Scribbles & Bits

In Case I've Never Mentioned It...

http://www.foodsubs.com/

Seriously one of my favorite websites!  I find I'm frequently at a loss on ingredients in some of the recipes I peruse.  As a result I rule them out because I figure I don't have access to the ingredient and wouldn't know where to find it if I did.  This website, however, has changed that for me.  Not only does it tell me what all these fun ingredients are (and sometimes where I should look in the grocery store to find them), but substitutes if I absolutely can't find something (for whatever reason!)

Crafty Like a Fox!

I shall have pictures and road adventures to tell: good friends (old and new), good hospitality, good stories.  But not today.  Today I shall catch you (and myself, for that matter) up on craftiness.

First up, the Republic Hat (as modeled by random stuffed dog of mine).  It is from the very very VERY generous free pattern provided by Nik at Nik's Knits!  She is very funny and very talented and if you're not already reading her, then I think you're in for a treat!  Anyway, my only modification was the yarn.  I used a skein of Cascade Yarn's baby alpaca in black (part of the aforementioned adventures, but again, for another time).  I don't really have access to that sort of yarn normally so when I touched it and felt its incredible softness, I just caved.  I found the amazing mother of pearl button at the same place!  Huge and fun and ladylike!  I love it!  The whole hat didn't take me very long to knit, which was another nice side effect.  Nothing like instant gratification, especially when you've never knit a hat before and you're thinking, "Man, my ears are cold.  Maybe I should do something about that."

Also in the Completed Projects Category: this journal.  I really wanted a new paper journal for the new year so just a smidge before midnight, I finished this one.  I wanted one with rather large (but not too large) pages that were blank and could handle different mediums.  I turned to my Bordon and Riley 90lb. artists sketch vellum pad o' paper.  Lots of people will tell you that this paper doesn't put up with paints and like too well, but I'm here to say that I've never had anything but good times with it.  I could take one 14" by 17" page and cut it in half then in turn fold those halves to get nice-sized (8.5" by 7", to be exact) pages.  The cover is a sheet of that paper painted with acrylic then stamped in silver with those gorgeous tree.  I learned to bookbind when I was in college.  I was addicted for quite a while (even built my own book press!) then sort of stopped doing it so much.  Shame.  It's not all that hard (just time consuming waiting for the glue to dry) and always makes a perfect gift (especially to myself)!

And there is light at the end of the tunnel!  As you can see, I've made a lot of progress on the Celtic Greedy Cat bell pull!  Good thing because I am really ready to get started on other cross stitch projects.  I do have to say, though, I've been going with pretty different colors from what the book called for.  Up close, I was starting to doubt my choices, but looking at it from a distance, I'm digging it again!  Woohoo!

Not as obvious is the progress I've made on the Modern Classics Lace Cardigan.  I'm into the armhole shaping now, but I haven't touched this in a couple of weeks.  It requires so much attention that I don't have the time to give right now.  Maybe I can get to it this weekend?

And finally, a yummy yummy cake that I actually baked a couple of weeks ago.  It's the Chocolate Truffle Cake from the All-New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook.  Let me just say that it was every bit as fantastic as it looks (or at least I think it looks pretty fantastic: I almost didn't want to cut it!)

So Close

I've been a bad reader/writer this week, but look at how much progress I've made on my sock since Monday's posting!  This one seems to breeze along, probably because I know what I'm doing now!  Of course there's a close-up on the lace pattern.  Now that I finally have it memorized, it seems a shame that I'm nearly done.  Oh well, a chance to learn a new one!  by the way, the first picture is the sock past the heel turn and over halfway through the gusset decreases.  I'd really hoped to have these finished to post about today, but I should have them finished for Monday!  Assuming I don't get overly distracted by the lure of the BBQ pit this weekend.  It is finally good BBQ weather.....

Feast For the Eyes and Stomach!

Behold!  Legitimate sock progress!  Not the best picture, but it will certainly do!  I believe this will be my Socktoberfest socks since I didn't get to follow through on my plan of finishing this pair and starting a new one just for Socktoberfest.  I hope I finish them this month!  Of course I will.  Hypnokitty has commanded it!  He has also commanded I rip out all plants in the patch of grass I call a back yard and grow nothing but catnip.  Hmmmm...  Seems his powers are weakening.

From knitting to baking, I present one of my favorite, relatively easy-to-prepare snacks:

Apple Pie Tart

4 Red Delicious apples

1/2 cup sugar

4 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Your favorite pie crust recipe (enough to make the equivalent of 2 9" pie crusts) or 2 pre-prepared roll-out 9" pie crusts

Preheat the oven to 425.  Peel, core, and chop the apples into small pieces.  Combine the apples, sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a bowl, tossing and mixing well.  Stick the bowl somewhere for a few minutes.

