Baby Quilt

A friend of mine is having her baby shower very soon and I was feeling crafty so I decided I would make her a small quilt. I have made a patchwork quilt before, which is really a lot of prep work, measuring and cutting blah blah blah. I am more of an instant gratification person, I don't like crafts with too much prep. So I decided I would make her a quilted baby quilt. I hope this makes sense, I'm not really down with quilting lingo...

I went to Joanne fabrics, a store which I really do love b/c you can always come up with somethign fun to make, and I spent a good hour going through their quilting fabrics. I was almost about to compromise on a pattern that I wasn't crazy about when in the last section of the very last row of the "nursery" fabrics I found the cutest pale yellow fabric with little animals all over it. Above each animal it has a little phrase on what the animal is doing ie: "the elephant washes his back" and the picture is a baby elephant spraying himself with this trunk. Really adorable, and I'm thinking it can double as a little story in a pinch! Although that's probably wishful thinking...

What I did not realize when I first set out for this project is that evidentally tiny babies can not use blankets or quilts. Who knew! Well, actually, I'm sure many people know this, I guess I'm just not very well versed in baby rules, not having any of my own. My friend, Christine, who seems to have endless information on children as she is a childrens librarian gave me this little piece of knowledge. So instead of throwing in the towel i decided to double up the batting on the inside and make it a thicker quilt. This way I figure maybe she can use it as a "tummy time" mat.

Anyways...so in the end I will be giving her more of a handmade floor mat it seems rather than a quilt. But I will just continue referring to it as a quilt as that makes me feel better. So having found the adorable patterned fabric for the front I went about choosing a coordinating fabric for the back, which was actually very easy. I found a cute pale yellow pinstripe cotton that works really well with the colors on the front fabric. Then I found a pale yellow plain cotton fabric for the binding. They have decided not to find out if they are having a boy or a girl, hence all the yellow.

So I purchased the fabric, the batting, quilting needles, and an 18" quilting hoop and set off for home to start the project. I actually took the time to do the suggested prep work, I washed all the fabrics and ironed them after. Then i squared them off.

Once everything was ready I laid out the back fabric (pinstripe) face down on my coffee table (yes I cleaned it off first), smoothed it out and placed the double layered batting on top of that. Make sure they are both flat and smoothed out, the batting should be slightly bigger than the fabric. Then I placed the top layer (the animal pattern) face up over the first two layers. Make sure these are all laying flat on top of each other and that they are lining up correctly. Once you've got it all lined up I placed the bottom part of the hoop under the center of the fabric pile, I figured starting in the center would be easiest b/c it would keep everything in the right place. Put the top of the ring around so it fits fairly snug and then lightly pull the fabric taught, making sure there are no ripples or loose spots, but don't pull the fabric too tight just enough to make sure it's smooth. I used pins to secure the three layers together so they wouldn't shift.

Now comes the time where you can actually start sewing! I chose a light green thread to coordinate. The pattern I chose was really an easy pattern to quilt around, which was great as I had never done this before. Around each animal there is a green dotted line creating a pattern so I chose to quilt along these dotted lines. It made a great fun pattern on the striped side and it looks really cute on the animal side. It works up fairly quickly, maybe two hours or so for each section that fits into the hoop, maybe less but I'm not sure I always loose track of time when I'm working on it. A lot of things you'll find on these types of quilts say you can do them in a day, yeah right. Maybe if you started at 6 AM and didn't stop until midnight. I worked on it a couple of hours a day for a couple of weeks.

I love working on something while I'm sitting around at night, I like to keep my hands busy. So if you're a crafty person and you have the time this is a great little project. It is a very affordable gift, and I think people appreciate the time that goes into it.

Spring Soup

One of my favorite things about Spring time is that asparagus is in season. I'm not sure when I started liking it so much but all of a sudden it seems to be one of my very favorite vegetables. We eat it as much as we can when it's in season, and if it looks good out of season we eat it then too!

