On the Grill

Y'all really pulled out all the stops with last week's On the Grill recipes.

My mouth has been watering since last Thursday! And our Guest Judge, Bridget had the difficult job of selecting just one of your delicious recipes as the Grill Master.

After much debating (and drooling), I dub The Pilot's Wife's Sticky Coconut Chicken the winner of this week's On the Grill.  The combination of the coconut milk, pepper flakes and ginger sounds so wonderful and delicious, but still easy.  I love that Emily also added the recipe for easy coconut rice to serve with it!  Thanks so much for ALL of the great recipes...this was fun!

Congratulations, Emily! I can't wait to try this recipe myself! Send me an email and I'll get you your Grill Master button to proudly display on your blog and also get you your $150 Amazon Gift Card.

And now, week 2.

Earlier in the week, I introduced you to Amy of She Wears Many Hats. I hope you've all taken the opportunity to visit with her a little bit and see all of the deliciousness she shares on her blog. I'm sure you see now why Pioneer Woman has her in the Friends of TK (Tasty Kitchen) section now, don't you?

Also, take a few minutes to read over the On the Grill guidelines.


This Week's Giveaway
This week's giveaway is another goody! A $50 Gift Certificate to my store, Snootie Patootie!

How Do You Win?
Our wonderful Guest Judge will review your recipes and photographs which are linked up below. She will determine the Grill Master {winner} for the week. The winner then receives a special button to display on your blog or site and the Gift Certificate to Snootie Patootie will be emailed to you.

Be sure to include a link back to Our Homeschool Home. You are welcome to use the snazzy button or use a text link if you prefer





You're Invited!



<center><a href="http://ourhomeschoolhome.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" alt="Our Homeschool Home" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4067/4548780874_3fb57f986c_m.jpg" /></a></center>


In true cookout party style, be sure to visit the other blogs linked up to On the Grill. If you can't visit them all, at least visit the link ahead of your link and behind your link. In other words, mingle a bit.


When Does It End?
The link will close Sunday evening. Entries will be reviewed and the winner announced at next week's On the Grill party. And yes, you may enter more than one post. You will need to make sure each post entered meets the guidelines. 


I'm looking forward to all of your mouth watering recipes!

Mother's Day Menu and Recipes

We celebrated my Mother's Mother's Day a week early since we were not going to be in town on Mother's Day Sunday. I arranged for everyone to come to my house early Sunday afternoon so we could just relax and spend time together.

I knew just what I wanted to serve when I started planning the menu.

• Beef Tenderloin with Creamy Horseradish Sauce
• Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce
• Baked Potato Casserole
• Sauteed Squash and Zucchini
• Asparagus
• Grandmother Verdie's Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Buttercream Icing

So now to recipes.

Beef Tenderloin



Ingredients
1 Whole Beef Tenderloin (Plan two 2" filets per person)
Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
Lawry's Garlic & Parsley Salt

Directions
Step 1. Place beef tenderloin on jellyroll pan. Lightly cover with Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce and sprinkle with Lawry's Garlic & Parsley Salt. Allow to marinate for at least one hour to overnight.

Step 2. Preheat grill (we used our Big Green Egg) to approximately 400 degrees.

Step 3. Place tenderloin onto grill, insert meat thermometer into thickest portion of meat. (We use a digital thermometer that allows you to set the desired temperature and it alarms when it reaches that temperature.)

Step 4. Allow tenderloin to cook until it reaches 145 degrees on the thermometer. Remove from grill and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Allow to rest at least 15 minutes prior to carving to serve.




Creamy Horseradish Sauce

Ingredients
1 8 Ounce Block of Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 Cup Butter, softened
4 Tablespoons Grated Horseradish (you may want to reduce or increase based on your personal taste, we like spicy)

Directions
Combine all ingredients and mix with hand or stand mixer until well-combined. Taste test and adjust accordingly.

