A new chicken dinner

Last night I came up with a new way to use chicken that turned out quite well, I think. I had gotten boneless, skinless chicken thighs, pineapple and zucchini, but didn't really want to make a teriyaki dish again. Instead, I made some quinoa using a new method, which also turned out well, and a stir-fry/saute type of dish that I made up as I went along. I put quinoa and water (no special ratio) in a pot, brought it to a boil until it was transparent, probably about 10 minutes, drained it and let it sit in the warm pot, covered, until I was ready to serve. I cut up the zucchini, pineapple and chicken into bite-sized pieces, then heated up a large pan over high heat with some olive oil. I then added the chicken with some salt and pepper, stirring and cooking until I couldn't see any more pink, then added the pineapple. A couple minutes later I tossed in the zucchini, let it cook for a bit and decided to add some extra flavor. I thought a splash of tamari, a little mirin, and a drizzle of honey would be good. It was, but it needed something else, so I added some powdered ginger and cinnamon. I let it cook for a while to boil off as much water out of the sauce as I could without overcooking the chicken or zucchini. When I thought it good, I served it over the quinoa! Quite easy, tasty and definitely healthy! It's a keeper for sure. And the leftovers were great for lunch, too!

Some work...

So I made those cupcakes, and meant to take pictures along the way, and completely forgot to do so. They were yummy and cute! Maybe my friends took some at the party they'll share with me... I did discover that the best means for filling cupcakes (at least this particular recipe) was to cut out a small cone with a knife and then spoon in the curd filling. I didn't bother putting a cap or anything back on, just iced carefully over the exposed yumminess. Depending on how well they were received, I may print some little cards for myself and start taking commissions for various baked goods. It'll be a while before I actually go into business for myself, but I love baking, so I figure I can do so for friends and acquaintances who ask.

I also managed to make some space on my crafting desk and started my solids challenge quilt! I love the progress I made and need to go acquire the grey and yellow fabrics I need to continue, but that won't happen today... I can't decide if I should post sneak peek pictures of it or if it should be a surprise when completed. If I wait, I'll include progress photos with the final product... any opinions?

oops...

Wow, I've been absent from the internets for a while... oops! Part of that is I haven't had too much that I've felt needed to be posted since very little craftiness has been happening. Of course cooking has been, with just a little bit of experimentation, but nothing so spectacular I felt it needed to be shared... until now! This past weekend we had a baby shower to celebrate the anticipated arrival in March of a friend's second daughter. I made the cake and it was a huge hit! I didn't get any photos of it, but a friend did, so as soon as I get one from her I'll post it up here. It was a basic chocolate cake (using KAF's chocolate cake recipe) with a raspberry curd filling and whipped cream icing. It was delish! I don't think there was a single crumb left on the cake stand! I even got asked to make cupcakes in the same combination for an upcoming birthday party... I may need to actually go into business for myself!

I think I also made a really yummy chicken dish with brussel sprouts a while ago I meant to post about, but now I don't remember exactly what it was :-( It probably started with bacon and I know I used a little cinnamon, which I think may now be my favorite spice to use in pretty much everything! I plan on making tourtiere, a traditional French-Canadian (with its roots in old France) pork pie, this weekend for dinner and a second for a friend who had a baby recently. I'll try to remember to take pictures and post about it! I haven't had any in a long time, and I remember it being absolutely delicious, so I hope this recipe (yet another KAF!) measures up...

As far as crafty stuff goes, I have had one card swap (with another tomorrow) and some basic card-making. I also helped a friend make a new bag for his tent, which was supposed to be an test of his newly-acquired sewing machine, but we found a couple of big flaws that need to be fixed. Not being able to wind your own bobbins is just annoying and getting stuck in reverse makes even straight stitching difficult! Sadly, I haven't done any quilting since my last post, meaning I did not finish my Project Modern quilt, or the strippy quilt I've been working on for a while now... it's a little frustrating! I need to spend some time cleaning up in my craft room so I can actually work in there and leave projects out. I think that as I put away Christmas decorations I'll be able to get a lot of the random stuff cleaned up in there, too. I really want to finish that quilt! And now I have another, at least crib-sized, quilt to make for the Guild! We have an all-solid challenge going courtesy of Robert Kaufman. The company gave us charm packs to use! I may also try to get to the second Project Modern challenge (a monochromatic quilt!) if I feel I have the time and creative energy to do so... I love the idea of a quilt in just one color, so even if I can't have it done by the end of March it may become on of my projects.

Ok, this turned into a rather long post! Happy New Year (rather late)!

A little progress

I started sewing strips together for my Project Modern quilt! I'm hoping it will come together pretty quickly and not get slowed down too much by other projects I have in the works. I've also got some big baking plans coming up, including an apple challah bread and chocolate croissants... both will be a first for me and I'm a little nervous about the croissants. It's just a long process. I think I might make a test batch this weekend to make sure I know what I'm doing before I make them to bring to share with friends. I know they'll get eaten up in our house! And there are always the friends and neighbors who are willing guinea pigs... I just need to find the chocolate sticks locally... off on a chocolate treasure hunt!

Progress, of sorts...

So I haven't made any progress on my Project Modern quilt, but... I made an entire baby quilt in around 24 hours! Here are some pictures of its creation...

The top, no borders...

Top and bottom borders added...

Borders done!

Sandwiched, pinned and ready to be quilted!

Half-way finished with the quilting...

Done!

The plain back...

I used three flannel prints for the top with solid blue and pale yellow for the border and back. This was very much something of an improvisational quilt, I just started cutting strips of fabric, then started sewing them into bigger strips, then pieced those together! I really liked how it turned out, I even teared up a little when I gave it away... but I know it will be used! I still have a little of all the fabrics, so maybe I'll use them in something for Two when I get the time...

