homemade liquid coffee creamer

I drink way too much coffee and I LOVE flavored coffee creamers.  But, if you turn that bottle around and look at the list of ingredients, it's kinda scary!  So, after some googling I came across this recipe and it's so great I just had to share!  The best thing about it is that you can count the number of ingredients on ONE hand! :-)

I found this recipe at the New Life on a Homestead blog and she also has several more "Make Your Own" recipes that I would like to try, so be sure to visit!

Homemade Liquid Coffee Creamer:


1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups non-fat milk
1 Tbsp vanilla

Blend all ingredients together well. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

I mixed mine up in a recycled spaghetti sauce jar.  I just added all of the ingredients in it, put the lid on and shook it up until it was mixed well.  And I shake it before pouring it into my coffee.  I don't even need to add any sugar to my coffee now, because the condensed milk is so sweet. ;-)

Flavor Variations:

Cappuccino: add 1 tsp almond extract and 1/2 tsp orange extract
Amaretto: add 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp almond extract

Chocolate Almond: add 1 Tbsp cocoa and 1 tsp almond extract

or you can add flavored syrups that you can find at coffee shops and some grocery stores. 

Take care and God Bless!
di

be grateful - art journal page

Here is a fine example of how sometimes you just need to stick with it, carry on and keep adding layers! lol

I thought I was done here, but really didn't like this at all....this picture doesn't help either because I took it in my poorly lit studio.  This one was very close to getting ripped out and tossed into the recycle bin!  I'm too stubborn though and I really didn't want to waste the images that I had already glued down because I really liked them! lol  So, I stepped away for awhile and came back armed with more acrylic paint, templates and color washes......here's the finished product and I'm a lot happier with it!

God Bless!
di

CSA Veggie Booty - Sauteed Swiss Chard with Parmesan

Documenting the yumminess I make from my weekly CSA veggies!

Yum! Yum!  I made this last night to go along side some mushroom ravioli!

Sauteed Swiss Chard with Parmesan:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon garlic scapes or minced garlic
• 1/2 small red onion, diced
• 1 bunch Swiss chard, stems and center ribs cut out and chopped together, leaves coarsely chopped separately
• 1/2 cup dry white wine or vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• salt to taste (optional)
• 
  
• Melt butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the garlic scapes and onion, and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the chard stems and the white wine. Simmer until the stems begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chard leaves, and cook until wilted. Stir in lemon juice and Parmesan cheese.  Season to taste with salt if needed.

I made this last week with some of my CSA swiss chard and for breakfast the next day, I put it on top of some cooked wheat berries.  It was really good!  Yes, I am strange and I eat swiss chard for breakfast. lol  I'm not a big fan of breakfast food and almost alway eat dinner leftovers in the morning. ;-)

God Bless!

di

Veggie Booty - CSA treasures!

This year dear friends of mine who own an organic farm gave me and my family the gift of a share of their CSA.  I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I am to be given such an amazing gift!  I was telling my mom about it a few weeks ago as I was anxiously awaiting that weeks share that it was like waiting for Santa to come. lol  I love, loVE, LOVE veggies, so yep, I get excited about getting fresh produce each week.  It's just too much fun, because each week is a surprise at what I receive and then I get to have fun looking for new recipes to try on all of those delicious veggies.

I thought that it would be kind of fun to document what I make from each weeks bounty of amazing veggies, so each week I will share a photo of what I receive and then throughout the week I will share recipes of what I make.  :-)

So, without making you wait any longer.....here's what I got this week:

white, yellow and purple onions
new potatoes
baby zucchini and yellow squash
rainbow swiss chard
chives
garlic scapes
18 eggs

I hope you enjoy this series of blog posts and I highly encourage you to see if there are any CSA farms in your area or go and support your local farmers at your Farmer's Market!  Organic, fresh, yummy, healthy, beautiful, colorful.....aww.........yep, I love my veggies!!! ;-)

God Bless!
di

be it ever so humble.... - art journal page

I really wanted to use one of the houses from my  new stamp set "Doodles & Daters" by Paperbag Studios and here is the spread that I created late, late last night....

here's the before....leftover spray on a template from another project

and here's what I created.....

Happy arting and God Bless!!!
di

this is the day - art journal page

I started this one the other day and totally stalled out on it.  I had the base colors down and I didn't really want to go any father than that.  I knew I didn't want to add any other colors, where I wanted the title to go, but it was still just not there.  So, I grabbed my trusty "Itty Bitty Backgrounds" stamp by Stampin' Up! and started adding the same colors on top of the first layer.  Still needed more....so I made some swirls with my Neo II's in the came colors and lightly washed over it with water.  Then I knew it was finally done!  I guess it just needed some more texture and wow, does this page ever have texture!  The first layer is crumpled up  tissue from a sewing pattern, so that's where all of the real texture starts.

 I used one of my new alphabet stamp sets that I recently bought from Ma Vinci's Reliquary called "It's My Type XL" and it's HUGE!!!  The letters are around 2 inches tall and awesome for my art journal!  I bought a few other alphabet sets and I hope use them soon!

Happy arting and God Bless!
di

calm the chaos - art journal page

No need to explain this one.....lol.....life has been pretty crazy lately!

The inspiration for this page came from watching this YouTube video by Milliande.  I never thought that I could do something like this, but after watching this video I knew that I had to give it a try.  I am so thrilled with how my flowers turned out!  I used some of my cheap watercolors, too.  I do not have any markers like she used either, so I had to use a regular black pen and only traced around the flowers once.  She goes around them several times with a fine-tip pen and draws all sorts of fun squiggles and such which I want to try after I get some pens like hers.

Milliande has tons of amazing art journaling videos on YouTube and I highly recommend watching them!  She is so talented and I have learned so much from her!

Take care and God Bless!
di