Martini is ONE!

I should post some pictures of my little baby girl, Martini! She is one now...She just had her first birthday!

These are pics if her and Stoli getting into the PetSmart bag to get her presents. I know it's cheesey that I didn't wrap her gifts. Sad part is that I almost forgot to give them to her!

I can't even take credit for the cookie! I bought it!

More praise for Pinterest!

Really, what did we all do before such a valuable tool was invented! :)

Two more successful pins...

Taco pasta bake and Cool Whip cookies.

The taco pasta bake was delicious! I've yet to make my own taco seasoning, which is another pin!, so I used some quesidilla seasoning by McCormick that I had leftover from something else. To the meat and pasta mixture, I added olives, chopped peppers and onions and a can of Rotel diced tomatoes with lime and cilantro. Something gave off a nice touch of heat...the seasoning mix or the tomatoes....I don't know, so sour cream was in order as well to cool things off.

Now, the cookies. You want easy? You want fast? Cool whip cookies are the way to go!  Four ingredients! You can't beat that! They're fun as you can make them in any flavor that you can get a cake mix in! And them I was thinking....Cool Whip sometimes comes out with seasonal/limited flavors such as vanilla or chocolate...what if..what if!! Maybe next time!

Pinterest rocks!

Ok, I admit it, I'm addicted to Pinterest! It's nice not having to print out every recipe I want to make or keep prints of all the knitting patterns I hope to someday knit.

Pinning is painless, pinning also is only good if you go back and actually do something with those pins! This weekend past, I decided that my dinners would be solely from Pinterest.

First up was "the world's best chicken" and hulaski.  The chicken was good, honestly, not the world's best, but good. Pretty much like a honey mustard chicken but maple syrup takes the place of honey, which I found to have a milder taste than if you used honey.

Hulaski is noodles and cabbage fried up in a pan with onions and butter with a touch a brown sugar. I'm a sucker for cabbage and I was hoping for leftovers but, sadly, there was none.  What we didn't eat collectly, I ate while "cleaning up"! :)

Sunday was buffalo turkey meatballs and a savory potato salad.  The buffalo meatballs were really good!  The one cheese I am not real fond is blue cheese so I did substitute goat cheese for the blue cheese and ranch dressing in place of the blue cheese. Really good really fun really easy! Definitely going to be a repeater.

The potato salad uses  powered  vegetable soup mix as the flavoring base and I found it lended a "meaty" taste, and I mean that in a good way.

We are now stretched into Monday, and I made hamburger soup, but we don't eat hamburger, so it was in fact, ground turkey breast soup. I added mixed vegetables in place of just corn and a few chopped yukon gold potatoes.  Another winner. Very tasty and easy. This will definitely make more appearances in the fall and winter seasons.

Pinterest. What did I do before it?!

http://pinterest.com/pin/152629874842562144/
http://pinterest.com/pin/152629874842562133/


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http://pinterest.com/pin/152629874842628427/
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Fall

Fall is finally here! Well, to be honest, to see some colorful fall foliage, I had to drive to New York!

I went up to Stanfordville, New York for a long weekend to visit a friend. Stanfordville is in Dutchess County which is home to many a quaint little towns...Rhinebeck, Millerton, Red Hook, just to name a few. Rhinebeck may ring a bell as that is where Chelsea Clinton was married.

Lots of antique stores, boutiques, cafes...and inbetween each town you'll find trees, trees and more trees. A really pretty area!

I can't wait to visit again!



...around Stanfordville, NY


Millerton, New York











View of the Hudson River from the Walkway Over the Hudson


Millerton, NY