Easy Patio Furniture Revamp

I don’t know about you, but I think patio furniture is pretty overpriced.  It sits on the porch, gets beaten up by the elements, and clobbered by the pollen (especially if you’re in Florida).  Also?  It’s rare that I ever find patio furniture that’s actually comfortable.  My husband and I have a rocking chair and short table set that we love. We love it because it’s fairly sturdy, it was free (a hand-me-down from my parents), it fits on our tiny back porch, and it’s very comfortable.  This past weekend I cleaned up the back porch and realized that our furniture was looking a bit ‘weathered’.  Here’s a quick way to revamp your patio furniture.

New Cushions/Slipcovers:  If you already have cushions on your chairs, you can recover them and  use the same padding.  If you don’t have cushions (or want to ditch the existing padding), you can purchase new foam at any craft store (or even Wal-Mart).  I used the existing cushions.

1.  First I wanted to put a zipper in the back of the cushion so I could remove them for easier washing (pollen…remember the pollen).  I sewed the back seam with a long stitch.

2.  On the wrong side of the fabric, I pinned down my zipper (face down).  Using a zipper foot, I sewed in my zipper (the face of the zipper facing the ‘ugly side’ of the seam).

3.  I then re-sewed the rest of the back seam with a shorter stitch.  Once secure, I flipped the fabric over and pulled out the stitches only on the zippered portion.

4.  Before sewing the rest of the seams, I pinned down some smaller sections of ribbon to make ties.  Since chairs differ so much, be sure you make them long enough to tie around the bars on your chairs.

5.  ALSO, be sure to unzip the zipper before you sew up all the other sides of your cushion.  If not, you might say a bad word as you look for your seam ripper. :-)

6.  Stuff your new cushion covers with either your old cushion or new and tie to your patio chair.  Because our chairs are able to fold up, I tied them loosely to keep the ribbons from getting caught and/or broken when folding up the chair.

Neck Pillows:  This is an idea I would LOVE to take all the credit for, but my mom helped me come up with it. Granted, we thought it up about eight years ago, but these little pillows are still a favorite.  You know that void of a space behind your neck when you lean your head back against a chair?  This little pillow fills that void and is SO comfy.

1.  Make a small rectangular pillow (same process for a regular pillow). Mine measured about four inches tall and six inches wide.  Turn it, stuff it, and sew up the hole.

2.  Attach ribbons to the middle of the back of the pillow. You can either do this on your sewing machine before you sew up and stuff the pillow or you can do it by hand after stuffing.  I always forget and end up sewing mine by hand.

3.  Tie the pillow to the back of your chair.  You’ll probably want to sit in the chair to determine placement (comfort is an exact science!).

Table Top Cover:  Sometimes outdoor tables ‘turn’ and, no matter how much you scrub and clean them, continue to look dirty.  This little table cover gives you a clean look with the ‘wash and wear’ capability.

1.  Spread your fabric over your table and cut along the edge.  I left about three inches dangling from the lip of the table.

2.  Sew up a casing along the edge. Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect…it’s for the porch!

3. Run elastic through the casing, and either tie off the ends or sew them together. I personally like sewing them with the sewing machine.  I once had a tied piece of elastic came apart on me and now I always sew them together on the machine.

4.  Your tablecloth is complete.  Slip it over your table and voila.  A simple to clean tablecloth for the back porch.

Tags: decorating, Sewing

Hot Cross Buns

I love my bread machine and use it almost exclusively to make yeast breads; but there are two exceptions to that rule — Christmas (Stollen) and Easter (Hot Cross Buns).  Easter is late this year, but for some reason it still seemed to sneak up on me. Knowing Jen and family would be out of town until Sunday afternoon, I decided Thursday night (LATE!) if I was going to make any of these balls of deliciousness I’d better do it and take them in to work to share on Friday (so I didn’t sit at home and eat the whole batch all by myself!). I think they were a hit — only a couple left and I sent those home with co-workers (since I knew I still had some left at home!).

Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients:

1 pkg. yeast

¼ cup warm water

¾ cup milk

½ cup butter or margarine

1/3 cup sugar (granulated)

½ cup raisins

½ tsp. salt

4-5 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. allspice

1 egg

Directions:

 Soften the yeast in the ¼ cup of warm water.

Heat milk on stove or in microwave until scalded (bubbling at edges) – took about 4 minutes in my microwave. Pour milk over butter (cut into small pieces for quicker melting) in large mixing bowl. Add sugar and salt. Cool to lukewarm. Wasn’t thinking and had the dough hook on here — actually need the regular “paddle” for the next couple of steps!

 Stir in yeast mix. Add cinnamon, allspice and 3 cups of the flour. Add raisins. Mix on medium speed until combined.

 Switch to dough hook (yippee for my Kitchen Aid!) or place dough on floured surface, adding additional flour until you have a nice smooth and elastic dough.

Place in a glass bowl, cover loosely with a towel, and let rise for about an hour (I turn my oven on low and set the bowl on top of the stove).

Punch down, divide (a fancy recipe term to say “pull pieces off about the size you want”) and roll into 24 buns. Brush with egg white and cut crosses (I often skip this step – like them just as well soft, without the egg white “crust”). Let rise again. Oops! Forgot to “cut” in the crosses (I did mention that it was LATE Thursday night!).

 Bake at 400° for about 12 minutes, until lightly golden on top. Frost crosses.

Frosting:

1 ¼ cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla (use clear flavoring if you want the frosting to stay pure white)

Enough water to make it “drizzling” consistency

Enjoy! And have a Happy Easter!

Tags: Baking, Debbie, Easter, Hot Cross Buns

Clutter-oholics-Anonymous Weeks 5 & 6 (Kelley’s)

The past two weeks have been pretty busy, but I’ve managed to still tackle some things on my list.  I’ve been wanting to blog about them, but haven’t been able to find the time.

Last week I tackled my recycling bins. This is one of those projects that I’m really proud of.  This year one of my New Year’s resolutions goals was to start recycling.  Don’t get me wrong, I hate throwing usable items away (my garage is proof of that), but I wanted to go further and actually start recycling for real.  We aren’t single-handedly saving the rain forests, but we’re making a commitment and (hopefully) will be a good example to our son.

Since January I’ve been using three old garbage cans for my recycling station.  The ‘sorting system’ was fairly crude and the method for getting it to the recycling station even more so.  Last week, with my husband’s help, we made a new and improved recycling station and I SO love it.  Before, I had three garbage cans and a cardboard box.  About every two weeks we’d make a trip to the station and dump everything.  It was a messy affair, let me tell you.

But now….now I have a true-blue recycling station. I have five cans that are all held in this frame (that the spouse built) which takes up less floor space than the three garbage cans.  I have a can for glass, one for plastic, one for metal, one for cardboard, and another for newspaper and egg crates (combined because we have so little of these).  Now I know what you’re thinking…’The cans are smaller so you have to make more trips.’  Well, sort of. I’ve started crushing the plastics and it’s working out about the same (forgive the furniture clamps holding it together…we ran out of wood screws and haven’t made it back to the store for more…but you get the general idea).

The beauty of this project (and the part that I came up with all on my own) is that when we take it down to the recycling station, I have little ‘shower caps’ to fit over the tops of the tubs.  Even if the can’s contents are overflowing (like the one on the right), the ‘shower cap’ still fits over the top and holds everything.  Also, because they’re fabric, I can throw them in the washing machine should they get stinky.  When not in use, I store the caps on the post of the holder.

This past week I tackled the dining room.  Next month will be our five-year anniversary and I’ve finally found a place for our crystal that we received as wedding gifts.  It never fit in our china cabinet (too tall for the shelves) and the boxes were too wide to put in our kitchen cabinets. I finally shifted enough stuff around and made room in our pantry for the crystal.  The miscellaneous ‘items’ were put in their rightful places (in some cases that being the garbage), and we centered up the table. Not sure yet if this table is going to make the final cut as we’ve learned in this de-cluttering project that if there’s a flat surface, we’ll put stuff there. But…so far so good.

