april's days are merry

Getting ready to put a delicious cherry swirl breakfast cake from this cookbook into the oven.

Watching our cows live out the old saying, "The grass is always greener..."

Making paper doilies out of coffee filters after reading Bread and Jam for Frances; the girls wanted to have their snacks on doilies with little flower bouquets just like Frances.

 Creating Tinkerbell slippers with paper, a green marker and cotton balls.

spring break

My mom, dad and little brother were able to come visit last week for their Spring Break! My dad and little bro worked outside in the yard and trimmed our hedges and roses, and my mom and I stayed busy inside working on several projects, one of which was making mini key lime pie tarts with the Pampered Chef tart pans she brought from home. Seriously, this post should be titled how many pictures of key lime pie can one post? I couldn't help myself. They were just so, so pretty. I jumped up and down squealing after my mom placed a slice of lime on top of the first little tart.


So those are the tarts. :) And they were delicious, by the way! Now for the curtains...

we made these kitchen curtains out of a vintage tablecloth. I love how they turned out! We also made my girls little black ruffled skirts for their school's spring program, because I was so disappointed in the current selection in stores of little girls' skirts.

Then we went paper shopping. We have the best craft store here, Craft Warehouse, and it has the c-u-t-e-s-t paper selection ever. Makes up for the lack of decent little girls' skirts in this town...almost. My mom gave me a few sheets of paper from a pack that she purchased and I was able to make a little banner.

a yummy [early] christmas morning

red velvet pancake batter in my new jadeite mixing bowl from Gracie

Today was Christmas morning at our house, since we'll be celebrating with family this weekend. When we unpacked last month, I was so sad to find a broken jadeite mixing bowl in one of our kitchen boxes. Gracie told Phil that she wanted to find one for me for Christmas, so they searched on Ebay, found one and ordered it. I was so surprised this morning!

yummy vanilla bean cream cheese frosting

Christmas on a plate

...and peppermint hot chocolate to go with

home

"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort."

-Jane Austen

Sorry for another kitchen post.
I'm just having so much fun in here.

It feels so good to be able to cook again and to wear my apron again.
It's the little things...

I always sigh a big sigh as I tie on my apron strings again after a long trip. It just means I'm home again and all's right with the world.

my almost-done dream kitchen

I thought I'd take a few minutes to post pictures of our kitchen...things are really coming along!

The countertops will be installed tomorrow morning and we still need to put up the trim, the baseboards, a few more cabinet doors and the cabinet door knobs.

I love the view from the kitchen with the far wall removed. There was a tiny bit of space between the end of the counter and that wall--too small for a table--it seemed like such a waste of space. The countertop on the peninsula will extend out about a foot so we can tuck stools underneath.

Original hardwood floors (c. 1925)

The freshly-painted white cabinets make the kitchen look so bright and cheery!

See this post for a few before pictures.

just dreaming

I think I need this.

kitchen dreaming

One more month until we get the keys to our new house! There are a few little {big} projects we'd like to do before moving in, so I've been dreaming away. I hate spending money, so we'll see how much of my dreaming becomes reality. The home was built in 1925. I can imagine the kitchen was as dreamy as anything, but it was "updated" to brown, orange, gold and maroon. I know, makes me cringe, too. So here are a few ideas that are spinning around in my head...

I can't decide if I want to remove the maroon wallpaper and paint the walls white or this soft, buttery yellow. What do you think?

My accent colors will be red and this tiffany blue/turquoise.
I'd like to change out or paint the dark brown cabinets to white in order to brighten up the room a bit. I also want to remove a couple of cabinet doors to expose my turquoise and red dishes.

The current countertops are a golden tile with thick grout. I would love to change it out with this milky white marble, but boy is it pricey!

The current flooring is a golden yellow ceramic tile with orange and brown flowers. I really like this tile, but I'm thinking it might be a little too busy for a kitchen. What do you think? It might look better in a bathroom--which leaves me searching for flooring ideas. Any thoughts?

I love this subway tile for the backsplash. Right now the countertop tile is extended up the wall for the backsplash.

And now for this little issue...

The house is brick, painted white on the outside. My husband said that when we remove the wallpaper, we could keep going and remove the plaster on the exterior wall and expose the brick on that one wall. I love this idea, but I'm wondering if it would go well with the bright yellow and white. I'd like to brighten up the kitchen and I'm wondering if the brick would be too dark. And would it look good with the white tile and white marble? Hmmm...

dinner with friends

I just found this picture and realized that I meant to post it months ago!

