Sunday Food and Pets Post - ❄️ Snowy and Cold Sunday ❄️

Happy Sunday Friends!

How's your weather? Winter is here in the Laurentians. It's very pretty but dang is it cold! The huskies love it, but Jack will soon be giving me those bedroom eyes in hopes I won't make him pee outside. I don't blame him!!

It's clean out the pantry, fridge and freezer week! I had some leftover blueberries that I froze last summer so I made some really delicious Blueberry Muffins. I LOVE muffins! I don't think I have a favourite though, do you?

I had bags of frozen tortillas so the other night I made a Meatless Mexican Lasagna. This lasagna is a mish-mash of ingredients that I needed to use up. One layer of roasted potato slices, lots of fried onions and tomatoes, salsa, scrambled eggs and of course, Cheddar cheese. I wasn't sure it would work but it was very good! 

I gleefully discovered that I had a frozen pie crust in the deep freezer; and I had leftover Thanksgiving pumpkin pie filling, so I made another Creamy Pumpkin Pie.

I had a Butternut squash sitting in the bottom of the fridge (that I'd forgotten about!), so I made my Apple and Butternut Squash Bisque. I tried a new recipe for Dinner Rolls and they went very well with the soup! 

I'm planning on using up a lot of veggies this week for some lovely soups: French Onion Soup, Carrot Soup with Orange and Ginger, Roasted Tomato Soup and Leek and Potato Soup. Alex and I are "clean-eating" for the next few weeks. Our Thanksgiving and Halloween feasts were a lot of fun but we both need a break from the sugary fatty foods for a while! What's for dinner tonight chez vous?

The heat is on now in every room. It's very cold for November, I hope that's not an omen for the next six months!! The cats all hang out together on the couch right in front of the heater. They love being toasty warm!

Marlene and Jack love being warm under their little blankets too!

Charlie though...she is a pure husky and she would live in an igloo if we let her!

Here's another gif from photos I took of Jack. He's trying to stay awake!

See you on Thursday for our art date, remember, the theme is Forest and Critters! 😊

Thursday Art Date: Crisp and Brilliant; and Paint Party Friday!

Hello Friends :)

Welcome to Thursday's Art Date, today our theme is Crisp and Brilliant. I'm so proud of Tweety Bird aren't you? 😊 Granny definitely is! I think he graduated Summa Cum Lada in the subjects of innocence and cheek-pinch-ability.

I have to admit, I stumped myself for this theme. The ideas for future themes just come to me but I don't always think them through lol. Was it easy for you to come up with something? I can't wait to see your creations!! By the way, check out the 2020 Art Date Themes I came up with last weekend during the last power outage. It's just a rough list and I'll add links and pages for inspiration as time goes on!

I'm also linking up with Paint Party Friday tomorrow!

Here is my rainbow of pine trees - painted with brilliantly colourful watercolours.

And what better way to spend a crisp cool Autumn evening, than snuggling with the one you love? (Human or furball!!) I did this in watercolour as well.

It's been a busy week for me. It's monthly meal planning and shopping week! I have lots of comforting meals planned as winter starts to set in here in the mountains. Soups, stews, pastas and cheese..oh so much cheese! 😋 Speaking of cheese, I opened my Monterey Jack yesterday and it was not quite what I expected! (See  Rainy Day Cheese Making for the video!)

That's all for now folks, please check out the link widget below to see more Crisp and Brilliant artwork! Visit Paint Party Friday tomorrow as well for more lovely creative art. And please join me on Sunday for my food and pets post. 🐾🐾🐾

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Baby groundhogs in the woods behind my cottage back in 2010.

November 14th: Next Thursday's theme is Forest and Critters! Click on the link for ideas and inspiration! Remember it's all about creating. You can showcase your paintings, drawings, photography, sculpting, baking, poetry...whatever you like! 😊

Thursday Art Date With Rain. Click on the link for a description of the art date as well as a list of upcoming themes.

