Easy Weeknight Meals -- Take One

It seems like everyone is busy during the week, me included, so it's nice to have a small repertoire of easy main dishes that can be put on the table in a minimum of time.  When I plan menus for the upcoming week, I try to keep in mind which weeknights will be particularly busy or time-crunched, and I pull out a couple of ideas from my "quick and easy" file to cover those nights.  Caesar Salmon, one of my favorite easy dinners, is pictured above.

Before I give you the recipe, a word about salmon.  We LOVE salmon in my family.  Love, love, LOVE it.  But I had kind of gotten away from buying it because it has gotten quite expensive and it rarely, if ever, goes on sale at my local grocery store.  It just seemed crazy to me to spend $8.99/lb. for the main ingredient for ONE family dinner.  But then I started to think about it.  Like a lot of families, we have those occasions when there is NO time to make dinner before we have to head off somewhere, so we've been known to stop for fast food on the way home.  Even when my hubby isn't with us, a trip to McDonald's for me and my two boys always ends up around $15.  Looking at that receipt one night got me thinking ... if it's okay to spend $15 at McDonald's every now and again, maybe it's okay to spend $10 on healthy and delicious salmon once every week or two.  So, while I still love those occasional weeks when salmon goes on sale, I am now back to buying it regularly, even at $9 or $10 per pound.  I've just determined that it's worth it.

My favorite salmon recipe is Caesar Salmon.  It's delicious and easy, and the whole thing is done in the oven.  You know, on those Food Network shows, they always tell you to start fleshy fish like salmon on a grill pan on the stovetop, then finish the dish in the oven.  Yeah, great idea, but that's extra time I have to spend watching the salmon while it grills, and an extra pan to wash if my grill pan can't go into the oven.  No thanks.  On weeknights, I'm all about simple, easy, and as few dishes as possible.  So with that introduction, here's the very simple recipe.

Caesar Salmon

1 salmon fillet, about one pound

1 T. creamy Caesar salad dressing

1 T. butter

2-3 T. seasoned bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Butter a large, shallow baking dish and place salmon fillet in the dish.  (You can cut the fillet up into 4 individual servings if you want to, but I like to cook it in one piece.)  Season the fillet with a little salt and pepper, then brush the fillet with the salad dressing.  Melt the butter either in a small saucepan on the stovetop, or in a small bowl in the microwave.  Toss the bread crumbs with the melted butter.  (If the mixture is too "wet," add a few more bread crumbs.)  Sprinkle the crumbs on top of the salmon.  Bake in the preheated oven about 20 minutes or so, until the salmon is just done the whole way through, and the bread crumbs are browned and toasty.  (The salmon should flake with a fork if it's done.)  Cut into serving pieces and garnish with lemon, if desired.

That's all there is to it, and I promise that it will taste great.  The salad dressing adds a bit of garlicky goodness to the salmon without overwhelming the taste of the fish itself.  And the toasty bread crumbs make this a real kid pleaser.

I like to serve salmon with rice and a steamed vegetable, usually either carrots or broccoli.  I have an electric rice cooker (which I adore), and that baby needs about 30 minutes, so I start my rice just after turning my oven on to preheat.  While the salmon and rice are cooking, I start my vegetables steaming, which takes maybe 15 minutes or so.  Easy-peasy, and a total of about half an hour invested for the payoff of a delicious and healthy dinner.

"Everyday" Layouts

I created this layout last year when I took Cathy Zielske's "Design Your Life" class, but I'm sharing it today because I think it's a good reminder about scrapping the everyday moments in our lives, and also simply scrapping our feelings about things.  My younger son is very photogenic (he got that from my mom, who never, ever took a bad picture in her whole life!), and I try to make a point of taking photos of him every now and then for no reason at all.  (Just for the record, I try to do that with my older son, too, but being a teen, he mostly isn't having any of that.  At all.)  I love using "everyday" photos like this to illustrate layouts that are primarily about my feelings about my kids.  In this case, I wrote about something every mother (especially, moms of boys) has surely felt -- that pang of love you feel when one of your kids is affectionate with you, and the pang of gratitude that follows it when you suddenly realize that the time is going to come, and sooner than you think, when they won't want to be so affectionate with you.

