Dear Valentine...

February is almost here so thought my chalkboard needed an update. A little message from the heart. 

Happy Monday!

12 Easy Super Bowl Party Ideas

Are you ready for Super Bowl LIV {54 }?

Ready or not the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs will meet for the Championship Game next weekend so if you are in need of some quick and easy game day party ideas here is a little inspiration for food, favors and decorations. 

You can never go wrong with cupcakes and these Hamburger Cupcakes and Sugar Cookie fries are easier to make than they look and definite crowd pleasers. 

Classic FootBall Cupcakes are always a winner and if you are in need of some party favors these Paper Football Favors can be made with items on hand such as recycled paper grocery bags and twine. It doesn't get easier than that. 

Stamped Sugar Cookies can be personalized however you choose. Option: add a little icing around the edge for an extra special touch. 

Better yet, a 2-in1 dessert, Gingerbread Football Cookies on top of Cupcakes. Green Dyed Coconut on on top of the chocolate frosting completes this festive dessert. 

Meat and Cheese Football Sandwiches with cream cheese laces make a healthy snack. 

No football cookie cutter, No Problem! Try gently squeezing the bottom of a paper cup or the end of a clean, empty can until it bends just enough to resemble a football. Both work well in a pinch. 

The paper cup cookie cutter worked well for cutting out the gingerbread cookie footballs however the can has a nice sturdy edge and is more versatile. 

It worked perfect for these football sandwiches and .... 

the pie crust for these hand pies.

These little Apple Football Hand Pies were fun to make and festive too. 

And why not use another recycled can to make a Football Goal post decoration for the table? Just wrap it with brown construction paper and cut a white strip of paper into laces and glue to the side. Use popsicle sticks for the goal posts and styrofoam, dried beans or rocks to hold it steady. Easy Peasy!

Just for fun how about a Stein full of Butterscotch Buttons and Mini Marshmallows? 

I'll TOAST to that! 

Our Super Bowl plans are still in the works however I will be making something for the big game and will be sure to share. 

CHEERS!

FRUIT~STUFFED PORK TENDERLOINS with MUSTARD~CRANBERRY SAUCE

It is the middle of January and "Baby It's Cold Outside"! We had snow yesterday. Enough to cause the schools to open late however it turned to rain after a few hours and had disappeared by the middle of the morning. Today it is still cold and wet so a good day to share this wonderful recipe. It is one I had planned to make on Christmas Day but plans changed and I actually ended up making this for a family dinner the Saturday after New Years. 

This recipe is from this 2002 Holiday Cooking magazine from my collection of favorite recipe magazines and is delicious. 

At first glance it might look like extra work to make however it went together faster than I had expected. It helped to prep everything before starting and then it was all ready to go. 

The rolls were easy to make especially with the plastic wrap which also made clean up  a breeze. 

The brown rice stuffing is a perfect combination with the pork and is also good on its own. 

We are nuts about mixed fresh vegetables so that is a common side on our menu. Ordinarily we like to sauté or grill our veggies but no matter how you serve them they are delicious and add a pop of color.  

The fruit salad is recipe from another one of my Holiday magazines. The poppy seed dressing makes it extra special.

We roasted the pork tenderloins in a shallow pan on a rack as the directions instructed.

They fit perfectly end to end. 

The Mustard~Cranberry Sauce { which is not shown due to a forgetful photographer } was quick to make. I served it in a small pitcher so that everyone could add as little or much as they preferred. 

These Fruit Stuffed Pork Tenderloins were delicious and made our dinner extra special. I have included the recipe below and hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

print recipe

FRUIT-STUFFED PORK TENDERLOINS WITH MUSTARD-CRANBERRY SAUCE

Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Cooking Magazine 2002
http://thegrandsurprise.blogspot.com

by Jennifer Stull

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup sliced celery
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups cooked browned rice
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries 
• 1/4 cup snipped dried apricots 
• 1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup apple juice 
• 2 12-ounce pork tenderloins 
• salt and pepper
• Mustard-Cranberry Sauce

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375° F. In a medium saucepan cook the onion, celery, and garlic in butter over medium heat about 4 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat. Stir in rice, cranberries, apricots, orange peel, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Stir in apple juice to moisten. Set stuffing aside. 
2. Trim fat from pork. Using a sharp knife, make a lengthwise cut down the center of each pork tenderloin, cutting to but not through the other side of the meat. Make 2 cuts on either side of the first cut. Place each tenderloin between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Pound lightly with the flat side of a meat mallet to make a 10x8-inch rectangle, working from the center to the corners. Season pork with salt and pepper.
3. Spoon half of the stuffing over one of the tenderloins to within 1 inch of the edges. Roll tenderloin up into a spiral, beginning with a short side. Tie the meat spiral with clean 100 percent cotton string. Place spiral seam side down on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Repeat with the remaining tenderloin and remaining stuffing, placing the second tenderloin next to the first on the rack. 
4. Roast, uncovered, in preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the stuffing registers 165°F. Loosely cover with foil and let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.
5. Meanwhile, prepare Mustard-Cranberry Sauce. Cut tenderloins into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Serve with sauce. Makes 8 servings.
Mustard-Cranberry Sauce:  In a small saucepan cook 1 clove garlic, minced, in 2 tablespoons hot butter over medium heat for 1 minute. Stir in 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour and 1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard until combined. Stir in 1 1/4 cups chicken broth. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 minute more. Stir in 1/4 cup half-and-half or light cream and 1/4 cup dried cranberries; heat through. Makes 1 1/2 cups.
Nutrition facts per serving: 303 cal., 13 g total fat (7 g sat. fat) 82 mg chol., 438 mg sodium, 24 g carbo, 2 g fiber, 21 g pro. Daily Values: 14% vit. A, 11% iron.

