April Showers~ Chicken & Ricotta & Spinach

You Southern gals are killing us with your flowers!  It is COLD here, no blooms.  Yes, I am jealous.  By the time ours are bloomed you will be on to beach parties!

In lieu of flowers outside,   I did a very flowery table.  This cloth has lived with me for about 30 years! 

Pick a color, any color!  I couldn't so I used almost all of them!

Pale green plate, aqua salad, purple handled soup/mini casserole.

Fresh flowers with green centers in a green pot.

Aqua stem with a Purple stem for water.

Rattan chargers, a terrific sale from Pfaltzgraff .com when they have their clearance sale, under 2.00 ea., marked 20.  Who would pay 20?

Lime green cake ped, Pinhierro a gift from my friend Pam.  :)

Bunny salt and peppers, as nice as the ones I saw at PB outlet, .69!  PB'S?  too high!

Beaded napkin rings, another bargain....25 each, seriously!

I know you may think you have seen this cloth before, but it isn't!

The one I used today has more colors than this one I used last Spring.

I tried the napkins in the glasses too, instead of the ring.

So much fun playing with dishes, LOL. 

 

For dinner we had chicken.  Pounded filled with  fresh spinach ricotta, scallion, mozzarella, and locatelli. Pepper

How ever I serve spinach, I always add a pinch of sugar to get rid of the bitterness.

Roll up, dip in egg then seasoned Panko.  Refrig for an hour.

Brown in a small amt of oil, and finish in the oven.  Let it rest before slicing to serve, or make them smaller and serve individually.

I served it over linguine with a wine sauce.

Very easy, and delicious.  May not be magazine quality  pics, no light box etc.  I cook it, we eat it!

I join Susan at BNOTP for Tablescape Thursday, and Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.  What's on the Menu at Dining with Debbie, and Extreme Personal Measures. Thanks to our hosts!

Thank you for visiting!

Table Credits

Cloth old , Marshalls.

Purple Stems  HG     Aqua stems over 25 years old

Green flatware CTS

Rattan chargers Pfaltzgraff

Aqua salad  CTS   .84

Purple handled mini casseroles HG

Napkins old

Rings CTS

Bunnies and ceramic pot for flowers CTS

Seasonal Sunday Dinner! A Favorite

It's cold.  20's last night, 30's today.  The sun is out though,  so I shouldn't complain.

Good day for a stuffed and rolled pork loin and tattooed potatoes.

Here it is when it comes out of the oven.

Butterfly your loin of pork pound it out and stuff with a filling of your choice.  I used bread stuffing in this one.

Dip in egg wash, then a mix of Panko and seasoned breadcrumbs and seasoning.

Brown quickly, then finish off in the oven.  I use those heat resistant rubber bands to tie it.  They are great, and you can find them at B B and Beyond and many other places. (don't forget to use your coupon!  :)  )

I make an apple chutney for the top.  Slice a few varieties of apples, some onions and brown in butter. Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and sugar.   Add apricot flavored brandy and simmer.  Pour over the top of the meat. I served it with tattooed potatoes.

Halve the potato, toss in s and p and oil. Press an herb of your choice into the flat half. Place face down on a sprayed glass baking dish. Roast till browned, do not move it till it is done. I have shown how to do this in older posts. Very easy, just a nice presentation.

Our neighborhood marina is anxiously awaiting warmer weather to arrive.  Right now, it is too cold, but in a month, people will start putting their boats at the dock.

Spring will come, in its own time!  But for now, brrrrr!

I am joining Laurie for Favorite Things and The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays.

The Yolks on Me~ Thinking Easter

It is snowing as I write.  Not sticking, but it  dark and dreary.  I almost changed my table to black and white.

But, positive thinking is the way to go, right?

My mom made the bowl I used for the centerpiece.  She raised 4 girls.  One sister was in a wheelchair her whole life and needed A LOT of care.  My mom would never have been a blogger, or read blogs.  She was just too busy!  Cooking, cleaning, gardening, she did it all.  She was widowed at 49.  I am sure she would think I should be making better use of my time!  :)

Once I was married she bought a condo in Fla.  She started doing ceramics with the people she met there.  Didn't we all in the late 70's! Even the art classes in school had the little ones doing it.

So this bowl she made,though not a work of art,  is special to me.

She LOVED yellow, so in her honor, a yellow and white table.

Yellow and white bedspread, trimmed in eyelet for the tablecloth.  I have had it for years, always used it for a table.

