Cream Cheese Jalapeno Sausage Pinwheels

This recipe I'm sharing today is for

 Cream Cheese Jalapeno Sausage Pinwheels
and it's from
Aunt Nubby's Kitchen.

I made these at my daughter's house a few weeks ago and they were a big hit.  If you're looking for a new recipe and haven't tried this one yet and it sounds good to you, be sure and give it a try!

Cream Cheese Jalapeno Sausage Pinwheels from Aunt Nubby's Kitchen

1 pound pork sausage

1 jalapeno pepper, chopped

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1 package crescent roll dough

In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until browned, adding the jalapeno pepper to the sausage while it is cooking. Drain the grease from the sausage, then add the cream cheese. Stir over very low heat until the cream cheese is blended into the sausage. Spread the crescent roll dough out on a sheet of parchment paper, sealing the perforations and seams together so that the dough is in one rectangular sheet. Spread the sausage/cream cheese mixture over the crescent dough in a thin, even layer. Start rolling the dough up lengthwise, very carefully in one long roll. Refrigerate the roll for 20 - 30 minutes, or stick it in the freezer for a short while, this will make it easier to slice.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare a sheet pan by lining with aluminum foil and spraying with cooking spray. Slice the roll into sections about 1/2 inch thick, place the slices on the prepared pan. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until the crescent dough is browned.

Serve and enjoy!

Favorite Patriotic Decorations

As promised I said I would share some of my favorite patriotic decorations with you. 

I painted this charming birdhouse back in 1995.  I actually found myself raising my eyebrows

 when I read the date on the bottom!  Sure doesn't seem like that long ago. 

 The design is from a tole painting book called Country Primitives 2 by Maxine Thomas. 

Now this bearded fellow I picked up at a holiday boutique over 10 years ago.  He was so different with his bag of goodies that I couldn't pass him up.  Remember, this girl likes her fireworks!

I found this birdhouse star in Oregon at a painting store in 2001 and it was unfinished.  I knew right away what I was going to do with it.  The little hand carved bird sitting on the perch I bought from an elderly gentleman at a holiday boutique over 10 years ago.  All he had left were three so I snatched them right up!

Well you can see right on this wood plate that I painted it in 2000.  I love this star shaped Uncle Sam holding a flag in each hand and the fireworks shooting from his hat. 

Years back I received a rooster note card (designer Susan Winget I think) from a friend and liked the picture so much that I painted it on a large canvas.  This was dated July 2005 and it also doesn't seem that long ago that I was painting this big boy! 

This is a Susie Saunders tole painting pattern that I painted on a barrel stave in 2001.

I loved all of it's colors, the liberty bell and the way the banner flew across the stave.

I hope you enjoyed a few of my favorite patriotic decorations.  It was actually fun for me going down memory lane!

Linking to:

Patriotic Pillow Cover

While decorating for Memorial Day I decided to make a patriotic pillow cover for an existing pillow I have in my home.  I wanted to make it simple enough where I wasn't spending the day sewing away so I figured out an easy simple pillow design.

First I made the pillow cover with some muslin fabric I had recently purchased.  I sewed the cover using the pillow sham method I use most often and shared recently in a post for making pet beds for donation.  Click here to see that tutorial.

After making the pillow cover I cut out a rectangular piece of red burlap and also printed out a basic star shape from my printing program.

Next I worked on the star by ironing on some Wonder-Under transfer fusing web to the wrong side of a square scrap of navy blue fabric.  Once the fabric was cool I pinned the star pattern to the Wonder-Under and began cutting out the star shape.

Next step was to peel off the paper and then iron the star to the red burlap.

Like I said before I wanted a simple and quick project so I used my rusty look safety pins and attached the burlap on each corner to the pillow sham.

Since the burlap is only pinned to the sham I can easily change out different panels for other holidays. But for now until July 4th I will enjoy my patriotic pillow cover!

 So here it is!  Simple and easy and ready for Memorial Day!


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Cinnamon Stick Firecrackers

While putting together a patriotic wreath many years ago I was looking for some kind of embellishment to add to it and I came up with cinnamon stick firecrackers. I recently made some more and added them to one of my silk plants to resemble sparkly fireworks. 

I have something to confess to those of you who don't know me

 and that is I am a full fledged fireworks freak!

Oh Yeah!

I love to shoot off fireworks on the fourth of July

and I always purchase enough to do them on New Year's Eve too! 

So now on to making 
Cinnamon Stick Firecrackers: 

To make these firecrackers all I used were cinnamon sticks purchased from a craft store and then painted them red, white and blue and antiqued them a little bit.  I also glued in a small piece of jute on one end for the fuse.  So easy and quick you will have plenty of time to make some yourself.  It's even fun for the kids to get involved too!

