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

Hemp Hearts, Meals That Heal Inflammation, and Julie Daniluk

I have renewed passioned for healthy eating after watching nutritionist Julie Daniluk's many television appearances and videos posted on YouTube.  Julie is an author, speaker, and personality who promotes a 'live-it' theory of nutrition. As opposed to a 'di-et', Julie writes and speaks about superfoods which nourish and heal the body, based on medical information and ancient practices.

I just ordered the first of her three books, Meals That Heal Inflammation, because it got great reviews and has so many recipes to try. Her other two books are more centred on slimming meals and detoxing so I am focusing on the first book initially to expand my knowledge and get my 'feet wet'. I've already printed off some free recipes and a shopping list from her website to experiment with before the book arrives.

In many of Julie's appearances she enthusiastically talks about, and recommends, Hemp Hearts. My daughter has been eating them for a long time but I'd never tried them. I'm not a huge fan of chia seeds but hemp hearts are nutrition superstars and have a pleasing, nutty flavour similar to sesame seeds. They can be sprinkled on salad or in yogurt, but the easiest way for me to eat them will be in my morning cereal. I did add some to my favourite BRAN MUFFIN RECIPE and while I didn't notice any change in the taste, I know that the nutrition is boosted even further with the healthy add-in.

I'm very excited to receive the book and will post my review. In the meantime, I will be watching more videos and reading more of Ms. Daniluk's blog posts. She definitely has a lot of energy and looks amazing! She has even appeared on Dr. Oz and seems to be everywhere these days as she promotes her newest book, Hot Detox. While some of the recipes I've seen her demonstrating are a bit 'out there' ingredient-wise, I feel I can always learn something new and take away what I want for myself. Even if I only take advantage of some of the new foods and methods, any change to combat inflammation is a good one in my view...and so far I'm enjoying the hemp hearts!

Happy Hexies & Mollie Makes Patchwork

It has been a while since I stitched up a hexie for my hand-pieced Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt project...so long in fact, when I picked it up the other night while baseball was on, I couldn't quite remember what order I used to join those darn shapes in the most efficient manner. I got the flower done but it really bugged me that I had become that rusty in such a short amount of time! I've been waiting to cut more fabric for the petals AND I need more paper templates (on order) so once I get those two tasks checked off, I'll be able to get back to my daily hand-sewing.

That frustration led me to pull out my two new English Paper Piecing books. The first is Happy Hexies which is a fine little book of 12 hand pieced hexagon projects. There are some "basics" on tools, hexie sewing, and finishing techniques. The projects include a tote, tea cozy and mats, table topper, mini quilt and a couple of pillows (you can see a few on the cover). They are all really cute and fast ways to incorporate a taste of hexies into sewing and certainly less intensive than a full-size hand sewn quilt! I might just pick one or two of them to do while plugging away at my 175 florets and I can use up some of my practice flowers from last year. I had originally started with a sort of 1930s vibe stash of fabric so they just might be really cute in a tea cozy or placemat.

When I placed the order I added in Mollie Makes Patchwork. While the reviews weren't stellar with this one, it was so inexpensive I figured it would get me free shipping while costing less than a magazine at the drug store. When it arrived I was actually quite pleased! It is a hardcover book with 158 pages of sweet projects and techniques instruction. Many different quilt blocks are featured, like a nine-patch, rail fence, dresden, pinwheels, log cabin, etc. so there is a lot to experiment with. I could envision using this book with my grandchildren (when that day might come???) as the diagrams are good and the designs aren't too complicated. There are indeed a couple of hexagon items including a quilt (on the cover!) and a fun apron. For a few dollars, I think this book was a great deal (and it just may remind me in what order I need to sew!).

The Blue Zones Solution: More Recipes

As a quick follow-up to the POST about my love of The Blue Zones Solution food, I thought I'd share a few more of the recipes I've tried. Every single one has been incredible other than the Black Bean Soup, which was good but not my favourite so far. I've been working my way through the book and trying a new dish every day - with plenty of leftovers for lunches. I have to say that I am not hungry between meals and my snacking has pretty much been eliminated other than a handful of nuts or a piece of fruit. I am feeling very healthy and my family is too!

