In my mom's sewing room

one more post about Texas........

This is my mom's sewing room and their computer is in this room too,  and lots of interesting photos are on those walls too. 

Years ago,  it was my wreath making professor brother's bedroom.  That is his college track team photo in a black frame just about in the middle of the room photo. 

Mom got this Accuquilt machine recently.  I was not really familiar with it but it is special gadget for cutting quilt pieces and other fabric craft pieces especially accurate.

The Accuquilt opens up like a waffle iron.

These dies are used  to cut the shapes. 

Mom says it is easy to use and cuts the pieces so perfectly,  she was so happy that the pieces sew together so nicely when they are the exact same size. 

this a green scrappy quilt she has been working on. 

This is a felt penny rug- the circles are perfect and felt is hard to cut as it shifts around when just using scissors.   Mom says the Accuquilt does waste  fabric than the traditional way of cutting fabric but that is not really an issue for her as she has plenty of fabric. 

If you have some extra money and like to do really perfect quilts,  you might want to look into an Accuquilt.  I think Mom ordered hers online. 


Some of the pictures on her sewing room walls

Mom's Senior picture- she was valedictorian and FFA sweetheart. 

My grandfather on my dad's side on a cool motorcycle- probably around the 1920s

My dad with one of his colts when he had  a few horses on his hobby farm.  I like his polka dot cap. 

Dad again,  with my son Bobby when he was about 2.  Now Bobby is 32 and looks like a Duck Dynasty body double.

Mom has always, and I mean always, done handwork. This is an embroidered picture- look at all that perfect satin stitches on the 2 horses.  I think she stitched this when we kids were little.  If you look in craft room photo, there is a pair of deer picture just to the left of this horse picture that was in the same series and stitched about the same time. 


We are back in Oklahoma now and I didn't take any other photos while we were in Texas so this will be last Texas post for awhile.  My husband is on vacation from his job this week and we are doing some sightseeing day trips around Oklahoma so I'll have some posts on those soon.

Hope you are all getting those last minute things done to be ready for Christmas, it is just a few days away! 

Cooking in Texas

We just got back from a weekend trip to see our parents. I did some cooking while I was there.

First I made Struesel Puffs, a muffin recipe my mom saved from Family Circle magazine approximately 1970. She made them often and we all liked them. I baked and entered them in a 4-H food show and got a blue ribbon. 

I baked Struesel Puffs so many times when our children were all at home. This was a normal Sunday before church recipe and I always doubled the recipe back then. 

Fresh baked Struesel Puffs on my parents dining table

Streusel Puffs

2 1/2 C. All purpose flour
1/2 C. butter
1/2 C. granulated sugar
1 tsp. salt
3/4 C. milk
1/4 C. packed brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 beaten egg

Grease a standard 12 muffin tin. Combine 1/2 C. flour and the brown sugar in a small bowl. Cut in 2 Tbsp. butter until mixture is crumbly. Set aside. 

Mix remaining 2 C. flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; cut in remaining 6 Tbsp. butter until crumbly. Combine egg and milk in a small bowl; add all at once to the flour mixture. Stir lightly, just until liquid is absorbed. Batter will be lumpy. 

Divide batter between 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle with topping. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Serve warm after baking. They are still good the second day if reheated. 

Pecan Pie Bars

Mom found this recipe on Pinterest and asked me to bake them,  I made them just like recipe except baked them in a 10 by 15 airbake pan instead of the 13 by 9 pan the recipe called for. We liked them a lot and think that thinner is better.  It was an easy recipe and makes a big batch. 

Pepperoni Lasagne that my brother requested. I just used a recipe from AllRecipes.com but substituted 1/2 pound diced pepperoni for the ground beef

A meat loaf

Boomer, my brother's dog, wagging his tail as he was hoping to get a few bites of meatloaf. 

I also made pimento cheese to eat on celery and crackers and cooked roast beef, mashed potatoes and 2 pounds of baked carrots. 

