Another Quick Beach Stitch!

Can you tell I am in beach mode? ;) It won't be long now!

This morning while listening to Nutmeg practice violin, I finished this summer freebie by Tanya The Sampler Girl. Stitching to a metronome is not pleasant!

This is a 2011 freebie available on her blog. Tanya left the fabric and fibers up to the stitcher, so I chose WDW: Pebble, Cinnabar, GAST: Mountain Mist, Sea Spray, Bayberry, and DMC: 950, 3862.

Here is a photo of a super-yummy cake I had this weekend at a friend's birthday cookout. She got the recipe from a recent M@rth@ Stew@rt magazine. It was a big hit with adults and children alike! In fact, My Louisiana Man said that next year he wants it for his birthday cake! GASP - He is changing from yellow cake with chocolate frosting to something new and different? What was in that cake? :)

Nothing says Spring like...

Pumpkin muffins? Okay, maybe that is a bit of a stretch, but I needed a quick, portable, semi-healthy snack for the girls this afternoon. And then I spied a bag of chocolate chips, and it just went downhill from there.

Here is my pumpkin muffin recipe in case you have a few more weeks of chilly weather whatever the daffodils and calendar may say.

Pumpkin Muffins

3 cups King Arthur White Wheat Flour (this is what makes it healthy before you add in all the sugar!)

1 1/2 cups white sugar ( I have a friend who only uses 1 cup; when I tried that, no one ate them.)

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves (I like to actually taste the spices!)

1/2 tsp nutmeg (I am totally hooked on freshly-ground nutmeg - especially in my coffee with vanilla creamer.)

1/2 c oil

1/4 - 1/3 c buttermilk

3 eggs

15 oz canned pumpkin (Surely all the sugar cannot cancel out the Vitamin A!)

optional ingredients: walnuts, dried or fresh cranberries, currants, and chocolate chips. (My grandparents like it fully loaded; my immediate family does not.)

And then, you know, you mix the dry ingredients together. Then you mix the wet ingredients together. Then you combine them, adding more buttermilk if necessary. Bake at 350 until done. :)

Today, I baked some in muffin-top pans, sliced them open, and stuffed them with chocolate chips. They were a big hit! A smooshy big hit!

My heartfelt sympathies go out to the friends and family of Lisa of the Primitive Needle.

Every day is a gift.

Harvest Time!

Ha, Ha! Did you read the title and think I would be sharing pictures of all the autumn bounty I gathered from my garden - the garden I spent so much time and money on? Well, let's just say I learned more than I actually harvested! So I am channeling all my "store-up for the winter" energy into COOKIES! Why not? I have been baking, then freezing the dough-balls until firm, and then sealing them up in the Food Saver. Whenever we want a dozen fresh baked cookies - ZIP, ZAP-They're done! I have plenty of room for a batch of peanutbutter, a batch of oatmeal, a batch of chocolate-ginger....

This week I have been stitching "Mercy Me" by Notforgotten Farm. It is cute and fun and A LOT OF BROWN!

MommyLawyer and I have decided to sell up and just grow a corn maze for our future livelihood! 15 dollars a person!!! Thank goodness we went with a Girl Scout Troop and got a whole dollar off per person! Whew! We actually had a lot of fun! What an exercise in Group Dynamics!

Hope you all are having lots of Harvest-Time Fun!

Honey or Cheese?

The bread's ready! Come on over! The big decision is whether to eat it with a drizzle of honey or a slice of cheese. Of course, I will eat it both ways, but which to start with?
Here is my current favorite recipe. It is adapted from one of the Nitty Gritty breadmachine books.

1 1/4 c water
2 Tbs veg oil
3 Tbs molasses
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs demerara sugar
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp light flax seeds
1 tsp dark flax seeds
1 heaping Tbs steel-cut oats
1 heaping Tbs wheat germ
1 heaping Tbs oat bran
3 Tbs rolled oats
1 cup King Arthur White-Wheat Flour
2 cups bread flour


****Sorry!~ I forgot to write 2 teaspoons of yeast!!******

I put this in the machine on the dough cycle; it is pretty sticky. Then I take it out and put it into 2 8x4 pans, or I would have if I could have found the other 8x4! I baked it once in a 9x5 and it was not attractive! ! baked it at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. This will be the perfect snack before we head to the corn maze on this cool, bright autumn day!

Fishy Finish

I finally finished Paulette's "Fishes and Bait." I hadn't picked up a needle in a couple of weeks until this weekend. I need one more thread color, and I can finish up "Earth Sampler" too!

I have been cooking quite a bit lately. Here are two samples: a sugar cookie Egypt, and fresh pesto!

I'll to thee a simnel bring!

"But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." So wrote St. Paul in his letter to Galatians, and so have and will Anglo-Catholics, hear read in church on this the Fourth Sunday in Lent. Now Anglo-Catholic sounds like a loaded phrase, and it may even sound like an impossibility. It has ancient roots and a misunderstood history, which I won't go into in this post! ;) I will just say we are very conservative catholics with an English "flavor." And that brings me to today: Mothering Sunday. A tradition arose in England for parishioners of daughter churches to visit the mother church. Eventually it became a holiday for servants to go and visit their mothers. And eventually it was replaced by Mothers' Day here in the USA.

According to tradition, the servants would bring their mother a simnel cake and the mother in return would give a blessing.

"I'll to thee a simnell bring,

Gainst thou goest a-mothering;

So that, when she blesseth thee,

Half that blessing thou'lt give me."

-Robert Herrick

There are various recipes all over the 'net, but they always include almond paste either in the middle of the cake or on top or both. Some people say the simnel cake has become the easter cake. The recipe I have been using calls for butter, sugar, almond paste, flour, salt, orange and lemon peel, currants and eggs. I do wonder how the servants came by all those fancy ingredients!

I will take a picture of the cake at church this morning. I have already tasted it. It is very rich! The ladies of the church will also be given carnations this morning. It is really nice to celebrate the forerunner of Mothers' Day without all the commercial pressure!

I hope you enjoyed the history lesson! Happy Mothering Sunday!

What's up with the Thin Mints?

I don't buy many GS cookies. 1. GS cookie time falls right smack during Lent, and 2. they are not that great. I mean, really, would you pick a dry, almost tasteless bit of crumble, or a soft, gooey cookie fresh from the oven? But today, I suddenly remembered being a scout and trying to win that stuffed horse one year. I bought three boxes. I wish I had my $10.50 back to go and spend on Paul Newman ginger/lemon sandwich cookies!

I had high hopes for the Thin Mints. What have they done? In place of the THIN, cool, minty crunch there was a THICK, crumbly wad of something with only a vestigial hint of mint! Total outrage and disappointment!

Very Veggie Soup

Here is a meatless recipe I have tinkered with. My husband and I really like it, but the children prefer soup out of a can!

Chop 1 large white onion, 3 cloves garlic, 2 ribs celery and 1 large red bell pepper. Saute with 3 Tbs olive oil. Add veggies to a stock pot with 4 cups vegetable broth, 1 14-oz can DICED tomatoes, 1 14-oz can CRUSHED tomatoes, 2 zucchini (peeled and chopped), several handfuls of chopped carrots, 1 10-oz bag frozen green beans, 1 10-oz BAG chopped spinach (I hate the "bricks" of spinach!), 2 Tbs chopped fresh parsley, 1 15-oz can kidney beans, 1 15-oz can white beans, 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp dried basil, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. I think I may have added 1/2 to 1 cup of water as well.

Why not eat meat on Fridays?/Meatless Recipies

Traditionally, catholics abstain from meat on Fridays. This changed in the 60s. Roman catholics now abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent. Anglo-catholics have meatless Fridays year-round (except for Fridays falling between Christmas and Epiphany), and Fridays and Wednesdays during Lent. Why Fridays? Christ was crucified on a Friday. Every Friday is a little Good Friday, and every Sunday is a little Easter. Giving up meat is a small sacrifice to remind of us of Jesus' much greater sacrifice. I must add that the Eastern Orthodox have a much more rigorous system of fasts that more closely mirrors the fasts of the ancient church. They give up oil, dairy, wine, and "anything with a backbone."

