My Favorite Holiday Recipes and Entertaining Ideas

I love the holiday season and all the baking and cooking that goes with it! I’m sharing some of my favorite holiday recipes and entertaining ideas in this post!

This time of year can be a little overwhelming, especially if you are hosting any family gatherings. One of the ways I’ve simplified things is to order all my groceries and other items I need for hosting and entertaining from Walmart. With unlimited free delivery, the Walmart+ Membership can make planning and prepping easier so that you can focus on enjoying quality time with friends and family.

I can order fresh, high-quality ingredients from Walmart and they are delivered to my front door! This is a lifesaver and saves me so much time, especially when I’ve forgotten something and I don’t have time to go to the store again. You can order again and again with no delivery fees! How great is that?!!

Another benefit of the Walmart+ Membership is you can order all your gifts, home decor, hosting, and entertaining items at Walmart’s everyday low prices.

If you’re looking for a gift for someone in your life, the gift of a Walmart+ Membership would be perfect! I can think of a few members of my family that would really appreciate this!

Visit Walmartplus.com to start your free trial.

Unlimited free delivery from your store* – $35 order minimum. Restrictions apply.

Here are some of my favorite holiday recipes that everyone loves!

The Best Prime Rib Roast Recipe

Braided French Bread

Roasted Beef Tenderloin

Homemade Scalloped Potatoes

Brined Turkey

The Best Homemade Rolls

Rustic Homemade Bread

This post is sponsored by Walmart and contains affiliate links.

Here’s some of my favorite items from Walmart+ that are beautiful and functional for hosting and entertaining.

Here are some of my favorite tabletop items that I used in my tablescape.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you’ve enjoyed these holiday and entertaining ideas post. Walmart+ makes it so easy to plan and prepare for holiday gatherings.

I’ve linked everything below as well and I hope that this gives you some inspiration for your holiday gatherings!

The post My Favorite Holiday Recipes and Entertaining Ideas appeared first on Home With Holly J.

We live part time in Utah and one of the things I love most about this state is Pioneer Day, which is celebrated on July 24th every year! Utah is the Beehive State and it represents industry and people working together, much like bee’s work together to build their beehive. This is where my Bee Themed Party Tablescape inspiration came from.

Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

 When the Mormon pioneers journeyed west in the mid 1800’s to settle in Utah, they all worked together to help one another survive. Some of those courageous people were my great grandparents and I feel a deep appreciation for the hardships they faced while starting a new life in what was and still is a desert.

Life was not easy for them and many had been driven from their homes and farms in the midwest and were persecuted for their religious beliefs. Many of them were converted to the Mormon church in England, Denmark, and Sweden and not only did they have to cross the plains to get to Utah, they had to cross the Atlantic Ocean first and make their way west to join the wagon trains in Nebraska and Illinois.

They faced some very difficult times while trekking west to this new territory of the United States. I can only imagine how hard that must have been. They pushed handcarts, pulled covered wagons, faced harsh weathers conditions, illness, women gave birth to children on the Great Plains, and many of the children had to walk the entire way. I remember reading a story about my one of my great grandmas and how her feet froze while walking and she got frostbite and lost part of her toes and feet.

I’m so grateful that I have been able to read many of their stories and learn so much about what they experienced. My mother is an avid genealogist and she has shared so much of the history and their stories with me. It’s truly amazing! I can’t count the number of times we have been driving through a little town in the middle of nowhere in Utah and Idaho and we stop and find a cemetery where one of our great grandparents were buried in. She would then tell me all about them and what their lives were like. What a gift that has been for me from my mother.

One of the most amazing things we discovered was that my husbands great, great, grandpa Jacob Fuhriman and his family that were from Switzerland, were in the same wagon train that crossed the plains with my great, great, grandparents, the Theussens, from Denmark. How incredible is that?!! We joke that they must have been matching making in heaven and found a way from above for my husband and I to meet.

