Easter Goodies .. ......Tablescape Thursday

The last Thursday before Easter...Holy Thursday,
and the beginning of Passover. My wishes for a sweet Passover
for those of you who are observing.

I have been baking in preparation for Easter Sunday.
Yesterday, I made Cheese Danish and Cherry Cheese Danish..
It was a first for me..I usually leave anything with yeast to my DH, but I wanted to try...



Here's the dough, waiting to be filled..



Here they are ready to be baked...only put 2 on a large cookie sheet, the recipe makes 4..



The one I made with cherries opened up...I guess I didn't pinch it tight enough??
It looked like the kind Entemann's sells..





Here's the recipe for the Cheese Danish..

Cream Cheese Danish Coffee Cake

From ... Home Cooking Magazine

1 c sour cream
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c butter
1 t. salt
2 packages dry yeast (4 1/2 t.)
1/2 c warm water
2 eggs beaten
4 c all purpose flour

Over low heat in a saucepan, heat butter, sour cream , sugar and salt until
warm and sugar is dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

In large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water.

Mix sour cream mixture with yeast, and add beaten eggs and flour. You will have a
very soft dough.
Put in fridge over night to rise.

Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead 6 or 7 times. Divide
dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each piece out to 12 X 8 inches. It is sticky, flour your pin too.

Spread 1/4 of filling on to each piece and roll jellyroll style from long
side. Pinch seams and ends to seal. Place seam side down on buttered baking
sheet, I used silpats.. and cut X's in top. (About 6 X's) see pic
Danish should be slightly flat, and about 3 1/2 to 4 inches wide and about 12 inches long.

Cover and let rise until about
double in size -approximately 1 hour
Bake at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes or
until golden. Let cool on wire racks,

Filling
2 packages 8 oz. cream cheese
3/4 c sugar
1 egg beaten
1 t. vanilla extract
1/8 t. salt

Filling: To make filling beat together cream cheese with sugar, add egg and
vanilla extract and salt

Glaze

2 1/2 c confectioners sugar
1/4 c milk
1 t. vanilla extract
sliced almonds.

Combine the first 3 ingredients for
glaze and drizzle over loaves with toasted almonds .

My notes, I brushed with egg wash before baking..
Put 2 loaves on each large pan..
I put the almonds on before baking.



It is a shame this magazine ceased publication, but as I mentioned yesterday, their recipe box is still on line till May if you want to copy any recipes.
For those of you who know Annt, this is the same recipe she uses, so you know it is good!

Tablescape Thursday...




Please stop in at Susan's blog, Between Naps on the Porch to see the other entries this week.
Thank you Susan for hosting,,,and check out her event for tax day, April 15th...I don't know how she thinks of these events, LOL!

I won't be having Easter here, so I decided to do a little table for just the 2 of us tonight...I used my lavender toile dishes from Neiman Marcus...but really from my friend Marigene...I love them, and I am wondering if someone who does TT has them...so far haven't seen them in lavender..



Lavender under white battenburg..

Plum napkins April Cornell
Alabaster napkin ring, WmSonoma ..I added a porcelain egg from Villeroy Boch
Plum stems, TJMaxx
Water glasses..so thin..very old, they were my mom's, they have a rippled shape..
Silver chargers, Pottery Barn.





The lavender toile pitcher was a gift.
The glass eggcups are WmSonoma.
The eggs are wood and hand painted by a friend. I incorporated them into a cut glass bowl from Mikassa and flowers for the centerpiece. I turned another cut glass bowl over to give the centerpiece a little height, and put those battery operated votives inside..which you can't see...:(









I used a white napkin here with a sprig of lavender...just to see it with white..


I am sorry these pics are so dark, I only realized after we ate that a bulb was out...



Have a sweet night...thanks for coming and please come back for Foodie and Flashback Fri..I have some more Easter baked goods to share..no calories...:)

New Recipe Challenge...

My friend, Suzy, has challenged herself, and all of us, to try one new recipe within a week of receiving a new cooking magazine.

I always mark the pages, clip or copy, but somehow never get around to trying all those new recipes...I have a lot of them.

Monique, a friend at La Table de Nana..is one who sees a new recipe and runs with it.
Last year, we both ordered cookie cutters that could print a name on a cookie.

Hers came out great..mine..well let's just say the cutter is in the bottom of a drawer somewhere.
It was so frustrating I almost threw it in the garbage..:( but I couldn't..it was an expensive cookie cutter, and I may try it again.....someday..

So first I tried Avgolemono Soup that Carol posted on her blog....you can find the recipe there, and other good things too..



And next I tried Cheese Danish from Home Cooking magazine, which unfortunately has ceased publishing. The HomeCookingRecipeBox.com will be available till May, so you can still go there and copy any recipes you may like.



I'll post the recipe for this tomorrow..
Thanks for visiting!

Blue Monday

I happened upon Sally's event, Blue Monday.
It is raining here today, so very appropriate and decided to join in...

You can see the other entries at Smiling Sally's blog.



Sally mentioned when she had to tell truths about herself, that she didn't like long winded posts! I feel the same way about some church sermons. I love meaningful, not meandering..:)

She didn't say the post couldn't be full of pictures! I will spare you BLUE food, can't wrap my head around that!!