A few months ago, our family hosted an Italian dinner night with dear friends.

Each of us contributed something...

antipasto salad

bread sticks

spaghetti

tiramisu (my ultimate weakness)

sparkling Italian soda

and drippy candles.

stuffed french toast

This recipe for stuffed French toast (sent to me by the same friend who makes yummy pound cake) is oh-so-good!

I made up several little French toast "sandwiches," put them in the freezer over night, and then baked them on a well-buttered cookie sheet for about 30 minutes the next day.

a happy little party

Several months ago, I spotted tissue paper pom-pom kits in the craft section at Wal-Mart.

I wanted to make a few to decorate for a birthday party, but our Wal-Mart has scaled down its craft section and, sadly, they were all gone.

I searched online and found these super easy instructions to make them.

Seeing them suspended from my kitchen ceiling still makes me happy!

This also makes me happy...

A dear friend brought all of the ingredients to make yummy strawberry trifle.

The pound cake was made from scratch.

And it was real pound cake--she used a whole pound of butter. :)

fondue

I'm so excited to have a couple of dear friends over tomorrow night for fondue and Emma.

On the menu:

dark chocolate sauce

strawberries

bananas

cheesecake

pound cake

pretzels

marshmallows

dried cherries

Do you fondue?

Do you prefer dark chocolate, white chocolate, cheese?

What do you like to dip?

bruschetta pasta

Last week I racked my brain to think of a meal to bring a friend who recently had a baby. I simmered roma tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic and red onion for about an hour to make a sauce, purchased fettuccine noodles from the refrigerated section of the grocery store and called it Bruschetta Pasta.

I placed the ingredients in this mini burlap sack that I found stashed in my every-growing collection of gift bags. I opened the package of noodles and placed them in a zip-lock bag, added a few cherry tomatoes and extra basil leaves in another zip-lock, and some Romano cheese in another. I used one of my Farm Chicks Labels to write out the instructions and tied it off with some raffia.

I get a little nervous when I cook for other people. I'm always afraid they won't like what I bring over. What meals have you prepared to take over to a friend's house? I could use a few more ideas.

guest post

I'm over at 4 Reluctant Entertainers today sharing a few thoughts on entertaining moms and little ones in my home. You can find my post here.

...and Happy Fall!

jar full of sprinkes

Doesn't this make you happy? I was so excited to use one of my new Farm Chicks tags to label my jar of rainbow sprinkles!

old fashioned picnic dinners

With warmer weather on its way, I need to shift gears. After months of planning and preparing cozy winter meals, I'm definitely ready for yummy salads and anything grilled--chicken, steak, veggies, pizza. I picked up these plastic food baskets at Cost Plus a few weeks ago. Aren't they fun?

And I love how sliced watermelon looks in my new bowl!

What do you look forward to making for your family (or eating) with summer on the horizon?

the farm chicks in-person!

Guess who I get to meet on Saturday? You guessed it! These wonderful ladies, Teri and Serena, otherwise known as The Farm Chicks. I'd say, "ha ha," but that would be a bit immature, don't you think? It's not like we're meeting for coffee or anything...I'm just running to the grocery store to pick up a few items and, oh, getting my new cookbook signed!

I can hardly wait. Do any of you own their new cookbook? It's wonderful!

vintage kitchen towels

What is it about vintage kitchen towels?

They make me smile.

They don't have to match; they don't even have to be clean. Mine get a bit grubby from little hands around here...

"use the towel after you wash your hands, please."

I guess that's what makes them so special.

mrs. morgan's caramel corn (make it in your microwave!)

I no longer have a microwave--long story. But the only thing I miss about having one is being able to make this delicious and 0h-so-easy recipe for caramel corn in a brown paper bag. Hope you get a chance to try it. I promise you won't be disappointed!

What you'll need:

4 quarts of popped popcorn (I pop 1/2 cup of kernels in my popcorn popper)

Combine:
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick of butter or margarine
1/4 cup white Karo Syrup
1/2 tsp. salt

Boil in microwave for 2 minutes (don't stir).
It must boil for 2 minutes.

Remove from microwave and add 1/2 tsp. baking soda. Stir.

Put popped popcorn in a brown paper bag.
Pour syrup over popcorn, close bag and shake.

Microwave on high for 1 1/2 min.
Remove bag and shake.

Microwave on high for another 1 1/2 min.
Remove bag and shake.

Cool in a single layer on waxed paper.

Problem Solved

Yum...

and yum.

Probably not the best thing to snack on at 11:00 at night, so I tossed in a banana.

Much better.