Biscuits

Biscuits Just Like Grandma Made

2 cups Flour
4 teaspoon Baking Flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Shortening
3/4 cup Milk

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk, tossing with a fork until a ball forms. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead 5-6 times. Roll or pat to 1/2-in. thickness; cut with a 2-1/2-in. biscuit cutter. Place on a greased baking sheet. Brush tops with 1 tablespoon butter. Bake 450* for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Yield 8 biscuits.

Kale Chips

Chipotle Cheese Kale Chips (version 1):

2 bunches kale

Chipotle Cheese Sauce

Blend the following:

2 c. cashew

½ red bell pepper

Juice of 1 lemon ( ¼ cup)

6 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp chipotle powder for hot (2 tsp medium, and 1 tsp for mild)

¼ tsp. salt

1 ¼ c water

1.

Remove the large center stem from kale leaves and tear into palm sized pieces place in large bowl

2.

Pour chipotle cheese sauce on chips and mix well

3.

Place on dehydrator sheets without the teflex

4.

Dehydrate for 2 hours at 145 F, then turn down to 115 for another 3 hours or until crisp

5.

Eat them right off the dehydrator tray and try to save some for later.

It’s exciting to create new recipes. I would love to hear your thoughts to help refine this one. The chips definitely leave you with a zing with 1 tbsp chipotle.

Raw Kale Chips (makes 4-5 dehydrator trays)

by Julie Erwin 

(Venice, CA, USA)

Whenever I offer my guests raw kale chips, they scrunch up their faces and go, “Kale chips?!” One bite and they are hooked. I offer this recipe and also my Delicately Sweet Kale Chips on my raw food recipe website:www.rawjulesrecipes.com. In addition to a dehydrator you will need a blender for this recipe. 

Ingredients: 

* 5 lbs. Kale  (Two-2.5 lb. bags or 12 bunches) curly green kale washed and rolled in a towel

* 2 ½ cup nutritional yeast

* 1 cup tamari liquid

* 2 ½ cup raw cashews

* 2 ½ teaspoon paprika

* 10 garlic cloves

* 1 ¼ cup fresh squeezed orange juice 

* 1 ¼ cup water

Blend all ingredients except kale in a blender until smooth. Pour liquid into a bowl large enough to fit at least one bunch of kale.

Remove and discard stems from kale. Tear kale into bite size pieces. Working in batches, toss kale into the bowl with the liquid and keep tossing with your hands until each piece of kale is thoroughly coated. Squeeze off extra liquid and place kale in a single layer on a dehydrator screened tray fitted with a teflex sheet. Continue with remaining kale. (You should have enough kale to cover 7-8 dehydrator trays).

Place kale laden dehydrator trays in the dehydrator set at 145º and dehydrate for 2 hours. 

Lower the heat to 118º and dehydrate for another 4-6 hours. 

Remove kale laden dehydrator trays from dehydrator. Kale will be slightly stuck to teflexsheets. Flip teflex sheets over and place face down on dehydrator trays. Gently peel theteflex sheets from the kale,* leaving the kale directly on the screens of the dehydrator trays and dehydrate for another 1-2 hours. When done kale should be completely dried and reduced in size by half. 

Store in an airtight container.

* If you try to peel the kale from the teflexsheets instead of peel the teflex sheets from the kale, the kale will shatter in your hands. So, flip the teflex sheets and peel the teflex sheets from the kale!

Variations:

• Maybe try some curry powder instead of, or in addition to, the paprika. If you like spicy foods, maybe add a 1/2 teaspoon cayenne.

• Try using a few sprigs of very fresh (i.e. you picked it in your garden this morning) rosemary …when dehydrated nibble the leaves off the stems. Delicious!

• DO NOT substitute chard or spinach - those leaves do not have enough body and will dry too thin and stick to dehydrator screens!

Chocolate Protein Balls

My Chocolate Protein Balls 

1 cup Regular oats GF , 
3 scoops  Chocolates protein powder,
 2 T melted coconut oil,
 3-4 T Peanut butter,
 2 T Chia Seeds, 
7 T Water, 
1 T honey, 
A pinch of salt 
Roll in balls and keep in fridge. These taste like no bake cookies!

Barbra's Sugar Cookies

Barbra's sugar cookies

Cream together 

3/4 c butter

1 1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla 

In another bowl mix

4 c flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

Alternate adding flour mixture and 3/4 c buttermilk to cream mixture

Roll to 1/2-3/4 inch and cut out 

Bake @ 400 for 7 min

Frosting

Cream

1/2 c butter

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1lb powdered sugar (around 4 cups)

Add around 1/4 c milk to get desired consistency 

Mom's Banana Bread

Banana Bread

2 c flour

½ tsp salt

½ c butter or shortening

1 c sugar

1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar

1tsp baking soda

2 eggs

1 c mashed very ripe bananas (about 2)

1/3 c milk

½ c chopped nuts

Sift the flour, soda and salt. Cream the butter and banana and blend thoroughly. Combine the milk and lemon juice, which will curdle a bit. Slowly and alternatively fold in the flour mixture and milk mixture beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Blend well after each addition. Stir in the nuts, then pour the batter in to a lavishly buttered 9x5x3 inch loaf pan and bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for 1 hour or until the bread springs back when lightly touched in the center. *Note buttered and floured pan is very important, banana bread is very difficult to get out!

