Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli

1 lb. ground beef 1 small onion
1 large carrot julienned
3 stalks celery
2 cloves garlic minced
2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can red kidney beans with liquid
1 15 oz can great northern beans with liquid
1 12 oz can v8 juice
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 lb ditali pasta ( little tubes)

Brown the meat over med high heat and drain most of the fat.

Add onion,carrot, celery, garlic, and saute 10 minutes

Add remaining ingredients except the pasta and simmer 1 hour.

About 50 minuntes into the simmer time, cook  the pasta al dente ad drain, set aside.

Add pasta to soup and simmer for 5-10 min.

Enjoy!

Overheard in a Bishop Street Bar

I need some emergency bourbon....

BAH HUMBUG

Gift giving at Christmastime can be daunting. We give presents to everyone in our small family, so that would be thirteen this year. It  gets to the point where Christmas is aother job I have to take on. A book, a couple of scented candles, preferably Yankee Candles Sage  and Citrus or Sweet Honeysuckle, my personal favorites and a bottle of Robert Mondavi. Doesn't that sound  indulgent? Picture the recipient curled up in flannel PJ's
and coccooning with a good book, sweet scents and vino. I have always wanted to rent a cabin in the woods at Christmastime.  Imagine the new fallen snow, tall pine trees, a moon filled night, taking a walk with your hubby or significant other. The cottage I imagine is stocked with food and wine. A big fireplace and a downy bed covered with large  mount of fluffy pillows and  surrounded with drapes for cosiness.I have been dreaming of such a place for many years, mostly when we lived in the States and had to contend with one Christmas at home, one Christmas in Montreal and planning my son's birthday celebration which was just 10 days before Christmas.  Attending the Christmas pageants at the kid's school. Decorating inside and out.  It was hectic. One year I actually forgot 2 presents that were intended for family members. Too much is too much . In an effort to make the holydays less hectic  here are some of the books that I have been looking at getting for myself and which might be great presents for someone on your list.

The Help                  Kathryn Stockett
The Fall of Giants     Ken Follett
Secret Daughter       Shilipi Somaya Gowda
Faith                        Peter James
The Poet                  Michael Connelly
The Narrows            Michael Connelly

Cookbooks

Look and Cook       Rachel Ray

How Easy is That     Ina Garten

Double Delicious      Jessica Seinfeld

Jamie's America        Jamie Oliver

SO MANY BOOKS SO LITTLE TIME

In our family we inhale books, there are books everywhere, in the bedroom in the den in the livingroom, in the bathroom, yes there too. Reading is so essential, that's what I taught my kids.  If I could do it over I would buy  50% less toys and double the books. Books are toys in disguise. From the Cat in the Hat to Harry Potter, think of the fun your children will have!
When we learned that we were going to be grandparents, I started scouting out Sally Ann and Value Village for inexpensive board books to keep at grandma's. You can also find  Ravensburger board gamed for as little as 99cents. Nowadays whe pressed for what to give at a baby shower or as a new baby gift, I invariably give books.  The best present you can give your grandkids is a love for books! Pass it on!

OUR CAT IS KILLING BIRDS

Our cat Dusty has been killing birds and eating them. Yeah I guess that's no surprise to most of you but until I actually saw her consume one whole, feathers and all I didn't give too much thought to the fact that she was out there hunting her little heart out. She is some hunter let me tell you. I saw her kill a squirrel as well as a rabbit  and frankly that is so gross and unsettling. We have all watched  shows like Discovery and National Georgraphic and see such things in the wild but I never thought it would be so graphic in my own back yard.  Ever since Dusty has been going outside she has been relentless. She would bring me the occasional mouse and I would praise her, but lately it has been bunnies and birds squirrels and who knows what else.    I have decided that for the little birds at least I was going to try to do something as the bird population is going down. I found this thing called the BIB that looks just like a baby's bib, it is usually a bright color and you attach it around your cat's neck every time it goes outdoors. It is supposed to encumber the cat when trying to get a hold of her victim. Also the bright color warns the bird of danger. This thing costs around $12.00 plus shipping.  I decided to get one of those red bandanas at the Dollar store and just tie it around her neck permanently to warn the birdies. I hope it works.

Mens health

November AKA Movember is Prostate  Cancer fundraising intiative.  You can make a donation at http://ca.movember.com/mospace/693128 Please be generous, we all have fathers, brothers, husbands and sons. An receipt will be sent to you via email.

Easy crochet baby blanket

Do you have a grandchild on the way, well a few months ago I did and I wanted to make something for my grandchild that would be heirloom quality and easy to crochet. I had plenty of crochet patterns for baby blankets but none that I could decipher as I was still a newbie.... some instructions were just too hard for me to understand. I did find this one however which works up so well, it looks like it is really complicated but really is so easy that once you get started  and get the hang of it you can crochet it while watching tv and not having to refer to the pattern all the time! Truly, if I can do this, so can you, it is a dream!

