Purple Blossoms Tablescape

The Roses are starting to bloom again with a

little cooler weather.  How fun to use them with

a little allysum and petunias to add to my table

today.

Today we are eating in the gazebo in the garden.

 

The weather is just perfect.

We are enjoying my favorite color - purple -

purple flowers, purple plates, purple goblets,

purple napkins, purple chargers

 and purple napkin baubles.

Purple is not that easy to find when it comes

to table ware.  I have been collecting

different pieces over the years.

It is really nice to break up the busy floral plates

with a plain cream plate.

I just love square plates, they are so unusual.

These gorgeous purple goblets were purchased

years ago with a little inheritance money

that I had received.

The deep purple color is just magnificent.

Today the table is set for four.

Just walk down the steps and enter the gazeblo.

Every plate has a fun little flower posey

This certainly is a good way to enjoy the last of

the summer weather.

We are going to enjoy every last bit of lovely weather

and every last flower before the chill comes.

If you enjoy tablescapes, come visit

Susan

at

Between Naps On The Porch

for

Tablescapes Thursday.

You will love all of the talent and ideas you see there.

Flowered dishes - Home Goods 2010

Cream square plates - Tai Pan 2010

Goblets - Spiegel

Gold flatware - Best (Do you even remember that store?)

Purple votives - Target 2009

Chargers and napkin baubles - I don't remember

where I got them

Purple footed serving bowl - a present

Killer Quesadillas and Homemade Salsa

The garden is just going crazy here at Purple Chocolat Home

and if you saw the posts on my garden you realize that it

is planted amongst the flowers but I still get a lot of

produce, just not enough to really can.

Yet, there are more tomatoes than we can eat so

last year I hit upon a great way to use up all those

tomatoes and get the fam to consumer plenty of

lycopene!

I adapted this recipe from our neighbor Jeff

who would bring us his salsa all of the time.

  He used canned tomatoes.  He

adapted his from the back of a vinegar bottle. 

I can't get that vinegar, so I made my own, so let's start there.

Santa Fe Chili Pepper Vinegar

Clean and sterilize glass bottles with tops or screw caps.

In clean bottles place:

 1 T. whole peppercorns

3 whole cloves garlic

3-4 small green or red chili peppers

sprig of basil

sprig of oregano

Fill with white wine vinegar.

Replace cap and let sit for at least 3 days

for the flavor to develop.

To make the labels:

I downloaded a picture of chilis from http://www.photobucket.com/

a free photo sharing site and added the title

then printed it off on label paper and attached it to the

bottles.  What a great gift this makes.

 Click here for the instructions that I gave

previously when making the labels for

 Garlic Basil Oil.

Several people wanted to know where I got

that photo for the label on the basil oil. 

 It was on page 13 under Herb Garden

(not Herb Gardens) on the Photo Bucket site.

Yes, a little hard to find but worth it.

Fresh Salsa Recipe

8 C. fresh tomatoes

1 large onion

3/4 C. mild pickled jalapeno peppers

(or 3 T. hot pickled jalapeno peppers,

or 2 fresh jalapeno peppers or to taste)

1/4 - 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro

1 tsp dried cumin

1 T. minced fresh garlic

1 T. salt

1 T. sugar

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp white pepper (optional)

1/4 C. Santa Fe Chili Pepper Vinegar

(you can use regular unseasoned vinegar)

Blend 3/4 of the tomatoes, leaving a few

chunks.  Remove and blend the remaining

tomatoes with the remaining ingredients.

Mix all together.  The flavors will blend as it sits

in the fridge.

(If you want to make this during the winter

with canned tomatoes, use 4 - 14 oz. cans

of tomatoes and reduce the salt by 1 tsp.)

Killer Quesadillas

8 - 10 inch flour tortillas (we love Costco's

ready to cook tortillas)

2 C.shredded or cubed cooked chicken breast

4 C. shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese

8-12 slices cooked bacon

chopped fresh cilantro

chopped fresh red onion

Butter or spray with cooking oil one side of each

cooked tortilla.

Layer one cooked tortilla with cheese, chicken,

bacon, cilantro and red onion.  Top with

second tortilla.  Cook in frying pan on medium

high heat or on griddle until cheese is melted.

Serve with fresh salsa, guacamole and sour cream.

My friend Monique taught me how to make these

at Lake Powell.  They are also great with steak.

I hope you enjoy your tomatoes this year and maybe

these recipes will help you enjoy them even more!

I will be posting this with

Just Something I Whipped Up Monday

and

Tasty Tuesday.

Princess Cookies With Royal Icing

For Susan's Tablescapes Thursday I featured a

fabulous pool party that my daughter-in-law Audra

did for their 3 year old London.

I promised to do a tutorial on these delightful

cookies.

I have had these cookies commercially made before

and was not impressed with the taste, although they

were beautiful.

Audra's were great, the cookie still soft and everything

flavorful.  She told me she used my recipe:

Sugar Cookie Recipe

1 Pkg. Betty Crocker's French Vanilla Cake Mix (dry)

1 egg 

 1/2 C. butter (very very soft)

2-4 T. flour (I added this flour to make

a rolled cookie dough)

Mix the above in a mixer until smooth.

