Baked Spaghetti Squash

Another favorite recipe! Baked Spaghetti Squash, super yummy. Sometimes I change it up with a cream mushroom sauce too.

Ingredients
1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 (14 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 cube vegetable bouillon
black pepper to taste
1 (15 ounce) can black olives, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese




Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Spray a baking sheet with a thin layer of cooking spray. Place squash halves cut side down on the baking sheet.
2. Bake squash 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife can be easily inserted. Remove from oven, and cool.
3. Meanwhile, spray a non-stick saucepan with cooking spray. Over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic until golden brown. Stir in tomatoes, basil, bouillon cube, and black pepper. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until you have a medium thick sauce.
4. Remove squash strands with a fork, reserving the shells. Layer each half with a spoonful of the sauce, a layer of spaghetti squash strands, olives, and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers until shells are full, or until all of the ingredients are used. Top with Parmesan cheese.
5. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until Parmesan cheese melts.

Warm Bread Goodness...

I love bread...probably more than I should. I love soft, crunchy, savory & well there really isn't much I dislike about breads really. Now that I've been a (housewife/puppy momma/craft queen/crocheting crazy woman/button sorter/baker/mad chemist/cooking/cleaning)...ok the list could go on. Women wear so many hats, it's hard to list them all! Staying at home these days, I'm actually more busy than I used to be. Probably why this blog doesn't get much attention.

Back on to the bread thing...

I made these really amazing hamburger buns a month ago. They turned out so good, that I make them instead of buying sandwich bread, hamburger buns & even bagles. You can do so much with them!

The recipe as follows...

Ingredients

1 cup milk

1 cup water

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 (.25 ounce) envelope active dry yeast

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon water

Directions

Combine the milk, 1 cup of water, butter, sugar and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil then remove from the heat and let stand until lukewarm. If the mixture is too hot, it will kill the yeast.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour and yeast. Pour in wet ingredients and stir until the dough starts to pull together. If you have a stand mixer, use the dough hook to mix for about 8 minutes. If not, knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning to coat. Cover and let stand until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Punch down the dough and divide into 12 portions They should be a little larger than a golf ball. Make tight balls out of the dough by pulling the dough tightly around and pinching it at the bottom. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. After the rolls sit for a minute and relax, flatten each ball with the palm of your hand until it is 3 to 4 inches wide. You may want to oil your hand first. Set rolls aside until they double in size, about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Mix together the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of water in a cup or small bowl. Brush onto the tops of the rolls. Position 2 oven racks so they are not too close to the top or bottom of the oven.

Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove the rolls from the oven and return them to different shelves so each one spends a little time on the top. Continue to bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until nicely browned on the top and bottom.

I'm telling you this is yumminess...enjoy!

{Halloween & Long Gloves}

It all started a little over a month ago...crochet madness!

{Let me start off by saying, I was one of those little girls that loved spending time with my Great Grandma & Grandma Bird. They always had amazing stories of growing up. Made me realize even then...that I was born in the wrong era.}

Ok...back to what I was talking about...CROCHETING! I learned how to crochet from the amazing women in my family. Every Fall/Winter I settle into a comfy chair & start crocheting scarves, hats, wraps & so forth. However this year, my brain has been overwhelmed with ideas of creating. I sat down with lots of buttons, yarn & all my crochet needles. The hands just started to go...next thing I knew it was fingerless gloves forming. Long, lean, lovely fingerless gloves. Reminded me of Audrey Hepburn or the lovely ladies of that era wearing long gloves. Sure they are crocheted and not a fine knit...but darn it they look so cute on. I shared them on Facebook & then it went nuts! Some of my friends fell in love with them so much...order requests started flooding in. I have been crocheting them like crazy, one set after the other {super exciting}.

Here we have arrived to Halloween & just finished my last pair of the clustered orders. They are fun, lovely with a hint of sparkle. I thought I would share a picture & my very heart felt thanks to the friends loving them! They are quite the items to make, take a good day for the set. So now that one of my favorite holidays is here, I'm on to my day of enjoying getting ready for a night of fun! Hope everyone has a safe & Spooktacular evening!!

Growing up with a Mom that has always understood…

My Mom sold Avon products & always kept her daughters in supply with perfumes & body powders. Well this is where it all began…mixing perfume & the powders together seemed like magic to me. Even though it always came out the same, no matter the combination the end always came out the same grey paste. Yep, that didn’t stop me though! Experiments continued and I remember how my Mom, rather than thinking I was totally crazy she just understood I couldn’t help to see if it would come out different at some point. I did stop at one point of course, the result never really changed. She did always call me the mad scientist, which always made me giggle.

My Mom always had a nickname for me as well… it has always been comfort and embody good things when she used it. Unlike when she used my first and middle name, which used together meant I was most likely in trouble. No this nickname always makes me smile to this day.

Why am I telling you these things? Well the nickname was Sade May and if you combine that with the mad scientist, it’s like my Mom all along was predicting my future love. Making bath & body products, embodies the mad scientist side and what better name then Sade May’s Creations for the line.