It’s All Susan’s Fault

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Barb

I was supposed to get a lot done around here today.  I had high hopes and plans.  Sewing.  Cleaning.  Maybe a little cooking.  Maybe.  I was also supposed to go visit my parents.  And do a little tailoring on some slacks for my Dad.  I really had my day all planned.

Then I started getting emails from my dear friend, Susan.  Emails with links to recipes.  And I was hungry.  And I hadn’t been eating healthy much lately.  So these recipes were very appealing to me. 

 

Like these.  Apple Cinnamon Oat Squares.  I had to try them.  Now.  They were calling my name.

So I made them.  But they had to cook an hour.  Really?  An hour?  Did I mention I was hungry?  And Susan was relentless.  The emails kept coming with more.

So I decided to make this while I waited.  Black Bean Mango Quinoa Salad.  Never mind that I didn’t have any red or green peppers which the recipe called for.  My friend, Sally, who hates peppers of any kind, would have been very happy.  So I just left out the peppers and made the salad sans peppers.  It was very yummy.

The next email from Susan had a recipe for Roasted Garlic and White Bean Hummus.  Thankfully I was missing a few of the ingredients necessary for that one or I’d still be in the kitchen.   But those ingredients are now on my shopping list for this week.  I really wanted to try it today too, but not if it meant a trip to the store.

The Apple Cinnamon Oat Squares were not to die for.  But I’m sure that was my pantry’s fault.  The recipe called for Pink Lady apples.  I don’t even know what those are.  All I had were Granny Smiths.  So I just used them.  And I felt like the bars would be better a bit sweeter. 

So I did this.  And I declared them perfect.  And very, very healthy.

Don’t they look great?  Steel-cut oats, almond milk, pecans, raisins, vanilla, flaxseed and apples.  With a nice drizzle of agave nectar on top.  I gobbled them up.  The recipe says to freeze them and then microwave to warm in the morning for breakfast.  That’s if you don’t eat them all the night you make them.

There was also a recipe on this same site for Banana Mash Oatmeal.  It looked so good I already knew I wanted to fix it for tomorrow’s breakfast.  But I had just thrown away an overly ripe banana that would have been perfect for the recipe.  The last banana.  You won’t believe it.  I went through the trash.  In the garage trash can.  The banana was buried too deep to retrieve.  I still can’t believe I was going to pull it out and use it after it had been in the trash.  I told myself the peel would have protected it.  Perhaps it’s really good I didn’t find the banana.

Earlier today there was some excitement at our house.  I had just let Miss Kitty out and knew she was in the front yard.  Then I walked into the kitchen, looked out the back window and saw this:

But maybe you need a closer look?

Remember last summer when we had a fox visit us?  I wonder if this is a relative?  You can read about last year’s fox here.

He was very comfortable on our deck.  Too comfortable.  He didn’t even flinch as I took the pics through the window and Boo was right there too.  We were just feet away from him and he was not at all concerned.  I went straight out front and gathered Miss Kitty up and made her come back inside.  She might just have to get used to being inside for awhile.

Here are the direct links, courtesy of Susan, to the two recipes above:

Apple Cinnamon Oat Squares

Black Bean Mango Quinoa Salad

By the way, the last email from Susan has eight different links to recipes in it.  I haven’t clicked on a single one yet, but I’m very tempted.  I think she’s been playing on Pinterest.   It could be a very long night.

And when Mom called to see why I hadn’t come over?  I blamed Susan.  But my stomach thanks her.

Love you, Susan!

Hugs,
Barb

Posted in food, healthy, recipes | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Vegan Cornbread Revisited

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Barb

I’ve been meaning to fix my Vegan Cornbread blog.  Because I decided that what I posted before is absolutely not the best vegan cornbread.  It only took me 8,423 attempts to discover vegan cornbread perfection.  So I wanted to share the perfection with all of you.

After all, it was important for you to also reap the benefit of my 8,423 attempts.  Right?

You can go to the old post (now updated) if you want the total play-by-play again.  Or just continue on for the new, improved cornbread pics.  And the Cliff’s Notes version of the recipe.
 

