Here we are in Arkansas having yet another snowfall! Okay, it was pretty the first couple of times, but I’m ready to see some color!
Snow in the tree
I’ve posted the above picture before and received many nice comments on my black and white photo, however, it is actually a color photo. Just not a lot of color.
Tree without snow
The picture above has the same tree in the background. This picture was taken during the summer. Much more color.
The sun shining through the branches of the same tree and others during the fall. The three pictures have such different looks for the same tree through the seasons.
So, as I look out today, it is back to a monochromatic world. Pretty for a while but I’m so ready to get back to a more colorful world! A winter wonderland is just wonderful – for a visit. Keep in mind I’ve always lived in places where you couldn’t even buy a snow shovel. Where I am living now is the Northern part of the South but it is still the South so this snow is just taking some getting used to. I’ll try to remember this cold when it is hot and humid during the summer!
Is it a winter wonderland where you live?
Today’s Lagniappe: Pace Picante Marinated Beef Steak
From the Pace Picante Sauce website, something to warm us up!
Serves 6
2/3 cup Pace® Picante Sauce
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder or 1 clove garlic, minced
1 beef top round steak, 1 1/2-inch thick (about 1 1/2 pounds)
Directions:
Mix the picante sauce, oil, oregano and garlic powder in shallow, nonmetallic dish or resealable plastic bag. Add the steak and turn to coat with the marinade. Cover the dish or seal the plastic bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Lightly oil the grill rack and heat the grill to medium. Grill or broil steak until desired doneness, turning and brushing often with picante sauce mixture. Discard any remaining picante sauce mixture.
Slice the steak into thin diagonal slices. Serve with additional picante sauce.
There are still a few days to enter to win the Donnadots. Check them out and see how to win at Donnadot Giveaway!
I haven’t had time much lately for projects that let me express my artistic side. I’ve been looking at some of my favorite projects today. One of the most fun projects I have done was for my mother and it was inspired by her Blue Danube dishes.
I love the teapot that goes with this set.
So, I thought it would be fun to take the shape and the pattern and make a wind chime with spoons as the chimes.
I took a wooden teapot form and cup that I found at a craft store and painted it white. I then downloaded the pattern of the china from a picture of the plate. In photoshop, I reversed the image and lighted the lines and then printed it out on a laser jet printer.
Did you know that heat will transfer what is printed on a page that was printed on a laser printer to a surface. Simply, place the printed side down on the surface and apply heat from an iron. The pattern transfers and then you go to the next step!
The next step was to paint the pattern in. That part was pretty painstaking and detailed. After the pattern was painted on, I used a light varnish to seal it.
Then, screw some eye-hooks in the bottom, drill holes in some pretty spoons and then attache them to the painted form.
It was a fun project and mama has it hanging in her dining room next to the hutch that holds the Blue Danube china.
Can’t wait to see all the other fun projects over at Metamorphosis Monday and all the other blues at Blue Monday. Get your week off to a great start by checking out Blue Monday at Smiling Sally’s and Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.
Today’s Lagniappe: Hot Ginger Tea
Soothing ginger with a little cinnamon, mmmmm!
3 quarts water
3/4 cup chopped pealed ginger
2 to 3 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks
Honey to taste
Simmer water, ginger, and cinnamon sticks in a pot, covered, 1 hour. Strain through a sieve into cups a serve with honey.
My favorite this week is just from this past Thursday because it is another chance to tell you about the DonnaDot give away and also to tell you more about my friend Donna Butler Douglas and her family. Her mom and dad are the wonderful Pete and JoAnn Butler. Outside of my parents, these two have been the most influential people in my life. They are wonderful and talented and very Godly people. They also have another wonderful daughter, Cindy, who is another talented member of this very talented family.
I do want to share another wonderful little tidbit with you this week. Pete Butler is the composer that wrote the wonderful hymn to Fanny Crosby’s memorable words – Redeemed. A well loved hymn from the Baptist hymnal I grew up with. I found a video of a this hymn being sung on YouTube and had to share it.
Here is the favorite post for Sunday Favorites. If you want to enter to win the give away, be sure to post your comment on the original post here
It’s Tablescape Thursday and we have a GIVE-AWAY! Oh, happy day!
My very good friend Donna Butler Douglas is one of the most talented people I have ever known. She is a very talented musician and composer and is just one of the most fun people you could ever know. Donna has started a new business called Donnadots. Even the name is fun. And, you know what you can use these dots in soooo many ways. Check out the tablescape that Donna put together using the Donnadots.
