I am excited to announce the grand opening of Your Homebased Mom Etsy Shop!!

I love shopping on etsy as well as promoting and supporting etsy shops so I am now proud to be part of this amazing community.  A community of people who support the buying and selling of all things handmade!

Due to popular demand I have stocked my shop with some of those pretty reuseable grocery bags I shared with you a few weeks ago.    I’d love for you to go over and take a peek and let me know what you think. 

If I do say so myself I think they are pretty darn cute!

There are only  a certain number of bags available in each fabric selection so if you see one you like you will want to grab it because once it is gone – it’s gone.  I will be adding lots of other pretty fabric selections later this week.

Each bag has been lovingly made by me – Your Homebased Mom!

Stay tuned for other lovely, pretty items that will be added in the future!!

Happy shopping!!

 I am actually writing this post at the Portland airport.  I am on my way to Utah to play mom/nurse to my son Clark who is having ACL repair surgery today.  (He blew out the other knee four years ago so we’ve been through this before)

My suitcase has some special treats for those college kids.  There are two containers of freezer jam straight from my freezer, a cute London t-shirt I found at Costco for Cali in honor of her upcoming study abroad in London as well as a book on the top day trips from London!  There are also 3 bags of Cupid Corn Cookie Bark.

You see, I couldn’t resist when I saw this at Winco a few weeks ago….

You remember the fun Candy Corn Cookie Bark and the Reindeer Corn Cookie Bark?  Well now there is Cupid Corn Cookie Bark!!!

If you haven’t made cookie bark yet – what are you waiting for!?!?! 

For directions on how to make the super easy and super yummy cookie bar go here.

And if you can’t find the cute Valentine corn at your store just use the valentine colored M & M’s instead. 

Because you can never have too much of a good thing – go make up a batch of Cupid Corn Cookie Bark for your sweetheart – they will love you even more for it!!

I am excited to announce that the two winners of the Style By Karen giveaway are:

#73 Traci and #63  Meghan

Congratulations to these lucky two ladies.  For those of you who didn’t win please pay Karen a visit at her blog and  subscribe to her blog and you can stay connected AND receive FREE fashion tips twice a week.  Be sure and check out her services page!!  Whether you just need help in finding a pair of great fitting jeans or a total wardrobe makeup Karen can help you!!!

Cowboys may like calzone because they are quick and easy to eat on the run but so do us civilian folk , especially busy civilian folk!!

A calzone is like a pizza pocket or turnover.  In Italian it actually means “stocking” or “trouser”.  Not really sure how it resembles a stocking or trouser but oh well!

The great thing about calzone is they can be eaten out of hand or with a knife and fork.  They freeze well so they are perfect for a quick snack or lunch for someone.   

The recipe made more than our reduced size family could eat so after baking and cooling I wrapped them individually and tossed them in the freezer.  When you are ready for a quick snack, lunch or dinner just zap them in the microwave!

I used Pioneer Women’s pizza recipe which is a good one.  I makes enough dough for two pizzas or a batch of calzone and a pizza or two batches of calzone!  I used half for the calzone and then saved the other half in the refrigerator (can be refrigerated for up to 3 days) for pizza.

The inside is filled with a mixture of hamburger, tomato and  three kinds of cheese – yum.  You could get creative with your filling even using leftover chicken, pepperoni or vegetables.  Whatever you like to eat on pizza!

We’ve already made these twice at our house and I’m sure we’ll be making them again, next time I will experiment with the fillings a little bit!

Please excuse my poor photos.  It was late, dark and we were really hungry and in a hurry!!

Pizza Crust

The Pioneer  Woman Cooks

Pizza Crust

Yield: 2 pizza crusts

Ingredients

1 tsp or 1/2 packet active dry yeast

1 1/2 C warm water

4 C all-purpose flour

1 tsp kosher salt

1/3 C extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

In a mixing bowl, pour the yeast over 1 1/2 cups of warm water, stirring gently. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and salt. Using an electric mixer on low speed, drizzle in the olive oil until just incorporated. Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, mixing until the dough forms a ball. (You can also do this by hand.)

