Laundry Bags and Catching Up

So it has been awhile since I posted here, and it has been quite a past ten months.  After I recovered from shoulder surgery in October and started PT for my hyper mobility issues, I went back to work.  Then in April I broke my foot putting me on crutches and unable to work or drive for nearly 2 months.  So here I am unemployed for the summer and with ample to time to be making things for and with my son, who is growing up way to fast.  He also out grew that egg allergy!!!!  No more modifying recipes.  I still have a backlog of recipes to share so I will try to add some from time to time. Since I am back to homemaking, for the time being, (I really did enjoy working until that foot put me out of commission) I thought I would start sharing some of the things I am doing. 

One of the things I learned during my hiatus from this blog is to make chores as simple and easy for myself as possible.  I think this is a good way to live whether or not you had to have your shoulder fixed.  Who wants to spend time and energy cleaning that could be spent playing? One of things I did to make things just a tinsy bit easier was replace my large hamper with two small hampers with bags.  This way my husband and I just sort our laundry as we put it in the hamper.  When one is full, I take the bag out, close it, roll it down the stairs, and wash it.  This way I am not carting laundry up and down the stairs for a day.  I do laundry more often but it isn't as big of a job.

I wanted to implement the same thing for my kiddo.  We do have a laundry shoot from his floor to the basement, but his laundry was getting mixed up with the wet dirty towels from the kitchen and cleaning. I had to bend over repeatedly to sort it all out.  Besides, I want to teach him a little about doing the laundry, responsibility, and independence.  He didn't want anything that would take up to much floor space, and it need to have a bag so I could roll it down the stairs. (I broke my foot carrying a laundry basket down the stairs.  Clearly I was scarred.)

Then I stumbled across this tutorial.  This is a fantastic idea:  laundry bags from a towel and men's pants hanger.  Her tutorial says that you can just throw your lights and darks in the wash together.  I can't quite make that leap, I still sort.  I just made two bags one from a dark towel and one from a white towel. I did run a cord through the pockets so I could close them.  They are ridiculously easy and I made two in less than an hour.  I also washed the towels before I sewed them so that I can just throw them in with the wash to prevent them smelling. Right now they are hanging in my sons closet but you could also put them on the back of the door knob or the wall.  I must say he is doing a great job with it, and it has made my life just a bit easier. 

Eggless Breakfast Zucchini Bread

Most zucchini breads are really more like cakes. While they are super tasty, they are perhaps not the best way to start your day.   This zucchini bread incorporates wheat germ and whole wheat flour for some added protein and fiber and a better start to your morning. It is a modification of a recipe from this blog http://foodforahungrysoul.blogspot.com/ . You could bump up the nutritional value even more by adding nuts if you don't have nut allergies like we do in our house.  All that being said it is still yummy.  My little one loves it, especially sliced and toasted with a little butter.  This makes the equivalent of two loaves.  I usually make one full sized loaf and mini loaves or muffins to put in the freezer and eat later.  YUM!

Eggless Breakfast Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups wheat germ
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat Flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup applesauce
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2/3 cup cooking oil
3 cups (about 3 medium-sized) zucchini, grated

Grease and flour two loaf pans (or equivalent such as mini loaf pans or muffin tins)

In a medium bowl combine wheat germ, both flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

In a large bowl beat applesauce sugar, vanilla and oil until well combined.  Stir zucchinni into the wet ingredients.  Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients stirring until just combined.  Pour into loaf pans and bake at 350 for about an hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle come out clean.  (About 45 minutes for mini loaf pans, 20 minutes for muffins.)

Happy Breakfasting!

Soon to Come- Zucchini Recipes

Between vacation, the start of school, and a pesky bicep tendon that keeps popping out of place, there hasn't been much activity here for a bit, that will change soon, hopefully.  Our zucchini plants went bananas while we were gone, and we came home to this once it was all harvested.

The biggest one is 2 feet long!!  I gave two big ones away and two "little" ones away.  (These would be large by grocery store standards.)  That left me with 3 large zucchini and one medium one from our CSA.  The big ones were too large to be tasty grilled or stir fried, so I started shredding. I made egg free zucchini "quiche", wheat germ zucchini bread, chocolate chip zucchini bread, and chocolate zucchini bread. I shredded the rest (I ended up with 35 cups of shredded zucchini.) and froze it for future use.  I plan to share these recipes in the coming weeks as I recover from shoulder surgery, to fix that aforementioned bicep tendon. 