I also like using photos like this for layouts that are about everyday activities that might not lend themselves very well to being photographed.  They are also great for documenting special or age-related characteristics about your kids or other loved ones.  I've learned to get those things down on paper, because you never know when they're going to change.

Here's another layout I created (also for DYL last year) that's along the same lines.  Here, I wanted to document a little game that, for several months, Brian and I engaged in almost every Sunday morning when he and I first got up, and everyone else was still sleeping.  And, just to cement how fleeting these kinds of things can be, I have to note that just one year later, we don't do this anymore.  Would the world come to an end if I didn't have a record of this little game down on paper, and I forgot all about it?  Of course not.  But looking back, I'm glad that I thought to document it, and every time I look at this page, warm and happy memories of Brian and I sitting on the couch on Sunday mornings come flooding back.  And that's what scrapbooking is all about, right?

Oh, and just a note about design here.  Both of these pages were made following basic templates that CZ provided to us in class.  While I consider myself a "clean lines" kind of scrapper, these pages are more simple and spare than I would normally make.  But you know what?  I love both of them.  Sometimes it can be great to take a minimalist approach, and not worry too much about papers and embellishments, but simply getting the "everyday" story down.

 

Gratitude Journal

Last winter, when I took Cathy Zielske's "Design Your Life" class, one of our assignments was to do a page for a gratitude journal.  Cathy provided a template for us to use, but of course we could use the template in a way that reflected our individual style.  Above is the page that I made for the DYL class.  I absolutely loved it once it was finished, but more importantly, I loved the whole idea of a gratitude journal.  A permanent place to record my thoughts about the things in my life that I am thankful for.  What a fantastic idea!  When I finished the class, I had in mind to keep the journal going.  In fact, I asked Cathy if she could possibly "alter" the template for me so that it didn't have journaling lines on it.  Amazingly, she did that and sent me my very own customized template!  (And that kind of attention to her students is only one of the reasons that I am going to recommend to you that if you haven't ever taken a class from Cathy, there is no one better.  She is fantastic.) 

Fast forward to 2011.  Yeah, that gratitude journal never really got off the ground.  Life got in the way and all of that.  But I still love the idea, and I had safely saved that awesome template that Cathy made for me, so I decided that it was better late than never to get my SECOND entry finished for my gratitude journal.  I did the page below yesterday afternoon.

You may spy some VERY OLD patterned papers in this layout -- they are papers from KI Memories from years and years ago.  One of my goals whenever I do a smaller album like this is to use scraps where ever I can.  So I dug into my patterned paper scraps for both of the gratitude journal layouts, and that will be my plan for future layouts, as well.  I also used really old letter stickers for the titles, simply because I had them on hand.  Love using up old stuff from my stash!!!

So, one thing you might notice about both of my gratitude journal pages is that I've not written about the "obvious" things that I am thankful for, such as my husband and kids.  Don't worry, I'll get around to doing pages for them, but I wanted to start out with some subjects that maybe weren't so obvious.  The purple page above is about the sister-owned hair salon that I go to, where I get a friendly smile and fantastic customer service every time I walk through the door.  A key way that I plan to approach my gratitude journal is to let pictures spark my page ideas.  As I scroll through photos on my computer, I may see a photo and think to myself that it would be perfect to illustrate a page about something or someone that I'm grateful for.  The reason I want to approach the project this way is that I don't want to feel like I have to take "special" photographs just for my gratitude journal pages.  I've found that when I take that kind of approach, the photos don't get taken or don't get printed and the project stalls.  I'm determined to move forward with my gratitude journal in 2011, so while I may take some photos with a gratitude journal layout in mind, I'm going to try to use existing photos where I can.

Oh, I should add that even without the benefit of Cathy's template, it would be a simple matter to design a page layout that you could just repeat over and over for a project like this.  You could use or adapt a sketch, or come up with a simple design of your own.  And, although I've left my own pages quite plain, you could embellish yours as much as you want. 

I am typically a 12 x 12 scrapper and, as you can see, my gratitude journal layouts are 8-1/2 x 11.  So, I'm going to try to get myself down to Michael's in the next few days and see if I can find an actual album to house my new journal.  (The "Scouts" page has been sitting in my "Design Your Life" album for all this time.)  Then, my gratitude journal will be a reality, instead of just a great idea.

