Wednesday Wonder: Taste of Home Subscription Box

Hello my Friends! 

How is your Wednesday going so far?

We are continuing to freeze our buns off here up in the northwoods. Ugh. I'll mention for the 87th time that I'm just here dreaming on Spring. Sometimes I do understand why both of my kiddos picked Florida for their colleges. Lol

But today I'm not popping in to whine about the weather. For the record, it is all we northerners talk about. 🙈😂 

However, I have fun things to share!! My "Special Delivery: Taste of Home" Subscription box came late last week. I love this subscription as it's a box filled with all things kitchen/cooking/baking - my favorites! In all the years of getting these boxes I have always found uses for the items or the cookbooks. If I haven't needed the items I share with family or friends that could use them and they have loved that too. 😉 The subscription comes every 3-4 months. Off the top of my head I can't remember the cost but I think it started at around $35 (maybe closer to $40-50 now?) when I first did it but I think has gone up since then. However, I think the boxes are always valued at around $80 or so. They have often sent cookbooks worth at least $25-$30 on their own. Here is a post about a past box if you want to see more - just click here.

Here is what I received this time: 

And I forgot to include this egg spatula in the pic of the main items. I think this spatula will be so nice for many things - but especially for flipping fried eggs. Let's take a closer look at some of the other items. 

They often have a flyer that tells about each item - but this time they had a booklet to tell about each, but it was also filled with lots of yummy recipes. 

a drawstring bag I can keep in the car filled with some reusable shopping bags - look at the cute Spring colors they are! :) 

And I was so excited about this as I'd been meaning to get one. And I've already used it when I made chicken salad this week and it works great!

This jar opener is really nice  as it's ceramic. But I don't see myself putting it under my cabinets and I think I may take it up to the lake. Matt said his Mom might really appreciate it. 

This really nice steamer basket, which I see myself using a lot! I used to have a steamer pot and I don't anymore. So this is a keeper!

And this cute little egg cracker. I'm not sure if I'll use this or not? It's supposed to help keep your hands clean too. This may end up as a little part of a cute kitchen gift basket for someone in the future - not sure yet. 

I'd say overall it was another successful box! I'm not promoting this in any way. It's just a subscription I love. So I love to share it with my fellow cooking, & all things kitchen, loving Friends. 💗

Blessings and stay cozy! 

xoxo

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello dear Friends!

Happy new week to you. ☀️💗

I hope you had a lovely weekend and those that celebrated Valentine's Day had a sweet time. 

We got yet more inches of snow and bitter cold again around here. We snuggled in for the first part of the weekend. We even did church online to stay snuggly (we usually go to Saturday mass). But Sunday the weather was better and we did visit the Boat & Sport Show at our local arena. Being around boats, docks, campers etc - definitely Matt's happy place! 

On Friday we did celebrate Valentine's with a cozy and romantic night at home. We gave each other sweet cards and little gifts. We snuggled in front of the fire, which has been heavenly this freezing season! Matt even played his guitar and sang to me a bit....such a treat when he does that!! Makes me swoon. Lol He has such a good voice but he's shy about it, however he did let me take some video of his playing which I'll share below. Then he made me a WONDERFUL steak dinner! He had gotten some ribeyes from the meat market and twice baked potatoes, and he made an easy veggie side dish. He cooked the steaks perfectly and everything was so delicious! And I took care of dessert when I had ordered some gourmet chocolate covered cherries and truffles. It was a wonderful night and a very cozy weekend. ❤️

Thankfully the weather ahead looks like this may be the last bitter cold week. The extended forecast shows next week in the 30's and maybe even some 40 degree days -that would feel amazing! 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

coffee with almond creamer, a wasa sourdough cracker with a little laughing cow cheese spread and tiny bit of blackberry jam

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Ruby's haircut that got rescheduled, out to lunch with some honorary Aunties, take Matt's truck in for oil change, need to finish working on my closet and getting rid of old clothes etc (going to give our bedroom a good Spring clinging soon), errands, dinner with my Mom & step Dad later in the week, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

My horrible Spring fever right now. This cold and snow is getting old now that we're heading closer to March. Those warmer temps ahead will give me life! Lol I know where I live and I always get Spring fever way too early every year. Sigh

But I have lots of home projects I'm working on....as well as some crafting ones too. I'm working to finish our wedding scrapbook. I'm working on my first little crochet project! And a little cross stitch too. I think the older I get the more ADHD I have and I need multiple things to bounce back and forth to work on. 😂