On to another project for this week. How are your projects going?

Clutter-oholics-Anonymous Week 4 (Kelley’s)

This week I was definitely losing steam on picking out a project. The thought process became more of ‘what can I mark off the list by the weekend?’ instead of ‘what can I organize and declutter to make me enjoy my home more?’  Our church is getting ready to do various service projects in the next few weeks and they made a call for travel sized toiletries.  I have a huge heart for service projects and this really motivated me.  ’Hotel-sized’ toiletries?  Honey, I got ‘em.

I decided to de-clutter and organize our master bathroom cabinets.  My husband is often telling me how annoyed he gets with all the ‘stuff’ in there and how frustrating it is to have to stand on his head to find something.  So…after cleaning and organizing them, Kelley-1, Cabinets-0.

My side was stuffed to the brims with lotions, shampoos, ‘girly products’ (enough to stop a leak in the Hoover Dam), and hair curlers. After filling a bag full of travel sized toiletries, it already looked better.  I kept going and filled up a bag of products that needed to be trashed (one bottle of shampoo I dated to 2003…ouch!).  I gave away some of the ‘feminine products’ (I apparently thought they were going to quit making them or something) to a friend who’s about to have a baby (YES, I’m that tacky friend that does that sort of thing…and yes, that friend loves me for it).  All the stocked up shampoos and conditioners, lotions, facial cremes, etc. finally fit in their own basket (and a smaller one at that!). Hair curlers went under the shelf and small items went in a small basket on top of the shelf. Peroxide goes in the middle (long story there), and my shower caps (I know, I know…I’m a dork) also have their own spot. Below is a side-by-side comparison.

Next, I moved on to the hubs’ side.  I sat in front of it and realized that he was right. This place was a righteous mess. Cleaning items, various beard trimmers, deodorant, and other ‘stocked’ items were basically just thrown in.  He now has a basket for those items we buy in bulk, a basket for soap, and a ‘trimmer basket’ for all his various beard trimmers and hair clippers. After cleaning it all out and throwing more stuff away, I brought him in for the ‘unveiling’.  He was a happy man.  His side’s comparison pics:

Still undecided what this week’s project will be. We’re jumping back and forth between our closet (I’ll definitely need my Wheaties for that one) and the recycling area…which will probably include a craft project.

Sesame Asparagus

I ♥ asparagus, and as far as I’m concerned, it is officially spring (even if my northern friends still have snow on the ground) when the price of asparagus goes below $3.00/pound. When we first moved to MCAS El Toro back in the late 1980s (before development started the creep which eventually contributed to local governments supporting the closing of the USMC bases in Orange County), we were surrounded by orange groves, strawberry fields and acres of asparagus. Have you seen asparagus fields?? The asparagus we’re accustomed to buying in the store or at a local farmer’s market grows one “stalk” at a time, straight up out of the ground.  I’m sure one reason it is so expensive is that the only way we ever saw it being harvested was by hand. The girls’ Grandma D. used to tease them by calling it “asper-grass”.

Found this information on Wikipedia:

Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennial[1] plant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Alliaceae and asparagus in the Asparagaceae. Asparagus officinalis is native to most of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia,[2][3][4] and is widely cultivated as a vegetable crop.

