yay pie!

It’s Works for Me Wednesday and I am so struggling to come up with something useful, sometimes I just feel like I have nothing good to offer the land of blog. But this little tip may just help someone else out so I’ll pass it along.

I have the world’s thinnest finger nails, no matter how much milk I drink the little guys are just flimsy and weak. I can’t wear nail polish longer than a day or two before it starts flaking off from getting bent, and I’m constantly ripping them on things when they start to get any sort of length. I’ve grown to accept this as my fate and pretty much only concern myself with keeping my cuticles moisturized to prevent hangnails and keeping my nails from getting ripped off by clothing, zippers, doorknobs, pop cans, keycahins, etc., etc. This means I have to keep them short and tidy.

I keep a nail file in my purse, one on my nightstand, one in my car, and one by every computer I use throughout the day. That way there’s always one in reach for when a snag starts so I can file it down right there and keep it from getting worse. I also keep cuticle oil by the computer so I can moisturize as needed, which turns out great because I usually don’t have time when I’m away from a computer or I just plain forget to do it.  And if I’m sitting there thinking about a project I’m working on, I can keep my hands busy and also take care of my nails all at the same time. It’s silly, but it works for me.

Check out Rocks in My Dryer for the rest of this week’s (hopefully more insightful) Works for Me Wednesday!

Yesterday I got a new library card. I’m ashamed to admit that it’s been probably more than 5 years since I’ve been to the library, I think the last time I went I was still a senior in undergrad. At the time, I lived right down the street from the main branch of the Carnegie Library, which is part of the Carnegie museum complex and is *the* main branch in the ‘burgh. It was founded by the big steel baron himself, it’s over 100 years old and is a really darn cool building with stone staircases and creepy cave-like stacks. I love it. Once I moved out of that area, I stopped going, but I’ve been working right down the street from it for about 3 years now and just got around to getting a card. Silly, I know. Ridiculous, really. Completely absurd.

Well, in my absence they have rearranged everything and teched it all up, there’s even a coffee shop and bamboo garden (!) on the main floor, computers all over the place, and you can check out movies, music, and even video games. I was all giddy about going there on my lunch break today. I scoured my Amazon wish list and picked up far too many cook books and craft books to go through in 3 weeks. And I just had to peruse the graphic novels, because, ya know, I just can’t leave them alone.

These are going to be keepin’ me busy as long as it keeps raining outside:

• Kitchen Wisdom: Hundreds of Hints and Tips for Every Cook by Anne Sheasby
• Amy Butler’s In Stitches: More Than 25 Simple and Stylish Sewing Projects by Amy Butler
• My Life in France by Julia Child
• Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia by Jeffrey Alford
• The New Crewel: Exquisite Designs in Contemporary Embroidery by Katherine Shaughnessy
• Sock and Glove: Creating Charming Softy Friends from Cast-Off Socks and Gloves by Miyako Kanamori
• Kokoro no Te: Handmade Treasures from the Heart by Kumiko Sudo
• Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Recipes for Entertaining by Beth Hensperger
• 52 Projects: Random Acts of Everyday Creativity by Jeffrey Yamaguchi
• Stardust by Neil Gaiman
• Bone Volume 1: Out From Boneville by Jeff Smith

Eeee! I’m still giddy, even after carrying them all 5 blocks. And it was perfect weather, the one sunny day amidst a frenzy of rainy ones.

I was actually at the library yesterday to have a meeting with the youth services people about coordinating their summer reading program with one of our projects. Did you know they have an adults summer reading program too? And that the summer reading program is almost nationwide? They use the Collaborative Summer Library Program, this year the kids theme is Catch the Reading Bug and the teens theme is Metamorphosis. They gave us some of their really cute bookmarks and folders for the kids and I got all excited about registering myself for summer reading. You can even sign up if you live somewhere other than the ‘burgh, you can write book reviews and track your progress, you just can’t win the local prizes.

The details aren’t up on their site yet, but the URLs they gave me are http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/ for the kids program and http://www.carnegielibrary.org/teens/tsr/ for the teens program (official launch is June 8, so they still have last year’s program up on the site)

This week’s WFMW is a special edition, what doesn’t work for me. Oh, I could go on and on about this one, but to keep it from sounding like a whine-fest, I’ll start with one that people might actually find to be useful.