Flatware, yellow plate , paisley napkin, and Apilco Lion Head covered bowl  by WSonoma/PBarn .

Little "Vase" of flowers at each place.  The vase is the glass a candle came in.  Once is was used up I popped it in the freezer and popped out the remaining wax.  I use them for a lot of things!

The two  stems are by Dansk.

Little yellow bowls for a roll, are from Target.

That's my Springy table for a very wintery day!

Now on to the yolks.  I make these every year for Easter.  They are made in a Wilton egg pan.  Use your favorite cake recipe, I make some chocolate, and some white.  Drop a teaspoon of cream cheese icing ( cream cheese, sugar, and some margarine mixed well, add a drop of yellow food coloring) in the middle and bake.

When they are cooled dip into melted chocolate icing.  I use melted choc chips and butter.  Place on rack to cool.

Pipe with cream cheese icing and add the jelly bean.  Don't add the jelly bean until ready to serve, or they will run.  I flatten out pastel cup cake papers to put them on.

For the next four weeks I'll share some of the foods we have each Easter.  Do you have anything special you make for this holiday or Passover?

I am joining Susan  at BNOTP for Tablescape Thursday and Gollum for Foodie Friday.

Thanks for visiting, say NO to Snow !  :)

Spring Begins! And the winners are!

March 21, hello Spring,  please be kind to us, it was a brutal winter! And most important, my first grandchild , Lily Grace, was born this day, 10 years ago!

Happy Birthday, Lily!

Time to hang your Spring Hat on the door...

Do some Spring tablescapes...

 

Plant some Spring flowers and...

wait for the Easter Bunny!

Today I got a very nice gift from my neighbor.  She was purging dishes and thought I might like these.  You think?  :)

And this...

Anyone recognize these markings?  It is a large divided bowl, the divider has a handle.  There is a number too.

I think it will be great for Easter Brunch! 

Candy at The Little Round Table had id'd it for me, from France.
Here's what she said...
Your pretty bowl was made by Utzschneider & Cie in Sarreguemines, France.
The artwork is from a series called Enfants Richard and the wash stands came in a variety of styles.

The wash stands were called Les "Lavabo Bebe" and I can send you some scans of some of the old catalog pages sometime tonight or tomorrow.
Thank you, Candy!

The winner of the Easter Pancake molds from WSonma is... Lynn at Happier Than A Pig in Mud.

And the 60 dollar CSN gift certificate goes to

Foley at Foleys Follies!

Congratulations, Ladies!  Please email me.

All the giveaways will be mailed out this week.  Thanks for joining in the 3rd Annual St. Patrick's Day Blog Crawl!

I am joining Laurie at Bargain Hunting with Laurie for Favorite Things, and The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays.  Thanks, ladies, for hosting.

And thank you for visiting!  Here's to a Happy Spring!

Writer's Challenge~What would you do if you won the Lottery?

I am joining Lori at Family Trees May Contain Nuts for her writer's challenge.  She said to assume it was a really BIG windfall, so let's see...

First pay the taxes, which would make the wind fall more like a slight breeze   Lori says in Canada there are no taxes on lottery winnings. That's nice! 

Besides all the normal things like taking care of family,

donating to charity, etc...house cars, things that everyone says they would do I thought of a few other  silly things.

1.  Send every blogger ten bucks to get rid of that word id thing!  Blogger has a new spam filter which seems to work fine, and if not, you can always put it back.  Some don't even realize they  have it!  Please check if you don't know. :)

 

Help Stamp Out Word Verification

(courtesy of Sweet Nothings)

 

2. Buy BJ at Sweet Nothings the things she is pining for from Pottery Barn.   I want her to be happy!

3. Acquire Christmas Tree Shops  so I can open one near all of you who want one!  Then we will all be showing the same "treasures".

4. Extend Laurie's  (Bargain Hunting with Laurie )decoration closet so she has more room to fill with all those hundreds of decorations!  :)

5. Buy Carol at Always Thyme to Cook asbestos gloves so she never has to worry about burning her little hands.  Also, a life time supply of fire extinguishers !

6. Get The Tablescaper a new house with a room the size of Madison Square Garden to store all her must have 12 of everythings!

7. While I am buying houses, I need one where I can store my things without going down to the basement.  I am getting too old to carry those bins up and down. Or maybe just a handsome full time house boy to be at my beck and call !  :)

8. Get Donald Trump a hair stylist, or a new one. Pulease, can anyone listen to what he says while staring at his hair?

 

9.Have an all expenses paid  Bloggers convention so I could meet all of you I feel I know, in person,  that would be fun!

