finally, the sewing has begun!

my sweet sadie is finally getting lots of use now that i've started sewing more and more everyday! 

sadie, my sewing machine!

yes, i name my appliances (molly, the mixer; sadie, the sewing machine...i'm sure there are others). 

i have been busy over the last week with my sewing and cooking projects so this is the first moment i've had to update the blog. ok, well, that's not quite true...me and my lazy side have been taking our sweet time with blogging. but now, i'm back and up to the task ahead...kind of. it's not been the best for me the last couple days...my husband has been calling them "bitch days" and well, quite frankly he's right! it's such a joy to be a girl sometimes.

but, now the bitchiness seems to have disappeared and the weird funk that i felt creeping up seems to be moving away...quess that keeping myself busy was a big help after all!

my first apron

so, back to sewing and the first thing i made was an apron from one of my quilting magazines. it was super easy and quick, made from a couple towels i got from ikea and didn't really like as towels anyway, and some ribbon for the ties. i was so super excited when i made it, but i've yet to remember to use it when i'm actually in the kitchen making things! at some point, i'm sure i'll remember to use it...hopefully.

my new pillowcase style top!

last week, while browsing through one of my favorite sewing sites, i got the idea to make myself up a couple pillowcase style tops. i could have spent $10 to purchase the pattern instructions, but since i already know how to make that type of thing for jordan i figured it wouldn't be a problem to make one or 2 for myself. i simply took some closer looks at the photos of ones that had been made and went from there. it was very easy since the top is essentially a rectangle with armholes cut out, i made mine with a slightly more fitted cut rather than full like the ones i make for jordan. 

the blue top

with the weather getting warmer, i figure i will get tons of wear out of these kinds of tops! i like the way the first 2 came out, but have tons of ideas for the next batch of tops that i'll be working on over the next week or so. it's such an easy pattern to alter and i'm actually finding that it's more comfortable to wear than i thought it would be!

another view of the blue top

so with a new sewing pattern to keep my creative side occupied, i broke my self imposed rule of not buying more fabric and bought more fabric today. and to make that even better, i didn't even order the right amount so i had to order even more! i'm really trying to find the bright side of that mistake...guess it could be that i can just use the fabric to make some stuff for jordan, too. i'm just not a huge fan of the whole mother/daughter matching thing, but i guess if we don't wear the same patterns on the same days, it'll be just fine! so, there, i did find a bright side after all!

and now, i'm off to put sadie to more work...i've got 2 dresses for jordan that are nearly done and a skirt, too that i hope to finish up this week. i got tons of ideas from the flowertown festival (it's a big arts/crafts type fair) that we had here over the past weekend...i always get inspired after going to that! i'd love to have a booth there some day...oh, how a girl can dream!

anyhow, come on back for more about my sewing projects and all the cooking and baking i've still been getting in as well! i'll be posting more soon with yummy food pics, too!

cooking up a storm!

i have been one busy little kitchen bee the last couple days! sunday i made pot roast with carrots, onions, and fresh herbs in my new dutch oven, mashed potatoes, and baking soda drop biscuits for dinner. all the new recipes i tried were very easy to follow...the pot roast was from the pioneer woman cooks and the biscuits were from the good houskeeping baking book. side note: i will freely admit that i have marked several recipes in both books and look forward to trying them all out very soon! but, back to the dinner...it was my first attempt at real, in the oven, pot roast so i was a bit anxious as to how it would turn out. in the end i had nothing to be anxious about...it cooked up nicely and everyone loved it! i think next time i make it though i'll add more carrots since we all like the carrots and there didn't seem to be enough for all of us to have a good serving of. 

sunday dinner!

and since this recipe was so super easy...brown the veggies and then the meat in the pot on the stove before popping it all into the oven with the added spices for a few hours...i'll be making it way more often! the drop biscuits were a last minute addition that i thought of about 20 minutes before we sat down to eat. i used the scooper for making the biscuits, that way they would all be the same size, but didn't realize they would be so small! oh well, i'll rename them 2-bite biscuits when i make them again...stephen loved them and i think he ate about a half dozen of 'em before the night was over!

everyone seemed to love everything so that made me happy and naturally more willing to make the recipe again!