What really doesn’t work for me: Buying cheap tools to save a buck or two. I learned this the hard way more than a few times, that when you buy cheap tools to save come cash (and by tools I mean just about anything, pots and pans, shovels, scissors, toys, saws, kitchen knives, appliances, especially garden hoses, drills, cars, lawnmowers, etc.) you end up doing yourself a grave disservice. Chances are, that inexpensive tool is constructed out of very cheap materials, is poorly made and very flimsy, probably has some lead paint in it somewhere, and will break or break down so quickly you’ll be replacing it before you know it, which just ends up costing you more money. Whereas if you’d done your research by reading customer reviews and talking to people about reliable brands and materials and shelled out a few more bucks for the higher-end tool, you would have ended up with something that will last you a lifetime with minimal maintenance required and might even improve with age and be something you can pass on to your grandchildren.

I’m not saying you have to buy the expensive stuff every time, there’s some wonderful products that are very reasonably priced, but just don’t immediately go straight for the cheapest one there is. This can also apply to chocolate.

Now for some whining about what else doesn’t work for me (cue the violins):

• Febreeze. I *think* it gets rid of the original odor, but I just cannot stand the stank it leaves behind.
• Software programs that require updates just about every time you open them (ahem, iTunes, Adobe Acrobat…)
• Blogger, if you’re trying to upload to your own server via FTP. Just stopped working one day, and they clearly didn’t want to bother fixing it. Didn’t work for me so much that I bailed on blogger after 5 years with it. Now I’m quite happily with wordpress.
• Microsoft Office products auto-formatting all my text. Drives me absolutely nuts.
• Rechargeable batteries that don’t hold their charge longer than 10 minutes.
• Commuting.
• Doing the dishes. They’re endless, and I always get soapy water all over myself and the kitchen and a very achy back out of it. Solution

Don’t miss the rest of this week’s Works for Me Wednesday over at Rocks in My Dryer to fine out what everyone else learned the hard way!

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone!

I’d like to say I made Enchiladas this weekend in honor of Cinco de Mayo, but truthfully I was just really cravin’ me some homemade enchiladas. Like all last week. Which I mentioned to Teo, I think at least a few times. So being the good boy that he is, while at the store on Friday he got me all the necessary ingredients. Do I need to say I was excited?

This is possibly my absolute all-time favorite recipe in our family arsenal. In fact, it *should* be a secret recipe but I just love it so much I share it with everyone. The recipe was an invention of one of my parent’s grad school classmates and it can appeal to even the most pickiest I-don’t-eat-things-with-onions or I-don’t-like-Mexican-food (gasp! the horror!) people. I know, I’ve tested it. I think we brought these enchiladas to just about every potluck when I was growing up, and never brought home any leftovers. Which is sad really because the leftovers are almost better than the original.

I like to make these with Mexican Rice on the side, and if I’m feeling particularly festive I’ll add some black bean salad and chunky guacamole. For this weekend’s feast, I just stuck to the enchiladas and rice because it makes so much food that I’m swimming in leftovers. If you want to healthy it up, you can use whole wheat tortillas and reduce the sour cream and cheese. The Mexican Rice was a bit of an experiment, I was testing out how well Ro-tel could be used in my go-to rice recipe. Fresh off the stove it was a wee bit spicy, but it mellowed out overnight and the leftovers are just right. Also, this makes way too much food for two people, so by all means serve it with company!

Gail’s Chicken Enchiladas

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 whole chicken, cooked, skinned, boned, and cut up (I’ve used just chicken breasts and also rotisserie chickens before to save time)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 medium can black olives, sliced
• 1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese (or 1/2 cheddar, 1/2 jack, grated)
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups chicken broth (from cooking chicken)
• 12 flour tortillas (get the ones that are about the size of a salad plate if you want a lot, I can usually only fit about 6-8 of the bigger ones in my 9 x 13 dish)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 can Old El Paso enchilada sauce (the can that’s the same size as the soup can. Mild or medium, your preference, and you could probably use any other brand if you want)
• 1 pint sour cream (I only put about 1/2 to 2/3 of a pint in to make it a little less caloric)

Make the filling: Combine butter, flour, chicken, onion, olives, 1 cup of the cheese, and chicken broth. Microwave on roast for 2 minutes, or until thickened. I have no clue what the roast setting is on my microwave, I usually cook it until the butter and cheese are melted and the flour has thickened up the juice a teeny bit. You could probably also do this step on the stovetop.

That’s some mighty fine lookin’ filling, there.

Make the sauce: Combine cream of chicken soup, enchilada sauce, and sour cream in blender. Blend until smooth. Cover the bottom of 9 x 13 pan with about half of the sauce (this keeps the little guys from sticking).