 

Minestrone soup - so good! With a hunk of artisan bakery sourdough bread, the best!

Beans and rice for breakfast (I added onions, peppers, and tomatoes) - a wonderful addition to eggs and toast

Indian chickpeas - lovely flavour and a great lunch

Greek potato salad - fresh and vibrant, addition of fresh mint and arugula makes it special

I also made a macaroni pasta with fresh tomato sauce that was out of this world. We ate it so quickly I forgot to take a pic! Incredibly simple, it has a sauce of fresh tomatoes, minced garlic, olive oil and basil. That's it. Pretty much the same way I usually make a quick summer pasta dish but there was something different about how this turned out. Maybe it was the high quality olive oil I'm now using or just the proportions (which I followed exactly). I even used whole wheat macaroni and Pecorino Romano cheese and the family still LOVED this dish. It took all of 15 minutes to make and I am absolutely going to be preparing it often - so easy and fast and amazingly delicious!

There are actually many, many free recipes on the Blue Zones website if you're still not ready to buy the book (maybe the library has it???) so you can check out a few more to try out. I'm loving it!

Oh, and here are pics of the black bean soup. Don't get me wrong, it's still great but just a bit thinner than I would like and the orange zest threw me off a bit (apparently, adding oranges when you eat beans helps........um......you digest them more easily)! The ingredient list contains simple, fresh vegetables and lots of spices.

The Blue Zones Solution & Ikarian Stew

I am super excited about The Blue Zones Solution. This book was featured on the Today Show when Maria Shriver travelled the world with author Dan Buettner meeting people who are living to 100 and beyond...and living well! How could I ignore the tips and recipes the research has discovered contribute to a long and healthy life? I printed off the free recipes from the Today Show website and got started with my first live-to-100 dish.

Ikarian Stew is a hearty, minestrone-type stew that is absolutely delicious. It contains several ingredients from the top Super Blue Foods list: beans, greens, and olive oil, plus tomatoes, herbs, more veggies, and garlic. This makes it a one-stop shopping dish to help incorporate these healthy foods into one's life. It makes a large pot so I ate it for lunch a couple of times and froze the remainder. I'm sure I will be making this over and over. You can find the recipe from the Today Show HERE.

I haven't finished reading the book yet but can't wait to really study it. There are so many recipes I want to try (I have made the minestrone soup and it is incredible!) and I'm interested in following the other guidelines for living (i.e. food choices and lifestyle modifications for easy good health). The book is in paperback and not expensive. While it has 77 recipes it is not a glossy, colourful cookbook. In fact, there are no photos of the dishes but the information within is very exciting and powerful to me. I am urging my family to adopt some of the practices, have bought a copy for my daughter, and just picked up a new bicycle helmet so I can add bike riding to my day.

One last note is the this is the ideal way to eat when you own an InstantPot! Making all the bean recipes a daily staple is so much easier using a pressure cooker. Of course, canned beans work too but since I'll be preparing beans more often, it is definitely cheaper to cook the dried variety instead. 

Charm School

I had to place a book order for hubs and couldn't resist adding one for me. Charm School by Vanessa Goertzen is a delightful book of 18 quilt patterns made from 5" squares (also known as charm squares). The fun doesn't end with simple squares of fabric though as Vanessa guides us chapter by chapter on how to shake things up and expand on creativity using the simple pre-cut as a starting point. (There are a few pages on supplies and finishing the quilts but they are brief. This book doesn't go in-depth with techniques so a beginner would probably need to refer elsewhere for more detailed explanations).

I chose this book because I am very familiar with Vanessa. I first discovered her talents when I made the Goody Goody Binding Kit. It remains one of my favourite creations and I use it finishing every single quilt. The chocolate bar is long gone but the kit still holds all my binding tools and supplies and that makes it super easy to grab and go when I have hand sewing to do. It happens to be something I'm very proud of making, too. Not only is it functional but I think it turned out beautifully! The zipper works, the pockets are perfect, the quilting is simple and the fabric is pretty.

