Monkey See, Monkey Do

Yesterday I said I'd have a short post, and I obviously lied. My posts grow larger than intended, just like my quilts seem to do. Well, maybe tonight will be short. We'll see.

During my lunch hour today, I had a few minutes to check in on a couple blogs and found Nicole had posted a recipe for plum upside down cake from a recent issue of Country Home magazine. Coincidently and fortuitously (our word for the day!), one of the secretaries had brought a big bag of plums to work to share, so I asked her if she'd mind if I took home what was left at the end of the day to make a plum cake which I would then bring back to work tomorrow. As expected, she was perfectly okay with the idea, so I printed out Nicole's recipe and headed home with a bag of plums.

I had nearly enough plums to make two cakes--one for us and one for the office. I ran a little short on the second cake, so I supplemented the plums with a couple peaches that were starting to get a little soft. Here's what came out of the oven a little bit ago--the first photo is the plum cake and the second is the one with peaches added in:

If you look at Nicole's blog, you'll see she had a really pretty plate that was the exact size needed for the cake. Sadly enough, I do not, so my cakes aren't quite as pretty and they're hanging off the plates a bit at the corners, but I'm hoping they'll taste just as good! I think the peach/plum is a little nicer looking, so I'll take that one to work. Since the plums are a little tart, I'll keep the plain plum cake here to serve with some ice cream to sweeten it up a bit.

No quilting was accomplished tonight since I was busy in the kitchen. I guess I'd better go console myself with a little plum cake and ice cream.

ADDENDUM: I love you Nicole! Your plum cake is really, really yummy! Especially with a little Breyer's Natural Vanilla ice cream! Thanks!

New Book!

Okay, it's new to me, but it's been out for quite awhile. Like 12 years?! Remember my burger-challenged buddy from yesterday's post? Who knew that she had such good taste in cookbooks? (And, of course, the illustrations and little stories are wonderful too!) Well, actually I have no idea if she has this book or any of Susan Branch's other cookbooks, but she does have a link to Branch's website on her blog, so I clicked over there one day and was checking things out.

Susan Branch isn't totally unknown to me. In fact, the owner of our local quilt shop often reads little pieces of Branch's Girlfriends Forever book at our Jo's Little Women Club meetings. But I hadn't taken the time to really look at her books until now, and I decided I NEEDED this one since it's summer. (Oh, yeah, and there were three others that I NEEDED just as much, for various other reasons, but they haven't arrived yet.)

So, anyway, The Summer Book arrived in my mailbox on Saturday, and I read through it Saturday night. I had already been to the grocery store on Saturday, but after looking at the book, I had to go shopping again. Today--Monday--I went to Trader Joe's and then back to the grocery store. I think with one more stop at a health food store, I'll have everything I need to whip up quite a few of the recipes I've picked out to try first. (Sure would have been simpler if I had gotten the book several months ago and actually PLANTED a lot of what I needed, but nope, that didn't happen.)

Now, what I want to know from my Blogland friends out there: Do you have this book? If so, what recipes do you love? What recipes didn't work out so well for you? Do you have any of Susan Branch's other books that you wouldn't want to live without? Please leave me a comment or e-mail me (you can click on the e-mail link from my profile). I'd love to get your input!

P.S.: If you click the link under my current reads box over there on the right, it will take you to Amazon where you can look at a few of the pages of the book--just in case I'm not the only one who hasn't looked at it before!

Blogger-vention

I have a burger-challenged Blogland buddy. The other day, I was reading blogs and came across hers where she talked about barbecuing frozen hamburger patties, for goodness sake! Knowing her a bit, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that she had gotten caught up in a sale at Nordstrom's with no time to make "real" burgers, but even so, making a good burger shouldn't take very long.

Well, since then I've been thinking a bit about burgers, and with the nice barbecue weather we're enjoying here in California, I thought today was a perfect day to barbecue and pass on to all of you (and my burger-challenged friend) my recipe--these burgers are simple but really excellent!

