Shocking Confession! My Crush on the Doughboy!

The finished product, my mini apple pies/crescents. 

I Confess! I use those Pillsbury crescent rolls WAY more than I should. I can't help it. I know all of the home-made dough makers/snobs have just clicked to another page. It's just SO easy to use the pre-made crescent dough, it's fast when you don't have a lot of time, and there are so many ways to use it! You can fill the triangles with cinnamon butter, fruit, hot dogs, taco meat, any kind of cheese from brie to cream cheese to American slices. Since I only have photos for fruit-filled crescents, that's the recipe I'm posting. The brie is really yummy for a party (even my kids will eat it!). I'll take photos next time I make it so I can post. The way I arrange the crescent dough makes a really pretty presentation.
Here is my take on mini apple "pies/crescents":
- 1 can of crescent roll dough, separate into triangles
- 1 apple (I like Granny Smith but you can use whatever you like), cut into 8 wedges (I use 1 of those apple slicers that cuts it into 8 wedges and cores it)
- 2T. brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon

Her are the ingredients. I'm not sure why I have the butter in there. You don't really need it for this recipe. I must've been channeling Paula Deen that day! 

Placing apple wedges on crescent triangles. No, my baking sheet isn't dirty. It's Pampered Chef, it's supposed to be brown.

Rolling them up. 

In a shallow bowl, microwave apple wedges for about 30 seconds, not enough to cook wedges entirely but to make them half cooked. Let them cool. If you need to, you can place a layer of ice cubes on the wedges to cool them just enough to be able to handle them. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle on each crescent dough triangle. Place 1 apple wedge at wide end of crescent dough and roll up. You can sprinkle more brown sugar/cinnamon on top if you like. Bake at 375 degrees about 11 minutes.

Squaring Off

Sorry I haven't posted much this year. I've had a lot of family business to take care of in Houston. My dad passed away and I have been a frequent flyer. I don't usually post about personal things but I have been pondering something I do for clients. I'm thinking of making 2 memorial quilts using my dad's old shirts. Right now I am working on a client quilt but will probably start on mine soon. Stay tuned. I'll post the progress. In the meantime, I thought I would share a couple of quilts I've made in the past and 1 new one.

Some pillows and bags I've made from t-shirts along with a quilt

Put a Ring On It

Pinch pleat panels topped with wooden rings

2 panels for the French doors

Floor length panels on both sides of fireplace

Close-up of fabric pattern

Wooden rings on pinch pleat panels

Evidently pinch pleat curtains are back in style. I've had several requests for them. To make them more modern, I added large wooden rings on top. I think these were 3" across. I hooked the rings to traditional curtain hooks behind the pleats instead of sewing the rings to the top. This created less stress on the fabric. These are heavy panels with insulated lining. The room called for something large and dramatic because of the vaulted ceiling hence the large gold rings and rods. She picked fabric with the same red as the wall color but with an off-white background which lightened up the room.
I made four pair of pinch pleat curtains for this room. I keep saying "this will be my last pair!" but I keep making them. If it's sewing or cooking, "yes" comes out of my mouth so fast that I don't realize it 'til it's too late. That's okay because I love sewing and cooking. My family loves to eat so making a living sewing then cooking the groceries I buy kinda go hand-in-hand. Did I mention I still do a little catering?  More on THAT in another post. I can explain, really! Hors d'oeuvres for 200, anyone? I'll take pics.
Back to the curtains. Sometimes it's just hard to get back to a client's home to get photos of work. In this case, I din't get back to her house for a couple of months! Things happened with her, things happened with me. Life just happened. And then... Christmas. Need I say more! That's ok because she lives locally so we both knew I would be back over there at some point. And from what she told me this day, I'll be back again... for a couple more rooms with bare windows.

"Clean out the Cabinet!" Bark

 Yes, I know. You're saying, "you should've posted this before Christmas!" As I said last week, the entire time between Thanksgiving and last week, things have been crazy!
Christmas always seems to bring out the urge to make sweets in me. Of course I didn't exactly have everything to make what I wanted so I decided to "just WING IT"! I would use that as my slogan and my life's mission statement but I'm afraid Nike would sue me. I call this "Clean out the Cabinet" bark because that's pretty much what I did. It's very festive, don't you think? You could make this for Christmas, birthdays, Easter.... I just used what I had so it was multi-colored mini m&m's but feel free to use red and green m&m's or chocolate chips or Reese's Pieces or sprinkles.
Here is the recipe:
-1 (16 or 24 oz) package milk chocolate bark
-1 (16 or 24 oz) package of white chocolate bark
- half cup peanut butter (optional )
- 15 oz bag pretzel sticks, broken into pieces (you won't use the entire bag, maybe half unless you're a pretzel fanatic)
- chocolate candies (m&m's, Reese's Pieces, whatever you like)
Line a 10"x15" jelly roll pan (it looks like a cookie sheet with sides) with wax paper. Break up the pretzel sticks and place a layer on wax paper. I didn't put a quantity because you may want more pretzel pieces. I just spread them out in a single layer. In the top of a double-boiler, melt the milk chocolate and peanut butter. If you don't have a double-boiler, you can melt chocolate and peanut butter in the microwave. Just microwave 30 seconds, stir, repeat until all melted. Pour over pretzels. Let this layer harden. Melt white chocolate and pour over hardened milk chocolate. While the white chocolate is still warm, sprinkle m&m's or whatever your choice of candies over white chocolate. Let this layer harden. I know, it'll be extremely hard to wait! When the top layer has hardened lift out of pan by the wax paper and break into bite size pieces. Enjoy!!

