What's Been in the Works

I have been busy doing a little cutting for one Quilts of Valor Mystery – the clues will be offered on Aug 12^th.  And I have been following the clues for a second QOV Mystery – clue 1 has been posted so far:

I have quilted two of the tops I brought back with me from my fun quilting retreat in Omaha:

Floral Wave

Butterfly Enchantment

And I did a little yardwork – not too much since it has been oppressively hot and humid here.

This is our typical forecast – the lightning chases me out of the sewing room each day:

mon	tue	wed	thu	fri	sat	sun
jul 17 Scattered Thunderstorms 90° 78°	jul 18 Thunderstorms 88° 77°	jul 19 Scattered Thunderstorms 91° 78°	jul 20 Scattered Thunderstorms 91° 78°	jul 21 Scattered Thunderstorms 90° 78°	jul 22 PM Thunderstorms 91° 79°	jul 23 AM Thunderstorms 91° 78°

And this is my latest kitchen gadget purchase.  So far, I love, love, love it.  I’ve made lots of chicken, beef roasts, and these pork chops:

Several things I really like about it are that it keeps the kitchen cooler since I am not using the hot oven and it makes putting an entire meal on the table much quicker.  The roast took 40 minutes rather than 3 hours.  That’s a win!

Quilting Requires an Easy Recipe!

My DH is off socializing and I have this quilt top on the frame:

Of course, I don't want to take much time away from quilting, but I needed to cook some chicken I had in the fridge so I whipped up this easy-peasy meal:

The sauce is Campbell's Teriyaki flavor - new to me.

I just put the chicken into the pan, dumped the frozen stir-fry vegetables on top and poured the sauce over the whole thing.  It bakes at 400^◦ for 40 minutes, served it over white rice and Voila!

Oops ... this was supposed to show the pretty presentation - too late!

It’s 10 WW points (3 for the chicken, 4 for the sauce, 3 for the rice - the veggies are zero) so it’s not too bad and it’s at least as tasty as a restaurant meal.  The sauce would be a little too sweet for some (and I didn’t even add the optional pineapple chunks), but it was ok for me.  And now it’s back upstairs to continue quilting!  

Oh, and I always celebrate when I empty a spool of thread because it means lots of quilts have been made and are out the door to the kids-in-need.  Wonderful feeling ...

 

A Little of This and That

I was given a roll of inexpensive polyester batting to use for quilting Project Linus quilts for a LQS.  I tried it out today and it was just OK – not great by any means.  It was uneven (as to loft) and occasionally had tiny bumps or clumps of polyester that the needle would hit and break the bobbin thread.  Only a few times, but enough to make me stay away from this type of batting in the future.  The panto I used was called Asian Vines, by Anne Bright.  This is the finish (the local group does the trimming and binding):

Back

Speaking of flowers, these are my flowers in bloom that make you happy looking at them:

Crepe Myrtles are thick this year

Pentas

I was going to trim that Penta bush down to the ground because it was getting leggy, but never got around to it – can’t do it while it’s blooming so nicely!

I can’t say I am the world’s best cook – actually I can’t say I’m good at cooking at all!  But I made this Easy Italian Artichoke-Bacon Pie from a Betty Crocker cookbook from the library.  All of the recipes are under 300 calories – something I’m seeking out right now.  This was pretty tasty - a tiny bit spicy - good with a tossed salad (yes, I've been eating the dreaded lettuce):

And this was the little voyeur of the week at the Chemo Room. 

Little squirrel in the circle

I think she had a nest tucked in behind that giant staghorn fern.  I told her I was there with a Nut, but I really didn’t bring any extras.  My DH was not amused.  But he is doing well especially as he continues to put up with me!

Treading Water

 Do you sometimes feel like you’re just barely keeping afloat?  Fortunately, that little rodent  and I both have itty-bitty life preservers to help us out.  Thank heaven for friends and family.  I haven’t been blogging much but I have been trying to do a little something each day.

These are the nice bundles I made up for our next Quilts of Valor meeting.  Each is marked for what should be cut from them and the sizes (blocks, bindings, borders, etc.).  That way if I have to miss the meeting due to family medical issues, our members can just pick up a bundle and the ball will keep rolling (and I will feel better about not letting them down).

And I did take a walk or two (well, maybe one) to see what was blooming.  The bottlebrush trees are especially full around my neighborhood.

You can clearly see how they got their name!   It has been a funny Spring, with cold snaps that last 2-3 days then it warms up – the plants are confused.  This was early March when it should have been warmer – check out the gloves on the stylish cabana boy (aka my husband).  Maybe the cold nights next week will be our last for the season.

 I have been eating myself out of house and home and decided to make something that was at least on the reasonable side.  This pie is really good (and low-cal) if you like light and fluffy things.  Very quick to make – it’s the time waiting for it to chill that gets to you!  It’s easy to take to potlucks and looks fancy if you garnish it.

It’s an older WW recipe for Key Lime Pie but you can substitute many flavors for the lime.  This time I used cherry jello and cherry yogurt (I only had strawberries to garnish though!).  And I only had one container of yogurt on hand instead of the 2 the recipe calls for – it worked fine.

Key Lime Pie

1 box (0.3 oz) sugar-free lime flavored gelatin

¼ c. boiling water

2 containers (8 oz each) key lime pie flavored light yogurt

1 container (8 oz) fat free whipped topping, thawed

1 prepared 9” reduced fat graham cracker pie crust

In large heat-resistent bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water.  With wire whisk, stir in yogurt; with wooden spoon, fold in whipped topping.

Transfer mixture to prepared crust; refrigerate overnight or at least 2 hours.

