one flag and some insomnia

Here's my latest finish....One Flag



design by Hands to Work



stitched on 29 count Cottonfields Glenshee with DMC thread.

A very enjoyable stitch! Plans are to have it made into a pillow. It will look good beside this one, don't you think? And this one too, once they're both made into pillows that is ;-)



(I am changing how I post pictures, because blogger was driving me crazy since I changed it over to the "easier" version...anyway, you can still enlarge the pictures by clicking on them, it will take you to my Flickr page, and all the sizes are available for download there).

Lately I've had terrible bouts of insomnia. I'm a night owl anyway, but the past few weeks have been really worse, maybe it's just hormones, who knows. Anyway, I've been productive at least, as evidenced by these yummy garlic and onion croutons





I am probably the last person to catch on to the fact that homemade croutons are better and cheaper than store bought, but there it is. My oldest daughter calls these "crack-tons", so reckon that means they're pretty good. I just saved leftover buns, bread, misc. whatevers that were perfectly fine but going stale, kept collecting them in the freezer until there was enough (a lot). Cut it all up into cubes, sprinkled heavily with garlic and onion powders, then olive oil and baked them in a slow (250 or 275 degree) oven until they were crispy. Took about an hour I guess, stirring them every 20 minutes or so.

Then, I made these out of a free baguette that I'd gotten from Central Market:



Just sliced the baguette up, brushed with some extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and baked them in the same oven until they were crispy. YUM-E! Also, the next evening, I made these:



Baker's Potatoes (second recipe on that page) in front, and a tomato pie in the back. We've eaten off of it all for two days :-) The potatoes are very good, however, if you bake them as directed, the tops don't get as tender as the bottoms. Next time, I'll either turn them as they cook, or put them in a deeper dish and cover them in the broth. Otherwise, very good. The tomato pie? Well, let's just say I have cash offers to make these for my hubby's coworkers, that's how tasty it is :-) (it's best when it's served cold)

Next bout of insomnia, I'm making DOGGIE BISCUITS!! Pugs will probably be all over that one ;-)

"Snowtorious B.I.G." visits Dallas

Those of y'all that are 55 inches deep in snow probably will laugh your tushies off at this, but for us Dallas folk, this is a LOT of snow! Over six inches in our area and more to come! We haven't had this much snow since the late 80's!

Here's the cute little snowman I watched my neighbor's kids build while I was in the kitchen this afternoon:



The corner of our house (on the left) where the dining room and kitchen are:



a big bush:



and here's what I was up to in the kitchen:



DE-FREAKIN-LICIOUS! It's Cinnamon Bun Bread and you can find the recipe HERE. You should make them ASAP! It was super easy and worth the very little time it took to make them. Yum!



I also made a HUGE pot of pinto beans and filled my iron skillet with cornbread and made mini pecan pie muffins for dessert, but we kinda ate it all before I could get pictures.
Now we're all stuffed full and some of us {ahem} found all this extremely exhausting and needed a nap ;-)



A couple of you have asked about Astro's bump on his face I'd posted about last month. I'm happy to say it was just a little cyst and it's totally gone now :-) Thanks for asking!

And more good news, the work is almost done in the laundry room! The tile is down and we should have the washer and dryer moved back in by tomorrow, providing the roads aren't icy enough to keep the guy away. Cross your fingers for me, I go through a LOT of dishtowels around here, lol!

Stay toasty!

cake!

There's a cute blog I read called Cherry Hill Cottage, have you seen it? No one can get us all in the kitchen quicker than Tina when she posts one of her recipes!
She makes her pineapple upside cake very similar to how I make mine, and since we hadn't had it in a while, and it's one of my hubby's favorites, I got busy :-)



Here's what ya need:

1 stick butter, melted
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 20 oz can pineapple slices (drained but reserve juice, see below)
1 cup pineapple juice
maraschino cherry halves (or just use the whole thing, without the stem and pit of course!

I always make mine in an iron skillet, just like Tina, but if you don't have one, you could make this in any pan that the batter would fit in, or a 9x13 inch dish.



Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Take 3 slices of the pineapple and chop up (I do this because when making the cake in my iron skillet, all of the slices will not fit, there's always three left over and I don't like to waste them. You may want to see how many slices fit in your pan first, before doing this, or leave out this step altogether if you don't want chunks in your cake)
Mix cake mix with the eggs, oil and 1 cup of the pineapple juice. Beat on med-high for 2 or 3 minutes. Fold in pineapple chunks.
Put stick of butter in skillet and place in oven until melted. Then sprinkle brown sugar over bottom of skillet, top with pineapple slices (7 is all that will fit in my pan), putting a cherry in the center of each ring. Pour cake batter over slices and bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cake cool for 5-10 minutes, then invert onto serving plate, let cool completely.

Enjoy!

Thanks Tina, for the inspiration! I hope I've inspired my readers too :-)

no stitching. just pie.

Oh, I have been stitching, and something patriotic to boot, but since it's the "lazy, hazy days of summer", I am trying my best to live up to the lazy part by refusing to iron it and take photos of it until it's complete!

So instead, may I present....

The Easiest and Best Key Lime Pie EVER



I thought twice about making this since it involves turning the oven on for a few minutes, but the fact that there are no eggs in the recipe made me forge ahead.
My family was glad about that ;-)

Here's the recipe (please note that I had a typo on this recipe when it was first posted, but it's correct now)

1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
2 cans sweetened condensed milk (I used Eagle Brand)
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup key lime juice
1 tablespoon grated lime zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime zest. Mix well and pour into graham cracker crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of pie. DO NOT BROWN! (mine never did get the little pinholes and I baked it ten minutes then took it out and it was perfect!)

Chill pie thoroughly before serving. Garnish with lime slices and whipped cream if desired.

If you would like to be lazy like me, you can use this stuff, instead of squeezing all those tiny limes....



We happen to go through a LOT of limes in this house, so I had some zest already, but I think this pie would be fine without it. You can also use the fat free Eagle Brand milk to reduce calories but whatever!
One piece ain't gonna kill ya.


Last week was my birthday and here's one of the bestest things I received, just had to share....



Isn't it adorable?! (thank you sweet Nancy if you're reading this, I love you!)
I was truly spoiled by my family, friends and coworkers and felt completely undeserving of everything!

Life is good. Pie is good. Enjoy it.

sweet summertime treat

My friend Sheri gave me the recipe for this ice cream dessert she is famous for. It was something she always brought to our stitch group lake retreats, by our request...we lived for this!

Here's a picture of what the whole thing looks like....



my family demolished it soon after this picture and in the frenzy, I didn't get a picture of the layers, so use your imagination...

Here's what you need:

1 package Oreo cookies, crushed, with about 1/2 to 3/4 cup crumbs reserved for topping
1 stick melted butter
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream (I use Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla), softened enough to be spreadable
1 can Hershey's chocolate syrup
1 tub Cool Whip, thawed

In 9x13 pan, mix Oreo crumbs with melted butter and pat down evenly. Spread softened ice cream (all of it) over Oreo layer, freeze until firm.
Next, pour whole can of syrup over ice cream layer, freeze again until syrup hardens.
Spread Cool Whip over top of syrup layer and then top with reserved Oreo crumbs. Freeze until firm again or serve immediately. (the easiest way to cut this is with a metal spatula, in my opinion :-)

So easy, and yet so good! I'm wondering about different combinations of cookies and such...like maybe Nutter Butters and caramel syrup...hmm, the possibilities could be endless....I'll get back with you on that. Blue Bell is on sale at the grocery store this week ;-)

so easy. and yet, so sinful!

Surely most of you already know about this dessert. I am usually behind on this sort of thing. But I figured, if it's new to me, maybe it will be to someone else.

So...I found out about these here, you will also find better pictures there too...it was raining here on the day I made this, no good sunshine for a pic...so there's one picture without flash, one with, both are super crappy pics, but trust me, the brownies are not!




Just get yourself one box of brownie mix (I used the "family" size), one package of chocolate chip cookie mix. Mix them both up as directed, in separate bowls. Spread brownie batter into a buttered 13 x 9 inch pan. Drop cookie dough by rounded spoonfuls onto brownie batter already in pan. Press the dough down a little bit. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes or until done. Let them cool for about an hour. Then top with glaze or frosting.

