Food Archives — Places In The Home

Valentine’s Day Sweets for the Sweet

February is fast approaching, and with that comes ideas for whipping up Valentine’s Day Sweets for the sweet.

Of course each is dished and served with lo♥e.

Watercolor Heart Shaped Stoneware Plate

Focused on sweets for the sweet, this Valentine’s Day Sweets show and tell features recipes synonymous with delectable, delicious and delightful.

Click on the link below each image for the recipe.

Mini Valentine’s Day Cakes

Lemon-Date Bars – Photography by Anna Williams

Have you ever wondered how the symbol/letter X came to stand for Kiss?

Traced back to the Middle Ages, X was used to sign off on documents followed by the writer often kissing the mark signifying their oath. The gesture flourished as the common sign used to certify records, books, letters and paperwork.

X stood for Kiss, and the gesture gave life to the term “sealed with a kiss.”

Chocolate Marshmallow Sandwich Cookies – Photography by Mike Garten

No Bake Cheesecake with Berry Toppings – Photography by Brian Woodcock

Antique Rose Hand Painted Serving Plate – Germany

Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream

Treat roses keep fresh when stored in an airtight container with a sealed lid, and fresh cut roses keep best when following these suggestions:

If a packet of flower food is included with your rose bouquet you will want to use it. Dissolve the food in a couple of tablespoons of warm water, stirring to completely dissolve.

Take roses out of wrap and remove leaves that will be below your desired water line. Cut each stem at an angle which allows optimal water intake. add it to the water to promote the buds opening and to slow any bacterial growth.

Place the roses in your container of choice and arrange to your liking. Placing the arrangement in a cool area away from heat vents and out of direct sunlight prolongs the life of the roses.

When the bloom and the beauty is off the rose(s), drying the roses to keep for sentimental reasons is an easy project.

Gather the amount of rose stems you want to dry, remove all the leaves from each stem, and bind stems together with a rubber band. Hang upside down for 2 to 3 weeks in a cool, dark place free of humidity.

Valentine’s Day French Macarons

As you begin the beguine.

What’s a beguine, you may wonder?

beguine
(/bəˈgēn/ bə-GHEEN)

a dance and music form, similar to a slow rhumba

Lemon-Elderflower Waffles

Begin the Valentine beguine dance of delicious delight with a breakfast or brunch built for two starring this recipe for Lemon-Elderflower Waffles.

Dress waffles with a delightful dusting of powdered sugar, stemmed strawberries split in half, and edible flowers.

Stone Lain Brighton Round Body Marble Porcelain Dinnerware Set

Brownie Hearts

Heart Appetizer Plates

Valentine’s Day sweets for the sweet favorites include this perfect for the occasion mixtape cookies recipe from Constellation Inspiration.

Valentine’s Day Mixtape Cookies

Music fuels the power of love – a sweet symphony to serve the senses.

Mini Red Velvet Cakes

Martha Stewart 11″ Heart Shaped Stoneware Cake Pan

Wilton Red Heart-Shaped Non-Stick Fluted Tube Pan, 8-Inch

Way To Celebrate Valentine’s Day 2pk Lip and Ruffle Heart Cookie Cutter Set

Nordic Ware Rosebud Cake Pan

Breakable Chocolate Heart

Cupid delivers dessert inspiration for whipping up Valentine’s Day sweets for the sweet dedicated to the one you love.

Planning Fall Recipes

Pinpointing and planning fall recipes is part of the cozy and delicious what’s for dinner new season-new seasonings process.

Search engines love to suggest places and pages to visit based on prior searches.

Inspiration is everywhere, and since I can’t be, I welcome the suggestions and love to share a good and tasty thing.

Hardwood Olivia Modern Turned Leg Dining Table

Classic favorites remain in the recipe box, but how fun it is to discover several new ones perfect for page to table prep and serve.

Photo by Katie Azi on Unsplash

Pumpkin may rule the season and seasons, but easy with a side of impressive puts the spice in my fall recipeapalooza.

Hearty stick to your ribs dishes and delights just seem to be called for on a crisp evening when day turns to night right about 5:30 p.m., warm fuzzy socks take the place of shoes, and you have a craving for an easy dish big on cozy and delicious.

Food cozy?

Absolutely!

Take heart and soup stock, my fall loving friends, cozy and delicious soup weather is coming.

