My Beautiful gifts from Barb.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. I had such a busy week and this weekend has turned out to be the same. I went to the Market yesterday and bought my veggies and fruit for the week then came home and made chicken broth. My freezer is so full I can't put another thing into it. I should say them because the one on the frig is packed too. I was looking for something on Friday and found several packages of chicken parts so decided to make chicken broth. I ended up with about 4 quarts for the freezer and I used the rest in my Potato Leek soup that I made for dinner last night. A nice Ceaser salad and dinner was easy and so good.

After my busy day I almost forgot to get my mail. I'm so happy I didn't because Barb's package was waiting for me. I was so excited. Isn't everything so pretty. I almost just left it all wrapped up....OK maybe not for very long.

Now see all the wonderful goodies I found in my package!! I am so happy I won!

This is everything grouped together and below close ups of all my beauty's. Isn't the rooster so very handsome?

Don't you love the pillows? I have a.....well I'm not too sure what to call it. I should have taken a picture. It's what they used to call a hall bench. Or at least that's what I was told when I bought it. It has one drawer that I keep some of my linens in and on the top I have an old old quilt. Now my beautiful pillows are there too! I have it sitting under my window in my bedroom so I can see them often and enjoy.

And my beautiful towels. Aren't they they the cutest?

Isn't it all beautiful? Thank you again Barb. I am so enjoying everything. I hope you enjoyed seeing all my new treasures and that you all have a wonderful week.

I am making Ina's Indonesian Ginger Chicken for dinner. I plan on posting the recipe later in the week.

Corn Muffins, Snowflakes and Etcetra

I hope you all had a good weekend. It was sooo hot here. I kept telling myself not to complain because we have had a relatively cool summer. But 98 is just a little to hot for me. Back in the 80's this week so I'm happier. But to cheer me up last night guess what? Do you know who won Barb's giveaway? ME!! I was so excited when she told me I had won. YEAH!!! Thank you Barb!

While I'm slaving away over the weekend. This is what Anna and Bailey did!! Lots of help they were. It really was a busy weekend. I took today off and I'm doing some laundry, taking a couple of baskets to the booth and then maybe I'll find 5 minutes to relax!! I got up early after being up late last night. Isn't is amazing how you can jump out of bed when you don't have to go to work instead of procrastinating and laying in bed just 5 more minutes?

This will be my breakfast this morning. These corn muffins are fantastic. I watched Ina Saturday and she made these for breakfast. They are the best I've every made. The recipe is definitely a keeper. I thought they sounded good for dinner last night so I printed out the recipe. So light and fluffy. Our peaches are wonderful this year. I must say I've made a pig out of myself. I was going to cut it up before I took the picture but thought it looked so pretty I'd let you see it before I did.

I don't think I posted the snowflakes lately so I pulled out the last three. I look so forward to getting them each month. I'm so going to miss them. I wonder if Crystal would extend my year?

They are so pretty don't you think?

I forgot to post these when I posted my last post. I picked these up from a garage sale. The toppers were 25 cents can you believe it? The cookbook was only 50 cents. I thought with the holidays coming up someone might want a cookie cookbook. I didn't realize until I got home that it has recipes from all over the world. Geez maybe I'll have to keep it.....

I didn't go to any estate or garage sales this weekend. I wanted to spend the time pricing and labeling so I could get some things to the booth. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Estate Sales

Here is all the treasures I found last weekend. Most will go in the booth of course. I really did well and got some great deals. It wasn't the best weekend but I ended up with quite a bit as you will see. I got a lot of this on Sunday which is 1/2 price day.

I got the box of linens for $5.00!

These are yards and yards of trim. I'm going to put them all in a bag and give them one price.

This is a beautiful big tablecloth that someone put a lot of love into embroidering all the flowers.
Price $2.00. They were asking $2.50 1/2 price so I got a real deal.

The Singer was $35.00 but I passed on it but when it was there Sunday I bought it. I also asked them if I could have it for $15.00. SOLD!! The only thing wrong with it is the cord is in bad bad shape. I might put a new cord on it if it doesn't cost too much. What do you think?

The case is in pretty bad shape but I can clean that up fairly easy.

See this little red scarf that Bailey loves? Well after taking pictures of the linens I put them in a pile until I had time to wash them. Well I forgot the scarf was in the pile and yes you guessed it. My beautiful white tablecloth is now light pink!! And the red scarf is now in a million little pieces. It fell apart after ruining my tablecloth. The doilies came out OK! Maybe I can sell it cheap. Or maybe someone will love the pink tablecloth. Who knows!

