Little Bits of This & That

Block Sewing Day!

Today is the day we get to sew our blocks together! After a few weeks of sewing up different units for our blocks, we now get to see the results. If you are just joining me, you can download Sugar plum Sew Along cutting instructions.

So grab your Winter Wonderland Book, turn to page 18 and let's get started.

I like to lay out all the pieces so I can see just how they will get sewn together. 

So lay out your pieces and sew them together in rows. Then sew the rows together.

Make 6 blocks.

Next week we get to sew the blocks and sashing together. The following week we will do the borders and we will be done! I am hoping to get mine quilted right away....fingers crossed so I can enjoy it before and during Thanksgiving.

On a food thought....if you are looking for a yummy recipe this fall you can find one HERE. It's for Crock Pot Potato Soup.

I love cooking in the fall and the crock pot is a favorite kitchen tool of mine. I think there is nothing better than when dinner time comes, the house smells so good and all you have to do is serve it up. 

Do you have a favorite fall recipe? I would love to hear what it is!

 

 

 

Sharing the JOY!

I am happy to have been asked to be a guest blogger and share what brings me JOY on the Moda Cutting Table today so I wanted to share some of that joy here too.

If you want to cook up some of the goodies I shared on the Moda blog you can download Spiced Pecans here.

And the Creamy Caramels here.

 

To share a bit more JOY I am going to giveaway a collection of Holiday patterns.

Just leave me a comment on what brings you JOY and you will be entered to win!

I will draw the winner on Friday so be sure to stop back and see if you have won or you can sign up with your email to receive my blog posts right in your email.

P.S. You can also find me here on Instagram.

Very Thankful....

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. There is nothing better than to spend the day with my family and thinking on all the people I am thankful for.

I also look forward to cooking up our big meal and it has gotten easier over the years as my kids like to cook with me. My oldest is doing the stuffing, my middle daughter is make the pies and my son is chopping up everything we need chopped. He helped me make our cranberry sauce this morning and it turned out so good that I have to share the recipe with you...I know it might be kind of late for you to make this year but there is always Christmas or you can save the recipe for next year. I just can't share a recipe we haven't tried...what if it was bad! Anyways here is the recipe for the craberry sauce and it's super easy.

Here it is before it's cooked...so pretty!

And ready to serve..yum!!

Click here to download the Cranberry sauce.

What are you thankful for this year? I would love to hear....

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

 

Crock Pot Potato Soup~YUM!

Weather in Minnesota is very fickle this year. Some day's it HOT and some day's it is down right cold, rainy and dreary. On the dreary day's, I love to pull out my crock and throw some food in it to cook all day....making the house small warm and cozy.

One of the newest favorites in our house is Crock Pot Potato Soup. Super easy and totally yummy....you have to try it! So here is the recipe~

Crock-Pot Potato Soup (Yum!!)

What you need~

1 bag (32 oz) frozen diced hash brown potatoes, thawed

1/2 cup onions, chopped

1/2 cup celery, chopped

1/2 cup carrots, chopped

1/2 cup red peppers, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste. (I used 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper)

2 tbsp butter

1 carton (32 oz) chicken broth

1 cup water

3 tbsp flour

1 cup milk

2 cups shredded cheese. (I like mexican blend)

1/4 cup real bacon, cooked crispy

4 medium green onions chopped 

More shredded cheese for topping if you wish. (Can never have too much cheese right?)                                                                                           

What you do~

In 3- or 4-quart slow cooker, mix potatoes, onion, carrots, red pepper, celery, butter, salt, pepper, broth and water.


Cover; cook on Low heat setting 6 to 8 hours.

In small bowl, mix flour into milk; stir into potato mixture.

Increase heat setting to High.

Cover; cook 20 to 30 minutes or until mixture thickens.

Stir in cheese until melted.

Garnish individual servings with bacon and green onions (and extra cheese if you like.)

Eat with happiness!

Gotta love stuffing.......