Cocktail Sauce

Ingredients
1 Cup Ketchup
1 Teaspoon lemon juice
1 Teaspoon Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tablespoons Grated Horseradish (increase or decrease based on your personal taste)

Combine all ingredients and mix with spoon until well-combined. Taste test and adjust accordingly. If too spicy, add more ketchup. If not spicy enough, add more horseradish.


Baked Potato Casserole




Ingredients
3 pounds Red Potatoes, washed and sliced thickly
1 Carton Sour Cream
1 Package Shredded Cheese
Olive Oil, approximately

Directions
Step 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Step 2. Arrange slices of potato in 9x13 casserole dish. Drizzle until well-coated with olive oil.

Step 3. Bake in oven for 1 hour.
Note: You may bake these ahead of time and freeze or leave in the oven on warm if cooking the same day as serving.

Step 4. Spread sour cream evenly over top of potatoes.

Step 5. Sprinkle shredded cheese evenly over top of sour cream.

Step 6. Return to oven and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until cheese has melted.


Sauteed Spinach and Zucchini with Tomatoes



Ingredients
1/2 Cup Butter
2 pounds Yellow Squash, sliced
2 pounds Zucchini, sliced
4 Tomatoes, diced

Directions
Step 1. Melt butter in dutch oven.
Step 2. Add squash and zucchini and cover.
Step 3. Cover and allow to cook, checking frequently to not allow to burn.
Step 4. Cook for approximately 30 minutes until fork tender. Add tomatoes and allow to cook approximately 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve.


This menu and recipes are linked to On the Grill here at Our Homeschool Home. Come join in on the fun or head over to see all of the wonderful recipes!








What have you planned for your Mother's Day menu? Are you going to be able to put your feet up and enjoy the day while your family tends to your every need? I sure hope so!

Organizing Your Closets

I have a tip for organizing your closets. It has helped me to be able to get dressed more quickly while making sure I am coordinated.

Step 1. Organize your clothing by color. Each color should have it's own section in your closet.

Step 2. Within each color, separate jackets, shirts, pants and skirts from one another.

Step 3. Keep like accessories together. I love my scarf hanger and shoe racks, but you can easily store these in translucent boxes if space is an issue.

Now, when you are ready to get dressed, you can quickly locate the item you want to wear by looking through the color groupings. And, if you have no clue what you want to wear on a given day, you may be drawn to a certain color when you walk into your eye-pleasing closet.

How do you organize your closet?

This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday and Tutorial Tuesday.

Picture thanks to Better Homes and Gardens.

All Boy

It is surely a good thing the turkey, deer, and coyotes are not bothered by a little boy who gets down to his skivvies on our back porch. This is why my family would never survive in a subdivision.



All boy. And I love it!

Now, I'm not so sure I'm going to be able to get those jeans clean, but that's another story.

Grandmother Verdie's Strawberry Cake

My Grandmother Verdie was such an inspiration to me. She was quick to give a hug, say a prayer for and with you, and to share her talents. She was an excellent seamstress, a wonderful homemaker, and you were truly blessed when you were able to eat a meal at her table. The meals were always fresh and delicious.

I've shared previously about the notebook of her handwritten recipes she gave me as one of my wedding presents. Like her Chicken Casserole, these recipes bring back a flood of memories of growing up with her.

This weekend, we celebrated my mother's Mother's Day. I prepared many of my mother's favorite things, but the most special had to have been her own mother's Strawberry Cake.



Grandmother Verdie's Strawberry Cake

Preheat ovens to 350 degrees.

1 Box White Cake Mix, Duncan Hines
3 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
1 Small Box Strawberry Jello
1/2 Cup Water
1 Cup Crisco Oil
4 Eggs
1/2 Small Box Frozen Strawberries, Birdseye

Step 1. Mix all ingredients in mixer until well combined.
Step 2. Grease and flour cake pans.
Step 3. Divide batter evenly into two or three eight inch cake pans.
Step 4. Remove from oven and cool completely.


