The Other Birthday Dress...

Yes, I made two. But Modern Jersey was on sale at Spoonflower and I'd been painting these pictures and I already had the fabric mostly designed and let's face it, who doesn't love a raglan dress?

I drafted the dress myself using one of her school uniform for size/shape and modifying it for the raglan sleeve. I used this tutorial to get the sleeve right.
The fabric was designed specifically for this type of dress and sized specifically for one yard of  Modern Jersey from Spoonflower.com.
 The dress is switchable from front to back because Wub liked panels. Maybe the alligator a little more. The bottom hem is a lettuce edge in rainbow thread.

See ya' later, alligator!

The Birthday Dress

I used The Norah Dress and Tunic Pattern by Mouse House Creations with a few modifications (Primarily because I had printed the pattern piece and not the instructions and then could not figure out which computer I had stored the original file.)

The bodice is unlined and I did a bias bound neckline instead.
I added an exposed zipper at the back instead of the button and loop closure.
I left the hem straight to show off the border print fabric which gave the dress a handkerchief style hem.
I embroidered the collar, hem and sleeves. The collar also has celebrate embroidered on it.

It was a fairly easy sew (even without instructions) and I want to make her a few more as I love this silhouette on her.

Chicken, Leek and Potato Soup in honor of my father

My dad used to make this incredibly delicious soup. Every pot was delightful, magical and soul satisfying. Tender shreds of chicken, soft potatoes and delicate leeks floating in a fantastically scented, slightly creamy broth.

There are a few foods that I think of as belonging to Dad. Barbecue and especially the sauce, chili, boiled dinner and spaghetti sauce that took three days to make.  I can oven roast some damn fine meat, fake a sauce that doesn't compare to his but is still good, make pretty darn good chili and my spaghetti sauce is awesome even if it doesn't take three days to make.

I've made the soup the way my dad did for years. Although I am always willing to explore new flavors and recipes, there are some foods that are hard wired in my brain. The way they are is the way they are and you just don't mess with them.

But one of the ingredients for the soup became increasingly difficult to find. I could never find it when I wanted it and when I did find it it was usually mid July and soup was not at all what I was craving.

So one winter day I became desperate enough to commit traditional recipe heresy. See, the secret to my dad's soup was Knorr Leek Soup Mix. Three stores and no luck so I just bought 3 large leeks and decided to fake it. (ha ha I faked the fake stuff)

By  the way it is considerably easier to find Knorr Leek Soup these days thanks to the interweb but I tend to stick to my newfangled version.

Chicken Leek and Potato Soup

3 large leeks, cleaned and diced
1 small onion finely diced
2 medium carrots finely diced
2 ribs celery finely diced
4 oz button mushrooms finely diced
3 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Large sprig of fresh rosemary or 1 1/2 teaspoon dried
Salt and Pepper to taste
3 quarts of chicken stock*
 *This can be homemade, or made by boiling a chicken, seasoned with salt and pepper in 3 quarts of water reserve the chicken for the soup, or canned or boxed low sodium chicken broth.
1 6 oz chicken breast boned or deboned (unless boiling a whole chicken to start)
2-3 or 4 or 5 or 12 pounds potatoes, scrubbed and cut into large cubes. Honestly, there never seems to be enough (You can peel them if you like, my dad did, but I am lazy and like the skins)
4 cups whole milk or 3 1/2 cups skim milk and 1/2 cup cream.
8 oz sour cream

In a large pot, over medium heat, sweat the vegetables with the rosemary in the butter and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the chicken broth, and chicken breast, bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer 15-20 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside to cool.

Add the potatoes to the pot with a generous amount of salt and  bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10-15 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, shred (and debone if on the bone) chicken breast. When the potatoes are tender add the chicken to the pot. Test for seasoning and adjust to taste.

Slowly whisk in the milk and sour cream and bring up to temperature. Do not boil.

Serve in large bowls with a spoon. You can have other stuff like bread and/or a salad too if you like.

Mimosa Jam or three trips to the store later...

 I'm not sure if it's obvious, but I REALLY like making jam. I love pretty much the whole process from picking out the fruit to giving it away to my family and friends and all the steps between.

 This particular adventure came about because at Christmas time Rowen couldn't find any store bought Mimosa Jam for Baked Brie. I was too tired/busy then to attempt it but thought while I'm on vacation...

