new plants

 salvia patens 'blue angel'

salvia microphylla 'hot lips' 

erysimum hybrid 'apricot twist'

new plants for the yard

 i picked up some herbs. (tried to grow them from seeds, pffft! that didn't work out that well.) i have lemon verbena, oregano, thyme, tarragon and chamomile.

also picked up a euphorbia and a rose scented geranium. i hope to make some sweets from the geranium.

i found this book:
tomorrow's garden: design and inspiration for a new age of sustainable gardening
it has wonderful pictures and also some plant lists. that's how i found out about the euphorbias.

how big is your tomato bush?

yes that is a yard stick next to the tomato cage. this tomato bush is about 5foot7inches tall by 5 feet wide. it is just starting to get fruit. exciting!

grilled cheese with carmelized onions

i used the carmelized onions i made earlier in the week.

so i used wheat bread, chedder and the onions. i'm too lazy to slather the bread in butter so i just drop it into the pan and put in a little more butter when i'm ready to flip the sandwich.

yum!

horchata

found a new book i like:
can it, bottle it, smoke it: and other kitchen projects

there was a recipe for horchata so i thought i would give it a try.

 1) i let 1 cup of rice, 4 cups of water, and one cinnamon stick sit overnight in the refridgerator. the next morning i poured it all into the blender. i blended until everthing was pulverized.

 2) i poured the mixture through a strainer. i did this a couple of times with a small mesh strainer. later i found it was still kind of silty, and put it through my coffee press. i would recommend using a super fine strainer.

3) shake well and drink immediately. if let to sit, the silt separates to the bottom. not so tasty. i stored it in the fridge for a few days in a juice jar.

carmelized onions

originally this was from everyday food by martha stewart. i have changed it to suit my own laziness.
martha stewart's camelized onion recipe

 1) chop up onions. i have done 3lbs of onions to only 3onions. you can cook as many as you want you will just have to change the amount of butter, sugar and salt you add.

 2) put the onions is a pan with some butter and salt. cook them down.

3) i like my onions to be soft, but martha says to cook them until they are "jammy" when you are done cooking your onions add some sugar.

you can use these in all types of recipes, but i like to put them on hotdogs and grilled cheese sandwiches. they should keep for a week? in the fridge.

how to sew a simple elastic skirt

materials needed:

-at least a yard of fabric. (i have made a skirt from just one yard, and let me tell you it was a very short skirt!) my piece of fabric was 90in x 23in. you can always sew 2 pieces together to make it a longer piece (i.e. more fluffy, less straight) i also used a piece of sheet. it makes it easier because parts of it are already hemmed.

-piece of elastic. i used 1in no roll elastic. to measure it, pull the elastic tight around your waist and add a couple of inches for seam margin.

 1) measure your fabric, multiple times if necessary, then cut out your fabric. you can only cut it out once and if you make it too small there's no going back. make sure you add extra for the bottom hem and elastic casing.

 2) sew the back seam. (if you had to sew 2 pieces together, you will have 2 side seams.) my back seam is "hemmed" because it is a sheet and i was too lazy to cut it off.

 3) now for the waist band tube for elastic. fold down .25in.

4) fold down another 1.25in (or however wide your elastic is.) pin and sew close to the edge of your fold. leave a hole of at least an inch for elastic.

 picture of hole for elastic.

 5) take your piece of elastic and stick a large safety pin through the top. this will help you feed it through the elastic tube. make sure your end doesn't get pulled into the skirt as well. sometimes i put a safety pin on this end as well so it doesn't get pulled into the hole. pull your elastic through the casing and bring both ends together.

 6) sew the elastic together. trim edges, then pull taught so it goes into the casing. sew the casing closed.

7) my skirt was already hemmed (yay sheet!) but if you need to hem your skirt fold your hem .25in then another .25in., pin and sew all the way around. put on then twirl!

tie dye part 2: the results

these are the results from my tie dye adventure. after i rinsed out the dye, (you should wear gloves for that part too, i had purple fingers for a couple of days) the white parts were looking kind of dingy. some of these were for gifts and i didn't want to give someone the gift of bleeding dye in the wash. i ran them through the washing machine just to make sure they wouldn't bleed.
tie dye part 1

trader joe's coffee cake

this was really good and fairly easy to make. i don't know if i would ever make coffee cake from scratch as long as this exists. tastes like it might have clove in it. yum. i think next time, i might add pecans to it.