Finished size 35x35
Size G hook
15 oz Bernat Baby Softee yarn, gives the best results
extra for co-ordinating trim

Row 1: Chain 126, sc in 2nd ch from hook and across. Ch 1 turn
Row 2: (sc,ch3 3dc) in 1st sc, *skip 3 sc,(sc,ch3,3dc)in next sc,Rep*across to last 4sc, skip next 3 sc, sc in last sc. ( 31 shells complete )

Row 3: Ch 3 turn, 3 dc in 1st sc, ( sc, ch 3, 3 dc) in each ch-sp across, ending with sc in last space.

Repeat row 3 approximately 55 rows.

Last row: Ch 3, tur, 2 sc in ch-sp,*sc in sc, sc in next dc,skip next dc, sc in next dc, sc in next ch-sp. Repeat from * across to last shell, do not skip middle dc of last of  shell. (123 shells across)

Trim
I did 3 rows of single crochet and did a shell trim variation of my own as I did not understand the instructions given, however I will list them just in case you can make out how to do it, I did not!

Working in rounds
 Rnd 1: Ch 1 turn, 3sc in 1st sc(( *sc in each sc, rep* across, 3sc in ladt sc,*( 3 sc in ch-sp,sc in sc) rep across,working in free loops of beginning chain, 3sc in 1st ch,sc in each ch across)) 3 sc in last, Rep * around, last round rep between (( )) Changing colors here if using contrasting colors)

Rnd 2-3 with contrasting trim, ch 1, sc around with 3 sc in corners, sl st.
Rnd 4  Ch 2, do not turn,*skip sc,sc,ch 2, rep* around sl st in 1st sc.

Rnd 5 Ch 1, turn, sc in sl st, *sc in ch-sp, sc in sc around with 3 sc in corners, Rep* around

Rnd 6: Ch 1, turn,*( sc, ch 3, 3dc) skip 3sc, rep* around sl st to 1st sc. finish off

Good luck!

Baby's First Christmas Ornament

I was looking for a baby's first  Christmas ornament to give to my grandson, who is just 7 weeks old and could not find anything I really liked. I had started collecting an ornament each year for each of my boys  and that way they would  have at least 20 or so ornaments when they would leave home . So I wanted to do the same for my grandbaby. The ones I found that I liked had the wrong year.. I wanted one dated this year. Others were cheap wooden.. too babyish.. rattles, and polymer cartoonish depictions of babies done in that weird blue.. not the thing that  I really had in mind.  So I decided to make one for him instead. I thought I would cross stitch an ornament with his name and date etc.  I saw a cute pattern of a toy soldier.. not too large so it can be done in a few hours,especially if you have supplies on hand. So I will go digging in the craft bins and get started.

I AM BLOGGING!

Well, well, well, I cannot believe I am doing this!  My daughter-in-law  Amy has set this up for me as I am not tech savvy( code for older person!) So this will be a blog about everything and  nothing, much like Seinfeld, a show about nothing! Look how that turned out!  I don't  know why I wanted to write one, maybe it's just so I don't feel so out of the loop... Take heart all you nanas out there, we CAN navigate the net! Well with a little help anyway! So stay tuned. Tonight I made a super enchilada dish that my son said was A plus.

Creamy Baked Chicken Enchiladas

3 chicken breasts or mix of chicken meat, shredded  or thinly sliced
1/2 medium onion minced
2-3 cups baby spinach chopped
1 bag of you favorite mexican cheese mix,  recipes calls for 3/4 cup plus 1/2 cup but I like to use lots of cheese so I get the large bag.4

10-16 large tortillas any flavor
2 cups salsa.
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp galic powder
1 Tbsp dried oregano
4-6 sprigs cilantro ( I don't like cilantro, so I don't use it.
juice of 1/2 lemon divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, mix sour cream,salsa and milk until thoroughly blended, add garlic, oregano, and half the lemon juice and stir.
Pour  just enough sauce to coat the bottom of the 9x 12 baking dish, set aside the rest.

In another bowl, mix the chicken, spainach, lemon juice, one cup cheese mix, onion  and cilantro if using it.

Fill each tortlla with some of the chicken mixture and roll it up and place seam down in the baking dish.  Repeat with remaining  tortillas.

Pour remaining sauce over  the whole lot of tortillas, the top with the rest of the cheese  ( you can vary the amount of cheese, I usually vary it up!)

Bake for 30 min. until sauce is bubbly and cheese has melted.