Snowman Door Hanger

~ lk529 ~ 2 Comments

For The Year of the Snowman 2013 my mother-in-law and I made burlap snowman door hangers for the girls in the family. We found an example on Pinterest, but it led only to a photograph.

Luckily my mother-in-law is a genius when it comes to crafts! I have created for you a simple tutorial.

How-to make a Burlap Snowman Door Hanger

Start first with a template of your snowman (or whatever else you want to create!) and trace it onto folded burlap. Pin the two piece of burlap together.

Burlap Snowman Door Hanger Tutorial Burlap Snowman Door Hanger Tutorial

Using a zig-zag stitch follow the outline of the snowman. (We used grey thread so it would show up in these photos. Make sure to use a thread that will easily be covered up with whatever paint you use.) At the bottom of the door hanger leave a 3″ gap, like you do with pillowcases.

Burlap Snowman Door Hanger Tutorial

Using pinking shears, cut just outside the seam. Lay out your door hanger on a trash bag or newspaper. It’s time to paint!

Burlap Snowman Door Hanger Tutorial

With the help from my father-in-law, holes were created at the top of the door hanger. A straw, cut to the width of the space between the holes was used to keep the door hanger sturdy. Thread your string/twine/jute through the holes and straw.

Burlap Snowman Door Hanger Tutorial Burlap Snowman Door Hanger Tutorial

Stuff your door hanger with paper or plastic bags.

Burlap Snowman Door Hanger Tutorial Burlap Snowman Door Hanger Tutorial

Using a thread to blend in with the paint, zig-zag stitch the door hanger closed. Garnish with a store bought accessory!

Burlap Snowman Door Hanger Tutorial

Gingerbread Man Waffles

~ lk529 ~ 5 Comments

I still have a holly, jolly smelling batch of Gingerbread Spice from November’s Crazy Ingredient Challenge and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I added it to waffle batter for a fantastic holiday twist to a classic breakfast. I even make Gingerbread Sugar (instead of Cinnamon Sugar) for sprinkling over top!

The pear syrup was a great compliment and when that ran out I used bottled Strawberry syrup. I liked the tartness it added instead of piling on more sweet from regular maple syrup.

Gingerbread Man Waffles

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 C flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp gingerbread spice
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 1/2 C milk
  • 1/2 C vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Steps:

  1. In a large bowl sift together all dry ingredients.
  2. In a separate bowl whisk together the wet ingredients.
  3. Combine wet and dry ingredients and pour into a hot waffle iron and cook until golden. Serve with gingerbread spice sugar and syrup. Use a gingerbread man cookie cutter if desired.

*This recipe is adapted from Better Homes and Gardens*

Gingerbread Man Waffles

To make Gingerbread Sugar use a 4:1 ratio of sugar to gingerbread spice. (4 tsp granulated sugar and 1 tsp gingerbread spice)

Asian Slow Roasted Salmon

~ lk529 ~ 1 Comment

Fish, although easy to cook, isn’t an easy thing for me. I never seem to crave it, and always prefer the fish I get at the local restaurants around here. But I do make an effort to keep a packet of frozen salmon filets in my freezer.

I typically find an Asian inspired flavor when it comes to salmon and this one caught my eye. I served it with quinoa. Quinoa is a great alternative to rice and is gluten free! It can be prepared the same way you prepare rice, using a 2:1 liquid to grain ratio. This go around I tested that method even further by using my rice cooker. I find using small kitchen appliances reduce my likelihood of burning and ruining my grains. The quinoa was a little too al dente so next time I’ll add just a touch more liquid. To give the quinoa a little extra flavor, I like to cook mine in chicken stock instead of water. It is also important to rinse the grain before cooking.

Our vegetable during this evening were boiled carrots, but they were such a last minute decision that they didn’t make the presentation plate! I apologize for the photo quality of this dish… I feel my food photography has taken multiple steps backwards with the time change. The windows in my house do not let in a lot of light, and now I have no hope of natural light as it’s dark before I even leave the office!

Asian Slow Roasted Salmon

Ingredients:

  • 4 salmon filets
  • 2 tbsp sesame oil, plus more for brushing
  • 1/4 C soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 2 tsp grated ginger
  • 2 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 tsp cornstarch

Steps:

  1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
  2. Place salmon skin side down on a foil lined baking sheet. Brush salmon with sesame oil and season with pepper. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until salmon flakes easily with a fork.
  3. Over medium heat whisk together soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, ginger, and garlic. Bring glaze to a simmer. Whisk in cornstarch until the glaze is smooth and reaches desired thickness.
  4. Drizzle glaze over cooked salmon and serve with grains and vegetables.

