Cool Treats Week

Since we are deep into the summer, and the temperatures seem to continue to climb, I thought I’d share a week’s worth of cool treats.  I know my sweet tooth doesn’t go away with the heat, and a trip to the Dairy Queen isn’t always possible, so each day this week I will post a no-bake, cool treat.

Cranberry Parfait Pie

1 graham cracker or shortbread crust

3/4 cup cranberry juice cocktail

1 (3 0z.) package lemon jello

1 (16 oz.) can whole cranberry sauce

1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel (optional)

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1 pint vanilla ice cream

whipped cream

In saucepan heat cranberry juice to boiling, remove from heat.  Add jello and stir until dissolved.  Pour mixture into large mixing bowl.  Stir in cranberry sauce, lemon peel, and lemon juice.  Add ice cream by large spoonfuls, and stir until melted.  Chill mixture until mixture mounds when spooned.  Spread into pie shell.  Chill several hours or overnight.  Dollop each serving with whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Elizabeth

Crochet a little

Over the past winter and spring, I decided to try and teach myself how to crochet.  Evidently I felt I needed yet one more iron in the fire!  I at least had the sense enough to start small and stay small.  After learning a few of the basic stitches, I came up with the idea to make cotton coasters from left over yarn.  (I like to knit cotton washcloths, too!)  With four kids, I am constantly on the go, getting them to and from school and other activities.  I usually try to grab my yarn bag when we leave the house so that I have something to work on when I have to wait.  These, like the washcloths, were small and very portable.

Once you get going, they are super easy to make and work great under your glass of summertime iced tea!  Here’s how I did mine – I adapted this a little after I wasn’t always consistent in my finished size.  Mine certainly aren’t perfect, but they were fun and fast to make!  If you have never crocheted before, and think you might want to try, check out About.com's crochet site.

Crocheted Cotton Coasters

Using a cotton, worsted-weight yarn,  Chain 4.

Round One:  Make 11 Double Crochet (dc) into the fourth chain from hook.  Slip stitch to join.

Round Two:  Chain 3.  Double Crochet into the slip stitch used to join the previous round.  2 Double Crochet into next dc, continue dc’ing in each dc around the circle, ending again with a slip stitch to join.

Round Three:  Chain 3.  Now this is the round I sometimes had to adjust as I would get “waves” and needed to use fewer dc’s.  I think it all depended on the particular yarn and my tension – the yarn tension, that is!  Adjust as you go along, knowing each one might be different.  DC into slip stitch.  *DC into next dc, 2 dc into each of the next two dc, dc into next dc, 2 dc into next dc.  Repeat from * around entire circle, ending with slip stitch to join.

If you have really small cups/glasses, you might want to end after round three.  I wanted mine on the larger size, so I went with one more round.

Round Four:  Chain 3.  DC into slip stitch.  *DC into next dc, 2 dc into next dc.  Repeat from *  Join with slip stitch.  Fasten yarn and weave in ends.

The colors make me happy,and they coordinate well with my small collection of Fiestaware, too!  :)

Elizabeth

Keeping cool with the crock pot…

With the arrival of the heat and humidity, and the absence of central air, the crock pot sees extra heavy rotation in our house.  Tonight’s menu consisted of Scalloped Potatoes and Ham, sliced watermelon, and a green salad. 

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

6 – 8 slices of ham:  I just use whatever I have on hand – sometimes it’s  deli slices, sometimes I have a few leftover slices or chunks from a large ham, or sometimes I have even used a small can (tuna size) of chopped ham.  You can even leave out the ham and make it a vegetarian meal.

10 – 14 medium sized potatoes, scrubbed and sliced thin (skin left on)

1 large onion, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

6 slices of American cheese or about 1 cup shredded cheese of your choice

2 cans of cream soup (celery, mushroom, chicken, etc.)

Put half of the ham, potatoes, onion, and cheese in the slow cooker.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add second layer of ham, potatoes, onion, and cheese.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Spread undiluted soup on top.  Replace cover and cook on High approximately 4 hours.  Leftovers reheat well.

Happy Crocking!

Elizabeth

Quilting

I finished a quilt top!  In older pattern/quilting books, I’ve seen this rail fence pattern labeled as The Spirit of St. Louis.  I assume that the “St. Louis” was an airplane and that the color placement resembles the propellers.  But this is only a guess as I haven’t been able to find a lot of history on this particular block.  I’ve also wondered if it had anything to do with the World’s Fair in St. Louis, MO. 

While I’ve been “wondering” instead of sewing, my nine-patches for Amanda Jean's have been sitting. I am soooo behind on this project, and I was so enthused when I started.  I still love the colors, and I have almost all of the squares cut, but I am moving at a snail’s pace!

I’ve also been working on a couple of bags.  I am almost finished with the Romantic Patchwork Handbag from Fig Tree Quilts Easiest Handbags Ever.

