Recipe

Found another great recipe. No picture, so you'll have to use your imagination as to how it looks. I look forward to making this one. Our family loves their broccoli. Now to find some good recipes containing Brussel sprouts.

Broccoli Stuffed Potatoes

3 large baking potatoes
3 stalks broccoli
salt & pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 tablespoons whole milk or Daisy sour cream
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese or Gruyere

1. Scrub the potatoes and make shallow cuts around their middles to make it easier to cut them in half after baking. Bake the potatoes at 400 degrees until soft, usually 1 hour, depending on size of potatoes.
2. Meanwhile, cut the ends from the stalks of broccoli and peel some of the outer skin off to make the stems more edible. Steam the broccoli until crunchy-tender and bright green. 3. Drain and chop fine.
4. Cut potatoes in half and scoop out the insides into a bowl. Add the salt, olive oil and just enough milk and sour cream to allow you to mash the potatoes into a smooth paste. Add the cheese and the chopped broccoli and mix well.

5. Pile the mixture back into the potato shells, arrange on a baking dish and heat them to desired temperature.

Recipes

I'm always looking for simple and easy recipes to make for guests. With Easter coming up in a few weeks, it's time for me to get my dinner thought about. My family all gets together and everyone brings something, my sister was asked to make green bean casserole. I'm thinking, "Let's make this instead." Lets hope she's good with it too.

Green Beans With Caramelized Onion Vinaigrette This recipe serves 8 Hands-On Time: 0h15m Total Time: 0h40m Ingredients 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 large yellow onion, finely diced 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 cup sherry vinegar 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 2 pounds green beans, trimmed 2 teaspoons grated orange zest Directions In a large skillet, over medium heat, heat the butter and 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the onion, sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes. Add the vinegar. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the remaining oil, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper. Transfer half the mixture to a blender and puree, then return to skillet. Meanwhile, cook the green beans with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt in boiling water until tender, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl of ice water. Drain and pat dry. Transfer to a serving bowl, toss with the onion mixture, and sprinkle with the zest.

Charming Handbag

Here is the Charming Handbag I've made up for my Bend The Rules Sewing Swap Partner. I hope she will like it. I just have to get to the store and find just the right fat quarters for her.

Here is the whole package I sent to my partner. I do hope she like it all.

Weekend Fun

Here is my nephew Riley Jay. He is now 2 wks old and almost 10 lbs. He's soo cute and cuddly. It makes me wish my girls were this tiny again. He's going to be a tall one, that's for sure. His parents both stand over 6' tall. His older sister, Kayci, who is 6, is taller than all the kids in her class.


We had a blast at my brother's house on Saturday. He works and lives on a farm, so the kids are always excited to go down there. In fact one of the cows was having a baby while we were there. Sorry no pics, I've seen it so many times that I don't need pics of this.

Paper Swap Goodies

Here is what I sent out to my Paper Swap. I found this swap too late and at the beginning of last week received an email that one of the swappers was unable to send. Along comes me. I didn't have much time to really look for some good things, so I hope my swap partner likes all this.

Rufflebutts Giveaway

Go over and sign up at Fabulous Finds for a gorgeous ruffed diaper cover giveaway.

clipped from fabulousfunfinds.blogspot.com Rufflebutts Giveaway

Guess Who's Buying a New Truck!

We finally found our new truck! Well new for us. We have been searching now for over 2 months looking for that perfect truck. We've gone out a few times a week looking at different dealerships and used car dealers. Greg has looked continuously online for months. This one we found online last night at a local dealership. They had just received it in as a trade in, the picture wasn't even up yet on their website. I told Greg that if he was truly interested we could go last night to take a look. He of course procrastinated for 10-20 minutes. We went, we looked, he drove it, we bought it. Finally, now I wont have to hear him complain "We need a truck" Now he will have no excuse to get the things done around the house I want him to do. We are remodeling our office to a different degree and need to extend our current desk, which was just made out of 3/4" plywood. He couldn't finish this project because we didn't have a truck to go get the rest of the plywood. NO excuses now! Yeah.

