Ukrainian Easter Eggs 2012

When making pysanky, it goes through a series of stages.  I will be taking pictures more in the future of these different stages to allow it to be more tutorial.

The first stage is drawing or writing the design on the egg as shown here.

These photos can show you designs that you are free to use on your own eggs.

The next step would be to put the egg into the lightest dye first. The fuschia one pictured was just going to be white and fuschia---that's why I used that as a first and last dip.

You cover with wax everything (in this case) you want to keep yellow. 

Then you go on to dip into the various colors of dyes.

When they are all completed, before the wax is removed---this is what they look like.

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see all the colors of dyes underneath the wax which has protected it.

I will put a picture on in the near future of how the wax is removed  by placing it to the side of a candle and wiping it away.

When that is done, a hole is drilled in the bottom of the egg with these tools.   A Blas-fix egg blower.

The green drill is on the left and the yellow pump is on the right.

The green drill is placed into the bottom of the  egg and pushed and twisted til it breaks through.

Then the pump is placed into the hole and gently squeezed until all the egg is out. (sometimes it takes up to 2 days to get everything out.  I keep them in an egg carton lined in paper towels and have it sit bottom down to continue to drain.)

The final stage is to coat the egg with something like varnish or polyurethane spray to help give the egg a nice shiny finish as well as strengthen the egg).

I use Minwax Fast Drying Polyurethane Clear Semi-Gloss

I also use the gloves you were to color your hair. Place the egg in your gloved-hand and spray the polyurethane generously over the egg.  Roll the egg around til completely covered.

Then, put the eggs on a board like this one (I made it out of heavy duty cardboard and pushed thumbtacks into it to allow the egg to be put on the bottom or sides to dry).

That's basically it.  Now here's the eggs I've made this year along with closeups for you to see more in depth.

Front view

 Side View

 Back view

 The back side view of the eggs on top of the page.

CHICKEN ENCHILADA LASAGNA ROLL UPS

Ingredients:

4 cooked chicken breasts, diced into small pieces

1 - 8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese 

1 - 8 oz. shredded Mexican cheese

1 lg. onion, chopped fine

1 7 oz. can diced green chiles (drained)

1 can Rotel (tomato with chiles - drained)

1 can diced tomatoes with chiles (drained)

16 oz. French onion dip

3 cans cream of mushroom soup

1 large jar salsa or picante sauce (hot, medium, or mild)

10 lasagna noodles cooked al dente drained and cooled

Mix chicken, onion, sharp cheddar cheese, drained diced chiles, Rotel sauce, diced tomato, 4 oz. French onion dip, and 1 can cream of mushroom soup. Mix well. 

These are the products I used.

 Mixture should be thick enough to spread on the lasagna noodles.

In another bowl, put 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, the rest of the onion dip, and the whole jar of salsa.  Mix and put aside.

In a large baking pan (9 x 13) coat with the Pam. Cover the bottom of the dish with the other mixture you made so it's about 1/2 inch thick.

  Spoon about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of mixture onto

drained, cooled lasagna noodles. Keep about an inch without filling on each end so it doesn't come out. Roll up and place in the pan  with the seam down.

When the pan is full with the enchilada rollups, spread the mixture you put on the bottom of the pan 

and spoon over top of all the rollups. Make sure to spread evenly to coat them (as they will dry out when baking). 

 Sprinkle  the Mexican shredded cheese on top.

Cover loosely with foil so cheese doesn't stick and bake at 350 degrees for at least 30 minutes 

(more if needed) til the edges are bubbly. 

Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients:

4 boneless chicken breasts

1 can diced tomatoes, Italian style

1 can Hunts Garlic Herb spaghetti sauce

Progresso Crispy Panko Bread Crumbs

Flour

Egg and milk (for egg wash)

1/2 # spaghetti

Shredded mozarella cheese

Fresh parmesan (to be grated)

Cooking oil.

I used a cast iron skillet.   Pour enough oil to almost cover chicken breasts.

While heating oil to medium high, rinse the chicken breasts and place to bowl with flour and completely cover on both sides.  Then dip in egg wash.  Finally in a zip locked bag, place the panko bread crumbs along with 1 breast at a time and coat  it thoroughly. 

 Place all the chicken on a paper towel covered plate and put in refrigerator for about 20 minutes.  

Make sure your oil is not smoking,  that would mean it's too hot.  You may want to take it off the stove for a few minutes to cool a bit. 

Place breasts in pan and fry for at least 12 minutes and should be medium browned.  I did mine a little too long on the one side, but I love crunchy chicken and these Panko bread crumbs are awesome.

Turn over and brown on the other side for another 12 to 14 minutes..   Place on paper towel lined plate.

While this is being fried, cook your spaghetti and drain.  Keep warm in a pot with lid on til you're ready to serve.  Also in another saucepan, place the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce to heat through and bubble slightly.

Now it's time to eat.  

