In the Kitchen...

Good morning, my friends!

I've always loved Gooseberry Patch...I just always have!  For years, I've collected their cookbooks, loved their calendars and catalogs, their fabulously vintage-inspired kitchen wares...all of it!  So when they asked me to be their featured blogger this week, I was obviously thrilled!  You can see the article here...

You'll have to go there and check out my Grandmother Velda's amazing cheesecake recipe...you'll love it!

Of course, this got me thinking about our kitchens...we spend so much of our life in them, don't we?  So many memories of meals, laughter, family gatherings...most of it happens in our kitchens.

Here's a kitchen from my long-ago memories...in my Grandma & Grandpa Smith's house...that's them on the left, along with their dog, Vinegar.  I don't know who the other ladies are...I remember those wonderful refrigerator units above the counters--what a cool thing!  (No pun intended!)  I remember they were a creamy yellow...and I want them!  Such a '50's kitchen, don't you think?!

Yesterday, I made two cards just for me...just for fun!  I think my favorite images are the kitschy kitchen images...and Crafty Secrets has provided so much of that wonderful fun for us to play with!  Here they are...

Can't get more kitschy than this, can you?!  Love this very excited baking mom--"You take the cake!"  The image inspired the wonderfully vintage colors of aqua and peachy-pink--love them together!  The images comes from Crafty Secrets' "Homemade" Images & Journal Notes booklet...

Of course, I couldn't do this one without an overabundant amount of silver glitter and rick-rack! 

And this one...

I love this image--brings to mind all the wonderful mother-daughter baking days I've shared with my grandmother, my mother, and my own sweet girls...This image is also from the "Homemade" booklet...

Once again, plenty of silver glitter, ribbon, lace, a wonderful button that reminded me of cross-hatch marks made with a fork on a homemade peanut butter cookie...For both cards, I typed up the wording in my favorite "Apricot" font--so vintage!

Here's another vintage kitchen memory...this one hails back to my infancy...I was born in Boston, Massachusetts while my Dad was attending Harvard Business School.  We lived in a very old house in Cambridge that was divided into 3 apartments.  My Mom said it was built by the "Mahogany King" of Boston, and there were beautiful mahogany touches all through the house...here you can see it on the doorframes...

...another very '50's kitchen!  Here's my beautiful young mother (Karen) fixing her mother's (Velda's)  hair...I love all the little knick-knacks and appliances you can see in the kitchen...

My daughter Annie had a class party today, and needed to bring some cookies.  Whenever I want to try something new, I always turn to my Gooseberry Patch cookbooks (I have lots!)  They are always delicious, and usually turn into new family favorites.  This time was no exception!  This is what we found in their "Church Suppers" cookbook:

Granny's Chocolate Fudge Cookies

2 6-oz. packages semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter
14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 cup chopped nuts  (I omitted the nuts--my family is nutty, but they don't like them in their cookies!)

Heat chocolate chips, butter and condensed milk in a microwave-safe bowl on high setting until melted, stirring every 30 seconds.  Add vanilla, flour and nuts.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes.  Cool on wire racks.  Makes 5 to 6 dozen.

Easy peasy, and very fudgily delicious!

Oh, yes!  I added white chocolate chips to them, too--yum!

One last vintage kitchen image to leave you with...

Here's my Mom, Karen, in her college apartment kitchen in the late '50's...love the hair, Mom!  Isn't she cute?

Thanks for stopping by today--and thank-you, Gooseberry Patch, for the kind words and for continuing to make me smile--you always bring lots of yummy joy to the Campbell Kitchen!

Make some delicious memories today...