Fall Yumminess!

Fall is coming, and although I'm a summer person through and through, I do prefer fall and winter food.  I looove stews and casseroles, and my crockpot recipes!  I love walking into the house when dinner is cooking, warming up the kitchen and steaming up the windows - wait, that's Big A, but anyway, back to food...

I thought I'd share a couple of my favorite fall recipes, which I plan on making this week.  Let me know what you think.

SEAFOOD LASAGNA
SERVES 8

• 1 (8 ounce) box no-boil lasagna noodles


• 4 tablespoons butter


• 4 garlic cloves, minced


• 5 tablespoons flour


• 4 cups half and half (could use fat free)


• 1 1/2 cups shredded parmesan cheese


• 2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, DIVIDED


• 1/2 teaspoon dill


• 1 (15 ounce) carton part-skim ricotta cheese


• 1 egg, beaten


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1/3 cup chopped scallion, reserve dark green tops


• 1 (10 ounce) box chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry


• 16 ounces crayfish, thawed if frozen


• 8 ounces bay scallops, thawed if frozen

Directions:

1. 
   
   Preheat oven to 350.


2. 
   
   In a saucepan, melt butter and add garlic, and saute for a minute, but don't let it brown.


3. 
   
   Stir in flour and cook until smooth.


4. 
   
   Gradually whisk in the milk until smooth.


5. 
   
   Stir in the parmesan cheese and 1 CUP of the mozzarella. Add dill. Stir until melted, smooth and thickened. SET ASIDE 1 CUP OF THIS SAUCE TO POUR OVER TOP OF FINISHED LASAGNA.


6. 
   
   In a small bowl, beat together ricotta, egg, salt, scallion and spinach.


7. 
   
   In a separate small bowl, toss together the crayfish and scallops.


8. 
   
   Spread a thin layer of the cheese sauce on the bottom of the lasagna pan.


9. 
   
   Place 3 lasagna noodles across the bottom.


10. 
    
    Spread 1/3 of the ricotta/spinach mixture over noodles.


11. 
    
    Sprinkle 1/3 of the crayfish/scallop combo over top.


12. 
    
    Spread 1/3 cheese sauce over that.


13. 
    
    Repeat these layers two more times.


14. 
    
    End with the last 3 lasagna noodles.


15. 
    
    Evenly top with the reserved 1 cup of cheese sauce and the remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.


16. 
    
    Sprinkle chopped dark green parts of scallions over top; if desired.


17. 
    
    Cover with non-stick foil and bake for 45 minutes.


18. 
    
    Uncover and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes.


19. 
    
    Remove from oven and let rest for at least 20 minutes before cutting to serve.

This is RICH.  I would serve with salad.  Big A would serve it with garlic bread. ;-)

KOREAN SHORT RIBS (CROCKPOT)
SERVES 6

• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce


• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar


• 2 tablespoons sesame oil


• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar


• 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger


• 4 garlic cloves, crushed


• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes


• 5 lbs beef short ribs or 5 lbs pork ribs


• 3 tablespoons cornstarch


• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots


• 3 scallions, thrimmed and thinly sliced


• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds


• 3 cups cooked white rice

Directions:

1. 
   
   Blend soy sauce, sugar, oil, vinegar, ginger, garlic and red pepper in bowl.


2. 
   
   Place ribs in 5 quart slow cooker, add sauce. Cover, cook on High for 6 hours or Low for 9 hours, until meat is tender.


3. 
   
   Transfer ribs to a platter. Skim and discard excess fat from liquid. Combine cornstarch and 3 tablespoons water; blend with liquid in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook for 2 minutes, stirring, until thickened. Stir in carrots. Top ribs with sauce, scallions and sesame seeds.


4. 
   
   Serve over rice.

Love this recipe and so do the kids.  Let me know if you try it!

 

 

Sew not sewing!

I'm back on the curtain "making" kick again.  In the summer months it's been nice having sheers covering our windows, and it hasn't bothered me much that the sheers are pretty plain.  But I guess it's time to admit that fall is just around the corner, and I really want to get some window treatments done.  Especially with the shorter days, that mean longer periods of darkness when all the loonies and zombies will be lurking in my bushes trying to peer in!   (Only joking, I'm not paranoid!)

Anyway, although I plan to embellish and use the plain sheers, there are a few windows that need the full window treatment.  As per usual, I can't fathom spending a ton of money at the moment, so I will be making curtains.  Well, sorta, I don't even own a sewing machine.  And even if I did, probably the only thing that I'd end up sewing would be my fingers.  And that just sounds painful.