Happy Traveling

Snuggi

I purchased Amy Butler's Little Stiches a few weeks ago. Mainly for a few patterns, and this is one of them. I plan on putting in two more spots for the ties to go through. He is a big/long guy, so I want them to be able to utilize this for some time. And yes that is a purple/pink stuffed animal in the first picture. I couldn't find any of my daughter's baby dolls.

This is for my new nephew, Riley Jay, who was born March 11th weighing in at 9lbs 3oz and was 21.5 inches long.
I have the ones my brother sent from the hospital, but I will wait till Saturday to post. I know how my sil is about her pictures.

How to stay organized?

With all the swaps I've been doing, how do I stay organized? I wish I new. Right now I have a little notebook that fits in my purse. I write down the swap and when it is due (to be mailed). I also write down my swap partner if I know it and what colors and size they like/are. Also what material/items I may need to purchase for the swap. For example, for the Fiesta Swap I wrote down when it was due, who I am mailing it to, what colors she likes, what type of apron she would like, and what materials I would need to find to make the apron - yrds of fabric, buttons, rick rack, ect.
When I have found something on the list I check it off. When I have completed it I draw a line through the page. I have finished the Fiesta Apron, it's now waiting to be washed and pressed.

I don't really like the way I'm doing it right now, creative juices just aren't flowing in the organization department right now. If you have any suggestions please comment. I'm open to all suggestions. My only thing is I need to be able to carry it in my purse. I have to have it when I shop or go to post office.

Charming Handbag

This is my first attempt at making the Charming Handbag from Bend the Rules Sewing. I have to make one for my swap partner and thought I should try it out first. It was simple to make, yet somehow I think I messed up the dimensions. The book said to copy the patten and enlarge to 129%. Well I couldn't get my stinken printer to work correctly so I just took the measurements from the drawing in the book and doubled. I think I need to try and get my printer to work correctly. I don't believe it is supposed to be so large. I might have to change the handles on this one, only because they just don't look right with such a large bag. I will try again today with the pattern, so hopefully I can get my swap complete this week.

First Signs of Spring

First sign of spring here in the northeast. I can't for the rest of my flowers to bloom. I also can't wait to be able to plant my garden. I think I'll be taking up canning this year. My husband doesn't want to get a bigger freezer, but I would rather freeze than can. I would have to purchase too much for canning. We'll see what happens.

What have I been doing?

Wow! It's been awhile since I posted anything. My goal for this year was to update at least once a week. Been busy here with this and that lately. But I do have projects I've completed.
I've joined the Swap-Bot community. I've finished my first swaps already. Well I've finished mine and sent them out. I've only received 1 so far, but the deadline isn't here yet. Here's a few pics.

This one is for a Scavenger hunt. I had to include something from each of the following categories: Something with light blue/ robin egg blue, Some type of ribbon/ trim, Some type of sewing tool, Something on a spool, Something at least half a yard

My next one was a 9 Batch Quilt that had to be 10.5. I had 2 partners and had to make 2 for each. Some people requested specific colors, I just looked at their profiles to see what colors each liked. The first one I did, she liked the spring/happy colors.





This was the first time I ever did the 9 Batch, and I think I did really good. I do have to work on getting my lines straight though.

The next swap I was in was a Pack Work Pin Cushion. I've only made one pin cushion so far so I picked this swap to learn new ways of making them. They gave an example for one here. I thought about doing it, but changed my mind at the last minute. I went with just a square block.


I really like it. I think I might make one for my self. I thought about putting a couple of buttons on it, and decided it looked just fine without any. It kind of has an Asian feel to it. Maybe I'm wrong.

I have still been working on my quilts. I have one almost all cut out. Just have to cut the light color for it. I have a few patterns for dresses for my girls, unfortunetely they are too big. My aunt is an avid sewer and has a lot of patterns. As I was thinking about just making a pattern in the one dress I wanted to make my girls, I remembered I have a neice who loves to wear skirts and dresses. Guess what, the patterns are in her size, yeah. I bought a couple of really nice aqua blue fabrics (different styles) for my girls, so I have to go find something for my niece now. Her favorite colors are purple, pink, green and orange.

My books should be here today!!! Bend the Rules Sewing and a couple of Amy Butler books. I can't wait to try the handbag pattern, so I can get that swap started. I like to get my swaps done long before the deadline. That way I can take on more.