Archive for February 2010
Please don’t let the cheese put you off, I want you to trust me on this one. This was the first cookie I ever had, when I was two, and I have loved them ever since. They are fantastic and the cheese just melts in, you can’t really see it, or taste it, it just makes them extra scrumptious. They are chock full of oats, apples, cheese, and raisins, so they are pretty healthy as far as cookies go.
Yesterday morning we spent taking our eldest to the dentist to get spacers put in (the pediatric dentist here in town is more butcher than dentist, so we drive 45 minutes away). In the afternoon was the boys swimming lessons (which they love by the way) where they are slowly turning into fish. In between, I had just enough time to whip up a batch of cookies while the kids played outside. It was chilly, but clear and bright, and not a single breeze.
I hope you try them, they really are delicious.
Apple Cheese Cookies
- 3/4 cup AP flour (plain flour)
- 2/3 cup softened butter
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 cups oats
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 3/4 cup raisins
- 1 apple peeled and chopped
- Combine flour, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
- Add oats, cheese and raisins, mix well.
- Stir in apples.
- Drop by heaping tablespoons full onto an ungreased baking sheet.
- Bake at 375 ° for 15 minutes (mine are usually done at about 12 so keep an eye on them). You want the bottom edge to just be browning, they will look a tad underdone when they need to come out.
- Cool and enjoy!
food • Thursday, February 11th, 2010 • 16 Comments »
I would love to live in a little stone farmhouse, complete with lush, rolling fields.
With a warm fireplace, big bowls of fruit on a wooden table, and windowsills full of clay pots of flowers.
Look! It’s my bowl.
Where we can sit outside on a blanket, under a tree, surrounded by flowers, eating a picnic.
In a small village with a summer fete.
Where children can run and play safely, there’s a gorgeous church down the lane and maybe even a few cows on the lawn.
Where you can buy fruits, veg, bread, pastries, flowers, even fabric at the market.
Where everywhere I look there are green rolling fields, stone walls and bridges, and sweet animals.
Well, a girl can dream, can’t she?
All images from James Herriot’s Treasury for Children, one of my favourite children’s books.
family, home, nature • Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 • 21 Comments »
I must admit, we aren’t huge Valentine’s Day celebrators around here, and I have been feeling very uninspired by all things red and hearty lately. Until this morning that is. I couldn’t sleep this morning and it was pretty early, and it hit me. Who doesn’t use bookmarks? I wanted to do some sort of project that wouldn’t be tied to one day in February, but could be enjoyed all year round.
I think I may have found my crafty calling. This was the first time I ever did any machine embroidery and I just adore it. A couple of weeks ago, I had an amazon gift card burning a hold in my pocket, and I finally decided to get Free and Easy Stitch Style. I really love the look of machine embroidered items and thought I would jump in with both feet. I’m so glad I did. Here is an excellent tutorial by my friend Marmalade Rose to help you learn the basics.
These were such fun, and after I got the hang of the embroidering, they were very quick. One of the best things about machine embroidery is that it doesn’t matter if your lines are a bit wobbly, they look perfect however they turn out. I made some heart bookmarks, but I also made some flowers. I am more of a flower gal than a heart one, which kind are you?
Oh, and here is a tutorial for the bookmarks, I’d love to see any if you make some up.
books, gifts, green, sewing • Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 • 10 Comments »
The best thing about these bookmarks is that they are not only perfect for Valentine’s Day, they are also great for anytime of the year. Here is a great tutorial for learning the basics of machine embroidery. Please make as many bookmarks as you want for personal use, but please don’t sell any bookmarks that were made using this pattern.
Download Pattern (pdf)
Materials:
2 pieces of fabric for the top and bottom of the bookmark 8 1/4" x 2 3/4"
1 piece of fabric for flower 3 3/4" x 2 3/4"
1 piece of fabric for leaf 5" x 2 3/4"
(if making a heart bookmark, just cut one piece of your heart fabric the same size as the two muslin pieces)
Gather your fabric pieces and iron if necessary.
Trace your pattern onto your bookmark top piece (sorry it’s so hard to see, the bright sun was washing it out). Probably the easiest way to do this is to cut out the pieces on the pattern and then trace the inside straight onto the fabric.
Carefully cut out the flower head and leaf (or hearts). I carefully clipped the center of the flower and cut around the edge with very sharp scissors.
Using a 1/4" seam, stitch the two short ends of the flower and leaf fabrics together (if making a heart bookmark, skip this step as you will just be using the one patterned piece of fabric for all three hearts)
Press the seam open.
