Crinkle Taggie Blankie

As a bit of a back story to this post, I bought my son a small crinkle blankie from a seller at our local farmer's market. I loved it because it had small ribbons on it, a different texture on each side, it was nice and small for his little hands, and it made just the right amount of noise when he played with it. Sadly, we lost it when our family went to get sandwiches at our favorite local place =(. I know she has a website from which she sells everything, including her blankies (here), but I decided that instead of buying one I would make one special for my little man.

I had the fabric on hand and purchased about 1/2 yard of each of the ribbons from the local craft store, so this little project really wasn't all that expensive. It did take me forever to find the right material to make it crinkle, but ended up using the big shopping bags that I get from said craft store- I found it had a better sound than anything else I could find. I think cellophane would work well too.

Anyway, on to the project. Here's what you need:

1 10"x10" piece of flannel fabric
1 10"x10" piece of minkee
12"x12" Crinkle material
Assorted ribbon scraps

I liked the size it ended up- you can make this bigger or smaller if you'd like.

First, I positioned and pinned into place all of the ribbons into loops around the flannel piece. I really like having lots of different sizes and textures to explore. If you use a really thin ribbon like I did (the red one), make sure to tie a knot below where you're going to sew so it doesn't easily pull out.

After you pin everything down, sew the ribbons in place. I stitched 1/2" from the edge of the fabric.

I skipped the areas without ribbon and trimmed the threads. Then, layer your blankie as follows:

Flannel with ribbon right side up
Minkie right side down
Crinkle material

Then, sew around the outside with a 5/8" seam allowance, leaving an unstitched space about 3" wide for turning right side out. I found it a lot easier to sew with the crinkle on top. After you stitch, clip the corners and turn it right side out, using a point turner (or I used the tip of my scissors, lol) tp bring the corners out so they look nice and sharp.

I then picked a decorative stitch to use around the perimeter and made sure that I turned the raw edges of the hole in. Then you're done!

How fun is this??? I wrapped it up and put it under the tree as my special gift for my little boy. Maybe there's someone you can make one of these simple gifts for too! They are very easy and I loved making this one. I can't wait until Christmas so he can play with it!

Cranberry Pop Cake

Merry Christmastime, everyone! I have a bit of a story to go with today's recipe, Cranberry Pop Cake. I'm sorry I don't have a pretty picture to go with this one- next time I make it I'll have to post one!

Seven years ago I was on my Church mission in Oklahoma. It was my second transfer (meaning I had been out for about 2 months) and my first companion had gone home. My "stepmom" was a sister named Sister Woolley- she was fun, energetic, compassionate, and a great cook. It was approaching Christmas and I was kind of having a hard time with it- the weather was cold, there weren't a lot of receptive people, we were in Woodward, Oklahoma an hour and a half away from any other missionaries and it was my first Christmas away from home and family. We spent a lot of our lunch time baking all manner of delicious comfort foods to give to the people we were teaching and to eat a little ourselves.

Anyway, this is one of the Christmas treats that stick out above the rest. The cake itself is mildly sweet and the berries give it a nice flavor and festive color. The thing that does it for me though is the butter sauce that goes on top- it really brings out the flavors of the cake. Besides, what's not to love about something called Butter Sauce?

When I made this for my church congregation's Christmas party I first made it way to big. Sister Woolley didn't write down how big the pan should be, and it sounded like it wouldn't make that much batter, so I doubled the recipe and ended up with a HUGE cake that took forever to bake. I luckily had enough ingredients for another cake so I ended up with a lot of it, haha! Anyway here is the recipe, clarified just for you:

Cranberry Pop Cake
by Stephanie Woolley

Cake:

3 tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup evaporated milk
2 cups whole cranberries

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a 9x13 pan by greasing and flouring it. Cream butter and sugar together. Mix in egg. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in separate bowl. Add flour mixture alternately with evaporated milk- I used a hand mixer for this and it worked well. Fold the cranberries in the cake batter. Pour in prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. It's done when a fork inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Butter Sauce:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream (or milk- I just used milk and it turned out just fine!)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Boil the butter, sugar and cream (or milk) together for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

When you're ready to eat, pour the butter sauce on the cake. Yum!!!

Pan-fried Yellow Squash

I really wanted my vegetables today, so I decided to put the yellow squash in the fridge to good use. Again, sorry but no pictures, but this recipe is really easy. All I did was mince up a clove or two of garlic and roast it in a frying pan with some oil. I then put the sliced up squash on the pan and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Pan fry to you liking, and DONE! This was super good, easy, and fairly healthy. I tried putting some on the Foreman but it didn't turn out quite as well- I'm guessing it's because the flavors in the pan have more of a chance to "marry". Anywho, have an awesome Tuesday and enjoy this fall weather!

Beef Stroganoff

So, I made this on Saturday and it was all gone before I could take any pictures, but here is a picture courtesy of Bing Images:

Source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/beef-stroganoff-recipe/index.html

When I was a kid, beef stroganoff was not my favorite thing, but maybe that's because we had it thanks to Hamburger Helper- not the best. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com (my go-to for new recipes, by the way- I like how I can read reviews for it) and after reading a few reviews made some changes and went for it. I like how it's made in the crock pot and it only takes 5-6 hours of cooking on low for it to be done so if I forget to start it until lunch it's no big deal. It came out SUPER TASTY with just the right amount of kick. My husband LOVED it! Here's the recipe without further ado:

Crockpot Beef Stroganoff
Source: Allrecipes.com recipe

                       

1 pound cubed beef stew meat

2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup                                                    

3/4 cup chopped onion                                                                     

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce                                                                     

1/2 cup water                                                                     

1 beef bullion cube

1/2 packet onion soup mix
Pepper to taste (I probably added about 1 1/2 teaspoons)
4 ounces sour cream
6-8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon butter
Egg noodles

In a slow cooker, combine the meat, soup, onion, Worcestershire sauce, water, bullion cube, soup mix, and pepper. Cook on Low setting for 5-6 hours.  About 15 minutes before mealtime, stir-fry mushrooms in butter until cooked. Stir sour cream in crock-pot sauce mixture, then cooked mushrooms. Serve over hot egg noodles.