Every season is soup season at Places In The Home, but we especially associate fall with a hearty soup for supper meal.

Great Northern Bean and Chicken Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced

3 stalks celery, diced

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon minced garlic

2 cans Great Northern beans

1½ cups cooked chicken, shredded

1 32 oz. box chicken broth

1 chicken bouillon cube

2 cups water

Directions

Melt the butter in Dutch oven (or just toss the butter in with the veggies like I do). Add the sliced carrots, chopped celery and chopped onion. Sauté until onions become translucent.

Once a good bubbling boil is reached, reduce heat to low and allow soup to simmer for 45-60 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf and serve with crackers or cheesy cornbread.

French Style Braised Short Ribs from Closet Cooking

Fall recipes of the not soup, but oh, so tasty type are of particular interest to the something new, something easy, something fantastic side of the menu.

Creamy Bacon Pork Chops from Salt & Lavender

Creamy Pumpkin Parmesan Chicken with Wild Mushrooms
from Abra’s Kitchen

Butternut Squash Pasta With Chicken from Dinner at the Zoo

Creamy Potato Leek Soup with Homemade Croutons from Barley & Sage

Pecan Soup from Southern Living

Instant Pot Chicken Soup

Good things are on the way.

C’est si bon!

Good Ole Signs It’s Summer

Although not official by the calendar, good ole signs it’s summer have arrived in full glory at Places In The Home.

Louisiana is heating up, fresh fruit and vegetable stands are open for farm to table business, and outdoor living fun in the sun and moonlight activities are on tap.

Signs it’s summer cover anything and everything garden fresh, easy, fun, cool, colorful, aromatic, sweet, savory, relaxing, leisurely, kick your shoes off and stay awhile comfy.

In other words, delightfully perfect.

This is the time of year when I give myself permission to go with the flow.

Entertaining is super casual in nature, meals focus on fresh seasonal ingredients, music is a must, shoes are optional, and time is nothing more than a word.

Visits to the farmers market result in an every so often summer breakfast feast treat of fresh farm eggs fried with crisp edges, homemade biscuits, and pear and lemon preserves made from my great-grandmother’s recipe.

Zinnias capture the essence of summer; a simple yet elegant choice of color your world beauty perfect in gathered bouquet or tabletop arrangement form.

Roberson Farm – USDA Photo by Preston Keres

Grandmother Willie’s pound cake is delicious any season of the year, but there’s something about a slice (or two) of this cake baked from the “Tennessee side of the family” recipe on a summer day that brings the flavor and the memories to plate and mind.

Willie’s pound cake paired with fresh Louisiana strawberries is summer on a plate.

Following antiques and vintage shops on Facebook opens up the treasure hunt world, and gives me the perfect excuse to hit the road in pursuit of antiques and vintage picnic treasures.

Tattered Tiques

Speaking of day trips, outdoor sales and festivals go with hot fun and cool finds in the summertime.

Summer find spotted at a recent Antique Shoppes at 1100 Barksdale outdoor sale.

Love this beverage dispenser!

Antique Shoppes At 1100 Barksdale

Antique pieces love taking center stage on the summer porch, patio, deck, terrace, balcony, veranda- you get the point.

Seize the summer of it all with fabulous-vintage-patriotic-seasonal decor accents that bring a unique and inviting spin to summer porchin’ style.

Cottages & Bungalows Magazine

Spending Sunday afternoon pulling a few things from here and there to put together a summer themed vignette proved super successful.

I discovered these old photos of my Dad in the good old summertime down Miami way circa 1951.

Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet instantly comes to mind.

Beach scenes and pink umbrellas top the signs it’s summer list.

Business & Pleasure

Grilled goodies and chilled salads attest to the easy to throw together and easy to enjoy summer salad season.

Grilled Corn with Pimiento-Cheese Butter Recipe – Photo by Annie Schlechter

Give me a box of pasta shells, a jar of Duke’s mayonnaise, fresh corn and tomatoes, diced bell peppers, green and red onions, and fine black pepper and I’ll give you a no fuss-all flavor summer salad.

Remember the rule of kiss– keep it summer simple!

Patio times go with warm days and sipping evenings, and signal the senses the good kind of hurricane season has arrived.

Hurricane at Pat O’Briens New Orleans

June 1st signals the not so good hurricane season has arrived.

