Pictures, Frosty's, Donuts

Yesterday Nicholas had his 6 year pictures taken at Hymas Image, Evelyn set up a fishing/pond scene. I am going to have a hard time picking from the 100+ pictures she took. She always does a wonderful job. I will have to take daddy to help sort them down, he is really good at it. After, we took Grandma to Jefferson Lake. It was so fun, had a picnic and took lots of pictures. I loved it. We stopped at Wendy's on the way home for a gf frosty. It was a wonderful treat. Today after swimming we stopped at Bakers dozen for donuts. Nicholas had a knickinak donut and mom and I had a fritter. Paisley had a cake. Too good....almost heavenly. We delivered some to daddy at work too. The donut shop is next to where there used to be the best scrapbooking store. It was called Scrap Coop....Paisley looked at the empty store and said where is the crap poop! We all cracked up and got the hysterics for a couple minutes. It has been a good laugh today!)

Yellowstone

We are really enjoying being with our family and misssing our daddy. The trips to the park are great, the food is wonderful and we are taking pictures like crazy. Today we are off to Norris and Mammoth. The weather has been perfect and the time share is very nice. The kids love the pool and Grandma and I love the hot tub! We got to meet Grandpa Dicks wife Lynnette...a really sweet lady. I love her. They left today to travel home. We hope to see a bear today!

Miller Family reunion

We are in Yellowstone and having a wonderful time. I am enjoying sharing recipes and food. My uncle Jer is a great cook and loves to cook with me and vise versa. I squeezed 14 limes for him yesterday and he used them in salsa and lime cilantro chicken, my cousin Darin's favorite. Uncle Jer had to give me an adjustment this am because of the lime squeezing or the bed. I am not sure.....Thank goodness he is a Chiropractor! He wanted the recipes for the breakfast I made on their first day here and the dessert that evening. So here's for you uncle Jer-I love you

Baked chiles rellenos

Perfect for brunch....makes 8 servings and can be prepared days ahead and chilled, just bake an extra 5-10 minutes

8 poblano chiles
3/4 lbs fresh lean high quality chorizo
1 cup crumbled cotija cheese
1 tsp. minced oregano leaves
12 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup freshly grated jack cheese

Broil chiles for 4-5 min till charred
cover 20min and peel, cut off stem ends and remove seeds.

Cook chorizo, stirring occas to break up until cooked about 4 min.

Preheat oven 375 and mix chorizo, cotjia cheese and oregano. Stuff chiles and lay in 12x8 pan.

In large bowl whisk eggs until broken up and whisk in flour, baking powder and salt. Sprinkle chiles with 1/2 the jack and pour eggs over chiles and sprinkle with remaining jack. Bake until top starts to brown and eggs are set but soft, about 30 minutes.




Chocolate Walnut Tart
No hassle, no fuss and no leftovers! This chocolate walnut tart is so simple to make!

Pastry for single pie crust
1 cup coarsley broken walnuts
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 eggs
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Press pastry into ungreased 9 inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom.
Sprinkle walnuts and choc into crust
In a small bowl, combine eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar, butter and vanilla.
Pour into crust.
Bake at 350 for 25-30- min or until bubbly and crust is golden brown. Cool on wire rack Enjoy

A wonderful husband

I had the opportunity to attend Time Out for Women with some of my wonderful friends in Pocatello. We stayed in the Holiday Inn....a bit scary especially after the light went out! the lock on the door clicked...no kidding.We called the desk and a scary man came to assist us. All we cared was there was no serial killer in our room. 4 Grown women slept with the bathroom light on. The reason I was telling you this is I came home to a spotless house, laundry started, gazebo put up, dinner planned and kids happy. It was wonderful. We went to church and that was great too. The kids each moved up to new classes. Paisley has Jo and he is great and Nicholas has Bill. The happiest man in our church with a true love for Jesus. Nicholas loves him.! Sunday we worked in the yard and garden for 7 hours and the garden is in. We put weed guard down this year and started most of the veges inside. We are excited to see it grow. Thank you Honey for making my weekend so wonderful! I love You.

Vintage Earrings Tutorial and GIVEAWAY!!!!

Vintage Earrings Tutorial and GIVEAWAY!!!!

These are so sweet and such a easy idea. They remind me of a pair I had in the eightys. Check it out.

Go green bag

I made these for Nicholas's teachers this year. They loved them and they are so fun to make. I hope you enjoy the idea....happy sewing
I got the inspiration for this bag from here:

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/sewing/shopping-bag.shtml

....and on the purses, bags, wallets: discussions and questions board, pfirsch wanted to know how to make a more "finished" bag. I have also added another feature which allows the bag to be folded up into its own pouch (you will see this further down in the tutorial).

The bag is made from one pattern piece. It's just like the plastic shopping bags and in fact the pattern is made from the shopping bag. The following picture shows the bag full (with three 2 litre drinks inside - and, BTW, carried them perfectly without the fear of the bag falling apart like the plastic ones).


You start by making your pattern using.....ta da.... you guessed it, a plastic bag. Cut off the fused ends at the bottom and both top handles:


Open out the gusset and cut in half on both sides:


Discard one piece and fold the remaining piece in half:


Place this on the fold of your fabric and pin. You will need to cut 2 of the main fabric and 2 of the lining fabric:


Place one main fabric piece and one lining fabric piece right sides together and sew the middle "U" shape. Then sew the other curved seams BUT ENDING APPROXIMATELY 1 1/2 INCHES BELOW THE TOP OF THE HANDLES. This allows you to sew the top of the handles later. Clip the corners and turn right side out and press. Don't topstitch at this stage:


This is what you should now have:


Place the two pieces together, right sides together:


Now we are going to work on the top of the handles. Push the lining back and pin the main fabric together:


Keeping the lining away, start sewing across the main fabric:


Keep sewing and continue on into the lining:


Continue to sew along the lining:


And get to the end:


Push all that fabric into the handles and this is what you will get - an opening in the side of the handles:


This is what you bag should look like now. If you don't want to topstitch, handsew the openings closed on each of the handles. If you do want to topstitch, just ignore the openings for the time being.