What do you think?  Do you have a gratitude journal?  Would you like to do one?

Cook Once, Eat Twice

I love my slow cooker.  I just love coming home after a long day at work, and dinner is (for the most part) already made, because I've got a yummy stew or soup cooking in the slow cooker.  Add a salad or some biscuits, and the meal is done.  But you know what?  As great as a slow cooker can be for those harried weeknights, it's just as great for weekends.  Specifically, Sundays.  Sunday is actually my favorite day to pull out the slow cooker.  Why?  Because I try to make Sunday a day where I get to do a few things that I want to do, whether that's scrapbooking, having lunch with a girlfriend, or doing a little shopping.  With dinner all ready in the slow cooker, I don't have to worry about how long that girlfriend lunch lasts, or whether I have time to look at new blinds at Home Depot.  I just love the freedom that my "Slow Cooker Sundays" (as I've come to think of them) give me.  The concept holds, even if you don't do anything more strenuous on Sunday than rifle through the Sunday newspaper in your pajamas.

So what could be better than a delicious meal from the slow cooker?  Well, how about TWO meals?  Yep, for this great recipe, you only have to cook once, and you end up with two hearty meals that your family will love:  Cola Pot Roast and BBQ Beef Sandwiches.  If I make this pot roast on a Sunday, I've got an easy, quick dinner in hand for a busy, upcoming weeknight.  Oh, that's the Cola Pot Roast in the picture above, ready to be served.  Yum.  It's super easy, too.

Cola Pot Roast

1 (14.5 oz.) can stewed tomatoes

1 cup Coke

1 packet fajita seasoning mix

1 cup chopped onion

1 tsp. minced garlic

3/4 cup chopped celery

1-1/2 tsp. salt

3-4 lbs. beef chuck roast, trimmed of fat

2 T. vegetable oil

In a large bowl, break up tomatoes in their juice.  Stir in Coke, seasoning mix, onion, garlic, celery, and salt.  Stir until seasonings are dissolved.  In a Dutch oven, over medium heat, brown meat in oil about 10 minutes on each side.  Drain off all fat.  Transfer meat to slow cooker.  Pour tomato mixture over meat.  Cover, and cook on low for 8 hours, or until meat is fork tender.

Now.  Because I am my mother's daughter, I always serve a pot roast like this with mashed potatoes and sliced carrots.  I don't know why, but those two side dishes are just perfect with this beefy main dish.  Oh, and, not to worry if your kids won't eat the tomatoes, onions and other goodies that the roast is cooked with.  We'll make good use of those in our follow-up recipe.

One other thing.  This recipe, which I adapted just a bit from Allrecipes.com, originally called for an envelope of "spaghetti sauce mix."  Now, I don't know exactly what that is, because I couldn't find it at my store.  When I Googled it, what I found sounded pretty much like seasoning mixtures that you'd use in spaghetti sauce.  I decided to substitute an envelope of fajita seasoning, and the roast came out great.  So, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you can use fajita seasoning, spaghetti sauce mix if you can find it, or any other seasoning mix that strikes your fancy.

After your family has eaten their fill, put the remainder of the pot roast in a large fridge-safe container.  Fish out all of goodies that the roast was cooked in (the yummy bits of tomato, celery and onion) and place them in the container with the roast.  Then, add a few ladle-fulls of the cooking liquid.  Cover and pop the whole thing in your refrigerator for a few days.  Then, when you need a quick weeknight meal, you're all set to make BBQ Beef Sandwiches.  That's the picture right below.  

 

BBQ Beef Sandwiches

Take the leftover pot roast out of the fridge.  Any fat remaining from the sauce will have congealed, and you'll easily be able to spoon it out.  With the roast on a cutting board, pull the meat apart with two forks.  Place into a saucepan or a small slow cooker (such as a two quart size).  Chop up any large chunks of tomato or other vegetables that you saved along with the pot roast, then add all of the vegetables and sauce into the saucepan or slow cooker with the beef.  (Note:  the broth or sauce may be somewhat thick.  Don't worry -- all will be well once everything heats up.)  Now add about half a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce, or more, depending on how much beef you have left, and how saucy you like your sandwiches.  Stir everything together and heat over medium low heat on the stovetop until heated through (this will probably take 20 minutes or so, and you'll need to stir it a few times).  Alternatively, you can heat everything up in your small slow cooker for a few hours on the low setting.  When it's ready, stir a few times and serve on hearty buns or hoagie rolls.  I like to make skilled fried potatoes and a simple vegetable with these sandwiches, but coleslaw from the deli is another great option when you're really pressed for time.

