One of Our Very Favorites!

Asian Zoodles with Chicken

1 lb. rotisserie chicken cut into bite sized pieces

oil

1 small onion, diced

4 cups shredded cabbage

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated, I used Gourmet Garden Ginger Paste

1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 medium zucchini, spiralized

Heat a large skillet on medium high heat.  Add oil.  Add onion, cabbage, and zoodles; cook for 5 minutes.  Add chicken.

In a small bowl, mix together garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil.  Pour into skillet and cook for 5 minutes.

5 servings

Right after I took the picture, I realized there was no way to toss and stir that panful of goodness and had to switch to a larger pan.

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Busy Hands

Baby sweater update and Amy is "winning".

All she had left to finish yesterday was to seam the underarm of the sleeves.  There was 29 grams of yarn left on the ball so....

enough to whip up an ickle baby hat! Still 7 grams of yarn left when the hat was finished.  It will be interesting to see how the yarn works out for me.

I am behind, as usual, and have 11 inches to go.  Just straight knitting for the body of the sweater.  I hope to have enough for a wee hat as well.

Sleeves finished

However, I did whip this up because I needed some machine time and this is a great little project.

The Open Wide Pouch

Chunky Chicken Salad - Hellman’s/Best Foods

• 1/4 cup Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise

• 1/4 cup Wish-Bone® Italian Dressing

• 4 cups cut-up cooked chicken or turkey

• 2 Tbsp. chopped red onion

• 2 Tbsp. chopped red and/or yellow bell pepper

• 2 Tbsp. chopped celery

Combine mayo and Italian dressing then pour over remaining ingredients.  Chill.

A new recipe we tried and really liked using rotisserie chicken.

Grilling

This week I picked up 1/8 of an organically-grass fed steer.  65 pounds.  Two years of meat, at least.  We grilled up the first package tonight.  Oh boy was it good.

mine

Amy's

We also tried a new recipe with corn we got from the farm.  A hit as well!

Mexican Street Corn Salad

Oil

5 ears of fresh corn

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

3/4 teaspoon chili powder

4 1/2 tablespoons sour cream

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

4 tablespoons crumbled Cojita cheese

Heat oil in a large skillet to medium high.  Cut corn from cobs, add to pan and sauté until tender and lightly browned, stirring occasionally, 5-7 minutes.  Add chili powder and cumin, cook 2 minutes more or until fragrant.

Remove skillet from heat and stir in sour cream and lime juice.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Makes 10 side servings

(If you like cilantro, chop and stir in with sour cream)

Very gusty breezes tonight!

Simple Spaghetti Sauce

Periodically we try different spaghetti sauce recipes but here is our most recent iteration and it is what I think of as classic:

SImple Spaghetti Sauce

1 large sweet onion, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 lb. ground beef

1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes

1 8-oz.can tomato sauce

1 6-oz. can tomato paste

1 cup water

Sauté onion and peppers in oil until beginning to get tender, add garlic and stir until fragrant.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Brown beef, breaking apart as it cooks.  Drain.  Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste, stir to combine add as much water as needed.  I usually fill the tomato sauce can with water. 

Add vegetables back to pot and simmer until tender, 30-45 minutes.  Check seasonings and serve.  We enjoy this over zoodles.  4-6 servings.

My zucchini plant only yielded 4 zucchinis but fortunately I get at least 3 from the farm each week.

A new alpaca baby!

Sliders

A great dinner!

King Hawaiian Sliders -  by Nick Iverson from Taste of Home magazine

2 pkg. (18-oz. each) Hawaiian sweet rolls*

4 cups (16-oz) shredded cheddar cheese, divided

2 lbs. ground beef

1 cup chopped onion

1 can (14-oz.)diced tomatoes with garlic and onions, drained

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon pepper

24 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled*

Glaze

1 cup butter, cubed

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350.  Without separating the rolls, cut each package of rolls horizontally in half; arrange bottom halves in two greased 9x13 baking pans*.  Sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese.  Bake 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat 6-8 minutes until beef is no longer pink and onion is tender, breaking beef into crumbles; drain.  Stir in tomatoes, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.  Cook and stir 1-2 minutes until combined.

Spoon beef mixture evenly over the rolls; sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Top with bacon.  Replace tops.  For glaze; melt all ingredients together, stirring occasionally.  Pour glaze over rolls.  Bake uncovered, 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and heated through.

*Notes:  

24 strips of bacon is approximately 6 oz. of the pre-cooked and crumbed Kirkland bacon from Costco. 

