New Thanksgiving Side Dishes and A Snazzy Scarf

Good morning and happy Sunday morning.  My hubby got called in to work this morning when one of his crew couldn't complete his shift so I got up early when he left and stayed up so here I am posting now instead of tonight.  I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving.  Here is my story about the above picture: I have never been much of a meat cook.  I was practically a vegetarian when I met my husband so I had little experience cooking meat and it is my least favorite thing to cook because I don't feel confident with large cuts such as roasts(and whole turkeys!).  Every Thanksgiving, I overcook the turkey and it falls apart getting it out of the roaster.  I have this thing with poultry(and pork) that I am terrified of under cooking it and having people get sick.  Do you remember that scene in Christmas vacation where Clark goes to carve the turkey and it is so overcooked and dry it just implodes when he puts the knife to it?  Mine never made it that far-they just totally fell apart!  This is the first year that the turkey stayed together so I had to snap a picture of it.  Yes, it was slightly overdone, but not as much as other years!  So behold, the traditional turkey above that actually needed carving!

I wanted to share two new sides I tried this year.  The green beans are from the Pioneer Woman.  We love green bean casserole and had it every year, but none of us liked it warmed up.  I thought this new dish would be good because it has bacon in it.  I couldn't believe the smoky flavor so prevalent in these beans from the bacon.  It had mixed reviews from the family so I don't know if it will show up next year.  It got my stamp of approval and my younger son's as well.

I am not a fan of traditional sweet potato casseroles because I don't like the marshmallows.  I tried this casserole and it was a winner all the way around.  It was almost like dessert but I think it will come back to future holiday dinners for sure.  I took 2 large sweet potatoes and baked them in the oven for 2 hours.  It took longer than I thought it would.  I scooped out the flesh into a bowl when they had cooled.  I added 2 eggs, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup heavy cream, a generous splash of vanilla, a teaspoon of cinnamon and ginger to taste, and stirred in about 1/2 cup chopped pecans.  Put all of that in a greased casserole and set aside.  In another smaller bowl, put 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons melted butter and a splash of vanilla.  Mix and drizzle over the casserole.  Swirl it in like a marble cake.  Bake uncovered in a 325 degree oven for about 40 minutes.  I made it the day before and baked it while the turkey was resting.  It was like a souffle.

 Lastly, I wanted to share a fun scarf I knitted to go with a new coat I got at Kohl's.  I love this Lion Brand Fancy Fur yarn.  I used tropical turquoise for this scarf and it only took one ball worked in stockinette stitch.  I have two other scarves made out of this yarn and they are my favorites.  They are so soft against my neck and they don't add unnecessary bulk down the front of my coat.  I even wear my other ones in the fall with my lighter weight coats when I just want something at my neck to stave off the wind.  I am not a knitter who tackles the tough stuff like mittens, sweater and socks but I love playing with different yarns.  I am really impatient for some reason with my knitting and I want fairly instant satisfaction so this scarf was great for an evening watching television.

I have some really awesome recipes I tried with leftover canned pumpkin that I will share next time and I will post what I made my exchange partner for the Craftaholics swap.   Some nasty Winter weather is supposed to be heading our way and I am very nervous for my 18 year old.  It will be his first Winter driving this season so there will be some tense moments for sure.  Take care and have a great week.  Nancy

November Friday Night Sew In

Happy Sunday evening everyone.  I am very excited to show you what I have been working on all weekend. I started with the FNSI sponsored by Heidi and Bobbi and this project spilled over into the whole weekend because they are addictive-I warned you!  A good friend shared this pattern with me and I have enjoyed making them for so many reasons.  They have a small material list, they can be easily prepped(cut) with just a mat and rotary cutter, there are all straight lines to sew, they are a blast to choose fabrics for them, and they make the perfect gift for just about everyone.  The tutorial is from LaRae Bunnell Clark and it makes the 10 minute table runner.  I made the corn one for myself first to see if it would really turn out well.  I loved it so I moved on to make gifts for a couple of family members and a couple of friends. 

I love the lodge look on this one and check out those cute buttons. 

 This one is homespun done in the perfect colors for a friend's kitchen.

























I had alot of fun picking out buttons for each one.  This next one is going to be hard for me to give up. 

And, last but not least, I wanted this one to look old fashioned because the person I made it for has a primitive colonial look to her home. 

