Test Kitchen Tuesday

I would like to thank everyone for their input last week.  I'm going to give you a bonus recipe this week.

I'm going to share my recipe for salmon burgers this week (some call them salmon patties)

Ingredients:

1 can salmon

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

3/4 cup bread or cracker crumbs

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice (to help reduce the fishy smell)

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper (or more if you like)

Open salmon, drain the water off of it.  Then pick out the bones and dark pieces of what looks like skin if you wish.  It is all edible, but as a personal preference I pick it all out.

Put your salmon meat in a medium sized bowl, add lemon juice and crumble the salmon with your hands so there are no big chunks.  If you left the bones in be sure to crush them up.  Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well.  I use my hands to mix it up.

Heat enough oil in a pan to cover the bottom, make your burgers and add to your pan.  Cook 5-7 min on each side, turning a couple of times so they don't burn.

I like to make a sandwich out of mine with lettuce and tomato.

Bonus recipe...

Tastes like fresh from the garden corn.

1-2 cups water
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2-1 teaspoon salt
frozen kernel corn.  (can use corn on the cob but you will need to increase the water, sugar and salt)


Bring water to a boil with the sugar and salt.  Add enough frozen corn for your family and boil for 5 minutes, drain and sprinkle with black pepper.

I hope everyone has a great day.

What I Finished Friday, and a winner.

I finished the tote for the swap I was on Monday, and rushed it off to the post office on Tuesday.  My partner got her bag yesterday.  To say she is in love is a bit of an understatement.  She is going to be vacationing at the beach this next week and is taking her new bag with her.    I also want to thank her for allowing me to use her pictures of the bag since mine didn't really show the true colors. 

Let me give you a little tour of her bag.  It is a mere 26 inches or so deep. and roughly 18 inches across, I can't remember exactly.

The inside pocket.

The Back

Remember this? Well I asked my daughter to pick a number to choose the lucky winner.

The winner of the cute little fat quarter is.....

Rachel from Mammafairy Sews who said,

mammafairyJuly 24, 2012 6:17 PM

Congratulations on reaching 200 posts! Yes I follow you, since ? when?? I just love recipes! more involving fruit, perhaps? would be great. Somehow it is the sesserts that get me going. I suppose I am displaying unwarranted normality in that!

Anyway, keep them coming!please.

Congratulations, I have sent you an email requesting your information so I can get this out to you asap.

Thanks to all who participated.  I wish everyone a wonderful weekend. 

Sew many things so little time

I finished the tote bag I made for the swap and I hope the person I sent it to gets it today, so I can post pictures tomorrow.  

I didn't get any sewing done yesterday.  The first post of the Sew Intertwined quilt along goes up today, so I need to get busy and get some things finished so I can get started on it.   

I hope everyone has a great day!  

WIP Wednesday

I still have yet to make the skirt I posted about last week.  We have a wedding to go to this weekend and I would like to wear the said new skirt, if I ever get it made.  Of course, I will have to go shopping for a new top to wear with it, but the skirt must be done first.

I'm working on the layout of the fabrics for the Sew Intertwined quilt along. You can still join, there is no limit  on how many can participate.  So far here is what I have for my color placement.  I'm still working on filling in the little squares

I shared my fabric the other day, but in case you missed it or want to visualize the it with the picture, here you go.  The flowers will be my outside border.

I hope everyone has a great day,  Don't forget the giveaway on yesterday's post.

Test Kitchen Tuesday, and a giveaway.

Hey happy Tuesday everyone! I can't believe I've made it to my 200th blog post. So, today I'm going to share one of my favorite go to recipes for potluck meals. I have always brought home an empty plate, so I think people enjoy it.  It takes some time but since it has to be refrigerated, it is great to make a day or two before.

I have horrible lighting in my kitchen paired with a cell phone picture.
I promise it isn't really cheddar cheese yellow.

Cheesecake

Preheat oven to 325 (this is the temp for the crust and cheesecake both)

Crust: 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp (tablespoon) sugar
3 tbsp melted butter

Mix crust ingredients together and press into a spring form pan. Bake for 10-12 min.

Filling

2 8 oz. pkgs cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 eggs
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 tsp (teaspoons) vanilla

In a medium sized bowl, combine cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer. Then add remaining ingredients one at a time mixing well after each addition. Go slowly when adding the evap. milk to avoid splashing.

