Wednesday, April 29, 2015

A Frog Prince Table



As soon as I finished sewing my 
I knew that I would be wanting a
second one for my other table out on
the deck.  

So here it is!  They look so beautiful together,
it just wasn't right to have one all dressed up
and the other one naked.



I was hoping that with the experience of having
made one already that the second one would
go a lot faster, but alas, that didn't happen.  It
took about the same amount of time.

The nice thing was that I didn't have to buy any more
fabric.  I had enough left to make the second one.


Our new Frog Prince (found at Home Goods)
hopped right up on the table and decided
he wanted to enjoy the new tablecloth.


Since, he is a true prince, I set the table with my
favorite crown plates in a simple stack, placing
the crowns at the top.


The bowls finish the stack off, and they
are a pretty crown shape too.

Our Frog Prince is standing right by
his castle to center the table.


It is a beautiful day to have him come and
visit Purple Chocolat Home.


The garden is becoming green and beautiful.


 Just a few white tulips from the garden
to beautify his table.


And of course, what would be more princely,
than pewter goblets!




One of his little Frog Prince friends
were invited to join the tablesetting too.


Two sparkling crown bottles
look pretty on the table.


Glittering napkins and rings fit the
white and silver table setting.


This set of salt and pepper shakes couldn't 
have been more perfect at his royal table.


And the final royal touch to 
His Majesty's table are the
Padova Flatware, which remind me
of a crown.


So glad you came to visit today
and the Prince and I hope you enjoyed 
your stay.

I will be posting this with

Monday, April 27, 2015

Everything But The Kitchen Sink Sundae


It's party time and this is a great
crowd pleaser 
A GINORMOUS
hot fudge brownie/chocolate chip/strawberry...sundae.

You remember my 
that we fed 50 with, well this is a huge, indoor
sundae that can feed 8-10, depending on how
hungry they are.

I was visiting in Texas and we had a birthday party
coming up.  I came up with this super-sized sundae
to celebrate Fred's big birthday.


We started with the largest shallow bowl my sister, Jean, had.
It was about 20-24 inches across.

We started with a ooey, gooey, layer of fudge and
topped it with 18, fresh, hot out of the oven chocolate
chip cookies.


Next, warm, oven-fresh brownies were layered on top.
Yes, we used the whole pan.


We layered on toasted pecans and fresh strawberries.

Oh, this is getting huge!


Three kinds of Blue Bell ice cream (we were in Texas,
so of course we had to use Blue Bell) were scooped
on top.


Finishing touches were, whipped cream, more strawberries and
toasted pecans, caramel sauce and more chocolate.


Then we handed out spoons and dug in.

For the germaphobes, you can offer a bowl
and let them scoop their portion out before
it disappears!


I probably shouldn't tell you this,
 but we had so much fun with this, 
and we had only used half of the ice cream,
so we made a second one while I was there.

Tons of fun for a party!!

This is one of those easy but memorable desserts
that you family will love.

(As I was working on my Dad's life story,
it reminded me of when Joni worked at
Bridgeman's Ice Cream Parlor and 
they had a giant sundae.
It was called the Lollapalooza Sundae.
This definitely is a Lollapalooza!)

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Monday, April 20, 2015

Love Rules


Hubby and I are teaching a 
Marriage and Family Relations class
to young single adults and I took a
canvas wall hanging that I had purchased
and adapted it and printed one
out for each of the attendees.  Then
we went through each point and had
a discussion on the point.

We will be celebrating 36 years of marriage
next month and feel very blessed to have had
this number of years together.  As I said to
the young adults, we have lots of funny stories
about things we did wrong, and everyone
will have their own funny stories.  The point is
to work it out, communicate together and laugh
about it together.  Working at marriage will
be the greatest work they do, but it does take
work and care over all of the years.

Feel free to save this image and 
print it and share it.  It would be really
nice printed on canvas too.

  I am going to frame one for each
of my children to have in their homes.

I will be posting this with 



Monday, April 13, 2015

Salted Caramel Frosted Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Filling


Sweet and salty and creamy -
this is one temptation that you
might want to just eat by the spoonfulls
or even pipe it straight into your mouth!

I am not kidding!  This is divine.


Of course you would never serve something without
taste testing it, especially a new recipe


but this recipe has to come with a warning - 
once you taste test, you might keep tasting
and tasting and tasting!

Wow!  Stop now - skip the cupcakes - just indulge!!

Ok, I had to take the cupcakes to an event
so I had to keep on
going but this is unbelievable!


I have been searching for a Salted Caramel Frosting
recipe that didn't start with melted sugar (as I have
not liked working with melted sugar for a caramel sauce)
and this one by 
made me excited to try it.


I adjusted it a bit (don't we always do that)
and loved the end result.  I also used her recipe
for the semi-homemade chocolate cupcakes too
and they were great.

Salted Caramel Frosting

1 C. melted butter
2 C. dark brown sugar
2/3 C. heavy cream plus 2-4 T. additional
1/2 tsp. salt
6 C. powdered sugar
Additional coarse sea salt if desired

In a medium saucepan stir together the
melted butter, brown sugar and cream.  
Heat the mixture together over medium heat
until the sugar crystals have all melted.  Add
salt and bring to a rolling boil and boil for 3 minutes.
It should form a soft ball when dropped into a
glass of cold water.

Remove from the heat and let cool completely.
Don't be tempted to rush this step.  I let mine
cool overnight.  Mine ended up much thicker
than hers appears as I boiled it for an extra minute.

Remove about 1/2 C. caramel for filling the cupcakes.

