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Tomorrow, my husband has a cookie exchange party at work. I planned to make either Scandinavian chess cookies or Linzer Torte cookies, but didn’t have much time for elaborate baking. Instead, I baked these easy to make yet tasty chocolate chip cookies. I use this recipe quite often; it was printed on a flour bag.
I am excited to see what kind of home-made cookies my husband will bring back tomorrow.
1 cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup white sugar
1 cup margarine
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp salt
¾ tsp soda
1 (12 oz) package chocolate chips
½ cup chopped nuts
Cream sugars and margarine. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour, salt, and baking soda. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 to 12 minutes.
I'm linking this recipe to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.
I can’t believe Thanksgiving is only a few days away. Sometimes holidays sneak up on me unexpectedly, but I can proudly say that I am fully prepared for the Thanksgiving celebration!
For dinner, there won’t be a traditional turkey since my family is vegetarian, but there will be other delicious and festive dishes.
Here is the menu:
Mixed Greens Salad
Pumpkin-Ricotta Stuffed Shells (the recipe is from Country Living Magazine)
Baked Sweet Potatoes with Rosemary (I use this recipe but I add two tablespoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary)
Buttermilk Cornbread
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Apple Cider, Cranberry Juice
Caramel-Glazed Apple Cake with Ice-Cream
If you would like to learn about other Thanksgiving favorites, visit Stone Gable for On the Menu Monday link party.
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To those of you who celebrate it, I wish a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with warmth and love of your dear ones. And I want to thank you all for being my blog-world friends, for your support and encouragement!
2 pounds carrots, chopped
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs, beaten
confectioners' sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add carrots and cook until tender, about 15 minutes.
Drain and mash. Add melted butter, white sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla extract, and eggs. Mix well and transfer to a 2 quart casserole dish.
Bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.
Makes 8 servings.
I'm linking this recipe to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.
Did you notice how crocheting was taking over my blog? My crocheting posts proved to be the most popular, but when I first started this blog, I wanted it to be mostly about cooking and gardening, and I still do! So I recently started a new blog dedicated to crocheting.
If you are a crocheter or just a crochet admirer, I invite you to join me on Lacy Crochet.
This cilantro pesto is just as delicious as the traditional basil one, but its ingredients are a bit less expensive. My family loved it with pasta!
1 bunch fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
salt to taste
1/2 cup olive oil (or a bit less)
In an electric food processor or blender, blend cilantro, garlic, vinegar, Parmesan cheese, cayenne pepper, nuts, and salt. Add 1/4 cup of the olive oil, and blend the pesto. Add more olive oil until the pesto reaches your desired consistency.
I'm linking this recipe to:
Foodie Friday @ Designs by Gollum,
Home Sweet Home Friday @The Charm of Home,
Potpourri Friday @ 2805.
I can’t help it! I love crocheting doilies!
Here is another one that I recently crocheted. By the way, thank you so much for your sweet comments on my previous one. I enjoyed reading (and rereading) them. Some of you even encouraged me to open an Etsy shop. I am seriously considering that possibility. Thank you!
It was fun to crochet this pineapple doily, and I am very happy with the way it turned out. I found the pattern online, you can see it here.
Today, I’m joining Jami at An Oregon Cottage for Well-Made Wednesday, a link party to share handmade items and ideas on handmade gifts. Wouldn’t you agree that a doily can make a lovely present?
I am also joining
Home Sweet Home Friday @The Charm of Home,
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home,
Potpourri Friday @ 2805.
Thank you all for your kind comments on my last post in which I bragged about the eggplants I grew. Some of you asked if I’m going to show them cooked. And I thought I should!
I’ve been using this Eggplant Parmesan recipe for a few years now. It’s quite simple, and my husband says it tastes just the same as at an Italian restaurant.
3 eggplant, peeled and sliced about ¾ inches thick
2 eggs, beaten
4 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
6 cups spaghetti sauce, divided
1 (16 ounce) package mozzarella cheese, shredded and divided
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in bread crumbs. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes on each side.