Happy Saturday!

How to make easy Snowman cards and more...

Rain turning to SNOW is in our forecast this week but so far it has just been a rain~snow mix. All we can do at this point is hope for a blanket of white overnight and, in the meantime, work on fun projects such as these cute DIY SNOWMAN cards. 

Most of the cards I make are very simple and do not require much extra equipment such as a cutting machine. Don't get me wrong, it would be great to have one and I have seriously considered it but the basics that I have work just fine for now. I am happy to draw my design and improvise on the construction using my basic tool selection.  For example, the Snowman card above was sketched first and then hand cut except for the holly, hole punch eyes and mouth. 

The Snowman with the scarf was also drawn and hand cut except for the hole punch eyes and snowball head which was cut with a manual circle cutter.

To make the snowflake texture I used my hot glue gun to make varied sizes on dots on a piece of card stock. Once it was completely cool and firm I covered it with another piece of white card stock and ran my 2" wide roller over the top to emboss the paper. That seemed much easier than running out to pick up the perfect paper. The best part was that it worked and made the background stand out a bit more.

It took a few tries to draw a top hat that was just the right size and had the perfect look as did the nose. Once I was satisfied with those I moved onto the second Snowman design and a Penguin card. 

To remember the size and instructions of my projects I like to make templates as shown here. It also makes construction go much faster if I ever decide to make more. 

For the snow on two of the cards I used embossing powder and made dots randomly around the card. Each dot is different, which I like, and the "snowflakes" give it a little texture.

SNOW there you have it! A few winter card projects that are fun and easy to make, especially on snow days!

Happy Monday!

30 minute Dinner Rolls

What could be better than homemade soup and hot rolls for dinner on a cold and rainy evening? The menu sounds great however soup and rolls usually require extra time to prepare and cook, depending on the recipe of course. I know mine takes longer which makes it impossible with a busy schedule.

On days when we are short on time, like last Thursday, I made 30 minute Dinner Rolls which honestly only took 30 minutes from start to finish. The first time might take a few extra minutes but after that it should be pretty close to thirty minutes. It will also depend on how long you knead the dough and let the rolls raise before baking. Since I was in a hurry I chose the least amount of time for both and they turned out fine. Another great thing about this recipe is you do not need a mixer although you can use one if you prefer as long as you have a dough hook for kneading. I decided to forgo my mixer this time and found that it did not take any extra time to stir and knead it myself. 

These rolls were so good hot out of the oven and were perfect with our soup. They also keep well and are wonderful the next day. If you want to make these rolls you can find the recipe I used at Spend With Pennies. 

Happy Baking!

Peppermint Icebox Cake

This year we celebrated Christmas twice,  once on Christmas Day and again on New Years Day to accommodate multiple schedules. We left the tree up since there were still gifts to be opened and decided to make our traditional Christmas dinner on New Years Day for those who were not able to join us on Christmas. As for dessert, we had plenty of Christmas cookies and cupcakes leftover from New Years Eve however I wanted something special like our Buche de Noel { Yule Log }, but it was long gone, so I decided to try this new Peppermint Icebox Cake recipe that my sister had shared with me in December. 

This No Bake dessert recipe is called a "cake" however it is made in a pie plate so it seems as if it could be called a pie as well. 

No matter what you call it it is wonderful!

It is light and fluffy and perfect after a big holiday dinner.

You just can't go wrong with Oreo's, peppermint, cream cheese, whipping cream and marshmallow fluff! If you want to make this fabulous Peppermint Icebox Pie you can find the recipe here.

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Better Late than Never....DIY Christmas Gift Tags

December is always so busy that it is hard to find time to get everything posted here so over the next few days I hope to get caught up. First off are these fun little DIY Christmas Gift Tags.

I like to have gift tags that match/coordinate with my wrapping paper whenever possible but sometimes, for whatever reason, I cannot find what I want in the stores and that was the case for this particular roll of paper. It is times like this when it is just faster, easier and more fun to make my own.

These were created with things I had on hand which were scraps of paper, stamps, embossing powder, embossing roller, string, punches and glitter. 

As you can see they are very simple which made them quick and easy to assemble. 

A festive little gift tag to coordinate with the wrapping paper and bow. 

Happy Thursday!