Grease a 12-cup muffin pan (I like to use the Pam for Baking).  Prepare your pie dough (rolling out to about a quarter's thickness) or unroll the pre-prepared crusts.  Cut 12 circles total (I use a circle cookie cutter that is approx. 4" across) and press 1 into each muffin cup.  Wad you spare dough up and shove it to the side for a moment. 

Grab your bowl of apple mix and divide it among the cups.  You may end up with a smidge extra, depending on the size of your apples.  I usually do, but it holds well till I'm ready to make the next batch.  Now grab your wad of dough and roll it out to about a quarter's thickness again and as much in the shape of a rectangle as you can manage.  Cut 4 strips for each pie and lay them out in a lattice pattern.  I was lazy this time and just plunked 2 one direction and then 2 on top in a perpendicular direction. 

Pop the tin in the oven and bake for about 18 minutes.  You want the mixture inside to be a little bubbly and, of course, for the crust to be a nice golden color.  Let them cool before you remove them from the tray and then chow down!  They're good with ice cream, good while still warm, and good cold out of the fridge the next day!

Celebration!

Easing back into catching up with everyone.  It's been pretty exciting, actually, to have an accelerated view of what everyone's been up to!  Easing back into normal life, too.  I'm getting back into the kitchen: going through cookbooks and trying new recipes.  I remembered to bring some cross stitch with me to work on during lunch.  I'd really love to get the bell pull finished.  On the knitting front, I've still got the rug to finish, but for now I've got a no-brainer on the needles: a garter stitch dishtowel.  It's very slow going since it's very wide, but I can work on it while I watch TV and can pick it up and put it down quickly when the dog jumps into my lap or the pot of pasta starts boiling over. 

The most exciting development, though, is I bought more yarn!  I tend to think of it as a combination of celebration of the end of the freelance work (for now) and an early (very early) birthday present!  I bought the skeins from Yarn Pirate on Etsy.  She has gorgeous colorways!  I drooled over more than I bought.  Incidentally, she is a real sweetheart! And prompt!  I ordered yesterday and the yarn shipped yesterday! Priority!  So yes, in case the insane amount of exclamation points weren't enough of a hint, I heartily recommend doing business with her!  Within 3 business days, I shall cast on for a pair of socks!  There will be pictures of the skeins and the results, naturally!  I am so freakin' excited!  This is the perfect boost after 2.5 months of basically zero life and absolutely zero craftiness! 

Food! Glorious Food! And Floss! Portable Floss!

Woohoo!  The hummingbird cross stitch is progressing nicely!  I've actually made significantly more progress since this picture, but I didn't have a chance to photograph it because I was fiendishly stitching, determined I would finish it last night.  I didn't.  Isn't it amazing how long it takes to cover a small space.

I haven't been able to work on this piece during breaks/lunch at work like I normally do, so it's taking longer than normal.  One reason is because so many of the floss colors are so close together that I just laid them out on the table in the order they are listed.  This morning, I finally got a fairly decent idea.  Take a bunch of sandwich size Ziplocs and staple them together down the side (zips at the top) like a book.  Then just throw each floss color on a bobbin and pop each bobbin in its own bag.  They're all in order and they're all portable.  Too bad I didn't have enough time to execute this idea this morning....

But now it's time to inflict my lousy food photography skills on you (accompanied by a recipe, naturally).  These are Origami Fruit Pies.  It's been a while since I made them, but I sure did get an urge for them this past weekend.  I made up the name.  They looked like little pieces of origami to me, but maybe that's just me.  And, just because it bears mentioning, my cookie sheet is not as dirty as it looks in the picture.  I guess that's the cooking spray after coming right out of the oven.  Anyway....

Origami Fruit Pies

1 can of Pillsbury croissants

cream cheese

jam

Preheat oven according to package directions.  Unroll the first two croissants, leaving the two triangles together so they still for a long rectangle.  Squeeze the perforations closed so all the filling doesn't come out.  If you're using the brick of cream cheese, put a 1/2 oz. pat of it in the middle.  If you're using the spread, just put a healthy spoonful in the center and spread it a little bit, keeping it away from the edges.  Then spread a healthy spoonful of jam on top,enough to cover the cream cheese and be sort of thick but not ooze out when you close it.  Keep it away from the edge as well.  Then pull in the 4 corners and pinch.  Pull in the long sides and pinch.  The short sides will naturally poof out.  Pop it onto a greased cookie sheet.  Repeat all of this 3 more times (a can of 8 croissants makes 4 pies).  Bake according to package directions.  I like these hot or cold. 

Updates!

Between work and some Typepad funkiness, I've been delayed in updating.  But no more!  Let me start with the quilt. Still unfinished.  I need to finishing quilting around the edges of the snowflake  and then bind it, of course.  But even before those things, I have to find time. 

