Corkscrew vine has blooms

T-shirt quilt with off-setting blocks

Baby quilt no. 2 headed to Sweden

Baby quilt headed to Sweden

Diaper Cake

The topper of this cake was made by my sister in 1981. Now, it is being passed on to the next generation.

The versitle Cream Puff

I have such a difficult time getting the high school kids to like cream puffs. "They taste like egg"! So, one is stuffed with chicken salad and the other with raspberry sherbet. I needed a better sample and picture.

Easy Strawberry Pie Dessert

1 package strawberry jello
1 cup boiling water
1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
2 containers strawberry low fat yogurt
1 small container Cool Whip
1 chocolate graham cracker crusts

Dissolve strawberry jello in 1 cup boiling water. Chill in refrigerator until mixture is cool. Fold in 2 cartons of yogurt into 1/2 container Cool Whip. Fold in sliced strawberries. Mix jello mixture is cool, fold into the Cool Whip mixture. Place in the graham cracker crust and chill. Before serving top with remaining Cool Whip.

Pink and Black baby quilt ready for quilters

Diaper Cake Number One with a green and brown color scheme

Cross Stitch Quilt is done after many, many years!

Yes! We are in Kansas. This was my big find over the weekend at an estate sale. And, yes that is me taking the picture.

Receiving Blanket Baby Dolls! I made the little bonnet but purchased the baseball cap. This is cute addition to a gift basket for a baby shower.

Baby Quilt is ready for the quilter! This is a pattern from a book, "Quilts for Babies and Kids". The name of the pattern is "Hugs and Kisses"

Baby Quilt with inside border.

Lots of little pieces in this baby quilt!

Fabric for the next baby quilt! I am not sure for which baby yet, but I can decide that later.

Picture of Rustic Peach Tart

Recipe for Rustic Peach Tart

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 can (15 ounces)reduced sugar sliced peaches, drained
1 can peach pie filling
Pastry for single crust pie
1 egg white, beaten
2 tablespoon peach preserves
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons sliced almonds
1 tablespoon milk

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine 1/4 cup sugar, cornstarch and pumpkin pie spice. Add drained peaches, and pie filling; toss to coat
2. Place pastry on a parchment paper lined 12 inch pizza pan. Brush with egg white to within 1 and 1/2 inch of edges.
3. Spoon peach mixture over egg white; sprinkle with almonds
4. Combine peach preserves and lemon juice. Brush over top of peaches and almonds. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
5. Fold up edges of pastry over filling, leaving center uncovered
6. Brush edges of pastry with milk
7. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 35 to 40 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.
8. Use parchment paper to slide tart onto wire cooling rack

T-Shirt Quilt Number 1 of 3 is done! Yea

Corkscrew vine plant

Corkscrew Vine Plant

Last summer, my sister posted a picture of her corkscrew vine plant. It was gorgeous.
So, this year I wanted one in my yard. I bet I searched 6-7 nurseries here in Kansas City and could not find the plants. During our marathon weekend of traveling across Kansas and attending family graduation celebrations, my sister had 2 plants for me. Mine are growing but kind of slow. Here is a picture and hopefully this fall, there will be blooms and lots of wonderful smells and pretty flowers. Wish me luck!

Number One Most Disliked Kitchen Cleaning Task: The Oven

That is right! This cooking teacher has 7 stoves at school to clean and one at home. Today I am trying something different for the oven racks that just might work. I made a paste of baking soda and ammonia. Using a pastry brush, apply to oven racks and let it dry. Place the oven racks in a large garbage bag and set out in the hot sun. I will let you know if it works.

Apple Strudel and Phyllo Pastry

Step 3 is done!

Step 2 - T-Shirt Quilt with Sashings and Cornerstones

Beginning a t-shirt quilt

Happy Father's Day

I know the idea of using an apron made out of men's ties is not practical. But, this apron is a special gift for a young lady that lost her Dad last fall. Today will be a sad day for her and the rest of their family without Dad. I am hoping as a wedding gift for her upcoming wedding she will feel that connection to her Dad once more.