Fingers crossed this season will be uneventful.

Into every summer day a little rain usually will fall, however, we get used to the summer downpours bookended by humid sunbursts.

June through August is made for hitting the summer holiday road.

tn-road

Visit Gatlinburg

For most of my life the quintessential sign it’s summer has been packing up the Places In The Home gang and heading 700+ miles due east.

Our vacation travel destination GPS is set to family, friends, and the beauty and splendor of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Over the years, I’ve clocked what seems to be thousand of hours sitting outside at twilight in the Smoky Mountain air.

Fireflies provide nature’s light show – a summer spectacle that dazzles the eye and delights the heart.

It’s 84 degrees today, rainy, and humid beyond belief.

My summer playlist is cranked up, and a glass of cold mint infused sweet iced tea is the drink du jour.

Good ole signs it’s summer.

Seasoned Cheesy Broiled Tomatoes Recipe

This seasoned cheesy broiled tomatoes recipe is a taste of summer on a plate.

One the many things we love about summer is the fresh vegetables and flowers the season brings to the table.

When word gets out our favorite fresh vegetable vendor has homegrown tomatoes in stock, it’s time to place a call to my brother who lives closer to the stand located about 10 miles from our house.

As long as I’m making and sharing with him a dish, sandwich, or burgers with fresh tomato slices or dices in the mix he’s happy to oblige.

Fresh sunflowers, squash, and eggplant accompanied this latest tomato haul- a bit of Louisiana lagniappe.

Crazy is the word of the week here at Places In The Home.

I’ve been crazy busy tying up loose ends before Dave the Builder’s upcoming heart procedures.

In all the planning, packing, and pre-admit madness remains the fact you still gotta eat, and homegrown tomatoes at room temperature, which is the way we like our tomatoes, will ruin if left unrefrigerated for too long.

As delicious as a homemade hamburger and a tomato sandwich is, I was looking for a something on plate.

Something on a plate is a Places In The Home family term.

Credit goes to Dave the builder for taking a commonly used phrase into colloquial territory.

Here’s how it came to be:

My mother-in-law took a day off from work to finish sewing junior prom dresses for Dave’s fifteen-year-old identical twin sisters.

That’s two times the daughters, two times the junior prom dress fun. To say she had a lot on her plate is an understatement.

Dave is eight years younger than his sisters, the baby of the family, and on this particular day was underfoot more than normal.

Parents in Covid quarantine know exactly what I’m talking about.

Dave set in asking his mother to fix him something for lunch. Her promise of just one more minute and I’ll fix you a sandwich was met with Dave’s verbal protest.

“I don’t want a sandwich. I want something on a plate.”

Dave wasn’t having any part of the simple sandwich solution to lunch. What he wanted was a salad-meat-vegetables-bread something on a plate lunch.

A quick inventory of cupboard and crisper coupled with the memory of the fabulously delicious broiled tomato served at Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab brought about recipe inspiration.

Easy is the key ingredient of this seasoned cheesy broiled tomatoes recipe.

Seasoned Cheesy Broiled Tomatoes Recipe

Ingredients

3 fresh tomatoes, halved

3 cups shredded mild cheddar & Monterey Jack cheese

salt & pepper taste

1½ teaspoons garlic powder

olive oil

3 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese

6 Tablespoons bread crumbs; optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Rinse tomatoes and pat dry. Cut tomatoes in half and place cut side up in baking dish.

Salt and pepper each tomato to preference. Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon garlic powder over top of each tomato.

Top each half with ½ cup shredded cheddar & Monterey Jack cheese.

Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the cheddar & Monterey Jack.

An optional choice is to top each tomato half with bread crumbs.

Give each cheese-bread crumbs topped tomato half a lightly drizzle of olive oil.

Place baking dish in preheated oven and bake cheese topped tomatoes for 8 to 10 minutes.

Turn oven to broil.

Broil tomatoes for 2 to 3 minutes or until cheese-bread crumbs is toasty brown.

The above image is of the seasoned cheesy broiled tomato, and the image below is of a seasoned cheesy broiled tomato topped with bread crumbs.

Toasty brown puts just the right amount of crisp on top.

