Heirlooms.
The home is where we gather strength. It’s the center of life for our family, a place where we can create an atmosphere of love.
The other night, I pulled out an heirloom that my grandmother left me, 4 little green parfait dishes, and I made a yummy dessert for 4.
We’re on a “make-your-own” granola kick, lately, because it’s so much healthier knowing exactly what goes in to it. And it’s easy to make!
There’s really nothing quite like fresh homemade granola.
But back to heirlooms.
I like pointing out to my kids, “these were your great-grandmother’s dishes,” and a little insight about a wonderful woman.
Your great-grandmother was loving, compassionate, non-judgemental, played the piano beautifully. She was also nervous and shy. Her house was perfectly clean, she lived and dressed with simplicity, but she also bore a lot of pain in life. If my grandma were here today, she would have loved you dearly – no matter what.
So wanting to make a family-friendly dessert for the family, and having one son who only eats lactose-free products, I whipped up some yogurt berry parfaits, using a locally made Lemon Meyer marmalade.
Great recipe for easy, last-minute entertaining.
Pretty to serve your guests.
And what I’ve learned with parfaits is that people of all ages love them.
Everyone makes them so differently, and we’ve especially enjoy the freshness of late summertime berries.
I love easy entertaining ideas and enjoying warm autumn evenings with a hint of coolness in the air.
And that special feeling when you pull out those special heirloom dishes.
Heirlooms.
Do you like using heirloom dishes when entertaining? How does it make you feel?
Recipe: Green Valley Lactose-free Yogurt Berry Parfaits {ReluctantEntertainer.com}
Ingredients
- 2 cups Green Valley Lactose Free plain yogurt
- 4 Tablespoons marmalade (I used Harry & David’s Lemon Meyer Marmalade)
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 cups granola
- 1 cup fresh berries
Instructions
- Mix yogurt, marmalade, and vanilla until smooth.
- Assemble parfaits in glass parfait dishes or wine goblets as follows: a generous spoonful of granola, a layer of yogurt mixture.
- Repeat layers and garnish with fresh berries on top.
- The parfaits can be eaten immediately or refrigerated for a few hours.
Preparation time: 5 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 4
(You can read more about Green Valley Organics and Redwood Hill Farm, here. To create their lactose free products, they add the natural enzyme lactase, which breaks down the lactose into easily digested simple sugars, glucose, and galactose. No chemicals are used. This post is sponsored by Green Valley Lactose Free Organics; but as always, all opinions are my own.)
Day 1. Autumn.
Day 2. Health.
Day 3. Entertaining.
Day 4. Sunshine.
Day 5. Fresh.
Day 6. Heirlooms.
Hi, I'm Sandy. Five years ago I stocked up on beautiful glasses from the Dollar Store. As I started writing about dinner parties, I realized that this "icon" portrays a great message. 
I want to share with you some of my favorite places to visit in blog-land, sites that I learn from and am inspired by, and some beautiful friends that I’ve met over the years.
Looks delicious. Yes, I treasure all my heirlooms. I am slowly passing them down through the family. My daughter now has all my green depression glass – that might be what your dishes are but I can’t tell for sure. Green depression glass is certainly that color.
I have a set of Candlewick crystal dishes/serving pieces and a set of Ruby red Arcoroc glass dishes that are going to relocate soon.
Darla – with way too many dishes.
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Great post, Sandy. The parfait looks delicious, and I love the glasses you served it in! I, sadly, don’t have any heirlooms. My children will have plenty of heirlooms someday, though!
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Thanks for reminding us to bring out the “good dishes” every once in a while. We have some wonderful heirlooms from both families – my prize possession being a demi-tasse coffee cup from my paternal grandmother – the only thing I have of hers and it came safely by mail from England after she had passed.
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Oh, I love your heirloom parfait dishes! And I love how using them, or creating an old family recipe, sparks those conversations about our loved ones no longer with us.
These look delicious!
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I LOVE heirlooms. I love their history, the stories that go with them. I have a Norwegian Bible that was my husband’s grandpa’s, a couple of pieces of DH’s great-grandma’s china, teacups from both of my grandma’s and while it’s not something I can use every day, I just planted peony roots that came from my grandma’s house. Just having that stuff close to me makes me feel happy. Great post!
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As always, a wondeful, touching and thought provoking post!
I do have some some heirlooms I treasure just because they belonged to a relative and have
many memories attached to them. I remember buying some glasses once on ebay and the seller stated that they belonged to her grandmother. I thought to myself, how strange, I wouldn’t want to part withe them if that were the case!
Cheers,
John
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P.S.
Have you ever heard the CHristmas Song “Heirlooms” which is sung by Aimee Grant or Ashey Nemeh?
It is one of my FAVROITE Christmas songs of all time!
Thinking of it, I was just reminded of how you stenciled “Christmas” in your your Mother’s handwriting onto the dishes for your sisters, thereby creating a wondeful heirloom!
You are the best Sandy!
John
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beautiful bowls. Your yogurt berry parfaits make me want to jump up right now and make one of my own. Awesome photos.
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Sandy, that granola parfait looks yummy! Sometimes we have that for breakfast along with fresh fruit and coffee…so good.
I have my MIL’s dishes, silver from both sides of the family, and my hubby’s GM’s crystal punch bowl and a few crystal vases. I love using them especially around the holidays. Sometimes we pull out everything for everyday dinner. If you can’t let family and friends enjoy them , no sense in using them for strangers. Who is more special than those we love and treasure?
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Okay, I would have eaten mine and then arm-wrestled my other family member for theirs. No, really I would.
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