Brains!!!

Ever tried braiding a windmill? This is the first time I've attempted to do a french braid on Miss Squirrely-girly. Blockette saw these photos and said, "Momma, those are the back of my brains!" When I corrected her and said, "You mean braids?" She replied, "No momma...BRAINS."

Best Cow Dress

Around Easter I bought pattern NewLook 6613, but didn't see any fabric I liked. Instead I went shopping in my own stash and came up with this:

Yes, that is a tambourine on Blockette's head. (She said it was her safari hat.) It was the only way I could get her to sit still long enough to take the picture.
Here's a pic of the back. Most of the pictures I took were like this because Blockette was too wiggly. Why sit still when there is twirling to do?

I will definately be making more dresses from this pattern. The best part of this pattern is there is no zipper. I loathe zippers. The 2nd best thing about this pattern is that it gives you sizes 3T-Girls 8. Talk about getting your money's worth from a pattern.
Here's a close up of the over skirt fabric. I bought this Van Gogh cow print almost 3 years ago and have been aching to make something neat from it. Blockette seems to think this qualifies.

Battle of the Pelennor Fields

AHHH!!! The Mumakil is attacking Minas Tirith!!!! Where are the Oathbreakers when you need them?!!!

OKaaaay. Yeah, that was excessively geeky, but if you even understood half of that you're a geek too. Plbbbt!!!!

This little guy is another Amigurumi from the Lion Brand Yarn website . I always want to call them Amigumies, kind of like a gummie bear. It sounds so much cuter in my brain that way. The elephant was easier than the bunnies, maybe because there were less pieces? I haven't given this to Blockette yet. It will probably be something saved for when after school is out and she is totally bored. You know, the 2nd day of summer vacation.

Oh crockpot, how I love thee...

...let me count the ways. Ok, so I'm not going to really count the ways, but I will tell you the number one reason why I love my crockpot. For some reason I am much more in the mood to do all the prep work involved in making dinner around lunch time than at 4 or 5 o'clock. With a crockpot you still have to do prep work like you would with any other cooking method, but there is something so nice about saying..."Hmmm, it's 5:00 and I'm hungry," and you can get out a plate or a bowl and chow down right then and there. No waiting. I'm very impatient when I'm hungry.

Sunday I made Baked Bean Soup from A Year of Crockpotting. Let me tell you...it was goooood. It was a struggle, but we even got Blockette to eat it. I had thought it would taste more like a jar of of baked beans. It didn't, but I think it was better that it didn't.

Of course, I changed the recipe a bit. Here is what I did differently: Instead of regular chili powder I used Penzey's Chili 3000 . (I had gotten this as a free small jar from their catalog and this was the first time I had used it. I think it had a brighter flavor than regular chili powder. I'll need to try this out in a few more recipes to decide if it is worth buying a large jar.) I also added 2 cups of cubed ham. (I'm still trying to use all the leftover ham we froze from Easter!!!) If I don't have any ham the next time I make this I will either add cooked bacon or oven baked meatballs. I think the meat added a lot to this soup.

I almost omitted the last step of pureeing part of the soup. I don't have a stick blender and I was feeling lazy about dragging out the regular blender. I was glad I did. It not only thickened the soup, but the puree gave the soup a smoother, richer taste. After I pureed part of the soup, I added a can of drained corn. If you don't care if the corn is part of the puree, feel free to dump it in at the beginning with all the rest of the stuff.

Baked bean soup adapted from A Year of Slow Cooking

1 (15-oz) can white kidney beans, undrained

1 cup finely diced onion

1 cup diced carrot

3 t dijon mustard

2 T unsulphured molasses

1 T soy sauce

2 t apple cider vinegar

1 T Chili 3000

1 (14.5-oz) can fire roasted tomatoes (and juice!)

2 cups water

salt to taste before serving

1 can corn

2 c Ham

Use a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Put beans into pot, and top with onion and carrot. Add all seasonings and spices. Pour in the entire can of tomatoes, and add water. Stir. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or on high for 4-5. If your beans were dry, you might need to go as long as 10 hours, depending on altitude and humidity. Before serving, put several cups of the soup in a blender until smooth and add back to the crockpot.  This will thicken your broth and provide a richer flavor. Add corn and ham and cook until warm.

Little Red Hen

My uncle seems to think that the Little Red Hen made bread. As you can see, he is wrong. This is a picture taken from the scholastic book my mom read to me when I was a shorty short pants. It clearly states CAKE, not bread. Marie Antoinette may have said "Let them eat Brioche, " but the Little Red Hen was always talking about cake.

Nothing to write home about

This weekend my best friend, Mrs Thunder, had a get together where everyone brings a snacky dish to pass. I thought I'd bring a warm dip and maybe some cookies.