Lay your flower/leaf fabric right side up. Lay your cut out muslin piece on top.
Drop your feed dogs, and carefully stitch around the leaf and the flower (or hearts). Don’t worry about it being perfect, it’s the wobbles that give it extra charm.
Stitch three lines from the base of the flower to whatever length you desire.
Lay your flower or heart piece right side up and place your bottom muslin piece on top.
Raise your feed dogs back up, and starting near the middle of one of the long sides, sew a 1/4" seam all the way around, making sure to leave a 2" gap in order to turn it right side out.
Clip the corners, making sure not to clip the stitches.
Turn the bookmark right side out, fold the unstitched parts under, and press.
Topstitch around the book mark and enjoy!
tutorials • Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 • 3 Comments »
I’m enjoying the scent of my hyacinth as I try to mentally prepare for this week. We spent the last two days rearranging the living room to make more effective use of the small space. We’re nearly there, but I still have to finish sorting through our books and put the ones we are keeping back on the shelves.
This is also the week that our eldest gets his braces on. I know he’s getting so big now, but I still think 8 is really young to be getting braces. We don’t really have a choice though as his permanent tooth that grew in behind his baby tooth has to be pulled forward so it doesn’t throw the rest of his bite off. I had braces when I was a kid, and I have them now, so I know how hard it can be when your mouth hurts. It’s overwhelming right after they tighten them and it can be really tough to eat.
We’ve been trying to prepare him that it will hurt a bit, but that it will go away after a while. We’ll give him plenty of tylenol if he needs it and plenty of smoothies and other soft things to eat to ease the discomfort. I’m trying not to dwell on it in my own mind, it needs to be done.
All he can think of is how fun it’s going to be to get glow in the dark bands on his braces, just so he can show them off to his brother at night.
family, gardening, nature • Monday, February 8th, 2010 • 6 Comments »
A couple of weeks ago, Hubby and I went on a date sans kids (thanks mom!) Though it may not sound extremely romantic, we went to Barnes and Noble and just read quietly for an hour. It was so nice to flip through magazines without having to keep one eye on the kids.
I was flipping through the US Country Living and saw an article about using sweaters to cover items in your home. I loved the vases, but their instructions were vague at best and involved a lot of cutting and hot glue. Sounded kind of messy to me.
I wasn’t really keen on the idea of them being glued together as cleaning the cover and vase if necessary, wouldn’t be very easy. I also wanted to be able to swap out covers to coordinate with whatever was in them, or wherever they were in the house.I knew I could figure out a better way, so I gathered some thrifted sweaters and some empty bottles, and away I went. I am really pleased with how they turned out. I think it’s a really nice way to add some colour and texture to an arrangement.
They are so easy to make, and very quick as well. It’s fun to use different textured and patterned sweaters to create some different looks. Here is a tutorial in case you want to make some of your own.
Hope you guys have a great weekend.
gifts, green, home, sewing, thrift store finds • Saturday, February 6th, 2010 • 14 Comments »
I recently saw an article in Country Living about covering different items with sweaters. I loved the vases, but wasn’t particularly fond of their directions, which included hot glue, so I came up with my own way to do it. This was such a fun, quick, and easy project, I hope you enjoy it.
Materials needed:
one sweater (each vase needs one sleeve)
one bottle (any size as long as it will fit into the sleeve)
Gather your sweater and bottle.
Lay your bottle on top of the sweater sleeve. You want 1 1/2 inches on either side.
Cut the sleeve off (1 1/2 inches from the bottom of the bottle)
Sew around the cut edge of the sleeve 1/4 inch in so that it doesn’t start unravelling.
Turn the sweater tube inside out and slip over bottle. Position it so that the bottle is centered in the tube. On the side with the seam, pull the sweater around the bottle and pin in place so that you have a nice outline of the bottle.
Slip the cover off and sew along your pin line.
Cut 1 inch outside of the stitching.
Cut a few slits into the fabric next to the bend, making sure not to catch the stitching.
Turn the cover right side out, slip over the bottle and tuck in the top and bottom edges. Enjoy your new vase.
This same method works for many sizes of bottles. If the sweater tube is too big then you just pin it from the bottom all the way up.
tutorials • Saturday, February 6th, 2010 • 1 Comment »
How do we love thee? Let me count the ways….
apple blueberry oatmeal
chocolate orange oatmeal
banana cinnamon oatmeal
As we have six people in our family, breakfasts need to be filling, nutritious, and cheap. Oatmeal often fits the bill. After a while oatmeal can get a bit boring, so when I saw these three recipes I knew we had to try them out. They are in Jamie’s Food Revolution, which was a gift for Christmas.