10. Pay my husband to read my blog.  He just doesn't get it!  :)

But I won't win, so all of this is moot! 

As long as we have good health, we are all rich!

And that, is the TRUTH!

Cream, Green and Plaid

First of all, I want to thank all of you who linked up with the Third Annual St. Patrick's Day Crawl yesterday!  I am working my way through your great posts.  I also want to thank those who left a comment.  I saw so many of you who crawled through the links and left comments!  That is definitely what makes it fun!

PLEASE NOTE...If I haven't been to your entry yet, I will be! Might take me all week end, but I will visit! :)

There's still time to enter the 60 dollar CSN give away here.  Winner will be announced Sunday.

My guests for the 17th will dine at this table.  It is still cold here in NY, so I went for a warm and wooly :) table.

There will only be 6 of us, so it is easier for me if I do it at the kitchen table.  That way I can be in on the conversation while I am serving.

The square bowl on the table is Rosenthal.

 

 

I think I found it in the Noritake Outlet years ago for 2.00!

One of my guests in German, so I wanted to make him feel at home surrounded by the rest of us who are Irish.

Oh wait, DH isn't Irish... I  think he forgets that, as he has been married to me for so long and puts up with the whole St. Patrick's Day thing!

I used a black tablecloth with a black with green wool cloth on top.  I tied up the corners with some Irish lace.  Not really, but it's lace and I am Irish.  :)

Here I was playing with the charger and glasses. The green glass chargers and the green glasses are by Gorham by way of the Lenox Outlet.  I wasn't going to buy the green glasses as I have a different color green, but I gave in to peer pressure from The Tablescaper!  :)

I decided to use a Waterford wine along with a green water.  Lenox eternal plate

The delicate cream soup cups and under plate are a gift to me from Marigene from In the Middle of Nowhere.

They are marked Noritake, Nippon.  A little whiter than the Lenox Eternal, but close enough

She knew I had been wanting some, and sent them to me for my birthday.  They are made by Noritake, and about 80 years old.  They are just beautiful!  Thank you, M!

I used a dark green napkin and gold trimmed flatware by Wallace.

I used a cream cut work pedestal  bowl filled with fresh greens and mums for my centerpiece, and snuggled it in an Irish wool placemat.

I stuck some curled satin ribbon and a top hat in for a little color.

Waterford water pitcher  was a gift from my dear friend ,Marie.  It was her mom's.  Individual butter pats from Wm Sonoma Outlet..

A Belleek tray will hold the bread.

So Waterford, Belleek, Lenox and Christmas Tree Shops and Savers all grace this table.  And they get along just fine, no dish snobs allowed here!  :)

I will sprinkle some green sugar, just a wee bit, on the cupcakes to dress them up for the party. I also made an apple crumb pie and baked individual pound cakes to serve with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. 

I hope my guests enjoy themselves, I tucked a lottery ticket under each plate to see if they have the luck of the Irish!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Spring is marching in!

I wanted to join Lynn at Happier Than a Pig in Mud for her Cook Along.  Ina was the featured cook.

Since Easter is coming and every year I try to get those eggs perfect, I tried her method.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/hard-boiled-eggs-recipe/index.html

Place the eggs in a saucepan and add enough cold water to cover.

Bring the water to a boil and immediately turn off the heat. Let the eggs sit in the pan for 15 minutes.

Remove the eggs to a bowl and allow to rest for at least 2 minutes. When the eggs are cool enough to handle, crack the eggs on each side and then roll them back and forth with your hand, breaking up the shell. Remove and discard the shell.

I should have read the reviews before!  It didn't work for me either.  The shells stuck to the egg, which really ticks me off, and the inside wasn't cooked!

I hope those of you  who have a tried and true method will share.  I always buy the eggs 2 weeks ahead, as I have read in many places that older eggs work better.

Do yours come out perfectly?  Please share your method!

I did make her Lemon Pound Cake awhile ago, and it was delicious.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-cake-recipe/index.html

Go check all the other Ina recipes at Lynn's!  Can't wait to see who she picked for next month!

Thanks again to everyone who crawled or commented!  Let's do it again next year!

See you Sunday to announce the winner!

I am joining Susan for Tablescape Thursday and Gollum for Foodie Friday.
Thank you to all the hosts!