Here's what you'll need:



1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons finely diced jalapeno
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons diced onion
1/2 package taco seasoning mix
salt and pepper to taste (not shown)

I'm not sure what it is, but the diced jalapeno gives the burgers flavor but doesn't seem to make them too hot and spicy. You can buy the jalapenos diced in the small cans, but I got tired of wasting most of the can, so I bought a jar of sliced nacho jalapenos, and I just dice them up as needed.

Using your hands, mix the ingredients together in a bowl.

Divide the mix into four balls and pat into patties.

You can add whatever you like to top these burgers: cheese, bacon, avocado or guacamole, lettuce, tomato, and onion are a few suggestions. We kept them simple tonight with cheese, lettuce, and tomato. Summer time is great for fresh fruit, so I mixed up peaches, raspberries, blackberries, and pitted cherries. Corn on the cob was a natural choice as well. Yum!

So, no more frozen hamburger patties, right? Yeah, you know who you are! Next time, I'm sending the burger police! LOL!

Goddess Domestique

The weekend's over and another week of work looms ahead. The weekend, though, was full of family, food, and friends.

On Saturday, my husband and I traveled up to Oroville to visit with my mom. I had heard that Oroville had some fun antique and thrift shops, but in the years since my parents moved there, I had never taken the time to hunt them down; in fact, I had never been to the downtown area at all and had no idea where it was. So, encouraged by my mom and with directions from the local phone book, we headed off to see what we could find, and came home with a couple "treasures," including these two small canning jars and the cast iron cornbread mold.

I was really hoping to find something extremely tacky for my friend Lisa, since we were meeting her and her husband for dinner, but as it turned out, most of the thrift stores were closed or getting ready to close by mid-afternoon, so there was little time to search for the absurd. We made it home in time to relax for a bit and freshen up before meeting our friends at a local Mexican restaurant. I've told you a bit about Lisa before and thought I might end up with another story for you (especially when she suggested going for a drink after dinner at the biker bar next door), but the evening was fairly tame. After dinner, we decided instead to head over to Starbucks and sit outside, chatting while we drank our coffee drinks. The weather was beautiful and it was a really nice evening.

Sunday was a stay-at-home day, and I was bitten by the domestic bug. I made some poppyseed muffins for breakfast and a berry cobbler for dessert (photo at the top of the blog). For dinner, I made one of our favorite chicken dishes. It's actually called Chicken Fajitas, although the recipe doesn't call for any of the traditional fajita ingredients like onions and bell peppers. Still, I love it because the key ingredient is the chicken, and it can be used in several dishes. I'll share the recipe with you. We like this chicken in soft tacos with typical taco ingredients like cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and tomato. Sometimes I'll saute onions and bell peppers for a fajita-style taco. The chicken is also great in salads with tomatoes and avocados--something I plan to make with the leftovers. And, best of all, it's fairly low in calories and fat with lots of flavor.

MARINADED CHICKEN

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup lime juice

4 tablespoons of diced onion

2 teaspoons of minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder

2 teaspoons of dried oregano

Wash/clean chicken and place in large zip top plastic bag. Add remaining ingredients. "Squish" around to mix ingredients and coat chicken.

Place in refrigerator to marinade for 2 to 24 hours. Broil chicken breasts on both sides until cooked. Slice and serve in a salad or flour tortillas with your favorite fixings.

Enjoy!

Want to Make a Great Sandwich?

Does that look good? It's one of our favorites--my own chicken salad sandwich concoction. My husband LOVES them--in fact, he had to have two when I made them for dinner last night and then complained all night about how full he was. Men!

A month or so ago, I wrote about my Chicken Caesar Salad. I love the convenience of buying already roasted whole chickens. Quite often when I have leftover chicken from either the whole roasted chickens or from something else, I'll make chicken salad. You really have to try it. Really. They're the best!