SO, the secret weapon:



So head out to wherever you shop for fabric, such as Wally World, or JoAnne Fabrics, etc, and get yourself some fabric and some fabric tape!  Or use what you have, like a tapestry, or a beautiful throw, etc...

You need: Scissors, Iron, Fabric Tape, Measuring Tape, Fabric, Curtain Rod, (and maybe) Curtain Hanging Clips

1.  Measure

For one curtain panel, measure your windows and cut a piece of fabric that is the width of the window plus 4 inches and the length of your curtains plus about 10 inches. Remember to measure from where your curtain rod is fixed when measuring the length you need.  Obviously, most people use two panels per window. You may want two, or maybe you like the look of just one.

2. "Sew" the sides

Check the instructions on your iron for the heat setting for the fabric you're using.  Fold in the two sides of the curtains by one inch (towards the wrong side of the fabric) and press with your iron, and then fold in another inch on the other side, and press again. Make sure the seams are straight then, following the instructions on the fabric tape, use the tape to fix the seams in place.

3. Create the Top of the Curtain

If you're using just the curtain rod, the seam at the top needs to be an channel to thread the curtain rod or pole through. If the diameter of the curtain rod is one inch make about a three inch "channel". Do this by folding the top of the curtain under one inch and pressing using the fabric tape to fix this neat edge and then creating the three inch channel by folding in a  further 3 inches on the wrong side of the curtain and fixing the fabric tape along the lowest edge of the seam.  OR, make it even easier on yourself, and just omit making the channel, because you'll be hanging your panel with curtain clips.

4. Hang the Curtains

Hang the curtain on the rod, OR by the curtain clips, and mark the right level for the bottom of the curtains.

5. Finish Off the Curtains

Trim the bottom of the curtain if necessary. (I like the curtain to "pool" a little on the floor, so I leave it a couple of inches too long.)  Create the bottom seam by folding in one inch to neaten the edge and fixing this with the iron on fabric tape then fold in the remaining excess fabric and iron with the tape.

Voila!

Even easier curtain: for my kitchen window, I'm hanging tea towels with curtain clips, for a no-sew window cover.

Like these, from West Coast Crafty:



Or like this:



Both are sweet.  Anyone else got some cool window treatments that don't involve me losing a fingernail???

Unfinished Business

May I direct your attention to the new page I finally added to my website?  Blogs I Love.  I've been meaning to do this forever, and Hooray!  I've done it!

Please let me know if you read a blog that I really should be checking out.  As you may know, I have approximately 374 unfinished projects in the works, and I'm trying to get to an even 5000, so the more blogs I read, the more projects I can add to my to-do list.

Speaking of my To Do List, this is #18:

There’s a hole in my bedroom wall  that has a wire coming out of it.  I’m pretty sure that my husband wants to do something important with this wire – find out what that is



We've lived here almost a year, and I just now asked Big A what that was - and he told me it's going to be a switch to turn on outdoor lights.  So, now I know.  And so do you.

531 words about Not Much

I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to write about, because, frankly, for the last few weeks days it's been all about spending time with the kids cuz they're back to school soon.  Instead of me getting some work done at home, we've been here:

[caption id="attachment_434" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Owasco Lake, NY[/caption]

 

I haven't accomplished much at all around the house, and don't have any pictures of finished DIY projects.  The good thing is, I'm aware of my faults, and I admit I have the unfortunate personality trait of starting one thing, getting distracted, moving on, starting another, etc.  So, although we haven't even been home much, being true to myself, I've made several starts on some DIY this week.

I'm going to show you, because: a.) I feel guilty, and want to come clean, and b.) I think I'm secretly hoping someone will pay for me to go to counselling.  There's probably a fancy word for what I have, like, "Distractivitis Flutterbrain". 

Anyway, without further ado, here's what I'm working on (or NOT as the case may be!) :





The picnic table is new, and I (we) did manage to stain it, as well as spray paint the wrought iron set.  However, I still have yet to do anything else with them with regards to decorating them.  I gave a half hearted browse around a dollar store for some outdoor tablecloths and/or outdoor vases etc.  However, that's as far as I got.



The above is a picture of a small corner of the garden.  You know, if you think about it, when that grass gets high enough, you won't even know it's not meant to be there.  Right!?   Okay, well, maybe that doesn't make sense.  Yes, I said Big A had helped weed, and we got quite a bit done.  However, we didn't finish, and now the weeds are baaaack.  The garden weasel was brooooken.  And we didn't buy any muuuulch.  SO, there's thaaaat.

