Onion Potato Pie

Onion Potato Pie

Ingredients:

• 4 cups shredded hash browns (it calls for frozen, but I use boiled, grated potatoes)
• 5 Tbsp. melted butter (You know me, low fat. I used 3 Tbsp. light olive oil.)
• 1/2 tsp. salt.
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1/2 cup sweet pepper (red or green)
• 1 cup diced ham - optional (It didn't call for any meat, but I had some leftover ham to add.)
• 1 cup shredded cheese (any kind you like cheddar, Swiss, or low fat *smile* Mozzarella)
• 3 eggs slightly beaten together with 1/3 cup of milk

Directions:

Mix hash browns and 5 Tbsp. melted butter (or 3 Tbsp. olive oil), and salt. Press this mixture into the bottom and around the sides of a greased 9 inch pie pan.

Bake at 425 degrees F for 25-30 or until edges are browned. Cool to room temperature. Reduce the oven to 350 degrees F.

Saute onion, pepper and ham in remaining butter or oil until pepper and onion is tender. Spoon into potato crust. Sprinkle the cheese over the onion mixture.

Pour the egg-milk mixture over the top. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees F or until knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Let stand 5 minutes before serving. 6-8 servings.

Very good leftovers to heat in the microwave. This could be started earlier in the day, and refrigerated. You could even bake the crust ahead, then just pour in the ingredients and bake as directed. If the ingredients are cold from the fridge, it might take a few minutes extra to bake it.

By Harlean from Hot Springs, Arkansas

Camera Lens Bling

Too cute !

Check out this great tutorial and then get wild with crystals and ribbons flowers wow Love this one
Found HERE

Paper Flower Tutorial

This cute paper Flower tutorial can be found HERE

Another Chiffon Flower Tutorial

This is another much simpler chiffon Flower tutorial.

Found HERE

Decline of our Birds

Just me or can anyone else figure out if you take the food away the birds will die ??

Common Birds In Decline

What's happening to birds we know and love?
                   
Audubon's unprecedented analysis of forty years of citizen-science bird population data from our own Christmas Bird Count plus the Breeding Bird Survey reveals the alarming decline of many of our most common and beloved birds.

Since 1967 the average population of the common birds in steepest decline
 has fallen by 68 percent; some individual species nose-dived as much as 80
 percent. All 20 birds on the national Common Birds in Decline list lost at least
 half their populations in just four decades.
The findings point to serious problems with both local habitats and national
environmental trends. Only citizen action can make a difference for the birds
 and the state of our future.

Which Species? Why?

________________________________________________

Invasive Plants 


In some species, cultivars of a perennial are not as invasive as others. Use this list to check into the
plants you are considering for your garden.

List

Achillea spp. (Yarrow) - invasive roots
Aegopodium spp. (Goutweed) - reseeds, invasive roots, use in confined areas
Ajuga (Bugleweed) - invasive roots, excellent ground cover in shade, use in confined areas

Ajuga (Bugleweed) - invasive roots, excellent ground cover in shade, use in confined areas
Anchusa spp  - reseeds, invasive roots
Artemesia spp. (esp. Wormwood) - invasive roots
Borago officinalis (Borage) - reseeds, invasive roots
Campanula rapunculoides (Creeping bellflower) – invasive roots
Centaurea cyanus (Bachelor button) – reseeds
Cerastium tomentosum (Snow in the summer) - invasive roots, can overwhelm desirable plants
           in a rock garden.                        
Chrysarrthenium parthenium (Feverfew) - reseeds
Convollaria majalis (Lily of the Valley) - invasive roots, excellent ground cover if confined
Leucanthamum sp. (Oxeye daisy, Shasta daisy) - reseeds, invasive roots
Lunaria annua (Money plant) - reseeds
Lysimachia nummularia  (Creeping Jenny, Creeping Charlie) - invasive roots
Lythrum salicaria (Purple loosestrife) – noxious weed, DO NOT PLANT
Macleaya cordata (Plume poppy) - reseeds, invasive roots, use in large containers
Mentha  (Mints, esp. Catnip) - reseeds, invasive roots
Monarda didyma (Beebalm) - invasive roots
Myosotis (Forget-me-not) - reseeds
Oenothera spp. (Evening Primrose, esp. speciosa ‘Rosea’) - invasive roots
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper) - reseeds
Phalaris arundinacea var. picta (Ribbon grass) - invasive roots, confine in a container
Physalis alkekengi (Chinese lantern) - invasive roots
Physostegia virginiana (Obedient plant) - reseeds, invasive roots  
Polygonum cuspidatum (False bamboo, Japanese Knotweed) - invasive roots
Rosa (Roses, esp. wild roses, brambles) - invasive roots, use in native plantings or where
                                                                   the roots can  be confined
Sedum spp.  esp. ‘Golden Acre’ - this and other sedums drop pieces that will re-root
Stach’s bysantina (Lamb’s ear) - creeping stems root and spread
Tradescantia virginiana (Spiderwort) - invasive roots
Veronica spp. (Speedwells, esp. creeping speedwell) - invasive roots, pieces drop off and re-root
Viola spp. (esp. Viola odorata) - reseeds and becomes a problem in lawns
Yucca spp. - invasive roots