I love Thanksgiving! One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is making and of course eating my sister-in-laws stuffing. My sister-in-law is an amazing cook. I have to say that it's the BEST stuffing I have ever had. Another thing I love about it is that it's easy to prepare with very little mess. So I figured I should share it with you just in case you are looking for some super yummy stuffing to go with your turkey meal this year.....here it is~

What you need~

2 well beaten eggs

1 cup butter

2 cups finely chopped onions

2 cups finely chopped celery

1 tube of Jimmy Dean sauage (sage flavor or regular works great)

1/4 cup parley

16 oz of fresh chopped mushrooms

12-13 cups of dry bread crumb cubes

1 tsp poultry seasoning

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp sage

1 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp marjorn

3 1/2-4 1/2 cups of chicken broth

What to do~

Saute onion and celery in butter...yes use 1 cup of butter!

Brown Jimmy Dean sauage, drain and crumble.

Mix all the ingredients together in a HUGE bowl.

Now here is the super easy part......Spray your LARGE (I use a 7 quart) crock pot with cooking spray (I like olive oil) and throw all the ingredients in the crock pot. Cook on high for 45 minutes. Turn crock pot down to medium and cook on low for 4 to 6 more hours.....Enjoy!!!

P.S. Be sure to hop on over to the NEW Holly Taylor Designs blog and sign up for the contest/giveaway they have going on...Gotta love that Holly Taylor fabric!

 

Yummy Apple Goo.......

Yes, yummy apple goo....at least that is what my husband called it. We love apples that are fresh picked from the orchard in the fall. So we picked some up from the farmers market the other day and when we got home, my daughter whipped us up a wonderful and easy salad that is actually called Snicker Apple salad.

Here is what you need~

1 tub of cool whip.

12, fun size snicker bars.

5 or 6 tart and tangy apples of your choice. (We used Braeburn apples.)

Here is what you do~

Cut up the Snicker bars into pieces. (We cut ours into 6 pieces each.)

Peal and chop up apples into bite size pieces. I love to use our apple, peeler, slicer, corer gadget thing.

Throw your apples, Snicker and Cool Whip in a bowl and mix.

Put the salad in the refrigerator for an hour or so.

 Eat and enjoy! (I guess we should have wiped up the bowl a bit to make it pretty but it's a yummy salad no matter how messy the bowl.)

This isn't a new recipe but we hadn't made it in a few years so I figure I should share it with you, so you can enjoy it too!

 

Poppyseed Dressing....

The other day I posted one of my favorite salad recipes here on my blog called Chicken and Craisin Salad. I love, love, love this salad and I think what makes it so good is the poppyseed dressing.

After reading my blog, I had a very sweet lady share her recipe for poppyseed dressing with me and she said that I can share it with you...so here it is~

Suz's Sweet Poppy Seed Dressing

1/2 cup mayonnaise
5 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1/8 cup sweet white onion
2 tsp. white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. ground mustard
3/4 tsp. poppy seeds
1/4 cup canola oil

Put everything in your blender, except the poppy seeds and the canola oil. Process until the onion has been liquified. On the lowest speed of the blender, pour in the canola oil and the poppy seeds. Refrigerate and enjoy!

I will definately be trying this the next time I make my favorite Chicken and Craisin Salad. Hope you give it a try too!

 

 

A little chicken and craisins

I got this recipe from a good friend and I have to share it. It's one of those salads that I just can't get enough of.

~Chicken & Craisin Salad~

What you need~

2 to 3 cups chicken, cut up (I like to use a rotisserie chicken cuz they have great flavor.)

6 oz craisins.

1 cup chopped celery. (More if you like.)

1 1/2 cup of small shell pasta. (Uncooked)

1 bottle (12 oz) Brianna's Poppyseed Dressing. (You can use other poppyseed dressing but Brianna's is the best!)

Cook pasta as directed on the box, rinse with cold water. Mix first 4 ingredients together. Mix in the dressing, adding enough to coat the salad. (I use about 3/4 of the bottle.)

Chill in re-fridge for a few hours. Re-coat with dressing as needed.

Hope you enjoy this salad as much as we do~yummmmm!

