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My new sneakers

I just sent this e-mail to a few of my friends who will understand:

So as I walked home yesterday I stopped briefly in Payless to see ifthey had any cheap sneakers. You see, my old keds have officially beenretired even from using when painting the house. The soles on themhave fallen apart and you can see all the way thru the sole. AndTHERE. THEY. WERE. $32 dollars worth of BLISS. They have pink andgreen inside (to match my favorite fun eyeglass frames of course),they have silver mesh on the sides and front, and they are trimmed infake black patent leather-what could have been a hot mess is insteadhappiness incarnate. I reach out-touch them, put them on. They fit! Ihesistate - do I really NEED new sneakers? I think of my sad old keds.Will they be hurt if they are abandoned or worse yet-put in the trashbin? Is this a valid expense? I hem and haw and finally decide to gofor it. At the register I am babbling to the cashier about how Ireally love these sneakers even if they look like they are for a 16year old girl and I ask about the return policy if I change my mind.He rings them up. He hands me the slip to sign - whoa! They were onsale for $22! I smile and sign. When I get home I promptly put themon. I wore them all night, i would not take them off. I. am. in. love.

So many apples and a pumpkin

I love to cook and I love find ways to use up ingredients that I have in the house in new ways. Right now I have an overabundance of Macintosh apples from Z's apple picking adventure. So far I have made crockpot apple butter and amazing apple cookies.

The crockpot apple butter recipe is dead simple but time consuming. It is from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann on page 481. I love this cookbook, my mom gave it to me as a gift and it is one of my most thumbed thru books. One standout is the Boston Baked Beans which my sister T turned me onto. If you have never had fresh baked beans you do not know what you are missing. I can tell you you will never want to go back to canned beans again!

The amazing apple cookies recipe I found at the blog bread-and-honey:

http://bread-and-honey.blogspot.com/2008/07/glazed-apple-cookies.html

I modified the recipe further by leaving off the glaze, swapping in dark raisins for the golden ones and leaving out the walnuts. I have to limit myself to only 3 every morning with a cup of tea for breakfast. Yes, they are THAT good.

Other apple recipes that i am going to try and complete today are for the freezer, for work and for my friend, C's ladies crafting potluck tomorrow night.

The recipe that is for the folks at work is from The Art of Jewish Cooking by Jennie Grossinger:

Apple Cake

1 cup sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
6 tablespoons sugar
1 stick butter-room temperature
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
4 cups peeled, sliced apples
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and 3 tablespoons sugar into a bowl. Work in half of the butter. Beat the egg and milk together and add flour, mixing until a dough is formed. Pat into a buttered 12 x 8 inch baking pan. Arrange the apples in rows. Sprinkle with the cinnamon and remaining sugar. Melt the remaining butter and pour over the top. Bake in a 400 degree oven 35 minutes or until apples are tender.

The recipe for my freezer is modified from Oat Cuisine by Bobbie Hinman, they are perfect to defrost overnight and then pop in the toaster for a quick breakfast on the go:

Applesauce Spice Muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat bran
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 cup skim milk
2 egg whites
1 cup spiced applesauce**
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped fresh apple
Ground cinnamon for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly oil muffin cups to be used In a large bowl, combine flour, oat bran and baking soda. Mix well. In another bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, except raisins, walnuts and chopped apple. Beat with a fork or wire whisk until blended. add to dry mixture, along with raisins, walnuts and chopped apple, stirring until all ingredients are moistened. Divide mixture into muffin cups and bake 20-23 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove muffins to a rack to cool.

** If you do not have spiced applesauce you can use unsweetened mixed well with 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ground cloves & 1/4 tsp ground allspice)

And 2 apple pies, 1 for my freezer, 1 for my friends.

A future apple recipe I want to try if any are left after all this baking is to make a couscous salad with some olive oil, chickpeas, raisin, sunflower seeds, chipped apple bits, shredded carrot, lemon, cinnamon, turmeric, lemon pepper, coriander, sea salt and pepper.

Oh yeah, 1 pumpkin rendered by roasting. Now to puree it and then let it sit over a colander to let the excess liquid drain out. Then into the freezer it goes in 14 oz. portions to be used in future endeavors.

I tossed the seeds with olive oil, coarse sea salt and garlic powder and baked at 300 for 30 minutes. Wow.

And finally a baking soda tip: To tell if your baking soda is still good to use for baking pour a 1/2 teaspoon vinegar into a dab of baking soda, if it bubbles it is fresh. But don't throw it out if it is not fresh either pour it down your sink, toilette or laundry to freshen up those things.

Brain dump of ideas for the wedding

*I have been saving old jars for candles and old bottles for the flowers and grasses. Wire to string them up on poles is a great idea.

*Polaroid cameras on the tables and ask people to put the photos on a clothesline 'wall' with clothespins?

Books to take or share

Scrabble
Jigsaw puzzles

Hammock

Firing range

Fireworks

Fire spinning

Blankets in case it gets cold

Car-b-que? what to do, what to do!

What time to start the ceremony - day, night, late afternoon?

Food? Food!

