This Good Friday...

Berry Apple Salad

I was looking for some salad recipes that were a little different from what I normally have and I found this Berry Apple Salad recipe. It looks good! I think it will be part of my Easter buffet. I saw this recipe on The Red Headed Hostess site . It even has a recipe for the dressing although I think I will just use one of the bottled dressings. Hope you like it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Berry Apple Salad

-  Mixed Salad Greens

- Berries (I have strawberries and blackberries here, but I have used raspberries and blueberries as well)

-  Diced Apples (I LOVE Pink Lady apples in this salad)

- Red Grapes (cut in half – they are much easier to eat that way)

- Sugar and Cinnamon Spiced Almonds or crushed honey roasted peanuts

Just prep all of your fruit and layer on top of the greens and drizzle with a poppy seed dressing, or the below dressing.

Balsamic Poppy Seed Dressing

1/2 cup extra light olive oil (or vegetable oil)

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1 T Rice Wine Vinegar

1/4 tsp Worcestershire

1 T Poppy Seeds

Orange Sherbet Cake - 3 ingredients

I just love cakes and this one looked so good that I had to try it. I couldn't find the sugar free yellow cake mix at my Walmart so I chose the regular orange cake mix. I used the Diet Orange Soda and the Lite frozen whipped topping. When I put the soda in the cake mix, it really did froth up. This cake was so GOOD!!! You have to try it. It is so refreshing! I saw the recipe on It's On The Tip Of My Tongue Blog so I included what Sarah wrote about this recipe and her pictures. Thanks Sarah!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’ve seen lots of variations of this recipe, but this is the one I chose. Click on the picture below for the original source. There were many similar recipes. I omitted the eggs in this recipe (because I didn’t have any) and that did not effect the outcome.

I chose sugar free yellow cake mix (made with Splenda and reduced in calories by about 50 calories a slice when compared to the original cake mix), diet Crush, and lite frozen whipped topping.

142K+

Measure out 12 ounces of diet soda.

Pour the soda into the cake mix. Whisk for 30 seconds.

Bake according to the directions on the box. Let the cake cool (if you have the patience for that sort of thing). Top with thawed whip cream. Put on a paper plate. What? Ok, fine, I was too excited to try the cake to even be thinking about photographing in a nice way. You can put it on a nice plate if you’re in to that type of thing and don’t have half of the neighborhood kids waiting for this cake to be done.

On a scale of 1-10 on the diet dessert recipes index, this yummy cake earns a 10 from me! A six-year-old neighbor boy even asked me to write the recipe down for his mom because it was the best cake he’d ever had!

Tutorial: Gathered Round Basket

Again, I was looking for tutorials for making something for my grandchildren and found this one. It doesn't look difficult and I have lots of fabric. This tutorial was taken from the A Spoonful of Sugar site and thought "I could do that!". Have fun! Happy Easter!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had a few requests for instructions on how to make the gathered round 
basket that I made last week. This is an easy project and the baskets can
be made in any size, are fully reversible, and are useful for so many things.

Materials: (to make a basket measuring 4 1/2 inches diameter and
1 3/4 inches high)

• 2 pieces of cotton fabric cut into circles with a 8 inch diameter 

(I 

used a small side plate as a template)

• 1 piece of fusible wadding (such as parlan or pellon) cut into a circle 

with an 8 inch diameter 

• strip of fabric measuring 2 1/4 inch x 14 inch (for binding)

Instructions:
1. Fuse the wadding to the fabric circle that will form the outside of 
the basket, following manufacturers directions.

2. Baste the basket lining and basket outer together with the wrong 
sides facing.

3. Using a long straight stitch, sew a gathering stitch around the 
perimeter of the circle, close to the edge. Stitch a second gathering 
stitch close to the first gathering stitch. Ensure both gathering stitches
are within the 1/4 inch seam allowance.

4. Gently pull the two ends of thread on the wrong side, the fabric 
will gather along the thread.

5. Secure the threads at one end to prevent the stitches from pulling out.

6. Even out the gathers until the circumference of the circle measures approximately 12 inches. When all the gathers are in place, use a 
standard machine stitch to stitch a 1/4 inch seam.

