Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Frozen German Chocolate Pie



I seldom make recipes from magazine anymore. I usually find them too complicated or the ingredients something I don't keep on hand or care to stock. But when I came across this Frozen German Chocolate Pie in Christmas Cottage magazine it sounded so yummy and easy that I had to try it.





Overall it was easy to make! The best part is its frozen, so making ahead is an added bonus for me in the busy holiday season. In fact, we were so stuffed after Christmas dinner we didn't serve it until last night.




It was very YUMMY! But it was also very, very rich. When I make this again I will change a few things. First, I will use half the coconut the recipe calls for. While I like coconut, I don't love it. For me, two cups of coconut is way too much.

Secondly, I will make two pies out of this one recipe, only using the coconut/pecan filling as topping. If the recipe is followed, the pie is very large and again, very rich. A smaller piece is much better after a heavy meal. Actually, after any size meal!

If you freeze it longer then the four hours the recipe suggests, leave it on the counter longer. It was easy to cut after 45 minutes.

I like that this can be made ahead and stored until needed.


 Here's the recipe! If you make it, let me know how you like it!


FROZEN GERMAN CHOCOLATE PIE

½ (14.1 ounce) package refrigerated pie dough
½ cup butter or margarine
2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese softened
2 (4 ounce) dark chocolate bars, melted
1 (8 ounce) container of frozen extra-creamy whipped topping, thawed
½ cup caramel ice cream topping

Preheat oven to 450o. Bake crust in a 9 inch deep dish pie plate for 10 minutes. Cool completely.

In a large skillet, melt butter. Stir in coconut and pecans. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk and chocolate. Fold in whipped topping.

Spoon half of the cream cheese mixture into prepared crust. Top with ¼ cup caramel topping and half of the coconut mixtures. Repeat layers with remaining ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap, and freeze for at least 4 hours or until firm.

Let frozen pie stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before slicing.


Saturday, December 24, 2011

A Very Merry Christmas To You!



Christmas Tree Blessing

Holy Creator of Trees,
Bless with your abundant grace
This our Christmas tree as a symbol of joy.
May its evergreen branches be a sign
Of your never-fading promises
May its colorful lights and ornaments call us
To decorate with love our home and our world
May the gifts that surround this tree
Be symbols of the gifts we have received
From the tree of Christ’s cross
Holy Christmas tree within our home,
May joy and peace come and nest
In your branches and in our hearts
Amen.
- Author Unknown

Merry Christmas!
~Holly

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Merry Christmas?



"Christmas morning she'll be happier with a Hoover".

Really??

So what do you think of this 1960 ad? If you received a vacuum cleaner for Christmas would you be thrilled or thrilled to pick it up and hit your hubby over the head? I don't know. I have a Dyson I love, so if I needed to replace it maybe I'd be happy. But a vacuum is not jewelry!

One year my husband bought me (at my request) a Rowenta iron and an extra wide ironing board. My dad was mortified!! "How could he buy her an iron for her birthday??" No matter how many times I explained it to him that I was using it for my hobby and that I really wanted it, he was appalled! I found it all kind of funny as my dad is really stuck in the 50's in his ideas of what a woman should be in this world. (Although he's softened quite a bit now that he has 4 successful college aged granddaughters.)

I was thrilled with my gift. I still have the ironing board but the Rowenta crapped out just a month or so after the warranty expired. I guess if my husband would have bought me jewelry I'd most likely still have it. But I still think it was a great gift!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!



Thanksgiving comes once in a year, but may the feeling of gratitude live in our hearts all year round.

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving Day.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Thrift Store Cabinet Redo

As promised here's our kitchen cabinet redo.

Looked like this piece may have been to a more formal dining set. My husband removed the finial, sanded, and sanded. Then sanded some more. Lots of Kilz primer and then the paint.

TA DA!

I'm just so happy with the results!

I had purchased "new" vintage hardware but it just did not look right. So the original went back on. I think it works well with the dark floor and the dark frame from the tea towel picture.

I'm so thrilled to have a safe place to display my favorite vintage Fiestaware pieces and of course my Wilendurs!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Our Budget Kitchen Redo

Welcome to our budget kitchen redo! We started our "little" project back in April and recently finished in October. Can you believe it? My husband and I are not do-it-yourselfers by choice, so things move slow for us. I'm easily intimidated home improvement projects and it shows in my procrastination. But I'm happy to say that we are officially finished with our little redo.

