A Cozy Night In

This time of year always seems so busy, so last evening my husband and I were thankful for a cozy night in. This coming week will be filled with Christmas festivities, and it was nice to have a quiet, relaxing evening. We had been given a fresh pineapple, and I had some bananas on hand - so I thought I would whip up a little snack for our evening. I melted some milk chocolate with a little bit of oil, cut up our fruit, and we enjoyed some yummy fondue while watching Jack Frost. Perfect night in!

By the way, I'm loving this little clay dish I recently purchased at TJ Maxx. It was perfect for the fondue. I was able to use it on the stove top to melt the chocolate, and it made a very cute dipping dish!

Farm To Table Dinner Party

This has been a very busy, but fun weekend! We hosted our Farm to Table dinner party with 10 of our friends. Each dish on the menu incorporated local produce - most of it from our own garden. I spent Friday and Saturday cooking and cleaning, and today I'm happy to be able to relax some! I was hoping to be able to get more pictures during our evening, but I was so busy keeping up with the food. I sadly didn't get any photos after the guests arrived. Things turned out great, and it was a wonderful evening. I hope to share some of the recipes I used for the meal in the next few weeks. For now, here are a few photos of the tablescape and other decor.

I realized quickly that our tiny kitchen did not have space for all the dishes I was going to be using. My handy husband happened to just build this shelf for the garage, and let me use it to keep my dishes on for the evening. I loved the way it looked with the linen table runner across it - a little rustic!

And this was the appetizer station. I love artichokes, and they make lovely decorations!

Beverage Station: Beverage tags are from Ballard Designs, Drink Dispensers are from Pottery Barn.

I managed to get one "food" photo of our soup for the evening. This Tuscan Vegetable Soup was absolutely so flavorful!

After months of planning and days of preparation, it was a great success! I had a lot of fun with the theme, and all the food turned out great. I tried many new recipes that I'm sure I will make again. Now I need to start thinking about a theme for the next one we host!

Dinner Menu

This Saturday we're hosting a Farm to Table dinner party at our house. Earlier this year we starting getting together with a few other couples and having themed dinner parties. We go all out with the theme and plan a huge meal. My husband and I decided to do the Farm to Table theme as right now our garden is giving us lots of great produce! I finshed our menus, and I'm happy with how they turned out! I was going for a simple look, and I love the radishes at the top. I'll be spending the next few days cooking, cleaning, and decorating. I hope to do a blog entry on the dinner party next week sometime!

Sunday Baking - New Bowls!

For months I regularly looked at these mixing bowls on Pottery Barn's website wishing they were in my kitchen. I kept hoping they'd run a sale or go on clearance - I loved these bowls. I tried to forget about them and tell myself I really didn't need them -but they're just so pretty! And it is of those purchases that I don't regret at all! After talking with my husband about how wonderful it would be to have them, he said " buy them." I was a bit surprised at his response, because he doesn't often encourage me to buy stuff (he usually talks me out of it!) After thinking about it though, I bake A LOT. At least 2-3 times a week! I'd get plenty of use out of these bowls, and my other plastic mixing bowl set was cracked. I felt I could justify this purchase, even if it was a bit more than I'd normally spend for mixing bowls. I finally caved in the beginning of July and ordered these mixing bowls (with a free shipping coupon to save a little bit of money). Then I waited, and waited. They went on back order for like three weeks. As soon as I got the "shipped" email, I checked the tracking information like 10 times a day. Finally, the day they were at my front door, I was so excited - only to open a package filled with broken and chipped bowls; what a let down! Pottery Barn was quick to replace my order though, and a week (a very loong week) later they arrived in tact. This time perfect! 

Rhodes Mixing Bowls - Pottery Barn

This Sunday evening was a perfect night to get some use out of them. I was craving some chocolate, so I used my favorite Brownie Recipe. Mmm, great way to end the weekend!

