Monday

Everything is just peachy!

While on vacation in SC a few weeks ago we bought some fresh peaches. They were sooo good! We don’t often get good peaches here in Florida, I don’t know if they grow in FL.

Peaches don’t last very long, so I had to get creative to use them up. First I used the fresh peaches to make peach short cake. I bought a sugar-free angel food cake at the grocery store, along with sugar-free Cool Whip. This was delicious! We bought a few white peaches so I mixed them with the regular peaches. Yum!

Next I made some things I could freeze. These peach muffins are very good with the peach jam we also bought at the fruit stand in SC. I like peach preserves and had never seen peach jam or jelly, so I bought some!


I made a small peach cobbler just for the two of us. I added a little Splenda Brown Sugar and butter. The crust was made with Crescent Rolls, cut into strips and woven into a lattice. It was really good!


I like it hot, without ice cream so I can get the full taste of the peaches!

A favorite was this peach bread below, I ended up making two loaves of this. I served some at my Creative Memories workshop and it was a hit.


This is our idea of a relaxing cocktail!
So cold and refreshing!
We also bought this delicious peach cider in SC!
I also served this at my CM workshop, they loved it!

(Sorry the pictures didn't turn out so well at night.)

If you would like any of these recipes I will be happy to share them with you.

Now are you hungry for fresh peaches?

Have a peachy day!!


God Bless.

Katherine

Saturday

Summer Salads Saturday




We eat a lot of salads during the hot summer days here in Florida. We also eat a lot of broccoli salads, I have about five different broccoli salads and they are all really good! I will start sharing different salads with you each Saturday this summer.

Today I'm sharing Orange Broccoli Salad.

Orange Broccoli Salad

1 large head broccoli, chopped

¼ cup chopped red onion

½ cup dried cranberries, or raisins

½ cup toasted almonds (sliced or slivered)

¼ cup sunflower seeds

1 small can mandarin orange slices (drained)

½ to 1 cup raspberry balsamic vinegar

2 packets of Stevia (or Splenda)

Mix all together and chill.


This broccoli salad has a sweet tanginess along with crunchiness. I love crunchy food!
When toasting the nuts and seeds, watch them carefully as they burn easily. I set the timer to remind me.


We really like balsamic vinegar, but it is so dark it doesn't make

a real pretty salad. I save out a few mandarin orange slices for garnish.

You can also add canola oil with the vinegar, but I leave it out.


I hope you try this broccoli salad, let me know if you like it!



Go here to Southern Whimsy for more delicious refreshing salads!



Have a happy day!
God Bless.

Katherine

Thursday

Show and Tell

I haven't participated in Kelli's Show and Tell since before our vacation a few weeks ago. Today I want to share my collection of village "houses" that I use in decorating our kitchen. My kitchen has a tea room theme where I use Victorian village houses.

Above are canisters by Lenox. I had fun trying to find all four of these about ten years ago. I found most of them on Ebay, it took a while to get all of them.

A friend gave me this cookie jar, we don't keep cookies in it. It sits next to my husband's coffee pot and he keeps coffee pot filters in it.

This bottle above sits next to the kitchen stove, I keep olive oil in it.


The tea caddy, above, was hand-painted by a friend, isn't it cute!

I have several Victorian house shaped tea pots, these are displayed on top of our kitchen cabinets. (Note: the colors aren't true, don't know what I did to my camera!)



I bought the Victorian house tea pot below at Cracker Barrel a few years ago.


The three house tea pots below are in the center of the top of our kitchen cabinets.

The pretty little blue tea pot above has "Tea House" on the little sign at the top.
Even though I don't have much blue in our house I had to have this one!

The little tea pot above isn't a Victorian house tea pot, but a cute little cottage, it's actually a tea light holder. A friend gave this to me, she has kitty cats, ad I always think of her when I look at it!

I also had to have this little tower house because it was yellow!

Which is your favorite? It's hard for me to choose a favorite, but I lean toward these canisters!


I seldom see Victorian house tea pots anymore, or other items. I've had this theme in our kitchen since we moved here over eight years ago. I still enjoy it and even though I like so many of the roosters being shown everywhere these days, I think I'll still keep my tea room theme!

Go here to Kelli's for lots more fun Show and Tell inspiration.

Have a happy day!
God Bless.

Katherine

Monday

Tuesday Tea Time

I'm joining in on Barb of Grits and Glamour Tea Time Tuesday, go here for lots more inspiration. While we were on vacation we took our granddaughter to her first tea room, I'm sharing this sweet experience with you!
Elisabeth and KK going into the beautiful yellow Victorian Lulu's Tea Room, Powell, TN (suburb of Knoxville, TN)
Elisabeth enjoys her first visit to a tea room with KK and Pop-Pop.
He had chicken quiche with pecan crust topping,
tomato basil soup and deviled eggs.

My Tiered Afternoon Tea had delicious chicken dried cranberry
salad and egg salad sandwiches. The top plate holds strawberry
bread and chocolate chip muffins
Elisabeth had grilled cheese and fresh fruit

and, raspberry tea!


My hot strawberry tea was served is this darling little tea pot!
I so hoped they sold them, but they didn't :-(
This luscious strawberry coconut cake was sooo delicious!
By coincidence, when I read blogs that night, Kim at Daisy Cottage had
this recipe featured on her blog! Click here for the recipe.

Raggedy Ann also attended tea with us
because Elisabeth wore her Raggedy Ann dress we gave her!

Elisabeth's lunch was served on a heart shaped plate, which matched the hearts on her dress!
I love the sign under the mantel!
"A shoe can change your life.... Cinderella!"

Elisabeth loved the flowers in the tea pot vase, she finally took them out!
This is the room we dined in, we sat at this table (this was taken after we ate.)
We were right next to the mantle.

Upstairs was the Butterfly room for children's birthdays parties
Elisabeth will be three in August, if I lived there I would
host her birthday party there!

They had dress-up clothes and hats in the Butterfly Room
I tried to get Elisabeth to wear a hat, but she wouldn't!

Another room upstairs is the Elvis Room for birthday parties!
The heart shaped mirror is so "Elvis!"

More of the Elvis Room.

Little Lulu memorabilia. Do you remember the Little Lulu cartoons?
I can't remember her boyfriend's name, can you?
I hope you enjoyed seeing Lulu's Tea Room! To see more of Lulu's Tea Room go to Nancy's Southern Lady's blog here, I discovered she posted about it back in April. She also has the strawberry coconut cake recipe posted on her blog.

Have a happy day!
God Bless.

Katherine