homemaking

Christmas Cheer::Appetizers (link party!)

December 4, 2011 by Edie Wadsworth 35 Comments

Welcome to the party! Merry Christmas Y’all!

This is a party of appetizers. You share (with links or pictures) your favorite appetizer recipe(s) for Christmas and then link up here (to your blog or Facebook page) so we can all get some new ideas for fabulous starter food. If Thanksgiving food is all about the meal then Christmas food is all about everything else—-the tapas, the sweets, the breads, the drinks, etc.
Monday (or now if you’d like)—-Appetizers
Wednesday—–Sweets
Friday—-Breads, Breakfasts and Drinks
Sounds like fun and I will participate myself sometime tomorrow when I get all this technical mumbo jumbo figured out.
Start linking tonight if you’re ready 🙂

Here’s the code for the party button if you’d like to display it on your blog. If will link back to the party and is kinda cute if I do say so myself. Just copy and paste the following crazy stuff into the HTML tab of your blog and magic will occur. If magic fails to occur, let me know. I’ll sprinkle more fairy dust.

Now let’s get cooking!

p.s. If noone shows up to the party, I’ll be forced to make full page collages of the foo dogs all week. And judging from your comments, some of you would be very afraid 🙂

p.p.s. I know some of you have had trouble with the photo button but I think it’s working now. You could also just drag the photo onto your desktop and then add to your post and make the photo a link similar to the way you’d make a text link. If you post the ‘html’ code I’ve given and then hit ‘publish’ without going again to the ‘compose’ tab, it should work though. For some reason when I switched between compose and html, it adds stuff to the html code which makes is then not work. See what I mean about blowing up the internets?

Cranberry and Onion Cheeseball aka Christmas Cheeseball

December 3, 2011 by Edie Wadsworth 14 Comments

I’m finally joining my own party. I had one of those long productive days that have you saying at 8pm, “Is this the first time I’ve sat down all day?”

The girls and I didn’t finish school until 5pm and I cooked and cleaned and decorated all day in between teaching/facilitating school.

Whew! I’m weary.

But I did manage to make my favorite cheese ball. I made it up a few years ago and make it every Christmas. Don’t tell anyone but I’ve already put it in the freezer for my company next week.

Yes, cheese balls freeze well. Pretty much everything freezes well. Other things I put in the freezer today, you ask? Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, homeade honey wheat bread, and meatballs.

I earned my ‘whew’ today.

So here’s what you need for the cheese ball.

8 oz package of softened cream cheese

8 oz cheddar cheese, shredded (don’t buy it already shredded–do the hard work and you’ll thank yourself later)

1 small can crushed pineapples

4 scallions chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries rough chopped

1 t. garlic powder

1 t. onion salt (or a little more if it needs more salt)

Mix together and let sit for a couple hours. Serve in a traditional ball shape or in the fun pineapple shape shown.

Invite all your foo-dog loving friends over to enjoy cheese and chinese legend.

Speaking of foo dogs (I know, I can’t let it go), my brilliant friend Annie reminded me of the ‘Chinese dog’ statuaries in Anne of the Island (3rd book in Anne of Green Gables). Anne adored them.

“Gog looks to the right and Magog looks to the left.” It’s all so grand and apocalyptic.

It’s the most brilliant timing ever. Now my foo dogs have names.

And I can tell them apart.

(Thank you Annie, you kindred spirit, you.)

Thanksgiving 2011

November 27, 2011 by Edie Wadsworth 34 Comments

Thanksgiving in the new house was perfect in every way! The weather was mild enough that the young adults sat on the porch to eat and then enjoyed the fireplace afterwards. Caiti was a huge help this year and did lots of cooking and helping! (Thank you sissy)

I have the most wonderful family and am truly so blessed by them all!

Enjoy a few photos……
Grannie’s always in the kitchen cleaning up my mess!

We broke out the Thanksgiving ads after dinner but I totally wimped out on the midnight shopping run. My sister, on the other hand, is made of steel and shopped all night long. I’ve never been much of a black Friday shopper. I think I’ve been twice—both with my Iron Man sister—and I do love to go and drink coffee and people watch. But at midnight? At the Walmarts? That’d be enough to push me right over the edge on which I’m always dangerously teetering. We’re all better off if I sleep and then properly caffeinate before I’m allowed in public.

I did no shopping to speak of and no Christmas decorating. We’re trying to embrace the church’s calendar more and more every year and today is the first day of Advent. I posted on our Advent traditions here. We will slowly begin our decorating this week although I can’t find a spot in my living room anywhere to put a tree?! I have, however, found a perfect spot on the screen porch!

