8 Ways to Create a Romantic Valentine’s Day Dinner for Two

8 ways to create a romantic valentines dinner for your man

Last year for Valentine’s Day (our first Valentine’s as home owners) I put together a sweet, romantic dinner for two here at home.  I LOVE creating themed tablescapes so today I’m sharing 8 ways to create a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner for two!  I had to create last year’s Valentine’s Day tablescape with things we already had on hand because we are just starting out and I haven’t yet collected all the things seasoned home owners have.  I’m enjoying this phase though- the putting a life together piece by piece (on a budget) and making due with what we have.  I thought it would be fun to show you what I put together from my little treasure hunt through the house.  This is one of my first tablescapes and the … Continue Reading

How to Make Cream Cheese Danishes From Scratch!

How to Make Cream Cheese Danish From Scratch

It’s Cozy Cottage Weekend time!  Come on in to my kitchen today, as I share one of my favorite recipes!    To me, cottage living harkens to days gone by when times were simple.  Grandma or Mom putting on their hand sewn aprons and making breads or rolls from scratch.  Nothing else smells quite like home to me as much as fresh breads baking in the oven!  I can’t take credit for inventing today’s recipe, as I clipped it from a magazine.  The magazine was either Country Woman or Taste of Home, and I can’t remember which one (I used to get both).  I have a whole sack full of clipped recipes to try, and the ones that get rave reviews go in my handwritten cookbook to make again.   … Continue Reading

Ways To Use Tomatoes From Your Garden-Tuna Stuffed Tomato Recipe

Today’s (Cozy Cottage) Inspiration is tomatoes!  We are blessed to have a local minister and his wife for next door neighbors.  They have a thriving garden with veggies and flowers that they share with us.  Since we closed on the home a few months ago , they have been bringing us presents of produce :).  One of the things they have been giving us are tomatoes!  There seems to be an over abundance of crops this year.  It has been a very bountiful season here.  So what does one do with all those garden fresh tomatoes?   Being that it is just the two of us, we don’t go through tomatoes very quickly.   There are the usual things we use them for; salad, maybe a sandwich, taco night, or … Continue Reading

4th of July Party Food Recipe-Easy Cream Filled Strawberries

Stuffed Strawberries

This week I have been inspired by berries and the various things one can do with them.  I have been been picking berries (some varieties I have never tasted before) a lot lately and will be experimenting with different recipes using them.  Today I am bringing you a recipe my mom made for our Mother’s Day tea party.  It’s all about strawberries today, so if you love strawberries or are looking for red colored foods for your 4th of July celebrations, I have a perfect appetizer for you!   This strawberry recipe is: Quick Easy So delicious & Looks impressive ( elegant if you will) A low cal , low fat dessert if you make this with skim milk and reduced fat cool whip   So without further ado I bring … Continue Reading

Jane Austen Inspired Hairstyle-Romantic Loose Bun Tutorial for Weddings Proms and Parties

Vintage Inspired Updos

It’s time for more vintage tea party fun!  Today I am showing you one of the vintage hair looks I did that you can do too.  We actually had two vintage themed tea parties in a row , so I actually did my hair a couple of different ways that week.  Today’s hair how to is going to be for a loose, romantic Jane Austen style bun using just 2 awesome decorative hair pins that will totally hold your hair in place (which amazed me)!  You can get discounted and free hair things (details below) to recreate this look that a lot of celebrities are doing too!  Information on where to get the hair pins needed for this tutorial is included below.       **Note:   While I wore this … Continue Reading

How to Turn a Coffee Mug in to a Unique Secret Compartment Gift Box

Unique Gift Boxes

It’s time for more Tea Party fun!  Today I am sharing how to turn a coffee mug in to a cute and unusual gift box/gift idea.  Before I get to that though, if you have missed out on the other tea party tidbits I have been sharing since Mother’s Day you can click HERE for some amazingly good Cranberry Feta Pinwheel appetizers,  & HERE for Chicken Stuffed Cones.   ***Make sure to scroll all the way through post, because tons of adorable photos are at the end after the tutorial!***     I wanted to put together a gift for Mom that would fit our theme this year called “A Vintage Teacup” tea party.  I happened to be shopping the clearance section online at Kohl’s and stumbled upon a really … Continue Reading

Tea Sandwiches-Chicken Stuffed Cones

Tea Party Appetizers-Chicken Salad Cones

I am kicking this week off with another yummy recipe from the recent themed tea party we had for Mother’s Day.  I wasn’t intending on posting the full recipe for these cones, but I have had a few friends see the photos on my personal Facebook page and ask for the recipe.  If you missed the last yummy tea appetizer recipe for Cranberry Feta Pinwheels (where I showed a photo of today’s cones) , click HERE.  By popular request, today I am sharing a fun (and visually appealing) twist on tea sandwiches that your guests will be impressed with. **Note:  the original recipe called for crab meat, but since Mom and I are not seafood fans we did a twist on this cookbook recipe and used chicken instead.     … Continue Reading

Tea Party Appetizers-Cranberry Feta Pinwheels

Cranberry and Cheese Pinwheels

  I promised I would share all kinds of photos, DIY, and recipes from our 2nd annual Mother’s Day tea last week.  I am starting Monday out with to DIE for tea party appetizers that are SO easy to make and yet look and taste impressive.  It only takes 5 ingredients too!  Before I get to that though, I wanted to share a few other photos of some of the food we had that I won’t be posting recipes for.  I invite you to sit back with a good “cuppa” this week and join in on some elegant tea party fun!      Aside from having both iced tea and hot tea for our party, we had a variety of little tea foods & desserts.  Such as :     … Continue Reading

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Drop Cookies Recipe

Chocolate Drop Cookie Recipe

Who wants chocolate?!  Remember my hilarious cookie gone wrong story a few months ago?  It was called “A Crumby Story” and it’s a humor post on my first attempt at making these cookies.  Check it out for a laugh at my expense if you haven’t seen it yet :D.  I am happy to say that this time I got the cookies right!  I discovered my issue was the use of butter and spelt flour..so um…DON’T use those unless you too want to wind up like a scene from I Love Lucy’s chocolate factory episode.     Back to the recipe! These are the perfect , quick and easy cookie to make when you are having one of those chocolate cravings and don’t want to go to a lot of fuss. … Continue Reading

You are Invited ! Come, Celebrate, and Find Inspiration This Week

Will you party with me and my fellow writers, crafty gals, awesome cooks, (& more) this week?  I am participating in a virtual party this week online, and would love for you all to join in on the fun with us!  I know you will find something to inspire you in some way shape or form!     For those of you who are NOT bloggers, but who read my blog/subscribe via email- I welcome you to click on the email you receive or go directly to my site to click on tonight’s party link-because you are invited too!  Basically what you will see when you come on over to my site, is a whole bunch of link ups from my blogging friends and I.  We will be sharing everything … Continue Reading

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