In a 9x13 inch baking dish spread spaghetti sauce to cover the bottom. Place a layer of eggplant slices in the sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Repeat with remaining ingredients, ending with the cheeses. Sprinkle basil on top.
Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until golden brown.
I got to go; the trick-or-treaters are at the door.
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Halloween!
My garden still provides me with occasional joys.
This week, I picked four eggplants from my still-going-strong plants. At my local produce store eggplants cost two dollars each. So I have eight dollars in my basket right there :-)
And people say money doesn’t grow on trees! Ha! I’d say it grows on plants; you just need to know which kind of plants!
I also want to show you a huge tomato that I grew this summer. You can’t really judge about its size from the picture, but it weighted almost a pound!
What a splendid gardener I am :-)
I'm joining Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home
Today, Jami at An Oregon Cottage hosts the last Tuesday Garden Party of the season. Everyone is welcome to link up a garden post from 2011.
I’m joining the party with the link to my blue nigella flowers.
Also starting tomorrow, Jami will host a new link party called Well Made Wednesday to share ideas about simple homemade things.
This month has been a tough one for me and my family. I had to put on hold lots of favorite and enjoyable things including blogging. But I hope things will get better soon, and I will be back in the blogland.
Autumn has finally arrived to my town too! I was busy last weekend preparing to welcome it.
I cleaned my garden, covered the yard furniture and put away garden tools and other summer things. I stored away summer clothes and pulled out from the back of the closets the fall/winter ones. I inspected my children's wardrobe and made a list of new garments to buy.
But the most enjoyable part of all was brining out my autumn decorations. Now I am certainly ready for the wonderful season of autumn!
Are you tired already of seeing my doilies?
I’ve crocheted quite a few of them this year, but my huge ball of crocheting thread (it’s cheaper if bought in big sizes from Michael’s) is only half gone!
Perhaps it’s a magical one that will never be over no matter how many doilies I crochet!
My munchkin and I had these stuffed French toasts with tea for breakfast today. After each bite of his toast, he would say “Mmmm” and after each sip of his tea he would say “Aahhhh”. That’s how I concluded the recipe is worth sharing.
1 loaf French bread
2 tablespoons strawberry jam
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
¼ cup chopped strawberries
¼ cup chopped banana
6 eggs, lightly beaten
¾ cup milk
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, divided
Cut French bread into eight 1 ½ inch slices. Make pocket in each slice by cutting slit from top of bread almost to bottom.
Combine jam, cream cheese, strawberries and banana in small bowl to make filling. Place heaping tablespoon of strawberry filling into each pocket. Press back together.
Beat eggs and milk in wide shallow bowl (even though not in the recipe, I added a pinch of salt, a tablespoon of sugar, and a bit of ground cinnamon as well). Add bread; let stand to coat, then turn to coat other side.
Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in large skillet over medium-low heat. Add as many bread slices as will fit; cook until brown. Remove and keep warm. Repeat with remaining butter and bread slices.
Makes 8 slices.
I'm linking this recipe to:
Foodie Friday @ Designs by Gollum,
Home Sweet Home Friday @The Charm of Home,
Potpourri Friday @ 2805.
Earlier this year I planted four eggplant seedlings. They established quite well and turned into beautiful and healthy plants. They bloomed a lot too, but… no eggplants.
Through the three summer months, I didn’t get a single eggplant! I thought I should check if other eggplant growers had this problem. Through the Internet, I found out that I’m not the only one. Moreover, I found the solution!
The trick is to thump the blooms. How simple is that! I was so excited to find several baby eggplants on the plants just a few days after I thumped the flowers. And more of them appear every day. Luckily, here in California we still have summer weather, so there is still a chance to harvest some eggplants!
With the eggplants, tomatoes, and basil from my garden, I can now make my favorite End-of-Summer Pasta.
I wish I learned this little eggplant pollination trick earlier.
Today, I'm joining An Oregon Cottage for Tuesday Garden Party.
It’s been quite a while since I joined Tuesday Tea Time link parties, which are always so much fun to participate in.
