Transport Your Holiday Dish in a Longaberger Basket

When traveling with food to a family event, it's nice to know your dishes are secure and not have to worry about them spilling.  

When I took a Crock Pot of cream-style corn to our last 2016 Thanksgiving gathering today, I decided to try carrying it in my Bold Red Social Gathering Basket and found that basket holds the Crock Pot perfectly. 
Longaberger has made the Social Gathering in many different beautiful weaves (from 2011 to 2014) because it's so handy to hold all sorts of dishes and many other things.   Isn't it great with my oval red Crock Pot?  Festive!  

And the corn's not bad either.  :)

Winter's Coming: Enjoy a Cup of Hot Tea in a Longaberger Mug

It's a drizzly gray November morning in Missouri, and a cup of hot tea really hits the spot.  I don't really make tea properly--I microwave my Longaberger Coffee Mug full of water and then add the tea bag.  I enjoy it almost every morning, with lots of sugar.  

Longaberger Coffee Mugs make wonderful gifts and although you can no longer get my retired four-petal Traditional Red design, you can order even better:  beautiful solid colors! You'll love your hot tea or coffee in Longaberger's Ebony, Eggplant, Ivory, Paprika, Pewter, or Sage pottery, and in November you can even order the big Travel Mug to take along! 

Avoid Election Stress with No-Bake Cookies!

It's the perfect comfort food, it doesn't heat up your kitchen,  and it's fun to quickly whip up with your family: No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies!  I made these cookies this evening and am going to package them in little batches as Election Day Survival Kits tomorrow for family and friends, delivered in a patriotic Longaberger Basket, of course.  

My friend Tracy made these cookies with her family growing up, and her mom called them "whackies" because of the sound her spoon made as she "whacked" them out on the waxed paper.  Call them what you will, these are comfort food that you and your family will enjoy!

No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

2 c sugar

1/2 c milk

1/2 c peanut butter

4 T cocoa

1/4 c butter

Mix and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  Remove from fire and add:  

3 c oats

1 t vanilla

1 c nuts (optional--I don't use)

Mix well and drop on wax paper.  Will set up as they cool.

Enjoy!  No stress.

Fall Decorating with Longaberger Takes Away Stress

If you haven't already added some Thanksgiving or fall decor to your home, it's a nice distraction from Tuesday's election.  Keep yourself busy adding some more fall touches to your home . . . or raking leaves . . . or taking in summer flowerpots . . . or whatever else needs doing for fall!  
As I was decorating today, I was reminded that one of Longaberger's prettiest fall baskets is the 2015 Collectors Club Maple Leaf Basket Set.  The 2015 WoodCrafts Leaves complement it well, and the lid has a stack of three maple leaf shapes.

My Thanksgiving decorations also involve many Pilgrim couples, but Longaberger hasn't created one of those yet.  Maybe some year that will happen.

Election Relief: Plan for Thanksgiving with Longaberger

More election relief:  turn to something completely positive.  Thanksgiving, a uniquely American holiday, focuses us on our many blessings, which we sometimes overlook in busy or stressful times.  I enjoy that there are no gifts or hustle-and-bustle involved with this holiday other than food preparation and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, usually while working in the kitchen.

Add Longaberger into the Thanksgiving equation and you have beautiful heavy Woven Traditions Pottery for baking and dining and baskets for serving.  One fun pre-election distraction might be deciding which foods you will serve to match your Longaberger Baskets of choice.  Of course, you should choose the serving pieces based on the menu, but instead Longaberger Basket fans often serve whatever fits the baskets they have in mind.

Longaberger offered the Autumn Reflections Baskets above in 2001-2002, and they are clearly wonderful for serving bread and all sorts of snacks and desserts.  The Large Harvest Blessing Basket, back right, has a handy divided plastic protector so you can serve different items separately.  The Daily Blessing Basket, back left, has a protector with top and bottom layers, so you can put ice in the bottom and snacks to keep cool in the top protector.  I wonder if I'll use these baskets this year?  I have a few other possibilities.

Longaberger has offered many beautiful fall-hued baskets, beginning with the Shades of Autumn collection, and the regular-stained ones are always handy too.  Distract yourself today by starting to plan how you'll spoil your family and friends at Thanksgiving with time together and tasty food. Longaberger is always on my "thankful for" list. 

Let Longaberger Help You Through America's 2016 Election

We're all stressed by the upcoming American Presidential Election on November 8, but enjoying your Longaberger products at home and on the go can help alleviate some of the pain.  First, agree to step away from the television and internet election coverage--they are mostly saying the same things repeatedly in different ways.  

If you get to enjoy the day at home, try a Longaberger mug of hot tea.  I use the cheater microwave method and get three cups from the same teabag.  Then I add sugar--perhaps too much.  As Dad used to say, "I'm glad you're having a little tea with your sugar."  

Much as I love this new Longaberger Mug in Nutmeg, it doesn't allow me to see the strength of my tea as well as Ivory does.  Isn't it a pretty color, though?  I personally think of it as "Milk Chocolate."  Bittersweet and Nutmeg are Woven Traditions Pottery accent colors available to add to your pottery mix through the end of February, 2017.   

Another comforting idea:  Brownies in a Longaberger Mug.  I posted that idea and photos on March 4, 2016, in case you haven't seen it before.  You'll have room in your mugs for vanilla ice cream on top of the warm brownies--that's election-night comfort food!  You can find that entry by clicking on Older Posts at the bottom of each blog page going back or by finding a post of a recipe and clicking on the recipe label at the bottom of that post. That will bring up all recipes I have posted before.