Even better, Donna has agreed to GIVE AWAY a set of Donnadots to one of the wonderful readers of A Southern Life! So, how can you win?
Go to http://www.donnadots.com and choose your favorite Donnadot and then go to the original post and leave a comment telling me what you chose for a second chance.
Write about this give-away on your blog and then leave another comment on the original post telling me you have done that for a third chance to win. (If you don’t have a blog, email your friends with a link to A Southern Life and then let me know that you did that).
Next Thursday, the winner will be announced here at A Southern Life! It is that easy. I hope you enjoy Donnadots and whether you win or not, go get some and “Dot Your Day!”
Okay, check out what Donna did with some of the place card dots.
Perfect for Valentine's Day!
Hey, there are even dots on the plates.
What a lovely napkin fold for a Donnadot.
Love the silver heart holding the Donnadot.
The come in different colors!
Fabulous!
Here are a couple of other ways to use Donnadots:
Aren’t they fun? Good luck to everyone! Don’t forget to leave your comments to win your own set of 48 Donnadots!
with Between Naps on the Porch
Today’s Lagniappe: Donna’s Red Velvet Cake This is Donna’s own recipe for Red Velvet Cake – one of her family’s favorites and perfect for Valentine’s Day!
½ c. shortening1½ c. Sugar
2 Eggs
Cream together.
2 oz. (2 bottles) Red Food Coloring2 tsp. Cocoa
Make paste with food coloring and cocoa. Add to creamed mixture.
2 ½ c. Cake Flour1 ts. Salt
1 c. Buttermilk
1 ts. Vanilla
Sift flour and salt together. Add to mixture alternately with buttermilk. Add vanilla.
1½ ts. Soda1 T. Vinegar
Add soda to vinegar and blend into batter. DO NOT beat it in. Bake in 3 8-inch round cake pans at 350º for 30 minutes.
FROSTING:1 16 oz. pkg. Cream Cheese (soft)
1 sticks Oleo (soft)
1 boxes Powdered Sugar
½ c. Pecans (chopped) (optional)
Cream the cream cheese and oleo until soft and creamy. Add powdered sugar. Add nuts last. Spread between layers and on top and sides of cake. Sometimes I double the frosting recipe.
First things first! If you haven’t checked out the fabulous give away, you must go see it. The Donnadots are fun and you can continue to post to win through next Wednesday, February 10th at 4:00 p.m. Central
Fabulous!
Okay, the weekend is upon us. It is time for the Superbowl! The Superbowl is really, really fun when one of the teams you have been rooting for all season is in it. I’ll have to say, for me, otherwise it is not that interesting. Fortunately, this year, one of my teams is in! I’m rooting, of course for the New Orleans Saint’s. New Orleans is the city of my heart. I know not everyone love New Orleans like my husband and I do. As Louis Armstrong would say,”If you have to ask, you’ll never know.”
I remember living in Dallas back in the 90’s when the Dallas Cowboys really had a great team that was winning Superbowls. What fun that was. I even painted my fingernails half blue and half silver (in a diagonal) for a Superbowl party. Everybody was in a party mood and it was just a lot of fun.
Now, I’m cheering on the Saint’s. Hope you have a team to root for and some good food to enjoy.
Today’s Lagniappe: Hot Bean and Corn Dip
Another great recipe from Donna that is perfect for Superbowl munching and also great for
With Designs by Gollum
Preheat oven to 350º
Spray 9 x 13 baking dish with PAM.
2C cooked rice
Prepare as directed on package
1 lb. hamburger meat, browned
1 can corn
1 can black beans (rinsed & drained)
1 can Rotel
8 oz. carton sour cream
8 oz. picante sauce (medium)
2C shredded cheddar cheese
Combine all ingredients with cooked rice. Put into baking dish and cover with foil. Bake 35 minutes.
8 oz. Monterey jack cheese
Black olives (optional)
Green onions (optional)
Top with Monterey jack cheese and bake uncovered for 10 more minutes. Top with black olives and/or green onions if desired.
It’s Tablescape Thursday and we have a GIVE-AWAY! Oh, happy day!
My very good friend Donna Butler Douglas is one of the most talented people I have ever known. She is a very talented musician and composer and is just one of the most fun people you could ever know. Donna has started a new business called Donnadots. Even the name is fun. And, you know what you can use these dots in soooo many ways. Check out the tablescape that Donna put together using the Donnadots.
