HOME...be inspired everyday

From our Spring Table to yours..

Here is our Easter tablescape all ready for the good food to come........

I used a variety of things that were handed down from my mother and grandmother and some things I've had for several years.  The antique silverware was my Mothers' Mother and I use it for Christmas and Easter dinners.  The linen napkins were my mothers and I must say this is the first time I've used them and I have had them forever.  The plates I bought years ago from Homegoods...I wish I bought the whole set..but then again I like a mix and match table. The cloche has a little nest with my robin eggs from Homegoods too, I have had those for several years.  The mason jar wine glassess are new from Sam's Club that I got in December.  I think I'd like to get rattan chargers or maybe some silver ones to step it up a bit...don't know yet. I see them at the Goodwill from time to time but the Goodwill as gotten expensive.  I think rattan will give it a more rustic look that I like.

 These cute little ceramic baskets are new from my local grocery store, they were like $2.00 a piece...not bad.  I used some moss, added the Truffle Eggs from Willams- Sonoma and added the glittered ribbons for some sparkle.

The runner, which is actually kitchen towels from Willams-Sonoma a few years ago.  From our table to yours...wishing you and your family a Happy Easter !!!!

The BEST Carrot Cake with Truffle Eggs

Each Easter I make a Carrot Cake for our dinner.  I've been making this carrot cake for at least 15 years.  My neighbor {at the house I grew up in} made it when we lived there and shared her recipe with me.  It was so tasty and moist that I  never tried any other recipes.  I started adding the Chow Mein nests a few years ago for a decorative touch.  I like using the semi-sweet chocolate morsels for the nest best with the truffle-filled eggs from Williams-Sonoma.  I buy them after Easter when they go on sale and have them for the following year to put in my nest, I'm cheap like that, they look the same and taste great.  I also like to put them in my nest that is shown in the link that I bought a long time ago.

 ~~~~~~~~~Carrot Cake with Truffle-Filled Eggs in Chocolate Nest~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I use a bundt cake sometims so the nest fits inside the whole.  But on this cake is your regular cake pan with three layers.  I like that one too because you can a good helping of the creamcheese frosting.  My favorite frosting...

Carrot Cake

Ingredients;
2 Cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
3 cups of grated carrots
1 20oz. of crushed pineapple
2 cups of sugar
2 cubes of soft butter
4 eggs
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Directions:  Sift dry ingredients together, set aside.
Mix sugar, butterr well.  Add eggs Mix in pineapple, add dry ingredients.  Stir in carrots and nuts.  Pour in pan at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until fork comes clean.  cool.  Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting

Frosting;  8 oz. softened cream cheese,
1 cube of butter, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1 box of powdered sugar

Blend well the above ingredients...frost on cool cake. 

 Note: you can also use a 9x13 inch pan. 

The Nest:   Candy Melts in white or chocolate or use the Nestle Semisweet chocolate and Chow Mein Noodles.  Melt chocolate in double boiler.  When melted add noodles and mix until covered. When it is a little cooler, form a nest and add some Truffle eggs, put on top of your cake. I think it would look neat on a bed of Green Coconut grass, which reminds me of my birthday cake my Mom made for me one year, my birthday was yesterday and most of the Easter and my birthday are at the same time, I found the picture...

Green coconut grass with jellybeans and yellow peeps....and you can see my cousin peeping under the cake.  Oh my this was an Easter to remember...

I decided to dress up as the Easter Bunny, I was about 13 or 14.  The costume doesn't get any more homemade that this.  My long underwear and cottonball tail.  I took a white showercap and a headband and made rabbit ears with more cottonballs and painted my face with wiskers.....It was so fun and look at my cousin's face.....I think I actually was hopping in the bushes.

Hopping to show you my Spring Tablescape soon...but wanted to repost this recipe so you can gather your ingredients before Sunday if you decide to make it..it won't dissapoint.

 

 

Wee bit of Irish

When my girls were wee little folk I started the traditon of the "visit of the Leprechaun"....When they woke up in the morning of March 17th they would find "leprechaun kisses" {shamrock stickers} all over their faces, arms and legs.  They always had the most puzzling face looking at them and wondering how they got there.  Then when they came into the kitchen for their cereal they would find that the leprechaun turned their milk green.

and most of the time we had on hand a box of Lucky Charms to go with it...