bolognese sauce

back to the kitchen on monday where i attempted to make zucchini bread using a weight watchers recipe...it didn't turn out at all, and i threw the whole thing out. i think i might have added too much zucchini or used the wrong kind of pan...or any number of other things! oh well, i'll try another recipe at some point since i bought more zucchini than i would need, becuase i didn't use a list like i should have! yet more evidence of why i should never go to the store without a list! ah, well, i'll learn one of these days!

next up was bolognese sauce in the dutch oven. turns out, bolognese is just a fancy name for meat sauce! but it also turns out to be so very yummy! i used a recipe from a slow cooking book that i got from the library...i made a couple alterations to it by adding some minced garlic and italian seasonings (i have to have garlic in anything remotely italian, it's just not the same without it). i again stunk up the house with the minced onions, and again realized that we  need a bigger house where hubby's "office" is far from the kitchen since he hates when i cut/cook onions! aside from that, it was great...cooked nice and slow on the stove top for about 4 hours total, it created a very lovely smell while simmering and made me very hungry! 

the sauce was used to cover angel hair pasta for dinner and i picked up some fazoli's breadsticks to go along with it as well. we all like fazoli's breadsticks (especially the kids) so i figured i could let them cook those for us! it was a very yummy dinner with enough left for lunch one day for me!

and still more baking on monday when i decided to bake brownies for the hubby and kids...using a box mix this time since i can't possibly screw those up and everyone loves them! then after making those i made up some lemon bars using the good housekeeping book. this was my first attempt at lemon bars so i was naturally hoping for a good outcome...especially since i was the only one who would eat them!

fresh lemon bars

i followed the recipe as written...realizing that i'd really like to have a food processor for cutting the butter and flour mixture together for the dough, the pastry cutter works fine but it's quite a workout for my arms and hands! on second thought, maybe the pastry cutter is better since it gives me more of a workout than a food processor would! anyway, back to the lemon bars...i got everything assembled, baked the dough first then added the lemon topping before baking it some more. once that was out and cooled a bit, i added the powdered sugar to the top and created a lovely pale yellow, sugar covered treat that, to my surprise, i am completely addicted to! the real surprise is that they aren't even that great and yet i still can't seem to stop eating them! the cookie bottom is not as crispy as i think it should be, but the lemon topping isn't super tart so maybe that's why i'm so into them!

and so monday was my super busy in the kitchen day...i ended up running the dishwasher twice and that nearly never happens! 

sweet muffins

tuesday was to be a sewing/crafting day since i cooked/baked so much the 2 previous days, but alas i was compelled to bake something! so that morning i made up some sweet muffins from a weight watchers cookbook that i've got. the recipe is super easy, with several variations to a basic muffin recipe, and i've made them in the past so i knew what to expect. no surprises and they came out well...a little crusty on the outside, but yummy still the same!

i'm thinking of taking the day off from the kitchen today and concentrate more on making clothes for jordan or working on the quilt that is waiting to be quilted! i've already started on a skirt and dress for her, so i really should follow through and finish them! i also have high hopes for making myself a skirt or dress this week as well...so i better get to it!

once i get back into the kitchen i'll be making up a chocolate torte again, jordan wants fried pickles so i'm gonna try my hand at making those, too. and i still need to get that monkey bread made up!

come on back soon and many thanks!

back to the kitchen i go!

i took a bit of a break from the project the last few days and quite frankly, i think i really needed that! i tend to go full force when i start something and then burn out quickly, since this is intended for me to make a full year long commitment to, i figured i should slow up before i burn out! but, i did miss being in the kitchen and making new things so i'm glad to have a pot roast in the oven as i type this up! :)

pork butt in the crock pot getting ready to cook!

tuesday was a good cooking day for me. i had decided to finally try my hand at making pulled pork in the crock pot, made the tomato vegetable soup i had wanted to try, baked more banana muffins for stephen (or was that monday, i really can't remember) and made homemade french fries to go with dinner.

 finished pork butt...yum!

for the pork butt i just used a recipe that i found online at the good housekeeping website. the recipe was easy to follow and you could even change the amount of servings and it would change the amount of ingredients for you...that was a big bonus! i made a couple of substitutions (mainly because i forgot to pick up the items i would need while i was at the store...and let that be a lesson to me to always make a list!), but they didn't seem to alter the flavor in any way so it all worked out in the end! even the kids liked it...jordan put up her usual fuss, but ate it all anyway; stephen made a bit of a fuss, too but he also ate all that was on his plate. 