Grandma’s Texas Sheet Cake

Grandma’s Texas Sheet Cake

(the best one out there…I promise!)

Mix in large bowl:

2 c sugar

2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 heaping Tblsp cocoa powder

Mix in sauce pan on stove: 

1 c water

2 cubes butter

½ tsp cinnamon

Bring to simmer then pour into dry ingredients

Then add to cake batter:

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs beaten

½ c buttermilk

Stir well and pour into a greased bar pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes

While cake is cooking make frosting.

Frosting (use same sauce pan, don’t even bother washing out)

1 cube butter

1 heaping Tblsp cocoa powder

1 c mini marshmallows

Stir well until melted then take off heat

Add 2 c powdered sugar and mix

Then slowly add 1/3 c milk until a syrup consistency

Pour over hot cake and let cool until frosting has set up.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Melanie Hutchings cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks butter softened
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
*Cream together (butter should be soft)
*Add
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powd
er
1 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs (one at a time)
*Mix, but not too much
*Add 3.5 c. flour
chocolate chips to taste
*Mix
*Bake 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes

Oriental Cabbage Salad

Oriental Cabbage Salad

1 lb. bag coleslaw mix

1 bunch green onions, chopped

    Add any or all of the following:

1 c. slivered almonds

1 package Ramen noodles, crushed

     OR 1 c. Chinese noodles

1/2 c.sunflower seeds

1/4 c. sesame seeds

canned chunk chicken

Dressing:

1/2 c. oil

1/2 c. honey

1/3 c. rice vinegar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Corn Bread aka "Corn Cake"

¾ c corn meal

1 ¾ c flour
2 tsp. baking powder

1 ½ tsp. salt

¾ sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 ½ c evaporated milk

½ c oil

Combined cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Beat together eggs, evaporated milk, and oil. Add to dry mixture stirring only enough to mix. Pour in greased 9x13 pan. Bake 350 for 30 min.

New Quilts

I am finish with a few new quilts. What do you think? 

 X's and O's 

Fall Pumpkin Quilt

Mickey Mouse Quilt

Spring Planting

Garden Spot

          Many times I have planted a garden and most of the time it kind-of works. My husband is the main push for me to develop my skills as a gardener. I know it is good to have fresh veggies, but somehow I just can't find the momentum to keep up with a garden until the end.
          Why is harvesting the hardest part of gardening?? I don't know when to pick anything besides the tomatoes, only because they turn red. The watermelon, squash, and melons are all really hard to read. When are they ready? We had a great crop of cantaloup last summer and one by one the ants bore into them and ate the insides out, before we even knew they were ripe. I feel so bad when this happens. Gardening is not cheep, we have been paying for water, bought the plants, or seeds, all of the soil amendments that were needed, and fertilizer through the growing season; it is not likely that any of our gardens have produced enough to make back all that we have spent.
        Why then do I even want to garden. Well first off, if I need to use this skill to ever feed my family I would like to have it sharp; the world is at a very unstable place and having a backup food source could be a HUGE blessing. Next, it is a outlet for my husband and I to help our kids learn how to work. This is a skill that is becoming less and less important in today society.  I want to have my kids feel the thrill in having to work at something so hard, like digging in our rock hard ground, and then tilling and tending to a little plant that will someday grow to be a food they like to eat. It really is a beautiful experience to create something living and raise it to its full potential. Also I love the way a garden looks and the smell in the evening of the wet dirt is a treat to me. I know it might sound crazy but we all can find something good about having a garden.
           I felt that by posting my weekly ups and downs of gardening, I might keep my momentum up until harvest time. If any of you would like to join me now's the time. It is just peeking into spring and the weather in my neck of the woods is going fast on into summer. So I say grab a shovel, study the area around your home that sees sun and plant something with me.

April

Rope Rug

I am a huge fan of braided rugs. I would love to have one in my home. I think they inspire the Anne of Green Gables in me, that basic vintage life and I long for. But they cost so much. I realized that if I want one in my home I will need to make it. I've gathered scraps of material for years, intending on braiding one yet I realize the work that goes into braiding and sewing them together might be a bit daunting. I changed focus a little bit and found this rope in my stash and thought that it might be the perfect balance of making a rug without the labor of braiding strands of fabric together. 

Really it is quite simple. I used an overlock stitch on my sewing machine to bind the two cords together, then the time is spent going round and round.  This is just the beginning.  I'll up date this post when I have it finished. 

