GBP Cookbook Review and Giveaway

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You can just imagine how excited I am to be a part of Gooseberry Patch's Early Bird Reviews.  The opportunity to review recipes from one of my Favorite companies before the book hits the market and give away a free copy to one of my followers....I'm thrilled!  I have always loved their cookbooks and have been collecting them for years.  My family has eaten many meals cooked from the recipes on their pages and they are always a hit.


Well here is my first review...
Quick and Easy Autumn by Gooseberry Patch.  Autumn...my FAVORITE season of all.  I know it is almost spring, but once you see these recipes in this book it really doesn't matter all that much, yes they are that good girls!  Asking their customers to review their books is brave and brilliant, how many companies do you know that chooses to go right to the source for an honest opion?  It could only be the ones that stand confidently behind their products, right? I so love that about them. I also love the whole concept behind Gooseberry Patch-they are so wholesome, sharing great family recipes with each other like women in communities have done for generations.  

How neat is it that they also understand the quick and easy part of todays wives and mothers?  So many of us are juggling families, homekeeping, jobs, businesses and extra curricular activites that we sometimes fall short on time.  Well I know that I don't want to compromise the food I prepare for my family in spite of all that and this book has so many recipes in it that make it possible to prepare great meals that are quick, easy and taste great!   

As far as my family goes, on the days that I work, it's a challenge to find the time to prepare and put a decent dinner on the table let alone add a homemade desert to it.  So for my first review from their brand new cookbook, I have chosen a cobbler prepared on one of those very busy nights.  Now, I don't want to sound like I have to pitch their book for them, because I don't, they do well all on their own, I'm only here for a review. All of the GPB fans out there already know what I'm talkin' about, but I want it on the record, that I am honored to have been asked to do these reviews! 

Let's get down to business now..... shall we?

Quick & Easy Autumn 

Cherry Cobbler

by Carol Van Rooy

This recipe was sooo easy and quick.  Exactly like the title says.  I am a busy momma these days and it was so nice to find a delicious recipe that took no time at all to make and one that my family really enjoyed. 

 

Lets make it together now.  First, you should go put on a cute lil' apron, it makes it more fun cookin' and makes ya good lookin'!  

Here's the list of ingredients......

~ 21 oz. can of Cherry pie filling, ~ 1T. lemon juice,  ~ 1T. cinnamon,  ~ 1/2 C. melted butter,  ~ 1 1/4 C. flour,  ~  1/2 C. sugar,  ~ 2T. baking powder,  ~ 1 C. milk ~ 

Mmhhm, Seriously that is all you need.

~You probably already have these ingredients in your pantry like I did!~

In a bowl combine the flour, sugar and baking soda.

Add the milk and melted butter to the flour mixture and combine.  It will be the consistency of pancake batter when mixed. 

Pour the mixture into a lightly greased 9x13 glass baking dish.  Spread out evenly.

In another bowl, mix the cherry pie filling with

the ground cinnamon.  {I LOVE McCormick's Grinders.  If you haven't tried them yet, do so.  The flavor of the freshly ground cinnamon is

sooo much better, all you do is twist the top}

Add the lemon juice to the cherry mixture and mix well.

Pour the cherry mixture as evenly as possible over top of the batter mixture.

Now, put the pan into a preheated 325 degree oven bake for 25 minutes.  Yes, stand there lookin' pretty, patiently waiting while your homemade cobbler bakes...     

{or not}

now, turn the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 10 mintues or until golden and batter has risen over the top of the pie filling.

Now, go enjoy it with your loved ones!

Serves 8-10

We served our Cherry Cobbler with a scoop of good vanilla bean ice cream while it was still warm. The ice cream starts to melt and Oh My Word is this sooooo yummy!  Now run over to your pantry and gather these ingredients because your missin' out darlin! 

There are so many great recipes in this cookbook, I can't wait to review more recipes like... 

Peachy~Keen Sweet Taters

Applie Spice Country Ribs

Sticky Bun Toast Toppers

Gingersnap Baked Beans

Janet's Farmer's Pie

Rosemary Pork Loin

Grandma's Apple Nut Dessert

Autumn Cranberry Chicken

and lots more

My family and I discussed some of the recipes over dinner oohhhhing and ahhhing over the titles.  So you will be hearing a few more reviews on this cookbook for sure. 

Now, if you liked this recipe and want to try to win a copy of your own Quick and Easy Autumn of your very own then here's the criteria to enter:

FHCS Gooseberry Patch

Quick and Easy Autumn Cookbook Giveaway:

**Anyone who enters must be a FHCS follower.**

You do not have to have a blog to enter but please leave an email contact in your comment.

*1 Entry:  If you leave a comment for this post

**2nd Entry: If you blog about this on your blog and link it up to mine (be sure to link it up to this post)

***3rd Entry:  If you link to this giveaway on your sidebar

****4th Entry:  If you LIKE the new FHCS Facebook Fan Page

Leave the same comment for each entry adding to each one which you qualify for.  The winner will be chosen by random number generator on April 30th.  Announced The first week of May.  This giveaway is open to US residents and Canada only.