That's it.  One recipe, two hearty, delicious dinners.  Why not make this coming Sunday "Slow Cooker Sunday" at your house, too?

Be My Valentine??

I have an enigmatic love for Valentine's Day cards.  I mean, I haven't had a huge number of people to make Valentines for since I was in elementary school.  Yet, every year, I still find myself wildly attracted to all of the new Valentine's Day paper-crafting products available in the stores.  (I'm in love with all of the heart-themed home decorating stuff, too, but that's a whole 'nother blog post.)  And, usually I end up buying a few new things and making waaaaay more Valentine cards than one gal could ever need or use.

As far as this year, let me just say that if you haven't been to Michael's lately, you should definitely go!  They have a fantastic selection of Valentine products out this year, from new paper pads to 3-D embellishments to sparkly rhinestones in pinks and reds.  I went a little bit overboard this year and bought lots of new stuff, so I thought I might as well showcase some of my recent cards here on my blog.

The two cards in the top photo are among my favorites, mostly because I love that green checked paper from K&Co.  It's from a pad of papers designed by Kelly Panacci, and I used the same pad for almost all of the cards featured in today's post.  The green checked paper is already printed with cute swirls and flowers along the sides and bottom of each sheet, so these cards were a simple matter of cutting the paper in an attractive way and adding a few additional embellishments, such as dimensional flowers with sparkly centers and 3-D greeting labels.  Oh, for the card on the left, I used my newest Martha Stewart edge punch.  It's called the Loop Double Edge Deep Edge Punch (say THAT five times in a row!), and I had coveted this great punch for literally months before I actually broke down and bought it.  And now, boy am I glad that I did!  It works great and punches very easily, even through thin cardstock.  It's pretty intricate, so I'm guessing that it won't go through super heavy cardstock, but I'm fine with that. 

 

 Here are a couple more cards, where I incorporated some of my new purchases with some scraps and older things I had lying around.  The bird stamp is from Michael's as well, it's one of their wood-mounted $1 stamps.  The bird's body makes the shape of a heart, perfect for Valentine's Day!  For this particular image, I stamped with waterprook black ink and used regular old watercolor paints to color it.  I used that edge punch again, too, and gave it a different look by adhering a strip of narrow ribbon right down the center.  Below is a close-up of the 3-D key sentiment on the card on the right.  Oh, and I could get away with the circles of green dotted paper (cut from scraps) because that multi-heart paper actually has some pale green hearts in it, although they are difficult to see in these photos. 

 

Above are a couple more cards that feature mostly my new supplies, although the puffy heart embellishments on the card on the right are actually from my stash.  The package has some crazy colors of hearts in it, so up til now, I hadn't used too many of them.  But, as it turns out, they go great with some of the papers in my new Kelly Panacci pad.

For whatever reason, I am still loving banners and flags on both cards and scrapbook pages.  I suppose they've been done to death, but I'll confess that I'm not tired of them yet.  I saw the basic design for the card on the right in the January/February issue of Paper Crafts magazine, and what caught my eye was that the flags were different shapes and sizes.  So I played around with the design a bit and came up with these two cards.  The sparkly flowers are Jolee's, and they are currently one of my favorite card embellishments.  They seem to go with everything!  Oh, and the red rick-rack is a leftover bit from a sewing project that I'm currently working on.  I hope to show the finished item here on my blog very soon.  

So, let me know.  Are you as crazy about as Valentine's Day as I am?  In parting, I'll tell you one thing that I do that actually helps me use all of the Valentines that I make almost every year.  I don't stamp or print any sentiment on the INSIDES of my cards.  Instead, I leave the insides blank, so they're more like notecards.  I have a couple of people in my life that I send snail mail to on a regular basis, and making my Valentines into notecards allows me to get a lot more use out of them.  And since I'm trying to be more frugal these days, along with everyone else, that makes me happy. 