I used a different glaze than Bakerella did, and it was perfect. Just melt 1 cup chocolate chips and 4 tablespoons butter in the microwave and then stir in 2 tablespoons corn syrup and stir until smooth. Spread over top of brownies and let sit until the glaze is set. You can put it in the fridge to speed up the process.

These were YUMMY! I cut them all up into small bars, took half the pan to work with me and left the other half for my family. To say they were a HUGE hit would be putting it mildly :-)

Now go and make them.... ASAP. Your peeps will love you for it!

PS. I did notice, when I went to buy the mixes for this, that Betty Crocker makes a brownie mix with the cookie dough mix already in the same box, but doing it this other way, it just seemed like they would be thicker, but who knows! These were pretty thick :-)

pie, again. and a queen

OK, let me just say, the chocolate chip cookie pie was AWESOME. Beyond awesome! After everyone else had eaten a piece of the buttermilk pie, this one came out of the oven and it was all I could do to not just get myself a fork and have at it, all by myself! But I waited about an hour, cut just one piece and then fell over and died from happiness. When I came to, warnings were issued to NOT TOUCH IT, it's mine. But then when I cut into it the next day, my maternal instincts took over and I shared. Reluctantly. Because, as good as it was warm, it was even better at room temp! Awesomely awesome pie, that's all I'm gonna say about that.



And here is the recipe.....

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

1 unbaked 9-inch deep-dish pie shell (I used the recipe for pie crust that I posted below)

2 large eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup (6 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven 325 degrees. Beat eggs in large mixer bowl on high until foamy.
Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter.
Stir in morsels and nuts and spoon into pie shell.
Bake for 55-60 minutes.
Cool on wire rack.


Go make it asap, you won't regret it!

And in stitchy news, I finished up this little cutie, Queen Sheep from Shepherd's Bush...



which is already on it's way to Deb to be finished :)



Have a good week my friends, thank you for all of your sweet comments, you make blogging fun!

all about pie

Today has been all about cooking and baking, since the weather has been cooler, I've been itching to be in the kitchen!

So for dessert, we're having pie. I couldn't decide between Buttermilk Pie, or Chocolate Chip Cookie pie, so I'm making both! YeeHaw!

First off, the pie crust. Found this recipe in an old Amish cookbook. Their recipes never fail, and it was easy as, well, PIE!

You make it right in the pie dish! It is not rolled out, so would not work for a double crusted pie, but for Buttermilk Pie, perfect.

Place right into the pie dish:

1 1/2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt



Mix it up with a fork.

Then, in measuring cup, add:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons cold milk

Beat with fork until creamy



then pour over flour mixture in pie dish



stir together until flour mixture is completely moistened





then use your fingers to pat the dough up the sides of the pie dish, then across the bottom.




Flute or crimp the edges with tines of fork. In this case, we're ready to roll with the buttermilk part of the pie, but if you are preparing the shell to fill later, prick the surface of the crust with a fork and bake in preheated 425 oven for 15 minutes, checking often and pricking more if needed, during the baking.




For the pie you will need:

1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell (see above recipe)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 eggs, well beaten
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350. Place the softened butter in a large mixer bowl. Add the sugar and cream well. Add flour, eggs, buttermilk, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt, mix. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Sprinkle nutmeg lightly over the top. Bake one hour or until the top is golden brown.

Before going in the oven:



after baking



after it's almost half gone....



you should eat this while it's still warm and then refrigerate the rest. It's good cold too :)

And now, on to the chocolate chip cookie pie. Details to follow!

what's a girl to do?

I know it's the New Year and we're all supposed to be on our diets and being "good" and all that.

But I have this problem.

It's this new cookbook:



Filled with all kinds of gorgeous pictures of sweets




I had to wipe drool off of the pages



it's one of the prettiest cookbooks I've ever seen



And I just happened to have all of the ingredients for this recipe, which would expire in a few days, so I just HAD to use them up you see....



and this was the result, little pots of yummies that turned out perfectly delicious!



It wasn't so bad, since it made six little cups, one for each of us and a spare.
(But I did have to eat the spare this afternoon. Quality control and all that).