Even better, Donna has agreed to GIVE AWAY a set of Donnadots to one of the wonderful readers of A Southern Life! So, how can you win?
Leave a comment on this post for 1 chance.
Go to http://www.donnadots.com and choose your favorite Donnadot and then come back and leave a comment telling me what you chose for a second chance.
Write about this give-away on your blog and then leave another comment telling me you have done that for a third chance to win. (If you don’t have a blog, email your friends with a link to A Southern Life and then let me know that you did that).
Next Thursday, the winner will be announced here at A Southern Life! It is that easy. I hope you enjoy Donnadots and whether you win or not, go get some and “Dot Your Day!”
Okay, check out what Donna did with some of the place card dots.
Perfect for Valentine's Day!
Hey, there are even dots on the plates.
What a lovely napkin fold for a Donnadot.
Love the silver heart holding the Donnadot.
The come in different colors!
Fabulous!
Here are a couple of other ways to use Donnadots:
Aren’t they fun? Good luck to everyone! Don’t forget to leave your comments to win your own set of 48 Donnadots!
with Between Naps on the Porch
Today’s Lagniappe: Donna’s Red Velvet Cake This is Donna’s own recipe for Red Velvet Cake – one of her family’s favorites and perfect for Valentine’s Day!
½ c. shortening1½ c. Sugar
2 Eggs
Cream together.
2 oz. (2 bottles) Red Food Coloring2 tsp. Cocoa
Make paste with food coloring and cocoa. Add to creamed mixture.
2 ½ c. Cake Flour1 ts. Salt
1 c. Buttermilk
1 ts. Vanilla
Sift flour and salt together. Add to mixture alternately with buttermilk. Add vanilla.
1½ ts. Soda1 T. Vinegar
Add soda to vinegar and blend into batter. DO NOT beat it in. Bake in 3 8-inch round cake pans at 350º for 30 minutes.
FROSTING:1 16 oz. pkg. Cream Cheese (soft)
1 sticks Oleo (soft)
1 boxes Powdered Sugar
½ c. Pecans (chopped) (optional)
Cream the cream cheese and oleo until soft and creamy. Add powdered sugar. Add nuts last. Spread between layers and on top and sides of cake. Sometimes I double the frosting recipe.
Okay, usually not a lot of snow in the South, but this year is a bit strange. We have had more snow than I know what to do with. Fortunately, some others in the area did know what to do with it.
And, something with a litle red!
We don’t have snow often, but fortunately, when we do have it, we have fun with it!
Today’s Lagniappe: Love Bites
Saw this on Home Made Simple and just love this idea for Valentine’s Day.12 large red globe grapes
Cut each grape in half. Cut a small slice off the end of each half to prevent it from tipping.
Using a small melon baller or a tiny spoon, scoop out any seeds and enough flesh to create a slight indentation.
Cut the goat cheese log into 24 equal pieces and shape each piece into a ball.
Press one side of each ball of goat cheese into the chopped pistachios.
Place the cheese in each grape half, pistachio-side up. Press gently to adhere. Serve on a small dish or a small decorative cake stand for an elegant effect.
Make Ahead Tip: Grape Cups can be prepared several hours in advance. Refrigerate in an airtight container, until ready.
Welcome February!!! So much to enjoy in February. First of all, thank you so much to Kelee at The Katillac Shack. She informed me this morning that I won a $20 gift card to Hobby Lobby from her great give-away post which honored her friend Colette. Go check it out!
Okay all of the February fun:
The [...]
Well, we heard we were going to get snow. We heard it would be a lot of snow. It was! We had more snow than I have ever seen in a place where I have lived. We live in a retirement community and many of the people who retire here are from “up North.” This [...]
Join Chari at Happy to Design for Sunday favorites and Charlotte and Ginger at Blogger Spirit for Spiritual Sunday and enjoy your Sunday!
This past week, we have had a lot of snow. It started out as sleet and we were so fearful that we would have a repeat of last year’s ice storm that left [...]
My very good friend Donna Butler Douglas is one of the most talented people I have ever known. She is a very talented musician and composer and is just one of the most fun people you could ever know. Donna has started a new business called Donnadots. Even the name is fun. And, you know what you can use these dots in soooo many ways. Check out the tablescape that Donna put together using the Donnadots.