Eight servings =  3-4 Pts+ depending on ingredients (FF or not)

And on the track for children’s quilts, I have an Attic Windows in the works that uses robot and circuit board fabrics for what you'll see in the "windows".  This photo doesn’t do the fabrics justice, but I think it’ll be kewl and trendy!  OK – old people just shouldn’t try to use slang … LOL.  Or "LOL" either ... ha!

Been Busy? You bet!

It’s that time of year … go here – go there – try to feel like you’re accomplishing something – make a list, check it twice – go back to the store because checking twice wasn’t enough!! - you get the picture ...

I did get the Christmas packages wrapped, I did send out the checks to the little ones far away, I did get the Christmas cards sent out and I did decorate a little and bake cookies.  Here’s a sampling of what I made:

Elfin Shortbread Cookies 

http://www.ellesnewenglandkitchen.com/blog/

2008/9/29/holiday-baking-elfin-shortbread-cookies-first-in-a-series.html

Peanut Butter Squares

Kraft Photo - see link below

I used this easy recipe:

Peanut Butter Squares

• ½ cup margarine or butter
• ½ cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 ¼ cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 ½ cup chocolate chips

Melt butter and peanut butter together in a small pot, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Add icing sugar and graham cracker crumbs.  Spread in greased 9”x9” pan.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Heat in 200º oven for 5 minutes to soften chocolate. Spread chocolate evenly over the top.  Cool in fridge.

After about ½ hour in the fridge, cut into squares, then place back in fridge to harden.  This prevents the squares from breaking when you try to cut them when they’re cold.

For a slightly different version and a larger pan size, use the Kraft recipe:

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/no-oven-peanut-butter-squares-75648.aspx

Coconut Cookies

From Sandy Gluck’s “A Month of Cookies” – use her adaptation #12 to the Basic Dough

Toasted Coconut: Toast 1 cup of angel-flake coconut (the sweetened kind you get in the supermarket in bags) until golden brown. Grind a little more than half to get 1/3 cup ground and replace 1/3 cup of the flour with the ground coconut. Fold the remaining coconut in when adding the egg.

Here’s one source for the recipe:

http://kingwoodunderground.com/topic.jsp;jsessionid=abcJXSFf9vy2t_0Xn3Cus?topicId=11459326

Easy Pretzel Turtles

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/12/easy-pretzel-turtles/

And I took an afternoon off to go see a movie – yep, I’m a JRR Tolkien fan.

A co-worker and I have been to see each of the Lord of the Rings movies and to keep up our tradition, we went to see the Hobbit.  It is definitely not for small children, but the teenagers will love it (and adults that read the books long ago won’t be disappointed).  The scenery is brilliant and the special effects are wild.

To read more, click on this link.

And I did get this Quilt of Valor pillowcase presentation package sent off to California where it will meet back up with its matching quilt.  I posted the quilt's picture in this post - it is being professionally quilted before being awarded.

I’m sure to get back to more quilting next week, but I'll leave you with this saying (it sure sounds true but it is not from the Hobbit - LOL).

Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,

 for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

\Bumper Sticker\Book:  First Grave on the Right\Darynda Jones

Beating the Heat

While I have been avoiding exercising outside in our horrific heat and humidity, I have been sewing.  Here is a little top that I have been working up with the world’s easiest quilt block, called the Snowball (ok – it also just sounded refreshing!):

It is sewn together now and I should be done adding the blue borders on it later today.

And I should warn you NOT, I repeat, NOT to browse food blogs while avoiding the heat.  One of my charity group’s members had this very excellent Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake featured:

And since she credited The Noble Pig blog for the recipe, I had to take a look over there and found this also very excellent Panzella (Bread Salad) recipe for fresh vegetables: 

Thank You! to The Noble Pig in Oregon

Do you get the idea that I’m either very hungry or easily suggestable?

Maybe both?

We’re actually having homemade pizza tonight, but I’m marking these two recipes, for sure!

Happy 100th Birthday!

Do you know what cookie is immensely popular around the world? And do you know what is considered the world’s best –selling cookie brand in the 21^st Century?  Why, it’s the OREO, of course!

And today is the 100^th birthday of these invincible sandwich cookies in all their tasty glory.  They were originally designed to compete with British biscuit cookies and were introduced in New York in 1912.  Many people twist their tops off, lick the luscious creamy filling then dunk the remainder into milk.  I like to just pop a whole cookie, myself!

While Oreos have been America’s favorite cookie for the last century, they have also been popular in many, many different flavors around the world.  There are green tea Oreos in China, a duo offering of banana-dulce de leche in Argentina and even a blueberry ice cream flavor in Indonesia!

This is what I want to do with my Oreos:

Don’t those Mini Cheesecakes look yummy?!!

Here’s the recipe:

OREO MINI CHEESECAKES

Ingredients:

19  Oreo cookies, divided

2 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened

½ cup sugar

½ cup sour cream (ok to use lite or reduced fat)

½ tsp. vanilla

2  eggs

Instructions:

HEAT oven to 350°F.

PLACE 1 cookie in each of 12 paper-lined muffin cups. Coarsely chop remaining cookies; set aside.

BEAT cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with mixer until blended. Add sour cream and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low speed after each just until blended. Stir in chopped cookies. Spoon into muffin cups.

BAKE 20 min. or until centers are almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 3 hours.

REMOVE cheesecakes from muffin pan; discard paper liners. Serve cookie-sides up.

Make Ahead:

Wrap each cheesecake with foil; place in freezer-weight resealable plastic bag. Freeze up to 3 weeks. When ready to serve, unwrap cheesecakes; refrigerate 4 hours or until thawed.

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/oreo-upside-down-mini-cheesecakes-130632.aspx

 

Quick and easy for your next gathering or potluck.  No, you can’t eat them all yourself (or maybe you can - I could)!!