My Turn

I have made a lot of baby blankets.  But they are always for someone else.  Not my baby or Grandbaby.   I don't mind.  I like to knit and I like babies, so it is fun for me to make something and think about the baby getting my gift.

But all that has changed.  All you people wanting me to knit you something will have to wait.  I am making something for MY grandbaby. Yay!  And cue the fireworks.

 

First thing I did was go get some yarn for a baby afghan and order some quilt books from the library.

 

I started the afghan and have picked out the quilt I want to make.

 

We are waiting to know the gender so I chose a gender neutral quilt.

Nothing more universal than Rubber Duckies, Right??

 

I went to a quilt shop on a visit to NOVA ( that's Northern Virginia for the uninformed).  I bought a lot of  a lot of fat quarters in yellows, greens and blues.

 

I will fussy cut the orange for different beaks.  None of the Rubber Duckies are supposed to be the same, so I will mix and match..

The baby isn't due for months and months.  But then quilts take months and months to make.  My plan is to finish the quilt before the baby gets here. 

The afghan should be done in a month and then I will start the quilt.

Yay!

Latest Basket

This is my latest basket. 

 

I'm loving this new project. 

 

I'm already planning my next one.  Are you getting bored?  I'm not.  Maybe I'll make a bunch and sell at the Farmer's Market.

 

And maybe everyone I know will get one for Christmas.

Dulce de Leche Cookies

I was making a few Mexican meals and looked around for an appropriate dessert.  I found some Dulce de Leche (caramel) cookies and decided that would be a lovely choice. 

 

Dulce de Leche Cookies

Garnish

3/4 cup finely chopped peanuts
or
3/4 cup toasted flaked coconut

Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
3 Tablespoons rum or 1/2 teaspoon rum extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

Filling

1 can (14 oz.) dulce de leche (caramelized sweetened condensed milk)

 

Don't heat the oven.  You will chill the dough before baking.

 

Beat the butter until light and fluffy.  A stand mixer works well for this.  I have a Kitchen Aid.   Add the sugar and mix for another minute. 

 

Separate the egg yolks from the white and put them in the mixer with the rum and vanilla.  Mix until blended.

 

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Blend the flour mixture into the butter mixture. 

 

When well mixed, cover the mixing bowl and chill for 30 minutes.

 

Now you can heat the oven to 350°.  Either spray the cookie sheets, use parchment paper or use Silpat sheets.  I used a medium cookie scoop and placed them on the sheets. 

 

Butter the bottom of a glass and dip it into the 1/4 cup sugar you have placed in a small bowl.  Use the sugared bottom of the glass to press the cookies into a circle about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

 

Bake 10 to 11 minutes, or just until the edges begin to brown.  Remove from the cookie sheets to  cooling racks after they cool about two minutes on the cookie sheets.  They will be soft.  Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

 

Open the can of dulce de leche.  Take a heaping teaspoonful and spread it on the bottom of one cookie. 

 

Press another cookie on top and gently press them together until the dulce de leche oozes out of the sides. 

 

Roll the edges in a small pile of chopped peanuts or the toasted coconut. 

 

I used the peanuts.

 

Store in a plastic sealed container.  These were good, but I may use the smaller scoop next time to make the cookies thinner and thus, crisper.  They were very good, however and I liked the caramel center. I also liked that is was an easy to fix center.  Open the can!  Yay!

Chicken Flautas

A flauta is a filled flour tortilla that is rolled into a flute-like tube.  It is then fried.  I decided to pan fry my version in a small amount of oil.

Chicken Flautas

1 pound chicken breast  You can substitute the cooked chicken from the deli.
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 cup diced onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
6 8-inch flour tortillas
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 cup shredded cheese  I used a mix of Jack and Cheddar
1/2 cup minced cilantro

 

Toppings

sour cream
avocado
salsa or pico de gallo

 

Thinly slice the chicken breast and place it in a hot pan with a tablespoon of EVOO.  Add the spices and the onions. 

 

Cook until the diced onions are translucent and the chicken is no longer pink.  This will only take a few minutes, then add the garlic and cook one more minute.

 

Divide the chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla.  Top it with the cheese, green onions, some salsa and most of the cilantro.  Save the rest of the cilantro for topping the flautas.

 

I made a few tortillas with everything except for the chicken for my visiting vegetarian daughter

Roll each tortilla into a tight tube and secure with a toothpick. 

 

Wipe out the pan you used to cook the chicken with a paper towel and heat about 2 Tablespoons of EVOO.  Vegetable oil works, too, but that is what I used.

Cook on all side for just a few minutes, until golden brown.  You may have to push the toothpick in a bit to get all sides flat on the pan.

 

Remove from the heat and serve hot with a variety of toppings.

These were quite good and fast to make.  Next time I may put less filling in each flauta and then have more of them, but smaller ones.  Then you could eat them by hand.  These were definitely a fork item.  And one I will make again.

 

Sleepytime Extra

I have a hard time getting to sleep. If I manage to get to sleep, I wake up in the middle of the night and only fall back to sleep when most people start getting up for the day.

I started taking an over the counter sleep aid.  It is the same medication as in Benadryl, so in addition to helping me sleep, I can breathe!  Win-win.

Or at least it was until I started to read stories that taking sleep aids can affect short term memory in older people.  I don't know how old you have to be to be considered old.  But I am pretty sure I am there...or at least rapidly approaching old.  I'm racing down the back side of THAT mountain.

When I don't take a sleep aid, I do take Melatonin.  I have no idea if it works, but psychologically, if I TAKE something to sleep, I figure my body might cooperate.

 

But it hasn't been working, so I bought some Sleepytime Tea.  Oh, not just the REGULAR Sleepytime Tea.  But the Sleepytime EXTRA Tea. And it has valerian in it.  That's good, right?

 

I made a cup and drank it around 8:30.   It was a nice cup of tea and I felt very relaxed. Then I got nervous that it would be insufficient, so I got up and took TWO Melatonin tablets about 10:00.

 

I felt sleepy and turned off the light around 11:00.

Ahhh.  This is great, I thought.

 

And I woke up at 4:30 and have been up ever since.

On the bright side, the night before last I woke up at 3:45, so I am heading in the right direction.

And now I'm wondering how important short term memory is, because I know sleep is important and I'm not getting enough.

So what to do you do?  And does it work ALL NIGHT??

UPDATE:

Did the whole routine one more night.  Woke once, fell back to sleep and slept until 7:30. I'm liking this trend!

A Tisket

I have made several baskets out of scraps from quilts I have made. 

 

I decided to see how a basket from a single type of fabric would turn out.

 

I cut the strips about 1/2 inch.  I followed the instructions from the previous baskets for zig zagging the wrapped clothesline.

 

This time I sewed the top of the basket with a doubled length of fabric from the outside.  That worked better, even though it was harder to see that the fabric was in the right place. 

 

Then I tucked it into a folded edge and hand stitched it on the inside.
 
 

I wrapped a length of clothesline with some more of the fabric, and used a zig zag stitch down the center.  

 

I hand stitched it in place and added a few beads and other embellishments.

 

I like how it turned out and plan on making some more.  Don't know what I will do with them all, but I'm enjoying the process.

Small Embellished Basket

   

I still had strips left over, so I made one more small basket.

 

Just so you know, these projects are not without some sacrifice on my part.  You get a lot of glue and fibers stuck on you and I was forced to stop and wash my hands many times.

 

I decided to do a smaller basket with some embellishments. 

 

I cut a length of fabric that would fit around the top without wrapping it around the project. 

 

I wanted a solid strip on the top.

 

I pinned and hand stitched it.

 

I like this one, too.