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It was all in my head…

2 Nov

I thought through at least 4 posts this month. Then I saw my blog and realized they weren’t there. Apparently the posts never made it from my brain to the computer.

Oh I remember why…the new blogger post editor won’t load correctly on my computer and I couldn’t figure out how to change back to the old editor. Now I’ve found what settings to change and I’m using the old editor and trying not to feel like everyone else has it better. Maybe they all think the new editor sucks too.

Here are a few of the things I imagined posting in the last month:

Finished Project!!!


I have wanted to make a bag like this one forever! It is done and I love it! I used this tutorial on Craftster here. It is pretty small though. You can get a more useful size (and easier to read) pattern from Mamma Byrd Tiny Tote Pattern

Happy First Birthday Cutie Pie!

Went camping in Osage Hills State Park (Bartlesville, Oklahoma) to celebrate having the DH home at last!!!
Hip Hip Hooray! He’s been gone 12 of the last 18 months and the kids and I are SO HAPPY to have him home.

p.s. Aunt Jeanie, I know I should have told you we were going to be so close to you, but we were going in the complete opposite direction until we changed plans very last minute because of rain.– Sorry 😦



Recipe: Spinach Feta Cheese Quiche:

**This is a recipe I have modified. The original came from “Making Great Cheese at Home” by Barbara Ciletti

Crust:

3/4 c lard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup water microwaved for 60 seconds so it is really hot

Mix until water is absorbed.

Add: 3 cups flour Blend until crumbly

add 1/3 cup milk and mix until smooth.
Roll out dough and line a springform pan with crust dough.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Filling:

Fry alot of bacon–like a good handful–8 strips? drain on paper towel. crumble up and put in a bowl with

5 Large Eggs
1/2 cup milk
3 cups or so chopped fresh spinach (the spinach in your fridge that you have to use today or it will be slimy kind)
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 cloves garlic, mashed
3/4 cup feta cheese (or do like me and put in the whole yummy package)
1/4 cup cream cheese cubed. (Next time I might try creaming it with a mixer first and then adding everything else to it.)
sprinkle a little black pepper over it
3 oz olive oil
1/2 cup pitted black olives

Pour the filling into the crust.
Bake 40 plus minutes until top center is slightly firm and doesn’t jiggle when you pull the pan out of the oven.

Magicked 4 Halloween Costumes together in less that 2 hours thanks to DH for driving 80 miles to get fake fur for the werewolf and then dashing off again to the dollar store for a few other things (like the whole witch’s costume–totally worth every penny of $1.25plus tax.)

Peach Pie and Pumpkin Pie ready for tricks

Pumpkin Pie, Bubba, Cherry Pie and Peach Pie

Delicious Cheddar Pear Pie—This Nearly Was Mine

20 Sep

One Dream in my heart.
One new recipe to try.
One love to be living for.
This Nearly was mine.

As I assembled the pie, I dreamed of how delicious the pie would taste.

True, my 1-year old baby, Cutie Pie, was crying her head off and hanging on to my leg, but I was almost done.

Have a pear, Baby, Just a minute, Baby!

How impressed my company would be.

Ah, the glory.

I brushed the top crust with cream and sprinkled it with sugar. Not only would this pie taste divine, it would look beautiful.

I put the pie in my amazing Jenn~Air double oven stove.

Ahh! Sweet Anticipation

10 minutes later…

BLAST! I forgot to put in the CHEESE.

How could I forget the cheese?

It is in the name of the pie.

No Cheddar Pear Pie for me. Just plain old boring pear pie.

Sigh.

Now, now I’m alone,
Still dreaming of paradise,
Still saying that paradise
Once nearly was mine

What? You want the Recipe? Too Bad.
No Cheddar Pear Pie for me.
No Cheddar Pear Pie for you.

Just Kidding. May you find the pie of dreams within your grasp.