*This recipe is adapted from Riley at http://www.mydailymorsel.com/2013/06/17/asian-slow-roasted-salmon/*

Asian Slow Roasted Salmon

A Two Year Project

~ lk529 ~ 3 Comments

Two years ago I embarked on a very ambitious Christmas gift for my mom. A beautiful cross stitched Christmas landscape designed by Thomas Kinkade.

There aren’t any good shops in my local area to get cross stitch patterns and kits so I had a friend stop at Hobby Lobby in Auburn for me. She sent me a couple of patterns and I selected “A Treasured Time“. She told me the size and price and brought it to me.

I greatly underestimated how large 12×16” is! I had never undertaken anything so big before, and greatly misjudged my ability to complete it in time. I didn’t start on the project until the family left my home Thanksgiving weekend. Needless to say, given the title of this blog post, I did not complete this masterpiece in 3 weeks. And Santa’s elves were too busy to lend me a hand.

I took this project on every work trip, spending hours in hotel rooms each night working on it. I would stitch every evening while Stuart played video games. It came with me on long car rides.

After two short, yet long, years I have finally completed this winter scene. I can’t even begin to tell you how relieved I am!

Image

It will probably be another year before I decide to tackle something so big again. I am used to doing ornament sized pieces that take me 2 days to complete. I will return to some quick fun pieces soon. Having my Christmas tree up puts me in the cross stitching spirit.

 

Pork Chops and Applesauce

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I bring you a comfort food classic combination. I don’t recall ever having Pork Chops and Applesauce growing up and wanted to know why these two foods are traditionally paired together.

The answer? Because it works! The flavors complement each other nicely.

I made a quick spice rub for my pork – salt, pepper, paprika, ground mustard, thyme. Seared them over the stove top and served them aside homemade apple sauce and a baked potato. (Yes, I realize there should have been a green of some sort, probably broccoli served with this too. But apple is a fruit!)

Slow Cooker Applesauce

Ingredients:

  • 4 pink lady apples, peeled
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1-2 tbsp brown sugar, to taste

Steps:

  1. Cut peeled apples into chunks. Place in a slow cooker. Add the cinnamon stick.
  2. Cook on LOW 4-6 hours.
  3. Taste apple sauce and add brown sugar to sweeten if desired.

Image

Let it Sew

~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

As I mentioned in my Christmas Time is Here post, 2013 is The Year of the Snowman.

My mother-in-law taught my friend and me how to quilt last August and we knew we wanted to make her a thank you gift – once our skills improved a bit. We decided on creating a Christmas gift for it. When it was declared that there’d be a theme to the presents this year we started searching Pinterest for snowman ideas. There were a handful we liked, but most quilts were beyond our skill level or not in our style.

Using Electric Quilt we decided to design our own!

My MIL’s favorite fabrics are batiks so we knew we’d go with that for our fabric palate. My friend found some great snowman batiks at a local quilt shop and we spiraled off of that.

With the back of the quilt we decided to be more ambitious than a one-, two-, or three- paneled back and added some letters! We laid out our completed letter blocks until we decided on a layout and pulled out the graph paper to determine how to piece it all together.

Image

When we went to the fabric store to buy the backing material the sales associate said, “You must be engineers” when we told her we’d designed the front ourselves. We laughed and said, “We are!” We still haven’t settled on whether or not that was a compliment. 😉

War Eagle Game Day

~ lk529 ~ 3 Comments

A big part of Thanksgiving weekend is watching the Iron Bowl.

We gather around the TV, taking a break from Thanksgiving foods, to stuff our faces with game day dishes while watching the most stressful game of the season. This year I’m expecting a great game. The stakes our high this year – ESPN Game Day will be on The Plains, Alabama is ranked #1, Auburn is ranked #4, and a ticket to the SEC Championship Game is on the line.

Here are a few of the recipes that will be on the coffee table this year:

Iron Bowl Food

Football Game Day Dip

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb Velveeta
  • 1 can Rotel
  • 1/2 lb ground beef

Steps:

  1. Brown ground beef, drain fat.
  2. Cube Velveeta and put in a microwavable dish. Stir in Rotel and beef.
  3. Microwave for 2 minutes at a time, stirring. Once cheese is melted serve with Tostitos!