So today I want to share a charming little teacup from my collection. I bought it at a flea market in Copenhagen when I went there on a short vacation a year ago. Even though I bought it in Denmark, the cup itself is from Germany. The lady who was selling it had the entire dinning set, but I only bought one cup.
I love its sweet flower pattern on the saucer and the same one inside the cup. The colors are a bit faded (especially inside the cup), but that’s the charm of it.
Thank you for stopping by and if you have a moment, please visit these tea parties and their gracious hostesses.
Martha's Favorites @ Martha's Favorites,
Tea for Two @ The Plumed Pen,
Teacup Tuesday @ Artful Affirmations,
Teapot and Tea Things @ Silken Purse,
Teapot and Tea Things @ Breath of Fresh Air,
Tea Time Tuesday @ Rose Chintz Cottage,
Teatime Tuesday @ Lady Katherine Tea Parlor
This bake is one of the favorite spinach recipes in our family. It is best served cold so all the flavors can fully develop.
1 lb spinach
5 eggs
1 tablespoon chopped mint
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
4 ounces feta, crumbled
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Gently cook the washed spinach in a saucepan until soft. Put the spinach in a colander to drain off all the excess water. Press the spinach down with the back of a wooden spoon to squeeze out as much water as possible. Chop the spinach coarsely.
In a bowl stir the eggs lightly to combine the yolks and white. Add the chopped spinach, mint and cumin. Stir in feta and season with salt and pepper.
Pour the mixture into a lightly oiled ovenproof dish and bake in a preheated oven (350 degrees Fahrenheit), for 25-30 minutes, or until just set. Leave until cold then cut into wedges or squares to serve.
Makes 4 servings.
Today I'm joining:
Foodie Friday @ Designs by Gollum,
Home Sweet Home Friday @The Charm of Home,
Potpourri Friday @ 2805.
In my last post, I shared the Ukrainian tablescape that I set to celebrate Ukraine Independence Day.
And today, I want to share what we had for dinner than night.
For the first course we had borscht (a beetroot soup that is popular in many East-European countries). I learned to make borscht a long time ago and I cook it quite often. However, making the same old borsht for a special dinner wouldn’t be any special!
So I searched the web for a new and exciting recipe, and I found it here. At first, I was skeptical about the recipe, but it turned out pretty good and my family liked it.
This is my official special occasion borscht recipe now!
For the second course, we had cabbage rolls and boiled potatoes. Cabbage rolls (another dish common in Ukraine) consist of meat and grain filling (such as beef and rice, or pork and barley) wrapped in cooked cabbage leaves.
My family is vegetarian, so I had to get creative about the filling. I substituted ground beef with vegetarian Morning Star crumbles. I must admit I wasn’t too happy about it, I think next time I will omit meat altogether and add more seasoning. Anyway, you can see the original recipe here.
For the sweet course, we had thin pancakes that are similar to crepes. In Russian they are called blini, and if memory serves me right in Ukrainian they are called nalesniki. I learned to make them when I was a little girl, so I don’t follow a measured recipe and don’t have one to share with you today.
I served my blini with homemade plum jam that I made just the day before. The plums came from my (neighbor’s) garden; they weren’t very big but very sweet. I followed the measuring from this recipe, but I didn’t peel my plums as suggested in the recipe.
I now only have to tell you what we drank during our celebration. My husband suggested Horilka (Ukrainian vodka), but I did not approve. Instead, I made a fruit drink that I remember my mom and grandmother making back in Ukraine. It’s kind of like fruit punch. It’s made by boiling fresh fruits in a big amount of water. When the fruits release their juices and aromas, sugar is added. The drink is strained and chilled, and the fruits are discarded.
And this was our traditional Ukraine Independence Day celebration dinner! It might sound simple, but it actually took me two days to make it!
I’m joining Stone Gable for On the Menu Monday Link Party.
Today is a very special day! It’s the day when Ukraine celebrates its independence. And being of Ukrainian descent I have a tradition to make a special dinner on this day to celebrate my cultural heritage and pass it on to my children.
All month long, I was looking forward to setting a Ukraine inspired dining table. And now I want to share it with you!
