Just Another Day in the Kitchen...

Good morning, my friends!

Hope your day is going well!  This will be a quicker post today--got lots on my plate today--got to get hopping!

I find my posts returning again and again to a kitchen theme...I guess that's natural, as I think about it...we spend so much time in our kitchens every day...I'm sitting here at my computer in my kitchen right now...it's an important place in our homes, isn't it?!

Well, I made a couple more kitchen cards yesterday--there are so many kitschy and wonderful images out there, I just can't stop myself!

This first one uses an adorable image from Crafty Secrets' "Homemade" Images & Journal Notes booklet...

This is also for this week's Crafty Secrets' forum challenge over  at Splitcoast--to use the very first sketch challenge card as our inspiration...not sure how true to it I stayed (had to turn it up on it's side!), but oh, well!  

I used some wonderful Graphic 45 paper and some the blue argyle print is a retired Stampin' Up print. 

I love making these flowers with circle scallop punches--so easy and fun!  Sorry I didn't check the button for stray glitter before I took the picture...but sometimes even when I do, I find that glitter just has it's own mind...doesn't always want to be obedient to our wishes--goes wherever it pleases!  Oh, well!  I love my glitter!  Love these little cookie cutters I got at Michael's last year--just perfect for a card like this!

And now for this one...

This is one of my favorite kitschy kitchen images ever---and I had to scan the cover of one of my cookbooks to get it!  This is an adorable children's cookbook that I just love!

Each page is just a treasure--and the recipes are great, too!

Lots of silver shavings glitter, of course...with a healthy dose of Dazzling Diamonds, too!  The adorable polka-dotted  & strawberry paper is from Gooseberry Patch--how fun is that?!

And speaking of Gooseberry Patch, have you found their new "bookazine" yet?  I just got mine at Target a couple of days ago, and it's fabulous! 

My daughter Annie had another class party today, so I whipped up these little yummies from the new cookbook magazine...

Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used chunky--that's all we have in this house!)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine all ingredients; mix well. Roll dough into one-inch balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet.  Use a fork to press a crisscross pattern into the top of each cookie.  Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden.  Let cool before removing from sheet.  Makes 2 dozen.

I was a little uncertain about these, but just had to give them a try--NO FLOUR???--but they worked beautifully!  I did have to press my fork into sugar (of course--it sparkles!) before doing my crisscrosses--the dough is SUPER soft!  I also baked mine for 12 minutes--perfection!

I have some good-looking stew in the crockpot right now...also from this book--I'll let you know how that comes out in my next post!  Thanks, again, Gooseberry Patch ladies, for all the wonderful recipes & inspiration!

Just had to close with a couple of pictures of me in the kitchen...why not?!

There's my beautiful mother....and me with messy hair and my fingers in my mouth--classy girl!

Yep...I still love those darn Wheat Thins....!  Wish I had that beautiful hobnail milkglass pitcher--I love milkglass!  By the way, my sister just reminded me (thanks for coming for a visit, Becky!) that Mom still has this very high chair sitting in her kitchen--now filled by all the grandbabies...lots of sweet, messy little fingers have banged on that tray!

So, go and make something delicious today....or just stick a spoon of peanut butter in your mouth...that's okay, too!

See you soon with something new!

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...

White Texas Sheet Cake, a Holly Sprite, and a Pesky Pixie!

Good morning, everyone! Hope the day is going very well so far!

Sorry I didn't get my post done yesterday...a cold bug is trying very hard to bite me, and I'm trying very hard to fight it off! Feeling a bit dozy and wonky today!

Got a few things to share with you today--first off, another sweet Vintage Postcard image from Crafty Secrets, from the "Baby Boy" kit:

I'm not really thrilled with the photos I took of these--my lighting (and my head!) is a little off today, but here it is, anyway!

Love this detail shot--what a gorgeous image! All I did for this one was add my silver glitter, some crystal rhinestones, a little diamond glitter on the stork, and some pretty, gauzy orange ribbon. These kits make little gifts SO easy to make!


Next, I LOVE The Graphics Fairy! Karen is so creative and so generous with her free vintage images, which I of course adore! Last week she offered up some adorable vintage images of sweet little sprites--this one is a holly sprite--I love him! Here's what I did with him:

Not too happy with these photos either--oh, well! Isn't he cute?! The paper I used is from the new Graphic 45 "Christmas Past" collection--beautiful stuff! I cut out the little sprite and popped him up with dimensionals, and the Christmas greeting is from Crafty Secrets' sweet stamp set "Season's Greetings". A little gold glass glitter, Xmas Red Stickles, some rickrack & ribbon, and that's it!


You can just barely see the diamond glitter I put on him--looks better in real life, of course!

