Burlap Easter Bunny Table Runner and Napkin Rings

We have sweet bunnies hopping down the table just in time for Easter!

 I made a 40" runner with burlap that I bought by the yard at a craft store. Once I sewed the runner on my   machine, I stenciled three black bunnies following the instructions on the Eclectically Vintage Blog. To make the stencil, I used an exacto knife and a plastic report cover that I had leftover from a presentation. For the tails, I used 1.5" white pom poms from the craft store.

I "Kenzied up" the bunnies by adding bows that I made from Mackenzie-Childs ribbon. My friend Patti at Pandora's Box recently "Kenzied up" a beautiful chest that you will love seeing. "Kenzied up" is her phrase and I love it!

You can find the instructions for my bunny ear napkin holders here. 

I have been playing around with pastel colors this week during the snowstorm. Where is spring? The Easter bunny is going to need skis to deliver the Easter baskets this year! We're having tea for two to beat the winter blues.

Thanks for stopping by!  I am joining the great hostess Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish and Between Naps On The Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

xo

Debbie

Sunshine and Lemon Brownies

I have been longing for spring colors, pussy willows, bunnies and daffodils. It sure does brighten a room!

Last evening, I cooked dinner in the DAYLIGHT!!. I typically get home from work at 5:30, and have been cooking in the dark since we turned the clocks back last year. It feels so good to have daylight in the evening! I just noticed the reflection of the trees on the glass tabletop.

I found yellow flatware on eBay, and I just love the handles.

My dear sister made 16 of these adorable napkins using her embroidery machine. I have used them every Easter for the last five years, and they still look brand new even after washing.

 The yellow and turquoise plates are from the Oneida "Ala Mode" collection. The bunny plates are from Pottery Barn, and the wooden chargers from Pier One.

Sharing one of my favorite Easter desserts Lemon Brownies.

They are wonderful.

Lemon Brownies 

Source: Marilyn (DanaIN, Garden Web Cooking Forum)

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter; room temperature

4 eggs

Juice from 1/2 lemon

Zest from 1 lemon

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Additional lemon zest for garnish

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line the bottom only of a 9 X 13 X 2-inch baking dish with Parchment paper and spray with Pam. In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar and salt; add butter. Stir together eggs, juice from 1/2 lemon and zest from 1 lemon; stir into batter and pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until set, use a toothpick to check. Remove from oven and cool on a rack. When brownies are cool prepare glaze by stirring together powdered sugar and 2 tablespoon lemon juice; drizzle over brownies and sprinkle with additional lemon zest. 

Thank you for stopping by! I am joining The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday, Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday and Rattlebridge Farm for Foodie Friday.

Lucky Shamrock Salad

I have some Irish friends in blogland that inspired me to add a wee bit of green for St. Patrick's Day to my blog. There is nothing on my St. Patrick's Day menu since we'll be getting together with our dinner group for a celebration.  

In the photo above, I came across these Annalee dolls in a store so I snapped their pictures. A young adult in the 1930's, Annalee created dolls, unaware this hobby would become her life's calling. Annalee transformed a chicken coop into a design room, and painted her smile onto dolls. She sold her dolls though craft outlets in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and then her hobby transformed itself into a business. Seventy-five years later, the business is still operating out of that chicken coop. How cool is that!

This non-Irish gal has made her share of corned beef and cabbage, Irish soda bread and Potato Soup over the years. This year I won't be cooking any Irish fare but I will be bringing my lucky shamrock salad to a dinner party. Spinach salad garnished with four leaf clovers.

To make the four leaf clovers, I use baby spinach leaves which are relatively flat. You can use any flat green such as basil, but be forewarned that it's a wee bit tricky getting them through the punch. My inspiration came from here.

I did a little Googling about St. Patrick's Day for you ;o) Did you know that in Great Britain, the Queen Mother used to present bowls of shamrock flown over from Ireland to members of the Irish Guards, a regiment in the British Army consisting primarily of soldiers from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland? The Irish Guards still wear a shamrock on this day, flown in from Ireland.

Did you know that Montreal's flag has a shamrock in one of it's corners? 

 You probably know that Chicago dyes its river green and has done so since 1962 when sewer workers used green dye to check for sewer discharges and had the idea to turn the river green for St. Patrick's Day.

