Easter Sunday Dinner 2018

We had Easter Sunday Dinner in the little wine tasting room! The dining room us still under a deep cleaning!  It will take me a little while to get that done!

The tablescape was inviting, but I left plenty of room to put the food on the table, so we could serve family style!  Mr. Bunny stood watch on top of a stack of inverted carrot shaped baskets.

The adorable bunny plates are a Hobby Lobby find; the dinner plates are Pioneer Woman; the mugs jumped in my cart at TJMaxx!

The place mat is PW, too ... and matches so much of her dinnerware because it is made with braided 'rags'!

I always prepare a printed menu for our special family meals. Sometimes we remember to save them as mementos! When my daddy died, I found a stack of them in one of his dresser drawers ... along with every Christmas present tag I'd ever made for him!

Since it was also JimmuMuttMoore's 10th birthday, we had to do something to celebrate!  His Easter treat included lots of rawhide and some dog munchies ... but I also dipped some people munchies in chocolate!  Those were for MeMutt's people!  Scooby Doo graham cracker bones were perfect!

I baked the old-fashioned Watergate cake with fluffy green frosting!

 Hope you enjoyed our Easter Dinner!  I'll be sharing with a few of the blog parties on my sidebar, so make sure you click through to share in the fun!

Wine in the Afternoon!

My girls were off on Good Friday, so I made us a special wine event!  We spent a couple hours eating, sipping and talking about all kinds of things!

Miss Phoebe had a new pair of flashing tennis shoes! Her wine glass was filled with juice!


I love to set Easter themed tables and have a few sets of bunny salad plates!  These came from Pier 1 this year.  The wine glasses were new finds from Pier 1, too.

I have totes filled with decorations, but Phoebe and I really enjoy shopping at our favorite collectible shop.  We always add to our collection!

Take a look at our cute table!

Those are Pioneer Woman place mats.  I've been seeing this new pattern, lately!  Love the fuscia trim!

Here's a closer look! Don't you love the Peeps sign?  

Love my peeps.

Here are a few extra elements on the table ... and the take home gift!  More PW items!  I filled that little colander with grapes!

Love my simple place setting!  The green egg-shaped plates came from our favorite collectible shop!

Bunnies and Bees!

And then, there's food!  Simple blocks of herb cheese, salami, lots of crackers.  Ricotta blueberry lemon scones made from Friendship bread starter ... and one of my favorite cheese combinations.  I blend butter, cream cheese and bleu cheese together, then top it with fig preserves and pecans!  Delicious!  We also had Brie cheese topped with cherry apricot preserves and gently warmed!  Also, delicious!

Words of Love

I think a lot about my parents this time of year.  Birthdays, anniversaries, family holidays ... all those things bring their memories to life.

Both my parents were creative. Daddy could build anything. Mother was creative in the kitchen and with words. Words matter.  Mother had learned Latin as a child and she taught us to break down words using Latin. She believed that if you could break words apart and knew the meaning of the parts ... that you could understand broader meanings and spell any difficult word!

I guess she was right.  She raised pretty smart kids and this one loves writing! She raised a writer, and I've raised a writer!  I'm hopeful that our Phoebe learns to enjoy writing!  She can tell tall tales, and I think that is the beginning of honing the skill!

I love the ways we can incorporate words into our daily life. Quotations, decorative signs, simple printed cards and of course the love of blogging and other forms of social media offer us a huge variety of ways to share ... words.

Here are some of my latest ways to inspire with words.  Enjoy!

I'll be sharing this post, so make sure you check out the blog parties listed on my side bar.

Venison Sweet Potato Hash

There are so many things that make me hungry for comfort food! Watching trees bloom and the woods come alive are just a couple. Rainy days are at the top of that list, though!

On a recent rainy day, I used a couple sweet potatoes that I had taking up space in my produce basket and made venison hash with a spicy twist.  

I used a pound of ground venison, 2 sweet potatoes peeled and cut into sticks, 4 green onions with their tops ...  and 4 mini peppers sliced.

Over medium heat, brown the meat and vegetables.

When the meat and vegetables are done, add the following spices:

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano

1/2 teaspoon of chipotle powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

Add a cup of beef broth and saute gently for another five minutes, then stir in a Tablespoon of chopped cilantro before serving.          If you like lots of spice, add enough to satisfy!

ST. PATRICK'S FAMILY DINNER

We celebrated Valentine's Day in a restaurant this year, and we usually have a family dinner.  That made me want to celebrate St. Patrick's Day at my house! We always celebrated my daddy's March 18th birthday with a St. Patrick's theme. He's been gone a few years, but I still like to think the cake is all for him! 

Since Phoebe has really started paying attention to tablescapes and themes, I try to make them extra special with real meaning.  "Inspire" was the word theme this time!  I didn't inspire her to eat. Instead this meal inspired her to go decorate her bedroom (at my house) for Easter!  Whatever works!