Until next time~ Sherri

 

It's time for a blog hop!

Monique from Open Gate Quilts has organized a fun blog hop for you this week! I hope you checked out her cute project yesterday...if you didn't, be sure to stop by her blog and check it out...and don't forget to leave a comment to be entered in her drawing!

Here is the line up for the blog hop~

July 4th - Open Gate - Monique, http://opengatequilts.blogspot.com/
July 5th - Stashmaster -  Lisa - http://stashmaster.typepad.com/
               This & That - Sherri, http://thisandthatpatterns.typepad.com/
July 6th - Sweetwater - Lisa, http://www.sweetwater.typepad.com/
July 7th - Quilter's Window - Denise, http://www.quilterswindow.com/blog/
               A Quilting Life - Sherri, http://www.aquiltinglife.com/
July 8th - Cupcakes 'n Daisies - Thelma - http://www.cupcakesndaisies.blogspot.com/

And it's July 5th, so it's my day to share with you!

The project I have for you is an easy and fun table topper called Firecracker. Yes, I know that the 4th was yesterday but I really this table topper and you can make it for next year or you can make it out of Halloween or Christmas fabric and it would be super cute out of one of those too.

   

Click here to download your copy of the Firecracker pattern.

Now for a big-time family favorite recipe for summer time grilling~

~BBQ RIBS~

What you need~

2 racks of pork ribs. (Cut in half, so you have 4 smaller racks.)

1 onion cut into big chunks.

2 tablespoons butter.

5-7 beers.

28 ozs of Sweet Baby's Ray's BBQ sauce.

(You can use your favorite kind instead if you want)

2-3 tbsp. Franks Hot sauce.

Let's begin~

In large pot, put beer, butter and onion. Add rib racks. Bring to simmer and simmer ribs for 45 minutes to and hour.  (Beer should cover the ribs and you may need to skim off the foam...that's what I do....don't like the brown foam that come to the top...you will see what I mean.)

Mix BBQ sauce and hot sauce together in bowl. Remove ribs from beer pot and baste with BBQ/hot sauce.

Heat grill to med-high. (Depending on the grill.) Place ribs on grill, brown both sides as desired, basting often with sauce.

The ribs are done cooking when you take them out of the beer pot...you are grilling them to give the grill flavor and to caramelize the BBQ sauce. Be careful not to over grill, as you will dry them out!

(We brown each side for approx 5 mins...it really has alot to do with the look or how brown you want your ribs. We like them medium brown. We baste each side a few times....I like them full of sauce!)

Hope you enjoyed the 4th...we spend the day boating, grilling and hanging out with family...ending the day with fireworks.  Great way to celebrate America!

Now be sure to leave me a comment on your favorite holiday tradition or anything you feel like saying and you will be entered in the drawing for my new book "Cardinal Christmas" and some fat 1/4's of the Cardinal Christmas fabric...I will even throw in the panel fabric... they are so pretty! So please leave a comment here and I will let you know on friday who the lucky winner is!

Until friday~Sherri

 

 

 

 

So Sweet......

 There is nothing better than a sweet dessert after a wonderful home cooked meal that I didn't have to make! Why does food taste better when made by a friend? I have a good friend who is an awesome cook and when she came for a visit she wanted to make dinner for me....anything I wanted! So, thinking I would challenge her a bit, I asked for Creme Brulee. It's one of my all time favorite desserts. Of course she is always up for the challenge and start to try to figure out the best recipe for it.

She found this video~

 

And she then made the Creme Brulee just like the chef did. It is much better when you cook with an accent!

 
My husband was excited to hear that we needed a blow torch to burn the sugar and ran right out to Home Depot to get us one. Of course, he was looking forward to the dessert but also needed a good excuse to buy one to burn off the threads on his snowmobile track....must be a guy thing.

 

  
 

 
 
How pretty is that! And which size spoon do you use? I can tell you it was sssoooo delicious! Nothing better than Creme Brulee shared with a good friend.

What is your favorite desert?

Until next time~

Sherri