recipe box redu...

I have a crush on vintage advertising and labels. The wonderful artwork, the neat fonts, the retro colors - the sense of nostalgia. When we cleared out my grandparent's home for auction a few years ago there was no shortage of ephemera. My great-grandparents built the house, and like many during the depression years, they saved everything!

One of the carry overs of food packaging that has lasted to this day, is the inclusion of recipes. [usually the recipe calls for another product that the manufacturer makes] Some of the recipes I found were much more appetizing than others, but the artwork was lovely. I am a big fan of the old school Betty Crocker cookbooks with the 'sketchy' looking art, so I was super excited when I found these 'free with purchase' recipes.

I already had the wooden box, it just needed a handle for the top. With trusty modge podge at my side, I went to work. Some scrapbook paper, vintage images, and even a few of my grandma's handwritten recipes later, I had a great place to store my little tin recipe boxes and all of the misc. recipes I have printed off from websites that were previously hanging out in my cupboard.

The result is a little kitsch - just the way I like it. I hoping that it will encourage me to try out more new recipes and to cook at home more often [too bad I can't reach into the box and pull time out :]

pleased as punch...

I am officially back - just 88 posts and 158 re-edited and re-uploaded photos later! What better way to celebrate than a welcome back party! I thought we could start with some punch - so here is a little [quick & easy] recipe for you that I slightly adapted from one I found in Kraft Food and Family magazine. Be on the lookout for more additions to the party this week - including some gifts :D

[click on the picture for a bigger view]

Like the felt party hats? They are available from Modern Lola in stripes & polka dots! The kawaii faces are by iKyr over on deviant art.

PS: this post had to be on the 'picture light' side as I am currently at 99% of my flickr capacity for this month...

year one...

We celebrated our first anniversary yesterday - it is hard to believe 365 days and all four seasons have gone by already! Many have asked what has been most difficult, what we have learned about one another, and what annoying habits have been discovered. I have no real answer for these questions, we dated for a very long time and knew each other pretty well before we got married. Certainly we grew together over the past year, but there have been no major hiccups or aha moments - it has been a wonderful year for us :]

I wanted to share some wedding cake pictures. I made the topper myself, and it turned out to be the jewel of the wedding decorations, certainly my favorite thing. Recently, I finally threw away the five or so 'test birds' that were in various stages of completion. For being only inches tall, they certainly took quite a bit of work!

I used several pieces of vintage lace and trim that came from my grandparents attic. Nearly everything is made from scratch: the top hat from cardstock and glitter, the birds are entirely hand sewn, the legs are wire wrapped in strips of papier mache and then painted, the beaks are a sharpened dowels that have been painted... lots of work, but great results :]

The cake is vanilla with layers of raspberry cream, made by Camelot Cakes. She is a wonderful baker and decorator. Aren't the flowers lovely? The fondent 'branches' are great touches.

On Sunday we unwrapped our cake topper. Layers and layers of aluminum foil and saran wrap inside and outside of a Tupperware cake saver. I'm happy to report that it was just as delicious as June 20, 2009 :]

Still to come this week:
* Pillow Basics #2
* Pillow Talk Swap Wrap-Up

cold day / warm soup...

I haven't shared a recipe lately, so I thought this might be a good time of year to share a hearty soup. This is super simple [my favorite kind of recipe] and involves few pots and pans [can it get any better] and it is almost better the next day as leftovers [don't pass out on me :] Our oh-so generous boss has given us a turkey breast for Thanksgiving the last several years and this is a wonderful way to use it. You can use cooked chicken, I'm sure it would be just as scrumptious! The hubby says that you know a soup is good when it prominently features 'exploded rice' - the rice is dropped into boiling water and then simmers for a long time, when it soaks up all that broth it... well... explodes for lack of a more culinary word.
Without more wordiness, here is the recipe:
Turkey [or Chicken] and Rice Soup
makes 12 cups

:ingredients:
2 c turkey or chicken, cooked & cubed
1 c carrots, chopped
1 c celery, chopped
1/2 c onion, diced
2 Tbsp dried parsley
3 Tbsp chicken bouillon [if using cubes, enough for 10 c water]
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
3/4 c rice
10 c water

:directions:
Bring water to a boil; add bouillon
Put all other ingredients in; bring to a boil
Cover & simmer for 45 minutes

note: this soup works wonders to combat the bajillion inches of snow we have seen this winter in Ohio [and the rest of the northeast]

yummy in my tummy...

