So, on Saturday August sixth my favorite guy turned eight years old!!! I just can’t get over how it seems like only yesterday that he was born. He was so tiny! He was six weeks early and was only three pounds five ounces. He was the tiniest baby I ever held.
I also can’t believe how being a mom changes a person!! I mean let’s be honest had someone said to me, “what would you do if someone vomited or defecated on you?” I would have been totally disgusted!!! You know what though; you totally change when you become a mom and you just wipe it off and go on about your day.
My Interests have also changed. I would have never believed I would have any interest at all in trains but after taking the boy to any train place we can find I actually have to say they are a beautiful means of transportation. I mean, look at this beauty:
Aside from all of that though, you have a really cool squid to share your life with and revel in the young man he will be someday. So, I just wanted to share with all of you what happens when time flies:
Happy Birthday to my Little Man,
Love Forever Mom!!
P.S. Remember, it's o.k. when time flies as long as you doesn't pass you by!!!
Here at the Purple Palace we view opening a can of Pillsbury biscuits, crescent rolls, or any other dough in a can, like playing Russian Roulette. It's always scary with what you are going to get. Will it make a huge explosion or gently open up? Will it wait until I bang it on the counter or explode as I rip the paper off? Of course when someone as cool as Lynne at Happier Than a Pig in Mud has another super fun cook off I am more than happy to play the game!! She always has such fun cook off!!
This recipe is super super easy!!! It’s like making apple pie in ten minutes!! Here the stuff you need:
Apple Dumplings
2 Cans of Pillsbury crescent rolls
1 1/3 cup of sugar or Splenda
1 12 ounce can of regular or diet Mountain Dew
1 stick of butter
2 apples
½ teaspoon of cinnamon
Core and peel each apple and cut each one into 8 slices. Unroll the crescent dough and wrap one apple slice in one crescent roll. Place these in a 9x13 baking dish. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan. Once it is melted stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Spoon the mixture over each one of the apples then pour the Mountain Dew over the apples. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.
This may or may not surprise you to know that I got this recipe from Paula Dean. I have actually had it before but never had the actual recipe. I found this on Paula’s website. I cut the recipe in half when I make it and only use one can of the biscuits. If you can get past how gross and soggy you think the crescent rolls may get I urge you to try this recipe!! They aren’t gooey one bit and taste like little apple pies.
Enoy!!!!
I mean really??!! What do you do with stuff like this? Be disciplined and put it away every time I use it in a day??? Put it in another container after I buy it so it can live on the counter? Really???!!!??? Those are beautiful thoughts but in my world I just know it won't happen. Plus I wanted something that would be close to little or no money.
SSooooooooo, I traveled to a land far far away that is home to a wonderful and generous fairy, the Graphics Fairy to be precise. I used her handy dandy little search tool and here's what I did:
I found these cutesy little labels, printed them out, and glued them on with some handy dandy tacky glue!!! See, everything is better with a little bit of fairy dust!!! OOOHHHHHH and lookey there the Graphics Fairy even stopped by to give her approval!!
So I think we're all familiar with Paula Deen and her love for butter!!! Lynne over at Happier Than a Pig In Mud is having a Paula Deen cookalong on May 15th. I decided to Make Paula's Gumbo recipe which calls for of course butter and oil!! When I read that I decided to remove some of that. "How," you say? WWWeeeelllllll---I decided that instead of all the butter and oil that I would replace it with--bacon grease. That's right, bacon grease!!! I have to say that I am not a petite girl nor a health food nut but sometimes Paula's use of butter even makes me cringe a little bit!! That of course was not the case with the Gumbo recipe. When my sister, the White Farmhouse, and I were kids we thought bacon grease was a seasoning. Our mom, a self respectin' bacon grease usin' southener, would put it in just about anything, including green beans. Yes, green beans!!! I just felt that bacon grease would be a lot better in the gumbo than butter. Here is Paula Deen's Gumbo Recipe . . .
Gumbo
Servings: 8-10 servings
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 2 hours 25 min
Difficulty: Moderate
Ingredients Add to grocery list
4 green onions, sliced, white and green parts
Chopped fresh parsley
2 cup frozen sliced okra
1 14 ounce can stewed tomatoes with juice
1/2 lb small shrimp peeled, deveined and cooked
5 beef bouillon cubes
1/4 bunch flat leaf parsley, stems and leaves
3 stalks celery chopped
8 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
5 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 lb smoked sausage, cut into 1/4 inch slices
Salt and pepper
3 large boneless chicken breast halves
4 cup hot water
Directions
Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken until browned on both sides and remove. Add the sausage and cook until browned, then remove. Sprinkle the flour over the oil, add 2 tablespoons of butter and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until brown, about 10 minutes. Let the roux cool.
Return the Dutch oven to low heat and melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter. Add the onion, garlic, green pepper and celery and cook for 10 minutes. Add Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper, to taste and the 1/4 bunch parsley. Cook, while stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. Add 4 cups hot water and bouillon cubes, whisking constantly. Add the chicken and sausage. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes. Add tomatoes and okra. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Just before serving add the green onions, shrimp and chopped parsley.
