Happy Mother's Day!

Drop Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

I made Pioneer Woman's Sausage Gravy and Biscuits the other day for dinner.  They were so easy, which was good cause I was in a rush.  In such a rush that I forgot to take a picture.

Please head over to the Pioneer Woman's blog to see what I'm talking about.

Homer Simpson tells us to drink 8 glasses of gravy a day.  I'd gladly do that with this Sausage gravy.  I'd say I like this recipe even better than the one I made from Alton Brown.

Now, the biscuits.  They were not Mrblocko's favorite.

You see they were drop biscuits.

OMG.  They were the easiest biscuits this side of popping open a can.

But Mrblocko didn't particularly care for them!!!

What?!

See this is another new thing I learned about Mrblocko.  (I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing that I keep learning all these new likes and dislikes after nearly 12 years of marriage.)  He likes flaky, not crumbly biscuits.  The more like a croissant, the better.  Me, I don't think it matters as I'm letting the bread get all soaked in delicious sausage gravy.

Drop Biscuits with Sausage Gravy from Pioneer Woman
Biscuits
3 c Flour
2 T Baking Powder
1/2 t Salt
1-1/2 stick (3/4 C) Cold Butter, cut in pieces
1-1/4 c Buttermilk

Gravy
1 lb Breakfast Sausage, Hot Or Mild
1/3 c Flour
4 c Whole Milk (I used skim)
1/2 t Seasoned Salt
2 t Pepper, More To Taste

Biscuits: 400 F.  Add flour, baking powder, and salt to bowl of food processor. Add butter pieces and pulse til butter completely cut into flour mix. While pulsing drizzle in buttermilk til dough just comes together and is no longer crumbly. Drop in clumps on 2 sheets, bake 15-17 min, til golden brown. (Optional: Brush with melted butter when biscuits first come out of oven.)

Gravy: Tear sausage into small pieces and place on single layer in lg skillet.  Cook over med high til browned. Reduce heat to med-low. Sprinkle half flour and stir so sausage soaks it all up, then add a little more until just before sausage looks too dry. Stir  and cook it for a minute or so. Slowly pour in the milk, stirring constantly. Cook til it thickens. Stir frequently for about 10-12 min. Add salt and pepper.  Cook til thick. Add more milk if gets too thick too soon (1/2 c milk or more as needed). Taste and adjust seasonings.

Spoon sausage gravy over warm biscuits and serve immediately!

Red Shawl and Blocking

Yes, another shawl for church.  I found this pattern for free over on Ravelry.  It was originally called Cheche a la Sauce, which is French for something or another.  I have no idea.  I tried to do a google translate and it came up with Fez sauce.  Okaaay.

I thought the chart was confusing for the directions at the beginning of the row.  I just winged it and made it so each row had the same amount of stitches or spaces.

The pattern is quite vague on how many rows to make the first motif.  I wanted this shawl to be on the large side, so the first motif has 24 rows.

The yarn I used was nearly 2 skeins of Autumn Red by Caron Simply soft.  I used a H hook.

I was running quite low on yarn so I made the final motif with only 3 picots and 4 triple crochet instead of 6 picots and 7 triple crochet.

 When I finished the shawl I realized that I was going to have to block the shawl to get the final motif to look right. 

Blocking is when you wet your knit or crochet item and pin it down so it will retain its shape when it drys.

The above picture shows unblocked parts on the left.  See how smooshed looking they are?  I like how open and lacy they looked once they were pinned to the towel lined bed.

I was amazed how different the finished product looked once it had dried.  The whole thing was much larger too.

 The whole thing goes almost to Blockette's knees!

I just love the rich vibrant red.  Blockette chose the color for this shawl.  She sure chose wisely.  Hopefully it will put a smile on someone's face.

No Bake PB Pie

I love desserts that require minimal effort don't you?

This no bake peanut butter pie from The Domestic Rebel fits that bill.

Not only is it easy, but it's scrumdiddilyumptions to boot. Unfortunately, it fell off the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.

But it's not what's on the outside that counts, its the peanut butter and chopped up peanut butter cups that counts.  Well, the chocolate sauce is on the outside, and that counts for a lot too.  

