Tasty Tuesday: Lemon Chicken

You'll have to excuse the tardiness of this post; I fell asleep before I could post it. One of my favorite dishes is the lemon chicken you get at a Chinese restaurant. When I started searching for a recipe, I wanted something I didn't have to fry but still had a lemony flavor. I think I found a decent recipe. It turned out to be a little sweeter than I was expecting, however still lemony goodness!

Tasty Tuesday: Deconstructed Shepherd's Pie

After a jam-packed weekend at a Jewelers' Conference in California (more on this to come), I have to admit to being l-a-z-y the last two days. So, when dinner time arrived tonight, I changed what I had planned to cook. That's life and flexibility for you!

This recipe is based on a favorite family recipe that I love, love, love! However, this is different enough to taste like a separate yummy dish.

Tasty Tuesday: Easy Spaghetti Sauce

My challenge for myself this week was to find a recipe for spaghetti sauce that didn't require an hour of stirring. When I stumbled upon this recipe, I was really excited. It was so simple! I didn't follow the exact recipe, but I based what I did on it.

Tasty Tuesday: Hearty Tuna Noodle Casserole

Welcome to the first edition of Tasty Tuesday! 

I am so excited about this post! You have no idea! I am a Mom-in-training. One of my goals this year is to have an arsenal of recipes under my belt, so to speak. Each week, I will share a recipe that I have cooked and probably tweaked a little.


This week's recipe is a comfort food favorite of mine.

New Year, New Beginning

Happy 2011!!!

This year is going to be a great year; I can just tell by all the wonderful things already planned! Many changes will be made this year. Many projects will be completed. I won't give away all the goodies before they happen!

As you can tell by the birthday themed background, my birthday is just over a week away! I have been counting down the days since December 22nd, when there are exactly 22 days till my birthday! More on that celebration in the coming weeks.

I have several goals for this year. One of them involves this blog! I am going to be more than just a Once-a-month blogger this year! I have been greatly inspired by many, many blogs this week. I am really excited about my new ideas for Piano Plinker that will be unveiled as the year continues.

To start the year off, tomorrow evening will be the unveiling of a weekly themed post occurring on Tuesdays. Let me just say, it will wet your appetite! Tune in tomorrow to discover a delicious side of Piano Plinker!

Paka, paka!

Christmas Ships Come Sailing In

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season! One of my favorite activities was going down to the river to watch the Christmas Ships with my nieces and nephew. I really missed the Christmas Ships last year. Going to see them has been a tradition ever since I can remember, and somehow, the Christmas season just doesn't seem complete without them.

(L-R Pixie, Myself, Bookworm, Noodle and Roadrunner in front)

It was a cold, cold, cold night- especially down at the river. We bundled up and played school-yard games to stay warm. Among the games, we played Follow the Leader and Red Light, Green Light. According to my nieces and nephew, I learned the wrong way to play Red Light, Green Light! For all they know, they could be playing the game wrong!

After what seemed like a frozen forever, the ships finally came downriver. They were so beautiful and were definitely worth the wait. Here are the few pictures that turned out not too blurry. Combine night with moving lights and you just have a picture nightmare! I never can seem to use the correct setting on my camera! Does anyone else have this problem?

That last one is a fire engine complete with a loud siren! It was so fun to shout "Merry Christmas" to the ships and wave as they went by. Some of the ships even had Christmas songs playing for us to enjoy!

I absolutely love Christmas!

Blog Parties

Man, it sure has been a while since my last post. I blame it on... um, life. Yes, life is the culprit! I've been trucking along on my quilt project despite a misbehaving sewing machine. Hopefully, I will have all the blocks finished this week. I also successfully made gifts for my nieces and a friend at my ward Super Saturday.

Since I can't post pictures of my quilt till after Christmas, I will share one of my favorite hobbies: reading blogs! It is amazing what a person can find in all the blogs out there! There are a lot of food blogs, quilting blogs, sewing blogs, crafting blogs... The list can go on forever!! I just love, love, love this wonderful resource at my fingertips. I'll share a few of my favorite blogs!

My favorite food blog is Our Best Bites! The two ladies have a ton of creative recipes like fudge cupcakes and personal pies in a jar! How cool is that? Spend some time on their site, and you will be hooked just like me! I love the detailed tutorials and directions for their recipes. I plan on making a sugar scrub for my visiting teaching ladies that I found from this site!

A craft blog that I am amazed by is A Little of This... A Little of That. This blog has some great DIY projects like a Christmas Countdown that I love! She also made some really neat Halloween place mats.

If those aren't enough for you, I discovered this blog today that what I will call the encyclopedia of free print-ables! Basically, you can find cute and crafty ideas such as a Christmas advent calendar and gift tags made by the blog's creator or you can find links to other projects on different blogs. It's amazing what she has collected!

These are just the tip of the iceberg to what you can find on these blogs and others. Technology is so amazing!

Happy Holidays!