Holiday Cards from Minted

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the lovely people at Minted.  Have you ever visited their site?  Wow, I was really impressed with the beautiful cards on their site.

I loved that all of their cards have options - pretty envelope liners and return address label wrappers that coordinate with each design. 

You even have several options for the back of your card.  A solid color, a pretty pattern, or photos.

Different corner designs are another fun option.

Just a few of my favorite designs:

This is the coordinating envelope liner and wrapper for the card shown above.  So pretty, isn't it?

Most cards are offered in multiple colors.  Here are two different colors in the same design:

Another reason to love Minted?  Their products are the work of independent graphic designers all around the world.  Here's a little bit about Minted from their website:

"Minted is a global community of independent graphic designers and an online store that prints and sells the best of their designs in the form of paper goods.

Minted holds monthly design challenges for stationery, invitations, calendars, and other categories and all graphic designers are invited to enter. The Minted community selects the best designs in a highly competitive process, which gives us a top selection of the freshest, finest cards in the world. Winning designers earn cash prizes, a place in the Minted collection, and commissions on all sales of their designs."  



Minted isn't only for cards - they have an awesome selection of Party Decorations, calenders, stationary, business cards, and art prints.  Everything is beautiful!

 

If you don't have time to send out Christmas cards - I found a few New Years cards on Minted. 

I've only shared a few of the designs from Minted.  You will find pages and pages of different designs on their site.  My cards arrived yesterday - I can't wait to send them out!

Fine print:  Minted offered me my Christmas Cards in exchange for a blog post.  The opinions expressed here are 100% mine.  I really do love their cards!

Tasty Tuesdays: Turkey Meatballs with Spaghetti Squash

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Welcome to Tasty Tuesdays!

 

I am cheating again this week - the recipe I am sharing today is from November 2010.

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I made this a few weeks ago and it was delicious. It's a little different than the things I normally cook. First of all, there's meat! I don't even know if I've ever posted another recipe on my blog that included meat (other than bacon). I'm not really a vegetarian but I just don't cook meat much at home. I'm not really sure why? Anyways, the turkey meatballs were delicious. Even if you don't like the sounds of the squash, I would recommend making the meatballs. You could use them lots of different ways, definitely with traditional spaghetti.

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{Recipe from the October issue of Martha Stewart Living}

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Ingredients:.

•1 spaghetti squash (about 3 pounds), halved lengthwise

•salt and ground pepper

•1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

•1 onion, finely chopped

•2 garlic cloves, minced

•1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano

•1/2 ounce grated Parmesan cheese (3 tablespoons)

•1 tablespoon dried breadcrumbs

•8 ounces lean ground turkey

•8 ounces mixed mushrooms, such as shiitake, cremini, and oyster, cut 1/4 inch thick (about 3 cups)

•1 cup homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock

•4 ounces baby spinach (about 5 cups)

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1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Season cut sides of squash with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bake, cut sides down, on a baking sheet until tender, about 45 minutes. Let stand until cool enough to handle. Scrape flesh into strands using a fork. Let drain, covered to keep warm, in a colander set over a bowl.

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2. Meanwhile, heat 1 teaspoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic, stirring, until soft but not brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add oregano; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Divide mixture between 2 bowls.
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3. Stir 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons cheese into 1 bowl of onion-garlic mixture. Mix in breadcrumbs, turkey, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper using your hands. Form mixture into 12 balls.

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4. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Brown meatballs, turning, 4 to 6 minutes; transfer to a plate. Add remaining teaspoon oil to skillet. Cook mushrooms, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper, adding a few tablespoons water if skillet browns too quickly, until soft and beginning to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add remaining bowl of onion-garlic mixture, meatballs, and stock; bring to gentle simmer. Cook, partially covered, until meatballs are cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Add spinach; cook until just wilted, about 1 minute.

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5. Divide squash and meatball mixture into 4 servings. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

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I thought this recipe made for a perfect Fall or Winter meal. Enjoy!

 

What did you cook this week?

 

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Tasty Tuesdays: Asparagus & Mushroom Pizza with Gorgonzola

Welcome to Tasty Tuesdays!

 

I'm starting to feel like i am never going to cook again!  It's been a while.  I didn't even have to cook for Thanksgiving!  So, here is a pizza recipe I originally posted back April of 2010.  It's a good one.

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I had a pizza like this recently at a restaurant and tried to recreate it at home. The asparagus makes it a great pizza for Spring.

Ingredients:

- Pizza dough. The recipe I used can be found here.

- 10 oz. mushrooms, sliced (I used cremini, but I'm sure any mushroom would work)

- 1/2 c. onion, diced

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 bunch of asparagus

- 1/4 c. gorgonzola or blue cheese

- 3/4 c. shredded mozzarella

- 1/2 c. shredded parmesan

- 1/4 c. pine nuts

- olive oil

Prepare pizza dough.

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When dough is almost finished rising, preheat oven to 500 degrees. If you use a pizza stone, preheat it in the oven too.
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Next, prepare toppings.
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Slice mushrooms.
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The santoku in the photo comes courtesy of Baby Sister. It was one of many great birthday gifts I received this year from her. I don't know what I did before I had this knife. It makes food prep so much easier!

Break asparagus into 2 - 3 inch pieces.

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Sauté garlic & onions in a generous dash of olive oil for a few minutes and then add the mushrooms. Sauté a few minutes longer until mushrooms are soft.
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When mushrooms are finished, set aside.

