Category — Holiday

Today is the first installment of my Twelve Days of Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen.

For the next five weeks I’ll be posting gift ideas for you to make for your friends and family.

The First Day of Christmas Gift is a byproduct of any recipe calling for peeled tomatoes. It is made from tomato skins, which would otherwise be tossed away.

Tomato dust or powder is so simple to make that a recipe isn’t really needed. Plus it’s a fun little thing to have around the kitchen.

I first tried to grind the dried peels in a food processor, but that did not get them into the fine dust I wanted. A spice grinder was the perfect fit.

[Read more →]

It’s rather late in the day for me to be posting, but it’s not too late to remind you as if you need it if you’re hosting, that Thanksgiving is next week!

I know! Wasn’t it just last week Halloween?!?  It’s early this year, so don’t let it sneak up on you.

[Read more →]

After working for two solid days on the “Treasure Party” – aka our neighborhood yard sale, I am beat! Dead tired! I didn’t get out of my PJ’s all day on Sunday. In fact, as I type this post, it is 7:30 on Sunday night and I am back in bed.

I went to sleep at 8:30 on Saturday night (the sale day) and didn’t wake up until 8:30 on Sunday morning. Twelve hours was still not enough sleep and I had to take a nap on Sunday afternoon. I never nap. Naps are for wimps. So, yes, I admit, much to my dismay, I am now officially a wimp.

We set up all the treasures on more than 3 dozen large (8-ft, 6 ft, and 60-inch round) heavy folding tables. We initially had to squeeze all those tables under the back patio and in the garages (because of rain) and then I got up before the crack of dawn and we moved them all into the yard and spread them out on the open patio for the sale.

Then there was the 4-hour sale itself. At times there were lines of people at the checkout and other times it was just the neighbors hanging out and chatting it up.

Next, it was time to clean it all up and break down the more than 3 dozen tables. Then Connor and I hoisted all the tables that were left at our house into the back of a truck and hauled them around the neighborhood to return them to their rightful owners. Finally, I put my yard back together – moving all the furniture that had been pushed to one end of the patio, to make room for everything else, back to their correct spots. By the late afternoon, I was feeling like a wrung-out dirty dishrag.

That is a lot of physical labor and a lot of hard work!

Aside from all that, the sale was really fun and we did pretty darn well. The remaining items are shoved and smashed into the third stall of our garage awaiting the Salvation Army pick up later this week.

After eating take-out for the three or four days leading up to the sale, I thought I’d better at least make an attempt at dinner for my guys on Sunday night. Thankfully, Connor agreed to go to the grocery store and pick up the two ingredients I needed to make this crock-pot dish, the epitome of an “easy breezy” meal.

[Read more →]

Via

[Read more →]

Via

Over the weekend Connor and I drove up to Chino Valley, just outside of Prescott, with the sole purpose of buying gorgeous blue-green Jarrahdale pumpkins at Freeman Farms.

I’ve spotted Jarrahdales all over the web for the last couple of years but had not been able to find them for sale here in the Valley.

I had high hopes of finding some for sale in California a couple of weeks ago, but it was not to be.

After a Google search, I discovered that Freeman Farms grows them, but only sells them on weekends at their pumpkin festive on the farm.

So to the farm, we went.

The Jarrahdale is a medium-sized, deeply ribbed heirloom pumpkin in a pleasing light blue color.

[Read more →]

Around this time last year, Pottery Barn had the birdcage picture above for sale. It inspired me to find a big old birdcage of my own and to fill and display it similarly. This PB cage came with a hefty price tag – $199!

I searched high and low for just the right cage, found it, purchased it for $30, hauled it home, and have been struggling ever since with the right place to stick the darn thing!

Turns out it serves as a great vehicle for an ever-changing holiday display. Here is its current incarnation for Halloween.

[Read more →]

I went to Crooked Sky Farms last week to pick up corn stalks and pumpkins to decorate our front entry for fall.

There’s a bit of Halloween mixed in too. I showed you how to make the black feather boa wreaths last month.

I just adore the corn stalks… with plenty of corn still attached. Now I’m just wondering if the corn cobs will dry naturally, rot, attract bugs, or worst of all – attract the local roof rats. Time will tell.

The large pumpkin atop the urn is real, as are the little pumpkins in the lanterns.

[Read more →]

Today we are going to revisit a Halloween favorite around these parts – my Halloween Spiderweb Candy Cake with 7-Minute Espresso Frosting. Click the name of the cake to link to the very explicit directions on how to make this fun cake with many instructional photos.

I thought I would use this opportunity to remind you that there is the “Complete Recipe Index” over there on the left side of the page – near the top, under the “Pages” tab.

[Read more →]

Do you remember this image from last October?  It is a photo of about a dozen of the velvet and other fabric pumpkins I made. HERE is the post with the tutorial on how to make them yourself.

Well this year, I have tackled the burlap pumpkin. I recycled used coffee-bean sacks to create the pumpkin, the bow, and the flowers.

Then I attached a natural stem and used twine to create the pumpkin ridges.

[Read more →]

I believe I have created my best Halloween mantel EVER!

It’s kinda hard to get a decent picture with the windows on either side of the fireplace, so I had to wait until dark, which wasn’t much better. This one was taken at night with a flash.

And this one was taken at night without a flash. Neither does it justice, but maybe some close-ups will.

This is the left side of the mantel. Skulls, Glitter, and Glitz are part of the theme.

[Read more →]