A Red Transferware Thanksgiving

 

The food has been prepared, the table is set, and we are ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow!

 

 

Each place setting is a different pattern of red transferware.

I started collecting red transferware dishes about 15 years ago, and now have enough

for our 8 member family, plus a few extra. (:

 

For a centerpiece this year I went simple and rustic, with deer antlers, leaves, pumpkins, and candles.

 

This Pilgrim platter was a gift from my Mom this year and will hold lots of turkey tomorrow.

 

Awhile back I bought these fun Pilgrim and Indian placecard holders at a yard sale,

they are fun to pull out every year.

 

I hope everyone is hungry tomorrow!  Something different we did this year was let each person choose a side dish to go along with the turkey.  So here's our menu:

 

Turkey

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Cornbread Stuffing

Green Bean Casserole

Tuna Pasta Salad

Corn

Red Cinnamon Pickles

Cranberry Bread

Corn Muffins

Apple Pie

Pumpkin Cake

 

Makes me hungry just thinking about it!

 

I am including the recipe for Cranberry Bread below (pictured above), it is a yearly favorite around here, and can easily be made gluten free by substituting gluten free flour.  You can also easily double or triple it.

 

Cranberry Bread

 

1 egg

1/2 c. orange juice

2 T. melted butter

2 T. hot water

2 c. flour

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 c. sugar

1 c. raw whole cranberries

 

Beat together first four ingredients, then blend in remaining dry ingredients.  Gently stir in cranberries.  Pour into greased loaf pan.  Bake at 325 for 60 min.  Let cool 15 min. before removing from pan.

 

 I am joining Home and Garden Thursday and No Place Like Home

Little Girls' Woodland Tea Party

This morning my Mom and I hosted a tea party for Miss E's Sunday School class girls, their moms, and their grandmas, at my parents' home.  We had a fun time preparing for it so I thought you might like to see what we came up with.

We had a woodland theme, so my mom made place card holders out of sticks, and we gave acorn Christmas ornaments as favors.

Each place setting was unique.  We had fun matching the tea cups to the dessert plates.

And speaking of dessert, we had these strawberry shortcakes with butterflies on top, served in my mom and sister's green depression glass custard cups.

These little cheese hearts were fun to eat!  I just bought some thickly sliced cheese from the deli and cut them out with a cookie cutter.

I also made acorns out of a chocolate chip, a mini Nutter Butter, and a Hershey's Kiss.

My mom designed this beautiful woodland centerpiece, complete with fairies, pink bottle brush trees, a path, trellis, and around back...

the fairies are having their own tea party!

 I also made these little stuffed cherry tomatoes, and since the recipe was requested, I will share it here.

BLT Bites

16-20 cherry tomatoes

1/2 package bacon bits

1/2 c. mayonnaise

3 oz. cream cheese

3 T. parmesan cheese

1 T. parsley

1/4 t. onion powder

Cut tops off of cherry tomatoes and scoop out seeds.  Combine remaining ingredients. Using a baby spoon, stuff filling inside of tomatoes.  Refrigerate several hours before serving.

I am joining No Place Like Home and A return to loveliness today!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

 

Last week when Miss E and I had our tea party we had Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake.  This is one of our favorite cake recipes so I thought I'd share the recipe with you all.  It also works very well to use this cake in a chocolate trifle, layering crumbled cake, chocolate pudding, cool whip and chocolate chips twice in a trifle bowl. 

 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

 

1 3/4 c. boiling water

1 c. uncooked oatmeal

2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. butter

2 large eggs

1 3/4 c. flour

1 t. soda

1/2 t. salt

2 T. cocoa

1 pkg. chocolate chips

 

Pour boiling water over oatmeal and butter.  Let stand 10 minutes.  Add sugar and eggs and mix well.  Add dry ingredients to mixture, using half of chocolate chips.  Spread in greased 9x13 pan.  Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

Just Peachy

We are blessed to have friends with a peach and apple orchard close by, and I love getting their peaches each year.  Peaches are just so much better picked ripe off the tree, rather than what you get at the grocery store.  So when you have a bunch of peaches, what can you do but make some Peach Cobbler and have a little tea party?