This seasoned cheesy broiled tomatoes recipe makes for a great side dish to grilled steaks, appetizers at the cocktail hour, or dinner entrée.

enjoy

A Fetching Friday: The Good Old Summertime

Today’s Fetching Friday features wonderful memories of childhood summers and how we whiled away the hours in the good old summertime.

White Mountain Freezer

Homemade ice cream was the summertime treat we had to work for.

Who remembers being put on cranking detail?

Southern Living – Photo by Paul Costello

My grandmother had a PhD in food presentation.

She always served homemade ice cream in an etched sherbet dish like the ones above garnished with either a sprig of fresh mint, peach slice, fresh strawberry, or chocolate Kiss.

To me, there is nothing better on a hot summer afternoon than a dish of cold, creamy homemade ice cream garnished with a generous amount of memories.

I first saw this in the good old summertime image on Pinterest.

Social media trends from one platform to another, and I noticed it on Facebook captioned with the words “this is what old folks call snap chat.”

Guide to Summer-Fresh Field Peas- Southern Living

If I had a nickel for every time my grandmother handed us a glass of homemade lemonade and a bowl full of peas prime for the snapping, I’d have enough money to run by Raising Cane’s for a lemonade to enjoy on the drive out to the farmer’s market stand on the bayou to pick up a bushel or a peck of peas.

Revered summer rituals of the past shape the summer activities of the present.

Flickr

We never met a pond, creek, or fresh water spring our feet or fishing poles didn’t like.

Serenity Photograph by Li Newton

It was nothing for my Dad and uncles to suggest the entire family load up and caravan to the drive-in.

My Mother and my aunts gathered up the aluminum lawn chairs, filled an industrial size ice chest with canned Cokes (it’s the South- we call any flavor soda or pop Coke), and popped several pans of Jiffy Pop.

Ironically, the only trip to the concession stand was for mosquito coils.

Pure summertime fun gold.

I hope you all have a most fetching Friday and a great weekend enjoying some good old summertime fun.

Homemade Potato Soup

The flu is raging with a vengeance, meaning homemade potato soup is on the stove.

Dave the Builder has informed me seven of his coworkers are currently out with the flu, and the office air is thick with the scent of Lysol.

We believe in doing everything you can to prevent catching the flu.

My one and only time to have the flu was an ugly, ugly experience.

I was out of commission for 6+ weeks with flu that turned to pneumonia quicker than I could say I don’t feel good.

Remembering that experience like it was yesterday, the Places In The Home household is in take charge mode to ward off the flu, including, but not limited to, brimming bowls of homemade potato soup.

Dave the Builder’s mom spoke of the healing powers of homemade potato soup, and who am I to argue with the wisdom of my mother-in-law?

I developed this rather uncomplicated to prepare and quite tasty recipe for homemade potato soup years ago when our son was in elementary school.

Sports, scouts and study schedules tend to dominate after school time, and the dinnertime hour gets pushed later and later more nights than not.

The kid, husband and mother-in-law loved it, instantly making it a classic family recipe.

Both cream of chicken soup and chicken broth hit the flavor notes with a little help from seasoning friends salt, pepper, onion powder and fresh parsley.

I have been known on occasion to add a heaping tablespoon of heavy cream to each bowl, and the crowd goes yum.

Homemade Potato Soup

Ingredients

6 medium to large russet potatoes

1 family size can cream of chicken soup

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 cup chicken broth

5 cups 2% milk

Fresh parsley, chopped

Heavy cream (optional)

Directions

Bake the potatoes at 400°F for 1 hour OR microwave potatoes on full power until tender. Microwave cooking times will vary according to size and heating variance. Let baked potatoes stand until cool.

Using a fork, press each potato in center, splitting potato in half. Mash out the pulp and discard potato skins.

In a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stir together the cream of chicken soup, potato pulp, salt, pepper, and onion powder.

Stir in the chicken broth and milk, stirring to incorporate flavors. Bring to a gentle boil.

Lower heat to simmer, add chopped parsley, and simmer uncovered until soup is creamy thick, about 10-15 minutes.

This Dutch oven is 65 years old – a wedding gift from my aunt to my parents.

If the soup becomes too thick, simply add more milk until desired consistency is reached.

Enjoy and stay well.

enjoy

Pin to Table Favorites: Main Dish Recipes from Pinterest

Sharing is a big part of Places In The Home, and I’m thrilled to share these main dish recipes from Pinterest with you all today.