Which led promptly to the search of the hidden "Pot of Gold".  When they were little we had green foods for dinner but as they got older, the menu changed to a bit of a more Traditional Irish Dinner and last year the Leprechaun failed to visit....OH MY!....the protest and complaints I got from them.  OK..let me just say they are going on 13 and almost 15!  I guess we never ever really want to grow up..I don't blame them. You can check out past posts here {the best Crock Pot Corned Beef} and here {over the Rainbow Cake} and here . So I hear the Leprechaun has again been spotted on these parts..wink, wink...ya never know. 

I'll be making my Crock Pot Corned Beef with Carrots and Potatoes again this year.  Recipe in the link above or over to the left on the sidebar under Recipes.  I've also been checking on my Pinterest board for some ideas...

this looks good too...Apricot-glazed Corned Beef....with Sauteed Potatoes

and making these would be so simple...Lucky Charm Cupcakes.....or

Making your own homemade Shamrock Shake with some vanilla ice cream, milk and mint extract and green food coloring and a sprinkle of shamrock on top of whipped cream, recipe found here.  Speaking of "green" I found that picture of me...

As the Wicked Witch of the West with my "homies" from school....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easy-Peasy,Yummy Black Bean Soup

Last night the rain hit hard in my neck of the woods and on and off all day we have had torrents of rain.  When it is cold and the weather ominous, I LOVE to be in my little cozy cottage{with the fire going in the fireplace} cooking something yummy for my family.  Well this soup I'm about to share fits the bill.  It is a family favorite and not only is it tasty, it only uses 3 ingredients.  Trader Joe's Latin Style Black Bean Soup, Trader Joe's Biryani Vegetarian Rice, and Rottiesere Chicken that I pick up for less then 5 dollars at Sam's Club.  Sometime my local market will have the chicken on sale for 5 bucks on Fridays.  Or if you have time on the weekend you can cook your own chicken for even cheaper.  I got the receipe from our office clerk at our school several months ago and I've been making it on the the bad weather days or really cold days. 

In a little bit of oil, I use olive oil, you heat up the rice in a skillet. While you are heating that up, in a saucepan you are heating up the Black Bean soup...

After about five to eight minutes....

Add the rice to the soup mixture.  If you are a vegetarian then you don't add the chicken and you are good to go with a topping of sour cream and some tortilla chip-strips you can find in your salad topping section. 

 tear off your chicken pieces in chunks to the soup mixture...

Mix it all up good....

So very tasty and warm in the tummy...very, very satifying.  Enjoy with a dallop of sour cream.

 

Dr. Seuss's birthday...

Every year our school celebrates this wonderful, creative talent in Literature...when I taught  Kindergarten I would always read Green Eggs and Ham on St. Patricks Day and cook Green Eggs and Spam { this was when I was teaching in Hawai'i}.  That was one of my favorite of all of  Dr. Seuess's  books but there are so many...The Grinch, Horton Hears a Who, The Cat and the Hat and so many more.  To celebrate his birthday here are some cakes {cupcakes} I found to help celebrate....

                                                      The Lorax Cake

 

                                                      The Cupcake

                                               Thing 1 and Thing 2 Cupcakes

                                      the DR. SEUSS Cake..

Is this the most awesome looking cake you've ever seen?  OH things you'll see on this cake...there is so many details.  Had to share..some talented people out there on the internet....Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!!

 

Gong Hey Fat Choy!

                               {image from my Pinterest board}

Happy Chinese New Year!   It is the year of the Snake...while searching for images on the web lots of snake eyes were peering at me.  I get the ibee jebees looking at Snakes.  I thought the image above was so colorful and pretty. Those cupcakes look like a work of art, I don't know if I could eat one...oh who am I kidding I love cupcakes!  Well I won't be making any cupcakes for our dinner tonight but I'll be making a Shoyu Seasame Chicken, White Sticky Rice and stir-fry veggies with Fortune cookies.   Do you celebrate Chinese New Year?  What is on your menu and what are some of your traditions?  You can see here , here, here and here....how we have celebrated in our home in the past.  We {not Mr. Incredible so much} love to eat Chinese Food and it gives me a great excuse to put in on the menu.  Well, I'm off to break out my wok.

 

 

