Halloween and Thanksgiving Ideas

Good morning and welcome to Autumn! It's here in full swing and Old Fashioned Living is gearing up for the holidays. We've been loading up our pages with lots of new recipes, which you will find below, and pulling out some old favorites as well. At any time, you can see what's new on Old Fashioned Living by clicking the "what's new" link in the left side bar.

Don't forget that you can join us on Facebook, enter our monthly giveaway, and chat with others like you in our friendly message board community, fondly known as The Parlor.


Pumpkins

Nutritional Benefits of Pumpkins
Preparing and Using Fresh Pumpkin
Harvest Pumpkin Recipes
Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins
Pumpkin Pie with Spiced Donsuemor Chocolate Madeleine Streusel
Donsuemor Quick and Delicious Pumpkin Tiramisu
Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Bars
Cinnamon Pumpkin Seed Brittle
Pumpkin Cranberry Coffee Cake

Butternut Squash
Roasted Squash Soup with Corn
Butternut Squash Apple Soup
Butternut Squash Lasagna with Basil Bechamel
Black Bean Chili with Butternut Squash
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Wild Rice and Apples
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Masala-Spiced Adzuki Beans and Brown Rice

Fall
Old Fashioned Apple Recipes
Common Myths About Birds, Feeders, and Peanut Butter
Gas Grill Care and Maintenance
End of Summer Chores for Your Yard
Cooking With Fresh Apple Cider

Halloween

Old Fashioned Halloween Celebrations
A Vintage Halloween Celebration
An Old Fashioned Halloween

Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Dishes to Pass
Autumn Butters
Homemade Biscuits
Thanksgiving Traditions and Memories
Thanksgiving: The Harvest Feast

Stop by Old Fashioned Living for even more old fashioned holiday ideas and of course, plenty of old fashioned recipes!

Butternut squash - we're loving it!

We've had a few butternut squash recipes on our site for a while now. It's that time of year again, time to harvest your butternut squash and make soup, quick bread, side dishes, and more. We've added several new recipes using butternut squash to the Old Fashioned Living website, and we know you're going to love them!

Here's a few we hope you'll enjoy:

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Wild Rice and Apples

Black Bean Chili with Butternut Squash

Butternut Squash Lasagna with Basil Bechamel

Masala-Spiced Adzuki Beans and Brown Rice

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Shrimp with Butternut Squash in Coconut Sauce

Do you have any favorite butternut squash recipes you'd like to share with the Old Fashioned Living audience? We'd love to hear from you!

An Old Fashioned Summer

Here are some fun, old fashioned features for summer! Be sure to stop by The Parlor and catch up with old friends, or make some new ones! Oh yeah, and you can "like" us on Facebook to keep up with us there too :)

Summer Fruit Salads

I hate to heat up the oven in the summer time, but I love to take advantage of the fresh fruit in season.

These are just a few fruit salad recipes you can serve this summer in place of dessert, on a buffet or for a luncheon treat.

A Summer Rose Tea 

According to the folklore of tea, once upon a time a lady was not allowed to socialize unescorted except in her rose garden.

It was here women met, unrestricted by social rules of etiquette, to speak freely amongst the roses.

Growing and Using Summer Savory

Summer savory, Satureja hortensis, is a nice herb to use when you are cutting back on salt-it's flavor is mild, a little bit similar to thyme, but with it's own unique flavor. To me, it has a slightly peppery flavor.

You can mince summer savory and combine with bread crumbs for coating fish or vegetables such as squash before sauteing.

Use it in potato dishes, tomato sauces, meatballs or vegetable juices. It's also great in egg dishes such as omelets and frittatas.

A Summer Harvest Tea Party

Before the cool weather sets in, enjoy the bounty of your herb, flower and vegetable gardens by giving a Summer Harvest Tea Party.

Plan your theme around the garden, invite friends and family. Don't make it a formal affair, but rather a way to celebrate everyone's gardens and share produce, flowers, seeds and advice.

Harvesting and Using Summer Squash

Summer squash is one of my favorite vegetables. I love the yellow summer squash in particular.

They should be harvested while still tender, when they have a "glossy" appearance and are still small. You will most likely need to harvest daily once they start to appear.

Seven Summer Snacks

These seven snacks are easy to make, fun for the kids and a few of them even sneak in some healthy ingredients along the way. Be sure to keep on hand some inexpensive plastic bowls and plates for outside snacking, plus small resealable plastic bags for those times you need to take these with you.

I don't know about your kids, but mine act like they need army rations for a trip to the nature center, which is 5 minutes away. These recipes are perfect for field trips, school lunches or after school snacks.

Stop by Old Fashioned Living a use our search, browse our sections, and visit our message boards! See you there :)

Earth Day, Gardening, Victorian Crafts and more

We've been busy doing some spring cleaning over at Old Fashioned Living. Here are a few new articles and some favorites from our archives as well. Enjoy!

How to make your own rain barrel for watering your plants, use what Mother Nature provides for free!

All about growing and harvesting basil in your own yard or kitchen garden.

Grow your own birdhouses by planting gourds this spring!

Sunflowers are easy to grow, and kids will love how they grow even taller than them!

Oh the scent of lilacs. See if planting a beautiful lilac bush will work for you.

If you've never tasted freshly grown peas, you are in for a treat. Grow peas in your garden this year.

