The Flow of Creativity - Teach Someone Something Today!

As so many families do, we have a wonderful history of creative people in our family -- quilters, crocheters, knitters, painters, photographers, woodworkers, writers, singers, musicians, cooks, cake decorators and crafters. As each new generation grows, it's fun to see what talents will emerge.

However, we all had to start somewhere. I remember being around 4 or 5 years old, sitting on the screened in front porch of my great-grandmother's house in Iowa as she taught me to cross- stitch. I was lucky as a child to have many beautiful hand-made dresses in gingham checked fabric that had designs cross-stitched into the skirts and bodices. This is called Chicken Scratch and it's a wonderful art.

Chicken Scratch Apron

It is summertime and I can vividly see myself sitting in my little shorts and crop top, head bent down over my beginning cross-stitch stretched tight in a small embroidery hoop. I'm pretty sure I had my tongue out, because we all know that helps you concentrate, and a frown creasing my forehead. Boy, has that crease gotten deeper over the years -- great reason to wear bangs!

I had the embroidery hoop balanced on my lap and I completed several stitches. And, with great excitement, when I lifted the hoop to show great-grandma my work, we realized I had stitched the fabric to my shorts. I stood up and it just hung there off my leg. I know she had a huge laugh over that. I'm sure this began my long history of making something and having to tear it out and start over again. You know, some things you can fudge on and little mistakes are acceptable. Walking around with an embroidery hoop sewn to your shorts just doesn't cut it.

Close up of cross stitch

I am fortunate enough to have a few things made by my great-grandmother (who passed away in the 1970s), including the Chicken Scratch Apron shown above. When you look at the stitches up close, they appear to have 8 points, like a snowflake. I wish I had learned to crochet from her -- she was a master crocheter -- but I am left-handed and she tried and I simply couldn't grasp the concept at a young age.

This is a thank you to all of the people who have taught me crafting and cooking over the years from great-grandma to mom to my home economics teachers in school. We need to get all the young'uns with their elders, learning these things to keep them alive through the generations. My granddaughter had an amazing teacher last year that held a weekly knitting class after school. That room was always full of both girls and boys, happily making hats and scarves for the homeless. They learned a craft as well as how good it felt to do something nice for someone in need.

My granddaughter and I have done a lot together -- knitting, cooking, decorating cakes and cookies, painting, making Christmas ornaments, latch hook and, most recently, tie-dye. When I picture myself sitting on the porch with my great-grandma and realize how loving those memories feel, it makes me cherish these moments so much more!

Keep the flow of creativity going ... teach someone today!

Drives Me Nuts - August 2009

Okay, I admit I’m a reality show junkie – I love Survivor, The Amazing Race, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, Hell’s Kitchen … and the list goes on.

But every time a contestant does not do well in a challenge and gets booted, they always say, “I never got a chance to show them what I could do!” Well, bullshit, you showed them exactly what you could do and they voted your ass off!

 

People (and you know who you are) should not drive in a double turn lane if they cannot stay in their own lane. Note: You are not allowed to change lanes in a double turn lane!

 

People (and you know who you are, lady) should not go to the wonderful, local farmers’ market and whine and complain about the price of anything. We are there to support the locals. Why don't you just go to the grocery store chain and take your crabby attitude with you? I am very happy for the opportunity to fill my eco bags with fruits, vegetables, jams and breads made locally!

 

Ahhhh, I feel so much lighter ... venting is good for the soul. Have a nice day, everyone! And a great September!!!

All "Groomed" Up and No Place to Go

A trip to the groomer's gets Miles an updated "do" and a stylish kerchief! A cute little female Yorkie was casting a flirty eye his way as he strutted out of the place. What a great day to be a handsome dog!!!

What's Cookin' - Zucchini Bread

The zucchini in gardens and on farms is abundant and beautiful right now and just begging to be baked into something wonderful. Another one of my favorite recipes from mom is Zucchini Bread, which I have updated to be lower in calories. It's still moist and dense and tastes fantastic!

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs, well beaten
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
2 cups raw grated zucchini
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans (5x9x4"). Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes.

Or you can get about 24 muffins out of this recipe. Bake at 350 for approximately 18-20 minutes.

Notes: If you have a food processor, grating the zucchini with the shredding disc is really fast, although a hand grater works just as well. While I haven't tried this on my mandoline, this would be another good option.

The original version of this recipe called for 1 cup of vegetable oil. Although it is very delicious, in order to lower the calories I substituted 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce. You can also use both, i.e., 1/2 cup oil plus 1/2 cup applesauce or 1/4 cup oil plus 3/4 cup applesauce. But here's a shocking fact ... the calories in 1 cup of vegetable oil is 1,879 -- the calories in 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce is only 100!

We normally use chopped walnuts, although pecans or another type of nut you like would be just as good. I've also made it without nuts and it's great, too.

Personal note to mom: My original recipe card is from you, in your handwriting, yellowed and covered in grease spots. It's perfect! Thanks for all the great recipes!!!

