Happy New Year from Everyday Insanity!
Monday, December 30, 2013
New Year's Party Food
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Road Trip Quilt
I spent many years making clothes for my children (ages ago) but find myself a very beginning quilter. Using a rotary cutter and sewing a precise 1/4 inch seam takes practice. The Road Trip Quilt is a perfect place to begin. This scrappy quilt is full of fun prints, bright primary colors and a cuddly minky back. I think 3 year old Gregory will love it!
There is a great tutorial for the Road Trip Quilt on the blog, Cluck, Cluck Sew. Detailed photos tell the story with great instructions. So easy a very beginner can follow along and be successful! I know.
I'm sure Gregory is really very excited!
I was a bit scared of the binding but my local quilt shoppe was happy to cut strips of striped fabric on the bias. I love the results! I found a tutorial on binding a quilt on the Old Red Barn Co. Blog. The step by step photos walked me through the entire binding process. I learned to sew strips on the diagonal making a continuous binding. I also made a beautiful mitered corner (I was quite proud of it). I turned the binding and hand stitched it. One can learn so much on the Internet!
My quilt isn't perfect but it will be loved no less. I am afraid the quilting bug has bit--I have about 3 more quilts in progress and am learning much on a Block of the Month Club, this is a stretch for sure!
Hopefully you will see a few more quilts in the coming months. Quilting--it's a great thing.
So friends, if you have the desire. check out my Pinterest Quilt Board--lots of beginner ideas.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
A Bloggy Christmas - Day 11
Brought to you by:
On the 12th Day of Bloggy Christmas Miss Nichi gave to me Dipped Oreo Reindeer Cookies!
These little cookies are my newest creation for our Christmas gatherings. They are almost too cute to eat. Made with love, they will be a new family tradition year after year. Enjoy!!
Ingredients:
1 package chocolate almond bark (or any other chocolate that you prefer)
Oreo cookies
candy eyes (I used Wilton's candy eyes)
small pretzels
red M&M's
Directions:
Melt bark or chocolate in microwave in 30 second increments until stirred smooth.
Dip Oreos until covered. Lay on waxed or parchment paper.
Add pretzels for antlers, candy eyes, and M&M for nose. Let dry completely.
Source: Mandatory Mooch original
Don't miss my Tasty Thursdays linky party. It goes live at 5pm Central time on Wednesdays.
I like linking my posts to THESE GREAT PARTIES!!!!
I like linking my posts to THESE GREAT PARTIES!!!!
Please stop on over to say hi!!
Thanks ~ Nichi
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
A Bloggy Christmas - Day 10
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On the 10th Day of Bloggy Christmas Miss Cindy gave to me a Festive and Fun Christmas Countdown
I am the lucky aunt to several darling little gals. They are happy, innocent, excited, and just fun to be around. Kids are so enjoyable when you no longer have a house full of your own! We can make a mess, eat treats, create till way past their bedtime--and then they go home. I win the 'favorite aunt' status.
We have had several 'craft days' over the years but last year I hit on a winner. I thought about trying to top it, but after about 10 minutes I quickly decided to just repeat it. It will probably be a yearly activity for many years to come.
What is the great activity? It is very simple advent calendar that even the youngest crafter can create. It starts with envelopes and sacks (that's what I had) and from there the sky is the limit. The envelopes and sacks were decorated with stickers, stamps, ink, punched shapes, markers, stencils and anything else they could find in my craft room.
Decorated envelopes were then filled with small treats. Of course you could also put an activity in the container. Read a Christmas Story, bake cookies, sing carols at a rest home etc., there are so many ways to celebrate the season. But candy is safe, I'll let the Mom's choose their activities!
We used clothes pins to hang the envelopes on a length of cord. The girls opted to make 25 envelopes--a perfect way to count the days until Christmas. We had a great evening--with talk of what we would do next year! This was the perfect way for me to start the Holiday Season.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Pumpkin Cheescake--in a Jar!
I am always on the look out for desserts that are easily transported and shared. This is is the delicious answer to my problem. Nothing better than your own little dessert in a jar! This is a delightful combination of cheesecake and pumpkin pie. I have made it twice in the last 2 weeks--it is that good. Try it - it is a perfect portion of wonderful!
Pumpkin Cheesecake in a Jar
Chocolate Crust
6 chocolate graham crackers
1/3 cup pecans
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
Break chocolate graham crackers and put in bowl of food processor, add pecans and process until coarse crumbs. Add sugar and melted butter and process until fine crumbs.
Put 2 tablespoons of crumbs in the bottom of 7 jelly jars (4 ounces). I used a Tart Tamper to compress crumbs.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling
8 ounces cream cheese--softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg--lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
Whisk together ingredients for filling. Pour into jars. Put a kitchen towel in the bottom of a large roasting pan add about 1/2 inch of hot water. Place the filled jars on the kitchen towel, this will keep the jars from sliding around. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until a thin knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove from water bath and cool completely. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
Recipe inspired by Soup Addict
Try these other recipes from Everyday Insanity--they are all delicious!
1 year ago------Harrison's Favorite Scalloped Potatoes
2 years ago-----Pumpkin Bars
3 years ago-----Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
4 years ago-----Baked Potato Soup
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Salted Caramel Cashew Popcorn
Jill is always looking for a new popcorn recipe. Her treats are a hot item at holiday boutiques--they sell fast. Tasty treats and festive packaging, a perfect combo. She wanted a Salted Carmel Cashew Popcorn recipe. She checked out several recipes that all had good qualities but the winner was actually a mistake. And she liked it, I like it and I think you will like it too!
It starts out with1/2 cup of air popped pop corn. We like to use Mushroom Gourmet Popping Corn from Just Poppin. Heat your hot air popper for a least a minute. Quickly turn unit off, add popcorn and turn back on. It will give you 12 cups of beautiful popcorn. Make sure you shake the popcorn and get all the un-popped kernels out. You don't want to break a tooth.
Salted Carmel Cashew Popcorn
1 1/2 cups cashews, halves and pieces
12 cups mushroom popcorn
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar (14 ounces)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 teaspoons sea salt
Heat your oven to 250. Spray a large roasting pan or cookie sheet with Pam.
Mix together the popcorn and cashews in a very large bowl
In a medium size heavy saucepan melt the butter, brown sugar, Karo and salt. Stir continually on medium heat until mixture comes to a good boil. Lower heat and let caramel boil gently for 5 minutes without stirring. Immediately pour hot caramel over pop corn and cashews, stir, stir, stir. Spread on cookie sheet or roasting pan. Bake at 250 for 30 minutes stirring every 10 minutes. Quickly dump caramel corn on a kitchen surface that has been covered with parchment paper and sprayed with Pam. Spread popcorn.
Let it cool and dry and then get it in bags quickly. It is so yummy--one (with as little will power as I) must give it away quickly. It will make someone very happy! Put it in a cute tin or a cello bag, tie with a ribbon and make someones day.
Thanks Jill, this recipe will be put to good use!
You may also like:
One year ago-------Pepper Jelly another great Christmas gift.
Two years ago------Pumpkin Muffins with White Chocolate Chips
Three years ago----Candise's Cherry Comfort Bars
Four years ago------Baked Potato Soup--a family favorite.