Garlic Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Tonight for dinner I made one of our favorite side dishes - garlic mashed sweet potatoes. I have a great recipe for garlic mashed potatoes, and recently I decided to make it using sweet potatoes - and I'm glad I did! I love sweet potatoes, but adding extra sweetness with sugar and marshmallows is not for me - too sweet! Whenever I prepare sweet potatoes, I always use garlic and other Italian seasonings, and the flavor is great! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do.

Garlic Mashed Sweet Potatoes

3 sweet potatoes

2 tsp garlic powder

3 oz of cream cheese

2 TBSP butter

1/8 to 1/4 cup of milk

paprika

First you peel and cube your sweet potatoes. Boil the sweet potatoes until soft. Place the sweet potatoes into a mixer with the cream cheese, butter, and garlic powder. Mix the potatoes to mash, and slowly add your milk to the desired consistency. Place in a baking dish, dot with butter, and sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. 

Brownie Box

Turns out the berry boxes I blogged about on Friday also make cute brownie boxes! Tomorrow at work we have an ice cream sundae party, and I volunteered to bring the brownies. Love them! 

Berry Box Colander

I'm in love with these ceramic berry boxes. I first saw beautiful handmade ones at a cute shop in Glenside, PA while visiting some friends - but they were a little pricey. I happened to come across a similar style on pinterest, and it was linked to Crate and Barrel. I was so excited when I saw these lovely berry colanders were only $4.95 each! I picked up three of them, and I couldn't be happier with this product. Add a little charm to your brunch and serve fresh fruit in these! And, how cute of gift would this be to fill with berries from your garden?

Crate and Barrel Berry Box

Strawberry Pie with Short Bread Crust

The first week of June is my favorite. My husband and I get to celebrate our anniversary and usually take a few days off, the weather is always perfect, and I can expect fresh strawberries about this time. Strawberries are one of my favorite fruits, and with them I make my favorite summer dessert - Fresh Strawberry Pie!

I always make my strawberry pie with a short bread crust - a very simple recipe.

Mix together 1 stick of butter, 1 cup of flour, and 1 TBSP of sugar. Then you press the dough into a pie plate and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. 

After your pie shell is cool, cut into halves about a quart of fresh strawberries

Next, mix 3/4 cup sugar, 2 TBSP of corn starch, and 1 1/2 cups of water together in a saucepan. Cook this mixture on medium heat until it becomes thick and clear. Remove the pan from the heat, and mix in (1) 3 oz box of strawberry jello. Place your fresh strawberries onto your cooled pie crust, and then pour the jello mixture over the top. Refrigerate until the jello sets.

Can't wait to enjoy a piece of this deliciousness! 

Chicken Flat Bread Recipe

We were invited to a cook out last evening - and it was a beautiful night to be outside! Beforehand, I was looking for something to take along in which I could include some fresh produce from our garden. I came across a recipe for Chicken Florentine Flat Bread from the blog Creme de la Crumb. As I scanned the ingredient list, I knew it would be an amazing dish. And I was able to use some of our spinach and fresh basil in this flavorful recipe! If you're looking for a great appetizer, I highly recommend this one

I made my own flat bread using this recipe.

Saturday Morning Breakfast

I love Saturdays... so many great things happen on this day! The house gets cleaned, baking is done, time is spent enjoying the beautiful outdoors, and I get to crawl into freshly washed sheets at night (one of the best feelings ever). I especially love Saturdays when I have the time to make a nice breakfast. I love sitting down with that husband of mine with a cup of coffee and some delicious food. This morning was one of those Saturdays. I whipped up some pancakes (chocolate chip, of course!) cut up some fruit, and made some homemade whipped cream (ah-mazing!) 

Here is my favorite Pancake Recipe. (I just add chocolate chips as I cook them on the stove top). 

The homemade whipped cream is ever so simple! Just put heavy cream and a little bit of powdered sugar (amount depends on how sweet you like it, I use about 1/4 cup to 1 cup of heavy cream) in your mixer and mix it on the highest setting until it turns into whipped cream consistency.