Cheddar Pear Pie

Sassy-Flirty Apron Swap–Dinner Refashion

9 Apr

I actually recieved this apron over a month ago…before Valentine’s Day. However, there was no one to take a picture of me in it, since my DH was gone. He’s home now 🙂 and I got him to take a picture of me. I L-O-V-E this apron. It turned out that my cousin was my partner and made it for me. I need this pattern. It looks better on me than any of the other aprons that I own. (And I have a plethora.) This apron is made for my shape.

I cannot impress upon you enough how much I love this apron and feel so pretty in it. The ties are wide enough to make a fat bow. It is just great. She also included some pink hot pads and a marvelous fridge magnet that looks like a chocolate covered strawberry. So tasty looking. There was also a little apron for my dish soap bottle and several other goodies. I am too lazy to take a picture of right now.

Love the Apron

***Dinner Refashion***

I am very much into Wardrobe Refashion, and am planning a post about my efforts in that area soon. Today, however, I would like to talk about Dinner. Two days ago, I made a Roasted Lemon Greek Chicken. I haven’t made this recipe in awhile, and we always loved it before when I made it. Basically, you chop up potatoes, red onion, green pepper, and mushrooms and toss them in lemon juice, garlic, oregano, and olive oil. Then I put them in a roasting pan, put a 3 lb. Turkey breast on top and baked it for 2 hours. Sounds yummy, huh?

Well, when it was done, we were just not in the mood for it. So no one ate much of it. Also, I had made extra because I was expecting company. (though no company came). So we had all these left overs that no one wanted to eat and it was perfectly good food!

I sliced as much of the breast as I could for sandwiches. Then I pulled the rest of the meat off the carcass in bits and set it and the veggies aside in the fridge. Today I had a stroke of genius.

I got out my big stew pot and made a roux of 4 Tbs butter and 4 Tbs flour. I added 2 Tbs curry powder and 1/2 tsp of cumin and cooked that for about 2 minutes.

It smelled heavenly.

Then I added all the turkey bits and veggies and enough water to make it all soupy. I had to add a bunch of salt–like 1 1/2 Tbs. Then I let it simmer for an hour until the curry flavor got into the veggies.

And, Wa-La
Tasty curry chicken soup that everyone gobbled up and called yummy.

VICTORY!

Not a Diet Food

4 Mar


Bacon Parmesan Pull-aparts (Monkey Bread)

you need bacon, parmesan cheese, onion, butter, whomp biscuits

Here we go.

3- 10 oz cans refridgerated biscuits (cut in quarters & rolled into balls)

OR you can make your own biscuits:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

blend together. Cut in

1/2 cup butter or lard until grainy

make a well in the middle and

crack in 1 egg and
1/2 cup milk

Stir with a fork just until the dough comes together. Put on a floured surface and kneed 5 times.
Separate into balls

Now back to the pull-aparts

*Cook 12 slices bacon until crisp and crumble up (or get a package of real bacon bits if you are lazy)

* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

* chop 1 small onion

mix those 3 together

melt 1 stick of butter

Dip the biscuit balls in the butter.

Get out a bunt pan . Grease it. Layer in biscuits, then bacon, then biscuits until it’s all gone.

Pour any remaining butter over the whole thing.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes–careful not to burn it.

Let it sit 5-10 minutes when done then dump it out and dig in

The Ultimate Cookie Recipe is mine! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

5 Jan

My sister, Amanda, asked me over a year ago to post the ultimate cookie recipe. But I could not because I did not have it. The ultimate sugar cookie would:

1. Taste good and not taste like baking soda.

2. Not require to be refrigerated before rolling (I do not have time for such nonsense.)

3. Not be too soft and sticky when rolled out. (all recipes I have tried were to soft, even after hours of useless refrigerating)

4. Be easy to transfer from the rolling surface.

5. Retain its size and shape when baked and not melt or spread.

I HAVE DISCOVERED THE RECIPE which meets all 5 of these criteria

Here it is: the ultimate sugar cookie

3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) salted butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 teaspoons of vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour (I was successful using 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2 unbleached flour)

Cream butter in an electric mixer set at medium speed.
Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
Add vanilla and mix until creamy.
Scrape bowl.
Add flour and mix at low speed until thoroughly mixed.

