Freeze Ahead Breakfast

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Jessica over at "Life As Mom" has a recipe swap going on today with breakfast as the theme. I love the way she makes eggs (what I would call 'over-easy') and totally plan to steal that idea next time I'm making my egg/cheese/bacon biscuits.

One problem some families have with breakfast is the morning rush. That's where 'freeze-ahead' comes in handy. In fact, my son James just asked me when I was going to make those fake-o Egg McMuffins again. (Well, I use biscuits, not muffins, but I'm sure English Muffins would work here.) Here is the recipe:

Freeze-ahead Egg/Bacon/Cheese Biscuits

A can of Grands Biscuits (Yeah, I cheat. Make your own if you like, but biscuits aren't my strong point, and I can get these pretty cheap with coupons)
Eggs--if you scramble them, you can probably get two sandwiches from one egg
Your favorite cheese, sliced
Bacon

There are no set amounts here--just go by what you think your family will eat, or at least by what won't fall off the edges.
Bake the biscuits and split them in half
Fry or scramble the eggs.
Fry the bacon.

Put some egg on a biscuit, then a piece of cheese, then some bacon. Put the top on the biscuit. Do this with all the biscuits.

You can eat these right now, or you can wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and throw them in a plastic bag in the freezer. For my microwave, it takes about a minute for each biscuit to reheat from frozen, but you have to adjust for your own.

Of course, you can trade out the bacon for ham or sausage. Those round sausage patties you brown and serve would work great.

Whether you make this from scratch or cheat with Grands as I do, they are better than McDonald's and oh-so-much cheaper!

Halloween Craft

This decoration was very easy to make. I had a bucket that I'd bought at a garage sale, which I painted with chalkboard paint and decorated with chalk. The pumpkin is made of felt, except for his stem. I couldn't find my box of felt so I had to use cardstock.

I gave the pumpkin head some body by cutting a smaller shape out of cardboard and sandwiching it between two layers of felt. The stick came from some other decoration that broke, but you could use a dowel.

I had this 90% made for quite a while because I was trying to figure out how to get the stick to stand up. I had thought of filling the bucket with rocks, but did not want to spend the money on them.

So I ended up crushing newspaper and filling the bucket 3/4 up, then covering the newspaper with real leaves from the back yard. On top of that, I sprinkled these cute plastic acorns I bought a while back at Michael's.

You could duplicate this in a smaller version with a simple can and smaller parts. It goes together easily and I think kids would have fun with it. It's on my front steps now (we have a bit of an overhang so it won't get wet.)

Sew Crafty Friday

I miss "Sew Crafty Friday." Shereen's blog hadn't been updated for months last I saw. I hope she comes back again, but she is probably busy with her family. Meantime, I need something like this to push myself to get my crafting done. Here is my donation for the week: a baby blanket.

It isn't for any particular baby, but my nieces and nephews and my daughter's friends will surely be having them soon!

This is my own design--at least, the combination is! I don't think anyone really designs original 'stitches,' LOL! It is a simple shell stitch. I don't like working with baby yarn, so this is done on an "I" needle. I think the yarn is sport weight? Just standard, but soft and pretty.

One of the things I bought with the $50 gift card Mike gave me is a book called "100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet." I will make several flowers from the book and scatter them over the blanket.

I like that the shells make a nice, tight pattern. We want to keep baby cozy, LOL! As you might be able to see, I'm grading the size of each stripe. The first ones are about 11 rows, then I have 7 rows and if I feel I need to add length, the final group will be about 3 or 4 rows.

If you've got something going this week, please let me know and I'll come over and visit you!

In Ohio This Week

Wow, I'm really awful at keeping up with this blog! I apologize--I'm just so tired all the time and seem to have so much to do. Nick takes his second road test later this month. In the meantime, I drive him to and from college. It's only 20 minutes away, but that's 40 minutes round trip and I despise driving! Well, for 2 days he is only in class an hour and fifteen minutes, so I use that time to shop at some of the stores nearby. My husband helps whenever it fits into his work schedule. Fortunately, Nicky's classes don't interfere with my work at all.

I'm off this week, spending it in Columbus with my mother. We're having such a good time together. We went to a favorite restaurant yesterday and hit a few Amish stores. The prices are so reasonable! I got a good stack of fabric to play with when I get home.

Before I left New York, Mike surprised me at the airport with a $50 gift card! (Amex, so I can use it almost anywhere.) Well, I've had my eye on these cute valances for several years now. They are sold in the gift shop of the restaurant, but I never felt justified in spending money on them. I finally got them, along with a few matching things like potholders and towels--and I still have a little left over!

My aunt and my mother think Mike is sweet. I totally agree.

I hope everyone (all four of you) who reads this blog is doing well!