You don't need to chill this dough.

Roll out cookies.

Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes. (I did 7)

Yesterday we tried a more traditional sugar cookie as

the cake mix ones were a little cracked on the top

and thus harder to frost.

The result??!!

Nowhere near as delicious!!  A traditional

sugar cookie doesn't have enough taste to

support the blandness of a royal frosting.  The

recipe using the cake mix is extra sweet and

makes for a better tasting cookie.

I was not about to blog a tasteless cookie for you

and have you complain.

I tweaked the recipe and added flour to make

it a smoother rolling dough.  The tweaked recipe

appears above.  You can add the 2 T. for a moister

cookie or 4 T. for a firmer cookie.

As you can see, I roll the cookie dough out on floured
 parchmentpaper on the pan or on the counter and
 then slide it onto thepan.  Then I cut the cookies out,
 giving them space to expandon the pan so they won't touch
.  This way your cookies don'tstretch and get misshapen as
you transfer them to the pan.

Bake at 375 for 7 minutes or until tops look dry.  Do not overbake.

Let cool a couple of minutes on the pan, then move to a cookie rack

to cool completely.  You can stack them when cool.

The secret to the icing is to get the Royal Icing thin

 enough that itmelts back into itself as you count to 5.

  The icing in this picture still

needed to be thinned a little.

Royal Icing

3/4 C. warm water

5 T. meringue powder or powdered egg whites

1 tsp. cream of tartar

2 1/4 lb. powdered sugar

In mixer with paddle attachment, mix the

water and meringue powder on lowest speed

until well blended.  Add the cream of tartar.

Add the powdered sugar and set a kitchen

timer for 10 minutes.  Mix with paddle for 10

minutes. 

This will give you your typical royal icing that is

thick and can be used for solid piping.  We now

want to thin it down significantly.

Add additional water 1 T. at a time.  We added

7 more tablespoons. 

It should be thin enough to form a ribbon that

disappears back into the mass of the frosting

by the count of 5.  It has to hold its shape, but

not too much.

Divide into bowls to color.  We used the Neon

liquid colors.  They made really pretty colors

and only used 2-3 drops for each bowl.  We

had 4 colors and white.

Audra bought these squeeze bottles as the Bosch store. 

They wereonly $1 and came with the wonderful tip and

 coupler.  The tip wasthe perfect size for making little dots. 

We also did the yellow in aZiploc bag with the corner cut off. 

It worked well too, just make the hole very small.

If your frosting won't flow out of the bottle, add a little

 water to thin it down.  That is the key, thin but not so thin

 it runs offthe cookie. (We made one that way too!)

Start by piping the outline around the cookie.

You can let this sit a little while to dry it especially if you

plan to fill with a contrasting color.

If you are doing really dark colors, it is recommended

that you let the outline or dam dry overnight.

If you are doing the same color you don't have

to wait at all!  We didn't wait very long on

the colors we did.

Use the squeeze bottle to fill in the center.  Sometimes

I used the back of a spoon to spread it around.

Now is when you can't wait!

If you want to make designs on the cookies

you have to do it right away, so only do  one

cookie at a time.

This cookie was filled in with turquoise then purple

lines were piped across it.  See how the purple has

sunk into the blue.  That is what you are checking

for, it has to happen by the count of 5.

 Immediately use a toothpick to draw through the

 fresh frosting to make your designs.

Pipe dots around the border.  Let the center sit for

 a few minutes before you do this.

Not bad for a first timer huh?

London approved!

I will be posting this on

Foodie Fridays

and

Pink Saturday.

A Princess Pool Party

                Every Princess needs a princess party!

My little granddaughter London turned 3.

Her mother Audra put on this unbelievable

pool party for the family to celebrate.

I just had to share her tablescape with you.

It is everything beautiful and yummy and

wonderful!.

They had a princess theme with cookie crowns.

Can you believe these gorgeous cookies and they

tasted better than they looked!

Everything was set up poolside with this adorable tablecloth.

Cube cupcakes with adorable toppers,

Artfully displayed treats and candies,

Refreshing drinks in a darling pink cooler,

A chicken and grape with poppy seed dressing salad with rolls

and of course

a cute cake.

Audra made everything.  For the cake, she purchased a cake

and then added the frosting clouds for the ponies and

treasure chest to perch on.

Everyone could enjoy the pool before and after dinner

at their condo.

This is one of the poolside cabanas I designed for the cluhouse.

The sparklers scared the birthday girl, just a little!

But she sure loved the cookies.

Dash also had a birthday the same day, but he had celebrated

his a few days earlier, pirate style.

Here's Audra and Tyson and Adele.  What fun to have

married kids and grandkids. 

Everything Audra did for the Princess Pool Party was

exquisite.  She is so talented and we are glad she

wowed us with all of her talent.

I was so impressed, I asked her to come show me  

how to make the cookies, so I could show you.

Today Audra came over and taught me how to make

her fancy sugar cookies.  I will be posting those on

Foodie Fridays

and

Pink Saturday.

Have a wonderful Tablescape Thursday

with

Susan

at

Between Naps on the Porch.