Savory Garlic Cheese Ball

Have you ever had a dish or appetizer that

everyone begs you to bring to a party?

The Savory Garlic Cheese Ball has been
that signature item for me.

 I always keep these ingredients on hand...

                   Ingredients

·         2 -  8oz cream cheese

·         2 tablespoons minced garlic

·         ½ cup parsley flakes

·         1 stick margarine

·         green onions chopped fine

·         chopped pecans

 

Chop your pecans and set aside in a shallow dish.

Wash and finely chop green onions.

Cream together the (have them at room temp.)
 cream cheese and butter.

Add in the garlic, green onion and parsley flakes.

Continue creaming it  together, making sure that you scoop

from the bottom to make sure you have it all mixed well.

At this point you may roll into one large cheese ball or you may make two smaller ones.

Roll in chopped pecans then wrap in plastic wrap.

Chill overnight and remove about ten minutes prior to serving so it will be soft to spread on crackers.

It is wonderful to have on hand for unexpected company. Served with crackers, few slices of apple

and a glass of wine.

You can see I always have one or two in the freezer, ready to pop out at a moments notice.

Savory Garlic Cheese Ball will quickly prove to be a party favorite for you too.

Pop over and checkout all the links at
Cozy Home Scenes for the Your Cozy Home Party
and
Chef In Training for The Tuesday-Talent-Show  the fabulous party foods and snacks at
The Freshman Cook Super Bowl Treats Party.

Get inspired with ideas at Three Mango Seeds linky party

Turnips

I was ready to make my garlic cheese ball for my post this morning and realized Camo Man only grabbed one cream cheese at the grocery...so you know where I am heading to this mornin.

 Would ya like to see what I picked at the 

 'Little House In The Big Woods' this weekend?

Camo Man planted a grass mixture for the deer by the house...

to my surprise there were turnips..

Nice turnips. 

 Guess we have picky deer!

They came in the field to eat, but left the turnips.

 (We also had a over abundance of acorns in the backwoods.)

 I could not let them go to waste. 

 We picked them and gave them away to friends and family.

Did you have a relaxing weekend?

Also you still have time to visit Susie and enter to win one of my shoe totes in my shop. 

 Thank you to everyone who has stopped in and made a purchase or wished me well.

King Cake Cupcakes

King Cake Cupcakes

Mardi Gras season is right around the corner...

 let's get this party started.

Mix up a  Classic Yellow cake mix according to

the package directions. 

 Since the basic king cake starts off with cinnamon,

 I added two teaspoons of cinnamon to the batter.

It makes 24 cupcakes.

I used purple, green and gold papers.

Although you will see the purple looks red in the picture.

While mixing ... I realized that I have had my mixer for

close to 26 years. (Gosh! I am getting old)

I have a big fancy mixer... but rather just pull this out to mix small things. 

Do you ever do that?  I have all these gadgets, but always just use the old tried and true things.

King cakes have the most wonderful fillings... 

 I just had to add a filling to these cupcakes.

You will need to make a little hole for the filling.

I used a veggie peeler... hey in the south we make do.

I know they probably have some thingy magig made just for this...but my little peeler worked out ok.

I filled them with homemade strawberry jelly.

No king cake is complete without the cream cheese... 

 I made a cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar.

I tinted half the icing purple and left the rest white and added green sprinkles to the top.

I have never made a cupcake with filling, so the family was pleasantly surprised to find strawberry in the middle. 

 These were such a hit, I just might make some for Easter with a pudding type filling.

Join me today at Katherines Corner for her Linky party ,
 &
 Taste This Thursday Party

what a great way to find wonderful blog friends.

Linking this morning to Kim over at WoW Us Wednesdays .

Heated Neck Wraps

Minky Fabric... What's not to love about it? 

Susie loves this stuff.

She is always asking me to make her something out of it.

  So this year for Christmas, I did just that.

I found these two wonderful tutorials on making

Microwave Heated Neck Wraps.

I would have loved to have done a tutorial on mine for you, but I have a habit of kinda mixing patterns and making my own thing.  You never know what I am going to end up with.

Have you ever made a project where you take a little inspiration from a few tutorials and make it your own ?

At Sew 4 Home   you can find a quick and easy tutorial on whipping up a few of these in a day.

(PHOTO FROM    SEW 4 HOME)

If you have extra time and want to make a really special one, maybe for a sick friend,  Modify Tradition  has a wonderful tutorial on making a fabulous neck wrap with a quilted cover.