Pour filling into slightly cooled crust and bake for 40 min or until set. Once the cheesecake is set turn off the oven and leave to cool for about 1 hour. 


Once completely cool, refrigerate and add desired toppings.



I like to cut my cheesecake before adding any toppings.  I can see where I'm cutting and then if I mess up, it can be hidden by the topping :o).   Canned pie fillings make for a quick topping.  I usually use cherry and it goes over well.    I have also use caramel and chocolate syrups, with some pecans for a turtle cheesecake.


I mentioned a giveaway, didn't I...Well here it is!


Now I'm in the mood to celebrate my 200th blog post so I have dug into my stash and found this cute little fat quarter.

One of my lucky followers will win this.   


There are 3 requirements:


1. You must be a follower, if you are a no-reply blogger, please leave me a way to contact you.  


2. Leave a comment telling me what kind of recipes you would like to see more of, Desserts, main dishes, appetizers, etc.


3. One entry per follower, duplicates will not be included in the drawing.


Entry's must be received by Midnight EST on Thursday, August 26th, 2012.


I will draw a random winner Friday, August 27, 2012. This giveaway is open to all,  I am willing to ship internationally.  


Good Luck!

What I Finished Friday

Absolutely nothing, the bag is nowhere near done, but I have made progress.  Here is what I have done, but I am going to take off the borders, make the center square a smidge smaller, and make the flowers on my borders line up better because it is really bugging me as is.  It is possible so I have no worries about messing it up beyond repair.

I am in love with this bag, and it is no where near being done.


I didn't get any sewing done yesterday since I went and picked up the kids.  I'm back to refereeing, waitressing, being a maid, chef, entertainer, taxi driver and whatever else my kids think I need to be.  Thankfully they are still sleeping and I am going to try to get the outside of my bag finished.

I hope everyone has a great Friday and a wonderful weekend.  If you are the praying kind, I just heard there was a shooting at a movie theater in Colorado last night and there were several that lost their lives and several more that are injured.  Please remember these families.

WIP Wednesday

Today is my last day kid free.  I have to go pick them up in the morning.  Yesterday got busy and I didn't get any sewing done, but as you know from yesterdays post, I did get some pretty fabric for the quilt along.  

My goal for today is to get my skirt made from this butterfly print knit.  

I'm also participating in a quilted tote bag swap, so I can't show you a whole lot here in case my swap partner is stalking my blog, but here is a peek at the fabrics I have chose for her.

 I thought last night I would get some sewing done, but nope hubby decided that we would go out for dinner since we didn't have the kids.   It was really nice and relaxing to be out and not have their constant chatter.  We tried a new place that we had never gone to before that is over by the lake, it is called "Scenic View" 

Now I normally don't take pictures in the bathroom, but I about fell over laughing when I saw the table set up in the bathroom with 3 chairs next to the commode.

 If you ever are visiting near Bloomington, Indiana this is a must go to place.  The food was great and the prices weren't bad.  

After that we went on down to the lake. It was getting close to sunset and we just love the view and the peacefulness of it all.

After the lake we went to the Hickory Ridge Lookout/Fire Tower located in the Hoosier National Forest.

Stats on the tower.

The Hickory Ridge Lookout Tower is 110 feet tall, made of steel, with a 7 foot square cab and 123 metal steps. If you climb it, you get an amazing view of the Charles C. Deam Wilderness and can see all the way to Lake Monroe and approximately 20 miles in any direction. Most of the view is wooded forestland and the scene is beautiful. 

That isn't smoke in the valley, it is fog rising up from the lake

The view from 110 feet up, that is a long ways down.

I hope everyone has a great day.  I hope to have some finishes for you later this week.

Test Kitchen Tuesday

Forgive me for being late with this.  The kids are at my in-laws, I slept in, and then had lunch with my hubby and went fabric shopping, ran some errands.

I have an easy versatile crock pot recipe for you today.

Take your frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts and put in the crock pot, Then add 1 can cream of chicken soup for every 2-3 chicken breasts cook on high for 6-8 hours then shred you chicken.

Now here is where the versatility come in.  You can serve your chicken and 'gravy' over some noodles or you can add some veggies in and make it into a pot pie filling and serve over some biscuits.  

I can't say that I went fabric shopping without showing what I came home with right?

