Just Checking In

After yesterday's post, I decided I would see if I could do a post each day until Christmas.  I imagined lively words, some photos, and generally an update as to our preparations for the Big Day.

Today I began in earnest, getting out quilts, wall hangings, and table runners.  These things are all stored upstairs on shelves in the boys' room on shelves in one of the closets.  I have quite a number of all three items to spread throughout the house and it takes some time to take down the Americana and put up the Christmas.  (And why does it seem like I just took them down?)

Yesterday I swapped out my regular dishes for the Christmas set, trotting up and down the hall to the cupboards where they are stashed the rest of the year.  When I was little, I dreamed of having Christmas dishes and I love that my dream came true.  We use them all month and well into January.  They make me smile.

However, I believe I may have mentioned in the past that I'm a very linear person, not a good multi-tasker.  And yesterday proved to be a case in point.  While swapping dishes, I was watching a movie on my kitchen TV (The Intern with Robert DeNiro which I hadn't seen before), while also making a pumpkin pie with some leftover pumpkin.  That's three things at one time.  The pie paid the price.  I reset the timer for forty-five minutes when the first fifteen minutes were up at 425°, but forgot to turn the oven down to 350°. When the final timer rang, I was shocked to see that the crust was a very, very, very dark brown at the edges and then I noticed the black spots on the pumpkin filling.  Then I realized what I had done.  I assumed the pie was a loss, but we tried it (minus the edge crust!) and it wasn't bad.  Not great, but not bad. 

Apparently pumpkin pie is very resilient.   ♥

More Zucchini Stuff

When I recently wrote about zucchini, I mentioned in a comment that I had a recipe that we loved and said I would do a post on it.  It's one I created the summer of 1982 when we had not much money and a glut of summer squash.  It's been a keeper and we've even managed to finally grow enough zucchini that I've made it again this summer.

Summer Squash Skillet

1/2 pound burger

8 oz can tomato sauce

1/3 cup water

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

3 medium summer squash/zucchini

diced green peppers (opt)

Topping:

1 1/2 cups Pepperidge Farm Stuffing 

2 T butter, melted

Brown burger in large skillet.  Add sliced squash (and optional peppers) and lightly stir fry.  In a small bowl, mix rest of ingredients and pour over meat and veggies. Cover and let simmer for about ten minutes. Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over squash mixture.  Cover and continue simmering on low for about five more minutes.  

We set the skillet on a trivet and serve right from the pan.  It makes a tasty, inexpensive, complete meal. Enjoy!

My dishes are Longaberger Heritage Green, and I'm blessed to have these great shallow soup bowls that work perfectly for one-dish meals like this.  

Here's how the whole dinner looks in the pan:

Next time I'll use my new pan!  ♥

Bowls

I have a strange love: bowls. Even as a child, I remember loving bowls; an old broken bowl belonging to one of my great-grandmothers that I glued back together, my Dad's old stoneware Wheaties bowl. Somehow bowls have history. I am currently lusting after a dark green 2-quart Fiestaware bowl. It would be a perfect serving bowl with my Longaberger Heritage Green dishes.

These bowls are in my cupboard:


They belonged to Dan's Aunt Jess. We have no idea how old they are, but I love them. They are small and rather rustic. They just say, "We have history." And they make us think of Aunt Jess who was one special lady.

Christmas 1963

I was a freshman in high school the fall of 1963. My two best friends and I were growing up, and we began thinking of hope chests. Our small town had no fancy department store, but the local hardware store had branched out far beyond hammers and nails and in addition to a gift shop and furniture, had a small china selection. I fell in love with a pattern called Mayflower by Syracuse. I can still see exactly where it was on the shelf in the center section of the store. Onto my Christmas list it went.

On Christmas morning, I opened my first pieces: a place setting and the salt and pepper shakers. More pieces came my way over the next few years, and by the time I was married in January of 1972, I had a full set for eight including all the serving pieces. Syracuse went out of the home china business, concentrating on commercial ware, but in recent years I have been able to add more place settings thanks to Replacments, Ltd. I recently used these dishes at our annual women's Christmas Tea at church. I wish I had thought to take a picture of my table, but I didn't have a blog then. I snapped this picture this morning.


After forty-six years, I still love these dishes.