pretzel bread sandwich

quick and easy sandwich: pretzel bread (from trader joe's, it's really good) basil, cheese (i used chedder b/c that is what i had) and prosciutto. i put the basil under the cheese on one side so it doesn't crisp and dry out. and i put one piece of cheese under the meat so it sitcks to the bread. put your two halves on a cookie sheet face up. put foil on your cookie sheet if you are lazy and don't want to scrub cheese from your pan. broil for a few minutes. watch it so it doesn't burn. and that's it. nom nom nom

goat cheese arugula pasta salad

this recipe comes from martha stewart. it was easy to make. you just dump it all together and mix. i don't think i would make it again. i put extra goat cheese in my salad. (what can i say? i like cheese.) but the arugula and vinegar dressing overpowered the cheese.
pasta salad with goat cheese and arugula

apple sauce for babies and adults

core and cut up your apples, smaller pieces mean it cooks faster.

put in the pan with a little bit of water, 1/4 cup or so, don't overdue it or else it will end up soupy.

for babies:

take a bunch of sweet apples, peel, core, and chop them. put them in a sauce pan with a little bit of water, cover and cook for about 20 minutes on medium heat. they should be pretty mushy, you can help them along by blending them or using a potato masher.

for adults:

i like to use granny smith apples because they are sour. peel core and chop them. put them in a sauce pan with a little bit of water. slice a lemon and throw in a few slices. cover and cook for about 20 minutes on medium heat. the longer you cook them the smoother your applesauce. if you like a bit of chunk, don't cook them as long. when you have the right consistency add sugar to taste, or keep it as is if you like it sour.

baby balls!

i found two different patterns for soft fabric balls. the first pattern looks like a beach ball, but when it was all done it had the shape of a pumpkin rather than a ball. the second pattern turned out much better. it looks like a soccer ball. i stuffed it with polyfil and a little bell. the babe seems to like them, pumpkin or round.
pumpkin pattern
soccer ball pattern

tie dyed underpants and more part 1

dad's birthday is coming up and he is having a tie dye themed partay. i figured it was only appropriate to give tie dye as the gift. i wanted to make a whole tie dyed outfit but only go so far as underpants, tshirts and possibly sweat bands.

an assortment of underpants, onsies, 2 yards of cotton, and a muscle shirt all tied up. all the items above are cotton for better dye absorbtion. the tulip tie dye kit is from michaels. (if you get it from michaels, look online for a coupon first!)

different types of tying. the top is circles, and pleats. the middle picture is spiral and the bottome is pleats. the dye has been applied and is soaking in. i'm going to let it soak for 6 hours or so. will post more later with the results.

folding patterns

we got the beets! yeah we got'em

the babe was ready to be introduced to a new kind of food, so this time it was beets.

peel your beets and chop them up

 cover and cook the beets on low with some water, recipe i used said 20 min. and i think i cooked them for at least 30 min. they don't really mush.

let the beets cool, then put them in the baby blender and mulch.

baby pillow

so the babe needs a pillow, it is supposed to help with fluid drainage with the nose and the throat and stuff. so do they make baby pillows that i can find at my convenient target? nope, but they did have a travel pillow which was a good size. (anyone looking for a new product to invent? this is it) i made a pillow case for it out of this super cute fabric. it was really easy to do. i cut a large rectangle folded it in half inside out and sewed the seams straight down. i didn't even have to sew the opening edges because i used the selvage.

neighborly squash

went for a walk in the neighborhood looking at veggie gardens that people have growing in their front yard. ran into a fellow who was out working on his roof. turns out he owns two houses next door to each other and he uses both front yards to grow veggies. i will post pictures sometime later this summer. he said he had too much squash and shared with us. i cooked it up in a frying pan with some seasoning, dried thyme and red bell pepper. it turned out well and the hubs said he would eat it again.

banana bread

i have fond memories of my mom making banana bread when i was growing up. it was easy to make, although i lost track of time and it baked for just a little too long.

strawberry icebox pie

 i made this strawberry icebox pie, from martha stewart, for 4th of july. it was tasty. not at all like those cloying glazy jelly strawberry pies you see at diners. it was very fresh tasting. i even used strawberries that were on their last legs and it was still good. i sort of felt like the pie man from pushing daisies.
i didn't like how the recipe was written though. it said you need a cup of sugar, but you use something like 3 tablespoons for the crust and the remainder, or 3/4 cups, for the filling and it said to use 2 quarts of strawberries and my strawberries were sold by the pound and i used about 3 pounds.

orzo salad

it has been hot, so i have been making pasta salads. this one has orzo, sun dried tomatoes, oil from sun dried tomatoes, red bell pepper, basil, salt, pepper, little bit of olive oil, cotija cheese, and spinach that i add right before i eat it otherwise it gets soggy with oil.

father's day cookies

i'm not very fond of peanut butter, with chocolate or without, but my husband is. so for father's day i made him some peanut butter hershey kiss cookies.
peanut butter blossoms recipe