If you absolutely cannot wait for the giveaway to end you can pre-purchase your very own copy HERE.  It won't be available until May but you can pre-order on Amazon now.

Good luck to you all, I will post another recipe from this book very soon.  Happy Spring Gals!

Take good care

xo,

Dee

Blogoversary and Birthday Wishes

FarMhOUsE CoUnTRy StYLe has turned

another year older last month and I have to thank you all for that. After celebrating FHCS'S 2nd Birthday the first week of March.  I was thinking that

If I knew all the benefits that come from blogging I certainly would have started it much sooner.

If I was aware of all the kind souls that would follow me and take their precious time to leave comments and check back I definitely would have started sooner.

If I knew that I could look back on the past years of my life's events and with such pleasure and reminisce, I am positive I would have started sooner.

You all have celebrated with me at times and picked me up time and again, especially these past couple of months, what a blessing you all are! Thank you for continuing to follow FHCS and leave your comments (I still LOVE your comments by the way, love em' to pieces). Thanks for checking in every now and then and understanding so easily. You make it all worth it!  There has been alot of adjusting, shifting and juggling going on in my life the past year....I am so grateful for all of you, you all keep this blog going....
even if it's going slowly...it's still going...

Yay, Happy Birthday!

And Speaking of Birthdays...

Another year....another birthday.  This year my middle daughter chose
a spa party.  Since she wanted several friends to celebrate with her, we chose to do the party at home and kept to a reasonable budget. 

We held it in the evening and after a nice dinner turned the dining room into a spa get away.  The mood was very calm and the lights dim to keep a relaxing spa-like atmosphere.  I found spa goods and spa music cd's in the dollar bins at my local Michales Craft store {favorite}.  A bag of river rocks (faux) candles. Spa packages for each guest and Ulta nail polish. 

Some healthy snacks were a nice change from most of the junk they like to eat at teen parties.

After soaking their hands in some lavender scented water and doing manicures.  We mixed up some homemade masks and beauty treatments using natural ingredients.  They had a lot of fun making the oatmeal yogurt facial scrub  and custom scented bath salts. They were also so amazed that they could make their own beauty treatments from home and there was ALOT of giggling going on while doing so....cute!!

They took over the powder room for the night laughing and acting plain silly...cute.

The evening ended with some relaxing spa music, lavender essential oil and cucumber eye treatments.

Before putting on their pjs and climbing into their sleeping bags, we sang Happy Birthday. 

My daughter requested ice cream sandwhiches instead of cake to which I quickly obliged, after making a cake for the family party a few nights before and being so limited on time these days I was actually relieved!

They ended the evening with a super cute movie called 13 Going on 30.  It's a few years old but appropriate for the birthday girl and very funny for mom too. 

Wait..

did I just say they "ended" the evening?
hehe, haha, lol,
Let me rephrase that......
they stayed up giggling, doing hair, and playing games until the wee hours of the morning....
and made a lot of really fun memories!


Now, I have to ask you all--how much fun would this be to do with a bunch of grownup girl friends?  Lots, I'm sure.  I think I want a SPA party for my next birthday too..lol.

Oh, and just how cute are these birthday plates?  I found these browsing through my Pottery Barn catalogs and thought I would share.  They sure could make a birthday child feel special year after year......

Photo credit to Pottery Barn Kids

****Make sure you check back early next week for a Gooseberry Patch Early Bird Review.....I will be sharing a great recipe and a GIVEAWAY!! ****

Thanks for stopping by friends, take good care of yourself.

XO,

Dee

St. Patrick's Day Blessings Upon You

 

"St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time --

 a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic."

~~By Adrienne Cook.~~

 

 Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!  It has been a while since my last post.  I have been trying to update but as usual, time takes hold.   

Thank you to all of you who have prayed for my father and left such encouraging words.  I am so grateful to have such wonderful followers. I was so very touched by your comments.  I left an update at the bottom of that last post but am not sure everyone saw it.  He is still healing from the surgery and in his last round of chemo, a hard round, but we are keeping the faith. 

For today we will celebrate. 

With corned beef and cabbage alongside, my favorite, soda bread.

If you can get your hands on Katie Reilly's soda bread mix it is really good and

fun to make with the kids or grandkids.

 

 

A cup of Irish tea, and a slice of
soda bread,

spread with a little Irish butter. 
My favorite.

 

I finally had a little down time the other day and decided to craft a few handmade

St. Patty's Day

plaques.

Crafting always helps take my mind off of things and helps me to relax.

Craft therapy, fun, fun, fun.

The wearing of the green?

So, will you be wearing it?

As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction!

Irish Saying

Happy St. Patty's Day to you all! 

I will try to get back soon...

I have alot to share and a blog birthday to celebrate! 

Take good care of yourselves!

XO,

Dee

Prayers

Please keep my Dad in your prayers today.  He is having surgery to remove 2 tumors from his stomach this morning.  It is another cancer they have found in addition to the lymphoma.  My dad has been through so much the past several months and has held up pretty well.  I am very grateful for his progress and the fact that my mom has been able to be there and take excellent care of him.  