Next, I'm working on a friend's birthday present.  The scarf is a simple garter stitch and is a very nice break from the ribbing on the cardigan (yep, still haven't finished that.  As a matter of fact, I still haven't gotten past the first row of 1x1 ribbing on the second front panel). 

During lunch, I've still been working on the bell pull, but I didn't think it was quite impressive enough to take pictures of yet.  And I didn't want to unhoop/unpin it.   

Mother's Day is coming up quicker than I think so I need to get cracking on gifts for that.  I don't really have any ideas just yet.  I toyed with that card idea again, but it just doesn't seem appropriate for Mother's Day somehow.  "Thanks for always thinking of others!  Here's a gift that will help you continue to do so."  Or maybe I'm reading too much into it.  Maybe I'll make some body lotion.  Glass etching it is! 

I haven't really had a chance to do much cooking.  It's been a lot of heat and serve around here. 

And that's all the news that's fit to print!

I Debated a Long Time About Posting This....

...but I feel it must be said: I have no interest in going to see that movie Slither.  None whatsoever.  I simply can not be scared by a monster that I can kill with salt.  Not even anything difficult to get your hands on.  Just salt.  Surround myself in salt and I'm safe.  Yep.  Not scary.  Ridiculous, but not scary.  Of course in the movie, they're probably genetically engineered to not be bothered by salt.  They probably GROW from exposure to salt.  They probably wake up each morning and eat salted bacon and do tequila shots.

So on that note, time for a recipe, right?  One of my favorites that I can't believe I've never posted before:

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

2 tablespoons butter

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups pecans

1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

1 deep dish pie crust

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt butter and set to the side to cool.  Beat the 3 eggs (just a little bit.  No need to work out ALL your aggressions on the eggs!), then mix in the sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla.  Mix thoroughly then add the butter and mix thoroughly again!  Add in the pecans and chips and mix really thoroughly.  Pour it all into the pie crust and bake for 45-55 minutes.  It's tasty hot or cold!

And randomly, I promise that one day I'll be crafty again.  One day. 

It's Hard to Think of a Witty Title Involving Corn

The image (WWII postcards) is quite a bit in the theme of yesterday.  I just can't seem to resist these vintage bits.  And really, I have no image that fits the rest of this post, a recipe for corn casserole.  What, take a picture of the casserole?  It was a big yellow square.  Not very dynamic.  Plus, I fixed it this weekend. It is gone!  Anyway, it makes a great dish for various holiday meals, although I fix it up as part of a normal meal, too.  It's certainly easy and cheap enough.  So without further ado:

Corn Casserole

1 cup butter

2 eggs

1 can whole kernel corn

1 can creamed corn

1 box (8 1/2 oz.) cornbread muffin mix

1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt butter and set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs.  Mix in both cans of corn, the muffin mix, sugar, and sour cream.  Mix in the butter last.  Pour into a greased casserole dish and bake for 45 minutes. 

And just randomly, if you decide to try any of my recipes (or anything else I post, for that matter), just let me know how it turned out!  I like to know if my directions are clear and I'm always curious to hear if someone liked the final result! 

Random Things With Little to No Segue

This communism pamphlet might be another one for a shirt front soon.  I know it will be a card front or a note card.  It begs to be!  It knows I can't resist it's vintage charms.

As I mentioned yesterday, I did a lot of cooking and baking this past weekend.  I made another loaf of white bread and a loaf of "Apple Pie" bread which was tasty enough but is going to need big time revamping.  But I was successful with my lasagna (I can't think of a time I wasn't), so here's my recipe.

Quick and Easy Lasagna

Lasagna Noodles

1 lb. ground beef

small package Italian Sausage

3 jars Ragu (or other red sauce) in your favorite flavors (I use Traditional, 6 Cheese, and Mushroom)

Black olives, sliced

Mushrooms, sliced

Cheddar cheese, shredded

Mozzarella, shredded

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare Lasagna noodles according to package directions.  In a large pan, brown the ground beef and Italian sausage.  Add the jars of sauce and let simmer while dealing with the noodles.  Spray a non-stick spray into your lasagna pan to make cleaning up MUCH easier.  place a single layer of noodles in the bottom of the pan.  Add a layer of sauce.  Top with black olives and mushrooms to taste, followed by the cheeses.  Continue layering like this until you run out of sauce.  Top your last sauce layer with the black olives, mushrooms and cheese (as opposed to more noodles).  Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. 

I love this recipe because it's simple to prepare.  It may be a bit hectic while you've got the two pots boiling (things want to boil over and pop and such), but once you get it in the oven, you can relax and do other things.

Tomorrow, I post the Corn Casserole recipe.