Over the Kitchen Counter: Angie's Place for Cooking and Crafts

PANDORA "Disney" Autumn 2018 Release: New Charms!!!

The week has flown by as I try to catch up after being away for the weekend. It's only a couple days but amazing how that messes with the work to be done. However, I had to find time to see the new PANDORA 2018 autumn release, including the adorable new Disney charms, just out today. I didn't come home empty handed and a few of my TOP wish list items are now waiting to be added to my bracelets.

Here is a very short video showcasing the beautiful new Pandora charms I picked up from the Disney Pinocchio and Snow White lines...plus a cute new "Bruno the Unicorn" and a set of clips from the Grains of Life collection. Do you have any of the Pandora autumn 2018 charms on your wish list???

 

Blue Zone Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole

We didn't grow eggplant in the garden this year but there were zucchini, tomatoes and plenty of fresh, fragrant basil - the right ingredients for this satisfying meal. While the Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole is very similar to eggplant parmesan, this is a Blue Zone recipe so it's healthy and will help you try to live to be 100!

The process is very simple, just layers of vegetables nestled in a quick, fresh, basil-laden tomato sauce. A sprinkle of cheese on top bakes into a delicious crust and the casserole smells lovely while cooking. The recipe yields an 8" casserole and since I was the only one eating this vegetarian main dish, it served me for 4 nights straight. I loved it and the flavour only got better each day. I enjoyed the casserole with pasta one night, crusty bread the next, salad and then broccoli.

You can find the recipe for Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole from the Blue Zones, HERE. If you have an abundance of vegetables in your garden you might enjoy using them up in this Sardinian-inspired dish. If you don't, the local supermarket or farmer's veggie stand will surely carry what you need. 

My Pandora Bracelet: Love of Pandora & Club Charms

You know you "got it bad" when you design a bracelet themed on the love of your bracelets! Of course I DO love my Pandora collection but this particular bracelet was primarily created to showcase the beautiful set of special Club Charms I have been fortunate to assemble. Pandora released the first club charm in 2014 as a limited edition, unique charm meant only for the people who had joined the Pandora Club. It featured the year engraved on the charm as well as a tiny diamond. As you'll see in my video, the first was a lovely silver Pandora gift box with a lid that opens to reveal a heart charm nesting on a cushion, the .01 ct diamond centred in the face of the heart. All subsequent Club charms also include the engraved year and an equally rated diamond (H/VS), of the same carat weight

I detail the remainder of the yearly club charms in the video, along with the other Pandora signature items I've added to finish off the design. All of these charms were perfectly suited for the gorgeous Silver Mesh Bangle bracelet and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Happy Memory Keeping

I am so excited for September when I will start my new Happy Memory Keeping planner from me & my BIG ideas. Because I purchased the hp sprocket and can now instantly print photos of the day, I knew I wanted to pair it with a planner for quick memory keeping. The large, 8.5 x 11in planner has slightly larger rectangles than the Classic planner I am currently using every day to keep me organized and on track with my to-do lists. The sprocket prints fit perfectly into those spaces and that makes everything so fast and easy when it comes to this kind of scrapbooking.

The specially designed memory keeper album is spiral bound using the Happy Planner discs and the pages are removable. It is a 12 month undated planner so you can begin any time and has both monthly and weekly calendar pages. There are laminated dividers and 23 additional themed pages. There are so many beautiful cover designs and styles to choose from, as well as metal or plastic discs, and even jumbo starter kits that include washi tape and sticker sheets.

I chose the slightly less expensive plastic discs version and since I have plenty of stickers and washi, I bought the stand-alone album. I think the cover is really pretty and the matching water colour artwork inside is too. I also picked up a large punch (I already have the classic size punch) to make decorating with paper and cropping standard size photos super quick and easy.

There are included 'month' stickers to label the divider tabs and I got a couple of sticker books for embellishing the pages with fun seasonal themes & holidays, as well as everyday titles, prompts, and boxes. There are always great deals and coupons at Michaels so it was a pretty affordable system. Unlike traditional scrapbooking, I intend to keep this upstairs where I can access it any time I have a minute. At the end of the day I can jot down any memories and notes (no need to make this complicated or perfect), add a quick photo or two, and adorn with a few relevant stickers. I love the idea of the monthly calendar pages too since I have made a few proper scrapbooks that way in the past. It's quite fun to look back on a typical month-in-our-lives, but this way it stays current and fresh without having to "back-scrap".

I will absolutely still be using my Creative Memories products and albums for my major scrapbooking (I am in the middle of a Disney vacation and my photos and papers are spread out all over my workshop table!), but I think this Happy Memory Keeping planner is going to be a fun way to record our regular days. I'm excited to get started!

hp Sprocket instant pocket printer review

I have been researching the hp Sprocket mini printer for a while and finally gave in and purchased it. This is a super fun pocket-size printer that instantly prints 2x3" photos using ZINK zero Ink printing technology. That ZINK feature is pretty much what sold me on this buy. NO INK! Because I am a Happy Planner and scrapbooker, I really wanted to be able to add small photos to my pages to help remember special, and perhaps even more importantly, everyday, moments. I tried using my regular printer to get those pics but a) I needed to wait until I had enough to fill an entire photo paper page, and b) my regular printer SUCKS ink and it was costing a fortune (and inconvenience) every time I printed. I didn't do this more that 3 times before I realized I needed a different approach. My source for printing regular photos only offers mini prints in a collage of 4 of the same so that wasn't cost effective, and certainly not convenient.

The HP sprocket is exactly what I was looking for. Instant prints, one at a time, right at home, no waiting, and with no ink. It cost about $160 for the printer and the packets of paper are about $25, making each photo about $0.50. To be honest, I am a gadget/electronic girl to begin with so the more I watched videos of this little guy in action, the more I convinced myself it was worth every penny. I am not disappointed!

My very first print was a little streaky but after that, they have been really good! The reviews are mostly favourable and I am having so much fun using the sprocket. It is so tiny and light, fits in the palm of your hand, and is really sleek (I got the white one with rose gold). It is so simple to set up and use and the app offers SO MANY fun features! It is really cool to be able to completely edit your pics right on your phone and add borders, text, fun filters, etc. I could play for hours! There is instant gratification to be able to print a photo immediately to include in your planner page right away. 

You can save your edited photos to your phone, share them on all the social media platforms, and even add them to a print queue to print later. You can print directly from those social media sites directly as well so that is super fast and convenient if you're willing to sign in and share data with HP. You can print on the go, enable mobile printing from other apps, and even create custom stickers from your own drawings. One feature I'm quite excited to try is the tile printing option. You can print out different configurations of a photo and then assemble them to create a large tiled mosaic print.

There is a photobooth mode and even a way to scan photos and link them to relive memories through more images and videos from the same day or location. Again, if you are willing to share your info and photos, there are available magic frames and hidden treasures, themes and seasonal additions that can allow for augmented reality experiences! That gets a little too weird for me but could be fun!

I am thrilled so far with this purchase and love printing my photos in just the right size for my planner. There are some instances when I can print a quick pic to represent an everyday activity that I probably wouldn't otherwise print (our weekend bike route, a picnic lunch, or picking veggies in the garden, etc.) and it's nice to be able to remember those moments along with the big birthdays or vacations.

I have even changed the way I'm going to scrapbook and memory keep because of the sprocket and can't wait to share what system I have put together!

Amazing Tip for Pulled Pork and Shredded Chicken

I recently saw a random post of someone shredding chicken in the Instant Pot using a hand-held electric mixer. This intrigued me as that is a job I hate doing. Usually, I remove the chicken to a plate and use two forks to pick and pull apart the meat. It's kind of messy and hot, and it seems to take me forever. I couldn't wait to experiment with the mixer technique to see if it actually worked.

On Wednesday I made bar-b-qued pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. The pork tenderloin had cooked slowly in the crockpot all day and it was time to start shredding. I took the lid off about 1/2 an hour before I wanted to serve to allow it to cool somewhat. I put on an apron and glasses (not knowing if the beaters would splatter up hot bar-b-que sauce!) and used the slowest speed on my Kitchen-Aid hand mixer. I hoped this would work for pork in addition to the chicken breasts I saw demonstrated.