Drizzle a little olive oil into a clean bowl. Toss the ball of dough in the bowl and turn over to coat in oil. Cover the bowl with a moist kitchen towel and set in a warm place for 1-2 hours, or cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Divide the dough in half, then using your hands, stretch the dough to the desired shape, pressing it into an oiled pan with your fingers. The thinner the better. The surface of the dough should be lumpy from finger marks.  The other half of the dough may be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerated up to 3 days before use, or frozen for up to 6 months.

Cowboy Calzone

1/2 lb. hot breakfast sausage (I used mild)

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 onion, finely diced

1 – 8 oz. can tomatoes and chilies (Rotel brand)

8 oz. whole milk ricotta cheese

1/2 C grated mozzarella cheese

1/2 C grated Monterey Jack cheese

1 egg, beaten

salt and black pepper

1 recipe pizza crust (1/2 of above recipe)

olive oil for brushing

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large skillet combine the sausage and hambuger with the onion.   Brown and drain off extra grease.  Pour in the tomatoes and chilies.

Stir to combine, and cook for 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

In a bowl combine the three cheeses and the egg.  Add a dash of salt and pepper.  Add the cooled meat mixture to the cheese mixture and stir to gently combine.

Divide the pizza dough into 8 equal size balls.  With a rolling pin on a floured surface, roll each ball into a 6 inch circle.

Place one eighth of the meat/cheese mixture in the middle of each circle.  Fold half of the circle over the other half, gently pressing to slightly spread and flatten the filling inside.  Press a fork along the edge to seal closed then transfer the calzone to a greased baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.  Brush the top of calzone with olive oil.

Bak for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.  EnJOY!

Thanks to all of you who have left comments for Karen and to Karen for her generous offer!  She has loved reading the comments and wishes she could work with each one of you. 

She has generously offered to help two people – one local and one virtually!  Thank you Karen.  So we will have two winners!!!

Be sure and check out Karen’s blog for a list of what she has to offer!!  If you haven’t entered the giveaway yet click here to do so.

I don’t know about you but just about every January I get that bug – that redo, revamp, reorganizational bug and I always seem to start with my closet!  I’m usually pretty tired of my clothes about this time of year and feeling like I need a little redo myself!   Ever feel like that?

Well, lucky for me my friend Karen, a personal stylist, was there to help out!  A personal stylist is someone who helps you look your best.  

Karen spends time listening to you and getting to know you, your lifestyle and the various roles you play. (This didn’t take long for us because we’ve known each other for years.)  Next, Karen spent one on one time with me talking about my body type and shape and how I can emphasis my assets and hide my defects.  She helps you discover what looks best on your body just the way it is.  She can even help you figure out what colors look best on you.

After helping me learn my style we moved onto the closet, yes the dreaded closet!!  I must admit I spent a little time the day before she came over cleaning it up a bit!!

Karen doesn’t expect you to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe, in fact her main goal is to help you learn how to shop your closet.  This is the part I loved.  She went through my closet with me and we focused in on some of the things I never wear.  Usually the reason was that I didn’t know what to wear with it.  Karen helped me shop my own closet by coming up with some fun new ways to combine clothes I already had.  Karen teaches that you don’t need to get rid of everything in your closet and you don’t have to spend a fortune to look good.   I had a whole new wardrobe without going shopping!  My husband loved that part!!

Karen recently did a great article where she shows you exactly how to mix and match the clothes you already have in your closet.  Check it out here.  If you tend to wear the same outfits in the same order Karen has some great tips and ideas for you.

Karen helps you learn your style, shop your closet and love your look!  Be sure and check out her blog Style by Karen  for more great fashion ideas and tips.

Now for the best part!  Karen is sponsoring a giveaway here on the blog. Karen is offering a free 3 hour personal consultation. She will assess clothing needs, determine personal style, analyze body type/colors, and Karen will make suggestions for closet organization. She will work with a long distance winner via phone calls, photos and possibly skype. Also included: Style guide and closet tabs.   This is an amazing value!

Just leave a comment below and you will be entered in the drawing.  Giveaway closes Friday, January 29th at midnight PST.

