Thanksgiving Recipes

Here's a few favorite recipes that are a must each Thanksgiving. The first one is a broccoli casserole given to me by my mother-in-law. Sorry there is not a picture of the finished casserole. I will take a picture of it on Thanksgiving day and post it.

Broccoli Casserole
2 pkgs frozen chopped broccoli
3 T. grated onion
1 c. mayo
1 can mushroom soup, condensed
2 eggs, beaten
1 c grated sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Topping:
1 roll of Ritz cracker
1/4 stick melted butter
Crush crackers and combine with melted butter. Can use more butter if needed.

Cook broccoli  as directed. Cool and drain. Combine all ingredients except for topping. Pour into greased casserole dish and top with crackers butter mixture. Bake 350 degrees for 40 minutes.


and


Corn Casserole
2 cans of Niblet corn, drained (Green Giant)
1/2 c cheese
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c onion chopped
1 can cream of celery soup
pinch of salt
Topping:
1 roll Ritz crackers, crushed
1/2 to 1 stick butter, melted
Mix together and spread ontop of casserole

Put well drained corn into greased casserole dish. Mix other ingredients and spread over corn. Top with cracker mixture. Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Holly

Getting Ready for Christmas....So Soon?

I can't believe that December is almost here. I have started decorating a little. Mostly I have moved furniture around. Moved the hoosier into the dining room, pie safe into kitchen, and turned the kitchen table around. I still have to move the black pie safe/dvd cabinet to its spot in order to make room for the Christmas tree. I wanted to get it before Thanksgiving, but d hubby said that it would dry out. I did remind him that the tree would be standing there waiting for us to come and get it, so did it really matter if it dryed out at our house or the tree lot. We could put it on the deck in the tree stand and set the automatic drip hose to drip on it. D#2 told me that I was so amazing coming up with that plan. I finally realized why we have children, not to carry on the family name or blood line, but to have someone think that you are awesome. You can say the most hair brained stuff and they will think that you are the most amazing, smartest person alive! I just love 5 yr olds.
Anyway, here's some photos of the dining room and decorated table. I went for gingerbread theme this year.

Here is the dining room. The pictures came out much starker than the room actually is. It is much warmer and more toned down. I am thinking about repainting it a green.  Some of the Hull dishes on the table are Mama Marcinak's and some are the ones that I have collected through the years. I love using the large mugs.

Mama Marcinak's Hull dinnerware. Did you notice what I used for napkin rings? Yes, they are cookie cutters. I didn't want to spend any money for matching napkin rings and I had a bunch of these old antique cookie cutters. Don't they look so cute?                                                                                                    

The antique mixer on top of the Hoosier is Mama Marcinak's old mixer. I just love it. I have never plugged it in........

Could this be why? Seems like a really long time ago the cord melted. I do remember the mixer being stored ontop of the little broiler oven, maybe this is how it was melted.

 Closer shot of the sweet little mixer. I think it is so cute up there. Maybe one day I will take it down and use it to make a cake. I do have her recipe holder, not the one in the picture, but a green one not shown. To use her mixer and recipe would be fun! Wish I had one of her old aprons.....

Antique utensils and some antique red plastic cookie cutters: (clockwise) stocking, poinsettia, tree, Santa and American Flag.

 Potpourri pie, made by d#2. Photo doesn't do it justice, it looks so real in real life. Fooled d#1 today. She wanted to eat it.

Here is the table decoration for the table. Antique cookie cutters that I have been collecting for years, antique wooden rolling pin, gingerbread men that I made last year out of fabric, wooden eggs, loom potholder made by d#1 when she was around 8 yrs old, oatmeal raisin cookie recipe, wooden spoon and new wire whisk and of course my wonderful wooden antique dough bowl.

Look who has come out of hiding and is now on naughty/nice patrol. He keeps the house under control. D#2 gets up every morning to look and see if the Elf has moved during the night.

Stay crafty and busy,

Christmas is only 30 days away,

Holly

What in the world is amigurumi?

These past few weeks have been busy, busy, busy. I have not gotten to blog as often as I have wanted to. I am now in full gear for Christmas. I have BIG plans to make most of my Christmas gifts. I am getting better at crocheting and am in love with amigurumi. I believe it is pronounced AM-A-GOO-ROOM-EE. At least that is how I am pronouncing it. Amigurumi means "single crochet" in Japanese. The patterns are super easy to follow and I am having a ball, no pun intended, making these little guys. I have decided to make some for Christmas presents for the little ones on our list. I have even made up some patterns. I am still not very familiar with all of the crocheting terms, so my patterns are a little hard for anyone else to follow. I also use a paperclip as my row marker. It works quite well and if I lose it, I have plenty more up in the craft room.

Supplies, gotta love that this is all it takes. Not an expensive hobby at all! Dear hubby appreciates that.

Naked little fellow. Waiting on his prickly fur. Can you guess what he is?

Did you guess hedgehog?

Here's a smaller one. The arms look a little wonky from this angle, but they really are on straight, I promise, really.... they are. He doesn't have his eyes yet, they are the last to be put on. I am making him some felt eyes. The safety plastic ones that I have were a little too big for my taste. I am going to make a momma and hopefully daddy and a felt mushroom house to put them in. I will have to make up my own pattern for the house, I can't find a cute pattern anywhere.

Look what I received in the mail today. It is my Prairie Women's Sewing Circle quilting supplies. They sent this one in a little cigar box, which is just the cutest. The box is for storing your "WIPs" or "work in progress" projects. This quilt is suppose to be hand pieced, which I love doing. I have been working on a hand piecing quilt for a while and I could finish it in about 2 weeks, but time just gets away. Maybe in January I will have some more time to devote to this project.

Pretty little civil war fabrics. See the pattern of the quilt square in the background. It is called "At Mama's  knee".

More beautiful Civil War fabrics.

Have a great day and keep yourself busy,

Holly