Here is my version using the same ingredients but substituting bacon grease for the butter. The bulk of the variation I put on it is how I prepare the dish. Let me show you with some pics . . .
So you start with the bacon grease. Make note of the color, it will quickly change.
Once it is hot you throw in the chicken breasts and a whole bunch of seasoning. No, no, no---not more bacon grease!!! Actual seasonings!!! A whole bunch of garlic, onion powder, and celery salt. That's because I, like the White Farmhouse, forgot to buy celery.
Notice how the color of the bacon grease is already changing to a dark amber. Don't get too hysterical because before we are done it will get even darker!!!
See what I mean!!!!!
Next we saute the sausage . . .
See how dark the bacon grease is now?!? Once the sausage is cooked add the chicken back in. At this point you will want to add in some oil, I used olive oil. Let that get hot and then add in the flour . . .
At this point we are gonna stir in the flour, it should still be a little loose. We are then gonna just sit back and let it do it's thing for about ten minutes.
It will start out looking like this:
and end up looking like this, with all the yummy black stuff on the bottom of the pan:
Add in the shrimp and the other veggies and saute them altogether. Put in everything except for the tomatoes and the okra. I also use another variation. I use beef stock instead of the bouillon cubes. What you want to do is add about a cup of beef stock with the heat still turned up high. This will get all of those yummy tidbits off the bottom of the pan. Now you can add in the rest of the beef stock.
I used about two boxes of beef stock. You want it to still be thin because you will simmer it for about and hour and it will thicken up.
You really want to get in there and scrap the bottom of the pan and stir things up!! That is actually one of my specialties, stirring things up!!!
Your gonna bring this to a good boil and turn it down low and leave it for about an hour.
After an hour you will add in the okra . . .
. . . and then the tomatoes. Simmer that for about another 45 minutes . . .
Here is my last little tip for the Gumbo or any other soup/stew type dish that tends to get a little greasy. Instead of trying to scoop the excess grease off the top all you have to do is let it cool to room temp and then put it in the fridge. When you take it out in the morning all of the excess fat will have solidified on the top and you can easily remove it with a spoon . . .
Oila!!!
This really makes a lip smackin . . . . .What's that noise??!! . . . Oh my gosh . . . I am so embarassed someone is at the door. BRB!
Well, my goodness!!! Look who's here!!!
It's Paula Deen!!! All the way from the White Farmhouse!!! (She must have gotten conned by the bitty one because she seems to have lost all of her clothes!!! HHHMMMMM!!!!) Paula, what's that in your hand?
A big basket of fried chicken??!!?? Well bless you heart!! But Paula, we don't need fried chicken. I made your Gumbo recipe. Come on in to the kitchen and take a gander.
I know it does look yummy!!! What d'ya say I make some rice and we plate this up?
MMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here Paula, have a bite . . .
I know!! It is lip smackin good!!!
See, Paula isn't the only one who thinks so!!!
. . . Ha Ha!!! Did I fool you White Farmhouse? W-e-e-e-llllll, it’s not quite ready yet, so you’re gonna have to wait just a little while longer!!!
So here is Bohemuth:
Say hello Bohemuth. "Hello Bohemuth." He is a large boy and he comes to you compliments of my two little hands and the most creative woman with wood I have never met, Ana White from Knock off Wood. 
As you can see don't only hate her because she's clever with wood, hate her because she's beautiful too!! (Only kidding!!) You can find her by clicking here. When I first moved into the apartment I didn't have much furniture nor money. I needed a massive entertainment center to house all of my "collectables." I stumbled upon Ana's web-site and found the plans, thus the birth of Bohemuth.
As you can see Bohemuth has suffered through his first year with a terrible birth defect, he was never fully formed. Once again, after a visit from the White Farmhouse he is currently under going some cosmetic surgery. I did want to show all of you his new color---he was born white and morphed to this beautiful turquoise blue. The White Farmhouse and I have other plans in the works for him. I will give you a little taste and show you his new color, the rest you will have to wait for!!!
Oh Thank Heaven for Sherwin Williams!!!!! What do you think of his new color?
Watcha' gonna do when she comes to you? Bad design, bad design, watcha' gonna do when she comes to you? SSSOOOOOO-------I realize that I haven't posted in a supery ubbery dubbery long time so I thought why not do it after a life changing event--or actually design changing event I should say. After my first year of renting my aprtment and slowly trying to make it feel like home I realized I needed some help. So, when the White Farmhouse came for a visit I decided to take advantage of it. I had a spot by the front door that was a landing spot, evidently a landing spot for pigs because it was quite the little stye!! I wish I had taken a before picture but in a blur of design the White Farmhouse (a/k/a/ my OLDER sister) got to work. Here is a pic of how she transformed my spot: 
I just love my new space!!! She also gave me more room to collect all the dishes I see on Stone Gable!! Thanks a lot Yvonne!! And thanks a lot to my OLDER sister, Maggie at the White Farmhouse!!
What are you gonna do if she comes to you??