They will be able to heat and eat all week.  I wish we lived closer so I could cook for them more often. 

On our last trip to Texas, I took photos of beautiful bluebonnets along the highway.  

This trip was not as pretty as we drove through about 100 miles of highway lined with  ice storm damaged trees. Some trees were broken down to the ground, others had hanging or fallen broken limbs and some trees were split down the middle. It is going to be a big long job to clean them up.

Vintage Christmas things

I know I downsized the amount of Christmas decorations last year and even with that smaller stash, I only used a fraction of them this year
But I do have some very favorite vintage Christmas things that I hope I always can use.

I baked a big batch of butter spritz cookies with my mom's Mirro cooky press.  She thinks she got it when I was very little,  with S&H green stamps.  That cooky press has been used a lot but it still works as good as ever.

Our elf on the shelf belonged to my husband's grandmother.  My grandson tells me that if we give that elf a name,  then he will come alive and move around at night when we are asleep.  His school classroom has an elf on a shelf named Ralph and Gavin says he is lots of fun. 
I think our vintage elf is also called a tree hugger.  But he is going to remain nameless,  there are enough messes at my house,  I don't want more mischief from an elf   :)

This green tree is decorated with Chrismon ornaments,  all hand stitched by my mom. 

the stockings are doubled up on some of the holders.  I think we have 13 stockings for ourselves and all our children but I only have 9 holders.  One thing new this year is a just sewn stocking for youngest grandson. 

our nativity set,  the brown ceramic pieces were made by a longtime family friend.
The blue ceramic piece was made by son Bobby at a Sunday School party, probably 20 years ago. 

That is all the decorating for this year.  Many of the gift are bought or made but not one a single one is wrapped. 

I am thinking I may have to look for some gift bags on sale or at the Dollar Tree, that would be simpler than wrapping, don't you think? 

Do you all wrap or bag?

My brother does stuff too

I have 2 bachelor brothers, they are both great guys but very different.
The professor brother took up wreath making several years ago and here are this years Christmas wreaths. 

this one is on our front door,  and when I took the picture, I did not have it hung up right.  The snow is supposed to be right on the top to look like snow fell on it 
If you look in the window reflection, you can see our real snow in the yard.
Ours has a little red bird on it.


He lives about an hour away and when he came to our house this week, he brought our wreath as well as 3 others.

this one,  with a pretty white cross, is for our daughters home.
oh, dear, this photograph is not turned right either, but if you read my blog much, you know photography is not my strong suit. 

Grandson Gavin admiring the wreath that is for his home
Yes, he has goggles on his head and No,  we have not been swimming.  He is fun little guy that likes to pretend.  I just noticed that behind Gavin's head,  you can see his brother Braeden's head.  Braeden is back there where the pecans are,  he likesd moving them from one bucket to another.

This one will go to my parents house- can you see the little gold and silver birds on it?

Gavin and Granddaughter Elizabeth looking at the wreaths and checking out the ones that go to their homes. 

The grands like the wreaths and they were especially happy to see their great uncle. 

down the memory lane of wreaths

2011 Christmas wreath this one had apple green trim

2010 Christmas wreath

2008 Christmas wreath

2008 Fall Wreath

2009 Easter Wreath

for me, a wreath is not just a pretty decoration.  To Christians, they are a powerful symbol of our faith.

The circle of the wreath reminds us of God Himself, His eternity and endless mercy, which has no beginning or end.  The evergreen symbolizes the hope that we have in God, the hope of newness, of renewal, of eternal life.

making the most of bananas that ripened so fast

I bought bananas Monday and they seemed a tad green in the store but by the next morning, they looked 5 days older instead of just 1.   It was a lot of bananas,  9 of them I think. 
I've been following a Pinterest tip that breaking apart the bananas makes them ripen slower,  and it was working, until this most recent bunch anyway. 
There is no way were could eat this many ripe bananas so I came up with a plan. 