Celebrating these amazing people who were my ancestors is always a special day and I love that we can celebrate them each year. Another reason I love Pioneer Day is it’s another excuse for me to have a party! You all know how much I enjoy that if you’ve followed along for awhile.

The Theme for this Years Party

As I mentioned earlier, Utah is the Beehive State so it was very easy to pick my theme for the party. ! I have been planning this Beehive Themed Party Tablescape for the last six months. I started collecting everything I could find for this tablescape with a bee or beehive.

(I will link everything I used that is linkable at the bottom of the post.)

One of the first things that I found for this tablescape was the beehive cake mold pans. This cake was so easy to make and I was really worried it would be so hard to make. To make this cake, you bake it in two halves, then stick them together with frosting. I used two lemon cake mixes and added a small box of lemon instant pudding to the the cake batter along with an extra 1/4 cup of oil. I had planned on drizzling some honey-lemon glaze on top but I ran out of time and so I just piped some lemon buttercream frosting around the edges. The pan is linked here and comes with instructions and a recipes as well. I also made some mini beehive cakes in the smaller cakelett pan.

Setting the Table Up Ahead of Time

I always try to set the table up ahead of time. I start pulling out all the decorations and setting them out so I can see what I have to work with. I had made the cake the day ahead so I put a glass dome lid over it to keep it from drying out. This is the stage that I start “playing around” with all the items I want to use on the tablescape.

Add Rustic, Vintage, and Antique Elements

I wanted there to be some rustic, vintage, and antique elements on the table which for me, always involves some old wood or something new that looks rustic and old. I also chose blue and yellow since a beehive is a yellow color. The blue gingham napkins set beside yellow looked very “pioneer-ish” to me. I also added this yellow antique dish which I filled with jam on the day of the party.

Create Different Heights

When I do a large serving tablescape like this one, I like to use things that add height. Here I used an antique honeypot that I bought online here and used it as a vase for the flowers. I set a glass vase inside of it to hold the water as I didn’t want to damage it. I used yellow and green flowers that looked like something you just picked from a field of wildflowers.

Natural Wood Gourd Pots

Mango Wood Urns – 2 Sizes Available

Gujar Water Pot – Three sizes

Some of the other fun elements I found for the table were the honeycomb bowls, the honeycomb rolling pin, beehive candles, and the beehive drink dispenser. I also found this cute beehive pitcher that I filled with the leftover flowers and these honeycomb glasses. (links below)

I used a metal cutlery holder with a wood handle and used shiny gold plastic silverware. I also found an old milk container at an antique store a few weeks before this and planned to fill it with flowers too but it was a bit much so I just set it on there to add some height and dimension to the table.

The Menu

Fried Chicken Tenders (I ordered a platter of chicken from Chick-fil-a)

Stans Homemade Scones and Honey Butter (Click here for my recipe)

Banana Pudding

Baked Beans (Click here form my recipe)

Watermelon

Lemon Pudding Beehive Cake and Cakeletts

Party Punch

Custom Made Beehive and Bee Cookies from Victorias Cookie Co.

For this party, we invited all of our family in Utah to come and asked each of them to bring a side dish to share. We had some much amazing food on top of all the things I made. It was truly an old fashioned pioneer potluck. To simplify things for such a large group, I opted to order the chicken so I didn’t have to cook that while prepping for the party.

The Day of the Party

On the day of the party, I mainly focused on preparing the food and finishing the set up. It’s a tradition to have scones and honey butter on Pioneer Day. In Utah and Idaho, they call fried bread, scones. I don’t know how this came about but I think it dates back to pioneer frying dough when they didn’t have an oven to bake it in. All I can tell you is that my recipe above is amazing and it has quite a story of how it came about.

We set the food table up on our big dining table inside since we don’t have a lot of shade in our backyard. This kept the food cool inside and we set up tables and chairs under some shade tents outside for everyone.

We enjoyed visiting with our extended family and everyone said how much they loved it and hoped we’d do it again next year! It’s a tradition now and I can’t wait to see what I come up with next year!