I brought out my green cabbage teapot for the occasion. It is teensy tiny, and belonged to my grandmother.

Close to my home, in the city of Syracuse, NY, Saint Patrick's celebrations are traditionally begun with the delivery of green beer to Coleman's Irish Pub on the first Sunday of March. Coleman's is located in the Tipperary Hill section of the city. Tipperary Hill is home to the World famous "Green-on-Top" Traffic Light and is historically the Irish section in Syracuse. Saint Patrick's Day is rung in at midnight with the painting of a Shamrock under the Green-Over-Red traffic light.

I am joining Cuisine Kathleen for her annual blog crawl.  Thanks for stopping by!
xo
Debbie

The First Snowfall Is Always Magical

The first thing I do every morning is look out the window at the ground to see what the weather is like. This morning, there were no tracks in the road, and the freshly fallen fluffy snow looked magical. It reminded me of a Christmas morning when I was a child, and hoped it would snow during the night so we could have a white Christmas. So I had to build a snowman ;o) I used white Vietri plates since the design on the edges reminded me of HUGE snowflakes. I plan on doing a table for four sometime this winter.

On Saturday, I went to Destiny USA to do some Christmas shopping. I could NEVER walk by Pottery Barn. Just look at this beautiful table with those plaid plates and deer plates. I would give my eye teeth for that beautiful red pottery vase. Heck, maybe I will ;o) The vase is very large and makes quite a statement filled with those beautiful amaryllis flowers which I already have.



I bought some beautiful beaded birch candles at Pottery Barn, and some polka dot napkins.



The rest of the items were gifts....well almost. I did buy a black fur head band at Saks for our winter trip to Lake Placid, and a skirt for New Year's Eve.

I didn't know there was a Lenox store at Destiny, so I zoomed in there quickly to take a photo for you.

I was somewhat tempted to buy some 2nd quality holly dinner plates but I didn't feel like carrying them around the mall while I was shopping. The 9.99 deal was only in effect for Thanksgiving weekend. I think the discounted price is normally $12.00.


Just look at this little piggy in the courtly checked boots! I collect ornaments, and this little piggy may be coming home with me very soon. Photo from Mackenzie-Childs.

I'm joining The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday and Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish. Thank you for stopping by!
xxoo
Debbie

Birthday Table

The beautiful white napkins, dragonfly napkin rings and place mats were a recent birthday gift from my children.

There are several shades of green on the place mat, one of which is the same color green as the vintage looking tumblers. 

Pier One sent me a $15 certificate in the mail for my birthday, and I had a $5 rewards certificate as well. So, I'm saying the four green Vintage Flower Tumblers  were my birthday gift from Pier One ;o)  My total order came to 44 cents.

Thank you for stopping by! I'm joining Let's Dish with Cuisine Kathleen and Seasonal Sundays with the Tablescaper.

xxoo

Debbie

Crunchy Peanut Butter and Vanilla Ice Cream Brownies

If I could have only one flower, it would be easy for me to choose. It would be the beloved sunflower. They truly make my heart go pitter patter. of us.

When I drive by a field of sunflowers, I reflect on their beauty. The sunflower plates were purchased at Wegman's a while back. I picked up the Courtly Check placemats at the MKC barn sale. In August, when the sunflowers are in bloom, they are my go to plates because I always have sunflowers in a vase.

Start with Vanilla ice cream. Store bought is fine. I swirled the ice cream with crunchy peanut butter and spread it on thin fudgy brownies. Top it with another brownie, and then freeze. 

To make the brownies, I used a boxed fudge brownie mix and followed the instructions on the box. 

Line a cookie sheet with parchment, spray with Pam, and pour brownie mixture onto cookie sheet.

Bake for about 15 minutes and let cool. Cut into 4" squares, and remove using a spatula. Spread your ice cream mixture onto a brownie square and top with another brownie. Repeat until all sandwiches are complete and freeze. (I used freezer wrap)

This is a nice dessert to have on hand for summer visitors.

I served with whipped cream and drizzled with caramel sauce. You can sprinkle crushed peanuts on the whipped cream if desired.