Little JJ was here today, so I hung him up in the kitchen doorway while I mixed up a triple recipe of banana bread.  No, he is not really hanging- he can jump and bounce and turn around,  the jumper keeps him happy about 10 minutes or so, just long enough.....

 

 

3 loaves of baked banana bread. 
There were enough bananas to make a triple recipe of our favorite recipe.
Family Favorite Banana Bread

JJ's mom took some of the bread when she picked him up.  The rest went in the freezer to share with more family soon. 

 

I wonder how many times I have blogged about banana bread,  probably too many.  I hope you sweet readers are not too tired of seeing it.  I just think it looks so pretty in vintage bread pans.

JJ is kind of cute too. 

 

 

Mexican Rice -delicious, thrifty and easy!

I learned to make this Mexican rice more than 30 years ago. When we were first stationed at Camp Pendleton, we made friends with another Texas family, Fred and Irene. They were Mexican and grew up near San Antonio. They were both excellent cooks and fed us often. They taught us how to make tamales, chicken tacos and this Mexican rice.

This Mexican Rice is simple and made with basic ingredients. We still cook it often and always think of Fred and Irene when we do.

Ingredients

1T oil- any cooking kind is fine, I usually use canola or Olive

1 Cup rice - I use converted rice, sometimes it is Uncle Bens, I think at Sams it is called parboiled. This is long grain rice that holds its shape and does not stick together. It is not quick cooking rice

1/2 C tomato sauce -half of a small can

1 can chicken broth or 2 cups homemade broth.  (Water mixed with bouillon does not work in this recipe, the rice just doesn't cook up as good. )

1/2 of a small onion -chopped

1 t cumin

1/2 t garlic salt

A few sprinkles of red pepper and black pepper. More salt too if that is your family's taste.

First heat a skillet over high medium. Add the oil and when the oil is hot, add the rice. Stir and stir and let the rice toast and get mostly golden brown. 

Add the rest of the ingredients, the pan is hot so turn it down to about medium. The liquids will probably boil up at first, keep stirring but be careful.  Adjust your heat and stir until the rice is cooking at just a low simmer. 

Cover the pan, cook for 20 minutes, or until the rice is done and the liquid is absorbed. 

Irene told us to never stir the rice once it as at that simmer stage, I think it could make it sticky or something. But I confess that I have checked mine while cooking and stirred it, it still turned out fine. 

If you have a big covered skillet, this recipe can be doubled.

The finished rice- we had it with enchiladas this night but it is good with tacos and by itself. 

My sons and son in law, who all eat out a lot more than we do, say this rice recipe is better than any Mexican restaurant rice they have ever had. 

Hope you try it.  

Small Batch cookies in jars

Earlier this week,  I baked 2 new recipes to test and see if they would work for gift giving.  Both turned out first class!  Here are the links to the blogs that inspired me. 


See the Brownies Original recipe from Brenda at Coffee, Tea, Books and Me

See the Lemon White Chocolate Original recipe at The Frugal Girls


I halved both recipes to make Small Batch cookie mixes.  Our circle of friends are mostly empty nesters and I think they probably prefer smaller desserts over big family sized ones.  Plus,  I had a bunch of pint jars in the attic and they are the perfect size for small batches. 

For the Brownies I layered
1/2 +1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
2/3 cup flour
1/4 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
mini chocolate chips to fill the jar to the top, about 1/3 cup.
I stocked up on mini chocolate chips a few weeks ago at Aldi,  they were about $1.29 for a 12 ounce bag

The lemon white chocolate cookies are so simple
The mix is just lemon cake mix and white chocolate chips.
One cake mix divided exactly in half fills up a pint jar about 3/4 full,
then the chips go in, only about 1/4 of a bag will fit but that is plenty to make the cookies loaded.

The small batch brownies work great in a 9 inch pie pan.

A small batch of cookies makes 12 and can be baked in one baking on one sheet. 