Now, how about some WHITE Texas Sheet Cake?! I've only had the chocolate version before, but just found this in my recently acquired Gooseberry Patch "All Through the Seasons" recipe book...and oh, my! It's just fabulous!

Can you see what I added to the top? A little edible glitter, of course! My girls laughed so hard--they think I can't do anything without glitter! (They may be right.....!)



This is SO good, and so easy to make! Here's the recipe:


White Texas Sheet Cake

1 cup butter

1 cup water

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 cups sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp. almond extract

Frosting (see below)

Bring butter and water to a boil in a large saucepan. Remove from heat and whisk in flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, eggs, sour cream and almond extract until smooth. Pour into a greased 15"x10" baking pan (just a regular cookie sheet). Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Spread Frosting on cake. Serves 12.

Frosting


1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup milk

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 cup chopped walnuts

Combine butter and milk in a saucepan; cook over low heat until butter melts. Bring to a boil over medium heat.

Remove from heat and add powdered sugar and almond extract; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until spreading consistency. Stir in walnuts.

(Originally sent in by Sandra Warren of Friendship, Ohio).



All the while I was making this sheet cake, I kept thinking about my wonderful Aunt Diana. She loves Texas Sheet Cake (in it's original chocolate form!), and I hardly remember a visit to her house when she didn't bake one for everyone.

She's been such a kind visitor to my little blog, and has made some lovely comments and shared some sweet memories with me, two of which are from when I was just a little pesky girl of 2 or 3 years old...I just happen to have pictures of these two remembrances, thanks to a kind auntie, who, instead of getting upset with her niece, decided to capture the moment on film instead...

She reminded me, a month or so ago, how I used to always go into her room, at my Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house, and get into all of her bracelets, putting all of them on my arms at once...

On another occasion, she tells of walking into her room (not too long after the other photo), and finding me on the floor of her room, covered in her scented powder...

Things haven't changed much, I guess--now I'm covered in glitter instead of powder! Thank-you, Aunt Diana, for your ever-loving kindness and reminding me of my silly early days! I love you!

Like I've said before...everything's connected in some way or another...I love when the past jumps into my present and I'm reminded that it's one long chain of events....

Hope your day is wonderful, and that you enjoy every moment! I'll be back tomorrow with something new...

Compliments of the Season...and Vintage Recipes Found!

Good afternoon! Hope your day is going beautifully! Speaking of beautiful, I need to show you what autumn looks like today in my front yard...

Sorry to do that to those of you in cold and blustery places!

A couple of cards Christmas cards to share with you today. I had also done a Thanksgiving card yesterday, but I'm just really not happy with it, so I'll either redo it or scrap it--not sure which!

This first card uses a beautiful image from Crafty Secrets' new "Christmas" Creative Scraps--love this set of images!

Something scrumptious about a big, fat tartan ribbon! I bunched up some jingle bells and stitched them in place on the bow. Lots of German gold glass glitter around the image, and some Dazzling Diamonds on the flowers on the image--doesn't show up much, though!

My second card for the day uses some beautiful images from Graphic 45's new "Christmas Past" collection--such a beautiful grouping of images & designer papers! I'll be doing much more with this set! I just love the sentiment: COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON...no one says beautiful things like that anymore! (Hence my title--I needed a reason to use it!)

I added some beautiful creamy lace, more tartan ribbon (never too much tartan at holiday time!), buttons to mimic holly berries, glittered gold leaves, and some of my beautiful gold glass glitter again. Here's a closer look:

On to something deliciously decadent! I had a few over-ripe bananas this morning, and needed to find something besides banana bread to do with them...so I searched a bit on line, and Oh, my! Wait till you see what I found! Don't you just love finding something unexpected?!

A whole blog dedicated to vintage recipes, found in old recipe boxes, books, etc., at estate sales, flea markets, and so forth. There are some amazing recipes there, all for sharing, and some even have scanned images of the original hand-written recipe! What a find! The site is called "Recovered Recipes", and I can't wait to try more of them!

Here's what I made today--an old recipe for Banana Cake:

It looks small in this picture, but it's an 8 x 8 size cake on a large platter...

Look at all that caramelly frosting--I'll get to that in a minute!

Ahhhhhh! My daughter made very happy sounds with each bite she took (me, too!)

Here's the recipe:

BANANA CAKE

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 egg yolks

4 Tbsp. "sweet milk"***

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder, sifted

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)

Combine the two sugars, butter, egg yolks, milk and soda in bowl. Sift baking powder and flour into batter. Stir. Add mashed bananas and mix until blended. Pour into greased and floured pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

(The recipe said this would fill 2 round cake pans--it won't! I tried...not enough batter. So I just put the batter in an 8" square pan and it was perfect. I would double the recipe for the 2 pans.