Shake ‘n’ Bake Buffalo Bites

Ingredients:

  • 1 pkt Shake ‘n’ Bake
  • 3 lb chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
  • 1 bottle Frank’s Red Hot buffalo sauce (not hot sauce)

Steps:

  1. Toss chicken in Shake ‘n’ Bake.
  2. Place chicken on baking sheet. Bake at 375deg for 20-25 minutes until chicken is cooked through.
  3. Toss cooked chicken in buffalo sauce. Serve with ranch dressing!

This year we’re experimenting with chicken wings instead! Baking them on a metal rack on a baking sheet at 425deg for 30min.

Cranberry Barbecue Turkey Sliders

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 C cranberry sauce
  • 1/2 C orange juice concentrate, thawed
  • 1/4 C brown sugar
  • 1/8 C honey
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/2 tsp ancho chili powder
  • left over turkey, shredded
  • slider buns

Steps:

  1. Bring ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced slightly, about 10 minutes.
  2. Pour sauce into a blender or use an immersion blender.
  3. Toss turkey in barbecue sauce. Assemble slider sandwiches.

*This recipe is adapted from John at http://www.patiodaddiobbq.com/2011/11/cranberry-orange-bbq-sauce.html*

WAR EAGLE!

cranberry turkey sliders

UPDATE: We had so much food that the sliders weren’t made this year. I will be making them for the SEC Championship Game next weekend instead!

Christmas Time is Here

~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

Thanksgiving weekend brings with it not only family and food but it also starts the Christmas season.

I have always grown up decorating for Christmas on Black Friday, and I’ve continued doing so in my own home. I put the family to work – the boys put the lights up outside, the girls do the Christmas village and the mantle, and as a group we put the ornaments on the tree.

2013 is the “Year of the Snowman”. My mother-in-law always puts a theme to her gifts. Our first Christmas she made stockings for everyone, the year after that aprons for the girls, last year gifts were made with buttons – ornaments and Toomer’s Tree art. This year we agreed to do the “Year of the Snowman” and spent the year planning on gifts. (I’ll share my gift tutorial later this season!)

That long story was told because my family surprised me with a second Christmas tree! In my craft room there is now a beautiful tree decked out in snowman and snowman-related ornaments and topped with a top hat!

My Christmas Tree
My Christmas Tree
My Christmas Mantle
My Christmas Mantle
Charles Dickens Village
Charles Dickens Village
My surprise snowman tree!
My surprise snowman tree!
Outdoor Christmas Lights
Outdoor Christmas Lights

Whole-Cranberry Cranberry Sauce

~ lk529 ~ 2 Comments

Cranberry sauce is a must have item on the Thanksgiving Day spread. And even if you don’t like it, you still have to have a little spoonful to liven up your plate. It’s like a bright flower hiding in the desert. For those that do eat the cranberry sauce, it’s a cool, tart bite that keeps your taste buds alive throughout the entire meal. (My favorite part about cranberry sauce is actually what I do with the leftovers! I make a cranberry barbecue sauce to make turkey sandwiches on game day.)

We always use the whole berry cranberry sauce from the can. And it is my brother’s pride and joy. Only he is allowed to open that can and pour it into the serving bowl. I used to have one of those battery-powered can openers, but this year he’s going to have to put a little elbow grease into the job and use a traditional can opener! Fun fact: Giada admitted to using canned cranberry sauce at her home on Thanksgiving on Food Network’s Thanksgiving Live!

For the blog I decided to try and make cranberry sauce from real cranberries. It is such a simple recipe requiring very little attention. If you want to avoid the can, this is an easy way to do it.

Whole-Cranberry Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 3 C fresh cranberries
  • 1/2 C real maple syrup
  • 1/2 C honey
  • 1 1/4 C orange juice

Steps:

  1. Combine ingredients in a pot. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 20 minutes. (It’ll sound like popcorn popping!)
  2. Skim the foam off the top. Bring to room temperature.

*This recipe is adapted from Constance at http://thefoodiearmywife.com/homemade-cranberry-sauce-for-thanksgiving/*

Cranberry Sauce 1 Cranberry Sauce 2