January is sometimes a rather bleak month, no matter where you live. The house always looks a little dreary after we put away the Christmas decorations but it's still too early to put the "spring" wreath up on the door. Last year shortly before Valentine's Day I got an idea for this wreath from Monica at Homespun Heart. (It's in the post for February 6th - I had trouble linking this one directly.) I couldn't find a styrofoam wreath form so I used a straw one that I found at Michael's.
I've gotten several ideas for some new recipes from other blogs this month. We tried Deb's Spicy Vegetable Soup from over at Mountain Musings one night this week and really enjoyed it. The recipe is here if you would like to try it. I didn't have any of the Rotel tomatoes so I substituted a can of Hunts Fire-Roasted tomatoes.
We also tried Black Eyed Pea Salad from Ree over at Pioneer Woman Cooks. It, too, was very tasty. I did substitute fresh parsley for the cilantro since neither of us prefer it. Both of these recipes made enough for several meals for the two of us and were just as good later in the week.
So, if you want to try something new this month I highly recommend that you follow these links and give these ideas a try.
Have you tried any new recipes or decorating ideas this month?
Becka
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on Jan 30th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Becka ~ so glad you enjoyed the spicy veggie soup! I’ve always used the Rotel, but it sounds like the Fire-Roasted Hunt’s would give it the “spark” it really needs to set it apart from regular soup. We tried the HOT Rotel one time, and it was all we could do to eat it because it was soooo HOT.
I always enjoy trying new recipes I find on blogs and saw a Spicy Chicken Nuggets recipe on Simply Recipes today that I’m going to try. Here’s the link, and if you happen to check it out, see my link in her comments for various alcohol substitutions: http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/007398spicy_chicken_nuggets_chicharrones_de_pollo.php
on Jan 31st, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Hi! I love you blog, but haven’t commented, yet. We don’t like the “return to normalcy” after Christmas either – after having fall decorations from September to November and then Christmas decorations. So, I have separated all my snow, snowman, and appropriate blue (the winter-y color) decorations out from the Christmas things to use in January. That bridges the gap until I feel “right” about putting out red/pink for Valentine’s Day. March varies for me: I sometimes do a lot of green (for St. Patrick’s Day) until the first day of spring and sometimes I just start spring at the beginning of March.
on Feb 1st, 2009 at 9:23 pm
I know several people who decorate with snowmen in January. Spring comes pretty early here–we already have crocus and hyacinths blooming in our yard.
So, hopefully we won’t have much more cold weather or threat of snow. I know in many parts of the country this has been a year of very cold temps and too much snow. We have nothing to complain about and much to be thankful for.
Thanks for your kind comments, Sharon.