I may even have some green tomato recipes as there seem to be a plethora of those on our vines and no hope for them to ripen.

Super Easy Napkins

Before we moved to Wisconsin, we rarely used paper napkins.  I have a stack of cloth napkins, and we used those at every meal. I just washed them with my regular load of towels.  No extra work. No spending money on paper napkins.  No extra trash produced.  For some reason, it just hasn't worked out that way in this house.  It may be that my son is older and uses more than he used to, the nice laundry shoot that goes straight to the basement where my laundry is out of sight and out of mind, or the inconvenient location of our napkin drawer.  We have only been using them at dinner, not all the time.

At any rate I decided to fix this today.  Our 1920's house has a nifty little breakfast nook where we eat breakfast, lunch, and snacks.  This is where most of the paper napkin usage happens. Out went the traditional paper napkin holder and in went a $0.50 garage sale find basket. 

Next, on to making the napkins.  I can't remember where I saw this idea or I would credit them, but I am going to share it here because it is so brilliantly simple.  I found my son's old red and white gingham curtains in the fabric bin, and cut it into rectangles 15.5"x12.25".  (I used one of my store bought napkins as a template.)  I pulled some threads out of all four sides to create fringe and voila- 7 new napkins.  This was so quick and easy.  I will definitely be buying more gingham in assorted colors so we can have a big stack of napkins for the whole week!  This might even make a nice housewarming gift if you make a dozen or so (or more) and put them in a nice basket with a bow.  Just a thought.

When I used up all my gingham, I started looking for other fabric I could use up in my stash.  I found some Curious George fabric. The purpose for which I purchased it has long been forgotten.  I cut it into rectangles, as well, with the intent of doing the same thing to them.  I realized that the fringe was not going to look quite as quaint on the print as it did on the gingham. I was not in the mood to fold over hems and press and pin and miter corners or line up square corners.  I wanted napkins, and I wanted them fast. Low and behold, I found plain red fabric in my bin as well.  I cut the same size rectangles out of the red, put the right sides of my print and my solid together, and sewed the edges with a 3/8" seam allowance, leaving a 4" opening to turn the whole thing right side out.  Before turning it right side out, I trimmed the corners.  Once it was right side out, I gave the edges a quick press, being sure to turn fabric under at the opening, and top stitched around the edges.

My little one was so excited about these napkins.  He kept trying to find a reason to use one.  I may just have to find some other fun fabric for these too.  You can never have enough napkins when you have a little boy!

Mostly Homemade Creepy, Crawly Boys Birthday

Last week was pretty much been consumed with planning and preparing my kiddo's birthday party.  Since I created the cake, invitation and some of the games, I thought I would share.

First the invitation.  I love publisher for this kind of stuff.  I started with a template and just changed out the clip art and words to fit our party.  Here is what I come up with:

The only problem is these never seem to fit in a regular envelope.  Since I had to send these through snail mail, they needed envelopes. I created my own by folding letter sized paper using "the tape method" found here.


Games are a must to keep 7 little 5 years old out of trouble for an hour and a half.  We started our party with visor and paper bag decorating so that there would be a simple activity to keep everyone engaged while we waited for the rest of the guests to arrive.  Also, everyone would have a hat for sun protection when we went outside.  The visors were 3/$1 at the Dollar store.  I found turtle and frog stickers, star stickers, and our own markers for this activity.

Next was the scavenger hunt.  I hid one frog, lizard, snake, and bug house (dollar store again) per child and gave each kid a scavenger hunt sheet (also created in publisher) and a crayon.  The kids looked for each item, put it in their bag, and marked it off their list.  This went really well.  The kids helped each other out.

cut page in half to produce 2 sheets

Next, we took our bug houses outside to look for bugs.  I also had some shovels for digging and a bug net for this activity.  The kids had a great time with this, and it was easy pickin's due to the influx of lake flies.