Put the chicken breast on an oven proof plate and cover with mozarella.  Put into oven to broil just  enough to allow the cheese to melt and bubble.   Remove from oven and put about two spoonfuls of sauce over the chicken and I used my grater for the parmesan and added the finishing touch (like Olive Garden) on top as well as a nice serving of the spaghetti noodles with sauce and a little more parmesan on top of it.  

And voila!!!!   A very yummy dinner.   Delicioso!!!!

This was my husband's plate, mine is on top .. 

Pork Chops in Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients:

6 boneless thick cut pork chops

Garlic Salt

Black Pepper

1 can cream mushroom soup

1/2 can milk

In a frying pan, (I prefer cast iron), add enough oil to cover the bottom.   Put the temperature  at medium heat and place pork chops in the pan.  Season with garlic salt and black pepper.  Brown well on both sides and continue to turn and monitor so they don't burn.  Add a little water if needed so they don't stick.   Brown until the juices run clear (not bloody). (Probably about 20 minutes). 

This is up to you, but I put the chops into another clean frying pan.  Mix the can of cream of mushroom soup and milk and blend well.  Pour over the chops evenly.  Turn down the heat to medium low and cover.   Continue to cook and turn chops over for at least another 25 minutes.    

At that time, I turn the heat down to warm or low and keep covered and allow to simmer for another 20 minutes or until the chops are nice and tender.  

Very tasty and very easy to make.  I served with dirty rice and corn.   Enjoy... 

ANGEL CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY DELIGHT

This was the table set for a recent tea I had at my house for Valentine's day.

The recipe I am listing is the dessert I made for my honey for Valentine's Day ... He LOVED it!  (and so did I).. 

Angel Chocolate Strawberry Delight

Ingredients:

1 angel food cake, torn into small pieces

1 small instant vanilla pudding

1 quart strawberries

1/2 of 12 ounce pkg. of semi sweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate or even white chocolate chips

Can of "light" whipped cream (the only thing that's light :)

Tear angel food cake into bite-sized pieces into a bowl or plate (one that's not real deep).

Make instant vanilla pudding as directed and pour it over the angel food cake while it is still runny and try to cover the entire cake.

Wash and cut strawberries in half and put into a bowl, add about 3 tablespoons of sugar (or sweetener if you prefer).  Put in refrigerator for at least a half hour so it can make a little syrup.   

Pour over the cake and spread it out so that there's strawberries all over. 

Take 1/2 package of a  12 oz.  chocolate chips.  Place in a microwave safe dish and melt until nice and liquidy.  Drizzle all the chocolate over all the strawberries.  Good to the last drop.   

Put in refrigerator for at least a half hour.   Then squirt whipped cream on top right before you serve. 

It tastes like chocolate covered strawberries on top of luscious combo of vanilla pudding and angel food cake. GREAT dessert and VERY easy.  

Enjoy.

Pan Fried Chicken

This recipe is so easy even for the first-time 'chicken fryers".  The process involved kept the breading on during the entire time it was cooked.  I just felt like taking all the breading off and eating it all myself (but I didn't) :)

Ingredients:

Chicken (whatever you like, I prefer the split chicken breasts with skin and bones)

10 oz. box of Kentucky Kernel Seasoned Flour (The best ever---tastes like KFC chicken and can be found at Kroger)

Cooking Oil

1 egg and water

I used a deep cast iron frying pan which works the best ( I think).   But use any deep frying pan.  Fill up the oil as deep as you need so that the  largest chicken pieces can be more than half covered.   Heat oil about 5 to 10 before you're ready to fry and keep it at around 4 or 5 on your knob on the stove.

Remove chicken from package and rinse thoroughly.   Do NOT dry it, but allow it to be wet enough to allow the seasoned flour to stick.

Depending on how much chicken you're frying, put enough seasoned flour into a gallon zip lock bag.   Place each piece in the bag one at a time so it can be properly covered.   Shake,  shake, shake..   until totally covered.   Remove and place on a plate that has been covered with plastic wrap.  Repeat til all chicken is covered.. 

Then, in a medium sized bowl,  make your egg wash with the egg and  1/4 c. water and mix well until blended.   Take each piece of chicken and put into the egg wash on both sides.  Shake until it's not dripping and place into the bag of seasoned flour again (add more flour if you need to).  Again.. shake, shake, shake til you're done. 

Put them all back on that plate with plastic wrap and cover the chicken with plastic wrap and put into the refrigerator  for at least 20 minutes.   (This is a good time to get your oil going).

To be sure the oil is ready you should see it moving a bit and begin to smell it cooking. (don't get it too hot).   Take a drop of water and put it into the oil  (back up)  and it will dance and pop .  Now it's ready. 

With tongs take each piece of chicken and carefully place them into the frying pan.    Now put a lid on and let the magic begin.

Depending on the size of the chicken (obviously because wings and legs are a lot smaller than the thick  fat breasts), you will watch mainly that the chicken is browning.  Lift up and check it every so often.  NEVER leave a pan on the stove with oil and frying, not a good idea.   When it's a nice golden brown, turn it over and repeat.   Keep that lid on, it not only helps keep the spattering down, it helps the inside to cook well.  Repeat the process, keep checking until golden brown.   I turn it over and do each side a little longer.    