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

I've got my warm sweater on and listening to pretty Celtic music. The sun is out and looks so bright and pretty, but I know it's deceiving as it's -11* outside right now. I need to finish loading dishes and make a few things for our healthier treats this week.  In my office I have my new walking pad treadmill that I can do right in the sun in front of the bay window. It's small and can fold up out of the way - but works great for me to get my daily walking in (as the big treadmill is down in the media room, where Matt also works everyday)

CURRENTLY READING

Almost done with my cottage core book and then I may start the Amish book I downloaded a sample of - but I also forgot I had bought a 2nd hand Debbie Macomber book a while back I never read - so I may knock that out first. I also have some Spring and gardening magazines I've been diving into 💚💚💚

ON THE TV TODAY:

When Calls the Heart, All Creatures Great & Small, The Rookie , Miss Scarlet, Shifting Gears, Jeopardy, Ghosts, Shark Tank, The Flip Off (HGTV) still catch up TWD

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - blueberry wild rice brats from the meat market, sweet potato fries, veggies

TUESDAY -   BBQ onion crunch chicken, roasted sweet & spicy cauliflower (froze the chicken last week and didn't make this - so doing this week) will share recipes if I like them :) 

WEDNESDAY - elote char broiled chicken burgers (costco) with chipotle mexi salad

THURSDAY - cabbage roll soup (will share recipe if we like it)

FRIDAY - cheese pierogies with fried onions & bacon, salad

*for some healthy treats I'm going to use up the strawberries in our produce drawer by dunking in a thin layer of chocolate bark and add a sprinkle of sea salt and chill. Also making the yummy dates we like with a little peanut butter & chocolate dip too and some sea salt. Tastes kind of like a snickers bar and we love them!

However, I found some peaches from the summer I had frozen the other day and I'm thinking on when and what I may want to make with them soon??

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

 work on our wedding scrapbook, crochet, cross stitch, read

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

FROM THE CAMERA:

My Brother sent me this the other day saying that he thought he needed a bigger pot. 😁 He had planted some of the sunflower seeds from the wedding favors we had given last Fall. It made me day :) 

Matt in his happy place - dreaming on the Ranger boat with 400 horsepower motor he wants in the future. Or you could call this pic me smiling at my love while he's smiling at his love. 😂

Our cozy Valentine night in with the snow and cold blowing outside. Matt made me that amazing steak dinner and then we had the adorable gourmet chocolate covered cherries & truffles I had gotten as a gift once from the sweetest girlfriend and I remembered how good they were and got them for us for our dessert. 💘 

But the best part was Matt playing guitar and singing for me in front of the fire - here's a little video of him playing:

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace.  

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Wishing you a blessed and cozy week ahead Friends!

I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Perfect Valentine Brownies & Super Bowl Queso Dip

 

Hello my Friends!

Happy Friday Eve to you. :) 

Do you have any fun weekend plans - particularly any fun Valentine's plans? 

Matt & I are planning to snuggle in as more snow is on the way tomorrow night. But he's going to cook me a steak dinner. Yay me! 💝😋 

We also have some little gifts we plan to exchange together. And I ordered us some special gourmet chocolate covered cherries and a few chocolate truffles that arrived the other day that I'm chilling in the fridge until tomorrow. Isn't it wonderful to have an excuse to celebrate L❤️VE? 

I thought I'd share a couple recipes I had made for our little Super Bowl gathering last weekend. And one of them is for these amazingly decadent and delish blackberry swirl cheesecake brownies! They would be SO perfect as a valentine treat too. 

isn't the swirl so pretty? 

You can see the spread behind us with all the goodies. We watched on the big screen downstairs in our media room (& half of the downstairs is Matt's office as you can see too) 

You can find the full recipe for these brownies on my pinterest board "sweet treats" which you can find if you click here.  But here are parts of the recipe I was able to screen shot (it didn't have a print option which makes it nice and neat). I took a shortcut and made the brownie layer from a Ghiradelli brownie box mix which I highly recommend. So much easier and SO yummy. So I'm only sharing the rest of the recipe for the cheesecake layer and the blackberry swirl. 

*so basically make the boxed mix by the instructions and pour into the bottom of greased 8x8 pan. Then follow the rest of the steps shared here. Doing the boxed mix did add to the overall baking time for me. I think mine took more like 45 minutes or so. I topped them with a drizzle of chocolate sauce and fresh blackberries on top. They were a hit with everyone! 

Some other ideas the recipe gave were:

☀️ serve them in the summer with blackberry sorbet (doesn't that sound amazing?). 

