Category: SEASONAL LIVING

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Chilled Spring Pea +Mint Soup

Springtime is all about fresh ingredients. This chilled soup recipe combines two spring favorites Peas and Mint to one tasty chilled soup. It’s time to forget what you think about pea soup. The bright color and garden fresh flavors of this Spring Pea and Mint soup will make even the biggest doubters come around.

chilled spring pea soup on An Appealing Plan by Krayl Funch

 

CHILLED GREEN PEA + MINT SOUP

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 cups coarsely chopped onion
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
6 cups fresh peas
3 cups packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 cup packed mint leaves
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup crème fraiche, for garnish
Pea shoots, for garnish

DIRECTIONS

Melt butter in a large pot uncovered over medium heat. Add onion and 2 teaspoons salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add broth and water, bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in peas and return to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in rough chopped parsley and mint. Puree soup in a blender or using an immersion blender, until very smooth. Transfer to a clean bowl and stir in lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Chill soup in refrigerator for 1-2 hours or overnight.

Serve chilled in soup bowls and garnish with crème fraiche, and pea shoots.

This recipe is one of my absolute favorites and is actually a sneak peak since it will also be included in my upcoming book. We are shooting the tablescapes and recipes weekly and I am getting more and more excited for the launch everyday.  Learn more here + have a chance to win a copy. Or learn more about hosting a launch event here. The book has launched!!

An-Appealing-Plan-the book by Krayl Funch Cover Image

 

Be sure to visit all the other fantastic recipes and blogs included in this week’s event. They have really gone all out with the food and mom love. It is an honor to be apart of this group as well as this week’s Sunday Supper Super Star!! Read the full article here and check out all the previous Super Stars.

Mother’s Day Breakfast:

Mother’s Day Appetizers:

Mother’s Day Soups, Salads and Sides:

Mother’s Day Main Dishes:

Mother’s Day Desserts:

Sunday Supper Movement
Join the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. Check out our #SundaySupper Pinterest board for more fabulous recipes and food photos.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy! You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.

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Gardening: What is a Topiary?

Topiary Quote #GardenTip @AnAppealingPlan

topiary     noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Art of training living trees and shrubs into artificial, decorative shapes. Topiary is known to have been practiced in the 1st century AD. The earliest topiary was probably the simple development of edgings, cones, columns, and spires to accent a garden scene. This architectural use gave way to elaborate shapes such as ships, hunters, and hounds. The fashion reached its height in Britain in the late 17th and early 18th century but was displaced by the so-called natural garden.

What is your favorite style of gardening, Formal or Country or somewhere in between? Tell me about your favorite garden in the comments below. And of course if you like this post be sure to sign up to receive our FREE updates by completing the form below.

 

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Easy Christmas Mantle Decorations. Christmas Trees + Candles

How to decorate with candles and christmas trees via @AnAppealingPlan #holidaydecorating copy

Candle lights and Christmas trees can create quite the fire hazard if you’re not careful. Make candle lights and Christmas trees the safe way in this video for eHow.

Click the image to start the video or if the image does not appear CLICK HERE.

 

Many years ago, Christmas trees were decorated with actual candles, and the candles were attached to the boughs of the trees. And, as you can imagine, this was quite a fire hazard! So, luckily, fast-forward to today. We have many different ways to decorate with candle lights and Christmas trees that do not require an open flame – specifically, speaking of battery-powered candle lights, and these are really a great way to decorate around a live Christmas tree.

SUPPLIES:

  • 2-3 Mini Christmas trees
  • 2-3 Birch wood boxes or containers
  • Additional Faux greenery
  • Silver ornaments
  • Battery or Solar powered candles
  • Birch wood logs
  • Ribbon

DIRECTIONS:

Place trees into birch wood boxes. Place additional greens inside box to cover the tree base and to create a base for the ornaments. Add ornaments in the color of your choice.

Wrap 3-5 logs with ribbon cut to size.

Place trees, logs bundles and candles either on your mantle, couch table or dining table, alternating each one to create a safe seasonal display that can be left out for the entire season!

Do you decorate your dining room table for the entire season? Let me know in the comments below. Like + Share the Joy with friends.

 

 

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Decorating the Front Door for Thanksgiving Harvest

In this video for eHow I discuss how to decorate the Front Door for Thanksgiving or Harvest Dinner. This is something you can easily do even  if you live in an apartment.

how to decorate the doorway for thanksgiving ehow #FallDecor #AnAppealingPlan final

Decorating your front door for Thanksgiving  and harvest is an easy seasonal decorating project you can do to bring the Fall & Harvest season to your entranceway. If your entranceway is smaller this is perfect for you!

 
 
You may live in an apartment,  or may not have a lot of room near your entrance way. There are still things that you can do to decorate the entrance way  to make a very festive for your Thanksgiving or your harvest dinner.
 
 
SUPPLIES NEEDED:
  • Large Heirloom Gourds. If you find large gourds at your local maybe your  pumpkin patch. Maybe your farmer’s market or your corner store may have some of  these heirloom varieties. I find they actually  last longer then some of the conventional large orange ones that you may find. I use these right from the beginning of October on through  Thanksgiving. These varieties come in many, many different  colors. Blue which I love. And then some of the different  green ones, and Mexican hat variety. And really, really brings a lot of  different texture and variety to the door if you are able to find a really nice  selection.
  • Indian Corn
  • Basket with a Variety of Gourds.
  • If you don’t have a door where you can place a wreath, a sign is nice. You  can just prop that up really nicely. Maybe put a little pumpkin in front of  that.
  • Stalks of Wheat. We can just tuck those in. And if  you keep them to the side they really shouldn’t interfere with too much with the  in and out of the doorway.
  • Preserved Leaves in various colors. Tuck them in around the larger gourds. Just giving it an effect. If you have a beautiful maple tree outside go and clip those. However, if you live in an apartment this  is a great opportunity to use some of the preserved leaves that you may find in  your craft store.
  • White Pumpkins.  Leaning and stacking them in a little bit of an angle.

What is your favorite type of gourd or pumpkin in this video? Leave a comment below and share this post with your friends.