2015 – Page 3

Pickled Beet Hard Boiled Eggs

April 6, 2015

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and for those who celebrate, a joyous Easter.
We certainly did and will share through photos tomorrow.
For now I will share with you a favorite springtime treat~pickled beet hard boiled eggs.
It really is the perfect combination don’t you think?

Now that spring is here, our hens are laying daily which means lots of hard boiled eggs to be pickled.
I used fresh horseradish from our garden-the first harvest of the season!
The beautiful crimson beet juice soaks right through the egg white and yolk making for a show stopper plate of deviled eggs.
Enjoy!

Pickled Beet Hard Boiled Eggs

6 medium beets
1 medium white onion, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp. black peppercorns
1/4 tsp. whole cloves
2 tbsp. grated peeled fresh horseradish
3 tbsp. peeled sliced fresh ginger
3 cups cider vinegar
4 tbsp. sugar
6 hard boiled eggs, peeled

Trim stalks off the beets. Wash beets and put into a medium pot, cover with water, and boil until soft, 45–60 minutes. Drain, slip off skins, slice beets, and put into a large glass jar.
Add onions, peppercorns, cloves, ginger and horseradish.
Bring cider vinegar, 3 cups water, and sugar to a boil in a small pot, then pour into jar. Set aside to cool, cover, and refrigerate until chilled. Store in refrigerator up to 1 month. Add eggs to jar at least 4 hours and up to 5 days before serving.

Cyanotype eggs

April 2, 2015

I have been sharing my egg dying adventures on instagram and thought it might be fun to share my process of making cyanotype eggs. Don’t worry though these prints are made with only natural ingredients!

I used a purple cabbage dye bath which makes the most perfect blue and gives a sun print effect on the egg.
I clipped leaves and flowers from my backyard and houseplants such as snowdrops, juniper leaf, oxalis, fern, begonia and ranunculus leaf.

You can use hard boiled eggs or dye raw ones to be blown out after they have dried.
It really is a simple process with a gorgeous result.

Cyanotype Eggs

~White hard boiled or raw eggs
~Nude pantyhose cut into small pieces (I may have just pocketed a few of those throw away peds at the shoe store. Shhhh… but they do work perfectly!)
~Leaf and flower cuttings from your backyard or houseplants
~1 whole purple cabbage
~White vinegar
~Pint size ball jars

In a large pot, mix 2 quarts of water and 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar. Add 1 head of chopped purple cabbage. Bring water to a boil and simmer for 1-2 hours.
Turn off heat and let cool. While cooling, position leaf/flower cutting on egg and hold in place by encasing the whole egg with pantyhose. Tie tightly in a knot or secure with a rubber band or twist tie.

Fill individual ball jars with dye bath and place each egg into it’s own cup. You could also submerge all of your eggs at once into the large pot of dye. Let sit overnight or for several hours to get a deep blue. The longer it sits the deeper the hue. Keep checking to get your desired shade.

Pull egg from dye bath and place on paper towel or rag to drain a bit. Allowing it to dry as long as possible makes for a crisper silhouette.
Remove pantyhose and allow it to dry some more.
Gently peel off leaf and voila!

Spring vignettes

March 18, 2015

With spring just around the corner I have begun to tuck little reminders of what’s to come into the vignettes around my home. Nests, blown out dyed eggs, glass rabbits from my childhood and tiny birds have all come out from hiding.

As each new season approaches I pull out the many cards that I have saved throughout the years that correlate. I have quite a collection for each season and holiday and like to scatter them about on my wire card wreath, tucked into mirrors and showcased on the wooden card stands made by Chris.

Branches found on walks and clipped from my yard have been submerged into vases of water and are just beginning to bud out. (Read more about how to here).

It is still a bit chilly here but the light is changing and I have found several things peeking up in my garden.

I may still be wearing my wool coat every day but these little vignettes inside my home encourage me that soon it will be Spring!

Local friends, I will be teaching my Creating Space for Beauty and Simplicity Series at Harvey Oak Mercantile this year. This month I focus on the home and creating vignettes and incorporating the seasons into your decor.

A few new inventions

March 16, 2015

Chris and I make a good team. He likes practical and I like beautiful. Lucky for me everything he makes is beautiful!
I enjoy my home when it is neat and orderly which means I like things put away (or hidden away according to Chris).
I am always switching things up around the house which means where things live sometimes changes.
He is always asking me “So where did you hide it now?” about many of his belongings.

His slippers are one of those things. I may put them in his closet, or by his bedside. Sometimes they make their way by the back door on the shoe rack. Or placed in a basket with all of the other slippers.
I knew he was trying to make a point when he came home last week with his newest invention- Slipper Hooks.
As much as I like things put away out of sight, I had to admit I loved his idea.
He came home the next day with a hook to hang above for his pajamas. And there you have it a new “practical” place for his things with no excuse for me to hide them away.