I've been doing a decent amount of creative cooking and baking, too! Last two Fridays ago (has it really been that long since I posted?) I made a couple of 9" deep dish pizzas topped with tomatoes, lots of cheese, sweet Italian sausages, peppers and onions. I actually thought to take pictures! Here they are...

The pizzas!

Nice, deep dish with layers! (And a very happy Two in the background)

And I also decided pretty much on a whim to try out the chocolate stout cake recipe from King Arthur Flour. That was pretty good, too! Rich and heavy, but yummy! No pictures of that, but I made it! This last Friday I made thin crust pizzas again, they're so good! Saturday night I tried out Emeril's recipe for pierogis that turned out pretty well. The recipe didn't halve well, so I just made a lot of them and froze a bunch to save for another night. I also tried out KAF's bacon cheddar scones Sunday morning. The recipe called for chives, too, but I didn't have any on hand, so I just left them out. I just made a half recipe of mini scones and they were pretty great! So a lot of baking going on here! And some temporary insanity with quilting! Hopefully I'll have more progress to post, soon!

Some progress...

I actually spent some time with my fabric and rotary cutter yesterday! I got the little guy down for his nap (in my bed... sigh...) and heard pleas coming from my crafting room. So I set up my laptop with Glee, heated up the iron, and starting cutting strips for my Project Modern quilt. I think I'm going to be able to use some strip piecing to speed up the process. I'll take some pictures of all my lovely strips at some point, since plain black and white strips are so interesting... I also set up a new stash storage in the closet that I think will work really well. I got a hanging shoe shelf thing from Target, and it's the perfect size for fat quarters! Now my (still pretty small) stash has moved from its sad little box into the closet where they can breathe and yet be protected!

And... I got a picture of the cute little bag I made for Two's friend! She has been loving it. That makes me so happy! I so love making things that people can use and enjoy!

As you can see, it's definitely handmade, but the quirks are part of what make these things great, right? I had hoped to make it reversible, but that just wasn't in the cards... it's about the size of a small kid's backpack, and it ended up with just the one strap. She wears it across her body, carrying her things around with her. So cute!

I haven't done much interesting baking or cooking in the last couple of days, either. I found a whole bunch of new recipes I really want to try over at King Arthur Flour. They have a very reasonable pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant) recipe, and those are a favorite in our house! Tomorrow night will be my first attempt at making deep-dish pizza, using their Chicago-style recipe. All the reviews are great, so we'll see how the guys like it!

Monday night I was able to go up to downtown LA with my friends Melissa and Kelly and met up with all the lovely people of the LA Modern Quilt Guild! It was so awesome! My first meeting just happened to be the one year anniversary for the guild, the first in the country! I'm going to have to go every month now, there was just so much inspiration in the room. And I won a great door prize! A circle cutter and slotted cutting guide. Not bad for a first meeting... and now I have no excuse to not try circles! One may end up on the back of one of the now two quilts in progress... I'm hoping to get them both done soon! The black and white one has to be finished before the end of November, and I'd like to be able to send the other off for a Christmas present. And there are, of course, other little things I'd like to get done... it would be so awesome if I could just spend all day up in my crafting room as my job! Maybe someday...

Sigh...

So I still haven't gotten to do much crafting, but I have been able to do some cooking. I haven't even talked about the fantastic pizza crust recipe I tried out! I had found the recipe a while ago, and finally decided to try it, and I think it will now be a Friday night tradition. The King Arthur Flour pizza crust recipe really is fantastic! I love King Arthur flour, especially since they are fully employee-owned and from Vermont! They have excellent recipes, various products, and, of course, flours! But back to the pizza! The recipe suggests letting the dough rest in the refrigerator for a few hours, which I did, and I used a preheated pizza stone in the oven with the crust on a sheet of parchment paper to let it go into and out of the oven easily. I got two nicely thin and crispy crusts out of the recipe, the second of which I froze as dough. They also give tips on freezing a pre-baked crust, but the ball of dough just fit better! It turned out great, too, though! So after I pre-baked the first crust, I took it back out, spread out some roasted red pepper tomato sauce (yes, from a jar), covered it with an Italian blend of cheeses, then covered it with some mild Italian sausage broken up into bits, peppers and almost-caramelized onions I had cooked down earlier. It was so delicious! The second crust I topped with cheese, sausage, genoa salami, fresh mozzarella and a little more cheese. The boys loved it!

Last night, I made a "Tess Creation" that turned out really well! I had frozen ravioli (one package of mushroom medley, one of butternut squash) to cook, and didn't think that tomato sauce was necessarily the best topping. So I melted some butter in a skillet over really low heat, added some chopped garlic with a little salt and let it soften, then some walnuts so they could toast a little. Lastly I added some frozen petite peas, let them heat up, then poured it all into the food processor to make the sauce. I pulsed it until it was almost smooth, adding a little olive oil, but still had some texture. I mixed with the drained ravioli and served. I forgot to add the parmesan cheese, I had, but it was still fantastic! Dex's two friends who came over both really liked it, and one even said it was the best vegetarian meal he'd had! I didn't really mean for it to be vegetarian, it's just how it turned out. I bet some prosciutto would be delicious with it, too... hmm... this is definitely a creation that is sticking in the repertoire and will be tried with variations... yum! Oh, and I made apple crisp last night, too! One of my favorite fall desserts! The recipe my mother has always used is my favorite, of course. It doesn't have any oats in the topping, just flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, little bit of salt and lots of butter... it's sooooooo good! I made two pans, the second of which is being baked to bring along to my first Modern Quilt Guild meeting! I'm really excited for that, too! I may even try to finish up that quilt top to bring along... we'll see!