Lemon cheesecake bars
29 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in cooking, domestic arts Tags: cheesecake bars, lemon cookies
I’ve been wanting to try a dessert recipe I found on Pinterest, because it just sounded so perfect for me. I love lemon bars and cheesecake…what’s not to love, right?
Here they are:
These cookie bars are really more of a cheesecake bar with lemon than they are a lemon bar, if that matters to you. They don’t have enough of the lemon to give them that tart, tangy edge that you get from a lemon bar cookie, but if you love cheesecake with lemon for flavoring, these are for you. They are chewy, smooth and slightly lemony. And not at all difficult to make, though there are 3 separate steps. The recipe makes a 9″ x 13″ pan, so plenty for a group or party.
The recipe is at: http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/t–3096/cream-cheese-lemon-bars.asp Enjoy!
Cauliflower soup
29 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in cooking, domestic arts Tags: cauliflower soup, homemade soup
I got ambitious and tried a Cauliflower soup last Sunday. Jim was eating his navy bean soup (with ham) that I really can’t handle and he’s not often willing to eat a meatless soup, so I figured it was my day to do it for myself. It isn’t complicated, but it doesn’t fall into the healthiest category due to the added milk, and half & half, and lots of butter.
The base flavor is formed by sauteing chopped onion, celery and carrot, then adding lots of rough chopped cauliflower and simmering for awhile. Then you add chicken broth and cook for awhile, then thicken with butter, flour and milk, adding the half & half at the end. Adjust salt & pepper. I could have left it alone and it was fine, but I wanted to try out my new immersion blender and thought I might like the soup better if it was just a bit thicker, so I did a quick blend, still leaving lots of nice chunks of cauliflower. It was very flavorful and I enjoyed it with some warm, fresh hunks of french bread. It made a bunch of soup, so I saved it like this:
These are one-quart containers and I got 4 of them about 3/4 full AFTER I ate what I wanted for the meal, so that was fine. I have since frozen the contents of two of them for another time (in a different, freezer-safe container), but we ate the other two for dinner on Thursday with the addition of leftover rotisserie chicken from Wednesday’s take-home meal. With the added chicken it was like a cream of chicken soup, but with lots of lovely, healthy veggies. I consider this a very successful soup and I’m happy to have enough of the original concoction in my freezer for some night when I’m just not up for anything complicated and don’t feel like going anywhere. Or maybe when one of us is sick and just needs some comforting soup. Will add whatever leftover meat we have on hand for Jim, of course.
Banana Pudding
09 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in cooking, domestic arts Tags: banana pudding
Sometimes you just feel like you need to make something in the old-fashioned, no-shortcuts, classic way and today was the day for Banana Pudding, made from the classic recipe on the Nilla Wafers box. Which means homemade custard, not pudding from a box, and meringue topping, not Cool Whip. I hadn’t done it in years, but I remembered how spectacular it was, so I jumped in and did it and here it is!
And here it is after we made a serious dent in it (and yes, there are only two of us here…ahem.)
Nothing really important to say about this except, YUM!….and don’t be afraid to delve into this project, even if you’re a beginner. I had no problems whatsoever; just be sure to follow the directions exactly and enjoy! You will be so proud of yourself. I could have cooked the custard maybe ONE MORE MINUTE and it would have been thicker (more to my personal liking) and the bananas could have been riper, but let’s face it, that would have meant waiting one more day and I’m not doing something like this on a Monday night after work. I’m lucky if I can warm up leftovers for dinner before I collapse in front of my DVR recordings. If I can scrape up anymore energy than that, it is reserved for music practice.
Wishing all a good work week. At the end of it is a 3-day weekend for me, so let’s just get going on it!
Addendum: If you find that you have lumps in your mixture after adding the eggs and milk to the dry ingredients, once you get it thoroughly dissolved, but still thin, just use a small strainer to get them out. It’s a common problem with egg mixtures such as this, but easily solved. Also….I want a wall or a sofa the color of that golden meringue!
Elfing projects 2011
27 Dec 2011 2 Comments
in crafting, crochet, domestic arts, sewing Tags: handmade gifts
I had a great time making homemade goodies for gifts this year, and can now freely post about them. Some of my favorites were these clay ornaments and gift tags.
These were so much fun, I was like a kid playing with play doh! I found the tutorial online (though not free) and it was very detailed and helpful. This project uses air-dry white clay (DAS is recommended) and some cookie cutters. I used some rubber stamps for texture, as well as rolling between linen fabrics. I had some special clay stamps for the lettering. It takes a little patience for the drying, and you do need to flip them over frequently to prevent the edges from curling as they dry. The final stage is some sanding (I used plain old emery boards) of the edges, and then adding loops of 1/8″ white ribbon.
