WIP pics

I thought I'd post a WIP update. 

The last time I posted Maggie's Mess it looked like this:

Now it looks like this:

It may not look like much progress, but believe me, that's more than what you can perceive by just looking at it.  I was about cross eyed and crazy by the time I finished all those half stitches of the flower arrangement.  It has felt good to move beyond that.  Although the area I'm about to start to the right is a wall with wallpaper on it, lots of confetti stitches, and it will probably drive me a bit nuts as well, lol.  Oh well, such is life with cross stitch.

Another WIP is part of a Christmas stitch-a-long I'm doing with some friends.  It's 3 separate patterns, this is #1. I'm about half way finished with it.

Cute and simple, but chock full of quarter and three quarter stitches.  But I'm enjoying it.

And the real reason stitching is a slow process right now:

This is Tucker.  He likes to spend most of his life right with me/on me or tucked up under my neck.  So much so that the whole family swears any time they pick him up, he smells like me, lol.  Little rascal sure does hinder the stitching process though!

Fall is Here

Well, Fall is definitely here.  At this time of year, I like to start stocking up on my holiday baking supplies so I don't have to do a last minute rush to the stores and fight the crowds.  I picked up some things this week that I knew I would need in the coming weeks.  There is a lot more to get, but I need to do a "planning session" with my recipes before I buy more, so I'll know exactly what I need.  If you look closely you can see that half of those boxes of pudding mix are "pumpkin spice."  I use those in my pumpkin bread.  My daughter looks forward to my pumpkin bread each Fall.  I only make it during the months of October - December.

 Below are some pancakes I made for the family for breakfast recently.  I love my heart and flower pancake molds.  :0)

Take care and stay warm!!

Bourbon Street Chicken & a few kitchen pics

Just a quick post today ~ I'm going to try this recipe this week.  :0)  I'll post pics when I'm done.

Bourbon Street Chicken
 

1 Tbl. Olive oil; (1-2)

1 garlic clove; crushed

1/4 teaspoon ginger

3/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 cup apple juice

1/3 cup light brown sugar

2 Tbls. ketchup

1 Tbls. Cider vinegar

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon cornstarch; (if thick sauce desired)

  
Bourbon Street Chicken Preparation

Heat oil in a large skillet.
Add chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned.
Remove chicken.
Add remaining ingredients, heating over medium heat until well blended and dissolved.
Add chicken and bring to a hard boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes uncovered.
Serve over hot rice.

I got a few new "kitchen servants" this week.  It was so fun!  I was able to get a new toaster oven (with rotisserie), a new microwave oven, new toaster, new pannini press, and new egg poachers.  I'm absolutely in love with the rotisserie in the toaster oven.  So far we've done two chickens in it.  Tomorrow I've got a garlic seasoned pork roast I'm going to cook on it.

I did some baking this week and tried out a new Duncan Hines product.  They have icings that you add flavor packets to.  Since it's Fall, I got the pumpkin spice flavor packet.

I decided to make cupcakes with half the batter and a small cake with the other half.

I put pumpkin shaped marshmallows on the cupcakes and Fall sprinkles on the cake.

It turned out really cute and festive.  Although, I do have to say that I think we prefer more "normal" flavored icings.  This one - pumpkin spice - reminded me of the flavor of a spice cake.  It was interesting to use, but I do think that from now on we will stick with chocolate, vanilla, or cream cheese frostings.  :0)

Meet Cruella

I needed a knock about town car for me.  So we went to one of our local car dealerships and came home with this new-to-me Cadillac DeVille.

Ever since we got home, I've had that song about Cruella DeVille from the 101 Dalmatians stuck in my head.  So, I've named the car Cruella.

:0)

A few pics and a recipe

This is my son.  He is 14 and most definitely one of my pride and joys.  Every Tuesday morning, I drive him out to an Equestrian Training Center about a half hour from where we live and he has horseback riding lessons.  I love watching him ride and his knowledge of horses and how to care for them grow. 

Today he rode Jag.  :0)  They made quite a pair.  We both really look forward to our Tuesdays at the horse farm.

 

I have a recipe to share with you.  It's my favorite chocolate pie and I made it to go with Sunday dinner this past weekend.

 This is what it looked like before I topped it with Cool Whip.  :0)  (Notice my new Fall tablecloth.  I love it!  I ordered it from the Vermont Country Store.)