Mother's Day is coming, what better way to celebrate than a Mommy and Me tea party!

May Day is almost upon us. Make these beautiful Victorian May baskets this year.

What's a summer barbecue without delicious pasta salad? Try one or all of these recipes!

Read this lovely tribute by one mom who remembers when her kids were young.

Be sure to stop by The Parlor, our friendly message board community, and don't forget to become a fan of Old Fashioned Living on Facebook!

Enter our Giveaway!

This month, enter to win a copy of Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece courtesy of our sponsor, Crafts by Amanda!

Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece: Custom-Color Your Favorite Fibers with Dip-Dyeing, Hand-Painting, Tie-Dyeing, and Other Creative Techniques:

No crafter should feel limited by the yarn colors available in a favorite fiber shop - not when it's so fun and satisfying to hand-dye yarn and fleece right in the kitchen. Ultimate color control is now within the reach of anyone who loves yarn and fleece.

In Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece, self-taught dyer Gail Callahan uses fiber, color, and heat to create exciting new yarns and yarn colors. Her recipe-style instructions lead readers through a variety of simple techniques that turn plain or outdated yarns into colorful fibers, customized by color and quantity for the project at hand. And there are even eight projects for knitters eager to use their new yarns.

Standard kitchen equipment is all that's needed to set up a kitchen dye shop. Dyeing can be done in a microwave oven, a sturdy stovetop kettle, a crockpot, a traditional oven, or even an electric frying pan - Callahan covers every method.

Rules: Must be a legal U.S. resident, 18 years or older. You may enter once per day. Entries will be accepted through midnight, CST on April 30, 2010. Winner will be drawn at random and notified via email.  They will have 7 days to respond or an alternate winner will be drawn.

To enter, click here and fill out the form!

Old Fashioned Living now on Facebook!

Now you can find Old Fashioned Living on Facebook! Be sure to check out our fan page and click the "Become a Fan" button so that our feeds show up in your facebook news!

Click here to become a fan of Old Fashioned Living on Facebook

Valentine's Day Tea Party, Chocolate Cakes, Forcing Bulbs, Cleaning, and More

Welcome to the Old Fashioned Living Newsletter

With winter in full swing and the holidays behind us, it's not only time for a new year, decluttering, organizing and clean up, it's also time to start thinking about Valentine's Day. Here at Old Fashioned Living we have plenty of ideas for you for this festive holiday, so be sure to check out everything in this issue! We welcome your feedback and comments, so please feel free to add your two cents at the end of this newsletter by clicking on the word "comment".

In This Issue

Kitchen: Chocolate Cakes
Crafter's Attic: Patchwork Keepsake Box
Home and Hearth: Household Uses for Vinegar
Tea Time: Valentine's Day Tea Party
Garden Path: Forcing Bulbs for Winter Beauty

KITCHEN
Chocolate Cakes

Chocolate cakes are always perfect for Valentine's Day!

For garnish add small candy or chocolate hearts on top of the cake, or along the plates edge. Sprinkles are nice too. There is always a reason for chocolate cake!

To see the recipes, please visit Chocolate Cakes on OFL.

---

CRAFTER'S ATTIC
Patchwork Keepsake Box

The patchwork look is a fun way to create affordable country crafts and can be accomplished with ordinary crafting odds and ends. You can make a beautiful valentine keep sake box using a heart shaped inexpensive, paper crafting box, left over fabric, lace and antique buttons!

Here is a list of what you will need.

To get the instructions for this pretty box please visit Patchwork Keepsake Box on OFL.

---

HOME and HEARTH
Household Uses for Vinegar

Besides baking soda, vinegar has to be one of the best household helpers. It's non-toxic (though you should still keep it out of reach) and it's inexpensive. Today's tips use the plain, white distilled type of vinegar.

Since you won't be using it in food, buy the cheapest vinegar you can find. It can be used plain, though as I've mentioned in other newsletters, I think it's nice to infuse it with any extra herbs from the garden.

To read the rest of this article please visit Household Uses for Vinegar

---

TEA TIME
Valentine's Day Tea Party

Each Valentine's Day our house is full of hearts, teddy bears having tea, straw hats with big red bows, and more homemade Valentine's cards than I can count.

We start decorating in January soon after I take down the Christmas decorations. It's a month of love and laughter in our family.

The Menu

This is a simple menu, which can be made ahead of time. The sandwiches should be fresh, but making them the morning of the tea is fine. The spread can even be prepared the night before.


To get the recipes visit Valentine's Day Tea Party on OFL

---

GARDEN PATH
Forcing Bulbs for Winter Beauty

If you are like me and go through a little bit of a blue period in the winter when you can't garden outside, then you may want to consider forcing bulbs.

You can do this with daffodils, hyacinths, snowdrops, tulips and crocus, among others.


Read the rest of this feature by visiting Forcing Bulbs for Winter Beauty on Old Fashioned Living

---

If you don't already receive our daily tips via email, check out Old Fashioned Tips to get something new 5 days a week!

If you need more ideas for Valentine's Day, click here

Please visit www.oldfashionedliving.com for all sorts of great tea recipes, crafts, gardening advice, home & hearth and plenty more! Our site has been recently redesigned, so if you have trouble finding anything or just have a comment, please click comments below and leave us a shout! :)