It was a very satisfying project and well received, because the ornaments were chosen and embellished for the individuals involved. I did lots of extras to use as gift tags (just write on them with a fine point Sharpie.) What I loved about these is that they are simple, basic and earthy, somehow at the same time both rustic and elegant, and very personal.
I made some brown sugar scrubs and just packed them in recycled cosmetic jars. The luxury lotion bars were a simple matter of melting together three ingredients (beeswax, shea butter and avocado oil) and pouring into small molds. I packaged these up rather grandly for the gifting, but you don’t need to go as far as I did!
One of my gifts was a box of hand-made ornaments for a person who will probably decorate a small tree for herself with them. There were several of the white clay ornaments, as well as crocheted roses in several sizes and different textures of yarns (forgot photos, sorry!) There were some crocheted snowflakes and some fabric rosebuds, as well as these adorable yo yo flowers.
All the objects were white, off-white, or natural in color; I just got started with the white clay and kept going, so I called her gift, “variations on a theme.” There was also a button-covered, beribboned ball ornament and I am so kicking myself for not remembering to photograph it! She loves buttons and all of them were white, off white or natural variations with a large silk bow.
Another fun project (mostly because it was for someone really special) is this shrug for my violin teacher, Monika. I promised her I would not post her picture here, so the second best thing would be these photos with the strange color (the sweater is actually black.)
I almost forgot! There was also homemade hot fudge sauce and caramel sauce, which people received with great enthusiasm. I’ve already shown the caramel, but here is the hot fudge sauce being jarred.
I found a recipe that was very straightforward, though I must admit that the first batch got thrown out, due to a really dumb mistake. I put about 10 times too much salt in it and it took for-EVER to boil, but it looked beautiful when it was done. One taste, however, told me what I’d done wrong. No matter how long you’ve been cooking, you can still make silly mistakes that destroy your project. I tried not let it mess up my head and just started over. In half an hour I had the project done correctly, but that was a long evening. I was just grateful that I had enough of the ingredients to do another batch without going shopping again.
There were some huge batches of granola made for a few people, also. I love this stuff myself and it’s a huge sacrifice for me to give it away, LOL, but the people who received it are very special to me, so it’s all good.
Hope your holidays are as wonderful and warm as mine. I loved the making and giving….wish I could give handmade gifts to all on my list, but some don’t value it as much, or want/need more technical or practical things and that’s okay, too. I spent time with my family (and Skyped with the daughter not here) and ate a bounty of good food. All the gifts I received were thoughtful and personal (including the kitchen appliances that I specifically requested!)
Experimental veggie burgers
02 Dec 2011 2 Comments
in cooking, domestic arts, sewing Tags: costume, non-meat meals, quinoa patties
I promised myself that I’d try a new grain (technically a very ancient grain) and got a chance to do that last week while doing all the Turkey Day cooking. I cooked up the grain while other things were going, and while I was chopping up all the celery, onions and such for the stuffing, I also chopped some of them up and added them to the grains.
Following a recipe I found on the web, I made us some quinoa patties. They saute in a small amount of olive oil (I used a non-stick pan) and take about the same amount of time to cook as a thick hamburger. Here is what they looked like:
Not bad, actually. My husband thought they actually had a texture similar to burgers made of ground beef, but they were definitely bland tasting and needed some help. I seasoned them with several spices, salt and pepper of course, celery, onion, egg, and shredded cheddar cheese. They are small patties, so we placed them on dinner rolls and called them “sliders.” We added some mayo (or thousand island dressing) and a slice of tomato, and they really were okay. Nothing to get excited about, but definitely something we could both add to our list of acceptable foods for a non-meat meal–occasionally. Neither one of us is going to give up meat (unless we suddenly can’t GET any, LOL!), but this is one thing we can handle once in a while. I will add some stronger seasonings next time. Or more of the same ones.
Addendum 12/02/11: I find another recipe for these that uses cottage cheese (yum) and chopped carrots or zuchini…sounds moist and yummy and I’ll try it next time.