These are my selections for the Sew intertwined quilt along.  There is still time to join, just click the picture below for more on how to join.

I've got nothing

I don't have a lot going on, I sewed about 30 of my Hexi's together over the weekend while catching up on  some dvr'd stuff.  My kids are heading to my in-laws for a couple of days once hubby gets home from work today.  I can't wait for some uninterrupted sewing time.

I'll be back tomorrow for Test Kitchen Tuesday.

Debbe

The great clean up, and a quilt along

It's friday! Have you heard, there is a new quilt along starting Monday! More about that later, but first the great clean up has been underway in my sewing room.   I haven't finished anything :(, but I have made a lot of progress on getting my sewing room cleaned up. Remember this picture?   

I dumped the big scrap bin next to the rocking chair.  There were a lot of scraps in that 18 gallon tote

Well here is what it looks like now. I even hung a picture my son painted at school up. I'm not sure I have it hanging the right direction, but he didn't correct me if I'm wrong, so it will stay as is, and he is happy to have it hung up in mommy's sewing room.

I  have decreased my 'scrap bin' by well over half.  It feels so good to be lightening the load a bit.

On Monday there is a new quilt along starting up.

If you have never done a quilt along, I encourage you to do one.  They are a lot of fun.  I have done 2 other quilt along's and they were a blast.

Jenna from Sew Happy Geek and Melissa from Sew BitterSweet Designs have teamed up for this.  Even though my want to do pile of patterns and fabrics are growing, I think I am going to make this one.  It looks like a lot of fun and heck it might just be a Christmas gift.

They have a flickr group set up Here and you can see what the whole quilt will look like when it is finished.

I hope you come and quilt along.

See you all next week!

Test Kitchen Tuesday

With Summer in full swing, salads are sure to be a hit with the family. 

Broccoli Salad

4 cups broccoli florets (or bite sized pieces)

1/4/ cup minced red onion

3 Tablespoons Spenda

2 Tablespoons Cider Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Low fat Mayo or Miracle Whip

2 Tablespoons sunflower seeds or slivered almonds (salted or unsalted you choose)

3 Tablespoons raisins

4 sliced bacon chopped up or 1/4 cup bacon bits

Chop broccoli into bite sized pieces and set aside. Then whisk together the remaining ingredients in medium bowl. Add broccoli, toss to coat. Chill until ready to serve, makes 6 servings (2/3 cup).

I preferred to have more sunflower seeds and raisins in mine.  If you look at it and think it needs more of something add it

I'm back!

Did you miss me?

Last week was a whirl wind of activity.  This week isn't slowing down any, but I'm at home and that has to make up for something.

I spent the first half of last week helping my parents out. They are older and can't do everything.  My dad has been doing some work on the floors in their house so since that job is nearly complete, he has one bedroom to go, I helped move furniture back to where it belongs, dusted. Oh my was there dust, and spent 2 hours picking up sticks, and branches in their yard.  The girl had a blast playing in the hose, my parents have a well so they don't have to pay for their water or sewage, I miss country living.

I didn't sew a single stitch last week, oh wait, I have to take that back, I did work on my hexagons a bit while up at my parents house, when I went with my mom on Monday night to her quilt group.

A lady in my mom's quilt group made this and had it hanging on her wall.  It is totally gorgeous!

Thanks to an awesome 'Chika' on Facebook who found the pattern for me. I now own this...

Circle of Hope Quiltwoman.com

Here are some of the fabrics I'm thinking about using.  I'm not loving the purple right now so that will probably come out and be replaced with a dark green, but I love the blue and brown batik's, there is actually a hint of the blue in the brown one so they are winners.  These are all courtesy of the remnant bin at Jo-anns. I did pay for them of course, didn't want you to think I stole them or something.

 I got some squishy mail on Thursday after the girl and I returned home (the boys were at church camp last week).  I have a Strawberry Fields Jelly roll that I wanted to something to go with so I found these last week, on sale and with free shipping to boot.  Thanks Missouri Star Quilt Co.!  I'm not using the triangle in my quilt, I just wanted a fun new toy to play with.

I hope everyone had a great week last week.  I skimmed several blogs last night, I was tired so I didn't leave many comments, but cramming a weeks worth of info into about an hour is tough.

Come back tomorrow for Test Kitchen Tuesday.  I tried a new to me recipe, and I have to say it was mighty tasty!