Remove from pan and place on a cookie sheet that has double paper towel on.  Drain and put into a WARM  (the lowest temp on your oven) for up to 1/2 hour.   Turn off oven and let sit til you serve.   No more than a 1/2 hour.  

In the meanwhile, you can make your mashed potatoes, vegetables, etc.  This process (mainly the refrigerator trick) kept the breading on.  I didn't lose any at all. 

Nice and crunchy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside.  

Watch out Colonel Sanders.

FRIEND ROOM FROM GEORGIA'S HEART

WELCOME TO MY FRIEND ROOM 

We all know that throughout our lives...that special people touch us.....Those people we refer to as FRIENDS!  These friends are there through thick and thin.  Always

ready to lend a listening ear and not being the least bored at what you're saying.  They laugh with you and cry with you.  They don't point out your mistakes. And somehow, they're always there to pick up the pieces.

On this page I would love to share some special poems and thoughts with you about FRIENDS!!!  Maybe you can share some of these with your friend.

There is no blood between us, no common family history.  Yet there are no barriers of background, or even age.  Older, younger, richer, poorer----no matter.  We speak the same language, we have come together in a special

moment of time.. How generous is God that He has given me these men and women I can call friends.

---------Marjorie Holmes

You entered my life in a casual way.

And saw at a glance what I needed;

There were others who passed me or met me each day,

But never a one of them heeded.

Perhaps you were thinking of other folks more,

Or a chance simply seemed to decree it;

I know there were many such chances before,

But the others--well, they didn't see it.

You said just the thing that I wished you would say,

And you made me believe that you meant it;

I held up my head in the old gallant way,

And resolved you should never repent it.

There are times when encouragement means such a lot,

And a word is enough to convey it;

There were others who could have, as easy as not---

But, just the same, they didn't say it.

There may have been someone who could have done more

To help me along, though I doubt it;

What I needed was cheering, and always before

They had let me plod on without it.

You helped to refashion the dream of my heart,

And made me turn eagerly to it;

There were others who might have (I question that part)---

But, after all, they didn't do it!

-------Grace Stricker Dawson

  'Friendship is a word the very sight of which in print makes the heart warm."

....Augustine Birrell

To My Friend

I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.

I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me.

I love you because you have done more than any creed could have done to make me good, and more than any fate could have done to make me happy.

You have done it without a touch, without a word, without a sign.

You have done it by being yourself.  Perhaps that is what being a friend means, after all.

-------Roy Croft

The Rarest Faith

Friendship takes place between those who have an affinity for one another, and is a perfectly natural and inevitable result.  No professions or advances will avail.  Even speech, at first, necessarily has nothing to do with it; but it follows after silence, as the buds in the graft do not put forth into leaves till long after the graft has taken.  It is a drama in which the parties have no part to act.

 Friendship is never established as an understood relation.  Do you demand that I be less your friend that you may know it?  Yet what right have I to think that another cherishes so rare a sentiment for me?  It is a miracle which requires constant proofs.  It is an exercise of the finest imagination and the rarest faith.  It says by a silent but eloquent behavior: "I will be so related to thee as thou canst not imagine; even so thou mayest believe.  I will spend truth, all my wealth on thee," and the friend responds silently through his nature, and life, and treats his friend with the same divine courtesy.

The language of Friendship is not words but meaning.  It is an intelligence above language.  One imagines endless conversations with his friend, in which the tongue shall be loosed, and thoughts be spoken, without hesitancy, or end; but the experience is commonly far otherwise.

Suppose you go to bid farewell to your friend who is setting out on a journey; what other outward sign do you know that ot shake his hand?  There are some things which a man never speaks of, which are much finer kept silent about.  To the highest communications we only lend a silent ear.. In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not whne there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.

--------Henry David Thoreau

When just being together is more important than what you do.. you are with a friend!

  

"For God so loved the world.. that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him..should NOT perish but have everlasting life.."  John 3:16

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."  John 15:13

“A friend is a person who goes around saying NICE about you behind your back”

  

What a friend we have in Jesus..

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry.

Everything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit

Oh, what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer.

To my best and most favorite friends of all.......my three sisters.. Patty, Nancy, and Sonia... I love you all sooooo much

I have found a friend in Jesus.

He's everything to me

He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul

The Lily of the Valley

In Him alone I see.

All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole

In sorrow He's my comfort,

In trouble He's my stay

He tells me every care on Him to roll

He's the Lily of the Valley

The Bright and Morning Star

He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul

And to my very special friend, Mary, who the Lord gave to me... many many years ago.. I love you, dear heart.

MY FRIEND'S LINKS

Pam's Genealogy Page

Huge German genealogy information and photo restoration, too

Peggie's Place

Come and visit the most 'fun place' on the WWW!

Paver's Nest

Lots of info about diabetes and other GREAT stuff

Barbara's Entourage

Meet our Southern Belle as she shares from the Master's Table!

Cherbear's Den

Children's Christian Literature and master artist!