I did not find 18-oz. packages of the Hawaiian rolls, only 12-oz. packages.  We configured them to one 9x13 and one 7x11.  If there is too much space in the pan, you run the risk of burning the glaze on the bottom.

You do have to watch these so the tops do not burn. 

We ate these with a fork and knife.

Freezing option:  Cover and freeze unbaked sandwiches; prepare and freeze glaze.  To use, partially thaw in refrigerator overnight.  Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Pour glaze over buns.  Bake sandwiches as directed, increasing time by 10 - 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and a thermometer inserted in center reads 165 degrees. 

Not a knitting injury but from a box grater!

Bowls

Grey and blue self striping yarns

Amy is here on vacation for a week.  So fun to have her here!  Yesterday we sat out on the swing and started a knitting project, baby sweaters for Yvonne's coming baby boy.

And yesterday we also went to the Provo Farmers Market and we bought 5 lbs. of local nectarines.  Yum, yum, yum!

MYO Cream Cheese Spread

1 cup softened cream cheese

1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

1/2 teaspoon dried chives

1/4 teaspoon dried dill weed

1/2 teaspoon Beau Monde seasoning

Stir all together and chill an hour before serving.

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Parsnips? What?

I know, I have a thing about my Spiralizer but when I saw this recipe that uses spiralized parsnips, I was surprised and eager to try it.  The only time I have used parsnips is in a beef stew.  Jimmy Wilson used them diced in his pastie recipe along with potatoes and carrots.  They have a sweet taste similar to carrots but different.

It was a little tricky to spiralize the parsnips I found because they were not very large.  Also not every store here carries them.  That did not surprise me but I hope maybe next week to get to the Provo Farmers' Market and perhaps find some there.

It was all I could do not to eat the entire pan of this!

Broccoli, Parsnip, and Sausage “Pasta”  adapted from Skinnytaste.com

• 2 cups bite-sized broccoli pieces

• 1/2 lb. Mild Italian Sausage

• 1/2 tsp dried oregano

• 2 parsnips, peeled, spiralized, noodles trimmed

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

    1/2 cup quartered mushrooms, optional

• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

• kosher salt and black pepper

• 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Place a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the sausage and oregano and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon 6 to 8 minutes, until browned. Transfer to a plate.  

Add the broccoli to the skillet with the garlic, mushrooms, and red pepper flakes and cook about 2 minutes, then add broth and parsnip noodles and cook until the noodles are al dente, about 5 minutes.

Return sausage to the skillet, add the cheese and stir to combine. 

2 servings

August Baby Quilt

Color is off a bit on this one, maybe a cloud overhead?

Not the best picture taking as I am having to use my iPad which takes fabulous pictures but is a bit awkward to handle.  The solid aqua in the sashings on the front is not nearly as intense and bright as it appears in the picture.

Pattern:  Baby Log Cabin, modified from Allison Harris' book Growing Up Modern
Size: 43x43
100% cotton quilting fabric from stash (pattern selected by the amount of dog fabric that I had.)
Batting: Hobbs 80/20
Quilting: 2-inch diagonal grid

Yay, done and it is not even the end of the month!

Block Two

The best way to start a summer day, sitting under the umbrella on the deck with some handwork, a cup of coffee, and NPR on the radio.  Fabulous!

I love pink and orange together.  This was one piece of fabric from class and one from my stash.

The New Class

A monthly EPP class at American Quilting.

Well.  This first block is acceptable but boy-oh-boy, lots of learning points.  You might be able to see the stitches in my first seams and you will know they are the first seams because you can see them.  Surprisingly, the block does lay flat.  If you could see the back, where all those points meet in the center, the points are swirled which is what helps them lay flat.

The template is the kite shape.  There are eight kite shapes that make up the block which is 5" top to bottom and side to side.

July Baby Quilt

Finished hand stitching the back of the binding this morning but most of it was done on Slow Stitching Sunday.  It's a nice contemplative thing to do.

The quilt pattern came from this book and we, Carol and I, cannot say enough good things about it.  You might want to consider it for your own library.  This is my first finished quilt from it but Carol has done three and her daughter is working on another!!

The quilt finishes 45x47 and is not the size for a baby quilt that the pattern indicates.  In fact there was some fussing about with blocks as I cut for a crib size quilt which was five across by eight down.    I decided I wanted it square so sewed it 6x6 blocks.  Ha!  Not. Square.  The blocks are rectangular.  Fortunately, I had enough left over blocks cut to add a row to the bottom.

All fabric from stash and I used Hobbs 100% Cotton batting.  I bought three yards of it and cut it into 4 equal pieces so I am not always looking for baby quilt sized batting.  I quilted it with Star Merc.

