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Welcome to my blog! Here is where you'll finding me rambling about a variety of subjects, including my family, vintage, thrifting, Etsy shops I love, and more!





Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Buy From Etsy!





This year why not do most of your Christmas shopping from the convenience of your home!? I am going to do just that, and started with a beautiful Christmas card from http://www.enchantedquilling.etsy.com/ all the way from Australia! Absolutely gorgeous, even better than I expected! I love this card so much I am not sure I want to give it to anyone! I may just frame it! Janice also added 2 beautiful gift tags to my order! Janice & I are twitter friends!

The detail on this card is amazing, and it looks like there's a lot of work that goes into it! (I just know I wouldn't even try to do anything like this-it would be a disaster!)

So please shop on http://www.etsy.com/ -I know you will be pleasantly surprised! There is wonderful talent there (not to mention great vintages shops!)!

Thank you so much Janice! I will definitely shop at http://www.enchantedquilling.etsy.com/ again!

Jen



Wednesday, October 21, 2009

You Better Watch Out








You better not pout! Before you know it the holiday season will be upon us! I've come up with a few ideas for your vintage holiday decorating!

I took a milk glass lacy compote and weaved Christmas ribbon through it-add a votive candle, and that's it!

Beautiful Kings Crown Green goblets can be transformed easily into Christmas glasses with just a touch of holiday ribbon!

A large hobnail milk glass vase just needs some touches of gold to make it sparkle!

Take the simplest of items-Fenton hobnail ashtray and add a votive candle and some Christmas flowers!

I'll be bringing you more ideas in the next couple of weeks so stay tuned!
Jen




Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Veggie and Cheesy Pasta Casserole


Okay-I got creative today! I knew I wanted to use the fresh zucchini and squash I had here, and I knew I wanted to have pasta too--so I just started using my imagination, and poof! I had a yummy veggie & cheesy pasta casserole!

This recipe can be tweeked with whatever you have, and if you want a more lightweight version, just skip some of the butter I use and instead of the heavy cream, just regular milk should be fine. Same idea with the cheese-low fat should be fine! But I always say, as long as you don't eat like this all the time, go for it!! Life is too short-live life to the fullest-that means eat cheese and pasta!

Here's how I started:

I sauteed chopped (all bite size) zucchini, squash, yellow pepper, red onion, white onion, some shredded carrots in olive oil and butter-just until the veggies loose a bit of their crispness, but don't overcook it-not sure how long that took-maybe 8 minutes. Add salt & pepper-and my favorite ingredient-red pepper flakes-whatever amount is good for you-it will add an extra kick-I probably used about 1/2 tsp or so. Oh geez-almost forgot-after that was all sauteed-at the last minute, I added chopped cherry tomatoes and button mushrooms (silly me!).

While I was letting that sautee and stirring occasionally-I got the water boiling for the pasta-I used elbow noodles-but any pasta will do-I cooked it just until al dente (is that how that's spelled?).

This is a multi-tasking recipe. While doing those other two things, I was also preparing the sauce. I cooked some butter and then added a few T. of flour-cook that over low for about a minute-keep stirring. I then added about a cup or so of heavy cream (I warmed it in the microwave for about 45 seconds). Stir that in until all lumps are gone. I then added about 1/2 jar or so of marinara sauce, stir that up. Almost forgot-add some italian seasoning and garlic salt to the sauce!

Everything should be ready about the same time! Drain your pasta-but leave just a bit of water. Pour the pasta, sauce, and veggie mixture into one bowl or one of the pans you've already used (why mess up a clean bowl when you don't need to!).

Mix it up. Pour it into whatever casserole dish you like-I used a more shallow longer one-but the deeper ones would be good too! I grated fresh parmesano reggiano, but you could use the jar stuff. Then I sprinkled shredded mozzerella cheese over that. And...in case it wasn't decadent enough, I melted a little bit of butter, then mixed in some italian bread crumbs, and sprinkled that over the top!

Bake at 350 for just 15 minutes-and it's ready!!

Hopefully I didn't forget anything!!

Enjoy! It's quick and easy-although you will have quite few pans to clean up!

Jen