Meet my friend Karen:

I have been a Washingtonian all but 10 years of my life. I was raised in Lynden, WA, a small farming community in the NW corner, just a few miles from the Canadian border. After attending college in Michigan, I landed my first job in Denver, Co where I lived for 6 years and met my husband, Mike. His job in the lumber industry brought us back to the NW and in 1989 we settled in Vancouver WA, which is in the very SW corner of the state. Nestled in between Seattle and Portland OR, we love the small city feel which has been perfect for raising our two boys Ethan and Collin who are now 17 and 14. My previous career as a school teacher and home business owner has paved the way for beginning a new business in 2008. As a personal stylist I enjoy using my creativity in a whole new way. I love teaching women how to look, feel and dress their best.

I am in charge of the food for yet another women’s event at church.

This time we are doing a dessert bar with an assortment of bar cookies.  That means I’ve been trying out a lot of bar cookie recipes lately.  This could add a lot of extra calories to the old caloric intake but I have been pretty good about only eating a couple myself – for research and then giving the rest away!  But I must admit that I ate more than just a couple of the bar recipe I am sharing today – it was so yummy.

I am trying to balance the flavors for the dessert bar and I knew I  needed at least one citrus flavored bar cookie.  I have done my yummy lemon cheesecake bars several times at church events so I couldn’t do those again.  It would kind of be like wearing the same outfit to church two weeks in a row!

Since I had done lemon I decided lime would be perfect.  I found a recipe for key lime bars in a Land O’Lakes Best of Baking magazine.  I have found a couple of other great recipes out of the same magazine.  Unfortunately for all of you the magazine is a couple of years old and no longer available but lucky for you I’m sharing!

The recipe calls for key lime juice.  Key limes are smaller limes, about the size of a ping pong ball and not quite as green as the bright green Persian limes you usually find in the store.  I couldn’t find fresh key limes at the store but I did find bottled key lime juice.  The brand was Nellie & Joes.  If you can’t find fresh key limes or bottled key lime juice just use regular limes.  There is a slight flavor difference but the regular limes will be fine.  If you use the bottled key lime juice buy a regular lime too so you can grate the lime peel to put on top.  It’s so pretty!

The original recipe was for a 8 or 9 inch square pan but I changed it a bit to work for a 9 x 13.  I one and a half times the recipe but after making them I wish I had doubled the filling part of the recipe so the recipe below reflects that change.

The great thing about the bars is that they were yummy the day I made them but even better the second day!  Like I said I ate more than my share!!  The recipe is a definite keeper and will be part of our dessert bar line up!

Key Lime Bars

Crust: 

1 3/4 C all purpose flour

3/4 C butter, softened

1/3 C sugar

1/3 C chopped pecans

Filling:

1  1/2 C sugar

4 eggs

4 Tbsp flour

5 Tbsp fresh key lime juice

1/2 tsp baking powder

Frosting:

2 1/4 C powdered sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp butter, softened

2-3 Tbsp fresh key lime juice

Freshly grated key lime peel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine the crust ingredients except for the pecans into a bowl.  Beat at low speed until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add in the pecans.  Press mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 9 x 13 pan.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.  You don’t want to over cook it.

Meanwhile, combine all filling ingredients into a bowl.  Beat at low speed until well mixed.  Pour filling over hot, partially baked crust.  Continue baking for 18-20 minutes or until filling is set.  Cool completely.

Combine all the frosting ingredients except lime peel in a bowl.  Spread over cooled bars.  Garnish with grated lime peel.

adapted from Land O’Lakes Best of Baking

I’ve been trying to be more green lately.  I do live in Oregon after all – the capital of living green!

I have to admit one thing I struggle with is remembering to take those reusable shopping bags in with me to the grocery store.  I tried leaving them in the car but I’d get in the store and realize I forgot them and I was just too lazy to go back and get them or it would be pouring down rain and I wasn’t going back out in the rain again!

The reuseable bags I had were plain old solid blue and green with some store logo on it – boring!!  I thought maybe if they were pretty bags I’d remember to use them, even look forward to using them.  Guess what – I was right!

I found a great pattern for a reusable shopping bag by Posie Rosy Little Things.  She knows all about going green because she is from Portland too!  You can keep up on all the other pretty things she is doing at her blog.

Here’s one of my pretty new bags!  They are quick to sew up and I think I did three of them in less than two hours. 

I just raided my fabric cupboard for pieces that were big enough.  Have fun with your fabric selection – they don’t have to match!

Of course you are going to need more than one bag - at least I know I did!