Blech. Faux-quilting. Rag rugs.

Blech. My favorite new word. I have been sick since last Thursday and can't seem to shake this cold. I have been exercising, have taken tussin to loosen up the chest congestion and it is still hanging on. Stubborn cold-please go away.

Last night I decided to use my blog as a way to motivate me to start and finish my projects. The first 2 projects are to use up my scrap fabrics and make Z a rag rug for the side of his bed.

Scrap fabric purge - Faux-quilting project

Went thru all of my scrap fabrics last night and it seems I used alot of old soft washed blue jeans, grey-blues, silvers, greys and black at some point. I began cutting out 5.5 x 5.5 inch squares last night to make a quilt for my bed. Now mind you I have never made a quilt in my life-so I have decided to figure it out and make a faux quilt. I have organized the project in my head like this:

Step 1. Cut out all squares.

Step 2. On my bed layout the squares in a pattern that seems pleasing to my eye and then pin together-make the overall pattern no larger than the size of a queen size flat sheet.

Step 3. Sew squares together on my sewing machine.

Step 4. Make a quilt sandwich and pin together 3 layers: Sewn patchwork, a layer of flat quilting batting and a sateen queen size flat sheet. Sew all edges together.

Step 5. Using embroidery floss embroider an X at the at the corners of all of the squares to keep the layers from shifting.

Seems easy-will keep you posted and add a nice pix of the stack of fabric squares.

Rag rug for next to Z's bed

With the scraps of the scraps I have been saving 1 inch strips to make a rag rug for next to Z's bed. He asked me a while ago and I did some research online about how to make one. Turns out it is really simple. Here are the links to what I found: http://crochet.about.com/library/weekly/aa092599.htm and http://vintagechica.typepad.com/the_life_and_times_of_thi/2006/10/rag_rug_tutoria.html

With cold weather coming I want to get this finished fast for him. I just hope the puppy doesn't eat it. And now for some recent pix of that ferocious beast aka the puppy Feena. Who by the way has taken to sleeping in.the.bed with Z every night.

Dinner tonight and in fact, every night

So I think this will become a regular feature on my blog - what I made for dinner last night or recently. Dinner is always a reality but sometimes a challenge after a long day at work. Pretty much on a daily basis I scan the web for things that sound interesting to make or to use up ingredients that I have. I look at a wide range of blogs and websites for inspiration and as I get organized will post them on the list of sites I yum.

Last week I made dinner from recipes I got from 2 different blogs - Salmon Fish Cakes from: http://eatlikeagirl.com/2007/08/14/salmon-fish-cakes/ and Marinated Baby portabellos with Spinach from: http://showmevegan.blogspot.com/search/label/mushrooms .

The fish cakes I made exactly as the recipe states except I sauteed them in a nonstick pan with a touch of oil instead of deep frying them. For the mushrooms I cooked the whole recipe instead of serving it cold. Mushrooms, handfuls of spinach and a whole red onion thinly sliced, sauteed up in that wonderful sauce. OMG they both came out so good. This time I plated it with spinach and onions on the bottom, mushrooms next, then a fishcake and drizzled some sauce over the top. Next time I would add a bed of brown rice, couscous or quinoa for something extra to sop up the sauce and Next Time I will be taking a picture. Oh yes.

Actually the whole dinner process may become fun in a new way soon; we just ordered a deep freezer and I will be able to prepare a bunch of homemade freezer meals to have for those night when I just don't feel like cooking. Z wants the freezer because he wants to buy a whole free-range, grass fed cow from a farm and have it rendered for us to save money. One freezer meal I have made so far is a combination of a freezer meal and a crockpot meal-the ultimate in using tools for those busy nights!

Easy freezer/crockpot meal

Take 3 lbs of either chicken, beef or pork and put in a gallon size freezer bag, pour in 2 cups stock/broth of your choice, 1/2 a cup of red or white wine and either a few fresh sprigs of rosemary and thyme or a tablespoon dried of each. Seal bag and shake up to mix ingredients, put in freezer. Label bag with the following: Date sealed and this recipe - Step 1. Take out of freezer-do NOT defrost, take out of bag and put frozen mess in crockpot. Step 2. Add into crockpot 3 peeled and chunked carrots, 3-4 chunked red potatoes, 1 chunked yellow onion. Step 3. Put lid on crockpot and set for 8-10 hours. Step 4. Come home after work and enjoy!

And finally one last easy, yummy dinner idea.

Heat oven to 450. Make thick wedges of 2-3 baking potatoes, toss with a little olive oil, sea salt, pepper and fresh rosemary and/or thyme. Bake for 45 minutes, turning once. When there is 20 minutes left for the potatoes melt 1/2 a stick of butter in a pan, add in a whole sliced up red onion and your favorite sausage (not italian sausage, more like a blue cheese stuffed or chicken and apple) saute until onions become translucent. Serve everything and pretend you are in Paris.

Jewelry images I love

A bunch of images of jewlery that I am in love with, I am unsure where most of these images came from-just know I saved them off the web at some point or another. If you know who to credit them to-please tell me and I will update my blog.