The Giveaway Continues...

Don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY for a chance to win a 6-pack of wide-mouth GREEN "Heritage Collection" Ball canning jars, provided by Jarden Home Brands.  Click HERE to enter.  The giveaway closes on Wednesday, April 30th.

Green is the Color of Spring (and a GIVEAWAY!)

Green is also the color of the newest Heritage Collection jars.  Have you seen them?  They are a stunning shade of green that is so great when the light hits them -- reminds me of beautiful Depression Glass.

You probably know that I am crazy for canning jars.  <--- Click there to see my Pinterest board!  They fill our cupboards loaded with dry goods, are situated around our home in decor-mode, and [get this] we're even thinking about actually learning to CAN around here - LOL.  I know, right?  We're in DEEP.  You can see the evidence, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Needless to say, I was excited when Jarden Home Brands {who now manufactures the Ball brand} graciously offered to let me review one of their products, and these green Heritage Collection jars arrived on my doorstep.  These particular jars are quart-sized and wide-mouth, although the jars also come in pint size, regular mouth.

My jars have been pressed into service holding my ever-present straws, ground coffee beans, and they stand at the ready for buds and blooms too!  Come fall (not to rush the seasons), I can totally see my hubby using these for his giant batches of homemade applesauce!  (The wide-mouth style will certainly be easy to fill!)

The wonderful people at Jarden Home Brands would like you to have a set of these pretty jars too!  Just check out the Rafflecopter box at the bottom of this post to see all of the ways that you can enter for a chance to win a set of six quart-sized, wide-mouth jars.

Contest ends 4/30/14.
The winner's name will be posted at the top of THIS POST soon after, and will be contacted via e-mail.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sausage Rolls [A Back-Story]

Remember my Sausage Roll recipe?  Well, that was the recipe that I talked about HERE, when I said I had wanted to share, but forgot to take pictures of the final product, remember?  I was so frustrated with myself, but was bound and determined to take pictures next time we made the recipe.

My next chance came sooner than I thought it would when our daughter decided to make these for her youth group leader's birthday.  She prepared the recipe the night before, and I told her, "Leave a note on the counter for me so I remember to take pictures this time!"  She planned to actually bake the Sausage Balls Sunday afternoon.

Due to his work schedule, our son stayed at home when we left for church Sunday morning.  After we left, he came downstairs to check out what might be new to EAT in the refrigerator or cupboards [such a boy!], and he found our note.  Not knowing why on earth I wanted to take pictures of Sausage Rolls, he thought he'd give us a funny "take" on it, and he documented his JOY on Snapchat, sharing it with his sister.  LOL  We got a good laugh!

Or... ON the stove.

See the ready-to-bake Sausage Rolls in the refrigerator?

Okay, now this may be overdoing it a bit...  LOL

Never a dull moment around here...

Holiday Favorites (Especially Children's Books)

Vee wrote about favorites, as did Jill, and it got me thinking...  Here are a few of my holiday favs!

MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY BEVERAGE:  a shot or two of orange juice, added to a glass of diet Sierra Mist "Cranberry Splash" on the rocks.  Try it.  You'll like it!  (And I confess -- I like to drink this whenever I can find the Cranberry Splash -- but it's usually around the holidays, depending where you shop.)

MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY MOVIES:  "White Christmas" and "Home Alone" (the first)

MY FAVORITE SACRED HOLIDAY SONG:  "O Holy Night" :: As a kid, I learned to play it with my piano teacher and when I practiced at home, I would sing along.  Still love it to this day!

MY FAVORITE SECULAR HOLIDAY SONG:  "Silver Bells" :: I can just hear my Gram singing it in her low alto voice.

~ and because I could never pick just one ~

MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY CHILDREN'S BOOKS:  Though our children don't look at these books much anymore, I cannot bear to part with them as they hold so many memories of curling up together during the holiday season.  When Christmas came, I would put all of the holiday books in a big basket in the living room so that they weren't forgotten.  The kids would pick out a different story each night before bed.  It wasn't that many years back that I was reading a Christmas storybook to our daughter, when our son (presumably too old to be bothered) came and camped out on her bedroom floor while we read.  "Tradition!"  he claimed -- and the tears sprung quickly to my eyes making the book page a kaleidoscope of words, unreadable.  Now you understand.  These books have made an impression on my kids, and the time spent cannot be measured in value.  These books will be saved for grandchildren!