All this is to say that I will be sharing my favorite meatless recipes with you over the next few weeks. I hope to share some recipes for anyone who enjoys vegetarian meals and any Christian who chooses to observe little Good Fridays.

If you do not already have a favorite charity, I encourage you to look at Operation Rice Bowl. They encourage families to eat simple meals once or twice a week and collect the money they save to send to others in need. There is also a calendar with daily facts and prayers to be used during Lent. I'm sure you could adjust this concept to your own family, and perhaps save money to use for a local charity.

Stay tuned for a vegetarian recipe on Wednesday!

The Dish Everyone Ate.

Tonight, everyone ate the same dinner! I know that is the idea, but it rarely happens around here. We require the girls to eat a few bites of whatever Jerry and I are eating, but it is just easier on my nerves to give the girls a scrambled egg or vegetable soup. I borrowed a recipe from Tanya's,( of the Honeysuckle Tree), cooking blog. I steamed broccoli, cooked butterfly pasta, shredded parmesan, and made a reduction (doesn't that sound fancy?) of vegetable stock and white wine. I added a splash of olive oil just because. The girls ate it! Then I said, "Wow! I cannot remember the last time we all ate the same thing!" Suddenly the girls said it was "soupy" and "yucky." Too bad. No backsies!

Motivated? Well...maybe optimistic would be truer.....

Once again I have purchased the Motivated Moms planner. I maybe did 8 non-consecutive weeks last year. Hmmm... This year I purpose to do better......Hmmmm....

I just keep looking at the blank menu planning page. Suppose I just write "spaghetti" on every square. Hmmmm...Maybe I thought free super powers came with each purchase.....

Healthy Thanksgiving

We had a fairly small gathering at my parents' house for Thanksgiving: our family, my parents, and my brother. We ate a fairly healthy dinner. I made a cranberry relish and also a cranberry-chipotle sauce for the turkey. Below, is a picture of my wonderful Pumpkin Pie Cake.

I made a King Arthur Flour recipe of gingerbread cookies. My dad bit into one and said, "They taste like gingerbread!" He said he was surprised because most "gingerbread" cookies are not very flavorful.

They were actually much tastier before they were smothered in icing and sprinkles!

I hope you all had great Thanksgivings!

Great. I'm jumping on the Lead-in-Rival-Crock-Pots Train.

You can find out about it if you do some searching. Here's one to start with

http://insightfulnana.com/tag/hamilton-beach/

Halloween Post 2

Here are my brother's Rice Creepies with my Halloween Tree.

I wonder how many candy wrappers are hiding in the bushes!

Be sure to check out the next post for more Halloween fun!

Pumpkin & Salmon

Ha, Ha! Don't worry - these two ingredients are sharing a post not a recipe!

Last night, I tossed a few handfuls of cranberries in my pumpkin pie. That was the best idea ever! I used the traditional recipe on the back of The Can, except I used soy milk instead of evaporated milk. You should definitely try the cranberries! Very Yum!

I was raised on salmon (the "l" is silent) patties. Sophie Loren once said," Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti." Well, I owe a lot to salmon patties and lima beans (and half a canned pear with a dollop of mayonnaise, a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and a maraschino cherry). Anyway, I made salmon "cakes" last week with sauteed celery, onions and red peppers. They were incredible. There is something magical about sauteed red peppers. When used in combination with either corn or broccoli, they approach the sublime. Hey - I could put chopped broccoli in the salmon cakes next time......

Cinnamon Rolls!

I am working on these cinnamon rolls. DH has had a rough week, and cinnamon rolls work wonders!

Macaroni and Cheese

Wow! We love this macaroni and cheese! I made it today - we needed comfort food with all this terrible weather. Nutmeg was not crazy about it, but she's a kid who doesn't much care for macaroni or pizza if you can believe it. This is REAL macaroni and cheese - but it does have an interesting twist. You would never know.