Don't you love my patriotic Uncle Sam?  I sure do!  He's been with me for over 8 years now and I love seeing him every year when I take him out along with all of my other patriotic decorations.  This wreath is where I added my first cinnamon stick firecrackers I made.
I designed and painted my Uncle Sam in my usual style which I call "coloring book style". I draw my design out on tracing paper, transfer the pattern to wood and then cut it out on my saw.  After sanding any rough edges I then add the line detail using a wood burning tool.  After that I paint in the colors leaving rough edges and I will even sand some more to really age it.  The last step is antiquing and varnishing. 
If you take a look at my Santa Ornament 2011 you'll see in the tutorial how I design, cut and paint my wood pieces.

In the coming weeks I will be posting a few more of my favorite patriotic decorations.  Stay tuned!

I'm linking to these fun parties at:

Firecracker Rice Krispie Treats

I had a little fun yesterday while waiting for my Pioneer Woman's Pot Roast to cook and I came up with these FIRECRACKER RICE KRISPIE TREATS to have for dessert. 

First all you have to do is follow the recipe on the rice krispie cereal box or even on the marshmallow bag for the treats.  Then once you've made the mixture and it is cooled enough to handle (don't wait too long) you roll enough of the mixture into a golf ball and then shape it into a firecracker (log) by rolling it with your hands and squishing it with your fingers.

After you've rolled all your "firecrackers' you dip one end into your red sprinkles and one end into the blue sprinkles or as you can see I got a little creative and changed it up.  I even considered adding a small strand of thin red licorice into one end of the firecracker but ended up not doing it since I thought it may not really stick.  Who knows, it may have worked!

Basically the recipe made enough firecrackers that filled a 9 x 13 dish. The two extra that didn't fit in the dish fit in my mouth! YUM!

HAVE FUN WITH YOUR FOOD!

Linking To:

Patriotic Postcards

Since I'm hosting my Patriotic Link Party I thought I would join in the fun and post along with the rest of you! Today I finished these fast and fun little postcards to send to my family and friends for the Fourth of July.

 Recently I saved this vintage graphic from Karen at The Graphics Fairy and decided it would make the perfect postcard!  Using my printing program and some of it's graphics I was able to create this sweet holiday card.  I printed out my design on white card stock and also brown Kraft card stock sheets and I really like the way the brown paper adds to that vintage feel.

The picture below is the backside with the posting area and the address section. Of course when I send out my postcards the postage stamp will cover where I have added that cute July 4th graphic in the top right corner. But for now I thought it looked festive and it fills in the space where the stamp will go.

Now when the end of June rolls around all I need to do is fill them out, pick up some postcard stamps, and I'll be ready to send them on their merry way!

 

Linking up to:

Patriotic Link Party

Hello Everyone!

Please join me in my first PATRIOTIC LINK PARTY and help get everyone inspired to create, honor and celebrate Memorial Day, Flag Day and the grand finale, The Fourth of July!

I'm sure many of you talented folks out there have created one or more patriotic decorations to embellish your homes, and I would love to see what projects your creative minds can come up with!

I've always enjoyed making patriotic decorations from anything I can get my hands on.  From my pine branch firecrackers to an Americana kitchen chair, I've decorated my home and garden for these holidays with those three important colors that represent my country's flag. 

This link party will be open from MAY 5 - JULY 4  in order for everyone to have enough time to design and work on their projects and have them ready for any one of these holidays that will be coming soon.  You may also enter the link party more than once as long as you have a new project, so feel free to come back and link up again!

Please don't forget to link back to my party page by including

my Patriotic Link Party button below on your blog post.

Thanks for linking up or even just stopping by!  And please don't forget to take a moment to view some of the great projects that have linked up!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Cooks Illustrated Wall Art

About 4 or 5 years ago I started a subscription of "Cook's Illustrated" for one of my daughters.  Some of you may be familiar with this magazine, but if you're not, it's full of recipes and valuable information on anything related to cooking.  And one bonus to receiving this magazine are the wonderful illustrations you get on the back covers of each one! 

This picture below shows a couple of illustrations my daughter has from her collection.

Actually, when I say magazine, you're probably thinking of a typical shiny paper one, but this one is different.  There are no ads inside (YAY!) and the paper is more like a card stock, so of course these illustrations are perfect for framing.

My daughter had always dreamed about using these illustrations in her own home one day and their new home they recently bought has a huge wall in the kitchen which made it perfect for this project she had in mind. 

Supplies

My daughter wanted gold frames and of course when you want something specific, odds are you won't find it, right?

Luckily she did find some white plastic frames at Michael's that came in a 2 pack at a very affordable price  After the spraying was done she decided on placing nine frames on the wall to fill in the large space she has.  The matting she used for the prints were a sheet of Strathmore Charcoal Paper set right behind the illustration.

Sorry for the lousy photo here, but I had a really hard time getting one without reflection due to all the windows in her house.  You wouldn't believe how many pics I took, but at least you can get the idea! 

 A job well done and her dream come true!

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