KIM'S CHICKEN SALAD SANDWICHES

Ingredients (this will be enough for three sandwiches):

1 chicken breast
2 - 3 green onions
1/2 apple
1/4 cup cashews (or other favorite nuts)
1 avocado (preferred but if you have no avocados, you can do without)
2 - 3 tablespoons grated or shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise (I use regular but you can substitute one lower in fat)

Bread, lettuce, tomato, if desired; or you can just serve it on a bed of lettuce with diced tomato as a dinner salad.

Slice, cube, and dice the chicken breast, apple, green onion, cashews, and avocado. Other than the onion, which should be finely sliced, the rest of the ingredients should be about the same size/dice (see photo). No need to peel the apple. I just happened to have my sliced tomato on the cutting board but my lettuce was crisping in the fridge.

Combine cut up ingredients in a medium bowl with parmesan and mayo; add a dash of pepper if desired and check to decide whether to add salt. (Generally the parmesan and nuts provide enough salt.) If you don't have avocado in your area, you can substitute packaged guacamole--just spread it on one side of the bread or mix it in with the rest of the chicken mixture, depending on the consistency of the guacamole. Pile the chicken salad mix on your bread (I like the nutty/grainy varieties best but any will do) and top with lettuce and tomatoes. Sometimes I toast the bread, but I prefer it fresh and soft; of course, it's up to you!

I hope you try this sometime and enjoy it as much as we do!

Spreading Love Through the Power of Cheese

Have you seen the commercials for California cheese? I love those cows! "Happy cows come from California!" Yep, it's true. The other day I was kinda sorta lost on the outskirts of town and saw bunches of them. Of course, they all pretended they couldn't talk. When I asked them for directions, they just stared. I'm sure that once I drove off, they all got a good laugh too. It's not like I live in an unpopulated area, so I really couldn't go too far without finding civilization again--if you can call an automobile wrecking yard "civilization"! But the cows looked happy enough. After all, they don't call Sacramento "cow town" for nothin'!

So what's with the cows and the cheese? I was sitting at my desk today, catching up on all the news thats fit to print by my blogland friends and eating the last of the mac and cheese I baked the other day and I realized I was in a state of near bliss. Or as close to bliss as one CAN be, sitting at one's desk at WORK, instead of sitting in front of a sewing machine, quilting. And you know what? You too can experience near bliss if you follow a few simple steps.

Several people expressed an interest in my mac and cheese recipe, so I thought I'd share. Yes, I won't keep this recipe to myself any longer. Well, actually it never was JUST mine. You know those community cookbook fundraiser things? Some years back, I was involved in the PTA at my kids' school and had the brilliant idea that we should solicit recipes from the parents, publish them into a cookbook, and then make the parents buy them back. It worked out fairly well, and I ended up with a cookbook full of good, simple recipes. This was one of them, and believe me, the recipe is so simple that most of the time, my husband does the cooking. Bonus! So here it is, your chance to experience near bliss:

CALIFORNIA HAPPY COW MAC & CHEESE

2 cups of macaroni
2 tablespoons of butter (or margarine)
2 tablespoons of flour
1 cup of milk
1/4 teaspoon of salt
A dash or two of pepper
3/4 pound shredded cheese*

Cook the macaroni according to the package directions. Drain and rinse; set aside.

In medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and then add flour. Heat until bubbly. Slowly add milk, whisking as you go to keep the sauce smooth. Add salt and pepper and continue heating until the sauce is thickened.

Add sauce to cooked macaroni.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a 9" x 13" pan. Layer half the macaroni mixture, then half the cheese. Repeat. Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes until mac and cheese is bubbly and top is somewhat crispy and brown.