Rich Chocolate Pie

2 1/2 C. milk, divided

1 C. sugar

3 Tbls. all purpose flour

5 Tbls. cornstarch

1/2 tsp. salt

3 egg yolks

2 1/2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate

2 Tbls. butter

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Heat 1 1/2 C. milk and the sugar.  In another bowl, combine flour, cornstarch and salt.  Add egg yolks and remaining milk, mix well.  Temper this by adding 1/3 of the hot milk mixture.  Return all to the saucepan and bring to a boil.  Boil for one minute.  Remove from the heat.  Add chocolate and stir until melted.  Finish with butter and vanilla.  Pour into a baked pie crust and refrigerate until set.  

I let mine cool a bit before putting it in the fridge.  I also set some saran wrap right down on top of the filling while it's in the fridge.

 

 

A catch all catch up post

I have left this little blog long neglected.  But I have the blogging bug back, so here I am.  :0)  Today has been a pretty good day.  Slow and easy, just like I like it.  I got to spend some time cross stitching today and my hubby snapped a picture.  I didn't even know he was standing there, lol!

This is today's progress.

The section of the flowers in front of the red curtain got finished today.  That part has been driving me nuts for days ~ 99% of that area is half stitches and those are always so hard for me to keep straight and according to pattern.  But I got it done ~ yay!  Tomorrow I'll start on the vase beneath them.

I looked over to the right of me to the couch and this is what I saw:

Two sacked out pups, lol.  That's Patsy on the left and Betty Sue on the right.  I know you can't tell by this picture, but they can be pretty fierce guard dogs when they need to be, lol.

One more thing I was to share before I close.  A friend of mine recently scored really big on Craigslist.  She was able to get a ton of cross stitching thread for a very small price.  Well, she inspired me to see what I could find.  So I went to Craigslist and put in "cross stitching DMC" just to see what would come up.  For anyone who doesn't know, DMC is a brand (my favorite) of cross stitching thread and a few other stitching products.  Look at what I found!

I was soooo excited to find this box!  The ad said that it was a vintage/antique dmc storage box.  I'm not sure if it is old enough to be "officially" called antique but I do know it has some age to it.  The lady I bought it from got it from her mom and it had belonged to her grandmom before that.  They think that the grandmother purchased it from a store that was closing and this was used as the store display case for some of the DMC numbers of threads.  The box is still labeled and came to me full of skeins of new DMC thread!  A few of the numbers only had a few skeins but several of them have 25 or more per color.  I'm going to split it up with my best stitching buddy.

Draw #1:

Drawer #2:

Drawer #3:

Needless to say, I was very happy with this find.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted it, lol.  I've been cross stitching a long time and I've never seen one like it.  And all those threads!  Woohoo!  :0)

Well, I'll close for now.  Everyone have a good weekend!

Southern Burnt Sugar Cake

I had planned to share a picture of one of the Burnt Sugar Cakes I made yesterday but I cannot find the little do-dad that uploads the pictures so I'll just go ahead and share the recipe. If I can get the pictures loaded later, I'll post a picture of the cake then.

Burnt Sugar Syrup
****************
1 C. sugar
1 C. boiling water

Burnt Sugar Cake
****************
3 C. all purpose flour
1 Tbls. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C. milk
1 C. butter, softened
1 3/4 C. sugar
4 eggs

Burnt Sugar Frosting
*******************
3 3/4 C. confectioner's sugar
1/2 C. Burnt Sugar Syrup
1/4 C. butter, softened
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2-3 Tbls. evaporated milk

Make the syrup:
Heat the sugar in a cast iron skillet with high sides. (Or any other heavy pan with high sides. I use my cast iron chicken frying pan.) Heat over med-high stirring occasionally until the sugar melts into a caramel syrup. Carefully add the boiling water (it will sizzle and pop so be mindful of that.) Continue cooking until the water is fully integrated into the syrup. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Make the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour your cake pan of choice. Yesterday I used a 13x9 pan and a bundt pan for my cakes. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and stir to mix. In a small bowl, combine your milk and vanilla. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Pour in 1/2 C. Burnt Sugar Syrup and beat well. Alternate beating in flour mixture and milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat each just long enough to incorporate into the batter. Baking time will depend on your pans. For the pans I used it took about 30 minutes for each one but I starting checking them at 20 minutes. If you use round cake pans for a layer cake, 30 minutes might be too long. Just keep your eye on it. After it comes out place on a wire rack or on folded kitchen towels and allow to cool completely.

Make the frosting:
Combine confectioner's sugar, the remaining 1/2 C. of Burnt Sugar Syrup, butter and vanilla. Beat on med. speed for 2-3 minutes. Add 2 Tbls. of evaporated milk and continue beating. Add a little more sugar if it is thin and a little more evaporated milk if it is too thick. Spread over your cake and enjoy!