Liberty Blue Tablescape Thursday #2

Thank you, Susan, for hosting Tablescape Thursday. Please visit her at Between Naps on the Porch to see all of the other beautiful tablescapes.













I live in an old, small roomed house by today’s standards. My dining room is very small, maybe 13’x13’ with the table in front of two windows with sheers; it’s hard to get any really good pictures. I also have a large and a small china cabinet, 2 tall narrow glass fronted cabinets for my cruet collection, a little reading chair and a small desk/chair all sharing this space. Another big drawback is the room has a southern and western exposure which REALLY affects picture taking, and not in a good way! The only good time to take photos is very early in the morning before the sun starts coming in and that isn't going to happen! Finally…the picture taker needs lessons desperately!

I have used my Liberty Blue by Staffordshire, many, many times. I bought them when they first came out in 1976 to commemorate our 200th anniversary of independence. I amassed them from the grocery store, each week you could get a place setting with each $25 purchase. I believe some of the serving pieces were discounted each week, also. At one time I had service for 24 but now have it down to service for 12. For some reason I didn’t get the covered casserole or rimmed soup bowls but did buy the large soup tureen. I know there are other pieces I didn't buy, such as coffee mugs, placecards, small platter, to name a few. I guess I can chalk it up to being young and not looking ahead!






















Oneida-After Glow Sterling (1956)



Liberty Blue dinnerware-Local grocery store
Soup bowls-Dollar Tree
Sterling flatware-Oneida After Glow (1956)
Blue water glasses-Goodwill
Clear wines-Goodwill
Etched wines-Goodwill
Place mats-Walmart?
Napkins-Gift from Delores of the CF

Thank you for visiting, hope you enjoyed it.

Windowpane Potato Chips

I had been perusing the September issue Cooking Light and came across the Windowpane potato chips so decided to make them for dinner instead of my standard mashed potatoes. They were a hit so will be making them again......soon. The best part is they are baked and not deep fried. Try them and I will bet you will be hooked, too!

Windowpane Potato Chips

2 medium baking potatoes
Cooking spray
Assorted fresh herb sprigs (such as dill, chives, and sage)
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Set mandoline on thinnest slicing setting. Cut each potato lengthwise into 28 slices using mandoline. Arrange potato slices in a single layer on several layers of paper towels; cover with additional paper towels, and press lightly. Let stand 5 minutes.

3. Arrange 14 potato slices in a single layer on each of 2 baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Place a small herb sprig on each potato slice; cover with another potato slice. Press gently to adhere. Coat potato stacks with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with salt. Working with one sheet at a time, cover potato stacks with parchment paper. Place an empty baking sheet on top of parchment paper; set a cast-iron or heavy ovenproof skillet on second baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 25 minutes.

4. Remove skillet. Remove baking sheets from oven; remove top baking sheet and parchment paper. Remove browned potato chips from pan; place on a wire rack. Turn any unbrowned potato chips over on sheet. Replace parchment paper and top baking sheet; return pan to oven. Replace skillet on top of baking sheet. Bake 5 minutes or until browned. Cool chips on wire racks. Repeat procedure with remaining potatoes. Store chips in an airtight container up to 2 days.

Yield: 7 servings (serving size: 4 chips)

CALORIES 53 FAT 0.3g FIBER 1.4g

Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2009

Behind Closed Doors.....

Anyone that knows me, knows I love dishes. Some months ago we bought a flat-screened tv so the tv armoire sat empty. All of a sudden a light bulb went off...add a shelf or two, which my sweetie did, use it for dish storage. With the doors closed no one would know that it is filled with dishes. Now telll me how long it will take to fill those cupboards I just emptied; a week, a month, a year......?

Autumn is in the air

I have gawked long enough! This is my first attempt at Tablescape Thursday so please don't be too hard on me.

Autumn is now officially here so I think of raking the fallen leaves, frost on the pumpkin, ducks and geese flying over. I pulled out some dishes that signify autumn to me.










Table cloth-estate sale
Placemats-Walmart
Napkins-World Market
Stainless-our everyday ware
Lime green plates-TJMaxx
Dark green leaf plates-gift from Cuisine Kathleen
Orange leaf-Dollar General
Mallard mini soup tureens-my late mother-in-law (there is a large, very large matching soup tureen all from Portugal)
On-the-rocks glasses-my late mother-in-law
Candle holders-yard sale/thrift shop

Susan, thank you for allowing me to join Tablescape Thursday.

Salsa Anyone?

We were down to the last jar of salsa so it was my "duty" to replenish the canning cupboard. Yesterday afternoon was spent doing the tedious job of blanching, skinning, dicing and chopping.

First you have to get as many tomatoes as you can gather from whatever sources are available. Some were from my 2 plants and the rest from a local farmer.



Once they have been blanched and skinned, the dicing begins and never seems to stop. Once they have drained well it is on to adding the real flavor. Do be careful when working with the jalapeños, they can cause some uncomfortable moments!



While your canner is coming to a boil, get your salsa cooking. Make sure you time it so that you don't end up with juice instead of chunky salsa. Ladle into clean hot jars and process.



When that timer goes off, you should have............salsa!


Salsa
Source: Annie from CF (I reworked it a little bit to suit our tastes!)

8 cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained
2 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 1/2 cups chopped green pepper
3 – 5 chopped jalapenos or other hot peppers of your choice
6 cloves minced garlic
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp ground pepper
1/8 cup canning salt
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon sugar
¾ cup of bottled lime juice (this has to be bottled and not freshly squeezed)
¼ cup 5% cider vinegar
16 oz. canned tomato sauce

Mix all ingredients, bring to a boil, boil for 10 minutes. Pour into hot jars, process at 10 lbs of pressure for 30 minutes for pints.....or BWB 15 minutes for pints and 20 minutes for quarts after the BWB comes back up to the boiling point. Do not use quart jars; just pints or half pints.
Makes 6 pints

1/2" headspace in the jars. Be sure with boiling water bath to use the full cup of lime juice and 5% vinegar.

If you are pressure canning the salsa you use only 1/4 cup of 5% cider vinegar and no lime juice.

Yes, you can sub any kind of peppers you want as long as you keep the quantities of low acid ingredients the same.
You can do more onion, less pepper or vice versa, as long as the total amount of onions and peppers is equal to 4 cups.

Twice a year...

Twice a year, April and September, our little town has a town-wide yard sale. I spent most of Saturday morning out looking for treasures. As usual, I spotted a few things that just had to come home with me.

I found a little sugar and creamer; Viking Plate Made in Canada E. P. Copper for a whole dollar. It will sit on a silver tray that once belonged to my mother-in-law along with a $1.50 silverplate coffee pot I bought in Dublin, Ohio a week ago.





I also scored 4 cheerful placemats, $1.50, a couple of small pitchers for a total of $1.75 and a couple milk glass planters for seventy five cents.



My favorite find was an original oil painting by an unknown (to me) artist of flowers that almost broke the bank when I had to hand over a dollar.





Hope you all had a great weekend!

Oh, yes...

I have finally decided the time has arrived to get into the frenzy of blogging. I don’t want to be the only person left on earth that doesn’t.

Living in the middle of nowhere most posts will be short!