Curried Chicken and Vegetables and Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Since it is Curried Chicken Day according to my Foodie Friend I thought I'd share one of my favorite comfort food Chicken recipes from this Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.  This is my copy and I also have another copy that was handed down to me from my Mother, which has some of the duplicate recipes that they tried to improve on or tweaked a bit. Sometimes I get confused which recipes I use from which book, more on that later. 

I love to make this recipe when the mercury drops and the curry and spices smell up the whole house while it roasts....

***********************Curried Chicken and Vegetables*******************

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of honey

1/4 cup of prepared mustard {I like Grey Poupon}

1/4 cup butter or margarine

2 tablespoons of finely chopped onion

2 tablespoons water

1 clove of garlic

2 teaspoons of curry powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1  2 1/2 to 3 lb. broiler-fryer chicken

cooking oil or butter

2 large potatoes, peeled and quartered, or 8 new potatoes {Mr. Incredibles' favorite}

6 medium carrots, bias sliced into 1/2 pieces

2 medium apples, cored and cut into wedges

What to do:

1.} Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2.} In small saucepan combine the first ten ingredients.  Bring to  a boil, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat, set aside.

3.} Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towel, skewer neck skin to back. Tie legs to tail, twist wing tips under back.  Place chicken, breast-side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan.  Brush skin with cooking oil or melted butter.  During roasting, remove excess fat.  Insert a meat thermomoter, roast chicken uncovered in oven for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.

4}Meanwhile in a covered saucepan cook potatoes and carrots in boiling salted water for 20-25 minutes or until nearly tender, drain.  the last 20 minutes of roasting time, discard any fat in roasting pan from chicken.  Arrange vegetables and the uncooked apples around poultry in pan.  Spoon honey mixture over chicken, veggies and apples.  Roast 20 minutes longer or until meat thermomoter registers 185 degrees.  Baste occasionally with honey mixture during roasting and again just before serving. Arrange chicken, vegetables and apples on serving platter. Serves 6.

I like to serve it with some rolls, perhaps a salad and Pineapple Up-side Down cake. 

Mr. Incredible is not that fond of pineapple so I don't make this recipe very often but I love pineapple.  So recently at a "girls night out" I made it but I encountered a problem.  Like I said before I have two Better, Homes and Gardens' cook books.  One old {my mothers and one new, mine}  I used the newer recipe book and it called for 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, which I thought was odd but went ahead and put that amount in.  Well it turned out very bitter.  Not like the cake I have tasted and made in the past.  Well, darn it the recipe that is the good Pineapple upside down cake came from my Mom's cookbook not mine.  Here is the good one...

Ingredients:

1 8 1/2 oz. can of sliced pineapple

3 tablespoons of butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

7 marachino cheeries

1/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Directions:

1} Preheat over to 350 degrees

2} Drain pineapple, reserving syrup. Melt butter into 8 inch round pan.  Add brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of the reserved pineapple juice.  Add water to remaining juice to make 1/2 cup. Arrange pineapple slices in bottom of pan and place cherries into center of pineapple hole.

3} Cream together shortening and sugar until light.  Add egg and vanilla; beat till fluffy. Sift together dry ingredients; add alternately with the 1/2 cup reserved pineapple juice, beating after each addition.

4} Spread over pineapples and cherries.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 0r 45 minutes.  Cool for about 5 minutes; invert on serving platter. Serve warm.

Hope you will enjoy these recipes with the ones you love....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers to A New Year and a New Bathroom...

Our dining room table set for our New Years Eve dinner...this was last years...a bit different, still a little bit sparkly and white.  Loving the juxtaposition of the rustic burlap and glittery bits and bobs. 

My little tinsel tree with "fun-size" turqouise mercury glass ornaments took center stage as it sat in a bed of buttons.  This years Menu consisted of Cornish Game Hens stuffed with Wild Rice, honey-orange glazed carrots, cresent rolls with Martenelli's Sparkling Cider served in my new "Red-Neck" wine glassess, from Sam's Club!  I saw them at my local Hallmark Store last summer and thought they were so cute...when I went back to finally get them they were all gone. I was bummed but was so happy when I saw them at Sams Club at under $20....in the cart they went.