Our centerpiece was composed with a few things that I had in different places throughout the house.  However, Phoebe and I had just recently found the Belleek candle holder and the tiny Irish cottage ornament at our favorite collectible shop!

Our little purple grape room is back to being a tiny dining room. I designed it fifteen years ago as a "wining women" room!  A place for gathering and sipping.  Phoebe came along and it was transformed to a room where we could have a baby bed.  Now we are back to wine and food, so we christened it with a St. Patrick's Day family dinner!  The chocolate cake made with a bottle of Irish beer might have been the focal point of the traditional corned beef meal! Actually, "traditional" it was not.  I cooked the corned beef in the crock pot until it was fork tender and served it with a brown sugar grainy mustard glaze.  Instead of cooking cabbage, potatoes and carrots with the meat ... I made tiny smashed potatoes and broiled them with a smokey Gouda pimento cheese topping. I stir fried the cabbage and thinly sliced carrots so they would be crisp tender.

Our place setting was casual.  Pioneer Woman polka dotted plates; honeybee flatware is Cambridge. Don't you love the Celtic knot napkin rings?  I like to use a sheer fabric when I want a tablecloth on this table, so we can still tell that it has a glass top.

Hope you had a lucky St. Patrick's Day!  I think any time Phoebe visits me ... I am a lucky grandma!

Sunshine Sauce!

There was no sunshine in Southern Illinois today. It has rained for hours! I had lots of work to do on this Saturday at home, but I knew I'd want a nice Saturday night dinner, so I put the ingredients for one of my favorite sauces in the crock pot.

Because I had a 24 ounce package of small heirloom tomatoes, I used them. I always have a few naval oranges in the winter, so I used one of them. I have a nice variety of frozen herbs because my little herb garden was super productive last summer, so I froze a lot.

This sauce is so simple. Pierce the skins of each tomato, and put the whole thing in. Cut the orange in pieces, squeeze some juice over the tomatoes and throw peel and all in the crock pot. Add a cup of water and 2 Tablespoons of chopped fresh/frozen basil.  Cook on high for 4 hours. Add a clove of garlic minced and a small can of tomato paste.  Cook another hour on high and the sauce will have thickened.

The sauce can be used for a variety of things.  It is great over sauteed shrimp with pasta. It is great over pasta with no meat or seafood!  If you like to layer cooked chicken or cooked seafood in lasagna, this is the perfect sauce for that. Just include a couple layers of cheese.

 I used it to top chicken. I dipped thin boneless skinless chicken breast in egg wash and then in Italian bread crumbs. I gently fried the chicken in olive oil. When the chicken was done, I removed it from the stove and placed a thin slice of provolone cheese on each piece.

 I topped the breaded chicken with Sunshine Sauce and served it with creamy pesto sauced gnocchi.

I always freeze the extra sauce. This is great to make in the summertime, when you have an abundance of fresh tomatoes!

Beef Sandwich Spread and Arugula

Seems like I've always made sandwich spread with left over roast beef, but the other night I had a nice size of meat left from a grilled New York Strip! I'm not sure what possessed me to buy that size, but I'm glad I did because I stumbled on to a good recipe.

I have lots of herbs in the freezer. Last summer's herb harvest was really good, so I froze lots of it in butter, olive oil and plain water. I made a savory butter compound with a combination of rosemary and thyme from the freezer and some fresh chopped Italian parsley.

I rubbed the steak with some of the herbs, then served it with the butter. I ended up making my sandwich spread, using the left over couple Tablespoons of butter, a little mayonnaise, minced onion and minced celery. I just threw it all in the food processor together! The butter and herbs made it especially delicious!

I started the sandwich stack with a slice of Muenster cheese, topped the meat with sliced cucumbers and sweet peppers and served the sandwiches with a handful of arugula!

Pretty tasty brown bag lunch!

Crockpot Blueberry Cherry Dump Cake

If you like the dump cake recipe that uses a can of pineapple and a can of cherry pie filling, you'll like this one, too!  This one is made in the crockpot. Instead of using pineapple, I replace it with a pint of fresh blueberries.

In the bottom of your crockpot, place a pint of fresh blueberries. Add a can of cherry pie filling.  Fill the empty can half full of water and stir it around to make sure you get all the cherry sauce and pour water and all into the crock pot.  Stir the ingredients around to even out the distribution.

Dump a white cake mix on top of the fruit.  Place slices of a stick of butter evenly over the cake mix.  Add a handful of chopped pecans.

Put the lid on the crockpot and cook on high for 2 hours.  That's it!

Read About OUR Chili!

I want you to know a little bit about the history of chili before I tell you my favorite family story about OUR chili!  Chili is a concoction of the Southwestern United States, probably more specifically West Texas. 

