Simply Home by Beth

Newly November…

“Don’t wait until the fourth Thursday in November to sit with family and friends to give thanks. Make every day a day of Thanksgiving!” ~ Charmaine J. Forde

Hey all! ,

and Hello November, the month of gratitude and anticipation for all that is truly good in our lives.

This is really just a quick little newsletter, where I’d like to express my gratitude and appreciation for YOU, my “friends”.

I’ve been writing/blogging for almost three years now, with the determination of one who KNOWS there are people “out there somewhere” in this Social Media world we live in.

One of those “people”/persons is a fellow blogger/lifestyle creator, Michelle, the owner of @vintagehomedesigns. I chose her photo , above, as an introduction to Thanksgiving, and November as well. This is very much how I decorate for all occasions, with simple, found items, or what I already have on hand. I believe that a simple table, creates a welcoming and relaxing atmosphere when you host friends or family on any occasion.

I believe she agrees, based on the works she has created. She is one to follow, if Hospitality and Decor is an area you love….as long as you follow me too!!! Ha!

So, besides Thanksgiving and great football games, what will you spend your time doing this month? Enjoying November, or using it to prepare for December?

I’m not judging…that’s a common answer.

Personally, I love Thanksgiving, it is truly my favorite holiday, to host, to cook and decorate for, and to attend when given the opportunity.

Are you cooking a turkey?

Or are you watching parades and ordering in?

This year, we’ll be heading to Florida, to spend Thanksgiving with my children and grandchildren. We’ve enjoyed this holiday together for the past few years, and naturally, we look so forward to it.

Yes, it’s Florida, NO, it is not warm. No sunburns or tan lines as mementos.

Note: The Christmas trees go up before we leave, or at least that is the plan…

I, for one, really like to soak it all in, one holiday at a time, besides, my “fresh” garland would be dried needles if I put them up early!!

Enjoy your new month/not so new now, of November!

Blessings to you,

xx,

Heavenly Pumpkin Brownies Recipe

By Beth Wood

Y’all!!!! You KNOW it’s great when it’s slathered with Cream Cheese frosting!

Let’s cut the small talk on this one…

Although I have a summer birthday, I chose a Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese icing to be MY cake every single year. My mother was so frustrated, wanting, I believe to make a proper summer’s birthday dessert for her daughter. Strawberry Shortcake with homemade ice cream was offered, which I politely refused, as well as a chocolate cake. Even as a child, I realized that my choice was a Fall’s dessert, but it was also the only time I could have cream cheese icing!

This girl knows what she likes!!

I can’t wait to try this recipe, for two reasons.

First, I have no doubt it will be delicious.

Second, every ingredient is in my pantry as we speak, nothing too “fancy” , imported or hard to find. I appreciate that, don’t you?

Here we go….

Heavenly Pumpkin Brownies…

Serves 24, Prep time: 15 minutes, Cook: 35 minutes, Total: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

4 eggs

2 C. sugar

1 C. butter, melted

1-15 0z. can Canned Pureed Pumpkin

1 1/2 C. flour

1 tsp. Vanilla, Pure

1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp. Cinnamon

Icing

8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 C. butter, softened

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 C. powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350* F.
In an electric mixer’s large mixing bowl beat the eggs, add in the sugar and butter and mix well. Add the pumpkin and vanilla and mix. Add the flour and spices and mix well. Spread in a 9″x13″ greased pan.
Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.
To make frosting: In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar until just mixed. Frost when the brownies are cool.
Cut into squares when cooled and serve.

Remember, you don’t have to wait for your birthday to make this incredible dessert, since it serves 24, I’d call that a party!!!

Enjoy!

xx,

Pumpkin Cheese Ball

By Beth Wood

For my husband’s 60th Birthday party, which is in the Fall, I used a familiar recipe from years ago, shaping a cheeseball into a pumpkin and added a clean, real stem for fun!

The presentation went over so well, everyone refused to try it, not wanting to be the “first one” to cut into the cheese, ruining the pumpkin!