homemade french fries, made from a recipe in the joy of cooking book, were the last minute side item and while the cuts were of various size and shape they also turned out good in the end. stephen liked them the most!

homemade french fries

while the pork butt was in the crock pot and before deciding to make the french fries, i got everything together and made up a batch of tomato-vegetable soup from a recipe i found in one of the cookbooks i picked up at the library. it was so easy since it used canned tomatoes and frozen green beans and corn, along with some onion, carrot, celery and chicken broth (my homemade chicken broth, no less!). bonus of the recipe was that it was very low sodium/salt content since the tomatoes were the only canned item and i hadn't added any salt when i made the broth. yay, me for making something healthy...even if i am the only one eating it!

side view of the soup

since wednesday was st. patrick's day, i decided to try my hand at making irish soda bread. of course, the only problem with me making that was that i had never tried irish soda bread before so i would have no idea if it turned out well or not! but still, since i'm always one for trying new things, i went ahead and found a recipe in my good housekeeping baking book and dove right in! i made the alternate recipe that also uses whole wheat flour since i wanted to attempt to make it somewhat healthy. i followed the recipe as it was written and had no troubles with any of it. kneading and shaping the loaf made a nice floury mess on my counter and i had to add a few more drops of milk than it called for since the dough wasn't sticking together as well as it should have. but once it was all together and shaped into a somewhat decent ball, i popped it into the oven and just waited for it to get baked!

finished irish soda bread

i'm not even sure if it looks like it's supposed to, but it tasted very good fresh from the oven and even heated up for breakfast the next couple days. i'm finding that i am a complete bread-a-holic, if that's even a word!, and therefore, will be trying my hand at many other types of bread probably weekly just so i have fresh bread around whenever i want it! that's the bonus of this project i guess...being able to make things up whenever the mood strikes and finding out the kinds of things i really enjoy eating!

my newest kitchen toy!

thursday was the last time i baked anything, having made chocolate chip cookies for the family since i overbaked the last batch (even overbaked that batch still got eaten). so i went back into the kitchen today and broke in my newest kitchen "toy", a 6-quart enameled, cast iron dutch oven! it finally arrived wednesday night and i can honestly say that i had never been so happy to get a new pot, ever! now the pot roast is cooking in the oven and the mashed potatoes will be made up shortly...i'm so super excited to see how it all turns out since i've never made a pot roast in the oven, i've only ever made it in the crock pot. i'll post all about it sometime over the next week...so be sure to come on back to see the pretty pictures of the finished product!

who knows what else i will be making this week...i still need to make an angel food cake since i've promised stephen i would and i'm starting to crave monkey bread so i may have to make that again, too. there's an easy apple pie recipe that i want to try as well, so maybe i'll make that, too. and of course, i'll need to make up a fresh loaf of bread to have around as well, think i'll make the beer bread recipe that i found in the joy of cooking. oh, and there's also been a request for my chocolate truffle torte so i'll be making that at the end of the week! high hopes for baking this week...good thing i'm stocked up on flour, sugar, eggs, and of course plenty of butter!

come on back soon! more pictures and adventures to come!

craftiness and cats

ginger watching the world outside

since i don't think that my craftiness blogs will be near as long as my cooking ones, i've decided that i'll share pics of the cats, too...just because i feel like it and since i think my cats are great (most days, that is). 

i've been a bit on the lazy side the last couple days, choosing to build my lego beach house as a form of creative expression rather than sewing or some other needle craft. worked out well to have jordan help me with some of it, until i got annoyed with her asking "are you done yet" and "why's it taking so long" and so  my husband said to her..."mommy is a perfectionist, nut-job when it comes to those kinds of things, so you should stay away from her." sadly, he's right. 

my lego beach house

over the weekend, i did work on a few sewing things, so maybe that's why i chose to be less creative and crafty on monday...or it really could be that i'm just that lazy sometimes. 

friday i made up a little bag from a pattern in one of my quilting magazines. i used some of the quilting fabric that i already had in the house, all in my effort to not buy any more during this project! the directions were easy enough to follow and had i not stopped to watch some of doctor who, which i had playing in the background, or a movie after dinner, i would've gotten the bag done much quicker. maybe one day i'll work on something non-stop with no interuptions...but i kind of doubt it since i'm so easily distracted!