And while we are on the subject of inventions, check out our affordable version of a new recliner for Chris. To back up a bit, we had been searching for a leather recliner similar to this one for a while. Since they were hard to come by in our price range we settled for an Ikea POANG chair. It was the right size and is actually pretty comfortable. Since the matching ottoman was too bulky for the space Chris decided to make a custom one that slants down at just the right angle that he prefers. Not only is the whole combination beautiful but it is surprisingly ergonomic!

Mondays: Baking with Norah

February 25, 2015

Norah has been inspired these days by this show and was wanting to branch out and bake something a little more fancy this week.

Her heart was set on a cake and she wanted to include berries with pink frosting.

She chose a recipe for a simple yellow cake from Joy of Cooking but added mixed berries that she had cooked down with some sugar.

She strained the berries to make a simple syrup which she then added to a cream cheese icing to get the pink hue she was going for.

Once the cake was cool she adorned it with fresh strawberries and icing where she got to use her new piping set she got for Christmas. She tested out each tip size and used the finest one for a face on each strawberry.

It was so much fun watching her come up with her very own creation. I helped a little but really just followed behind wiping and cleaning up.

Next week she wants me to have a list of ingredients laid out when she comes down in the morning to challenge her to make something with them.

I see a future cooking show star on our hands!

A New Piano

February 5, 2015

I grew up with a piano. I took lessons and played along side of my Pop as a child. I always loved playing but didn’t stick with it.

When Chris and I first moved in we bought a relatively inexpensive piano from Craigs list. I couldn’t imagine a home without one. I played a little but then running a farm and raising two babies got in the way and it just sat there untouched unless my Pop came over for a visit or the occasional friend who played. We decided to get rid of it and make room for other things.

A few years back we were given another piano on a long term loan. I was determined to play and get the girls lessons but the long term loan turned in to a very short visit and the piano had to go earlier than expected.

I decided to put the idea of a piano on the back burner and began to fall in love with my open and airy dining room without one. I replaced it with a secretary desk which I used for my every day dishes and it worked well as a serving piece when entertaining.

But a few months back the girls began asking for a piano again. When visiting my cousin over the holidays, Hannah sat down at the piano and asked me to play with her. When my fingers touched the keys I was filled with warm memories of playing with my Pop. I Love Coffee, I Love Tea, Send in the Clowns, One Enchanted Evening and songs from Fiddler on the Roof, were some of our favorites to play and sing together.

When we were in Florida last week I got an email from a friend who was looking for a new home for her piano. I thought about how much I love my open and spacious dining room with my little plates stacked neatly in the desk shelves and was ready to decline but then I thought about my girls, my Pop, learning to play again, a home filled with music and something made me write yes and press send.

It was delivered last night and I am adjusting. I get a little grumpy sometimes when I bring in something new. But I do love it.

It needs tuning and I so do I. Lessons will begin in a few weeks.

After everyone went up to bed last night I sat back and admired the new addition to our home. I dusted it’s wood and adorned it’s top. I greeted it and sat down to introduce myself and played a few songs.

It felt good and I swear I heard Pop humming along.

Chicken Pot Hand Pies

February 5, 2015

We made these last night for dinner and they were to die for.
True comfort food I tell ya.

Early morning I started a whole chicken in the crock pot and when I arrived home in the afternoon I made the dough and filling. I saved the fun part of constructing the pies for Norah and Chris. They got straight to work rolling out and crimping the dough when they got home.
We make a good team.

I doubled the recipe so there would be plenty of pies to pack in everyone’s lunch the next day with still a few left over to freeze.

Everyone declared that pretty much anything wrapped in that cream cheese dough would be delectable.
So we came up with a list of different fillings we want to try.
Stay tuned…..

Sunday Afternoon Craft Circle

February 3, 2015

A few weeks ago the girls asked if they could host their own craft circle with friends. I guess after watching their mama have fun crafting with her friends each month for the last 15 years they thought they should give it a try.

They decided on the first Sunday afternoon of every month and hosted their first one yesterday.

Each girl brought along a craft to work on and they all sat around the fire chatting and working on various projects. A few worked on crocheted ipod charger cords, Hannah began knitting a hat while her friend worked on a knitted bear project. There was some duct tape art and after much finger knitting over the years Norah began her very first knitted project on needles~ a scarf!

And of course there were refreshments. Norah made back bean brownies again and served them with peppermint tea.

Although there was a bit of a generation gap and the conversation may have been a bit different, craft circle on the first Sunday afternoon of the month with the girls looked a lot like craft circle on the second Wednesday evening of the month with the ladies. There was laughter, lots of chatter, sharing of tools and ideas and of course tea and goodies.

I know that this Sunday afternoon tradition may not last forever but for now I will cherish these moments and feel a little bit proud that my girls want to follow in their mama’s footsteps.

A Day at the Beach

January 31, 2015

Fun in the Sun

January 28, 2015

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