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

I used my "Hope" tea cup, by Sandy Clough.  Without the hope I have in Jesus, my life would be a train wreck by now, I'm sure.

Miss E used my favorite demitasse size teacup, it is the pattern Castleton Manor.

Here is my Peach Cobbler recipe, if you'd like to try it---

4 cups sliced and peeled fresh peaches

1 1/4 c. sugar, divided

1/2 c. butter, melted

3/4 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

pinch salt

3/4 c. milk

In a bowl gently toss peaches and 3/4 c. sugar, set aside. Pour butter into 2 qt. baking dish. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining sugar, stir in milk.  Mix well. Pour evenly over butter (do not stir). Top with peach mixture. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes or till golden brown.  Serve with ice cream if desired.

I'm joining Tea time Tuesday again today.

Going Gluten Free Simply

Three years ago, after having my first seizures, my doctor recommended that I go gluten free.  At first this was extremely daunting to me, but it has worked out to be not a big deal.  Since many people have to go off of gluten these days, I thought I'd share a few of my experiences with you and pass on what I know, in case you're interested.

Many of the gluten free recipes I have found online seem so complicated, with all sorts of strange ingredients, or they also try to leave out all kinds of other ingredients like eggs or dairy, which don't bother me.  So, since I like simplicity I have found this gluten free flour mix to work very well in many recipes that use baking powder rather than yeast, like quick breads, pancakes, and brownies.  However, I have found that if you do not have eggs in your recipe, it does not work well.  I can substitute gluten free flour for regular flour, or applesauce for eggs in a recipe, but not both!

You can purchase it on Amazon here--  Hodgson Mill Gluten Free Baking Mix

The one place I use it with yeast is in my pizza crust, which is simple.  Here is the recipe--

Gluten Free Pizza Crust

1/2 c. gluten free baking mix
1/2 tsp. yeast
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 Tbsp. oil
1/4 c. warm water

Mix and spread on greased cast iron skillet.  Bake at 425 for 5-10 minutes, top with favorite toppings and bake 10 more minutes or till cheese is slightly browned.  (serves 1)

Another easy gluten free bread I love that satisfies my bread cravings is this gluten free cornbread mix.  Trust me, it is so good!  It is found at Walmart or online at Amazon here-- Hodgson Mill Gluten Free Cornbread mix

 

Recently a friend gave me a bunch of her gluten free flours that she no longer needed, and I did a little experimenting this week and made some banana bread with them.  It turned out so great I decided to share that recipe with you too.  It will take a few more ingredients, but these can be found at most health foods stores.

 



 

Gluten Free Banana Bread

 

2 overripe bananas

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

3 Tbsp. milk

1/2 c. rice flour

1/2 c. milo (sorghum) flour

1/2 c. coconut flour

1/2 c. tapioca flour

(or you can just use 2 cups regular flour if you don't need to be gluten free)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c. melted butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. chopped nuts

 

Beat together bananas, sugar, and eggs until light.  Stir in milk.  Add flours, salt, soda and baking powder and mix thoroughly.  Stir in butter, vanilla, and nuts.  Pour into greased loaf pan.  Bake at 350 about an hour or till done.

 

I hope this helps someone!  

 

 

Garden Favorites + Fresh Salsa Recipe

 

We are in our gardening prime right now!  It's not too hot yet, so the weeds are still at a minimum, we've had the third wettest May on record, so I haven't had to water all month, and everything is so very green!  The kids love being able to head out there for a snack whenever they want.  I thought I'd share a few of my favorite things to grow in the garden with you all, they are pictured below.

 

Our strawberry patch has grown bigger and bigger the last couple years and now it takes up about a third of our garden, but that's ok, because we prefer strawberries over green beans any day! (:

 

Sugar snap peas are another favorite, they were introduced to me by my Grandma, who grew them in her garden.  They make a fun snack and are great in stir fry's, if any ever make it inside!