(PHOTO ABOVE FROM  MODIFY TRADITION )

I decided to make my wraps with a little personal flare...

I monogrammed their initials in the corner.

I think Sista liked it...

She said it helps relax her neck after a long day of painting.

I made my Brother In Law one out of striped ticking. 

At first, I think he was not to sure about heating rice in the microwave. But after the first demo, everyone at the party wanted to try it out.

Of course, I could not let Sista relax with just a neck wrap, so I whipped her up a pair of lounge pants to match.  

Looking for some inspiration or have something to show off?  

 Go by and checkout or link up with,

Three Mango Seeds

Linking up with Skip to My Lou ~ Made By You Monday

AND

So Very Creative Linky Party

Fabulous Friday Four

Gee Whizzz   I had this post all ready to so...saved it and scheduled it.
Went to check it this morning and it is GONE...
Hope to have it redone for you sometime today ...

Shabby FuFu

Don't you love it when you come home and there is a little package waiting for you?

A little treat you just had to buy for yourself...

I ordered this super sweet little piece of  china made into a  pendent from Janet Coon at 

Shabby fufu

How much fun to open my little pink package to find my charm tied to this sweet baby blue ribbon.

Janet's boutique is temporarily closed while she lovingly adds lots of little pretties to her inventory.

 But please do stop in to say hello at her blog.

So cute hanging from the tiny

open silver chain I already had..

Now, to go buy myself a fabulous romantic white blouse,

 so that I can wear my oh so romantic little charm.

Table Make Over

What do you do when you have spent wayyy too much time looking at blogs that feature furniture make overs?  

 You start searching for a piece of imperfect furniture in your home that you can sand until your stress is gone. LOL

Oh...look, I found one.

Noo not the chairs..the little table in the middle.

 It has scratches all over the top.

Let's be honest here... I have no clue what I am doing.

Remember it is my sista Susie that does all the painting. LOL

Just like I told Camo Man... Don't Worry ...

 the table is not a family antique, and did not cost too much.

What's the worst that can happen?  

OK,  Don't answer that.

    Things I Learned While Doing This Project

•  Take the advice of the sales people. She advised me to use glaze. I used some stain that we had in the garage.. I am either really slow or that stuff dries really fast.

• Wear Gloves!  No, not because it is cold... because the stain is gonna give your hands an instant tan.  Your nails, well let's just say I had to cut them off and the kids did not want me to cook their supper!  Hey I may have to try that one again. LOL

• You may NOT need the second tip if you use glaze.. not really sure what the clean up is for glaze.

 The stain did give it the finish I was looking for.

 Actually these chairs and table where in the living room where the Christmas tree was.

 I think that I might like them better in there...

I'm off to move some furniture..

Linking up today with Savvy Southern Style ,
so much inspiration.



Join me over at Three Mango Seeds for her linky party...
lots of great ideas.

Fabulous Friday Four

Let's get this New Year started with some fabulous blogs to get you organized and cooking. 

 Allow me to introduce you to Fabulous Friday Four,

 blogs that I love to follow.

 Ask Anna Mosely

Cleaning   YUK  who wants to do that?   But if you do and need help, I have found the blog for you!

What an awesome blog if you need  "THE HELP".  Anna will try to answer any questions you may have on cleaning and organizing your home. 

Right now at her blog she has a plan  "14 Days to Get Cleaned and Organized". 

My Baking Addiction

I'm not sure that I have a baking addiction, but I am addicted to this blog.

She can show you the basics from the proper way to measure flour to how to make Rum Raisin Cheesecake.  Her site is yummy to just browse through.

Organize With Sandy

Sandy is the organization QUEEN! 

 QUEEN I tell you.  Her blog will have your home ship shape in no time.  I actually found Sandy on twitter. Her tweets were so motivating that I just had to see her blog.

She has it broken down to every part of the home.

Even your jewelry box!  

Sandy shares DIY's to help you have fun crafting while organizing. LOVE IT

Beyond The Screen Door Designs

Say hello to Sonya, I found her blog on Pinterest.  She offers lots of decorating and craft ideas on her fabulous blog.  Sonya even offers her interior decorating services.

I hope you take a moment to visit these

 blogs over the weekend.

See you next week with a new project.

I had hoped to have it finished this week, but you know me everything takes longer than I want it too.