 

I really like how the body turned out – it is just a basic quilted rectangle bag, but I’m not happy with the handles.  I’ve finished them, but haven’t sewn them on.   I am thinking of narrowing them a bit.  I also need to make the covered cardboard insert for the bottom of the bag to make it sit flat.  The pattern  also suggested that you could bind the inside seams of the bag for a more “finished” look, and I definitely will do that next time. 

I am headed to the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, MA this afternoon.  I haven’t been there before and am anxious to take a tour.  Next week they are having a huge festival which looks amazing!   

Elizabeth

Flea Market and Thrift Store Finds

I found some needles!  I found some needles!! For over a month I have been bidding on numerous lots of knitting needles and crochet hooks on ebay, but I kept getting outbid at the last minute.  Finally at a flea market, I hit the jackpot!  Two lots of needles and hooks for less than what I had been leaving as my maximum bid!!  It’s been fun to sort through them and match them up.  Some were brand new and still in their original paper sleeve.  Look at those huge yellow needles – what will I ever knit on those!??  I wonder if they all came from the same person?

Then, on another thrifting adventure,  my luck continued, as I found this . ..  10 skeins of virgin wool from Scotland, along with a piece of wool fabric!!!  The picture doesn’t do justice to the gorgeous indigo color of this wool.   And look at the original price tag, $70.00!!

 

 

 

I got the whole bag for $6.00!   I would love to make this into a shawl for the fall.    I think there is enough fabric for a skirt, too. 

 

I love it when I find great stuff like this!

Happy Thrifting,

Elizabeth

In a pickle

A farmer’s market recently opened in our neighborhood.  It is open every Friday from 3 – 7 and I try to stop by even if it is just to browse.  We live in the city, but we grew up in the rural, agriculturally-centered, Midwest.  Now, although I love the market dearly, –especially for the sense of community it is promoting in our neighborhood- I still have a hard time paying big city prices for fresh produce!  Yet, on the other hand, it is hard to not drool over the freshness and quality that I just can’t get at the grocery store.  So, as a compromise, each visit I try and treat our family to one item that is at the height of its season.  This week it was pickling cucumbers.  They looked nice and the price was right:  3 for $1. 

I used a standard freezer pickle recipe.  It uses only a few ingredients and makes up quickly.   I made a batch and a half which used only 6 of my pickling cukes.

 

Freezer Pickles

2 cups water

2 cups sugar

1 cup white vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

5 cups cucumbers sliced very thin with skin left on.

In saucepan, combine water, sugar, vinegar, and salt.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Turn off heat and let cool.  Meanwhile, wash and slice cucumbers.  Place sliced cucumbers in freezer containers leaving 2 inches headspace for expansion.  Divide syrup amongst containers, (do not overfill, but make sure cucumbers are mostly covered).  Crumple a square of waxed paper and place over syrup-covered cucumbers (see picture below), cover with tight-fitting lid, and freeze.  Thaw to serve.  Makes about 5 pints.

  These are going to be a sweet, bread & butter type pickle.  They are good by themselves or excellent on a hamburger, tuna salad, or a cold roast beef sandwich.

Happy Pickling!

Elizabeth

Slowly, but surely…

I am working on my quilt-a-long projects.  Slow and steady, steady and slow has been my mantra for the last few weeks.    I have finally gotten my strips sewn together and cut into blocks for Old Red Barn's quilt-a-long.   Whenever I sew more than 3 or 4 strips together, I get some distortion.  I always make sure I alternate sewing direction with each strip, but it doesn’t seem to help.  The next time I do strip piecing I’m going to try sewing  groups of three strips together and then join them with another group of three (or two, etc).

Of course, I started another project, too.  This one is giving more immediate gratification - I am almost done!  It is for a small, strip-pieced  bag found here. 

The pattern is intended for use with the pre-cut Moda HoneyBun strips, but I simply cut my own.  I also didn’t use the fusible fleece called for in the pattern (simply because I didn’t have any), but instead used a sew-in, heavy weight interfacing.  I really like the “body” that the interfacing gives to the bag and will definitely use it again if I make more of these.  (I am thinking of making several  for Christmas gifts.)

Summer is flying by, although we haven’t seen much of summer weather here in the New England states.  It is hard to believe August 1 is just around the corner!  The girls have been a big help this summer and, as a result, I have let them experiment a bit more in the kitchen department.  DD#1 made this dessert a few weeks ago.  Since it uses the crock-pot (and, in my humble opinion, is one of the greatest inventions known to man!), it’s nice for the summer months as it doesn’t heat up the kitchen! 

Triple Chocolate Mess

1 package chocolate cake mix

2 cups sour cream

1 small package chocolate pudding

1 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup oil

4 eggs

1 cup water

Grease or spray crock-pot with oil/butter.  In large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients.  Pour into crock-pot.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.  Serves 8.

 

Enjoy!

Elizabeth