Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentine's Day 2011




I'm enjoying a day home, we are out of school for 2 Mondays in February, one for Lincoln's Birthday, and the other is for Washington's Birthday, or President's Day. Either way, I'm home and happy!

My sweetheart Larry is at work. He's feeling much better, has been keeping his weight down, and his energy level is s-l-o-w-ly increasing, bless his heart! This year we will celebrate 35 years married, and I'm glad to have such a love. Our celebration of Valentine's Day will include home cooking, my really thick spaghetti sauce is his favorite, so it's cooking as I type.
Pokey's Really Thick Spaghetti Sauce
I'm not a real measuring person on this recipe, so do as you wish...

in a skillet, brown and stir until cooked and crumbly:
  • 1-2 pounds ground beef
  • 1 pound Italian sweet sausage, casings removed
  • 2 coarsely chopped white onions
  • 3-5 stalks chopped celery (I've even added 1 chopped carrot, chopped zucchini, or 1 diced bell pepper)
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon each basil flakes, and oregano
Add all to a large pot. For the sauce ingredients, add all this to the pot:
  • 2- 14 ounce cans stewed tomatoes (I crush these in my hands, removing peels and tough tops)
  • 2 or 3- 14 ounce cans mushrooms (because we love 'em)
  • 2- 24 ounce jars Newman's Own Sockarooni Sauce
  • more garlic powder, oregano, and basil
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • sometimes I add 4 ounces sliced pepperoni

Cook all to blend the flavors. Serve with a green salad, cooked spaghetti noodles, and garlic bread. The leftovers are great to pack for lunches....



I recently won a sweet mug rug from The Adventures of the Empress of the Universe. You should go meet this gal, she has some serious talent at making these mug rugs, and mine is beautiful! The heart at the top of the post is from this one, too. Always nice to meet a new blogging friend.

I was hoping to work on a finish or two, but that new roll of Amy Butler was calling my name, so here goes....


And because I want to join in a couple more giveaways in the quilting community, go check these out:
  • Stash Resolution has a 6 fat quarter bundle of "Delilah". The deadline to enter is Wednesday, February 16, at midnight EST.
  • Thearica of Pigtales and Quilts is having a sponsored giveaway from the Quilt Depot. A nice blue shopping bag of goodies is the prize, come see. Date giveaway is 02/20 at noon EST.
  • Edited to add: Sew Fun Quilts has a one day giveaway: Red charm squares for Valentine's Day, I'm in for red!


That's it for now, I think I'll go back to stitching!

18 comments:

  1. Happy Valentine's Day, Pokey! Your photography skills are way better than mine... *lol* Glad you like the mug rug!

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  2. Glad to hear your Hubby is improving!

    Mine is off two days this month too, but not the schools! Way too many snow days to make up!!

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  3. My most favorite meal of all times is spagetti...oh my goodness with each child I craved this and with each child I threw it up when the pains got too hard to bear....HA!!! Sorry, didn't want to spoil your love of spagetti....HA!! Love your mug rug.

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  4. Congratulations to both you and Larry on 35 years - so glad he is feeling better! The sauce sounds wonderful - right up my alley - so I think I'm going to give it a shot!!! MmmmMM!

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  5. Your spaghetti looks so yummy and a very cute mug rug indeed.

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  6. Hey Pokey...Happy V Day to you and Larry! Great day for you...no work, good food. Love that mug rug. ohyeah...Amy Butler...how could one ever resist?

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  7. Looks so good I like mushrooms too...happy V day....nice quilt blocks. Trish

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  8. Oh you sound just like my school psychologist sister. Giddy about a day off work! Your Valentine's dinner looks and SMELLS great. Glad to hear that Larry is continuing to improve.

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  9. I knew I could smell spaghetti sauce bubbling away somewhere. Glad Larry is doing much better. By the way, I've started making strip hearts like your last post. So fun.

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  10. Your header is just gorgeous, as is the new quilt! Such vibrant colors...they make me smile!

    The mug rug looked like a cake to me! It was that yummy!

    Thanks for the recipe. We had Italian last night for dinner too!

    Sunshine to you!

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  11. Happy belated Valentine's Day, Pokey... I trust that you had a blessed one. :)

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  12. That sounded like a great Valentine's dinner!

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  13. Oh I am going to try this spaghetti sauce. It looks great. What is sockarooni sauce??? Love your mug rug!!!

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  14. Oh, my, I am hungry for spaghetti! Your recipe sounds good. Will have to give it a try - but make half of it. Hope you had a great day when you were home - and bet you did! Carol

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  15. Your spaghetti sauce looks just wonderful - I'll give it a try soon. Love your mug rug, too.

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  16. Happy Valentine's Day! (A little late!) Thanks for visiting my blog. I love that Amy Butler fabric. I will be back to watch your project as it develops.

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  17. Hi, "Gwen"! So glad to have found another Gwen out there:) I love your Amy Butler quilt squares. Gorgeous colors.

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  18. This sounds delicious!! I am going to print this off and make it next weekend!

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Hello! Thank you for taking time to peek in! If you say hi, I do my best to send back the love :-}pokey