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I LOVE to design and to paint whimsical items that will put a smile on your face. Each day I share my simple life with you as I try to encourage, to inspire and sometimes JUST to make you smile as I recount my life growing up on a dairy farm! I've never had many material items in my life, BUT I have been blessed beyond words with love and encouragement from WONDERFUL Parents who instilled in me WHAT was important. I have had EVERYTHING that I needed and WAY too much of what I wanted. I am slowly learning to be a better person each day through my interactions with my friends on Facebook. Some day I hope to be as good as people seem to THINK I am! I am BLESSED! Welcome to my little corner of the world...Please stop by and visit often!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

After Church Dinners, Sunday, January 26, 2014



Sundays take me back to times gathered around a table sharing a meal with friends or family.  When I was younger, people would go to each other’s homes after church, but as we got older, this practice stopped…a lot of things have stopped from the “old days”.


I can remember the hustle and bustle of Mother in the kitchen trying to get things ready for the meal after church as she tried to hurry us along to get up and get ready.  At my house, the meal wasn’t the problem, the CLEANING of the house was the problem…As a FLETCHER, I BELIEVE it is our heritage to NOT throw anything away…sigh…

In TRUE SOUTHERN form, a meal was not merely a meat and three, but at LEAST a two meat and eight…HEAVEN forbid that one should serve SOMETHING that was not liked by SOMEONE…In my family alone, choosing two meats was not easy for I had a brother who ate NO chicken and NO soup or Gravy and another brother who ate EVERYTHING, EXCEPT liver…My Father liked what he liked and he had NO problem with the things he didn’t eat, he just left them for others, BUT he DID want his gravy with EVERY meal that warranted gravy!


Country Ham, Roast and Chicken were staples at my house.  Hot Chicken Salad was gobbled down as LONG as nothing crunchy was put in it…sigh…yep, that was DADDY…Personally, I love water chestnuts as long as they are cut into smaller pieces…I don’t like the BIG pieces…Celery just adds to the flavor in my opinion!

Mother was one of the BEST bread makers around and thought NOTHING of getting up and making biscuits…and her yeast rolls were some of the best things to EVER be placed in your mouth—EVER…That was most everyone’s favorite part of having company, because she would have at least four pans of rolls…Toasted Buttered rolls the next morning is a TREAT that I still miss.


Two of my favorite things to have when we had company was a spinach salad with HOMEMADE Poppy Seed dressing and then to have Homemade Shortbread served with fresh fruit…oh my…I’m hungry JUST thinking about it.  Oh, and frozen Cranberry Salad is ALSO one of my favorite things too…it is SO pretty on a plate.

Mother taught me that making food PLEASING to the eye was just as important as it being healthy AND if you would choose foods from all the color groups, then usually you would have most of your vitamins covered.

I thought I would share some recipes today for quick and easy things that I LOVE…To me, taking time to prepare a HOMEMADE meal for those you love is just one of the best things you can DO…AND when you place your feet together under a table, I think there is NO PROBLEM that can’t be solved by sharing the burdens of the day…TOGETHER really is the BEST place to be…Enjoy being with those you love and don’t FORGET to tell them that you love them…Blessings to YOU…~charlotte♥


Poppy Seed Dressing
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated onion
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon celery seed
¼ cup vinegar
1 cup salad oil
Approximately 1 Tablespoon Poppy seed (optional…and LESS if you don’t want as many…well, duh, huh!!)

Combine all ingredients except vinegar and oil.  Beat thorough as you dribble oil and vinegar alternately.  This makes a grand glossy dressing to serve over fresh or canned fruit.

My favorite SALAD to use this dressing on is:
Baby Spinach Leaves
Slices of well-drained Mandarin Oranges
Pecans that have been toasted


Scottish Shortbread
1 cup of BUTTER (NOT margarine), softened
½ sugar
2 cups of flour

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Gradually add flour and beat on medium until smooth…It will take about 5 minutes to beat this with your mixer.  Spread evenly in a ungreased 9x13 pan.  Bake in 300 degree oven for 30-40 minutes until lightly brown.  Immediately after removing from the over, prink all over with a fork and cut into small squares.  BEST served at room temperature.


Avis’ Chicken Casserole
1 cup cooked rice
½ cup chopped celery (finely chopped)
2 cups cut up cooked chicken
2 Tablespoons of chopped onion
1 can cream of mushroom or chicken soup
¾ cup mayonnaise or salad dressing.

Mix all together and place in a baking dish.  Top with
1 cup corn flakes (crushed)
2 Tablespoons of melted butter…Mix these two together and place on top of the chicken.

Bake 40 -45 minutes at 350.


Frozen Cranberry Salad

1 can of WHOLE cranberries—mash with a fork to break up the big pieces
1 large can of crushed pineapple, drained well
2 large Bananas, mashed
1 Regular Sized contained of Cool Whip, thawed (the original recipe called for REAL whipped cream, but Mother couldn’t have dairy food, so I made this change)
A couple of hands of mini marshmallows
A dash of salt
IF you wish, you may add chopped pecans, toasted
AND if you really like SWEET, add a can of Eagle Brand milk…I don’t, but it is good!

Mix together and place in cupcake wrappers placed in a cupcake pan to hold their shape…You can also place this in a square container…just be sure to remove for a bit so you can cut it!

This recipe can be served frozen…BUT if you want to make it a refrigerator Salad, use a can of Cherry Pie filling INSTEAD of the Cranberries…My niece LOVED this and she called it PINK SALAD…for some reason, I don’t like the cherries frozen as well as the cranberries!

Happy cooking QUICK and EASY!  =)

Both of these patterns can be found as INSTANT downloads in my etsy shop...click  HERE to go directly to MY SHOP...=) 

4 comments:

  1. Holy Moley what yummy recipes you posted!!! I am a sucker for shortbread! Just plain and simple shortbread. (Must be the butter!) I grew up on "Sunday Dinner" as well, although we didn't have company every weekend, my grandmother cooked as if we were. I still keep that tradition alive as much as possible and make a small roast, ham or something "special" on Sunday. I love Sundays and try enjoy them as much as possible. I hope you have a beautiful Sunday Charlotte. Thank you for the wonderful post! I sure enjoyed reading it! xoxoxox

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    1. What a great idea to still make Sunday dinners special! I need to start doing that! I went to sleep after I wrote this THINKING, you KNOW, I have the STUFF to make shortbread! AND I have the STUFF to make the dressing...LOL...I am amazed when people say they CAN'T cook because so many GREAT recipes are just TOO easy...I think it is that they don't WANT to cook...;) Happy week, my sweet friend...xoxo

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  2. OK - i just had some eggs & toast & now i'm HUNGRY!!! See how you are! LOL

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    1. WELL, I would be hungry TOO IF I had eggs and toast, BECAUSE it would have just been TOAST for me cause I don't like eggs....UNLESS you throw enough stuff in them so that I can't TASTE the eggs and make it an omelet! ROFL...

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Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the world. In case you haven't been told, you are loved!~~charlotte♡