I made this one with some leftover fabric from a quilt I made for Cali.

Don’t you think she is going to look darling at college carrying this bag…

…on this bike!  She’s just going to wish mom had bought the groceries for her!

You know how I feel about pretty.  So, if you are going to use a reusable shopping bag, it might as well be a pretty one.  And it just might help you remember to use it!!

As I logged into the dashboard of my blog yesterday I noticed that I had written 499 posts.  That means that today’s post is my 500th post!!!

It is hard to believe that I have actually found 500 things to blog about over the last 2 1/2 years!  My biggest fear when I first started blogging, other than that no one would read my blog, was that I’d run out of things to blog about.  So far that hasn’t been a problem!

So welcome to my 500th post here on Your Homebased Mom!!

I did A LOT of cooking over the holidays and I loved it but once we got the kids sent back to school and work I was feeling a little burned out in the cooking department.  Fortunately my birthday falls right after the holidays and that is always a nice excuse not to cook!

My little break from cooking has helped me to refocus (there is one of those re words!) my meal planning and recommit to doing it weekly.  I eliminate so much stress from my life when I figure out on Sunday what we are going to have for dinner all week!  It really only takes 20 minutes or so to make up the plan and it saves me so much time, stress and money!  If you need some hints or tips on meal planning be sure and check out this post and this one.  And if you’d like to see what I try to always have on hand that makes meal planning easier check out this list.

I really do love to eat out but unfortunately the budget doesn’t always allow for that or at least not as often as I’d like!  So the next best thing is to make some of my favorite restaurant dishes at home.  That’s how I get my Cafe Rio fix now and then!

Another favorite restaurant is PF Changs.  I especially like their Mongolian Beef and it is a easy one to recreate at home.

The beef has a light cornstarch coating and is then lightly fried up in some oil which creates a nice crispy coating. If you are on a diet or health kick you could skip the frying part but then it wouldn’t be just like the restaurant version but still yummy.

You can use flank steak or top round steak.  I like to slice my meat when it is still slightly frozen because it allows you to cut the meat nice and thin.  The recipe calls for green onions but it would be yummy with some broccoli or fresh green beans thrown in too.

Mongolian Beef

1 lb top round steak or flank steak, cut thinly on the cross grain

1/4 C cornstarch

3 tsp vegetable oil

1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger or minced ginger

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1/2 C water

1/2 C soy sauce (I used low sodium)

1/2 C brown sugar

2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

3 green onions, sliced into 2-3″ pieces

oil for frying

Dry off meat with a paper towel and slice into 1/4″ thick slices against the grain.  Add to a bowl with the cornstarch and coat thoroughly.

Add 1 1/2 tsp oil to a wok or large frying pan over medium heat.  Add the garlic and ginger, stir until fragrant.  Add soy sauce, water, rice vinegar and brown sugar.  Cook for about 2 minutes and remove from pan.

Add remaining 1 1/2 tsp oil to pan over high heat.  Add the meat and cook until brown on all sides and slightly crispy.  Pour sauce back into pan over meat.  Add green onions, stir and remove from heat.  Serve with rice.  EnJOY!

If you read very many blogs you have probably seen a post of two about bloggers picking their Word of the Year.  I think the whole idea was started by Ali over at aliedwards.

Last year I jumped on the bandwagon and declared a word of the year for 2009.

I dedicated a Christmas tree to the word…

 and I also have the word inscribed on one of the walls of my home.  Yes, my word was Joy. 

I worked hard all year (and it was an especially difficult one in several ways) to find my Joy.  It wasn’t always easy but I think I am a happier and more joyful person as a result of it.  I dealt with difficult situations better and found joy in the small, simple things of everyday life.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and praying about what my word for 2010 should be.  I wanted to make sure it was just the right word.  The word finally came to me last Wednesday, a week into 2010, after attending a temple session.

 My “word” of the year is ‘Re’.  No, I don’t mean ‘Re’, the second note of a major scale or ‘Re’ the ancient Egyptian sun god with the head of a hawk; a universal creator; he merged with the god Amen as Amen-Ra to become the king of the gods or even ‘Re’ the element from the periodic table. 

I mean ‘Re’ the prefix! The prefix which means again, back, repeat.