 

I still need to make up the mixing and baking instruction tags - both need an egg,  the brownies take some melted butter and a little water. The lemon cookies need some  oil. 

Look at the first bloggers posts for all the instructions if you decide to make them. 

Both are really good and easy!

 

 

Adding some length

Both my granddaughters are tall and long-legged for their ages. Their pants tend to be too short long before they outgrow the waist size of the garments.

These size 4 jeans belong the 3 year old granddaughter. They have those elastic cinches in the waist and they are drawn up as small as they go and they fit her in the waist OK.

But length wise, they were too short.

So, I gave it a go, seeing if I could lengthen them.

Jean hems are thick and hard to sew over so first I used a seam ripper to unpick that stitching. 

Then I pressed the bottom edge flat. 

I used a 2 inch strip of brown polka dot fabric folded in half and pinned it to the hem.

I sewed it on with a straight stitch and then pressed it again. 

I added 2 rows of decorative stitching but it does not show up much. That's OK though, because the stitching finishes off all the seams even if no one can really see it.

Hopefully the 1 1/4 inch in length added will be enough that she can wear these jeans a little longer, 

At least until she wears out the knees......

Today.......

I baked 3 batches of buns, 1 batch is for us to eat at home and 2 batches will go with husband to work for a birthday dinner there.

I had some yummy tea from my friend Elizabeth in a silly Santa mug.

Mended a bath towel

Put fresh sheets on the bed and added a very warm afghan and a fuzzy blanket

Because.........

This is our weather forecast. It will be below freezing for a week!

I think I will just stay home and hibernate until it warms back up. 

How to see what is under a scratch off

I get a mailer from DressBarn every so often that includes a scratch off.

The store clerk scratches it off to reveal the discount after the shopper picks out their purchases.

This is meant to only be a helpful hint and

I hope this is not cheating, but I discovered if I shine an LED flashlight behind it, I could read the discount without scratching and voiding the coupon.

Sadly, mine is just 15% this time. I have no plans to shop their right now anyway, no matter what the discount is. But it kind of fun to know either way. 

CVS this week

I had to go to CVS to refill a prescription so I did this small deal.

Tide was 5.94 and I used a $2 coupon from yesterday's newspaper on each. 

Charmin was $9.99 and I used a big 25 cent coupon also from yesterday's paper. 

I also used a $6 ECB from last week 

So total purchase price was about $12 and I got back a $5 ECB.

I also bought some stocking stuffers while I was there, but shhh, they are a secret. 

And this CVS had a lot of interesting stuff, on a table by the front door, marked 75% off. 

CVS tip- the coupon machine is also a price scanner if you want to quickly the price of something or see it something is on sale. 

I am really enjoying our new range. It was especially nice for big Thanksgiving cooking.

Right now, I am testing out a recipe to see if it would work for some little Christmas gifts in jars. 

It's baking in the top oven. 

I'll let you know if it works.  

Nuts!

My husbands coworker, the one with a pecan grove, asked us to come out and pick up more pecans "on the halves" meaning we keep half of what we pick up and give the other half back to the owners. 

This is our haul from 2 afternoons. I helped one afternoon and son Bobby helped the other.  The owners had some fancy wire baskets that rolled along the ground that picked up the pecans with a lot less kneeling. So we did some bending and stooping but not nearly as much as we would of without those handy tools. 

I tried weighing these pecans on our bathroom scales. I am no sure exactly how much the containers weigh but my best estimate is we have about 50 pounds of pecans, just waiting to be cracked and shelled. 

I am just amazed with this bounty!

More son bragging and Thanksgiving stuff

A little more son bragging....

Youngest son Jim knew I was very busy this week and offered to take care of supper for the 10 of us at this home tonight.  He ordered take out from Olive Garden- big pans full of piping hot baked tortellini, chicken cutlets with veggies on top of angel hair pasta and lasagna. 

It was all delicious and so fun to have 3 entrees for supper instead of the usual 1 choice. 