Here is a peek at a past Pioneer Day Party Tablesape that I did with my friend Ashely from livingbeautahfully.com. Our theme was “Pie-oneer Day” and everything was Pie themed including the cakes! This was one of my favorite tablescapes ever and all the food we made tasted as good as it looked!

PIN THIS FOR LATER:

I hope you enjoyed seeing this fun Pioneer Day Beehive Themed Party Tablescape and that it inspires you do create your own family traditions centered around your heritage.

XOXO,

Sources linked below:

This post contains affiliate links.

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Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

Summertime Barbecue Recipes and Entertaining Ideas

One of my favorite things about summertime is having a family barbecue so today I’m sharing some of my favorite Summertime Barbecue Recipes and Entertaining Ideas for hosting your own backyard barbecue. Summertime is all about good food and good times with family and friends!

Planning the Menu

I have so many great recipes that are perfect for a summertime backyard barbecue and I’m sharing some of my favorites here. I like using the freshest, high-quality, organic ingredients when possible as I think that makes everything taste better! For this barbecue, I made my famous baby back ribs, baked beans, fresh peach pie with cream cheese filling, my caramel cream cheese fruit dip and fresh fruit, corn on the cob, chopped green salad with a lemon and olive oil vinaigrette, sugar cookies, and limeade for the drink.

On the morning of the barbecue, I went to my favorite store Fred Meyer to get everything I needed for the barbecue. I love Fred Meyer because it’s a one-stop shop. Not only can I get high-quality produce, meat, and organic ingredients, but I was able to get everything else I needed there too, including flowers!

I always like to have flowers on my table when I’m hosting a party or gathering and Fred Meyer has a great selection of flowers. On this particular visit to the store, the lady working in the floral department helped me find the perfect flowers for my summer table.

I also needed a new basting brush for the ribs and found the perfect one in the kitchen section of the store. Some of my favorite sets of dishes and entertaining items are also from Fred Meyer. I always find myself taking a stroll through the dish section! (See these posts for some of my Fred Meyer dish sets here and here)

I am a very busy person (aren’t we all!?) and hosting a gathering can be a little overwhelming so when I can get everything I need in one store, it’s a win-win!

The Private Selection brand is my favorite line of products in Fred Meyer and I use them all the time. They also have their in-house Kroger brand which is also high quality and affordable.

You can find almost everything you need in the Kroger brand family. Fred Meyer promises freshness and quality in all their products. Whether it’s meat or produce, Fred Meyer has everything you need for your summer grilling and entertaining.

Another thing that I really like is how Fred Meyer makes it so easy to shop. They offer easy pickup and delivery options for you to get all your groceries and supplies in one place. This makes hosting at home so much easier. Man oh man do I wish this had been an option when I had little kids!

I often order my groceries online and do the pickup option. I don’t even have to get out of my car! When it’s raining in Seattle, which it is often, this is the best thing ever!

Summertime Entertaining Ideas

When it’s really hot outside, I like to set up my serving table inside the house where it’s cool during the summer months. We don’t have a lot of shade in our backyard at our home in Utah and it gets quite warm in our backyard. When I do a barbecue at our home in Washington, we have a fully shaded backyard so it’s much easier to set up outdoors. Either way is great, so do whatever is best for your circumstances.

Even though many of our summer plans have been put on hold, we can still gather at home with those closest to us and enjoy the delicious food that is in season. Making home-cooked meals and gathering as a family is the perfect way to pass the time and make some great family memories.

As I mentioned above, I like to add flowers in matching vases onto the serving table and create different heights. In this photo here you can see that I used an old wooden crate riser to set the flowers and serving utensils higher on the table.

I like to use a decorative utensil caddy for the silverware, matching serving bowls and platters. Another fun way to serve the drinks is in a decorative drink dispenser. Get creative by adding a table runner or tablecloth to match.

For this set up I used a navy blue table runner down the middle of the table and went with all-white and blue serving dishes. The yellow sunflowers added a pop of color.

