Spring has sprung and Easter is coming. We would like to offer you a free 3” Lily of Hope Angel, for all orders of $50.00 or more beginning March 15th through March 21^st, 2013. Her lily of hope arches out of a scalloped heart of love.  This angel is especially poignant to use as gifts of encouragement or gifts of sympathy. This angel is also a gift of celebration and victory and makes a lovely gift for Easter.

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We photographed this angel in my kitchen today. The daffodils are out everywhere here and they bring the sunshine into my house. My Lily of Hope Angel celebrates the love and hope of God that I cherish most.

Happy Easter,

Margaret

I really enjoy cooking and baking for Thanksgiving dinner.

The favorite family pie is the classic pumpkin! I use the recipe on the Libby pumpkin can. I follow it exactly except for the spices, these I cut in half. This is what my mother did and I am carrying on the tradition. By lessening the spices, the rich and delicate pumpkin custard is enhanced by the spices, but not overpowered.

Another alteration to my pie is the proportion of fat to flour in my crust recipe. Most recipes call for a 1 to 3 ratio of fat to flour, but I use 1 part fat (1/2 Crisco and 1/2 butter) to 2 parts flour. This makes a rich and very flaky crust.

I measure the flour, salt into a mixing bowl, add the cold Crisco and butter and then put the bowl in the refrigerator while I make the pumpkin filling. Cooling and keeping all the crust ingredients very cold including the bowl makes for a tender crust.

I then do the final crust mixing with my hands until the fat is incorporated into the flour in about pea sized pieces. The last edition of ice cold water moistens and finishes the dough, I add just enough so the dough holds together to form a ball. Once it is rolled out, transferred to the pie plates and filled with the pumpkin custard – into the oven it goes.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Margaret

While I recently visited my hometown of Falls City, Nebraska, Kathy Martin, Jannie McNeely and I made the short trip to an account of mine on the way to the little town of Rulo.

Here out in the middle of the country is a historic red brick, one-room schoolhouse, beautifully preserved inside and out and filled to the brim with beautiful products and gifts. Betty Majerus is the designer and owner of this rare jewel of commercial enterprise. I am sure that she draws customers from the four-state area and more.

Betty also sells fresh flowers and has a seasonal plant nursery outside. WOW! What a unique and beautiful shop!

I love this elegant gift shop and I am very proud that Betty sells my line in her store.

Also on a side note, my mother taught in a one-room country schoolhouse eleven miles northwest of Falls City while I was growing up. I went to mom’s Christmas plays, school picnics and to several regular days of school. Those were precious days for me and I still cherish these memories. My visit to The Nursery School was rich indeed for me

My daughter Caitlin had her birthday this month and I had fun preparing a small dinner party to celebrate. I was so happy that she and her friends wanted to come to my house for dinner!

The weather was still beautiful so we served cold cilantro-lime shrimp, cheese and fruit on the kitchen deck. We moved inside to the kitchen table for dinner. It is always festive and informal to eat in the kitchen where most of my parties end up anyway.

I brought in my darling little lemon thyme trees to decorate the dining table and put a large arrangement of white Japanese anemones on a side table. The beautiful fall arrangement of scented geraniums, rose hips and deep violet Dahlias was a hostess gift and graced the corner cabinet close by.

My menu was a lightly smoked salmon grilled with lemon parsley butter, mashed potatoes, green beans, caprese salad and “eggs in a cloud of herbs”. This egg recipe is in an earlier blog if you want to try them. They are one of Caitlin’s favorite. I make these eggs for holidays and many times when I entertain.

Good food, flowers, and most of all, family and sweet friends make a lovely evening to enjoy and remember. Caitlin and her friends left full and happy.