 

Later in the summer a big favorite is all the fixings for fresh salsa!  We have cilantro ready now, which reminds me I need to plant some more so we have another batch ready when the tomatoes finally ripen.  This year I planted more tomatoes than ever, and I also always plant a few hot peppers.  I've included my recipe for fresh salsa that I received from a friend, back when we lived in Tucson, so it's authentic. (:

 

Fresh Garden Salsa

 

3-4 ripe tomatoes, diced

2 hot peppers, seeded and diced

1/4 c. shredded cilantro

1/4 c. diced onion

garlic salt

salt

 

You can adjust this to taste, of course, some people like more pepper and some less.  You have to put in quite a bit of garlic salt and salt, but adjust it to your liking!

I'm joining Home and Garden Thursday.

Saturday morning play dough recipe

Do you need something fun to do with the kids today? How about making some play dough? This is a recipe from our old church cookbook, by my friend Liz. (: Enjoy!

Play Dough--

1/2 c. salt

1 c. flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 c. water

1 T. vegetable oil

food coloring

Mix dry ingredients in large saucepan and add remaining ingredients.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture gets rubbery.  Turn out and knead.  Store in airtight container.

Time for tea

 

The wind is howling outside, so today Miss E

and I had our tea time indoors, at the little kitchen

cupboard she has in her room.  This is the kitchen

cupboard that originally belonged to my Grandma,

and has been passed around to all the girls in the family

ever since.  We were able to go out in the wind this

morning and find a few roses and mums that

escaped the frost last week.  Next week it's supposed

to be even colder so we will enjoy these while

we have them! 

 

This sweet little teapot is made by Sadler, and the two teacups

we chose coordinate nicely with the pink and purple of the flowers,

don't you think?  The smaller one that Miss E used is one of my

favorites, the pattern is Castleton Manor.  The larger teacup is by

Sandy Clough, called "Hope".  For so long we hoped and waited

for Miss E, and now she is here and bringing us so much joy!

 

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 13:12

 

We actually drank real tea this time, it wasn't too hot and

Miss E really loved it- she had three cupful's!  Well, I guess

you would call this real tea- the recipe is below!

 

Vanilla Chai Tea Mix

 

1 cup nonfat dry milk powder

2 cups French vanilla flavored powdered creamer

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups unsweetened instant tea

1 teaspoon ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon nutmeg

 

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.

Store in an airtight container.

Mix 2 heaping tablespoons of mix

into one mug of hot water.

 

Would you care for some tea, too?

 

~ I will be joining Sandi for her tea time next week~

One of those good days

Today was one of those homeschooling days that just went well.  It's nice to have those every once in a while.  We have a science experiment book that we are using this year and one of the lessons was on yeast and how it works. So after learning all about how yeast is alive and likes to eat sugar, which gives it a lot of gas, (carbon dioxide), and how the gluten in the flour makes the air bubbles that hold the gas, we decided to make our own bread.

The boys decided they wanted to make butterhorn rolls.  These are a family favorite. They each had their own bowl of dough, and they did a great job, as you can see!  Everyone enjoyed the results for supper. I've included the recipe below if you'd like to make some.

Butterhorn Rolls

2 tsp. yeast
1/4 c. warm water
1 T. sugar
1 c. water
1/2 c. butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. sugar
4 c. flour
melted butter

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 c. warm water with 1 T. sugar.  In separate large bowl combine 1 c. water with 1/2 c. butter, eggs, salt and 1/3 c. sugar. Add yeast mixture. Stir in enough flour to make a soft dough that's not sticky. Knead and form into a ball.  Let rise till double.  Divide dough in half.  Roll each half into a 12 inch circle. Brush with melted butter. Cut dough into 12 wedges. Roll each one up, starting at wide edge. Place on cookie sheet and let rise till double. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes.

Making Apple Crisp

 

There is a cool breeze blowing,

the leaves are drifting down,

and the smell of apple crisp is in the air!