And with all the other cooking I've done the last week, it was especially nice to have meal prepared and planned by someone else.

Sons Bob and Jim are just 14 months apart but are very different. One is really handy with tools and the other is really skilled with words.  

I am thankful for their loyality to each other and to our family and how they jump right in when something needs done or just because they want to spend time with us. 

I am one those crazy people that had to do some grocery shopping today. I went to Walmart (which was so messy but not busy at all) and Aldi. It was a little busy but not much different from any other day.  

I am thankful my shopping time was not full of aggravation like I thought it might be and also thankful it is done!

Meals are planned for the next 3 days and much of the prep work has been done already. 

I hope all of you are ready for your Thanksgiving activities and I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving-turkey day. 

Thankful for helpful sons

Warning- the bragging in this post may be too sweet

Our son Bob is a very handy guy and he is also very generous sharing his talent and working hard.

We bought a new gas double oven range as our old electric range was not working right. 

Bob came to install it and he made it look easy, even with changing out the electric service and activating the gas service. 

His little Andie had fun "helping" Mostly she pointed at the spot where the oven goes and said "uh-oh" many times until the kitchen was normal again. 

Hooking up the oven was quick. 

So Bobby suggested they go to Lowes to get new light fixtures for our garage. The old lights were buzzing and flickering. He had those fixtures installed before lunch. 

We had lunch and his sister was here. Their hot water heater broke. A plumbing company had looked at it Friday and said they would replace it on Monday. With 2 little ones in their home, that is long time with no hot water. 

Bobby said hot water heaters were easy to install so after lunch, they all went to Lowes to buy a hot water heater. 

That just took a couple hours and saved his sister hundreds of dollars.

He was back at our home by midafternoon, still looking freaks has a daisy even though he had done 3 pretty big jobs.

He then showed his knife skills by carving an apple to look like a swan. 

Oh, he hung that tv on the wall for us last year.  

This family is thankful for our Bobby- 

Thankful for a good pecan harvest

A generous coworker of my husbands brought us a bag of pecans from their yard.

They are really nice and big pecans. My husband started cracking them after supper and picked out 20 ounces in a short time.

Fresh pecans are the best, much tastier than the roasted and older ones that can be bought in bags in a grocery store. 

Thursday thrift store purchases

I went to one thrift store this morning and found a few treasures. 

3 Aunt Chicks cookies cutters - an Oklahoma company since 1948. 

Aunt Chicks

And some assorted clothes
A ColdWater Creek blouse for me, cute jeans and lace trimmes leggings for a grand daughter and some cute little boy clothes for grandsons.
I spent $10 there.

Aunt Chicks cookie cutters - my mom and grandmother all used these same style cookie cutters at Easter and Christmas. 

Thanksgiving prep Thursday and the Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

Today, I mixed up the cornbread dressing that will be served on Thanksgiving. In the South, it is called dressing, not stuffing- and it gets baked in a pan along side the turkey, not stuffed in the turkey.

In the South, dressing is made predominately of corn bread- not wheat bread.

This year, my dressing will be simple- onions and celery sautéed in butter, mixed with dried and crumbled cornbread, sage, black pepper and chicken broth. 

Like the cookies and sweet potato casserole, this pan of dressing is sealed up and in the freezer now- waiting to be thawed on Wednesday and baked on Thursday. 

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup softened butter

2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 t cinnamon

2 1/4 cups of flour

1 t each of salt, baking soda and baking powder

3 cups of oatmeal - regular and quick oats both work equally well

Cream the butter  and brown sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Then add the eggs, one at a time. 

Then add the flour, cinnamon, salt and b.s. and b.p.

Lastly, stir in the oats.  This week, I made a double batch and everything worked in my Kitchenaid mixer until I got to the oats. I had to stir them in by hand as the bowl was very full. 

I use a medium size cookie scoop to dish them out. 

Put the cookie balls onto greased or parchment lined baking sheets. 

Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven, about 12 minutes or just until they look done.