Got Chickens?

Maid in America vintage postcard now has chicken salt and pepper shakers to keep her company..

Got Chickens?

Not real chickens, although I grew up taking care of the little ones when they first came in. I would love to have chickens again but my limestone hillside garden is steep and not the best terrain for chickens.

Enter my new interest in salt and pepper shakers for kitchen decor, thank goodness its not another vintage cookbook because I have to remove one before I can add another one. I like to change the salt and pepper shakers with the season, coupling them with my vintage framed postcards on the tray where I keep my pens, papers and fresh flowers.

The tray and it's sundry items is the first thing I see when I go into my kitchen.

Can you tell which one is the hen and which one rooster?

I found these chicken salt and pepper shakers in St. Louis at a little antique store. The owner said people aren't collecting salt and pepper shakers any more so I should be able to find some nice little sets. See their different tail feathers?

Back of the chicken salt and pepper shakers show which one is the hen, which one rooster.

Here's to a "cockle-doodle-doo" of a Fourth of July!

Charlotte

Spring Salad Garnish

Eastern redbud flowers make for a pretty, and healthy, salad garnish.

Eastern redbuds add not only beauty to spring landscapes but a dash of color to a spring salad as well. The pink flowers of one of Missouri's native trees are edible and were consumed in Native American diets.

The trees have been used as landscaping ornamental trees since the 1600s. 

Before picking the flowers, make sure you are selecting from trees that haven't been exposed to any chemical sprays. Some landowners will spray nearby fruit trees in spring and you don't want to be consuming any residual spray.

What do they taste like? Eastern redbud flowers have a very clean taste, similar to a lettuce.

Charlotte

My Spicy Easter Table Decor

Doesn't this little salt and pepper tableau suggest "it's mine, it's ALL mine"?

I was a guest speaker at a local garden club and was charmed by how the hostess easily brought an Easter theme to her table decor with her bunny salt and pepper shakers.

Browsing through a local resale shop, I found my own bunny-themed salt and pepper shaker set, a white rabbit with a yellow bow literally holding a carrot. When I first spotted the two, the rabbit seemed to be hiding the big carrot from me. I don't blame the rabbit, it was a very nice-looking carrot.

The carrot easily comes away from the bunny paws but not for long!

I love both rabbits and carrots so the combination was perfect to add a little Easter theme to my kitchen. Cost $2.

Happy Easter!

Charlotte

Easy Way to Spice Up Your Easter Table

I was a guest speaker at an area garden club lunch meeting and was charmed by how beautifully the table was set. 

One of my favorite details was the set of bunny salt and pepper shakers in the middle, easily bringing an Easter theme to the table.

Although I tend to pick flowers to match my table settings, I would be tempted to build my table around these two charming porcelain characters. Their colors are quintessential Easter - pinks, blues, yellows and spring green, not forgetting the pink easter egg one is holding.

Don't they look like they are ready to hop right off the table?

Charlotte

Spring Decorated Deviled Eggs

Edible pansies make a lovely garnish on deviled eggs.

One of the advantages of meeting monthly for a bee club are the goodies people bring to share.

During our March 2016 Rolla Bee Club meeting, a plate of deviled eggs showed up for a snack beautifully garnished with small spring pansies. Pansies are edible and make a lovely garnish for eggs as well as salads and other dishes.

How to Use Flowers as Garnish

For many of my friends, pansies mark the beginning of the growing season. If you buy them from a garden center, you are buying plants that have been treated with pesticides to prevent bug damage.

Please wash them before using. Use a spray bottle with warm water and gently spray so you don't damage the delicate petals. Allow to dry. Cover if refrigerating.

Other Quick Green Garnish

Adding color to any dish does not have to be complicated. Herbs not only make a nice garnish but add a nice pop of color.

These deviled eggs also had a sprinkling of fresh sliced green onions that added a nice touch of green. Delicious!

Charlotte

Strawberry Ladybug Garnish

These are so charming, strawberry ladybugs garnishing cupcakes served at the March 15, 2016 Salem, Mo. gardening club meeting I was invited to attend.

I knew from a distance these were cupcakes. Carrot cake, to be exact but I didn't realize they were ladybugs until I got closer and saw the front.

These are easy to make and what a fun garnish for cakes and other desserts.

Easy to make strawberry ladybug cupcake garnish with blueberries and chocolate dollops.

The ladybug dots are dollops of chocolate. The head is a blueberry. The rest can be any kind of cupcake.

Fun!

Charlotte

Doggie Cones

Warm weather is a special time for my two neighbors, Hershey and Hope.

Hershey is a chocolate labrador; Hope is a golden retriever. Both dogs live with Alison and Ryan, two Missouri S&T students who spend most of their days either in classes or books. Unless they are taking their dogs for a walk in the neighborhood, when I usually see them.

Or they see me.

Hershey in particular will make a mad dash for my house, sometimes beating me to the garage as soon as he sees my car turn the corner down my drive.

One weekend when I was babysitting the dogs, I took them to a local ice cream place for doggie cones. One year later, they still remember that trip, barking at my car door to let me know they are ready to take another ride.

