Oh Boy! Spring in a Box

 

 

UPS paid a visit to my door today.  Miss Magnolia was the first to investigate the contents.  She could be in a very sound sleep but if something new enters the house she is on duty to check it out.  Sound familiar cat lovers?

I am so pathetic.  New ferns were waiting to be discovered inside the box.  Being so excited I sat on the floor and fluffed open a couple of them so I could see how I liked them.

This one….

 

Or was it this one??

 

……..reminded me of some I saw in Pottery Barn

 

 

Is it just me or does this excite you too?  Tomato Red tulips! 

When I ordered this little forsythia pick I didn’t remember it had a little nest with an egg attached!!  Oh!  Extra fun!

 

Now I’m all excited and ready to go downstairs and work.

Here are some recent thrift store and TJMaxx container finds.

Don’t you love the old wicker vase?

Notice the little chippy footed urn in the middle??

Look closely  ~~~

 

 

Doesn’t it look interestingly a lot like this little chippy, footed urn pictured below??  Um hum….it does.  I do believe it’s the same urn.

 

The one in the first picture (above) in my workroom is from Goodwill.

The one shown below was a picture I took inside of Anthropology for a few $$$$’s more! 

Score Donna!!

 

 

I just sold this rather contemporary arrangement through my designer friend yesterday.  It’s going in front of a mirror.

 

Business has been a little slow since Christmas but I definitely see signs of it picking up.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit today.  Be sure to leave a comment so I know you were here.

Are you like me and thinking of Spring?  Who cares that it’s snowing again today!

 

I am linking up with

 

Bargain Hunting with Laurie

 

 

And also Linking up to Funky Junk’s Saturday Nite Special.

Runzas

 

Are you familiar with these sandwiches?

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a Runza.  This old German specialty is not found in many areas across the United States.  Even though the fast food restaurants are nearby our area I still like to make them from scratch  from time to time. 

Runzas are a mixture of hamburger, onions and chopped cabbage tucked into a delicious yeast roll.  You can’t beat the homemade version.  Some people like to add cheese, or sauces, mushrooms, etc. but I like the original version (recipe below) served with lots of mustard.  Most other people like ketchup too.

Dough:

2 c. warm water

1 egg

2 pkg. yeast

1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 tsp.salt

1/4 c. melted and cooled butter

6 1/2 c. flour

 

Filling:

1 1/2 lb. lean hamburger

1/2 c. chopped onion

3 c. shredded cabbage

1/2 c. water

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Dash  of Tabasco

1 t. or more chili powder

 

Before we begin, let me give you a couple of hints about baking with yeast.  I would imagine there are lots of you who use yeast frequently while others are intimidated by any recipe with the word “yeast” in it!

Make sure your water is just warm…not hot. I sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and sprinkle the sugar on top.  Just let it sit for a few minutes and pretty soon you will see some action going on. 

 

 

 

 

Another hint when baking with yeast is to bring your egg to room temperature. If you didn’t allow time for this step, simply place the egg in a bowl of warm water.  It will warm to room temperature in the time it takes to measure out the rest of your ingredients.  The reason you don’t use an egg just out of the refrigerator is because the cold temp could slow down the yeast activity.

 

 

 

 

 

Mix water,  yeast, sugar and salt; stir until dissolved.  Add egg and melted butter; stir in flour.

 

 

It will look like this to start with.

 

Knead til shiny.

 

  Let rise til  double in size.  Roll dough into an oblong shape and cut into 18 squares.

 

Combine all meat ingredients while dough is rising, simmer for 15 to 20 minutes and drain grease. 

 

 

Dump out the risen dough and you are ready to begin putting the sandwiches together with the meat mixture.

 

 

 

 

 

Divide cooled hamburger mixture between the squares. Pull the 4 sides up and press edges together.

 

 

Sorry this picture didn’t turn out well.  This shows me pulling all four sides together to seal.

 

 

 

 

Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 350*

.

Today I’m joining Michael for Foodie Friday.  You will find great recipes at her blog, Designs by Gollum.  I always find lots of cooking inspiration from there.  I know you will too.

 

Also joining All Things Domestic Party!

Puppy Love

 

There has been lots going on and I have not been good about blogging.  I do have a new little face to share ~~~

 

 

Let me Introduce

Gordita

 

This little sweet face belongs to the newlyweds, my daughter Jamie and her husband Dan.

Gorda, as they will call her is a nine week old English Bulldog.  Cute, huh???

 

My sister and I celebrated our birthdays over the weekend.  Barb’s son Dustin and his family were in town too.  It was a great family weekend.

 

I have a great thrifting find to share with you soon.

 

Hope you are all doing great!!

If the Truth were Told

 

I’d say it’s my birthday! 