anyway, i got the bag all put together and it turned out really cute, if i do say so myself (and i do!). it has 6 pockets all around the outside and is just the right size for carrying to the baseball field for practices and such, when i don't want to take my vera bradley bags. i'm working on a slightly bigger version just to see how it would look and adding a snap closure, too.

my little bag

i also made up a few skirts for jordan, finally finishing the one that was started earlier this month and making up two others, as well. since skirts are so easy to make up and she likes wearing them, i figure i can complete most of her spring and summer wardrobe with lots of them! i have every intention of making up another couple of skirts as well as about 6 dresses...i have the intention, just don't know if i have the follow through! fingers crossed, that i get them all done by the end of the month!

two of the skirts i made over the weekend

and so now i'm going to be working on dresses for jordan, another slightly bigger 6 pocket tote, and possibly crocheting on the afghan some more; it's obviously not going to be done in time for an anniversary gift since i haven't worked on it in the last week and our anniversary is this saturday...further proof of my good intentions, bad follow through!

i'll also be baking up some more banana muffins for stephen since he likes them so much, making my first slow-cooker pork butt, and anxiously waiting for my new dutch oven to get here. lots of stuff to do...guess i should get off my butt and get to them!

here's a last cat picture, before i go...

cleo's turn to look out the window

and because my daughter is constantly trying to stick her foot into my pictures when i take them...here's jordan showing off her foot...

my silly girl!

come on back soon for more cooking, baking, crafting, cats, and possibly feet!

 

and the project goes on: kitchen time

thursday was a no-baking day, although i did make dinner so there was time well spent in the kitchen! i tried out the recipe for chicken fried steak and gravy from my new cookbook, "the pioneer woman cooks" as well as mashed potatoes from "the good home cookbook". i learned a few things while making that dinner and had my patience thoroughly tested all at the same time!

covered cube steak ready for the pan

i got everything together and followed "the procedure" for setting up the steak and various dipping/coating stations so to speak. dipping the steaks created a lovely mess on my hands, as was totally expected since i was coating the steaks in an egg/milk mixture then into the seasoned flour mix...twice. my hands were so covered that i had to have stephen turn the kitchen sink on for me to wash my hands! but once all that was done and the steaks were ready i fried them up in the pan, just like the recipe called for...very easy, no problems there.

chicken-fried steak

while the steaks were frying, i was mixing up the potatoes in molly (my mixer...i've decided to name her since i've been using it so much, she just seemed to need a name), having already boiled them before getting the steaks ready. still very easy with no problems there.

the problems came when the steaks were done and it was time to make the gravy. if i had read the recipe more closely i may not have had such difficulty, but i didn't and so i had problems...and only myself to blame!

gravy attempt #1, when you don't follow the recipe correctly

see, had i paid closer attention to the recipe, i would have added all the milk at the same time, not gradually...because a lumpy, floury mess is what you get when you don't pay attention to directions. and let that be a lesson for everyone attempting to make gravy for the first time! so i dumped that mess, re-read the directions all the way through and caught the part about adding the milk all at once that i had so obviously missed, and ended up with a much nicer looking batch of gravy...after whisking the crap out of the whole thing! 

the final gravy results

so an hour or so after getting dinner started, we finally sat down to eat. i had no idea that it would take so long and that i would seriously snap at my child when he said he didn't like the meat...my nerves were shot by that point and i could've flown off the handle at any little complaint! but we all ate everything and the kids didn't even complain that the potatoes tasted different from the instant ones we normally have...so, note to self, i can now make mashed potatoes from real potatoes, not a pouch! the unfortunate part of the whole ordeal though, is that i realized i don't really like chicken fried steak! the gravy turned out to be the best part of the steak for me even though i thought it was a bit thick. 

oh, well, live and learn and don't try to make those again!

friday, i took the day off from the kitchen and really had every intention to not bake anything until next week, but i got a craving for pound cake and just had to bake one on saturday night. after checking through a couple of my cookbooks to find a recipe, i settled on the brown sugar bourbon pound cake from "the good housekeeping best of baking" book...it would require a trip to the liquor store since we had no bourbon in the house, but that allowed me to pick up some good beer, too so that was fine. (bill's is our local liquor store with beer on one side, liquor and wine on the other...crazy south carolina laws).