🍂🍁Do an Autumn edition and add a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg to the brownies. 

🎄❤️💚And even a holiday version by adding some orange zest the cheesecake layer. No matter which way you make them - I just recommend that you do! 

Another yummy snack at our super bowl table was a queso dip. I didn't get a good after pic but this was it looked like in the works melting in the slow cooker. We had done up a nacho bar with different chips, taco meat, and then queso dip and all the fixings - so everyone could build their own nacho plate. This queso was also a hit and wonderful to keep nice and warm in the slow cooker for the whole evening. You can find the recipe under my pinterest board "appetizers" if you click here. But I've also shared it below. 

Enjoy! 

xoxo

Wordless Wednesday

 

*soaking up the sunbeams

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello dear Friends!

I hope you're starting out on a very happy Monday. I know one that may not sadly ...you have my sympathies & big hugs Jean. 🙏🏻 The Super Bowl was probably kind of brutal to watch for a Chiefs fan. But I hope you were still able to have fun snacks and enjoy the commercials! ❤️

We had our friends, the C's, over to watch. We did a numbers pool and I won one of the quarters - yay! We did a big nacho bar with taco meat, slow cooker queso dip, slow cooker bean dip & all the fixings. Plus, I made blackberry swirl cream cheese brownies - they are delish! And Mrs. C brought veggie pizza and slow cooker buffalo chicken dip. We were well fed all night and have lots of leftovers! Which is nice because I have an Uncle coming to town today and needing to stay over here tonight. 

Also this weekend (well since mid last week) my son and his Jill stayed over with us and went home early yesterday. That was wonderful to get such quality time with them. We played lots of games. Ate great food and did lots of visiting. We're kind of becoming the air B&B for family when they come to town now that we have spare rooms. Lol I'm not mad about it. I love my family so much! 

Now on to the week ahead...

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

 Coffee with splash of protein drink and some natural pistachio creamer

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

errands, help my Uncle to his medical appointment (why he's staying over), meeting with financial planner, help my Mom with some things, some home projects I'm working on, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

the next organizing projects around here I need to get done

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

I'm watching the morning news. Both of the furry babies are sitting by me. It's sunny out my window but so cold this AM! It's going to be a cold week. It's a bummer as the bay looks so nice to go for walks on and someone used a snowmobile or 4-wheeler to plow paths on it. Maybe when it warms up a little we can get some workouts in down there. 

CURRENTLY READING

I just downloaded some samples of Amish novels by Karen Harper (still need to finish my cottage core book though)

ON THE TV TODAY:

When Calls the Heart, All Creatures Great & Small, The Rookie , Miss Scarlet, Shifting Gears, Jeopardy & Celebrity Jeopardy, Ghosts, Shark Tank, still catch up TWD

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - leftovers but also going to make slow cooker chicken gnocchi soup (like Olive Garden's) to have for dinner with a salad tonight with my Uncle here (he's having a procedure and will probably want something more gentle to eat)

TUESDAY -  leftovers

WEDNESDAY - Onion BBQ crunch chicken, roasted cauliflower side dish

THURSDAY - homemade spicy spaghetti sauce with healthy noodles & salad

FRIDAY - maybe out for dinner?

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

 work on our wedding scrapbook I'm making, read, play cards with Matt

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

Have you ever made homemade goodies for your dog? I'm thinking of making this at some point for Ruby 💗

FROM THE CAMERA:

Slow cooker queso in the works (I'll share recipes later in the week) and the blackberry cheesecake swirl brownies. Pic with our besties the C's - they said we needed a group selfie because their younger daughter wanted one and to see all of our food 😂 (she was at a friend's house watching) We always have the best time with these guys!!

Bubba always trying to steal the show (those are Mr C's feet in the pic 😂) You can see our football numbers pool. I won $25 one quarter and I won bragging rights as I predicted the closest to the amount of points that were scored on the night. But Mr. C won the big final quarter $50!

The furry babies forever have my heart. And we're still loving the glow of candles and twinkle lights at night.

This adorable memory came up in my phone of Annie from a production in middle school (she still had braces!) and my Mumsy had come to watch too. So sweet! And the fuzzy hearts are the wallpaper in my phone right now in honor of Valentines day - I think they're so cute. :) 

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace. For my Uncle's procedure to go well.  

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Wishing you all so much love on this Valentines week (& always). 💝

I thought this inspirational fit beautifully for this week. 

Blessings. xoxo

I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.