So what do you think?  If you own a sewing machine, you should give these a try.  They are fun to make in holiday prints and I was thinking one would even look pretty as a dresser scarf or on a buffet.  I would love to see pictures if you make some.  But remember, if you get carried away and make a ton of them, I warned you! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family and good food.  I am trying a couple of different side dishes this year, one from the Pioneer Woman.  I will let you know how that goes.  Have a wonderful week and take care.     Nancy 

Tom Turkey and the Best Bruschetta

Hi and happy Sunday.  It is a particularly happy Sunday for me because I have tomorrow off!  Happy Veteran's Day to everyone who has and does fight for all of us to enjoy our freedoms.

I wanted to share my "Tom pillow" I made this week.  I enjoyed my "Jack" Halloween pillow so much, I came up with my own design for Thanksgiving with a turkey.  I drew the pattern myself and made up the freezer paper stencils.  He looks homemade but I kind of like that.  My oldest son suggested I do different pillows for different holidays and I liked his idea.  I think I may do one for Christmas, a snowman and one for Easter. 

I am a huge bruschetta fan.  A friend and I go on a little trip every Summer to a wonderful craft shop that is about an hour and a half away and we visit this wonderful family-owned Italian restaurant for lunch after we shop.  There I was introduced to the best bruschetta I ever had in my life.  I finally succeeded in reproducing it.  It is so simple and so good.  Just put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a small skillet.  Mince about 4 cloves of garlic into the pan and cook for about a minute, being careful not to burn the garlic.  Take it off the heat and put the garlic and oil in a large bowl.  Take about one pint of cherry tomatoes(I mixed yellow and red ones) and chop them into small pieces.  Add them to the garlic and toss.  Add a couple of tablespoons of good balsamic vinegar.  Toss to coat and add salt and pepper to taste.  Put this in the fridge to marry the flavors.  When you are ready to serve, cut up a small bagette into diagonally cut slices.  I like to broil them with a litle butter on them so they don't get soggy when you top them with the tomato mixture.  Keep thet broiler on because you have to put shredded mozzarella on top of the tomato mixture and broil until bubbly.  Enjoy!

I am presently working on my gift for The Craftaholics Annonymous Christmas swap.  I love participating in that.  This is my third year.  I am not loving Elfster, however.  I know I am probably the only one but I am having a hard time connecting with my swap partner.  what happened to the good old days where you just emailed each other?  She asked me a question and when I clicked on the reply button, it looked like a facebook entry.  So I emailed her and I haven't heard back yet.  I don't even know if she got my reply.  I know who my swap partner is and yet, somehow there are people annonymously asking questions.  What is that all about?  Oh well, this may be my last year to participate unless this swap ends successfully!

 Have a wonderful week and take care.   Nancy

Deliciousness and Something Different

Hi everyone and happy Sunday evening.  Wasn't it grand to have an extra hour to sleep last night?  Some of you may have used that extra hour as time to accomplish something but I used it to sleep! 
I had a grand time doing something a little different in my craft room this weekend-more on that later.  I will bet you are distracted by the plate of yumminess above.  They were fairly easy to make and amazing.  They are coconut cream raspberry pastries.  How can you go wrong with puff pastry-am I right?  Set your oven to 400 degrees.  Unfold one sheet of thawed puff pastry and cut it into 8 fairly even rectangles.  Place them on a baking sheet lined with silpat or in my case, a kitchen aid silicone baking liner.  Bake until golden, about 12 minutes.  Let cool and split horizontally.  In a large mixing bowl, beat 3 cups whipped topping, 1 cup whipped cream cheese from a tub, 1/4 cup cream of coconut(also makes amazing pina coladas!), and 1/2 tsp. vanilla.  Divide among the bottoms of the pastry rectangles.  Put raspberries on top and pop the pastry tops back on.  Voila, done and perfect.  You will be very happy!     

Now I want to share what I was up to in my craft room.  I don't do much jewelry making.  I admire what others make but I don't often feel the urge to start making any of it.  The only thing that lures me into the process is my compulsive matchy-matchy nature.  I have a wonderful necklace and bracelet with no matching earrings.  That bugs me!  So I came across this tutorial for box chain earrings and I had to give it a try.  It was fun.  I made big ones:

 
and medium ones that are my favorites:

Here is a side by side comparison of those:

But I also attempted delicate little ones and this is as far as I got:

I just couldn't fit all the rings in the middles but I love how dainty they were.  I am not usually a huge earring person so these appealed to me.  Maybe I will just add another three rows and see what they look like without doing the box chain pattern.  Anyway, it was fun to break up my usual routine of sewing and painting.  I bought myself a new Winter coat so I have to get some yarn to knit myself a scarf to match.  Also, I am desperate to find some Thanksgiving projects.  I put my decorations up and they are sparse compared to Halloween and Christmas!  

