RE-CEIVING GUESTS: VALENTINE'S DAY TABLE

This table setting was inspired by the color combination of Hershey's Kisses for Valentine's Day which are pink, red and silver.  I used a pink table cloth with red and white accents.

I put the Kisses in a silver swan bowl on the table. The swans represent love since they mate for life.

The plates are Spode Cranberry with a white trim. I placed them on a silverplate charger and used red napkins that picked up the red accents on the tablecloth.  The red cupid cookie was an accent.  The red glitter box was purchased at Michael's as was the silver ribbon.

The flowers were a combination of red, pink and white roses combined with white hydrangeas in silver plate bowls.

Also, for your valentine, add a red valentine hung on the back of the dining chair.This red heart was purchased at Michael's.

Theses glasses are a combination of  Waterford Sheila crystal, a cranberry pink Murano crystal flute and an everyday  red water goblet.

The silver candlesticks are the perfect accent for a Valentine's Day dinner.

                                                        Happy St.Valentine's Day.

        Written by Reba

RE-Joicing: 2013 Christmas Projects

Christmas Project No. 1.  No cooking Xmas Appetizer - Spinach Tortilla Spirals stuffed with Turkey/Goat cheese/Cranberry, Turkey/Sundried Tomato/Cucumber spears or Spinach/Bacon stacked in a Christmas Tree form with cherry tomatoes as "ornaments" and a star cut from a plain tortilla and secured with a tooth pick.

I took this Xmas tree to my book club's fabulous Christmas party and I loved how it came out.  The toughest part was finding the spinach tortillas to make it. I looked at 6 different stores and emailed my friends for help finding them before I found them at a Whole Foods supermarket.  Then, I found out they sell them at Target as well so if you ever want to make these,  Target will likely be your best bet.


TURKEY GOAT CHEESE CRANBERRY SPIRAL STUFFING
2-8 oz pack whipped cream cheese
1 cup (8 oz) crumbled feta cheese
1 cup (8 oz) crumbled goat cheese - I like flavored goat cheese, but plain works as well
1/2cup chopped green onion
12 oz dried cranberries
sliced turkey breast

Mix up the ingredients except the turkey breast, spread it across a tortilla, place a couple thin slices of turkey meat in the middle, roll the tortillas up and slice them.   At first, I cut the pieces pretty thin, but found out thicker pieces about 1 inch wide, stay together better.

TURKEY GOAT CHEESE CUCUMBER SPIRAL STUFFING

Use the same ingredients as above, replace the cranberries with spears of cucumber thinly sliced.  I used sundried tomato goat cheese for this recipe and it worked great.

SPINACH BACON SPIRAL STUFFING
1 cup light mayo or Miracle Whip whichever you prefer
1/2 cup sour cream
1 package (3 ounces) softened cream cheese
4 green onions, chopped.
1 package crumbled cooked bacon
1 envelopes ranch dressing mix
2 packages (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, drained

Mix together, spread on tortillas, roll and slice.

Christmas Project No. 2.  Xmas ornament garland.  Lots of "wow" for not a lot of $ or time.  I found this project on Pinterest.  Use a long piece of 1/2 inch ribbon and thread it thru the tops of ball ornaments to make a garland.  It takes about 45 minutes to thread them all.Most people used ornaments from the Dollar Store because you need between 80- 100 ornaments for a garland, but I wanted jewel tones so I had to use mostly regular ornaments I bought on sale.  Although I mixed it up with some glitter ornaments from the Dollar store and Target.   I've seen plastic ball ornaments at Home Goods and other stores and those would be perfect for this project.

The Original Project Source: http://www.mintlovesocialclub.com/2011/11/diy-christmas-ornament-garland.html

The Source I Used for Instructions: http://meant4amoment.blogspot.com/2011/11/christmas-ball-garland.html

Is that a black Christmas Tree?  Yes, it is.  It's a bad picture because I took it in a hurry.  There is dust everywhere in it because we are having work done in our kitchen.  I'll try to take a better picture later.

Being real.  This is what my living room looks like today. 

Christmas Project No. 3. My living room is in chaos because we started renovating our kitchen to host a family Christmas party.  A nephew volunteered to host to take the pressure off, but the work (and the dust) had already begun.  We're doing the kitchen in phases, but as soon as phase 1 is done, I'll post an update. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Written by Eldarose