This next paragraph falls under the “everyone wants to know, but they aren’t going to ask” category! ☺ I am, are you (one of the 22%)?? More interesting, but probably useless information from Wikipedia—The effect of eating asparagus on the eater’s urine has long been observed:

• “[Asparagus] cause a filthy and disagreeable smell in the urine, as every Body knows.” (Treatise of All Sorts of Foods, Louis Lemery, 1702)^[5]
• “asparagus… affects the urine with a foetid smell (especially if cut when they are white) and therefore have been suspected by some physicians as not friendly to the kidneys; when they are older, and begin to ramify, they lose this quality; but then they are not so agreeable” (“An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments,” John Arbuthnot, 1735)^[6]
• Asparagus “…transforms my chamber-pot into a flask of perfume.” Marcel Proust (1871–1922) ^[7]

There is debate about whether all (or only some) people produce the smell, and whether all (or only some) people identify the smell. It was originally thought this was because some of the population digested asparagus differently from others, so some people excreted odorous urine after eating asparagus, and others did not. However, in the 1980s three studies from France,^[8] China and Israel published results showing that producing odorous urine from asparagus was a universal human characteristic. The Israeli study found that from their 307 subjects all of those who could smell ‘asparagus urine’ could detect it in the urine of anyone who had eaten asparagus, even if the person who produced it could not detect it himself.^[9] Thus, it is now believed most people produce the odorous compounds after eating asparagus, but only about 22% of the population have the autosomal genes required to smell them.^[10][11][12]

Storage Issues, or, You May Think You Need Ft. Knox, But It Really Isn’t Necessary:

Have you ever brought some of that expensive asparagus home from the grocery store, not cooked it right away and then been dismayed to have to discard an limp bunch of limp graying greens which got buried in the produce drawer in your fridge? I came across this tip a long time ago and have successfully stored asparagus for days and days — it will stay fresh and crisp! So, next time you don’t plan on cooking asparagus the day you bring it home from the store (my favorite method is to steam it, top with a bit of salt and pepper and then make a meal out of it!), try this storage method:

• keeping it bundled, cut ½ – 1 inch off the bottom – just enough to “open” it up
• place in a container (something tall enough that it won’t tip over when you add water and the asparagus)
• add a couple of inches of water
• put it on the top shelf of your refrigerator – where you won’t forget about it!

By now, everyone knows about our love for everything Gooseberry Patch. I adapted this recipe from their cookbook, Celebrate Spring (page 100). I love the subtitle of this cookbook:  “A freshly-gathered bouquet of tender recipes, brand new how-to’s and tempting tips for the joyous days of springtime.” Even after our relatively short, mild winters here in NW Florida we look forward to the dogwoods blooming and bursts of color from the azaleas!

 Ingredients

1 lb. fresh asparagus, woody stalks broken off and cut into approx. 2” lengths

2 Tbsp. peanut oil (I used canola)

2 Tbsp. shallots, minced (I didn’t have shallots on hand, so just sliced some green onions)

1 Tbsp. sesame seeds

2 tsp. soy sauce

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Dash of lemon juice

Directions

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil and asparagus. Cook asparagus for about 4 minutes, stir and cook 3 more minutes. The asparagus will be slightly browned.

Add the shallots (or green onions) and sesame seeds and cook, tossing the asparagus in the mixture for about 3 minutes. Add soy sauce and pepper, toss again, then transfer to serving plate and sprinkle with lemon juice.

Can be served either warm as a vegetable side dish, or chilled as a salad.

 And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Sensitive Plant”