It took a minute but the pork chunks easily started to shred. It combined perfectly with the sauce and became the ideal texture to spoon on the brioche sesame seed buns. It was a fabulous dinner and it was just so easy! The pork wasn't gloppy and drippy so there were no soggy buns and we could add a bit of extra bar-b-que sauce to the meat, as desired. I do not know who to thank for this idea but pulled pork sandwiches and chicken tacos or enchiladas just got a whole lot more enticing to make for dinner! Try it out sometime, I swear it works like a charm!

P.S. I'm so excited to share some new things with you so please check back! I will get the posts written as soon as I can - this summer has been super busy!

Peach Cobbler Dump Cake

One of my earliest YouTube recipes, and one of our family's favourite desserts, is PEACH COBBLER. It is a wonderful dish and while simple enough to make, it's a little more labour intensive than the Peach Cobbler Dump Cake I made on the weekend. I happened across the video on my 'news feed' and just had to give it a try.

With only 4 ingredients (canned peaches, yellow cake mix, butter, and cinnamon) and zero effort (literally DUMP the ingredients into a baking dish), this is a super fast and easy dessert to whip up in no time. It is actually scrumptious and I would totally serve it to company. It makes a nice, large 9"x13" pan and will feed a crowd. If you can get canned peaches on sale it will be more economical as those have gone up in price so much over the years. I actually had a bit of a search to find them packed in syrup. The recipe calls for heavy syrup but I could only find light syrup. In this healthier age I guess most companies are now canning fruit in water or fruit juice. I wasn't sure if it would make a difference but I always like to follow a recipe exactly the first time around, and then perhaps make changes after that if needed.

It is kind of amazing that the dry cake mix cooks down into the peach syrup and forms the 'cobbles' on top. There is no mixing at all and yet there is a sauce and a cake and a crust. Peach Cobbler Dump cake is excellent and we all enjoyed it tremendously, especially me given my lack of effort! I have one small negative comment and it's subjective. I found the cake very sweet (all that syrup???) so I might try it with those healthy, fruit-juice or water packed cans of peaches next time.

Here is my video recipe for Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler followed by the new fangled Peach Cobbler Dump Cake, presented by Six Sisters' Stuff.

Fun Feeder Slo Bowl

 

I have a gobbler. He eats too fast and inhales his food. There can be vomiting. His name is Sam and he is a Yellow Lab. If you have a Labrador Retriever you understand my predicament 100%.

Labs love to eat more than almost anything and our boy has been trouble from the get-go. From "eating" (more like swallowing as quickly as possible) socks, towels, tissues, and anything else he can vacuum up before we can pry open his mouth (including a sewing needle, with thread attached, resulting in $1,500 surgery), he also polishes off a bowl of kibble in record time. We curtailed the um...regurgitation...somewhat by switching to premium, salmon-is-the-first-ingredient sensitive stomach food but he still occasionally can't keep it down if he's gobbled at mealtime. He also sometimes inhales a kibble or two and has to cough it out.

My daughter saw an ad for a puzzle/maze shaped bowl that reportedly slows down eating. This seemed like something we should at least try and I was happy to find one at the local chain pet store. The Fun Feeder Slo Bowl helps prevent doggie obesity and bloat. The kibble or soft food is added to the sturdy, no-slip plastic bowl in little troughs. The dog has to lick up the food and work his way around the concentric rings to finish it off.

I had to wait for the kids to get home before I fed him for the first time in his new bowl, but it worked like a charm! Sam took about 4 times as long to eat up all the kibble. It definitely slowed him down and while he was a bit confused at first, he seems to love it now. While the bowl is dishwasher safe, I am not adding it with my dishes. I simply let it soak in hot, soapy water and rinse it off. It holds 4 cups of either kind of food and is made of food safe materials.

I am very impressed with this product and recommend it if you have a gobbler too. I bought the larger size which costs about $26 Canadian. You can see what's available (there are several choices of size and colour) at the website HERE. I think this new bowl has solved our canine eating frenzy problem for good.