My Favorite Summertime Recipes – Pin These for Later

Best Barbecue Ribs Recipe

Fresh Peach Pie with Cream Cheese Filling Recipe

Cream Cheese Caramel Fruit Dip Recipe

Baked Beans Recipe

I hope you’ve enjoyed these summertime barbecue recipes and ideas for how to host a successful barbecue with your friends and family. Most importantly, it’s the good times we share over a delicious meal that matters and what we end up remembering. Start some of your own family traditions and get creative! There’s nothing more fun than gathering together and celebrating this great time of year.

XOXO,

To see more of the online ordering, pick up and other information, go to www.fredmeyer.com

Sources linked below:

*Similar sources linked for unavailable items.

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/copy-of-wooden-serving-trays-on-turned-legs-2-sizes-available

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/scalloped-tray-of-rustic-wood-with-iron-handles

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/acacia-wood-pedestal-w-fluted-glass-cloche

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/wood-serving-tray

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/vintage-blue-white-ceramic-vases-4-sizes?_pos=12&_sid=c9264eece&_ss=r&variant=48333471482145

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/sunflower-stem?_pos=2&_sid=827a118ec&_ss=r

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/large-28-yellow-sunflower?_pos=1&_sid=827a118ec&_ss=r

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/gypsophila-stem?_pos=1&_sid=5075821fa&_ss=r

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Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

Green and Gold Fall Harvest Tablescape

One of my favorite times of year to decorate and create tablescapes is Fall. There are so many beautiful colors to play with and pumpkins seem to come in all sorts of colors, sizes, and velvet! Who doesn’t love a velvet pumpkin?!! This Green and Gold Fall Harvest Tablescape if full of dark green velvety pumpkins, beautiful faux flowers and some of my treasured dishes.

I love adding other elements in the dining room to compliment the tablescape. You can never have enough velvet pumpkins so I added more brown colored velvet pumpkins below this beautiful wood sign from Teal Barn Signs (link for this sign is at the end of the post in the slider with photos of items). To add some color to the space below the sign, I put some of the leftover flowers from the garland centerpiece in a galvanized tin bucket and set it on an old antique crate.

The Place-Setting

For the place-setting I used my dark green dishes layered with my favorite antique limoges haviland gold and white plates. I like mixing the old with the new.

I used gold flower shaped placemats, gold flatware, a gold rimmed goblet and a dark green cloth napkin and gold napkin ring.

I added in accents of gold all throughout the table. Even the charger has gold antiquing on the edges.

The Garland Centerpiece

I like creating long garlands to fill up the middle of the table. My table is a large trestle table and I like the way it looks when there’s not a lot of open space on the table when I create this type of tablescape. I don’t typically put my food on the table as it’s easily stained so if you prefer to add the food to the table you can use matching serving pieces and make the centerpiece or garland smaller.

Another reason I like to do it this way is that it keeps the decor lower to the table so when you’re seated for dinner, you can see the people across from you. A centerpiece should draw your eyes to it but not block your view of the other guests.

I like to create a little more height in the center of the garland and then let it taper off to the end. For this tablescape, I put the largest green velvet pumpkin in the middle of the garland and then the smaller ones off-set throughout the rest of the garland.

I started with a base green garland and then going in opposite direction from the center on each side I layered in different faux green stems and white flowers.

Then I added a few more green velvet pumpkins, gold candlesticks with ivory taper candles and gold votive candles filled in the rest of the open spaces.

Final Details of the Green and Gold Fall Harvest Tablescape

I always say the beauty lies in the details and if you look closely at all the little details I think you’ll agree with me! Here you can see one of the little details where I mix the old with the new is the antique green salt and pepper shakers. These were a gift from my mom. She is a dish lover too, so adding these onto the table reminds me of her and all the fun times we’ve had hunting for dishes in antique stores.

Another little detail I added was these gold and white bread plates that said “harvest” and “gather” on them. I alternated them on each place-setting and it brings in the fall element to the table. They also paired perfectly with the gold and with antique plates.

