Dana Marie's Country Living Blog

My new cookie cookbook, Vintage Cookie Recipes, is here! It's available in paperback, hardcover, and ebook versions through Amazon ® .  If you have a copy of my Christmas desserts cookbook , you will see that we have kept the theme of the cover going so it will go with the cookbook series I am creating, My Olde Country Home. Volume 1 is Olde Fashioned Christmas Desserts, and volume 2 is Vintage Cookie Recipes. Volume 3 will be announced after the cookie cookbook is published.   Apple Pie Cookies   This book features a total of 84 recipes with 34 full-color photos. You'll find my tried-and-true recipes for cookies, bars, and biscotti. There are instructions for making jar-mixes for 12 classic cookies, some vintage recipes from the 1920s and a section of tips and tricks that I have learned along the way. The whole book is sprinkled with my sketches, plus vintage ads and illustrations as well as a couple of old photos of my family. Grandma and Grandpa Meier I love the ol...

2019 was my first year to grow Green Zebra tomatoes. I bought them on accident really. When I picked up the plant the tomatoes were green, which I of course thought... great this plant has already started producing and it won't be long for red tomatoes! It wasn't until I got home to plant them that I found the tag inside the pot, which said Green Zebra. I had never heard of them before, so I looked them up on the Internet.  Most descriptions said they would be a little on the sour side, but the longer you leave them on the plant the sweeter they become, without turning red. So I left them on the plant as long as I could before picking them. I don't do sour!  I have to tell you that I have been so delighted with these tomatoes! They are sweet when I pick them and so fresh and delicious! They're great for a snack on their own or in salads.  I try to plant these every year now. It was a very delicious mistake!!  ~ Dana   copyright 2025, Dana Meier, My Olde Country ...

Here's a trick to have the shells of your hard-boiled eggs pop right off. It can be so frustrating when you peel one and you lose half the egg because it sticks to the shell. I know there are lots of tricks for this, but I find this tip works best. Easy-to-Peel Hard-Boiled Eggs 1 . Before boiling your water to cook the egg, tap the big end of the egg on the counter or a hard surface, cracking it just barely to access the tiny air pocket there. Do not crack the pointy end. 2 . Boil as usual. While it is boiling, the egg will release the membrane that's between it and the inside of the shell. When it's time to peel the egg, the shell will come off so easily and none of your egg will stick to the shell. They come out perfect every time. Happy peeling! ~ Dana  Printable Cooking Tip Page copyright 2025, Dana Meier, My Olde Country Home Dana Meier is a caterer, cookbook author, online content creator and purveyor of historic crafts in Washington state. Her first cookbook was pu...

This is a fairy ~ gnome house I made!  It all started with a cardboard box. Everything else was found on a nice walk with the three-year-old I was taking care of during the week. I was her Nanny for a few years. She's all "grown up" now and in school, so I have moved on to another family. I did the work on building the house, and the garden was for her to create. We picked up sticks, rocks, and moss on our walk. The only cost was the hot glue. Your imagination can be endless making these. So much fun! ~ Dana   Fairy ~ Gnome House Supplies 2 cardboard boxes large, shallow box or tray sticks, rocks, moss, etc. figurines, small props, etc. box cutter / utility knife garden clippers / pruning shears hot glue gun Instructions 1 . Make the house structure by choosing a cardboard box of the size and shape desired for your house. This will be the walls, floor, and gables. Choose a side to serve as the front, and cut a front door and a window in the front box flap. You can cut win...

I want to share what you can do if you decide you want to make a batch of cookies but open the fridge and realize you are out of eggs. To replace the eggs, add a nut butter or applesauce to your cookie recipe.   For example, my Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe already has 1/2 cup of peanut butter in it, so you can add another 1/2 cup of peanut butter to total 1 cup overall. They come out great, but with a texture all their own - a little more crumbly and with a kind of a melt-in-your-mouth feature. I quite like them.   Another example is oatmeal cookies. Instead of the egg you can add a cup of applesauce. And again, they turn out great.   Oatmeal Cookies Without Eggs As you can see in the photos, these cookies look great too! This is a tip that didn't make it into my new cookie cookbook coming out shortly, so here are the recipes.    Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Eggs   Ingredients 1 cup salted butter, softened 1 cup peanut butter 1...

Homemade crackers are so delicious and taste much better than store bought. I like to serve them with summer sausage, chicken salad, cheese and olives - a small charcuterie, if you will. You can also serve them with a soft cheese spread to take them to another level of yumminess. It's so worth it to make homemade!! Homemade crackers with summer sausage & olives Homemade Crackers   Ingredients 4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons garlic powder 1/2 cup shortening 2-1/2 cups water, room temperature  fresh herbs such as oregano, thyme     rosemary, chives (opt.) fresh-ground Himalayan or sea salt for tops (optional) Everything Bagel seasoning (optional) Instructions 1 . With a pastry cutter or two forks combine the flour, salt, garlic powder and shortening together until the dough resembles small peas. 2 . Slowly add the water and continue to cut through the dough with forks or a pastry cutter. Once it starts coming together, remove the dough from ...

My watering can sprinkles light, not water! This garden art is easy to make. It's a perfect project for your spring and summer gardens. I like to bring it out in April and leave it up through the summer. Then I put it away until next year. It's a painted and distressed metal watering can with solar-powered fairy lights pulled through the spout - so much fun to watch them come on every evening. All you really have to do is get a metal watering can and string solar or battery-operated fairy lights through the spout. You may need to drill the sprinkler head hole so it's bigger for your lights to fit. Solar lights are nice, as they come on automatically each night. To dress it up, you can plant flowers in the top of the can, as well. ~ Dana Watering Can Lights Supplies a metal watering can spray paint for metal (opt.) sand paper, fine to medium grit (opt.) solar or battery-powered fairy lights drill if needed shepherd's hook stake (opt.) blooming plant (opt.) Instructions 1...