This is a box of Rice Paper napkins. Aren't they pretty? You should feel them. Oh so soft and delicate.

Isn't this the cutest iron? Can you imagine ironing with this thing? It is sooo heavy.

The cute nativity scene was only $2.50. Couldn't pass that up.

I loved these cookbooks and NO I'm not selling them. They are fun to read. It's amazing how much shortening the recipes call for.

The leaf was in the McCalls Cookbook. I wonder why the owner put the leaf in it and what it meant to her. I left it in the book.

The quilt and 2 shams were only $10.00.

The hankys were $1.00 a piece. Aren't they pretty?

And the pretty doll was only $4.00. The clock beside her was $10.00 and is pretty.

And the cans and baskets were all free!! I took the baskets to carry things in. The cans have 1 or 2 nested inside of them, so there are more than it looks.

The kitchen towels were only $1.00 a piece.

I found these adorable chubby Santa too! I just love them.

The angels and some little bears were a steal too.

I thought the little pitcher was cute too.

And that is all for now. I hope you enjoyed seeing all my goodies. Hope you are having a great week.

Tomatoes Provencal and Julia's Birthday

This has been such a fun day for me. I went to the Farmers Market this morning and ran into an old friend I used to work with. It was fun catching up and we are going to dinner soon. I ran into Sur La Table later and got a couple of things and they were celebrating Julia's birthday and making everyone a cappuccino and serving Le Madeline's and coconut macaroons. Such fun that was.

I came home and actually went through some boxes of holiday things and priced them for the booth. It's amazing how long all this takes but I have 3 boxes to take. One for now, one for fall and two for Christmas. I still have a couple of things to find but most are priced and ready to go.

I decided to visit a couple of blogs after dinner and found this giveaway on one of my favs French Elements. It's a wonderful giveaway so run over and check it out here.


In honor of Julia's birthday, I made the tomato Provencal recipe from her Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I don't think she would mind me sharing it with you.

Tomatoes A La Provencal
6 firm ripe red tomatoes about 3 inches in diameter
Salt and Pepper
1 or 2 cloves mashed garlic
3 T minces shallots or green onion
4 T minced fresh basil and parsley or parsley only
1/8 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp salt
big pinch of pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup bread crumbs from fresh white bread with body
I sometimes add parmesan cheese too but Julia didn't in her original recipe.
A shallow, oiled roasting pan just large enough to hold the tomatoes easily in one layer.

Preheat oven to 400. Remove the stems and cut the tomatoes in half crosswise. Gently press out the juice and seeds. Sprinkle the halves lightly with salt and pepper.

Blend remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl. Correct seasoning. Fill each tomato half with a spoonful or two of the mixture. Sprinkle with a few drops of olive oil. Arrange the tomatoes in the roasting pan, do not crowd them. May be prepared to this point in advance.

Bake 400 10-15 minutes until the tomatoes are tender but hold their shape and bread crumb filling has browned lightly.

Bon Appetit!!

Broccoli Salad

This was a simply delicious and easy salad. As most of you know I go to the Farmers Market on Saturday mornings and stock up for the week. The broccoli was looking especially yummy so brought some home and looked through my cookbooks until I found this recipe. It is definitely a keeper. The recipe is in the Creme de Colorado cookbook. This one was published in 1987. The books are written by the Junior League of Denver. They are always coming out with a new one and I of course have several.

The recipe is so versatile. Next time I'm putting in roasted almonds.

Surprising Broccoli Salad (from the Creme de Colorado cookbook)

3 cups broccoli flowerets

6 slices bacon, fried crisp, drained and crumbled

1 cup chopped red onion

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise

2 T white vinegar

1/3 sup sugar

Cut flowerets off broccoli stalks. Toss together broccoli flowerets, bacon, onion and cheese. Combine dressing ingredients and mix well. Pour dressing over salad and toss thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Quick, easy and delicious. Salad will keep several days refrigerated in a tightly sealed container.

Hiking

These are pictures taken from a couple of hikes we have gone on this month. They were both up by Evergreen. Enjoy! We sure had a good time.

Everything is so green this summer. We have had so much rain and humidity and cool weather.

If you are tired, have a nice rest in the chair that nature made just for us!

And finally a nice quiet spot for our picnic!!