Monday, August 30, 2010

Last Scenes of Summer at Mama Holli's House


Homemade Strawberry
Shortcake
just
SCREAMS
SUMMER
Flowers Which I Planted From
Bulbs TWO Years Ago!
BLOOMING
for
the
FIRST
TIME
Baby Girl #2
Learning to Cook on The Grill
Watching my Yard
Turn
from
Mulch to FLOWERS!
MAGIC!
Ribs That Have Cooked
for
HOURS!
YUMMMMM
Views from my Kitchen Window
Birds DIVING
for
Berries
Summer Pie
MY OH MY
Watching The Birds
BEAUTIFUL

Need I say More?
Goodbye
Summer
See you in about 9 months!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Flowers Please Stay!


School has started
The air has a different scent
The nights are cooler

I am not quite ready to surrender Summer
not ready to surrender the warm air
not ready to surrender the afternoon rain
not ready to surrender the flowers
oh how I Love my flowers









Thursday, August 19, 2010

The Palette



What a beautiful vintage palette
from
 The Graphics Fairy! 

A
Palette
Is
A
Work
of
ART
all
by 
itself

I love to stare at my daughter's palette
while she works.
It tells a story.
It has a clear beginning and end.
The paint dances and swirls
on the hard surface
aiding to create the masterpiece.
Looking at her palette helps me
to peek into her mind.
To see the story unfold
even before
the 
paint
reaches the canvas.




Thursday, August 5, 2010

Summer In Breckenridge

Oh How I Love
the
MOUNTAINS
in
the
SUMMER
fresh clean air
clear blue sky
crisp cool breeze

Love it!
I REALLY do!










Thursday, July 22, 2010

A Mama Bird

On My Front Door
I
Find


A
 Mama Bird
Builds
A
Nest

She Waits and Protects
She Waits and Protects


She Protects The Eggs
With All 
That 
She 
Is

A New Life Begins

We are all Mama Birds
We have the Responsibility
to
 Protect all Life

and
it 
is
truly
a
gift
to
 give
 life

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Mama Needed a BIG Dose of Vitamin D

And
Mama
Got
It
SUN
BEACH
SAND
AHHHHH

SAND ART
OURS


AND
THEIRS
SHELLING
DIGGING
BURYING

Sweet Baby Girl


Until next year....
Marco Island
Florida



Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Zach Heckendorf Plays At Red Rocks!

My Friend
Mama Kirsten
is 
OH
SO 
PROUD!
as
she
should 
be
ZACH
her
baby
boy
is 
PLAYING
AT 
RED ROCKS
THIS
WEEK

To Be 17
and
Playing 
at 
RED ROCKS
HUGE
BIG
GIGANTIC
watch
the video!


 

Monday, June 28, 2010

Something Is Fishy!

Mama Says
Something
Is
A
Little
Fishy

Baby Girl #2
Whipped This Dish Up!
Sh here is what she did....
She made a wonderful salsa
with these ingredients:
CHOP
Tomato
Cilantro
Mango
Purple Onion
Avocado
Jalapeno
DRIZZLE
 Lime juice
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
STIR
and
REFRIGERATE
then
Fire Up The Grill
GRILL
the
Salmon
DUMP
salsa
on
salmon
and
EAT

Thursday, June 24, 2010

The Girl Can Bake!

This
Little
Girl
of
Mine
CAN BAKE
I
tell
ya!
SHE REALLY
CAN BAKE!



She cooked up some good
old fashioned homemade custard
and
dumped it in a graham cracker crust
and 
loaded it with strawberries
YUM

Tree Drama

Just Some 
Friendly
Photos 
of
Trees
Shot

VERY 
DRAMATIC
and
EDGY
cuz
that's
how 
i
roll



Thursday, June 10, 2010

Eggplant Casserole With Italian Sausage


Is Your Mouth Watering Yet?
Well It Should Be!
I love this easy crowd pleaser!
The only hard part is keeping
the critters from snatching the
fried eggplant before I can load
it up in the casserole!

