Living Simple Saturdays - Simple Mealtime Elegance

My post for Living Simple Saturdays was inspired by a recent morning of baking.

Instead of my usual morning quiet time, I decided to make blueberry muffins to be ready for when both the guys were awake. My "go to" muffin recipe is from the 1970's and I love it because it makes only seven or eight muffins... just right for the three of us. I tweaked the recipe almost from the beginning, adding less flour and an entire cup of old fashioned oats.

Now, my daughter and I have often been the subject of good natured (we hope) teasing as we have a tendency to "guild the lily" when we serve food and meals. Which is why a hearty blueberry muffin looked like this when served...


I had added a little lemon extract to the batter as I love the taste of lemons and blueberries together. So... I figured a glaze of powdered sugar and lemon juice would be appropriate for the gilding.

The plate is beautiful and vintage... found at Goodwill awhile back quite cheap as someone had purchased the rest of the set and left behind the salad plates. I took all eight and I've used them quite often since then for serving a dainty lunch or tea... even to men.

I have a nice collection of lovely plates, stemware, teacups, silver, glass, mismatched linen napkins, and other serving pieces. A few were inherited but most found through the love of the hunt... thrift shops, garage sales, Goodwill, antique stores and malls... quite often from the process of looking through dozens of dusty objects for the very inexpensive jewel in the rough.

Rarely these days could the food I serve be called gourmet. It is usually simple and inexpensive and quite often served on my cranberry colored plastic plates for ease of service and cleanup. However, there are the days when there is more time to plan and prepare... when clean up is given little thought... that I once again gild the culinary lily and serve a simple meal made special by some extra touch given at the last minute... on lovely china.

Perhaps it is the influence of my literary mentors... probably their influence... Edith Schaeffer, Alexandra Stoddard, Tracey McBride, Emilie Barnes, and others... who taught me one can be elegant with little money and a lot of creativity. As Martha would say, that is a good thing.

Living Simple Saturdays is hosted by the Keeper of the Home blog. I'm sure she would love you to join in.

Thanks to Manuela for letting me know Tracey has a new blog, too.