Fabric is another way I know about Vanessa. She is a designer for Moda and I have a couple of her collections. She has very sweet designs and lovely colours in her collections and I enjoy working with them. I made her Social Butterfly Quilt (her design, her fabric) and was very pleased with the result. Hey, that quilt was gifted to my mother-in-law so it had to be spectacular! (By the way, there is a variation on the butterfly quilt in the book. I think I might just make that one for myself sometime!)

Back to Charm School...and the theme of the book is education: learning to work with pre-cut squares, from simple to expanded possibilities. Although this is a beginner's guide, the beautiful quilts (especially in later chapters where alterations are made to the squares to form more complex designs) can be made by seasoned quilters as well. The reviews of the book were excellent and many were indeed from more confident sewists with quite a bit of experience (such as myself) so I knew there would be patterns I would like. In fact, my first project is going to be 'Tipsy', a darling quilt with an unexpected twist created by using wonky cuts to add an illusion of movement with tilts and angles. I can't wait!

So there you have it. Another great book to add to my shelf (after I use it of course!). I think I have exhausted my current supply of Camille Roskelley patterns (she is my favourite) so it's really nice to have a fresh crop of ideas and inspiration to play with from Vanessa. I love to have ways to use up my pre-cuts and I have several charm packs in my stash. Not limited to just those smaller cuts, I can also make my own 5" squares from other pre-cuts, fat quarters, and yardage. I happen to have a fat quarter bundle of Gooseberry and a layer cake of Into the Woods so I'm well stocked now with Vanessa's fabric and patterns!

One last thing...the cover of Charm School is the coolest material! It feels so smooth and almost waterproof. I have no idea how the paper is coated but I love the feel of it!

Wonky Log Cabins & Improv

I knew my next quilting project had to be something that would work with my vintage machines. They haven't been sewn on in about a year so this was something I wanted to correct. While I get a gorgeous stitch on any of the old gals I find it difficult to get a precise 1/4" seam allowance. I can get really close using the guides on the needle plate or an after-market 1/4" foot, but not the kind of perfect 1/4" that is necessary for a really fussy patchwork piece.

What better way to make use of an antique machine than to create a modern quilt piece. After making several detailed quilts in a row, requiring accurate cutting, measuring, sewing, and following a pattern in detail, a free-form, spontaneous improv quilt seemed like a nice change. Of course, I still did my research! Letting go of rule following is really tough for me so I needed to make sure I had guidelines to at least structure my thoughts and loosely plan my course of action.

I started with the two things forming the backbone of my quilting knowledge: books and Craftsy. Create Your Own Freeform Quilts by Rayna Gillman, has been on my shelf for a few years now but I've never done more than flip through it. After reading her easy process for stitching strips of fabric together in mindless meditation and then cutting them up again and again, I was inspired to use up old stash and abandoned quilt blocks. There are no unfinished quilt tops in my cupboard but several experimental test pieces are definitely waiting to find a forever home in some form or another. Next, I turned to the INSPIRED MODERN QUILTS Craftsy class in my library, with instructor Elizabeth Hartman at the helm. I've done several lap quilts from the class and love her modern and tidy style. While Elizabeth is known for her organized piecing of many units of patchwork and currently has gorgeous woodland animal patterns in her on-line shop Oh Fransson!, she does offer several Lessons on Modern Crosses, Improv Pods, and Wonky Log Cabins. The latter was just what I was looking for and my starting point for my project.

I am also a member of QNN.tv and a fan of Quilt Monkey. On it, co-host Nick shares his Liberated Log Cabin blocks so by combining what I've learned from all 3 sources, I was ready to dive in. I chose to base my quilt on a curated tote of fat quarters and yardage. That will give me plenty of fabric to form a core of blocks and background and then I can raid my stash for an extra pop of colour and print with some favourites I haven't used as of yet. My 1957 Featherweight was the first vintage machine to get a crack at the improvisation and even though she is 60 years old and hasn't been sewing in over a year, she purred like a Featherweight should right out of the cabinet. I have never made any project on this particular machine so I was excited to put it through the paces and see how she behaved after her initial test drive.