I used one of my Ukrainian rushnyks as a table runner.
The center piece was a Ukraine countryside inspired bouquet. Two things here are of special importance.
In Ukraine there is a tradition that wheat ears must be present on the table during celebrations as they represent prosperity of the family. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any luck finding them at the craft stores I went to. But I did not despair! I substituted wheat ears with millet ones (they grew in my garden from the seeds that fell down from a bird feeder); they both are grains after all!
If you take a drive in the Ukrainian countryside during summer, one thing you are sure to see is endless fields of sunflowers. To remind me of that beautiful sight, I have a sunflower in my bouquet.
To hold my bouquet, I used a plain clay jug that I received as a present on my visit in Ukraine several years ago.
And here are a couple of details on my table: the clay ram and the straw pig bring country charm to my diner setting.
Blue and yellow are the colors of the Ukrainian flag. That is why I used the flowers of these colors for napkin rings.
The dinnerware is quite simple. All the plates are from different sources (the bowls are from a yard sale, the salad plates are from a thrift store, and the dinner plates are from Wal-Mart), but I think they matched nicely.
Setting this table and making dinner brought so many beautiful memories of Ukraine.
By the way, if you would like to see my Ukrainian outfit, you can check my post from the last year here. Sorry to say, I didn’t take a picture this year.
You might ask what we had for dinner. Well, I’ll tell you that in my next post.
Thank you for stopping by.
I am joining these link parties:
Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch,
Home Sweet Home Friday @The Charm of Home,
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home,
Feathering Your Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage.
My blogging friend Sheila recently returned from a vacation in Italy. On her blog, she shared pictures and cultural notes about the town of Cortona in Tuscany. I’ve never been there, so I really enjoyed Sheila’s photo tour. I even went a step farther and took a “culinary trip” to Tuscany :-)
I found the recipe for Tuscan chickpea soup on My Recipes. The soup is delicious and easy to make.
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups finely chopped onion
8 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups water
1 teaspoon minced fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 (15 1/2-ounce) cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 to 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
6 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
Heat the olive oil in a cooking pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the water and the next 5 ingredients (water through tomatoes), and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.
Place 2 cups soup in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth. Pour the pureed soup into a bowl. Repeat procedure with 2 cups soup. Return all pureed soup to pan. Stir in the vinegar, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Serve sprinkled with 1 tablespoon cheese.
Makes 6 servings.
I'm contributing this recipe to Foodie Friday @ Designs by Gollum and sharing it at Home Sweet Home Friday @ The Charm of Home.
I'm also joining Friday Potluck Recipe Hop @ EKat's Kitchen.
Just look at these vegetables! Aren’t they beautiful? They all came from my garden!
Actually, what I love to call “garden” in reality is a tiny suburban backyard. It makes me happy to realize that even with so little space I manage to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, onions, and herbs.
It’s great to go to “the garden” and pick a few ripe tomatoes, a red onion, and a bit of fresh basil, then wash and chop everything, add a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and enjoy a delicious summer salad.
I love picking vegetables from my garden, and my son loves picking berries. Just when I thought that all the berries were gone, he managed to find a big blackberry and a small strawberry.
Luckily, the raspberry vines are begging to bloom again, so there will be more raspberries for my sonny to enjoy in the fall.
If you are a gardener, don't forget to visit An Oregon Cottage for Tuesday Garden Party.
Shelia at Note Songs is having Heart of the Home Party - Roosters and Chickens, and I wanted my darling kitchen rooster to join too.
When my husband and I bought our house a few years ago, I was so happy that it had a nice and roomy kitchen. The kitchen is the place where I spend a lot of my time (no, not eating, cooking!), so it must be a pleasant and enjoyable place. Even though we live in a suburban city, I wanted my kitchen to have that cozy and warm farm-living feeling.
Originally, I wanted a duck or a goose to inhabit my kitchen. But when I came across this colorful and vibrant rooster, I knew right away that’s the bird for my kitchen!
Thank you for stopping by and, please, join Shelia to see more roosters and chickens in other homes.
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