Soup, Chicken Noodle

Chicken Noodle soup has never really been my idea of a delicious meal. At least, not until I had an awesome homemade serving of it a few years ago. My mom, best friend, and myself road tripped down to Atlanta to spend a few days with my high school best friend, Ashley.  Let's take a minute to discuss how wonderful Ashley is. She's AMAZING.  She befriended me the day she started working with me at the dry cleaners. She is one of the funniest, sincere, and downright stylish woman I've met in my 28 years.  I can't get enough of her, especially now that she lives thousands of miles away. Well, Ashley got right to it after college and by the time we got down to see her, she was serving up a lovely dinner of homemade chicken noodle soup to us, her three boys, all under 3, and her husband. And let me tell you, that chicken noodle soup was a game changer. It was so simple, yet so tasty. I had never considered making homemade soup until that moment. Three years has gone by since that experience, and now I can't stop making soup at least once a week.

I've made this one a few times and I appreciate it because it's so simple. I used this recipe from food.com.  

I served it up in 441 cinderella Pyrex bowls because they are the perfect size, and the spout and handle make picking them up when the soup is steaming much more comfortable. 

There are only two of us for now, so we tend to have excessive leftovers from soup. I package a few in small mason jars to take for lunch and freeze the rest. 

Stay warm out there and snuggle up to a warm bowl of homemade soup soon! 

Fall Reflecting

So, life is good. Busy, but very good.  My husband and I have spent three of the last five weekends attending out of town weddings.  One of the many great things about the weddings was the treasure hunting in new locations.  While in Cincinnati last weekend, I scored some excellent goodies. 

We found the bar cart, the primary colors nesting bowls, the jadeite juice reamer, and the Friendship mixing bowl all for under $75. I'm super excited to put the bar cart to use even more in our new kitchen when we move in a few months.  The Spring Blossom 401 and the dishwasher damaged Primary 401 were a gift from a friend of mine I got to see at the wedding. 

I think these Primary Colors mixing bowls will become one of my everyday sets.  They are cheerful enough that they will make me smile when I use them, but they aren't in the best shape, so I won't feel bad knocking them around in my pan drawer. 

This square Horizon Blue baking dish was a gift from a man who goes to church with my parents.  He is also a treasure hunter and came across this beauty and picked it up for me after hearing about my collection. I'm so grateful and delighted by his generousity. 

This Friendship pattern mixing bowl was a steal.  Unfortunately, part of the pattern is melted off on the other side. 

  

This Florida orange juice citrus reamer is one of my favorite finds from the weekend.  I've always wanted a jadeite reamer and this one is adorable. 

These Verde casseroles were also a gift my mom found me.  

I'm so lucky to have so many generous and considerate people in my life!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mother-in-law introduced me to some of my favorite cookies a few years back, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.  This is one of the simplest cookies to make, as there are only three ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 box of spice cake mix

1 (15 oz) can of pumpkin puree

1 bag of dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Combine ingredients in beautiful vintage Pyrex mixing bowl ;)
3. Scoop using melon baller onto baking pan.
4. Bake for 14-16 minutes.
5. Enjoy!

Not only do I love these cookies, but I love my new-to-me Friendship divided casserole.  My husband surprised me with it a few days before our anniversary, which is today.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies in Friendship divided casserole

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have over the years!

Harvest Moon

In the wake of a beautiful harvest moon that hung low in the sky, I've found myself fully emerged in the season.  My beautiful city of Cleveland has taken its time adapting to 'normal' temperatures, but a heavy 15+ hour rain has brought a cool breeze.  Today we started bringing out a few seasonal decorations, and I also prepared one of my favorite autumnal snacks, candy corn and peanuts.

The combination of salty and sweet is perfect!  It tastes just like a Payday candy bar and look how great it looks in my Friendship casserole!  Hope you are all having a lovely Saturday and enjoying the beautiful season around you.

The Power of Pyrex

It's been just over a year since I started collecting Pyrex.  Over the year I've accumulated around 80 pieces of vintage Pyrex in a range of patterns and colors.   I've had a lot of fun hunting thrift stores, antique malls, flea markets, garage sales and estate sales on Saturdays, Sundays and sometimes lunch breaks.

