Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Coney Dogs

  Greetings from Marvin's Daughter. One day while flipping through the TV channels my husband came across a show on The Travel Channel about hot dogs. The show traveled around the USA highlighting hot dog stands and restaurants. So after an hour of watching this program he was ready for a hot dog. I was ready to travel. Mmmmm....

 After checking out some recipes online, I decided to throw together my own version of Coney Dog Chili. I also based this decision on what we already had in the kitchen.


My husband and son love Costco hot dogs, so that's what we had in the frig.
  If anyone has an onion chopping secret so that your eyes don't burn, PLEASE let me know. I have tried wearing my big sunglasses, standing as far away as I can, no matter the vapors get my eyes each time. But I love onions so I suffer.
  The recipe that said to add hot dog to the chili said to ground them up. I do have a meat grinder that was my mother-in-law's but I took the easy way this time and just chopped the hot dog up. Maybe next time I will pull the grinder out it might have made a texture difference in the chili.
Just threw it all in the pot!
  Ever since I did the French Dip Sandwiches we have been buying fancy sandwich rolls. Yes just one more thing to "portion control". Anyway hubby was happy to have a "giant roll" for the Coney dog.

LORI'S GAME DAY CONEY DOG CHILI

1 tsp butter
1 1/2 lb of ground beef
2 med onions chopped
1 clove of garlic crushed
1 tbsp prepared reg yellow mustard
1 6oz can tomato paste
1 4oz can tomato sauce
6oz can of water
2 tbsp of chili powder
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 
1/2 heaping teaspoon of cumin
1 tbsp of sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
 2 hot dogs for chili

Bread Rolls
Hot Dogs

Toppings  

Mustard
Shredded Cheese
Chopped  Onions

On med. high heat melt butter in large pan. Except for the ground up hot dogs, add all the ingredients  yes even the uncooked ground beef into pan. Lower heat to med. Cook until sauce thickens. Add the 2 ground up hot dogs, cook for 15 more minutes.  While waiting for the chili, fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Add hot dogs, lower heat to med. high and cook for 5 to 7 minutes. 
I sliced the bread roll in half and toasted it on my George Foreman grill. Warm bread roll, boiled hot dog, chili and mustard, shredded cheese and chopped onions for toppings = a happy hubby. To be honest I just had some of chili in a bowl. I am not a big hot dog fan and that bread roll was like a loaf of bread!! It was a tasty chili, even better the next day and it made quite a bit. My hubby loved it and it was fairly easy to throw together. Now he owes me some travel time...right?? 
Thank you for stopping by today, let me know what you think of the recipe.
Have a great day, Lori!


Friday, January 18, 2013

Pretty Pretty Pogonip Part 2

  Greetings from Marvin's Daughter. Welcome back for more pretty Pogonip pictures. Here in Northern Nevada we were gifted once again with a Pogonip morning. Like I said I would yesterday, I got up this morning and headed straight for the Truckee River. The Pogonip was much more prominent the closer you got to the water. I am so glad I bundled up and ventured out, the Pogonip really is a special treat to see. Better grab a warm blanket and drink, while you enjoy these pretty but definitely chilly pictures!
   The Sparks industrial park area never looked so pretty.

   The picture below is my absolute favorite of all the 179 pictures that I took today. I think it really captures the whole foggy Pogonip atmosphere perfectly. There is no editing done to this photo, I don't think I could improve Mother Natures colors or lighting! I love this picture so much I can't believe I took it!!





   You are probably wondering where the river is, well it is right next to the path. I wasn't able to get to close to the water, I didn't want to be telling a "I fell in the Truckee River story"!

 
 I hope you enjoyed the photos, I really enjoyed taking them and I hope it shows. Nothing centers me more than some time spent appreciating nature. There may be one more Pogonip post coming, like I said I took 179 pictures. Let me know what you think of my photo adventure, I'd love to hear from you! Have a great day, Lori

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Pretty Pretty Pogonip

  Greetings from Marvin's Daughter! This morning those of us who live Northern Nevada woke up to one of Mother nature's special treats, Pogonip! Pogonip is definitely one of natures prettiest phenomenons. The first time you see Pogonip it is a little confusing. It is usually foggy, yes foggy in the desert, and at first you think it snowed but then you realize it only snowed on the trees and bushes not the ground??? What??? It looks like it rained frost. And that is what is known as Pogonip! Here is a link to what is probably a better explanation of  Pogonip.

  Like most people in the area I grabbed my camera wanting to capture this most beautiful delight! I just took a few pictures in the front yard so I hope you get the idea of what an amazing sight Pogonip is!



  Above and below are pictures of our lilac bushes. Quite the dramatic difference but both beautiful.