This dated wallpaper had to go!! What was I thinking when we put it up? I don't know but times do change so maybe it was in style at one time! LOL. And that old linoleum floor - YUCK. Outta here!

Before:



We loved this solid oak corner hutch when we purchased it. But it's too small and was just a catch all. While our Fiestaware collection is small, we still needed something better to display our favorite pieces.

The louvered doors on the pantries were awful. They seemed to attract all the dust and kitchen grime.



The first thing we had done was to have hardwood flooring installed. It was our biggest expense but money well spent. We hired out the work and didn't attempt this ourselves. A wise choice I'm sure!

Choosing a color was hard, but I'm very please with the end result. The rich deep brown of the floor offset the honey oak of our wainscoting and kitchen set.

After the busy wallpaper I was set for nice soothing creamy white walls.

While we are due for new and improved cupboards, the originals will have to do for a few more years. For a splash of color (and I love color) we painted cabinets in soft country green. We changed out the old brass hardware for brushed nickel.

After:

Replaced the old louvered doors with solid and painted them to match the walls.

We painted the shelves cream and changed the brackets to brushed nickel to blend with the cabinet hardware.

We replaced the corner hutch with a small cabinet that was a thrift store find. I'll show you the before and after another day. It really is amazing! I love having glass doors where I can mix my collection of vintage tablecloths and Fiestaware in one place!

New, updated lighting.



I had a frame made for a vintage tea towel. I can easily change the towel to match the season and my tablecloth! Other then the hardwood floor, this is my favorite change. I LOVE it!


The only thing left to do is to find a window treatment. I'm not sure what I want, if any.

I'm very relieved to say that we really are done! Someday it will be a complete bare to the studs redo, but that will be awhile. And nothing we will attempt ourselvers! LOL! So this redo is not too bad for two not-so-handy folks on a budget!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Happy Veteran's Day

"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die." -G.K. Chesterton



A heartfelt THANK YOU to all who serve!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Cottage Book Shelf



The Pink Rose Cottage
is please to announce our newest category:
Cottage Book Shelf.

Wonderful used books including collector reference books, home decor, and cookbooks! Books that are sure to inspire ~ helping to make your home cozy cottage!

Shop now for the best selection.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!


Have a fun and spooky Halloween!!




There's nothing scary about today's Monday Markdowns! Just great sale prices on select items. But hurry ~ Sale prices are good today only.

Sign up for The Pink Rose Cottage newsletter. You'll receive advanced notice of Monday Markdowns, exclusive offers, and more! The link it to the sign up form is at bottom left of the home page.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Virginia Retro!

My dear friend and personal Tablecloth Fairy, Pam has started her own blog! It's called Virginia Retro.

As you can tell she is a fellow tablecloth lover! She has some beautiful pieces in her collection!

Love this non-traditional fall tablecloth and setting!

This is Pam's cute and sweet Doyle!

Pam is new to the blogging world and I know she's love if you would stop over and take a peek at Virginia Retro. Become a follower too!

Congratulations Pam on your beautiful new blog!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Meet Gracie!!

Gracie is the newest member of our family. She joined us just this morning. Gracie is somewhere between 6 to 9 months old. Probably a beagle/lab mix. But she's a small girl. I fell in love with her face on the ANNA Shelter website.
Her sweet face matches her disposition. This doggy was ready for a home. I think she is head-over-heels in love with Ryan and Corrinne.

On the way home she whimpered and cried. I'm not sure if she was afraid of the car. She was a stray and may have been tossed out of a moving car. There is know way of knowing what made her nervous. But she came into the house like she's lived here all her life. She likes to play, cuddle, and loves belly rubs!

So much excitement for one day, she just curled up in Sunny's old bed and fell right to sleep and had an nice long nap. (Sunny hated this bed, poor girl! LOL)

Right now she's up again and out playing between raindrops. She's a sweet, loving, little pup who is going to fit into our family wonderfully. She's not a replacement for Sunny, but she's filling an emptiness in my broken heart. She makes me smile!

More on Gracie as she settles in....

Saturday, October 1, 2011

We are so blessed!