I did promise photos of my Halloween costume, but I didn’t promise photos of myself wearing said garment. The pictures were so awful I could not post them. I deleted them from the camera and that is that. I didn’t get to wear it for work anyway–long story I won’t bore you with, but here is my Little Red Riding Hood cape/hood:
I don’t know why these pictures make it look pink–it was definitely a fire engine shade of red, with red braided trim. The fabric was a polyester velour that was suede-like and easy to work with. Maybe I’ll wear it sometime. Or pass it along to someone who needs a fast costume. Add a basket of muffins and some boots, a dirndl skirt and peasant blouse and it is a perfect costume for a younger person. I just looked like someone made a mistake and put the grandmother of the story in Red’s Riding Hood. (sigh—full disclosure.)
Thanksgiving recap
26 Nov 2011 1 Comment
in cooking, domestic arts, life, Uncategorized Tags: family favorites, Thanksgiving meal
We had a lovely time with family on the big day. Just six of us, but that was fine, and we had tons of wonderful food.
The table looked like this before food and people:
I got a little bit more “Martha” than usual, just doing some simple things. The centerpiece was not original; I’m pretty sure I saw that somewhere on Pinterest. It’s just corn, dried kidney beans and lentils poured in around a candle I already owned. Cheap and natural for some fall color.
The place cards are something I’ve never done before, and the download was free on Martha Stewart’s site. I had the wonderful cardstock paper already, so this was totally free for me, except for a few minutes of time on the download and printing, and I got youngest daughter to cut them out for me and write names. Just a fun little touch that I’d never have bothered with back in the days when I frequently had 14 or more for holiday dinners.
The food went like this:
The traditional, of course–turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce (homemade by Linda), mashed white potatoes (Linda again), sweet potatoes with apples, nuts and marshmallows (no picture, due to slightly burnt m’mallows), three vegetable casserole with cheese sauce, rolls (from Texas Roadhouse), apple crumb and pumpkin pies eaten with the homemade caramel sauce and whipped cream. We were stuffed, to put it bluntly, but happy.
A couple of these dishes are family favorites here. The yam dish not pictured is one I’ve been making for many years and is simply canned yams layered with apples, and a mixture of pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon, dotted with butter and when finished baking (covered), topped with mini marshmallows and broiled for a couple of minutes. The name of this dish is “Apple Mallow Yam Yum” and it is quite fitting. Brother Dave doesn’t care for sweet potatoes, so we get to indulge in mashed whites, also, and who doesn’t love that?
The other one that is a Sawyer family fave is the Three Vegetable Casserole. Been making this for over 30 years and even people who don’t usually care for one or more of these veggies loves it. Frozen broccoli florets, cauliflower and brussels sprouts, topped with a mixture of condensed soup (we like cream of mushroom, cr. of chicken, or cr. of celery) and Cheese Whiz ((I know, but it’s the only time we eat this particular junky food), melted together. You bake at fairly high temp for 30 minutes with foil or a lid over top and then uncover and top with bread crumbs and bake another 30 minutes. Even when my kids were little, they loved it.
The food was great, but the company was even better. We enjoyed having brother, Dave, his wife, Linda, my oldest and youngest children here. We played Scrabble in teams, and even though David and Scott’s team won (not surprising), the scores were not that far apart. We must have had well-matched teams. It was great fun and followed by the pies. By nine o’clock, I was ready for sleeping, but forced myself to stay up later so I could visit with my daughter, whose company I thoroughly enjoyed.
Friday, Julee and I got to spend the afternoon making cookies. Our family’s favorite is Chocolate Bits and we made a batch of Chocolate Chip, too. Husband thoroughly enjoyed this, even though he was in another room. Guess why. Maybe it’s because, by the time we actually finished the baking, Julee and I had only tried one each of each cookie type, while Jim had sampled several…of each.
We each wound up with a large canister of cookies and kept a dozen aside for my son. Wasn’t that nice of us? :) Actually, if he found out we made dozens of his favorite cookie and didn’t save him any, there might be repercussions 
Tonight is leftover night for Jim and me. Such a chore, but has to be done 
Hope everyone’s family time was as good as ours.
Adventures in Caramel
21 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in cooking, domestic arts Tags: caramel sauce
Oh, Lord, this stuff is incredible! I tried an “easy” version of caramel sauce that used corn syrup and brown sugar and it turned out really awful. It was tasteless (though sweet, of course) and it separated into ugly layers of “stuff” in a jar. Eh.
But this one uses only white sugar, real butter and real heavy whipping cream. It really only takes a few minutes, but it requires very specific steps, taken at very specific times and it’s kind of persnickety about everything. I made only one tiny mistake that caused a little bit of sugar crystals to happen, but I’m not going to let that deter me from putting this on everything from ice cream to the apple crumb pie I intend to make for T’day this week.