so, anyway, back home and after getting dinner cooked and eaten i started on the pound cake. it was the first time that i used my bundt pan and the first time in over 3 years that i attempted a pound cake again...the last one didn't get cooked all the way through and was chunked into the garbage. getting it together was easy enough and i followed the directions exactly as written since i didn't want to have any cake mistakes!

halfway through baking, i covered the edges to avoid burning

once the batter was all together, i poured it into the bundt pan and said a little prayer that it would all fit and not overflow. as i was pouring, jordan came into the kitchen and was asking all kinds of questions about the cake...one of them being that she asked for chocolate chips to be put in, i kindly declined that request.

i popped the cake in the oven, set the timer and walked away...kind of. i set the timer for half the cooking time so that i could rotate the cake halfway through and cover the sides if needed...it was needed. but then i relaxed more during the second part of the baking just checking on it every 5 minutes or so...i'm a little paranoid about overbaking cakes or cookies or really anything for that matter!

fresh from the pan!

once it was done baking and cooled the proper amount of time, it was time to hold my breath, say a little prayer to the baking gods, and flip the cake out of the pan. and voila! success...it all came out in one piece! i will admit that i gave a little cheer & did a little dance! but just a short one since i still had to coat the cake with the oj/bourban/sugar coating. once the cake was coated, i let it sit for a few more minutes to cool more before finally giving in and cutting myself a slice. it is one of the best things i can say that i've ever baked...very moist inside, with a little crust on the outside, so very yummy! it's definitely a keeper!

doesn't it look so yummy?!

and that's been the extent of my kitchen time over the last few days. i've decided to split up my postings between crafty ones and cooking/baking ones...that way none of them are overly long in nature. well, that's the hope anyway!

as a final note, more baking will be done today since the family will want cookies for dessert...i'm the one who's crazy about cakes! and i'm now anxiously awaiting the arrival of my dutch oven so that i can make a pot roast in something other than my slow cooker! think i'll use the slow cooker to make up some bar-b-que later this week though...i'm craving pulled pork!

come on back for more kitchen time! crafting time, too!

 

lessons in baking...or the things i've learned this week!

oatmeal rasin cookies

i have been baking more this week than i think i ever have in the past and in doing so have learned more lessons than i ever imagined i needed to! and because of my lack of updating i thought i would go ahead and combine it all here now...just because that's the kind of mood i'm in! 

roasting the sesame seeds for benne wafers

lesson 1: always plan on more time than you think...mainly for prep, the baking times are normally right. case in point: benne wafers...something that i thought would take maybe 30 minutes tops, took up to an hour in prep alone between roasting the seeds for 10+ minutes, sifting the dry mixture twice, and blending it all together. then there was placing the dough into a ziploc bag (to use as a pastry bag) and the bag busting while in the middle of squeezing...that was fun, really.

first attempt at benne wafers

lesson 2: benne wafers are fun to watch bake, at least for me they are. if they are small enough in size (1/4teaspoon was called for in the first recipe i tried) they bake up in about 5 minutes and all the fun happens in the last couple minutes...the dough gets all bubbly and flattens out, it really was neat to watch. 

homemade brownies, attempt #1

lesson 3: brownies are hard to make from scratch...at least they are for me. my first attempt at making brownies hasn't ended in a good way. they may look lovely in the picture above, but hidden under that glossy cover of chocolate lays uncooked, mushy batter...something that i wouldn't figure out until i cut into said brownies. even after baking for more than an hour!

lesson 4: metal pans may be more conductive to baking after all.

the scraped off cooked parts of brownie

lesson 5: brownies can be recooked the next day and may still not get completely baked! in my second attempt at brownies, i removed the harder cooked pieces of brownie from the uncooked, mushy batter and placed the mushy batter into another dish to bake. i popped those into the oven for another 30 minutes and didn't even try tasting them until this morning. yes, i had brownies as part of my breakfast...and i'm still not sure they got baked completely through. oh well, i'll try again at some point but i'll be using a much bigger, metal pan!