Now we are going to go onto making the pocket to allow the bag to fold up into itself. This is optional. If you don't want to do this, just skip the next few steps. The pocket piece size will obviously depend on the size of your plastic bag though. To get this size, I folded it up as I would fold it then measured that size and added some more. It gets quite bulky as when it is folded up into the pocket, the whole thing is turned inside out. My pocket piece is 6.5" x 17". To make the pocket, fold in half (right sides together) and sew the two side seams. Turn right sides out and press.


Find the centre of the bag and the centre of the pocket's raw edge:


Line up the two centres, then pin and sew down the two sides to the main fabric only - NOT the lining:


Now put the two main pieces together and the two lining pieces together (right sides together) and sew the side seams:


Turn right side out and place the lining in the main bag. Press side seams and topstitch around the handles and the bag's opening (if you didn't handstitch openings closed before). The topstitching will close the openings. The next picture doesn't show the topstitching but the picture after does. However, now is the time to do it:


Now to make the gusset. Fold the handles in half and place the side seam parallel with the handle fold, like this:


The following picture is a cross-section of the bottom of the bag:


Repeat for the other side.

Sew across the top of the handles to keep in place. I sewed in the seam so the stitching is almost invisible:


Now we are going to sew a french seam across the bottom of the bag. With right sides out, sew across the bottom of the bag (making sure to catch the gusset in the bottom seam):


Trim the seam allowance then turn inside out. Sew across the bottom encasing the seam allowance:


Turn your bag, right side out and it is now finished:


To fold the bag into itself, start by placing the side with the pocket downwards. Fold one side edge in (use the pocket as a guide to make this fold):


Repeat for the other side:


Turn handles down:


Fold in half:


Put your hand in the pocket, with this hand also grab the fabric (including the bag on the outside) and turn inside out.


Well done. You have finished your shopping bag. You can keep this handy little bag in your purse when you need it.

The best banana bread ever

Cookies and Cream Banana Bread

This is the most wonderful bread, i have even done it with striped shortbread cookies when the oreos are gone. I have trouble keeping oreos on hand now that I have this recipe! Thanks picky palate!

1 1/2 sticks butter
1 Cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
4 medium size ripe bananas (or 3 Large bananas)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
15 Oreo cookies, broken into pieces

1 Cup powdered sugar
2-3 Tablespoons heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until well combined. Slowly beat in egg, bananas and vanilla until combined. Place flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into a large bowl. Slowly add to wet ingredients. Stir in Oreos until just combined.

2. Scoop dough into 16 very mini loaf pans or 2 bread pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Muffin tins would work great too. Bake for 28-35 minutes if you are using the mini pan or 45-55 minutes for the normal bread pan. Toothpick comes clean from center.

3. Whisk powdered sugar and cream in a medium bowl until a nice drizzling consistency is reached. Drizzle over top of each bread and serve. Makes 16 mini loaves or 2 full loaves.

Homemade Dishwasher powder

1 cup Borax
1 cup Baking soda
1 packet lemonade koolaid
30 drops of your favorite essential oil
1/2 cup salt

Mix all and put in old dishwaher powder box. I use cantalope essential oil, it is wonderful. The koolaid is so there is some citric acid. You can also add a dash of vinegar to dishwasher if spotting or film occurs. Our water is very hard and I have the hot water heater turned way up.

Bread for Gluten Free diet...wonderful

CELIAC LIGHT BREAD

1 1/8 cup Chickpea flour also called Garbanzo bean flour ( I've switched to sorghum here -- same amount -- as my youngest can't deal with the bean flour yet)
1 cup cornstarch (I use Cream corn starch)
1 cup + 1 Tbs. tapioca flour
3 1/2 tsp. xanthum gum
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. brown sugar (Make sure that there are no lumps)
1/4 tsp. creme of tartar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/8 cup warm water (uncomfortable to touch but not boiling)
3 Tbs. vegetable oil (I use peanut oil or canola oil)
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

Bread Machine Method

WARNING: Adding more liquids or flours or reducing same could cause the bread to not cook thoroughly on the inside or to be too heavy. Also I am at almost 6000 feet altitude which might cause your bread to be slightly different than mine. First try it as is and then experiment if necessary.

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium size bowl except for the yeast. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly with wire whisk. Mix together the lightly beaten eggs, warm water, and oil in a separate bowl and thoroughly mix with wire whisk. Pour the liquid ingredients into your bread machine bowl. Immediately spoon in your dry mixed ingredients on top of the wet ingredients to make a mound in the center but covering all of the wet ingredients. With a spoon or spatula make a small depression in top of your dry ingredients (must be dry for the yeast) and immediately spoon in your yeast. Place your bread machine pan in the machine correctly and turn the machine to regular wheat bread cycle and turn on machine. (This dough will need two kneadings in order to get its content to proper consistency.)

Do not add any more liquids or flour. The dough will form a sticky ball. With a spatula scrape down the sides of machine bowl to make sure all of the dry ingredients get into the dough ball. On the rise cycle use your spatula that is wet to smooth the top of the loaf, if desired. Bake the bread using the medium crust setting. When finished turn the loaf out onto your wire rack and allow bread to cool or you can slice it while hot (Do not squeeze the loaf too tightly while holding it to slice while hot.) Slice the bread thin with a serrated bread knife or electric knife and enjoy.

This was a bit salty, I would cut it back a bit. I also would use fast whole wheat cycle, it rose great the first time, not the second.