Roll out on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick and cut out.

Place on and ungreased cookie sheet

Notice how even this intricate MOOSE cookie shape did not distort when I picked it up and placed it on the cookie sheet!!

and bake at 325 degrees for 16-18 minutes
or until firm.

Note how they did not melt or spread during baking.

These cookies are crispy when baked for the full 18 minutes. If you like them softer, bake them for less time.

This recipe also works great as the crust for Fruit Pizza

Birthday Cake

1 Aug

It was Gwendolyn’s birthday and she asked for jelly beans on her cake. I made it during the family reunion, so I made one cake for the kids…

and one (three) for grown-ups. It was just a butter cake mix, then I mixed up one 3 oz box of instant french vanilla pudding and added an 8oz tub of cool whip. After I let that chill for a bit, I spread it on the cake and sprinkled on the jelly beans (or frozen blueberries) Let me just say, that this was one of the yummiest cakes I have ever ever EVER eaten. The blueberries had time to thaw on the cake before I served it. If you are making this and serving it immediately, you should use fresh blueberries, or put your frozen ones in the fridge for an hour or two (blueberries thaw fast.)

A post!! I am posting!!

10 Jun

Okay, I have all sorts of good intentions about posting (so you all know that I am heading straight to ____) for weeks now. I am desperate to post and desperate to craft and neither of them have been happening. But I am fixing part of that tonight. Maybe I can get to the crafting tomorrow. I am covered in poison ivy YET AGAIN. It is all the fault of these murderous dairy goats. Why we keep them, I do not know. I am sure I get the poison ivy from them when I milk (the oil being on their fur because they wallow in it.) because I am so careful to not get it from the plants themselves. Well, I guess I don’t have a picture of the goats yet…I’ll work on that.

For now, I am posting and not scratching…very much.

Lots of great things have happened in our home the last few weeks.
My oldest child and only son did turn 8 last month and was baptized. Here he is.

Here is a 4 Generation photo of him, me, my mother, and my mother’s mother.

Here is a tasty cheese pie I made for Hen Day in May when the Prairie Hens came to my house.

It tastes like cheesecake and is easier to make. You can play with the amounts of cream cheese vs. other soft cheese. I like to have at least 8 oz of cream cheese for that rich cheese cake taste.
Cheese Pie

Shortbread Crust:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup flour ( I do 3/4 whole wheat and 3/4 all purpose flour)
Mix together in at medium speed, scraping bowl often.
Press into deep pie dish or round cake pan.

Filling:
8 oz cream cheese
1 1/4 cups yogurt cheese (drain plain yogurt for 30 min. or so) OR 1 cup sour cream OR 1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
3 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites
2 Tbsp sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 325 deg F.
2. Mix Sugar, cheese, sugar, flour, salt, eggs, and yolks well.
3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, add sugar and beat till glossy peaks form.
4. Fold egg whites into filling mixture and pour into pie pan.
5. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes to one hour. Cool and serve.

Sauce

2 cups berries
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp corn starch
Mix in a sauce pan and heat to a boil. Boil, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Cool and serve.

We also had some tasty chocolate pudding made by Lucy. Here is some true happiness.

I don’t have the recipe Lucy used. My new favorite pudding recipe is one my grandpa used to make. It is INSTANT HOMEMADE PUDDING!!! No standing over the stove stirring for an hour until it thickens!

Blancmange by Owen C. Bennion

1. Put 3 c water in pot, add 1/2 tsp salt and bring to boil.
2. Blend 1/2c sugar
6 T cornstarch
2 c powdered milk
2 eggs
with 1 c water
3. Add to pot.
4. Keep stirring until it begins to thicken 5-10 minutes Maximum.
5. Add 1 tsp. vanilla and 1 cup coconut.

So tasty.

Apron Swap DONE!