1.  Lison M, Blondheim SH, Melmed RN. (1980). “A polymorphism of the ability to smell urinary metabolites of asparagus”. Br Med J 281 (6256): 1676. doi:10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1676. PMC 1715705. PMID 7448566. Grubben, G.J.H.; Denton, O.A., eds (2004). Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 2. Vegetables. PROTA Foundation, Wageningen; Backhuys, Leiden; CTA, Wageningen. 
2. “Asparagus officinalis”. Flora Europaea. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/cgi-bin/nph-readbtree.pl/feout?FAMILY_XREF=&GENUS_XREF=Asparagus&SPECIES_XREF=officinalis&TAXON_NAME_XREF=&RANK=. Retrieved 2010-05-19. 
3. “Asparagus officinalis”. Euro+Med Plantbase Project. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem. http://ww2.bgbm.org/_EuroPlusMed/PTaxonDetail.asp?NameId=38660&PTRefFk=500000. Retrieved 2010-05-19. 
4. USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. “Asparagus officinalis”. Germplasm Resources Information Network. Beltsville, Maryland: National Germplasm Resources Laboratory. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?300050. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
5.  McGee, Harold (2004). “6″. McGee on Food and Cooking. Hodder and Stoughton. pp. 315. ISBN 0340831499.
6. Arbuthnot J (1735). An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments 3rd ed.. J. Tonson. pp. 64261–262. 
7. From the French “[...] changer mon pot de chambre en un vase de parfum,” Du côté de chez Swann, Gallimard, 1988.
8. C. RICHER1, N. DECKER2, J. BELIN3, J. L. IMBS2, J. L. MONTASTRUC3 & J. F. GIUDICELLI (May 1989). “Odorous urine in man after asparagus”. Br J. Clin. Pharmac. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1379934&blobtype=pdf. 
9. S. C. MITCHELL (May 1989). “Asparagus and malodorous urine”. Br J. Clin. Pharmac. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1379935&blobtype=pdf. 
10.  “The scientific chef: asparagus pee”. The Guardian. September 23, 2005. http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,1576765,00.html. Retrieved 2007-04-21. 
11. Hannah Holmes. “Why Asparagus Makes Your Pee Stink”. Discover.com. http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon970115/skinny1.html. 
12. Lison M, Blondheim SH, Melmed RN. (1980). “A polymorphism of the ability to smell urinary metabolites of asparagus”. Br Med J 281 (6256): 1676. doi:10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1676. PMC 1715705. PMID 7448566. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=7448566

Tags: asparagus, Cooking, Debbie, spring, Storage, vegetables

Grocery Bag Holder Tutorial

Not only is this probably one of the easier sewing projects to make, but they’re quite useful.   I remember when they sprang up in craft shows and everyone went a bit crazy with them.  I love the good ol’ grocery sack holder.  We have one in the kitchen, one in the baby’s room, and even one (yes, I’m serious) in the bathroom.

Here’s a basic tutorial on how to make one. If you’re new to sewing, this can be a great project to get your feet wet.

Start with a fairly good sized piece of fabric and sew up one side to make a ‘tube’.  My scrap was just that…a scrap from a previous project.

If you want to add some embellishments, now is probably the best time (before it’s all ‘bunchy’ from the elastic). I sewed a wide piece of ribbon to the upper end of mine. I also sewed another piece of ribbon to that first piece (to make a bow later). I love bows.

Next, you want to create your casings on the ends of your ‘tube’.  Don’t forget to leave an opening to run your elastic.  Run your elastic and either tie or sew the ends together. (Personally, I prefer sewing at three close locations. Too many times I’ve tied the elastic and later it would come undone…which just makes you want to cry.)  Once your elastic ends are secure, close up that opening.

Your bag is almost done. Find either a piece of matching ribbon or a make a tie out of a skinny piece of fabric.  I used a piece of the same fabric.  Just make a super skinny tube and turn it right side out. I tucked in the ends of the tie and top stitched the whole thing. If this isn’t your ‘bag’ (pun TOTALLY intended) just use a piece of ribbon. It will still look super cute.

Sew that tie to the top of the bag near the casing. Be sure to reinforce it well…it’s going to take a lot of tugging.

That’s it! Stuff and hang your bag and admire your handiwork.

And then go chase down your kid.

Stitch-A-Long: Month 11

Back-to-back business travel with a memorial service sandwiched in the middle, include some important work deadlines, and my immune system was ripe for takeover. As a result, last weekend I was recuperating from the “crud” … after 2 trips to the doctor, 2 breathing treatments, antibiotics, and an inhaler! I ignored my germ-ridden house, overgrown backyard, and the ever-looming dissertation work and enjoyed some much needed rest and a couple of “pj” days, and was able to complete Month 11 of my Stitch-A-Long (the second completion during Month 14, I’m so proud!). ☺

So here it is … I’m working on “Live” right now and hope to be done before February is over.