  If the Pogonip fairy visits us again tonight, I will be heading straight for the Truckee River tomorrow morning. Hoping to snap some portraits of my favorite subject, Mother Nature.
 Have you ever had Pogonip in your area? Let me know what was your first reaction was?  It can be overwhelming it is so striking! 
Thank you for stopping by,  Have a great day! Lori





Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Tim Holtz Style Tags January 2013

:)
(From my Funny Board on Pinterest) 
  
      Greetings today from both of Marvin's Daughters, Lori and Pookie. 
 If you love paper crafting you most likely love Tim Holtz. Creative Guru, legendary, inspirational artist I can't say enough about his talent. Pookie and I both LOVE his cool style!  Each month Tim Holtz creates a tag to inspire paper crafters all over the world. The idea is for you to take some inspiration from his creation and make a tag yourself. Pookie and I have decided to meet the challenge and make a Tim Holtz inspired tag each month for 2013.                                                                                                                          

  I will start with my (Lori) tag. I tried to follow the overall look of Tim's sample tag. (A photo of Tim's tag is at the bottom of the post) I loved it so much! I wish I had taken pictures of each step of the construction of my tag. I will definitely be more prepared next month! Below I will give a general description of what I did.
   I cut the tag from a manilla folder, in fact manilla folder was the only paper I used for this tag. I then reversed printed a pocket watch graphic onto the smooth side of a transparency. While the ink was still wet I rubbed the graphic onto the tag. And presto I had made my own rub-on!! Next I die-cut a Roman Numeral clock with the Silhouette. I snipped the clock into two pieces and glued them to the tag. I then rubbed some olive green ink and then brown ink onto the tag. I also die-cut some gears on the Silhouette and covered them with silver and copper colored glitter. I printed the same phrase for my tag that Tim used on his tag. Added a clip and used pop up tape to adhere it to the tag. I used some metal gears that I had in my stash of paper crafting goodies.
  My favorite part of this project was stamping on some crinkly ribbon. I first rubbed some olive green ink on the ribbon and then stamped the month and year with black ink. Love that special little touch!!
So Ta Da, that's my Tim Holtz style tag for January 2013!

  Now onto Pookie's tag in the picture below.
   You can see that Pookie took some inspiration from Tim and created something really original.
   She stayed with the gears and clock theme but added her own cool phrase.
 I love the fresh look of Pookie's tag and the unique color scheme she went with.

   You might have noticed the cute decorative alarm clock I used in the background of the photos. I picked this up at Real Deals. This store has great home decor, I can't wait to use my gift cards that I got for Christmas! Below is a shot of the clock in its regular spot. Getting my fun clock collection started!
   And finally below is the shot of the Tim Holtz sample tag for January 2013. His style is so unique and cool. Yes I am a Tim Holtz groupie and I am not alone!
Tim Holtz Tag
   Check out Tim Holtzs' blog and website. I will be uploading our tags to his blog. Take a look to see how our tags compare to others. There is some amazing creative talent out there. It's fun to see everyone's different take on the tag.
Thank you for stopping by, let us know what you think of our tags, we would love to hear from you!
Have a great day, Lori

Monday, January 14, 2013

Fabio's French Dip Au Jus

 Greetings from Marvin's Daughter. Today I have a delicious recipe for Au Jus from Fabio! that I made. Also a roast recipe from Pinterest to go with the Au Jus to make a delicious French Dip sandwich. Yum Yum pretty much sums it up! I just happened to run across Fabio's recipe while browsing the Internet and thought "yes, I will be trying that!" I did mix up a few thing slightly but otherwise I pretty much stuck to the recipe.

(Check out my Pinterest Yum Yum Board)
  I asked the butcher at the grocery store for beef bones and they had some already packaged. Pretty much everything else was in the produce department.
 And yes this smelled wonderful as it sizzled in the oven.
   Below it is not the most appetizing photo but you do simmer everything for 4hrs, so this phase deserved a picture too! I probably should have turned my veggies during the roasting phase, luckily they are just for flavor.
   This is where I changed up Fabio's recipe a bit. In Fabio's recipe he says to use leftover prime rib and if I had had some prime rib I would have used it! I did have a hunk of tri-tip that I used, but I wanted more meat so I picked up this roast at the grocery store.
  I used a roast recipe I had seen on Pinterest and had already tried before. Although I think this recipe does cook the roast to just the right degree of rare to med rare, the flavor is still up to the quality of the meat and what seasonings you use. So in other words it is not the most flavorful recipe but it worked great for my sandwiches with the tasty Au Jus. As you can see in the picture below I went simple on my seasonings.
  And a pretty little roast she was!

  I used some yummy melt in your mouth Dutch crunch rolls from the grocery store bakery. I toasted them just like Fabio says, well toasted them on my George Foreman Grill, and I really think that makes all the difference for the melt in your mouth effect. I don't eat much bread usually, mostly because I already physically resemble a loaf of bread, but I made an exception for these sandwiches!
  Make sure to read both recipes all the way through before starting. Both recipes take some time. I made everything the day before and then relaxed and enjoyed the sandwiches the next day. Cutting the frozen slightly thawed roast beef was very time consuming. It worked, but be sure to do it before guests come over.....even if their family.
  Everyone enjoyed the sandwiches, thumbs up all around!! I will definitely use the Au Jus recipe again. I did skim most the fat off of the Au Jus the next day before I warmed it up and I liked it even better! I also liked the taste of the Guy Fieri tri-tip from Costco better than the roast I made and it was
easier to slice, so I will be using the Guy fieri tri-tip next time too.
                                                        Below are the links to both recipes.

                                                             Fabio's French Dip Au Jus

                                                   High Temperature Eye of Round Roast

    Thank you for joining me on this quick food journey! I am not a professional cook, just a happy foodie! 

Hope you enjoyed today's post! Lori