Paper Pumpkins!

My soul needed a little crafting activity the other day, so I used my Cricut to cut out these great dimensional pumpkins. Of course, they had to be  embellished with ribbon and baubles!  How cute are they?  You'll see them later on an Autumn Tea Tablescape, but for now ... just enjoy!

I'll be sharing this with some of the blog parties listed in my sidebar ... so make sure you click through to enjoy the other posts!  Happy Pumpkins!

Time to Bake Bread with Splenda!

When I think of the first few years of marriage ... decades ago in the ancient times before bread makers ... I have to laugh. I spoiled my husband. He thought he could only eat homemade bread. Eventually, life got in the way of the amount of time it took to bake bread each week! I still love to make bread and sometimes I do it the real way ... but most times I use my Breadman. In fact, when after 20 years my first Breadman finally pooped out, my friends told me I should plant it in the flower bed because I proclaimed that it was a member of the family! The machine I have now has the 2-pound pan and two 1-pound pans, which I frequently use!

I'm sharing these recipes with my followers because I have started using Splenda (or a similar product) in all my baking. We used to believe that yeast couldn't be proofed without the addition of sugar. The new yeast products, for the most part, don't require sugar ... Splenda is working very well for me. (This is not an advertisement for Splenda ... I'm just working hard to keep my blood sugar under control!)

This BANANA BREAD is so good. I mix the batter, then pour it into the bread pans. It seems to work better that way.  Here's the recipe!

Mix the following:
2/3 cup milk
2 mashed bananas
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup Splenda white
1/2 cup softened butter
2 eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Bake according to your bread machine's directions. I made 2 small loaves, but you can also make 1 large loaf. This bread is moist and freezes well, too!

Bread isn't a big part of my diet, although I love it! Who doesn't? When I have a piece of bread, I want something that I will remember, and this APPLE PRUNE YEAST BREAD is one of those memorable bites! I baked this as a 1.5-pound loaf and I will be freezing slices of it (with waxed paper between slices) so I can take out just a slice at a time! It is great to toast for breakfast ... and even more wonderful turned into French Toast ... or to use for tea sandwiches with something yummy spread between slices! Here's the recipe!

Place the ingredients in the bread machine pan in the following order:

• 1 egg beaten with warm water to make a cup of combined egg and water
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon of Splenda Brown Sugar
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon of dry milk powder
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Canola oil
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups of bread flour
• 1 teaspoon bread machine yeast
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 apple chopped

Bake this bread on the sweet bread cycle on your bread machine. Remember the loaf is just 1 1/2 pounds (not the typical 2 pounds).

This is one of my family's favorite breads to have with a meal ... any meal. I am always ready to take it to the table and never can remember to take a picture of the whole loaf! This ONION CHEESE BREAD can have fresh herbs added to it, too.  It makes beautiful sandwich bread, if you manage to have any left after your meal!  Here's the recipe for a 2-pound loaf!

Place these ingredients in your bread machine pan in the following order:

• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 Tablespoon Canola oil
• 2 Tablespoons white sugar (I substitute Splenda white)
• 1 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon dried minced onion
• as much as 1/2 cup of chopped fresh herbs of your choice
• 3 1/4 cups bread flour
• 1 3/4 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Bake according to your bread machine's directions.

I'll be sharing this post with a few of the blog parties listed in my sidebar! Click through to visit the other posts!  Enjoy!

Glitzy Country Pumpkins!

A few years ago, I bought several mercury glass pumpkins to use on a special tablescape ... even though excess glitz is not necessarily my style! I tend to be more country flannel and burlap!  When I took my monthly trip to Walmart last week, I noticed that they had some glitzy pumpkins and some matching mesh ribbon. I want to point out that Walmart didn't know those things were all coordinated ... the ribbon was at the opposite end of the store as the pumpkins! In a third location, I found matching copper colored leaf shaped place mats!

I bought a few pumpkins and a spool of the mesh and came home with the creation of a cool centerpiece in the back of my mind!  Here it is!

I used the mesh to make a small wreath and stacked a small floral candle ring on top of the wreath ... then a pumpkin on top of that.  The other mercury pumpkins are perched alongside and the small glitzy pumpkins are tucked into the wreath.

The china I've used in my table for three is the pattern Tonquin.  If you'd like to read more about this pattern, click through to this post.  I think the transferware pattern has a natural traditional country appeal to it!

I wanted an eclectic combination of glitz, rustic and country in this tablescape, so I used my faux antler handle flatware with a little crystal and a soft cotton napkin ... with a glitzy napkin ring! I gave a scarecrow friend a place at the table!

Hope you enjoyed my glitzy country pumpkin tablescape!  I'll be sharing this with a few of the blog parties listed in my sidebar, so make sure you click through to see the other creations! Autumn is here and I sure love the cooler temperatures!

Pink Turkeys in September - The Tablescape!

For years ... I've given my family a little hint of Thanksgiving by having a meal we called "Thanksgiving in August".  It seems like we always started craving turkey and dressing about the time the leaves just started to get brown edges! I prepared a turkey and sometimes a couple of our favorite traditional Thanksgiving side dishes.  Other years, I prepared a turkey with a twist ... and this year I had our little dinner in September and did everything Italian style! To see the food, check out this post! Pink Turkey Dinner!

I like making everything extra special for Phoebe. She has an interest in paper crafting, cooking and making special things. Life is so busy after school starts that it is hard to find time to do these things! I delivered this cute invitation to Miss Phoebe and her mom and dad a few weeks before the meal! It doesn't have a date, because we planned to schedule the dinner at the last minute! Between festivals, parades, dance lessons and other events ... we decided we would 'play it by ear'!

