A Frog Prince Table

As soon as I finished sewing my 

Round Ruffled Burlap Tablecloth,

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

Tablescapes Thursday

Feathered Nest Friday

Home Sweet Home

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 

Pig's Trough Sundae

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!)

I will be posting with

The Scoop

Foodie Friday

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 

Metamorphosis Monday

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 

Sally at Sally's Baking Addiction

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!

I will be posting this with

The Scoop

Foodie Friday

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.  

I will be posting this with

Tablescapes Thursday

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!

I will be sharing this with

Metamorphosis Monday

The Scoop