 

This morning in between home schooling, I made

up an apple crisp for our lunch today.  I had a little

helper, as you can see!  Miss E was my chief taste

tester- she decided sugar tastes a whole lot better

than flour!  She loves to help me cook, which makes

me happy, but I think what she likes best is sampling

everything.  Her brothers aren't too happy about this,

but what can I say?  She's just so cute...

 

Apple crisp is a great way to enjoy the flavors of

fall without being as time consuming as a pie.

It also works very well to make it gluten free,

just use a gluten free flour blend in place of

the regular flour.  Here's the recipe I use all the time-

 

Apple Crisp

 

6 c. peeled and sliced apples

3/4 c. white sugar

1 T. flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

 

Mix and place in a greased 9x9 inch baking dish.

 

3/4 c. oatmeal

3/4 c. flour

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. melted butter

1/4 tsp. soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

 

Mix above till crumbly and place on top of apples.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.  Serve warm with whip cream or ice cream!

The most requested meal~

At our house it's tradition that on your birthday you get to choose the menu for every meal.  Last week was PD's birthday, and he chose Pepperoni Stromboli for supper.  Our whole family loves this, and since it is the most requested birthday meal in our family, I thought the recipe might be worth sharing with you all!  It's not too complicated.


Pepperoni Stromboli


First you have to make the dough.  For this step you can either buy frozen bread dough, and thaw out 2 loaves, or you can make the following dough in your bread machine on the dough setting-

Dough-
1 egg + enough water to make 1 1/2 c.
4 1/2 c. flour
1 t. salt
3 T. sugar
5 T. shortening
2 t. yeast

Divide dough in half.  Roll the first half into a long rectangle, approximately 20" x 8".  Place this rectangle crosswise on a greased cookie sheet. 

Spread about 1/2 c. of pizza sauce down center 4" of rectangle.  Cover with pepperoni and mozzarella cheese.  Fold sides up over top of the cheese, as in photo.

Sauce-
1 16 oz. can tomato sauce
1 1/2 t. oregano
1 1/2 t. basil
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. onion powder

Now take remaining half of your dough, and roll it into another long rectangle, the same size as before.  Cut the dough lengthwise into three strips, and braid, as seen in the photo.  Carefully place on top of cheese.  Pinch ends shut to seal.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Slice and serve with remaining sauce.

Gingerbread Boys

 

When I asked our boys what they wanted to eat for our brunch

on Christmas morning, Grandma's Gingerbread Boys

was the first thing they mentioned- so I thought I'd share the

recipe with you as well, they really are very good!

 

Raisin Gingerbread

 

1 1/4 c. milk

1/2 c. butter

1/4 c. molasses or syrup

1 egg

1/2 t. ginger

1/2 t. salt

1 pkg. yeast

4 1/2 c. flour

1 c. raisins

 

I mixed the dough up in my bread machine, so that made it really easy.  But if you don't have a bread machine here are the "by hand" directions. 

 

In large mixing bowl combine 2 c. flour, yeast and ginger.  In saucepan heat and stir milk, butter, molasses, and salt until warm and butter almost melts.  Add to flour mixture along with egg.  Beat on low speed 30 seconds.  Beat on high speed 3 minutes.  Stir in remaining flour.  Add raisins and stir.  Knead until smooth and elastic.  Cover, let rise till double. 

 

Here is where I picked back up with the recipe when my dough was done in the bread machine- Punch down and let rest 10 minutes.  Roll to 3/4 inch thickness.  Cut into gingerbread boys with cookie cutter.  Place on lightly greased baking sheets.  Cover, let rise till double.  Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.

 

Decorate with butter frosting~

 

In large mixing bowl beat 1/3 c. softened butter until fluffy.  Gradually add 2 c. powdered sugar, beating well.  Slowly beat in 1/4 c. milk and 1 1/2 t. vanilla.  Slowly beat in an additional 2-2 1/2 c. powdered sugar.  Beat in additional milk to make of piping consistency.

Do You Fondue?

