Ruby Red Thanksgiving!


When you've lost three of the people who were always seated at your Thanksgiving Dinner table, it gets harder to enjoy the holiday. When you have a seven year old, you have to keep going as if nobody is missing so you can create important memories and keep traditions alive. The method to my "Ruby Red Thanksgiving" madness was to do things differently enough, that some of those painful memories stayed in the background of the day for my daughter and me. I think it worked! We sure missed Papa Joe, Old Papa Jim and Old Grandma Doris ... but the day was a good one.

The Ruby Red theme started with this red satin pumpkin place mat! I found them at Ross' right before Halloween and since I already had a blue theme going for Halloween, I just set them aside! As I started remembering some red pumpkins I had in storage, I began pondering the red tablescape.


Then I met this guy! Hobby Lobby finally put him on sale, so I could afford to add him to my collection of turkeys and the silver and "Ruby Red" tablescape started to unfold.  I am really traditional and have a big collection of  ceramic turkeys, many of which were painted by my daughter when she was a youngster, but this year, I left them in storage. I'm glad I did.

The centerpiece was compiled of lots of other things that Phoebe and I found while shopping at our favorite junk store! The red satin pumpkin, the small silver ceramic pumpkins and the cluster of red apples and berries came from "Miss Judy's shop". The glittery squash came from a box we found in our storage! The silver turkeys, metal pumpkin and silver braches studded with red gems ... all came from HL at some point! The red mercury glass was a new find!


There were other important parts of the tablescape! Red velvet napkins from Miss Judy's and silver napkin rings!

Red Waterford crystal glasses and a red crystal beverage decanter added to the theme!

Cambridge turkey flatware has graced our table for ten years!

 

Thanksgiving was a good day and our menu was delicious!

Sausage and Cheese Balls to get us Started!

Ambrosia with Orange Cream Sauce
Cranberry Sauce
Turkey and Dressing with Giblet Gravy
Fried Corn with Smoked Sausage
Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Pecans and Dried Cherries
Hot Rolls and Butter
Mashed Potatoes
Candied Yams
Pumpkin Pie
Raisin Pie




I'll be sharing my post with a few parties and hope you think it is unique and wonderful!  Please make sure you click through to see the other party posts!


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Free Cream of Mushroom Soup from Thanksgiving Leftovers!


Thanksgiving leftovers used to make me a lot happier than they do at this point in my life! When I was working and feeding a family, I enjoyed having quick turkey and dressing in the freezer. I could come home and pop a casserole in the microwave and we had a good meal ... fast! Now, I don't have a reason to worry about that, and this year I planned to have as little food left as possible!

 After sending a care package home with my daughter's family, I had this left: 2 cups of wild rice, 1 cup of mashed potatoes, half a box of fresh mushrooms that I didn't use, 3 cups of really good gravy, some turkey and 3 scoops of dressing! I froze the dressing to have with another meal; froze the turkey to make turkey salad sandwich spread later in December; froze half of the gravy poured over the wild rice for a soup pot in January; and the rest went into Cream of Mushroom Soup!

 It was delicious and easy. I sauteed a 1/2 cup of chopped onion, a 1/2 cup of chopped celery, and a 1/2 cup of chopped carrots in a little butter and canola oil ... until they were tender. Then I added the mushrooms (sliced) and the gravy. I let all that simmer together; added the mashed potatoes for thickening ... and a couple cups of Half and Half. Because the gravy was well seasoned, I added just a little more salt and pepper ... and a sprig of thyme. This makes great soup! At my house, it won't last long, but if you cook for one, you can freeze small portions. Thaw/heat in the microwave for a quick lunch! This soup is "free" because it came from leftovers!

 I'll be sharing this recipe with a few parties. Make sure you click through to see the other posts. 
The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Monday 
Full Plate Thursday-Miz Helen's Country Cottage 

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Halloween Cards & Banners


I hope to post more Halloween a little later this week, but might not get it done until after Halloween!  Miss Phoebe and I have been pretty busy making a Halloween Tree and Halloween wreaths. Sometimes my real work gets in the way, though ... and I have to do other things on this computer! So, I'm posting some cards ... one for Phoebe ... and the rest are assembled into banner! I just made a day to work with my friend, Cricut! I purchased a scrapbooking set, "Once Upon a Time" and really wanted to work with it.