Le Cruset Dutch Oven

Whew! It's been a busy last two weeks - not a whole lot of time to sit down and blog! Today, I'm excited to post about a new kitchen toy I've picked up :) For the last year I've had my eye on a Le Cruset dutch oven... but they're sooo expensive! I would regularly check random places looking for a deal, and I finally found one! If you would have told me a few years ago that I would be this excited about a dutch oven, I would have laughed at you. They have so many lovely colors to choose from, but I've had my eye on the dijon color from their classic line. The new yellow (soleil) is also pretty, but its a bit to bright for me! I like that this one is more mustard colored. It fits in a little better with my kitchen. I also love their caribbean blue and the palm green, but those two colors didn't go as nicely with the rest of my kitchen decor. I have yet to make anything in my dutch oven because we've been so busy, but I cannot wait to finally scratch out some time to make a delicious soup. 

Le Cruset Dutch Oven

flower painted measuring cups

Who knew that my favorite wedding gift would be something so small and something I hadn't even registered for.  When I opened these beautiful measuring cups I was pretty excited. Out of the mountains of gifts we received, this tiny package held a lovely surprise. I admit though, I don't use them as measuring cups. They are just too pretty to use as a kitchen tool, and I fear I may chip one of them. I have them on display in my kitchen on the window sill, and occasionally I'll use them for entertaining. They are great for putting sugar in to serve with coffee, used as dip bowls, and they would make a great display for an ice cream topping bar! Later this year we are having a garden themed party, and I'm sure these will make an appearance. 

I believe that they were purchased from anthropologie, but they are no longer an available product. They do have similar ones for sale here - Anthropologie Measuring Cups

Southern Living

Southern Living is my favorite magazine... especially this time of year! It gets me excited for Spring gardening and decorating. I've always wanted to live in the south, and I love all the recipes, decorating tips, and stories this magazine shares. Southern Living has a product line through Ballard Designs, and everything is amazing. Whenever I think about the South, I think warm weather, beautiful flowers, southern hospitality, sweet tea, and great food. This magazine reflects all of that! I get an instant mood boost whenever it arrives in the mail, and I know exactly how my evening will be spent :) 

Entertaining Pieces

I love entertaining pieces. I especially love the styles of Pottery Barn and Ballard Designs. Having friends over for meals can be a bit stressful at times due to all the preparations, but I love it because I get to use my favorite tabletop dishes! White/Cream entertaining dishes always catch my eye when I'm browsing. They go well with 

anything, and I love the clean and simple look. 

In the picture below, I pulled out a few of my favorites. I got the trifle bowl as a gift, so I'm not sure exactly where it came from. It adds a lot of elegance to a simple dessert! I have made numerous trifles and desserts in this dish, and it always looks great. 

I also love my beverage containers. In the very back  of the picture there is a large glass jar with a ladle for serving. I prefer this style over a standard punch bowl. You can't see it - but the lid and ladle are hammered, and I love that extra detail. You can fill it up with your favorite punch recipe, and I like to add in some fresh fruit. I also love my juice jars. These are perfect for brunches. I've seen so many versions of the juice jar, and I love them all. Next to my juice jar is my milk carafe. Another great piece for brunches!  I purchased all three of these beverage dispensers at Pottery Barn.

It is difficult to see in the photo, but on my serving trays are three miniature pitchers. I received these as a gift, and they are part of the Southern Living Collection from Ballard Designs. They are the cutest little pitchers ever. They work great for salad dressing and sauces. I hate having a salad dressing bottle on the table when hosting a meal, and these were absolutely perfect for it!

These are just a few of my favorite pieces, I could go on and on! Entertaining pieces are probably my favorite thing to shop for! We don't have a whole lot of space in our home, so I try and purchase pieces that are versatile and that coordinate well with the rest of my collection.

Cutting Boards

Another favorite thing of mine ... cutting boards!  Who knew such a simple thing could come in so many sizes, shapes, and stains. They add natural looking decor to the kitchen when you have them on display. They also make great serving pieces - especially when serving bread. I especially love the big pizza cutting boards too. I'm not a collector of anything, but I could collect these! My husband's grandma has the cutest pig cutting board, and every time I'm in her house - I want it! What can I say? Such a random object, but I love them!

