Country Chatter & Calico Kitten Designs
             are excited to present
              Country Chatter Newsletter
                Recipes and Crafts
                September, 2008
                       Issue #4
 

Welcome to Country Chatter
 

Today is the first day of fall, it is still triple digits out here, they are telling us maybe one more week and the cool weather will arrive.  But the mornings are so nice.  I want to welcome all the new people to my little newsletter.  The newsletter is just my way of sharing my part of the world with everyone, and helping people with their businesses and hoping to make the world just a little bit better for a couple minutes, to bring a laugh or a smile to your face and just a way of saying thanks. This is the fourth issue of the Recipes and Crafts, if there are any recipes that you would like, please email the kittens and they will look for them and feature them here.

     

 

 

Fall is Here

Helen H. Moore

Fall is here.
Another year
is coming to an end.
Summer's finished,
Summer's gone,
Winter's round the bend.
Fall is piles of crunchy leaves,
orange, gold, and red.
Fall is sweaters with long sleeves
and blankets on the bed.
Fall is football,
Fall is pumpkins,
Fall's where summer ends.
And
Fall is coming back to school,
and seeing all my friends.

 

 

   

Bruschetta Chicken Skillet

1/4 cup Kraft Sun-Dried tomato Dressing
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
4 large red peppers, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans (14 1/2 oz. each) pasta-style or Italian-style
diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup water
2 cups instant white rice, uncooked
1 cup Shredded low-moisture part-skim Mozzarella Cheese
1 large tomato, chopped
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil


Heat dressing in large skillet on medium heat.  Add chicken, peppers and garlic; cover.  Cook 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through, turning after 5 minutes.  Remove chicken from skillet; cover to keep warm.
Add canned tomatoes and water to skillet.  Stir in rice;
bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low; simmer, uncovered,
10 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine cheese, chopped tomatoes and basil.
Return chicken to skillet; sprinkle with cheese mixture.
Cover.  Cook 5 minutes or until chicken is heated through and cheese is melted.

            

 

 

 

Spicy Shrimp and Fettuccine

8 ounces uncooked fettuccine
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cups chopped plum tomato (about 5)
2 tablespoon reduced-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to the package direction, omitting salt and fat.  Drain.
Heat oil in a Dutch over over medium-high heat.  Add red pepper and garlic to pan;  sauté 1 minute.  Add shrimp; sauté 1 minute.  Stir in tomatoes and next 4 ingredients (through salt; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes.  Stir in pasta; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated.
Place 1 1/2 cups pasta mixture on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1 teaspoon cheese. 
Serve immediately.
              

 

The kittens are always looking for new recipes, and if you would like to have
one in the newsletter, you can email them to admin@calicokittendesigns.com. 
 If you have a website, we will be more than happy to include that, too.  Bandit says if you want to send him some samples, he will not say no !!!!!
All of these recipes will be on the website, so if you want to print them out, they are set up in the newsletter that all you have to do is copy and print.

 

Craft Projects
 

Potpourri Pie

Baker's Clay
1 cup flour
1 cup salt
water to moisten
Mix together flour and salt, and stir in enough water to from a workable, but not sticky dough.  Shape into whatever you like.  Either cook baker's clay in the oven at 250 degrees for at least 30 minutes per side, or let it air dry.
You can also microwave it in a glass container or microwave baking sheet.  Spray container with cooking spray and microwave baker's clay pieces at 30% power for 2-4 minutes, depending on size.  If pieces are not dry, continue
microwaving at 30% for 2 minutes intervals.
To make pie, you will need
1 pie tin, in the size of your choice
cooking spray
Potpourri
Butter Knife
Prepare baker's clay and spray pie tin with cooking spray.  Preheat over to 250 degrees.  Roll out baker's clay into large circle about 1/4 inch thick.  Cut circle,
just as you would for making a normal pie, and line pie tin with it.  Wrap up remaining dough for later.  Cook pie crust for at least 30 minutes.  Let cool.
Filled cooled crust with potpourri.  Take remaining dough scraps, reroll and cut into strips for lattice crust.  Arrange strips over potpourri, in the same way you
would make a normal lattice crust pie,  dampen dough to "glue" it down to already cooked crust.  Let top crust dry for 1-2 days.  After pie is complete, add an
accent bow of raffia or homespun fabric for that finishing touch.
 

Cinnamon and Applesauce Ornaments

 

Equal parts of cinnamon & applesauce -
 I suggest 1 cup each for your first time
Mix in a bowl and stir until well blended. Work mixture in hands for several minutes
 to form a ball. If mixture is to dry, add a bit more applesauce.   If it’s too wet, add a bit more cinnamon.
Knead ball on cinnamon sprinkled surface until it holds together well.   Then, roll out using a rolling pin sprinkled with cinnamon. You can use your favorite
cookie cutters, or templates that you’ve drawn yourself to cut out your shapes.   As you can see by the picture, for this batch, I chose to use a template of some little primitive stars for our shapes. I like the ornaments to be a little bit thick.
This helps keep them from breaking over the years.
Place ornaments on a cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with cinnamon.  Use a drinking straw to cut out the little circle that you will use to hang your ornament.
Air dry for 24 to 48 hours - turning several times. You can also place the cookie sheet in a very low oven (around 200 degrees), which will help them dry much faster.
Remember to turn several times.  When you pack the ornaments away, be sure to cushion them to keep them
from breaking. And, if they start to loose their scent over the years, add a drop of cinnamon oil to bring back the wonderful aroma!
 


Calico Kitten Designs wants to be your place to find everything that you need to make your life just a little bit
more easy for you.  The kittens want to make it the place that you look for recipes (check out all the wonderful new recipes that have been added), patterns for crafts, a newsletter to bring you a laugh or too, links to your favorite websites, and if you would like to look at some of my crafts and order, thank you.

Bear is in charge of link exchanges and was wondering if anyone would like to exchange links with Calico Kitten Designs.
You can get in touch with him at admin@calicokittendesigns.com and he will be more than happy to sent you ours.

This my favorite time of the year and can not wait to decorate my house for Halloween, lights, pumpkins, black cats, witches and of course white ghosts.

                       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Well, I hope that you have made it down to this little part, I love talking about Arizona,
sharing this state with everyone. 

I want to share a part of my world with everyone and doing this newsletter
is my way of thanking everyone for being a friend. 
Say a prayer for our Armed Forces and pray that they will be home soon.

Count your blessings, hug your family and friends,
thanks for being a part of Country Chatter

 

Please sign our guestbook, so we knew you were here

 

Country Chatter
Cindy Kingren
623-210-3511
(after 4 pm - pacific time)
 dacarebear@yahoo.com
you can reach the kittens at
admin@calicokittendesigns.com