KarenGreen.com

I'm working on a secret project to be revealed later.

I made a great find!

And you wish you had some of these!

Well, today wasn't earth shattering or anything. Not a whole lot went on.

But, I am working on a secret project that will be revealed later. heh heh.

Let's just say I am cleaning up my craft area! woohoo!

But yesterday I went to Safeway and found some GREAT red felt planters that they were blowing out the door for 50 cents!

I had already purchased a tulip from Trader Joe's and it fit perfect in the new planter.

Isn't it beautiful? Perfect for that valentine/birthday party!

Bryan worked on our orange tree today. He has been trimming it up. It was LOADED with oranges. Which is great but since there is just the two of us it is too hard to eat all of them. And I don't want to spend my entire life juicing them. ha!

But are they good! mmmm!!!

You wish you had some of these babies let me tell ya!

These are non-sprayed, organic, super-juicy, wonderful oranges! mmm!!!

And take a look at that beauty of a bowl I put these oranges in.

That is some Italianware from my friend, Melinda!

She carried that bowl came straight from Rome on an airplane and it is absolutely beautiful!

Thanks Melinda!

Speaking of Italianware, the new "tastey" party plan company that I am doing is going to have a line of Italianware. Can't wait to get started in that company!

I made low-carb chicken enchiladas in the crockpot.

I LOVE my crockpot!

I'm sure I'll be throwing something into the crockpot for the valentine's party. Maybe some yummy sweet & sour meatballs or something. mmmm!!!

Posted by Karen Green at 09:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I was slurping my low-carb hot chocolate topped with low-carb whipped cream I had an idea.

I shall Spritz!

One of my "Wonderful Things" is a nice cup of low-carb hot chocolate and some whipping cream.

SO GOOD!!!

I can't wait to try some hot chocolate in these wonderful Taste of Home Entertaining mugs!

Can't you just imagine the whip cream slurping over the edge of those delightful mugs!

Anyways, I digress...

So, I'm slurping away and I think to myself. HA! I shall Spritz!

I shall make some Spritz valentines cookies!

So I excitedly open my box of my new Spritz cookie press to find what valentines disks I have.

And what a shock I got!

I looked at the ONE disk that has a heart on it and it is such a weird shape!

Check it out...it looks like a "Y".

What a WEIRD heart shape!

If you look at the example above it has a "Y" in it!

WHY??? Why does it have a "Y" in it???

How is that attractive???

There is a gazillian different shapes for Christmas but Valentines?? not so much!

I love Spritz cookies though. Don't you?

My mother-in-law has one of those old-fashioned Spritz presses. She has tiny little disks that make little teeny camels and such for Christmas. Her's twists the dough out.

I have a Spritz gun.

The gun is great but there are some definite tricks to it.

First off, get a good Spritz recipe. Some of them call for too much flour and are impossible to extrude in a gun. And make sure and make the kind with almond extract. SO GOOD!

Here is the one that I have:

Swedish Cookies
(Recipe for cookie press)

1 lb Butter
1½ C Sugar
5 Egg yolks
1 t Baking Powder
11/8 t Almond Extract
5 C Flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in one yolk at a time. Blend in almond extract, baking powder, and flour. Divide and mix in colors if desired. Put through press. Add sprinkles or candies before baking. Bake 6-8 minutes at 400 degrees.

Look at all of that butter! mmmm!!!

If you can, work the dough by hand. The softer the dough, the easier it will be to extrude your cookies through the press. NEVER put your dough in the fridge. Make your cookies right there and then!

But, if you color your dough with food coloring, you are not going to want to work your dough by hand. You will have colored hands for two days. ha!

And when you extrude your cookie and it doesn't fall, you can gently prod it with a little toothpick.

This recipe makes quite a few cookies. You can color the dough or add sprinkles before baking.

And WATCH THEM LIKE A HAWK!

Don't let the edges brown or you have overcooked them. However, don't undercook them either. It takes a good even heating oven. I love my oven. I'll have to take a pic of it for you!

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On to another topic. Yesterday I mentioned that I wanted to go to the antique store to find some vintage valentine postcards. SIGH!

Well, I DID go to the antique store for some valentine postcards and there was nary a one!

BOOHOO!!!

There were great postcards of old movie stars and old buildings, etc.

But the valentine cards were either snapped up or just weren't there.

So, I thought I would look on ebay.

Yep, lots of vintage valentine cards there if you want to pay $10+ a PIECE! YIKES!!!

So from here on out...I'm on the lookout for inexpensive vintage valentine postcards!

If you spot them, let me know will ya?

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Oh, by the way I stopped by my local Goodwill and snapped up a few things.

Found an awesome vase that I am going to convert into holding my breadsticks.

And I found some great plastic apples. I don't know what I'm going to do with those yet.

And I found some red streamers! Never used and for cheapola!

Perfect for the party!

Posted by Karen Green at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mr. Green, Aka "the husband" just turned the big "40".

He has a birthday on January 4th.

And being the wonderful wife that I am, I want to throw him a big party for the big "40."

But since his birthday is so close to the holidays we decided to do the party on Feb 4th.

Woohoo!

I love to throw a good party!

Bryan said it was OK for me to turn it into a valentine/birthday party. He is a romantic at heart.

And I LOVE Valentine's day. Don't you? All of that red! I love red. I could swim in red!

And honestly, I don't think people have enough Valentine's day parties. Why aren't there more Valentine's day parties???

I know that couples love to be together and alone on Valentine's day but like our party...we are having one on a Saturday before the actual day. Which, by the way, is on a Tuesday. What an inconvenient day for a Valentine day.

I just purchased some decoration items for the party today.

I decided to go the paper plate route.

I would love to have a lot of red serving plates. But I don't....yet. ha! At least, not enough for 20 people!

I went to my favorite Hallmark store and purchased some wonderful paper plates, napkins, paper tablecloths, and some ADORABLE little baking cups.

The napkins are shaped into red hearts and the baking cups have hearts and the words like "yummy, treat, delicious" on them.

As for the baking cups, I'm not sure if I'm going to do cupcakes or not. I don't think so.

I might make some little chocolates and fill the baking cups with them.

It all depends on how much time I have.

And you have to be careful when you make a chocolate cupcake in certain white baking cups. It's hard to read the writing or see the decorations on the cup sometimes with a chocolatey brown background.

Tomorrow, if I behave myself and get my work done and my walking done, I am going to go to an antique shop and see if I can find some vintage valentine cards. I LOVE THOSE!

They are so much better than the modern ones. I love the ones where the woman and the man are swooning over each other! And they have some of the very best verses on them!

I did come across ones that could be sent as e-cards. how fun!

http://honeymoons.about.com/cs/valentinesday/l/blvalcards1.htm

OH! And The other day I found some BEAUTIFUL red chargers at Pottery Barn.

But be careful to make sure your chargers can have food on them. My red chargers are not meant for food to be directly eaten off of them. But I got the heart-shaped paper doilies to place on my chargers and I'll put the food on top of that!

One of the things that I am just so depressed about is that I can't seem to find my Royal Albert 3-tier cake server. We moved and now I can't find it to save my life. I so want it to be part of my tablescape. SIGH!

I could just burst right into tears! I purchased it while on vacation in Victoria, Canada for a song!

Posted by Karen Green at 08:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)