Pour melted chocolate/peanut butter over layer of pretzels in waxpaper-lined pan.

Close-up of chocolate (gotta have a close-up of the chocolate!)

Layer of white chocolate with mini m&m's sprinkled on top

Break into pieces when all hardened. YUM!

A Rose by Any Other Name

My finished baby washcloth bouquet

The far right and far left "flowers" are bibs.

Close-up of washcloth "flowers"

I know what you're thinking, she's fallen off the face of the earth. Lots of stuff going on with the kids, my health, unexpected death of a friend before Christmas, home break-in, blah, blah (I won't go into the details). It's just been chaos. My apologies for not keeping up-to-date here.
I've been plum worn out! My little escape has been Pinterest. Not feeling very creative, I decided to poke around Pinterest to see what other people are up to. Check back next week as I make my "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" review.

I had a baby shower to attend so I looked around. Found some cute ideas. I always modify the ideas on Pinterest. I don't know why. Just think of cuter or tastier or more efficient ways of doing things. Things I've done for years, they are "new" ideas there. Maybe I should've written a book. Anyway, I found an idea to make a bouquet out of baby clothes. Ah shredded paper in green and yellow. You can also cover the butcher paper with a baby blanket or towel but I forgot to buy one.  Notice that I did use 1 floral stem that I kept the flower heads on. I just thought it would add a little fullness. I cut each stem (there were 6) to intersperse in floral foam around the entire bouquet (sorry I didn't make photos of that). You can sort-of tell from pic of final product. It was the only bouquet at the shower! Just something different    to make since everyone is making the diaper cakes now. I made a diaper cake for a shower 8 years ago. Guess I should've gotten photos and started a business before it became popular!

Here is how to make the washcloth flowers: fold 1 washcloth in half, then fold again halfway, leaving open edge.

Start at 1 short end and roll up, making "center" stick out a little like a rose bud does in the center.

Bind one end with a kid-size ponytail holder. This makes your rosebud.

Roll down some of the edges to make your petals. The end with the ponytail holder goes into the floral stem.

Soup Supper: Cowboy Stew and Cornbread

Brrrrr! It's been chilly here (I know, if you live up north you're calling me a sissy!). I cook a lot of soups and stews in the fall & winter. This also gives me an excuse to make cornbread.  They're so easy because you can ad lib on ingredients or change the type of beans (or meat or other veggies) if you have a preference. Just use what you have! Soups are easy to cook in the crock pot too.

This is the chili sauce I use but Heinz is good too. Look for it near the ketchup.

Everything combined and simmering in the dutch oven.

I used to have a recipe for Cowboy Stew that uses chili sauce. Moving several times, I've misplaced some cookbooks. Well, technically I haven't lost them. I have them somewhere in the black hole that is our storage unit. So I did what I usually do when I don't have the instructions or I've never done it before....I WING it! I have a habit of making up my own recipes. I like to grab whatever is in the pantry (it's a long drive to town!). So here is my rendition of Cowboy Stew. I've never found another recipe that uses chili sauce. My "new" one does! You can find chili sauce in the ketchup aisle. I use Kroger brand but Heinz makes it too.

Cowboy Stew

- 1 lb. ground beef (or ground turkey)
- 5 medium potatoes
- one 12 oz. bag frozen crinkle cut carrots (or if you want to use fresh, baby carrots)
- one 12 oz. bottle chili sauce
- 1 beef  bouillon cube
- one 15 oz. can pinto beans, drained (you can sub chili beans, baked beans, etc)

Peel and cut potatoes into large bite-size pieces. Place in large saucepan with carrots and enough water to cover. Add beef bouillon cube. Par-boil ( until they're almost soft when you poke them with a fork). Meanwhile, brown ground meat in a dutch oven. Drain fat and return meat to dutch oven. Add entire bottle of chili sauce. Add entire pan of potatoes, carrots, and cooking liquid. Stir. Add beans. Simmer about 15 minutes or until potatoes are completely soft. I serve mine with cornbread but the stew is good with yeast rolls or biscuits too! This makes a dutch oven full, 6 servings if you're really hungry. And you will be when you smell this cooking!

Thought I'd make you hungrier and get really close up!

Smells Like Fall Y'all! Our Favorite Muffins

Our favorite breakfast muffins: chocolate chip pumpkin spice muffins (yes,  I know, that's a long name for a recipe. That's why I call them favorite muffins!)