Welcome to Mountaintop Quilting Studio

This is where you find me exploring a variety of creative adventures mostly about but not limited to quilting. I'm a firm believer that one increases their creativity by being open to and playing with a variety of cretative endeavors ... at least that my excuse for today. Enjoy your sourjourn through my studio playroom. May you find encouragement and inspiration, and on occassion, a little pin-prick that may be thought-provoking or spark your imagination. Thank you for stopping by.

There were two of the best things about having the girls over to my house for our Tuesday Open Sew Sessions.

1. It made me have to clean and decorate my house. Why is it that we might tend to let these two important duties slide just a little when there is only just the two of us. For one thing, I can't believe how the two of us could mess the house up in just a matter of minutes! And I would always think, do I really want to get out all of the holiday "stuff?"  (you fill in the blanks as to what holiday it might be) I would say to myself, "Does it really matter? Does Mike even notice? I'll just have to put all of it away again in just a matter of days or weeks. Excuses ... excuses! These are the things ... a good home cooked meal in a nice cozy house that can make a house feel homey.

2. It made me have to cook a regular meal. It made me search out recipes in my favorite cookbooks and on the internet. It gave me a great excuse to try out new recipes that would normally have just been passed over if I were cooking for just the two of us.

I will continue to decorate and develop a good cleaning routine in our new house and I'm going to have to find some new friends to invite in for an occassional quilting day over lunch so I can keep up with my explorations into the food world.

This recipe was a favorite of my Tuesday quilting group. We loved crusty bread and real butter with whatever we served and this one ... Cheesy Spinach Sausage Casserole was no exception. This casserole was sooooooo good it had them skipping dessert and going back for second helpings of the casserole instead.

The Recipe:

1/2 lb hamburger                    1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage    2/3 c sour cream
1 onion chopped                     2 c shredded mozarella cheese
3 cloves garlic minced             2 c fresh spinach torn
1/2 red bell pepper chopped     2 tsp Italian seasoning mix
2 c cooked pasta                    salt/pepper to taste
 
Brown hamburger & sausage with onion, garlic, red pepper, & seasonings in large skillet. Add fresh spinach and cover cooking until spinach is wilted.

Mix soup, sour cream & half the cheese in a small bowl. Stir into hamburger/sausage . Add pasta and stir until evenly mixed. Pour into casserole dish. 

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Return to oven for
another 5-10 minutes or until cheese on top  is bubbly.

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3. Chocolate Yum
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