ALL THINGS STAR SPANGLED AND CHICKEN MARSALA

If I could have a conversation with Chicken Marsala, it would go something like this. Where have you been all my life?  I found a winning recipe for Chicken Marsala on Foley's Follies blog for our impromptu Fourth of July celebration. Mr. Mountain Breaths and I both gave the recipe thumbs up! We ate before I got a picture of the meal:-). 

 The red chicken dishes came from Sur La Table a while back, and are the perfect size for Chicken Marsala served with rice.

Chicken napkin rings from Home Goods a few years ago. 

I picked white peonies when they were in the soft "marshmallow" stage, and stored them in the refrigerator until I wanted them to bloom.  I love using white peonies for a

summer celebration.

A few star spangled pinwheels tucked into the bouquet.

A picnic basket is a must for me for spur of the moment picnics. Everything in it's place I say ;o) In the basket, I store melamine plates and other items that we may need for an impromptu picnic.

I'm joining Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish.


Thank you for stopping by!
Debbie

THE WAIT IS OVER....CELEBRATING PEONIES...LET'S DISH!

The house smells wonderful! With thanks to my sister, I have fragrant peonies in every room of the house. My sister Diane has the most amazing peony display each year, and I can't even tell you how many peony bushes she has. I'm guessing about 120? I was reading a magazine recently, and there was a sweet story about a woman who has a U-pick peony business. I'm going to encourage my sister to do that! 

The table is set to celebrate! I used the same dishes and placemats that I used for Mother's Day and added peonies to the lions head soup bowls from Christmas Tree Shoppe.

Besides being so wonderfully fragrant, peonies are full of color. The cheerful mop heads make a stunning display on the table. 

I love the white peonies as much as the pink ones. Since the peony season is so short, I picked another bunch of white peonies while they were in the soft "marshmallow" stage, and am storing them in the refrigerator for a few weeks until I want them to bloom.  I love using peonies for a red, white and blue summer celebration. 

The white also looks brilliant in a black and white vase.

Thank you for stopping by! I am joining Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish.

xxoo

Debbie

LET'S DISH S'MORE WITH MACKENZIE CHILDS...YUMMY FILLED STRAWBERRIES TOO

In honor of Memorial Day Weekend, you might need a quick and easy dessert to bring to a party. These filled strawberries taste just like mini cheesecakes to me, and I am always happy to bring this signature dish to a party. I just add a blueberry when I want to give it a red, white and blue theme. 

Filled Strawberries - recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

8 ounces room-temperature cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 TB tablespoons confectioners' sugar

12 strawberries

Whip room-temperature cream cheese on medium speed until slightly fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and 2 TB confectioners' sugar. Trim tops and bottoms of 12 strawberries to level. Use a small melon baller to scoop out tops. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star tip with cream cheese mixture; pipe into berries until it brims over tops. Toast 1/4 cup sliced almonds in a 350°oven until golden-brown, 3 to 6 minutes; arrange slices over filling.

I had hoped to squeeze in a red, white and blue table this week but working overtime and playing outdoors seemed to get in the way.  It's that time of year again when weekends consist of s'mores over the camp fire and watching the busy hummingbirds while doing yard work. Aren't the spring days the sweetest ones to play outdoors?

Last week, I showed you some photos from the Mackenzie Childs store in Aurora. This week, I'm showing some of my barn sale bargains. And let me tell you that it is NOT in my blood to ever wait in line for anything for THREE long hours.....nooooo sirreeee! But I did. Did I have fun and get bargains?  YES YES YES YES. The first group of shoppers to get into the barn sale had been there for 20 hours. Die hards! There were also personal shoppers there.

At the 2011 barn sale, I added more of Courtly Check enamelware to my collection. Two large serving bowls, cups and saucers, vase, napkin rings and knobs for a dresser I would like to refinish some day.

Herb pots, small colander, soap dish and vase.

Rimmed dishes, Flower Market dinner plates and a tea kettle that was a gift.

The Flower Market enamel dinner plates in the new color "Plum" pair well with the Courtly Check chargers.

This next photo is a page from the Mackenzie Childs catalog, and I love the white petunias they used with the Courtly Check. Pure and Simple.

This friendly gal was welcoming us to the barn sale.

Thank you for stopping by!  I'm joining Let's Dish with Cuisine Kathleen on Wednesday evening. Thank you Kathleen for being a wonderful hostess!
xxoo
Debbie