7. Press the binding strip in half lengthwise with the wrong sides facing.

8. Pin the binding to the outside of the basket and stitch in place.

9. Fold the binding over to the inside of the basket and stitch in place 
by hand using a slip stitch to secure.

Edit 07/ 2012 - Just wanted to clarify in response to a few emails - The circles are 8 inches in 
diameter (the measurement you get if you rule a line through the centre of the circle) and when
 they are gathered they measure 12 inches in circumference (i.e all around the outside of the circle).

Face Washer Bunny

I have 11 grandchildren and 10 of them are girls so I was looking for something to give them for Easter. I came along this tutorial on A Spoonful of Sugar site and thought "I could do that!". And maybe you can, too! Below are the instructions from that site. Here goes...

When my teens were small, I tried to limit their intake of chocolates and sweets. This was always challenging at Easter time. To get around this, the Easter Bunny always left them a book and mini chocolate eggs to hunt for. They used to love getting a special book for Easter - initially they received Peter Rabbit and other books featuring bunnies. Over time it progressed to chapter books. We kept this up all through their primary school years.

One year, my Grandmother made them little bunnies using Face Washers. She had made one for me when I was a child. If you are after a sweet Easter gift for a baby, a child, a Grandmother, make up an Easter Bunny using a Face washer. They can be teamed with bath toys, or some nice soap and lotion, to make a lovely gift.

If you would like to make your own bunny you will need:

• face washer or face cloth measuring approx 33 x 33 cm (13 x 13 inches). (I used a Target Essentials face washer )
• 2 googly eyes (stitch on variety)
• 1 hair elastic or rubber band
• one small pompom (nose)
• one large pompom (tail)
• ribbon

FACE WASHER BUNNY

Fold the face washer in half diagonally. Starting from the point, roll the face washer into a long roll.

Fold the roll in half. Fold the pointy ends up towards the rounded part of the roll, and secure with an elastic band (as pictured).

To make the bunny's face, stitch on the googly eyes and small pompom. Add the larger pompom to the rounded end, and stitch in place. Tie a ribbon around the neck for decoration.

The bunny can be easily taken apart and used as a face washer.

Chicken Salad - Hmmm Good!

I went to the baby shower yesterday and had just the best time! The food was so tasty! The company was so cordial. The Mommy-to-be was just so happy and excited that she was going to have a baby.

The Grandma of the new baby hosted the event and she included a chicken salad from a local store on her menu. The chicken salad had grapes in it along with the usual, celery, mayo. etc. It is the best chicken salad anywhere! 

So I was looking on the internet this morning and found this recipe. It is the
Helen Corbitt's Chicken Salad. Famed Texas cook, Helen Corbitt, created this rich chicken salad for the café menu at Neiman Marcus department stores in the 1950s. How about that! I printed it down and plan to make it - how about you?

This recipe was posted on the Saveur site.

ENLARGE IMAGECredit: Michael Kraus

MAKES ABOUT 6 CUPS


INGREDIENTS
1 lb. cooked chicken breasts, cut
   into ½″ cubes
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1 cup halved purple grapes
½ cup sliced almonds, toasted
1 tbsp. finely chopped parsley
1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
½ cup whipped cream
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste


INSTRUCTIONS: Combine chicken, mayonnaise, celery, grapes, almonds, parsley, and salt in a bowl. Add whipped cream and pepper; fold to combine.

2 Ingredient Cookies - Yep, only 2!

I saw this recipe today and thought "This is so easy!". And I like easy. Only 2 ingredients! Wow! And I have the 2 ingredients in my kitchen! And it is healthy! Double Wow! No feeling guilty eating these cookies!

I am going to make these cookies today. It is cold and windy outside. These cookies will warm up the house and put that beautiful cookie smell in the air. I can'it wait!

This recipe comes from the The Burlap Bag . This is the recipe from their site.

Yes. For real. Two ingredients. (Yes, you can add other things if you want… but you don’t HAVE to!) I made this up after seeing a “healthy breakfast cookie” that wanted me to add eggs, applesauce, baking soda, etc and I said NO!

And also, I hate those “two/three ingredient” recipes where one of the ingredients is a boxed cookie mix. and the other is a can of pie filling. CMON PEOPLE.