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Roll out dough. I use a pizza stone and when making pizza I like to use a little cornmeal to dust the stone before I put on the dough. I think it helps to keep the dough form sticking.
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I also like to prebake the crust before adding the toppings. So, once your dough is rolled out and is on the pizza stone, bake in oven for 3 -5 minutes.
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Next, top the pizza. I started with a drizzle of olive oil all around the dough. Next comes the mozzarella. Then added the asparagus, mushroom & onion mixture (make sure to drain any liquid that is in the pan with the mushrooms from cooking), gorgonzola, pine nuts, and finish with the parmesan. I topped of the pizza with a little drizzle of olive oil.
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Bake for 15 - 20 minutes.
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Fresh out of the oven:
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Enjoy!

 

What did you cook this week?

 

Party Rules:

1. Add a link to the post you are linking up back to this post

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2.  Add the Tasty Tuesday button to the post you are linking up.  You will find the button and code on my sidebar.  Thanks!

Tasty Tuesdays: Happy Thanksgiving!

Welcome to Tasty Tuesdays!

Just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who stop by here, week after week, to link up your recipes.  I haven't been a great host lately, but I want you to know how thankful I am for all of you!

To my American readers - have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I hope you enjoy the day with your family and loved ones.

I put this Thanksgiving tablescape together in 2010.  See the original post RIGHT HERE.

Party Rules:

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Tasty Tuesdays: Cinnamon Rolls

Welcome To Tasty Tuesdays!

I am posting another recipe from my archives this week.  At this point I don't know if I'll be cooking until December!

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Last month while out in Arizona on vacation, my sister, brother, and I made cinnamon rolls. And not just any cinnamon rolls, but The Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. Yum. These were delicious and I am wishing that I had some next to me right now!

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Ingredients:

- 1 quart Whole Milk

1 cup Vegetable Oil

1 cup Sugar

2 packages Active Dry Yeast

8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour

1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder

1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda

1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt

Plenty Of Melted Butter

2 cups Sugar

Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon

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Maple Frosting Ingredients:

1 bag Powdered Sugar

2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring

½ cups Milk

¼ cups Melted Butter

¼ cups Brewed Coffee

⅛ teaspoons Salt

{Baby Sister and World's Cutest Brother getting the dough started}
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1. Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.
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2. After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down). At this point, we put our dough in the refrigerator and came back to it in the morning.
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3. When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.
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{Pouring on the melted butter}
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{We used a pastry brush to spread around the butter. Look at that crazy bed head on World's Cutest Brother!}
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{Time to add the sugar...}
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{...and the cinnamon}
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4. Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.
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5. Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.
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6. Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.
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World's Cutest Brother took a scrap of dough and decided to make a few mini cinnamon rolls...
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He was quite pleased with himself.
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{Seriously, how cute are those little rolls???}
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Fresh out of the oven:
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7. For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don’t skimp on the frosting.

Our finished rolls with frosting:
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Notes:
- Pioneer Woman recently posted tips on making her cinnamon rolls. To see that post click here.
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- Our dough didn't seem to rise very much. Not sure what happened but they did rise while they baked and tasted delicious to us!
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- We cut the recipe in half. Although, the recipe listed above is Pioneer Woman's original recipe.
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- Because we cut the recipe in half, our rolls were a bit smalled than hers. I didn't realize this at the time, but the recipe says to divide the dough in half before rolling out. Well, we did divide ours in half, but didn't need to because we had cut the recipe in half! Because of that, our rolls were smaller.
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- We ended up with four pans of rolls. We baked two while we were there and put two in the freezer for our trip out there in December. Our Dad is under very specific instructions to not bake the rolls without us!
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What did you cook this week?

Party Rules:
1.  Add a link to the post you are linking up back to this post
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2.  Add the Tasty Tuesday Button to the post you are linking up.  You will find the button and code on my sidebar.  Thanks!

Tasty Tuesdays: The Get out & Vote Edition

Welcome to Tasty Tuesdays!

It's election day.  Can you believe it's here?  I have to say - I love election season.  It gets me all fired up and excited.  I love that every four years we get the chance to have our voices heard. I recently read a blog post written by a woman in her 30's who admitted that she had never voted in a Presidential election.  That is astonishing to me.  I don't think it's that hard to educate yourself on the issues and the candidates, and find the best fit for you.  Women waited a long time for the opportunity to vote.  Don't waste it - Get out and go vote!

In honor of election week, I baked cookies.  The recipe is adapted from the one Laura Bush submitted to Family Circle's cookie bakeoff during the 2000 presidential campaign.

{ Laura Bush's Cowboy Cookies }

Ingredients:

- 3 cups flour

- 1 tbsp baking powder

- 1 tbsp baking soda

- 1 tbsp cinnamon

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature

- 1 1/2 cups sugar

- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar

- 3 eggs

- 1 tbsp vanilla

- 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips {I used two cups}

- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

- 2 cups sweetened coconut flakes

- 2 cups chopped pecans

1.  Preheat oven to 350ºF.

2.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.



3.  In another large bowl, combine the chocolate chips, oats, coconut, and pecans and gently stir together.  Set aside.

4.  In a third bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat for another 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.

5.  Stir in the flour mixture, blending until just combined. Add the chips, oats, coconut, and pecans and stir until fully incorporated.

6.  Drop by rounded tablespoon onto an un-greased baking sheet, making sure to allow plenty of room between cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are set and golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 1-2 minutes before placing on a cooling rack.

Fresh out of the oven:

These cookies are so good!  I bought them to work yesterday and they were gobbled up.

 

Link up your recipes, and then go out and vote!

Party Rules:

1.  Add a link to the post you are linking up back to this post

OR

2.  Add the Tasty Tuesday button to the post you are linking up.  You will find the button and code on my sidebar.  Thanks!

{ I found the lovely "Go Vote" image at the top of my post on Pinterest.  It was pinned by Sara Waters.  The image is by Dan Cassaro }