The concept of sharing useful tidbits of interior decorating information and striking images of all things house that make a home interest to social media platforms is genius.

The knowledge gained, friends made, inspiration gleaned makes the experience so worthwhile.

During a recent ringing the dinner bell pinning session, it occurred to me a blog post of select recipes from Pinterest as featured on my A Taste Odyssey Pinterest board may pique your Pinterest interest, and make for an inspiring and appetizing show and tell.

Rather you call the evening meal dinner or supper, you’ll call these pin to table main dish recipes from Pinterest favorites.

I’m including the original link to each recipe so you can check it out.

Melt in Your Mouth Caesar Chicken

Melt in Your Mouth Caesar Chicken from The Cookie Rookie is made with only 3 ingredients. Recipe link:

Melt In Your Mouth Caesar Chicken

Fried Pork Chops with Peas and Potatoes

Southern Living recipes hold a delicious spot near and dear to my heart. This Fried Pork Chops with Peas and Potatoes Recipe ranks high on the mighty tasty, y’all list.

Fried Pork Chops with Peas and Potatoes Recipe

Creamy Four Cheese Garlic Spaghetti Sauce

This recipe for Creamy Four Cheese Garlic Spaghetti Sauce from Julia’s Album is a favorite.

Creamy Four Cheese Garlic Spaghetti Sauce

Salisbury Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes

The newlywed couple called home last night from IKEA to share their latest wedding gift purchase.

The subject of IKEA, meatballs and the concept of a furniture store-restaurant pairing got me to thinking and craving meatballs.

This recipe for Salisbury Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes from Maya Kitchenette is comfort food fantastic.

Salisbury Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes

Easy Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches

The first three words in this recipe for Easy Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches from Fox Valley Foodie qualify it as a must try.

Factor in the ooh la la licious tastes brought forth by combining French onion soup, beef consomme and Guinness beer together with beef roast rump roast and you’ve got a crowd pleasing easy dinner option.

Easy Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches

Town & Country

What Julia said.

Bon Appetit.

What’s On Hand Chilled Summer Salad

Hey summer, what’s for dinner?

The Places In The Home gang knows the answer to that question.

Most evenings our summer appetites lean toward lighter fare, and a what’s on hand chilled summer salad is what’s on the menu.

The temps of those hot summer mornings, afternoons and nights have a way of slowing down the pace as well as the need for heavy dishes.

Who needs or wants to be in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove when there’s a lot of patio sitting, summer sippin’ and outdoor living to do.

I defer to Bertrand Russell and his brilliant words that fit so well with summer.

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”

My sentiments exactly, Mr. Russell.

To the cupboard and fridge we go for ingredients to make a what’s on hand chilled summer salad.

Baby field greens topped with tuna serve as the flavor foundation.

Left over crispy fried bacon from breakfast makes the cut. I spotted a cucumber in the crisper to go with the garden tomatoes and red onion slices.

A slice, chop, salt and pepper later it was time to whip up a generous portion of avocado spread.

Take a nice avocado, peel, scoop out the meat into a bowl and mash it with a fork.

Add a heaping tablespoon of mayonnaise and a generous squeeze of fresh lemon.

The lemon wakes up the flavors with a c’est si bon all its own.

Feta cheese crumbles bring more flavor into the mix.

Fresh sliced strawberries and fresh chopped Louisiana peaches drizzled with honey round out the melange.

I purposely positioned the Feta, fruit and red onion slices on the sides of the salad plates so the diners can incorporate the flavors as desired.

Now for what I consider the ultimate dressing discovery of the summer salad season.

There is buttermilk ranch dressing and then there is basil buttermilk ranch dressing. This dressed up take on Hidden Valley buttermilk ranch dressing is the new house dressing at Places In The Home.

The the fresh basil and lemon juice produce a bright flavor pairing- a combination perfect for summer.

Tangy (that’s buttermilk!) meets fresh meets zing meets damn, that’s good!

Basil Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Ingredients

¾ cup mayonnaise (I used Duke’s in this recipe)

½ cup buttermilk

1 packet Original Hidden Valley Ranch Buttermilk Recipe

¼ teaspoon fine black pepper

2 tablespoons basil, finely chopped

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions

Combine all ingredients together. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour before using, allowing flavors to marry.

Hey summer, what’s for dinner? Think summer salads.

enjoy

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