I am making 3 t-shirt quilts using his special t-shirts. When my friend gave me all of his shirts, ties, and some of his clothing, it was a little overwhelming. As I keep sewing, you will see the pictures of this last t-shirt quilt. The other 2 are ready to be quilted. I just thought that a tie apron might be appropriate and a nice memory gift.

Tie Apron is finished

Tie Apron Step 2/with the waistband

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

The recipe is excellent
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
Cook according to package directions
Steam or blanch 4 to 6 green peppers until soft but not limp

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large skillet, saute in 1 tablespoon olive oil:
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced

Add:
1- 28 ounces can stewed tomatoes
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup Salsa
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 can Black Beans, rinsed
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Fold in:
Quinoa
1/2 to 3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Stuff peppers and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese and bake for 5 to 10 minutes.

I had more filling left so I just placed it around the bottom of the peppers to bake. The next night I used the leftover filling and added ground beef and more tomatoe suace to the mixture. It made a great main course dish.

Easy Puff Pastry Tart Recipe (picture below)

Ingredients:
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water
1 package Jello vanilla instant puffing
1 cup cold milk
1 cup Cool Whip topping
Fresh Fruits for garnishing
3 tablespoons apricot preserves
2 teaspoons water
1 square white chocolate, melted

Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick spray or use parchment paper
Place pastry sheet on floured work surface. Cut 1 inch strip from each long side.
Brush 1 inch border with egg wash along cut sides of pastry sheet. Lay the 2 cut strips on top of
brushed borders. Place on baking sheet. With fork, dock bottom of pastry, about 1 inch apart.
Do not dock borders
Bake in oven until nicely browned, 15 to 17 minutes. Let cool
Beat pudding mix and milk in large bowl with whisk 2 minutes. Fold in Cool Whip; Spread onto
cooled pastry
Arrange fruit over pudding mixture (mandarin oranges, strawberries, blueberries, kiwi)
Mix preserves and water. Brush onto fruit
Drizzle with melted chocolate. Let stand until chocolate is firm. Store in refrigerator.

Puff pastry is a type of laminated dough. This recipe is simple and convenient. Since one package of puff pastry has 2 sheets, I made them both today. One is going to my husband's office and one went to the neighbors. I hope the little kids like the mixture of fresh fruit and pudding.

Easy Puff Pastry Tart

Apple Pie

Mission: Find the perfect pie crust

I come from a family of excellent pie bakers. Also, I have twin brothers. One twin loved apple pie; the other cherry pie. So, Grandma always made 2 pies. For me, it was always cherry; My sister, I am not sure it was apple. The crust recipe was always made from oil.
However, my goal is teaching high school teenagers to make that perfect pie crust. One teacher likes butter flavored Crisco. In the beginning years of my teaching career, I always used regular Crisco. Then, with the nutrition focus in our curriculum, I have the students use oil. Oil gives a healthy product but the quality of a flaky crust has not been achieved. For me, butter flavor Crisco is nothing but a buttery mush in your mouth and takes away from the filling flavor.
Yet, regular Crisco has no flavor. Why not try a mixture of both?
We know there are 3 ways to help make a flaky crust: use ice water, leave some of the fat particles in chunks, and chill the dough before rolling it out. But, with teenagers you can only imagine. Some of the dough is over mixed, some is too soggy, other dough is too crumbly and it ends in a nightmare. So, this morning I tried this recipe:
Pastry:
2 and 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons cold butter, cut up
6 tablespoons vegetable shortening
6 to 7 tablespoons ice water

Prepare pastry in a food process with knife blade. Blend flour and salt and pulse 2 to 3 times.
Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add shortening and pulse just until shortening crumbs are the size of lima beans
Sprinkle in ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing gently after each addition. Dough should start to begin to form into a large ball and start to stick together.
Transfer to a baggie; shape into a disk. Handle as little as possible. Chill at least 30 minutes or overnight.
Do I see problems? Yes! A powertool and teenagers. It is like Tim the toolman Taylor and too much power. I can hear the questions. What do lima beans look like? How many times is a pulse? Do I have to sift the flour? Why can't you add all the water at once?
Well, wish me luck. I think this recipe might be worth a try. I will let you know how it rolls out and take a picture of the pie for you to see.

