christmas - Porch & Peony

Cooking Through Magnolia Table In A Year: Week 50

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Week 50! With only 5 more recipes to try until our entire Magnolia Table cookbook is complete, I am in shock at how fast this year (and challenge!) has gone by. This week of cooking through Magnolia Table in a year brought us Roasted Elephant Garlic Bread (p.137), Baked Chicken With Bacon Bottom (p.221) and Spiced Pecan Pie (p.275). As we previously had tried the Baked Chicken With Bacon Bottom, I knew that we were in for a treat this week, however I did not realize how much we would enjoy trying the other recipes as well! Perfect for the holidays, this Spiced Pecan Pie is full of holiday flavors and is a twist on the classic southern dessert that graces many Christmas tables, so if you are looking for a last minute….

Quarterly Artisan Highlight: Polymer Clay Artist Kelli McAbee

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For our last quarterly artisan highlight of 2022, I am so excited to introduce polymer clay artist Kelli McAbee of Hello Teddy Co.! While our past quarterly artisan highlights have showcased a painter, furniture maker and stained glass maker, I wanted to feature the work and talent of a local artist right here in Anderson, South Carolina. No journey is the same, but each creative story showcased here this past year has been so inspiring and encouraging in hearing how they have honed a craft and pursued their passion to bless others. Whether their passion began as a hobby, a gift to a friend or has been purposefully honed over the years, each highlight has encouraged me to use…

ALL POSTS | FEATURED | HOSPITALITY | Recipes

Celebrate The Holidays With The Best Cranberry Orange Bars

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As many of you know, this year has brought us dozens of new recipes as we have been cooking through the Magnolia Table cookbook entirely in a year. Each week we have explored different appetizers, side dishes, breakfasts, desserts etc. and rated them with those around our table. While this experience has been a bucket list item for me for many years and has been so much fun to try and share, it also has grown my cooking abilities and given me more confidence to launch out to try my own recipes. Fairly early on in our cooking through a cookbook journey, we were able to try Mina’s Lemon Bars and holy cow, they were delicious! They have been one of the few items that Charlie rated a 10, so I knew they would be a keeper for our family. As we have been enjoying the holidays and thinking of treats to give to neighbors and coworkers, I became inspired to transform this classic beloved recipe into a holiday version. Thus was born, from much trial and error, amazingly delicious Cranberry Orange Bars. Now, I know that cranberries can be polarizing for some people due to their sour bitterness, but I promise….

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Cooking Through Magnolia Table In A Year: Week 48

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Week 48! Only 4 weeks left! While we only have 11 more recipes to make and the finish line of this cooking through a cookbook in a year challenge is almost upon us, I am trying to make each recipe now with as much passion as I did back in January. Thankfully, we still are very excited to try new recipes, discuss our ratings and plug in around the table, so I believe I will be a little sad when this journey is finished. But for now, this week of cooking through Magnolia Table brought us two new GIANT dishes of Sausage & Hash Brown Casserole (p.33) and Garlic Cheese Grits (p.31). Growing up, breakfast casseroles were about the only kind of casserole that my mom made, so I was quite excited to try this one. Her go-to was a sausage and grits casserole that I always found delicious and my younger brother nicknamed….

Cooking Through Cookbook

Cooking Through Magnolia Table In A Year: Week 46

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Happy almost – Thanksgiving! It is crazy to think that in just 6 weeks we will be entering 2023 and will have fully completed our cooking through Magnolia Table in a year challenge. I am not sure about you all, but this year has been extremely memorable for my family and while not all the memories made this year are my favorites, the ones surrounding this challenge certainly are. I have been so thankful that this challenge has brought us so much laughter, fellowship and GOOD FOOD all while encouraging conversation and expanding our culinary horizons. This week of cooking through Magnolia Table was no different and our culinary horizons and mental aversions were most certainly challenged by the Roasted Cauliflower Soup (p.104) and White Bean Hummus (p.153)…..

ALL POSTS | DIY | FEATURED | Holiday | HOME

From Hand Towel To Holiday Pillow: Easy Anthropologie DIY

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While Charlie and I traditionally do not decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, I most definitely have started preparing our holiday décor. Over the past couple of years, I have stayed true to the red, green, white and gold color palette, however this year, I think we both have been craving something a tad more colorful. I absolutely love classic Christmas décor, but adding in a pop of color feels like it brings in a touch of cheerful whimsy that just enhances the season. Despite mulling on this idea for a while, I had not entirely fleshed out the direction I wanted to go until I saw it… a charming, colorful, whimsical, floral inspired nutcracker hand towel from Anthropologie. Now, I absolutely love Anthropologie but my budget is not conducive to using them to entirely outfit my house. That being said, I immediately was drawn to this hand towel and knew instantly I wanted to use it as a springboard. As the pattern was quite large, I was afraid that displaying the dish towel as one normally would, would not show off the amazing design. Seeing this, I decided to take it from a hand towel to holiday pillow. Now, I am not a pro seamstress by any stretch, but I hope that if you have the perfect cloth napkin, hand towel, scarf or any other amazing textile piece you love and feel is too pretty to use….

ALL POSTS | Holiday | HOSPITALITY

Gift Giving With A Mission: The Best Kind Of Gift Guide

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When I was a little girl, I absolutely loved creating handmade Christmas presents. I loved this process so much that I would turn on Christmas music in July and most of the time, had the gifts completed and wrapped all by October. While I still have a huge love for gift giving at Christmas, I now frequently find myself looking for just the right gift all throughout November and sometimes, even up until Christmas Eve. I don’t make many of my own handmade treasures these days, but this love for handmade items as a child now encourages me to celebrate the creativity and talents of other artisans. In the age of consumerism and “ultimate holiday gift guides”, it is helpful to see that our purchases have profound weight in the lives of those they support. They can be used to support missions and charities that aim to give back, help the downtrodden and create an atmosphere of human flourishing whether here or abroad. As Halloween has passed and the holiday season is upon us, I hope that these next shops will encourage you to pursue gift giving with a mission and to purposefully support….

ALL POSTS | HOSPITALITY | Tablescapes

A New Way To Give Thanks: Creating A Thanksgiving Tablescape

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While many of our local stores have already sprung into Christmas mode, I would be sad if I missed the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving. It seems that Thanksgiving has gotten a bit run over in recent years as people look towards Black Friday, Cyber Monday and of course, Christmas. Now, I absolutely love Christmas, however I also love being able to gather with family and reminisce on the blessings of the past year. To me, gratitude, however big or small, keeps my mind in perspective and holding fast to the ways that the Lord has both revealed Himself and His care for us over the past year. In that mindset, I wanted to share a Thanksgiving tablescape that centered on a new way to give thanks with a few tips and tricks for setting a low stress table. Whether you have a whole table gathering to celebrate, or are a small company this year, I hope that…..

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