Crafts, gifts and a whole lot of love
don’t know about you, but when the weather is nasty and cold, I want something hearty and warm for dinner. Enter this FANTASTIC recipe from Pampered Chef. With a Toni twist. The original recipe is vegetarian friendly, but since the hubby and I are carnivores, I added ground beef to the mix for an alternative version. The biggest win for this recipe? I had EVERYTHING I needed on hand. I bet you do too!
Just in time for all your holiday gift wrapping, I have another idea for gift tags to share that will add a little extra somethin’ somethin’ to your packages.
Hello December!
I am officially into my Christmas frame of mind and am plotting and planning for a weekend of decorating, tree trimming and gift assembly. Thanksgiving weekend managed to fill up with other projects that prevented me from putting our tree up, but this weekend look out! The house is getting a holiday overhaul! The hubby will be thrilled because it means the tree that has been taking up residence in our garage will finally get moved out of the way and I will be able to say (finally) that I took care of moving it. Yeah, yeah…I know it’s been 10 months that I’ve been promising that but hey. Life happens. Anywhoo, I am looking forward to digging out all my holiday decorations and putting the Autumn decor away. I LOVE Christmas and I generally dive headlong into planning dinners for family and friends, gift wrapping, tree trimming and all the rest of it. I also take the last two weeks of the year off from work so I can truly enjoy it so, yeah, I’m looking forward to that as well. Fifteen workdays and counting…
In other news, I am super excited to announce I have a new gift section in the store and I am working on loading it up with a bunch of different things to make gift giving easy. To start things off with a bang, I have a bright paper package all tied up with string (and aren’t those all of our favorite things?) that I hope lands right on top of your wish list! I have been working on this one for a little while now and am finally ready for the big reveal. So…ready?
This gift set is all about the warm and cozy.
Included in each bright red gift box (string included) are a fresh new sweet peppermint candle in an adorable square mason-type jar that I’ve tied with a ribbon. Next is a Noel Gift Set exclusive Heartland cozy in bright, cheery red and a pair of re-usable hand warmers that are just the right size for coat pockets and mittens. All of this is packaged in a sweet red gift box with a hand-stamped note card and envelope for the recipient.
This weekend I will be working on putting together a bunch of other options for combo bundles and gift sets so be sure to check back to see what else is in store! Also, don’t forget to check out all the other great options in candles, cozies, zipper pouches and wristlet key fobs! By the way…these all make great stocking stuffers!
Thanks for stopping by today and remember to share the love! I’d love to hear from you either in the comments or via email or message and if you have a question about anything in my shop, be sure to reach out.
I really love the artisanal or rustic loaves with the crunchy tops and the flour-dusted bottoms. These loaves tend to be a bit more (ok a LOT more) dense than the Wonder White Bread you find in the grocery store, but they are SO good. Plus, they make for really tasty sandwiches along side a bowl of piping hot soup. YUM
I’ve been making these easy breakfast-in-a-bowl meals for a while now and still think they’re genius. Who likes a lot of fuss in the morning? Not me, that’s for darned sure. The only thing I really want to worry about when I get up in the morning is whether my favorite coffee mug is clean and there’s coffee ready. This working from home thing has its perks, but I’ve also lost some of my prior enthusiasm for getting up early and seizing the day. Heck there are days when the cup of coffee in my hands is the only thing keeping me moving toward my office chair. Enter the easiest hot breakfast you will ever make.
Before I start today’s post, I want to be clear that this is not my recipe. The original recipe as well as that beautiful photo are from AllRecipes.com. I LOVE their site and the Dinner Spinner app. Especially when I am struggling for ideas on what to make for company breakfasts, brunches, lunches, dinners… The struggle is real folks.
As I said, I originally found this recipe on a lucky spin of the Dinner Spinner app. Follow the link above to check it out along with a quick little video that shows you how to assemble everything. At the time that I was searching for this recipe I had company coming for the weekend and I wanted something special. I was also in search of something I could make that would solve the age-old issue of getting my entire breakfast on the table at one time. This is why I like breakfast bakes so much; because you have pretty much everything in a single pan. Make, bake and serve! Ta Da! When I found this recipe I knew it would be a big hit with my hubby and our guests and it didn’t disappoint. Even better, it’s a make-ahead recipe that you prep the night before and pop in the oven in the morning. This is a big plus for me because it allows me to enjoy my morning cup of coffee at leisure rather than spending my whole morning in the kitchen.
The other big plus for this recipe is that the ingredients are simple and easily found in any store. Well that, and it just takes a few minutes to put together. If you really want a peachy zing, whip up a batch of peach preserve “syrup” to pour over it. All you have to do is heat up some peach preserves and a little apple juice (ratio about 3 or 4 :1 ) Use your best judgment. You’re going for a nice syrup, not thin and runny. Combine the two in a saucepan to heat through and then let your guests ladle it over their toast. A dollop of whipped cream isn’t out of line either. Just sayin’!
I hope you give this recipe a try and let me know how it turns out. I’m thinking it’s just the thing for breakfast tomorrow.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
When I was a kid, my mom worked out of our house. She had her own drapery business in the basement and did a pretty brisk business honestly. She did jobs for Ethan Allen Home Galleries in Fargo when their usual crew couldn’t handle all […]
If you have some paperclips, ribbon, buttons and a hot glue gun lying around, gather them and the kiddos for a easy and fun project that’s perfect for back to school!
Good morning! Today I’m going to share a trio of recipes I’ve found for baked oatmeal. I discovered this idea when I was searching out recipes that could be made and then frozen. Who knew you could freeze oatmeal?
Anyway, since we are rolling into another weekend I thought a nice roundup of oatmeal options might be just the thing. Make them now, freeze and then pull them out when you have company coming or when you want a warm breakfast with little to no fuss.
This first recipe is the first one I tried and I have to say it was a huge hit with the family. It’s easy to put together and doesn’t take very long to bake. Also, you can swap out the fruits if you don’t have the apples or peaches on hand. You can thank the ladies over at Thriving Home for this one.
I used frozen blueberries the first time I made this with the apples that the recipe calls for and it was delicious, but you could easily use pears, cherries, even a few cranberries if you boosted the sugar a bit.
This second option is from Jenni over at Peas and Crayons. It varies from the first one a little with the additions of almond milk, sea salt, maple syrup and vanilla which gives it a French Toast flavor. She also suggests serving it with plain vanilla yogurt, whipped cream, maple syrup, honey, almond milk or fresh fruit which, I have to admit I didn’t even consider! I’ll definitely be giving this a try very soon.
I LOVE cranberries. Especially in the winter months when fruit can be so blah in flavor. These bright red berries are packed with tangy flavor and are good in so many things. I was pretty sure they would be fantastic in oatmeal, so I went in search of an oatmeal recipe that called for them and voila! Over at Barefeet in the Kitchen I found it! Mostly so I could get a decent approximation of the amount of sugar needed to offset all that tartness! As soon as the temperatures start to dip, I’ll be giving this one a try.
Happy Friday everyone! Have a great weekend and be sure to give one of these a try. You’ll never go back to plain old oatmeal again!
I love pasta. Especially when it’s covered in a rich red sauce. I also like trying out different kinds of pasta so when I stumbled on a package of Fussilloni at none other than my local Target store, I scooped it up along with a jar of red sauce and called it dinner. Well, along with the peppers, onion and sweet italian sausage that I already had at home.