Too Much Chocolate Cake

Hmmm, I probably shouldn't be posting a chocolate cake recipe in mid-January, should I?  I mean, everyone is trying to lose weight and get healthy, and all of that.  Ok, so maybe this isn't the best timing, but the next time you NEED to make a chocolate cake for some occasion (like, maybe, Valentine's Day?), I highly recommend this one.  It's truly delicious and the name says it all.

Too Much Chocolate Cake

1 package devil's food cake mix

1 6 oz. package instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs, and water.  Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well-greased 12-cup bundt pan.  Bake for 50-55 minutes, until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool cake thoroughly in the pan for at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate.  Glaze with Satiny Chocolate Glaze.

Satiny Chocolate Glaze:  In a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water, combine 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, 3 T. butter and 1 T. light corn syrup.  Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth, then add 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract.  Let glaze cool a bit until it has thickened, but is still warm.  Spread warm glaze over top of cake, letting it dribble down the sides.

I love bundt cakes (even though they are kind of dated) because they are easy to tote to another location, and they are super easy to slice.  Thus, they are the perfect type of cake to take to a work celebration.  Now, truthfully, you can use any good glaze recipe for this cake, you don't have to use the recipe that I gave.  In fact, this cake would be delicious with a different flavor of glaze, such as vanilla or raspberry.  Notice how, in these photos, the glaze has dripped perfectly down the sides of the cake, stopping before it made messy puddles on the cake plate.  There is a trick to getting glaze to do that.  The trick is that the glaze has to be fairly thick when you put it on.  Remember that it's going to be dripping down a surface that's close to vertical, so you want whatever glaze you make you to be just thin enough that it will drip somewhat, but not so thin that it will make it the whole way down the side of the cake.  Experiment with one section of cake, and if the glaze isn't thick enough, either wait til it has cooled a little more, or if you are making a glaze that uses confectioner's sugar, simply add more sugar to make the glaze thicker.

I like to top the cake with chocolate sprinkles (as I did here), chopped nuts, or something along those lines.  Again, not completely necessary, but it really adds a nice, finished look to the cake.

 

If you'd like, you can serve this cake with fresh berries, such as raspberries or sliced fresh strawberries.  Because this cake is sooooo chocolaty, the fruit makes a nice contrast in taste and texture.  But, however you serve it, enjoy!  And no, you don't have to tell anyone that this fabulous recipe starts with a BOXED cake mix!  Oh, I should probably add that this recipe originally came from allrecipes.com, which is one of my favorite recipe sites ever.  If you haven't ever checked them out, I highly recommend that you do.

Rag Quilt for My Dad

 First of all, Happy New Year! I was pretty bad last year with keeping up with this blog, and my NY "resolution" is to try to do a better job with that in 2011!  I actually really like blogging and showing projects and how-to's and recipes, I just don't have a good handle on fitting blogging time into my schedule.  So that's what I'm going to work on in the new year.  That being said, for my first post of the new year, I thought I would show off the rag quilt that I made my dad for Christmas.  I really wanted to do more homemade gifts this Christmas, and I've actually had it in mind to make my dad a rag quilt for more than a year.  In fact, I bought the fabric right after Thanksgiving LAST year (in 2009), and just never got around to doing anything with it then.

To begin with, a rag quilt is really just a blanket made of three layers of flannel blocks that are sewn together with the seams on the OUTSIDE.  After all of the seams are sewn, you clip all of the seam allowances with special clippers.  Then when you wash the quilt, the seams allowances "rag" and they develop a wavy, soft, comfy look.  The HUGE advantage of a rag quilt is that it isn't anything like a traditional quilt, so it goes together in a very short period of time.  There are lots of people on the internet who say that they can make one in a weekend.  For me, that would be pretty ambitious, but it's true that these quilts are relatively fast projects.