6 Mar

I finally finished my apron for the apron swap. Only a week late. But I was sick last week. I procrastinated it for fear that I would make something awful and my partner would hate it. I still don’t know if she will like it, but at least it isn’t awful. I like aprons that have a top–that is the part of me that needs protecting anyway. My most favorite apron ever is one from Mexico. So I traced it onto brown paper and made a pattern. I like this apron because it makes me feel pretty to wear it. It is pink and has lace. The plaid fabric is a must to be authentic as are the flowers on the pockets. I chose dogwood blossoms because I am from Missouri, and dogwoods blooming means spring is finally here.

This is my new Kitchen Bling Bling from my dear dear Husband! Happy Day

I have already made bread in it. Happy Day. Look Look how shiny it is 🙂



These marvelous things were made for me by my sister, Mary. She brought them over on Valentine’s Day. Isn’t she amazing? I am way too lazy to do this much work on cupcakes. I was not too lazy to eat these though. hee hee.

Never-Fail Cookies

6 Feb

I have had a request for absolutely scrumptious, never-fail cookies. This request is from my sister, who, last time she was at my house, she made no less than 3 batches of cookies which all turned out awful. Well, not awful, the first two tasted okay, but had other issues…

This is a hard one, because I am still working on being a good cookie maker myself, and I am always doing things like trying to use whole-wheat flour because it is healthier and tastes better. But that really changes the texture of you cookies.

I would have to say that my only never-fail treat recipe is to melt a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, stir in a handful or two of mini-marshmallows and chow down.

I’ll get back to you on the cookie recipe….

PLUS THIS IS SO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!ARE YOU READY??????????

I figured out how to link pdf files to my blog. So now you can see my patterns for felt food. Happy Day 🙂
FeltFoodPost

Okay, One more MARVELOUS THING. MY LIFE IS CHANGED FOREVER. YOU WILL WANT THIS. READ ON….

I signed up for a google account so that I could have this blog. I went to http://www.googlepages.com to find a host for my pdf files so that I could link them to this post. I had to sign up for a gmail (email) account, but now I have a pdf file host and all for free. Gmail looks pretty cool. And on my “My Accounts” page of my google account, there was a link called “Reader.”

I wondered what it was so I clicked on it. It is like a sort of email inbox, only instead of sending you emails, It checks all your favorite websites/blogs and lets you know if anything new is posted on them. No more forgetting to check Molly Chicken’s site anymore. I “Subscribed” (put in the links) to all my favorite blogs. Now I can just go to my google account and check the reader. It is amazing.

It is like getting an email every time my favorite people post on their blogs!! I feel so special.

All about Food

9 Jan

For New Years, You must eat black-eyed peas for good luck. I made Hoppin’ John Soup last night and it was TAS-T-EE.
Here is my recipe. The best part is, that this soup tasted alot like a chicken casserole recipe that I got from “The Sweet Potatoe Queen’s Book of Love” called Death Chicken or Zipadee-do-dah Chicken. But that recipe oozes cholesterol. It has cream of chicken soup, tons of bacon, and skin-on chicken pieces. My soup is pretty low fat and good for you! If you changed the bacon to kielbasa, it would probably be South Beach diet worthy.

Zipadee-Do-Dah Hoppin’ John Soup

Brown 4 strips bacon in a pan with about 1/2 a small onion.
Drain one can black-eyed peas and 2 cans white beans.
Add 1 quart of chicken stock
1 tsp thyme
sprinkle with cayenne pepper
add 1/2 cup white rice and 1 cup water (or 1 cup already cooked brown rice)
simmer 15 minutes until heated through and rice is soft.

It is so simple, yet sooo tasty.




And I thought I would give an update on the felt food for christmas.
I made 8 pancakes (with butter and syrup), 4 fried eggs, 8 slices whole wheat bread, 4 puddles each of peanut butter and grape jelly, 8 tomatoes (or salomi, your choice) and 4 lettuce leaves.

I drew (drawed?) the patterns my self and just top stitched everything together. I added a little stuffing in the pancakes. If I can figure out how to post a pdf file then I will share the patterns I made.

**I figured it out! Here are the patterns I drew for felt food.
Bread & Fried Egg
Pancake and More

You can also find some cute patterns at Cherrymix.com

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