Birds, Bejeweled, A Bunny, and Various Beans

I finally finished up the binding on the birds Friday evening. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

The quilting on the Bejeweled topper is almost finished. As of this morning, only 4 more diamond blocks need quilted. However I was apparently really lazy and neglected to get photos. Let's blame sleep deprivation due to sinus cavity rebellion.

Ellie Bean does make it difficult to work when she wants to. Apparently quilting WIPs are the BEST place to have a bath.

No, not Victor. He hates the camera with a grumpy passion. This bunny, that I dug out and started piecing last November during Festival season and forgot to blog about or finish it. I found the border blocks and the green-bordered panel under my sewing table and decided to piece it before I lost important bits. The camera angle is kinda funky, but the top is roughly 37 inches square. 

And what would a summer holiday be without baked beans? (No Ellie Beans were harmed in the baking of these beans, but she was irritated about me not sharing the bacon.)

That's all for this week. I've got laundry taunting me in the other room and quilts to finish. And an Ellie Bean to fight for my sewing chair. See you next weekend!

Food for Thought

Tuesday evening I played with my favorite autumn side dish: apples 'n onions.  I decided to ignore the entire way I'd been taught to make them and instead work with the ingredients as I would with the skills I have now.

Here's the result:

Caramelized Apples 'n Onions:

1 large Videlia onion, French cut
3 medium to large apples, cored and French cut (I used Kikos)
6 Tbls. butter, divided into 1 Tbls. chunks
a good pinch of Kosher salt (to taste)
3 dashes of cinnamon (to taste)
2 dashes of cardamom (to taste)
3 c. apple juice (you will need enough liquid to cover the apples in your skillet)
1 Tbls. dark brown sugar

- Melt 2 Tbls. butter in a large skillet and saute onions until a few of them begin to brown.

- Add 2 Tbls. butter and the apples and cook until a few apples start to brown.

- Sprinkle cinnamon, cardamom, and salt over the apples and onions and pour enough apple juice over them to just cover the piece.  Raise burner heat to high and bring the juice to a boil.  Cover and simmer over low heat until apples are cooked through.

- Either use a slotted spoon and remove the apples and onions from the liquid or use a strainer to separate solids from liquid, returning the liquid to the pan.

- Reduce the liquid until only 1/3 volume remains, stirring in the dark brown sugar.  Remove from heat and stir in the last 2 Tbls. butter to finish the sauce.  Pour sauce over apples 'n onions.  Enjoy!

Sometimes it's worth revisiting old recipes and recreating them using new skills and knowledge.

On Wednesday and Friday I took the apples 'n onions a step further.

I started with store bought pizza crusts... I didn't have the time nor inclination to mess with making my own.  Then I made a béchamel sauce and threw in some mozzarella cheese to make it lovely and gooey, a bit of dried chili flake for a kick, and a bit of salt.

Once the sauce was in place I added some apple and onion slices, carefully removed from their caramel sauce.  Then I added some of the smoked pork butt roast from Sunday's dinner.  I topped it off with a 12-year aged white cheddar cheese.

Wednesday's results showed us the idea was good, but it needed more coverage from the toppings.  For Friday's pizza, FH suggested that I cut the pork finer to give better coverage and spread the flavor around more.  We didn't skimp on the cheddar cheese on Friday either.

That's all for this week.  My store-bought pastry treat on Friday didn't agree with me.  To be blunt, I've been recovering from a suspected case of food poisoning all weekend.  Luckily, FH didn't share my treat and was spared being ill.  I think next time I'll just make my own dessert too.

See you next week!

More FH Culinary Creations

Thursday Night-
Homemade tomato sauce over Campanile pasta: Sauce made from Black Krim and Better Boy tomato (from FH's garden), seasoned with fresh garlic, Vidalia onion, and Italian seasoning, served with black olives, mozzarella cheese, and fresh parsley.

Friday Night-Sesame Pasta Salad: Spaghetti, cucumber, chicken, cashews, parsley, green onion, and Vidalia onion. Sauce made with lime juice, lime zest, soy sauce, sesame oil, organic apple cider vinegar (substituted for rice wine vinegar 'cause we were out). Topped with sesame seeds and red pepper flakes.

It's Sunday

I wish there were more Sun today... ah well.

Last night FH and I went to the Mackinaw Long Rifles Harvest Party. As a gift for the exchange we took a small cast iron skillet. Always a good thing for Rendezvousers. For food we took a German Chocolate cake made with non-sulfided coconut so I and other person with the same odd allergy/intolerance could eat it. That's what is great about doing one's own baking. You know it's edible when you see or smell it and start drooling. For the recipe I used, visit this wonderful site. I did have to bake it in a 9x13 pan instead of the three 8" rounds since we had to share with about sixty people. So it added another 20 minutes to the baking time. I just had a leftover piece for breakfast. It's fantastic and I highly reccomend the recipe.

We also took along a pumpkin that we stuffed and roasted. In lieu of my old recipe which I could neither remember or find I happened upon a lovely blog where two lovely foodies blog about what they cook up for dinner. You can visit them here: Dinner with Pati and Bruce. We used their recipes framework and made a few changes based on what we had in the pantry and freezer.

Basically after we scooped the goo out of the pumpkin we stuffed it with: caramelized onions, some garlic, our favorite Black Krim tomato, cooked venison and wild rice, and some green chilis.

I did try to leave a comment on their post about their pumpkin but the blog provider is somehow convinced I've already said how much I enjoyed their inspiration and will not play nice. Sometimes the internet makes me shake my head and wander elsewhere. So, Pati and Bruce, if you happen to pop over here at anytime, thank you so much for the great ideas!