I think things are going well and these are the blocks I have completed so far. Of course, 'completed' is 100% up to my whim and I may end up adding more or leaving some out when it comes time to put the whole quilt together. I like what I see on the design wall already and have a few ideas of what direction I might go - while still keeping an open mind about the process. According to Nick at Quilt Monkey, we aren't supposed to overthink things as we go, and as I said, that proves easier said than done for me personally! I'll keep going, zipping strips under the needle and see what fun results I end up with. I'm enjoying the process and it's very addictive not having to worry about cutting accurate sizes and achieving that perfect seam width. I don't need to know what piece goes where or which print matches; so much fun it's hard to stop!

Turkey Skillet Pie

I am on such a roll delivering yummy dinners to the table. I am so happy I rediscovered the One Pot cookbook I shared in THIS POST, thanks to purchasing my new CAST IRON SKILLET and wanting inspiration for what to cook in it. Ok, it's taken me just over a year to realize the golden recipes I had on my shelf but now, I can't get enough of these easy and incredible tasting meals from the skillet, Dutch oven, roaster, stockpot, slow cooker, and yes, even the pressure cooker.

Last night I made a Turkey Skillet Pie using ground turkey I had in the fridge. The basic concept is turkey 'chili' (no beans and has mushrooms) topped with cheddar buttermilk biscuits. Um...anything with biscuits on top is bound to be tasty in my book. I didn't think it would blow my socks off because of the staple ingredients but wow, was this meal fantastic! It is SO simple to make and while it looked pretty standard in the pan, once those cheesy biscuits were baked up and sort of absorbed the essence of the chili...I wanted to eat the whole thing!

Of course, I can't print the recipe for you so I really recommend picking up the cookbook or finding it in the library. You can see from my pic that my results looked just like the photo in the book so these are easy dishes to replicate at home - nothing complicated or too fancy and so far, do not take a lot of time to prepare.

In another post I'm going to show you a dinner I served right from the Dutch oven I cooked it in. Once again it seemed like it would be a good yet basic casserole but I swear, it was one of the most flavourful, complex, layered dishes I've ever made. I cannot wait to make it again! Tonight, however, is slated for a Curried Chicken Pot Pie assembled and baked right in the sauté pan, with parsnips and leeks and a puff pastry topping. Oh, I think it's going to be fabulous as well! I'll be sure to share the results... 

Bread Alone Sourdough Rye

Inspired by YouTube's Jill 4 Today bread series, I bought the gorgeous bread bible, Bread Alone. This is an incredible READ about everything there is to know about baking bread and it's a very informative reference book. It's very detailed and very authentic about the whys, hows, and with whats (and at what temperature!) so I have a lot to learn. Still, even though I have only scratched the surface studying the chapters, I dove right in and wanted to try making sourdough.

This is not an afternoon process. It takes 4 days to make a 'chef', the water, flour, and ever so slight pinch of yeast, combination that sits and grows over that time. It ferments and bubbles, grows and shrinks, all while being fed each day with more flour and water. After the 4 days that chef is used to make the sourdough starter. That in itself requires another 8-10 hours of growth before it is used to make the bread dough.

Finally, it's time to make the bread. I happened to flip to the sourdough chapter and the first recipe is rye sourdough so that is what I made. The authors guide you in a detailed flour, water, and yeast selection process and I did the best I could with what I could find at the local health food store. While my rye flour was organic, there was no detail as to how it was ground - stone or not. I did purchase spring water and used commercial baker's yeast. I couldn't find 20% bran flour of any kind so used a combination of white flour along with the whole wheat flour I had on hand.

Luckily, I have a beautiful, large Kitchen Aid mixer (a surprise gift from hubby last year) and without it I couldn't have mixed up the dough as easily. The recipe yields 2 large loaves so there is a lot of flour to mix and knead. As it was, I had flour everywhere in the kitchen and many, many dishes and dirty tea towels! After the dough was ready it rises for over two hours. Don't forget we are not working with added yeast so the proofing process takes longer than usual. The dough is then shaped and allowed to rise again. Then the bread is baked. I didn't use a stone hearth and didn't fuss with repeated water sprayings to make steam within the oven. At this point, I was tired of waiting and just wanted the bread!