Today is damp, cold, rainy...chilling to the bone. It was a good day to bake and make dinners for the freezer. We decided to light a fire in the fireplace to take the chill out of the house.

I was working the the kitchen and my husband watching TV in the family room. Suddenly we felt the house shake. It started out slow and then went to a full rumble. The fire in the fireplace burst in to a glowing ball. And then BOOM!

I ran to get my phone and couldn't dial 911! I was shaking so bad. I just couldn't get the small buttons. Didn't matter that it's saved on there. I didn't remember. So I got the landline. Wish I could say I did better, but I fumbled with that as well (You so don't want me with you in a crisis!). I finally got though and gave the dispatcher all the info. As this was happening the fire was starting to slow down. He still insisted we all leave the house.

We left and waited for the firemen. For living in an area with an all volunteer force, they were very fast! The chief came and saw that it was contained so I thought really they'd bring in a fire extinguisher and that would be it.

Well to my surprise two ambulances and five huge fire rigs came! I can't even tell you how many firemen and women! We had five fire companies respond!


They initially believed we had a large bird nest in the chimney becasue of the boom. But after putting the rest of the fire out and checking it they didn't find any remnants of a nest. It may have been there and burned out but we definitely had creosote in there. My husband had cleaned the fireplace and readied it for the winter several weeks ago. But lesson learned, this is a job for a professional!!!


(The sent me in to turn off my oven as I doing my was baking and they didn't want I oven fire too. So I snapped this picture)

While there were two firemen on the roof and about a half a dozen in the family room, more went though my entire (and very messy!) home checking for heat in the walls. They told us that the last three chimney fires they were called to completely destroyed the homes becasue the owners (like us) thought after it started to burn down that the danger was over. But it gets between the walls, so each and every room needs checked.

Fortunately ours was contained to the fireplace and chimney. (Yes sir! We have terrific angels watching over us!) We will have our chimney inspected and cleaned on Monday. I'm not sure when I'll be comfortable enough to build another fire!



A few of the firemen apologized to me for messing the floor with their boots! And another apologized for spilling some chemicals on my rug! (Can you believe it??? Hey guys! Absolutely no problem!)

I truly can't say enough about these men and women who dropped what they were doing on a Saturday afternoon to help a family that they didn't even know. These folks are THE BEST! I was a bit embarrassed by the whole scene because after it started burning down, it didn't seem like a big deal. But these guys took the time to explain how that's not the case.

We may have some chimney damage. There is soot all over the family room. The house smells, my hair and clothes smell. But I'm not complaining! It could have been so unbelievably worse!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Homey Vintage Tea Towels

It's crisp and cool today. The sun is shining and it's a beautiful ~almost~ fall day! Makes me want to start bringing out the warm colors of autumn.

I found a small stack of vintage tea towels that seem to fit the bill! Beautiful yellows, browns, greens and reds. So homey and inviting!



This gorgeous vintage Luther Travis daisy tea towel is perfect almost year around! So very cheerful!



The detail on the Alphabet Sampler towel is fun! Check out the acorn and oak leaves for "O."



All these wonderful, unused tea towels are available at The Pink Rose Cottage. The perfect little extra to bring warmth and homeyness to your cozy cottage kitchen!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

A Special Find and The Tablecloth Fairy

I didn't go to that many garage sales this past season, but when I did go, I was pretty lucky! A few weeks ago I picked up MY ALL TIME FAVORITE Fiestaware color ~ Lilac! An entire service for four, in the unopened original box! I also picked up some serving pieces from the same sale!

If any of you are Post86 Fiesta junkies, you know that Lilac is somewhat rare and hard to get. I started collecting Fiestaware after Lilac was retired and only was able to obtain a few odd pieces until now! This find had me over the moon!


Since I am a member of The Vintage Tablecloth Lovers Club I'd bet you can guess that next concern would be which tablecloth to use! Luckily my fellow club member and dear, sweet friend Pam came to the rescue and surprised me with this fabulous vintage tablecloth!



The shade of purple is near perfect and with that stripe of pink I can easily add Rose Fiesta into the mix to create a different look!


I only have one set of Lilac flatware but I used Rose and Evergreen and that worked out nicely.



This tablescape was a huge hit with my entire family!

Thank you Pam (my personal Tablecloth Fairy) for making my exciting find even more special!