To anyone still following, I took a little absence to have my son. I have started a new blog, with a look and feel that I like much better. Please follow me now at http://www.eggheadedmomma.com! It is a mix of everything I love: crochet, cooking, insight and opinion, health news, and funny stories from my life with 3 crazy little kids.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Saturday, November 14, 2009
End of Christmas cookie baking night Merengues
End of Christmas cookie baking night Merengues (reposted from my old blog)
My mom always made these at the end of the night, because you put them in a warm oven and forget them until the next morning. They are really good and low-fat too! I will post a pic as soon as we make a batch.
2 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
pinch salt
1/4 tsp vanilla
6 oz mini chocolate chips or regular chocolate chips.
Dark Chocolate Sauce, anytime!
Dark chocolate sauce, anytime! (reposted from my old blog)
Just a little cooking story. My sister was in from Boston and brought fresh pineapple. We decided to cut into it for dessert, and everything is better with chocolate sauce, but we didn't have any here. No worries! I did a quick google search and found a link to a great dark chocolate sauce recipe here. So easy, and we had a delicious chocolate sauce to dip our fresh cut pineapple chunks in within about 6 minutes. Take home message: keep unsweetened bakers chocolate in your cupboard along with this recipe and you can have an incredible dessert whenever you want.Tuna Casserole
Tuna Casserole: the ultimate budget-friendly comfort food (reposted from my old blog)
With gas and food getting so expensive, I decided tonight to go back to my roots and make one of my favorite family meals. I started with my mom's classic recipe, then made a few small changes. I kept it simple, easy, inexpensive, and comforting, and it turned out really delicious too!
12 oz wide egg noodles, cooked and drained
1 Tbs butter
1 medium onion, about 1/2 cup, chopped
2 cans condensed cream of celery soup
1 can-worth of skim or 2% milk
1 cup frozen peas
2 tsp Old Bay seasoning, or similar seafood seasoning mix
2 cans tuna, drained
1 cup crushed Ritz crackers mixed with 1 Tbs melted butter
Preheat oven to 350F. In medium saucepan, melt 1 Tbs butter. Saute chopped onion until just translucent. Add soup, milk, and Old Bay seasoning, stir to combine. Add peas and tuna. Mix with cooked noodles and pour into 3 qt casserole or 9x13 glass baking dish. Top evenly with cracker and butter mixture. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
Makes about 6 to 8 main dish servings and can easily be cut in half and made in a 1 1/2 quart casserole.
Swiss Steak in the slow-cooker
Swiss Steak in the Slow-cooker (reposted from my old blog)
Slow cookers (a.k.a. crock pots) have been a great way to make easy, inexpensive meals for decades. They can turn the toughest, and often least expensive, cut of meat and make it fork tender and really yummy. I bought eye round steaks as part of a sale. They are very lean, and therefor can be fairly tough. They are cut from a larger eye round roast, which is also a great cut for the crock pot. Swiss steak is actually a German dish, involving lean meat, tomatoes, and your choice of veggies. Onions, celery, and carrots are more traditional, but mushrooms and green peppers are natural matches to the tomato-y goodness, so the choice is yours!
4 eye round steaks, approx. 1 inch thick
Flour, 1/2 to 1 cup for dredging
salt and pepper
paprika
1 Tbs olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
4 to 5 cloves minced garlic
1 Tbs worcestershire sauce
cooked egg noodles
Cut fat from steaks. Mix flour (about 1/2 to 1 cup), 1 tsp or so of salt, fresh ground black pepper, and about 1 Tbs paprika in shallow bowl for dredging. Amounts are not critical here, since there will be excess after you have coated the steaks. Heat 1 Tbs oil in large skillet. Coat steaks with flour mixture and fry in skillet 2 at a time until golden brown on the outside. Coat crock pot insert with cooking spray. I used a 4 quart round crock. Place steaks in pot. Add onions and peppers, pour tomatoes over, and add garlic (I use bottled minced garlic) and worcestershire sauce. Cover and cook on high 4 hours, then low 2 hours. Could also cook on low for 8 to 10 hours if you'd rather set it up in the morning. Serve over cooked egg noodles.
