Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for October, 2011

Happy Halloween!

Posted in Entertaining at Home on October 31, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Happy Halloween!

Read Full Post »

Pumpkin Recipes

Posted in Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Holidays, Party Theme, tagged , , on October 28, 2011| 2 Comments »

Since many people will have an abundance of pumpkin after Monday night’s festivities and since I just like pretty much all things pumpkin, here are a few recipes that you might enjoy!

 

Pumpkin Cake

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Roll

And if that isn’t enough pumpkinfesting for you, try these ideas:

• Make a simple pumpkin soup by adding about four cups of chicken broth to a 28-0unce can of pumpkin. Stir in about 3 ounces of Feta cheese, season with salt and a pinch of nutmeg and enjoy.

• Use canned pumpkin as a thickener. Add it to any type of chili or stew that needs a little thickening.

• Substitute canned pumpkin for half the fat in quick breads. This works well with cinnamon, citrus and chocolate. Or make your tastebuds extra happy and make a loaf of pumpkin bread.

• Add canned pumpkin to half your cheesecake filling. Swirl it into the filling, but don’t mix, before baking to get an awesome design and incredible flavor.

• Mix canned pumpkin into softened ice cream then refreeze for a quick pumpkin dessert. Serve with gingersnaps and a drizzle of caramel sauce.

• Mix a heaping spoonful into grits, top with grated Parmesan cheese and a tiny dollop of butter.

• Mix canned pumpkin with one part apple cider and two parts ginger ale for a fun beverage.

You could also make pumpkin polenta, pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin muffins, roasted pumpkin wedges, pumpkin roll or pumpkin seeds.

Read Full Post »

Bathroom Makeover

Posted in Captain Cavedweller, Entertaining at Home, Home and Garden, Home Decor, tagged , , , on October 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »


It all started with this bath mat.

This beautiful, wonderful, blasted bath mat that Captain Cavedweller gave me for my birthday a few weeks ago.

The yurt where we stayed on vacation had the best bath mats in the world in the bathroom. Luxurious, soft, perfectly marvelous bath mats that made me stand on them for no reason except to enjoy the experience. I wanted one. Quite ferociously.

I don’t know where or how he found one, but Captain Cavedweller did and bought it for me for my birthday along with a set of dreamy towels to match the bath mat.

The only hitch in this whole get-along was that the bath mat and towels did not match the walls of my bathroom. Sure, it was all green but sage green and mint green are not the best of friends and truly do not play well together.

So last weekend, I decided to paint my bathroom to match my new rug. After all, it should only take an hour or two. Right?

Ha. Ha. Hee. Har-dee-har. Ho.

No.

It took all weekend. All blooming weekend.

The painting itself took about two hours (forgot about painting the ceiling in the sparkly world in my head where I was planning all this), but it was the scrubbing and cleaning and polishing and shining and more scrubbing that took forever. I mean, seriously, you can’t slap new paint on the walls and not clean every square inch of everything else in the room. Can you?

It would just be so wrong. Way faster, a lot simpler and much less stress – but still wrong.

The thought that I could have possibly returned the rug and towels for a color that would have gone with my mint green walls never even entered my mind until I was completely done with my makeover project. Wouldn’t that have been an easy fix to the problem. Except I really liked the color of the rug and towel. According to the many color surveys I have willingly participated in over the years, my “home” color is green. That would explain why all but two rooms in my house sport some shade of green in the decor, paint or window treatments.

So not having green wasn’t even an option. And despite all the work involved, I am loving the end results.

Here are some before and after photos of the bathroom…

Mint Green - before

 

 

Ahhh - beautiful spa-green walls.

She Who is Really Liking the New Color

Read Full Post »

Slippers and Sippers Party Theme

Posted in Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Party Theme, tagged , , , on October 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »

With chilly weather, days that are getting shorter and the holiday craziness approaching, think about hosting a party just for your girl friends.

Use a Slippers and Sippers Party Theme for a fun, relaxed evening they will long remember. Invite everyone to wear their favorite pair of slippers. They can be cute, wild, crazy, ratty – whatever floats their boat. Have a contest and give away some fun prizes for the prettiest, ugliest and most unique slippers.  Prizes could be something as simple as a bottle of lotion or some foot soak tablets.

Provide a few tasty beverages for guests to sip. A pot of mulled cider is not only delicious, but it fills your home with the most wonderful, welcoming scent. You could set up a hot chocolate station or a coffee station as well.

You could host a home party where your friends can sit and relax while doing a little shopping (think about companies like Scentsy, Pampered Chef, Willow House, etc.) or you could each bring a handful of catalogs to browse through and get ideas for Christmas gifts.

The main objective is just to get together with your friends and have a fun evening.

Keep the mood light and enjoy a few hours of connecting before the hectic hurry of the holidays sets in.

She Who Needs to Find a Cool Pair of Slippers

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »