2009 April — Reluctant Entertainer

A KRAFTY Giveaway (5 winners!)

April 29, 2009 By Sandy 111 Comments

My appetizer on Easter took my sons about 2 minutes to pull together.

Of course I had the white dishes laid out for them, otherwise they probably would have stuck a knife in each container and called it good. Which is fine, except on Easter I wanted a little more formal look.

After some “mommy” instruction for draining olives and putting carrots on the platter, and spreading out the crackers – they created a yummy, simple spread of appetizers for our guests to enjoy.

Beauty for me

Now the beauty of this appetizer spread was that KRAFT supplied me with the crackers, the 2 delicious Philadelphia cream cheese dips - all for FREE!

Beauty for you

And now the beauty for you is that because I’m talking about this on my blog, and we devoured this KRAFT goodness on Easter Day, KRAFT is allowing me to give away 5 appetizer coupons to my readers!

A KRAFTY win

By leaving a comment and answering a simple question for me, you are eligible to win 2 boxes of crackers, and 2 Philadelphia cream cheese dips!

Answer either question or both – it’s easy!

Because of a new exciting venture that is taking place in blogworld (more information coming soon!), I am looking for your favorite entertaining or hospitality blogs, ones that offer helpful tips and inspiration to you?

Would you help me out?

Or, if you are new to blog-reading, what is your EASIEST favorite appetizer to serve?

5 winners

Yes, 5 people will be chosen for this awesome GIVEAWAY, thanks to KRAFT. Stay tuned on May 1 (Friday) when I will announce the winners, along with my May Day post.

Here we are – talking and getting ready to snack before our Easter feast! I snuck upstairs, into the loft, to capture the moment.

Memories always seem to be created around food in our home. And I love that I get to share how it all comes together - with you!

Filed Under: giveaways & gadgets

The Imperfect Entertainer!

April 28, 2009 By Sandy 35 Comments

Meet my Guest:

The Nester from Nesting Place

Nester was my roommate in Nashville at Blissdom ’09 and it was such a delight to meet her and her sister Emily, along with Melissa – in real life and for the first time (I think we were all snoring roommates = lack of sleep!) She is as darling and funny as she is in her posts.

She’s the real-deal and her message is perfect for 4RE! (Below, roommies in Nashville)

I’d just like to figure out how I can get to her home, to try some of her delicious Friday night pizza!

Here’s what Nester has to share about entertaining …

When I have people over I have three goals. As you can see, I keep myself at the top of the list because we all know if momma ain’t happy, aint no one coming over for dinner.

1. Make sure I’m not stressed
2. Make sure guests feel welcome and loved
3. Make sure the food is really good

I’ve finally figured out a fool proof way to make sure all three goals are met. My secret, I serve the exact same thing whenever we have people over. Yep, you heard right, the same thing.

A few years ago we visited some friends for dinner on a Friday night. Pizza Friday at their house. She made the dough right in front of me, it smelled glorious, she was content to sit and talk as it was cooking, the kids were happy, it was delish and I knew I had to learn to make pizza dough.

So now, when we invite people over it’s on Pizza Friday. I make pizza because I’ve made it so many times I could do it in my sleep, it always turns out yummy and the kids love it. Since it’s so simple I don’t have to fret over grocery shopping and cooking ahead of time and stuff like that. I’m free to get to know our guests and focus on what really matters. I buy a bag salad, cut up some veggies and ask the guest to bring the dessert.

Maybe we eat on paper plates, maybe we are out of napkins. No one seems to notice that part. Sometimes, showing some imperfections allows people to feel more at ease.

I’m so glad that It Doesn’t Have to be Perfect to Be Beautiful or Meaningful or Delicious!

(Fellow bloggers Tim and Kim at dinner at Nester’s house! Yummy pizza!)

Thank you Nester, for always being so authentic with your readers! I can’t wait to announce some very exciting news here on May 4th – and it has to do with Nesting Place!

Check out this refreshing 4RE post from last summer with beautiful photography (thank you, hubs!), about my dessert imperfection!

COME BACK TOMORROW for a KRAFT Giveaway! 5 people will win!!

Filed Under: guest posts & blogging

Pesky Friends called Weeds!

April 27, 2009 By Sandy 17 Comments

Growing up, my parents had a big garden – and a lot of weeds! I still hate weeding, to this day. So my husband and I get our kids to help us. They love it just like I did (yah, right!)

We’ve taken some great steps to get rid of weeds, along with reading some tips from the Organic Gardening magazine, which we thoroughly enjoy (thank you Cindy!)

Here’s what we’ve experienced about these pesky friends.

Weed now

First of all, if you’re going to weed – NOW is the time! The weed tops are larger and easier to get out of the ground while the ground is wet.

Spring is the perfect time.

We’ve also found that by using some kind of covering on the ground, it will help prevent the weeds from taking over.

5 Ways to Reduce Weeds

- Straw: We prefer straw that is already 2 years old because the seed-heads have already sprouted and died. If you use the newer straw, hit the top layer with Round-Up. Straw is very practical, holds the moisture well, and it looks great. (Baby potato plants coming up – yay!)

- Paper shopping bags or cardboard: this might be funky-looking, but it works! Lay down the paper and put rocks on top to hold it down.

- Bark: when you bark, make it 5-6 inches thick. This makes it very difficult for the weeds to get through.

- Compost: we use partially decomposed compost in the garden area. (Baby beets in our greenhouse with compost.)

- Blow Torch 2000 (Weed Dragon): this is my husband’s favorite tool. It’s a propane tool that kills the weeds with a flame, like a flame-thrower. It works well on rock, or on decomposed granite, when the weeds start growing through. (Hobbes and our blow torch.)

Yard Sale Tool – $1

My hubs picked this particular tool up at a yard sale for $1. It’s easy and convenient and gets rid of the weeds effectively with minimal disturbance of the soil!

But the best tool is fire–burning the weeds. It’s better for the environment, for your pets – and of course better than Round-Up.

Okay, I’m heading to our cold frame right now for more lettuce. I shared some yesterday with my friend Jeannie, who came by to cut a few heads out of the garden beds.