the finished 2nd attempt/rebaked brownies

lesson 6: you can make muffins from a quick bread recipe. i turned banana bread into banana mini and regular muffins yesterday...there was enough batter for a pan of mini's and 9 regular sized ones. stephen now has something for breakfast, i used up the bananas from our charlotte trip, tried a new recipe, and learned something all in one baking session!

mini banana muffins (minus 1 for sampling purposes)

lesson 7: my flat, rectangular air bake sheet is the best cookie sheet for baking. the oatmeal raisin cookies i baked on it were the best of the batch as well as the benne wafers. the stoneware, flat baker just doesn't seem to bake as well.

lesson 8: i am going through way more eggs and stick butter than i ever imagined i would or could...i went through half a dozen eggs and a pound of butter all in one day of baking and cooking! i've now started buying at least a pound of butter everytime i go to the store and i bought one of those flat 2 1/2 dozen egg boxes the last time i was at the grocery store just so i have enough in the house!

my little baking corner

lesson 9 & 10: i need a bigger baking/cooking space and a little wine helps make any baking session that much more enjoyable...but i only drink after 5pm. the above picture was taken while making the brownies mentioned before, when it was after 7pm and my patience were worn through thanks to my children. 

maybe lesson 11 should be that i'm not a very patient person...but i kind of already knew that so it's not really a lesson. i'm still unsure about my benne wafers, they seem too soft when i'm pretty sure they are supposed to be crispy. and the brownies may have to be trashed since i don't really think that baking them any more would do any good. oh well, it's all a part of the great learning experience that this project is turning out to be. 

and a final note before i go...because of the fact that i don't want to gain any more weight this week, i'm only going to be sewing for the next few days and attempting to start a workout routine yet again! i'll get back to baking next week when i finally attempt to make an angel food cake from scratch!

come on back soon...there's lots more sharing to come!

and now back to our regularly scheduled project!

now that we're back and done with travel for awhile, i'm back to my project...baking and cooking to my little heart's contentment (i've not been as crafty lately). i will make every attempt to keep this relatively short, but there's been lots of baking and cooking over the last few days and i, of course, feel the need to share everything! so, here i go diving right in!

the busted mason jars of chicken broth

after the disaster of broken glass and chicken broth, i have decided that plastic is a much safer bet for storing broth. i made up another batch of broth yesterday, separated the liquid from the solids, shredded the chicken to use later, and will be defatting the broth later this afternoon...storing it in plastic rubbermaid containers which i tested (to insure no more busted containers) by freezing water in one overnight. yay, me for learning my lesson!

jordan's cake, all from scratch

sunday was jordan's birthday and even though the day started with a migraine, i still wanted to make her a cake...she had been asking for one and who am i to deny my daughter what she wants! she asked for a rectangle,  green cake with pink frosting and she wanted her name on it...i chose the purple for the writing. now, having never made a cake from scratch i did choose a very easy recipe to follow which claimed to be one bowl, and maybe it would've been for anyone else...just not for me.

the 3 bowls used for the one bowl cake

the cake turned out good enough for my first attempt and i'll try the recipe again, maybe with cupcakes next time. the frosting was where i learned my lesson...i microwaved the butter to soften it, melting it some in the process. rather than tossing the melted part and softening more, i just through it all in to make up the frosting...not a good idea! the frosting came out fluffy and seemed to be the correct consistency, but the taste was off and i could smell the melted butter in it. jordan liked it though and stephen and i both ate a piece...he said he didn't like it, but i made him eat at least the piece i had given him since he needs to be trying new things whether he likes it or not. i will make my kids less picky whether they like it or not!

oatmeal quickbread

monday was a sick day for me...having awoken to a sore throat and stuffy nose. still, sickness doesn't stop me when i'm on a mission! for some reason when i'm sick i crave fresh baked bread or something along those lines...i craved gooey, yummy, time-consuming to make monky bread the last time i was sick (the time consuming part kept me from making it). so i found a recipe for oatmeal quickbread in the new baking cookbook that i had bought the day before. it was quick to put together and tastes very good all warm with some butter on it...it's been a tasty breakfast the last couple days! as per usual, i am the only one to eat it, but that suits me just fine!