One Snowy Night by Nick Butterworth

How Murray Saved Christmas by Mike Reiss

Illustrated by David Catrow

The Pine Tree Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs

Illustrated by Nancy Munger

The Nativity Play by Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen

Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect by Richard H. Schneider

Illustrated by Elizabeth J. Miles

Auntie Claus by Elise Primavera

Many additional Christmas books sit on our shelf, but these were some of our kids' favorites.  I've been grinning as I think back through the reading of these, and the voices I used for different characters that "sold" the story.

What's your favorite Christmas storybook?  {From your childhood, your children's or your grandchildren's...}  I'd love to know.  Perhaps it's one I should collect for my... grandchildren?

P.S. Just stopped by THIS CHRISTMAS HOME TOUR, and thought you might like to take a look...

My Top Recipes ~ A Heaping Helping of Comfort Food

If you visit here often, you know that I share recipes here on my blog.  Not often, and not regularly.  But, I do share.  Some of the recipes I share are old family favorites.  Some are new recipes that we've found via blogs or Pinterest.  Others are recipes shared by friends.

My Killer Hashbrown Casserole was a recipe originally from my husband's cousin in Minnesota.  I got the recipe via my mother-in-law who makes it for family dinners, and knows I love it.  I posted it not all that long ago, but it already comes in at #3 on my "favorite posts of all time" stats.

The next recipe-post comes in at #4, but the recipe isn't mine at all.  I found it on Pinterest.  This Pumpkin Roll was something my daughter really wanted to try.  We got the recipe from Stilettos and Diapers.  The fun part about my post is that my daughter told how SHE made the Pumpkin Roll.  It turned out NOT to be her favorite thing to eat, but I was more than willing to help her out with that! (sigh)

Another recipe that we found on Pinterest is Crescent Pepperoni Roll-Ups (#7) from Plain Chicken.  These ooey-gooey pizza-style crescents are a family favorite, and great for an easy dinner!

The recipe for Sweet Pepper Poppers (#8) came from a church-friend.  She made them for a lunch at her house, and I HAD to have the recipe.  They're a bit addicting for me, I confess!  They're a great colorful dish to share for the holidays -- but also a super summer appetizer.  No cooking involved!

The #9 favorite post of all time is a post called "Scavenger Hunt" -- and you might not think you'd find a recipe there, but... you will!  Towards the bottom of the post, you'll find the recipe for Pineapple Angel Dessert.  My mom shared the recipe with me, and it came from a friend of hers.  This is a decadently sweet dessert, and so light and fluffy.  It's a real treat!  You'll have to turn on the oven, but as far as ingredients, the only thing easier is to buy a pre-made cake at the store.  TWO ingredients here!

And coming in at #10 with NO PHOTO is my mom's Holiday Cheese Ball.  It's a real favorite as well, and I never seem to arrive in time to take pictures before it is consumed -- or at least destroyed.  You'll just have to trust me.  It's yummy.

Do you cook/bake a lot during the summer?  We definitely tend to keep things simpler on the cooking side, and don't do anywhere CLOSE to the baking that we do during the colder months.

This has been a crazy VBS week with my sweet hubby working a late shift.  He's at home in the morning, but my daughter and I are at VBS.  We're at home in the evening, but by the time he gets home, we're thinking about bedtime.  Our son is on an ever-changing schedule, so add that to the mix.  No dinners together this week. (sad face)  I'm looking forward to next week and a fresh start!

What have you been cooking up lately?

What are your summer specialties?

Facebook "Cover Photo" Spruce-Up

If you are on Facebook, or have a PAGE for your blog on Facebook, you know all about the "cover photo" versus the "profile picture."  Lots of people have great ideas to fill those spaces, but lately, I've noticed that there are also people who just leave the cover photo blank.  Here's a super-easy way to spruce up that spot specifically.

Go to PicMonkey.com (don't worry, it's FREE, and you don't need to sign in or anything!!!)  Once there, you'll notice that you can choose to edit a photo or create a collage.  Click on "Create a Collage" to begin.

There are four icons on the left-hand side of the screen.  Click on the one w/ three boxes of varying sizes.  As you mouse over it, you'll notice it's for "layouts."

You'll notice several layouts.  Scroll down until you see "FB Cover" and click on it.

Choose the layout that you'd like to see on Facebook -- behind your profile picture.

At this point, you have the option to add one or more photos.  Photos are always a great option... but sometimes, I just like to have a splash of color(s) in the "cover photo" spot.

SO TRY THIS:
Click on the "swatches" icon.  Currently, you can choose Spring Bling, Winterland, or Sweethearts from the pull-down menu.  Use these swatches like photos, dragging them to your "collage."  When you're happy with your swatch choices, you can click on the "background" icon to choose things like border spacing and color, or rounded corners.  You can also change the size of each swatch-square on your collage.  Don't be afraid to play around.  You can always undo what you've done.