What's Cookin' - Stuffed Bell Peppers

The gorgeous red bell peppers from the farmers' market made delicious Stuffed Bell Peppers. I've taken several different versions and tweaked them into this recipe that everyone seems to enjoy.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

1 cup long grain white rice
2 cups water
cooking oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound lean ground hamburger (ground turkey or chicken would also be good)
salt and pepper
1 - 26 oz. jar of spaghetti sauce
4 large or 6 medium bell peppers (red and yellow are our favorites - mild and sweet)
1 cup shredded cheese (we use colby jack)

Directions:

Place rice and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 12-15 minutes. When the rice is done, remove from heat and leave the lid on until time to add to the hamburger mixture.

In a large skillet, heat oil (I use extra virgin olive oil). Add onion and garlic, saute. Add hamburger, season with salt and pepper, cook until browned.

While onion, garlic and hamburger is cooking, wash and prepare peppers for stuffing. Cut peppers in half lengthwise, cut out stems and scrape out white membranes and seeds. (I have found the easiest way to do this is with a melon baller. They're small, round and sharp and it goes much faster.) Place pepper shells, cut side up, in a large baking dish.

Once the hamburger is done, drain any grease. Stir in the cooked rice and the spaghetti sauce. Add a little hot water to the spaghetti sauce jar and shake it to get every last bit - put this in the hamburger mixture as well.

Spoon the hamburger mixture into the pepper shells. (I use a Pampered Chef Large Scoop for this.) Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Sprinkle grated cheese over the peppers and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

I have found that you can sneak other vegetables in, too. I like to chop mushrooms and saute them with the onion and garlic. This dish serves 4 to 8, depending on size of appetite. Hubby eats 2 pepper halves, I eat one at a sitting. They taste really good reheated, too, which is a bonus.

Wordless Wednesday - Spooning with Horsie

Louie napping with his horsie squeak toy

Wordless Wednesday

Fair Isle Purse

Finished the Fair Isle purse for the granddaughter this morning. She is so cute and so excited to use her purse. There isn't a lot of Fair Isle stranding in this purse, but having done it on the knitting machine makes me happy.



I have a Bond America Ultimate Sweater Machine (although I have yet to make any sweaters with it) and have been really pleased with the finished objects produced on it. Another thing I learned on this purse was how to knit in a hem on the machine. Very cool! This hem is the inside front of the purse above the button and, per the directions, I bought a sheet of plastic canvas at the craft store, cut a piece to fit and slid it into the hem to provide stiffness.



I did, as usual, make some of my own adjustments to the pattern. I felt the purse flap was too floppy and curly, even after crocheting an edge and blocking, so I knitted another flap in just the brown yarn and stitched it to the inside of the flap. I like this a lot for two reasons -- it adds weight and stability to the flap and it covers the floats so she won't accidentally catch them.

The original pattern also calls for a strap and stitched on trim of braided yarn. Aaaaaannnhhh! I decided to hand-knit a strap in one of my favorites, moss stitch. It creates a dense, textured, heavier fabric and looks very nice for the strap. Something I hadn't done before but had read about many times is slipping the first stitch of each row for a prettier edge. It really works! Chose a pretty ivory colored 1' button and chain stitched a loop for the closure.

 

Your Comments

To all of you who have so kindly read my blog posts and taken the time to leave comments:

My Reply to Comments button is BROKEN!!! Have not been able to reply to any of your comments at all. Have sent in numerous requests for help to WordPress Support and tried all of their suggestions, but no luck so far!

Am still hoping for resolution. Until then, please know that I would love to be talking back at you but simply cannot.

Love,

jayaycee

Cook Yourself Thin

The day of birthday feasting was great. The herb-roasted chicken and roasted veggies that we had for dinner are from my favorite new cookbook, "Cook Yourself Thin."

MyLifetime.com aired a television show of the same title a few months back and I just loved it. The guest of the week would tell the hostesses/cooks about their favorite dishes. Total calories would be calculated and were ALWAYS way over the number of calories the guest should eat in a day to get to their goal weight. So the hostesses would re-make those recipes, slimming them down to usually around half of the normal calories.

While you can get the recipes online -- here is the link for the Easy Herb-Roasted Chicken and Roasted Veggies -- I love the feel of a book in my hands. Had a Barnes and Noble gift card from Mother's Day to spend, so I ordered one. I have repeatedly made several of the dishes from this cookbook and they are absolutely delicious and do not taste de-calorized (is that a word?).

In addition to the roasted chicken, I can recommend the Turkey Mini-Meatloaves, Green Chile and Chicken Enchiladas and Turkey Chili Crunch (this one might be my very favorite so far). Instead of the chipotle pepper called for, I just use a small can of mild diced chiles and we scoop the soup with Baked Tostitos Scoops. OMG, I can't even begin to tell you how good this is!

A little cupcake heaven

The cupcakes hubby requested for his birthday cake, we saw on an episode of Food Networks's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate: With My Hands." It is a devil's food cupcake (I like the Duncan Hines boxed mix), iced with cream cheese frosting and rolled in sweetened flaked coconut. They are so good! But hubby's favorite part of the show was when the chef (sorry, can't remember her name) made a Cupcake Sandwich ... tear off the bottom of the cupcake, put it on top of the frosting and you have a sandwich with the frosting in the middle. It really is great and fun to do. Little kids, as well as big Old kids love it!!!

This wonderful cream cheese frosting is one of my Mom's recipes:

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 T. butter, softened

1 3-oz. package cream cheese (I used Fat Free and it was just fine)

2 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Blend until creamy.

Yum!

Happy Birthday, My Love!

Happy Birthday, My Love!