On Saturday, I took the girls to the Moscow Ballet’s production of the Nutcracker. Since they are performing in our local Nutcracker the week before Christmas (and my little Emme was chosen to play ‘Clara’), they literally sat on the edge of their seats and took in every detail. We had so much fun 🙂
And I close with this. In lieu of post Thanksgiving regrets and new resolutions for working out, I propose we all embrace the poncho. It’s the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” garment of fashion.

For all you know I had carrot sticks and water for Thanksgiving.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Hope your weekend was full to the brim!
xo,
edie

Give Thanks

November 22, 2011 by Edie Wadsworth 44 Comments

So, how long have you and I been going steady? Like 3 years, I think?
Well, except for that time you broke up with me when I posted about Loretta Lynn.
And okay, the mullet made you a little uncomfortable. And the bluegrass.

But all and all, we’re pretty solid, you and I. I would totally hold your hair back in a crisis. I adore you. I do.

So, I wanted to say thank you. For meeting me here so faithfully after all this time, through all these trials and all this joy.
For rescuing me from despair when my life fell apart.
I am so humbled that you come. And that you make it okay for us to be who we are.
You are like family to me. I couldn’t be more blessed by having you in my life.
A few goodies and links to say thank you!
I made this banner 2 Thanksgivings and 2 kitchens ago and hope to make time to print it out again this year. Link up in the comments if you print it and post about it!

The pdf files for the letter are here for you to download and print.
G in Give
I in Give
V in Give
E in Give

T in Thanks
H in Thanks
A in Thanks
N in Thanks
K in THanks
S in THanks

Here are some links of food I’m making, in case you need a few last minute ideas.

Obviously, this list isn’t complete. At least my family hopes not.

But these were easy to find and I hope all your dishes are wonderful and tasty!

Chocolate Banana Cream Pie by Emeril—don’t make it until Thursday, it doesn’t ‘keep’ well.

Green Bean Casserole–-Alton Brown (an alternative to the cream of mushroom version)

Red Velvet Cake—Cuisine at Home (I’m making the one from Cuisine at Home, which has no online link but it’s close to the one I linked to. It’s made in 2 8×8 pans and then the cakes are sliced in half to make a 4 layer cake. The sides aren’t frosted so you can see the red—it looks amazing! I made the cakes already and froze them and will ice them on Thursday.)

Parker House Rolls—Martha Stewart (I make these every year and they are amazing!) Make on Thursday.

Vicki’s Olive Salsa—appetizer (Stevie LOVES olives and thinks it’s a downright disgrace not to have olives on the Thanksgiving table.)

Crab Rangoon Dip—appy (new for me this year)

Oyster Dressing-–Pioneer Woman (I make sausage dressing too but I LOVE oyster dressing and so does Grannie. And I think we’re the only two but try it and lemme know!)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins—I already need to make another batch! They disappear so fast and are perfect for a lazy after-Holiday breakfast!

And here’s my fail proof turkey method—–LOW and SLOW. We don’t eat until 6 pm so my timing is based on that. If you plan to eat at noon, you need to put that baby in the oven at 2 or 3 am.

I start with a 20-22 pound turkey and soak it in a salt water/apple juice brine either overnight or at least for a few hours. (about a half handful of salt and one container of apple juice and then submerse in your sink by filling the rest with water. At 6 am, I turn the oven on 300 while I prepare the turkey. I pat the turkey dry and stuff it with sausage stuffing. I them rub softened butter over the outside skin. Put into the oven and leave at 300 for an hour and a half. Then reduce the temperature to 250 and cook for several hours. At around noon, I check it to see how we’re progressing. If it seems to be cooking along very well, I often turn the oven down to 200 and leave it for the rest of the afternoon. Sometimes, I turn it down to 200 but after checking it at 3 pm, if it’s not starting to fall apart, I increase the temp back up to 250. There has never been in the history of the world a juicier turkey.

LOW and SLOW.

It’s the key to all of life.

******************

I leave you with this prayer for the home!

Lord God, our home is among the most precious gifts we receive in this life.

We realize this all the more as we remember our Lord Jesus. He set aside home and family. Having no place to lay His head throughout His ministry, he chose to sojourn among those He came to save. We prayerfully invite Him to dwell in our earthly abode even as He continually invites us by Word and Sacrament to dwell forever in our heavenly home, which He prepares for us.

Make us ever grateful for this shelter from life’s storms.

Keep this house always the home of comfort, joy, peace, and forgiveness.

According to Your will, protect this home from the spiritual assaults of Satan, but likewise make our home a fortress against the calamities of nature and the wickedness of sinful man.

Grant us the virtue of hospitality, the joy of harmonious living, and the blessing of gathering around Your Word and bringing our families’ prayers before You.