i also had every intention of making myself some tomato soup only to realize that i had the wrong kind of canned tomatoes...the recipe called for crushed and i used whole (which has seeds & seeds aren't good in soup). i had already started to make the soup up so instead of throwing away all that tomato and onion mix, i decided to turn it all into marinara sauce for dinner. i had to chop and soften some garlic in a separate pan before adding it to the sauce, but other than that it was super easy to get the sauce together...i added dry spices since i didn't have anything other than fresh parsley in the house and i was not leaving to get anything else! so i made marinara out of tomato soup and it was very good and yummy!

marinara sauce and ricotta mixture

later in the day i boiled some jumbo shells and made up the ricotta cheese mixture for the stuffing. turns out that i had more shells than stuffing mix and had to save some of the shells to stuff later and freeze...after going to the store and getting more cheese. once the shells where stuffed for dinner and the pan was all prepared and covered in cheese, i popped it into the oven for the time called for. once it was cooked and cooling, i steamed some broccoli for us so that we wouldn't go into some kind of cheese induced coma from the stuffed shells! jordan was the only one who wouldn't even try the shells (i'm not ashamed to say she got sent to bed since she refused to eat dinner) while the rest of us enjoyed them very much! i was very pleased with how the recipe turned out and have now made up another batch of the stuffing mixture, stuffed the leftover shells, covered it in marinara sauce and stuck it in the freezer for dinner another night in the future! yay me for thinking ahead!

yummy, cheese covered, saucy stuffed shells

and just to show that yes, we really did have the broccoli, too!

so, now i bring this entry to an end... i must keep you coming back for more! i do have more baking to get to today (cleaning, too...yippee) and planning on making up a new crochet hook holder so that my sewing machine stops feeling so neglected! today's baking menu will be banana muffins, benne wafers, and macaroni and cheese...yesterday was oatmeal rasin cookies and homemade brownies (the recipe from the pioneer woman's cookbook). i'll blog all about the cookies and brownies tomorrow...or later tonight, if the mood to write hits me again! 

come on back soon...there'll be more pictures and project fun!

broken jars and time off for charlotte

ok, so i have been a little slack in the project department over the last few days, but with good reason...and here's a quick recap of what i've been up to instead!

before heading out of town to charlotte, nc for a little family getaway i found out that broth expands when frozen (as all liquid does) and when there's not enough room in the chosen container it will break that container...leaving bits of glass and frozen broth to be cleaned out of the freezer. yippee. after cleaning up the mess, throwing away the mason jars and frozen broth, i made myself a good/stiff drink and realized that it was a lesson well learned and never, ever to be repeated. 

the trip to charlotte was all part of jordan's birthday celebration...in lieu of a party we went on a trip and since stephen had time off from school it worked out well. we visited discovery place, the kids went swimming in the indoor pool, we walked around concord mills visiting the lego store and the build-a-bear workshop, stephen and luke saw percy jackson while jordan and i walked around some more. all very uneventful until we decided to leave the mall...and that's when all the drama took place.

we tried to start the van, but the van had other plans in mind! after trying for 10 minutes or so, doing everything we could think of (including checking google for solutions...ah, the joys of modern technology & wi-fi enabled phones!) i finally called for a tow truck. luke waited for the guy while the kids and i went to get dinner (lucky for me there were options that included a place with a full bar). the tow truck arrived, towed the van to goodyear, & the driver was nice enough to take luke to the local/regional airport to get a rental. the rental car, a 2 door sedan, was literally the only option since the rental agency was actually closed, but apparently at little airports like that they keep one car available in case someone shows up late (normally a small plane pilot) and needs one. luckily, jordan's carseat fit into the back and we would only need the car for the one night/next morning since the van problem wasn't so bad; turns out that the ignition switch needed to be replaced and not the transmission (again) like we were afraid of.

so, needless to say, i put the project on hold for just a bit. but now, i'm fully on track...having made jordan's birthday cake (and frosting) from scratch yesterday, marinara, stuffed shells and oatmeal bread today. since i'm back on track i figured i should update at least a bit about my time off. i'll post all kinds of pics and more info tomorrow...come on back then, the food pics alone will be worth coming back for!

what to say? what to do? and who knew?

it's rainy and cold out today, so what better way to spend the time than updating my blog!?! of course it's only good if i can actually come up with things to write about...stupid blogger's block seems to have struck me again. but alas, i refuse to let that stop me...so take that as a warning that this may end up being very rambling. 