I always add in chopped green chilis now.  They really add to the flavor!

And I always use the food processor.  Makes the whole mixing easy peasy.

I definitely always, always, always, always, always, always cook the flaxseed in water before adding to the batter.  It’s just moister – and stays moist for more days when you do it that way.  It’s so worth the extra step.

Pulse the dry ingredients just to mix them up and then add all the wet ingredients.  Mmmmm good.

The batter in the preheated, oiled cast iron skillet.  See the sizzle of the oil around the edges?  I love the sizzle when you dump the batter in the skillet.

The finished cornbread.  Yum.

Doesn’t that look moist and terrific?  Wait…. how about up close.

Yum.  Can’t you just tell how moist it is?  It’s delicious, I tell ya!  Just plain delicious.  I want some right now.  By the way – it’s great for breakfast with a little butter and honey.  Double yum.

Yum yum yum yum yum.  On this particular night we had homemade broccoli/potato soup on the side.  With sweet potatoes.  Most people would consider the cornbread the side dish.  Not us.  The soup was on the side.  I think I had 4 pieces of cornbread.

Here’s the link to the printable recipe:

Vegan Cornbread printable recipe

And the older blog posting in case you just need more cornbread pics and a more detailed description of the process.  Besides you absolutely need to read my updates there.  All of them in red type so the changes are easy to find.

Older Vegan Cornbread blog

Enjoy!
Barb

Posted in food, healthy, recipes | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Quilting on the Go with Inklingo

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Barb

I’ve been quilting on the go a lot lately.  Doctor and physical therapy appointments with my Mom have given me lots of waiting room time.  I’m really not sure why it took me a whole year to finally really work on my quilting in those waiting rooms.  But now I’m motivated.  Which translates to….. look out!  I’ve started 28 brand new projects.

OK maybe not 28.  But a few of my friends recently called me crazy for this new addition to my stack of things to do.

 

This old quilt top belongs to a friend of my Mom’s.  This friend is not a quilter.  She told me about it a few weeks ago.  And I gave her some suggestions for getting it quilted.  None of my suggestions included me actually doing it.  And yet this top is now in my possession.  How does that happen?  Does it happen to you too?  Or is it just me?

As you can see, this top is not ready to just hand off to a quilter to quilt.  It has some issues.  And I had a feeling I’d be binding it.  And I do not want to do binding around all those uneven edges.  Two of the blocks need to be sewn in (top left and the yellow one on the lower right.)

Miss Kitty is being her helpful self and pulled the top corner away from the rest so you could see it better.  You absolutely, positively cannot lay a quilt on the floor at my house and not have a cat on it.  Quilts are cat magnets around here.

I decided I wanted to add some hexagons to the edges to even things up.  Notice how quickly I’ve taken ownership of getting this quilt completed for Mom’s friend.  Funny how that happens.  This top is totally hand pieced.  So the perfect solution is a product called:

Ever heard of it?  Probably a good number of you have not.  It seems to be a well-kept secret.  Unintentionally, I’m sure.  So I’m getting the word out to everyone I know.  It’s a wonderful invention by a dear friend of mine.  And once you find out about it, you will wonder how you lived without it.  You are definitely going to see more quilts on this blog using Inklingo.

You iron your fabric pieces to ordinary freezer paper to stabilize it so you can feed the fabric right through your inkjet printer.

See?  Any inkjet printer will do.  You print directly onto the wrong side of your fabric.

See the lines?  Perfect little hexagons printed right onto the fabric.  Fast.  Simple.  Precise.  I love Inklingo.

There are cutting lines and stitching lines.  With perfect little crosshairs for precise perfection with inset seams.  You know those pesky Y-seams that we think are so difficult?  Easy as pie with Inklingo.  Whether you do them by hand or by machine.  You have precise starting and stopping points marked.  Awesome.

Here are my little muslin hexagons to add and make all the edges straight on this quilt top.  Notice the two different “half hexagon” shapes for the bottom and sides.  Those shapes come in the hexagon collection too.  Linda thought of everything when she designed Inklingo.