Since I've started collecting I've attempted to participate in the online Pyrex collecting community. Sort of.  Instagram was the first pyrex community I started participating in, then I looked for Pyrex blogs to follow and keep up with.  Recently, I've joined a few Pyrex collecting communities on Facebook.   The reason I've attempted to participate in these communities is to gain knowledge, awareness and inspiration of all things vintage Pyrex.  What I've found in joining these communities is that they each provide what I'm looking for but also come with a side of drama.  Though many of the other users are there for the same reason I am, it's inevitable there will be a very few very opinionated, "know-it-all" participants who are trying to out-smart, and out-do what everyone else is doing and saying.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm all about constructive feedback.  But I'm not interested in someone trying to "school" another user for any reason.  When this behavior takes place I do my best to ignore it, as I do not find it to be a healthy contribution to my life.

Luckily, there is still plenty of good.

It's safe to say that I'm most active in the Instagram pyrex community, as that is the forum in which I discovered the beauty of vintage Pyrex.  It was also this community that I was lucky enough to find and connect with another local Pyrex collector.  Trisha of My Wicked Vintage is truly amazing!  She has a fascinating spectrum of interests and a great eye.   One of her collections is vintage Pyrex and she has been actively collecting it for years ( I'm pretty sure she said 20 years ).    I know I've talked about her before on here, but that's because she is totally my Pyrex idol.  She has been very kind to me at her garage sales as she selectively whittles down her collection to a museum worthy showcase.  Last week she held another garage sale and hooked me up with pieces that I didn't know I needed, but couldn't go without now.

These online communities are full of knowledge, inspiration and valuable contributors, and as long as I proceed as a positive contributor, I hope to continue to gain excellent contacts and friends.

The Weekend Haul

This weekend was unintentionally one of the most lucrative weekends I've had in my year of collecting Pyrex.

We spent the weekend in Cincinnati and Dayton and I was not disappointed.  I attended a bridal shower with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and while we were in Dayton, my husband and father-in-law spent the afternoon scouring re-sale shops all over Cincinnati.   My husband has been incredibly supportive of my Pyrex problem and he has a great eye for pieces for my collection.  He scored me the 8 cup coffee carafe new-in-box.

He also came across this Snowflake oval casserole and clear  Pyrex for Westinghouse loaf pan with the knob lid. 

When we got back into town this afternoon, I had a yard sale on my mind.  My Instagram friend, Trisha of My Wicked Vintage, was having another yard sale within a mile of my house and she had at least one item set aside for me.  When I got there I was delighted to find all kinds of goodies.  It was her yard sale that I got the rest of the treasures you see in that first picture.  I love the promotional cinderella bowl and casseroles so much more now that I've seen them in person.  I'm delighted to have them and they look great in my china cabinet (picture to come soon).  

I'm really excited for the lime green cake pan as well, and I'm going to start putting a lot more time and energy into growing this set in my collection.  Next up, some pie pans.  I've been practicing making homemade pie and crust, so I'm due for some beautiful vintage pans. 

Ok, there's a lot more I want to talk about with these finds, but Breaking Bad is about to start, so it will just have to wait until next time. 

Happy Hunting, my fellow Pyrex fiends. 

Big Salad

In the evenings to wind down, my husband and I will watch an episode or two of one of our favorite shows.  Currently, we are re-watching Seinfeld and enjoying it very much. In one of the more recent episodes we watched, Elaine was obsessed with a big salad from their usual spot.  All this talk of a big salad inspired us to make some big salads for dinner.  We each filled our own 402 with our favorite salad fixings.

We each started with baby spinach, diced tomato, green onions, bacon and shaved parmesan cheese.  I added mushrooms to mine because they are delicious.  

Our Big Salads

The dressing is a homemade honey mustard recipe:

1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon yellow mustard or 1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, vinegar, oil, mustard lemon juice.

The dressing was an awesome addition to our fresh big salads and we can't wait to make them again.