Ingredients:

2 large old bananas
1 cup of quick oats

Mix those two together. Old bananas are amazing for this, but you can use fresh ones too. I buy a bunch of bananas, let them get old on my counter, and then stick ‘em all in the freezer.

Then add in what sounds yummy to you! (or nothing!) We love:
-a handful of chocolate chips
-crushed walnut pieces
-cinnamon
-raisins

Since all bananas are different sizes, the needed measurements can vary. If it seems too runny and the cookies would flatten out too much, add in more oatmeal. And make sure to not add in TOO many mix-ins as the cookies won’t hold together very well. The ones in these photos have a handful of chocolate chips, a teaspoon or two or cinnamon, and 1/4ish a cup of crushed walnuts.

We made 16 cookies with those measurements. We cook them at 350 degrees for 15 minutes on a GREASED cookie sheet. Don’t forget the greased part…. I did once and had to scrub my pan forever.

pre-mixing.

post-mixing. You can still see the chunks of ‘nanas.

pre-cooking.

post-cooking. check out those walnut chunks!

These cookies taste most amazing right out of the oven. But still great later. I wouldn’t even know if they taste great 2 days later because they’ve never lasted that long.

Sometimes we’ll make 16 “cookies”. And we’ll eat them all for lunch. I know what you’re thinking… WOW lauren you’re gonna be 500 pounds if you keep eating 8 cookies. But think about what went in these cookies! If I ate 8 cookies, I’ve had: 1 banana, 1/2 cup of oats, and half a handful of chocolate chips and walnuts. Amazing. Leave out the chocolate chips and they are all health.

My Second Baby Shower Gift

This is the 2nd baby shower gift that I made. It is a baby's hat. My model is the only baby doll I have in my house. I used some really thick yarn that I got at Joann's Fabrics. It is really soft and colorful. I think that the hat may be a little large for a newborn so I may make another one with thinner yarn.

The pattern was fairly easy and here is the link Redheart Free Patterns.  Like I said the only model that I could use was a doll that I had for the grandchildren. Of course the doll is old and does not have any clothes. So here is the hat:

I turned the end up and am thinking of putting a flower on the top. I also added a border on the end. So what do you think?

Baby Shower Gifts

Hi! I have been busy making some baby shower gifts. The shower is this Sunday and I hopefully, will be done by then.

This is the first one:

At first, I thought that the mother and father were not going to find out what the baby's sex would be, so I bought some fabric that could be for a boy or a girl. I put a backing and batting on it and then proceeded to hand quilt some of the the lines going up & down and side to side. I didn't do them all because I just wanted it quilted enough to hold the batting in place. On the back, I put 2 fat quarters (1-yellow and 1-green) together and sewed it on with batting. Hope she likes it!

I will post the 2nd one in a seperate post
.

French Toast Dumplings…Simmered in Maple Syrup!

I saw this the recipe the other day and thought "I have Grands Biscuits and I love cinnamon. I have to try this. And I will try it after this post ;-). I like easy and I like a short list of everyday ingredients and I love sweets. So this was a no brainer. Here is the link where I got the recipe Oh Bite It just in case you want to go there. Enjoy!


What you’ll need:

1 can of Pillsbury Grands Flaky Layers Biscuits

1.5 cups Maple Syrup..good quality if possible

1/3 cup Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Nutmeg

1 cup cinnamon Sugar (1 part Sugar to 1/2 part Cinnamon)

A dollop of Mascarpone..optional

Directions:

In a medium sauce pot add the Maple Syrup and the Brown Sugar..bring up to a simmer

Cut each raw biscuit into fourths and roll each section into a ball

Gently add them into the simmering syrup..leaving room for them to puff up..they get puffy!

Cover them and let them simmer until they are doubled in size..turning them once, to coat each side of the dumplings evenly in the thick and amazing reduced syrup sauce!

Let them cool. While they’re cooling, mix up the cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg in a bowl..set aside.

Gently toss each dumpling in the Cinnamon/Sugar/Nutmeg mix..for that French Toast crunch!

Pile a few dumplings into your bowl and top them with a scoop of Mascarpone or Sour Cream & a nice drizzle of the reduced Maple Syrup Crack Sauce!

O my!! Take a bite of the most soft, tender and incredible version of French Toast you’ll ever have! ~Enjoy!