And here's my current WIP:



It's Lo, How a Rose Sampler by BrightNeedle. I'm still having issues with the colors, but plugging along since I am too far into it to change it now.

make muffins, not resolutions

With 2008 bearing down upon everyone, once again the question of the day seems to be "make any New Year's resolutions"? Well, after thinking it over so hard that I actually lost a little sleep over the whole thing, I decided NO. I'm not makin' any. Going to make muffins instead. Banana muffins, for the second time this week.



This is them before they went into the oven. The first time I made them, I tried to fit them into 10 cups like the recipe states. Big mistake because they overflowed and were not too purty to look at, but they did taste divine.

And here they are in 12 cups...they still puffed up a little too much, not sure what I'm doing wrong!



But you should try them, they're GOOD!! You can find the recipe here: Banana Crumb Muffins. It's really that topping that makes these yummy, no matter if they turn out pretty.

So anyhow, I lie. I did make a couple of decisions about 2008. But they're not so much resolutions as they are promises to myself. And here are a couple of them:

** Make more cupcakes!
2007 did not see as many as 2006 (Year of the Cupcake in case you don't remember). I'm pretty well stocked up in cupcake books thanks to some wonderful friends, so there's NO EXCUSE!

** Stitch only from my stash.
I just know you all are rollin' your eyes, especially Patti because she's heard this before. What stitcher hasn't made this same statement? But other than the one thing I'm on a list for, the Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers series, I make this promise to myself, right here with GOD AS MY WITNESS (and Patti too)...the only stitching things I will purchase this year will be threads or fabrics needed for things I already have in my stash. Because DANG, I have enough already!

** Keep a "Gratitude Journal".

Read about this concept somewhere a few months ago and it's basically a journal but it can be just one word, or one picture, but you make an entry every day of something you're grateful for.


** Take more naps

self explanatory, no? naps are yummy.

And that's IT. I think I can do it :)

How about you? Make any promises to yourself for 2008?

misc.

Just a bunch of random things.

I made these sausage balls (just like every year at Christmas time):



1 pkg Jimmy Dean hot sausage
8 oz shredded smoked cheddar cheese
2 cups Bisquick

Mash it all together with hands shape into balls and bake at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes.

And finished this:



Star Bright Snowman by Ewe & Eye & Friends
Stitched over two on 32 ct. Tapestry Teal by Lakeside with one strand Anchor.



And we had the sinful dessert, which was really good, according to my family. But I don't eat many things containing pumpkin, so I can't vouch for it. I gave some of it to my friend Patti, for her and her hubby to eat later that day, didn't hear anything back about it, so who knows if it's good or not.



Here's the recipe anyway:

1 16 oz can pumpkin
1 12 oz can evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 eggs
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
2 sticks melted butter
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups Cool Whip

Mix together can of pumpkin and evaporated milk; add sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and eggs. Pour into greased 9 x 13 inch dish. Top with cake mix (crumble dry mix over it all) and pecans. Pour butter over top. Bake at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes.

While it cools, mix together in medium bowl, the cream cheese and powdered sugar until combined. Fold in Cool Whip. Smooth over cooled cake, top with more pecans if you want.

And speaking of my friend Patti, look at the ornament she made me for Christmas:



Isn't it adorable? And she also made this project bag, which I managed to talk her out of:



The little button has a snap underneath it, so you can change the card on the front that has your project info on it. Isn't it cool? I love it!

Got our Christmas cards addressed and mailed out. It took me almost 6 hours. We haven't received even ONE yet and I have to wonder, if we didn't mail any, would we even get any in the first place. Very time consuming and expensive these days.

Tree is up. This year it has mostly Mary Engelbreit ornaments on it and the ones that aren't are either red or have a whimsical feel. It had to be a shiny and bright tree. Oh, how I wish we had some of the old Shiny Brite ornaments for it! We're tired of most of the old stuff we have and just boxed it up for the kids to have someday when they're moved out or whatever.

My little blog has almost reached 100 posts. And in the past few months has had over 10,000 hits. Can anyone believe that? You'd never guess it, I think. Just who are all these people anyway? Surely whatever I'm posting about here is just not that interesting!