Since we can't always do that, I started making homemade doggie cones for them. So easy! Using pre-made sugar cones, I fill them with light vanilla ice cream through the whole cone and put them in a freezer bag in the freezer. Initially I was freezing them separately but it's easy enough to pop them in a freezer bag all at once.

When I have barking visitors, out come the cones for a quick treat.

I make extra.

People need ice cream treats, too!

 Hope inhales his ice cream cone but Hershey takes his time. Sweet, don't you think?

Charlotte

Cat Face Latte

I love cats so it's not much a stretch to think I see cats everywhere.

Sometimes they are there. Two of my rescues were hiding when I first saw them, one showing only the tip of an injured paw sticking out from under a planter on my deck.

The other one used to hide under cars in the parking when I walked around our central park so he was always just a dark ghost. The morning I was the last car in the parking lot, I opened my car door to make sure he wasn't under my car. I got to see him quite clearly then, he jumped right in and settled in the passenger side.

As I was walking into a local cafe, The Giddy Goat Coffee Shop in Rolla, MO for a humane society meeting, I thought I saw a familiar shape on the wall. I had to go back later to make sure it truly was what I thought I saw. Suppose it's a latte?

What do you think, can we make something similar in hot chocolate with a marshmallow?

Charlotte

Well-Loved Recipe Cards

I had to smile when I saw my sister-in-laws pile of recipe cards. I was visiting for Christmas 2014 and we were discussing what to make for that day's main meal.

An inveterate baker with a wonderful repertoire of home-cooked recipes, Mary was passing over dog-eared recipe cards trying to find something new that appealed more to her.

While she was preoccupied, I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures of the most well-loved recipe cards. No need to read them, their wear is proof enough that they are among favorites!

How do you decide what recipes to try?

Charlotte

A Toast to the New Year

Have you made any new year's resolutions?

I have one on my list and that's to clean out my collection of coffee cups. I tend to drink tea in them but I still call them coffee cups, 8 ounce ceramic mugs with favorite sayings, pictures, maybe even a comic book character. I have so many now that I have to stack them on top of each other to fit them into my kitchen cabinet.

When I think about it, though, I tend to repeatedly use only a few. Those, I have decided, can stay.

In the meantime, let's welcome a new year:

"Stir the eggnog, lift the toddy, Happy New Year, everybody." -Phyllis McGinley

Charlotte

Vintage Nutcrackers

When I think of the holidays, I think of all of the places I have been priviledged to see the ballet "The Nutcracker."

Starting as a ballet dancer as a youngster - I played a snowflake before I had ever seen snow - the costumes, staging and music all bring back memories of different stages of my life. 

Nutcrackers were also a practical part of our holiday tradition. Mom always "treated" us to a bowl of unshelled nuts during Christmas. My brothers and I would sit around the kitchen table with a nutcracker, shelling the nuts and catching up with our adventures while we were apart.

This little vintage metal nutcracker reminded me of the ballet.

At the same thrift store where I found this nutcracker, there was another more practical nutcracker also marked vintage.

Do you use the simple, metal nutcracker in your kitchen?

Charlotte

Cookie Walks

Early December I start to plan to make cookies for the people who help make my life easier. After going through a number of vintage recipe books to mark the cookies I intend to make, I remember there is a much easier, and quicker option: cookie walks!

Must be a midwestern tradition because I don't remember seeing any on either coast when I was working there. Usually women's groups offer them; the ones I know are associated with churches and their Christmas bazaars.

I picked up a pound of homemade cookies myself today, focusing on a nice variety: sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, oatmeal raisin, pecan rolls and there was a cute little snowman with sugar button eyes that never made it back to the house.

Not sure what the red cookies are but they looked festive. The green ones have chocolate chips and mint flavoring.

One pound of cookies, measured on a very old scale owned by one of the cookie baker's great grandmothers, cost $6.

You don't see any snickerdoodles? 

Oh, wait, I chose those for my quality control testing. They went the way of the snowman sugar cookie. Humm, may need to go back and get more cookies!

Charlotte

Pumpkinheads

Doing research on how Native Americans used pumpkin to find interesting recipes made me wonder. How hard could a pumpkin shell become so that it could be used as a serving dish and seed storage?

According to my research, pumpkins may have saved early North America European settlers. Struggling after their first landings on the east coast and not prepared for harsh New England weather, Native American Indians taught European settlers basic gardening, hunting and cooking skills. One of the staples of their diet was pumpkin, a squash that was native to the ancient Americas.

Sweet pumpkin flesh was roasted, baked, parched, boiled and dried. Pumpkin seeds were roasted; at times also used as medicine. Blossoms were added to stews. Dried pumpkin was stored and ground into flour. Strips of dried pumpkin were woven into mats, cups and baskets for trade. 

I baked a pumpkin to get the inside ready to make a pie and was intrigued. Pumpkin shells, once baked, become quite hard and impermeable, reminding me of a plant "leather."  

Picking up the baked pumpkin, it was easy to imagine how it became an important part of their kitchen. It even holds water!

Pilgrims had another use. According to New England colleagues, hey used pumpkins as guides for haircuts, which gave them the nickname "pumpkinheads."