Oh, and this is a goody (above)!  These are kitchen towels, that I found at the dollar store.  See, I got something done that day!  I want to make outdoor cushions for the tables, using the towels.  However, I forgot to get fabric glue, and the towels now sit on my kitchen counter.  (I'm sure the kids have been wiping their hands on them.  The nerve!!!)

A big favorite of Big A's!  I'm saving toilet paper rolls.  I keep trying to explain to him that there are tons of toilet paper tube art ideas out there!  He won't even google it!  Men!

 

Below is one of the kitchen chairs.  Budget permitting we are buying a high top kitchen table to replace my current table and chairs.  However, so far the budget isn't budging, and I have to put up with embrace the current set up.  I have the plastic sheeting set up in the back yard, but as yet, no one's spotted me out there painting.

So, as you can see, I'm very busy at beginning lots of things, but completing nothing.  However, I like to look on the bright side - at least I'll have LOTS to write about when the kids go back to school!

Say hello to my little friend

Yes I'm referencing "Scarface" in my title with Dawn Dish Liquid.  Cuz I can.

This is going to be a quick note to tell you how excited I am about my new tub and shower cleaner!  (Little things make me happy.)  I got this "recipe" from food.com, and it works!

Shower Cleaner Recipe:

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup blue dawn dish liquid

Heat the cup of vinegar in the microwave for 2 minutes.  While warm, add the cup of Dawn and mix.  Pour into a spray bottle (I just used an empty Windex bottle).

Spray all over shower or tub and let sit for an hour.  Wipe clean.  You won't believe how sparkly and clean your shower will be!  Seriously.  :-)

 

One more thing done

After 4 months of talking about it, working on it, generally ignoring it, and not doing it...

I've finally DONE IT !!!

(And by "I've", I mean "we've".)  The red wrought iron patio set, is finally back to black.



Sure, we still need to pimp our table, and we don't have a patio to put it on yet, but I'm happy to have this crossed off of the "To Do List".

And I learned something along the way:  Do not spray paint in the wind. 

Hangin' Around

Well, this morning I had high hopes of getting into the garden and doing some more weeding.  Yes, I'm still weeding the garden.  It was overgrown with weeds and grass ever since we went away for a couple of weeks and deserted all of our new gorgeous plants.  I did weed some, but then the garden weasel broke!   So, Big A did some weeding for me, cuz I was very busy cleaning something...  You know, so busy, you can't possibly weed.

So today was my day to get moving in the garden.  Big A even bought me a new garden weasel!  (I just love saying "garden weasel").  So,after my coffee, I looked out the back door with great ambition:  Woohoo!  Weeding!  But, whoa!  Rain?  I can't weed in the rain!  Thank God it's raining!  Oh, darn, it's raining!   Guess I'll have to find something else to do...

So, here I am thinking about what I can accomplish now that it's raining.  Although I have an excuse not to weed, I do have to find something to do.  Even the little one is bored:

(Sorry for grainy cell phone picture.)

So in looking around the house, rather aimlessly, there are lots of things to be done, but one in particular has been bothering me - the cluster of family pix I put up at the bottom of the stairs. 

It does look better than nothing hanging there, however, as you can see I just tossed them up.  It looks sad and very unorganized. To top it off, I need more photos (which I have, but am "storing" under my dresser).  My first thought is that I need to paint all of the frames the same color.  For example, I like the following arrangement with the stencil:



And, I've been pondering making wood veneer flowers to place on the wall in between some of the pix.

Like this (from Jennifer Adams):



But I'm going to have to give this all some more thought.  What do you think?  Any ideas for grouping pictures?  Have you seen an idea combining family pictures with stencils or crafts?

 

Garden phobia

Staying with the garden "theme" that I have going at the moment, I was thinking about why, no matter how hard I try to like it, I dislike gardening.  I dislike yard work.  And it's not because I'm lazy. (I swear!)

When I was growing up, we had a few decent sized gardens, for both flowers and vegetables.  Strike that, my PARENTS had gardens.  We were encouraged to help in the gardens - pull a few weeds, eat a few peas...  You would think that those memories would evoke a certain amount of appreciation for gardening.  But I all I can remember are these few incidents:

1.  The tomato plants.  I loooove tomatoes.  They're delicious right out of the garden.  My mom used to slice them for us, and we'd eat them with a little sprinkle of salt.  However, one morning, someone else took a liking to fresh tomato, this guy:



A tomato horn worm!  And all of his brothers and sisters.  Nothing turns you off tomatoes faster than having to de-horn-worm tomato plants!

