Rustic Counter Stools

I have been on the hunt for new counter height stools for my kitchen island for months.  Nothing I looked at was sturdy, eye appealing, or went with the decor I already have in the kitchen.  All the tools that I looked at either online or in stores, were over priced for the quality that was being offered.  Bottom line - I did not want cheaply made stools that would fall apart!  I wanted to get a great stool for my money.  I happened upon these stools by chance when I was in Amish country the other day.  I needed three of them.   When I walked into the store I saw only two, asked if they had anymore and the young lady told me she didn't think so they had just come in.  So I started browsing the shop and low and behold I found the third one!  Lady luck paid off for me.  I asked about the origin of the stools, they looked very sturdy, and were beautifully made.  The young lady told me they were solid wood and hand crafted locally by the Amish.  They go perfect with my kitchen dining set so I snatched them up and brought them home. 

Rustic hand crafted saddle stools with hand grips on the side.  The dowls go all the way through to the stool seat, and then there is a cross dowl to make it even more study.  They were $109 each, I could not even find anything that compared to the quality and price of these stools.  I am tickled pink over these!  Got them at a store called Kings in Lancaster, PA. They have a lot of beautiful hand crafted furniture, check them out.

If The Shoe Fits........

I found some more things while browsing in Gabriel Brothers, inexpensive accessories at cheap prices.  Gotta go to Gabe's and check out what they have.  This store is about an hour away from me, so it's not a place I go to all the time, but well worth the trip when I do.

Metallic Gold and Silver Banded Flats, $12.99

Linen Coral Rhinestone and Bead Flats, $7.99

 Gold Satin Pleated Evening Bag with Rhinestone Accent, $7.99

 Jackie O Black Sunglasses, $3.99

The Five Ninety Nine Bunch

The hubby and I took a road trip through York and Lancaster, Pennsylvania yesterday, he had the day off.  Our first stop was Gabriel Brothers, what a great store with big discounts.  Who doesn't love saving money for nice things.  I always head to the costume jewelry racks, my favorite place in the store. They always have unique pieces that you don't see everywhere else, and at their prices you can't resist them.  Check out what I found.

Green and Gold Bold Bead Necklace and Earring Set, $5.99.  Matching Bracelet, $4.99.

Coral and Gold Ombre Necklace, $4.99.  Matching Rhinestone Earrings, $3.99.

 Purple Bubble Necklace and Matching Earrings Set, $5.99.  Matching Bracelet, $4.99.

Black, Teal and Gold Medallion Necklace, $5.99. Matching Earrings, $3.99.

 Aqua Daisy Bib Necklace and Matching Earring Set, $5.99.

The Letters

While browsing around my local Jo-Ann Fabrics store, I found these very sturdy and solid, large letters of the alphabet.  They measure 8 3/4 wide x 12 inches long, perfect I thought for "rustic tinning".  I got it home, dug out my paint colors, and got to work.  I plan on buying more of these to use as accents in other rooms of my home.  They can easily be hung in groups on a wall to spell out whatever you like.  The good thing about "tinning" the letters is they do not have to match perfectly or be painted perfectly, they are supposed to look worn. This is how I did it, and how it turned out.

The letters are made of kraft paper mache and are double sided.  I used cheap black sponge brushes for the job.  I put a coat of black craft paint, let it dry then put a second coat and let that dry.  Then do the other side the same way.

 First coat of silver, and second coat of silver.  Let dry completely.  Then do the other side.

 These little bottles of paint go a long way and they are relatively cheap - .99 to $1.50 each

I was trying to find the perfect place for my C.......

I had it on a couple of different shelves...

Until I found the perfect spot for it on the mantel with the rest of my "C's".

  

Pasta and Broccoli

I wasn't going to cook the other night, took the night off which is rare in this house.  But there were hungry mouths to feed, mine included.  With one person being a vegetarian and one watching calories, it's hard to eat out in restaurants and not be tempted to go overboard.  I went surfing in the pantry and the fridge, and pulled some things together to make this simple, delicious pasta and broccoli dish.  Recipe below.

