Over the Kitchen Counter: Angie's Place for Cooking and Crafts

Blueberry Waffles

 
I have shared several waffle recipes with you...and I think each one was made in a different waffle maker!  For some reason we have owned so many different models and they each have qualities we like...and dislike.  My favourite was the Waring Pro but for some reason, it quit working.  Never mind...I have at least 3 more waffle irons in the cupboard - including my darling Mickey Mouse one!  I bought this after our 2nd big trip to Disney when we enjoyed the meal plan, complete with Mickey waffles each morning.  This waffle maker yields more tender, soft waffles rather than ones with crispy squares, but they are still delish!  For this batch I made Blueberry Waffles.  Instead of blueberry sauce or syrup, the blueberries are folded into the batter and baked right in.  Uhh...so amazing!

Blueberry Waffles
2 egg yolks
2 cups milk
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
2 egg whites

Follow method as demonstrated in the video below but fold 2 cups of fresh blueberries into the batter.

Pork with Broccoli Stir Fry

This is one of those super-fast dinners you can throw together at the end of the day.  The Pork with Broccoli Stir Fry is a great main dish to have with an Asian-themed dinner.  I just add some store-bought spring rolls heated up in the oven and a pot of sticky rice (that only takes 20 minutes to steam).  With plum sauce and some steamed snow peas, this is an excellent, budget-friendly way we enjoy take-out flavours at home.

Pork with Broccoli Stir-Fry

3/4 pound lean boneless port (like tenderloin)

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp sherry

1 bunch broccoli

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp minced gingerroot

1/4 cup water

2 Tbsp hoisin sauce (optional)

Slice pork thinly across the grain. In bowl, stir together cornstarch, soy sauce, and sherry. Add port and stir to coat well. Separate broccoli into florets. In large fry pan, heat oil over high heat. Add pork and stir fry 2 mins. Stir in garlic, ginger and broccoli. Stir fry 2 mins. Add water, cover and steam for 2 mins. until broccoli is tender-crisp. Stir in hoisin if using.

No Time for a Sliver Birthday Card

I wanted to try out my new SU goodies and since it's my mother-in-law's birthday my hubby requested I make her a card.  I loved m-i-l's cooking when I first met her (and still do of course, we just don't get the opportunity to enjoy it very often any more) so I thought a kitchen-y themed card would be cute.  I started with a 5" square white card base and added some dsp from the Domestic Goddess paper pack.  I also used the designer series paper to cut out an adorable apron found on the From My Kitchen Cricut cartridge.  The Four Frames stamp is punched out with the Designer Label punch and I got the sentiment from the Birthday Bakery stamp set.  The flower sticker is from the Making Memories design shop embellishment pack (Nature Summer Flowers) included in the grab bag I got from Michael's in the summer.

Inside I added more dsp and a greeting stamp from the Bitty Birthday stamp set.

Art Scrapbook Layout

We experienced quite a mix of art while touring the museums in Washington - including the American Art Museum, the Freer Gallery of Art, and the Portrait Gallery.  My kids both found their favourite pieces, proudly posing next to the very minimalist works, believing they could also produce such stunning art!

I kept my pages simple and mixed in the ancient and modern in the layout.  I used the Creative Cuts tool from Creative Memories to cut my title from matching designer print paper and cut out The Thinker and popped him up on dimensionals.  I also layered paper and matted several of the photos for added dimension.  Only one more layout and this album is done!

Harvest Loaf

If you have any canned pumpkin left over from the Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, this recipe is a fantastic way to use it.  The pure pumpkin is the main focus of this tender loaf but the chocolate chips are pretty good too!  It's easy to whip this up and the smell in the kitchen from those wonderful pumpkin-pie spices (cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger) is amazing.  Enjoy!

Harvest Loaf

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup canned pumpkin

2 cups all purpose flour

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped nuts

greased 9x5 loaf pan, 350 degrees F, one hour

Follow-up

I've shared quite a few products on this blog in the past few months so I thought it was time for a follow-up visit to see how some of them have measured up with use.

In the Kitchen:

 Carving Set: This set has proven to be amazing!  I have abandoned my electric knife altogether and always reach for the carving knife whenever I have to slice meat.  Excellent item - 2 thumbs up for this one.

 Better Homes and Gardens Skillet These pans are phenomenal!  I have used them on a daily basis since I received them back in May and the finish is exactly the same as when they were brand new.  There are no scratches, the surface is still completely non-stick, they wash up so easily and I am thrilled with their performance.  I am sure that by now I would have had to replace yet another Teflon pan but these BH&G pans are out-shining any I've used before! 2 thumbs up for this one!

 Disposable Gloves I can't imagine not using disposable gloves in the kitchen now.  They have not only saved my nails but really eliminated the gross factor when handling raw meat.  I am still working through this box - they are lasting a long time - but I can't wait to try a different brand that hopefully has one consistent size of glove in the box! Thumbs up for disposable gloves...thumbs down for the Hero brand of gloves.

In the beauty department:

 i-Skin Pore Perfecting System I loved using the i-Skin brush and it made my skin beautiful and soft.  The only problem is recently it quit working!  I put fresh batteries in and still the unit did not turn on.  This was a down-side in reviews of the i-skin and I was disappointed that mine had the same problem.  The switch seems to be the culprit and there is no way to fix it.  I still use the brush and just wash my face with it in a circular motion but that makes the $40 price too high for a battery-powered brush with no power!  Sadly, thumbs down for this one.

 Pink Gel Coat (Really, all the manicure products I've used) Once I set my mind to growing my nails all the products I used helped me do it.  The Nail-Tek treatment and T.I.P.S. conditioning oil were probably most used and most responsible.  I was able to end up with 10 beautiful nails and got to play with so many pretty polishes.  Essie was by far my favourite brand.  I enjoyed having a perfect French manicure and loved the look.  Sadly, I ended up with 2 very low breaks on my nails in August and had to trim off all the nails to match.  They were just too low down to repair.  Since then I have been quilting and have kept my nails short.  I'm still using the NailTek and T.I.P.S but have not kept up with the weekly manicure of coloured polish and they are too short for a French manicure now.  The products work...you just have to use them!  I know now that I CAN grow them if I want to and for special occasions I will dedicate more time to my nails.  For now, I've got too many other things to do!

In the Craft room:

 Craft Room  My craft room has been a dream!  I love it so much and really am thankful to have the space to enjoy my crafting.  Now that I am really into quilting the sewing section has expanded considerably but the space is so versatile and efficient I can expand and contract each area depending on what I'm doing.  Of course, I would love to double the size and quadruple the cupboards but it is working out really well for me (and my family) just the way it is!

 Sewing Machine My Janome 3160 has been wonderful!  I love it sew much!  I seriously never, never thought I would ever sew, let alone make quilts.  The machine makes beautiful stitches and is so quiet.  I have little to compare it to, but it is so fancy and sophisticated next to my old Singer.  I am thrilled to have this new hobby in my life and am so proud of the quilts I've made so far.  I've also met such amazing, sweet people in the quilting world - both in person and on-line.  This is a great start to my quilting journey and I predict upgrades and additions in the future...(got my eye on an embroidery machine already!)

  Craft Haul - I have bought too many craft tools and toys to list but they have all been terrific!  Everything has worked, inspired, decorated, and produced.  The punches, stamps, papers, Cricut cartridges, die cutters, adhesives, binding machines, trimmers and more have made my crafting life fun and easy!  The only problem I have...is getting more time to play and create!

42"x42" Quilt using Watercolor Garden Charm Pack

 
Now that the fear of quilting my first quilt is over I knew I needed to practice my free-motion quilting.  The best way to do that is to work on smaller projects so I ordered a charm pack (a small bundle of 5"x5" squares of fabric representing all the patterns/colours in a line) to see what I could make out of it.  The charm pack was only $9.99 and contained 42 squares and I picked the Watercolor Garden fabric for it's pretty pastel colours and butterfly design on some of the squares.  I found a pattern for a cute lap quilt measuring 42"x42" which used one charm pack and then some sashing and border fabric (plus the backing fabric and batting, of course).  The quilt was very easy to put together and took no time at all to sew.

I really wanted to experiment with the quilting.  I started with some stitching-in-the-ditch to anchor the layers together.  Next, I used my walking foot to channel quilt down the sashing strips in both directions.  This turned out so well and I loved doing it!  It creates a wonderful texture and the straight lines give a calming centre to an otherwise busy quilt.  Because the backing fabric has a swirly design I decided to play that up and quilt in swirls over the quilt blocks.  I treated each 9-patch as a unit and just free-hand quilted the swirls.  It also turned out pretty good in spots...wonky in others but my mistakes don't show much except on the solid squares.

For the border I went completely crazy and quilted in fans/rainbow/shell shapes all the way around.  There are some really good shapes...and some really bad ones!  But I kept going and even though I would have preferred the white thread not to show on the purple border (which really highlights the stitching) it looks pretty interesting from afar.  Just don't look too closely!

Even though I was really pleased with my binding job last time, I kind of had a mental block when it came to binding this quilt.  I couldn't quite remember how I'd done it last time and ended up using the wrong foot and very tiny stitches this time.  Unfortunately, I did NOT like the way it turned out.  It looked great on the back but nasty on the front since the stitch line was more in the middle of the binding, creating a lifted edge.  I ended up waking up at 4:00 am thinking to myself "I can just pick that out and re-do it!" and couldn't wait for morning so I could get started.  Well...I discovered that using the default setting for stitch length on my machine created microscopic stitches that were very difficult to pick out!  After 2 hours working on it and getting only a foot or so down the border I was starting to regret my 're-do' decision!  But I kept going, found a rhythm to the process and got all the stitches out.  I re-made the border and used a walking foot with excellent results and a much better feeling about the quilt!

The final task was tacking down the mitred corners on the binding by hand.  Ugg!  I really don't care for hand sewing so I'm glad I figured out how to do the majority of the binding nicely with the machine.  Overall I am very pleased with the 'practice' quilt and I actually like the way it looks from the back even more than the front view.  The texture of the quilting really shines through without the distraction of the mistakes being highlighted!

This is a very addictive hobby and I explained it to DH with a golf analogy: it's like having a great round with some really bad shots that you want to do over.  So you join the country club so you can keep playing and hopefully improve with each round.  I may have a few quilts/rounds under my belt but it just makes me want to play more!  I have another quilt basted and ready to quilt but since the top turned out so beautifully I want to make sure I quilt it very well.  I am taking a class at the end of November so I will probably wait until after that to work on it.  In the meantime, I have a few ideas for smaller projects to keep me going - that hopefully won't cost too much to make!

Caramel Frosted Brownies

 
This is an interesting brownie from the 101 Best Brownie Recipe book I've been working my way through.  It's a cross between a brownie and a cake since it is topped with a 7-minute frosting similar to what I use on my Mocha Spice Cake.  I'm not a big believer in adding icing to brownies since they are usually sweet enough as they are, but this recipe uses cocoa and even though it has 2 cups of sugar, isn't that sweet.  As usual, I picked a recipe that yields a nice, big pan of brownies!  Now...I did have one problem with this recipe.  It calls for "2 cups (2 sticks) butter, softened".  Problem is, 2 cups of butter does not equal 2 sticks.  Each stick of butter is equal to 1/2 cup.  Based on the ingredients listed in my other brownie recipes, the quantity of ingredients and the pan size, I decided that the typo or error should be corrected to read 'one cup of butter (2 sticks)'.  That is how I made up the batter and the brownies turned out just fine.  I think if you used 2 cups of butter the brownies would be too greasy and not the right consistency.  This book is not the most professionally produced cookbook I've ever read (there is no author, it came free with a baking pan, and the pages are falling out...plus, I've had a couple problems with some of the other recipes!) so I do tend to take each one with a grain of salt and use my experience to pre-judge each one.  The recipe is below if you'd like to give them a try!  (FYI, the frosting uses 3 egg whites.  That's a great reason to use up the 3 yolks and make scrumptious Yeast Raised Pancakes - mix up the batter when the brownies are in the oven, put the covered bowl in the fridge until morning, and breakfast will be ready in no time!)  Lastly, here is the recipe for Seven Minute Frosting.

Caramel Frosted Brownies

2 cups sugar

5 Tbsp cocoa

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

4 eggs

1-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream sugar, cocoa, and butter until smooth. Add eggs. Beat thoroughly. Stir in flour, vanilla, and nuts. Spray 9x13” pan and spread batter evenly and bake for 30-40 mins. Cool and top with icing.

Caramel Frosting

3 egg whites

1-1/4 cup packed brown sugar

dash salt

1/4 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

In top of double-boiler, combine egg whites, sugar, salt and water. Beat well and place over rapidly boiling water and cook for 7 mins. beating constantly or until frosting stands in peaks. Remove from water, add vanilla and beat until thick enough to spread.

Spanish Rice

The photo is blurry because we were so excited to dig in to this big pot of Spanish rice I made to go with our bar-b-qued rib dinner.  I combined ingredients from a couple of different recipes to come up with this flavourful, hint-of-spicy, hearty rice dish.  I will definitely be making this again soon since there were no leftovers and it felt like I just wanted more of it!

Here's the way I prepare this Spanish rice: I saute a medium chopped sweet onion, one minced garlic clove, and one diced red (or you could use green) pepper in a tablespoon of olive oil until softened.  I add a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, one cup of long-grain white rice, 2 cups of water (or you could use chicken broth), 1/2 tsp each paprika, ground cumin, and chili powder. Add salt and pepper, and some threads of saffron.  I stir it all together, bring it to the boil and then put the lid on and turn the heat right down to medium-low and let the rice simmer for about 20 minutes.  Don't take the lid off and at the end of the 20 minutes you can remove the pot from the heat and let it sit until the rest of your meal is ready.  Fantastic!

How Beautiful A Day Card

It is so lovely when someone goes out of their way to be kind - offering something freely with no expectation of gaining something in return.

When I encounter such a person I have an over-whelming need to voice my gratitude in written words and a card usually becomes the delivery method.  This card does just that and the stamped sentiment is perfect.  I used the Touch of Kindness stamp set from Stampin' Up and my new Domestic Goddess designer series paper.  I punched out the scallop and added a ribbon underneath it to duplicate a prize-winning ribbon at the Fall Fair.  I guess technically it should be a blue ribbon but the Poppy Parade looked so bright and fresh with the dsp!