Monthly Archives: February 2008

Chocolate and Peanutbutter – a Service of Love

Posted on February 13, 2008 by Jenni| 5 Comments

Chocolate Peanutbutter Cheesecake
My dear friend Rene made me a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake for my birthday. I must add that she is 13 weeks pregnant and really sick (and she can’t eat peanut butter while she pregnant because it makes her sick!). Thank you Rene, it was a beautiful cheesecake and tasted so good! A few of my lady friends met me at a Starbucks in Marysville to have coffee for my birthday, it was so nice visiting with them. I have some really great friends, God has blessed me :) Thanks ladies, and thanks again Rene for the sweet cheesecake, I know that it was a sacrifice for you to make it. Bless you!

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Posted in Desserts, Sweet Things

Congratulations to our Winner!!!

Posted on February 12, 2008 by Jenni| 9 Comments

 

Have you been wondering if you won the little apron this morning? Well, I was surprised at who won it. We had 30 entries, and the only guy who entered was Doug, and he won!! Doug, you will look very cute in the apron ;) Okay, so you didn’t enter for yourself :) Doug and Carol are expecting their first baby in March (who happens to be a little girl), and I am sure that she will look adorable in this little apron. Well, bless you both and thank you to all of you who entered the drawing, that was fun!!

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Posted in Uncategorized

We have a winner!

Posted on February 12, 2008 by Jenni| Leave a comment

Sorry, I will let you know in a minute, Cait is hungry :)

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Posted in Uncategorized

Raised Bed Gardening Podcast – Where Do I Start?

Posted on February 7, 2008 by Jenni| 6 Comments

I am excited to announce my first podcast on The Joy of Homemaking!

A little history on the podcast. In the 6 years my husband and I have been married, each year I have attempted some sort of garden (in planters or buckets of some sort), all of which have failed. This year I am going to attempt raised bed gardening. Even though I grew up on a small farm I have realized that I don’t have as much knowledge about gardening as I would like to think I had. In an effort to raise a successful crop this year I decided to call in the troops, my friend Karen Engstrom who is an experienced mother of seven and gardener, has let me interview her. Thank you so much for you time Karen, all that you had to share was very helpful! Continue reading →

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Posted in Gardening, Podcasts

Creamed Corn Cornbread Recipe

Posted on February 7, 2008 by Jenni| 8 Comments

Creamed Corn Cornbread

I made this last night to go with our meatloaf, and I must say, this cornbread was perfect! It was perfect, not too moist, not too dry. I do have one confession to make about this bread though. When Mr. Burns and I were first married, he insisted on buying three cast iron skillets of different sizes at a garage sale. I was not very thrilled at this purchase and did not see any use for these heavy (somewhat ugly) pans, and I’ve hounded him to get rid of them pretty much ever since. Well, last night I was humbled as I was reading this recipe, and decided to dig this pan out of the garage and try my hand at using one of these ugly pans. To my amazement this cornbread turned out beautifully and I think, much to the use of the cast iron pan. It cooked completely evenly and was not burned on the bottom or sides. I’ve finally found a use for my husband’s cast iron pans, well at least this one :) Thanks for letting me confess, I feel much better now.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Breads, Side Dishes

February Giveaway

Posted on February 5, 2008 by Jenni| 35 Comments

This year I am turning 30 on February 12th, 2008 and I decided that I want to do a giveaway on my birthday. We mom’s can easily get off track, and me-focused. So this year, on the big 3-0, I thought it would be fun to give a gift on my birthday.

I’m excited to announce my February Giveaway! I’m going to be giving away a waterproof child’s apron, that I made especially for you (or one of your daughters:) Anyone can enter, you can always give the apron as a gift. The apron would fit a 2-5 year old girl.

Here are two ways to enter:

1. It’s simple, just leave a comment in this post, note the comment must be left in this post, or it will not count.

2. You can earn a second entry into the drawing if you do a quick post on your blog and with a link back to this post. Then come back here and leave a comment with the link to your post in the comments. That part is really important, if you don’t post the link to your post, your entry will not be valid (if you need help or need to change something, I would love to help)

Tip on getting the link to your post-all you have to do is right click on the title of the post and hit copy, then paste into my comments.

All entries must be made by 12:00 noon on February 12, 2008. I will announce the winner later that afternoon.

The lavender material on the apron is water proof polyester so your little princess can do the dishes without getting her shirt all wet. The thing I love about this material is that it’s waterproof but it’s still soft and comfortable so she wont be begging you to let her take it off. The pockets are made of a 100% cotton frog print material. Machine wash and dry. For those of you who would like to purchase an apron in the future, I will be selling them and if you are interested you can e-mail me at chrisandjenni-at-gmail.com

Here’s a little close-up of the print. Well, I hope you decide to join my February Apron Giveaway!!

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Posted in Giveaways

Food Tip – Cilantro

Posted on February 4, 2008 by Jenni| 1 Comment

Hey, I just read this great and yet somehow almost no-brainer tip. Have you ever bought a bunch of fresh cilantro, only to let half of those delicious herbs go the way of the garbage heap? I have, sadly I admit, many times. My blogging friend tipped me off this week and I’m forever grateful. Although, my chickens will miss those precious rotting herbs in their daily diet.

Freeze it. It’s that simple, use it later in soup or another recipe (probably not that great in a fresh salad). Thanks for the tip!! She also has some other random cooking/homemaking tips in her post. Great entry, thanks.

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Posted in Food Tips

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Meat Balls – Recipe and video

Posted on February 3, 2008 by Jenni| 2 Comments

Before last week, I had never made meatballs. Can you believe that? I don’t know why that surprises me but somehow it does. Meatballs. Hmmm. The kids and I had a fun time making meatballs for the first time, together.

Aidan helping me make meatloaf from Christian Burns on Vimeo

Thanks so much Laura for the meatball recipe. They were tasty, and the kids really liked them. I think next I will add some other spices, like Italian to add just a little more flavor. Meatballs are great to have in the freezer, something quick to add to spaghetti to make it a much more exciting meal!

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Posted in Bulk Food Preparation, Cooking Videos, Cooking with kids, Meal Planning Tips, Meats

And The Winner Is…

Posted on February 2, 2008 by Jenni| 3 Comments

Drum roll please, the winner of a $35 gift card to Crate & Barrel is . . . Nicole!!!! Nicole posted two recipes, one for Fajita Seasoning Mix and one for White Chicken Chili, yum!

Congratulations Nicole! And I hope that all of you who entered the contest had fun posting your recipes. Thanks for all of your participation, it’s been a fun drawing. Stay tuned because I am going to announce a very fun giveaway, that will be much more simple, next week.

Happy Homemaking and have a wonderful weekend. I think we are going to build a fence for our chickens so that they can’t poop on our porch, now that is homemaking at it’s finest! Good night :)

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Posted in Giveaways