Sante Fe Soup.....

As promised here is the recipe for Sante Fe Soup.....sooo good and oh so easy.

Come join and share a new recipe that you have recently tried....

Girls A Cookin......Take 1 

For the longest time now, I have wanted to start a different type of book club.....I thought the idea of a "cookbook" book club, one where we pick a cookbook try a recipe or two and instead of just talking about the book, we would actually cook together. Well, last night it finally happened and I must say it happened by accident. Orginally I was planning on going over to my friend Angela´s to see her new house and have a glass of vino, but when she mentioned  that Sante Fe Soup was the perfect starter for mexican nite, I thought to myself, well find the recipe, make the soup and take it over as a house warming gift. And then it came to me.....how about we all cook together? Angela jumped on board, invites were sent and voila, Girls a Cookin was born!

 

 The Main Event: Sante Fe Soup

Jill and Angela

Angela our hostess for the first Girls a Cookin Nite

Soups´On

Missy patiently waits for her own treats....homemade doggie biscuits.

Specially made recipe cards....one for each guest...

Many thanks to all the guests for a great evening.....we had such a good time, that I forgot to get a group picture....promise to do that next time.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for the recipe!

A Valentines Evening

Hello everyone! Monday afternoon here in Germany, not really sure where the weekend went, but here it is Monday afternoon again! Today is a home office day, so I have a chance to finally get this post up and running. Valentines Day, my husband and I are not the big valentines day people but I still do like to set the table. :)

Hope you all had a great Valentines Day.....next up  ST. Patty´s DAY!


Posting this week to: The Tablescaper, Tablescape Thursday

A heavenly desert

I do believe, that desert is the best part of any meal, dont´t you? This week I would like to share with you a recipe for

WHITE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE (from the book Petite Sweets by Beatrice Ojakangas)

(next week: the Macaroon Recipe)

This was truly an easy recipe to make. I decided to use my esspresso cups to serve the desert. The cups hold 2 ounces, so I was able to get 6 servings from this recipe. Worked out well, I had one to taste test with, 4 guests and and one left over for the next morning.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whipping cream
2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cups whole milk
4 ounces white chocolate, broken up
almonds for garnish

DIrections:

In a small saucepan, combine the white chocolate bits and milk. Stirring often till the chocolate is melted. Cool. Stir in the corn syrup. Whip the cream and fold into cooled mixture. Divide the wonderful mixture between the esspresso cups. Cover and refrigerate for about 4 hours(or 2-3 days in advance)

Garnish and enjoy.

TABLESCAPE Cabinet......now perfect

This old hutch/cabinet has been a part of our family now for over 20 Years. NOw it is not antique-we just bought it at a garden center in Holland, but we still love it. Over the years it has had many uses, a few times I was even ready to kick it to the curb; BUT here we are 20 years later and the cabinet is still with us and is  now finally perfect.

The cabinet was bought with the intention of being our coat closet. Then it became a storage unit for all sorts of stuff. After that, well then it was filled with office supplies/stuff. For a years it was home to board games and dvds, till I finally figured out that this cabinet would be perfect for all  my tablescape stuff! I went to IKEA, bougt a bunch of matching boxes and started to organize everything. Well, as much as I love IKEA, the boxes are not the best and it did not take long for the boxes to break and the shelves to cave under all the weight. I had my husband make some new shelves, and made my way to IKEA again, this time to buy the plastic containers.

I can not tell you how long it took me to go through everything, sorting and folding and and and.....but the work that both my husband and I put into this project paid off. Sometimes I just open the doors to peek inside and see how pretty it is.

Tablerunners

Handmade Tabelrunners from Mom, Mother-in law, Omas and Aunts 

and my best kitchen towels from friends.

2 containers of linen napkins(the solid colors)

one small container for matches and tea lights.

one container of linen napkins(the patterns)

one box for various place card holders and misc. deco STUFF!

one big box for all my napkin rings

believe it or not, this is the one pile I have dedicated to all the holidays

Now to the first shelf of tableclothes....Far left ----- Middle are all the patterned tableclothes. Far right: misc. pieces of cloth

Next shelf: Material in all colors and white tablecloths. I have switched from buying tablecloths to just buying material...cheaper

Shelf Number 3: all the "RIBBED" placemats and runners and of course some misc. material scraps

Tablecloths for our outdoor table.

Aren´t they pretty?

 

the patterned ones

 

more solids......

THe ENd

Posting to the Tablescaper

With a little help from my friends

 Hello Everyone, it is a cold, but sunny day here in Germany! I hope all is well with all of you and that Mother Nature is being kind to you.
      Todays Tablescape comes with a story. Recently friends of ours found themselves in the hospital with their youngest for an emergency appendectomy... First off, Charlotte is doing well.
      Well, anyhow the Dad decided to stay at the hospital with the little one and mom would stay at home with the oldest. Then Mom catches the nasty flu that is going around, so she was not able to go to the hospital for visits. Thats where we come in....as friends we did what we could...visited often and prayed.
       As a small thank you, I received this russian doll from the mom and of course it sparked a new idea for a tablescape. I added the russian nesting dolls that my mother brought back from her trips to Russia. The tablescape is relatively simple this week, but sometimes less is more.
 

Wishing you all a happy day. Posting to TablescapeThursday, The TAblescaper....Pink Saturday

Crock Pot Chicken Wings

Love my crock pot! When you have a lot to do and not a lot of time to stand in the kitchen, then the crock pot is the way to go! Today I would like to share with you a recipe for chicken wings.

Tracy´s Barbecued Chicken Wings

(Fix and Forget it CookBook)

Ingredients:

Chicken Wings         4 lbs
Onions, chopped       2 large
tomato paste              2 6 oz cans
dry mustard /salt       2 tsp
wine, red or white     1/2 cup
sweet pickle relish     1/2 cup
cider vinegar              1/4 cup
brown sugar               1/4 cup
Worcestershire           1/4 cup
garlic                          2 large, minced


Easy Directions:


Cut off wing tips and cut wings at joint(of course I was too lazy to do this, but the wings still turned out and were very tasty)
Comibine remaining ingredients and add to slow Cooker. Stir
Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours




Happy cooking Everyone

Enough of winter----ready for spring!

While looking for the picture of the teady bear I made, I stumbled accross this picture that my sister had sent me last year. I thought it would be a nice pick me up durning these winter months.

 Happy Pink Saturday Everyone!

Check out more wonderful pink at How Sweet the Sound