Yes...they are looking a little white...I guess they could of been browned up a bit more...they were tasty, never the less. Which brings me to the second part of my post title... As we rang in the NEW YEAR we also decided to do our FIRST ever, in the NEW house a DIY project.  Our one and only bathroom!

Here are some inspiration photos I found on the internet to help guide my our vision on what we want our main bath to look like. Our house was built in the 50's and we are the third owner.  Our bathroom has a tri-split personality complete with Space Saucer heat/light lamp and sea glass vessel bowl with chinese style vanity.  It is so mixed up, it does not know what era it belongs in....We {meaning I'll be the designer for this project and Mr. Incredible will do the grunt work or labor} will bring it into the Cottage style that goes with the rest of the house and of course my style.  Here are some of my ideas that I have for the space....

We will be using beadboard wainscotting all around with a ledge to put fun little items on display. 

I think using an old distressed dresser for a vanity is a really cool idea....

WOWZA!!  That is one elegant bathroom...a little too rich for my blood!  But dang is that gorgeous and unique using those mirrored vanities.  When I see those mirrored vanities all I see is an endless clean up of fingerprints.

Now, this is little bit more what I had in mind....Using an old sideboard/credenza and outfitting it with a carrera marble top.....that chandy ain't too bad either.  The mirror a little too pink for me but a beauty.

Yep...I'm loving the look of the dresser turned into bathroom vanity with crystal knobs and nickel faucet. 

Now here is a sideboard turned into a bathroom vanity, don't you love that rich deep mahagony color?  From For the Love of a House Blog..I love her style and what her and her husband has done to their Farmhouse. 

In the end, being that I'm on a shoestring budget and don't have a "sky is the limit" budget to do the bathroom of my dreams, we ended up ordering the vanity in the last picture up above from Lowes.  Which gave me the furniture look I'm after and the carrera marble top I really wanted.  It had great reviews on this piece. When I called to order it we had to have it shipped from an out of state Lowes because they haven't been able to keep them in stock. The girl who took my order said, "they were really popular" so I think that is a good sign that I will be happy with the piece.  For a little under $800.00 it fit my miniscule budget and the furiture-look I was after and don't forget the white carrera marble that is so popular right now.  Cheers to happy, healthy and prosperous 2013 to all my blogger followers, and to a new and improved Bathroom in my Cottage on Cullen. Can't wait to show you the before and after... 

 

 

 

 

Making Pumpkin Crunch

Last year we made Molasses Pecan pie....from Better Homes and Gardens magazine....it was not a success.  So this year we went back to our ever faithful Pumpkin Crunch....no fail, better than Pumpkin Pie...and I LOVE pumpkin pie...

It has to the one of the easiest receipes ever.....we had to 1 and half the receipe this year...we used three of the small pumpkin can but it usually calls for one big can of pumpkin but DO NOT confuse it with PUMPKIN PIE filling it is not the same...one time I did and it came out way tooooo sweet..."broke the mouth"  as they say in Hawaii speak....

We needed to get a bigger bowl.....

Pouring in the BEST part of Pumpkin Crunch....yellow cake mix

Here is the CRUNCH in Pumpkin Crunch......chopped walnuts or you can use pecans if you'd like...

oh..not for the diet conscious...oh no!!  Melted unsalted butter....

Perfect Pumpkin CRUNCH...with some vanilla ice cream or a dallop of whipped cream......

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Pumpkin Crunch~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 large can of pumpkin (do not confuse this with Pumpkin Pie filling.."broke the mouth" one time)

1 can of evaporated milk

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnomon

1 box of yellow cake mix without pudding

1 cup of chopped walnuts

2 sticks (1 cup butter)

1.  Grease a 13x9x2 pan or line with wax paper

2. Blend pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar and cinnomon in big bowl

3. Pour in pan

4. Sprinkle with cake mix over pumpkin mixture

5. Spread nuts over cake mix

6. Span melted butter over nuts

7.  Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour or until top is light brown.

8.  Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream...yummy!!!

 

 

Related articles

Pumpkin Planters

Pumpkins....and more Pumpkins

The Spooks and other Poisons...

My Li'l One had a great time making these Spooks for our meeting,  they tasted yummy! I can't take credit..the girl is a regular Martha...

She added Halloween colored sprinkles....to some of them.

Chocolate covered strawberries and some fun"get in the spirit wine" from World Market, a perfect combo. 

Here is all the info you'll need if you are in the area or plan to be in the area, it is reving up to be a great and spooky time.  Hope to see you there!!