See how I’ve pieced together little sections to fill in on the edges?

And the right side is filled in too (compare to first picture above.)  Boo got in on the action this time.  Remember.  Quilt on floor = cat magnet.

All the hand piecing around here has given Boo a new toy.  An empty spool!

Miss Kitty came flying through and stole the spool right away from Boo.  Guess I’m gonna have to get busy and empty another spool.  Besides, I think this one has already disappeared under a piece of furniture.

And remember the little half inch hexagons stitched into a diamond shape I showed you yesterday?

I finished another one last night.  And I already know that I love, love, love, love, love, love stitching these little pieces by hand.  It’s a good thing.

Because this is the project I’m making them for.  It could take awhile.

Notice the name of this quilt.  Says a lot, doesn’t it?  Of course, my little diamonds may or may not actually become a big quilt like this.  It remains to be seen if they become a placemat or table runner.

Did I mention that I loved piecing these?  Of course I say that after making two.  And I haven’t counted how many I need for this big quilt, but from the looks of the picture I’d say it’s about 4,538.  That’s not even counting the thousands of hexagons in that last scrappy border.

So I imagine you’ll be seeing more of this quilt.  Unless you give me a deadline, this one could take a long, long time.

If you need a bit more Inklingo inspiration, check out this gal’s blog:

Quilt Obsession

Be sure to look for the fabulous red feathered stars.  This gal is amazing.  I wanna be her when I grow up.  Fabulous quilts.  And you’ll really be able to tell that she loves Inklingo.  A search for “pickled ladies” is worthwhile to see on her site too.  Amazing.

So check out Inklingo.  When you do, be sure to tell Linda that “Driveway Barb” sent you.  And remind me to tell you the story of how I got that name.

I’m off to print more hexagons.
Hugs,
Barb

Posted in Boo, Inklingo, Miss Kitty, quilts | Tagged , , , , , , | 16 Comments

A Hexagon Mood

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Barb

I’ve been in a hexagon mood lately. And hexagons are great “waiting room sewing.”

Mom is having cataract surgery today. So I’m doing waiting room sewing.

image

See? Hexagons. The muslin ones are for a big project that I’ve been meaning to show you. But the tiny ones are for something I’ve been wanting to start for a long time. Those are half inch hexagons. Crazy.  For a really big quilt that could become a really small placemat.  Because that’s just the way I roll.

Stay tuned……
Barb

Posted in quilts | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

A Girl Without Coffee

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Barb

My French Press broke the other day.  And a girl without coffee is not a pretty picture.

These are the French Press parts.  See the little piece of plastic?  It’s what held everything together.  I don’t think Super Glue will help.

So I had several days of no coffee in the morning.  And yesterday decided that enough was enough.  Even Boo and Miss Kitty were getting nervous.  I remembered a cute little gadget that my friend, Susan, used to have.  And I went on a mission to find one.

How’s that for a cute little number?  And oh, my.  The price could not be better.  $2.99 – even I could afford that.  You just set it on top of your coffee mug, slip a little filter inside, add coffee, then pour in boiling water.

See?  Very cool.  Very inexpensive way to do single serving cups.  I’m loving the idea of a single cup of java and all I have to do is boil water. 

Here it is in action.  I love it already.  And the coffee tasted fabulous.  Clean up is a breeze too.

But while I was on my mission to find this wonderful, inexpensive gadget, I also found this:

Coffeebags.  I decided to try them for two reasons…..

Herbal coffee?  Really?  Who ever heard of such a thing?

But this is what really sold me.  Chocolate.  “Velvety chocolate with a hint of heat” to be precise.

So last night I had a cup right before bed.  Yum.  That’s all I have to say.  And this might just be my new favorite late night drink.

But this morning, I’ll be using my fancy new gadget and having a real cup of coffee in my favorite cat lover mug.  Boo and MK are very glad.  (Don’t you just love the little mouse inside the cup?  Actually all you can see are mouse ears and a tail!  Trust me.  He’s very cute.)

The best part of waking up……..

Hugs,
Barb

Posted in food | Tagged , | 8 Comments