Assemble: Fill each tortilla with a large spoonful of filling. You’ll have to portion it out so you can fill them all. I rarely get 12 out of it, but I also dish it up like a casserole rather than as individual enchiladas. Somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 cup per tortilla, and be careful not to fill too close to the edge or when you roll them, everything falls out. Also, the filling is very drippy so drain as much of the juice as you can off before putting it in the tortilla, I usually hold the tortilla in my left hand at a slight angle over the bowl of filling so as I put the filling in, the excess juice drains back into the bowl. By the way, if you have a dog they will follow you around the house all evening if you drizzle the remaining filling juice onto their dog food.

As you fill the tortillas, roll them up and place them seam side down in the pan. Cover tortillas with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake for 30 to 40 minutes in a 375 degree oven, or until hot and bubbly. If your cheese is threatening to burn, you can cover it with foil and finish baking.

Heaven!

The original recipe for the rice is from the Sunset Mexican Cookbook (which, by the way, has some really awesomely tasty recipes in it!). This is my easy peasy adapted version, be warned it makes a ton of rice! I also made this while camping once, such luxury.

Mexican Rice

• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 cups long-grain rice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 cans of Ro-tel (tomatoes and green chiles. I also drained them.)

Melt the butter and oil in a large stockpot. When it’s all melted, add the onions and rice and cook for a few minutes, stirring, until the rice is nicely browned.

Smells so good at this point!

Add the garlic and cook for a few more minutes, still stirring. Then add the chicken broth and Ro-tel and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and cook until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed (something like 20 minutes). I have tendency to let it go too long and then it sticks to the bottom, so don’t wander off while it’s cooking. For a nice finishing touch, you can stir in some fresh cilantro into the rice before serving. Fantastic leftover and it doesn’t really dry out the way other leftover rice does.

The verdict:

If I was on death row, this would be the meal I would request for my last one. With some chunky guacamole on the side, of course. And a Corona. Delicious!

We drink a lot of coffee in our house. I think we probably brew around 4 pots a day depending on whether or not Teo is on a tea kick. We’re also not terribly snobby about our coffee, the regular ol’ Mr. Coffee drip stuff will work just fine (though I do love me a nice cappuccino every once in a while). So in order to make our coffee grounds last longer and not have to call in our very own Columbian donkey to maintain a steady supply, we will reuse coffee grounds throughout the day. Every time we want to brew a fresh pot, we just add one fresh scoop to the damp grounds already in the filter and brew away. Tastes just as coffee-ish and doesn’t go through the supply nearly as quickly.

Now, if you brew your coffee so that it kicks you in the pants, this might be too weak for your tastes, but you could probably still stretch it by adding a few fresh scoops instead of just one. This also works with tea. In fact, you can brew tea leaves up to 6 times before they run out of juice, which is really awesome if you have a penchant for very expensive Oolong or White tea (ahem).

Now, if you’re wondering what to do with those coffee grounds once you’re done stretching them for the day, here’s a couple of ideas:

• toss them, filter and all, on the compost heap to increase nitrogen balance
• make a nice hand scrub out of them
• dilute with water for a gentle, fast-acting liquid fertilizer
• mix in with houseplant soil or plant beds
• sprinkle a ring of coffee grounds and eggshells around plants to repel pests
• dry them out on a cookie sheet and put them in a bowl in your refrigerator or freezer to get rid of smells
• use them to scour greasy and grimy stain-resistant objects
• follow up dog shampoo with a coffee rub down to repel fleas

For more of this week’s Works For Me Wednesday, pop on over to Rocks in My Dryer!

I am a leftovers rockstar.

On a normal day, Teo won’t go near leftovers, his years in food service have scarred him for life when it comes to any food cooled down past cooking temperature. Which usually means “w00t! more for me!” but can also mean “I can’t believe I’m tossing another tub of week-old gravy” and “Goodness gracious, how old is that?” or even worse “Oh, I really shouldn’t have eaten that…” Not this week, friends, this week I am a genius.

We made a pork roast on Saturday (with mashed potatoes and corn, *divine*) and ended up with an abundance of delicious sweet/smoky leftover gravy, as per usual. Last night I was mulling over in my noggin what I could do with the hamburger meat designated for dinner using just what I had on hand when I had an epiphany. Gravy + meat + all kinds of veggies + mashed potatoes = one wicked awesome Shepherd’s Pie. I even used up the last of the mushrooms that were on the verge of going mushy and a whole bag of frozen mixed veggies that had been camped out in the freezer.

Teo’s curiosity got the better of him while I was getting started, and soon enough I had my very own kitchen helper, one who had never even heard of Shepherd’s Pie (whaaaa??). His only comment was “Did shepherds really have mashed potatoes?” Ummmm, I dunno?  And even though it was a pork roast gravy (made from tomato sauce, soy sauce, sugar, and mustard powder), it tasted fantastic with the hamburger and the meal was a huge success! Even the dogs couldn’t get enough. And I managed to use up all kinds of ingredients before they had a chance to spoil, which is a problem ’round here…

(Sorry, no pictures, maybe next time?)

