Saturday

Before I forget, I wanted to mention that my friend Eileen over at My Quilting Porch is having a giveaway--the Pieces From My Heart Trees Up! pattern. Pop on over there and check out the one she's making. I sent her the pattern when I finished mine, and now she wants to pass it on to one of you, if you're the lucky commenter!

Saturday turned out to be a nice, relaxing day here at Casa de Kim. That pesky Hubby who was anxious for a game plan? I sent him outside to pick a tree full of ripe lemons, which got him started cleaning up the yard a bit and winterizing the dog run. In the end, only about half the lemons were picked, but he was outside and out of my way much of the day. Yep, I'm not just another pretty face--there's a brain inside here too! LOL!

While he was busy with that, I worked on the binding of the Valentine quilt. My sister-in-law Kathy came over for a casual dinner before the three of us went to my son's indoor soccer game this evening. You may not remember, but last January I posted a quick soup recipe we enjoy--basically you just combine the ingredients you see here, heat, sprinkle with some Parmesan cheese, and eat:

For a little Christmas twist, I used green tortellini. Red and green soup! What could be better? Well, how about some soft, fresh baked breadsticks to go with it and a salad?! Yum! It's a great dinner for a wintery day--fast and easy too!

I did finally sit down today and made out a list of those people I want to bake something for, and while I sewed the quilt binding, my mind wandered back to Christmasses past. When I was a child, my mother's mother would make each of the families an applesauce Bundt cake for Christmas. Christmas was the only time of the year we had it, so that cake was special. When my grandmother passed away, my mom carried on the tradition, but somewhat sporadically. Several years ago, she passed the recipe on to me, but I've never made it. It occurred to me, though, that maybe this is the year to start. So I searched though all my recipes and found it.

The cake is moist with applesauce, studded with raisins and walnuts, and flavored with spices and cocoa powder. When I start my baking later this week, I'll take a photo of the cake and share the recipe with you.

Hubby's been tasked with undertaking an expedition to Costco tomorrow where he can get large quantities of applesauce, raisins, walnuts, and several of the other ingredients I'll need. Costco should be a mad house tomorrow. Do you think he'll stop asking me about stuff like game plans now?

Time for my beauty sleep. I have another entire day of fun stuff ahead of me, so I need to rest up!