My favorite legend regarding the origin of chili is a Southwestern American Indian story about a beautiful nun who shared a recipe in the 17^th century. Sister Mary of Agreda was in Spain. She was a mystery to the Indians, but was known as “La Dama de Azul” … the lady in blue.  Sister Mary went into trances for days at a time and she would tell that her spirit went to faraway lands where she preached Christianity to natives and encouraged them to look for the Spanish missionaries. Sister Mary shared a recipe for a stew that included venison, antelope meat, onions, tomatoes and chili peppers.

What is so mysterious about this legend?  Sister Mary never left Spain. The recipe she shared was one she learned from American Indians. King Philip IV of Spain and Spanish missionaries (in America) were convinced that she was the lady in blue.

The lady I want to tell you about is my mother.  When she was a young bride, she and Daddy lived in a tiny apartment.  They shared a bathroom with another apartment, but they had their own wood burning stove. Mother’s cook stove also heated the apartment. There was no refrigerator.

Hamburger meat in 1940 was 20 cents a pound, but Daddy was in a local grocery store one day and it was on sale for 20 cents for FIVE POUNDS!  Of course, he took advantage of the deal and happily carried his bargain home to their little apartment!  He had his appetite all set for a few days of juicy hamburgers. You might be questioning their ability to keep the meat cold without a fridge! It was wintertime and Daddy had created a box on the outside of a window where they were able to keep their foods that needed refrigeration!

Because she came from a large family, Mother was an accomplished cook. Because she was accustomed to cooking for several people, her first inclination to use five pounds of ground beef was to make CHILI!  Daddy came home from work, expecting hamburgers and sat down to a bowl of chili.  There was nothing wrong with that, except that they had enough chili for three families! That evening, Daddy delivered chili to a few other families!

I heard this story throughout my life.  Daddy loved to tell it!  What I didn’t know, however, was that the little apartment they lived in was a place I visited regularly.  It was on the second floor of a house that is now used as the General John A. Logan Museum in my hometown.  A couple years before he died, I was delighted to be able to take Daddy to see his first apartment.  Once again, he got to tell his chili story to the museum employees!

If you want to read more about the history of chili, visit What's Cooking America

If you are interested in the General John A. Logan Museum visitLogan Museum

YELLOW CURRY CHICKEN

I've recently fallen in love with yellow curry. The oven does most of the work with this easy recipe, but the flavor rings of extensive preparation!

Combine a Tablespoon of yellow curry paste, a Tablespoon of rice wine vinegar and a Tablespoon of golden soy sauce. Make sure the boneless skinless chicken breasts are dry and dip them in the curry paste combination, coating them well. 

Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet. You can make some wonderful roasted vegetables to go with the chicken.  Chop cabbage, red or green peppers and onions if you like them.  Place the vegetables in a single layer alongside the chicken breasts. Drizzle olive oil over the veges and turn them a few times to coat them.  Roast the chicken and vegetables at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.   When you plate this meal, use the pan drippings to finish the chicken breasts.  Delicious!

AIR FRIED MUSHROOMS

I love fried mushrooms, but I do my best to stay away from real fried food.  These are air fried and couldn't be easier!

Slice fresh mushrooms and dip them in egg wash. Dredge lightly in flour. Place in the basket of the air fryer and spritz with a tiny bit of olive oil.  Fry them at 356 degrees for 10 minutes.

They are delicious! They are tender inside but crispy on the outside with nearly no amount of oil used.

OLD FASHIONED STRAWBERRY CAKE

When my granddaughter asked for "Grandma's Strawberry Cake", it took us a minute to realize that she was talking about my mother's recipe. Every time one of us bakes  this cake, we talk about "Grandma" and how she used to make it every year for Christmas Eve dinner ... and for every summertime food event we had!

I think the recipe emerged in the 1960s.  I remember having it for the first time at a summertime family reunion!  From then on, it was a huge family hit. 

I was delighted to bake it for Phoebe, and everybody at the party enjoyed reminiscing about the old recipe!

Grandma's Strawberry Cake

Thaw the strawberries and add the first half of the package to the cake mix, oil, eggs and strawberry gelatin.  Mix thoroughly and bake in a prepared 13 x 9 cake pan at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

1 box white cake mix
1/2 of a 10 ounce package of frozen strawberries
1 cup canola oil
1 box strawberry gelatin
4 eggs

When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and immediately make the icing.  Prepare by adding
the second half of the package of thawed strawberries to 1 pound powdered sugar and 1/2 stick soft butter.  Whip until smooth and pour over the cake while the cake is still warm.

You can also bake this cake in 2 or 3 round pans.  You'll need more frosting for a layered cake, so use the following recipe.  Let the round cake layers cool completely before frosting them.

Big Batch of Strawberry Frosting

Add the second half of the package of strawberries to 8 ounces of softened cream cheese, 1/2 stick soft butter and 2  pounds powdered sugar