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.

Colors for inspiration and dates in a juggle

Things on my mind today:

What day should I get married? 6/20/08 or 6/27/08? I am leaning towards the first date - it just seems more balanced with the 6+2=8.

Things I have decided about my wedding so far:

Color theme for my wedding - Blues, greens, blue greens and tones of white and cream.

Going to be at my friends farm in upstate NY.
No suits or ties allowed.
Asked my friend to be my maid of honor-thanks C for saying you would stand up for me!
Going to be making my own dress.

Flowers in mason jars, fireworks and fire spinning.

Big chinese lanterns on the ground in clusters in the field all lit up from within.

Marry just before sundown.

Been sick but still Making Pickles-yahoo!

Ok so I have been sick since last Thursday but I dont care since I am completely wrapped up in making refrigerator pickles now.

Links to the ones I am going to try in the future:

http://coconutlime.blogspot.com/2006/08/dill-refrigerator-pickles.html

http://awaytogarden.com/dan-koshanskys-refrigerator-pickles

and the ones I am making tonight:

http://buffalobuffet.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/recipe-refrigerator-pickles-can-even-conquer-zucchini/

Well I am sorta making those but not really, going to cobble together a recipe with what I have on hand and see how it comes out.

So many new things going on in my life-I got engaged on burn night-my honey Z proposed so romantically-it was 5 years to the day that we met! So now I am wearing a beautiful sapphire and will be marrying the guy who makes me smile even when I am down.

what else, what else? hmmm...

Continuing to exercise-starting to see changes

Here are my dream abs and arms and legs....

I am very excited, this week began my 7th week of exercising for at least 3 times a week at a minimum. 1 week ago I joined a 3 week bootcamp program and am feeling sore and wonderful because of it. I really works me harder than I would work out on my own. I need to begin adding more cardio into my weekly schedule-I am going to try and do it in the mornings before work.

I am trying to see working out as fun and something that makes me feel better. To do that I have taken up swimming and biking a bit. I printed out a jump rope exercise routine that looks fun and is supposed to blast 100 calories in 10 minutes.

The hardest part of all of this is having restraint when it comes to my food choices. Growing up I was always able to eat whatever I wanted and was rail thin. At 37 that is just not a reality and coupled with the fact that I want to have kids and baby weight is super tough to get rid of, simply put - I need to get into shape.

It is cool seeing the muscles getting stronger and discovering subtle differences in how my body is shaped form day to day. I am not being too hard on myself because it took me years to get out of shape and therefore will take time to get into shape. My short term goals are to have non flabby inner thighs, a butt that doesnt sag so much and no 'wings' under my arms.

A new goal for today is to try and eat more whole wheat breads/pastas and not the white varieties.

Feeling calm and settled

Last week I decided that since I never seem to do my exercising at home that I would use my lunch hours more efficiently. In my office we have a small locked room with a bathroom and shower called the 'quiet' room. I bought myself a rolled up exercise mat and a set of exercise bands. Today was my first day exercising during my lunch hour. I stretched for 20 minutes and then did a series of low impact mat exercises and a little pilates.

The result? It has been 15 minutes since I finished and I feel relaxed and calm right now. Usually around this time of the day I start to feel unsettled and antsy. I am curious to see how long the effect lasts. Maybe I will do 15 minutes on the elliptical tonight.

Here is a cool study from the Mayo clinic on the effect of just 30 minutes of aerobic exercise a day can do for you: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/aerobic-exercise/EP00002

My new obsession

Ok so my new obsession is Clipper Ships, images of, ships ina bottle, etc. It all started this Monday when I went to dinner at Peter Lugers in Brooklyn and fell in love with their plates which have ships on them.

Sunny days, chasing the clouds away...on my way to...

Good morning world! I slept so well last night. Amazing what taking an allergy pill prior to sleeping with the window open will do for you. No headache, no sore throat, no crankiness, no achiness. Just sound sleep. My kitty Max slept right next to me all night with his head on the pillow and when I opened my eyes and looked at him he turned his head and gently licked my nose. God I love that cat-there will never be another one like him.