When you're done, save to your computer's photo file as a .jpg file.  Since you started by selecting FB Cover, your collage is already sized correctly for you!

Now, go to facebook.  If you move your mouse over to the right-hand side of your cover photo area, you'll notice that the option to "change cover" comes up.  Click that, and find the collage photo that you just created and saved to your computer.  Once selected and saved, you should see your new cover photo come up.

TaaDaa.  You did it!  Very nice!

Tag! You're It!!!

Pssssst.  Here's a little pre-Valentines Day love from Sweet Serena of The Farm Chicks.
Please-oh-please pass it on, because... Serena made it to SHARE, and like the old song says:

"What the world needs now, is love -- sweet love!"

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

Also... you may have noticed another new button in my sidebar... I know aNOTHER one, right?  It looks like this:

Every now and then I take a bunch of (what I like to think are) good photos. They don't necessarily go along with any post on my regular blog -- and my phone isn't "smart" enough for an Instagram App, so... "Sally's Shots" photo blog is a way I can share them for those who might be interested in photographic-type endeavors. I do not claim to be a photographer -- only someone who enjoys photography. My camera is an Olympus FE-3010. With this particular camera, I have had much more success with "macro" style photos than large scenes or portraits, and so that is what I tend to take a lot of.  {Flowers are a favorite subject, because they're beautiful, and they don't talk back!}  This is not meant to be a 365 project, nor do I expect to do much (if any) writing here. In fact, I don't know if anyone will even show up for this party. But here we go! I hope you'll come along for the ride!

Knock Knock. Let's Peel an Orange!

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you glad I didn't say "banana" again?

Thank you.  Thank you.  I'm here all week!

But mostly - I wanted to show you this cool way that I learned to peel an orange.  It was fun.  One time.  Just to say I did it.  But really, it's much easier to remove the peel from a whole orange than it is to remove one orange segment from an entire peel (without making a juicy mess).  Just sayin'.  Try it, just to say you did it.

It's easy:

1. cut the stem end and the opposite end off as well
2. slice from one side into the center
3. pull out that pithy core
4. start unrolling the orange, and watch the segments pop apart
5. carefully pull out each individual segment (it's a little messy!)
6. enjoy the amazing aroma, and start munchin' on those segments

What It IS, and Summer Traditions

So, tell me... did everyone else think this was too obvious?  Really?  I've never seen another one of these -- and this is an OLD one!  Linda took a guess over on Facebook, thinking it was a wire whip -- and it does look like a whipping or whisking kind of thing.  But Lauren was the first one to comment here on the blog, and got it right.  It is an egg separator!

As I mentioned, I found it in my grandma's kitchen drawer, and brought it home as a treasure several years ago.  It really is a helpful tool!  Those egg whites spiral right out of there without any help from the "operator."  I learned that it's important to dump the yolk right away, though, or that will start to spiral through as well.

I do actually use it from time to time -- like this weekend, when I was using only egg whites for a white cake recipe.

The birthday boy ordered white cake with lemon icing.  Doesn't that sound refreshing?  It was delicious!  It wasn't any big masterpiece recipe -- just a box and a can, but hey -- I didn't hear anyone complain!

I know -- I said BOY, and I should've said MAN.  I am still contemplating the conundrum of the passage of 18 years at warp speed.

In the name of teenage-boy (man) privacy, I don't share a lot of photos of my son... but today, he is officially overruled!  'Cuz I'm so darn proud of him -- and I wanted you to see his handsome, smilin' face!

Since his birthday is in July, we almost always have been able to celebrate outdoors -- which has also almost-always led to a casual game of baseball including cousins young and old.  Bigger kids help little kids, and even my nephew who is confined to a wheel chair "RUNS" the bases!  (And don't you ever tell him he ISN'T running!)

On Saturday, the weather was questionable, and we moved the party from outdoors to indoors.  At the last minute though, the sun came back out and the birthday boy said he really wanted to try the party outside.  So, he and his sister went to work preparing the patio.  It ended up being a comfortable evening with no rain, and we were so glad we moved back outside.  We were missing a few cousins this year for the baseball game, but still -- there was a game.  It's a tradition that everyone looks forward to, I think.

What did you do this weekend?

Q: What Is It? 7.14

So, I had a particular project in mind today, and I thought of this useful tool.  I stumbled upon it years ago when we were cleaning out my grandma's house.  I thought it was so unique, so I brought it home to my house to live.

Any ideas?

What if I told you

it was found in a kitchen drawer?

Got a guess?

Leave a comment,

and stay tuned for the answer!