It's great grilled, roasted, sauteed...just about any way you can imagine preparing it I'll eat it! Last night I made Cream of Asparagus Soup. I only make this when the asparagus is in season, otherwise its just not as good. I know it may not sound like it would be a very appetizing soup, I actually made it last year thinking I was making it just for my husband, he has always been a huge asparagus fan and as I said its only become a favorite of mine recently. But once I tried the soup I loved it! It has a smooth velvety texture and rich yet very fresh flavors. It also freezes nicely so you can divide the batch in half, then you have a meal ready for future use. I do usually try to stay away from cream soups but this recipe only calls for 1/3 of a cup which isn't so bad when you think about how many servings that is going into to (about 8).

This is a suprisingly delicious soup, and it makes a great light, healthy dinner or a yummy accompaniment to any sandwich. Try it this Spring, I promise you won't be dissapointed!!

Cream of Asparagus Soup

3 lbs. of asparagus roughly chopped (i cut mine in thirds)

5-6 large shallots chopped (@ 2 cups)

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup heavy cream

salt to tast

pepper to tast

Add butter to stock pot and heat over medium heat until melted. add shallots and until translucent (about 2 minutes). Add the asparagus and 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil then lower heat to a simmer and cover, cook until just tender and bright green in color (about 3 minutes). Season heavily with salt. Add pepper to taste. Blend all ingredients in a blender, or use a stick blender if you have one i find this to be easier as you can do it right in the pot and you don't have to worry about the soup flying everywhere out of the blender. If you use a regular blender do it in batches and make sure to leave room for the steam to escape out of the top.

If serving right away add the cream and the lemon juice, if freezing you can add that right before you serve.

In a Busy World

My husband and I love pizza and we have been playing around all winter with different recipes trying to get the "perfect pizza". Yesterday, before I went into the office, I made the dough. I use a Martha Stewart recipe from her Favorite Comfort Foods cookbook, if you've never seen the book you should check it out the recipes are great. She has a recipe in there for the best chocolate chip cookies that I have ever had! Perfectly crunchy on the outside and warm and gooey on the inside, yum!! I'm giving myself a craving for cookies now, great just what I need. But as always I am getting off track...

Back to the pizza. I decided to try roasting some tomatoes with garlic and olive oil to add to the basic pizza sauce. It worked out great, the roasted tomatoes gave it that hint of sweetness that we were missing. I like to use the Campari tomatoes, or something of similar size, they roast up quickly and are not as juicy and watery as the big vine ripe tomatoes, you don't want the dough getting soggy on you. What I ended up doing was using a very very thin layer of pizza sauce and adding the roasted tomatoes and garlic on top of that. Then I sprinkled some Italian seasoning, added the cheese, and topped it sparingly with some sliced mushrooms and red pepper. I served it with a small mixed green salad and voila, an easy weeknight meal! And the dough recipe makes enough for 2 thin crust pizzas so you can freeze the second one if you choose to.

Roasted Tomatoes:

10 tomatoes - leave them whole

3 cloves of garlic sliced very thin

olive oil

salt

Place tomatoes and garlic in a stainless steel pan (i use my stainless steel french skillet) drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Put pan into a 400 degree oven and cook for about 10-15 minutes, checking to make sure garlic doesn't burn. When the skin on the tomatoes bursts and they feel soft they are done. Take them out and once they are cooled enough to touch remove the skin, it should come right off, if it doesn't they are not done. I strained most of the oil out b/f adding the garlic and tomatoes to the pizza (I just did this with my hands, why dirty the strainer?). Crush the tomatoes a bit as you're putting them on the dough.

I just want to add that I know a lot of people will probably not want to make their own dough since its so readily available in stores, but I would definitely recommend at least trying it out. The recipe is so fast it really only takes about 5 minutes and its all in the food processor. It's just one more step that will allow you to control what you and your family are putting into your bodies, plus I think it usually tastes better.

The closer to scratch you can make each meal the better off you will be in the long run. I don't believe in excessive calorie cutting and crazy fad diets, I don't believe that is the answer to staying healthy, and God knows it wouldn't make me happy. But if you can keep on a "wholefoods diet" and control your portions I think that is the key to a healthy diet. Eating as close to the earth as you can, meaning starting with fresh veggies, and unprocessed foods is really the best thing you can do for your body.

I understand that today is a world in which everyone works, whether you're single, married, parents, single parents, whatever, everyone is busy. I get this, my husband and I both work and on really busy days sometimes the last thing I want to do is come home and cook. But I do find if you can even learn just a few basic quick meals you can come up with a fast healthy meal in about half an hour. And of course if you can plan ahead that makes all the difference in the world, although planning is not always my strong suit.