ENJOY!!!

Lavender Cookies

Last Friday I had the opportunity to go to my local Farmer's Market, from which I bought a bunch of lavender. I put it in a vase at home and it looks so lovely on my little dining room table:

However, I wanted to do something else with the lavender. A few years ago, a good friend of mine made COOKIES with lavender in them and I remember them being good so I decided to venture out and make my own. It was also a good excuse to get out my pretty cake stand =)

I found this recipe from the blog Forgiving Martha via Pinterest and decided to try it out. It's a wonderful recipe that turned out super yummy the second time =)- I found the original had a few hiccups for me, so I revised a couple of things below. The recipe is pretty much the same except, as I said before, a few very minor changes. The first time I made these, I burned them because 20-25 minutes is way too much for these cookies.

In the end, they turned out very light and just the right amount of sweet with a minty, flowery taste to them...

Anyway, whip up a bunch of these and grab a nice cup of lemon mint tea and a copy of Anne of Green Gables and you'll have a very nice afternoon!

 

Lavender Shortbread Cookies

adapted from Barefoot Contessa  and a guest post from Leah from Forgiving Martha
3 sticks (3/4 lb.) salted or unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 heaping Tablespoon fresh or dried culinary lavender*
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
7 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (I just used chocolate chips)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Mix together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until just combined. Do not cream butter and sugar, as you don’t want to add air to this dough. Add the vanilla extract and mix. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix until the dough just comes together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour, divide in half and shape into two flat disks. Wrap each disk separately in plastic and chill for 30 minutes. 
3. Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll out the dough 1/4-3/8-inch thick (I did them a little more than 1/4"). Choose your favorite cookie cutter and cut out cookies placing them on an ungreased baking sheet lined with either parchment or a silicone mat (I did neither but they still turned out fine). Sprinkle cookies with sugar and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are just golden. Cool to room temperature. 
4. When the cookies are cool, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. 
5. Place 3 ounces of the finely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place it over a saucepan of simmering water. Once the chocolate has melted, remove it from the heat. Add the remaining chocolate and stir with a wooden spoon until it has completely melted and is smooth and glossy. Taking one cookie at a time, dip one end of each cookie in the melted chocolate and place it on a parchment lined baking sheet. Once all the cookies have been dipped, place the baking sheets in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes, or until the chocolate has hardened. 
6. Shortbread cookies keep in an airtight container for about a week but are best served same day! 

*I used fresh and they turned out great, but you can use dried purchased from Amazon or Williams Sonoma.



Fitted Boppy Cover Pattern

If you have a baby, a Boppy, although not the most important thing to buy (or put on your gift registry), in my opinion it comes right behind diapers and Onesies. A good friend of mine that I roomed with when I was on my internship in Seattle was so kind as to purchase one for me. I wanted one without a slipcover because I'm pretty adamant that if I can make something (especially a baby something) I would rather make it than have a purchased version. Hence the homemade Boppy cover =).

I was just going to do a basic post about the Boppy cover I made, but then after thinking about it and curious if I could do it I decided to make a pattern as a gift from me to you. When I made the cover originally, I used this pattern and this tutorial, but I found that the end product didn't fit my friend-purchased Boppy as well as I liked (my aforementioned pet peeve with stuff moving around in fabric has been mentioned previously). It took me a lot of trying the cover on, pinning, taking the pillow out, and sewing again and again until it fit to my liking.

Instead of having you go through the same trauma, you can get my modified pattern at the bottom of this post. Although it doesn't take a full yard of fabric, I would strongly recommend purchasing one because a lot of times the fabric on the bolt is skewed, and this doesn't manifest itself until after you pre-wash the fabric. Plus, if you have extra, you can make a few more fun things for your little one like a hat or shoes. Hopefully I'll do some more posts to show you both of these.

For the fabric choice, you can really use almost anything you want. I used a flannel from the Nursery Prints and Panels selection from Joann's because I really liked how the flannel was thicker than their Snuggle Flannel collection and I liked their patterns quite a bit more too. I love how the dinosaur fabric I used turned out!

The tutorial above shows how to make the zipper so it's exposed in the back. You can also put the zipper in the seam, which eliminates a "front" side and a "back" side on the boppy. I prefer putting a lapped zipper in the back, which to do you would need to add 1/2" of fabric on each of the fabric pieces you add the zipper to. A lapped zipper tutorial is here.

You can also use this pattern to make an actual pillow, although I LOVE how the original Boppy has a gusset so it can fit around wider, ahem, areas. Plus (this may sound weird) there's a nice understated quality to it. BUT if you want to make one for yourself, just sew the pattern together without a zipper and add polyester fiberfil. Easy peasy!

Without further ado, here are the pattern pieces:
Piece 1
Piece 2
Piece 3
Piece 4
Piece 5

Anyway, I welcome any and all questions and comments- I like the challenge and the opportunity to do better. Thanks for reading!

Jackie

Just because...

Saw this on Facebook yesterday, and had to share it with y'all-

Sewing geeks unite! Hope you guys have a great day =)

-Jackie