*About the cheese: Well, of course happy California cheese is best, but if you happen to be in Wisconsin or one of the other cheese capitals of the universe, sacrificing the flavor of California cheese may be necessary. The original recipe calls for sharp white cheddar cheese but just about anything you like works. The last time I made this, I had some leftover fresh mozarella and a couple varieties of Velveeta. Because they were soft cheeses, I added them to the sauce and continued to heat until melted. I then skipped the layering part and just sprinkled a shredded Mexican cheese blend over the top. Yum!

A word of caution though. If you eat too much of this stuff--which is easy to do, believe me!--well, let's just say you may be mistaken for a California cow!

TGIF!

Friday's here--finally! Last night was a reasonably productive one. I started thinking about peanut butter cookies--maybe because I didn't have my usual peanut butter and crackers for lunch. (I stopped on my way to work to pick up a latte and croissant for breakfast and a salad for lunch.)

Tomorrow I drive up to take my mom grocery shopping and do whatever else needs to be done. She came home from the nursing home Wednesday and is glad to be home. We're expecting a storm to come in, so it will mean having to drive through a lot of rain and I'm not looking forward to that, but I should be home around mid to late afternoon and then I'll have the rest of the weekend to putter around and quilt. I've been thinking about making Paula Deen's Taco Soup. Have you ever made it? It's as simple as dumping a bunch of cans of stuff into the crockpot and leaving it. Well, yes, you DO have to open the cans first. It might be nice to get it started before I leave for Oroville tomorrow so I can come home to some nice comfort food. If I do make it, I'll take a photo for you and get you the recipe.

Anyway, peanut butter cookies. I remembered my mom likes peanut butter cookies too, so I decided to bake a batch and take some with me for her. There's something wonderfully delicious about this simple cookie! I also worked on finishing up an appliqued center square for a Jo Morton pattern--one of the classes I took from her. The photo of the center is posted below next to the pattern photo--which you probably can't see very well, but next I'll need to do a couple pieced borders. The pink fabric really isn't that bright--funny what photos do! I really wanted to start the block for Patty's and my applique project but I thought I should finish this one first. Now I have a clear conscience, so I'm ready for some applique fun this weekend!

The table's set for tea. Would you like to come over for some tea and peanut butter cookies?

Just Do What I Tell You . . .

My horoscope on Yahoo says, "You will be fiery and full of energy today. Explore something new." Who, ME?! Nope, no fire and energy here, so I don't know what they're talking about. "Explore something new"? Hard to do when I'm at work, doing the same things I always do. I would love to explore something new, but who would pay the bills?

According to Yahoo and most astrological charts, I am a Leo--the leader. Blogger has me as a Cancer, though--the homebody. Yes, I'm right on the cusp, which means that I generally stay at home and boss the cats around. I try to tell my husband what to do, but here it is, 26 years into our marriage, and I don't think it's really working. Of course, he either doesn't hear what I say or forgets. Testosterone strikes again, thwarting me in my quest to develop those leadership abilities my birthdate demands. Darn! Even the children have escaped.

Yesterday, I mentioned my chicken Caesar salad recipe, which I did, in fact, fix for dinner last night. (Photo above.) This is usually a Friday night meal, when I don't feel like doing a whole lot. I think this is just too good to keep to myself, so I thought I'd share my fast food fixing secret with you. It works perfectly for my husband and I--if you're feeding more and want to have a go anyway, you'll need to recalculate for your family.

Most of the time when I go to the grocery store, I buy one of those already roasted whole chickens. Costco has the best, but I'll settle for whatever--most are pretty decent unless they've been under the heat lamps for 12 hours. The first night, I make a couple side dishes and serve my husband a leg/thigh piece and I have a breast. That's one meal. The next day, my husband takes the other leg/thigh piece to work for his lunch. Two meals. The second breast goes into the salad. Three meals. Then I make soup with the carcass and whatever meat's left on it. Another meal or two, usually for my husband's lunches. Cool, huh? Meanwhile, much quilting can be accomplished!