So here's some blue..

My favorite blue..hydrangeas..



My blue antique wicker set on the back porch..It is HEAVY! The sofa has springs, so you know it is old...it has been recovered.




My everyday dishes, Fiance Fruits by Dansk



My somewhat BLUE covered casserole from Villeroy and Boch. I was the first one in the store the day of the sale to get it half price..:)



And finally, an old blue bike I got for free. I walked down to the beach, and it was sitting in front of a neighbor's house with a FREE sign on it.
I couldn't resist. It works, but veers to the left, so I have to have it "righted"
I was going to paint it and fill it with flowers for July 4th...maybe this year!



Thanks for your visit, and I hope you'll come back for Tablescape Thursday!

THE BIG SALAD...

I loved Seinfeld.
I looked forward to Thursday night..always a good laugh! The next day at lunch in the Faculty Room we would rehash the episode.
One day our principal came in, sat down with a Snickers Bar on his plate and proceeded to eat it with a knife and fork. The people who didn't watch the night before had no idea, the rest of us ...hysterical....

So tonight, in honor of so many Seinfeld funny episodes, we had the BIG salad!
( not really, we were going to have it anyway!)
Baby spinach, red onion, chicken, feta, fresh pears , walnuts,bacon and croutons, an all on one plate dinner..






A scene from my neighborhood...soon the dock will be filled with boats..but right now, it is very quiet here!



Thanks for visiting..

Friday, Food and Flashbacks!

I was going to be tricky and link you to yesterday's Tablescape Thurs post....it does have food in it! (so please take a look if you missed it yesterday :) )

But some of you have already visited, and I didn't want you to make a trip here to see old news, LOL....

Today I have a few things for you.
I visited a restaurant at the end of L.I. in Montauk. They served a salad, nice crisp greens with a goat cheese disc on top.
When you cut into the hot disc, the warm goat cheese oozed all over the greens...delicious...
So I duplicated it at home, and it is a treat...

You can make them in advance, (advised for more than 4 at a time) and then just reheat them before you serve the salad...

Cut the discs, and flatten in saran wrap.(the goat cheese comes in a cryovac log, available at Costco, etc) Place in the freezer until ready to use.



Make an egg wash, and dip the disc in the wash, then flavored bread crumbs. Fry in
the oil of your choice..just brown quickly, and keep warm if you are serving right away. Keep them in a warm oven till you are ready to plate.



This looks huge, but look at the croutons, they are regular croutons...

When you cut it open it will ooze out...This one got a little cold waiting to have its pic taken, so it didn't exactly ooze, but you get the idea!





We also had oven baked chicken, pierrogi and onions...



A little Spring table setting. The centerpiece is my Debbie Mumm egg basket...
It opens so you can fill it with goodies. My friend Jayne, at A Grain of Salt will be posting some beautiful painted Easter egg cookies she made soon...They would be great in this basket..:)



The little blue birds are candles from Pottery Barn..Tweet:)









On that pretty blue and white plate, from Christmas Tree Shops, $1, I served some shrimp salad, sliced eggs and carrots..I served it in a tortilla baked in a ruffled ramekin, and it held its shape well. Wish I could say the same..:(







I used 71-90 size shrimp, which was a perfect size for the salad...celery, onion, pepper and mayo..simple.

My flashback..my Easter table...My friend Suzy, at Kitchen Bouquet invites us to do a flashback every Friday...





.

And some devils food cake eggs dipped in chocolate..



These Hats I did for a Darling Baker cupcake event for a now defunct blog..but they would be great with a spring color ribbon or piping for Easter..



Please visit Gollum's blog to see the other Foodie Friday participants..
Susan at Savoring Time in the Kitchen posted a recipe for a delicious oven braised beef. with brandy..

Foley at Follies Folly a great sweet chicken bacon appy.
Foley is having a Mother's Day event, and you are all invited. Mr Linky will be up for you to post a favorite recipe of your mom's or grandma's, and maybe you have a special plate or dish related item she gave you.
A wonderful way to honor the women who raised us..

Marsha at Marsha's Kitchen offers a chicken portobella lasagna...

Thanks for your visit, please come again!

Hats Off to April....Tablescape Thursday

Or should I say one little yellow hat that I used for my centerpiece with fresh white mums






On top of a crisp white cloth I layered a yellow mat, white charger and yellow plate from Pottery Barn.
The yellow paisley napkin is from there as well as the indiv butter dishes, and the yellow chick candles.
The yellow egg ramekins are Target.



The etched stem wine glasses are antiques, from my mom, and the water glass from Dansk.
The scalloped salad bowls are from Home Goods.

The bunny pitcher is from Mikassa.



The little nests in the bowl are from Christmas Tree Shops. 1$..The little hat is from Dollar Tree.




For dinner we had filet mignon, baked potato and asparagus.





I found this pretty in pink paisley tablecloth at WmSonoma outlet, hope to use it in a TTH setting coming soon..:) I was just playing with this..not a tablescape yet!



Please visit Susan's Between Naps on the Porch to see the other entries this week!



Thanks for coming, I appreciate your visit and comments..♥