Don't forget to add the URL link to your post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations! Please don't include a link unless you participate in the art date!

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Sunday Food and Pets Post - Mostly Pups!

Hello Friends!

It's a snowy Sunday here in the Laurentian mountains! I'm back in the woods early in the morning now that we set the clocks back an hour. I got this photo just as the dogs all heard something. It ended up being a rabbit and they went nuts! I have SO much energy today...the house is spotless, I've got loads of laundry going and I have some dinner rolls rising...I'm emptying out the fridge and making a few soups too, that should offset the Halloween candy hangover!! 😏

Due to high winds, we lost power all day Friday and most of the day/night yesterday. Every time we lose power for extended periods of time, I get anxious and scared because it reminds me of the 1998 Ice Storm in Montreal that I lived through. It was traumatic for me. No power for 2 weeks in frigid January weather, no clean water, price gouging and looting. I was all alone then, my parents told me I could stay with them (they had a fireplace and a barbecue), but I couldn't bring my dogs. How nice huh? None of the bank machines worked and I had maybe $10 to buy water. The army was trying to force people out of their homes to stay in shelters, but again, no pets allowed. There was no way I was abandoning my 2 pugs. I remember soldiers banging on my door and me trying to keep my dogs as quiet as possible...I hid for 2 hours until they left my street before I lit another candle. It felt dystopian...I learned a lot having lived through that.

Experiences like this strengthen my resolve to set up my future home off grid. We were okay the last few days though I could use some brushing up on my prepping...thankfully it wasn't too cold out, we had lots of blankets, candles and water. Good thing we had plenty of Halloween food to eat too!

This was the Halloween feast! I'm so thankful we had power on Halloween so I could cook!

Shrunken head potatoes.

Halloweenie shaped mini pizzas.

Mummified Baked Brie. This was the star of the show! You can make this without the mummy attire for any occasion. I'm thinking it'll be back for Christmas time!

The oozie goodness! 😊 There is a layer of cranberry sauce in there, leftover from Thanksgiving.

And to end my favourite holiday of the year, Halloween Cupcakes. The cupcakes have an orange flavour, so I added Grand Marnier to the frosting. 

What are you up to today? I'm just about to clean out the cupboards, take inventory and plan the monthly shopping trip and meal plan.

See you on Thursday for our art date, the theme is Crisp and Brilliant! Oh, by the way, during the power outage, I grabbed my notebook and wrote out the themes for every Thursday's Art Date in 2020. I just listed them for now and I'll update them with a linked page for ideas if you want to check it out!

Thursday Art Date: Halloween! and Paint Party Friday!

Hello Friends :)

🎃🎃🎃 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! 🎃🎃🎃

🔥🔥🔥 And a BLESSED SAMHAIN to my friends who celebrate!! 🔥🔥🔥

Will you be tricking or treating? 😁

Welcome to Thursday's Art Date, today our theme is of course, Halloween! I'll get straight to the art and I have some foodie photos and recipes to post as well! The gang at Looney Tunes - and my gang here - hope you have a spooktacular day! 

I'm also linking up with Paint Party Friday tomorrow!

Here is my watercolour Vincent Price. I've been watching a lot of his movies this month, he really is the King of the Macabre! His voice is unmistakable, and he's done a lot of reading of Poe fiction and he does it so well. He even put out a few cookbooks! What's not to like? I'm sure many of you will remember his spoken voice in Michael Jackson's Thriller song! Here's the video, I think this was my favourite video of the 1980's...I even learned the dance with some friends of mine! Get ready to moonwalk down memory lane...

Here's another watercolour. Do you recognize her? The Wicked Witch of the West from Wizard of Oz. I don't know why I was drawn to painting her this week, I watch this movie around Christmas every year. But she suits this theme very well! 🌊 What a world!! 🌊

What's Halloween without a few zombies here and there? Do you recognize this lovely watercolour lady? 😉 Ladies and Gents, I present to you the Zombie Rain! She and I visit the same dentist! 😁  Must...eat...brains... 