The recipe actually called for blackberries, but we had blueberries, so it became apple blueberry. It was really good, with a sauteed apple, oat, and honey topping. The chocolate orange oatmeal wasn’t bad. The boys liked it allright, but I guess I’m just not really wanting any big bowl of chocolatey anything first thing in the morning. Our favourite by far was the banana cinnamon. With plenty of cinnamon, and a topping of sliced bananas, coconut, toasted almonds and a drizzle of honey, it was absolutely scrumptious.
We will definitely be keeping these fruity oatmeals in our repertoire. The beef and ale stew I made last night was also from this cookbook, and boy was it delicious. Also a keeper, but next time I will have to double the recipe as there were not enough leftovers.
Now I need to pick out some more recipes because if they are as good as these last ones, we’re in luck. What is your favourite breakfast?
books, food • Friday, February 5th, 2010 • 12 Comments »
All of my good intentions with bread and yogurt went out the window yesterday. I’m in the middle of dealing with a logistical nightmare with the closets around here. The last couple of days I have been sorting through the girls clothes, trying to pare down to what we actually use. Hang on, I’m getting sidetracked, more about the closets later.
I needed a few baskets to corral things in, so I ran to the thrift store. I found what I was looking for and swung by the blanket table. A little background first. Two years ago I knitted blankets for Hubby and the three bigger kids. They were a lot of work, a tad expensive, but totally worth it. For some reason, I just couldn’t justify spending the time or money on a blanket for myself. Since then, I’ve just been borrowing everybody else’s blankets.
Part of the love of thrifting for me is waiting to find the perfect thing. The success of finding something is sweeter the longer you’ve been waiting for it. Since I made the blankets, I’ve kept my eye out for a blanket for me. I’ve come across dozens of crocheted blankets, but most of them were really scratchy acrylic or the colours were just atrocious.
Today was my day. I went over to the blanket table and there she was. A gorgeous granny square blanket. It was big, 68″ x 51″. It was soft, and it was granny squares. (I have a really hard time photographing red, it never turns out right this is a beautiful scarlet colour). What could be better? Wait, maybe the price. Go on, take a guess. Yup, that’s right, $3. A whole $3. I couldn’t believe it, I almost squealed with delight in the middle of the store.
I was so excited. There is something about waiting and searching and then finally finding what you’ve been after. We got home, had some extra snuggles with the girls and I made the most delicious beef and ale stew (more on that later too) for supper.
The girls are doing a bit better, but my scratchy throat has now turned to a drippy nose ickiness. I had so many plans for this week around the house, but I’m not sure how much I’ll get done now. Now I think I might just need to get something warm to drink and curl up with my new blanket.
crochet, food, thrift store finds • Thursday, February 4th, 2010 • 20 Comments »
Yesterday, we did a big grocery shop. One of the things I like to do if I have time is do a lot of prep work ahead of time. It saves time and some of my sanity when I can pull out ingredients all ready to go. It’s usually between 4:00 and 5:00pm when I am trying to make supper that things start to fall apart. Kids are getting hungry, and cranky. The babe wants some extra snuggles, and I’m trying to make supper. So anything that is done ahead of time is a huge help.
Yesterday afternoon when we got home, I tackled the chicken. I sliced and sauteed up about 8 pounds of chicken breasts. Now it is all in the freezer waiting to be put into stir fries, curries, fajitas, and anything else I can think of. I can just pull a pre-portioned bag of chicken, thaw it and toss it in.
My other job for yesterday was granola. I recently found this recipe over at katie did. It is perfect for us. Not too sweet at all, which is huge for me since the kids like to gobble it up. I’m not a huge seed person, and right now I can’t really eat them because they get caught in my braces, so this was extra perfect.
This recipe makes a huge batch. Huge as in approx. 20 cups, which again is perfect for my family. You could always half the recipe if you didn’t want quite as much at once. I used quick oats instead of the regular ones (just smaller pieces of oats) and unsweetened desiccated coconut, so that it would not be too sweet. I think because the pieces of oatmeal were smaller, my batch took 45 minutes to bake instead of the two hours. If you make this granola, just keep an eye on it to make sure you don’t overcook it.
Granola has been one of those things that I have been trying to find a great recipe for, for ages, and now I have one. It’s a huge hit with my kids and me and Hubby. If you’ve been searching for a great granola recipe, do give this one a try.
If all goes well today, I’m hoping to get some bread and yogurt made. What are some of your favourite things to make?
food • Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 • 11 Comments »