You are way better off grabbing something like chicken breasts or pork loin on your way home from work than stopping off for take out or even cutting corners and buying the pre-roasted chickens from the market. It's really as easy, from that point, as throwing the meat in a roasting pan, sprinklig it with salt and pepper, drizzling with olive oil and putting it in the oven. Then throw a sweet potato, carrots, or any root vegetable in there while you're at it and put together a quick salad. I find if you buy the baby mixed greens from the market, often organic varieties are available, it makes the salad that much easier to make. That whole thing couldn't take more than ten minutes of hands on work.

I have two really basic marinades that you can use on chicken pork or steak that I use when I'm in a rush.

Garlic & Herb Marinade:

Olive Oil

1 tablesppon Chopped parsley (if you don't have this in the house just leave it out, you can add any dried herb in it's place)

2-3 cloves minced garlic

salt and pepper

Asian Marinade:

3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

a few drops of sesame oil

1 teaspoon grated ginger (if you don't have this on hand you can leave it out)

2-3 garlice cloves minced

These marinades are super easy and really versatile. You can make them in bigger batches and keep them in the fridge so you can have them on hand when you need them. I also think the more you cook the easier it gets. I always find the first time I try a recipe it takes me much longer b/c I am spending time reading and measuring. After that initial trial run it usually goes much more smoothly and much faster.

Happy Eating!!!

Suprise Suprise!

So I haven't written in quite a while, not sure what happened there I guess I just got caught up in other things! Anyways, something exciting happened last weekend. I went to let the ducks out of their little house, and after they came out of their house frantically flapping and yelling (this is how they greet me on a daily basis, as if I am someone who has come to violently assault them instead of feed them and fill up their bathing pool), I looked in the house and noticed a big blue egg. An egg! Finally! They laid one egg when we first got them last Spring and then they just stopped. We figured that the female was passed laying age but we were wrong. I think maybe they just needed privacy, last Spring they shared the coup with the chickens and didn't have their own enclosed private shelter. Evidentally they are modest creatures, who knew!

Since then we've gotten 5 eggs in total. My husband ate one for breakfast, they are really big eggs with a huge bright orange yoke. He said it tasted exactly the same as the chicken egg just bigger. For some reason the size freaks me out a little, I could definitely bake with them but eating them as is probably won't happen for me. We decided to try and hatch the other four, now down to three b/c one broke, the heating lamp fell directly on it the first day we had set it up. So we've got the temperature just right and hopefully the humidity is ok for the little duckies growing inside the eggs. This is a new thing for us so we're are interested to see if we'll be able to hatch them without purchasing an incubator, b/c that is not something I really want to get into.

I am so excited that Spring is finally here, asparagus season! yum!! We've been slowly cleaning up the yard and gardens getting ready for planting. Jon says he's going to get the compost this Saturday and prep the veggie garden, our soil was absolute crap last year and we really need to improve it. We asked the guys over at Hart Farm in Dennis Port, which is my very favorite place to buy anything and everything for our gardens, flowers and veggies. We also got all of our shrubs there last year. They are really great and if you've never gone you have to go check it out. They have great produce in the spring and summer also. They're about to open the brand new building also, I think they should have it up and running by Easter. Anyways as I was saying b/f my tangent we asked the guys over at Hart Farm how best to improve our soil and they said definitely go for the compost, so that's what we're going to do! I'll let you know the results this summer.

We will be composting the chicken poop from our coop as well to mix into the flower beds but that will take a little while to compost. We haven't even dug it out yet so that probably won't be ready until June or so. It should be great for the beds though once it's ready.

I am so excited to be able to get out into the yard and start digging and planting!! It's my favorite time of year. I really love working in the yard and getting to see the great results from all the hard work. Fabulous fresh veggies and gorgeous bright flowers to pick for the house, or just admire in the yard. I'm going to plant a ton of cosmos this year, pink variations along the deck and the orange shades out near the veggie garden. They grow just about anywhere and bloom well into the fall. They are so bright and cheery I just love them.

I'll be back soon with some last minute Easter ideas!!