QOTD

May your summer days be light, 

and may all your stitches 

fall into the right place.

Churchmouse Yarns and Teas

Wedding!

Wonderful locally made caramels on this welcoming table

Lots of things that are hard to control when having a backyard wedding reception in July but the weather cooled slightly and skies were overcast.  No squinting bride pictures and no sweating guest either.

The fotb worked very hard getting the yard ready and it was just lovely.  I heard one guest comment on how green the lawn looked and how did he do that.  All kinds of flowers blooming and even the tomatoes were standing tall and orderly.

The motb and a team of helpers put out a tasty table of food which included among other things, PB&J mini sandwiches which are the groom's favorite and mini BLTs which are the bride's favorite.

In lieu of a guest book

Leave a thought for the bride and groom

Navy and peach colors

Great idea to hide the spa

Centerpieces reflect what Steph and Scott love, reading and board games.

I wish I would have taken a picture of one of the pictures on the wall of doors of Stephanie in her wedding dress, hand on hip and a big smile.  It portrayed her personality exactly and made me really smile.  What a fabulous woman she is!

Oops, didn't quite get all of Scott in this picture.

The Very First One!

I bought just this one zucchini plant and decided to plant it in a very large pot.  It's an experiment because what I do not like about zucchini plants is the way they spread all over the place.  Moving all those vines and searching for the zucchinis always has me looking for other things under those leaves.  Moving things with many legs or worse, slithering thing with no legs.

I am hoping for just a little spill over the sides of the pot but we'll see what happens.  Maybe there will only be one zucchini at a time. In the meantime, I have the Spiralizer standing by

The Used Book Room

A wonderful thing!  It used to be the copy room at the library.

The last week of the month a bag full of books is $5.  It's a plastic grocery bag that you can see here behind the books.  We got 10 books and the bag did not split!  Tristan found two, the Albert Speer book and the military book sitting on top of it.  The other eight were my picks.  Of those eight, all appeared to have come off the same person's shelf, unread, and six were dog themed mysteries.  Lee Charles Kelley did not appeal to me so those were re-donated.  Still, that leaves five light mystery books for Summer Sunday Reading.  Yahoo!

3 Down, 1 To Go

Hard to keep track of what's coming down and what's going up!  There will be (another) large apartment/condo complex built here.

Our new favorite recipe.  It is quite spicy because of all the layers of spice, so depending on what you like, it's easy to turn the heat down.

SPICY WEEKEND GUMBO  Pinch of Yum, Serves 8-10
a quick swish of olive oil

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 hot peppers like serrano or jalapeño, seeded and minced

4 cups mirepoix

2 cups additional chopped veggies (optional)

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 3 tablespoons cajun seasoning mix

1 28-ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

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12 ounces Andouille sausage, sliced

1 lb. raw tail-off shrimp

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6 tablespoons butter

 ½ cup flour

2 cups milk or chicken broth - I used 1 cup each

heavy pinch of salt

1 VEGETABLES: Heat the oil in a big, deep pot over medium heat. Add the garlic, hot peppers, mirepoix, and vegetables. Saute' for 10 minutes or so until it's all soft and fragrant.

2 BASE: Add the tomatoes, broth, and spices. Bring to a low boil; reduce heat and simmer for an hour or so for the best flavor.  If using fresh sausage, add it now.

3 ROUX: Melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and let it all bubble in the pan for a few minutes. Add the milk or broth a little bit at a time, whisking to incorporate it and make it smooth. Season with salt.

4 FINISH: Add the roux to the gumbo pot and stir to combine. Simmer for a little longer over low heat to just to help the flavor develop. Stir in the sausage if using pre-cooked and the raw shrimp. When shrimp is pink (fully cooked) and this should take no longer than 3-5 minutes, stir in a handful of chives and serve over brown rice, red quinoa, white rice, or just by itself. 

Remember: to season with salt! This will vary based on your cajun seasoning mix.

Notes:

Mirepoix: This is mix of diced onion / celery / carrots.  Mine was 50% onion, 35% carrots, and 15% celery because that’s what I had.

Other vegetables - I used red bell pepper, fresh peas, and  fresh corn.  I wanted to add zucchini but was voted down.

Cajun spices: I used McCormicks mix

Sausage:  We found fresh andouille at a nearby Harmons and liked it better than a smoked style I picked up at Sprouts.

If you add the shrimp too soon in the cooking process, it shrinks up into tiny little shrimpy-things that get really tough. Don't do that.

