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Showing posts from August, 2016

Kitchen fun

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Steve has had a class all week  and while he has been at school I've been trying to get my craft room configured to do everything I want to do:  make cards and paper crafting, embroidery and crazy quilting, quilting, garment sewing and work sewing.  Um, the room is 12x12.  It is a daunting challenge and I'm not sure I am going to succeed.  I will give it a try.  I thought a break might be nice yesterday, so when steve came home yesterday we went out for a ride and to a very beautiful shopping place in north San Antonio.  La Cantera is a shopping place with top brand stores and grounds that are like a botanical garden, great place to shop and get in a couple miles of walking.  We did both. I stopped at a kitchen shop and picked up this fun tool and then  at Barnes and Nobel,  new cookbook: Both of these were only 9.95 each so I felt like I got a bargain.   I have kitchen aid attachments  for  pasta sheets, linguini, tagliatelle and something that looks like a sq

Facebook tomato sauce and home made ketchup revisited

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Steve came across what looked like a great recipe for a fresh tomato sauce on pasta on  Facebook yesterday.  I thought this would be great too and wanted to try it.  Basically, all I needed were a couple of fresh tomatoes and a box grater.  I couldn't remember if I packed my box grater or left it at the house.  If I didn't have it I knew I had a single sided grater that would do the same job. All you had to do was grate the fresh tomato, add olive oil and basil and then toss over pasta.  Easy! I thought I'd like to add some sauteed zucchini and mushrooms to the mix.  Salt pepper, onion powder, olive oil. No box grater so I got this greater out- total failure, it wouldn't even cut the tomato! Next, try a food mill This went from bad to worse.  I ended up with tomato juice So I went to the drawer and found the dullest knife on the planet and hacked the tomatoes up We don't usually eat at 8:30 pm but due to travelling and a

Mocha Maca Afternoon Power Drink - YUM!

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Since giving up sugar and sweetened drinks, (hot or cold )  I have found myself not having that 3pm slouch time.  You know that fatigue where you hope you don't fall asleep in the middle of something and embarrass yourself. I did find that I really wanted some light a calorie pick me up.  Eating every 3- fours hours has helped with blood sugar issues ( they are gone ) and I find I feel better in general and let's face it,  if you are like me you like eating.  I don't have any intention of eating foods that are blah and tastes,   if you are eating food that is Blah and bland, you really need to look at what you are eating.  Real food tastes good and is very satisfying.  Forget the "diet foods" low cal or low fat.  Get off the sugars and start reading about clean whole foods, you will lose weight and feel revitalized.  You will WANT to eat less and be able to afford to eat better. Right before I got off of the sugar treadmill I started drinking Starbucks coffees

Homemade Pizza! Fast and easy

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If you have a bread machine ( I think every busy family should have one) You will love making this pizza!  Of course, your don't have to use a bread machine you can just knead and let rise by hand. I made this Pizza using the 2 lb recipe and leftover grilled vegetables and chicken and instead of a red or white sauce I generously brushed it with my Balsamic Dressing. Recipe From te Cuisinart Bread machine cookbook: I used my  cookie sheet pan withSilpatpat mat - no sticking and a greatr crispy crust.  I would prefer an outdoor brick oven and as soon as we buy a house out here in Texas and Steve builds me one I'll have to stick to my not so nice, fluctuating temperature oven.   After I stretch the dough out to fit the pan - I am sure there is an easier way of doing it than my way - but  it gets to where it needs to be. Bake for about ten minutes at 425. Then  I layer the dough with whatever leafy greens I have in the fridge.  With this Pizza, I used a spr

Fabric Swatch Books Tip and a Very Fun Store

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Last week Steve and I went to a terrific store in Austin called the Austin Creative Reuse Center .  This place is a crafter's paradise!  Everything was so incredibly priced it was hard to use self-control!!  But I did, no worries about being deprived, I bought a shopping cart filled and it came to $20.71.  These were great items all clean some new some not new but everything was in perfect condition  I bought fabrics and beads and a 48x60 rug kit!  I didn't even go down the paper crafting section. one of the things I purchased were a dozen fabric sample sets.  These were 25 cents each!  These are filled with gorgeous pieces fo fancy fabrics, perfect for crazy quilting! there is only one problem using these, they have a stiff paper backing.  A machine needle will go through them but hand sewing is a different issue. I tried two methods of removing the backing - and if you have a stack of these you might already be doing this - or this will be a gre

Homemade Ketchup

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I've finally gotten around to making a homemade ketchup.    I've been planning on doing this for some time then  last night I read my name brand ketchup label and said that is it! Time for me to make my own! Here is the label that I read: When I eat ketchup, it is only a portion size that is more than enough, Steve likes more than a portion and young Steve likes half a bottle.  When you look at this label you can see this will quickly  add up to a very bad for your health condiment.   4g of sugar equal 1 teaspoon, so if you are an average ketchup connoisseur, you will eat 3 TBS of ketchup per meal which equates to 1 Tablespoon of sugar per meal.   According to Foodbeast com  the average American eats 71 lbs of ketchup per year.  That is a whole lot of hidden sugar -  about 23lbs a year!! So in an effort to eliminate fructose and sucrose (processed sugars) in our diet (commercial ketchup also has high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup in it , I won't

Stitching a butterfly Applique

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I stitched up a butterfly last night as a bit of an experiment.  It may be turned into a brooch or go on a crazy quilt. I wanted to see if I could improve my stitching by using a thinner needle and more patient stitching, I think it is improved.  When I had an embroidery machine, I could produce a butterfly  in about 30 minutes this one took about 4 hours.  Machine are great, I love hand stitching. the green things are pins holding the butterfly! Last Months: I used Buckram as the ground cloth, It worked well other than bending two needles! I used a rubber stamp and stamped the image with a waterproof  Archival ink I used a small 5" hoop and handheld it  Stem stitch with 4 ply cotton  to make the  outline.  I wanted a good strong line that would hold when I cut the butterfly out The interior Stitches were Split stitch with 2 ply cotton For the wings, I used 2 ply Rayon with a silver shot.  I used short and

Delicious snack bread

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I've been working on making a delicious snack bread.  Something for a quick pick me up afternoon snack or a breakfast on the go.  I love to have a nice relaxed breakfast but it isn't always possible.  I do make breakfast a morning priority,  along with other good eating habits, I brought my A1C's down from the beginning  of type two diabetes to well within normal limits.  That dark ring from the base of my neck that signifies  pancreatic problems has also disappeared.  I am very careful about eating processed food ( I try not to) and I limit sweets. This recipe is worth the effort and it's taste is its own reward!    This is something Steve and I both enjoy .                                        There is a lot of information on how wonderful these grains are for you.  We love them, they taste is great and they are so good for you! The cost of these grains is minimal, these three bags  represent  14 loaf's worth of bread.  The cost of each of the