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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Plenty for Twenty!

Close to My Heart is offering "Plenty for Twenty" in December!
From now until December 31st when you place a $20 order from my website you will be rewarded with a popular retired, D-size stamp set for free! That's a $22.95 value, plus there is no shipping and handling or tax on your free stamp set!
Click HERE to shop in your jammies and get some of your Christmas shopping done the easy way!

Thanksgiving Day Dinner Recipes

OK here are the recipes as promised! I hope you try them and enjoy them as much as we did!

Berry Sangria

750 ml bottle Sutter Home Merlot wine
2 cups cranberry-raspberry juice cocktail
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp sugar
1 pint strawberries, hulled
1 pint raspberries
2 small oranges, sliced

Combine wine, juice and 1/2 c sugar in a serving bowl.
In a food processor puree half of strawberries, half of raspberries and 1/2 c sugar. Mix with wine. If preparing the day ahead stop here. I strained the berries first as it makes a TON of puree.
Slice the rest of strawberries and mix with 2 Tbsp of sugar
When ready to serve add sliced strawberries and raspberries and orange slices to wine.
Pour into glasses and serve or serve in a punch bowl.

Salami Roll Ups and Pickles

Deli sliced salami
Cream Cheese
Your favorite pickles

All I did for these is cut a chunk of cream cheese and put it in the middle of the salami and rolled it up! It is super easy and if you like the Pickle roll ups with the ham, cream cheese and pickle in the middle you will LOVE the taste and ease of making these!

Marinated Olives This recipe comes from Sandra Lee

1/c cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
3 cloves garlic
1 6 oz jar large pitted ripe olives, drained
1 7 oz jar kalamata olives, drained
1 7 oz jar pimento stuffed green olives, drained

In a small sauce pan heat olive oil and red pepper over low heat for 3 minutes. Sir in Italian seasoning and rosemary, remove from heat.
In the food processor process garlic until finely minced. With processor running slowly add olive oil mixture and process 30 seconds.
In a large bowl place olives and drizzle with olive oil mixture tossing to coat.

Lynn's Traditional Lasagna

1 lb hamburger
1 Onion chopped
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp basil
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 c cottage cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp oregano
3 1/2 c water
3/4 lb uncooked lasagna noodles
3/4 lb Mozzarella cheese shredded

Brown meat and onions. Cook until onion is soft. Add spices and sugar. Add tomato paste, sauce and water. bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes. Put 1/2 cup sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Cover with a layer of uncooked noodles, layer of sauce and 1/3 of the cheeses. Repeat until all is used up. Cover with foil and bake at 325 for 1 hour and 20 minutes. I remove the foil about 1o minutes before it's done to get it a little brown. Let this sit for 10 minutes before you cut it.

Dipping Oil for Baguettes - got this from Taste Of Home

1Tbsp dried minced garlic
1 Tbsp dried rosemary, crushed
1 Tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper coarsely ground

Additional Ingredients for each batch:
1 Tbsp water
1/2 c olive oil

In a small bowl combine the first 7 ingredients and store in an airtight container in a cool dry place for up to 6 months.

To prepare dipping oil: In a small microwavable dish combine 4 tsp herb mix with water. Microwave uncovered for 15 seconds. Drain excess water. Transfer to a shallow serving plate add oil and stir. Serve with bread.

Tunnel of Fudge Cake III - I got this from Pillsbury

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups butter
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 (16 ounce) package chocolate fudge frosting
  • 2 cups chopped walnuts

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9 or 10 inch bundt pan.
  2. Cream butter or margarine in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Add eggs one at a time. Gradually beat in sugar and continue creaming until light and fluffy.
  3. By hand, stir in the flour, fudge frosting, and walnuts until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 60 to 65 minutes. Cool in pan for 2 hours then remove and continue to cool if needed. Drizzle with icing or confectioner's sugar.
Enjoy!

Lynn

Monday, November 29, 2010

Holiday Hoopla!

One holiday down, one to go! Thanksgiving at our house was not your traditional Thanksgiving this year. Since my parents are no longer with us, especially my dad, it is a little easier as my dad was such a very picky eater and the rest of us eat almost anything, so this year I decided to go Italian! Here's what we had:

Drinks and appetizers where served at 5:00 sharp!

Homemade Berry Sangria

Salami Roll ups and Pickles


Marinated Olives


Dinner was served at 6:30. For the main course we had two Lasagnas, one of them was the traditional Lasagna and the other one was Chicken Lasagna. You can get the recipe for the Chicken Lasagna here.

Baguette's and homemade dipping oil


And for dessert, we had a tunnel of fudge cake


I am sure now your taste buds are tingling wishing you could just have a little taste of everything and if that is the case, I will post the recipes for all of our dinner and you can make all of this too! It was a truly memorable dinner and we had a great time and I am so thankful for all of them!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!



Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families and remember "Gobble till ya Wobble!"


Monday, November 22, 2010

Art and Soul New Episode

Have you ever checked out Art & Soul on my website yet? If you haven't you are really missing out on great techniques and ideas on how to use our products.

I know that you all have Close To My Heart products hanging around your house and that are not being used for various reasons. Maybe those reasons include: not knowing how to use them, bought them or an idea that you saw and lost or you are just a collector of things. What ever the reason you need to check out Art & Soul and get those items out and start using them! Click HERE and check it out!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Christmas Cards

Have you started your Christmas cards yet? I haven't but I thought that I'd post some holiday cards that I got in one of my swaps. They are all very easy and I hope you like them! We sure do have some talented ladies in our Supersassy Swappers Group! Thanks for all your hard work ladies!


I hope this inspires you to get out all your stuff and start creating! I know it has for me and now you know what I'll be doing when I get home from work tonight!

Lynn

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

November Stamp of the Month

Well it's another new month and that means another new Stamp of the Month! This time around it's a great way to say "A Little Thanks" which by the way just happens to be the name of this great new set! Remember you can only get this great stamp set during the month of November so don't delay, order right away! ha ha ha I just love how that rhymes.


Here's a great idea for all you procrastinators out there, hurry and order this set and make up a few thank you cards to have on hand to send to those who give you all those great, and not so great, Christmas gifts! Who wouldn't LOVE to get a handmade thank you card in the mail? I would LOVE it, so if you have extras after the holidays you can always send one to me!

Have a great day!

Lynn