Place the remaining caramel in a large mixer bowl
and add the 6 C. of powdered sugar.  Add 2 T. cream
and begin to mix the frosting with the whip attachment.
Add additional cream if needed until you create a soft, fluffy
frosting.

Hollow out chocolate or vanilla cupcakes and pipe
a small amount of caramel into the cupcake. 

Frost and sprinkle with additional coarse
sea salt if desired.  I piped the frosting on
with a 1M tip in a rose design.  

Enough to frost 24 cupcakes.

(I filled some with chocolate ganache too but
preferred the caramel filling.)

Click here for printable recipe.


Fabulous!


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Wednesday, April 8, 2015

It's Garden Thyme


Have you started planting anything yet?

My youngest granddaughter and I
planted peas, arugula and carrots
the other day.  It is wonderful when they
love to do anything, even chores, with you.


It's garden time and I am ready for it!


Of course some of my favorites are herbs
as they come back every year so early.


Lettuce and spring plants are going in now
and summer plants in a little while.  I let
my lettuce, arugula and cilantro go to
seed during the summer and they sow themselves
so that they come up all over the garden in early
spring.  It is always a fun surprise to see
where they grow.


Our weather was so warm this winter
that my rosemary wintered over.  That
has never happened before.


Our plate stack consists of beautiful whites
like the tulips and spring greens like the herbs.

I love the textures of the white plates and the
pop of color the placemats give.



 The stack is topped with a spring green
flower bowl that creates a nest for
our seeds and mini trowel.



The beaded napkin nestles in amongst
the plates for more textural interest.



Our cream colored flatware are perfect
for this table.  Did your flatware ever disappear
into the garden as the kids used them for "diggers"?

Mine sure did!


My fancy flatware caddy is filled with spring flowers
and herbs and is the focal point of the center of the table.
I found my Godinger flatware caddy at Tuesday Morning
but I did see some online on Amazon.  I love how versatile
and elegant it is.


Other spring greens are brought into the
center of the table with a moss ball in a
clay urn


and a chicken wire cloche.


My ever useful green bubble goblets are the featured stemware.



I hope spring has come where you are and
that you are enjoying it.

(I am, except for hayfever, but I read that eating
a teaspoon of local honey can help with allergies
and I am doing it and IT WORKS!  I still have
to take my allergy medicines, but it helps.)

Even if you aren't a gardener, get out and 
plant something and watch it grow.  It is
fun and children love to see what they
have planted grow.  

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Monday, April 6, 2015

Grandma's Recipe Apron




Wouldn't it be wonderful to have your grandmother's
favorite recipe as a keepsake that you could actually
use and keep her memory alive and close?

Most of us have fond memories of treasured memories
that waft into the recesses of our minds.  I was just 2 
when I remember coming into my 
grandmother's farmhouse kitchen
and looking up with the big eyes of a child 
and asking for a cookie that was fresh
off the pan.

 To my little mind it seemed
to be the biggest cookie ever that she handed down to
her little grandchild.  My grandmother passed away
just after I turned two, that is how I know how young
I was in this vivid memory.

 Later, I asked my aunt if Grandma had ever
made giant sugar cookies.  I didn't know if she had or
if it was my own small size that made the cookies seem
so big in the memory of a little two year old.  

Yes, she told me, Grandma had a special sugar cookie
she made that was of extraordinary size.  That aunt went on
to create many, many memories in the kitchen for us and
my mother also.  To have one of their recipe cards with
their personal handwriting is a treasure, but now you can
turn that treasure into wearable, useable art.

My niece approached me and asked me to help her friend
design and sew two aprons, 
one for her mother and one for her mother-in-law 
with recipes from their own mothers printed on fabric
from their hand written recipe cards.


I instantly fell in love with this keepsake.  
Spoonflower.com is the wonderful company
that will turn your recipe cards or whatever design
you desire into fabric.  They advertise that it is 
custom print on-demand and no minimum order.
You can design fabric, wallpaper or gift wrap and
having seen the final product, I am very impressed.

Kaylee had ordered 1 yard each of a heavy cotton.
The price at the time she ordered it was about $25
a yard.  I thought that was very reasonable.
You can see that the recipe card is repeated throughout
the fabric.  We decided that we wanted the title of
the card to be front and center and we didn't want too many
ruffles to cover up the recipe and handwriting so I just
added a ruffle at the bottom to make it more feminine.

Using a butcher's apron as a pattern, I cut the body of
the apron out, then serged and turned over and hemmed
all of the edges.  Measuring the bottom edge, I doubled the
length and made a 5 inch ruffle for the bottom hem.  This
also had the edges serged.  After gathering, I marked the
ruffle and the bottom hem in fourths and then pinned the
ruffle on, pulling in and adjusting the gathers.  Finally
I sewed the ruffle to the bottom.  Make the ties at the neck
and waist out of remaining or coordinating fabric or you
could even purchase trim for the ties.

Wouldn't this be a wonderful gift for Mother's Day
for the woman who has everything?!!  

Maybe I even want to make them for my daughters
with a recipe card with my handwriting on it.

 Your imagination can
go wild with this fun online source.  How about aprons
or tea towels or even a skirt from your child's artwork?
Or maybe get in touch with your inner artist and design
some fabric for yourself.  What a great opportunity to
become a fabric designer.

Check them out.  They also have beautiful fabric designs
that are unique.

They have since received their gifts and
I have received a report back that they love
their apron mementos but don't want to 
wear them and get them dirty!!!  Haha!!
Well, make two - one for show and one for use!

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