hope Miss Jen, Miss Kelly, and Miss Johanna love them!  We certainly had fun making them!







Friday, April 6, 2012

Stout corned beef and cabbage with horseradish mustard sauce

I have always made a traditional corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's day.  After browsing around the web a bit I decided to try something different this year and this is what I came up with.  Was definitely worth the effort!


Ingredients:
2lb corned beef brisket
5 smashed garlic cloves
10 peppercorns
5 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
12 oz of stout
4 cups reduced sodium beef broth
4 cooking onions cut into wedges
4 parsnips peeled and in large chunks
6 carrots peeled and in large chunks
8 small to med red potatoes
1 head of cabbage
4 tbsp butter

1 cup horseradish mustard
1 cup light brown sugar
ginger ale


Directions:
Rinse and soak beef brisket on cold water for 15 minutes.  Peel and prep vegetables and onions.
Put corned beef in heavy soup pot with packet of spices it comes with, garlic, peppercorns, thyme, bay leaves, stout, and enough beef broth to cover the beef.   Bring to a boil over med high heat then cover reduce heat and gently simmer for an hour and a half.

While cooking finish prepping vegetables.  Then in a mixing bowl combine the horseradish mustard, brown sugar into a paste.  Add ginger ale until in forms the consistency of a thick syrup.  Set aside.

Next add in the carrots, parsnips, onion wedges, potatoes, and cored cabbage wedges to your soup pot after simmering for an hour and half.   Remove cabbage when tender but not limp about 15 minutes.  Continue cooking the rest of the meat and vegetables.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large saute pan melt 2 tbsp of butter.  Thinly slice the cabbage and remove any excess water.  Brown the cabbage in the butter then remove to serving tray.

Next remove the potatoes and thickly slice them.  Remove beef brisket and place in shallow roasting pan with fatty side on the top.  Score the top with a knife in a diamond pattern and coat and top with mustard mixture and place uncovered in oven for a half hour.

While beef finishes in the oven,  place another tbsp of butter in saute pan and brown potato slices.  Remove and do the same with the vegetables left in the soup pot with the remaining tbsp of butter.

After a half hour,  remove beef from oven and let it rest for fifteen minutes then slice and place on serving tray with all vegetables.  Serve and Enjoy!!!!