May all who dwell in our home be blessed by Your presence and Your peace,

and may all who go forth give thanks for the grace they receive from You, through us, Your dear children

We receive Your loving kindness in our home as a reminder of the eternal home we inherit through Your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.
Amen.
{prayer taken from the Lutheran prayer book which can be purchased at Concordia Publishing House.}

Sweet blessings on your home this Thanksgiving season.

Bohemian (Rhapsody) Thanksgiving Tablescape

November 20, 2011 by Edie Wadsworth 53 Comments

I always host Thanksgiving for my family. I love hosting Thanksgiving. It’s one of my favorite days.
I’m scrambling this year because it dawned on me (2 days ago) that I don’t have all my serving platters anymore.
Or rather, it dawned on me that I don’t have ANY serving platters anymore. Blasted fire.
Nor do I have any china. But whatever. I think I’ve decided that matching dishes are dead to me.
So, I’m mixing it up Bohemian Rhapsody style. All colors are welcome to my dinner. Patterns too. Come one and all.

Beeeecaaaaause I’m easy come, easy go. Little high, little low. Any way the wind blows, doesn’t really matter to meeeee, to me.

Wonder which will be harder? Keeping this table in its’ current state of glory til Thursday or getting Bohemian Rhadsody lyrics out of your head and mine.

I see a little silhouetto of a man. Scaramouche! Scaramouche! Will you do the fandango?

I think we have our answer.

I’m not finished yet but I am liking the general explosion of color. I don’t like labeling holidays with mandatory colors. Thanksgiving can be magenta and kelly green and cornflower blue if she wants to?! Who went and made brown the boss of Thanksgiving? I rebel. I return to Thanksgiving all the colors of April and June and September. I think Freddy would totally be with me on this one.

Back soon with an upstanding Thanksgiving post. I knew this one was a goner when Queen popped into my head.

My profuse apologies. You should probably find a real blogger to follow now.
This may be the beginning of the end for me.

Here’s Freddy himself. Try watching it just once. I dare you.

mwahhhhhh!

31 Days|Day 23 Chipotle Pumpkin Barley Soup

October 23, 2011 by Edie Wadsworth 20 Comments

This post is part of series called “31 Days to Rebuild Your House and Heart” and I’m writing it to chronicle our rebuilding process after we lost everything in a house fire last December. You can start here and read the whole series. Thanks for visiting!

I’m cheating and digging into my archives to find some goodies for you. But this post is so October-ish! I’m having company this week—the first weekend guests to the cottage—-and I’ve been fluffing on overdrive. I’m making this soup while they’re here and thought you might enjoy it too. Come back tomorrow for the final week of the series and for the room tours.
Here’s how it happened.

I went to bookclub at Sandy’s and she served two kinds of soups: pumpkin-apple and chicken and barley.

I’m a mixer, a layer-er, a lumper not a splitter. I layer clothes and jewelry and apparently food. So I mixed the two together and it was fantastic.

I came home, put another necklace on, and then searched pumpkin soup recipes and found this wonderful recipe by Bobby Flay and then tweaked it and added chicken and barley to it.

Phenom Soup. Par Excellence. More stately if pronounced ‘par eggselonce’. Stevie says phooey on any soup that doesn’t have beef or cheese or beer.

I say, you should try it and judge for yourself. {He really liked it despite its’ obvious lack of all things manly–although in my book chipotle and barley are right up there}

You’ll need:

2 T butter and 2 T. olive oil

1 onion

1 large carrot

3 stalks of celery

3 cloves of garlic

2 boxes of good chicken stock

1 can of pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie mix) the smaller sized can ~14 oz

3 c. cooked chicken

1/2 c barley

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. ginger

1/4 t nutmeg

2-3 T honey

1-2 t. chipotles chopped very fine (it comes in a small can in the mexican section of the store and is packed in a heavy sauce)—it has a lot of heat so be cautious.

1 c. sour cream

1/4 c. heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

To begin, saute the veggies in the oil and butter until carrots are almost tender. Always salt as you go along and then adjust the salt at the end. Don’t wait til the very end to add salt or your dish will lack a depth of flavor. Add garlic after the veggies have cooked about 5 minutes.

Then add chicken stock, pumpkin, chicken, barley and all the spices. Cook at medium to high heat for about 45 minutes to an hour or until barley is tender. Turn heat down to simmer. Add sour cream and whisk so that no lumps remain and then add cream. Taste and reseason. I had to add more honey to balance the heat of the chipotles but DON’T leave out the chipotles. The smokey flavor makes the soup. It just wouldn’t be the same without them! Enjoy! And make promises to your husband that the next soup promises to be full of beef and cheese.