Baby Doll Sundress and Hat
Baby Doll sundress and hat (reposted from my old blog)
My daughter's favorite baby doll was always naked. The clothes she came in nowhere to be found. I asked my daughter, "If I make her a dress, will she leave it on?" She said yes, and requested red. I looked online for free patterns but was not happy with what I found for a doll this size, which is a Fisher-Price Little Mommy doll, about 14 1/2 to 15 inches tall, head circumference 12 inches, chest circumference 10 inches. So I created this set as I went, then wrote out the pattern. The straps will seem a little long, but this doll has no shoulders, so to make them long enough to get the arms through, they stand up away from the shoulder seam. It seems to be a minor issue, and the doll remains clothed!
Worsted Weight yarn and an H hook
Dress
Body of dress
Ch 35
Row 1: sc in the 2nd ch from the hook, sc across to end (34 sc)
Row 2: ch 1, turn. sc across
Rows 3 to 9: repeat row 2
Row 10: ch 1, turn. sc in the first st, (2sc in the next st, sc in the next st) repeat to end, ending with sc in the last st
Row 11: ch 3, turn. dc in each st across.
Row 12: ch 3, turn. dc in first st, 2dc in next st, (dc in next 2 sts, 2dc in next st), repeat across, then dc in last st
Row 13: repeat row 11
Row 14: repeat row 11
Row 15: repeat row 12
Row 16: repeat row 11
Row 17: repeat row 12
Row 18: repeat row 11. Finish off, leaving a long tail, about 18 inches. Use this for sewing the back together up to last sc row. Leave the rest of the sc rows unsewn, allowing an opening for dressing the doll easily. Weave in ends.
Straps (make 2)
Ch 15.
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook. sc across to end.
Row 2: ch 1, turn. sc across to end. Fasten off, leaving 10 inch tail for sewing one end. Sew ends to front and back of dress.
Ties (make 2) Used for closing top of back of dress by tying in a bow
Ch 30.
Sl st in 2nd ch from hook. sl ti in each st across to end. Fasten off, leaving tail for sewing. Sew each tie to the top corners of the back of dress.
Hat
Worked as a spiral without joining. Use stitch markers to mark first stitch of each row.
Ch 2
Row 1: 7sc in second ch from hook.
Row 2: 2sc in each st (14sc)
Row 3: (sc in first st, 2sc in next st) repeat around
Row 4: sc in first st, (2sc in next st, sc in next 2 sts) repeat around
Row 5: sc in first st, (2sc in next st, sc in next 3 sts) repeat around
Row 6-14 or 15 (depends on how deep you need the hat to be): sc in each st around
Row 15(16): 2sc in each st around
Row 16(17): 1 sc in each st around
Row 17(18): (2sc in first st, sc in next 3 sts) repeat around. Fasten off and weave in ends.
Please let me know if there appear to be any problems with the pattern. Enjoy!
Coffee Cup Cozy
Coffee Cup Cozy (reposted from my old blog)
My yarn budget has been absolute zero this month, so I've been all about using up scraps. Coffee cozies, or sleeves, are a great way to use up little bits of leftover yarn, as I estimate they only take about 1 oz of worsted weight. They are also a cute way to go "green", adding a splash of color and personality to your cup of joe, while being a washable and reusable alternative to those little cardboard sleeves. I checked as I went to make sure it would fit my sample cup, a 14 oz cup from a national coffee and desserts chain. It would easily stretch to fit a 16 oz if done in acrylic yarn, and might also fit 12 oz-ers.
materials: about 1 oz worsted weight yarn and an H hook
Ch 31
join with sl st into a ring. SC in same st. Sc around for about 3 rounds (done in a spiral).
2sc, then sc in next 5 sts, 2sc, sc in next 5sts, repeat around for one round
sc in each st around for 4 rounds
sc2tog, sc in next 10 sts, sc2tog, repeat around for one round
sc in each st around, fasten off and weave in ends.
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