Grand Opening, Setting the Stage, Fall Cooking

WOW....what a couple of weeks it has been! First the Grand Opening of Sisters 'N Things went really well!!!! We sold a lot of items, which makes me very happy and excited!! The shop was only open 3 days that week and I was ready for a little rest, but I couldn't because I needed to sand, paint and get more items ready for the shop. Trust me I'm not complaining, I was happy that we sold a lot and needed to bring more to the shop! And we wanted to have Christmas items displayed also, so we have been setting the stage this last week. I'm so happy how the shop is looking, and have been having so much fun decorating for the holidays!! I'm even starting to bring out my Christmas decor for my home. I couldn't have ever imagined how much I would love having a shop and having an outlet for my creativity. It takes a lot of time and work, but I am loving it so much. So many of you made me feel like this was a good choice for me with all of your encouragement and well wishes. I want to say a big THANK YOU to all of you and say I so appreciate your support. Bloggy Buddies are the BEST!



Since I have been so busy lately with shop and even before our Grand Opening I decided to take today off and visit with my friends in blogland, work on redoing my bedroom and a little fall cooking. It has been tradition in my family, since my boys were little, to bake pumpkin pies on the day we turn the clocks back. Well, my youngest reminded me that I hadn't done that this year yet, so today I baked 2 pumpkin pies to celebrate Fall. Since we had snow this morning (which didn't stick) I thought today was perfect!





Don't they look yummy???

I hope my boys can wait until they are done cooling!






Cool days just seem to be perfect for baking and cooking. The house fills up with delicious aromas and feels so cozy. One of my favorite Sunday dinners is to bake a whole chicken in a baking bag (no mess) rubbed with butter and seasoned with lemon pepper. I usually serve a tossed green salad and broccoli bake with it. My boys really love this comforting meal. I'll share my broccoli bake recipe with you:

Broccoli Bake
2 boxes frozen chopped broccoli
1 cup lite mayonnaise
1 can of cream of celery soup
8 oz grated mild cheddar cheese (about 2 cups)
2 eggs
2 tbsp. chopped onion

Topping
1 stack of Ritz crackers
1 cube of margarine or butter

Cook broccoli according to package directions, drain and place in large mixing bowl. Stir in mayonnaise, soup, cheese, eggs and onions. Place mixture in ungreased 9x9 glass baking dish. For topping, crumbled Ritz crackers in a mixing bowl, melt butter and pour evenly over crushed Ritz crackers, stir to moisten crackers. Evenly top broccoli mixture with cracker mixture. Bake in preheated oven @ 350 for 30 - 40 minutes. Dish is done when you see the corners starting to brown.

Enjoy!

Until Later,
~Toni~