Well, I hope you all have a great week.  Take care.  Nancy

Friday Night Sew In-October

I am finally getting a chance to post what I made for Friday Night Sew In. 

I got the idea for this adorable Jack pillow from the October 2011 issue of Create & Decorate magazine.  It was fun to make.  I enjoyed the fact that both sewing and painting were involved in this project.  As usual, I tweaked the instructions a bit.  I used freezer paper and made stencils for the parts of Jack.  I free hand painted some of him too.  I loved the effect of the primitive hand stitching all around him.  He is a perfect addition to my Halloween decorations. 

I have to straighten my craft room.  I keep purchasing new sewing books and I am running out of room.  Between that and my cookbooks, I could open a library!  I hope everyone has a great week and I am keeping in my thoughts everyone in the path of the perfect storm that will be hitting the East coast.  I am far enough inland so we are mostly expecting wind and rain-not that I don't worry about massive power outages!  Take care.   Nancy 

Pumpkins and Prunes-Oh My!

Hi and happy Sunday.  I get so many wonderful ideas from all of you creative bloggers out there.  Recently I came across a blog with the most adorable pumpkin table runner.  I emailed her and asked where I could purchase the pattern and she told me she had gotten it a while ago and told me where it had come from.  I didn't have any luck locating any pattern like it now.  So, I winged it!  I know my stems are longer than the runner I had admired but I really like mine.  Sometimes I rely too much on having a pattern.  I usually go off on my own after starting a project anyway so this time, I came up with the whole thing myself!  I had fun picking out fat quarters in various orange prints.  It was a fun experience and I love that this runner isn't Halloween or Thanksgiving specific, it can be displayed all throughout the Fall.  What do you think?

I also wanted to share the latest Pioneer Woman recipe I have tried.  It is Iny's Prune Cake.   I watch her show on Food Network and, even though I am not a fan of prunes, she made it look amazing. 

 It was good.  It tasted similar to Hermit cookies.  It is a very moist cake with lots of spice.  My favorite part was the homemade caramel icing.  I could have easily licked the pan after I iced the cake! (but I didn't) The cake was a pretty big hit with the family and I was even honest about the ingredients.  Nobody even blinked-what a surprise! Aren't those plates cute?

I got those on clearance at Cracker Barrel last year after Halloween.  They were dirt cheap and I was excited to realize that they fit in a wrought iron holder I have for square dessert plates that go with my everyday stoneware dishes.  Score!  I finally got my Halloween decorations all up and I love the spooky atmosphere as well as the Halloween lights everywhere. 

I hope everyone has a great week and I am looking forward to the Friday Night Sew In next week end.  Take care.                       Nancy

Halloween Baking without the Calories

Hi and happy Sunday.  I am a little under the weather this evening.  I think the little ones I am around every day have finally infected me with my first sinus infection of the season.  I took it easy today but I was anxious to make the felt stuffed softie "cookies" you see in the picture above.  They were fun and easy.  I found them here:

I love the BHG holiday publications and look forward to getting my hands on them every year.  The Halloween cookies were in there and I thought they were cute.  I would definitely change a few things if I made them again.  The tan felt cookie wasn't big enough to be a border around the "frosting" layer.  I would make the tan pattern substantially bigger next time.  Also, I didn't top stitch because there wasn't enough tan showing.  I also thought the spider web was too plain and I glued a felt spider on there with French knot eyes.  They were fun and I think little kids would love them in their play kitchens as well as I enjoy them as cute holiday decor.  If I were feeling better, I might make some for my class at school. 

 

I also wanted to share an amazing grilled sandwich I made recently. 

 

Trust me, this picture doesn't do it justice.  This is a gouda portabello grilled sandwich and it is very tasty.  I don't know if you know this about me, but I eat many of my meals pretty much meatless.  I occasionally eat some meat but I am very picky about it.  So, the mushrooms in this sandwich are right up my alley!  Portabellos are so beefy tasting, even my husband didn't miss the meat(just so long as I served meat the next night!).  I used the George Forman grill to press the sandwiches and they were delish.  I also made a killer cream of broccoli soup that night but that will have to wait until another time.  

 

I hope you all have a great week.  I think I see a doctor visit in my future this week.  Take care.  Nancy