The Caesar salad is especially excellent. Back when I'm at the grocery store, picking up that chicken, I also pick up a bag o'salad--the kind with dressing and everything packaged together. My favorite is Caesar Supreme. When I know I'm going to fix the salads, I'll cook up some pasta that morning--bowties are the best but penne is okay two--and let it cool in the fridge. Then all I do is mix up the salad bag contents, about a cup of cooked pasta, and the cubed up chicken--that's enough for two main dish salads. I always forget how really good it tastes until that first bite, and there's very little effort involved. If I have extra "stuff" in the fridge, I can toss that in the salad too. I usually serve it with some toast, English muffins, or bake up one of those Pillsbury french bread loaves.

So, if you'll all just do what this Leo tells you, you'll be well fed, happy, and have more time for quilting! Really! Just do what I say and no one will get hurt--except a couple chickens! LOL!

Do you have any great time saving schemes? Post them on your blog and let me know so I can check them out--I love anything that saves time and all that fire and energy I seem to have misplaced!

Food, Fabric, Fun

Sorry you couldn't make it by for breakfast yesterday--you missed a great breakfast treat! Blueberry crumble French toast stuffed with honey sweetened cream cheese and blueberry preserves. Yum! We ate out on the patio and enjoyed the lovely spring weather.

After breakfast, I got busy playing with fabric--specifically my spring-y looking bright quilt that I've been quilting for the last century or so! I don't know about you, but when something takes THIS LONG, I really start getting antsy to move on to something else. As I was quilting, I found my mind wandering to a couple applique projects that are "in progress," thinking that maybe I could take a break from quilting and switch gears. Or maybe I could wrap a couple more Easter eggs--I got a nice fat package of perle cotton in the mail from Herrschner's on Saturday for that purpose. But no, I made myself keep on quiltin'. I did take a little break, though, to write my April Fool's post about--what else--the tendency we quilters have to wander from one project to the next--lol! In any event, by bedtime last night, I was starting to see the light at the end of the quilted tunnel. I think maybe, just maybe, I'll have this thing done by next weekend if I persevere! Meanwhile, I have a Jo's Little Women Club meeting on Wednesday night with nothing to show for the last month. I did finish a little basket quilt at the class I took from Jo Morton, but that's been sent off to a good friend in Maryland for some hand quilted magic. The other class project is still on my design wall, needing a couple more appliqued flowers and then a whole lot of piecing--which is probably what started my mind wandering in the first place yesterday.

I go through periods--loooooong periods--where I really don't feel like cooking, interspersed with periods--short periods--where I get in the mood. Apparently I was in the mood yesterday for at least a couple hours because not only did I make French toast for breakfast but I also made homemade pizza for dinner. Yum again! It was a great day for eating at my house!

Last week, my buddy Kairle sent me a link to a blog called Cream Puffs in Venice. Great looking food, and I had to try out the pizza recipe she posted on March 18th. I added sliced Roma tomatoes to mine, but it was otherwise the same. Definitely one I'll have to make again!

Tonight, I think, might be a chicken Caesar salad night. (And I just may be moving into that period of not wanting to cook much, but that remains to be seen.) My chicken Caesar salads are wonderful--and very quick and simple. I'll have to tell you more about it next time. Until then, happy quilting!

Good Stuff!

What, you might wonder, is "good stuff"? Consider large, soft, g-o-o-o-ey, hot-out-of-the-oven homemade Toll House cookies with Breyer's Natural Vanilla ice cream on top. Yum! That was our dessert tonight after stuffing ourselves earlier with the complete, traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner. Can you hear the groans and popping buttons?



There was a time this afternoon when I thought completing my shamrock topper was a possibility, but I always seem to underestimate how long any given quilting project will take. Here it is, pretty much my bedtime, dinner's long passed, and the binding is only half stitched down. Gee, can I possibly be any earlier on getting NEXT YEAR's St. Patrick's Day tabletopper finished?! It's all just a matter of viewing things in the correct perspective, right?