You see, as I pondered 2010, turning 50, and my goals for the next year and era of my life I realized there were not too many new things I wanted to do or accomplish.

But there were a lot of things that I wanted to return to, skills I wanted to refine or reclaim.  People I wanted to reconnect with, things I wanted to rediscover about myself, places I wanted to revisit (and sometimes visit for the first time).  And most important there were things I wanted to remember (and that can be difficult at my age sometimes!)  And now that I am fifty I figured it was about time I learned how to relax!

See something in common with all those words? Yes, they all start with my word of the year, ‘Re’!

In 2010 I look forward to:

Refocusing my photography skills by taking a photography class (it started this week!)

Refresh my French language skills before my visit to Paris this summer. (those 8 years of high school and college French are a little rusty!!)  Refresh my water color skills from college by taking a class before my trip to England so I can document the trip through photos and painting. 

Read more books this year than last (o.k. so it’s not a prefix in that word but it is still ‘Re’)  Reread the Book of Mormon (a yearly tradition for me)

Remake my bed everyday (Yes, that is a confession.  I hate making my bed but I love the way my bed looks when it is made.  I am going to make my bed everyday!)

Return to the homeland of my ancestors and do some genealogy research before I go so I can visit the places where they lived.

Remember all the amazing memories we have created as a family by finally having all my scrapbooks up to date!  Check out Project Picture over at Homebased Scrapbooker for more info on this project.

Most importantly, I am going to Remember to Recognize the hand of the Lord in my life on a daily basis.  Last year I started keeping a journal that I would write in each night or morning where I would record a way in which I had seen the hand of the Lord in my life that day. 

Some days it was as simple as…”enjoyed a walk through Oak Hills today, beautiful fall foliage, sunshine and good friends.”

Other entries read…”our car doesn’t need the $700.00 of repairs we thought!”

I know that the Lord’s hand is involved in my life on a daily basis and I need to do a better job of remembering and recognizing that!  Writing in this journal each day is a wonderful way to see his hand at work in my life.  This year I will do better in writing daily!

There are several other ‘Re’ goals on the list but I won’t bore you with all of them.

So do you think ‘Re’ would  look too strange engraved on a piece of silver hanging around my neck?

Do you have a Word of the Year for 2010?  I’d love to know what it is!

Today is my birthday.

My original plan was to just totally ignore it.  Not mention it and pretend it wasn’t happening because you see it’s a big one!  I thought about just staying in bed all day and pretending it wasn’t happening but then something happened – a dream came true.

You see, on my 18th birthday, many years ago, my parent’s gift to me was a trip to England to visit some of my  relatives who I had never met, to visit the birthplace of my grandparents.  Unfortunately, that trip never happened.  My father quit his job, moved across country, started his own business and the money was just never there.

I have mourned the loss of that trip for 32 years (don’t do the math!)  In fact sometimes I have done more than just mourn it, I have complained about it and felt sorry for myself that I have never been to England.

Now before you feel too sorry for me, I have kissed the Blarney Stone and stood on the Cliffs of Mohr (while my husband hung out over the Cliffs!).  I’ve also stood next to and witnessed the amazing power of Igauzu Falls in Argentina and visited the breathtaking Macchu Picchu in Peru so I’m not all that deprived.

But I have never been to England.  When my son was accepted to study at Cambridge University this summer I was thrilled.  If I was never going to make it there at least one of my children would have the experience.

Then my daughter Cali applied and was accepted into a study abroad program over in London for this coming Spring – again I was thrilled and secretly a little jealous. 

Well last Saturday my sweet family and dear friends threw a surprise party for me.  It was a wonderful party.  So many of my friends were there to celebrate with me that it made turning __ not quite so bad (I still can’t bring myself to actually say the number!!)

There were friends, delicious food and great entertainment. (For complete details and pictures on the party visit Your Homebased Parties!)

And there was a gift from my husband.

It was a surprise gift.

The gift was actually a dream come true!
 

It was a trip to England for 10 days.  I will meet up with Cali after she finishes her studies this summer and we will tour the country (including a weekend trip to Paris hopefully!!)

So I guess turning 50 isn’t quite so bad (there I said it!!)

All of you out there that have been to England I need you to share with me your must sees!  Where do we need to go and what can’t we miss??

More party details and photos here.