I'm Back

What a Great Summer. It was very low key for my family and we had a blast just being together. But like all good things, there is a time for them to end and start the next chapter. School for my kids is year round. I really like it and I think they do to. School started about 3 weeks ago and we are counting down the weeks till our fall break. It brakes up the school year so that the kids don't get burnt out. So with this year and my kids all in school, even my youngest in Joy School ( a home based preschool). I have a few hours to myself each week. This is were I will fill my time. Blogging about all of the fabulous projects that I have going on and finished!!


Here are some pictures of the fun things that we did over the summer.

I really got into quotes this summer. I have a hard time remembering the great quotes I hear so I've hung them up all over my house. This was a great website you should go visit.
SpirituallyThinking

This is just a tidbit.. a morsel of a quilt to come. I'm so excited!

My little girl sits so still for so long for me to create on her head.

We had lots of fun finger painting with chocolate pudding.

We went to our county fair, we might be odd, but found the livestock and craft pavilions to be the best part of the fair. I was amazed at the quilts. I plan to enter one next year!

These are some of the best French Fries that I have ever made.

 My chickens have struggled this summer with the heat and also mites, more of that story later, but look at the size of the egg she still gives us.

My garden now has extra protection from the birds. I might get a crop of tomatoes this year.

The kids loved these little piggies as a summer treat. They were so easy to make and sweet to eat.

Look at my grass!! I've been mowing it every week and now, with a tip from my sister in law we water at night. Look at the great place to play, even in the heat we spend evenings in the back yard.

Check back in soon. I have so much more to show and tell.

A Type of Change

Dress Your Truth

"I am grateful for my body, I choose to love it and support it by wearing clothes that honor it, eating foods that nourish it, and choosing activities that keep it fit and balanced."

Before and After

Dressing your Truth 

30 days of dressing my Type 2

 What's sad, is that I took this picture because I thought I looked great.

 I was headed out for my anniversary dinner.

My youngest son took this for me today, this is what I look like just around the house. Nowhere special to go and I still had hours before my husband would be home from work.

I'll post more about this soon. Feel free to ask me questions.

Summer

I have been loving the summer. It is great to have my kids home, they play well together that always want to have a fun day.  I've been teaching swimming lessons, we've done a lot of reading and gone to visit family. "It is going to quick" says my oldest son, but I feel like it to. Sometimes in those perfect mother moments, I want to hold on to those little kids forever and have them never grow up.

So I didn't win

So I didn't win.

The contest was won by an amazingly talented women named Angela Pingal. She has a great blog at Cut to Pieces, I've already found great ideas. I glad that such a neat, self-taught, quilt lover won the prize. It was quite a prize and I hope she LOVES it.
I have taken some time to reflect and adjust to a life of reality instead of  blissful dreams of me winning all of that great stuff, but alas the day goes on and I'll find my big break the hard way. Not that Angela didn't win the hard way, I'm sure it was a month of intense work.
 Again "Great Job".

So on to the next project and the next set of dreams… stick with me it will be fun to see.

Now we sit and wait

The addition for the Moda Sliced competition just ended, and I won't know until Sunday if I am in the top four. There were so many good ideas, I'm trying to keep my assurances up. I have a hard time sleeping now just for the fact of trying to think of every possible new thing that I could design. If anything else good comes out of this at least I have a few great ideas for future projects.  I'll let you know.

Moda Bakeshop Sliced Contest Entry

I entered the Moda Bakeshop Sliced Contest.

I would love to win, I guess that is the reason anyone joins a competition. The grand prize would be amazing. I am in need of a good sewing machine and this one would be a dream, but I have other reason for winning to. It would be a great chance to get my foot in the door with an amazing group of Chiefs, Designers, that love the same things I do. I really think this would be a great start at my dreams of getting a successful blog and business going. Just to be mentioned on their website would be an honor. Enough of my dreaming, look what I made.

 If you know me well, you know that I love clocks maybe a little bit more the fabric, thats almost shocking to me.  So when the parameters of the competition was to make a office or studio accessory my first thought was a clock. I made a sample one first just to see if the idea were feasible.  It seemed to really fit together, and so I bought  some Moda fabric and started on the official entry.  Here are the pictures I submitted.  My family has been a great support. Thanks So Much.

Tell me what you think!!

Miserable vs. Rewarding

Last night I sat down to start the first few stitches of my quilt and discovered that I had lost my thimble! A thimble is very important piece of equipment for quilting and I just could not start without one. My loving husband, floored that I did not have a spare, jokingly asked if he could make me one out of Duck Tape. His face registered surprise when I immediately took him up on the offer. He had me run and find a button to give it some strength in the end and set to work. It worked great! I went through a couple of them, and each new one got better and better. I really was amazed, the duck tape thimble worked well and was really comfortable. See how resourceful you can get when you really want to quilt!