I'm making a fun feast tonight but I'll share some of the food I made this past week. A few days before Halloween, I always make some themed food for fun. On Sunday night, I made a Ghostly Calzone. I also had some fun with treats! These are Witch's Hats and Spider Cookies! (See the Googly Eyes?) The witch hats are filled with M&M's. We had those for a few days!

Tuesday night we had spaghetti and I fancied up my garlic bread to make some mummies!

Here are this year's Jack O' Lanterns! Bloody Mary (don't say her name three times!!!) and my hero Vincent Price. Every year I carve my pumpkins while I watch the old Halloween horror films from the 1970's and early 1980's. It's become a fun tradition for me!

Yesterday Alex and I spent the day snacking and watching movies. This is my Halloween Eve table!

I made my version of a Chex mix, Rain's Party Mix and some Seasoned Pretzel Sticks.

Witch Brooms made with Mozzarella and pretzel sticks for the handles.

Some Mexican Dip and Sun Dried Tomato and Basil Pesto.

Baked Tortillas Chips shaped like pumpkins and bats.

And some festive Boo Bark!

That's all for now folks, please check out the link widget below to see more Halloween artwork! Visit Paint Party Friday tomorrow as well for more lovely creative art. And please join me on Sunday for my food and pets post. 🐾🐾🐾

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Fall Fishing on Bass Lake - the air is crisp and the sky is brilliant!

November 7th: Next Thursday's theme is Crisp and Brilliant! Click on the link for ideas and inspiration! Remember it's all about creating. You can showcase your paintings, drawings, photography, sculpting, baking, poetry...whatever you like! 😊

Thursday Art Date With Rain. Click on the link for a description of the art date as well as a list of upcoming themes.

Don't forget to add the URL link to your post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations! Please don't include a link unless you participate in the art date!

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Sunday Food and Pets Post - 👀 Googly Eyes 👀

Hi Everyone! 

Welcome to my Sunday Food and Pets post! How is your weekend going? Mine is going very well! I've been in my happy place all weekend - the kitchen! Halloween is only a few days away and I have so much to do, I hope I have time for everything I have planned. I made these edible Googly Eyes for some Halloween desserts!

Since I had great success with my 3-Month Cheddar, I decided to make a few more. One is a Farmhouse Cheddar (made to eat within a month or two) and the other will age for at least 3 months.

I got an American Cheese made too. This stuff is so delicious and it melts beautifully!

This is the season for comfort food! Creamy pastas are so good, like my Linguine Alfredo. Not only is this delicious, it's SO quick and easy to make! (Lots of butter and cheese Baili !!! 😊)

I had some salsa and sour cream leftover from my nachos last weekend, so I made some Breakfast Burritos.

This is a first for me, Italian Zabaglione. For those who don't know how to pronounce this (because I didn't!), it's za-ba-yoh-nee - I hope I got that right! It's like a custard or pudding and it's really delicious. I served it warm, but the next time I make it I'll serve it chilled.

The zabaglione went very well with my Almond Biscotti.

More comfort food: Cheese and Onion Bread. If you make this, I guarantee your kitchen will smell like heaven in an oven! We had this as a main course.

We dipped the bread in my warm, homemade Marinara Sauce.

As a side dish, I made my Fricassee Potatoes - though the bread was filling enough on its own - we had plenty of leftovers!

Cold autumn nights call for lots of blankets - Jack burrows under the covers every chance he can get!

Cat-stacking. :)

Here's a quick 24 second video of Jack and Marlene playing tug of war. Charlie seems to want to join in at the end, then loses interest! Jack is the one making all of the noise as he tries to pull my old slipper into his cage for safe-keeping. :) (Sorry it's so dark, it was before sunrise!)

See you on Thursday for our art date, the theme is Halloween! 💀💀💀  Bwah ha ha ha ha!!! (Cue scary music!!!) 😱😱😱