Grandmother Verdie's Strawberry Buttercream Icing

1 Stick Butter
1 Box Confectioner's Sugar
1/2 Small Box Frozen Strawberries, Birdseye (remainder from used in cake batter)

Step 1. Mix all ingredients in mixer until well combined.
Step 2. Add more confectioner's sugar if icing is too thin, add strawberries if too thick.
Step 3. Spread over layers.
Step 4. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish with fresh strawberries.

Note: As my Grandmother taught me, make a double batch of the Strawberry Buttercream Icing. You may have about 2 cups icing left over to be used on cupcakes or tea cake filling later in the week.

I love pulling out the notebook of her recipes. I feel like she is right beside me, giving me tips the entire time I am cooking. I am so appreciative of the gift she gave me as a young bride.



And today, I just pour over her handwriting and remember.

This post is part of Mouth Watering Monday at A Southern Fairytale.



Do you have a favorite recipe that is an heirloom in your family?

On the Grill : Meet Our Judge ~ Week 2

Welcome to the second week of our On the Grill blog party! The first week's party was so much fun with Bridget of Bake at 350 as our Guest Judge and so many delicious entries.

Bridget is pouring over them now to make her selection for Grill Master. The Grill Master will be announced in our link-up party post on Thursday. I can't wait to see who it will be.

And now, on to this week and our special Guest Judge.

This week's judge is Amy from She Wears Many Hats. I just love Amy. She inspires me every day with all of the beautiful photographs and stories she shares.

Her galavantin post about her trip to St. Lucia made me want to pack my bags right then and there. And friends, I'll warn you, her Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes added five pounds directly to each hip by just looking at the pictures.  I surely didn't need those five pounds there either. But those cupcakes look delicious!

And you all know the famous Pioneer Woman who we all follow? Well, she follows Amy. Yep, she has Amy as one of the elite eight Friends of TK (Tasty Kitchen).  Now that's high praise if I've ever heard it. But most importantly, Amy is the real deal. She is gracious and one of the nicest bloggers with whom I've had the pleasure to chat. I just know you'll love her, too!

Amy will review your entries and select this week's Grill Master! So get your recipes and photographs drool worthy.  The Grill Master will have the honor of the recognition, a button to display proudly on your blog, and will be the winner of an awesome giveaway {details of the giveaway when the party goes live on Thursday by 12:01 AM Eastern}.


Before you go, take a quick look at the On the Grill guide for more information.


What are you grilling this week? I can't wait to see your entries.

Better Blogging :: Branding With Your Favicon

Trying to build your brand as a blogger? Make sure your blog has a favicon.

I end up with tab after tab after tab open when I am online. Sometimes there are so many open at one time, the only part able to display is the favicon.

Favicon is short for favorites icon and is also known as website icon or URL icon.  This small icon, usually 16 x 16, is generally picked up by most web browsers and is displayed in the web browsers URL address bar and also within the tab of the tabbed browsers I was referring to earlier.

If your blog does not already have a favicon, it is simple to add one. Here are the steps to creating your own brand favicon and installing on your Blogger blog.


Step 1. Select the image you would like to make as your favicon.


Step 2. Upload your image to www.favicon.cc  or to DeGraeve create your favicon. Save the image

Step 3.  Save your image in the ICO file format, allowing it to be accessible by many browsers, and upload to an image hosting site that accepts ICO file formats. Some of the sites allowing ICO file format uploading are:

Host Any Image
Imageous
PicPanda


Step 4. In your Blogger Dashboard, click on the Layout tab, then Edit HTML. Enter the following edited code two lines after in your html code. Replace { with < and } with > for the code to work properly.

{link href='http://YOURIMAGELINK' rel='shortcut icon' type='image/vnd.microsoft.icon'/}

Step 5. Preview your template to make sure no errors are found and then save your template. Refresh your webpage and view your newly branded site. ENJOY!


Please first test these changes on your test blog prior to making any changes to your actual blog. 

This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday.