Crazy.

Things at my house are crazy here of late. Mackenzie missed two days of school last week due to tonsillitis. I got sick over the weekend, extremely sick for it not being the flu and now Evan Grace is coming down with a combination of the two. I've not gotten anything done other than feed and nursing kids back to health. I'm watching Isaac for any sign of getting sick and so far so good, but I'm not naive enough to believe that he'll escape it much longer.

Looks like Daisy is the only nut in this nut house that's feeling fine.

Enchiladas

This is one of my mom’s stand by recipes. Dad loves it and everyone I’ve ever made it for seems to like it just as much. It’s quick and easy and a cheesy delight.

Here’s the short list of ingredients:

• 1 med onion, chopped
• 2 TBS margarine
• 1lb hamburger, browned and drained. (If you want to use chicken you’ll need to use 1 1/2 cups shredded and cooked chicken)
• 1 12oz Picante Sauce, divided
• 1- 3oz cream cheese (Fat Free works just as well)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 8 flour tortillas (any size work)

Cook onion in margarine until tender. Stir in the meat, 1/4 c picante, cream cheese and cumin and cook until heated.  Stir in 1 cup of cheddar cheese.


Spoon 1/3 cup of mixture in the center of tortilla and roll. Place in a buttered 9x13 dish, seam side down.


Top with remaining picante sauce and cheese.
Bake 15 minutes or until cheese is melted. (this picture was taken before baking)

There you have it, a quick and easy dinner recipe. If you’re like me  you have all these things on hand at any given time, well everything except for the Picante it seems.

Jess

Matching Oven Mitt.

Remember the hot pad we made Tuesday? How about a nice matching oven mitt? I think it was easier than the hot pad.

I printed out Skip To My Lou’s Oven Mitt Pattern pieces though I didn’t follow her directions. She has a great way of doing an oven mitt if you want to follow her tutorial too or instead of mine!

After you print out the pattern, and tape the two pieces together, you’re going to need to cut out 2 each of the following (except for the bottom band, just cut one of that fabric) using the oven mitt pattern. See that bright red X below? Yeah, I thought about putting cotton batting in the oven mitt but it was just going to be too bulky to work with so I took it out before I started sewing.

One each of your out fabrics, mark your lines for quilting with a pencil or chalk, nothing permanent. I started my lines right where the thumb meets the mitten part. I wanted to have a line here to reinforce this corner. My lines are 1'' apart. You can go smaller or bigger, or any direction, however you like it.

Make sure that you flip one of your outer fabrics over so that the thumbs face each other. If you don't flip one of them over then when you go to stitch these together one of your outer fabrics will now be an inner fabric. Make a fabric sandwich, with your Insul-Fleec on the inside, your outer fabric, right side out, on the top and your inner fabric, right side out, on the bottom. Follow your lines and machine quilt these layers together.

Once everything is all quilted together, place right sides together and pin in place. Sew around the entire oven mitt but NOT THE BOTTOM. Back stitch a few times at the V where thumb meets the mitt part so that the stitches don't pop when you turn it right side out. This oven mitt is pretty thick and it's going to take some effort in turning. Carefully turn right side out.

Now take the bottom band and fold the outer edges in towards the middle so that the raw edges are touching. Press with a hot iron.

Now fold this around the bottom edge of the oven mitt. The raw edge of the oven mitt should be touching the middle of the band where the raw edges folded over in the middle. (I hope that makes sense.)

Pin in place as evenly as you can and machine or hand stitch this is place. I had to hand stitch it with a back stitch because I couldn't get all the fabric to fit in my machine. :) Add in a matching, adjustable BBQ apron and you're ready for spring and summer cookouts!

      

Quick Pot Holder.

Ok, it may not be the quickest project but it is pretty simple. I promise.

Start with 2 pieces of cotton fabric (I had an order come in so I had to go with red) cut 8’’ x 8’’.

You’ll need one piece of insul-fleece. It’s similar to Insul-Bright so you can use either. Cut this the same size as your outer cotton fabric, 8’’ x 8’’.

If you want to add a lop to your pot holder for hanging, cut a stripe of coordinating fabric 1 1/2’’ by 5’’, longer if you like.

You also need to cut 1 piece measuring 1’’ by 32’’ for the binding. (Not pictured, sorry!)

Take one piece of your outer fabric and mark diagonal lines on it with chalk or pencil or whatever you have that is NOT permanent. I marked my lines an inch apart. You can go in any direction you like or add as many direction lines as you like. 
Now you’re going to make a fabric sandwich. Place the outer (red) fabric as the top and bottom of the sandwich and the Insul-Fleece as the middle. Make sure the right sides of your outer fabric are facing out. The one piece you drew lines on needs to be on top so you can follow your lines while you’re sewing.

Now quilt all your pieces together. 

Once that time consuming step is finished, take your long piece for the binding and pin right sides together to the front of the 8'' square. Miter your corners and sew down all 4 sides.

Now flip your binding away from the front of your square. 
Fold under the raw edge of the binding and fold it towards the back. Press flat with an iron and pin and sew in place in the ditch you created on the front of the square. This will cover all your rough edges without leaving any other rough edges to sew down.

If you’re choosing to add in a little loop for your pot holder, then fold the long ends in towards the middle and press with an iron. Sew a straight line down the edge of the loop close to where you folded in the ends. Pin this on the inside of where you’re folding over your binding. You could pin this on one of the corners or if you want it to hang straight, pin it to one of the sides.

Moving on….
This is the back of the square, everything is folded nice and tight, and as close to the outer edge as possible. When you sew this in place make sure the front of the hot pad is facing up. If you fold, press, and pin this correctly you’ll have no trouble sewing these edges down nice and neat, so take your time with this step.
Nice, quick and easy right? And super cute if I might say so myself!!
Jess

       

Baking the Sour Dough Bread.

Have you been feeding your sour dough bread starter? I hope so. I seem to have forgotten I was posting about this and didn’t give the recipe for finally making some of the best bread you’ll ever eat. Forgive me? Thanks.

On one of the days you feed your starter and after you’ve let it sit out for 8-12 hours you’re ready to make up a batch of bread.

In a large bowl (I’m talking really large here!) add the following ingredients IN THIS ORDER:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 cups of Bread Flour (I found that Pillsbury Bread Flour works best)
• 1/2 c corn oil
• 1 1/2 c warm water
• 1 c of your starter (this should leave you with a cup that you can put back in the fridge and continue to feed as scheduled)

Mix all this until it forms a dough ball. You may have to get in there with your hands, it’s definitely more fun that way. Once that’s mixed, pour a little corn oil over the top of the bowl.Cover the bowl loosely with aluminum foil. Let this sit in a warm place for 8-12 hours. For all my fellow night oils, I time it out so that I can make up the dough and let it sit overnight.
After the 8-12 hours is up, you’ll notice your dough has risen to the top of your bowl or at least gotten waaay larger in size. If, for some reason, the dough hasn’t reason then you may have a yeast problem.
Punch this down and knead just a little. Then divide the dough into 3 loaf pans.
Let these sit and rise 4-5 hours.

When they are ready to pop in the oven, cook these bad boys at 325 for 35-45 minutes.

Tip: Right after I pull these loaves out of the oven I run butter over the tops of them. It gives them a super nice crust and a great shine. I could go for a slice of this right now.

Jess 

To Be a Cat.

Oh to be a cat and be able to chill in small places where no one really knows where to look for you, or ask you to get them a snack or help with everything they put their hands too!!! I may not have ever chosen the dryer, but I do envy the lack of responsibility and the carefree nature that comes with hanging out in a dryer.

Muscles and Marshmallows

Evan Grace, always the clown, never ceases to make me laugh. My sister and I caught a movie together the other night while the kids spent some time with my mom and dad. When I made it back home to pick them up I found Evan Grace marching around the kitchen island with homemade dumb bells. At first I wasn't sure what she was doing or exactly how she had made her weights.

My mom informed me that while eating her snack of colored marshmallows Evan Grace shoved a bunch of them on straws so she could work on getting some muscles like her Pawpaw. Keep in mind, when I first saw her weights they were covered in marshmallows from tip to tip, she started snacking on them later.

I'm not certain but I think maybe her efforts are paying off. Have you ever seen such a fit 5 year old? lol.

Flea Market Finds.

My birthday was January 31st. Boy Toy asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday. I didn't hesitate when I answered excitedly, "Take me to the flea market!!!" He agreed, and I think it's because he was almost as excited as I was. :)

I found a great Paula Dean Tea Pot for $12. If it's been used you would never know.

Though I don't collect salt and pepper shakers the flea market had 2 large boxes full of them that they had gotten from an estate sale. The lady at the counter said she couldn't be sure but the owner of the market knew some of the sets to be extremely old. I picked up 3 sets that I fell in love with on sight. You know I love the owls but I honestly think the Little Brown Jug ones are my favorite.

I wonder when I can talk Boy Toy into going back to the flea market? hmmmmmm

A Not so Typical Friday.

Friday started innocently enough. The kids and I woke, ate breakfast and while they caught up on some Disney channel I set about picking up the house. Dishes, laundry, a little vacuuming. Harmless right?

Then I sat down around 12:30 to eat lunch with the kids and my left forearm started itching. Nothing usually at this point. But the itching got to the point that it was driving me crazy. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, so I casually pulled up my sleeve to see if I could see a bite of some kind, some source for all the itching.

What I saw was not a bite, my arm was swollen, red, and hot to the touch.

My first though was allergic reaction, but from what? I got the kids ready and headed to the doctor.

A few hours later my arm was wrapped so tightly the pain was radiating up my arm and I was pretty miserable.

I've had tendinitis in my left wrist for years now and though I'm not sure what I did Friday, I ended up ripping a tendon or two. My doc explained that often times when tendons rip the body will release histamines and that was probably what caused all the itching. So now I'm on heavy anti-inflammatory drugs for the next 20 days and I have to keep this puppy on for at least a week. After I explained to her how much I had been sewing lately (repetitive motions and all) she thinks Contessa and my large stash of fabric was the culprit. I'm sorry Contessa!!!!

But how ugly is this bandage? Super ugly right? I'm not the most trendy of people but I didn't want to walk out of the house wearing this gross thing. So I cut one of the sleeves off a sweater I no longer wore, cut and hemmed a hole in the side and voila! a super cute cover up fingerless glove.

Now I don't feel so bad having to wear this wrap for as long as it takes to heal. (Which can be up to 6 weeks depending on how badly I damaged my arm.)

Mornings.

Mornings are slow in my house. Kids wake up still warm from their quilts to dash into the living room to wrap up under another blanket and a furry friend.

Ganesh loves Isaac, but I'm starting to think she loves this particular blanket more.

Daisy will sleep on anyone that sits still long enough. Though she is a fan of the fleece blankets the kids wrap up in.

These pictures leave me wondering where my blanket is.