Almond Biscotti

I've got a sweet tooth, and I always have to have something sweet in the morning. One of my favorite things to make for breakfast is Almond Biscotti. It's a fairly simple recipe, and you can add what you like to spice it up a bit. Sometimes I add some chocolate chunks or drizzle it with chocolate. In the summer, I added some lavender from my herb garden, and it was very refreshing. Get creative and see what you come up with!

First, you mix 2 eggs and 2/3 cup of sugar.

Then you grind up 3/4 cup of almonds in a food processor (I use a mini chopper). Add the almonds, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 3/4 cup of flour, and 1 tsp vanilla to the egg mixture and mix for about 2 minutes.

You will have a sticky dough like the picture above. Take the dough onto a greased cookie sheet and flatten it out in a log shape about 1/2 inch thick (shown below).

Bake the "log" in the oven at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes. Once it is removed from the oven, let it cool for 5-10 minutes.

Slice the log at an angle into pieces about 1/2 inch in width. Turn each slice on its side (shown above), and bake it in the oven again for 5 minutes. Turn the biscotti onto its other side, and bake again for 5 minutes.

Allow the biscotti to cool, and then...enjoy this "twice baked" cookie with coffee! 

Homemade Ice Cream

For Christmas this year I got the ice cream maker kitchen aid attachment. After a month of anticipation I finally got to use it! It's been quite a while since I've had homemade ice cream, and I've never made it before today. 

I used a simple vanilla ice cream recipe: 

2 cups half and half

2 cups of whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup of sugar

Then I added some strawberries for some extra flavor :)

It was so simple! I highly recommend this if you have a kitchen aid mixer. You just stick the freezer bowl in the freezer overnight, mix up your ice cream batter and refrigerate for a few hours, and then in 20 minutes you mix up delicious homemade ice cream.

A great treat for a Friday night!

Artichoke Napkin

So today my custom made "Garden Fresh" stamp came in the mail, and I was able to complete that project I was working on yesterday. I'm so happy with how it turned out. So far I've only completed an artichoke napkin, but I cannot wait to try my other vegetable stamps! Just had to share the finished product with you.

Stamped Napkins

So I tried something new today! I don't often "craft," but this evening I put my Martha Stewart hat on.  A few weeks ago I had a great idea -  stamping linen napkins. As you already know - I love linen, and I wanted to try and add some accents to a plain linen napkin. I got online and ordered a set of rubber vegetable stamps from a seller on ebay, some linen napkins from save-on-crafts.com, and a fabric ink pad from Amazon.com. I briefly researched how and if this might work online, and I set out to create something unique.

My favorite stamp out of the set was the artichoke. The process was fairly simple - I just put ink on the stamp and pressed down on the linen napkin. 

This isn't the finished product though. I had a stamp custom made that says "garden fresh" which I have not yet received in the mail yet. When this comes, I plan to stamp this underneath. I'll share a picture of the finished product soon. I just love the simple design! You could also try this project on a tea towel and give it as a hostess gift. There are so many different designs you can do for this. So of my thoughts included:

Winter  - a moose or pine trees

Spring - florals, herbs

Summer - vegetables and fruit

Fall - leaves, pumpkins, apples

This project made me anxious for Spring. I cannot wait to plant and harvest our garden. There is nothing better than garden fresh veggies.

New Years Fortune Cookies

So we're going to a New Years party tonight, and I decided I would attempt to make fortune cookies to take along. I've never made these before, and it took me almost 3 hours  to make them yesterday, but I had lots of fun doing it. 

I found an easy recipe from Allrecipies.com

Fortune Cookies

I bought the glittery stars at Michaels in their cake decorating section, and I sprinkled them on before baking. 

For the fortunes, I used famous New Years quotes from this website:

New Years Quotes

Can't wait to try one tonight!