And in other news (I start way too many sentences with And, like you’re not supposed to…), look what I found in the latest box o’ junk my mom sent me!

I started this quilt top the summer before my senior year in undergrad, something like 2002? I had intended to finish it before going back to school but I got so incredibly frustrated at how the corners weren’t matching up nicely that I ended up bailing on it. Well my mom packed it all up with all the remaining (already cut) pieces and leftover fabric, as well as the book that the pattern came from. And lo and behold, she put a note on the book saying that this author’s patterns tend to be a little bit off and she usually has to fix them before cutting her pieces.

Hrumph. Now she tells me.

I think I’m going to try and fix the remaining pieces and finish the quilt. But I’m going to keep the wonky section with the unmatched corners because now it’s like a little bit of my own personal history, and while it makes me cringe (such as perfectionist), it also makes me smile. And I’ve had so much more sewing practice since then that I think I can manhandle it into working out nicely.

Gah, just look at those silly corners…

Here’s a super easy, super delicious way to start a weekend, and it’s one of Martha’s favorite recipes. No, not Martha Stewart, Martha Washington. As in, the original first lady, married to George, founding father of our country. Yea, that Martha.

It must have been terribly romantic for the widowed 27-year-old Martha to be wooed by the dashing young soldier George (also 27) for a grand total of 3 weeks before he proposed marriage. The guy was clearly not one for hesitating, though there were rumors that he was in fact in love with the wife of one of his friends at the time, and Martha was a very wealthy widow. Be that as it may, they had a prosperous and happy marriage and together raised Martha’s two surviving children from her first marriage. Martha even accompanied George to the battlefield and helped keep the soldiers’ morale up during the infamous winter at Valley Forge. This recipe was Martha’s favorite, I can just see her making massive batches of this Cherry Bread and Butter pudding for all the homesick soldier boys.

Contrary to popular belief, that whole story about George chopping down the cherry tree (maybe to make the cherry preserves for this pudding?) is a total fabrication. However, George Washington did in fact have only one tooth remaining by the time he became president (he was 57), so I’m sure Martha made this soft, custardy pudding for him all the time so he could just gum it without having to pop in those false teeth.

This recipe comes from The President’s Cookbook by Poppy Cannon and Patricia Brooks, and the instructions can be kind of vague. The recipe is for a 10 x 13 pan (I’m pretty sure), I cut down on it to fit in my smaller dish.

Martha Washington’s Cherry Bread and Butter Pudding

• 12 slices bread
• 6 tablespoons butter (soften it a little to make it easy to spread)
• 1/2 cup cherry preserves
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3 cups milk
• 4 eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar

Butter slices of bread very thick (I buttered both sides of the bread and so had a thinner coverage). Put a layer of buttered bread on the bottom of a baking dish, then put a layer of cherry preserves on top of it. Add nutmeg and lemon peel. Continue making alternate layers until dish is filled (something like 3 or 4 layers, so be sure to portion out your ingredients accordingly). I chose to end on a bread layer to get a nice, crusty top. Combine milk, eggs (slightly beaten), and sugar. Pour over bread. Bake 1 hour at 325 degrees. Best served warm.

The verdict:

Very delicious, and very easy to eat too much in one sitting! Since the instructions don’t go in to much detail, I had to improvise in some places but I’m sure it’d be good no matter how you make it, and it’s ridiculously easy in concept. I made it using strawberry preserves since that’s what I had on hand, but you could try any kind you like. Apricot and raspberry sound very intriguing. And err on the light side with the nutmeg, its flavor comes through very strongly.

I think it would be a great dish to make with kids, they can help butter the bread and add the preserves. Be warned though that it uses up an entire loaf of bread, but I bet it’s fantastic with homemade bread as well. Which reminds me, I’ve got a few more kickin’ colonial recipes to share with you (once I make them and can take pictures), so keep your tri-corner hats and your powdered wigs on!

For WFMW this week, I’m going to reiterate my Earth Day post since bein’ green really does work for me! A lot of the time, doing things to help the environment in turn helps you save money and be healthier, so why not??

I hope all you cats out there celebrated your Earth Day!