I am sure that his progess has alot to do with so many people keeping my family in their prayers, I appreciate it more than I can say.  This picture is from a day he was able to come home last week that I was able to spend with him.  I'll update soon.  Thanks for reading and take good Care!
Dee

All you need is LOVE, LOVE is all you need

Happy Valentine's Day!

This one snuck up on me for sure.  I've been a very busy girl lately and have been so caught up in things that I realized a few days ago that Valentine's Day would be here and I just wasn't prepared!

Even though this holiday is for Sweethearts, I like to spread a little love to others as well.  I needed to keep it simple so I came up with a few easy and inexpensive things for my chicks and their class parties that I thought I would share with ya'll

For my son's class we made up Cupid's Cocoa packets.  If you have a printer and some festive paper you can easily throw this together in a jiff too.  I do the cocoa packets for alot of holidays.  It is something easy and inexpensive you can change with the seasons and I like it because even though it's a sweet treat the kids can come home and help their parents make it for them and they don't have to fill up on one more sweet at those classroom parties.  The teachers like it because they take it home lol.  I'll share how easy it is at the bottom of this post.

Here's my littlest Valentine...

This is the face that he made when I told him he had to hand out his valentines to the little girls in his class and asked him who was his Valentine, curious to hear his reply....

Which was....Ewww girls, no way......hehe....I will have to remind him of this in another 10 years lol. 

When I told him that I was a girl...he told me that it was alright if I was his Valentine because I'm not just a girl...I'm his momma...so sweet!

  

Because of that I made him a special heart shaped sandwhich for lunch...to which he replied cool....(teen sisters) and that I was an awesome valentine! (Again, another reminder in about 10 years).

Some white chocolate covered Marshmallow pops for a sweet lunchbox treat...

I picked up this adorable book of flocked Vintage Style Valentines from Borders for only $4.99, can you believe that?  That was the regular price too!

.It's filled with adorable little Valentines that I will use and reuse each year.

The above, cute, cupcake boxes are from the dollar store.  I love to pop in there for inexpensive holiday goodies.  These are for family and co-workers.  The people that I work with show love to so many children within our community that I wanted to send some sweetness back to them.  Some strawberry-pink icing, heart sprinkles and a paper heart, a small loving gesture.  If you were my neighbor or friend I would give you one too!

The chocolate bars above were purchased at Homegoods.  The vintage pictures are so cute.  One for each of my Chicks.

A little Bath and Body Work after holiday purchase from my husband to our girls.  I tucked them away for Valentines when I saw the after holiday price.  What gal doesn't like perfume for Valentines right? 

My Valentine, hubby, and I will be celebrating with a nice dinner in front of the fire and snuggling up for a movie afterward.  I am very easy to please, we don't need anything fancy to show our love for one another.

(Of course my favorite daisies wouldn't hurt honey)

I'm not into expensive roses, unless it is a bush that can be planted in the ground, hehe,.

I do like me a fresh bouquet of daisies though lol.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Easy Cocoa Packets...

Fill clear celophane bags with cocoa packet, a few marshmallows, and a couple of kisses or chocolate chips.

Print out a poem or saying that you like for your packets and cut them into appropriate sizes for the bags.  I make a 2 column word document for multiples.

 

Cut a 12x12 red (or coordinating pattern) piece of Scrapbooking cardstock found at any craft store into 3" wide strips and then cut each of those strips into 4" rectangles.  I then folded each one in half and stapeled to the top of each filled goodie bag.

Put a piece of double stick tape on the outside of cardstock and attach poem. 

There you have some quick and easy party favors or seasonal goodies to hand out.  I've done this for many birthday and class parties, halloween, and christmas.  They are inexpensive and easy to make and the moms are always so impressed....now they know how easy they are!

Oh, one more thing....

My exciting news!  I've been holding it in so long I almost forgot!  Back before Christmas I was sent an email from Gooseberry Patch, that ended up in my Spam folder and went unopened for many weeks (ugh)! 

I almost deleted it but was checking on some orders and happened upon it.  It was an awesome opportunity spelled out before me and I just couldn't believe that I was reading it so late!!  I replied right away, explaining why I hadn't replied the first time around and exclaimed my excitement and interest in their offer!  So now it is all official and I can't shout it out to you all......

I am an......

What does that mean for FHCS you ask?  It means that we will have the opportunity to get recipe reviews on the newest cookbooks from GBP...one of my favoritist companies!!  It also means giveaways of those newest cookbooks right here at FHCS for my followers and commentors! 

So gals I can't wait to get this thing started, I'm already a looong time fan of Gooseberry Patch and am so super excited about this and being able to share it with you all.  When it is my turn to review, you will have the opportunity to sign up for the giveaway.  There are others bloggers doing reviews right now on other titles, I'm in the process of making a link to some of those blogs in my sidebar. 

So with that said, the sign giveaway winner from the {long time} secret giveaway will be announced NEXT post.....promise!

Spread the love around.....

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Take good care!
XO, Dee