2.  Digging in the garden with a hand trowel.  There's no getting around having to dig around the plants in the garden (either to weed, or dig up potatoes, etc.).  I don't have a problem with that, I guess.  What I do have a problem with is this:  no matter how careful you are, you will cut a worm in half.  And both halves still move.  If that's not disturbing to a 10 year old girl, I don't know what is.  And, it's scarred me for life.

3.  Mowing/raking grass.  Now this story is fuzzy.  Either I blacked out right then and there and lost some of the details, or I later blanked some of the details from my mind, so that I could live a fairly normal life.  I was working in the front yard, and I'm pretty sure I was raking the grass cuttings, and I think I was in bare feet.  Either way, here's what I'm getting at:  I. STEPPED. ON. A. BABY. BIRD.  And it "popped".  Horrifying!

And, that's why I don't believe I'm lazy.  I believe that I was traumatized in the garden as a child, and now it takes sheer determination for me to garden at all!

Today, in an effort to feel better about myself, and my obvious gardening phobia, I looked up "gardening horror stories" and "stupid gardening mistakes"...  This story from another sight made me laugh, and cheered me up, so I thought I'd share it with you!

A tale of turnips, from www.gardenweb.com (IE. this is not my story):

My MIL had a big, beautiful garden on the side of a hill, and as her family was getting smaller, she offered me all the space I wanted. I planted a lot of vegetables, but the mistake I made was that I planted the whole packet of turnip (rutabaga) seeds. I had a row of turnip 50 feet long. I had the nicest crop of turnip you could imagine. There was only my husband and myself to eat them, but I know lots of people that like them, I could give some away.

When it came time to harvest them, I worked my heart out. I'd cut off the root and leaves, and fill the wheelbarrow, trot the wheelbarrow down the row and pile the turnips on the grass. I worked for hours!

Finally, I was done, I took the knife into the house and washed it off, and went back out to the garden to admire my turnips. I had a pile of turnips as tall as I am. I was almost up to this great pile when a few turnips at the bottom of the pile moved, the whole lot of them started rolling down the hill. I was chasing after them, I'd gather a few in my arms and when I'd reach for another the ones in my arms would get away and continue down the hill. I must have made quite a sight, because my brother-in-law was laughing at me. "You'd better catch them," he called, "They're going to wipe out the neighbor's house"!

 Now, that's funny! 

Got any gardening horror stories?

Shoulda Used Mulch

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I kinda dropped the ball, and left my new garden nekkid, while I took off for two weeks.  I came home to a garden filled with full grown weeds, some larger than my actual plants.  So without further ado, I'm off to finally buy some mulch!  Apparently the number one way to keep the weeds at bay, is to use mulch!

Not to mention, mulching flower and vegetable gardens will not only greatly reduce the amount of time spent on your knees weeding, it also helps with watering and fighting pests. Mulch also looks nice, and it keeps dirt from splashing up on your flowers and vegetables when it rains.

I am going for the wood chip type mulch, but there are all kinds of things you can choose.  Oyster shells, stone, newspaper, leaves....  The organic mulches are made out of a material that used to be living, such as bark, straw, leaves, grass clippings and pine needles. These mulches add nutrients to the soil as they decompose and also encourage earthworm activity.  (He he.  "Earthworm activity".  What is that, like, do worms have summer camps where they have "activity day", making little potholders for their moms?)

Anyway, if your buying wood mulch it can be pretty overwhelming trying to figure out how much to buy!  Mulch is usually sold by the cubic yard, and if you're anything like me, you'll stand there, starting at the pile of mulch bags, lost and confused deep in thought...

 

Save yourself the stress, because here’s the easiest way to figure it out:

 

1. First, find out the area you want to cover in square feet. In other words, multiply the length of your garden by the width.

 

2. Next, decide how deep you want your mulch to be, in inches. A couple of inches is usually sufficient.  More is not necessarily better.

 

3. Now multiply the size of your garden in square feet (#1) by the depth of your mulch in inches (#2).

 

4. Divide the number you get in #3 by 324. This is the number of cubic yards of mulch you will need to cover your garden.

So, there you have it.  Mulch 101. 

 

We're baaaaack!

Hello there!  We're home, having had an awesome camping trip!  It was a wonderful couple of weeks, but it's great to be back!

However, I have a confession.  While we were away, I didn't use the right protection, or take the proper precautions, and now I have... WEEDS.  Nope, we didn't put mulch down after we planted our garden (waiting for a sale, or to win the lottery or something), and now the garden looks more like a field.

Lucky for me, Big A bought me a "Garden Weasel" a while back!  So, while I weasel in the garden, I will think about how I can at least help you not end up in a similar unfortunate predicament.