For me this year Earth Day is particularly interesting because of how it’s suddenly become so hip to be green, I just can’t wait to see how people go above and beyond the usual plant-a-tree and pick-up-trash courtesy nods Earth Day usually gets. In my ideal world (or in amesality) I would have unplugged for the entire day, no electronics, no driving anywhere, no electricity even, just me and the earth, hangin’ out. Unfortunately I have a big meeting at work so unplugging, not an option. And it’s primary voting day in PA so not going anywhere, also not an option.

But why limit yourself to just one day? What about making it Earth Year instead, or even Earth Lifetime? Strive every day to consciously do something to help out the Earth, like:

• forgo extraneous trips to the store for just one item
• don’t purchase another landfill-fodder product that you don’t really *need*
• create something unique and beautiful out of what others would consider trash
• plant something
• recycle something
• bring that reusable bag to every store, not just the grocery store
• compost
• choose organic and local
• choose products with minimal, recyclable, recycled packaging
• choose products that are made from recycled materials
• choose products made from sustainable materials

Once a week, go for something a little bit bigger, like:

• start a vermicomposting bin
• subscribe to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)
• use your local library or paperbackswap instead of buying new books
• swap your CDs, DVDs, games and books with other people instead of buying
• learn to sew and knit
• donate your old shoes
• plant a tree for every book you read
• put an end to all your junk mail
• be green when you clean
• recycle your jeans
• take your packing foam to the ups store to recycle it
• have any old pairs of spectacles? recycle them!
• help bees researchers by joining the great sunflower project

On top of that, once a month do something really big, something that involves other people, like:

• a group tree-planting party
• community clean-up day
• let’s all take our scrap metal down to the recyclers day (cha-ching!)
• gather up all the techno trash day
• trade in all your equipment or drop it off for recycling day at Costco

If everyone did just one thing, every day, imagine the impact we could have! Don’t know how to get started? Use the amazing resource that’s already right at your fingertips, there’s a wealth of information on the web about how you can make your lives greener and help Earth. Here’s just a few:

• Treehugger - tons of information for how to green your life. Check it out, even tips on how to green up your sex life! Ooh, baby.
• Earth911 - locate a recycling center near you for just about everything. Did you know you can recycle drywall?
• Eat Local Challenge - explores the benefits of eating food grown locally

Don’t forget to swing by Rocks in My Dryer for the rest of this week’s Works For Me Wednesday!

It seems like now is the time to get preggers at my workplace, we just had a baby shower for one of my co-workers who is due in May, and we have two more due in August and in November. It’s baby mania!

But I’m not complaining because it gives me an excuse to make snuggly flannel baby quilts for everyone.

This was actually my first baby quilt (but apparently not going to be my last!) and I really enjoyed making it. I found the flannel top to be a breeze to piece together and since I didn’t put any batting in it, I just used some strategically placed ties to hold the fuzzy back and flannel front together (referencing this tutorial at Happythings).

Mmmmmm, snuggly…

The selection of flannel at the fabric store was the only disappointment. I wanted to make sure the colors were gender neutral since they still aren’t 100% sure what the baby will be (she’s thinking it’s a girl, and if it is she will name her Elise, which I just *love*). Given that constraint, I could only find these two prints. For the next quilts I’m going to order the fabric online to get a wider variety.

And of course, no gift is complete without a little critter to accompany it, or two! Meet Pip and Pop, made using My Little Mochi’s adorable Chibi Bunny Pattern. And I didn’t even know the baby shower was bunny-themed, how fortuitous!

I made one for the pup too, she carries it around with her everywhere she goes. It’s quite dirty now, but still cute.

Just a few more months before there’s babies everywhere…

All my freelance work has finally been wrapping up and easing up on me, a weight has definitely been lifted. I feel better, less stressed and more happy, and I finally can take more than just one measly day a week to catch up on me things, like some craft projects that have been lurking in the back of my mind (and on my to do list).

Meet Ribbit and Philomena. Ribbit was aptly named by the munchkin and he spent last weekend being driven around on the back of a Harley big wheel. I think he had a grand old time. Philomena is much too ladylike for such things as motorcycles, she spends her days lounging around on top of my computer monitor.

The froggy pattern comes from The Purl Bee and since I didn’t have any lentils or sand, I ended up stuffing them with flax seeds. They feel very nice.

I also made a new ironing board cover with this awesome hippo fabric from IKEA. I used a very thorough tutorial from U-handbag to adapt the old manky cover to this new fabulous one. Looks lovely in the fluorescent lighting in my basement, doesn’t it? See that green wall? Teo hung that wall just a few weeks ago. He also acquired a lovely large berber carpet fragment for only $40 to go in my workout/cutting room corner so my basement’s already starting to feel like a hang-out space rather than a storage space.

There’s more to come, so don’t wander too far!