The results were good. The crust is nice and crispy and the flavour is excellent. I added caraway seeds to the rye bread so the taste was quite pronounced. The texture was a little heavy for my liking but hubby adored the bread. (This was actually a blessing for me because I have a terrible weakness for fresh bread and butter and if the loaf was made with white flour, I probably couldn't have controlled my portions as well!).

I love the book and am enjoying learning more about bread making. I will definitely be attempting more loaves, perhaps not with rye flour next time and with a less rigid attitude about the techniques and timing. I also will shelve the 'levain/starter' sourdough idea for now since it is just too long to wait to smell that homemade bread baking.

Quilting Happiness

This post could totally be about how much I love quilting in general but actually, it's the title of a new book I picked up at my favourite discount bookseller. I hadn't intended to buy another quilting book but this one caught my eye and once I had a good look at home, I'm so glad I got it!

Quilting Happiness: Projects, Inspiration & Ideas to Make Quilting More Joyful (by Christina Lane & Diane Gilleland) is unlike any of the zillion books I already have about quilting. First I'll say that it's a beautiful book on lovely paper (which, as you may know, I adore!), has just over 170 pages in 5 chapters, lovely diagrams and photos, super quilts (both small and large) and (my favourite) TONS of text to read!

The premise is very unique. The authors hope the book serves as a workbook to help explore what about quilting makes you happiest and how to expand on that feeling. Scattered amongst the fun and gorgeous project patterns for you to make are exercises and ideas for you to try. They range from ways to inspire and motivate your creativity (e.g. list things you notice each day or play with your fabric) to creating a place to record your ideas (a quilt journal or an inspiration board). There are quick "Tools for Happiness" for self-reflection and a bit of analysis to help you realize what kind of quilter you are and what you can learn from that knowledge.

I think you get the idea. Quilting Happiness is really interesting and very different. It still has great quilts to make and the 'tools & techniques' how-to section, but offers so much more and goes much deeper into the 'why we do it' and 'how can we make it even more fun and meaningful'. It's a great read (for me anyway - I love to READ about quilting) and chock full of good stuff - too much to even explain here. Well done, ladies!

Feeling Retro with Mom, Kenmore & Singer Sewing for the Home

After my mum passed away it was a given that I should have her sewing machine. It is a plastic Kenmore that is neither modern nor vintage. To be honest, I have no idea when she bought it and I can't exactly say I've witnessed my mom sewing...anything...ever. She would always hem my Jordaches back in the 80s but I'm pretty sure she hand sewed them. Poor mom! Now that I have an idea of what that job entails I never appreciated the effort she must have put forth. She always said she needed a sewing machine so she could make curtains but it never actually happened. :)

I had a go at cleaning up the machine (there was soil in it since it resided under a planter) and I did the best I could to oil it where possible. It sews well enough and I went through all the stitches. The only problem is it sounds like you are sewing through rocks and there is quite a grinding roar; not the quietest or most powerful machine out there I'm sure!

Still...it does work and is a great basic machine for my daughter to play around with. I don't have to worry about it and it gets the job done. There was no manual included (nor accessories other than one extra bobbin) but it's very simple to figure out. My daughter doesn't have the patience or attention span for fussing and reading instructions...we are very different!

I recently picked up this Singer Sewing for the Home book which seems to be from about the same era. There are some super projects in it and some of the techniques are always going to be applicable somewhere. It is perfect for when I'm trying to figure out some home dec stuff like ruffles and there are some very pretty placemats included. Hey, it was only $1.50 and the photo instructions are great! Too bad I hadn't found it sooner; half the book is filled with window treatments, from curtains to shades to valences to pleated draperies! Mom could've decorated every room! I doubt I will be creating anything fancy on the Kenmore but I have plenty of other great machines.  I'll keep mom's as a wonderful reminder not to store my sewing machine under a plant...