Nana Day Lunch

                                                             Time to Feed the Kids!!

Well, it was Nana day and of course the kids always have their favorite foods and I always try to keep most if not all of what they like on hand. Hey, I'm Nana, it's a big responsibility!! Anyway, thought I would try to steer them a little outside of the box and try some recipes that I had found on Pinterest.




Both of these are posted to my board "Food & Recipes"

I was at the store buying the biscuits for my last post, "Biscuit Makeovers" and saw the crescent rolls.  I had remembered seeing a recipe that used them, so decided to buy them and used the recipe at a later date.  When it came time for lunch, I decided to try it out but I didn't have string cheese or pepperoni.  I'm thinking, if I make another trip to the grocery store I will end up buying three times more than I planned, because of the cute little faces looking at me and saying, "Nana, PLEASE, can we have that?"  So.... I looked in the fridge and found turkey slices and American cheese.  They like these two and have made them sandwiches, so decided to give it a try.  I put the turkey and cheese on the crescent roll and thought it needed a little something extra......... ranch dressing!!  They love it on everything!!

                                                     I baked them just as the recipe said......

Looking Good!!

Ok, so now for a little accompaniment!  I am a huge fan of "Cheez its"  I convince myself that I'm buying them for the kids, but if I'm totally honest, the kids eat a few and after they go home, I devour the whole box!!  They are SO good!!

I found the recipe on Pinterest to flavor the oyster crackers and one of the ingredients is "Ranch Dressing Mix".  Since the crescent rolls also have Ranch, I thought these two would be a good lunch for the kids.  I followed the recipe exactly and they were very, very easy to make!  The were really good, but I have to say, they pale in comparison to a Cheez it.  Oh well, continue the search at another time.

It makes quite a bit and for another use on these.  A couple of days later, I had taken out some pork chops and was gonna' make my version of "Shake n Bake" pork chops.  Rather than buying the mix, I just season my own bread crumbs.  But when I get ready to cook dinner, I had no bread crumbs in the pantry.... Hmmmm.  Ah Ha!!  I crushed the seasoned crackers and used them!!  It was pretty yummy!!

OK, so lunch for the kids.  I plated them up.

And gave them to the kids

The final word on lunch from the "judges".  Landin liked the oyster crackers.  I asked him if he liked them better than Cheez it's, he actually said that he did.  However, Allie, didn't like them at all.  As for as the crescent sandwiches, neither one was impressed.  Danny and  I liked them, but not enough to go to the trouble of making them rather than just making a turkey and cheese sandwich. 

Oh well, moving on to the next recipe experiment!!  I might try the crescent rolls again, but with the Pepperoni and string cheese - maybe......

Alaska Northern Lights

Ok, so this is kinda' stretching it on my Pinterest inspired blog, but this has been an exciting day for me that I just had to share!!

I guess I should back up and tell you what this story is all about.  Back in May, I had done a 4 foot by 4 foot painting of a Poppy field for my best friend and had taken it to the UPS store to have them package it and mail it.  While I was there, a lady saw the painting, 4 foot by 4 foot is kinda' hard to miss right?  Anyway, she saw it and told me that she worked at the local art gallery and she had never seen a painting like mine.  I do a lot of three dimensional accents to my paintings.  She said that I had to bring some of my work into the gallery!  It was a huge compliment and I was completely shocked and thrilled, and frankly, a little scared.  What if they didn't like my work.  I'm just now beginning to feel like I might be able to do this, what if I got shot down.  Would it destroy all the confidence that I had started to build when it came to my talents?  All of this was running thru my head and even though I knew I would eventually get up the courage to do it, I kept putting it off. 

In October, my daughter-in-law, Jayme, had ask for a painting of the Northern Lights for her birthday present which was coming up in November.  I hadn't even planned to do a painting for her this year, I know she loves my paintings, but I kinda' felt like I might be overwhelming them with paintings.  But she ask for it, so, of course, it was hers!!   I painted it for her and I have to say, I thought it turned out pretty good.  Jayme said that it was her favorite painting that I had done for her so far. 

                                                                               
That gave me the idea that I should do a much larger version to take to the Art Gallery.  I made the decision to try and get it painted and to take it to the gallery in time for Christmas shopping.  It was exciting to work on it, but I had to keep reminding myself to relax and enjoy it.  I was putting way too much pressure on myself to make it perfect.  Finally,  I finished it and I really do think it turned out really good.  But, still, I couldn't bring myself to take it to the gallery.  Those nagging insecurities got the best of me.  I have to say in my defense that I did proudly display it in my own little art section in Danny's shop!

So, today, a friend came by to visit that we hadn't seen since last April.  He was out in the shop with my husband, Danny and he came and told me that Ken was here visiting.  As always, when he comes to visit we have to go have lunch at our favorite Thai Restaurant.  Before we headed out though, I told him that I had stolen a portion of Danny's Man Cave for my own goodies and to come up and see.  I took him up to look around and he saw my Northern Lights Painting.  He said that he loved it and wanted it!!  I just looked at him and said, "Really?!"  He laughed and said, "Yes, how much?"  He bought it!!  Holy Moly, he bought it!

Everyone tells me that I shouldn't be shocked when people want to buy my work, but, honestly, I hope the thrill of knowing someone likes my work enough to pay for it never wears off.  It's exciting and humbling at the same time.  I know I still have to work thru those nagging little voices of insecurity, and believe me, today helped me move in that direction!!   Thank you Liz and Jayme for your belief in me and my work!!  I am very honored that God gave me this talent and I'm also very proud that I am trying to use it to the best of my ability. 

Hey!!  This does connect to Pinterest, because I also use a lot of the photography for inspiration for other work that I want to do and I found one that just might be my inspiration for my next painting of the Northern Lights.  I do need to do another Northern Lights painting after all.  And who knows, maybe this one will actually make it into a gallery.


What do you think?


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