Front hallway walls are blue blue blue, casseopia blue to be exact. I love the way the color came out-now Z and I are finishing the trim in a nice crisp white. Outside the house my tulips are finally fading but the radishes out back are starting to come up.

Went to go visit my sister and nieces this weekend, love seeing all of them. Realised just how exhausting have kids is-but how rewarding.

This is my favorite picture of my doggie Mush and a recent picture of my puppy Feena-who
loves to eat everything.

Oh and of course pix of my kitties: Max, Wikkit and Molly.

My commitment to my health

Ok I finally am trying to get serious and commit to getting healthy, fit and strong. I have subscribed to Self magazine for 2 years and recently signed up to the selfdietclub where you track your workouts, weight and keep a food log. It is somewhat time consuming but it is making me be accountable for it! I also joined one of the self forums titled 'accountability!' so that I get daily inspiration from other exercising women. The Self 3 month challenge is my first ever. Each week I have to do 3 cardio and 2 strength sessions. The 1st month challenge is just the right level for me-basic! I have always wanted flat abs and strong arms-I am going to get them! Here is my ab inspiration picture:

Catching up, have not posted in a week

Oooh green orchids-so pretty-one of my favorites!
Ok so to catch up I started to work on putting up the 'perched' wall graphics (see older posting for image) on my kitchen cabinets and it looks fantastic-so happy with it because it makes the kitchen feel like it is coming together finally.

This weekends chores include taping off and painting the front hallway a really lovely shade of light blue that works with all of the light variations that the front hallway gets.

Going to my moms for the Seder on Saturday and am so thrilled that this year it will be just the family and not some huge affair.

My front garden is all abloom with the 1000 red tulips I planted last fall starting to bloom-yippee! I am even more excited because they are the type that has a really pretty black center with golden ring around it. Need to ask Z to try and take a picture to post here. He told me we have the prettiest garden on the block and you know what? I agree! I worked so hard to get it so nice and it was completely worth it!

Our puppy Feena is teething really bad-she ate 2 pairs of Z's shoes the other day-he is NOT happy with her-but really-who can be angry for long at a cute puppy when she looks at you with those sweet brown eyes?!

Was really tired this week-not sure why-really trying to resolve to eat better and get myself motivated to exercise. Also a few weeks ago I started to notice that my skin has been changing and aging-starting to look dull so I am now using these great products that make my skin look luminous! I am using Nutrogena Age Rewind Antioxidant cream in the morning with Nutrogena dry touch sunscreen in 55 over it, at night I am using Murad Lighten and Brighten around my eyes to depuff and lighten my dark under eye circles and Roc Night Repair on my face, neck and decollete.

Thats it for now!

New Baby! I am an aunt for a third time!

Yippee! There is another girl in our family of women! Congratulations are due for my awesome sister her loving husband and their THREE daughters which includes the yet unnamed beautiful BABY! She weighs 5 lbs 15.5 oz. and is 19.25 inches. Isn't life/birth amazing?

Rainy dreamy Friday afternoon

My mind starts to wander sometimes on rainy days. Here are things I found on etsy.com that somehow remind me of dreams I have had, places I feel like I have been too or would love to go to:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7998602

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8103306

I am love this screen print!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9934064

Oh this is just lovely:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10329923

Wouldn't my fridge look amazing covered in this?!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8948927

I this is really lovely but would not really want to wear it:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9579833

And I actually bought this wall graphic for my house. I am going to position it across my kitchen cabinets with 2 high wire lines instead of 4. Got it in lime green with grey lines. Going to look so cool!

Rather fascinated by little birds lately. I hung a bird feeder in my front yard tree and love sitting out front seeing all the trees and my garden gate covered by sparrows and even the lone dove. Something about it just feels 'right' and makes my garden feel more complete.