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds of ground Italian sausage
1 eggplant
4 cups mozzarella cheese
8 cups gravy (spaghetti sauce)
1 cup flour
olive oil for frying
salt
1 cup milk

Peel the skin off the eggplant and slice in rounds about 1/4 inch thick.  Place slices on a kitchen towel in a single layer. Moderately salt each slice.  When the eggplant sweats (about 10 minutes) flip each slice over and repeat the process.  After the sweating is complete heat up about 1/2 cup of olive oil in a skillet on medium heat.  Dip each slice in milk and then flour and fry until slightly brown.  Drain on a paper towel.  Continue to fry all the eggplant adding new oil to the skillet when needed.  In a separate skillet brown and drain the sausage.  Add the gravy to the sausage.  I make my gravy from scratch and it is different each time.  A really good store bought brand is fine.  Now you are ready to assemble your casserole.  Spray a good size casserole dish and spread about 2 Tbl of gravy on the bottom.  Place a layer of fried eggplant on the sauce.  Next spread part of the sausage mixture on top of the eggplant.  Sprinkle the cheese on top of  the sausage.  Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used ending with the cheese on top.
Bake covered at 350 for about 45 minutes or until it bubbles. I usually take the cover off the last 10 minutes of cooking as I like me cheese a little crunchy on top! Serve it up with some salad and bread and you are good to go my friends!


Easy No Fail Ciabatta Bread


Look at this NICE Bread!
This recipe is from
my new Blogging Friend
Papa Steve
from
The Clean Team
The Best Carpet Cleaning Service
in the city of Denver!

It truly is a no-brainer recipe!
Go HERE
to get it!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Summertime Meal....Simple and Healthy

AHHHHH
Summer is Here
FINALLY!
Fire Up The Grill!
A simple but yummy meal
from
the grill!

Grilled Chicken
Salad
Bread

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Grandpa's Blue Pot



Exploring
 "The Barn"
was 
a
 favorite
pastime in the summers
at
Granny and Popeye's
House

we would spend hours
moving the hay from
position to position
to create the perfect room

sweeping the floor
until every crevice
of our body
was totally and completely
filled with dust

avoiding snakes and spiders
as we carefully
maneuvered through the
dark
and
very narrow hallway
to the "House"

keeping the cows
and
or
goats at bay
as we ran to the wooden door

climbing in the upper loft
better known as 
"The Attic"
to find more 
treasures
to fill our 
"House" 

trying to remember to
"Close The Gate"
so the animals
did not escape

finding old pots and pans
to make "Stew"

swinging open the wooden hatch
to let air in and out
and in
and out
trying hard 
not to smash fingers 
in the process

locking up our "House"
to eat "Supper"
and
catch fireflies
on 
the fresh cut grass

My Great Grandpa's
Blue Pot
Now sits
proudly
in
my garden

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Mama Cora Gives Mama Holli an AWARD!

Mama Cora is sending me
some 
Lovin!
She awarded me this!
Mama Holli Trendy?
Well I guess So!
If Mama Cora says it
then it is TRUE!
Thank you my friend!
Go HERE
to see Mama Cora!

She has the sweetest blog
with the sweetest words
and the sweetest photos
and the sweetest recipes
and the sweetest stories
and
well I think you get the picture!
JUST GO!


Thursday, May 20, 2010

Nifty Neapolitan Cookies


MAMA HOLLI
MADE
 THESE!

Pretty Neapolitan Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup butter softened
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp almond extract
6 drops red food coloring
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 (1oz) square unsweetened baking chocolate, melted

Line a large baking sheet with waxed paper and set aside.  Cream butter and sugar. Beat in vanilla and egg.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Divide the dough into thirds. Add the almond extract and red food coloring to one third of the dough; spread evenly into baking sheet.  Add walnuts to the second third of the dough and spread on top of first layer.  I used a rolling pin to assist me.  To the remaining dough add the melted chocolate and spread over the other two layers. Cover with waxed paper and refrigerate overnight.  Dump dough out of pan and unwrap.  Cut loaf in half lengthwise.  Cut each portion into 1/8 inch slices.  Place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes when edges are firm.  Cool on wire racks. 




Store
In
A
Pretty
Jar
to
 SHOW OFF!
VERY IMPORTANT!
linking this up
on
Tasty Kitchen

Monday, May 17, 2010

Starbucks And A New Cookbook!

WHAT MORE
COULD
A
MAMA
ASK FOR
My New Real Plastic
Reusable Cup
from
Daughter # 1

A New Cookbook
From
Mama Monica!
WOW!
AM
A
LUCKY
MAMA

SEE YA!
I AM REAL BUSY HERE!