***Interesting note found on the recipe site: in old recipes, you'll see the reference to "sweet milk"--this simply means fresh milk. Before we had refrigerators in our kitchens, milk was delivered every day or so, and fresh milk was "sweet", older milk was "sour", and there was buttermilk. Interesting, huh?

I decided to find yummy recipe for frosting, and immediately thought of Gooseberry Patch--they never let me down! Looked in their fabulous cookbook "Christmas All Through the House" and found the perfect frosting recipe:

Quick Caramel Frosting

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup milk

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Bring first 3 ingredients to a boil in a 3 1/2 quart saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly, about 2 minutes.

Stir in milk and bring to a boil; remove from heat. Add powdered sugar and vanilla, stirring with a wooden spoon until smooth. Use immediately. Makes 3 cups.

DELICIOUS!!!

Hope you enjoy this sweet, delicious discovery--I wonder what you might find there...?

My Favorite Brownies, a Snowy Morning & a Rainbow...

Good afternoon! Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

I was just settling in to the quiet of the house after doing all my running to school and back (twice!)...making a card or two, when the electricity went out. It really is amazing how many things we do in the course of a day that involve electricity. I kept thinking, "That's okay...I need to do this anyway..." and would realize that it ALSO required electricity!

So, I resolved to actually sit & read, when the most horrid, piercing sound filled my house! Apparently, the smoke alarms need their batteries replaced! I didn't have the proper batteries...so I went outside and tried to wait it out. In about an hour, the electricity came back on, the unworldy screaming stopped, and the universe made sense once again!

I suddenly felt like baking, as soon as it was actually possible, and decided to make our favorite brownies. I have never really been tempted by brownies. I used to make them for my family knowing that I wouldn't probably eat them. That all changed last year, when I decided to try this recipe found in a Gooseberry Patch Christmas cookbook. Oh. My!

There's really nothing else to say right now, so I'm just going to show you what they look like and give you the recipe. You won't be my friend anymore after you make these, because you won't be able to stop eating them. I mean it! They're almost like fudge...YIKES! And the frosting.....double YIKES!!! I thought I was done talking...



DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

2/3 cup butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 Tbsp. baking cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup chocolate chips (I just add the whole darn bag, cuz why not???!!!)

Cream butter and brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl; add eggs and vanilla. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually stir into butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chips; spread into a greased 13" x 9" baking pan. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes. (I only bake for 20 minutes--kinda gooey at first, but they stiffen up--very fudgey and fabulous!)
(from Gooseberry Patch "Flavors of Fall" cookbook)

Now for the frosting--and this may possibly be the most delicious chocolate frosting I have every had. Really.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING

2 (1 oz.) squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar

Melt chocolate and butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat; remove from heat and add milk and vanilla. Mix in powdered sugar to desired consistency. (Thick, please!!!) Makes 1 1/2 cups.
(From Gooseberry Patch's "Christmas all through the House" cookbook).

I usually double the frosting recipe to make sure the brownies are covered to maximum frostiness. This is very important!

ENJOY!

Now for things with absolutely no calories whatsoever!

I did this first card for a Color Challenge on Splitcoast. Never participated in one before--I'm trying to expand my horizons a little! This was a beautiful color combination, I think--Kraft, Mellow Moss, and White. I knew I'd seen a beautiful image in my new Crafty Secrets' "Christmas" Images & Journal Notes booklet that I thought would fit this nicely, and here's what I came up with:



I made the snow with my new favorite toy--"Snow-Tex"--basically textured white paint--to which I have to, of course, add glitter! So much fun, and it dries pretty quickly. Touched up the icicles overhead with my trusty glue pen and some Dazzling Diamonds, and popped up the two little birdies with the other half of the image from the booklet--a smaller journalling piece that I wasn't going to use, and I noticed the exact same two birds on it, so of course I had to cut them out & pop them up!

I got those two little antique-looking brass bells while at my Mom's this summer--they felt perfect for this.

Apparently I still have a little Springtime left in me, because for this week's Crafty Secrets' challenge at Splitcoast, I decided to use this image. It's from CS's "Childhood" Images & Journal Notes booklet--I've loved it forever & just hadn't used it yet.

Lori Lynn is hosting the challenge this week, and has asked us to "make it shiny!" Embossing was suggested, which I was going to do, but decided to gloss up the rainbow with Inkssential's "Glossy Accents" and then douse it with Dazzling Diamonds. Love the way it turned out. Of course, the colors in the rainbow don't show up nearly as vibrantly in the photo as they do in real life, but I'm happy with it!




Well, that's it for today...off to pick up my youngest daughter then head up to Gilroy for my middle daughter's Field Hockey game--they are our big rivals, so keep your fingers crossed! See you all tomorrow.

Now, go make some brownies!