 So on Friday I sent MHM to the store for a bottle of inexpensive champagne only to realise our debit card was not working. Fine. Saturday after going to see Star Wars The Force Awakens (sooooooooooo good!) we stopped off at another store and picked up a bottle of Roget Spumante. Alright! now we're cooki...damn. No low sugar pectin. MHM ran off to yet another  store and bought me a jar of it. (And yes, I make so much jam we buy it in the big jar.)

 By this time, I wasn't feeling so super. My legs were giving me fits so I decided to have a bit of a lie down. I finally have a diagnosis for all the problems I had at the end of the year last year, Erythema Nodosum. which is inflammation of the fatty layer of the skin. Not as scary as some other choices I had for diagnosis (Lupus) but slower to heal than I want.

 So this morning...

Mimosa Jam
2 oranges peeled, reserve the peel from 1 of the oranges.
4 1/2 cups of orange juice preferably not from concentrate. (I would not bother with fresh squeezed since you are going to cook it.)
2 cups of inexpensive sparkling wine
3 cups of sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon butter
2 Tablespoons sugar
4 Tablespoons Low Sugar Pectin.

 Set up for however you wish to store the jam. I use small plastic containers. You can preserve it in jars if you wish.

 Mix  the 2 Tablespoons of sugar with the 4 Tablespoons of pectin and set aside.

 Using a spoon, scrape off all of the white pith from the orange peel. Then slice into fine slivers. Place the oranges in the blender with 1 cup of the juice and process briefly. We're going for seriously pulpy orange juice here.

 Pour the orange mixture into a large wide pan add the remaining juice, sparkling wine, peel, sugar, salt and butter. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and cook for 7 minutes. Watch carefully as this really liked to boil over. Towards the end of the cooking time begin skimming the foam from the top. You can discard it or save it to top ice cream, yogurt, pancakes etc. Or mix with ice and soda water to make the best fruit soda EVER.

 Stir in the sugar/pectin mixture. Return to a boil and cook for two minutes. Process how you see fit.


Oh my yum...

Although I think I may make a slightly  different version with more orange pulp and peel because I have all the ingredients, so why not?. I'll let you know.

*****Update*****

This is more like marmalade... 

Mimosa Marmalade or...Marmosa?

4 oranges peeled, reserve the peel from 3 of the oranges.*
1 1/2 cups of orange juice preferably not from concentrate. Plus more maybe a further 1 1/2 cups
2 cups of inexpensive sparkling wine
3 cups of sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon butter
2 Tablespoons sugar
4 Tablespoons Low Sugar Pectin


 Set up for however you wish to store the jam. I use small plastic containers. You can preserve it in jars if you wish.

 Mix  the 2 Tablespoons of sugar with the 4 Tablespoons of pectin and set aside.

  Using a spoon, scrape off all of the white pith from the orange peel. Then slice into fine slivers. *Why did I use three instead of all four? I got tired of scraping pith.

  Place the oranges in the blender with 1 cup of the juice and process briefly. We're going for seriously pulpy and slightly chunky orange juice here.


 Pour the orange mixture into a large wide pan add the remaining juice, sparkling wine, peel, sugar, salt and butter. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and cook for 7 minutes. For some reason this version did not try to boil over and there was absolutely no foam. I think I may have forgotten to add the butter to the first batch of jam.

 Stir in the sugar/pectin mixture. Return to a boil and cook for two minutes. Process how you see fit.

 Eat on toast.

Book It Day or a butterfly emerges from it's cocoon. Which is symbolic of hope and maybe some kind of metaphor for triumph in the face of adversity.

 So I've been in the hospital. For a week. This is actually the second time I've been hospitalized in three weeks. But I've been ill. For about three months. Not "I'm a dumbass because I won't go to the doctor so now things are serious." kind of ill but, several tips to urgent care/emergency room, scary antibiotics, ill.

 There is nothing like lying flat on your back for days on end, with iv antibiotics running through the central line they jacked into your neck,  to help you realize that you are a complete loser for not finishing your daughter's Book It Day costume.

 If you are unfamiliar with the Book It Program, it is an incentive program sponsored by Pizza Hut that encourages children to read. Our school takes it completely seriously, asking the kids to dress up like their favorite characters from books and having a parade in the gymnasium.

 This year we had a theme: Eric Carle. And although I like Eric Carle's books, he is not one of our favorite, favorites. I do however really love the beauty of his artwork. So when Wub said she wanted to be the Butterfly from The Very Hungry Caterpillar I decided I was going to make her a long tunic style dress with huge butterfly wing sleeves. I was then going to airbrush the dress to mimic Mr. Carle's gorgeous artwork.

 Best laid plans....