My mini morning rant-something better later today

So yes, I know I am the worst kind of ex-smoker but well, here goes. I hate it when I am at a party and having a great time and dancing my head off and then...someone lights up a cigarette right next to me. I mean YUCK I am exercising my lungs and feeling happy and healthy and then that cloud of nastiness is getting sucked into my lungs. I had a sore throat for all of Sunday because of the above happening at a party this Saturday night. Just as bad is when I am just walking along the street and all of a sudden someone lights up in front of me or somewhere up ahead. what they don't even give a second thought to is that all of a sudden their smoke billows up and back behind them.Right into my face and lungs. I have taken to carrying a hankerchief to cover my nose and mouth. Pitiful, yes, but needed!

Rusted bits and pieces and the color of the sea

Can I live here? I am sure it would be cold and dank and not really a lovely place to live but in my head it would be just loverly. Not sure why-maybe the overcast skys make me feel this way.

Today I have been thinking all about sewing rusted washers to pieces of paper with colored string. Not sure how that would work visually but would like to try it. Or maybe to pieces of torn paper and felt and old fabric layered together? On the rusted metal route-in my head- I have been figuring out how to make the dining room table I would like. I need to take another look at the photo I have for inspiration. Not sure where I would find the weathered wood I want to use for the table either but it might not be such a good idea to use weathered wood anyway due to the splinter factor. Would look cool though. Need to think on it. Still loving the idea of a box with sand in it and the pieces of rusted metal, stones and sticks I have collected over the years in there covered by a piece of glass. Totally unique.

I have been working on redoing my upstairs bathroom this past week. I painted the cabinets high gloss white and am going to be polyurethaning the top of the vanity and the doorhandles this weekend. The color I painted the walls does not match the color swatch from the store-I am pissed about this. It is totally a different color. I like the color-kind of a grass green but it does not exactly flow with the old baby blue tiles in there. Got a bunch of new swatches, going to hang them up and have another go at deciding on what color the room should be. Still need to paint the ceiling. Next to put some plants above the mirrored cabinet in there, hang the owl linen towel and figure out some cool art for the space above the showers back wall. Maybe a series of 3 or 5 of something-but preferably not seashells or something cliched like that.

Thinking about putting up some wood lattice fencing on the back wall of the garage and planting Dutchman's Pipe Vine to scramble up it. The leaves would make the backyard look so nice. Perhaps some climbing up the back wall of the house too? It is a cool vine-often used to shade porches.

Here is some info on it: http://www.abnativeplants.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=plants.plantDetail&plant_id=14

Here are the most recent pictures of Feena and Mush playing. She plays rough for a 13 week old!

http://zekeman.com/Pictures/v/Feena_and_Mush/

My first blog post! So excited.

Ok so this is my first blog post. Loving it. A place to put my photos, ideas and all of the other random crap that I come across.

6 things that have been floating thru my head lately:

1. I need to sew the 50's & 60's dress/suit/blouse patterns I bought off e-bay. Need to buy the fabric first!

Here are the patterns I bought:

Simplicity Jiffy Wiggle dress # 4884

Simplicity Jiffy Shift dress # 5960

McCall's full skirt Dress #6080

Butterick blouses # 8206

Thing is I think I am going to have to learn how to do a 'full bust adjustment' on each pattern because after teaching myself more about sewing a dress I learned that patterns are made for an average B cup size-way not big enough for my DD's! I also have to get up the courage and learn how to put in a zipper and use fusable interfacing to give shape and structure to the dresses.

2. Get to know my sisters and mom better-I sent them each a little questionaire to find out stuff I didn't know about them-I got the questions by doing a google search for 'get to know you questions' and cobbling together a list that seemed appropriate. The answers I have received back give me a nice insight into each of them.

3. Use up what I own instead of buying new things - I own way too much 'stuff' and am trying to reduce what I own. For too long I have had the urge to buy buy buy but now all I want to do is reduce. It makes me feel weird to look at some of the stuff I have bought in the past and think to myself 'Why did I buy that?'

4. Mop the kitchen floors more often-I really hate that chore-in fact I would love to pay someone to do it for me-I hate it that much.

5. Exercise because I am getting older and my body is telling me so-problem is I am lazy like so many other people.

6. Missing my friend Diane in Australia something fierce