I got interested in making a rag quilt after reading this blog post:  Rag Quilt  If you Google "rag quilt," you can find all kinds of pictures and posts and videos.  But, what I really loved about the blog post that I linked is that it gives MEASUREMENTS and ACTUAL DIRECTIONS.  Most posts give information about making a rag quilt, but they don't give specifics.  I like specifics.  They make my life easier!  After reading through all of Kelly's fabulous directions and looking at her photos, I decided to just make my quilt using all same-size blocks, instead of making some "4 square" blocks like Kelly did.  My reasoning was just that I wanted to keep things as simple as possible.  I also made my quilt a little larger than the ones that Kelly did, as my dad is a big guy, and I wanted something that he would really find useful.  So, my quilt ended up being made out of 8-1/2" blocks, with 8 rows of 6 blocks.  That's a total of 48 blocks, and since I was using three different prints, that's 16 blocks of each print for the front of the quilt.  The "middle" layer of the quilt I made out of white flannel, and the back (which is visible in the photo above) is a pale blue.

Here's a photo of my flannel squares all stacked up, after I was finished cutting:

 

And here is a close-up of the three fabrics that I chose.  Now tell me that that skiing moose fabric isn't the cutest thing you've ever seen!  One word of advice -- I chose a stripe (the moose) and a very "even" pattern (the red snowflake print) as two of my fabrics, and that probably wasn't the best idea for a novice like me.  The reason is that when you cut the fabric, it's easy for it to get off-grain just a little bit.  While those small variances wouldn't be noticeable in a small, all-over print, they are noticeable with plaids, stripes, and the like.  I did have this problem to some degree -- some of the red snowflakes squares are "off" just a little.  But, I decided to just not worry about it and maybe do a more careful job of picking prints next time.

As I said, you can read Kelly's blog for complete instructions on cutting and sewing a rag quilt.  She gives some tips along that way that are very helpful, too.  For example, it's definitely worth it to buy special "nippers" to clip the seam allowances, rather than using regular scissors.  The nippers are spring loaded, so they are MUCH easier on your hands and wrists.  These were a necessity for me, as I have arthritis in both my hands, but I'd recommend them for everyone.  They were around $20 at Jo-Ann's, and I used a 50% off coupon, so the nippers were less than $10.  Totally worth it. 

The other thing that is really, really helpful when doing a rag quilt is using a "walking foot" to sew the seams.  I resisted this idea, until I saw what a walking foot really does.  It helps keep all of the layers of fabric together as they are sewn together by the sewing machine.  That sounds like a small thing, but when you are sewing two blocks of a rag quilt together, you are sewing SIX LAYERS of flannel together!  Without a walking foot, it will be hard, if not impossible, for all those layers to feed into the machine evenly.  I have a Kenmore sewing machine, and I found a walking foot for it right at my local Sears store.  In fact, for $30, I got a boxed assortment of different feet for particular tasks.  Again, totally worth it.  If you can't find a walking foot for your exact sewing machine model, they do make generic ones, but I can't speak to how well those may work.  The big secret for me with the walking foot was to GO SLOW.  I got the best results when I sewed my seams slowly and carefully. 

Ok, last photo.  This is a picture of what the "ragged" seams look like when the whole quilt is finished and has been washed.

 

See how the seams get kind of wavy and raggy-looking?  Really a cute look!  Oh, one last comment.  Most people (including Kelly, I think) will tell you NOT to wash your fabrics before you cut, because you will get the best results with "ragging" when you have unwashed fabrics in the finished quilt.  I somehow didn't read this advice, and I washed everything before cutting my square.  I was worried about the flannel shrinking too much and I wanted to know the real size that my quilt was going to end up being.  I have to say that I don't think it probably made that much difference that I washed the fabrics first.  The clipped seam allowances still frayed and ragged beautifully.  So, I'd say to do whatever you feel most comfortable with as far as washing your fabrics first.  I think your quilt will come out fine either way.

So, the final bit of this story is that my dad LOVED his quilt!  My dad is at that age where he is very, very hard to buy gifts for.  He doesn't really go anywhere, and he leads a quiet life.  He lives far away from me, so it's not like I can take him to dinner or do personal things with him.  So all of the types of gifts I used to get him when he was younger just aren't good choices anymore.  I confess that I really wasn't sure how well the rag quilt would go over.  But, Dad told me that he likes to take a nap every afternoon, and he had been thinking that he needed to get a warmer blanket to throw across his legs when he napped.  Well, problem solved!  There's not much warmer than three layers of cuddly flannel!