This year’s all-gals Christmas party was a hit – Jordan and I served up a yummy dinner. I love these little muffins/biscuits. They are made using a slightly altered version of a recipe in the Kitchen Aid cookbook that came with my stand mixer. Thought I’d share…

Cheddar Herb Muffins
Yields: 24 mini muffins or 12 regular muffins
• 1 C buttermilk
• 1/3 C butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 C flour
• 1 C shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp thyme
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
→ Place buttermilk, butter, and eggs in mixer bowl. Mix on medium speed for one minute. Stop and scrape bowl. Combine flour, cheese, sugar, baking powder, herbs, baking soda, salt, and pepper. Turn to low speed and add flour mixture, mixing just until moistened, about 30 seconds. Be careful not to overbeat.
→ Fill greased muffin pans 2/3 full. Bake at 400F for 15-20 minutes. Serve warm.

yum.

popover perfection...

Feeling in a 'bakey' mood, I decided to test out my latest kitchen gadget: a popover pan! Normally I wouldn't have purchased such a one-trick-pony, but for $1 at the Hospice garage sale, I had to give it a try.

A popover is a quick bread with no yeast and a minimal time commitment (hence the name 'quick'). As they rise in the oven to double their original size, they develop lots of air bubbles - leaving holes. Best served warm with a dollup of butter (yum). My darling hubby arrived just in time to enjoy them hot out of the oven. Perfect when you have (1) only a few ingredients on hand, (2) only a little bit of prep time, (3) don't like to do many dishes, and (4) love bread with dinner! :Recipe:

-ingredients-
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt

-directions-
heat oven to 450°
grease popover pans very well
beat eggs slightly
beat in flour, milk, & salt - beat just until smooth, do not overbeat
fill popover pan 1/2 full bake 18 minutes
reduce oven temp to 350°
bake 8 more minutes
remove from pan
note: you can also use 6oz custard cups or experiment with muffin pans


The recipe is from recipezaar - a great site if you haven't tried it out yet.

please no 'corny' jokes...

To me, nothing says summer like grilling. There is something about cooking (and eating) outdoors that lets you know that this is a special season. I'm sure it didn't matter as much to our caveman ancestors who probably cooked and ate outside ALOT more than they would have liked. Another sign of the season is corn on the cob. Not creamed or in a can, just delicious! We recently enjoyed a fresh tank of propane (by that I mean we used the grill not drank/inhaled the propane) by grilling some corn on the cob. It was so delicious you didn't even need to butter or salt it! I imagine there are a million and one variations that you could try, here is the recipe we loved:

Grilled Corn on the Cob
*Ingredients*
1/3 C Butter
1 1/2t Ground Cumin
1 1/2t Chilli Powder
2 Cloves Minced Garlic
12 Ears Sweet Corn (still in the husk)
Kitchen String

*Directions*
Soak the corn in the husks and the kitchen string for 20-25 minutes. Pull back the husks without taking them off; remove all of the silk. Mix all of the remaining ingredients together. Spread butter over each ear of corn and then gently pull the husks back up. Tie each ear with the kitchen string.Put them on a medium heat grill for about 20 minutes. They will need to be turned often and the lid to the grill should be closed when possible. To check for doneness: the husks will be blackened and the corn will be tender.

Like this recipe? We got it from the Gooseberry Patch cookbook Summer in the Country (thanks Nicole!)