We headed back inside for a game of Frog Hoppin'.  All I did was print out three large lilly pads from clip art, tape them to some pots from my kitchen, and put prizes in each pot.  I found green ping pong balls 6/$1 at walmart.  The kids stood in a line and took turns trying to bounce the "frog" (the green ping pong ball) onto the lilly pads (the pots).  When they got one in the pot, they picked a prize.  This was more difficult than I had anticipated for this age group, so we just moved the pots closer.

Next was the cake.  My birthday boy wanted a snake cake.  I looked on several blogs and birthday cake instructionals and came up with my own version.  I used this egg free chocolate bundt cake recipe minus the chocolate glaze.  I let the cake cool. Then put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes so it would be firmer for shaping.  Once I pulled it out, I cut it in half.  Then I put the two halves together to form an "S" shape, and used a serrated knife to shape one end into a pointed tail.  I rounded the other end and used the pieces I shaved off to form a head. I held the head together with tooth picks.

I iced the cake with a simple butter cream frosting tinted green. Frosting cakes is not my strong suit.  They always come out crumby.  This time I frosted it once, this layer of icing had crumbs running through it, as usual for me. I put the cake back in the freezer for another 15 minutes.  Then I frosted it again. This second layer of frosting came out much better.  I used two marshmallows and black gel writing icing for the eyes, a fruit leather for the tongue, and skittles to decorate the rest of the cake.  All of which were egg and nut free!  It is totally possible to make fantastic fun treats that are allergy friendly.

We only had a few minutes left after cake, so while we waited for the party to disperse, we did flyswatter relay races.  I found a pack of two swatters at the dollar store, again.  My son had a couple plastic flies in his collection of animal toys.  I split the kids into two groups, and they took turns carrying the fly on the swatter to one end of the room and back.  If the fly fell off, they had to stop and put it back on the swatter.

Everyone went home wanting more time to party, which tells me it was just about the right length.  Always leave them wanting more, right?  Most important, the birthday boy had a great time!


Hope this helps you plan a fantastic mostly homemade party for your own little one!

Button and Ribbon Topped Curtains

I had been thinking, for awhile, that my sewing room (which is really just a big landing at the top of the stairs) needed some curtains to give a pop of color to the room.   Once we cut down the tree that provided shade to that side of the house, the need was no longer about aesthetics but temperature control.  I had some fabric I found in the clearance bin that needed a purpose, some ribbon to use up, and black buttons. Voila- my curtains were born! 

Supplies:
Fabric
Lining
Buttons
Ribbon
Thread

This is basically a tab back curtain, with two lengths of thin ribbon creating the tabs in front instead of the back. The finished product should be 1 1/2-2 times the width of the window and however long you would like.  I made mine to fit the whole window, but you could certainly make these as valances or cafe style curtains.  Cut your fabric an inch wider and an inch longer than you want your finished product to be.

The ribbons will create the "pocket" for your curtain rod, so the length your ribbons need to be will vary with how thick your rod is.  I had a very thin rod, and cut mine 3 1/2" long.  Be sure you cut the ribbon longer than you need.  You will be able to trim the excess later.

Generally, tabs should be spaced 6-8 inches apart. Since my ribbons were so thin (1/8"), I spaced them closer for more support and visual appeal. Two ribons spaced about 1/16" apart created each "tab".  I just eyeballed this.  I placed my first and last set of ribbons 1 1/2 inches from each edge and spaced the rest 4 1/2 inches apart. When laying this out, put your fabric right side up, and pin your ribbons right side up as well.

Next take your lining, and pin it so that the right side is down.  The right side of the fabric and the right side of the lining should be together.  Pin this, and sew 1/2" seem around the edge leaving a 5" opening at the bottom so you can turn it right side out.  After you sew it, trim the corners and turn it right side out.

Iron the edges. Be sure to fold under your opening as it would be have been had it been sewn.  Fold the ribbons so that they come straight down on top of your fabric, and iron a crease. 

Top stitch the entire perimeter of the curtain at 1/4".  As you stitch over the ribbons be sure they are laying straight.