Finally, the Birthday Boy himself took a big slice off of the rounded pumpkin’s edge, and everyone else literally got into line to try a slice for themselves. I could not have been more pleased that something so simple to create was so well received.

There’s a lesson there, …”something so simple to create was so well received.”

What may be “simple” for us, may very well be unknown to others. I received so many compliments that it surprised me, and I was filled with gratitude as well.

The “everyone else’s” at your party, or in your home, are there to experience YOU, how you do/prepare and present things, it’s a new experience for them, and an enjoyable one.

OK, back to the pumpkin ….

This is such a sweet little addition to a cheese tray, a charcuterie board, or as a tiny cheese ball pumpkin as a snack for one, adding Italian bread sticks or grainy crackers on the side, perhaps with a mug of chili or steaming soup. Enjoy it your way!

Feeling pleased with my pumpkin and myself, I posted a small photo of the cheese ball pumpkin to see what the response would be, if any, on Facebook. Immediately, people were asking for the recipe….so, here it is. I mentioned earlier that my mother made this for every party she hosted, changing her “sides” with the seasons, holiday or occasion.

Party Cheese Ball…

Ingredients:

2-8 ou. pkgs. Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temperature

2 C. (8 ou.) shredded Cracker-Barrel Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1 Tbs. each, pimento, chopped onion, and chopped green pepper

2 Tsp. Worchester sauce, and 1 tsp. chopped pecans

Directions:

Combine cheeses-mix well, add remaining ingredients, mix well, shape into a ball, cover and chill
Roll in chopped nuts and decorate with candied red and green cherries. Pile the red ones in center and slice green ones for leaves.

Note: My mother served this Cheese Ball every Christmas, ALWAYS with the red and green decoration…

I rolled the Cheese Ball in Chopped herbs, parsley and cilantro, and in Everything Seasoning for Bagels and More

Next, with kitchen twine about 1 foot long, I lightly pressed lines into the cheeseball, criss- crossing across the top like cutting a pie into 6-8 pieces. On the rounded edges, I rolled the pumpkin on its side to crease the edges but not the bottom, you don’t want to slice through the cheese ball.

Next, I added a cleaned pumpkin stem directly over the area, the x where the strings crossed in the center. You could also use a cinnamon stick.

Easy peasy! Don’t be afraid to make it your way, which makes me wonder how my mom would’ve liked this…. or not:) Ha!

Enjoy, and let me know if you try this now with a cup of hot soup for dinner, or for your Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board!

Love to all!

An Autumn’s Greeting…starts at the door

By Beth Wood

What is the first thing you “decorate” for Fall?

According to my observations of both sides of our street, when the seasons change, every front door of every house changes as well.

I know for a fact, that if I lived in the middle of a desert, on top of a mountain or in a deep deserted valley, I would be the first person to decorate their door for the new season! That’s just who I am, I truly can’t even help it!

BUT doesn’t it just feel so good to change things up a bit?

You don’t have to be an actual artist, or even semi-creatively gifted, to simply enjoy adding a pretty “Welcome” to your home or strive to leave a great first impression. Blame it on the season if you must, but personally, I always start at the door.

Above photo: Alison from @frenchcountrycottage, hung a basket of dried roses on her Dutch Door, surrounded by corn stalks for Fall. Another gorgeous Welcome!

Ask an authority, aka any child waiting in line for the School Bus, “what are you doing for Halloween? What will your house look like for Trick or Treating?”

They know. They’re ready. They’re ALL ABOUT IT

Children find such joy in preparing for Halloween, and that same sense of joy, anticipation and wonder should be the way you feel when you prepare your home…for yourself and your family.

Got pumpkins? Bring a couple of big pumpkins home from the grocery store, place one on each side of your door, and you are ready for Fall and Halloween both. Simple items have such a huge impact.

Decorate, design, be creative within your own space, and you will never tire of where you are, or how you live.

Is this frustrating, sound too preachy?

I happen to feel deeply about “creating home” and the act of nesting, for myself and my family, don’t you?

How do you add a warm Welcome to your home?

Where do you start?

