Author Archives: cathyboettner

I am helping my niece with table decorations for her wedding reception. She wanted to use coppery colors in her flowers and candle holders. I have used metallic paints before, but this paint is amazing: I was absolutely stunned by how the candle holders turned out. Here’s how I did it: Step one: Wash andContinue reading ““Copper” Tea Light Candle Holders”

As I mentioned in my last post, a friend and I went on the East TN Food Tour–Apple Valley Orchard, Mennonite Market in Delano, Tellico Grains in Tellico Plains, Benton’s Hams, and Sweetwater Valley Cheese in Philadelphia, TN. Apple Valley Orchard sells bushels of second quality apples for a lower price than first quality. AContinue reading “Applesauce by the bushel!”

A friend and I went on the East TN Food Tour today and I got some gourds, squashes, pumpkins, and apples that inspired this table. I assembled an assortment of containers in various materials, but all in shades of brown–metal, pottery, and wood. I placed these on top of a natural washed linen table cloth.Continue reading “Fall Harvest Table”

By this time of the year, just about all the flowers are tired, really tired. But, I was able to pull together one last bouquet from what is left in the cutting garden. It really may be the last one of the season. It’s different kinds of dahlias, zinnias, and some alstroemeria that I boughtContinue reading “The last of the cutting garden…”

In our basement, some of the walls were drywalled and painted when we bought the house, but others were not, and we have a lot of walls that are cinder block that we have painted with dry loc paint. My husband has wanted to hang the drywall because the exposed insulation just sucks the lightContinue reading “The Ancient Basement–Our first adventure in dry wall”

I have been making cinnamon rolls for years. The boys used to take them for boy scout camping trips and we brought them to all the boys’ regattas. Chris and I made hundreds of pans of them to raise money for his trip to Europe when he was in 7th grade. In fact, they wereContinue reading “Apple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls”

We are starting the process of finishing out our basement to give us more entertaining space and space that is easily accessible for our parents because there aren’t any stairs. We are going for a 1930’s English Pub look. The first thing we did was find some really cool antique doors in Toledo, OH. WeContinue reading “The Ancient Basement”

I have been making this squash casserole for YEARS, but have never taken the time to write down the proportions. I wanted to put a bunch in the freezer for later in the year when you can’t get the same yummy yellow squash that you can get right now so I went to our localContinue reading “Huge batch of Squash Casserole”

When I was little, my mom used to make delicious tomato juice. (I remember picking tomatoes by the wheelbarrow load, so she had to do something with them.) She put peppers and onions in it to add a little extra flavor. I started my batch over the weekend by cooking tomatoes (mostly San Marzano), bellContinue reading “Spicy Bloody Mary Mix”

Plums have such a short season, but I do love them–especially the gorgeous colors. I bought some organic purple plums at Costco last week. I made this cake over the weekend–a double batch–one for us and one for the freezer. I had about 7 plums left that really needed to be used, so I amContinue reading “Original Plum Torte by Marian Burros”