Beef Tips and Noodles

This is one of my all time favorite recipes.  My mom made it when I was growing up and my husband and I enjoy it over and over :-)  It is so yummy!

Place 1 ½ cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in a plastic bag. Add 2 pounds sirloin steak cut into small pieces, shake in bag. (Often, I just buy the stew meat because it is cheaper and, it simmers for a long time so it does get tender.  You could use almost any cut of beef for this though.)

 Brown the floured steak cubes in ¼ cup margarine for about 15 minutes

  Add: 1 small chopped onion, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 14-oz can beef broth, 1 tablespoon parsley, 1 teaspoon basil, salt and pepper to taste.

 Mix well, cover and simmer over low heat for 1 ½ hours, stirring once in awhile

 Instead of letting it simmer in the pan - I've learned to pour it carefully into a cockpot and let it cook on low for 2-4 hours.  The meat gets sooooo tender by doing this!  Plus, you don't have to remember to stir it :-)

We liked it served over egg noodles but you could also serve it over rice.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you all enjoy your day with family and friends!  I know that we are - with lots of laughs, food, and games!!

30 Days of Thankfulness

November 24, 2010

Today I am thankful fo r quiet family time.  After a very busy day trying to get everything done (and it is!) it sure is nice to be able to sit in my warm living room as the rain hits the windows and relax with my hubby, playing on our laptops.  Candles are burning, we had some yummy dessert, an awesome dinner, and our va(stay)cation has begun.  I love my life. 

Shutterfly for Christmas - Fa La la la la FREE!

Guess what time of year it is?  It is time to get those Christmas cards ready to send out!  Yes, I am one of THOSE people.  I love to write my letter and send out a family picture to my dearest family and friends. What better way to show the special people how much your family has changed!  I love receiving the photos and I keep them all in my Christmas Scrapbook!!  It is so much fun to see how much families change over the years.  I've started thinking about this years picture and what cards to get - I think I might have the picture nailed but it is a secret -  I've been doing some looking and have found some fantastic products over at Shutterfly !!  There are tons of card options where you can put YOUR family picture or chose one that has lots of room for numerous pictures and don't forget to add me to your list!!  Looking through the options, I came across the following cards and love them all.  Now I need to decide which one will be THE one :



See why it is so hard to decide????  You can find these selections and sooo many more here at Shutterfly.

There are also some other fantastic things at Shutterfly.  You can get some incredible gifts - grandparents LOVE getting Calendars with pictures of the grand kids throughout the year.  Just pick your pictures and plug them into the great Calendar options available! 

We have a 1st birthday party coming up soon and what better place to get our invitations than from Shutterfly!  Look at these great Ideas you can chose from!

I have to be honest, I thought I had mine picked out for Nate - the second picture above but than I saw the first picture . . .and I'm not so sure!!!  I have to order this weekend though, so I'll have to decide soon!


You might be wondering why I'm telling you all of this?  Well, Shutterfly has a great promotion for bloggers to receive free photo cards, how could I not promote the product??  If you want to find more out about this opportunity just check out Shutterfly and read the info!

Song of the Week - Pam Thum; Life is hard but God Is Good

The boys and I listen to a lot of music everyday so i've pulled out all of my CD's and am enjoying them fully.   I hadn't listened to Pam Thum in years - and this is one of my all time favorite songs, ever. There is so much truth in this song and it is just a gentle reminder of the truth that God Is Always Good even when Life is Hard.   Take time to listen, I think you will be touched by it too.  I wish I could add it to my player but it isn't a choice so I added another song by her instead.  She has such an awesome voice :-)

30 Days of Thankfulness

November 23, 2010

Today I am thankful for my printer.  In a way, this is not true . .. but I'm trying to be thankful in the midst of adversity!  A few months ago we tried out Cartridge World and got ink for 1/3 of the cost.  It worked great.  Than I had to get more, and there was a problem with the cartridge which they replaced.  Another one went bad, Darryl took it back and got a new one .  .I put it in and guess what? It doesn't work!  So I'm trying to be thankful despite the fact that I have things to print.  Instead I'm learning to be thankful and patient until I can get a new cartridge this weekend :-)

Too Cute Not to "Toot"!

By this point of the month I was REALLY expecting to see a lot more Christmas stuff but I know it is all coming!  For now, here are a few more Thanksgiving ideas for you.

Here are some great printables from Crafts and Such.  They would be great in lunches or just stuck to a mirror to show your gratitude.

I'm always looking for teaching ideas and 2 Teaching Mommies have some great ideas if you search their whole site but I also really liked this activity.

It is a dice game to build the Pilgrim and Indian It would be great to keep kids busy on Thanksgiving day

She wears flowers showed two different ideas that I just adored.  They WILL be on my craft list to have ready next November. She shows to different Thankful Books.  One is personal and educational and one is a No-sew idea.

Click here for the tutorial

Click here for the tutorial

Another great blog, Mommy's Little Helper, gives all kinds of great Turkey Learning Ideas.  This picture is just one of her ideas.

There is a fantastic idea over at Parents.com for making a gratitude turkey.  It would make a great addition to any table

Over at  A pumpkin and a princess, she gives a great idea for using pine cones for Turkeys.  So cute!

One of my new favorite sites is Musings of Me.  She shares all kinds of printables for teaching.  Here a few of her current items but you could spend hours downloading anything from her site.

I think that is it for this week - not that there aren't bunches of ideas I didn't even touch!  I hope you enjoy these and visit the sites I mentioned.  Don't stop at just the one link, go looking and find more!