To celebrate LA's birthday this week we had fondue for supper.  Do you ever do fondue as a family?  It's lots of fun and we all enjoy it.  There are always lots of fondue pots at garage sales I've noticed, so it would be easy to start your own family fun!  We have to use 2 fondue pots for our family.  I'm not sure if we are doing it the proper way, but this is how we learned in college--

Warm up a pot of chicken broth on the stove before you start, so it's good and hot.  Place broth in fondue pot and light fire underneath.

We put out bowls of carrots, broccoli, mushrooms (my favorite), and cut up steak or little meatballs.  Then everyone can cook whatever sounds good to them.  Any other vegetables would work too.  We have found it's nice to have 2 forks per person so you don't have to wait so long between bites.

I always make a cheese sauce and a garlic sauce to dip the cooked vegetables and meat in.  Here is the garlic sauce recipe:

Garlic Sauce for Fondue

3/4 c. mayonnaise
1/8 c. oil
1 t. mustard
1 t. catsup
dash parsley
garlic powder to taste

Stir and enjoy!

Irises and Double Decker Brownies

Happy Memorial Day!

I drug the family over to the cemetery to look and remember

those who have fought and died to make us free-

they don't enjoy cemeteries as much as I do,

but I think all the history is so interesting!

 

Anyways, today I'm sharing with you a lovely

bouquet of irises that our neighbor lady

brought over last week.  What a sweet surprise!

They made the whole house smell good.

 

 

I think this violet colored frilly iris was my favorite... I think-

they were all so pretty!

 

Of course I had to use my iris tea cup!

 

And I couldn't resist a Double Decker Brownie-

the recipe is below.  It works very well if you are

on a gluten free diet too, since they don't take much flour.

 

Double Decker Brownies

 

1/2 c. butter

3/4 c. white sugar

2 eggs

3/4 c. flour or gluten free baking mix

2 T. cocoa

1/2 t. baking powder

6 oz. chocolate chips

1 c. peanut butter

1 1/2 c. Rice Krispies cereal

2 c. miniature marshmallows

 

Mix together butter, sugar, and eggs.  Blend in flour/baking mix, cocoa, and baking powder.  Place in greased 9x13 pan.  Spread evenly and bake at 350 for 20 min.  Remove and sprinkle miniature marshmallows on top.  Return to oven for 3 minutes.  Let cool.  After bars are cooled, mix the chocolate chips and peanut butter and melt over low heat or in the microwave.  Add cereal and then spread on cooled bars.

 

I am joining Tea Time Tuesday and A Return to Loveliness

Country Egg Scramble

 

When you have 20 something chickens, you end up with lots of eggs.

Here's the best scrambled egg recipe I've come up with yet!

(This is for a family of 7, by the way)

 

Country Egg Scramble

 

Melt 4 T. butter in skillet.

Add frozen hash brown potatoes (I used approximately 5 cups worth) and 1/2 chopped onion.

Salt and pepper.

Fry until potatoes are almost done.

Add 2 cups or so of chopped ham.

Continue to cook until ham and potatoes are lightly browned.

While cooking, scramble 18 eggs.

Pour over potatoes, onions, and ham.

Salt and pepper again.

Add about 1 cup of velveeta cheese, cubed.

Cook and stir until eggs are set and cheese is melted.

 

Add a jar of applesauce and you're all set for supper!

 

Snow Day!

 

Hooray for snow days!  We got a lot of snow here the last

couple days, so everything is closed today.  The boys have

been having lots of fun out there, and come inside to dry

their clothes before they go back out again.  A fun thing

we did this afternoon was make snow ice cream- the

recipe is below if you'd like to try it!

 

Snow Ice Cream

 

2 bowls of fresh clean snow

1/2 c. milk

1/4 c. sugar

few drops vanilla

 

Blend milk, sugar and vanilla in blender.  Send the kids out

to gather snow in their bowl.  Pour cold milk mixture over snow

and stir with spoon.  Enjoy!  (I tripled it for our kids)