Originally, I wanted to make a type of cookie that uses puff pastry. When I went to take the puff pastry out of the freezer, much to my dismay, I discovered the package was pre-cut in circles and I needed the kind that came in a sheet. Doh! So I sifted through the recipe stack and picked out a shortbread cookie. I began to grab ingredients and discovered I was almost completely out of powdered sugar. Grrrrr! I went back to the recipe stack and settled on Big Red Kitchen's Cake Mix Cookies. I tested a few as they came out of the oven. They were OK, but I didn't think they were good enough to share with my friends. Mrblocko and I came to the conclusion that they did not taste homemade. They reminded us of a cross between Chips Ahoy and something you might get from a grocery store bakery. Don't get me wrong, I like store bought cookies, but homemade ones are so much better. If I'm going to take the time to bake cookies, I'd like them to taste like it. I won't make this recipe again. I haven't completely written off the cake mix cookie concept. I have a recipe that uses lemon cake mix I'm still willing to test.

The Cheesey Bacon dip fared better, although it didn't turn out as wonderful as I had hoped. I wound up substituting the Parmesan for Gruyere. I don't think this had anything to do with the outcome. The crackers crumbled on top made the dip taste really dry, and the cheese got clumpy and oily. I am going to give this recipe a 2ND chance. I plan on omitting the cracker crumbs, and increasing both the garlic and cayenne pepper. I think I will use a package of pre shredded Mexican blend cheese. I think that will melt better. It melts so nicely on quesadillas. I also think using a total of 8 oz vs 12 oz of cheese may make the dip a bit more spreadable as well.

Cake Mix Cookies From Big Red Kitchen
1 cake mix- I used yellow
2/3 cup regular oats
1/2 cup melted butter
1 egg
1/2 - 3/4 cup chocolate chips

In large bowl, mix 1st 4 ingredients til dough comes together, add chips. Roll into a little bit bigger than an inch balls and place 2" apart on sheets. Bake 375° for 10-12 min. Cool on racks. Makes about 30 cookies.

Cheesy Bacon dip from Buns in my Oven
8 slices bacon
2 cloves garlic
2 green onions
8 ounces cream cheese
1/3 cup mayo
8 ounces cheddar cheese
4 ounces parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 ritz crackers, crumbled

Preheat oven to 300.  Chop bacon into small pieces and cook over med heat til crisp. Drain, reserving 1 T grease. Remove bacon to paper towel lined plate. Dice garlic and add to bacon grease. Cook over low heat for1 min. Do not allow garlic to brown. Stir together cream cheese and mayo. Mix well. Stir in bacon, chopped green onions, garlic, cheddar and parmesan cheese, and cayenne pepper. Bake 10 min. Remove from oven and stir well. Sprinkle crumbled ritz crackers on top and bake for 10 mi. Serve warm or cold.

Freestyle

I am freaky about free stuff. That's how I roll. The past 2 weeks have been crazy with free or insanely cheap deals. Here's how it all broke down:

April 19th: Free compact florescent lightbulb from Home Depot.

April 20th: Free sample of Glad garbage bag arrived in the mail.

April 21th: Ben and Jerry's free cone day (OK, I missed out on this one cause I was sick, but I was there in spirit.)

April 22nd: Free reusable shopping bag at both Old Navy and Walgreens. Sterling silver necklace at Kohls originally priced at $29.99, with the sale and $10 off coupon I payed $0.56.

April 23: Free sample of Quaker Chocolate Drizzle mini delights came in the mail.

April 24th: Free reusable lunch bag from Whole foods. I also used my coupon for a free Kashi frozen dinner.

April 25th: Rebate check for trying out Raisin Bran Crunch Extra arrived.

April 26th: Mrblocko and I helped out at our church's pancake breakfast and got a mountain of leftover sausage.

April 27th: KFC had their free piece of grilled chicken promotion. Blockette and I each had a piece for lunch.

April 28th: Found a coupon online for a free pulled pork sandwich at White Castle. Was able to get a free sandwich for both Blockette and myself.

April 29th: Dominoes had a lunch promotion for a free pasta bread bowl. Again, Blockette and I each got our own. The serving was so huge we had it for lunch the next 3 days.
Baskin Robins had a fundraiser for firefighters and a small cone was only $0.31.

April 30th: Meijer had a deal where you buy any 10 Kelloggs, Sunshine, or Keebler brand products you get 2 free movie tickets to the movie of your choice. All the products I bought for this promotion were on sale and I had a coupon for each item.

May 1st: Filled out a survey and got a $10 off coupon at Dots. As luck would have it I found a shirt and necklace that came to $10 exactly. whoohoo!

Pretty insane eh?