The last detail was adding these white and green velvet pillows to the end chairs. They paired perfectly with the green velvet pumpkins and it’s the final piece to the entire tablescape that makes it perfect for a fall family gathering around the dinner table.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the details of this Green and Gold Fall Harvest Tablescape. Creating these tablescapes brings me such joy and I look forward to creating more memories with my loved ones around our dinner table.

Wishing you all a very happy Thanksgiving in the coming month and as I reflect on what I’m grateful for, I am grateful for all of you! The fact that I get to share what I love with you and hopefully inspire you to create your own beautiful gathering table makes my heart happy. Thank you so much for stopping by and allowing me to do this!

XOXO,

To see more of my Pumpkin Themed Tablescapes click here

All Sources Linked Below

Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

Gold Placemats: Hobby Lobby

White and Gold Pumpkin Plates: Fred Meyer/Smiths Grocery Store

Green Velvet Pumpkins: Debi Lilly

Green and White/Ivory Flowers: Aforal and A Matter of Style, Maple Valley WA

Green Velvet Pillows: McGee & Co.

Green Fall Leaves sign is linked in the slider of products right above this.

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I absolutely love lavender season and look forward to it every summer! I dream of creating a beautiful outdoor tablescape in a lavender field somewhere. Since I wasn’t able to do that this summer, I was inspired to create this Lavender and Mint Green tablescape for a luncheon I was hosting at my home.

I had planned this tablescape out in my head for months and just before I was ready to start putting it together, Yankee Candle Company reached out to me and asked if I would like to use their new Dried Lavender and Oak candle from their Farmers Market Collection.

Of course, I was thrilled because I love using candles in my tablescapes. These candles not only look nice, they smell amazing. The timing of this couldn’t have been more perfect.

Lavender and Mint Green Place-Setting

For the place-setting I chose these hyacinth placemats. I like layering different textures and patterns and these worked perfectly. I used mint green scalloped dinner and salad plates and for the top plate these colorful lavender dessert plates.

I chose a bright lavender cloth napkin and the napkin ring matches the charger. For the flatware I used a simple sterling silver pattern. The clear crystal wine glasses mixed well with the vases in the centerpiece so that is why I chose them.

The Centerpiece

For the centerpiece, I decided to use fresh flowers and a mix of vases and greenery to fill up the center of the table. I like to keep the centerpieces lower on the table so you can converse with the people across from you. A centerpiece should enhance and bring beauty to the table but not interfere with your ability to engage with the other guests at your table.

First, I layered a few faux eucalyptus garlands thru the middle part of the table and on top of a burlap table-runner.

I filled a large clear glass vase with purple, lavender, and white flowers for the main centerpiece and then added two smaller vases filled with more flowers on each side. Creating height in the middle draws your eye to the centerpiece.

To fill in the rest of the center of the table, I nestled in small purple bud vases and filled them with the leftover flowers and then set the Dried Lavender and Oak Yankee Candles all throughout the garland.

Mixing Fresh and Faux Flowers and Greenery

I get asked often if it is okay to mix fresh flowers and greenery with faux flowers and greenery? I say YES! I do it all the time! The faux eucalyptus is easy to work with and lasts forever! I have invested in some quality faux garlands and I use them over and over. I chose to use fresh flowers in vases in this tablescape but you could use faux too!

The Dried Lavender and Oak Yankee Candles added the perfect accent to the tablescape!

I’ve shared all the sources I can below! I hope you enjoyed seeing all the beautiful details of this lavender and mint green tablescape. As always, I hope to inspire you to set your own beautiful table and gather with those you love!

To see another Lavender Inspired Tablescape click here: Simple Lavender Inspired Centerpiece Tablescape

XOXO,

Sources:

Yankee Candle Dried Lavender and Oak Farmers Market Collection Candles : https://www.yankeecandle.com/product/dried-lavender–oak/_/R-1623672

Sharing sources and/or updated similar sources to recreate the look:

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