Bottom line -- this is a pretty easy project and you end up with a GREAT finished piece, with big impact.  You do have to take your time when cutting the blocks and also sewing, but the end result is worth it.  I bought a TON of flannel and Jo-Ann's Black Friday sale this year, and I'm planning on whipping up a few more of these quilts to give as gifts next Christmas!

Denim Circle Quilt

The quilt pictured above is a Christmas gift for my 10-year-old son, Brian.  He loves blankets and always cuddles up with one when he watches TV or reads.  So, earlier this fall, I got the idea into my head to make him a quilt.  I started it in early September and I finished it (finally!) over Thanksgiving weekend.  It's pretty big -- about twin bed size, so Brian could use it on his bed if he wants to do that.

What I made is called a denim circle quilt.  I got the idea from a thread on a scrapbooking message board.  It's one of those quilts that is put together differently than you'd think, and isn't nearly as difficult as it looks.  It's actually made with circles of denim (LOTS of them!) which are sewn together side to side.  You then add print blocks in the center of each circle, pin the edges of the circle over the blocks and use a close zig zag stitch to encase the edges.  There is no batting at all, so in that sense it isn't a "traditional" quilt.  Also, you can make this in pieces, which made the project much more doable for me. 

The website that I got the instructions from is here:  http://www.straw.com/equilters/library/jeans/jeans_gallbaros.html  I did things a little bit differently, in that I used somewhat bigger circles and squares than suggested in the instructions.  Also, I bought a plastic quilting square which I used to mark the middles of the circles, and I bought a gizmo to help me mark and cut perfect circles.

Here is a picture of the pattern that the stitching creates on the back of the quilt.

 

I just love the flower/circle pattern of the stitching!  Anyway, if you decide to tackle this project, you'll find that people online always describe this as a project for someone with no sewing experience.  If you've really never sewn before, I wouldn't recommend this as a first project.  While it's not difficult, it is very time consuming, and you really have to be careful about matching the circles correctly or the rows don't fall into place as they should.  Also, I made this quilt in six sections (which the website suggests), but putting those six sections together into the finished quilt was quite an endeavor.  I've NEVER made a quilt, and I was somewhat unprepared for how bulky the whole quilt was, and how difficult it was to feed it smoothly into the sewing machine.  If you're like me and have never tackled a quilt, I suggest reading some general quilting tips because it really helps to find out how other (experienced!) quilters deal with some of the difficulties.

Geez, I'm probably making this sound harder than it was!  It was actually a really fun project, and though it was a little more difficult than I'd thought it would be, I learned a lot while doing it and the finished project looks great (if I do say so myself).  Certainly, this is easier than a traditional quilt, so don't hesitate to give it a try!

Paradise Pumpkin Pie

 

Since it's almost Thanksgiving, I thought I'd share a favorite holiday recipe of mine.  You know, pumpkin pie is one of those things that isn't easy to improve on.  I mean, for years I (like millions of other people) used the recipe on the back of the Libby's label, and my pies always turned out great.  But then, a few years ago, I noticed this recipe for Paradise Pumpkin Pie on Allrecipes.com and decided to try it.  Let me put it this way.  Oh.My.Gosh.  This pie truly is "paradise."  My family likes it so much that it's now my staple pumpkin pie recipe for Thanksgiving.

First I'll share the recipe, and then I'll give you a second idea for serving it.

Paradise Pumpkin Pie

1 refrigerated pie crust

Cheesecake layer:

8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 egg, beaten

Pumpkin layer:

1-1/4 cups pumpkin puree

1 cup evaporated milk

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

 1/4 tsp. salt

Pecan Streusel Topping:

2 T. flour

2 T. brown sugar

2 T. butter, softened

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Fit pie crust into pie plate, then refrigerate.  To make cheesecake layer:  In a medium mixing bowl, beat cream cheese til smooth.  Beat in sugar, then add vanilla and egg.  Beat mixture until light and smooth.  Spread into pastry shell and chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  To make pumpkin layer:  In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, eggs, both sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.  Pour pumpkin mixture over chilled cream cheese layer.  Cover edges of crust with aluminum foil.  Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes.  Remove foil from edges and bake an additional 30 minutes.  While pie is in the oven, mix up the pecan streusel.  Combine flour and sugar in a small bowl.  Mix well, then add softened butter and stir til combined.  Mix in pecans.  After pie has been in oven for 55 minutes, remove and sprinkle topping evenly on top.  Bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Here is what the pie looks like just out of the oven.  The picture at the beginning of the post is a cut slice, showing off the pie's two beautiful layers.