 

sunday's chicken broth attempt

since the last blog entry ended with me simmering the chicken broth on the stove, i figured that i would start this one showing off the finished broth in three stages. first is the picture above: showing all the veggies, water, and chicken after simmering for a couple hours. the house really smelled good from the cooking...well, i thought it did! next is the picture below: showing the broth separated from the chicken and veggies. i later removed the skin and bones from the chicken and shredded it into pieces to be used in other dishes that call for pre-cooked chicken.

 
 

the separated broth and cooked pieces 

finally, after letting the broth set up and cool overnight in the fridge i separated it into quart size mason jars for easier freezing. of course, before putting the broth into the jars i had to skim the fat that had collected on the top...that was a first for me! it wasn't so bad though...i just used a big spoon to skim it off the top, plus i poured the broth through a strainer before putting it into the jars. i ended up filling 4 quart size jars with the broth and then promptly stuck them in the freezer since i won't be making soup until next week at the earliest. to me...the broth looks very pretty in color and smells good, too...time will tell how it tastes though since i didn't even sample it!

 

the finished broth...jarred & ready to freeze

sunday was also the day that i decided to make banana bread and although i didn't get it started until after 7:30pm, i did get it made up and baked! i used the recipe from the joy of cooking, omitting the lemon zest and optional dried fruit and nuts. i have found that making bread (or anything in a loaf pan) in my oven can be very tricky...the last time i tried, the outer edges were burnt and the middle wasn't set! needless to say, that kinda turned me off from making bread or pound cake for quite awhile...but time had gone by and i thought i would give it another try. this time i altered the cooking time, placed aluminum foil around the edges of the pan covering the bread edges (leaving a hole open in the middle), and used a metal pan rather than glass. in the end, it all worked out great and the bread was perfect! stephen and i have been the only ones to enjoy the bread...he really likes it! so the recipe is a keeper and i now know how to make bread in my oven!

 

yum, banana bread!

now, back to monday...which was a surprisingly good day considering that it was monday! after the chicken and the broth was taken care of, i took care of a little housework...vacuuming and washing a load of laundry (i'm trying to do a load of laundry everyday so that i'm not overwhelmed with piles of dirty clothes every few days). after that i got the dough together for ginger cookies (cutting the recipe in half for the first time ever) and let it chill before shaping and baking a couple hours later. the recipe, from my mother in law, is a favorite at Thanksgiving/Christmas time and i normally get 8+ dozen cookies from one batch, i didn't need that many cookies this time so that's why i cut the recipe in half. luke thought it would be nice for me to make the cookies for stephen to take with him to his scout meeting since the speaker they were going to hear is very fond of them! and i was happy to oblige...although it did feel slightly odd making them after the holidays! 

 

ginger cookies, yes, there's one missing...i had to sample my work!

and now for dinner...chicken enchiladas...a recipe that i will more than likely not make again without some changes. i'm thinking that maybe i should stick with italian/pasta casserole type dishes, rather than mexican/tortilla type ones. they were not the best tasting and the corn tortillas were hard to work with and kept falling apart on me. in hindsight, i could have heated the tortillas up more to better soften them and i could have pureed the sauce more to make it more liquidy. in the end, it was enough for dinner for one night and a lesson learned for me.

 
 

underneath all that cheese lay the chicken enchiladas 

now that i have rambled on for long enough, i will bring this to a close...after a few more words and a couple pics! no more baking until this weekend and tonight's dinner will be a super easy mix of frozen fish, roasted potatoes, and frozen california style veggies...jordan is very excited about dinner tonight since these are all her favorite foods! more crocheting of the afghan and maybe a couple other quick projects to work on so i'll concentrate on those things. thought i would end by again saying that i'm really loving this project...i'm much happier than i have been in quite a while. my house is still a mess on most days, but that doesn't bother me so much since i am coming to full terms with the fact that i'm an awful housekeeper! and here's a couple pics to close out this entry.

 

why must they make toys so small?

that picture is of the doll shoe that i vacuumed up and then had to dig out of the dust/dirt canister...it is as small as my fingernail so that was fun to look for. and the final pic is of jordan in a pair of her pj pants...just wanted to show that she does like them! pay no attention to the messy counters in the background...it's simply proof of my shotty housekeeping skills!

 

she was moving her hair, not hiding her face!