Can't you just see someone sitting on a stool getting a haircut with a sliced pumpkin on their head??

 Charlotte

Save Jars for Gifts

After composting all those outdated spices, save the glass jars for gifts.

1. First, soak the jars in soapy hot water to remove stickers.
2. Wash jars and lids in dishwasher a couple of times to remove any residue.
3. Allow jars to air without lids for a couple of days. Check to make sure jars are clean and without any residual scent.

You can use these jars to make homemade bath salts; BBQ rub; saltless seasoning and to store your very own dried herbs from your garden.

One of my friends returns her empty jars every summer and tells me what dried herbs she would like for Christmas. By the time the holidays come around, she has forgotten what she asked for and is always delighted with what she gets!

Charlotte

Winter Salad Tomatoes

I have the hardest time ripping up tomato plants out of my garden at the end of Missouri's growing season. Tomato plants are perennials in warmer climates so part of me wants to keep the plants growing. I do remove all the green tomatoes and place them in a brown bag with an apple to ripen. It may take several weeks but eventually the tomatoes do turn color.

Although they don't have the flavor of summer-ripened tomatoes, they taste better than most picked too early to ship to groceries. Because they are a little tart, I like to eat my bag-ripened tomatoes in a salad with the sweetness of sliced avocados.

Charlotte

Gift Zucchini

In almost every office I have worked, colleagues have shared homegrown produce.

It usually starts early summer. A plastic bag appears in the coffee room, making the table look more like something in a kitchen, full of extra produce waiting to be adopted. It's usually peas or green beans, followed by tomatoes and green peppers.

Last year, a bag of zucchini spent almost 3 days on the table without any takers. When I asked why no one was taking them, a colleague said she didn't know what they were. Zucchinis look a lot like cucumbers but have a thicker shape. As I was getting ready to leave for the day, one zucchini was left on the serving plate. You bet I took it home!

Charlotte

Guavas

I was walking by the fruit display at a local grocery store when a Chinese man pointed at the pile of fruit. "Guavas," he said to no one in particular. In Brazil, I told him, we grew up with trees in our back yard with both white and pink "goiabas." We would eat them straight off the trees. Once in a while, the fruits would be collected for a jam-like concoction we would add to homemade biscuits. In China, this gentleman told me, they are much larger, more the size of a papaya.

There are 100 different species scattered around the world, although most trees can be found in Central and northern South America and related countries along the same equatorial zone. About the size of a lime, this small guava tastse like a cross between a pear and a strawberry, not too sweet but definitely a fruit.

According to one of my cookbooks, you can eat these with salt and pepper. Hawaiians like to dip sliced guavas in soy sauce and vinegar. I like to eat them as is; each has about 100 calories. They are rich in dietary fiber, vitamins A and C - one guava has four times the amount of vitamin C in an orange. Because they are a tropical fruit, they are usually available in December and January.

Have you tried a guava?

Charlotte

A Pomegranate a Day

A few years back, a friend at a grocery store said they couldn't sell pomegranates. Today, "pomegranate" can be found in almost everything from diet pills and energy drinks to hot teas.

Pomegranates were one of my mother's favorite "treats." Although you can use them a variety of ways, my mother loved hers just the way the fleshy seeds came out of the fruit.

Eve's Apple
Many scholars believe that the forbidden fruit in which Eve indulged in the Garden of Eden was actually a pomegranate, not an apple. The name "pomegranate" comes from Middle French "pomme garnete" and literally means "seeded apple". Pomegranates are also sometimes referred to as a Chinese apple.

Meaning of Pomegranates
This fruit originated in Iraq and Iran and is now cultivated in California and Arizona. During their 4000 year history, pomegranates have been symbols of prosperity, hope, and abundance. They are often used in wedding ceremonies, sometimes given as a gift, in the East.

Do you like pomegranates?

Charlotte

The new Bluebird Gardens

We have a new look. And we love to share it with you.
Find out why our customers love us. And why we love what we do.
Thank you for all the love and support all of these years, we love working with you!

Welcome to the new Bluebird Gardens.
Made just for you.

Charlotte

A Pomegranate a Day

A few years back, a friend at a grocery store said they couldn't sell pomegranates. Today, "pomegranate" can be found in almost everything from diet pills and energy drinks to hot teas. Pomegranates were one of my mother's favorite "treats." Although you can use them a variety of ways, my mother loved hers just the way the fleshy seeds came out of the fruit, although I have found a number of old recipes incorporating pomegranates into recipes.

Eve's Apple
Many scholars believe that the forbidden fruit in which Eve indulged in the Garden of Eden was actually a pomegranate, not an apple. The name "pomegranate" comes from Middle French "pomme garnete" and literally means "seeded apple." Pomegranates are also sometimes referred to as a Chinese apple.

Meaning of Pomegranates
This fruit originated in Iraq and Iran and is now cultivated in California and Arizona. During their 4000 year history, pomegranates have been symbols of prosperity, hope, and abundance. They are often used in wedding ceremonies, sometimes given as a gift, in the East.

Do you like pomegranates?

Charlotte