Tags: cross-stitch, Debbie

Fancy Pears

Raise your hand if you are on a diet!  Me too!  Raise your hand if it has been super easy to follow!  Mine neither (either? neither? you know what I’m saying)!  I have recently (like, last week) started my first diet ever in my life.  Sure, I have had times where I have counted calories or made sure I was eating a lot of high fiber, low fat foods.  To be honest though, I never knew why.  Why high fiber?  Why fish?  Why not my favorite thing on the planet…BREAD?!  For goodness sake, why is everything that tastes to good SO BAD for us???  It just isn’t fair!

We all have our reasons for dieting.  Most of my friends would give me a hard time if they even knew I was “dieting.”  I, like everyone else, also have my reasons.  For the last five months I have been training for my first marathon.  Already a big deal for most, this is a really big deal for me because I have only considered myself a runner for about 8 months now.  I have used running as an exercise in the past, but the most I ever did was a once a week running club.  We ran a 5K and celebrated our 300 burned calories by drinking probably 3 times that in beer.  Not incredibly effective, though incredibly fun.

My first 5K race (3.11 miles), I finished in 44 minutes.  There was beer after that run too.  That is just over a 14 minute per mile pace.  When I told my mother, she told me she used to walk a 5K in the same time.  I was so embarrassed.  Not to mention, I was also running it with my boyfriend at the time, who loved me so much he left me behind so he could still have a good finish!  Yes, that is sarcasm you note.  Don’t worry, I broke up with him a week later.  Of course, he’s my husband now, so I don’t know how much that is saying! :o)

Last week I ran 20 miles in just under 3 hours and 4 minutes.  That is a 9 minute and 10 second per mile pace.  For 20 miles!  I am very excited and proud of how far I have come when it comes to my running.  I have dedicated myself to it and not only am I achieving my goals, but I feel healthier than I have in my entire life.

However, I have struggled with the “fueling” aspect of running.  Energy bars, protein shakes, before, after, all day…what to do?  I have recently thrown myself into researching what and when I should be eating for the different running exercises I do, which right now range from 4 miles of running up and down hills, to the 20 mile long run (the most I will do pre-marathon is 22 miles).  I finally found a diet that I think is working out wonderfully for my needs.

It is a 50-25-25 diet.  50% carbs, 25% proteins and 25% fats.  Carbs are split up into “good”: fruits and veggies; and “bad”: breads, pastas, you know…the GOOD stuff!!!  I have everything laid out into a spread sheet that I am living by day-to-day.  I count the calories for EVERYTHING I eat and place them into their proper categories.  No, of course I am not going to live like this forever.  But I am certainly going to do it for a while.  Long enough to teach myself how to eat properly on my own.  I’ll talk more about the 50-25-25 aspect of it during another post.  I should probably wrap this novel up for you right about now!

The point of today’s post is that I am already tired of eating all of this stinking fresh fruit!  And I LOVE fruit, I always have.  I am eating quite a diverse menu of it too!  But I’m bored with it already.  So tonight for dessert I decided I would add a little flair to my post dinner fruit serving and I came up with these fancified pears.  They were SO yummy and definitely filled me up, satisfying my sweet tooth at the same time.  They also made my kitchen smell wonderful!  A great winter fruit dessert!  By my account, one serving comes in at under 180 calories, mostly good carbs.

Fancy Pears (serves one, multiply recipe as necessary for multiple servings)

• 1/4 cup cranberry juice
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 dash cinnamon
• 1 dash ground cloves
• 1 dash nutmeg
• 1 pear (I used bosc), peeled, cored, and sliced as desired

Combine the juice, sugar and spices in a small saucepan.  Simmer on medium heat until lightly bubbly (I covered mine and it was simmering in 3 – 4 minutes).  Add the peeled pear slices and simmer 8 – 10 minutes covered, stirring occasionally.  Do not allow to boil rapidly as you do not want to overcook the pears.  Remove from heat and pour into serving bowl.  Serve warm.