The only change I might make (besides the little error that caused some sugar crystals) is to add a little salt next time. They say you can also add other flavors, such as rum or vanilla. I think I’ll just keep this one simple.
This stuff could be seriously addicting and heaven knows I didn’t need another sweet thing to love, but I do like to know how to make things from scratch, and I’ve added another one to my repertoire. Sometimes I just like the challenge of learning a new skill and being able to say I can do it.
I will try to get pictures of my food this week before we dive into everything. If I don’t get anymore posts done before Thursday, (I shall be VERY busy), I wish everyone a wonderful, heart warming and tummy filling Thanksgiving, full of gratitude for all the blessings in their lives.
Pieces of Autumn for Wendy
21 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in gardening/nature, life, Uncategorized Tags: autumn trees, fall color, seasonal photos
Wendy lives in Austin and misses seeing the colors of fall, so I took these just for her. Enjoy Wendy! I love you.
Apples put to good use.
14 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in cooking, domestic arts Tags: apple pie, caramel sauce
What better way to use our homegrown apples than apple pie?!! None, I say. I rarely remember to take photos before we dive into our food (nevermind what that says about me, please), but here it is in the current state of being enjoyed.
We also drizzled homemade caramel sauce and topped it with store-bought whipped cream (the real stuff.) I was very disappointed with the caramel sauce recipe that I found on Pinterest. It used corn syrup, brown sugar, butter and cream, but for all the expensive ingredients and time invested, I thought it was rather tasteless. Other than being sweet, you couldn’t really taste that it was caramel. Caramel has a very distinct aroma and flavor, and I won’t waste my time again on this supposed “short cut” recipe.
Next time I’m going to try the real thing (sugar, butter and cream.) If I mess it up, I mess it up. I was actually going to make the “easy” recipe for some holiday gifts, but if I can do the real thing, I’m going that way. I know I’d appreciate it if someone made real caramel sauce for ME.
Anyhow, I was pleased with my pie–possibly the best one I’ve ever made and certainly the prettiest, though you certainly can’t tell that from the photo showing it after being demolished. We also had beef stew with Bisquick dumplings on top for dinner, so it was a comfort food night here. Lots of good leftovers for week-night eating.
Thrifted find and an injured sparrow
06 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in domestic arts, gardening/nature Tags: nature, thrifting
The first time I’ve bought anything of note at the flea market lately is this wonderful little sewing basket loaded with goodies.
I hope you can see the elegant shape of it and the fact that it is the perfect color match to my camper bedroom fabrics. When I saw that, I knew I was supposed to have it, even if it was empty! But it’s NOT! A pattern I will eventually use, lots of thread, needles, buttons and even some yo-yo circles already cut out just waiting to be sewn. It was meant for me.
I didn’t really “need” any of the things in the basket; I have plenty of supplies, but this basket is the perfect size to put on the floor and set my phones, watch, glasses, etc., when I go to sleep. I’ll transfer the rest of my sewing supplies that are already at the camper into it and free up valuable real estate in a cabinet. Yes!
As for the injured bird, it’s a sad/happy tale. We arrived home from breakfast out this morning just in time to hear the loud “thud” with which we have become uncomfortably familiar. We have a few casement windows which have the screen on the inside and the window glass on the outside and one of them sits at just the right angle that the sun reflects and the birds think they are flying between the branches of a tree. We have found a number of them stunned and a few deceased.
We were particularly upset by the large hawk that we heard one day (it’s a wonder he didn’t break the window.) He must have been flying at a high speed and hit just right to immediately break his neck.
However, when I heard it today and went to check, it was a little sparrow that was just standing there on the deck. He allowed us to pick him up and take a few photos and then we placed him in a safer area, so he could recover and fly away when he was ready. Obviously, he was disoriented, or he would never have allowed us to pick him up. I stroked his little soft feathers and his tiny little head (can you imagine his awful headache?), gave him a bit of Reiki and wished him well.
When I went to check on him about 10 minutes later, he was sitting, and as I approached, he did what all normal birds do…he stood up and flew away! Yay! He didn’t go far, but he perched on our arched trellis and eyed me cautiously from a distance. I figured if he could perch and fly, he was going to make it.
Here, for your enjoyment, are a few photos of our little buddy:
Since I was curious as to what specific bird he was, I looked him up and found this image:
White-throated sparrow, it was apparently NOT your day to leave earth. We are so relieved and wishing you happy (and safe!) travels.
