Spring Offerings at Cozy Expressions

We experienced a snow/ice storm last night into this morning.    Temperatures are rising and it will all change to rain today.   When my husband left for work this morning, I could hear the ice crunch under his footsteps.

So just possibly, spring is on its way now?   Here in NW New Jersey, we really did not have much of a winter at all.  One 31" snowstorm to speak of all winter.

Here are some SPRING items in our shop

Shamus our Leprechaun

Shamrock's !!

Mini accent pillow

 

Bella Bunny

Nice sized Primitive Carrots

SPRING pillow      

I wish you a wonderful day  :)

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Next up is the main course for your St. Patrick's Day menu.  I have tried numerous recipes for Corned Beef and this one, by far, is the best !

Corned Beef and Cabbage

This will serve 6-8 people.   Use flat cut corned beef brisket, not point cut.  Flat cut is more uniform in shape and will cook more evenly.    When slicing the cabbage, do not cut into the core, it will keep the cabbage in tack during the cooking.

You will need:

1- 4-5 pd corned beef brisket roast, rinsed, fat trimmed to 1/4" thick

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

4 cups water

12 carrots, peeled (3 chopped, 9 halved crosswise)

2 celery ribs, chopped

1 onion, peeled and quartered

3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme

1 teaspoon whole allspice

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes

1 head green cabbage ( about 2 pounds) cut into 8 (2 inch wedges)

Pepper

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.   Combine beef, broth, water chopped carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme and allspice in Dutch oven.  Cover and bake until fork slips easily in and out of meat, 4 1/2 to 5 hrs,

Transfer meat to 13x9 baking dish.   Strain cooking  liquid through fine mesh strainer into large bowl, discard solids and skim fat from liquid.   Pour 1 cups cooking liquid over meat.   Cover dish tightly with aluminum foil and let rest 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, return remaining cooking liquid to dutch oven add butter and bring to simmer over medium high heat.   Add potatoes and simmer until they begin to soften about 10 minutes.   Add carrot halves and cabbage, cover and cook until tender 10 to 15 minutes   Transfer vegetables to serving platter and season with pepper to taste.  

Transfer beef to carving board and slice against the grain into 1/4 inch thick slices.   Serve with vegetables.

Recipe from Cooks Country  

St Patrick's Day Menu

Irish anyone?

My husband is Scottish/Irish......all the way though.   :)  and his birthday is March 16.    Each year his birthday dinner consists of a typical Irish dinner of Corned Beef and fixins.  It took me a few years to find recipes that I actually liked.  Yes it is some work, but it is SO worth it.

The next few weeks, I will be sharing with you the recipes I use to create our

St. Patrick's Day 

dinner starting with the fixins.

Colcannon - serves 8

2.5 lbs potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 slices bacon

1/2 small head of cabbage, chopped

1 large onion

1/2 cup milk - warm

salt and pepper

1/4 cup butter, melted

Place potatoes in a saucepan with enough water to cover.  Bring to boil and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender.   Drain the cooked potatoes, mash with milk and season with salt and pepper.

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet.   Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown.   

Drain, reserving drippings crumble and set aside.   In the reserved drippings, saute the cabbage and onion until soft and translucent.   Putting a lid on the pan helps the vegetables cook faster.

Fold the bacon into the cabbage and onions then add to the potatos.   Melt butter in microwave of small sauce pan.   Transfer the mixture into a large serving bowl, make a well in the center and pour in the melted butter.

Snow anyone?

Well here in NW New Jersey we are finally experiencing winter.   Our area was hit with 

30"+ of snow over the weekend, thanks to Jonas.

By the way, when did they begin to name winter storms?

We purchased a plow for our lawn tractor this fall, hoping it would be an insurance policy that we would not get a lot of snow.   HA.....what it did do was insure that my husband's back would not hurt so much after this weekend.

We live in an area of NJ that is farmland and lots of open space. Yes, NJ is not just shoreline.

Neighbors came out and helped neighbors....even though where I live there are only 6 nearby homes.

So here are some photos from what Jonas graced our area with.

our detached garage and the snowscape formed from the winds

snowscape close up

Our great room, taken from detached garage

Taken from outside the great room, looking east.   My finch feeder, I HAD to shovel a path so I 

can add seed.

 Icicles forming as the snow melts.   

Nature is beautiful.

Pulled Pork Anyone?

I love using my Slow Cooker, especially during the winter month.   

Put everything in it and you have a meal.   I was surfing recipes and came across this one for Pulled Pork.   

 Seriously, I did have some reservations about it, I mean.....using Root Beer......really???

And knowing how fussy my husband is, it was either going to be eaten or tossed out.

I had a 2 pd piece of a pork shoulder frozen and thought I would use that instead of a tenderloin.   And in all honestly I did make some minor changes, due to my fussy husband (did I say that again?)  

My changes are within the parenthesis.

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

Ingredients: 

2 pd Pork Tenderloin ( 2 pd Pork Shoulder)

1/2 cup chopped onion ( 1 medium onion chopped)

( 1 clove garlic - chopped)

8 ounces Root Beer - just chug the rest  :)

(1 medium onion, chopped)

1 - 16 oz bottle Barbecue Sauce ( 1 jar Chili Sauce)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Place the Pork in the slow cooker; pour root beer over the meat.

Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, about 6-7 hours.

Remove pork from the slow cooker and let it rest while you drain the fluids from the cooker.

Shred the pork, place back in slow cooker or sauce pan.   Add the second chopped onion, some garlic powder and chili sauce.    Simmer until onion is soft.

My fussy husband LOVED this!

Let me know if you have tried it and like it too

Updating a Bit

So far, so good.   My second week in a row of posting, I wonder how long I will be able to stick to my schedule.

My sewing room/office that I work in, is a small room.  But it does have 2 windows which give me a lot of natural light, thus why I use the room.  I love to open my windows for fresh air....but not today..its only 24 outside.   I hope winter is finally here in NW New Jersey.

On my desk, I have a wooden chest that is about 11 x 6 x 6 which holds my little things, that I do not like to see on my desk.   You know that stuff....receipts, stamps, address labels and checkbook.  

Ok, so I guess you are wondering where I am going with this.....my little wooden chest.    It was stained dark, really dark and I thought I would like to change the look.

This is the inside of it, to show you how DARK it actually was !

I discussed my idea with my sweet husband and off he went with my chest!  It actually came out nicer than I ever thought it would.  In hindsight we should have taken a before photo as well.

And here is the finished piece!! 

I thought he was going to go through numerous steps but he didn't.   

He took plain flat white spray paint and sprayed the entire chest.   That is all he did !!  Look the texture that naturally appeared, it looks like tree branches.  

After it dried, he took some scotch bright and lightly went over some of the brass "buttons".  It looks like the chalky paint finish   :)

I love it !!

A New Year

I am seriously going to try to be more consistent with blogging in 2016.

But first, I want to THANK all of new and return customers for your support.   Cozy Expressions has been a dream come true for me.

Most of you know that Cozy Expressions is known for its fabric art.   Did you know that we also offer functional copper and wood art as well?

My husband is the talent behind this line.

Here are some of his original creations.

A Farmhouse Serving Tray..... which would look lovely on my dining room table...hint hint  :)

A hanging light, featuring an Edison Light Bulb

And his very popular Copper Pot & Pan Rack.

All are available at 

Cozy Expressions

Pssssst:    Did you know we are also selling on Handmade at Amazon?  

www.Amazon.com/handmade/Cozy-Expressions