Fresh Berry Tart NOTE: PICTURE IS BELOW

Pastry Cream Ingredients
¼ cup cornstarch
¾ cup sugar (divided)
2 cups whole milk (divided)
4 large egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 pinch salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Procedure:
1. Combine the cornstarch with ¼ cup of the sugar in a mixing bowl, then stir in ½ cup of the milk. Blend the yolks into the cornstarch mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until completely smooth.
2. Prepare an ice bath. Combine the remaining 1 and ½ cups milk with the remaining ½ cup sugar and the salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat.
3. Temper the egg mixture by gradually adding about one-third of the hot milk mixture, whisking constantly. Add the remaining milk mixture to the eggs. Return the mixture to the saucepan and continue cooking over medium heat, vigorously stirring with a whisk, until the mixture comes to a boil and the whisk leaves a trail in the pastry cream, 5 to 7 minutes. As soon as the pastry cream reaches this stage, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract and the butter. Transfer the pan to the ice bath. Stir occasionally until the pastry cream is cool, about 30 minutes.
4. Transfer the pastry cream to a storage container and place parchment or waxed paper directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Cover the storage container tightly and refrigerate until needed.


Tart Dough Ingredients:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
1 and ½ cups cake flour, sifted

Procedure:
1. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract on medium speed, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed, until smooth and light in color, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the egg yolk and blend until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes more. Add the flour all at once.
3. Option One: mix with the mixer on low speed for 20 to 30 second, only until blended. The dough will be very crumbly when you remove it from the mixer. (Note, when I made this, I went 30 seconds and it was too long; my dough was not crumbly but smooth and soft – therefore, not good)
Option Two: Use a wooden spoon to blended the dough to a crumbly stage
4. Use a gentle touch to press the dough into a disk, being careful not to work it so much that the pastry becomes tough.
5. Wrap the dough tightly and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before rolling

Roll out tart dough
Place dough between two sheets of waxed paper that have flour scatter over the bottom and over the top of the dough. Roll out into an even round about 2 inches larger in diameter than your tart pan. To transfer the dough to the tart pan, fold the dough in half or roll it loosely around the rolling pin, and gently lift and position it over the pan. Unfold or unroll and ease the dough into the pan. Trim the overhang cleanly by rolling over the edge with a rolling pin. Gently use your fingertips to press the dough against the sides and bottom of the pan.
Note: I made this on a hot/humid day and honestly, I just patted the dough into the pan. My problem was I tried to fit a 8 inch crust into an 11 inch pan.

Step Two: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Fully blind bake your crust. Once the dough is in the pan, use a fork and poke holes in the bottom of the pan. Line the pastry with aluminum foil and add rice or beans to fill 1/3 to ½ of the pan. Bake for 11 minutes.

Remove from oven and set on a cooling rack. Remove foil and pie weights. Brush the bottom crust with whisked egg white. Check the edges for brownness and if necessary put foil strips around the edges. Return to the oven for 6 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on rack.
While the crust is very hot; sprinkle ¼ cup chocolate chips over the bottom so they will melt; then use a knife to smear and spread out the chocolate. Remove outside edge of tart pan.

When cool, add the pastry cream and spread evenly over the tart shell.

Arrange the fruit over the pastry cream.

Melt ¼ cup strawberry glaze in the microwave. Use a pastry brush and coat fruit with glaze.
Store in refrigerator

Summer/Berry Tart

Fresh Berry Tart

This recipe is a tart using a short crust with a pastry cream filling. I used strawberries, blackberries, red raspberries, and blueberries on top. The glaze was the strawberry glaze that can be purchased at the grocery store.

Picture One of the beginning for the tie/apron

Making an apron using men's ties

Today I started a new sewing project. I am trying to make an apron out of ties. This is going to be a wedding gift for a special friend.
Note: more to follow later