Would love to hear where your focus is, especially during the Holiday season which will be here before you know it.

Feel free to answer in the Comment section below, which gives you an actual voice, and is easier to write to!

Let’s go outside and add some FALL, y’all!!!

xx,

Let’s make Pumpkins!

By Beth Wood

Creating worn and aged pumpkins from grain, seed or flour sacks is a passion of mine, and a favorite early-Fall activity.

Have you ever made a pumpkin?

I doubt that you have, perhaps you’ve tried, but why bother when nothing can beat an original field-grown pumpkin, chosen for pies or for Jack-O-Lanterns?

About six years ago, I had a small antique and vintage-wares shop where I made and sold crafts as well….and everyone’s favorite? My pumpkins!

Personally, I think I didn’t do too badly on my other items made, but everyone, no matter their age, loves a pumpkin. In reality, it’s the pumpkin’s stem that wins them over.

This is me with my granddaughter, at the Sundays at Sandwich Antique Market, where we sold antiques, collectibles and crafts one Sunday a month, in addition to my shop. I also sold handmade pumpkins at the Third Thursday Craft Fair in Sandwich, Illinois every September, and this was where women started calling me, “the Pumpkin Lady”!!

Was I honored? Sure.

Did I like it? No.

Well….maybe a little.

Now, I’m adding pumpkins, “just a few” to my husband’s Fall Festivals that he participates in. Again, selling the old, antique, worn and weary heirlooms of years ago, mixed with a fresh new crop of handmade pumpkins from the old fabrics.

Again, I’m being referred to as the “pumpkin maker, or pumpkin lady” by a more local group of buyers, which this time, is indeed an honor. Local feels right. Local feels like Home.

Craft Class with my littles, toes-on-the-table concentration is required, this is why I couldn’t be a teacher! We’re all lost in the process, and enjoying every second of it.

Stay tuned to Facebook and Instagram for a How-To video, if you’d like to make a pumpkin of your own.

Will let you know when and will announce it during the first 2 weeks of September. Anything you’d like to see in particular, leave a message in the comments so I can address it on the video!

Curiosity is such a blessing, isn’t it? We can teach our children and ourselves the “new”… the “new” becomes comfortable, and then an actual “skill”…

Stay curious!

xx,

What’s new in October?

By Beth Wood

Vintage Halloween cookie cutters in their original box, are displayed in my kitchen every October…

My littles always ask, “where’s the cookies, Ma?”

My husband and I are currently living in a large subdivision and every Halloween, we literally have hundreds of Trick-or-Treaters! What a literal “treat” it is for us to witness the excitement of so many children, proud of their costumes, their creativity, and excited to see how many pieces of candy will be dropped into their buckets or bags.

The first Halloween we lived here, I answered the door after they rang the doorbell, pulling open the door, two small children stood in front of me. The taller goblin said to the smaller ghost when they noticed our little dog….

“All of the old people here have little white dogs!”, I grinned, a very observant child indeed:)

Our one-eyed spider would greet each child. He loved Halloween but detested wearing his costume…he chewed off one of the eyes to prove his point!

Tell me, what’s your favorite part of Autumn?

I’ve always loved October!

What could be better than warm days and chilly evenings? it’s perfect football weather, or bonfire weather. I also enjoy going through a corn maze or to the pumpkin farms to get mums, pumpkins, corn stalks and apple cider…more than a tradition, it may be “the American way” to some extent.

Are you hosting Thanksgiving next month?

I’m asking now because in between now and then, I’m working on some home projects, getting guest ready, and vacation ready at the same time. I’d like to refresh/update the guest rooms with simple pillow and linen changes, and we’d like to install a new walk-in shower in our primary bath. Nothing difficult, but it does require planning.

Not too many “new” projects taking place currently, how about you?

Are you staying home and hosting through the holidays, are you out shopping early for Christmas? Traveling while you can, to be back in time for the holidays?

My wish for you is that you are happily busy and content right where you are, and always, I’d like to thank you, for your interest and continuing support…

Boo!

and Happy Halloween!

xx,

simplyhomebybeth