Tag: train travel

Most of my crafting this month has been about hearts. However, I did celebrate Groundhog’s Day with my t-shirt, coffee mug and flag outside. This is the time for warm comforting food, sweaters, and appreciating loved ones. Here’s hoping you’re having a cozy time and living life to your fullest!

Recipes

Tomato Basil Soup (pamperedchef.com)

I have a cooking blender but this recipe could be translated to any mode of cooking and/or the use of a submersion blender.

Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Soup for the Crockpot (eatingonadime.com)

• 1 lb. extra lean ground beef Browned and Drained
• ▢½ yellow onion chopped
• ▢1 tablespoon minced garlic
• ▢5 cups chopped green cabbage about half of a medium sized head
• ▢32 oz. low-sodium beef broth
• ▢2 cans tomato sauce 14.5 oz each
• ▢1 cup shredded carrots
• ▢1 bay leaf
• ▢2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• ▢1 tsp. Salt
• ▢1 teaspoon pepper
• ▢1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves
• ▢2 cups cooked white or brown long grain rice

• Place everything but the rice in the crock pot. Cook on low for 6 hours.
• 15 minutes before ready to eat, remove the bay leaf, stir in the cooked rice and serve

When I made this I used ground turkey and put the rice, uncooked, in about an hour before completion. You could easily make this vegetarian by using plant based crumbles and vegetable broth.

Turkey Tenderloin in the Crockpot (beafitmommy.com)

• 24 oz Turkey Tenderloin
• 1.5 pounds small yellow baby boomer potatoes
• 2 cups carrots
• 2-4 TBSP Olive oil
• No salt seasoning
• 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Place potatoes and carrots in slow cooker.    Drizzle olive oil, no salt seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper and stir together making sure each potato and carrot is coated. Top veggies with the Tenderloin. Cook low for 7-9 hours

When I made this I cooked it on high for a couple of hours and then lowered to low for 3 to 4 hours. I’m impatient!

Crafts

It has been all about hearts for my crafting this past month!

Wooden Heart

I used a wooden heart from the Dollar Tree (you had to know, right?) and painted the edges red. I had some pretty pink dotted fabric which I used decoupage to affix to the heart. All I added was a fabric rose. Simple but oh, so sweet!

I filled the two holes on a, (all together now), Dollar Tree heart cutout with wood filler. Then when dry I sanded. I painted the heart pink but you could use any Valentine color or combination of colors. I also had 3 wooden cubes from DT which I painted pink and glued to the bottom of the heart. As a finishing touch I put a sparkly glaze on the little heart stand and used some themed items to decorate it. I makes a nice centerpiece.

I had, from last year, a metal heart and two porcelain figures I had purchased at a vintage shop. I put together this sweet little piece and all I added was a heart sticker and a little ribbon.

Also, from DT last year, I had a rippled metal heart. I “aged” it with some brown watered down stain. Then I added a wooden heart, painted red, and a black and white checked bow.

The final project we created in our Home Bureau group. Each of us had a different way of making our mobile and the all turned out cute. For mine, I painted a wooden dowel pink and when dry used a drill to drill and hole on each end. I then added the jute to create the hanger for the mobile. Now, onto the hearts! I used a wooden shape as a template and traced four pink hears and six red hearts from felt. After cutting them out I used embroidery floss to blanket stitch around the outside. Before going completely around, I added fiber fill to make the hearts fluffy and then finished stitching. I closed off by pulling the floss into the center of the heart, pulling it taunt and then cutting the floss. The end disappeared into the center of the heart. I used red and white twine to create the hangers for the hearts by inserting the twine using a needle through the center of each heart, tying the two ends together over the dowel. Each heart was at a different length from the dowel. Finally, I took a black and a pink fabric marker and created the face on each heart. I was happy with the piece and would like to create one next year using the typical heart shape.

Let’s Do Some Hacking

• Want to clear snow off your car quickly? Use a leaf blower! Now, this won’t work completely, obviously, with ice mixed in but it would still save you some time. With a light fluffy snow it would completely do the job.
• For a relatively short flight ( of less than 500 miles) check out Amtrak. They have discounts and offers that can make the train way cheaper than a flight. Also, people over 65 get a ten percent discount. Another way to save on Amtrak is to travel between 7pm and 5 am. Go to Amtrak.com/nightowl to find deals on overnight routes.
• When traveling, skip those rest stop burgers. Use Roadfood.com to find regional diners, clam shacks, and other local places. Yelp, Tripadvisor and Foursquare also advise on local places where you get the local experience and pay less.
• When looking for appliances and used furniture, surplus remodeling supplies and othe furnishings look for a nearby Habitat for Humanity ReStore location.
• Foam soap is just soap and water. Make your own using an empty foam soap bottle. Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of your favorite liquid soap and the fill the bottle with water. Such a great savings!
• Puzzled by “sell by dates’, “best if used before dates”, ” use by dates” and “freeze by dates”? Here’s a crib sheet. Sell by tells stores how long to display a product for sale but is not a safety date. Best if used by or before dates indicated when a product will be in it’s peak flavor and quality time. A use by date is the final date a product is estimated to be at it’s peak quality. The only exception is infant formula. In that case that date is set in stone. A freeze by date indicates when a product should be frozen to maintain peak quality. It is not a safety date.

Hope there was something useful for each of you who read this post. See you next month! Will next month be potatoes, shamkrock and stew? Who knows?!