DIY Cooking at Home

I was amazed at all of the creativity and entrepreneurship at this year's Country Living Fair in Columbus. I haven't been to the Fair since its first year, and wow, has it grown! There were so many booths full of crafters, artisans, and antique dealers, it was hard to know where to start browsing. I believe women should support each other in our efforts to run businesses, raise creativity-fueled families, and beautify our respective corners of the world. To that end, I want to use this humble little blog to showcase some of my favorite things at this year's Fair. I'm sure these women get bigger press elsewhere, but every little bit helps, I suppose! First off, handcrafted jewelry by Twist Style . This is inspirational stitched art by artist, Peggy Whitson . You put in your own pictures, of course. My favorite was the one that said, "I love you to the moon and back" from the children's book Guess How Much I Love You . These are stitched on quilt remnants. G

"Start by making your own home a place where happiness and love abound, through your love for each member of your family and for your neighbor. Try to put in the hearts of your children a love for home. Make them long to be with their families. So much sin could be avoided if our people really love their homes." Mother Theresa

Warning: These delectable little confections made from cream and a stick of butter are not good for you; yet you will be unable to resist eating one every day with your cup of coffee until they are gone. I fiddled with a recipe I had for cream scones because I wanted something similar to Panera's orange scones. The result, I must say, was quite close except I didn't glaze them. Good thing, too. That might've just sent me over the edge. Cranberry Orange Cream Scones Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a sheet with parchment. Stir together 2 c. flour, 2 T. sugar, 1 tsp. baking powder, ½ tsp. kosher salt and 1 tsp. orange zest. Cut in ½ c. cold unsalted butter until the mixture is the consistency of coarse crumbs. Add ½ c. cranberries, 1 tsp. orange extract and 1 c. heavy cream. Stir just until dough forms. On floured surface, knead until uniform and pat out until 1 ½ inches thick. Cut with biscuit cutter and place upside down on sheet. Brush with cream. Bake 12 mins.

I love the look of vintage tins, but the ones I manage to find at flea markets are quite often rusty or just plain filthy. The Tortoise and the Hare have found a great way to get the same look by using those dime-a-dozen gaudy ones you get every Christmas. So go rummage through your closets, 'cause I'm betting you've got a couple, and make something useful for your kitchen or bathroom. Or use them as a stylish way to package homemade goodies this holiday season.

So I guess I can give up the ghost. Summer is over. The days have turned chilly here, my daughter is on a field-trip to an apple orchard, and I've noticed all of my favorite blogs are decked out in orange, brown, yellow and black. I love fall, but don't love winter, so I guess I'm trying to hang on to the last vestiges of warm weather...like meals made from summer's produce! Yes, folks, I've got two more non-recipe recipes for you that you may still be able to make if, like me, you've got access to late tomatoes and corn. So here we go. This sandwich was heaven. And it only required some good country bread, one fresh tomato, a thin layer of mayo and some cheese (I used Muenster). How good does that look? And with it, I threw a salad together with what I had in the fridge and came out with a winner. It's romaine, sliced green onions, halved grape tomatoes, a ton of corn cut off the cob, some bacon crumbled up, and blue cheese. You could just do a vinaigrette

Haven't been to the Maxx lately, and wow! was I surprised to see the new stuff they had there. For walls, in particular. As usual, the prices were spectacular and the style was spot-on-trendy. Word art is particularly hot right now, and here are two great examples of it. This one was on clearance for $10 bucks. And this one is just awesome. Love the quote, love the scale, love the price. Of course, mirrors never go out of style. Here are three I really liked that seemed out of the ordinary, but weren't very pricey. I've seen these in high-end magazines, and huh! What do you know? They're actually made from recycled magazines. This one was just great because it was huge, not very expensive, and was wrapped in sisal, which can go with anything. And I just liked this one for the modern circles around its border, its size, and again...its price. Aside from wall art, they always have random pieces of accent furniture. Here's a set of nesting tables for less than $100. A

I'm so proud of my latest concoction, mostly because it met with approval from our 4-year-old! But it's also easy, healthy, and uses up zucchini from the garden. I only wish I'd taken a picture for the purposes of HMM, but (will wonders never cease?) there was none left. Ok, so I was making BLTs tonight to use up some tomatoes. (Ok, one tomato. But that's one less to attract fruit flies on the counter!) Anyway, I needed a side dish, so I pulled out some of that frozen, shredded zucchini I told you about with plans to try Disappearing Zucchini Orzo . But silly me, I had no orzo (duh), no parmesan, and no onions (how does that happen? I always have onions). So, as millions of you fellow moms do at 5:00 every day, I punted. I swapped couscous for the orzo, feta for the parmesan, and garlic for the onions and voila! My zucchini side dish did its own disappearing act. Zingy Zucchini Couscous 2 cups thawed, shredded zucchini (you can use freshly shredded, too) 3/4 c. dried,

It almost seems a shame to feature one of Martha's ideas ...she certainly doesn't need the plug (especially from a small-time blogger like me!) and there are so many other inventive crafters out there. But nonetheless, this craft is truly easy and doesn't require too many special supplies. Most people have a crock pot, and most moms have a ton of broken crayons somewhere in the house. So here you go: dip-dye those dime-a-dozen white pillar candles ! I would venture to say that your kids could help with this, too. The wax surely wouldn't get too hot in an open slow-cooker.

One of my fave things to do on vacation is explore all the new-to-me shops and art galleries in the town we're staying in. Our family enjoyed a great week in Grand Haven, MI, recently, and although the beaches were absolutely gorgeous, we did take a break from the sand and sun one day to explore the town and mozey around an art festival. I was not disappointed! Grand Haven offered a great downtown with lots of coffee shops, places to have lunch and of course, do some window shopping! Panache Home was the cream of the crop, in my opinion. Pricey, yes. But they still had a sale table, upon which was a set of three sisal-wrapped vases that I picked up for less thyn $30 total. Not bad. I always like to pick up something for the house that reminds me of places we've been. I put these vases alongside some driftwood I scavanged from the beach, and a couple of star fish and a blue-green balast bottle I got at an antique store in Avalon, NJ, a few years back. (The color I painted the fa