I know for a FACT that I am very blessed with many great friends and a truly

Loving Family!  Such a warm feeling.  Who needs gifts?

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Well, Mr. Brown Socks said the little desk below is a gift.  He actually said it was my Valentine’s Day gift. 

Yesterday I found myself at the last day of an estate sale..you know the day.. people are scurrying in and out picking up furniture and other treasures they bid on the first day.  It’s also the day that prices are slashed in half.  With a little sweet talking I got them to come down a little less than half by taking a chance it would still be there the end of the third day.  It was!  The wood is fruitwood with a cherry veneer.  I love a good bargain, don’t  you?

I’m extra excited about this desk you see because it will be the start of some much needed changes.  You may not know this about me, but I “think” things to death through.  We now have our computer in a small office which also serves as a room for a single guest.    Our computer sits on top of the ugliest sturdiest desk you have ever laid eyes on.   It’s an old, blonde school desk.  Let’s just leave it at that!

 

When we built our house we had one grandson and now we have three.  We really could use a double bed in this room ……So…….

 

We will be doing some flip flopping.  Our ugly sturdy computer desk will more than likely be moved to the downstairs guest room where we will purchase a queen size mattress.  With a new son in law who is 6’4” we decided the pretty antique double bed with the sweet little footboard would not be appreciated by Dan when he and Jamie come for a visit.

I can just see the poor man with his feet dangling over trying to get comfortable.

We are moving this antique bedroom set upstairs to what was the office/single bed Room.

As you can see I was still “thinking” about draperies for this room as well as a new spread.

I’m really excited about making these changes and getting two rooms fixed up.

 

My new little desk will be the beginning of some fun and positive changes in our home.

I' am picking the desk up this afternoon and hope to start making changes soon.  You know you will be the first to see the changes that will occur!

 

Today I’m joining in on the fun with:

Sarah at A Beach Cottage. She’s hosting Good Life Wednesdays.

I hope you’ll join me over there to see what other bloggers have to share!

Until next time ~~~~ Be happy!

Sweet Rolls for your Sweetie

 

Or perhaps for you and a girlfriend

 

Easy Orange Rolls

Recipe from Southern Living

 

1/2 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. orange zest

1 (11 Oz.) can refrigerated French Bread Dough

2 T. granulated sugar

1 T. butter, melted

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 T. orange juice

1.  Preheat oven to 375*.  Beat cream cheese, light brown sugar, and orange zest at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.

2. Unroll French bread dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Spread cream cheese mixture over dough, leaving a 1/4” border.  Sprinkle with granulated sugar.  Gently roll up dough, starting at 1 long side.  Cut into 11 slices.  Place slices in a lightly greased 8” round cake pan.  Brush top of dough with melted butter.

3.  Bake at 375* for 25 to 30 mins. or until golden.  Stir together powdered sugar and orange juice in a small bowl until smooth.  Drizzle over hot rolls.  Serve immediately.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I used Pillsbury’s Crusty French Loaf bread

 

 

Just unroll and flatten out

Spread the cream cheese mixture on and the sugar.  Leave about 1/4” uncovered.  This is so you can press the dough together and it will seal nicely.

 

 

Roll it up nice and long

And cut the rolls.  Sorry the picture is so washed out. I use dental floss.  Thread works well too but I love how dental floss cuts the rolls, twist and pull!   I even used cinnamon flavored! LOL!

 

Place the rolls next to each other in an 8” cake pan. 

Next time I would make my rolls just a little larger even though I might end up with one or two less.  The size was a little skimpy to me.

 

I would still prefer a nice batch of yeast homemade rolls but these were really pretty good for fast.  You can’t beat the time and effort that went into these.

 

Set the table with some pretty red dishes.  These happen to be some old Avon ones I’ve had for about thirty years.

Light a candle too.  I am pretty sure I do this more for me than for Mr. Brown Socks.  It makes any meal seem special.

Hey, where’s the grapefruit picture?  I know we had grapefruit too….oh well, insert grapefruit in your visual…Add some eggs and a cup of coffee and this makes for a slightly (ever so slighty) romantic Valentine’s breakfast.

 

Today I’m linking up to

Between Naps on the Porch

Little Round Table

Designs by Gollum.

I love visiting both of these blogs and always come away with great inspiration for tables and food.

Debbie at Confessions of a Plate Addict came up with a pretty good solution for my porcelain cat mystery on my last post.  She quoted from someone who had visited a Hummel factory in Germany and this is what was said ~~

"Each figurine has a hole somewhere. The hole allows gas to escape from the inside of the figurine. Without the hole, the figurine would burst, breaking other figurines in the rack."

  Thanks Debbie! Makes sense to me! 

I always appreciate your visit to 47th Street.

Donna