I started with a box of "good for me pasta", farfalle is one of my favorites.  Get the salted water going for that and when it boils throw it in and stir so it does not stick together.

Then start the sauce.  Gotta have garlic in there, chopped up three cloves and cooked in 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

I used frozen broccoli because I did not have fresh, but you could also use fresh if you like.  Rinse the frozen broccoli to thaw it somewhat and drain it.  

Drain the pasta when it is done, toss with the broccoli sauce and tomatoes, top with shaved Parmesan or Pecorino - Romano cheese and fresh chopped flat leaf parsley.

Pasta and Broccoli

1 box of your favorite pasta, I used Barilla Plus Farfalle

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

3 large cloves of garlic, minced

pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, more if you like heat

1 bag of frozen broccoli florets

salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 lemon, juiced

10 grape tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise

Parmesan or Pecorino - Romano cheese

fresh chopped flat leaf parsley

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.  Add the pasta and stir.  

In the meantime, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to a frying pan and heat on medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook, but do not burn it.  Sprinkle in the pepper flakes.  Rinse the broccoli under warm water to thaw. Drain the broccoli thoroughly.  Remove the frying pan from heat, toss in the broccoli and stir to coat. Return to heat, add the salt, pepper.  Let it simmer for about 2 - 3 minutes,  until the broccoli is completely thawed, but remains bright green. 

When pasta is done, drain, pour into a serving dish and toss with lemon juice, pour the broccoli sauce over the top and add the tomatoes, toss again.  Top with shaved cheese and fresh chopped parsley.  Serves 6.

Whoo Hoo Barbeque!

Among the fried chicken, potato salad, chili, macaroni and cheese and peanut butter tandy takes, that we made for my daughter when she left to go back to college, we also made barbecue meatballs.  By the time all the other foods were done I was tired.  I decided I needed to save some time, being in the kitchen from sun up to sun down is grueling.  I was going to make these barbecue meatballs that she wanted from scratch, but didn't have the energy to do it.  So, we used frozen, they are not bad just not as good as homemade but good enough in a pinch, and I mixed up a delicious sauce for them.

BBQ Meatballs

1 bag pre-cooked mini meatballs

1 - 28 oz. bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce

2 teaspoons of McCormick Grill Mates Pork Rub

1/2 cup Peach Preserves

1/4 cup honey

Put the meatballs into a large sauce pan or use a crock pot.  In a medium size bowl, mix the BBQ sauce, pork rub, peach preserves and honey.  Stir until all is combined.  Add to the meatballs and cook over medium high heat for 40 minutes.  Serve hot.

Picnic Potato Salad

 Well it's not much of a picnic here with all the snow that is falling, AGAIN!  I hope this is the onion snow and then we are done with winter.  I saw crocuses and daffodils up already, so I know this is it for old man winter, BYE BYE! So sorry I am not sad to see you go.  My daughter who went back to college from Spring break is thinking summer.  This potato salad is another requested dish from her, to go with her fried chicken.  She is in, picnic, warm weather, being outside, summer state of mind too!  This is how I make it.

I boiled 8 large potatoes with the skins on until tender all the way through.  Drain them and let them cool.  When they have cooled, peel them gently by pulling off the skins with a paring knife.  Get the knife just under the skin and pull it back, the skins are like paper, do not remove any potato.

 Cut the potatoes to the size of your choice, mine are a little bigger than cubed, and put them into a large bowl.  Dice up 1/2 of sweet onion and 4 ribs of celery, toss into the potatoes.  Chop 2 tablespoons of each, fresh dill and parsley, or to your taste, add to the bowl.  Next is the dressing, this too is to your taste.  I use 1 1/2 cups light mayonnaise, 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoons of sugar.  Put all this into a container and shake vigourously.  Taste test before putting onto the salad to adjust the flavors.  Once you pour it on you won't be able to adjust.  Pour the dressing on and mix it up.  Save any remaining dressing to be used for later, the potatoes will absorb it in the salad.