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The Holiday Weekend

As much fun as the parade, the hot air balloon races, and all the other 4th events are, the excessive noise from the ubiquitous firecrackers do not make for a relaxing holiday.  Especially if you live with a dog.  It will never change so now I am considering options for next year that don't require medicating the dog.  Traveling, perhaps the entire month of July as in two weeks we repeat the firecracker thing for Pioneer day.  State law says three days before and three days after the holiday.  My neighbor, dog-less, says12 days of hell twice in one month.  No argument from me.

This was my weekend project.  I will try to send a picture of it to Secretary Clinton just to make sure I can post it as I designed a pattern almost identical to a graphic on her souvenir shopping site.  I don't think there will be a problem as it is similar to putting a campaign sign in the front yard but on the living room wall and I am not selling the quilt or the details/pattern to make it.
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Accidentally Caught Up

It all started because I was looking for the sprinkler attachment for the hose.  There are some bad dry spots in the back yard that need extra individual attention.  I actually have two of these yellow sprinkler heads but repeated searching in the garage had turned up neither one.  Finally I decided they must be in a box.  Sure enough, a box with a lot of miscellaneous other stuff including two baby quilts!

Both of these quilts were practice quilts when I had a Tiara HQ machine in 2012.  The quilting is not too bad and it was just a matter of putting binding on each quilt and then they were washed and ready to donate.  The blue quilt was pieced a long time before 2012 but I think I made the yellow one when I got the machine, just to have something for practice quilting.

June Baby Quilt!

Dog Quilt?

Both quilts measure 42" square.  The yellow one has a fluffy poly batting and the blue one has an 80/20 batting.

Nice to be caught up no matter how irregular it is!

May Baby Quilt

Still behind schedule but slowly catching up.

The fabric I used in the center of the quilt was new in the last month or so but on a clearance table  for $3.99/yd.  I also used it on the back and for a section of the binding. There is just about a 15-inch square of it left.  The other pieces are from the stash.

When the binding was smoothed out, there was less than an inch overlap to trim off and you can see that I had already added a different piece because there was not enough of the stripe.

Quilt size = 42 x 48
Pattern = Alex Anderson's 3-hour Baby Quilt (3 hrs not including the quilting and binding)
Fabric = 100% cottons, some from stash
Batting = 80/20 Hobbs
Quilting = 2-inch diagonal cross hatching
Sewn for baby Harold, Torey's newest great grandchild.  Harold's grandfather works for NASCAR which made using this fabric so fun.

One Winner, One Semi-Fail

Farmer's Market, Aix en Provence, May 28, 2016

We tried a recipe for Crock Pot Sazon Pork Chops with Peppers, Olives, and Potato from Skinnytaste.    
We left out the potato and doubled up on the red peppers but even with all the seasoning, we thought it was bland.  I could mess with the seasonings but really there have been enough exceptional recipes this summer to last a long time.  Here is what we had last night:

ALL PURPOSE CHILI LIME CHICKEN RUB 

barely adapted from Jen@CarlsbadCravings.com

4 servings

        •     1 pound chicken breasts pounded to 1/2 inch thickness

Chili Lime Rub

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 teaspoon chili powder

• 1/4 -1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili powder (optional for more heat)*

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

• 1 teaspoon brown sugar

• fresh-squeezed lime juice from 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)

• Lime zest from 1 lime

1 In a small bowl, whisk chicken rub ingredients together and rub evenly all over chicken breasts. Time permitting, allow chicken to sit for 30 minutes at room temperature or refrigerate up to 8 hours then bring to room temperature for before cooking.**

2 If chicken has been refrigerated, let sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes (time permitting).

4 Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Once very hot, add chicken and cook, undisturbed for 3-5 minutes, or until nicely browned (or blackened if you prefer) on one side. Turn chicken over, cover, and reduce heat to medium. Cook for approximately 5-7 more minutes (depending on thickness of chicken), or until chicken is cooked through. Remove to a cutting board and let rest 5 minutes before slicing.

5 Garnish with extra fresh lime juice if desired.

NOTES

*  I used 1/4 teaspoon of the adobo sauce that chipolte peppers are packed in.

**Chicken is still delicious even if cooked immediately but is more flavorful the longer the rub marinates

The chicken was marinated in a plastic bag in the fridge for about 3 hours and was exceptionally flavorful.  We made a salad with romain lettuce, napa cabbage, 1 ear of fresh corn cut off the cob, red onion, and black beans.  We dressed the salad with a spoonful of guacamole and some ranch dressing.  Tristan said the best salad so far!

We had a light dinner because we were saving room for our celebratory pints of gelato after game 6 of the NBA playoffs.  There was no celebrating however and we move on to game 7 on Sunday.

De-stinking the boy's shoes