Now ... for the tablescape! A Sunday supper on the deck!

I found this pink rimmed turkey platter at a flea market ... and it set the pink theme. The dinner plates are Churchill ... placed atop a cork place mat ... and the mugs are Spode. The glasses are Fostoria.

Our flower boxes on the back deck are still really pretty, so I chose to snip a few leaves and blooms to fill a couple little turkey planters. These planters were silver and I sprayed a little pink paint on to add to the theme!

Phoebe and I worked on jars all summer and these pink jars were really dressed up for a beach themed vignette, which you'll see in another post! (Maybe in the dead of winter, when I'm longing for a beachy summer!) We spray painted the jars with two coats ... teal underneath pink. Then sanded the raised designs on the jars. We picked up some sticks under the maple tree and sprayed them pink! Burlap ribbon, shells and silk flowers from the Dollar Tree completed the project!

Hope you enjoyed a little pink theme that would work for any Thanksgiving tablescape!

I'll be sharing this with a few of the blog parties listed on my sidebar and certainly with Pink Saturday!

Make sure you click through to see some of the other parties, but stick around my site first.  You'll surely find something else you like.

To see more jars, check out  Autumn Jars!

To see the food that went with this tablescape, check out Pink Turkey Dinner!

Pink Turkey Dinner!

Take a look at this beautiful pesto basted turkey!  For my annual family "Thanksgiving in August" dinner ... which we had in September ... I prepared an Italian themed meal. This turkey is easy to make. Just stuff it with a bunch of fresh herbs ... Rosemary, basil, thyme and oregano. Follow the directions on the turkey wrapper ... I roasted mine at 325 degrees and basted it with homemade pesto for the last hour of baking. It was tender, juicy and had a nice hint of the fresh herbs. To see how to make pesto, check right here! I served the turkey with a really unique sauce ... That recipe is at the end of this post. Here's the rest of the menu!

For ease, I turned my ravioli into a baked dish ... For the recipe of my homemade red sauce, check here!

This beautiful green salad is made with baby kale that came from my CSA. I made an easy balsamic vinaigrette for the salad by combining equal parts of fig infused balsamic vinegar with olive oil ... Add about a teaspoon of sugar to a cup of dressing. When making a salad with pecans and dried cherries in it, I always toss the nuts and dried fruit in the dressing before I throw in the salad greens. I like for them to be coated ... I also added mozzarella pearls to this salad, but feta or bleu cheese is equally good!

Here is the beautiful sauce for the turkey.  The recipe is so simple.  You need about 2 cups of pan drippings to begin with.  If you don't have that much, stir in some water or white wine to deglaze your roasting pan and make that much liquid. Stir in 1/4 cup of balsamic glaze ... not vinegar, but the reduced glaze which you can buy in most supermarkets ... and 2 Tablespoons of honey mustard. A little pepper and thicken it with a cornstarch slurry and you are all done!

If you'd like to see the tablescape for this special family meal, check this out!

I'll be sharing this with some of the parties on my sidebar, so make sure you click through to see the other posts!

Autumn Jars!

The moment I saw painted dimensional leaves on a jar at this site, I knew it was a project that Phoebe and I could do together! We also invited her mama to participate! So, I purchased the supplies we needed; used a 40% off coupon from JoAnne Fabrics when I bought the jars ... and we started making what turned out to be some really nice gifts.  We made 6 purple quart jars and 6 green pint jars!

The process is easy.  You just spread the dimensional goop across a stencil. We used plastic knives. After letting that dry for 24 hours, we painted the leaves. The final step before putting the bows on and filling them with silk leaves and flowers was to brush a little glitter paint over the leaves.  Phoebe especially liked the glitter paint step!  I think we did a great job!

 Here's how I used mine!

One of my bathrooms is papered with autumn leaves on burgundy! I have had this paper for 25 years and I don't plan to change it!  So the leaf enhanced jars had to go in that room for sure!  The pumpkin is Temptations and the other day, I lifted the lid and found it full of bubble water!  When I asked Phoebe about it, she told me that MeMutt (our dog) suggested that she do it!  She said he used his nose to touch the big jar of bubbles on the counter, then touched the pumpkin with his paw. I didn't think he was that smart!

I'll be sharing this post with some of the parties on my sidebar, so make sure you click through to see the other posts!  Hope you are enjoying autumn!

Be Frugal!

Every few weeks, I gather the bits of cheese I have left in the fridge. I use shredded cheese, but I really prefer blocks of cheese that I grate myself, so I frequently have a little bit of a few kinds left. Sometimes, those bits of cheese have dried out a little so I throw them all in the Ninja blender and make a spread or a cheese ball!

There really isn't a recipe, but if you end up with as much as 2 cups of shredded cheese, add at least 4 ounces of cream cheese to the combination. If you don't have an entire 8 ounce block of cream cheese to add ... use a couple Tablespoons of butter or a butter spread.

To season your blend, add fresh herbs ... a little bottled salad dressing ... or my favorite which is powdered ranch dressing mix.  You can flavor the cheese spread with prepared pesto or your favorite combination of dried herbs.

It can't be much easier and the best thing about this ... is you are not wasting food that has a tendency to sit in the fridge and dry out!

I'll be sharing this with a few of the blog parties listed on my sidebar. Make sure you click through to see the other posts!