Spicy Sausage Sauce

This is a household favorite and I thought I would share it with you. If you don't like to use Italian Sausage, you can also substitute turkey sausage and my mom likes to use the bulk sausage versus the links.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound spicy Italian sausage links
1 tablespoon thinly sliced garlic
2 serrano chilies
1 cup lightly packed, torn fresh basil leaves
1 (28 oz.) whole tomatoes, pureed with their juices
Gray salt (whatever that is)
Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Add the sausages and enough water to come about half way up the sausages. Cover, reduce the heat to medium low, and cook until done, about 10 min. Remove the lid and allow the water to evaporate. The sausages will then fry in their oil when water evaporates. Remove the sausages from the saucepan and drain them on paper towels. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the saucepan. Add the sliced garlic and chilies and cook until the garlic begins to brown, about 1 min., stirring occasionally. Add the basil and cook for 15 seconds, then add the tomato puree. Simmer the mixture for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Cut the sausage links in half lengthwise, then crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces, creating half-moons. Return the sausages to the saucepan and heat through.

This is a spicy recipe, so if you're bothered by spicy, you may want to omit the serrano peppers or at least one of them. I cook them separate for Matt because Blaine, Ethan and I won't eat spicy foods. I like to be able to taste my food.

Me and Mr. Jones

I found this picture of me and my brother while I was cleaning my craft room. It was taken on the 12th of September, 1981 at Rodger Williams Park. We were celebrating my cousin Sariah's birthday. I love how all the pictures of me during my childhood are so scary. I really must have had some bad days! But my brother, Donny, looks so cute. My maiden name was Jones, thus the title of this post. The picture I took of this page is terrible, but I was inspired by a Stampin' Up! "demo it" scrapbook page and so I ran with it with this page. I used the new rub-on's which are really easy and fun to use. The DS paper is from the new mini catalog along with the rub-on's. I would love to tell you what they are, but I'd have to run downstairs and I should be working out right now, so I won't. Sorry. By the way, the 6x6 page is not crooked, it's because of the way the picture was taken.
I must add, too that my cousin gave me a blog banner that I had up for about a month (see above picture). I forgot to thank her for that. I'm sorry Sariah. Thank you for the great blog banner you had made for me. I change things around a lot, so don't take offense that I took down your design.

The birthday card I made is a tester. I was just playing around last night. I want to tell you, however, because you may not be able to see, but on the whisper white card stock, I stamped-off in soft sky some balloons. The whisper white by itself was plain.

I really like the colors here. I saw a diaper bag at church yesterday and these were the colors they had in them. Actually the chocolate chip was the dominating color in the bag, but I didn't want the recipient of this card to feel dark and sad on their birthday. Hey, birthdays can hurt.

Blue and Gold or Wicked?

I bought tickets to see Wicked a long time ago. Yes, I have seen it already (be quiet some of you), but this time, we were going with a group of friends and I planned a very nice dinner and Matt was finally going to be able to go see it with me.

But then it happend...this is what I get for planning things out so early...Ethan and Blaine's Blue and Gold for scouts. I wouldn't miss seeing Ethan and Blaine's Blue and Gold banquet for the chance to see Fiero one more time, but I have to be honest and say it wasn't the easiest thing to give up either.

I have to give kudos to my boys, however. Ethan earned his Super Over Achiever badge, which means he earned everything he could in his scout book. With that, he was able to earn his Arrow of Light badge. Not a lot of scouts achieve that. His den, however, did really great. Mr. Kulp, Ethan's Den leader, did an excellent job with those boys.

Blaine earned some belt loops and earned his Bear rank. He has an amazing den leader. In fact, thanks to Mr. Parker, we were able to learn how to make marshmallow guns and share the exciting fun with our uncles. Dogs love marshmallows.

Just Celebrate Cards

A lot of you have mentioned having received your Mini Occassions Catalog. I am posting a couple of samples I have made using the Just Celebrate stamp set. The last two pictures are the inside of the third picture taken.

Stampin' Up! has a couple of great promotions that are going on beginning March 1st. This will count towards the Stampin' Up!'s Sale-A-Bration promotion and my special offer (see side info) as well.

• Wild Wasabi Card Stock Special Product Offer
  Dates: March 1 - April 30, 2008
  Special Offer Details:
  Purchase a special-offer Wild Wasabi card stock pack for only $3.95 !!!!!!
  The pack includes 16 sheets of 4-1/2" x 11-1/2" Wild Wasabi textured card stock that has been scored at 1-1/8" and 5-5/8".
  This special product offer is the result of a miscalculation in cutting and scoring on one batch of Wild Wasabi textured card stock for the Holiday Glitz promotion; while this paper did not meet specifications for the Holiday Glitz kits, it is excellent for creating other fun and exciting projects (see flyers for several great ideas).

Also, beginning March 18th, anyone who hosts a $350 workshop will receive an extra $25.00 in free product. That's super cool! See flyer for more details.

Marley's Exciting Weekend

I had to throw in a couple more pictures for the boys. They had so much fun with that dog. I love the last picture of Blaine with Marley asleep on her bed.

Quick trip "home"

We were able to take a trip "home" to Connecticut this past weekend. I feel I'm still recovering with the piles of laundry and typical craziness that fills a week.

Most of my family lives in CT, and anyone who doesn't comes back for summer vacations or is hoping to retire there or round-a-bouts.

We were able to go on a seal watch. Blaine said he counted 41 seals. It was a lot of fun and I was able to see my Auntie Dana and my cousin Laura.

We ate a lot and played with my cousins' dog, Marley. She's getting really big now and the boys had another cousin to play with. It was good times.

I would give anything to move even close-by. Oh. Well.

Valentine's Day Treats for Blaine's Class

Here is Blaine's Valentine Treat for the class. I think kids eat pencil erasers. They never have an eraser on their pencil. If your child is really smart and doesn't have an eraser on their pencil, it's because they're eating it. My boy? He's using his eraser.

Blaine wrote every child's name on a flower and I attached them to the pencils. I used white craft ink on the flower pot and added the blow pops for a bit of a candy treat. We have been encouraged not to go crazy on the candy. I agree. It makes the kids go bonkers.

Well, it's late and there is definitely no chance for a snow day tomorrow.