Maybe my mom was wrong.

It's not what's on the inside or the outside that counts, unless it's chocolate. 

Then it all counts.

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cup Pie  from The Domestic Rebel

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 c sugar
1 c creamy peanut butter
1 t vanilla
1 tub (8 oz) Cool Whip, thawed
12 regular-sized Reese’s PB cups, roughly chopped (I only had 8 so I didn't have enough to decorate the top)
1 chocolate graham cracker crust

In lg bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar til smooth. Blend in peanut butter and vanilla il smooth and creamy. Gently fold in Cool Whip. Fold in chopped pb cups. Spread into prepared chocolate crust. Fridge 4 hours (the longer it chills, the more firm it’ll be) or freeze  2 hours until firm. Before serving, allow pie to sit on counter at room temp 10 min, to take the chill off for easier cutting. Store  covered in fridge for about 2-3 days. I doubt it will last that long.

Easy Circle Skirt for Blockette

When my best friend was clearing out her fabric stash she had this fabric with a stamped pattern for a circle skirt.  The only thing is that it called for a zipper. 

Only I don't do zippers.
Or windows.

Then I realized that the waist opening would be the right size for Blockette without a zipper.  So a hem and some elastic were all I needed to do.  Awesome! 

This was one of those things I made for Blockette without asking her if she'd like it.  I took a risk and it paid off.  

At first she was a bit leery of the skirt.  She'd never had a long skirt like this before.  Of course she was sold once she took it for a twirl.

My favorite part is that it can be worn with nearly every short sleeve shirt she has in her drawer. 

Non Choking Hooded Sweatshirt

My mom went to Spain early this spring and bought me this cool hooded sweatshirt.  I've been hemming and hawing over what to do.  The sweatshirt fits perfectly, except the neck is too tight. Boa Constrictor tight.

You see, I'm one of those people who can't stand anything around their neck.  (We'll for some reason scarves are ok.  Probably because I wear them over my mouth mostly, or loosly around my neck.) I feel like I'm choking to death.  I hate turtlenecks so much that Blockette has never ever worn one.  Even seeing one can bring on a panic that I can't breathe.

So, I was faced with a dilemma:  I could alter the sweatshirt somehow and possibly risk ruining it, or leave it alone and never wear it.  I really like the hoodie, but was so afraid I'd ruin it.  So It just sat there.  And sat there.  Not getting worn.  I finally decided that I should just get over it and try to make the sweatshirt into something I could wear.

Ah.

That's so much better.

Yeah yeah yeah.  I know.  I forgot to take a before picture.

The neckline looked sort of like this:

via

See, very close and chokey. Look how the hood sits on the neck of the manikin.  I'm clawing at my neck just looking at the photo.

Of course my sweatshirt is much better than the ones in the above photo. Mine is turquoise and the logo is way more awesome.   It's especially awesomer as I can now wear it without passing out from hyperventilating.

If you have chokey hooded sweatshirts why not hack them up to make them super comfy!

Fear not!  If I can do it, so can you.

I followed this video from Khayotikk on you tube.

As you can see, I made the "V" in my hoodie much more shallow that the lady in the video did.  I didn't want to cut into the logo on my shirt. 

Before watching the video I had no idea how to cut a hoodie like this.  It was super helpful, and made me much less scared to take the scissors to the fabric. Hooray for You tube!

April Reads

Sensing a theme here? Book about Vampire Jane Austen and then books about Zombies.  Guess I"m in a rut.

 Jane Vows Vengeance by Michael Thomas Ford
This is the next book in the series about Jane Austen as a vampire. This book read more like a mystery than a romance/drama like the others.  I liked it, but they tied everything up at the end that I think it would ruin things if they made a fourth book.

via

Walking Dead: Book 1 and Walking Dead: Book 2  and Walking Dead: Book 3 by Robert Kirkman
I started reading these graphic novels to see how different they were from the show by the same name.  So far there are some of the same elements, but the story is quite different.  I thought that the storyline was almost like reading a soap opera.  Lots and lots of drama.  I find this highly amusing because I have a friend who won't watch the TV show because he thinks it's too dramatic compared to the graphic novels.  Heh.  To each their own!