Next determine how wide your "pocket" needs to be for your rod.  I had a thin rod, so a 1" pocket was wide enough for me.  Mark a line 1" (or whatever width you need) from the top stitch line.  I used pins at ever ribbon to mark this.  You could also use a fabric pencil if you wanted.  Sew a line along your marks.  Again, be sure the ribbons are laying straight as you sew over them.  Once you have done this, trim the ribbon below this stitch so that when you sew your buttons on, they cover the ends.

Sew your buttons on to cover the ribbon ends. 

Then hang your curtain.

One thing to keep in mind with this style curtain, is that your rod will show.  You need to have a rod you don't mind seeing.  Also, this would have been so much easier if I had used one length of wider ribbon at each "tab."  If you are buying supplies, and not just looking to use up sewing supplies, I would buy 1/2" wide ribbon, and use one length to create each tab.  If you do use thin ribbon, as I did, you may want to shorten your stitch length a bit.  I did not do this on my first curtain and a couple ribbon lengths managed to slip between stitches and not get secured when sewing the first seam.  I left them in place, ironed them (unsecured), shortened my stitch length, and made sure I caught them when I did the top stitching.

I think this curtain could be really fun with different shaped and colored buttons.  You don't have to used buttons either.  Any embelishment that covers the ribbons' ends would work.  Fabric roses or rosettes could be really sweet for a little girls room.  Happy sewing!

Bluberry Nectarine Pie

I love homemade fruit pie!  There is just nothing quite like it.  Store bought stuff just can't compare.  Some summers I make a pie a week, but not this summer.  It has just been too hot, my rhubarb didn't do well, and the fruit selection has been expensive or not very good. Bummer! The 4th of July just isn't the same without a pie, though, so I cranked up the a/c and got to baking.  I still ran into the same problem with the fruit.  Add to that, everyone wanted something different (rhubarb, peach, blueberry), so I got creative.  Blueberries and nectarines.  I love mixing fruits in pies!
 

Start with a double pie crust, whatever recipe works for you. Most recipes don't have egg in them, but a few do.  So if you want the pie to be egg free, be sure to select one without eggs.  I love the flaky pastry recipe from The Joy of Cooking.  I use half shortening and half butter, so I get the great flakiness from the shortening and the yummy taste of the butter- best of both worlds!  I also add 1/4 cup powdered sugar to the dry ingredients instead of the teaspoon of granulated sugar.  It adds a nice hint of sweetness for fruit pies.

When making pie crust, the key is fast and cold.  Your butter and water need to be very cold.  I put ice in my water, and work fast.  This is in part, so things don't warm up, but also you don't want to overwork the dough.  Ice water is also your friend when rolling out your dough.  Any tears can be patched by pressing the dough together with a little ice water as glue. Although, in my opinion, a perfect looking crust is not important; you can get that from a store bought pie.  What matters is taste and texture. I also like to roll out my dough, put my bottom crust in the pie pan, and put the pan and the rolled out top crust back in the fridge while I make my filling. That way the crust is nice and cold when it goes into the oven. Once you have your crusts and pan prepared, make the filling

Blueberry Nectarine Pie Filling:

3 cups blueberries
2 cups nectarines sliced (I left the skin on and nobody was the wiser)
3/4 cup sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter cut into small pieces


Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Mix everything but the butter in a large mixing bowl.  Let sit for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Pour filling into prepared bottom crust. Work fast after this; you don't want the filling to make your crust soggy before you get it in the oven. Dot the top of the filling with the small pieces of butter.  Brush the edge of the bottom crust with ice water, place the top crust on top.  Trim crust as needed and seal bottom and top crust.  Cut vent holes and place in the bottom 1/3 of the oven at 425 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes.  Then place a cookie sheet under the pie pan (I usually put my pie shield on now too) and drop the temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 30 minutes or until thick juices begin to bubble from the pie.  Remove form the oven and let cool on a wire rack before serving.

This pie was quite tasty.  In the future, I would use fewer blueberries and more nectarines.  They got a little lost in the blueberries, but nobody at our house was complaining.  Prep was super easy too, since nothing had to be peeled.  Happy pie baking and eating!

I do really LOVE to bake pies.  I think it is becoming a lost art. So if you have nay questions about crusts and/or pies, feel free to ask.  I would love to try to help!