Any kind of juice will work – apple, orange, pomegranate, you name it.  Cranberry just happened to be what I had on hand.  You better believe I drank all of the juice after I ate the pears too!  A great warm drink on a cold winter night – spiced cranberry juice!  DE-LISH!  Next time I will probably add some walnuts or pecans either during the cooking process or as a garnish on top…gotta get those fats into my diet too!

In case you are wondering, I totally kick my husband’s butt running now.  We can both maintain a decent speed for about 3 or 4 miles together, but then I can leave him in the dust.  Just had to throw that in there :).

Tags: dessert, diet, fruit, healthy, Marissa, nutrition, pears, running

Pumpkin Dessert — For pumpkin lovers only!

You really have to like pumpkin to like this dessert. But, if you do REALLY like pumpkin, you are going to love this recipe. I planned on making a couple of pumpkin pies to bring to an office function and Toastmasters potluck last week. Later than I care to admit, I realized I didn’t have a handy pie-crust-rolled-up-in-the-box, and if you read the post, Chicken Pot Pie, then you already know how I feel about making my own pie crust!

I was flipping through my old recipe cards in search of an alternative when I came across this EASY recipe, which I have not made in years. It originated with my former mother-in-law (who is still a dear member of our extended family), and I am sure I copied down the recipe even before we got married in 1975.

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 large can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1 tsp. ground ginger

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. ground cloves

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 cup sugar

1 large can evaporated milk

1 box yellow cake mix

1 cup chopped nuts – walnuts or pecans (optional)

1 stick margarine or butter

Directions:

Slightly beat the eggs. Mix all ingredients together, except for the cake mix and nuts. Pour into lightly greased 9×13 pan. Sprinkle cake mix evenly over the top.

Dot top with slices of margarine/butter.

Bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes, until goldenbrown. Can be served with whipped cream.

Note:

Since I had two different events to attend I divided the recipe into two 8×8 pans. I started checking at 40 minutes, but it still took about 50 minutes to lightly brown on top.

Enjoy!

Lots o’ Alphabet Letters

When my sewing buddy E sent this link to alphabet letter similar to these (I can’t find the original site she sent but the letters were similar to these), I thought she was nuts!  Like I said before, I do not sew on a regular basis.  I can attach ribbon to a burp cloth and I can sew a patch but I don’t consider myself any more than a total amateur.  E decided to give it a try and I LOVED the way her letters looked so I decided to go for it!  I am actually really happy with the way the letters turned out and they are going to be a perfect gift for my sweet baby nephew!  

First, we decided to get rid of the magnets.  They were going to little ones and we didn’t want to take any chances with the stitching opening up and the magnets falling out.  Our letters are just to play with.

To make the letter template, we chose a Cricut font that appealed to us.  We made sure that it did not have twists and curls and would be easy to stitch around.  Once we decided which size and font, we cut out each letter of the alphabet onto cardstock.

Using the template, I traced each letter onto batting.  **E and I each used a different batting.  After the letters were finished, we decided that we liked the thicker batting better.

I gathered up 26 different scraps in boy-ish fabrics (not easy to do since lately all of my projects have been girly projects!) that were large enough to fold over the batting.  This is where I need to mention that E did all of the legwork here.  She practiced with several different techniques until we decided what looked the best and was the easiest way to mass produce these things! 

I started with the letter A.  I took the batting for the letter A, placed it in between two scraps of fabric (right sides out) and pinned the cardstock template A on top of the fabric.  E was able to just stitch the letters but when I tried to feel the batting through the fabric to guide the sewing machine, my letters looked ridiculous!  Pinning the cardstock template to the fabric gave me a sewing guide.  Be sure to pin the cardstock in several spots because the cardstock had a tendency to slip if not pinned properly.

Once the letters were sewn, I used pinking shears to cut the letters out. 

They are definitely not all pretty and not all perfectly shaped letters, but I love them! 

These are headed to my sweet little nephew’s house, but my four year old has been looking at them all day.  Methinks I will be making another set in the near future!

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Tags: Christmas, Crafts, Jennifer, Sewing