Thursday, June 28, 2012

USC Blanket: Stacked and Layered

One of my favorite babies just turned one-year old recently, and so I made him a USC blanket.  The pattern comes from Super Simple Quilts #3 by Alex Anderson and Liz Aneloski.  It is called "Stacked and Layered" (hence the post title). 


Their pattern says to use five different fabrics for the top, but I went with four because I wanted USC to be the primary theme  


Putting together the quilt top was very easy and very quick.  Once everything was basted together, I quilted by hand...geez there are times I wish I would just pay someone to machine quilt for me.  But, that's okay, this time I did not have time to send this out to someone else.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Table Runners Turned Seat Covers


Does this look like a seat cover to you?  It doesn't to me, but that's what my sister uses it for in her car.  The monkey fabric is actually that waterproof stuff that you can find at craft stores.  It's a bit difficult to work with, and I found that I needed to put the regular material on the bottom while stitching with the sewing machine.  I machine quilted this time, instead of hand-quilting.  It's easy-peasy, so why did I take for-ev-er?



Um...yeah...no excuse for the tardiness.  Sorry Min.  Hope your Rav and you like the new "seat covers."

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

What a Bunch of Kale


My cooking experience with kale is pretty much non-existent.  So what was I to do with a bunch of kale that the B bought at the Farmer's Market but failed to use?  Luckily, the Food Network had a recipe for braised kale with toasted almonds.  It called for one bunch of kale, and the rest of the ingredients, I pretty much had on hand.  Other than stemming the kale, which is kind of slow, this is an easy recipe, and even better, it was yummy!  Plus I felt like I was being pretty healthy cooking up a bunch of kale, even if I used a lot of butter.


Braised Kale with Toasted Almonds
from the Food Network

  • 1 cup slivered almonds
  • 1 tablespoon butter*
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 cup minced onions
  • 1 bunch kale, stemmed and sliced thin
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon*
  • 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
In a large saute pan over low heat, toast almonds for 3 to 4 minutes until lightly browned (the will brown more throughout cooking so don't worry if they aren't all that brown). Add butter and allow to brown. Add garlic and onions. Cook for 3 minutes until slightly caramelized. Add kale and toss lightly. Add broth, bouillon and pepper. Cook kale for 5 to 6 minutes until tender and liquid has evaporated. 

*One tablespoon of butter didn't seem like enough, so I added more; probably about two more tablespoons (yikes, I know).  I used chicken base because I didn't have bouillon, and I cut it down to 1/2 teaspoon of the base.