The one thing that is somewhat tricky about this pie is the topping.  Because you don't put it on until the pie has been baking for almost an hour, it can be very difficult to get it to "stick."  The reason is that, like any custard pie, pumpkin pies "puff" somewhat once they've been in the over for awhile, then they settle after they're taken from the oven.  Because the pie will be rather puffy after 55 minutes in the oven, the topping has a tendency to roll off the sides.  One thing that helps is making sure the pecan pieces are chopped very small, and that all of the topping ingredients are well mixed.  You can also try adding the topping a little bit earlier in the baking process, but it may brown too much if you do it this way.  I just kind of deal with the topping, trying to keep as much of it on the top of the pie as possible.  The topping is super yummy and frankly, it's worth fussing with it a bit.

Here's another option, though.  If you want, you can skip the topping altogether and serve the pie with a delicious Maple Praline Sauce (recipe below).  It adds a similar kind of flavor to the finished pie.  Or, if you're really feeling indulgent, you can add the topping to the pie as called for, AND serve it with the sauce!

Maple Praline Sauce

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tsp. maple flavoring

1/4 cup sour cream

In skillet, melt butter.  Add pecans and toast over medium heat about 5 minutes.  Add sugar, syrup and flavoring; cook and stir another 2-4 minutes until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat; stir in sour cream.  Serve warm with Paradise Pumpkin Pie.

The great thing about this pie is that it is close enough to a traditional pumpkin pie to not ruffle the purists who might be at your dining table, but it will still satisfy those who like to try something just a little bit different.  In any case, I HIGHLY recommend this pie.  In fact, writing this post, I'm wondering if maybe I need to make a "test" pie before Thanksgiving . . .  You know, just to make sure it's as delicious as I remember!

Fall-Themed Cards

You know, I always try to tell myself that I don't really like fall, because it means that winter isn't very far away.  But, in truth, I really DO like fall.  The gorgeous colors of the leaves, the start of a new school year, the crisp air, that special smell in the air -- I love them all.  I also love fall activities, like college football, pumpkin carving and apple picking.  And, I have to say, fall definitely motivates me in a creative sense.  I'm not really one to make a ton of spring-themed cards or craft projects, but fall always seems to get me going.  In the stores, I find myself reaching for adorable pumpkin- and leaf-themed embellishments, whether I need them or not!  So, when I was home with my sick little guy the other day, I decided to whip up a few notecards featuring some of those new embellishments, and using warm fall colors like gold, brown, green, and pumpkin orange. 

For the sunflowers on the two cards above, I stamped images on mixed media paper and colored them in with Copic markers.  I then cut the images out and simply glued them to the card fronts.  I love to just play around and experiment with my Copic markers, so I'll often stamp a whole series of images on a sheet of mixed media paper and just try out different color combinations and ideas for shading.  Failures get tossed, and images that I like usually end up being cut out and put into a basket near my scrapping area, where I'll see them the next time I decide to make cards.

I've been LOVING embellishments from K&Co. lately, including their package of fall borders, like the pumpkin border on the card above.  All of the borders are self-stick, and feature just a little glitter for a bit of added panache.  The leaf border on the "Capture the Joy" card below is from the same package.  The vellum titles are all from a package that was in the dollar section at Jo-Ann's.  The leaves on the cards below, and the pumpkin and leave on the "Friend" card above, are all from a package of K&Co. layered, 3-D embellishments.  I always look for these kinds of embellishments because they make fantastic, quick cards.

  

Notice that for the "Together" card above, I cut some of the pumpkins from that same border but just adhered them individually onto the card.  I like that I was able to use the very same supply but give the card a whole different look.  For the two cards immediately above, I used up a few really old items, including some scraps of one of my favorite KI Memories paper from years ago.  Nothing like combining old and new items and making things work together.

Fall inspires me in the kitchen, too.  Once the weather gets colder, I find myself searching for new recipes to try for soups, stews and breads.  I'm sure I'll have some new ones to share with you soon!