Here's the banner hanging on my kitchen shelf!

Here are the individual cards.






 I'll be sharing this post with a few parties, so make sure you click through after you visit my home page to see the rest of my posts!  Thanks for visiting.


Creatively Living for Monday  Funday Party 
The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Monday 
The DIY Dreamer for From Dream To Reality Tues  
Our Home Away From Home for Tuesdays @ Our Home 
We Call it Junkin! 
Knick of Time for Knick of Time Tues  Inspire Me Tuesday  
Creative Muster
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Blue Grapes for Autumn!


I have always loved this Metlox pattern "Sculptured Grapes" in blue ... but I sure don't need anything added to my vast collection of dinnerware!  I had vowed ... since I've been selling dinnerware for the last two years ... to buy no more! Then I walked into our Goodwill store one early summer day and saw this ...


The coffee pot, sugar, creamer, 4 salad plates and a 14 inch platter were priced at $35. I was good and passed it by. I did go home and check the online price of the coffee pot, realizing it would cost more than the price for all the dishes at Goodwill. The next time I went in, there it was in the glass cabinet ... still. This time it was priced at $8. I was sure that was a mistake or that each piece was $8, so I asked. Home it came ... all for $8.00 ... and the summer of 2014 became the summer of the quest for Metlox blue grapes ... but only at 'junkin' prices!

Here's the end result!



The secondary theme for this tablescape became 'baskets'! I was in the mood for a combination of blues, green and beige and the baskets fit right in! I have more baskets than any human needs, but I did not have any corn husk place mats. Be careful where you buy those because they are sometimes very pricey. Not so at Walmart ... just $2.99 each.

This little salad/dessert bowl is the Button pattern ... could be Federal glass or Anchor Hocking. I have lots of this pattern from the 70s.  The blue iced tea glass is Fostoria in the Jamestown pattern and the small clear wine glass is the perfect size for dessert wine ... bigger than a cordial but smaller than a wine glass!


This pretty centerpiece came from one of my favorite junkin' stops ... and all I had to do was add the blue dahlias and the flameless candle!

My sunroom is going to be filled with blue pumpkins in a few days and I'll post about that, but in the meantime take a look at these cute little blues tucked in under the centerpiece.




Take a look at the embroidered leaves and vines on the table runner. I found that at TJM a few weeks ago ... nothing to match it ... but I thought the corn husk placemats would be perfect and I always have napkins that match because I have drawers filled with napkins from 35 years of dinner parties!


The various baskets on the table are shown in the collage below ... the centerpiece is in a basket ... the place mats ... the beverage service is placed on a big basket tray and the potpourri is sitting in a basket tray.





Hope you enjoyed the sculptured grapes! I had a good time collecting enough to set the table ... and serve a nice meal. I'll be sharing this post with a few parties ... so make sure you click through to visit the other posts. Take a look at my home page first and you might be interested in my daughter's frugal cooking blog shown in my sidebar. Be sure you check back in a week or so to see the rest of my blue pumpkins!

Creatively Living for Monday  Funday Party 
The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Monday 
The DIY Dreamer for From Dream To Reality Tues  
Our Home Away From Home for Tuesdays @ Our Home 
We Call it Junkin! 
Knick of Time for Knick of Time Tues  Inspire Me Tuesday  
Creative Muster

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Red Checks for Early Fall!

I'm not quite ready to get all the oranges and golds out for fall decor, so I've left my red checks out and have added a few fall accents! You'll see fall ... later. I've been busy with real work and haven't had much time to blog ... but here's a quick post.

My wreath is made with red and white checked geo mesh ... easy to do. I added a few clusters of red raffia ribbon to deepen the red color. I really like the geo mesh to work with, but it is a little contemporary for my anything but contemporary home, so I add things like this galvanized bucket filled with Black Eyed Susans. That adds a little country to it!


One of the craft vendors at our annual Apple Festival makes these adorable painted gourd pumpkins! Last year Miss Phoebe and I bought several big ones and this year we bought smaller ones to keep the big guys company. I just clustered these in a country basket ... to wait for their big brothers to join them in a few weeks!