But I had to do something. It was so hard on Wub and MHM worrying about me while trying to keep everything just turning over at home. MHM would get up in the morning, get Wub ready for school, head to school and work, pick up Wub from the sitter, grab something to eat and head to the hospital until it was time to go home and get some sleep. At some point he also picked up an upper respiratory infection so that was nice. She was such a trooper, I couldn't let her miss out on the fun of Book It Day too.

 So I sent him to the Dollar Tree to pick up poster board, green duct tape, colored pipe cleaners, and red sock hat. With crayons and a few supplies from home we got started.

 Using the book as a guide I cut out two wing shapes from the poster board. Then I lightly traced the major areas of the wings. Then we colored and colored and colored some more. It took the best part of three evenings and most of one very long day to color both wings (front and back). To be honest, it probably would have taken less time if we hadn't been using a hospital floor and tray table respectively to color on. Also if I had been slightly less doped up.

 After finishing the wings we used the green duct tape to join them together. Four elastic loops were held in place with clear strapping tape and we had ourselves a pretty rockin' pair of butterfly wings.

The head was made by lightly, tack stitching a circle of green foam on top of a circle of yellow foam to the hat brim and repeating on the other side. We then threaded a green pipe cleaner through the top of the hat, centered it making each side equal length. Then curled each side around a pen to form the antennae. I think she made a pretty adorable butterfly.

It definitely distracted us for awhile from scary allergic reactions to antibiotics and scary words like Lupus. They still are not sure what is wrong with me. Pathology points to an infection but it also points to an autoimmune disease such as Lupus. I hope that is not what it is. I won't know the answers for a while because the rheumatologist doesn't have any openings until May. No matter what the outcome. I will make do.

Hell, I hope that I can do better than make do and that I can make a butterfly.

These Bars are Bananas, B*A*N*A*N*A*S Fosters...

The next logical step from Caramel Apple Bar is obviously a Bananas Foster Bar, right?
Flaky shortbread topped with creamy, rummy, roasty bananas and sprinkle of crisp, nutty streusel. So yum, you gotta get you some.

Shortbread Base
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly butter a 9x13 baking pan.

 In a blender or food processor grind the oats into a fine(ish) flour. In a bowl mix the oats, flour, sugar, salt, vanilla and butter together to form a dough. Press into the bottom of a prepared 9x13 pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

 In the meantime prepare:

Banana Filling
4 ripe bananas,thinly sliced.
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup rum
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt.

 Mix the milk, brown sugar, rum, butter and salt together, stir in the sliced bananas and pour mixture over the partially baked crust.

Sprinkle evenly with:

Streusel Topping
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
3 Tablesp0ons packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tablespoon cold, unsalted butter cut into small cubes.

 Mix all ingredients together using a pastry blender fork until butter is thoroughly distributed. Sprinkle mixture over apple filling. Return pan to oven and continue baking for 45-55 minutes until streusel is crisped and brown

 Allow to cool and cut into 16-20 squares.

Caramel Apple Bars 'cause it's Fall Y'all!

 There is something about the first few days of Autumn that cause an almost uncontrollable urge to eat apples. I know for some people Fall  is the time of pumpkin spice but for me the sweet, crisp tang of the new apple crop is infinitely more appealing.

These bars have a crisp, buttery shortbread base topped off with a caramel, creamy apple filling finished with a layer of crumbly streussel. Oh my!

They are amazing still warm from the oven but if you have the patience to wait until they've fully cooled you will be rewarded. The crust will firm up giving the bars a good crunch and the caramel apple filling will mellow and set.




Shortbread Base
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350. Lightl butter a 9x13 baking pan.

 In a blender or food processor grind the oats into a fine(ish) flour. In a bowl mix the oats, flour, sugar, salt, vanilla and butter together to form a dough. Press into the bottom of a prepared 9x13 pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

 In the meantime prepare:

Caramel Apple Filling
2 peeled, sliced into wedges and thinly sliced. (I used 1 Granny Smith and 1 Pink Lady)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt.

 Mix the milk, brown sugar, butter and salt together, stir in the sliced apples and pour mixture over the partially baked crust.

Sprinkle evenly with:

Streussel Topping
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tablespoons cold, unsalted butter cut into small cubes.

 Mix all ingredients together using a pastry blender fork until butter is thoroughly distributed. Sprinkle mixture over apple filling. Return pan to oven and continue baking for 45-55 minutes until streussel is crisped and brown

 Allow to cool and cut into 16-20 squares.
Take an artfully arranged picture and then nom, nom, nom!