The red and white checked place mats are plastic, but textured to look like fabric.  I bought them at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago ... to use as accent pieces for that wreath!


You'll see my corn husk doll on a dining tablescape a little later this season ... but for now ... she, too ... is waiting for another moment!


The pitchers, doll and basket are all 'junkin' finds! I'll be posting with some of the following parties, so make sure you click through to visit the other posts.

Creatively Living for Monday  Funday Party 
The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Monday 
The DIY Dreamer for From Dream To Reality Tues  
Our Home Away From Home for Tuesdays @ Our Home 
We Call it Junkin! 
Knick of Time for Knick of Time Tues  Inspire Me Tuesday  
Creative Muster
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Frozen Gotcha Day Party!


If you missed my recent post about making a beautiful Elsa dress for my beautiful Phoebe ... check it out right here!   I promised Phoebe a Frozen party this summer and she told me she had to be Elsa and would need the dress, so the dress came first!

For those of us who are blessed with adopted angels, we celebrate "Gotcha Day" ... so this year, we celebrated with a Frozen Party! I baked the cake that Miss Phoebe (aka Elsa) asked for ... blue with an Elsa on top!


This cake is made with the Duncan Hines Blue Velvet cake mix and I have to warn you that it is too, too sweet. I won't use it again. It was pretty, though. The icing is homemade cream cheese frosting and the sugar cookies are homemade!


The snowflake sugar cookies were made in the Wilton mold, using the recipe that comes with the pan. Wilton also makes a bottle of Royal icing that comes in a bottle made like an Elmer's glue bottle. I don't have a steady hand anymore, but kids don't know that! Every good grandma keeps sprinkles on hand ... sprinkles turn boring into fabulous!




Anna and Olaf came in the set of cake toppers with Elsa ... so eventually, they made their way to the cake, too!


Elsa's mama fixed the meal and we agreed to make it easy because it was Friday night ... after work and the first week of school! Dogs wrapped in bacon and topped with cheddar cheese ... baked beans the vintage way beginning with dried beans three days before (right, that wasn't easy!) and hash brown casserole that we only make when a crowd is coming!


We used Nicole's Pfaltzgraff Winter Frost dinnerware for the party! It is perfect for this Frozen theme!



Miss Phoebe had a fantastic time! Enjoyed everything about the party ...



I pretty much live my life planning my next adventure with this child! She is always happy and appreciative ... almost! We enjoy simple things ... and her attention span sometimes is too short to finish a project ... but we eventually get it done!

I'm sharing this post with some neat parties. Make sure you click through to enjoy the other posts!

Creatively Living for Monday  Funday Party 
The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Monday 
The DIY Dreamer for From Dream To Reality Tues  
Our Home Away From Home for Tuesdays @ Our Home 
We Call it Junkin! 
Knick of Time for Knick of Time Tues  Inspire Me Tuesday  
Creative Muster

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Cornish Hen stuffed with Plums and Grape Leaves



The plums and grapes have been harvested, but the cool evenings this time of year often produce some new tender grape leaves and I love to use them in cooking.  The earthy grassy flavor is a nice addition to roasted poultry and pork. A couple of overripe plums in the crisper prompted me to create!  I stuffed my game hen with chopped plums, rosemary and chopped grape leaves.  I placed a few sections of plum around the bird and tucked in some sprigs of rosemary and sprinkled on a little salt and pepper. I always roast my game hens at 375 degrees and the larger ones take a little over an hour to get fall off the bone done. That's the way we like them! No, I didn't use any other spices because I wanted the grape leaf and rosemary flavors to be dominant. 






I added a side of steamed yellow squash and carrots with another sprinkle of salt and pepper. The roasting juices from the hen added a nice flavor drizzled over the vegetables. No butter needed!

I'll be sharing this post with a few parties, so make sure you click through, but first ... visit my home page to see my other posts!

Creatively Living for Monday  Funday Party 
The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Monday 
The DIY Dreamer for From Dream To Reality Tues  
Our Home Away From Home for Tuesdays @ Our Home 
We Call it Junkin! 
Knick of Time for Knick of Time Tues  Inspire Me Tuesday  
Creative Muster



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